Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Obama Administration Meets Goal Of 10,000 Syrian Refugees
thinkprogress.org | Justin Salhani | current

Last September, the President Obama promised that the United States would resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the 2016 financial year, and 85,000 refugees in total from around the globe. But the plan to resettle Syrians in particular hit a hiccup after right wing politicians used the ISIS attacks in Paris and Brussels to ramp up anti-Muslim sentiment.

One of the main criticisms of refugee resettlement from the right concerned the screening process. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump played on the nation's anxieties by saying there is "no system to vet" Syrian refugees and a "better, bigger, more horrible version of the legendary Trojan horse." Politifact checked Trump's statement and labelled it 'false'. ... Read more
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TYT | Obama Welcomes 10,000th Syrian Refugee To America (08/30/16) [6:23]

Nasa: Earth is warming at a pace 'unprecedented in 1,000 years'
theguardian.com | Oliver Milman | 08/30/16

This year has already seen scorching heat around the world, with the average global temperature peaking at 1.38C above levels experienced in the 19th century, perilously close to the 1.5C limit agreed in the landmark Paris climate accord. July was the warmest month since modern record keeping began in 1880, with each month since October 2015 setting a new high mark for heat.

But Nasa said that records of temperature that go back far further, taken via analysis of ice cores and sediments, suggest that the warming of recent decades is out of step with any period over the past millennium. ... Read more
TYT | NASA Warns Climate Change Could Cause Mass Extinction Event (08/30/16) [8:18]

Michele Bachmann: God 'Raised Up' Donald Trump
HP | Ed Mazza | 08/31/16

It's a question political pundits will be attempting to answer for generations: How did real estate magnate and reality TV star Donald Trump win the Republican presidential nomination?

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a Trump advisor, claims to know the answer: God did it. Bachmann told "The Brody File" of CBN News that "the most high God lifts up who He will and takes down who He will." ... Read more

An Establishment Conservative's Guide To The Alt-Right
breitbart.com | Allum Bokhari | older 03/29/16

A specter is haunting the dinner parties, fundraisers and think-tanks of the Establishment: the specter of the "alternative right." Young, creative and eager to commit secular heresies, they have become public enemy number one to beltway conservatives -- more hated, even, than Democrats or loopy progressives.

The alternative right, more commonly known as the alt-right, is an amorphous movement. Some -- mostly Establishment types -- insist it's little more than a vehicle for the worst dregs of human society: anti-Semites, white supremacists, and other members of the Stormfront set. They're wrong. ... Read more

TYT | PRISON: Norway vs. United States (08/30/16) [5:31]

Republican Voters Wish They'd Picked A Different Nominee
HP | Ariel Edwards-Levy | 08/29/16

Seventeen candidates ran for the Republican presidential nomination this year. A majority of GOP voters now say that they wish they'd picked one of the 16 who weren't Donald Trump, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov survey. The public as a whole is less than impressed with either party's nominee. Just 20 percent of all voters say that Trump was Republicans' best choice, while 30 percent think Hillary Clinton was Democrats' best option. Read more

FBI says foreign hackers penetrated state election systems
Yahoo News | Michael Isikoff | 08/29/16

The FBI has uncovered evidence that foreign hackers penetrated two state election databases in recent weeks, prompting the bureau to warn election officials across the country to take new steps to enhance the security of their computer systems, according to federal and state law enforcement officials.

The FBI warning, contained in a "flash" alert from the FBI's Cyber Division, a copy of which was obtained by Yahoo News, comes amid heightened concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about the possibility of cyberintrusions, potentially by Russian state-sponsored hackers, aimed at disrupting the November elections. ... Read more
TYT | FBI Confirms Scary Election Hacking Concerns (08/29/16) [11:08]

The Evidence Of Fracking's Health Effects Keeps Mounting
thinkprogress.org | Alejandro Dávila Fragoso | current

Hydraulic fracturing has over the past few years been associated with ground water pollution, spills, and earthquakes in various states. Now, a study led by John Hopkins University researchers found that fracking in Pennsylvania may be associated with migraines, fatigue, and sinusitis.

The study, published Thursday, adds to a growing body of scientific work that on regular basis links the controversial extraction process with adverse effects on the environment and people. ... Read more
TYT | Evidence Of The Fracking Dangers Are Mounting (08/29/16) [6:20]

Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt by Sarah Jaffe (2016)

We are witnessing a moment of unprecedented political engagement and social activism. Pundits once fretted about Americans' apathy, but in the last few years we've seen uprisings and protests across the country: the growth of the Tea Party, the successful fight for a $15 minimum wage, BlackLivesMatter, Occupy Wall Street, and the grassroots networks supporting presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders.

In Necessary Trouble, journalist Sarah Jaffe leads readers into the heart of these movements, explaining what has made ordinary Americans from Seattle to St. Louis to Atlanta become activists. As Jaffe shows, Americans, regardless of political alignment, are boldly challenging who wields power in this country. They are poised to permanently remake politics as we know it--and in many cases, they already have.

Wake Up America - It's Time To Eliminate The 'Pusher'
ZeroHedge | author | 08/30/16

Central banks can only do one thing, and that's provide monetary welfare for the wealthy. Wake up, America. The only way to stop widening wealth and income inequality and kick your smack addiction is to eliminate the pusher. ... Read more
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EU hits Apple with 13 billion euro Irish tax demand
Reuters | Foo Yun Chee | 08/30/16

The European Commission ordered Apple Inc. to pay Ireland unpaid taxes of up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) on Tuesday as it ruled the firm had received illegal state aid.

Apple and Dublin said the U.S. company's tax treatment was in line with Irish and European Union law and they would appeal the ruling, which is part of a drive against what the EU says are sweetheart tax deals that usually smaller states in the bloc offer multinational companies to lure jobs and investment.

The U.S. feels its firms are being targeted by the EU and a U.S. Treasury spokesperson warned the move threatens to undermine U.S. investment in Europe and "the important spirit of economic partnership between the U.S. and the EU". ... Read more

Lawmakers Overseeing Wall Street Given Bigger, More Favorable Loans Than Others: Study
ibtimes.com | David Sirota | 08/19/16

It is good to be king, as the old saying goes -- and apparently it's also good to get a seat on a congressional committee that oversees the finance industry. According to a new study, those lawmakers tend to get larger loans and at more favorable interest rates right when they get appointed to those powerful panels. Researchers suggest the evidence is no random coincidence: They say the trend may in fact expose a conduit of influence peddling in which powerful lawmakers are using their position to extract favors -- and whereby Wall Street firms may be using stealth perks to increase their legislative power. ... Read more

Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire by Deepa Kumar

In response to the events of 9/11, the Bush administration launched a "war on terror," ushering in an era of anti-Muslim racism, or Islamophobia. However, 9/11 did not create the image of the "Muslim enemy." This book examines the historic relationship between anti-Muslim racism and the agenda of empire building.

Beginning in the eleventh century and the context of the Crusades, Deepa Kumar offers a sweeping historical analysis of the changing views of Islam and Muslims in the West, examining the ways that ruling elites throughout history have used the specter of a "Muslim enemy" to justify their imperial projects.

The language of Islamophobia that was developed in the context of the European colonization of the Middle East continues to thrive today in the United States. Kumar expertly exposes and debunks various myths about Muslims and Islam that have become widely accepted in the US.

She goes on to analyze the US's checkered attitude towards the parties of political Islam, outlining how it has treated Islamists as both allies and enemies. By examining local conditions that have allowed for the growth of Islamists, Kumar shows that these parties are not inevitable in Muslim-majority countries but are rather a contemporary phenomenon similar to the rise of Christian, Jewish, and Hindu fundamentalisms.

The final section of the book sheds light on how the use of Islamophobia in justifying foreign policy necessitates and facilitates political repression at home. Attacks on Muslim Americans have spread to attacks on dissent in general. Kumar concludes by making a powerful case for a grassroots movement that challenges anti-Muslim racism and the projects of empire.

Why Can't Our Economy Promote Equality and Shared Prosperity?
AlterNet | Jim Hightower | 08/28/16

Meet "Take On Wall Street," a grassroots movement preventing America's plunge into plutocracy.

Instead of griping about the greedheads of Wall Street and the rip-off financial system they've hung around our necks--why don't we "Take On Wall Street"?

You don't have to be in "Who's Who" to know what's what. For example, if tiny groups of Wall Street bankers, billionaires and their political puppets are allowed to write the rules that govern our economy and elections, guess what? Only bankers, billionaires and puppets will profit from those rules. ... Read more

The Scandal of EpiPens Runs Deeper Than Most of Us Realize
AlterNet | Martha Rosenberg | 08/26/16

It has been two years since Gilead Sciences Inc. rolled out its $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, priced at $84,000 for a course of treatment and met with disbelief from patients, insurers and health care professionals. After an 18-month investigation the Senate Finance Committee concluded prices did not reflect Gilead's development costs and that the drug maker cared about "revenue" not "affordability and accessibility." The committee also found that Sovaldi and a related pill, Harvoni, cost taxpayers $5 billion in 2014.

It's been one year since Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. hiked the price of a once-daily form of Wellbutrin, a 30-year-old antidepressant, to $1,400 a month despite the existence of a $30 generic and refused to lower prices on the millions hospitals pay for its life-saving heart medicines.

And it has been only a few months since a smirking Martin Shkreli, former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO, gave a figurative finger to Congress by refusing questions about why his company raised the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim, crucial for AIDS patients, from $13.50 a tablet to $750 per tablet. ... Read more

Will The Pentagon's Effort To Whip Up War Fever Work in This Internet Era?
ZeroHEdge | author | 08/29/16

We are in the midst of a huge propaganda blitz by the Pentagon and its affiliated military-industrial complex. We've seen the results before and hopefully they will not reoccur with such worldwide viciousness again. Is it possible that this time the Pentagon's lurid lies will fail to awake public terror and instead incite indignation at military-industrial manipulations. That would be an outcome dearly to be desired in this awakening Internet era. ... Read more

Bush, Cheney, PNAC, & The Criminal Conspiracy To Invade Iraq (older, but good) [10:45]

'Go Topless Go' Is The Equal Rights Anthem We Didn't Know We Needed
HP |David Moye | 08/26/16

Every important political movement has its theme song. The Civil Rights movement had "We Shall Overcome," the 1970s feminist movement had "I Am Woman," and now there's a ditty for those who are fighting the good fight to allow women to go topless in public. The song is called, appropriately enough, "Go Topless Go" and performed by singer Gabriela Dolanska (her Facebook page states she is located in Slovakia). ... Read more
Go Topless Go (08/24/16) [2:34]

Vets Lose When Big Pharma and Defense Corporations Rake in the Big War Bucks
AlterNet | Ann Jones / TomDispatch | 08/25/16

A friend of mine, a Vietnam vet, told me about a veteran of the Iraq War who, when some civilian said, “Thank you for your service,” replied: “I didn’t serve, I was used.” That got me thinking about the many ways today’s veterans are used, conned, and exploited by big gamers right here at home.

Andrew Bacevich is certainly right about war profiteers, but I believe we haven’t yet fully wrapped our minds around what that truly means. This is what we have yet to take in: today, the U.S. is the most unequal country in the developed world, and the wealth of the plutocrats on top is now so great that, when they invest it in politics, it’s likely that no elected government can stop them or the lucrative wars and “free markets” they exploit. ... Read more

"Our Revolution"? Bernie Sanders Launches New Organization, But Key Staffers Quit in Protest
DemocracyNow | author | 08/25/16

Bernie Sanders and his supporters have launched a new political organization called Our Revolution. It seeks to support the next generation of progressive leaders, empower millions to fight for progressive change and elevate the nation’s overall political consciousness. More than 2,600 watch parties were held across the country last night to witness Sanders launch the new organization. But reports have emerged of political tumult within Bernie Sanders’s own team. Over the weekend, eight key staffers abruptly resigned in a dispute over the group’s leadership and legal structure. ... Read more

TRNN | Our Revolution Launch Event (08/24/16) [1:07:30]

TYT | Bernie Sanders Launches "Our Revolution" (08/25/16) [8:49]

Iraq War Surveillance Technology Being Used In Baltimore Without Public Debate
ZeroHedge | author | 08/26/16

Yesterday, Bloomberg published a lengthy expose on a company called Persistent Surveillance Systems, which has been secretly surveilling the people of Baltimore on behalf of the police since January. The article is titled, Secret Cameras Record Baltimore’s Every Move From Above, and here are some choice excerpts:

Pritchett had no idea that as he spoke, a small Cessna airplane equipped with a sophisticated array of cameras was circling Baltimore at roughly the same altitude as the massing clouds. The plane’s wide-angle cameras captured an area of roughly 30 square miles and continuously transmitted real-time images to analysts on the ground. The footage from the plane was instantly archived and stored on massive hard drives, allowing analysts to review it weeks later if necessary. .... Read more

TRNN | Chris Hedges Interviews Noam Chomsky () [56:00]

Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media - Documentary by Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick (1992) [2:40:24]

Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill by Antonia Juhasz

It is the largest oil disaster in American history, and it could happen again. It is more than a story of ruined beaches, dead wildlife, corporate spin, political machinations, and financial fallout. It is a riveting human drama filled with people whose lives will forever be defined as ""before"" and ""after the gulf oil disaster."" Black Tide is the only book to tell this story through the perspective of people on all sides of the catastrophe, from those who lost their lives, loved ones, and livelihoods to those who made the policies that set the devastating event in motion, those who cut the corners that put corporate profits over people and the environment, and those who have committed their lives to ensuring that such an event is never repeated.

Dramatic and compelling, Black Tide exposes the human failings and human cost of the largest oil disaster in American history and how it could easily happen again.

"We cannot allow the BP disaster to be pushed from public view the way BP used chemical dispersants to hide the oil. These remarkable stories-of loss, heroism and culpability-are a vivid reminder that this catastrophe will be with us for decades, and that we have not yet made the changes necessary to prevent destruction in the future."
-Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

TYT | US Weapons To Bahrain Spiked After Paying Clinton Foundation $32 Million (08/24/16) [12:07]

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What the Bush Family Knew, Before they Bought Land in South America above the World's Largest Aquifer. | 50kview.blogspot.com | L.J. Devon | 07/19/14

Why Did George Bush Buy Nearly 300,000 acres in Paraguay? | agorafinancial.com | Brian Maher | 04/24/15

Bush Family Buy Up Guarani Aquifer | watchingamerica.com | Jenny Westwell | 06/18/15

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Green Going Gone: The Tragic Deforestation of the Chaco
RollingStone | Christine MacDonald | o7/28/14

A converted garage in Asuncion, Paraguay, seems an unlikely headquarters for the crusade to save one of Earth's last great wilderness expanses. But in a cluttered and fluorescent-lit room, three geographic information systems (GIS) analysts are hunched over their computer screens searching satellite maps for signs of fresh deforestation in South America's Gran Chaco forest, doing the best they can. "The Chaco is one of the most unknown remaining wildernesses on our planet," says Alberto Yanosky, the activist in charge of those analysts. The problem though, is that "we're losing the Chaco faster than scientists can study it." ... Read more
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Zoom in further to see the individual Soy plantations

Earthquake strikes central Italy, shocks felt in Rome and Venice (08/24/16) [4:29]

*Donald Trump Jacked Up His Campaign's Trump Tower Rent Once Somebody Else Was Paying It
HP | S.V. Date | 08/22/16

Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March.

The Trump campaign paid Trump Tower Commercial LLC $35,458 in March ? the same amount it had been paying since last summer ? and had 197 paid employees and consultants. In July, it paid 172 employees and consultants. ... Read more
TYT | How Donald Trump Funnels Campaign Donations Into His Pocket (08/23/16) [8:18]

AP: More Than Half Of Clinton's Non-Government Visitors At State Gave To Foundation
AP | author | 08/24/16

More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money -- either personally or through companies or groups -- to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.

At least 85 of 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton while she led the State Department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs, according to a review of State Department calendars released so far to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million. ... Read more

*Global Empire - The World According to Seymour Hersh, Part 1 (08/10/16) [30:31]

Space Weather Conditions - Estimated Planetary K-Index

Yemen Civil War (2011-201?)
globalsecurity.org | author | date

By early 2015, Yemen was pretty much a failed state, beset by a circular firing squad of factions. Besides a local struggle for power, the Yemen conflict is widely viewed as a proxy war between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran. Yemen was wracked by internal divisions as the Houthi movement spread beyond its traditional rebellion in the north, separatists continue to press their cause in the south, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claims attacks both at home and abroad, including on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris earlier in January 2015.

... On February 25, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia due to its operation in Yemen, passing by 359 to 212 votes. However, the European Parliament vote doesn't compel every member state to act. The European Parliament resolution of February 25, 2016 on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen refers to "grave concerns" over the deterioration of the situation on the ground. ... Read more

TYT | Gary Johnson Interview With Cenk Uygur Of The Young Turks (08/22/16) [15:37]

TYT | Jill Stein On Why Trump AND Clinton Are Dangerous (08/18/16) [10:11]

*U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds
Reuters | author | 08/19/16

The United States Army's finances are so jumbled it had to make trillions of dollars of improper accounting adjustments to create an illusion that its books are balanced.

The Defense Department's Inspector General, in a June report, said the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 2015, and $6.5 trillion for the year. Yet the Army lacked receipts and invoices to support those numbers or simply made them up. ... Read more
TYT | Army Accounting Off By TRILLIONS Audit Reveals (08/22/16) [9:10]

"It's Gone" - Why Foreign Demand For US Treasuries Has Disappeared
ZeroHedge | author | 08/23/16

Something significant has happened in recent months: buying 10-yr US treasuries is no longer profitable. It is not only Europeans or Japanese, there now isn't any global fixed income investor that can make decent money by buying hedged USTs. ... Read more

Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis by Chris Williams

Around the world, consciousness of the threat to our environment is growing. The majority of solutions on offer, from using efficient light bulbs to biking to work, focus on individual lifestyle changes, yet the scale of the crisis requires far deeper adjustments. Ecology and Socialism argues that time still remains to save humanity and the planet, but only by building social movements for environmental justice that can demand qualitative changes in our economy, workplaces, and infrastructure.

"Williams adds a new and vigorous voice to the growing awareness that, yes, it is our capitalist system that is ruining the natural foundation of our civilization and threatening the very idea of a future. I am particularly impressed by the way he develops a clear and powerful argument for an ecological socialism directly from the actual ground of struggle, whether against climate change, systematic poisoning from pollution, or the choking stream of garbage. Ecology and Socialism is a notable addition to the growing movement to save our planet from death-dealing capitalism."

Germany Warns People To 'Stockpile' Cash In Case Of 'War'
ZeroHedge | author | 08/23/16

The German government is warning its people to 'stockpile' food, water and cash in case of 'war'. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government is set to tell citizens to stockpile food, water, medicine, fuel and cash in case of war, an attack, catastrophe or "national emergency", the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported on Sunday. ... Read more

Central Banks Are Terrified... But of What?
ZeroHedge | author | 08/23/16

If the recovery is real and as strong as the "data" suggests... why are Central Banks engaged in the most aggressive stimulus in history?

According to the official data, the EU's Services and Manufacturing PMI's were 53.1 and 51.8 in August. Both were significantly above 50 (which represents contraction)... Moreover, the EU's inflation rate has risen over 0.4% in four months, rising from -0.2% in April to 0.2% today. And yet, despite this data, the ECB continues to hold interest rates at -0.4% while also spending €80 billion per month in QE (the equivalent of $90 billion). At this pace, the ECB will spend nearly €1 TRILLION IN QE PER YEAR. ... Read more

The Gilded Rage: A Conversation With a Trump Supporter That Will Surprise You
AlterNet | Alexander Zaitchik | 08/18/16

The following is an adapted excerpt from Alexander Zaitchik's new book, The Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trump's America, published here with permission from Skyhorse/Hot Books. The Gilded Rage is the chronicle of Zaitchik's listening tour, inspired by Studs Terkel, through the Rust Belt, Appalachia, and along the Mexican Border. The result is an often surprising collection of voices of Trump supporters that Zaitchik met as he followed the 2016 primary calendar. The below section profiles a West Virginia Trump supporter named Ed Wiley, a former miner who in recent years has emerged as one of the state's leading (and most unlikely) anti-coal activists. ... Read more

Michele Bachmann Says She's Advising Trump On Foreign Policy, Because Why Not
HP | Marina Fang | 08/21/16

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who has claimed President Barack Obama's foreign policy would lead to the rapture, says she is advising Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on foreign policy.

Speaking to reporters outside a private fundraiser that Trump held in Minneapolis on Friday evening, the 2012 GOP presidential hopeful and tea party stalwart said she has known Trump for several years and supports his proposals to crack down on immigration and terrorism. ... Read more

NASA | Dramatic Changes in Polar Ice: Waleed Abdalati (06/10/16) [58:51]

German Government Urges Citizens To Stockpile Food, Water "In Case Of Attack Or Catastrophe"
ZeroHedge | author | 08/22/16

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government plans to tell citizens to stockpile food and water in case of an attack or catastrophe, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported on Sunday.

Following Angela Merkel's proclamation that Islamic terrorism is not a function of the massive influx of muslim immigrants into Germany thanks to he immigration policy, we could not help but be a little surprised that, as TagesSchau reports, the federal government, according to a newspaper report wants to encourage the population to begin stockpiling food and water again, so that they temporarily can take care of themself in the case of a disaster or an armed attack. As Reuters details, ... Read more

ELECTION 2016 11 Dangerous Right-Wing Kooks, Cranks and Operatives Surrounding Donald Trump
AlterNet | Adele M. Stan | 08/18/16

It used to be that people like this only got backstage passes to the GOP's big doings. Now they're part of the show.

This Is What Donald Trump's "Orbit" Looks Like Following Manafort's Resignation
Bloomberg | Elizabeth Titus | 08/19/16

Now that Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort is officially out of the campaign which - until three days ago - he was managing, at which point he was upstaged by Breitbart's Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, here is what Trump's presidential "orbit" tentatively looks like by way of Bloomberg ... Read more
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*TYT | Syrian Boy Rescued From Bombed Building (VIDEO) (08/18/16) [10:14]

*TYT | Jill Stein On Why Trump AND Clinton Are Dangerous (08/18/16) [10:11]

*TYT | Democrats Signal Surrender On Sanders' Public Option (08/18/16) [11:22]

TYT | "Says Who?" Trump Lawyer Self-Destructs On CNN (08/18/16) [2:15]

Louisiana flooding is the country's 'worst natural disaster' since Hurricane Sandy, Red Cross says
WashingtonPost | Emma Brown | 08/17/16

BATON ROUGE -- Five days into this disaster, adrenaline is giving way to exhaustion and -- for many of those who left their homes amid rising water -- a constant, churning anxiety about the future.

Thousands are still holed up in shelters or at friends' houses on high ground, relying on Facebook videos and word-of-mouth for an answer to the question on everyone's tongues: How bad is the damage? ... Read more

Southern California Blue Cut Fire Rages Unchecked After Mass Evacuations
HP & Reuters | author | 08/17/16

A Southern California wildfire raged unchecked in thick brush on Wednesday after destroying an unknown number of houses near a highway corridor between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and forcing as many as 80,000 residents to flee their homes, officials said.

The so-called Blue Cut Fire ignited on Tuesday in the mountainous Cajon Pass and quickly ballooned to 30,000 acres (12,140 hectares), putting firefighters on the defensive as they made a stand in front of homes and businesses. ... Read more

*July 2016 Was The Hottest Month Ever Recorded
HP | Chris D'Angelo | 08/17/16

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ? two leading global authorities on climate ? both say July 2016 was not only the hottest July on record, but the most sizzling month in the history of record-keeping.

NOAA on Wednesday said July's global average temperature was 62.01 degrees, 1.57 degrees above the 20th-century average. NASA, which uses a slightly different methodology, said Monday the average global temperature in July was 1.51 degrees above average. Both agencies pegged July as the hottest month since monitoring began in 1880. ... Read more

What's the Deal With Geoengineering?
Slate | Jacob Brogan | older, 01/06/16

Your 101 guide to the maybe-crazy, maybe-sane attempt fix climate change by tinkering with Earth's atmosphere.

At its simplest, "geoengineering" is the active transformation of our planet's climate through human intervention. The field emerged in earnest in the last two-and-a-half decades as a response to global warming and other forms of environmental degradation. It's about using technology to solve crises created by other technologies, everything from filters that pull carbon dioxide out of the air to spraying chemicals that would lower the global temperature. ... Read more

Your Geoengineering Cheat Sheet
Slate | Jacob Brogan | older, 01/06/16

Geoengineering describes the active transformation of our planet's climate through human intervention. Here are some of the key players, major debates, and pop cultural landmarks shaping the ways that we understand this emerging field. ... Read more

The Most Important Topic of Our Time - GeoEngineering (older) [46:02]

GeoengineeringWatch website

A Case for Climate Engineering by David Keith

Climate engineering -- which could slow the pace of global warming by injecting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere -- has emerged in recent years as an extremely controversial technology. And for good reason: it carries unknown risks and it may undermine commitments to conserving energy. Some critics also view it as an immoral human breach of the natural world. The latter objection, David Keith argues in A Scientist's Case for Climate Engineering, is groundless; we have been using technology to alter our environment for years. But he agrees that there are large issues at stake.
A leading scientist long concerned about climate change, Keith offers no naïve proposal for an easy fix to what is perhaps the most challenging question of our time; climate engineering is no silver bullet. But he argues that after decades during which very little progress has been made in reducing carbon emissions we must put this technology on the table and consider it responsibly. That doesn't mean we will deploy it, and it doesn't mean that we can abandon efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But we must understand fully what research needs to be done and how the technology might be designed and used. This book provides a clear and accessible overview of what the costs and risks might be, and how climate engineering might fit into a larger program for managing climate change.

In Major Shake-Up, Trump Hires Breitbart Exec and Citizens United Propagandist Bannon to Lead Campaign
AlterNet | Adele M. Stan| 08/17/16

In what is being billed as a major campaign shake-up, Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has hired Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon as his campaign's chief executive, according to The New York Times.

The writer/director of a number of films produced by Citizens United, Bannon is a curious choice to lead a campaign in turmoil. His expertise is as a propagandist, not a politico. Citizens United is best known as the plaintiff in the lawsuit that yielded the Supreme Court decision that allowed for the flooding of U.S. political campaigns with cash from unnamed donors. ... Read more

Conservative Radio Host Admits Right-Wing Media Created a 'Monster' That Doesn't Believe Facts
AlterNet | Kali Holloway | 08/16/16

While a fair number of GOPers have either outright stated their opposition to Donald Trump or evaded the question with enough skill to avoid providing an on-the-record endorsement, they’ve steered clear of admitting the role the right-wing media machine has played in paving the way for Trump’s rise. In fact, blowhards like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh keep pushing the right-wing lies that have made their party into a group that believes in everything but the truth.

Charlie Sykes, a conservative radio host, may be the first of his ilk to take responsibility for turning the right—those who pushed Trump to the top of the bill—into a crowd of fact-denying, media-mistrusting, Trump lie-swallowing, angry “monsters” who cannot be swayed by reality. He goes on record saying as much in an upcoming interview with Business Insider’s Oliver Darcy, who tweeted an excerpt ahead of the full text being published. ... Read more

TYT | Conservative Talk Show Host Admits Trump Is Their Fault (08/16/16) [4:52]

Rudy Giuliani is getting eviscerated for ‘forgetting’ 9/11. But he didn’t really.
WashingtonPost | Aaron Blake | 08/16/16

There was a time in his political career when Rudy Giuliani talked about 9/11 so much that Joe Biden famously said of him that there were "only three things he mentions in a sentence: A noun, a verb and 9/11."

But on Monday, while introducing Donald Trump and Mike Pence at a speech in Ohio, Giuliani almost seemed to forget the event that so defined his time as New York mayor. "Under those eight years before Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States," he said. "They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office." ... Read more
TYT | How Could Rudy Giuliani Forget About 9/11? (08/16/16) [5:43]

Overwhelmed By Debt, Nearly 1 In 5 Young Adults Live With Their Parents Or Grandparents
ZeroHedge | author | 08/17/16

... Millions of our young people cannot find decent jobs once they leave school, and millions of them are absolutely overwhelmed by debt. Of course some of them are just lazy, but whatever the reason it is undeniable that multi-generational households are on the rise. According to the Pew Research Center, 12 percent of the U.S. population was living in multi-generational households back in 1980. Today, that number is up to 19 percent. That means nearly one out of every five U.S. adults now live with their parents or their grandparents. One of the big culprits, of course, is student loan debt. ... Read more

Hillary Clinton has an 88% chance of winning the presidency.
NYTimes | Josh Katz | 08/15/16

The Upshot's elections model suggests that Hillary Clinton is favored to win the presidency, based on the latest state and national polls. A victory by Mr. Trump remains quite possible: Mrs. Clinton's chance of losing is about the same as the probability that an N.F.L. kicker misses a field goal from the 20-yard line. ... Read more

Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump's Campaign Chief
NYTimes | Andrew E. Kramer | 08/14/16

KIEV, Ukraine -- On a leafy side street off Independence Square in Kiev is an office used for years by Donald J. Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, when he consulted for Ukraine's ruling political party. His furniture and personal items were still there as recently as May.

And Mr. Manafort's presence remains elsewhere here in the capital, where government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manafort's main client, former President Viktor F. Yanukovych. ... Read more

*The True Story Of How War Broke Out In Syria
ZeroHedge | author | 08/16/16
Submitted by Steven Sahiounie via American Herald Tribune

...The CIA agents running the Deraa operation from their office in Jordan had already provided the weapons and cash needed to fuel the flames of revolution in Syria. With enough money and weapons, you can start a revolution anywhere in the world. In reality, the uprising in Deraa in March 2011 was not fueled by graffiti written by teenagers, and there were no disgruntled parents demanding their children to be freed. This was part of the Hollywood style script written by skilled CIA agents, who had been given a mission: to destroy Syria for the purpose of regime change. Deraa was only Act 1: Scene 1. ... Read more

Failed: What the "Experts" Got Wrong about the Global Economy by Mark Weisbrot

Why has the Eurozone ended up with an unemployment rate more than twice that of the United States more than six years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers? Why did the vast majority of low- and middle-income countries suffer a prolonged economic slowdown in the last two decades of the 20th century? What was the role of the International Monetary Fund in these economic failures? Why was Latin America able to achieve substantial poverty reduction in the 21st century after more than two decades without any progress?

Failed analyzes these questions, explaining why these important economic developments of recent years have been widely misunderstood and in some cases almost completely ignored. First, in the Eurozone, Mark Weisbrot argues that the European authorities' political agenda, which included shrinking the welfare state, reducing health care, pension, and other social spending, and reducing the bargaining power of labor played a very important role in prolonging the Eurozone's financial crisis and pushing it into years of recession and mass unemployment. This conclusion is based not only on public statements of European officials, but also on thousands of pages of documentation from consultations between the IMF and European governments after 2008.

The second central theme of Failed is that there are always practical alternatives to prolonged economic failure. Drawing on the history of other financial crises, recessions, and recoveries, Weisbrot argues that regardless of initial conditions, there have been and remain economically feasible choices for governments of the Eurozone to greatly reduce unemployment-including the hardest hit, crisis-ridden country of Greece.

The long-term economic failure of developing countries, its social consequences, as well as the subsequent recovery in the first decade of the 21st century, constitute the third part of the book's narrative, one that has previously gotten too little attention. We see why the International Monetary Fund has lost influence in middle income countries. Failed also examines the economic causes and consequences of Latin America's "second independence" and rebound in the twenty-first century, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.

This Is Not A Love Story: Examining A Month Of Deadly Domestic Violence In America
HP | Melissa Jeltsen | current

Trump and the Exploitation of Right Rage: It's Not the Economy, Stupid, That's Attracting Angry White Men to Him
AlterNet & Salon | Bob Cesca / Salon | 08/14/16

... While the lack of a college diploma binds most Trump supporters together, there are more obvious tells -- ones that we can plainly see but that can't be fully measured by pollsters. Specifically, it's not easy to quantify the growing resentment of white males who believe they're slowly losing their millennia-long grip on societal power. Likewise, it's difficult to measure the brainwashing of Trump's loyalists by the Fox News and talk radio echo-chamber. Yet we see it on display every day.

Last week, a video of a Pence rally showed an Air Force Mom asking Trump's running mate about the Khizr Khan story and whether Pence will ever tell Trump that "enough is enough." The mom was interrupted by boos, along with a gray-haired older man who attempted to shout her down, only to be escorted from the venue by security. The man who was dragged away, as well as the crowd itself, all fit nicely into the demographic profile of Trump's base: older white male retirees with massive chips on their shoulders. ... Read more

Milwaukee Mayhem
HP & Reuters | author | 08/14/16

Violent Protests Erupt In Milwaukee After Police Kill Suspect At Traffic Stop

The National Guard was activated on Sunday to help authorities should further rioting erupt in a predominantly black Milwaukee neighborhood where a policeman killed a suspect who officials said had turned toward the officer with a gun.

Police Chief Edward Flynn said a silent video of the incident appeared to show the officer acting within lawful bounds in the shooting of Sylville K. Smith, 23, on Saturday after Smith fled a traffic stop. Flynn said the video from the officer's body camera showed Smith turning toward the officer with a gun in his hand. ... Read more

FBI Mutiny? Feds Said To Launch Clinton Foundation Corruption Probe Despite DoJ Objections
ZeroHedge | author | 08/13/16

Multiple FBI investigations are reportedly underway involving potential corruption charges against the Clinton Foundation, according to a former senior law enforcement official... The actions are "seen by agents as a positive development as prosecutors there are generally thought to be more aggressive than the career lawyers within the DOJ." ... Read more

"Russian" Hacker Guccifer 2.0 Publishes Complete Personal Information Of All Congressional Democrats
ZeroHedge | author | 08/13/16

The "Russian" hacker Guccifer 2.0 has made it possible for millions of American to contact their Democratic representative instantly, after he released an excel spreadsheet on his blog - obtained from hacking the DNCC - which includes the personal cell phone number, physical and email address as well as full personal information for some 200 congressional Democrats. ...

WikiLeaks - Search the DNC email database
wikileaks.org | author | date

Today, Friday 22 July 2016 at 10:30am EDT, WikiLeaks releases 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from the top of the US Democratic National Committee -- part one of our new Hillary Leaks series. The leaks come from the accounts of seven key figures in the DNC. The emails cover the period from January last year until 25 May this year Read more

Clayton Fire devastates Lake County town; thousands flee
SFGate.com | Evan Sernoffsky | 08/14/16/span>

LOWER LAKE, Lake County -- A fast-moving wildfire that has ripped through rural Lake County, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee, accelerated Sunday, burning into historic downtown Lower Lake.

While fire officials confirmed Sunday that 10 homes had been consumed by the Clayton Fire, many properties were visibly ablaze by Sunday afternoon, and commercial structures in Lower Lake were in flames before dusk. This fire is going to have a very long-term, devastating impact on this community," said Lt. Doug Pittman, a Marin County sheriff's spokesman working on behalf of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. ... Read more

President Obama Issues Disaster Declaration For Flood-Ravaged Louisiana
HP & Rueters | Byrn Stole | 08/15/16

BATON ROUGE, La., Aug 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama issued a disaster declaration on Sunday for flood-ravaged Louisiana, where at least five people have died and emergency crews have rescued more than 20,000 people stranded by unprecedented flooding.

Governor John Bel Edwards said residents had been pulled from swamped cars, flooded homes and threatened hospitals across the southern part of the state. The already soaked region is expected to get more rain from a storm system stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley. ... Read more

Wall Street Can't Agree on When to Halt the U.S. Stock Market
Bloomberg | Annie Massa | 08/11/16

1. Market-wide circuit breakers cause rift in trading industry
2. Stock exchanges announced rare truce on other improvements

The trading industry can't find consensus on when to apply the U.S. stock market's brakes during times of turmoil.

On Thursday, the nation's three major exchange operators upgraded their rules to help prevent a repeat of the chaos seen on Aug. 24, 2015, when many securities suddenly sank. But a major sticking point remains, according to an official who spoke at an event hours after NYSE Group, Nasdaq Inc. and Bats Global Markets Inc. announced their changes. ... Read more

#walkBackDonald: A Reminder That Donald Trump Did Not Oppose The Iraq War (08/12/16) [10:04]

"World Out Of Whack"
ZeroHedge | author | 08/12/16

Talking with old people is a "helluva" lot of fun. I mean really old people - those closer to having a lid over their heads. People who grew up watching the advent of cars, TVs, and who still marvel that we have shaving cream in a can and chicken in packaging.

You realise how damn lucky we are today on so many fronts. Women very rarely die in childbirth, we can reasonably expect that our kids won't die from some horrific disease before making it to adulthood, and we take for granted food and wine from the other side of the world and sundry other goods which we find in our local supermarkets and shopping malls. Foods and goods that a generation ago either simply didn't exist or were available only to people with bow ties and butlers.

Most people living in advanced economies used to take for granted the idea that tomorrow would likely be better than today. Real positive incomes have been the norm since World War II. Sure, there have been very brief periods, one notably during the 70's where inflation was high and this wasn't the case, but the trend has been positive and steady. Up until around 1993 when it all ended. ...

Koch Brothers' Toadies Ryan and Pence Clean Up and Cover for Trump's Violent Rhetoric
AlterNet | Adele M. Stan | 08/10/16

The Koch brothers are said to loathe Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate. But you wouldn't know it from the actions of two of their favorite toadies. House Speaker Paul Ryan and vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence are working overtime to make excuses for Trump's incendiary comments, most recently Trump's suggestion at a rally in North Carolina Tuesday that "Second Amendment people" could take matters into their own hands should Hillary Clinton become president and start appointing Supreme Court justices.

Charles and David Koch, the neo-libertarian billionaires who own a good chunk of the apparatus of the Republican Party, have been very good to Ryan, whose career really took off when Americans for Prosperity, the brothers' political astroturf organization, embraced him with awards and accolades, beginning, as AlterNet reported, in 2008. And Pence has appeared as a featured speaker at numerous events sponsored by the Koch network, including many Americans for Prosperity gatherings. ... Read more

Trump Accuses Obama Of Being The "Founder Of ISIS; Crooked Hillary Clinton Is The Co-Founder"
ZeroHedge | author | 08/11/16

"ISIS is honoring President Obama," Trump said during a rally in Fort Lauderdale, adding that "He is the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS." He did not spare Hillary either: "I would say the co-founder would be 'Crooked' Hillary Clinton," Trump added of his Democratic rival. .... Read more
Donald Trump says ISIS was Founded by Obama (08/11/16) [0:34]

App Lets You Buy Leftover Food From Restaurants And It's Really Cheap
HP | Sarah Grossman | 08/10/16

"Food waste just seems like one of the dumbest problems we have in this world," co-founder James Crummie told Business Green.

Here's a situation where takeout is more cost efficient than cooking at home. Too Good To Go, an app operating in the UK, allows users to order leftover food at a discount from restaurants, according to the website. The goal is to help curb waste from establishments that typically toss out perfectly edible food at the end of the day.

Users simply log in, pick a restaurant, and pay through the app. Then they pick up their food at designated times ? usually around closing or after peak meal times, according to the Telegraph. ... Read more

Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart
NYTimesMag | Scott Anderson | current

Before driving into northern Iraq, Dr. Azar Mirkhan changed from his Western clothes into the traditional dress of a Kurdish pesh merga warrior: a tightfitting short woolen jacket over his shirt, baggy pantaloons and a wide cummerbund. He also thought to bring along certain accessories. These included a combat knife, tucked neatly into the waist of his cummerbund, as well as sniper binoculars and a loaded .45 semiautomatic. Should matters turn particularly ticklish, an M-4 assault rifle lay within easy reach on the back seat, with extra clips in the foot well. The doctor shrugged. "It's a bad neighborhood." ... Read more

The GOP must dump Trump
TheWashingtonPost | Joe Scarborough | 08/09/16

The Muslim ban, the David Duke denial, the "Mexican" judge flap, the draft dodger denigrating John McCain's military service, the son of privilege attacking an immigrant Gold Star mother and the constant revisionism and lying about past political positions taken are but a few of the lowlights that have punctuated Donald Trump's chaotic chase for the presidency.

Any one of these offenses would have disqualified any other candidate for president. But the Republican nominee remained competitive against a historically weak Democratic nominee on the promise of bringing radical change and dramatic disruption to Washington. ... Read more

*TYT | National Security Establishment Lines Up Against Donald Trump (08/09/16) [3:49]

How Much Damage Could Donald Trump Really Do, After All?
HP | Mark Kleiman | 08/09/16

Some of the people planning to cast protest votes in November have a bedtime story they love to tell themselves. In the story, Donald Trump's election wouldn't be such a bad thing because the diffusion of power in the American political system would prevent him from carrying out the worst of his lunatic schemes.

Now, there is a germ of an idea there: political and institutional constraints greatly limit the power of a President. But it's worth noting that the political constraints generally act through the perceptions of the President and those around him about what he can, and can't, get away with: that is, precisely the sort of thing that would have kept Trump-the-candidate from, e.g., hurling ethnic insults at a federal judge. A President unfazed by criticism, and willing to ignore advice about the limits of his lawful authority from the Office of Legal Counsel, actually can get quite a lot done. No President in the modern era -- even Nixon -- has dared to say what President Jackson said about a Supreme Court ruling: "Mr. Justice Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it." But what if we had a President who was willing to behave that way, surrounded by advisers egging him on to do so? Trump's power for evil might be substantially greater than (e.g.) Obama's power for good. ... Read more

Emails Renew Questions About Clinton Foundation and State Dept. Overlap
NYTimes | Eric Lichtblau | 08/09/16

A new batch of State Department emails released Tuesday showed the close and sometimes overlapping interests between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department when Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state.

The documents raised new questions about whether the charitable foundation worked to reward its donors with access and influence at the State Department, a charge that Mrs. Clinton has faced in the past and has always denied.

In one email exchange, for instance, an executive at the Clinton Foundation in 2009 sought to put a billionaire donor in touch with the United States ambassador to Lebanon because of the donor's interests there. ... Read more

*TYT | Newly Released Emails Don't Look Great For Hillary Campaign... (08/09/16) [8:19]

The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy by Michael E. Mann

The award-winning climate scientist Michael E. Mann and the Pulitzer Prize--winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have been on the front lines of the fight against climate denialism for most of their careers. They have witnessed the manipulation of the media by business and political interests and the unconscionable play to partisanship on issues that affect the well-being of billions. The lessons they have learned have been invaluable, inspiring this brilliant, colorful escape hatch from the madhouse of the climate wars.

The Madhouse Effect portrays the intellectual pretzels into which denialists must twist logic to explain away the clear evidence that human activity has changed Earth's climate. Toles's cartoons collapse counter-scientific strategies into their biased components, helping readers see how to best strike at these fallacies. Mann's expert skills at science communication aim to restore sanity to a debate that continues to rage against widely acknowledged scientific consensus. The synergy of these two climate science crusaders enlivens the gloom and doom of so many climate-themed books?and may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science.

Proxy War in Syria: US vs Russia by Natalia V. Osipova and Mark Mazzetti (08/08/16) [2:52]

Vietnam Secretly Moves israeli Rocket Launchers To Disputed Islands To Counter China
ZeroHedge | author | 08/10/16

While over the last several months, tensions over the South China Sea territorial dispute have mostly focused on the diplomatic war of words between China and the US, Reuters reports that in a move that is likely to substantially "raise tensions with Beijing", Vietnam has secretly fortified several of its islands in the disputed territory with Israeli-made EXTRA mobile rocket launchers 'capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route." ... Read more

GOP Senator Won't Back Donald Trump Because He's 'Unworthy Of Being Our President'
HP | Marina Fang | 08/08/16

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Monday said she won't back GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, joining a handful of Republican senators who say they cannot support him because of his rhetoric and temperament.

"Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values, nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country," Collins wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. ... Read more

*Trump Offers Huge Favors to Billionaires, and Calls It a Big Economic Speech
AlterNet | Adele M. Stan | 08/09/16

If it came out of the mouth of any other politician, the speech delivered on Monday by the Republican presidential candidate at the Detroit Economic Club would have been stunning in its mendacity. But issuing forth from Donald J. Trump, it was, sadly, to be expected. ...

... He claimed that "the terrible Obama-Clinton judgment" destroyed Detroit's manufacturing sector, when the Obama administration twisted Republican arms to get the funding to save the American auto industry. ... Read more

Donald Trump Full Economic Plan Speech in Detroit, Michigan (08/08/16) [54:48]

TYT | Donald Trump's Economic Plan: More Money For The Rich (08/08/16) [8:14]

Trump's economic advisers are also his biggest donors
Politico | Shane Goldmacher | 08/07/16

After spending months scolding his rivals for being beholden to their financial backers, Donald Trump unveiled an economic advisory council last week -- and filled it with some of his biggest donors.

Of the 13 men -- and they are all men -- that Trump touted as economic advisers for their "unparalleled experience and success," five are major donors whose families combined to give Trump's campaign and his joint fundraising account with the Republican Party more than $2 million. ... Read more

A Crisis Of Intervention
ZeroHedge| author | 08/09/16

"Dishonest money has created a culture of speculation out of ordinary producers and savers. As a result, we confuse financial markets for the source of our wealth." Perhaps at some point our central bankers will come to appreciate that wealth is not created by the printing of money. It is created by honest entrepreneurial endeavour, which is itself jeopardised by constant monetary intervention. ... Read more

Roger Ailes Had a 'Black Room' at Fox and Used Company Funds to Spy on Journalists
esquire.com | Peter Wade | 08/07/16

Sherman reported in New York Magazine that Ailes used Fox News money to fund public relations and surveillance campaigns against his enemies, including Sherman and other journalists. He also used company dollars to settle allegations of sexual harassment against him.

These shady dealings have been uncovered as Fox News executives pour through the network's financial records following Ailes's resignation. According to Sherman's sources at Fox, Ailes spent millions on these endeavors, but because Fox was bringing in more than a billion dollars in yearly profits, the amounts used personally by Ailes were almost negligible. ... Read more

Could The Deep State Be Sabotaging Hillary?
ZeroHedge | author | 08/09/16

Few would dispute that Hillary Clinton is the Establishment's candidate. It's widely accepted that the Establishment hews to a neoconservative (neo-con) foreign policy that is fully supported by America's Deep State, i.e. the centers of state power that don't change as a result of elections. As a result, it's widely accepted that the Deep State fully supports Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency and will move heaven and earth to get her elected. While this is a logical premise, I suspect it's overly simplistic. I suspect major power centers in the Deep State are actively sabotaging Hillary because they've concluded she is a poisoned chalice who would severely damage the interests of the Deep State and the U.S.A. Read more

Donald Trump Tries a Campaign Reboot
WallStreetJournal | Beth Reinhard | 08/08/16

Donald Trump is trying to quickly reset his presidential campaign to address worsening poll numbers and growing isolation from influential members of the Republican Party.

At weekend rallies, the GOP nominee read from a hand-held script and offered endorsements for the re-elections of a trio of Capitol Hill Republicans whom he had toyed with rebuffing. On Monday, he will head to Detroit to deliver an economic policy address that is expected to draw contrasts with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. ... Read more

Donald Trump Full Economic Plan Speech in Detroit, Michigan (08/08/16) [54:48]

TYT | Poll: Donald Trump Really NOT Winning With Millennials (08/07/16) [14:57]

We've Already Used Up Earth's Resources For 2016 -- And It's Only August
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 08/08/16

It's less than eight months into 2016 and the ominous day is already nearly upon us: Earth Overshoot Day, previously known as Ecological Debt Day, is a reminder of the enormous toll we take on the Earth.

For the rest of 2016, we'll be "living on resources borrowed from future generations," as the World Wildlife Fund pointed out when we failed last year. Troublingly, this year's Overshoot Day is happening earlier than ever before. It's "come around five days earlier than last year, a sign that humanity's consumption of renewable natural resources continues to rise," Global Footprint Network spokesman Sebastian Winkler told The Huffington Post. ... Read more

TYT | Cenk Uygur Discussing Donald Trump On This Week With George Stephanopoulos (08/06/16) [11:14]

Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It by Wendell Potter

American democracy has become coin operated. Special interest groups increasingly control every level of government. The necessity of raising huge sums of campaign cash has completely changed the character of politics and policy making, determining what elected representatives stand for and how they spend their time. The marriage of great wealth and intense political influence has rendered our country unable to address our most pressing problems, from runaway government spending to climate change to the wealth gap. It also defines our daily lives: from the cars we drive to the air we breathe to the debt we owe. In this powerful work of reportage, Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman, two vigilant watchdogs, expose legalized corruption and link it to the kitchen-table issues citizens face every day. Inciting our outrage, the authors then inspire us by introducing us to the army of reformers laying the groundwork for change, ready to be called into action. The battle plan for reform presented is practical, realistic, and concrete. No one-except some lobbyists and major political donors-likes business as usual, and this book intends to help forge a new army of reformers who are compelled by a patriotic duty to fight for a better democracy. An impassioned, infuriating, yet ultimately hopeful call to arms, Nation on the Take lays bare the reach of moneyed interests and charts a way forward, toward the recovery of America's original promise.

Howard Kunstler Rages "Wake The F**K Up... Gravity Always Wins"
ZeroHEdge | author | 08/08/16

"...distortions in markets, currencies, and capital are spinning out in an ever broader, centrifugal gyre, coinciding, as chance would have it, with the most peculiar election in modern times. The incoherence and deceit on both sides is far beyond even the extravagant American norms of dauntless political bullshit. We literally have no idea what we're doing in this country, or what we're actually wishing for. The financial structures of everyday life look more fragile than ever. Gravity always wins." ... Read more

Clinton surges to big lead in McClatchy-Marist poll
mcclatchydc.com | David Lightman | 08/04/16

Clinton made strong gains with two constituencies crucial to a Republican victory -- whites and men -- while scoring important gains among fellow Democrats, the poll found.

Clinton not only went up, but Trump also went down. Clinton now has a 48-33 percent lead, a huge turnaround from her narrow 42-39 advantage last month. ... Read more
TYT | Donald Trump's Polls PLUMMETING After Week Of Fail (08/04/16) [9:04]

Trump Made Up An Entire News Story On Iran -- And He's Standing By It
thinkprogress.org | Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani | 08/04/16

In the last few days, Donald Trump has made up an entire news story on U.S. foreign policy. Speaking at a rally in Maine on Thursday, Trump claimed that the Iranian government released secret footage it had of the United States transferring $400 million in cash to Iran.

"You know why the tape was given to us? Because they want to embarrass our country," Trump said. "They want to embarrass our country. They want to embarrass our president. Because we have a president who's incompetent. They want to embarrass our president." ... Read more
TYT | Donald Trump Makes Up Iran Story After Watching Fox News (08/04/16) [6:49]

Trump Boasts About Watching 'Top Secret' Iran Video Immediately After Becoming Eligible To Receive Classified Briefings
HP | Christina Wilkie | 08/03/16

Donald Trump on Wednesday described vivid details from a video he said he had watched earlier in the day of Iranian officials unloading cash from an airplane. The money was part of a payment, announced earlier this year, from the U.S. to Iran to settle a decades-old dispute over an incomplete weapons sale.

"I'll never forget the scene this morning," Trump told the crowd in Daytona Beach, Florida, of what he said he had watched. "Iran ? I don't think you've heard this anywhere but here ? Iran provided all of that footage, the tape, of taking that money off that airplane. ... Read more

TYT | Trans-Pacific Partnership EXPLAINED! (08/04/16) [6:22]

Joe Scarborough Claims Trump Asked Advisor Why US Can't Use Nukes
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/ | Katherine Krueger | 08/03/16

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough reported on the air Wednesday morning that when Donald Trump met for a briefing with an unnamed foreign policy expert, the GOP nominee allegedly asked, "Why can't we use nuclear weapons?" several times.

Scarborough made the claim during an interview with retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, who expressed concern about how Trump would be an "erratic" and "inconsistent" commander-in-chief. ... Read more
*TYT | Donald Trump: Why Don't We Use Nukes? (08/04/16) [11:41]

America's Oligarchs Support Clinton Almost Unanimously
ZeroHedge | author | 08/04/16

Perhaps the reason why this is so, is: Clinton has already spoken privately with the heads of these companies (the companies owned by the oligarchs) and with their lobbyists, and she coordinates her campaign with their propaganda-operations. So: her messages are also their messages. (But what she has told them behind closed doors goes even beyond that, into her proposing new federal subsidies for their businesses.)

The historical background of the current developments in the U.S., has already been well covered in a lengthy paper by Ryan Patrick Alford, that's appropriately-titled "The Dismantling of the Rule of Law in the United States" (especially see there "Citizens United," which is a direct source of this). ... Read more

The Profound Challenge of OCD: One Woman's Story
AlterNet | author | 08/04/16

... But, beneath the surface, in the labyrinth of my brain, an entire subculture of irrational worries, self-doubts, and bizarre fears was wildly proliferating, the content of which often had nothing to do with Peter. For instance, cleaning out my pantry one afternoon, I came across a jar of tartar sauce, unopened, which I knew I'd never use. I offered it to our cleaning-lady, who took it home. That evening, I was seized by the overwhelming fear that this jar somehow might be contaminated by botulism. It didn't matter how improbable this fear was, I couldn't stop it. I began calling every hour, then every half-hour, then 20 minutes, until I reached her and insisted she throw it out. I knew she thought I was crazy. I thought I was crazy. A few months later, a similar worry burbled up: I'd regifted an unopened set of Crabtree & Evelyn bath accessories as a present to my mother-in-law. Suddenly, I was overtaken by the possibility that dangerous bacteria may have somehow contaminated the soap and shampoo during the short time they were sitting, untouched, in a closet. Too embarrassed to call her myself, I enlisted Peter to call his mother to explain that she should throw the package away. I can't recall us ever discussing this curious incident. Did Peter or my mother-in-law or I perceive anything odd about my concern with contamination, like the contaminated blood products that harmed Peter? As if I, too, had become contaminated -- and was capable of contaminating others, in turn? ... Read more

Runaway Trump Train Picks Up Speed As Aides Can't Grab The Controls
HP | Howard Fineman | 08/03/16

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's campaign chairman, has had success dealing with hard-to-manage dictatorial types, from Imelda Marcos of the Philippines, to Jonas Savimbi of Angola, to Victor Yanukovych of Ukraine. But he is described by close friends as "frustrated" beyond measure by his inability to manage Trump in any sense.

Reince Preibus, the pliable chair of the Republican National Committee, went to extraordinary lengths to legitimize The Donald ? but now the RNC is throwing up its hands and distancing itself. Read more

"It Takes A Village To Maintain A Dangerous Financial System"
ZeroHedge | author | 08/03/16

Reassurances that regulators are doing their best to protect the public are false, warns Stanford's Anat Admati in her latest report on the collusive dissonance within financial markets. She discuss the motivations and actions (or inaction) of individuals in the financial system, governments, central banks, academia and the media that collectively contribute to the persistence of a dangerous and distorted financial system and inadequate, poorly designed regulations. The underlying problem is a powerful mix of distorted incentives, ignorance, confusion, and lack of accountability. Willful blindness seems to play a role in flawed claims by the system's enablers that obscure reality and muddle the policy debate.

In banking, the public interest in safety conflicts with the incentives of people within the industry. Protecting the public requires effective regulations because market forces fail to do so. Without effective regulations, dangerous conduct is enabled and perversely rewarded. Because the harm is difficult to connect to specific policy failures and individuals, it persists. Even if a crisis occurs, the enablers of the system can promote narratives that divert attention from their own responsibility ... ... Read more

Trump Says It's Time To Sell Stocks, Warns Of "Very Scary Scenarios" For Investors
ZeroHedge | author | 08/03/16

While Wall Street typically worries about how politics might affect the market, Presidential candidates worry about how the stock market might affect their political outcomes. The reason for this is that historically, the market performance in the three months leading up to a Presidential Election has displayed an uncanny ability to forecast who will win the White House... the incumbent party or the challenger. Since 1928, there have been 22 Presidential Elections. In 14 of them, the S&P 500 climbed during the three months preceding election day. The incumbent President or party won in 12 of those 14 instances. However, in 7 of the 8 elections where the S&P 500 fell over that three month period, the incumbent party lost. ... Read more
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Our Consumption Of Earth's Natural Resources Has More Than Tripled In 40 Years
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 08/02/16

Limestone and steel for our homes, wheat and vegetables for our dinner, fossil fuels for our industries: we rely heavily on our planet's natural resources to survive.

Yet we're using up these resources at such an unsustainable pace that we may be "irreversibly" depleting some of them ? and critically damaging our Earth in the process, according to a new United Nations report. ... Read more

David Stockman Rants Against The Dangers & Digressions Of The Donald's Demagoguery
ZeroHedge | author | 08/02/16

"Making America great" is about unleashing the nation's capitalists again. It's an expression that prosperity is not bestowed by the state but won by the kind of builders, investors, innovators and workers that The Donald fancies to be the essence of Trump Inc. To that extent, Donald Trump could be regarded as an incipient anti-statist. While this might seem like an overly generous characterization, it is a measure, alas, of the degree to which the bipartisan "policy" consensus against him has congealed around what is essentially a Keynesian axiom of endless macroeconomic intervention and "stimulus". ... Read more

TYT | Koch Brothers Pass On Hillary AND Trump. Will Buy Congress Instead. (08/01/16) [6:40]

Trump Urges His Supporters To Sell Stocks, Warns Of "Very Scary Scenarios" For Investors
ZeroHedge | author | 08/02/16

Now that we are exactly three months away from the November 8 election, if Trump wants to really boost his electoral chances, a market crash right now be certainly most welcome by his campaign. Which may be why Trump today urged his supporters to get out of equities as "interest rates set by the Federal Reserve are inflating the stock market" and warned of "very scary scenarios" for investors. ... Read more

A "1 In 10,000 Year Event": JPM Head Quant Explains Why The S&P Refuses To Sell Off
ZeroHedge | author | 08/02/16

"... one would expect this scenario to happen once every ~10,000 years. The fact that we see this type of behavior demonstrates market inefficiency--in this case driven by hedging of option exposure. Quite literally, the market was pinned. Over the past 3 weeks, the amount of call options exceeding put options (in terms of gamma exposure) averaged almost $40bn (per 1%), which is the largest call to put gamma imbalance ever observed." ... Read more

European Bank Bloodbath Destroys Stress Test Credibility
ZeroHEdge | author | 08/02/16

If the goal of the EBA Stress Tests was to reassure investors and regain confidence that 'all is well' in Europe's increasingly fragile and systemically interconnected banking system, then it has utterly failed. The broadest European bank stock index is now down 7% from the post-stress-test spike highs, Italian banks are at record lows and being halted (despite Renzi's promises), Commerzbank is struggling with capital raise chatter, and Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are tumbling after being booted from the Stoxx 50. ... Read more

The Rising: Connecting Human Health and Oil Operations (trailer, longer) (07/11/16) [5:38]

The Rising: Connecting Human Health and Oil Operations (trailer, short) (07/11/16) [1:57]

The Big Fix - BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Cover up (12/27/12) [1:30:19]

Whatever You Do, Don't Look Down
HP | Abigail Williams | 08/02/16

Situated off the side of China's Tianmen Mountain, the 100-meter-long, 1.6-meter-wide skywalk is situated high above Hunan's Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Dubbed the "Coiling Dragon Cliff" skywalk, the clear glass walkway overlooks a sheer drop that would turn any stomach. ... Read more
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GOP Leaders Don't Ditch Trump Even After Condemning His Attacks On Muslim War Hero's Family
HP | Marina Fang | 07/31/16

In what has become a familiar pattern, GOP leaders on Sunday denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's latest round of offensive remarks. But they continue to support his campaign.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) both issued standard statements condemning Trump's attacks against Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a Muslim American war hero killed in Iraq. ... Read more
*TYT | Father Of Fallen American Soldier Delivers POWERFUL Speech Against Trump (07/31/16) [6:46]

John Oliver | Lays Into Trump for His Shameful Criticisms of the Khan Family (08/01/16) [18:09]

On Contact: Into the Political Wilderness with Jill Stein (07/30/16) [26:04]

Hillary's Latest Headache: Skolkovo
ZeroHedge | author | 08/01/16

... Of the 28 "partners," 17, or 60%, have made financial commitments to the Clinton Foundation, totaling tens of millions of dollars, or sponsored speeches by Bill Clinton...

Russians tied to Skolkovo also flowed funds to the Clinton Foundation. Andrey Vavilov, the chairman of SuperOx, which is part of Skolkovo's nuclear-research cluster, donated between $10,000 and $25,000 (donations are reported in ranges, not exact amounts) to the Clinton's family charity"

Thus far, this should not be surprising. It is yet another instance of crony capitalism that has so well characterized the Clintons over the years. However, as US intelligence agencies including the FBI were soon to find out, the Russian Silicon Valley served other purposes as well. ... Read more

*Whistleblower's Stunning Claim: "NSA Has All Of Hillary's Deleted Emails, It May Be The Leak"
ZeroHedge | author | 08/01/16

"If the FBI really wanted them they can go into that database and get them right now," William Binney said of Clinton's emails as well as DNC emails. Asked point blank if he believed the NSA has copies of "all" of Clinton's emails, including the deleted correspondence, Binney confirmed. "Yes. That would be my point. They have them all and the FBI can get them right there." ... Read more

Is Europe Doomed By Vassalage To Washington?
ZeroHedge | author | 08/01/16

... With few exceptions, principally the UK, membership in the EU also meant loss of financial independence. As only the European Central Bank, an EU institution, can create euros, those countries so foolish as to accept the euro as their currency no longer have the power to create their own money in order to finance budget deficits.

The countries that joined the euro must rely on private banks to finance their deficits. The result of this is that over-indebted countries can no longer pay their debts by creating money or expect their debts to be written down to levels that they can service. Instead, Greece, Portugal, Latvia, and Ireland were looted by the private banks. ... Read more

Paul Krugman Reveals the 'Real Sinners' Behind Trump
AlterNet | Janet Allon | 08/01/16

Paul Krugman is incredulous about the mounting horrors of the Trump campaign and spends his Monday NYTimes column once again trying to inject some reasonable thinking into the debate about how to vote come November. Depressingly, he notes that a YouGov survey just found that "61 percent of Republicans support his call for Russian hacking of Hillary Clinton," which doesn't bode well for how Republicans feel about his criticisms of a Muslim war hero's family. ... Read more