Home · News · News Dec 2015 · Dec 11 2015
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 Niño Report Predicts
MotherJones | Julia Lurie | 12/11/15

After four years of drought, Californians are bracing for another potentially destructive weather event: El Niño. 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:

  1. This may be the strongest El Niño 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. King Tides, El Niño, and the Blob mean higher sea levels and more potential damage. Sea levels typically rise a few inches during El Niño, 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.
  5. 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.
Read more

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

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."
*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 | 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 | 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]
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



Special Interest Important stuff
GOOD Shorts Videos

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

GOOD Short Videos
Newer Documentaries You Might Not Have Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

Newer Documentaries
Documentaries You've Never Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title
Documentaries (small | pop-up)
Documentaries (big | full screen)
Good YouTube Documentaries

Note: To view a video, click on its name/title
Great YouTube Docs. (small | pop-up)
Good YouTube Docs. (big | full screen)

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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.
Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.
Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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,.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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".

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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)

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
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.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Sponsors

I'm looking for sponsors to financially help with this site.  If you might be interested please send me a message using the Contact form.

Donation


I am one of those "once" middle class, over 60, over educated, under-employed, semi retired, soon to be poor workers, that everyone is talking about. 
But I have a modest standard of living so I plan to give all extra donation, beyond my immediate needs, to several of my favorite charities.

save-the-children

News Pages
News March 2024
News February 2024
News January 2024
News December 2023
News November 2023
News October 2023
News September 2023
News August 2023
News July 2023
News June 2023
News May 2023
News April 2023
News March 2023
News February 2023
News January 2023

News December 2022
News November 2022
News October 2022
News September 2022
News August 2022
News July 2022
News June 2022
News May 2022
News April 2022
News March 2022
News February 2022
News January 2022

News December 2021
News November 2021
News October 2021
News September 2021
News August 2021
News July 2021
News June 2021
News May 2021
News April 2021
News March 2021
News February 2021
News January 2021

News December 2020
News November 2020
News October 2020
News September 2020
News August 2020
News July 2020
News June 2020
News May 2020
News April 2020
News March 2020
News February 2020
News January 2020

News December 2019
News November 2019
News October 2019
News September 2019
News August 2019
News July 2019
News June 2019
News May 2019
News April 2019
News March 2019
News February 2019
News January 2019

News December 2018
News November 2018
News October 2018
News September 2018
News August 2018
News July 2018
News June 2018
News May 2018
News April 2018
News March 2018
News February 2018
News January 2018

News December 2017
News November 2017
News October 2017
News September 2017
News August 2017
News July 2017
News June 2017
News May 2017
News April 2017
News March 2017
News February 2017
News January 2017

News December 2016
News November 2016
News October 2016
News September 2016
News August 2016
News July 2016
News June 2016
News May 2016
News April 2016
News March 2016
News February 2016
News January 2016

News December 2015
News November 2015
News October 2015
News September 2015
News August 2015
News July 2015
News June 2015
News May 2015
News April 2015
News March 2015
News February 2015
News January 2015

News December 2014
News November 2014
News October 2014
News September 2014
News August 2014
News July 2014
News June 2014
News May 2014
News April 2014
News March 2014
News February 2014
News January 2014

News December 2013
News November 2013
News October 2013
News September 2013
News August 2013
News July 2013
News June 2013
News May 2013
News April 2013
News March 2013
News February 2013
News January 2013

News December 2012
News November 2012
News October 2012
News September 2012
News August 2012
News July 2012
News June 2012
News May 2012
News April 2012
News March 2012
News February 2012
News January 2012

News December 2011