Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

What Are Active-Shooter Drills Doing to Kids?
TheAtlantic | James Hamblin | 02/28/17

There's always at least one kid in tears, as they huddle under their desks in the dark. Still Beth Manias, an early-elementary literacy teacher outside of Seattle, tries to act upbeat and relaxed.

"I have them whisper about their favorite candy, dinner, books, movies--whatever, as a distraction," Manias told me. She tells the kids they're practicing to stay safe in case there's ever a bear on campus. Though, she admits, "They always see through this. The older they get, the more savvy they become, probably because they are exposed to more of the news." ... Read more

Nomi Prins - Central banks will Destroy the planet | | 09/27/17 | 39:56

Congress clashes over piecemeal gun measure
Politico | Elana Schor | 02/27/18

Even a narrow gun measure is in danger of failing on Capitol Hill, amid sharp partisan divisions over how to respond to this month's school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) signaled on Tuesday that his caucus may block the modest bipartisan proposal to improve -- but not expand -- background checks for gun purchases unless Republicans commit to voting on broader gun control measures.

But GOP leaders in the Senate and House downplayed the possibility of action on anything else -- even as they face opposition from House conservatives to that small-scale plan if it lacks controversial concealed-carry provisions. The result is that even after a wave of broad public outrage, which has swept up NRA-supporting President Donald Trump, the odds are growing that Congress will produce nothing at all. ... Read more

Reports: Kushner Security Clearance Downgraded Following White House Scandal
NPR | author | date

President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has lost the top-level security clearance he has been using on an interim basis to do his work inside the White House, according to reports on Tuesday.

Instead, Kushner will begin using a lower level of access to classified information along with other White House staffers who had temporary clearances. Kushner had held a top-secret clearance with access to Special Compartmented Information, known by the shorthand TS/SCI. Now he and other officials will use a lower one, a secret clearance, which restricts the amount of material he can access. ... Read more
Failson Jared Kushner Loses Top Secret Clearance | TYT | 02/27/18 | 8:37

Chris Martenson: why next 20 years will be different 2011 | | 1:11:04

Why the Russia Investigation Could Be More Like Iran-Contra Than Watergate
TheAtlantic | Julian E. Zelizer | 02/ /18

Complexity, partisanship, and a strong presidential narrative insulated Ronald Reagan from meeting the same fate as Richard Nixon, and those factors could also protect Donald Trump.

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election heats up with guilty pleas and plea bargains, there is growing speculation about where this will all end. It might be time to start thinking more about Ronald Reagan than Richard Nixon, and that should give Democrats some pause.

Although Watergate culminated with a dramatic "smoking gun" tape that exposed the guilt of the president in obstructing justice, with a bipartisan consensus quickly forming that President Nixon needed to step down, the Iran-Contra scandal, which involved illegally selling arms to Iran to finance right-wing militias in Nicaragua, fizzled despite shocking revelations about the conduct of the Reagan administration. ... Read more

American Ethics 1

Glenn Greenwald and James Risen Debate the Trump/Russia Investigation | 02/21/18 | 57:41

'Maybe the Russians Are Still Messing With Our Heads'
Politico | Edward-Isaac Dovere | 02/27/18

Michael Hayden doesn't know whether Donald Trump colluded with the Russian attack on the 2016 election--but he's sure the president helped the Kremlin and is continuing to do so every day.

Hayden, a retired general who led the NSA and the CIA under President George W. Bush, is sure, too, of what he calls a "convergence" of interests between Trump and Russia. And he thinks it risks destroying America. ... Read more

Michael Hayden doesn't know whether Donald Trump colluded with the Russian attack on the 2016 election -- but he's sure the president helped the Kremlin and is continuing to do so every day. | 02/27/18 | 1hr

American Ethics 2
Roger Stone's influence on Paul Manafort | CBS | older, 10/31/17 | 11:28

Get Me Roger Stone (trailer) | | | 2:09

Get Me Roger Stone | Netflix | | 1:30:00

American Exports
The Heart Attack Grill: Restaurant Promotes Harmfully Unhealthy Food | Nightline ABC News | older | 6:22

American Fast Food Took Over Kuwait And Made Its People Obese | Vice | 02/08/18 | 12:49

Australian Students Stick it to Martin Shkreli | Trevor Noah | 02/26/18 | 6:11

Trump's Takeover of Conservatism Is Complete and Total
Politico | Tim Alberta | 02/25/18

At this year's CPAC, the room for criticizing the president was vanishingly small.

If you're a conservative with something critical to say about President Donald Trump, watch your back. That was the implication Saturday afternoon at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where a panelist who rebuked the president, as well as the event's organizers, had to be escorted out of the building by a three-man protective detail.

Mona Charen, a well-known conservative author and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, was among four women discussing issues of feminism and sexual abuse on the final day of the annual right-wing gathering. Asked by the moderator to name something that gets their "blood boiling" as it relates to those subjects, Charen replied, "I am disappointed in people on our side for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women, who are in our party, who are sitting in the White House, who brag about their extramarital affairs, who brag about mistreating women--and because he happens to have an 'R' next to his name we look the other way." ... Read more

The Next Congressman from NY-21! Dylan Ratigan Interview with Cenk Uygur | TYT | 02/25/18 | 30:50

Dylan Ratigan Gets Emotional About Debt | sometime last century | 4:45

Dylan Ratigan said: "Tens of trillions of dollars are being extracted from the United States of America. Democrats aren't doing it, Republicans are not doing it, an entire integrated system, financial system, trading system, taxing system, that was created by both parties over a period of two decades is at work on our entire country right now," said Ratigan. "We're sitting here arguing about whether we should do the $4 trillion plan that kicks the can down the road for the president for 2017, or burn the place to the ground, both of which are reckless, irresponsible and stupid."

Koch Document Reveals Laundry List of Policy Victories Extracted From the Trump Administration
TheIntercept | Lee Fang, Nick Surgey | 02/25/18

IN THE BACKDROP of a chaotic first year of Donald Trump's presidency, the conservative Koch brothers have won victory after victory in their bid to reshape American government to their interests.

Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements extracted from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress. ... Read more

5 Ways to Interfere in American Elections -- Without Breaking the Law
TheAtlantic | Uri Friedman | older, 07/24/17

To influence U.S. politics, foreign governments don't have to hack one party and collude with the other.

Russia's apparent interference in the U.S. presidential election is a big story, but it's part of an even bigger one: the ease with which foreign actors can insert themselves into the democratic process these days, and the difficulty of determining how to minimize that meddling.

Witness the disagreement in recent weeks among leaders of the U.S. Federal Election Commission. Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub has urged the regulatory agency to plug the types of "legal or procedural holes" that enabled Russia to pose "an unprecedented threat to the very foundations of our American political community," while her Republican colleagues have resisted her proposed fixes. "There are many historical examples of overreaction to foreign threats in American politics," the Republican Commissioner Lee Goodman observed. Just because a foreign government attempted to mess with American democracy in 2016 doesn't mean all foreign involvement in U.S. politics is nefarious--or worth shutting down. ... Read more

Trump Blames Gun-Free Zones for School Shootings, Echoing Myth Spread by NRA
TheIntercept | Robert Mackey | 02/22/18

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump ignored pleas from the Parkland survivors for a ban on assault rifles. Instead, he called for the repeal of legislation that created gun-free zones around primary and secondary schools in the 1990s to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons into classrooms. If up to 40 percent of each school’s faculty was armed, Trump said, shooting sprees could be deterred or at least quickly contained.

... In his somewhat meandering remarks to the students and parents on Wednesday, Trump claimed that the federal law banning guns in schools -- introduced in 1990 by a Democratic senator, Joe Biden, and signed by a Republican president, George H.W. Bush -- had only served to encourage attacks. "A gun-free zone to a maniac -- because they're all cowards -- a gun-free zone is, 'Let's go in and let’s attack, because bullets aren't coming back at us,'" Trump said. ... Read more

First, some info
Debunking Gun Control Arguments | SF | older, 2016 | 9:00

Next, some Victims speak up
Shooting survivor confronts NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch | CNN | 02/21/18 | 11:25

Next, some critical thinking
School Shooting Survivors Vs. NRA Spokeswoman | TYT | 02/22/18 | 10:18

And then there are the Trolls (not the kids in the picture... these are some of the victims)
Cooper slams sick alt-right conspiracy theories | CNN | 02/21/18 | 9:49

In 2018 The US Gov't Will Spend Nearly $2 Billion a Day -- Solely on War

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

Minnesota militia group says they're ready for 'civil war' | FoxNews | 11/10/17 | 8:41

Click to zoom in

Florida Shooting Survivors Face Down The NRA And Politicians, Vow To Keep Fighting
HP | Nick Visser | 02/22/18

... More than 7,000 people gathered at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, to listen to many of those affected by the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which left 17 people dead. The tragedy, the 17th school shooting so far in 2018, has prompted a wave of activism in recent days and an outpouring of anger directed at lawmakers who have refused to pass gun control legislation.

Such frustrations were on full display Wednesday as several people asked Florida Sens. Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D) what they plan to do now. Ryan Deitsch, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, asked Rubio about Congress' failure to rein in gun access and why its the students themselves who "have to march on Washington just to save innocent lives." "You're right," the senator replied. "What you've lived through, and what you live through, is not supposed to be a part of your high school experience." ... Read more

Drones in the Sahara
TheIntercept | Joe Penney | 02/18/18

LATE IN THE morning of October 4 last year, a convoy of Nigerien and American special forces soldiers in eight vehicles left the village of Tongo Tongo. As they made their way between mud-brick houses with thatched roofs, they were attacked from one side by dozens of militants, if not hundreds. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Nigeriens and Americans fled, some on foot, running for cover behind trees and clusters of millet, their boots caked in the light brown earth. By the time the fighting was over, five Nigeriens and four Americans were killed, their bodies left naked in the bush after the militants took their uniforms.

The news went straight to the front pages in the United States and sparked a conflict between the family of one of the soldiers and President Donald Trump, after the president made insensitive remarks during a condolence call to the soldier's widow. But the story also spread like wildfire throughout Niger, where the big news wasn't so much that American soldiers had been killed, but that Americans soldiers were fighting in the country in the first place.

... In fact, U.S. Special Operations forces have been in Niger since at least 2013 and are stationed around the country on forward operating bases with elite Nigerien soldiers. What happened in Tongo Tongo is just a taste of the potential friction and instability to come, because the pièce de resistance of American military engagement in Niger is a $110 million drone base the U.S. is building about 450 miles northeast of Niamey in Agadez, a city that for centuries has served as a trade hub on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, not far from Mali, Algeria, Libya and Chad. In January, I hopped aboard an aging plane that followed a roundabout route to one of America's largest-ever military investments in Africa, its latest battleground in an opaque, expensive, and counterintuitive war on the continent. ... Read more

Billy Graham, influential evangelist and friend to U.S. presidents, dies at 99
Politico | author | date

He preached the gospel around the world and served as a counselor to decades of American leaders.

The Rev. Billy Graham, one of the most influential religious figures in U.S. history and a trusted adviser to decades of U.S. presidents, has died. He was 99.

Graham was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1992. For decades starting with Harry Truman, Graham would be seen at the side of U.S. presidents as he served as a valued counselor, during both their brightest days and their sleepless nights. "People in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to," the evangelist said in 2011. ... Read more

Florida House Debates Porn, But Refuses To Discuss Assault Weapons
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 02/21/18

As tearful survivors of the Parkland school shooting watched, the Republican-led Florida House of Representatives on Tuesday refused to discuss a ban on assault weapons. Photos showed a distraught student being comforted in the gallery. Another survivor of last week's massacre expressed "indescribable" rage on Twitter.

Later in the day, many of the same lawmakers discussed at length a bill that declares porn a public health risk. The bill ? which calls for improved "education, research and policy changes to protect Floridians, especially teenagers, from pornography" -- was approved by a voice vote, reported the Tampa Bay Times. ... Read more

White House Press Briefing | WH | 02/20/18 | 20:07

*Trump vs. The World | John Oliver (HBO) | 02/18/18 | 19:14

Trump White House official says Florida shooting was 'reprieve' from bad publicity
Independent | Alexandra Wilts | 02/20/18

A Trump White House official reportedly said coverage of the mass shooting at a Florida high school last week has given the administration "a reprieve" from having to deal with bad publicity.

"For everyone, it was a distraction or a reprieve," the official told the Washington Post. "A lot of people here felt like it was a reprieve from seven or eight days of just getting pummeled."

"But as we all know, sadly, when the coverage dies down a little bit, we'll be back through the chaos," the official reportedly said. ... Read more
LEAK: Trump Team Enjoying "Reprieve" Of School Shooting | TYT | 02/20/18 | 5:53

How Much Data Does the NSA Look at Daily?

A decade after meltdown, Senate moves to roll back bank rules
Politico | Zachary Warmbrodt | 02/20/18

U.S. senators are planning to mark the 10th anniversary of Wall Street's meltdown this year with a gift to the nation's banks: a bill that would unravel regulations put in place after the crisis.

The proposed rollback of some key post-crisis rules - which could advance in the coming weeks - is one of the few examples of bipartisanship in Washington since President Donald Trump's election.

On one side are moderate Democrats such as Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Jon Tester from Republican-leaning states who support the legislation because they say it will provide relief to small and regional banks and boost rural economies.

On the other are progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and their activist allies, who argue that the bill will put consumers at risk. They're working to undercut the party's centrists before the vote, with several of the moderates -- as well as Brown -- facing tough reelection campaigns this year. ... Read more

Cancer drug Lomustine, at one point was being sold for around $50 a capsule, the same dose now costs $768.
TYT | author | 02/19/18

Cancer Drug Price Raised 1400% | TYT | 02/19/18 | 9:05

Anderson Cooper: Trump is all about himself | 02/19/18 | 7:43

A Consensus Emerges: Russia Committed an "Act of War" on Par With Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Should the U.S. Response Be Similar?
TheIntercept | Glenn Greenwald | 02/19/18

IN THE WAKE of last week's indictments alleging that 13 Russian nationals and entities created fake social media accounts and sponsored political events to sow political discord in the U.S., something of a consensus has arisen in the political and media class (with some notable exceptions) that these actions not only constitute an "act of war" against the U.S., but one so grave that it is tantamount to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Indeed, that Russia's alleged "meddling" is comparable to the two most devastating attacks in U.S. history has, overnight, become a virtual cliché.

The claim that Russian meddling in the election is "an act of war" comparable to these events isn't brand new. Senators from both parties, such as Republican John McCain and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, have long described Russian meddling in 2016 as an "act of war." Hillary Clinton, while promoting her book last October, described Russia's alleged hacking of the DNC and John Podesta's email inbox as a "cyber 9/11." And last February, the always war-hungry Tom Friedman of the New York Times said on "Morning Joe" that Russian hacking "was a 9/11-scale event. They attacked the core of our democracy. That was a Pearl Harbor-scale event." ...

BUT ...
Read more

The Moral Issue of Our Time | Bernie Sanders | 02/14/18 | 17:27

Global sea level rise on faster pace than expected
theweathernetwork.com | Dr. Mario Picazo | 02/14/18

A recent studybased on 25 years of NASA and European satellite data shows how sea level rise on earth is increasing faster than originally thought. Water levels have been going upby accelerating incrementally in recent decades, rather than in the steady mode past studies had suggested.

Global warming and consequently the rapid ice meltoccurring in both Greenland and Antarctica, are responsible for this acceleration. The research project that has brought light to this new finding is led by Steve Nerem, a professor of aerospace engineering science at the University of Colorado Boulder, fellow at the Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), and a member of NASA´s Sea Level Change team. ... Read more
NASA: We're Entering Waterworld | TYT | 02/18/18 | 8:47

The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

Former economic hit man John Perkins shares new details about the ways he and others cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Then he reveals how the deadly EHM cancer he helped create has spread far more widely and deeply than ever in the US and everywhere else -- to become the dominant system of business, government, and society today. Finally, he gives an insider view of what we each can do to change it. Economic hit men are the shock troops of what Perkins calls the corporatocracy, a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the rich and powerful people tied to them. If the EHMs can't maintain the corrupt status quo through nonviolent coercion, the jackal assassins swoop in. The heart of this book is a completely new section, over 100 pages long, that exposes the fact that all the EHM and jackal tools -- false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power--are used around the world today exponentially more than during the era Perkins exposed over a decade ago. The material in this new section ranges from the Seychelles, Honduras, Ecuador, and Libya to Turkey, Western Europe, Vietnam, China, and, in perhaps the most unexpected and sinister development, the United States, where the new EHMs -- bankers, lobbyists, corporate executives, and others -- "con governments and the public into submitting to policies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer."

An Economic Hit Man Confesses and Calls to Action | John Perkins | TEDxTraverseCity | 06/24/16 | 18:35

Economic Hitmen Cartoon | 04/27/17 | 2:23

No, Oprah's not running for president in 2020 | 60Minutes | 02/15/18 | 6:04

Why the Rich are Getting Richer | Robert Kiyosaki | TEDTalk | 07/21/16 | 20:09

How Money Works Cartoon | 05/29/15 | 29:54

President Trump's Proposed Budget Is Bad for U.S. National Security
americanprogress.org | author | older, 03/01/17

There are several issues surrounding President Trump's proposed defense budget increase, starting with the fact that U.S. defense spending is already incredibly high: It currently accounts for more than one-third of the world's total military expenditures. According to the latest numbers from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the United States spent $604.5 billion on defense in 2016, more than four times the next-biggest spender, China, which spent $145 billion, and more than 10 times the third-biggest spender, Russia, which spent $58.9 billion. Further, the U.S. armed forces are already strong. According to Michael O'Hanlon and retired Gen. David Petraeus, "the United States has the best military in the world today, by far. ... Read more
Click to zoom in Top 15 Defense Budgets 2016

US Intelligence Agencies

US Intelligence Funding 2013

What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer
NYT | Max Fisher | older, 11/07/17

But there is one quirk that consistently puzzles America's fans and critics alike. Why, they ask, does it experience so many mass shootings? Perhaps, some speculate, it is because American society is unusually violent. Or its racial divisions have frayed the bonds of society. Or its citizens lack proper mental care under a health care system that draws frequent derision abroad.

These explanations share one thing in common: Though seemingly sensible, all have been debunked by research on shootings elsewhere in the world. Instead, an ever-growing body of research consistently reaches the same conclusion.

The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns. ... Read more
Click to zoom in What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer
America's Mass Shooting Problem EXPLAINED | TYT | 02/15/18 | 20:02

Sue Klebold -> My son was a Columbine shooter. This is my story. | TEDTalk | 02/27/17 | 15:18

Inside the Senate's ugly immigration breakdown
Politics | Burgess Everett | 02/16/18

The failure of a months-long effort to help Dreamers is the latest display of legislative ineptitude.

A conservative senator from Oklahoma with a youthful visage, Lankford had been working since September to help so-called Dreamers. The 49-year-old Lankford dutifully attended bipartisan meetings, cobbling together ideas and trying to enlist support for a bipartisan deal. But when the group showed him the latest draft of their plan Tuesday night, Lankford was stunned. It was far from what he had expected.

"I looked through the outlines of the proposal and realized: 'This is nothing close to what we've talked about,'" Lankford said. ... Read more

We're Averaging One School Shooting Every 60 Hours In 2018
HP | Lydia O'Connor | 02/14/18

That's an average of one school shooting every 60 hours thus far in 2018, more than double the number of school shootings recorded in any of the previous three years in that same period. Those numbers are according to data compiled by the gun control advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety, which defines a school shooting as any time a firearm is discharged on or around a campus.

Details are still emerging about what happened during Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, but as of 6:30 pm., at least 15 people had been reported dead. President Donald Trump has spoken vaguely about the need to curb shootings, saying after the Las Vegas massacre in October that the U.S. would start "talking about gun laws as time goes by." ... Read more
290 School Shootings In America Since 2013 | everytownresearch.org | current | graph

BREAKING: Florida Mass Shooting Suspect In Custody | TYT | 02/14/18 | 9:56

The Coming War on China | good | 1:23:00

Death by China: Confronting the Dragon - A Global Call to Action by Peter Navarro
Peter Navarro is a Harvard Ph.D. economist and professor of public policy at the University of California, Irvine. His latest book Death By China is a sequel to his best-selling book The Coming China Wars and is now a documenatry film. In addition to his work on China, Professor Navarro has written numerous books on strategically managing the business cycle from both an executive and a stock trading point of view. ...

DeathByChina.com
Death By China: How America Lost Its Manufacturing Base | | 1:20:15

Crouching Tiger: What China's Militarism Means for the World by Peter Navarro

Will there be war with China? This book provides the most complete and accurate assessment of the probability of conflict between the United States and the rising Asian superpower. Equally important, it lays out an in-depth analysis of the possible pathways to peace. Written like a geopolitical detective story, the narrative encourages reader interaction by starting each chapter with an intriguing question that often challenges conventional wisdom.

Based on interviews with more than thirty top experts, the author highlights a number of disturbing facts about China's recent military buildup and the shifting balance of power in Asia: the Chinese are deploying game-changing "carrier killer" ballistic missiles; some of America's supposed allies in Europe and Asia are selling highly lethal weapons systems to China in a perverse twist on globalization; and, on the U.S. side, debilitating cutbacks in the military budget send a message to the world that America is not serious about its "pivot to Asia."

In the face of these threatening developments, the book stresses the importance of maintaining US military strength and preparedness and strengthening alliances, while warning against a complacent optimism that relies on economic engagement, negotiations, and nuclear deterrence to ensure peace.

Crouching Tiger

1. Crouching Tiger: Will There Be War With China? E1 | | 45:00
2. Crouching Tiger: The World At the Tip of a Chinese Spear E2 | | 42:59
3. Crouching Tiger: The Wild Card of North Korea E3 | | 38:11
4. Crouching Tiger: The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier of Taiwan E4 | | 37:06

Senate immigration debate quickly stalls
Politico | Burgess Everett | 02/13/18

And Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is giving senators only one week to find a solution for Dreamers.

The Senate's much-anticipated immigration debate stalled on Tuesday with party leaders feuding over how to even begin. And there may not be much time left to reach a deal, as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate's work on a solution to the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program would be limited to this week. ...

... McConnell twice attempted to set up floor votes on a sanctuary cities amendment from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and a competing proposal chosen by Democrats. But Democrats objected, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) saying the Toomey language "doesn't address Dreamers, nor does it address border security" -- the two basic elements underpinning this week's debate over the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who will soon be at risk of deportation. ... Read more
Mitch McConnell Tricks The Democrats Again | TYT | 02/13/18 | 7:37

Trump Attorney Michael Cohen: I Paid Porn Star Stormy Daniels
HP | Ed Mazza | 02/14/18

Michael Cohen, personal attorney for President Donald Trump, told The New York Times on Tuesday that he paid Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. porn star Stormy Daniels)$130,000 in 2016. However, he insisted that the money was his own.

"Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly," Cohen told the newspaper. "The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone." ... Read more

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

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.

White House Proposes $4.4 Trillion Budget That Adds $7 Trillion to Deficits
NYT | Julie Hirschfeld Davis | 02/12/18

Trump sent Congress a $4.4 trillion budget proposal on Monday outlining steep cuts to domestic programs, large increases in military spending and a ballooning federal deficit that illustrates how far Republicans have strayed from their longtime embrace of balanced budgets. ...

... The White House budget request would add $984 billion to the federal deficit next year, despite proposed cuts to programs like Medicare and food stamps and despite leaner budgets across federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency. ... Read more
Trump's Deficit-Bursting Budget Revealed | TYT | 02/12/18 | 9:13

Weinstein Forced Staff to Corner Starlets, Schedule Sex, Inject Erection Drugs, New York Attorney General Claims
Daily Beast | Olivia Messer | 02/12/18

Shocking allegations about the alleged serial sexual harasser were submitted in a suit filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The complaint was filed in New York County Supreme Court late Sunday. It alleges stunning violations of the state's human rights, civil rights, and business laws.

It claims Weinstein "regularly berated women using gender-based obscenities"--calling female employees "c--t" or "pussy" instead of using their first names when he was angry. In addition to the sexual harassment, bullying, and allegations of sexual assault, Weinstein allegedly threatened the lives of his employees, saying "I will kill your family," and, "You don't know what I can do."

Weinstein often bragged about his connection to political figures and said he had "contacts within the Secret Service that could take care of problems," the lawsuit alleges. ... Read more
SHOCKING New Harvey Weinstein Allegations | TYT | 02/12/18 | 8:09

Rob Porter's ex-wife: I don't think he's changed | CNN | 02/09/18 | 26:40

The Stock Market Swings Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Our Rigged Economy
TheIntercept | Kate Aronoff, Ryan Grim | 02/08/18

... That theory about unemployment in a capitalist economy is relevant to how analysts are pulling apart the two-day collapse of the stock market that began Friday, and its subsequent wild swings. Market watchers have said flat-out that the crash was triggered by a new jobs report released Friday that showed that wages, nearly a decade into the recovery, might finally be starting to rise.

Now, when analysts say that the Dow Jones industrial average went up or down for this or that reason, they are often just guessing. What specifically moves a body as complex as the stock market is in some ways unknowable, but it is useful to explore the cause being ascribed to last week's crash -- rising wages -- apart from its implications for the market. What it says about the way our economy is structured is much more profound. ... Read more

U.S. Secretly Negotiated With Russians Buy Stolen NSA Documents -- and the Russians Offered Trump-Related Material, Too
TheIntercept | James Risen | 02/09/18

The United States intelligence community has been conducting a top-secret operation to recover stolen classified U.S. government documents from Russian operatives, according to sources familiar with the matter. The operation has also inadvertently yielded a cache of documents purporting to relate to Donald Trump and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Over the past year, American intelligence officials have opened a secret communications channel with the Russian operatives, who have been seeking to sell both Trump-related materials and documents stolen from the National Security Agency and obtained by Russian intelligence, according to people involved with the matter and other documentary evidence. The channel started developing in early 2017, when American and Russian intermediaries began meeting in Germany. Eventually, a Russian intermediary, apparently representing some elements of the Russian intelligence community, agreed to a deal to sell stolen NSA documents back to the U.S. while also seeking to include Trump-related materials in the package. ... Read more

Trump's $4 Trillion Budget Proposal Unveiled: Here Are The Main Highlights
ZeroHedge | author | 02/12/18

... While we await the full release, Bloomberg has noted that Trump's FY19 budget proposal calls for $1.7t in cuts to mandatory spending and receipts and a 2% yearly reduction in non-defense discretionary budget after 2019. As part of the mandatory spending, the budget projects $237 billion in savings from Medicare over 10 years. ...

Or summarized:

Command and Control Documentary 2017 | PBS | 12/01/17 | 1:13:09

911

Wall Street and Banksters

Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist

The name Jack Abramoff is synonymous with Washington scandal, but the fascinating facts of his case are either largely unknown or wildly misunderstood. His memoir will serve as a corrective - an engrossing, informative work of political nonfiction that is also a gripping real-life thriller. The biggest surprise twist comes in the form of Abramoff himself, a smart, funny, charming, clear-eyed narrator who confounds every expectation of the media's villainous portrait. He's a perfect bundle of contradictions: an Orthodox Jew and upstanding family man with a staunch moral streak, caught in multiple scandals of bribery and corruption with an undercurrent of murder. Abramoff represented Indian tribes whose lucrative casinos were constantly under threat from proposed changes in law; though he charged the tribes many millions, he saved them billions by ensuring votes to support the livelihoods of their reservations. Much of Jack's share was funneled not into his own coffers, but to charities. Abramoff on the front pages could not be further from the Jack Abramoff who's ready to tell his honest and compelling story.

Kelly knew before abuse reports that Porter would be denied security clearance
Politico | Eliana Johnson | 02/09/18

The former White House staff secretary, who left the Trump administration on Thursday, was among multiple West Wing aides who had been working with only an interim security clearance.

White House chief of staff John Kelly was told several weeks ago that the FBI would recommend denying full security clearances to multiple White House aides who had been working in the West Wing on interim security clearances.

... The White House chief-of-staff told confidants in recent weeks that he had decided to fire anyone who had been denied a clearance -- but had yet to act on that plan before the Porter allegations were first reported this week. ... Read more

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Call

To what extent did America's best intelligence analysts grasp the rising thread of Islamist radicalism? Who tried to stop bin Laden and why did they fail? Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll recounts the history of the covert wars in Afghanistan that fueled Islamic militancy and sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks. Based on scrupulous research and firsthand accounts by key government, intelligence, and military personnel both foreign and American, Ghost Wars details the secret history of the CIA's role in Afghanistan (including its covert operations against Soviet troops from 1979 to 1989), the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of bin Laden, and the failed efforts by U.S. forces to find and assassinate bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Steve Call

Prior to 9/11, the United States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct opposition, with I.S.I., the Pakistani intelligence agency. While the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and compartmentalized wing of I.S.I., known as "Directorate S," was covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban, in order to enlarge Pakistan's sphere of influence. After 9/11, when fifty-nine countries, led by the U. S., deployed troops or provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the U.S. was set on an invisible slow-motion collision course with Pakistan.

Today we know that the war in Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and provocation in the Muslim world caused by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and corruption. But more than anything, as Coll makes painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and intentions of I.S.I.'s "Directorate S". This was a swirling and shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations, involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players, including some of the most prominent military and political figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean violence.

Coll excavates this grand battle, which took place away from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise, original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive and painstaking.

Michael Lewis: Nobody Understands the Stock Market | Bloomberg | older | 13:19

60 Minutes, Goldman Sachs VP explains why he quit | CBS News | older | 13:28

Wall Street: High-Frequency Trading | CBS News | older, 06/05/11 | 13:26

Secrets of a former high speed trader | CNNMoney | older, 08/12/13 | 5:02

Watch high-speed trading in action | CNNMoney | older, 07/05/13 | 2:50

Tillerson scales back State Department restructuring plan
Politico | Nahal Toosi | 02/17/18

After stiff resistance from diplomats and lawmakers, the secretary of state is lowering expectations.

When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson first announced plans to "redesign" the State Department, U.S. diplomats braced for huge changes ranging from shuttered embassies to dramatic staff and budget cuts. As Tillerson failed to fill top leadership positions, some staffers worried the former ExxonMobil CEO was arrogantly dismissive of their mission.

But a year into his much-criticized tenure, Tillerson is scaling back people's expectations of his vision. Far from swinging a wrecking ball into the 75,000-employee department, Tillerson looks ready to tap with a hammer and chisel. State Department officials say that talk of closing down entire wings of the department has been replaced with narrower plans to upgrade technology and improve training. ... Read more

2/7/18: White House Press Briefing | 02/07/18 | 21:13

Donald Trump Wants to Make It Easier to Start a Nuclear War. This Should Petrify Us.
TheIntercept | Mehdi Hasan | 02/08/18

... Yet four months later, in November 2016, almost 63 million of her fellow Americans voted to put the short-tempered, thin-skinned former reality TV star in charge of their country's 6,800 nuclear warheads. Never forget: As president of the nuclear-armed United States, Trump -- Trump! -- has the power to destroy humanity many times over, while rendering the planet uninhabitable in the process.

If that wasn't terrifying enough, last week, less than 72 hours after the State of the Union speech, in which Trump ramped up his war of words with North Korea, his administration announced that it wanted to make it much easier for the president to start a nuclear holocaust. ... Read more

2018 Nuclear Posture Review.pdf

On January 27, 2017, the President directed the Department of Defense to conduct a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) to ensure a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent that protects the homeland, assures allies and above all, deters adversaries. This review comes at a critical moment in our nation's history, for America confronts an international security situation that is more complex and demanding than any since the end of the Cold War. In this environment, it is not possible to delay modernization of our nuclear forces if we are to preserve a credible nuclear deterrent -- ensuring that our diplomats continue to speak from a position of strength on matters of war and peace.

The Rise and Fall of John Kelly's Reputation
TheAtlantic | author | date

The White House chief of staff is facing new scrutiny for his defense of a staffer who has resigned following accusations of physical abuse from two ex-wives.

... That's the story of Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary, who announced his departure on Wednesday after published allegations of abuse from his two ex-wives. And more broadly, it's also the story of John Kelly, the White House chief of staff who was Porter's boss and defender.

Unlike many members of the White House cast, Porter is not a household name, but he had rocketed to an important role directly by President Trump's side. He controlled the flow of information to Trump and spent a great deal of time with him. "Porter had good relationships across the ideological spectrum of the White House--from Stephen Miller to Gary Cohn, was one of Kelly's most trusted aides, and was in charge of the weekly trade policy meetings," Jonathan Swan reports. ... Read more

Trump on the stock market: A 'big mistake'
Politico | Cristiano Lima | 02/07/18

"In the 'old days,' when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up. Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down," the president tweeted. "Big mistake, and we have so much good (great) news about the economy!"

For months, the president and his administration touted the surging stock market as an indicator of U.S. economic strength, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing the 25,000-point threshold for the first time earlier this year.

But Monday, the Dow took a historical plummet the same day Trump delivered a speech on the taxes and the economy. The decline came amid concerns that the massive corporate tax cut could lead to an overheating economy, spurring the Federal Reserve to step in to cool things down. ... Read more

Lie After Lie: What Colin Powell Knew About Iraq 15 Years Ago and What He Told The U.N.
The Intercept | Jon Schwarz | 02/06/18

COLIN POWELL DELIVERED his presentation making the case for war with Iraq at the United Nations 15 years ago, on February 5, 2003. As much criticism as Powell received for this -- he's called it "painful" and something that will "always be a part of my record" -- it hasn't been close to what's justified. Powell, who was secretary of state under President George W. Bush, was much more than just horribly mistaken: He fabricated "evidence" and ignored repeated warnings that what he was saying was false.

Unfortunately, Congress never investigated Powell's use of the intelligence he was given, so we don't know many of the specifics. Even so, what did reach the public record in other ways is extremely damning. While the corporate media has never taken a close look at this record, we can go through Powell's presentation line by line to demonstrate the chasm between what he knew and what he told the world. As you'll see, there's quite a lot to say about it. ... Read more

The real reason the Nunes memo matters
Vox | Zack Beaucham | 01/30/18

When House Republicans voted on Monday night to release a memo, compiled by Rep. Devin Nunes, alleging anti-Trump bias at the FBI, they raised a very serious question for American democracy.

The question is not whether there was a plot against Trump at the FBI, as the Nunes memo reportedly alleges. There is no evidence for such a claim, and it doesn't pass the smell test. The real question is this: Will the FBI and Justice Department remain semi-independent agencies that check the president's authority -- or will they be brought under President Donald Trump's direct control? ... Read more
The Method To Nunes Memo Madness | TYT | 02/06/18 | 10:55

William Rivers Pitt | They're Talking About "Winnable" Nuclear War Again
Truth-out | William Rivers Pitt | 02/03/18

... Donald Trump has already announced his desire to increase the massive US nuclear arsenal tenfold. The draft of his soon-to-be-released Nuclear Posture Review seeks significant production of so-called "low-yield" nuclear weapons, because our current weapons are theoretically too big to use with any degree of tactical success. It should be noted that, according to modern metrics, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also "low-yield." An arsenal of smaller bombs is key to Admiral Monroe's fever dream of a winnable nuclear war. It is a dream Trump appears to share.

The world is dangerous enough as it is, one would think. It is so dangerous, in fact, that a great many people are frozen to near-immobility by it, by the sheer immensity of the perils we face. Where to even begin? If you seek a place to lay your chisel, I have two words: "No Nukes." ... Read more

Trump ran on reducing the debt -- now he's sending it through the roof
Salon | Charlie May | 02/05/18

The Treasury Department is expected to borrow $955 billion in 2018, the most in the last six years

Last year, the federal government borrowed $519 billion, while documents released on Wednesday show that the U.S. Treasury expects to borrow $955 billion this year, the Washington Post reported. While the Treasury only gave a justification because of the "fiscal outlook," the Congressional Budget Office provided further insight and indicated that the reason for an increase in U.S. borrowing is because of the newly passed GOP tax plan.

The Post elaborated: The White House got a taste of just how problematic this debt situation could get this week. Investors are concerned about all the additional borrowing and the likelihood of higher inflation, which is why the interest rates on U.S. government bonds hit the highest level since 2014. That, in turn, partly drove the worst weekly sell-off in the stock market in two years. ... Read more

The Most Dangerous Man In America

The Most Dangerous Man In America, Part 1 [43:25], Part 2 [43:25]

Forever defined by a single action, Daniel Ellsberg is known as the man who blew the whistle on the Vietnam War. But neither Ellsberg's choice nor its execution was simple, as Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated documentary reveals.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers tells multiple stories, of which two are central: The former Rand Corporation analyst's shift from hawk to dove, and the process of releasing those famous Defense Department documents to congressmen, and later, to major newspapers.

The Fog of War Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S McNamara

The Fog of War Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S McNamara | 2003 | 1:23:00

Former corporate whiz kid Robert McNamara was the controversial Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during the height of the Vietnam War. This Academy Award-winning documentary, augmented by archival footage, gives the conflicted McNamara a platform on which he attempts to confront his and the U.S. government's actions in Southeast Asia in light of the horrors of modern warfare, the end of ideology and the punitive judgment of history.

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. The documentary miniseries for Showtime had a working title Oliver Stone's Secret History of America. 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.

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

Why We Fight by Eugene Jarecki

Why We Fight by Eugene Jarecki | 2006 | 1:15:00

Since World War II, the United States has been almost constantly involved in combat, active participants in a string of wars fought entirely on foreign shores. Eugene Jarecki's documentary examines this phenomenon outside of partisan bickering, thoughtfully exploring what Eisenhower called "the business of war." Speaking to veterans of wars in Vietnam and Iraq, as well as military experts and journalists, the film discusses defense spending, foreign policy and the military-industrial complex.

Blowback: How a CIA-Backed Coup Led to the Rise of Iran's Ayatollahs
TheIntercept | Mehdi Hasan | 02/05/18

WHY CAN'T IRAN have a secular, democratic government? It's a question Americans often ask of their longstanding Middle East adversary -- especially when they see images of anti-regime protesters taking to the streets of major Iranian cities and towns to demand greater freedom.

Unlike citizens of the Islamic Republic, however, citizens of the United States tend to have short memories. The historical reality is that Iran did have a secular, democratic government, led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh between 1951 and 1953 -- but Mossadegh was removed from power in a coup organized and funded by the CIA and Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6.

With a handful of exceptions -- Madeleine Albright in 2000, Barack Obama in 2009 and 2015 -- most mainstream U.S. politicians have little to say about any of this sordid history. In Washington, D.C., Iranian hostility toward the U.S. has long been treated as inexplicable and irrational, while the CIA's role in the 1953 coup -- which set off a chain of events that resulted in the rise of Iran's ayatollahs and the Islamic Revolution of 1979 -- has vanished into a memory hole. Read more

64 Years Later, CIA Finally Releases Details of Iranian Coup
foreignpolicy.com | Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian | 06/20/17

eclassified documents released last week shed light on the Central Intelligence Agency's central role in the 1953 coup that brought down Iranian Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh, fueling a surge of nationalism which culminated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and poisoning U.S.-Iran relations into the 21st century. The approximately 1,000 pages of documents also reveal for the first time the details of how the CIA attempted to call off the failing coup -- only to be salvaged at the last minute by an insubordinate spy on the ground.

Known as Operation Ajax, the CIA plot was ultimately about oil. Western firms had for decades controlled the region's oil wealth, whether Arabian-American Oil Company in Saudi Arabia, or the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Iran. When the U.S. firm in Saudi Arabia bowed to pressure in late 1950 and agreed to share oil revenues evenly with Riyadh, the British concession in Iran came under intense pressure to follow suit. But London adamantly refused. ... Read more

Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept, -> Fear and Loathing in Trump's America | The Agenda with Steve Paikin | older, 10/31/17 | 29:03

What Was Russia's Spy Chief Doing in Washington Last Week? Probably Playing the Trump Administration ... Again.
Daily Beast | Amy Knight | 01/31/18

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Chief Sergei Naryshkin came just before Trump punted new sanctions and issued a useless 'oligarch' list. What message did he bring from Moscow?

The Russians clearly wanted the world to know that the head of their Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR -- which has been implicated directly in Moscow's efforts to subvert American democratic processes--paid a not-so-secret visit to the Washington area last week for meetings with officials of the Trump administration. That the man in question, Sergei Naryshkin, has been the specific object of U.S. sanctions did not seem to preclude his visit. ... Read more

Russian spy chiefs met in Washington with CIA director to discuss counterterrorism
WP | Shane Harris | 01/31/18

Two top Russian spy chiefs traveled to Washington last week to discuss counterterrorism issues with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, but the unusual visit also raised concerns among some U.S. officials that Moscow could interpret the encounter as a sign the Trump administration is willing to move beyond the issue of election interference, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said.

Pompeo met with Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service or SVR, and Alexander Bortnikov, who runs the FSB, which is the main successor to the Soviet-era security service the KGB. ... Read more

Dow loses all gains of 2018 | FoxNews | 02/05/18 | 6:10

The Daily 202: Why Trump is so eager to release the Nunes memo
WP | James Hohmann | 02/01/18

Senior White House officials and advisers say that President Trump wants the document published because he sees it as key to making changes at the Justice Department, particularly pushing out Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

"Few things have frustrated Trump as much as the law enforcement agencies he cannot fully control," Josh Dawsey, Devlin Barrett and Karoun Demirjian report. "Allies say he is upset that he can't control 'my guys' at the 'Trump Justice Department' and that no one seems particularly loyal to him. He has also broken long-held protocols by directly calling Justice Department officials, and instructed his chief of staff to do the same, without the White House counsel on the phone. ... Read more

Keith Olbermann Talks Trump, DNC, Russia Probe, ISIS & More | The View | 11/03/17 | 8:17

'The president clearly set himself up': Trump's stock market miscalculation
Politico | Ben White | 02/05/18

After cheering the market's relentless rise, Trump is forced to face the reality of Monday's swift and historic fall.

A global market sell-off accelerated Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging nearly 1,600 points at one point in roller-coaster afternoon trading. After a volatile session, the Dow ended down 1,175 points, or 4.6%, at 24,346.

It was the largest ever single-day point drop for the Dow and it rattled both Wall Street and Washington, abruptly ending a remarkable period of placid markets where it often seemed the only direction was up. A young generation of Wall Street traders has never seen the kind of whipsaw action that seized markets Monday. ... Read more

Hayes: Pages' Conspiracy Theory Is Now Official GOP Stance | MSNBC| 02/02/18 | 3:07

Carter Page Reacts To Indictments, George Papadopoulos Plea | All In | MSNBC | older, 10/30/17 | 10:11

Carter Page Responds To James Comey Firing | All In | MSNBC | older, 05/11/17 | 7:57

Americans don't want to mix politics and law enforcement, and support an independent FBI
yougov.com | author | date

In the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, the preference for independence in law enforcement is not partisan, as Republicans as well as Democrats reject the belief that senior FBI officials need to be supporters of the President (though Republicans are more closely divided than Democrats or independents on this question).

The poll was conducted this weekend, as Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe resigned just weeks ahead of his expected March retirement from the Bureau. McCabe had been criticized by President Trump, including on Twitter, for political bias, and claimed he had been asked by the President how he had voted when he met the President upon assuming the role of acting FBI Director. McCabe did not vote in the 2016 election. ... Read more
SHOCKING Deep State Poll Reveals Disturbing Results | TYT | 02/01/18 | 10:01

Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression -- and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari

While this book was on pre-order I read (without exaggeration) twenty-three books on anxiety and depression. I've read many in the past, and I wanted to read everything that had a good reputation. I wasn't impressed. I got so tired of reading the same ideas and advice, which was usually 'breathe deeply' and 'try to be mindful'. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy came up a lot too, which is mind-numbing when you've found its benefits to be so limited. To be fair, many people must get a lot out of what's already out there. But this book is something new. The author doesn't repeat the old ideas; he breaks down assumptions. Rather than seeing depression as a rare malfunction, it's recognised as a response to the dehumanizing world we live in. It's not preachy, and the arguments make sense better than this review can. The references are solid. Better still, it's full of practical ideas for reconnecting with the things that matter. Ease the causes of depression and you can ease depression. A lot of the ideas I knew already, on some level, but seen from this perspective I have seen the power of these ideas. No book will be a cure-all, but if you're looking for help and don't have time to read as many books as I tried, this one will give you more than you expect. Give it time. It's not a quick collection of techniques, but gives you the understanding you need. That's worth a lot more than the same old lists of techniques.

Fact-checking the 2018 State of the Union address | WashingtonPost | 02/01/18 | 1:40

Intercepted Podcast: Hate of the Union | TheIntercept | 01/31/18 | 1hr

Controversial Nunes Memo Released Following Formal Approval From Trump
PBS | Philip Ewing | 02/02/18

President Trump joined his Republican allies on Friday in piling on with attacks about "bias" in the FBI and the Justice Department as Washington, D.C., waited on tenterhooks for the release of a controversial secret spying memo. The White House said Trump has reviewed the memo and approved its full declassification. The House Intelligence Committee then posted it online.

"I think it's terrible. It's a disgrace what's going on in this country," Trump told reporters. "When you look at that, and you see that, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that." ... Read more

Two Months After U.S. Invaded Afghanistan, Donald Rumsfeld Asked What Languages are Spoken There
TheIntercept | Murtaza Hussain | 01/25/18

ROUGHLY TWO MONTHS after the start of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was still unsure about which languages were spoken in the country and asked aides to provide him a report on the subject. That and other revelations come from a collection of hundreds of Rumsfeld's communications released Wednesday by the National Security Archive, a research center based at George Washington University.

The "Languages" memo is part of a roughly 900-page tranche of Rumsfeld's memos released after a five-year Freedom of Information Act fight by the National Security Archive. Following a FOIA lawsuit filed by the archive, the government agreed to release a total of roughly 59,000 pages of memos in monthly tranches. The first group of memos contains many of Rumsfeld's notorious short internal memoranda, known colloquially as "snowflakes," which were written in the months before and after the September 11 attacks. ... Read more