Dec 11 2015 - News Dec 2015 - News - Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Friday December 11, 2015

News Articles

Casino Capitalism Grips Washington
HP | Zach Carter | 12/11/15

Negotiations over a must-pass bill to avert a government shutdown have stumbled on an unlikely roadblock that has nothing to do with government spending or federal debt. Rather, it would hand heftier profits to a handful of private equity firms by amending a Depression-era bankruptcy law.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) nearly succeeded in attaching the private equity aid to a highway funding bill earlier this month, but the measure was stripped at the last minute amid opposition from liberal Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is now the lead champion of Shelby's provision, and is seeking to include some version of it in a bill to fund the federal government.

The policy rider would help two powerful financial firms -- Apollo Capital Management and TPG Capital -- exact financial concessions from other investors involved in a bitter battle over the fate of the Caesar's Palace casino empire. The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson reported on the dispute in the fall of 2014, noting that Apollo and TPG were facing off against creditors that included a pension fund for California teachers.

Apollo and TPG own Caesar's Entertainment Corp., a casino empire that operates, among many properties, the famed Las Vegas gambling house. Caesar's has faltered under a heavy debt burden incurred by the complex deal that allowed Apollo and TPG to take over the company. Those two owners now want to shed that debt without formally declaring bankruptcy, since a bankruptcy court would require them to take heavy losses. ... Read more

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Pens Scathing Column Comparing Trump To ISIS
HP | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 12/10/15

In the wake of Donald Trump's Islamophobic cries and condemnations, NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar penned a column Wednesday comparing the presidential candidate to ISIS, the self-described Islamic State sullying the international landscape with their widespread violence and terrorism.

Just three days after Trump called for Muslims to be barred from "entering the United States," Abdul-Jabbar argued that the culture of fear that Trump has created with his reliance on intimidation, lies and downright discrimination is analogous to the literal, physical terrorism that ISIS has perpetuated of late. Citing Webster Dictionary's definition of terrorism -- "the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal; the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion" -- Abdul-Jabbar put forth a theory: "If violence can be an abstraction -- and it can; that's what a threat is -- the Trump campaign meets this definition." ... Read more

Shit Is About to Get Real in California, El NiÃ±o Report Predicts
MotherJones | Julia Lurie | 12/11/15

After four years of drought, Californians are bracing for another potentially destructive weather event: El NiÃ±o. Earlier this week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, released a disaster plan including what to expect from the upcoming rainy season. Here are the key takeaways:

This may be the strongest El NiÃ±o on record. Weather reports indicate that this year will be warm and wet--perhaps even more so than the winter of 1997-1998. That year, California evacuated 100,000 people.
The dry conditions mean more flooding. The lack of soil moisture has made the soil "harden and act like cement," making it, paradoxically, less likely to soak up the rain. The chance of flooding is far higher than usual, especially in the productive farm country of the Central Valley and the surrounding area -- including the state's capital. "The primary risk areas are in populated areas mostly notably in Sacramento," the report reads -- and because of that, "a major flood situation would have significant impact on the economic, cultural, and political life of California." Additionally, a catastrophic levee failure in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would jeopardize a major source of water for 60 percent of California homes and for a portion of the state's agricultural industry." One in five Californians lives in a flood zone.
Wildfires in the summer mean more landslides in the winter. The wildfire season this year was devastating in California, scorching more than 300,000 acres. Mudslides are common in these scorched areas, called "burn scars," because water quickly runs off and there aren't trees to keep the soil, rocks, and other debris in place. Southern Californians got a little taste of what this might look like when rain led to severe landslides in October.
King Tides, El NiÃ±o, and the Blob mean higher sea levels and more potential damage. Sea levels typically rise a few inches during El NiÃ±o, but this winter, scientists predict that the giant swath of warm water off the West Coast -- dubbed the Blob -- will lead to a rise of between 8 and 11 inches. State officials are particularly concerned about the potential damage caused by storms toward the end of both December and January, when the highest tides of the winter, called King Tides, are expected.
The rains may ease the drought but won't solve it. All this water will certainly ease the drought and raise levels in the state's depleted reservoirs. But because the state is so behind on precipitation, it's very unlikely that it will make up for the state's now four-year water deficit.

Carl Icahn Warns "Meltdown In High Yield Is Just Beginning"
ZeroHEdge | author | 12/11/15

Amid the biggest weekly collapse in high-yield bonds since March 2009, Carl Icahn gently reminds investors that he saw this coming... and that it's only just getting started!

If you haven't seen 'Danger Ahead' watch it on http://www.carlicahn.com . Unfortunately I believe the meltdown in High Yield is just beginning ... Read more

Crushing The Auto-Makers' Dreams (In 2 Depressing Charts)
ZeroHedge | author | 12/11/15

Earlier this morning we got another glimpse of reality behind the smoke-and-mirrors, mainstream-media-sponsored last-pillar-standing lovefest that is US auto sales when the business sales data showed a disheartening tumble in sales in October. So where are all the sales going that automakers report? The answer is simple... (and painful). ... Read more

DemocracyNow - http://www.democracynow.org/

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 11 [10:04]

Indigenous Group Brings "Canoe of Life" 6,000 Miles from Amazon to Paris to Call for Climate Action (12/11/15) [5:04]

"A Rogue Company": Leading Glaciologist on Exxon's Climate Change Cover-Up (12/11/15) [5:56]

Voluntary Pledges Aren't Enough: Glaciologist Says Nonbinding Emission Reductions Won't Cut It (12/11/15) [8:20]

"Straight Wrong": British Climate Economist Responds to Trump's Climate Change Denial (12/11/15) [2:16]

Former World Bank Chief Economist on Climate: "I Hope Historians Will See This as a Turning Point" (12/11/15) [6:27]

At COP21, U.S. Allows Mention of Climate Reparations -- Only If It Doesn't Have to Pay Them (12/11/15) [11:34]

We are Sacrifice Zones: Native Leader Says Toxic North Dakota Fracking Fuels Violence Against Women (12/11/15) [5:18]

Climate Justice Movement "Extremely Disappointed" in COP21 Draft's "Failure to Step Up" (12/11/15) [9:45]

DN | Jeremy Corbyn Speech on Climate Crisis: Now Is Not the Time for Small Steps (12/11/15) [27:00]

*DN | "A Rogue Company": Leading Glaciologist on Exxon's Climate Change Cover-Up (12/11/15) [5:00]

Leading glaciologist Jason Box was an expert witness in a mock trial of Exxon held at COP21, which examined how the oil giant concealed its own findings dating back to the 1970s that fossil fuels cause global warming, alter the climate and melt the Arctic ice. "They take a public position that is counter to their own science, in effect lying to the public on issues just to keep their product sellable. That cost us 20 years," Box says. "If they had come straight and recognized themselves as an energy company, they could have made that transition with us to cleaner energy and remained a viable company. Now they're a rogue company."

*Diane Rehm - http://thedianerehmshow.org

*DR | Friday News -- Domestic (12/11/15) [1hr]

An update on the FBI's investigation of the San Bernardino shooters. Congress runs up against a budget deadline. And Donald Trump warns the GOP he would have support as an independent candidate. A panel of journalists joins guest host Melissa Ross for analysis of the week's top national news stories.

*DR | Friday News -- International (12/11/15) [1hr]

French authorities identify the third assailant in the Paris attacks. Negotiators work against a deadline on a global climate agreement. And in Venezuela the opposition wins control of Congress. A panel of journalists joins guest host Melissa Ross for analysis of the week's top international news stories.

TRNN News - http://therealnews.com/

*TRNN | Alan Robock: Nuclear Winter, Part 4 (older 2014) [19:24]

TRNN | The Voice of Europe: Political Radicalization in Europe (12/11/15) [20:16]

TYT News - http://www.tytnetwork.com/

*TYT | Woman Reveals EXACTLY Why Donald Trump Is Popular (12/10/15) [4:37]

*TYT | Islamophobic Attacks On The Rise (12/10/15) [7:20]

*TYT | Mark Zuckerberg Stands With Muslims (12/10/15) [3:17]

RT - http://www.rt.com/

Ring of Fire - http://ringoffireradio.com/

RoF | Donald Trump Is The Ugly New Face Of The Republican Party (12/10/15) [7:33]

Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/

NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/

PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - www.pbs.org/

MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

12.11.2015. 12:14

NPR

PBS

Special Interest Important stuff

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Lindsey Graham Mashups

Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change

Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning

AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence

Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers

Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes

Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business

Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911

911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups

Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades

Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews

Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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