Dec 21 2018 - News Dec 2018 - News - Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Friday December 21, 2018

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

Senators had passed their own bipartisan bill earlier in the week to keep the government running, with border security at existing levels, $1.3 billion, but no money for the wall.

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

Santa is Fired

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

Yule Log Fireplace

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

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 21 [11:26]

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, December 21 (FULL) | 59:02

Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.

Headlines
Andrew Bacevich on Mattis & Why We Need to End Our Self-Destructive, Mindless Wars in Middle East
Congress Touts First Step Act as Criminal Justice Victory--But Critics Say Bill Makes False Promises
This Congressmember Camped in the Cold to Escort an Asylum-Seeking Honduran Mother Across Border

Media's Russia Obsession Obscures How Trump's Syria Withdrawal Benefits Turkey Most | TRNN | 12/20/18 | 15:00

While corporate media portrayed Trump's withdrawal of US troops from Syria as a Christmas gift to Russia's Putin, veteran Middle East reporter Patrick Cockburn says this is infantile and conspiratorial. NATO member Turkey stands to gain most, and could launch an attack on Kurdish forces in the northeast

Ann Coulter Triggers Trump | TYT | 12/20/18 | 7:37

BREAKING: Defense Secretary James Mattis LEAVING White House | TYT | 12/20/18 | 15:25

The1a.org

Friday News Roundup - Domestic | 1a.org | 12/21/18 | 1hr

To avoid a government shutdown, the Senate passed a stopgap spending bill which will keep the government funded until February 8. This measure does not include any of the five billion dollars for the wall that President Donald Trump requested. Trump has said he won't sign a measure that doesn't put more money toward the wall.
That was not the only news that broke on Thursday afternoon. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will resign in February, according to the president's Twitter feed. Read Mattis' resignation letter here.
In a surprising turn (something we've had plenty of this year), former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's sentencing was delayed this week, and a new date has not yet been set.
Facebook allowed Microsoft's Bing search engine to see the names of virtually all Facebook users' friends without consent, the records show, and gave Netflix and Spotify the ability to read Facebook users' private messages.
This week, the Trump Family Foundation ceased operations. President Trump agreed to shut down his charity and give away its remaining money. New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood said her office's investigation into the charity uncovered "a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation -- including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more."

Friday News Roundup -- International | 1a.org | 12/21/18 | 1hr

Trump said about half the American troops would return home from Afghanistan in the coming weeks.
This was announced a day after Trump said he would pull all American troops out of Syria -- more than 2,000 military members. Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed this move as "correct" in comments he made this week, suggesting that American troops were unnecessary.
In Yemen, the cease-fire between Houthi rebels and government forces appeared to hold. And residents in the besieged port city of Hodeidah are hopeful the peace could be maintained as the U.N.-ordered ceasefire continues.
Britain is set to leave the European Union on March 29, regardless of whether there's a withdrawl deal.
And this week, it was annouced that tunnels created by Hezbollah were discovered underneath the Israeli border. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this constituted an "act of war," and the Israeli government called on the U.N. to intervene.

President Trump Infidelity To Allies Drives Jim Mattis To Resign In Protest | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 12/21/18 | 22:26

Jim Mattis Resigns As White House Unravels From Within | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/21/18 | 13:35

What Makes The Jim Mattis Resignation So Significant | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/21/18 | 22:45

Michael Moore Says Donald Trump Chaos Makes Him 'Frightened' For The Country | The Last Word | MSNBC | 12/20/18 | 13:21

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

The TV Is Telling The President What To Do | Stephen Colbert | 12/20/18 | 8:38

Secretary Mattis Takes A Parting Shot At Trump | Stephen Colbert | 12/20/18 | 1:08

Sen. Jeff Flake: ISIS Isn't Defeated Yet | Stephen Colbert | 12/20/18 | 6:53

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

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

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Trump Threatens a Government Shutdown over His Wall | Seth Meyers | 12/20/18 | 11:21

12.21.2018. 11:18

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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