Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Elizabeth Warren Moves Toward 2020 Bid With Launch Of Exploratory Committee
HP | Amanda Terkel | 12/31/18

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) became the highest-profile Democrat to officially test the waters for a 2020 presidential run, with the launch of an exploratory committee that allows her to start raising money for a campaign.

Warren is making the announcement Monday morning in an email to supporters, accompanied by a video laying out the case for her candidacy. It hews to her core message, that the system is no longer helping working-class Americans. ... Read more

Elizabeth Warren Launches Exploratory Committee for President | 12/31/18 | 4:29

The global disasters that have been deferred to 2019
Axios | Dave Lawler | 12/31/18

This year was largely spent in a protective crouch, with disaster looming in a number of global hot spots -- and all of them are still looming in 2019.

Why it matters: The major calamities we feared in 2018 didn't get resolved -- they've merely been deferred. North Korea still has nuclear weapons. The trade war isn't over. The post-World War II global order is crumbling under threat from populism, adversaries like China and Russia, and a failure to solve systemic problems. Economic recession, a threat multiplier, is looking increasingly likely.

For an Example: As Van Jackson, a former Pentagon strategist and author of the new book "On the Brink: Trump, Kim, and the Threat of Nuclear War," told me: "You are not in a stable situation if you rely on the whims and the caprice of individual leaders to prevent nuclear war."... Read more

18 Numbers That Explain Trump's 2018
Politico | RuairÍ Arrieta-Kenna | date

Giants: The Global Power Elite by Peter Phillips

A look at the top 300 most powerful players in world capitalism, who are at the controls of our economic future.

Who holds the purse strings to the majority of the world's wealth? There is a new global elite at the controls of our economic future, and here former Project Censored director and media monitoring sociologist Peter Phillips unveils for the general reader just who these players are. The book includes such power players as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Jamie Dimon, and Warren Buffett.

As the number of men with as much wealth as half the world fell from sixty-two to just eight between January 2016 and January 2017, according to Oxfam International, fewer than 200 super-connected asset managers at only 17 asset management firms -- each with well over a trillion dollars in assets under management--now represent the financial core of the world's transnational capitalist class. Members of the global power elite are the management -- the facilitators -- of world capitalism, the firewall protecting the capital investment, growth, and debt collection that keeps the status quo from changing. Each chapter in Giants identifies by name the members of this international club of multi-millionaires, their 17 global financial companies--and including NGOs such as the Group of Thirty and the Trilateral Commission--and their transnational military protectors, so the reader, for the first time anywhere, can identify who constitutes this network of influence, where the wealth is concentrated, how it suppresses social movements, and how it can be redistributed for maximum systemic change.

Special report: The aging, childless future
Axios | Steve LeVine | 12/27/18

Since the dawn of humans, we have faced one inexorable challenge -- how to support the rise and -- in the last half century or so -- explosion of the population. But, in a momentous reversal, that age-old challenge is changing: the population of most countries is shrinking -- for many of them at an alarming pace -- and at the same time aging.

The most worrying figure: The world will not have sufficient working-age people to support the elderly. Currently, North America has just under four workers per retired person. Seven European countries have three, and Japan has just a bit more than two. ... Read more
Click to zoom in

What Was Steve Mnuchin Thinking? Three Possibilities
TheAtlantic | Annie Lowrey | 12/24/18

The Treasury secretary put out an alarming -- and confusing -- press release on Sunday evening.

Imagine having a runny nose, itchy eyes, congestion, and a sore throat, and your doctor telling you that you shouldn't worry about cancer -- she consulted her colleagues and they're certain it is not cancer, and if it were, they could fight it.

This is roughly what happened on Sunday evening, when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin put out a press release on calls he held with executives from the country's largest banks. Mnuchin's statement assured the public that they had not been having liquidity problems or "clearance or margin" issues -- the sorts of things you would worry about if the country were on the brink of a financial crisis. ... Read more

Special report: How the robot revolution is changing our lives
Axios | Mike Allen | 12/26/18

We're entering a new, robot-fueled tech boom that is already disrupting the world's balance of power, and is changing how we fight wars, stay alive, drive, work, shop and do chores.

The future is now: We keep talking about what's coming, but we're already on the leading edge of a profound global change that will create tremendous opportunity for new power and wealth.

In this new age of automation, businesses are frantically installing machines and algorithms that eventually will make them far more efficient -- and wipe out jobs and sectors at blinding speed.

This has touched off a tech race between the U.S. and China. And the other major economies -- the U.K., France and South Korea in particular -- are also spending big to own a piece of this future. ...
The upsides:
The downsides:
Read more

SORRY, TRUMP: Most ISIS Recruits in America Aren't Immigrants, a New Study Suggests
TheIntercept | Murtaza Hussain | 12/26/18

ASK SOMEONE TO close their eyes and picture a typical homegrown, American recruit for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Chances are the image that springs to mind is of a brown-skinned person with an immigrant background, likely with ties to the Middle East, South Asia, or North Africa. That image of the average accused terrorist might be out of date, a new study published by the Rand Corporation suggests. In the study, "Trends in the Draw of Americans to Foreign Terrorist Organizations from 9/11 to Today," which sought to explore why ISIS has relative successes recruiting in the U.S., researchers found that in recent years the most common demographic profile for an accused terrorist motivated by "radical Islam" has been a native-born American, either white or African-American. ... Read more

White House: Trump Would Accept Less Money For Border Wall
HP | AP/Darlene Superville | 12/23/18

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney placed the offer at between Trump's $5.7 billion request and $1.3 billion Democrats are offering.

A top White House official signaled Sunday that President Donald Trump is willing to accept less money than he's been demanding to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall, but a senior congressional Democrat said that, while their own offer could be sweetened, they still will not agree to a wall.

The back and forth across the television airwaves did little to inspire hope that a Christmas season closure of some federal government operations would end later this week, when the House and Senate are scheduled to meet again. ... Read more

2019 could be worst year for economy since '08
Axios| Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei | 12/24/18

A wide swath of market-watchers expect the U.S. economy in 2019 to be the worst since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis, potentially putting President Trump in a hole as he heads into his re-election race.

Flashback: A year ago, we wrote about a rare and enviable trend: synchronized global recovery. Now, we have synchronized global retreat..

"2008 had ... people minding the shop ... like Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Josh Bolten, Steve Hadley, Condi Rice, Bob Gates, and real deputies who all had the implicit trust of both the president and the markets -- and worked together to prevent disaster." ... Read more

THE WALL The real costs of a barrier between the United States and Mexico by Vanda Felbab-Brown | brookings.edu | August 2017 | article

Many have been separated from their family members for years. Some were deported to Mexico after having lived in the United States for decades without authorization, leaving behind children, spouses, siblings, and parents. Others never left Mexico, but have made their way to the fence to see relatives in the United States. With its prison--like ambience and Orwellian name--Friendship Park--this site is one of the very few places where families separated by immigration rules can have even fleeting contact with their loved ones, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Elsewhere, the tall metal barrier is heavily patrolled.

Cold War Radar System a Trillion Dollar Fraud -- Lester Ernest on RAI (Part 1/4) | TRNN | 12/24/18 | 21:02

School District Hoarding BILLIONS From Teachers | TYT/Agressive Progressive | 12/23/18 | 30:08

Normal Corruption Scandal Highlights Distorted News Climate | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 12/22/18 | 19:21

Vice doesn't want to humanize Dick Cheney. So instead, it (maybe) demonizes America.
Vox.com | Alissa Wilkinson | 12/21/18

Few movies in 2018 have been more divisive than Vice, writer-director Adam McKay's tale of the modern Republican Party as concentrated in the person of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Early reviews from critics were sharply divided between those who loved the film and those who despised it -- as well as plenty who gave it mixed reviews.

Of McKay's body of work, Vice has a lot in common with his previous film, 2015's The Big Short, which was based on a book by journalist Michael Lewis about four men who saw the housing crisis looming and bet against the market. That movie was also met with divided critical opinions. But it was certainly a funny, angry film that offered an inside look at a complicated issue, and made a persuasive argument that left the audience steaming. ... Read more

Trump Says A Government Shutdown Would 'Last For A Very Long Time'
HP | AP/Lisa Mascaro | 12/21/18

Trump tried to build the case that Democrats would bear responsibility if there's no deal over his demand for border wall money.

Facing a midnight deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump said Friday a closure would drag on "for a very long time" and he tried to build the case that congressional Democrats would bear responsibility if there's no deal over his demand for U.S.-Mexico border wall money.

Only a week ago, Trump said he would be "proud" to shut down the government, which Republicans now control, in the name of border security. "I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down," he asserted.

But with the hours dwindling before the midnight deadline, Trump sought to reframe the debate and make Democrats the holdouts to settling an impasse that threatens hundreds of thousands of federal workers on the eve of the end-of-the-year holidays. ... Read more

Pre-Christmas Trump: Rebuked, rampaging
Axios | Mike Allen | 12.21.18

The last member of an informal alliance of top Trump officials with enough swat or stature to stand up to President Trump -- the Committee to Save America, as we called these officials 16 months ago -- resigned in epic fashion.

The bottom line: Unlike most others, who pretended to leave on fine terms, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis bailed with a sharp, specific, stinging rebuke of Trump and his America-first worldview.

Mattis wrote: "My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held." ... Read more

A Very Special Counsel Christmas | Stephen Colbert | 12/20/18 | 7:03

Trump's Mythical Crying Man Yule Log I | The Daily Show | 12/20/18 | 6:13

Classic Christmas Yule Log Fireplace in 4k HD Feat. over 2 Hours Of Holiday Music! | current | 2:29:26

All the ways Mattis tried to contain Trump
Politico | Wesley Morgan | 12/20/18

For two years, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis slow-walked and stymied President Donald Trump's most dramatic impulses on military policy. That strategy came to a swift end when it came to Syria.

Trump's and Mattis' vocal disagreement on withdrawing U.S. troops from the war-ravaged country was just the latest clash between the president and his Pentagon chief on their approach to deploying the military and projecting American power.

The retired four-star general took advantage of Trump's early high regard by expanding the defense budget and pushing more authority down to military commanders in the field. He even leveraged Trump's sometimes-hawkish rhetoric into troop increases in some of the same regions the president is now itching to leave. ... Read more

Trump blindsides allies at NATO
Politico | David M. Herszenhorn | 12/21/18

Troop withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan didn't leave only Jim Mattis feeling sidelined.

With no advance notice or preparation of Trump's plans, allies committed by the North Atlantic Treaty to common defense have found themselves scouring Twitter for clues as to what the U.S. commander-in-chief might do next.

Particularly jarring for NATO was word of Trump's plans for a withdrawal of 7,000 troops from Afghanistan, which have been described in news accounts, but the president himself has not even mentioned on Twitter -- unlike the Syria withdrawal which he first announced with a tweet on Wednesday declaring victory against the Islamic State. ... Read more

Exclusive: The Pentagon's Massive Accounting Fraud Exposed
thenation.com | David Lindorff | 11/27/18

How US military spending keeps rising even as the Pentagon flunks its audit.

On November 15, Ernst & Young and other private firms that were hired to audit the Pentagon announced that they could not complete the job. Congress had ordered an independent audit of the Department of Defense, the government's largest discretionary cost center--the Pentagon receives 54 cents out of every dollar in federal appropriations--after the Pentagon failed for decades to audit itself. The firms concluded, however, that the DoD's financial records were riddled with so many bookkeeping deficiencies, irregularities, and errors that a reliable audit was simply impossible.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan tried to put the best face on things, telling reporters, "We failed the audit, but we never expected to pass it." Shanahan suggested that the DoD should get credit for attempting an audit, saying, "It was an audit on a $2.7 trillion organization, so the fact that we did the audit is substantial." The truth, though, is that the DoD was dragged kicking and screaming to this audit by bipartisan frustration in Congress, and the result, had this been a major corporation, likely would have been a crashed stock. ... Read more
Dave Lindorff Explores the Pentagon's Financial Mysteries | projectcensored.org | 12/11/18 | 57:02

projectcensored.org website

The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2017-2018
projectcensored.org | staff | current

presentation of the Top 25 stories of 2017-2018 extends the tradition originated by Professor Carl Jensen and his Sonoma State University students in 1976, while reflecting how the expansion of the Project to include affiliate faculty and students from campuses across North America has made the Project even more diverse and robust. During this year's cycle, Project Censored reviewed over 300 Validated Independent News stories (VINs) representing the collective efforts of 351 college students and 15 professors from 13 college and university campuses that participated in the Project's Campus Affiliates Program during the past year.

Censored 2019: Fighting the Fake News Invasion ($18.95)

Censored 2019, once again presents the News that Didn't Make the News (and why) in our annual listing of the Top 25 underreported stories, as well as documenting the corporate media's most egregious Junk Food News distractions and News Abuse propaganda, while celebrating independent news organizations and activists, such as Act Out!, Poets Reading the News, and UnKoch My Campus, that truly exemplify Media Democracy in Action.

Beyond these annual features, Censored 2019 includes in-depth chapters on media coverage of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements; how data activists from communities around the world are redirecting the power of "Big Data" to organize for social, economic, and political justice; and why it's important to call Big Media by its proper name--corporate media is no longer "mainstream" in any meaningful sense of that term. Our newest book, published by Seven Stories Press, concludes with an examination of ongoing democratic initiatives and promising approaches to address the "controversial, geopolitical social problem" of fake news.

With keen cartoons by Khalil Bendib, an eye-popping cover by artist Anson Stevens-Bollen that pays homage to the 80th anniversary of the infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast and its contemporary relevance, plus a no-holds-barred foreword by journalist Abby Martin, Censored 2019 is a rallying cry to arm ourselves with the power of knowledge as we join together to fight the fake news invasion.

Peter Wadhams - IPCC Underestimates & Political Cowards | UPFSI | 12/11/18 | 21:43

Homelessness Rises For Second Year In A Row In U.S. After Years Of Decline
HuffPost | Sarah Ruiz-Grossman | 12/18/18

More than half a million people nationwide were homeless on a given night this year, according to a government report.

About 553,000 people nationwide were homeless? on a single night in January 2018, according to a report released Tuesday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is a 0.3 percent increase from HUD's finding last year for its annual report on homelessness, which looks at nationwide trends using local data from a given day in January.

Of those who were homeless, about two-thirds stayed in shelters or transitional housing, while about one-third were considered "unsheltered," meaning they were sleeping on the street, in abandoned buildings, or other places "not suitable for human habitation."

The U.S. is facing an ongoing affordable housing crisis, as housing costs have risen far faster than incomes over the past few decades. Advocates for the homeless say that governments at the federal, state and local levels have not done enough to make more affordable housing available. ... Read more

The Fed gets the Trump treatment
Axios | Courtenay Brown | 12/19/18

There's never been a Federal Reserve interest-rate decision quite like this, with the central bank facing public criticism from the president and a whipsawing stock market.

Why it matters: Market watchers agree that one of the greatest threats to the smoking economy is a misjudgment by the Fed on how to manage the record-breaking economic expansion. Trump's response to any rate hike is likely to be angry, losing the Fed's precious credibility among the president's supporters. ... Read more

Oil crashes through the floor
Axios | Ben Geman | 12/19/18

The commentary atop the IEA's monthly oil market report a week ago was headlined "A floor under prices?" and said Brent crude "seems to" have found one around $60-per-barrel. That question mark, in retrospect, is doing lots of work.

Where it stands: Prices plummeted by several dollars per barrel in trading Tuesday, the latest sign of volatility that's carrying the day despite the OPEC+ efforts to stabilize the market. ... Read more

It's a Wonderful Trump Cold Open | SNL | 12/15/18 | 8:55

Sears bankruptcy court OKs $25 million in bonuses for top execs
CBS News | Kate Gibson | 12/17/18

The company behind the Sears and Kmart chains on Friday obtained a U.S. bankruptcy court's permission to pay as much as $25.3 million in bonuses to top executives and other high-ranking employees at Sears, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

1. Sears, once dominant retailer, declares bankruptcy
2. Billionaire who led Sears into bankruptcy offers to buy it

Why Sears Bankruptcy Should Outrage You | TYT | 12/18/18 | 9:59

White House Nightmare: Trump Golfs While His Secret Service Agents Work Without Pay
HP | S.V. Date | 12/17/18

President Donald Trump, clad in a golf shirt and golf hat under a warm South Florida sun, hitting a drive off the tee while Secret Service agents protecting him are forced to work without paychecks, possibly for weeks, because Congress wouldn't pay for Trump's "Great Wall."

Such is the nightmare public relations scenario facing the White House less than a week before the Department of Homeland Security and other key government agencies run out of money at midnight Friday while Trump is scheduled to fly that day to his Mar-a-Lago resort for a 16-day vacation. ... Read more

Trump counsels Fed to "feel the market" before interest rates decision
Axios | staff | 12/18/18

President Trump doubled down on his criticism of the Federal Reserve's expected interest rate increase in a Tuesday morning tweet, urging it to "feel the market" before it makes "another mistake."

The big picture: The Journal's editorial board issued an op-ed last night that largely agrees with Trump's position, counseling Fed Chair Jerome Powell to "follow the signals that suggest a prudent pause in raising rates." It added, "Get the monetary policy that best serves the economy, and the politics will work itself out. Get the policy wrong, and Mr. Trump will be the least of Mr. Powell's political worries."

But: White House adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC he thought the Fed was the "predominant factor" for recent stock market volatility. Navarro added that he thinks the only reason the Fed feels the need to raise rates is to "exert their independence."... Read more

Wall Street on pace for worst December in over 80 years
Axios | Courtenay Brown | 12/18/18

U.S. stocks took a beating on on Monday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 507 points lower, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both dropped more than 2%.

Why it matters: The Dow and S&P, both down nearly 7% this month, are on pace for their worst December performance since the Great Depression, per CNBC. ... Read more

Trump's Next Chief of Staff Called Him 'A Terrible Human Being' Just Before He Was Elected President
TheDailyBeast | staff | 12/16/18

After decrying the Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as a liberal who would take the country in the wrong direction, Mulvaney said he was supporting Trump, essentially by default.

"Yes, I am supporting Donald Trump, but I'm doing so despite the fact that I think he's a terrible human being," he said, according to a report in The State newspaper. ... Read more

The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg

From the legendary whistle-blower who revealed the Pentagon Papers, an eyewitness expose of the dangers of America's Top Secret, seventy-year-long nuclear policy that continues to this day.

Here, for the first time, former high-level defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg reveals his shocking firsthand account of America's nuclear program in the 1960s. From the remotest air bases in the Pacific Command, where he discovered that the authority to initiate use of nuclear weapons was widely delegated, to the secret plans for general nuclear war under Eisenhower, which, if executed, would cause the near-extinction of humanity, Ellsberg shows that the legacy of this most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization--and its proposed renewal under the Trump administration--threatens our very survival. No other insider with high-level access has written so candidly of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era.

Framed as a memoir--a chronicle of madness in which Ellsberg acknowledges participating--this gripping exposé reads like a thriller and offers feasible steps we can take to dismantle the existing "doomsday machine" and avoid nuclear catastrophe, returning Ellsberg to his role as whistle-blower. The Doomsday Machine is thus a real-life Dr. Strangelove story and an ultimately hopeful--and powerfully important--book about not just our country, but the future of the world.

Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
Axios | David McCabe | 12/17/18

Two outside research groups used data obtained from Silicon Valley giants by the Senate Intelligence Committee to paint a sweeping picture of Russia's online disinformation efforts both before and after the 2016 presidential election in reports released Monday.

Why it matters: "We should certainly expect to see recruitment, manipulation, and influence attempts targeting the 2020 election, including the inauthentic amplification of otherwise legitimate American narratives," said researchers from New Knowledge in the report they provided to the panel. ... Read more

How the financial crisis eroded public trust
Axios | staff | 12/17/18

Back in September, Axios published a special report on the 2008 financial crash. As part of it, we asked nine U.S. economic and financial experts to name the greatest fallout.

Their most frequent answer: The loss of public trust and the conspiratorial and paranoid thinking that has surged into politics since. Adam Tooze, author of "Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World," agrees. When Tooze, a Columbia history professor, observes the political upheaval in the U.S. and Europe, he sees the continuing reverberations of the crash and the oblivious financial elite that was supposed to have policed the system, writes Christopher Leonard, author of the forthcoming "Kochland." ... Read more

Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World by Adam Tooze

"An intelligent explanation of the mechanisms that produced the crisis and the response to it...One of the great strengths of Tooze's book is to demonstrate the deeply intertwined nature of the European and American financial systems."--The New York Times Book Review

In September 2008 President George Bush could still describe the financial crisis as an incident local to Wall Street. In fact it was a dramatic caesura of global significance that spiraled around the world, from the financial markets of the UK and Europe to the factories and dockyards of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, forcing a rearrangement of global governance. In the United States and Europe, it caused a fundamental reconsideration of capitalist democracy, eventually leading to the war in the Ukraine, the chaos of Greece, Brexit, and Trump.

It was the greatest crisis to have struck Western societies since the end of the Cold War, but was it inevitable? And is it over? Crashed is a dramatic new narrative resting on original themes: the haphazard nature of economic development and the erratic path of debt around the world; the unseen way individual countries and regions are linked together in deeply unequal relationships through financial interdependence, investment, politics, and force; the ways the financial crisis interacted with the spectacular rise of social media, the crisis of middle-class America, the rise of China, and global struggles over fossil fuels.

To the Ramparts: How Bush and Obama Paved the Way for the Trump Presidency, and Why It Isn't Too Late to Reverse Course by Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader's latest book shows us how unchecked corporate power has led to the wrecking ball that is the Trump presidency. Nader brings together the outrages of the Trump administration with the key flaws and failures of the previous administrations -- both Republican and Democratic -- that have led our nation to its current precipice. It's all in the details and Ralph Nader knows them all. Trump didn't come out of nowhere.

Bush and Obama led the way. Writing as a Washington, DC, activist and people's advocate for over fifty years?someone who has saved more lives and caused more impactful legislation to be enacted than almost any sitting president or legislator -- Nader shows how Trump's crimes and misdemeanors followed the path of no resistance of the Obama, Bush and Clinton regimes, which ushered in the extreme rise of corporate power and the abandonment of the poor and middle classes.

Saudi Arabia Strongly Rebukes U.S. Senate's 'Interference' In Kingdom
HP | AP/Aya Batrawy | 12/17/18

The country rejected a bipartisan resolution that blamed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia issued an unusually strong rebuke of the U.S. Senate on Monday, rejecting a bipartisan resolution that put the blame for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely on the Saudi crown prince and describing it as interference in the kingdom's affairs.

It's the latest sign of how the relationship between the royal court and Congress has deteriorated, more than two months after Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. The assassins have been linked to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. ... Read more

Chris Christie tells Trump he doesn't want to be chief of staff
Axios | staff | 12/14/18

Chris Christie said Friday that he told President Trump he doesn't want to be considered to replace John Kelly as White House chief of staff, per the New York Times' Maggie Haberman, who obtained a copy of his statement.

The backdrop: President Trump, who considered Christie a top contender to replace John Kelly as chief of staff, discussed the job with Christie Thursday night, a source familiar with the president's thinking told Axios' Jonathan Swan. ... Read more

Watch Michael Cohen's Surprise ABC Interview, Where He Slams Trump And Says He's Lying About Russia
digg.com | staff | 12/14/18

Days after being sentenced to three years in prison and after President Trump attacked him in a series of tweets, Michael Cohen sat down with ABC's George Stephanopoulos during "Good Morning America" and had a brutally frank conversation about his sentence and about President Trump. Among the key moments: Cohen told Stephanopoulos that Trump was aware of the hush money payments and that Trump is still lying about Russia probe. Watch below: ... Read more
Trump knew payments were wrong, Cohen says | ABC | 12/14/18 | 7:38

Geraldo on New Cohen Interview: 'He Is on a Mission to Take Down the President' | Fox News | 12/14/18 | 9:45

Exclusive interview: Trump sits down with Harris Faulkner | Fox News | 12/13/18 | 8:53

Donald Trump Family Author: Donald Trump Jr. 'Front And Center' In Probes | The Beat With Ari Melber | 12/13/18 | 7:15

Abandoned By Confidants, Investigation Draws Closer To Oval Office
HP | AP/Eric Tucker | 12/13/18

NEW YORK (AP) -- President Donald Trump has now been abandoned by two of his most powerful protectors, his longtime lawyer and the company that owns the National Enquirer tabloid, bringing a perilous investigation into his campaign one step closer to the Oval Office.

Both Michael Cohen and American Media Inc. now say they made hush money payments to a porn star and a Playboy Playmate for the purposes of helping his 2016 White House bid, an apparent campaign finance violation.

The admissions by Cohen and AMI conflict with Trump's own evolving explanations. Since the spring, Trump has gone from denying knowledge of any payments to saying they would have been private transactions that weren't illegal. ... Read more

The Arctic is unraveling as climate change intensifies
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 12/13/18

Why it matters: New research published this week shows the peril that awaits companies that choose to operate in the harsh, unstable region, which is increasingly the focus of oil and gas drilling activity. In addition, sea ice loss may be rewriting global weather patterns, contributing to extreme weather events as far away as the Lower 48 states.

The big picture: The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the world, owing largely to feedbacks known as "Arctic amplification." Melting sea ice and snow yields ground to darker ocean waters and land cover, which absorb more of the sun's incoming energy. ... Read more

Case Against President Donald Trump Progeny Clearer After Cohen, AMI Deals | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 12/13/18 | 7:46

Mike Flynn Asks For No Jail Time, Cites FBI Not Warning Him Not To Lie | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 12/12/18 | 16:44

Mike Flynn Asks For No Jail Time, Cites FBI Not Warning Him Not To Lie | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 12/11/18 | 16:44

Pence's pensiveness: how the internet roasted the vice-president
TheGuardian | Gabrielle Canon | 12/11/18

That would be the least awkward part of the heated exchange that followed between Chuck Schumer, the US Senate Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, and Donald Trump -- in which the president said he would be proud to shut down the government over his demands for a border wall.

The most awkward part was the vice-president, Mike Pence, who, it seemed, did not want to be there. There was some blinking and maybe some thinking. But mostly, there was a whole lot of sitting and even more staring.

The internet was quick to poke fun at his statue-like pose and blank expression. Memes began to spread and by Tuesday afternoon, "Mike Pence" was trending on Twitter. ... Read more
WATCH: Trump threatens shutdown in heated meeting with top Democrats | PBS Newshour | 12/11/18 | 16:50

"I am proud to shut down the government for border security," Trump says in Oval Office "tantrum" with Schumer, Pelosi
CBS News | Kathryn Watson | 12/11/18

An Oval Office meeting between President Trump and Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi spiraled out of control over funding for the border wall Tuesday, devolving into what Schumer called a Trump "temper tantrum."

With a potential government shutdown looming less than two weeks away, Pelosi, the presumptive soon-to-be speaker of the House, told Mr. Trump, "you will not win" on the border wall. The president demanded border wall funding -- and said he's not afraid the shut down the government over it. In fact, he said, he's proud to do so, and will take credit for it.

"I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck," the president said. "So I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not gonna blame you for it. The last time you shut it down it didn't work. I will take the mantle of shutting down. And I'm gonna shut it down for border security." ... Read more
*Trump's Public FREAK OUT On Chuck Schumer | TYT | 12/11/18 | 17:28

*Joe: President Donald Trump Gives High Ground Away To Democrats | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/12/18 | 17:29

*Cooper calls out Trump's border security claim | Anderson Cooper | CNN | 12/12/18 | 9:47

IMF warns storm clouds are gathering for next financial crisis
TheGuardian | staff | 12/11/18

The storm clouds of the next global financial crisis are gathering despite the world financial system being unprepared for the next downturn, the deputy head of the International Monetary Fund has warned.

David Lipton, the first deputy managing director of the IMF, said that "crisis prevention is incomplete" more than a decade on from the last meltdown in the global banking system.

"As we have put it, 'fix the roof while the sun shines.' But like many of you, I see storm clouds building, and fear the work on crisis prevention is incomplete." ... Read more

Following Trump's lead, Republicans avoid addressing climate change
Axios | Neal Rothschild | 12/11/18/span>

Republican lawmakers in the Trump era are talking about climate change far less than they used to, while Democratic mentions have spiked to new highs, according to an analysis by public affairs software company Quorum.

The big picture: There's always been a divide between Republicans and Democrats on the issue, but this data -- measured by the number of floor statements, press releases and social media posts that mentioned climate change -- shows that the chasm is growing. And it's happening as new scientific reports and extreme weather events are drawing new attention to the issue. ... Read more

LBJ and the Killing of JFK with Roger Stone | TheLipTV | 11/24/13 | 48:27

FK Assassination: The Truth Told by Secret Service Agent Clint Hill | | 03/05/17 | 38:23

John Kelly Was a Bully, Bigot, and Liar for Trump. Goodbye and Good Riddance.
TheIntercept | Mehdi Hasan | 12/09/18

The president's chief of staff is heading for the White House exit. "John Kelly will be leaving," Donald Trump confirmed to reporters on Saturday. "I don't know if I can say 'retiring,' but he's a great guy."

This "great guy" will leave behind an administration mired in scandal, chaos, and corruption; a president perhaps even more reckless and lawless today than he was when Kelly arrived for work at the West Wing on the morning of July 31, 2017.

That was a period in which political pundits and correspondents also believed the retired four-star general to be a "great guy." Remember how his appointment, as replacement for the hapless Republican operative Reince Preibus, was greeted by the liberal press? Kelly, we were told, would be the "adult in the room"; he would rein in a brash and belligerent commander-in-chief. ... Read more

The climate may be warming even faster than the UN's dire warning
Axios | Ben Geman | 12/10/18

A sobering new piece in the journal Nature finds that October's dire UN science report about the ongoing and future effects of climate change may have actually underestimated the pace of global warming.

Why it matters: The new analysis, if borne out, widens what's already a huge gulf between the expected human and ecological toll from high levels and rapid rates of warming and the failure of governments worldwide to bring about the steep carbon emissions cuts that could prevent runaway temperature increases. ... Read more

Wanted: Trump's next chief of staff
Axios | staff | 12/10/18

White House staff turnover is normal. President Trump's chief of staff mess is most definitely not.

The latest: Trump and John Kelly agreed the chief of staff would announce his resignation Monday -- until Trump spilled the news on TV Saturday morning. Nick Ayers seemed set to replace him -- until he begged out Sunday, refusing to commit to the 2020 deadline Trump had said Kelly would hit. ... Read more

Noam Chomsky - The Crimes of U.S. Presidents | Chomsky's Philosophy | 10/07/14 | 11:34

Meadows would give Trump a skilled brawler in the White House
Politico | Rachael Bade | 12/10/18

As chief of staff, the Freedom Caucus hardliner would help Trump counter a flood of Democratic investigations.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows wrote a secret memo last month about how House Republicans could counter Democratic plans to investigate and potentially impeach Donald Trump.

Now, the president is eyeing the North Carolina Republican -- one of his closest allies on Capitol Hill -- to replace outgoing chief of staff John Kelly in part because of that insight.

"Serving as Chief of Staff would be an incredible honor," Meadows told POLITICO Playbook. "The President has a long list of qualified candidates and I know he'll make the best selection for his administration and for the country."

Should Trump tap Meadows for the job, he'd be securing an astute political operative who's made it his mission to defend Trump from embarrassing headlines. ... Read more

How Donald Trump Got Involved in a Global Fraud | The New Yorker | 08/17/17 | 7:03

Trump/Russia: Part 1 - Follow the money | ABC/Four Corners | 06/17/18 | 43:17

Bernie Sanders: Medicare For All Isn't A Fringe Idea Anymore | Stephen Colbert | 12/07/18 | 11:00

A New Study About the World's Worst Mass Extinction Should Make You Very Nervous for Our Future.
MotherJones | Jackie Flynn Mogensen | 12/06/18

Climate change is a path the Earth has been on before. Just ask scientists studying "The Great Dying."

Some 250 million years ago, back when the world was still comprised of the single, supercontinent Pangea, a geologic catastrophe wiped out nearly every single ocean-dwelling creature on the planet: fish, crustaceans, mollusks, even microbes. As few as 4 percent of ocean species survived, including, most famously, the Nautilus. On land, about 30 percent survived. It was the worst extinction event in Earth's history.

Appropriately, scientists nicknamed the event the "Great Dying" (also known in science speak as the "Permian-Triassic extinction"). But despite the magnitude of the disaster, only in the past two decades did paleontologists find clues of it in the fossil record -- and discover it coincided with a massive volcanic event in modern-day Siberia.

Still, there was a major blind spot in scientists' understanding of the Great Dying: While they knew about the extinction and they knew about the volcanic eruption, it was unclear just how the two were related and what exactly caused the massive die-off. Scientists had long suspected the volcano's release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere played a role, though they didn't know the precise mechanism by which it happened. (It's sort of like how a doctor who may know that a person died in a car accident, but can't pinpoint the exact cause of death.)

Now, a new study published Thursday in the journal Science suggests the culprit of the Great Dying -- and the connection between the two events -- was likely something the planet is all too familiar with today: global warming, and, as a result, high ocean temperatures and a loss of oxygen in the water.... Read more
Click to zoom in

Yemen's warring sides gather for peace talks in Sweden
Axios | Faisal Edroos of Al Jazeera | 12/07/18

Rimbo, Sweden -- The UN's special envoy has appealed to Yemen's warring sides to "act now" for the future of the country, as representatives from the government and Houthi rebels gathered for UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden.

Why it matters: For only the second time in more than three years of war, officials from President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government and representatives from the Houthi rebel movement joined the talks aimed at discussing ways to end the fighting that has killed an estimated 56,000 people and left a staggering 22 million needing humanitarian assistance. ... Read more

Donald Trump Rages On Twitter Ahead Of Developments In Mueller Probe
HP | Paige Lavender | 12/07/18

President Donald Trump sent a flurry of tweets criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller and others ahead of several anticipated developments in the Russia investigation. The typo-ridden rant on Twitter, sent over the course of an hour early Friday, questioned Mueller's work and criticized key figures from Justice Department official Bruce Ohr to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Mueller's office is expected to submit a document Friday detailing how Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, violated his plea agreement. Many of Trump's tweets attempted to preemptively undermine the report. ... Read more

George H.W. Bush (1924-2018), American War Criminal
TheIntercept | Jeremy Scahill | 12/05/18

The U.S. and international news media are engaging in sick propaganda. Leave the stories about how classy Bush supposedly was, how cool is marriage was, how he built a father-son relationship with Bill Clinton, how he was nice to Barack Obama, how he always wore those funny socks -- leave all of that to the family in their private memorials. But for the rest of us, the rest of the world, we must remember that his incalculable crimes were committed in public, from the highest chambers of power, in the most dominant nation in the world. The accounting for his crimes should also be done in public. But no, we're told we have to have respect. We're told that it's not the time to discuss any of this. We're told that we must pretend that he was not a mass murderer with so much blood on his hands.

You know what? Donald Trump doesn't even have enough time left in his life to commit even a fraction of the international crimes that Bush carried out during his decades in power, whether it was at the helm of the CIA, or as vice-president, or as president. Not even close. Journalist today believe that they're so brave in calling out Trump's lies, in investigating his real estate deals, in probing his associates. And yet none of them have the spine to accurately describe the well-documented, indisputable crimes committed by George Herbert Walker Bush. What we're witnessing is a powerful media class and an elite political class whitewashing the life of a man who used his various positions not to make the world better, but to wage unthinkable wars, to undermine democratic movements, to kill innocent people, to orchestrate coups and invasions. And the reason this doesn't happen, that we don't talk about this, is because it's a sacrilege in the religion of American exceptionalism. ... Read more
Intercepted | Jeromy Scahill George H.W. Bush (1924-2018), American War Criminal | TheIntercept | 12/05/18 | 1hr

Bernie Sanders: Concentrated Wealth is Concentrated Power
Real News Network | interview | 12/06/18

PAUL JAY: In one of the panels yesterday you said it's not just about concentration of wealth and how the inequality, how unfair that is, the suffering it causes. But concentration of wealth means concentration of power. How do you challenge that power?

BERNIE SANDERS: This is not easy stuff. But we are certainly not going to deal with it if we don't discuss it. And one of the crises that we face right now is that you've got a media that will not talk about this issue. And you've got, essentially, two parties that don't talk about it very much. And I think one of the things that I wanted to do in my presidential campaign is kind of bust this whole thing open. Let's talk about the real issues. You know, whether CBS likes it or not. ... Read more
Bernie Sanders: Concentrated Wealth is Concentrated Power | TRNN | 12/06/18 | 10:59

Pentagon Engaged in Unfathomable Financial Mismanagement
Real News Network | interview | 12/05/18

About three weeks ago, the auditors who were conducting the first-ever comprehensive audit of the Defense Department announced that the audit could not be completed because too much money was simply unaccounted for. Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters afterwards, "We failed the audit, but we never expected to pass it. It was an audit on a $2.7 organization, so the fact that we did the audit is substantial."

The Pentagon's annual budget is now over $700 billion and climbing. However, investigators who have looked into the Pentagon's finances, such as Mark Skidmore, a professor of economics specializing in government policy at Michigan State University, found that at least $21 trillion of Pentagon financial transactions between 1998 and 2015 could not be accounted for. ... Read more
Pentagon Engaged in Unfathomable Financial Mismanagement | TRNN | 12/05/18 | 8:22

2.3 TRillion Dollars Missing from DOD Day before 911 | 09/10/01 | 3:57

**Daily Ticker | Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For | 2014 | 5:32

Dr. Mark Skidmore, of Michigan State University, as he talks about $21 Trillion Missing from US Federal Budget | 12/02/17 | 33:32

The 2018 NDAA approves $700 billion for the Pentagon. This was done despite the fact that a recent report on the budgets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, found that between the two departments, they have lost over $21 trillion in the last 17 years.

MSU scholars find $21 trillion in unauthorized government spending... | MSUToday | staff | 12/11/17 | article

What Does One Trillion Dollars Look Like? | Mint | older | 1:09

Michael Flynn: Mueller recommends no prison time for ex-Trump adviser
TheGuardian | Jon Swaine | 12/04/18

Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn has given "substantial assistance" to the Trump-Russia investigation and other inquiries, the special counsel Robert Mueller said late on Tuesday.

But in a heavily redacted court filing that is likely to alarm Trump's inner circle, Mueller shielded the details of Flynn's cooperation because they include "sensitive information about ongoing investigations", he said.

Mueller recommended to a judge that Flynn, who participated in 19 interviews and provided investigators with documents and communications, should not be given a prison sentence for the crime of lying to the FBI. ... Read more

Warnings sound about Trump's wobbly truce with China
Axios | Jonathan Swan | 12/05/18

Michael Pillsbury is worried Trump's negotiations with China are unraveling. The hawkish former Pentagon official -- who Trump has called "probably the leading authority on China" and who reportedly huddled with Trump in the Oval the day before Trump left for his G20 meeting with President Xi -- said "there's a risk the deal will come undone."

Why it matters: Pillsbury said he's "getting warnings from knowledgeable Chinese about the American claims of concessions" that the Chinese have said they never made. These contradictions include U.S. claims that the Chinese agreed to "immediately" address their most egregious industrial behavior, to "immediately" restart purchases of U.S. agriculture, and to slash tariffs on American cars. ... Read more

Putin threatens to ramp up missile development if U.S. scraps treaty
Axios | Haley Britzky | 12/05/18

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that if the U.S. exits a Cold War-era missile treaty and begins developing new intermediate-range missiles, his country will follow suit, per the AP.

The backdrop: President Trump has threatened to withdraw from the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty -- which bans land-based nuclear missiles in Europe -- because Russia has developed and fielded a banned missile system. All 29 NATO members backed the U.S. accusation yesterday, saying: "It is now up to Russia to preserve the INF Treaty." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. would begin withdrawal in 60 days if Russia remains in violation. ... Read more

George H.W. Bush: The Inconvenient Truth
TheIntercept | Deconstructed | 12/04/18

IN HIS DEATH, liberal media painted a very rosy image of former President George H.W. Bush, with CNN's Wolf Blitzer saying that "George H.W. Bush is being remembered as a family man, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather." As president, George H.W. Bush stood up to the gun lobby, brought in the Americans with Disabilities Act, and ended the Cold War without firing a shot. However, he had also ordered the Desert Storm operation in which 88,000 tons of U.S. bombs were dropped on Iraq, killing tens of thousands of Iraqis and completely destroying civilian infrastructure. None of these Iraqi deaths were featured in the obituaries of U.S. liberal media. He also sold the first Gulf War "on a mountain of war propaganda," as an investigation by journalist Joshua Holland concluded. George H.W. Bush also refused to speak with the special counsel during the Iran-Contra affair, declined to hand over his diary, and pardoned Ronald Reagan's Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on the eve of his trial, so that he -- Bush -- wouldn't have to testify. The Intercept's co-founder Glenn Greenwald joins Mehdi Hasan to discuss the difference between hagiography and journalism -- and to produce a more accurate and fair obituary of the late former-president George H.W. Bush. ... Read more

Deconstructed Podcast: George H.W. Bush: The Inconvenient Truth | TheIntercept | 12/04/18 | 1hr

REPORT: Mueller Prepping Endgame For Russia Investigation
HP | author | 12/04/18

WASHINGTON -- Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors have told defense lawyers in recent weeks that they are "tying up loose ends" in their investigation, providing the clearest clues yet that the long-running probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election may be coming to its climax, potentially in the next few weeks, according to multiple sources close to the matter.

The new information about the state of Mueller's investigation comes during a pivotal week when the special counsel's prosecutors are planning to file memos about three of their most high profile defendants -- former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

A Flynn sentencing memo is due Tuesday, and memos about Manafort and Cohen are slated for Friday. All three documents are expected to yield significant new details on what cooperation the three of them provided to the Russia investigation. ... Read more

Democratic women are replacing men in leadership positions
Axios | Alexi McCammond | 12/04/18

Democrats are moving women into leadership roles in key party organizations, including the campaign arms for national and state races -- and even in the moderate Blue Dog coalition, which will be led by a woman of color for the first time in its 23-year history.

Why it matters: It's a recognition of the importance of women in the Democratic coalition -- especially the role women voters played in the House midterm election victory -- and a nod to the growing diversity of the party's elected officials. Republicans haven't made similar moves in their leadership ranks. ... Read more

Full Interview: Michelle Obama Talks To Stephen Colbert | Stephen Colbert | 12/02/18 | 27:52

Deconstructing a Genius Climate Change Argument | Stephen Colbert | 12/02/18 | 27:52

Trump's Iran-centric Syria Policy Takes Shape
TheAtlantic | Samuel Oakford | 12/03/18

This fall, U.S.-led coalition forces escalated attacks in Syria once more, launching more than 1,000 air and artillery strikes, nearly all of them close to the border with Iraq, as Washington seeks to crush the Islamic State's presence in the country before the end of the year. "They're either here to fight to death or they're just going to get killed because they have nowhere to go," the coalition spokesperson Colonel Sean J. Ryan said of the remaining fighters.

After isis is defeated territorially, however--a goal that now looks to be an inevitability--what happens to the roughly 2,000 American soldiers stationed in Syria is murky. Officials have offered new counter-Iranian justifications for maintaining a military presence there, an argument that critics claim lacks legal standing and that leaves open the possibility of a deployment with no end in sight. And with Democrats having recaptured the House in midterm elections, Donald Trump's administration may soon be under pressure to better justify that strategy, something that could prove much harder than expected. ... Read more

'Conservative but not a nut': how Bush's party fell to Trump's troops
TheGuardian | Lloyd Green | 12/03/18

George HW Bush, the 41st president, is gone. The US stands divided, immersed in a cold civil war. Thirty years ago, the country was perched on the precipice of change. Those of us who worked on the Bush '88 campaign didn't get all of it, at least not in that moment. Victory obscured what would come next. Race, culture and educational attainment would emerge as the fault lines of our politics.

The aftermath of Vietnam and the rights movements of the 1960s helped supplant the old divisions of north v south, Protestant v Catholic. Religious "nones" became an electoral counterweight to white evangelicals. Whether or not a voter possessed a four-year degree and how frequently one worshipped were the new predictors of politics. But back then, the tableau had yet to be completed. ... Read more

Mueller's breadcrumbs suggest he has the goods
Axios| Garrett M. Graff | 12/03/18

Everyone's waiting for the "Mueller Report." But it turns out that special counsel Robert Mueller is writing a "report" in real time, before our eyes, through his cinematic indictments and plea agreements, Garrett M. Graff reports for Axios.

The big picture: One of the least-noticed elements of the special counsel's approach is that all along, he has been making his case bit by bit, in public, since his very first court filing. With his major court filings so far, Mueller has already written more than 290 pages of the "Mueller Report." And there are still lots of loose ends in those documents -- breadcrumbs Mueller is apparently leaving for later. ... Read more

Medicare for All is a double-edged sword for Democrats
Axios | Drew Altman | 12/03/18

Now that they've won the House and the 2020 presidential campaign is about to start, Democrats will have to decide how much Medicare for All should dominate their health care agenda.

The big picture: The idea has strong appeal for many Democrats, as does the more limited approach of letting 50-64 year olds buy into Medicare. But both ideas also require spending political capital that could be devoted to other health issues. They also run the risk of dividing moderate and progressive Democrats, and could give Republicans the chance to get off the ropes on health care in 2020. ... Read more

David Attenborough: collapse of civilisation is on the horizon
TheGuardian | Damian Carrington in Katowice | 12/03/18

The collapse of civilisation and the natural world is on the horizon, Sir David Attenborough has told the UN climate change summit in Poland. The naturalist was chosen to represent the world's people in addressing delegates of almost 200 nations who are in Katowice to negotiate how to turn pledges made in the 2015 Paris climate deal into reality.

As part of the UN's people's seat initiative, messages were gathered from all over the world to inform Attenborough's address on Monday. "Right now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change," he said. "If we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon." ... Read more

From the archives: The age of megafires | 60Minutes | 12/02/18 | 11:34

Japan's catastrophe and the disaster that awaits | 60Minutes | 11/25/18 | 14:16

2014: The aftermath of the Fukushima disaster | 60Minutes | 11/25/18 | 14:29