Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Bernie Sanders Tells Jimmy Kimmel His Recipe for Working With the GOP in Congress (05/27/16) [1:51]

TYT | Bernie Sanders | The 2nd Young Turks Interview (full) (05/27/16) [43:08]

TYT | Trump's Energy Plan Is Insane (05/27/16) [14:54]

Compilation: This is why Donald Trump deserves to be president! (04/20/16) [27:50]

Temperatures Could Rise Far More Than Previously Thought If Fossil Fuel Reserves Burned
AlterNet | Judith Lavoie / Desmog Canada | 05/24/16

Imagine a world where average temperatures are almost 10 degrees Celsius higher than today, an Arctic with temperatures almost 20 degrees warmer and some regions deluged with four times more rain.

That is the dramatic scenario predicted by a team of climate scientists led by the University of Victoria’s Katarzyna Tokarska, who looked at what would happen if the Earth’s remaining untapped fossil fuel reserves are burned.

That would result in average global temperature increases between 6.4 degrees and 9.5 degrees Celsius, with Arctic temperatures warming between 14.7 degrees and 19.5 degrees, says the paper published Monday in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change. ... Read more

Why Bernie Sanders Still Can -- and Should -- Win the Nomination
HP | Rose Ann DeMoro | 05/26/16

A troika of the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and their echo chamber in the major media are laboring to assure everyone that the Democratic nomination process is over.

They've failed to convince the people who actually vote and see Bernie Sanders wins in Indiana, West Virginia, Oregon, and a virtual tie in Kentucky. Here's 10 reasons why Bernie can still win, is the strongest candidate for November, and is helping build something the nation desperately needs.

Killing the Colorado
ProPublica | Abraham Lustgarden | older, but interesting 06/16/15

A COUPLE OF MILES outside the town of Page, three 775-foot-tall caramel-colored smokestacks tower like sentries on the edge of northern Arizona's sprawling red sandstone wilderness. At their base, the Navajo Generating Station, the West's largest power-generating facility, thrums ceaselessly, like a beating heart.

Football-field-length conveyors constantly feed it piles of coal, hauled 78 miles by train from where huge shovels and mining equipment scraped it out of the ground shortly before. Then, like a medieval mortar and pestle machine, wheels crush the stone against a large bowl into a smooth powder that is sprayed into tremendous furnaces -- some of the largest ever built. Those furnaces are stoked to 2,000 degrees, heating tubes of steam to produce enough pressure to drive an 80-ton rod of steel to spin faster than the speed of sound, converting the heat of the fires into electricity.

The power generated enables a modern wonder. It drives a set of pumps 325 miles down the Colorado River that heave trillions of gallons of water out of the river and send it shooting over mountains and through canals. That water -- lifted 3,000 vertical feet and carried 336 miles -- has enabled the cities of Phoenix and Tucson to rapidly expand.

This achievement in moving water, however, is gained at an enormous cost. Every hour the Navajo's generators spin, the plant spews more climate-warming gases into the atmosphere than almost any other facility in the United States. Alone, it accounts for 29 percent of Arizona's emissions from energy generation. The Navajo station's infernos gobble 15 tons of coal each minute, 24 hours each day, every day. ... Read more

Trump's Decision To Debate Sanders In California Is His Most Genius Move Yet
ZeroHedge | author | 05/27/16

If the Trump/Sanders debate proceeds as planned in California, you're about to witness one of the most important moments of a 2016 general election that hasn't even begun yet. To say such a debate would be an unmitigated disaster for Hillary Clinton would be the understatement of the century. Let's explore why. ... Read more

Hedge Fund Billionaire Slams Democracy, Says The "Tyranny Of The Majority Is An Unhealthy Development"
ZeroHedge | author | 05/27/16

In his latest letter to investors, OakTree Capital's Howard Marks goes political (slamming Trump's tariffs and Bernie's minimum wage machinations), shedding some blinding light on the economic reality of America, the dismal failure (and increasing impotence) of central bankers, and the ongoing "tryanny of the majority" warning that if everyone wants to tax-the-rich, soon there will be no rich to tax. As he concludes, short-term fixes simply cannot create wealth out of thin air (see Venezuela), as Churchill once said "for a nation to try to tax [or stimulate or devalue] itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." ... Read more

15 Grill Recipes That Will Take You Straight To Meat Heaven
BuzzFeed | author | 04/28/16

The U.S. Military Budget Is the Work of True Scam Artists
AlterNet | William Hartung / Tom Dispatch | 05/25/16

The United States is on track to spend more than $600 billion on the military this year--more, that is, than was spent at the height of President Ronald Reagan's Cold War military buildup, and more than the military budgets of at least the next seven nations in the world combined. And keep in mind that that's just a partial total. As an analysis by the Straus Military Reform Project has shown, if we count related activities like homeland security, veterans' affairs, nuclear warhead production at the Department of Energy, military aid to other countries, and interest on the military-related national debt, that figure reaches a cool $1 trillion. ... Read more

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

Clinton's inexcusable, willful disregard for the rules
WashingtonPost | author | 05/25/16

HILLARY CLINTON'S use of a private email server while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 has been justifiably criticized as an error of judgment. What the new report from the State Department inspector general makes clear is that it also was not a casual oversight. Ms. Clinton had plenty of warnings to use official government communications methods, so as to make sure that her records were properly preserved and to minimize cybersecurity risks. She ignored them.

The 83-page report declares that "beginning in late 2005 and continuing through 2011," the department revised its Foreign Affairs Manual and "issued various memoranda specifically discussing the obligation to use Department systems in most circumstances and identifying the risks of not doing so." Ms. Clinton didn't. ... Read more

"We Will Fight This All The Way To The Supreme Court" - 11 States Sue Obama Over Transgender Bathrooms
ZeroHedge | author | 05/26/16

Don't we have more pressing problems than this?? ... Read more

"The System Itself Is At Risk" Bill Gross Warns, Shorts Credit As "Day Of Reckoning Is Coming"
ZeroHedge | author | 05/26/16

Bill Gross, who manages the $1.3 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, said he is moving to sell credit risk and insurance on market volatility rather than buying long-term debt, because he believes a day of reckoning will come when central banks will no longer be able to prop up asset prices and investors will withdraw from markets. ... Read more

The Anger Of The Unprivileged Is Rising Globally
ZeroHedge | author | 05/26/16

Interestingly, privilege serves the same purpose--benefiting the few at the expense of the many--regardless of the system's ideological labels. Socialist, Communist and free-market elites loot their populaces and national wealth with equal gusto. Those who came to do good and stayed to do well first accumulate privileges, which they then leverage into wealth and power. ... Read more

PoliticKING with Larry King | Ralph Nader on 2016 Race: U.S. Has Reached New Low (05/18/16) [25:00]

BBC | Firefighters battling a massive blaze in Canada's energy heartland were aided on Friday by a second day of light rain and winds that held flames back from oil sands facilities (05/20/16) [1:25]

Destruction of FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta Canada after wildfire (05/19/16) [5:56]

Elizabeth Warren Has Had It With Donald Trump
HP | Marina Fang | 05/24/16

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), amplifying her her recent attacks on Donald Trump, admonished the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in a no-holds-barred speech on Tuesday, calling him "a small, insecure money-grubber who doesn't care who gets hurt."

Warren recounted the story of a Nevada family whose home was foreclosed at the height of the 2008 economic crisis while accepting an award from the Center for Popular Democracy, an economic justice organization. The story served as a segue into an excoriation of comments Trump made before the crisis, hoping the housing market would crash so he could profit from it. ... Read more

Elizabeth Warren: Donald Trump can NEVER be the President (05/24/16) [10:09]

Documents Show 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle Distorted Military Record
TheIntercept | Matthew Cole | 05/25/16

NO AMERICAN HAS been more associated with the Navy SEAL mystique than Chris Kyle, known as the deadliest sniper in military history. His bestselling autobiography, American Sniper -- a story of honor, glory, and quiet heroism -- has sold more than a million copies. The movie adaptation became the highest-grossing war film in American history.

But Kyle, who was murdered by a fellow military veteran several years after leaving the Navy, embellished his military record, according to internal Navy documents obtained by The Intercept. During his 10 years of military service and four deployments, Kyle earned one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars with Valor, a record confirmed by Navy officials. ... Read more

*New Study Predicts an Intolerably Hot World
TakePart | Emily J. Gertz | 05/23/16

Researchers say that unless fossil fuels are kept in the ground, global temperatures could rise more than 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2300.

"Our key finding is that if we continue to burn our remaining fossil fuel resources, the Earth will encounter a profound degree of global warming, of 6.4 to 9.5 degrees Celsius [about 11 to 17 degrees Fahrenheit] over 20th-century averages by 2300," said Katarzyna Tokarska, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, who led the study. The Arctic's mean temperature could rise about 15 to 20 degrees Celsius (27 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next century if such trends continue. ... Read more

Inside the Arctic in 360º (05/24/16) [1:56]

Monetary Lunacy: The ECB Could End Up Funding Bayer's Purchase Of Monsanto
ZeroHedge | author | 05/25/16

Today we find an even more striking example of just how broken the global bond market has become thanks to the ECB because as Reuters writes, Bayer could receive financing from none other than the European Central Bank to help fund its takeover of the world's largest seed company, US-based Monsanto, according to the terms of the ECB's bond-buying program. ... Read more

TYT | Hillary Clinton Now Losing To Donald Trump (05/23/16) [12:31]

TYT | NPR Tries To Keep Calm Amid Hillary's Plummeting Polls (05/23/16) [14:28]

Democratic Party Gives Bernie Sanders Bigger Role In Shaping Its Platform
HP | Marina Fang | 05/23/16

Under an agreement the party reached with Sanders and opponent Hillary Clinton, Sanders can select five people to serve on the party's platform committee, a third of the committee's members. Clinton will name six members, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), the party chair, will name four, according to the Washington Post.

Typically, the chair names all 15 members to the committee, which sets the party's agenda and guiding principles at the convention in July. This year's change is a concession to the Sanders campaign, which has accused the party of rigging the nominating rules against him and is concerned the party will ignore Sanders' progressive policy proposals with Clinton as the nominee. ... Read more

*TransCanada is suing the U.S. over Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline. The U.S. might lose.
WashingtonPost | Todd Tucker | older, but important 01/08/16

On Jan. 6, TransCanada went to court to claim that the Obama administration's failure to approve the Keystone XL pipeline violates U.S. obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. The company is asking for $15 billion in compensation from U.S. taxpayers. ... Read more

https://www.breakingthroughpower.org/ LIVE STREAMING

*Ralph Nader Presents - Breaking Through Power: A Historic Civic Mobilization
This "Civic Mobilization" will involve thousands of people at Constitution Hall and around the country and connect long-available knowledge to long-neglected action for the necessities and aspirations of people from all backgrounds. Many of the presentations will feature reforms and redirections for the common good enjoy Left/Right support.

1. Breaking Through Power: How it's Done - May 23, 2016 will feature presentations by seventeen citizen advocacy groups. Over decades these activists have produced amazing accomplishments against powerful odds. These civic leaders will demonstrate how, with modest budgets and stamina, they have improved the health, safety and economic well-being of the people and focused public opinion onto decision-makers and opponents.
2. Breaking Through Power: The Media - May 24, 2016, brings together also for the first time a large gathering of authors, documentary filmmakers, reporters, columnists, musicians, poets and editorial cartoonists. All of these presenters have documented or depicted entrenched wrongdoing by the corporate state or "crony capitalism"--the cruel impacts of corporate crimes and abuses, the absence of governmental law enforcement, and the harmful effects of concentrated corporate power.
3. Breaking Through Power: War - May 25, 2016 is dedicated to enhancing the waging of peace over the waging of war.
4. Breaking Through Power: Congress - May 26, 2016 will unveil a new Civic Agenda to be advanced by engaged and enraged citizens in each Congressional district. The Civic Agenda includes recognized necessities ignored by Congress for decades.

Bravehearts: Whistle-Blowing in the Age of Snowden Hardcover - by Mark Hertsgaard

Whistleblowers pay with their lives to save ours. When insiders like former NSA analyst Edward Snowden or ex-FBI agent Coleen Rowley or Big Tobacco truth-teller Jeffrey Wigand blow the whistle on high-level lying, lawbreaking or other wrongdoing-whether it's government spying, corporate murder or scientific scandal-the public benefits enormously. Wars are ended, deadly products are taken off the market, white-collar criminals are sent to jail. The whistleblowers themselves, however, generally end up ruined. Nearly all of them lose their jobs-and in many cases their marriages and their health-as they refuse to back down in the face of increasingly ferocious official retaliation. That moral stubbornness despite terrible personal cost is the defining DNA of whistleblowers. The public owes them more than we know.

In Bravehearts, Hertsgaard tells the gripping, sometimes darkly comic and ultimately inspiring stories of the unsung heroes of our time. A deeply reported, impassioned polemic, Bravehearts is a book for citizens everywhere-especially students, teachers, activists and anyone who wants to make a difference in the world around them.

Robert Reich: How the Pundits and Press Have Utterly Failed to Grasp Trump's Appeal
AlterNet | Robert Reich | 05/23/16

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll released Sunday finds Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a statistical tie, with Trump leading Clinton 46 percent to 44 percent among registered voters. That's an 11 percent swing against Clinton since March. ...

... Since he clinched the Republican nomination two weeks ago, Trump has been the object of even more unfavorable press than he was before - about his treatment of women, his propensity to lie, his bizarre policy proposals. ... Read more

*TYT | Hedge Fund Billionaire: Cut My Taxes, Close More Schools (05/22/16) [9:08]

Democrats Can't Unite Unless Wasserman Schultz Goes!
HP | Bill Moyers | 05/21/16

... Twice now, the flight of her presidential aspirations has been forced to circle the airport as other contenders put up an unexpected fight: In 2008, Barack Obama emerged to grab the Democratic nomination away and this year, although all signs point to her finally grabbing the brass ring, unexpected and powerful progressive resistance came from the mighty wind of the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Certainly, Hillary Clinton is angered by all of this, but the one seemingly more aggrieved -- if public comments and private actions are any indication -- is Democratic National Committee chair and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

As we recently wrote, "... She embodies the tactics that have eroded the ability of Democrats to once again be the party of the working class. As Democratic National Committee chair she has opened the floodgates for Big Money, brought lobbyists into the inner circle and oiled all the moving parts of the revolving door that twirls between government service and cushy jobs in the world of corporate influence." ... Read more

Plant-Based, the Beyond Burger Aims to Stand Sturdy Among Meat
NYTimes | Stephanie Strom | 05/22/16

For the handful of companies working to develop plant-based alternatives to meat, finding a hearty stand-in for the humble hamburger is the holy grail.

One of those companies, Beyond Meat, says it has come up with that burger. The company will begin selling the Beyond Burger on Monday at a Whole Foods in Boulder, Colo. -- alongside the case where beef, poultry, lamb and pork are sold. ... Read more

We're In The Eye Of A Global Financial Hurricane
ZeroHedge | author | 05/23/16

The global financial system is in the eye of an unprecedented hurricane. While central bankers are congratulating themselves on their god-like mastery of Nature, and secretly praying to the idols of the Keynesian Cargo Cult every night, the inevitable consequence of borrowing from the future, the obsession with "growth" at any cost and financialization /monetary stimulus, a.k.a. the rich get richer thanks to central banks is systemic collapse. ... Read more

American Democracy Is in Crisis Mode and We're All Complicit: Here's What Needs to Happen
AlterNet | Jim Sleeper | 05/20/16

The crisis that has made Trump's victory a possibility isn't about Trump. It's about what's happening to the American people.

The election news is all about Trump, 24/7, but the crisis that has made his victory a possibility and that would bring tyrannical folly in its wake it isn't about Trump. It's about what is happening to the American people. What is happening to us is something that Trump embodies perfectly, in all his populist vulgarity. But no populist rhetoric of democracy can hide the truth that what's happening to us is what's being done to us. ... Read more

Builders of the American Century: Bechtel and Crony Capitalism
HP | Jeremy Kuzmarov | 05/20/16

The Koch Brothers, Dick Cheney, and companies like Blackwater and Halliburton have become worldwide symbols of crony capitalism, war profiteering, environmental destruction and labor exploitation, which are driving the resurgence of social movements in the United States today.

Sally Denton's book The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World (Simon & Schuster, 2016), demonstrates that Bechtel Corporation, which spent an estimated $6.2 million in political contributions and $6.2 million in lobbying during the last election cycles, should be in the same class of villains. ... Read more

The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World Hardcover by Sally Denton

The tale of the Bechtel family dynasty is a classic American business story. It begins with Warren A. "Dad" Bechtel, who led a consortium that constructed the Hoover Dam. From that auspicious start, the family and its eponymous company would go on to "build the world," from the construction of airports in Hong Kong and Doha, to pipelines and tunnels in Alaska and Europe, to mining and energy operations around the globe.

Today Bechtel is one of the largest privately held corporations in the world, enriched and empowered by a long history of government contracts and the privatization of public works, made possible by an unprecedented revolving door between its San Francisco headquarters and Washington. Bechtel executives John McCone, Caspar Weinberger, and George P. Shultz segued from leadership at the company to positions as Director of the CIA, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of State, respectively.

Like all stories of empire building, the rise of Bechtel presents a complex and riveting narrative. In The Profiteers, Sally Denton, whom The New York Times called "a wonderful writer," exposes Bechtel's secret world and one of the biggest business and political stories of our time.

*TRNN | Americans must know 'shocking' details of 9/11 report classified pages (05/19/15) [5:12]

"Hillary Clinton Is A Danger To World Peace", French Presidential Frontrunner Le Pen Warns
ZeroHedge | author | 05/20/16

American media has repeatedly likened GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump to France's far-right Front-National party leader Marine Le Pen and while the forthright French politician has not explicitly named a "preferable" candidate for US president, her comments today suggest it is not Hillary Clinton. Stating that the "EU is in the brink of collapse," as two of its main 'pillars' are "crumbling" despite the billions of euros spent on keeping the structure from falling, Le Pen's gravest fear is Hillary Clinton winning the White House because it would constitute "a danger for the world peace," as she would continue to drag Europe into her"destructive policy" of conflicts. ... Read more

Business Loan Delinquencies Spike To Lehman Moment Level
ZeroHedge | author | 05/20/16

This could not have come at a more perfect time, with the Fed once again flip-flopping about raising rates. After appearing to wipe rate hikes off the table earlier this year, the Fed put them back on the table, perhaps as soon as June, according to the Fed minutes. A coterie of Fed heads was paraded in front of the media today and yesterday to make sure everyone got that point, pending further flip-flopping. Drowned out by this hullabaloo, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve released its delinquency and charge-off data for all commercial banks in the first quarter -- very sobering data. ... Read more
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Aljazeera | The Rise of the Superbug (05/19/16) [24:59]

Aljazeera | Head to Head - Climate change: Fact or fiction? (05/16/16) [47:32]

Aljazeera | UpFront - Top US general defends Donald Trump (05/19/16) [10:39]

Bernie Sanders Rally in Vallejo, California in Vallejo Waterfront Park (full) (05/18/16) [1:16:37 ]

5,000 People Get Free Lunch Made From 'Ugly' Fruits And Vegetables
HP | Elyse Wanshel | 05/18/16

The London-based environmental nonprofit, Feedback, fed 5,000 people in Washington, DC, for free during its "Feeding the 5000" event on Wednesday. The lunches, which will be served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., are available to anyone who shows up. The organization, along with DC Central Kitchen and other local foodies will cook up veggie curry and meat chili made from ingredients that would have otherwise been thrown away.

The large-scale event, which attracts huge crowds, has taken place in cities all over the world, like Paris, Dublin, Sydney, New York City and Barcelona. ...

TV Pundits Praise Hillary Clinton on Air, Fail to Disclose Financial Ties to Her Campaign
TheIntercept | Lee Fang | older, 02/25/16

Tune into television coverage of the presidential campaign and undoubtedly you will hear from various pundits described as "former campaign strategists" and "political contributors" explaining the latest developments of the race. But in many cases, these pundits -- though introduced as neutral experts on campaigns or party politics -- in fact have financial ties to the candidates they praise on the air.

Several consultants who work at firms retained by Hillary Clinton's campaign and her affiliated Super PACs appear regularly on the major television networks, frequently touting Clinton. ... Read more

Neocon-Bashers Headline Koch Event as Political Realignment on Foreign Policy Continues
TheIntercept | Zaid Jilani | 05/18/16

IN THE LATEST example of how foreign policy no longer neatly aligns with party politics, the Charles Koch Institute -- the think tank founded and funded by energy billionaire Charles Koch -- hosted an all-day event Wednesday featuring a set of speakers you would be more likely to associate with a left-wing anti-war rally than a gathering hosted by a longtime right-wing institution.

At the event, titled "Advancing American Security: The Future of U.S. Foreign Policy," prominent realist and liberal foreign policy scholars took turns trashing the neoconservative worldview that has dominated the foreign policy thinking of the Republican Party -- which the Koch brothers have been allied with for decades. ... Read more

Bernie Sanders Rally in Bismarck, North Dakota (full) (05/13/16) [47:55]

TYT | Bernie Sanders Wins Oregon Primary Election, Ties Hillary In Kentucky (05/17/16) [15:56]

JimmyDore | Bernie Sanders Shreds Alan Greenspan To His Smug Face (05/13/16) [12:43]

Trump Vows To 'Dismantle' Dodd-Frank, Scrap Landmark Climate Accord
HP | author | 05/17/16

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program, proposing a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation.

In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, Trump also said he disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in eastern Ukraine, called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, and said he would dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected president. Read more

Australia to Lay Off Leading Scientist on Sea Levels
NYTimes | Michelle Innis | 05/17/16

A pre-eminent scientist in the field of rising global sea levels has been given notice of his dismissal as part of deep cuts at Australia's national science agency that will reduce the country's role in global climate research.

The scientist, John Church, confirmed Tuesday that he was one of 275 scientists that the agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or Csiro, said would be laid off.

... "John Church is among the top 10 climate scientists in the world," Joshua Willis, a NASA climate scientist, from Pasadena, Calif., said Tuesday. "I can only imagine it will be a huge setback for global programs. I am stunned. It is sad and embarrassing for the Australian government." ... Read more

America's Age Of Impunity
ZeroHedge | author | 05/17/16

The Panama Papers opened yet another window on the global system of financial corruption, showing how political leaders and businesses use shell companies in secrecy havens like the British Virgin Islands and many US states to evade taxes and hide corruption and other crimes. Yet the system of corruption depends on another factor beyond secrecy, one that is perhaps even more important: impunity. Impunity means that the rich and powerful escape from punishment even when their malfeasance is in full view.

Impunity is epidemic in America. The rich and powerful get away with their heists in broad daylight. When a politician like Bernie Sanders calls out the corruption, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal double down with their mockery over such a foolish "dreamer." The Journal recently opposed the corruption sentence of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell for taking large gifts and bestowing official favors -- because everybody does it. And one of its columnists praised Panama for facilitating the ability of wealthy individuals to hide their income from "predatory governments" trying to collect taxes. No kidding. ... Read more

*"We're Running A F**king Casino" Congressman Admits DC Is A "Sinkhole Of Leeches"
ZeroHedge | author | 05/17/16

More details are being released about the anonymous expose of Washington D.C. corruption and largesse that confirms why Americans hate their national government and have rallied to anti-establishment presidential candidates like Donald Trump. As NYPost reports, the 65-page manifesto called 'The Confessions of Congressman X' is based on years of transcribed private discussions, which the congressman last November gave editor Robert Atkinson, says more time is spent fundraising than reading bills and calls Washington a "sinkhole of leeches," where money 'corrupts' and House members are "puppets" to lobbyists who bankroll their campaigns. ... Read more or NYPost.com

Most Everyone Just Wants to Watch Netflix While the Free World Is Taken Over by Super Rich Plutocrats
AlterNet | George Monbiot / Verso Books | 05/16/16

The question has changed a little since Rousseau's day, but the mystery remains. Why, when most of us enjoy greater freedom than any preceding generations except the previous two or three--freedom from tyranny, freedom from slavery, freedom from hunger--do we act as if we don't? I'm prompted to ask by the discovery that the most illiberal and oppressive instrument proposed by any recent government--injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance in the Anti-Social Behavior Bill--has been attacked by Labour not because it is draconian but because it is not draconian enough. The measure was decisively rejected by the Lords. But in March 2014, the bill was passed into law. Why do we tolerate a politics that offers no effective choice? That operates largely at the behest of millionaire funders, corporate power and a bullying media? Why, in an age in which people are no longer tortured and executed for criticizing those in power, have we failed to create viable alternatives? ... Read more

The 'Madman Theory' of Donald Trump: What's the GOP Supposed to Do About a Lying, Authoritarian Demagogue?
AlterNet | Heather Digby Parton / Salon | 05/15/16

Nixon used to say he wanted his enemies to think him a "madman." For Trump, the problem is everyone thinks he's mad.

Back in the day, liberals used to always wonder why Warren Beatty didn't run for president. Nowadays, you'll hear the same thing about George Clooney. After all, these are people with 100 percent name recognition, fabulous good looks, brains, charisma, money and political contacts. They have an obvious knowledge and interest in government and achieved the very highest pinnacle of success as actors, directors and producers.

The reason they won't do it is simple. As world-class movie stars, they understand fame in a way that a mediocre tabloid star cannot and they know that the glare of the press is unrelenting and brutal when you reach a certain level. ... Read more

Last Month Was The Warmest April Ever Recorded, Continuing 7-Month Hot Streak
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 05/16/16

"Climate scientists have been warning about this since at least the 1980s. And it's been bloody obvious since the 2000s. So where's the surprise?"

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has yet to reveal its analysis of April temperatures, but if their findings line up with NASA's, that'll mean one full year of record-hot months. (The two agencies use slightly different dates to determine the long-term temperature average.)

Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said there was a greater than 99 percent chance that 2016 will be the hottest year ever recorded. Other experts have also warned that this year will likely surpass the previous annual record, set in 2015, by the largest ever margin. ... Read more
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The Endgame
ZeroHedge | author | 05/16/16

There is a growing fear in financial and monetary circles that there is something deeply wrong with the global economy. Publicly, officials and practitioners alike have become confused by policy failures, and privately, occasionally even downright pessimistic, at a loss to see a statist solution. It is hardly exaggerating to say there is a growing feeling of impending doom.

The reason this has happened is that today's macro-economists are a failure on the one subject about which they profess to be experts: economics. Their policy recommendations have become the opposite from what logic and sound economic theory shows is the true path to economic progress. Progress is not even on their list of objectives, which fortunately for us all happens despite their interventions. The adaptability of humans in their actions has allowed progress to continue, despite all attempts to discredit markets, the clearing centres for the division of labour. ... Read more

Elizabeth Warren Is On An Anti-Trump Tweetstorm. The Clinton Campaign Has Noticed.
HP | Sam Stein | 05/12/16

Twice this past week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has unleashed a seemingly unprompted tweetstorm on Donald Trump, taking shots at the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for being sexist, a scam artist, "reckless" and "embarrassing."

The more important reaction came not from Trump, however, but from Hillary Clinton's campaign. Multiple sources close to the former secretary of state say that her aides took note of the senator's ability to rile the real estate tycoon. And they recognize the value of such dart throwing from, say, someone filling out a presidential ticket. ... Read more

Sign Up To Pose Nude At The Republican National Convention
HP | Priscilla Frank | 05/13/16

Calling all feminist activists, nudists, Cleveland-based Democrats, and people overdue for a laundry day. Photographer Spencer Tunick is looking for 100 bold women to pose nude for a Cleveland-based photo shoot on July 17, 2016.

... For this particular shoot, titled "Everything She Says Means Everything," 100 naked women will hold up large mirror discs that, according to the artist's website, represent "reflecting the knowledge and wisdom of progressive women and the concept of 'Mother Nature'" onto the convention center where the RNC is taking place. ... Read more

Photos Of The World's Displaced People Show The Scale Of A Global Crisis
HP | Jesselyn Cook | 05/12/16

A record 40.8 million people worldwide are internally displaced by violence and conflict.

An unprecedented 40.8 million people worldwide have been forced out of their homes by conflict and violence, in addition to 19.2 million people recently displaced by natural disasters, a new report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reveals.

In 2015 alone, a total of 27.8 million people from 127 countries were ?forced to seek refuge within their countries' borders, with an average of 66,000 people fleeing their homes per day. The regions worst affected by conflict and violence were North Africa and the Middle East, with 4.8 million new displacements in 2015. The five-year civil war raging in Syria has already internally displaced a total of 6.6 million people since it began in 2011. ... Read more

The Destabilizing Consequences Of Globalization
ZeroHedge | author | 05/13/16

This globalization of price - for goods, services, credit and currencies - continually creates imbalances that fuel a perpetual instability that gradually impoverishes every sector other than global capital, which being mobile, can exploit the imbalances for its own profit. Who benefits over the longer term from the permanent instability and boom-and-bust cycles of this arrangement? Only those close to the credit spigots of central banks. ... Read more

China's Credit Growth Grinds To A Screeching Halt: Why This Is Very Important
ZeroHedge | author | 05/13/16

The biggest concern for China, and the world, is that now that China's credit impulse is gone, it means that the it is only a matter of time before the impetus behind Chinese, and global growth, evaporates as per the timeline persented in the following Goldman chart, which explained the surge in Q1 economic activity, and which now anticipates a steep slowdown in the second and subsequent quarters unless China manages to stoke its unsustainable credit growth once again. ... Read more

DN | Glenn Greenwald on Brazil: Goal of Rousseff Impeachment is to Boost Neoliberals & Protect Corruption (05/11/16) [9:54]

*Repairing America's Broken Foreign Policy
HP | Jeffrey Sachs | 05/06/16

US foreign policy is a danger to the United States and to the world, and it has been for some time. As President Dwight Eisenhower famously foretold in his farewell address of January 1961, the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC) now transcends political parties and administrations, keeping the country embroiled in perpetual wars. These military adventures, especially the covert operations led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), undermine political stability in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. They incite what they claim to be fighting and preventing: terrorism. As a result, US citizens are left poorer and less secure, to say nothing of the effect on citizens of other countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen, to name but a few. Yet this is not the only way to deal with current challenges, as those in power so often claim.

Every president since Eisenhower has grappled with the MIC, and the relative roles of the military and diplomacy in foreign affairs. President Barack Obama has displayed unaccustomed ambivalence about the power of the MIC. He is an unhappy warrior, engaging in many overt and covert operations in the Middle East and Africa but also resisting many calls for expanded military operations, especially for more "boots on the ground" in Syria and elsewhere. Notably, Obama dramatically expanded covert operations in general and drone warfare in particular, and also prosecuted more whistle blowers than all other administrations combined. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, has been a life-long advocate of the MIC. As senator and secretary of state, she enthusiastically backed every CIA misadventure that came along, from Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s to the recent debacles in Libya and Syria. As senator, she enthusiastically and provocatively campaigned for NATO enlargement to the borders of Russia in Ukraine and Georgia. It is hard to recall a proposed military action that Clinton has opposed.

Safety, security, and democracy in the United States call for nothing less than ending the CIA's secret wars. There is no institution in modern US history that has a deeper and more chronic record of failure. The CIA's history of mayhem and the ensuing "blowback" of terrorism and criminality should lead US citizens to reverse the fateful decision of the 1947 National Security Act to create not only an intelligence agency (which was needed) but a secret army as well, which has been a recipe for continued disaster. ... Read more

The Frogs Are Boiling Again - Why Wall Street Stays In The Pot
ZeroHedge | author | 05/12/16

Wall Street's cockeyed faith that another stock market bailout is on the way rests on the idea of a post-election return to fiscal stimulus - since even the casino punters now see that the jig is up on ZIRP, NIRP and QE. Here's the problem. When General (Paul) Ryan gets together in the oval office with either Hillbama or the Donald next February the budget projections will already be deep in trillion dollar deficits under current policy. Therefore what will get stimulated, if anything, is a colossal political firestorm over who bankrupted the nation. There will not be another fiscal stimulus this go round. This time the frogs of Wall Street will be left to boil. ... Read more

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TYT | Bernie Sanders Wins Democratic Primary Election In West Virginia (05/10/16) [8:39]

Donald Trump, Bucking Calls to Unite, Claims 'Mandate' to Be Provocative
NYTimes | Patrick Healy | 05/11/16

Donald J. Trump's behavior in recent days -- the political threats to the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan; the name-calling on Twitter; the attacks on Hillary Clinton's marriage -- has deeply puzzled Republicans who expected him to move to unite the party, start acting presidential and begin courting the female voters he will need in the general election.

But Mr. Trump's choices reflect an unusual conviction: He said he had a "mandate" from his supporters to run as a fiery populist outsider and to rely on his raucous rallies to build support through "word of mouth," rather than to embrace a traditional, mellower and more inclusive approach that congressional Republicans will advocate in meetings with him on Thursday. ... Read more

World's carbon dioxide concentration teetering on the point of no return
theguardian.com | Climate Desk | 05/11/16

Future in which global concentration of CO2 is permanently above 400 parts per million looms

The world is hurtling towards an era when global concentrations of carbon dioxide never again dip below the 400 parts per million (ppm) milestone, as two important measuring stations sit on the point of no return. The news comes as one important atmospheric measuring station at Cape Grim in Australia is poised on the verge of 400ppm for the first time. Sitting in a region with stable CO2 concentrations, once that happens, it will never get a reading below 400ppm. ... Read more
Click picture to zoom in

The Coming War Of Central Banks
ZeroHedge | author | 05/11/16

History has shifted, and we're leaving the era of central bank convergence and entering the era of central bank divergence, i.e. open conflict. Read more

Welcome to The Sloth Institute, the protector of wayward baby sloths.
upworthy.com | Allison Hirschlag | 05/04/16

Read more

Hedge Funds Lost Money, But Top Hedge Fund Managers Still Took Home Obscene 13 Billion in 2015
AlterNet | Kali Holloway | 05/10/16

... The top five hedge fund managers took home especially outsized pots of gold. Top earners Kenneth Griffith, of Citadel, and James Simons, of Renaissance Technologies, each added $1.7 billion to their personal wealth. (It was Griffith's second year in the top slot.) Next on the list are Raymond Dalio, of Bridgewater Associates, and David Tepper, of Appaloosa Management, who both took home $1.4 billion. In fifth place was Israel (Izzy) Englander, of Millennium Management, who finished the year with a cool $1.15 billion.

These top earners, as the New York Times points out, "actually lost money for some investors." ... Read more

TYT | Hillary Clinton's Unfavorables Keep Going Up (05/09/16) [7:11]

Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership TPP Turn Silicon Valley Into Detroit?
HP |Dean Baker | 05/09/16

The proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) like to describe it as a free-trade deal for the 21st century. That might be a good sales pitch, but it's not accurate. The TPP has little to with reducing trade barriers, which in most cases were already low. The TPP can more accurately be described as a piñata, that is chock full of special deals for the corporate interests who negotiated it. It will likely do more to impede trade than promote it, and in the process it creates rules that potentially override democratic decision-making at all levels of government. ... Read more
WikiLeaks - The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA. () [8:22]

David Axelrod interviews Jon Stewart (05/09/16) [1:16:48]

Jon Stewart Says Donald Trump Can't Be President Because He's A 'Man-Baby'
HP | author | 05/09/16

Jon Stewart renewed his feud with Donald Trump on Monday, saying the presumed Republican presidential nominee might not be eligible for the presidency.

"That's not a birther thing," Stewart told David Axelrod during a live taping of "The Axe Files" podcast. "I'm not a constitutional scholar so I can't necessarily say, but are you eligible to run if you are a man-baby or a baby man?" ... Read more

Trump's Right - Paying Back The National Debt With "Discounts" Is Already Official Policy
ZeroHedge | author | 05/10/16

The establishment (and its mainstream media mouthpieces) proclaim that "confidence" is being threatened because Donald Trump has told the truth that the Federal debt is on a track toward unmanageability and default. Yes, Uncle Sam's credit standing is in deep trouble and the Fed is heading for a monetary calamity. But these untoward prospects have nothing to do with a couple of alleged wild pitches from Donald Trump. Upon closer examination, it is evident that the Donald was actually right on the money. ... Read more

Donald Trump Keeps Antagonizing Paul Ryan
HP | Marina Fang | 05/08/16

Trump wouldn't rule out removing the House speaker from his role as GOP convention chair if he doesn't get an endorsement.

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday suggested that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would face consequences for not endorsing the businessman as the party's presidential nominee. Speaking with NBC's Chuck Todd, Trump would not rule out trying to remove the Wisconsin congressman from his post as chair of this summer's GOP convention, a role traditionally granted to the speaker of the House, if Ryan did not come around. ... Read more

TYT | Trump On Letting The Economy Collapse (05/08/16) [9:37]

Donald Trump just threatened to cause an unprecedented global financial crisis
CNBC & VOX | Matthew Yglesias | 05/06/16

In an interview Thursday on CNBC, Donald Trump broke with tired clichés about the evils of federal debt accumulation. "I am the king of debt," he said. "I love debt. I love playing with it." But he replaced fearmongering about debt with an even more alarming notion -- a bankruptcy of the United States federal government that would incinerate the world economy.

"I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal," Trump said. "And if the economy was good, it was good. So therefore, you can't lose." Read more

TYT | Bernie Sanders STILL Much More Electable Than Clinton (05/08/16) [3:26]

*360 video of close-range tornado near Wray, CO (05/08/16) [7:53]

"Capitalism Has A Crisis" - Deutsche Bank Sees No Light At The End Of The Tunnel "Until There Is A Recession"
ZeroHedge | author |05/09/16

If Deutsche Bank is right, the Fed - which has staked not only its credibility but its very existence on keeping the US stock market propped up and artificially inflated - has a big problem. Read more

"Rigged... Not A Real Market" - What Market Pros (And Jim Cramer) Think About The Market
ZeroHedge | author |05/09/16

Sometimes it's nice to get a sanity check and hear other investors and market professionals views on how the stock market has changed over the past few years. We hear more and more from various market participants that the market seems to be one big correlated beast that doesn't trade on supply and demand anymore... Read more

Study Says: Compared to Rest of World Americans are Delusional, Prudish, Selfish Religious Nuts
AlterNet | Kali Holloway | 05/09/16

... That said, if all the world's a stage, America is a prime player: a rich, loud, attention-seeking celebrity not fully deserving of its starring role, often putting in a critically reviled performance and tending toward histrionics that threaten to ruin the show for everybody else. (Also, embarrassingly, possibly the last to know that its career as top biller is in rapid decline.) To the outside onlooker, American culture--I'm consolidating an infinitely layered thing to save time and space--is contradictory and bizarre, hypocritical and self-congratulatory. Its national character is a textbook study in narcissistic tendencies coupled with crushing insecurity issues. ... Read more

'Stupidity, Celebrity, Plutocracy': Donald Trump Is the Reagan Revolution on Steroids--and He Just Might Win
AlterNet & Salon | Paul Campos | 05/05/16

Movement conservatives can protest that he is not one of them, but it's their movement that celebrated ignorance.

One of the most compelling points Rick Perlstein makes in his excellent The Invisible Bridge is that Ronald Reagan was consistently and radically underestimated as a potential political force by the national media, public intellectuals, D.C. insiders, etc., until practically up to the moment he was on the edge of winning the GOP nomination in 1976.

This makes me at least begin to wonder if something similar might not be happening with Donald Trump. Now obviously there are enormous differences between the backgrounds, the careers, and the personalities of the two men, but there are also some striking similarities: ... Read more

German Study Proves It -- 95% Of Greek "Bailout" Money Went To The Banks
ZeroHedge | author | 05/06/16

A recent German study just confirmed what tens of millions of Greeks already knew. That they are a people fully conquered by criminal mega banks and the corrupt politicians and technocrats in their employ... Read more

ThomHartmann | Which Party Better Represents Their Constituents (05/05/16) [5:00]

Sheldon Adelson Says He Will Support Donald Trump
NYTimes | author | 05/05/16

The casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson said on Thursday night that he would support Donald J. Trump now that he has become the Republican Party's presumptive nominee.

"Yes, I'm a Republican, he's a Republican," Mr. Adelson said in a brief interview. "He's our nominee. Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17 -- he was one of the 17. He won fair and square." ... Read more

WikiLeaks - The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA. () [8:22]

Bush 41, 43 Have No Plans to Endorse Trump
texastribune.org | Jordan Rudner | 05/04/16

For the first time since his own presidency, George H.W. Bush is planning to stay silent in the race for the Oval Office -- and the younger former president Bush plans to stay silent as well.

Bush 41, who enthusiastically endorsed every Republican nominee for the past five election cycles, will stay out of the campaign process this time. He does not have plans to endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, spokesman Jim McGrath told The Texas Tribune. ...

... The unity Trump hopes to achieve might be difficult, given the positions other prominent Republicans have taken this election cycle. This week, Cruz called Trump a "serial philanderer" and "pathological liar" for whom "morality doesn't exist." In February, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, then a GOP candidate, called Trump a "con artist," while then-candidate Jeb Bush suggested the Republican frontrunner might need therapy. ... Read more

It's Time For Republicans To Answer For Their Standard-Bearer
HP | Jonathan Cohn | 05/04/16

Around 9 p.m. Tuesday, following the Indiana GOP primary, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus declared Donald Trump the "presumptive nominee" and called on the party to rally behind Trump.

Twelve hours later, Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire announced through a spokeswoman that she intends to do just that. Ayotte, although a solidly conservative lawmaker by historical standards, occasionally talks like a moderate. She's also facing a tough re-election fight in a state that voted twice for Barack Obama and where demographics are making the state's electorate more sympathetic to Democrats, not less. That makes her quasi-endorsement newsworthy, and not just in New Hampshire. ... Read more

CSpan | Cenk Uygur On C-SPAN's Washington Journal (05/02/16) [44:40]

Trumped! Why It Happened And What Comes Next, Part 1
ZeroHedge | author | 05/05/16

First there were seventeen. At length, there was one. Donald Trump's wildly improbable capture of the GOP nomination, therefore, is the most significant upheaval in American politics since Ronald Reagan. And the proximate cause is essentially the same. Like back then, an era of drastic bipartisan mis-governance has finally generated an electoral impulse to sweep out the stables. ... Read more

CBC | Fort McMurray evacuated during massive wildfire (05/04/16) [4:28]

TYT | Bernie Sanders Wins The Indiana Democratic Primary (05/03/16) [5:18]

TYT | Ted Cruz Admits Defeat (05/03/16) [3:12]

TYT | Republicans Will Nominate National Embarrassment Donald Trump (05/03/16) [6:27]

TYT | Who Will Trump Pick As His Vice President? (05/03/16) [6:10]

US Futures Tumble After China Devalues Yuan By Most Since August Collapse
ZeroHedge | author | 05/04/16

The 'odd' regime shift in the relationship between USDJPY and US equities continues overnight. Following some visible-handedness and follow-through momentum, Yen is weakening against the USD - normally a big flashing green sign for risk-on pajama traders but China's biggest Yuan devaluation in 9 months (since the August turmoil) seems to have stolen the jam out of the bull's donut as US equity futures extend losses, AsiaPac credit risk jumps, and USD strength is weighing on crude prices. ... Read more

CSpan | Cenk Uygur On C-SPAN's Washington Journal (05/02/16) [44:40]

Massive Fire Burns At Gateway Town To Alberta's Oilsands; 30,000 Evacuated
ZeroHedge | author | 05/04/16

Residents of neighborhoods in the Canadian boomtown of Fort McMurray - considered the gateway to Alberta's oil sands as the Athabasca oil sands are roughly centered around the town - are under mandatory evacuation as a massive wildfire has jumped across Highway 63 and entered the city limits. Homes have begun to burn in Fort McMurray as residents flee for safety from a blaze that's doubled in size within a day. More than 30,000 people have now been ordered to evacuate Fort McMurray communities. ... Read more
Massive Fire Burns At Gateway Town To Alberta's Oilsands; 30,000 Evacuated (current) [0:55]

House Republicans Have A Temper Tantrum Over Rule That Bans Financial Advisers From Scamming Retirees
ThinkProgress.org | Bryce Covert | 04/29/16

The Department of Labor (DOL) has finalized rules that require financial advisers who help people make investments for retirement to put their clients' interests ahead of their own. But House Republicans aren't letting the rule go into effect without a fight. ... Read more

Money Monster with George Clooney & Julia Roberts (official trailer) [2:43]

Jodie Foster Interview | Money Monster, Wall Street Corruption, Filmmaking (04/29/16) [39:35]

Kansas Governor Justifies Kicking 15,000 People Off Food Stamps
ThinkProgress.org | Alan Pyke | 04/25/16

For over five years now, Kansas has served as an economic policy experiment for anti-tax, small-government conservatives. Their lab work is costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars, crippling public service budgets, and making life harder for low-income families without reducing the state's poverty rate at all.

With his political star beginning to tarnish, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) came to Washington on Wednesday to discuss his poverty policies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. At one point, the embattled governor justified his policy of forcing people off of food stamps if they can't find a job by likening low-income and jobless people to lazy college students. ... Read more

Hillary Clinton's Business of Corporate Shilling & War Making (EF025) (04/25/16) [27:07]

Don't Worry Millennials, Visa Has Your Back
ZeroHedge | author | 05/03/16

For anyone concerned that $800 billion in student loans over the last decade simply won't be enough debt burden for millennials to carry, worry no more, a solution has been found. ... Read more

Don't Sleep Through The Revolution: A Graduation Message For A Dark Age
ZeroHedge | author | 05/03/16

Unfortunately, we who should have known better failed to guard against such a future. The world is disintegrating on every front - politically, environmentally, morally - and for the next generation, the future does not look promising. The following bits of wisdom, gleaned from a lifetime of standing up to injustice and speaking truth to power, will hopefully help them survive the perils of the journey that awaits... ... Read more See the book below

Battlefield America: The War On The American People by John W. Whitehead

Ron Paul
The very fact that books like this can still be written and published shows that we have not lost all our freedoms. John Whitehead's work should motivate us all to redouble our efforts to reclaim our freedoms.

Nadine Strossen
Constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead makes a compelling and urgent case in Battlefield America for Americans to unite under one common goal: the defense of our freedoms. Nadine Strossen, former president of the ACLU and constitutional law professor at New York Law School

Nat Hentoff
Once again, John W. Whitehead shows himself to be a thorough reporter, an insightful scholar and a tireless defender of the Constitution. Battlefield America is the most penetrating, eye-opening proof to date of the imperialist government's desecration of our constitutional personal liberties. Nat Hentoff, syndicated columnist and historian

Paul Craig Roberts
In his compelling book Battlefield America, John W. Whitehead describes the danger posed to liberty and humanity itself by the control impulse of government and technology. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary, US Treasury, and former Wall Street Journal columnist and editor

Bernie Sanders Promises A Contested Democratic Convention
HP | Amanda Terkel | 05/01/16

The senator from Vermont is trying to convince superdelegates to switch from Hillary Clinton to him.

... "It is virtually impossible for Secretary Clinton to reach the majority of convention delegates by June 14 -- that is the last day that a primary will be held -- with pledged delegates alone. ... She will need superdelegates to take her over the top at the convention in Philadelphia," he told reporters in a press conference at the National Press Club Sunday afternoon. ... Read more

*People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy by Robert W McChesney & John Nichols

The consequences of the technological revolution are about to hit hard: unemployment will spike as new technologies replace labor in the manufacturing, service, and professional sectors of an economy that is already struggling. The end of work as we know it will hit at the worst moment imaginable: as capitalism fosters permanent stagnation, when the labor market is in decrepit shape, with declining wages, expanding poverty, and scorching inequality. Only the dramatic democratization of our economy can address the existential challenges we now face. Yet, the US political process is so dominated by billionaires and corporate special interests, by corruption and monopoly, that it stymies not just democracy but progress.

The great challenge of these times is to ensure that the tremendous benefits of technological progress are employed to serve the whole of humanity, rather than to enrich the wealthy few. Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols argue that the United States needs a new economy in which revolutionary technologies are applied to effectively address environmental and social problems and used to rejuvenate and extend democratic institutions. Based on intense reporting, rich historical analysis, and deep understanding of the technological and social changes that are unfolding, they propose a bold strategy for democratizing our digital destiny -- before it's too late -- and unleashing the real power of the Internet, and of humanity.

*TRNN | Robert McChesney and John Nichols Talk About There New Book "People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and Citizenless Democracy", Part 3 [23:01]

Part 1 [21:57]
Part 2 [16:48]

Deutsche Bank Has Systemic Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing And Sanctions Problems: UK Regulator
ZeroHedge | author | 05/02/16

"Our overall conclusion was that Deutsche Bank UK had serious AML (anti-money laundering), terrorist financing and sanctions failings which were systemic in nature," the FCA said in a recent letter. Deutsche Bank's response? To fire the man it tasked with enforcing "business ethics." ... Read more

*360 panorama of Orthodox Easter Service in Moscow (05/02/16) [6:06]

Leaked Docs Reveal TTIP Trade Deal In Jeopardy As "Irreconcilable Differences" Emerge
ZeroHedge | author | 05/02/16

According to leaked negotiating drafts and internal positions, which were obtained by Greenpeace and seen by the Guardian, it seems the stumbling blocks ahead of the TTIP's implementation are indeed substantial, and potentially dealbreaking. As the Guardian reports, talks for a free trade deal between Europe and the US face a serious impasse with "irreconcilable" differences in some areas. The leaked texts also show that the two sides are at odds "over US demands that would require the EU to break promises it has made on environmental protection." ... Read more