Open Thread 2016-30
News & views ...
Posted by b on September 9, 2016 at 17:52 UTC | Permalink
next page »Today's NYT: "Stuck in a Cable Car High Above Mont Blanc, Waiting for Rescue"
In the body of the article the mystery is explained: the cable cars stopped HIGH ABOVE A MOUNT BLANC GLACIER. Since Mt. Blanc is the highest one in Europe (except for Caucasus peaks that are on the border with Asia, and quite far from Alps), it would be hard for a cable to be "high above Mont Blanc". Of course, a cable car could get stuck above a fountain pen that someone dropped, but that was not the issue.
In short, it is hard to run a newspaper that tries to go beyond gardening tips and reporting on matches between the teams of local schools.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 9 2016 18:24 utc | 3
conflict forums latest overview is pretty good and worth a read...
Posted by: james | Sep 9 2016 18:36 utc | 4
@ 3
Isn't it a joy watching folks struggle mastering English as their first (and only) language.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 9 2016 18:37 utc | 5
@Formerly T-Bear | Sep 9, 2016 2:37:43 PM | 5
ad hominem, STFU. Thanks :-)
Posted by: Jack Smith | Sep 9 2016 19:12 utc | 6
@ Jack Smith | Sep 9, 2016 3:12:33 PM | 6
No. Fuck off. Also ad hominem.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 9 2016 19:44 utc | 7
Elections are much more dramatic - drawing suckers in for the entertainment of it all - when they appear to be close/split. Unfortunately that makes them easier to flip.
Posted by: Curtis | Sep 9 2016 19:45 utc | 8
We hear all but NOTHING about the Turkish onslaught against Kurds in South East Turkey.
Here is the latest - 11,000 teachers removed from post because of 'links' to PKK; 28 municipalities 'siezed' from their elected parties by AKP for supposed support of PKK
www.syria360.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/30458/
www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN11E1XU
www.kurdishquestion.com/article/3421-28-kurdish-dbp-municipalities-seized-turkey
Turkey will pay a high price for this. There are between 20 - 25m Kurds in Turkey, they will not take much more of this Turkish racism and ethnic hate.
Posted by: AtaBrit | Sep 9 2016 19:46 utc | 10
In case anybody is interested, a round-up of sorts of Latin America:
BRASILIA — Brazil’s federal police launched an extensive operation yesterday to investigate massive alleged fraud at state-run companies’ pension funds in a probe forcing business leaders such as the chief executive of meat packer JBS and the president of constructor WTorre to step down from their companies. (...) Yesterday’s fresh probe into Brazil’s elite has been named “Operation Greenfield” and may threaten future economic and political stability in a country that is still reeling from a deep recession and a controversial and divisive impeachment of its first female president last week.
...and about that Trump visit to Mexico:
Bogotá.- There is just as much bewilderment in Latin America as there is in Mexico about President Enrique Peña Nieto’s decision to invite Donald Trump to his country, to receive him as Head of State in Los Pinos, the Mexican presidential residence, and to not have the strength to tell him - in public and to his face - that the Mexican people deserve respect and that the country will not pay for the border wall that Trump has proposed to build.
...and last but not least, Colombia:
Colombia’s ELN rebels and paramilitary heirs scramble to occupy FARC territory: Colombia rebel group and other illegal organizations are moving into FARC-controlled territory ahead of the guerrilla group’s pending demobilization, reported newspaper El Tiempo on Monday.
Posted by: Maracatu | Sep 9 2016 20:16 utc | 12
@Formerly T-Bear | Sep 9, 2016 3:44:56 PM | 7
No. Fuck off. Also ad hominem.
Thank you, have a good one. :-)
Posted by: Jack Smith | Sep 9 2016 20:36 utc | 13
@ Curtis | Sep 9, 2016 3:45:10 PM | 8
Interesting observation about elections, the emotional vortexes sucking citizens into tribal frenzies. And you are quite correct about flipping elections when both tribes are equally numbered. This is why it is so important to understand the reason for casting an effective vote rather than voting for emotionally pleasing but never to prevail candidates as some would have you do in these pages; such suggestions make those suggesting nothing more than agents for voter suppression, those votes are suppressed in that they have no effect upon the results of the election. The system will remain that way until it is either gone or altered, neither option pleasant to contemplate or easy to accomplish but can be done with knowledge and foresight. Power is never complete, one must find its weaknesses and use those to advantage to make power yield. You must know your enemy better than your enemy know themselves, otherwise the chance of success vanishes.
Emotional voting against 'evil or its lesser' is moralistic and not rational. The rational place is to determine exactly what your best interests are. That answer will never found on TV, Radio, Newspapers, or any other external voice. You must determine your best interests with yourself alone, a most frightening prospect for most who have never been faced with being alone with oneself. Once you have a handle on your best interests, again not paying attention to the roars and clamours of media and the circus passing, you will find one or the other effective candidates might seem BETTER than the other - that is whom you should consider voting for in the privacy of the voting booth. Be undecided until you've completed your ballot. For candidates for national office, never vote for the incumbent regardless of party and particularly if the incumbent is known to have supported any legislation that has threatened your interests or curtailed your rights. For state office, again your policy should be no return of incumbent unless firm knowledge is had of that candidate's integrity to public duty - they you promote.
Don't listen to the mindless riff-raff that will be beating their gums not to vote for evil, that advice will just lead to greater evil.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 9 2016 21:11 utc | 14
re atabrit 10
So you're just carefully counting the offences against the Kurds. Never mind everybody else who is getting it in the neck with equal force.
Posted by: Laguerre | Sep 9 2016 21:21 utc | 15
@Laguerre. Apt moniker considering the shit you're trying to stir up. Let the man have his cause and quit giving it to him in the neck. Assuming the OP is a him, that is. Else substitute appropriate gender pronouns.
Ad hominem
Posted by: Shh | Sep 9 2016 21:32 utc | 16
formerly t-bear @14
trying to make sense of your word salad (morality is not rational?) i will write in myself for each office on the ballot. if i can be bothered to get off the sofa. i will perform an epoche on my experiences prior to entering the voting booth and...flip a coin in deciding each candidate. not voting is ALWAYS an option as it may well be moral, rational, and self-interested not to legitimize such a retarded clown show by being duped to participate in the system's completely meaningless rituals. go watch the soon to be absent butterflies in the certainty of its positive effects.
Posted by: jason | Sep 9 2016 21:49 utc | 17
The newest from Dephi: Trump, crossing Rio Grande, will undo a presidency. The minister who proposed to invite Trump already resigned.
In the meantime, HRC latched into only sensible statement uttered recently by Trump as a centerpiece of her counterattack. I am starting to think that Rubio was not the only Robot-American in the race.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 9 2016 21:52 utc | 18
The Automatic Earth has a spectacularly coherent and educational 4-part essay by Nicole Foss:
Negative Interest Rates and the War On Cash
Here's a quote from Part 4:
Governments do not trust their citizens (‘potential terrorists’) either, hence the perceived need to monitor and limit the scope of their decisions and actions. The powers-that-be know how angry people are going to be when they realise the scale of their impending dispossession, and are acting in such a way as to (try to) limit the power of the anger that will be focused against them. It is not going to work.Without trust we are likely to see “throwbacks to the 14th century….at the dawn of banking coming out of the Dark Ages.”. It is no coincidence that this period was also one of financial, socioeconomic and humanitarian crises, thanks to the bursting of a bubble two centuries in the making:
The 14th Century was a time of turmoil, diminished expectations, loss of confidence in institutions, and feelings of helplessness at forces beyond human control. Historian Barbara Tuchman entitled her book on this period A Distant Mirror because many of our modern problems had counterparts in the 14th Century.Few think of the trials and tribulations of 14th century Europe as having their roots in financial collapse — they tend instead to remember famine and disease. However, the demise of what was then the world banking system was a leading indicator for what followed, as is always the case:
Six hundred and fifty years ago came the climax of the worst financial collapse in history to date. The 1930’s Great Depression was a mild and brief episode, compared to the bank crash of the 1340’s, which decimated the human population. The crash, which peaked in A.C.E. 1345 when the world’s biggest banks went under, “led” by the Bardi and Peruzzi companies of Florence, Italy, was more than a bank crash — it was a financial disintegration….a blowup of all major banks and markets in Europe, in which, chroniclers reported, “all credit vanished together,” most trade and exchange stopped, and a catastrophic drop of the world’s population by famine and disease loomed.
The move to ban cash is going to have some very interesting unintended consequences. My IT background informs me that freelance hacking, ala Harry Tuttle in the fine film Brazil, will become a thriving cottage industry...until the electric grid fails and the whole system goes to shit.
Would love to hear psychohistorian's thoughts on this.
Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Sep 9 2016 21:53 utc | 19
Is there a possibility that the Brexiteers have seen the light re U$A neotards plan to rule the Earth while sitting upon their collective duffs watching others die so that they, the 'exceptionals' and theirs profit quite handsomely while risking nothing?
"Argentina is considering a joint fossil fuels exploration project with Britain around the Falkland Islands, also known as the Islas Malvinas, in a sign of thawing relations between the two nations.
Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra expressed a desire to see an end to the era of confrontation between Britain and Argentina over the disputed islands, which lie 300 miles (483km) from South America’s southern coast."
Posted by: ALberto | Sep 9 2016 22:03 utc | 20
The owners of the U.S.™ Inc. business have de facto implemented policies that have been around for ages. Adolf Hitler was the first Saddam Hussein and while the latter was prepped to go after Iraq, the first was prepped up to go after the Soviet Union.
Either scenario failed and there are countless other examples where the wet dreams of the Western Establishment turned into the opposite of their desired intentions. In all cases though, countries were destabilized in the aftermath of a later invasion and subsequent subjugation into a lawless abyss of violence, destroyed, as in Syria and Libya.
Now though, it gets really interesting. Because after many years of preparation, the Western Establishment decided to get out of this fast sinking Titanic - by destroying it. Nukes will be fine, too.
Since U.S. Inc.™ has more debt that it can ever pay back, when ever more money is funneled to the military-industrial-surveillance-enforcement complex, that is for too long now resembling a mob family that has lost all its honor.
The owners have tasked the 'MISEC' mob with the destruction of the 'homeland'. The country formerly known as 'United States' will be sacrificed on the altar of greed. Make the U.S. look like Syria and people will be grateful to live in camps.
Just like in a sand castle, or a movie set - after the deal is done, everything gets demolished - everything gets rebuilt. There are profits to be had! Destroying and rebuilding - the example par excellence of Sisyphus.
It will be a win/win situation for everybody. The owners win by making huge profits from destruction and reconstruction, the population wins by being reduced. They get to eat synthetic food, because no natural foods can be had any longer - due to the poisoning of Earth. Whatever it was resembling at the end, Democracy had potential. Factually eliminated by SC rulings on the Bush selection and then through 'Citizen United'.
Now, the beast can only die by its own claws and through its own greed.
Posted by: Stillnottheonly1 | Sep 9 2016 22:06 utc | 21
!!!!!Larry King!!!! The most dangerous talk show host in the world. Go on his program and soon you will have a hankering for borscht and blinis, and unquestioning loyalty to the Kremlin. Hillary should call for a Congressional investigation.
Posted by: Erelis | Sep 9 2016 22:06 utc | 22
re Shht 16
Specially calculating the offences against Kurds is not going to make his case any stronger. Everybody is getting it in Turkey now (or perhaps you haven't noticed that?). There's nothing special about the Kurds, though I'd certainly agree that Erdogan does have a particular animus against Kurds, which is rather foolish. But Atabrit's threats of Kurdish revenge are just stupid. The Kurds are simply not placed to do what he threatens. Their position is relatively weak, as KRG is bankrupt, and Rojava has just been led up the garden path by the US.
Posted by: Laguerre | Sep 9 2016 22:16 utc | 23
"A public letter released Thursday afternoon in Turkey and signed by more than 70 aid agencies slams the UN coordinated humanitarian response in Syria and calls for an immediate and transparent investigation into its operations in the country."
It would be nice to see someone do a detailed rebuttal of these groups and their propaganda.
Posted by: damien | Sep 9 2016 22:46 utc | 24
Two observations. First ...On stealing elections doesn't the Electoral College have the final say on which sycophant is awarded the brass ring, with the popular vote acting as a guide line only?
Second...Where have all the "Erdogan is turning to Russia" freaks gone these days with their lengthy analyses, slagging all of us that said "I dohn tink so."
"You must determine your best interests with yourself alone, a most frightening prospect for most who have never been faced with being alone with oneself. "
With the first part of this, Formerly T-Bear, I most heartily agree. I do think, though, that we all are alone with ourselves at various critical moments during our lives. What I have discovered happens at those important moments are the few actions I am proud of compared to the ones I regret. I am most proud of voting for Ralph Nader in 2000; least proud of voting for Obama in 2008. But that's just me. My last vote was for Jill Stein, and it's a bit early to tell but down the road I think I'll stay proud of that one as well. For me it is all about peace of mind in those moments when I am alone with myself, as you say.
Here's how Bulgakov describes one of Pilate's critical moments:
". . .it was probably owing to the blood rising to his temples and throbbing in them, only something happened to the procurator's vision. Thus he imagined that the prisoner's head floated off somewhere, and another appeared in its place. On this bald head sat a scant-pointed golden diadem. On the forehead was a round canker, eating into the skin and smeared with ointment. A sunken, toothless mouth with a pendulous, capricious lower lip. . . and something strange also happened to his hearing: it was as if trumpets sounded far away, muted and menacing, and a nasal voice was very clearly heard, arrogantly drawling: 'The law of lese-majesty. . .'"
That's from "The Master and Margarita", Pevear translation. And manuscripts don't burn.
Posted by: juliania | Sep 9 2016 22:52 utc | 26
Regarding Kerry & Sergey Lavrov News conferences. It's a sell out if the cessation hostilities "plan" implements. Kerry lied and continued lying repeatedly. Once Castello Road open the terrorists resupply and hostilities will increase. Dr. Assad is democratically elected president and not "regime"!
Putin sellout?
Posted by: Jack Smith | Sep 9 2016 22:58 utc | 27
Nicely played, Mr. Putin. Just as the Syrian Government was once again gaining the upper hand, you joined the US in declaring "peace".
Posted by: paul | Sep 9 2016 23:38 utc | 28
...Or...
Can a thinly veiled defeat be disguised as a wonderfully skilled diplomatic success? Yes. The public outcome will promise things like; a new constitution, eventual exile for Bashar Assad, UN supervision of interim elections, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Col. Lang remains sanguine (apparently): "The underlying truth will be that Syria will remain a multi-confessional state with Bashar Assad as president for a long time."
Posted by: Maracatu | Sep 9 2016 23:52 utc | 29
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-09/war-on-terror-could-be-costliest-yet?int=a14709
~~~
The tally of $4.79 trillion comes from Pentagon and State Department spending for its emergency war budget, known formally as the Overseas Contingency Operations or OCO budget of $1.74 trillion since 2001. That budget itself has come under harsh criticism for becoming a slush fund for Congress to pay for other military-related spending as it grapples with the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration. Other defense, homeland security and veterans affairs spending brings that total up to $3.69 trillion, with an additional $1.1 trillion in projected funding for the coming fiscal year.
Most of these OCO funds have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan, with $805 billion and $783 billion in spending, respectively and the rest dedicated to operations in Syria, Pakistan, joint counterterrorism operations with Canada known as Operation Noble Eagle and other miscellaneous missions.
Crawford's totals offer a sobering assessment as to how the U.S. should prepare when its leaders pledge swift, glorious wars performed on limited budgets. As she points out, "current and future costs of war greatly exceeds prewar and early estimates.
"Optimistic assumptions and a tendency to underestimate and undercount war costs have, from the beginning, been characteristic of the estimates of the budget costs and the fiscal consequences of these wars," she writes.
But the wars press on, questioning whether voters will have a chance to truly reflect on the decision to engage in conflict abroad as they consider two leading presidential candidates who have expressed their own interest in further overseas adventures.
Posted by: okie farmer | Sep 10 2016 0:07 utc | 30
If you read Lavrov's many caveats, it's most likely the ceasefire will NOT be implemented due to massive lack of "trust," particularly between Russia and Outlaw US Empire.
Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 10 2016 0:14 utc | 31
re @karlof1 30
"If you read Lavrov's many caveats, it's most likely the ceasefire will NOT be implemented due to massive lack of "trust," particularly between Russia and Outlaw US Empire."
I really hope so... badly...
Do I detect a different tone at the BBC? They talk about the 'government' of Bashar Assad. And the Syrian army is 'remarkably cohesive'. They found a 'tired fighter' to talk to....
>Colleagues who nodded agreement surrounded one of them, an articulate man in his mid-20s.
"We had to be fighters," he said, "because we didn't find any other job. If you want to stay inside you need to be a part of the FSA [Free Syrian Army, the group that has closest relations with the West]. Everything is very expensive. They pay us $100 a month but it is not enough.
"All this war is a lie. We had good lives before the revolution. Anyway this is not a revolution. They lied to us in the name of religion.
"I don't want to go on fighting but I need to find a job, a house. Everything I have is here in Muadhamiya."<
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37315875
Posted by: dh | Sep 10 2016 1:09 utc | 33
Not sure what Russia is trying to get out of this ceasefire. The US has no leverage right now. Its kurdish allies are in retreat, it can't work with Turkey, and the Syrian government is making advances in Aleppo and Damascus and Latakia. Why now? What does this accomplish?
It seems to me that Russia is determined to rope the US into a joint counter-terrorism campaign in Syria vs ISIS and Nursa that de facto eliminates the chance of the US waging an air campaign against the Syrian government. By getting the US into this arrangement, Russia will also neuter the US backed rebels that have no power without their ties to Nusra.
The US has no cards left in Syria. Why make a deal with it? Seal Aleppo, surround Idlib. Force a solution by military facts.
Why this right now?
Reuters has some preliminary details.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kerry-idUSKCN11F0HC
Posted by: kori | Sep 10 2016 1:18 utc | 34
Congratulation Obomo, A "Flatworm Parasite" was named Baracktrema obamai.
http://katehon.com/news/scientists-named-parasite-worm-honor-barack-obama
Posted by: Jack Smith | Sep 10 2016 1:46 utc | 35
ah, Maracatu | Sep 9, 2016 7:52:44 PM | 28:
Clinton emails and Col Lang (Pfffft x 10):
https://www.wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/Clinton_Email_December_Release/C05782459.pdf
How Juan Cole of him, though he (Cole) denies it now because: revisionim of history.
Posted by: wendy davis | Sep 10 2016 1:53 utc | 36
So there is this rumor out there that forces friendly to Mrs. Clinton are trying to scare folks out of voting for The D**khead Donald. And how does one demonize him? Largely by quoting his own words, coming from his... whatever. But when you get down to it, the media at present is much kinder to the Rethuglican candidate.
This item today at Crooks & Liars delves into the media’s handling of this election, arguing that Media Is Making A Real Horse Race At The Expense Of The Country. It does so by giving The Donald a pass on his own robust record of ethically and legally questionable deeds.
In the past month, it has been revealed that Donald Trump had business ties to organized crime; failed to pay campaign staffers; failed to pay 10-year-old girls cheerleading at his rallies; broke immigration law by hiring(then failing to pay) European models; and appears to have bribed at least two state attorneys general not to join class-action lawsuits against his fraudulent Trump University.And: He donated thousands to the Clinton Foundation, thus indicting himself in accusing Clinton of pay-for-play.
Yet none of this has stopped him.
Too bad no one stopped him from making "The Apprentice."
The piece above also helpfully provides links to information on all these points for our data-deprived Trumpeters. Read ‘em and weep.
Or if you prefer a quick precis of The Donald’s – how shall we style it? – very colorful life, Nicholas Kristof should do. The Black Eyes in Donald Trump’s Life start with assaults on teachers and classmates. His one public company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, would have lost 90 pct. of your investment. We do have some tax returns for some years; it was required for his casino license. He paid no taxes and asserted he lost money.
Whether in his youth, in his business career or in his personal life, Trump’s story is that of a shallow egoist who uses those around him.Even as a child, he personified privilege and entitlement. In business, he proved a genius at marketing himself but grew his fortune more slowly than if he had put his wealth in a stock index fund. He made a mess of his personal life and has been repeatedly accused of racism, of cheating people, of lying, of stiffing charities.
His life is a vacuum of principle and he never seems to have stood up for anything larger than himself.
Over seven decades, there’s one continuous theme to his life story: This is a narcissist who has no core. The lights are on, but no one’s home.
“But, but, but – Benghazi!”
Distrust the NYT? Perhaps our friends in the Great White North are more believable. This Globe & Mail columnist thinks that Trump may have bought the Fourth Estate.
Mr. Trump’s campaign is run by Steve Bannon, a veteran of Breitbart, a paramount right-wing website. On Aug. 18, Mr. Bannon’s employees told the Associated Press of their plan to "humanize" Mr. Trump in the media and "use the Internet to win a general election." The AP went on that week to release a Trump puff piece ignoring all scandals, a widely debunked exposé on the Clinton Foundation, a fake map showing the candidates tied, and other pro-Trump coverage. The AP’s behavior was so egregious that it was questioned on CNN, where AP editor Kathleen Carroll admitted they were printing lies, but shrugged off the complaints. (On Friday, The AP admitted they had erred in their election coverage.)....Trailing in the polls, Mr. Trump is planning to launch his own media empire should he lose the election. Some U.S. journalists appear to be auditioning. Others seem scared into silence.
I’m surprised our Trumpeters have not touted the stray polls recently that show Trump with a marginal lead nationally. Truthout has a nice consideration of the meaninglessness of national polls. For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of American electoral practice, it is the Electoral College that formally selects the President, not the popular vote. The author argues that there is little real chance of Trump winning in enough states to prevail there, and then suggest why the media is behaving, as noted above, in such a way as to suggest a race.
The state by state numbers expose CNN's latest national poll as not only a preposterous outlier, but as a preposterous lie. This thing isn't close. It hasn't been close since mid-August.So why do it? ....I have a theory on this, and it hearkens back to the presidential race of 1996. A booming economy had elevated Bill Clinton's standing to a point where he appeared unbeatable. The GOP was in disarray after Newt Gingrich ran wild and kneecapped his own party. Sen. Bob Dole won the GOP nomination; promptly fell off a stage in Chico, California; stumbled, bumbled, fumbled his way down the campaign trail; and ultimately made sure the presidential race was over in favor of Clinton in August....
Everyone knew the deal was done, so the viewers, the political audience, tuned out and enjoyed the weather. The networks lost untold millions in advertising revenue during this televised desert because no one was watching....
Never again would the corporate media allow a whole wildly lucrative campaign season slip down the "It Isn't Close" hole. No, instead they flog national polls which change from week to week, and are in the main much tighter than actually meaningful state polls in the states that actually count toward a decisive win. Keep the butts in the seats. 1996 must never happen again....
Recall the words of former Ohio Rep. Les Brown: "Television is not so much interested in the business of communications as in the business of delivering audiences to advertisers. People are the merchandise, not the shows. The shows are merely the bait." In this instance, the election is the show, and the national polls are the bait. Be the fish who stays out of the bucket.
Sadly, it looks like the pickings are pretty good here at our little fishing hole. Such is how the trawlers of finance capital gather up the catch.
Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 10 2016 2:10 utc | 37
@27 paul.. nicely played yourself.. another thread and another opportunity to tell moa how putin is always fucking up.. lol.. waiting for john to pitch in with the same broken record play-along.. thanks for being consistent!
Posted by: james | Sep 10 2016 2:31 utc | 38
@ Dr. Wellington Yueh,
Thanks for the link. I skim Automatic Earth and like the focus of links they provide.
I have an IT background as well, supply chain....I recently commented about how the Haijin bankruptcy could have a significant impact on the trust in the market. It is also an interesting example of an event that has happened, like Fukushima, but the impacts, potential or real, have not been realized yet. What will the impact be and when will it happen? Will it be the impetus for breakdown in commercial trust internationally? How will the various countries respond and what coalitions will form?
I think it can be stated that there are more than enough "broken plates spinning" in the world, any of which could precipitate a crisis of trust in "society". Will there be enough/any adults involved in the discussion of alternatives going forward if something breaks? Not likely at this point, but I am hopeful that China is playing along with the US until they can wrest control of finance away from the private families of old......or is China communist in name only?
I can only hope to be around to see what happens in 5, 10 years.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 10 2016 2:57 utc | 39
rufus @ 36
Correct, they don't even try and tell the truth. Worse, if possible, than the candidates themselves.
Posted by: Tom in AZ | Sep 10 2016 3:01 utc | 40
So let me ramble about another of those broken plates I talked about in a previous comment. The preface is this ZH link
I have commented before here that there are not now nor into any foreseeable future going to be enough jobs for those of the population available and desiring such. Since, as a society we are ignoring that broken plate internationally and countries are chasing each other to the bottom selling out their personal as well as natural resources.....some would call this a form of genocide.
My generalization about the architecture of a potential solution is to redefine contribution to and base support from society. To even think about that concept the God of Mammon/private finance lock on our current society must be recognized and dealt with. Only then can we ask ourselves how best to support our evolution as a species on the earth, in the cosmos......yeah, maybe even future studies again and public future planning........ok, too much hopium.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 10 2016 3:14 utc | 41
I am very interested to read b's take on the latest big boys' agreement on Syria and good/bad "under/un-employed" ME public.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37324872
The ME makes my spinning broken plate analogy look a bit weak. And it is true that all the plates I was referring to are interrelated in some way or another. I keep coming back to money. All those poor folks in the ME would not be killing each other if they were not provided there latest in weaponry by the big boy's fighting about empire.....and of course, they have arranged it so they make profit off the deaths of masses. Such is the sick parasite of private finance that controls our hate and kill anything but them world.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 10 2016 3:30 utc | 42
@19 Dr. WY
Thanks for the link(s). The quotes from the links included in the article itself are marvelous, and not in a good way, for instance ...
Governments and corporations, even that genius app developer in Russia, have one thing in common: they want to know everything. Data is power. And money. As the Snowden debacle has shown, they’re getting there. Technologies for gathering information, then hoarding it, mining it, and using it are becoming phenomenally effective and cheap. But it’s not perfect. Video surveillance with facial-recognition isn’t everywhere just yet. Not everyone is using a smartphone. Not everyone posts the details of life on Facebook. Some recalcitrant people still pay with cash. To the greatest consternation of governments and corporations, stuff still happens that isn’t captured and stored in digital format….….But the killer technology isn’t the elimination of cash. It’s the combination of payment data and the information stream that cellphones, particularly smartphones, deliver. Now everything is tracked neatly by a single device that transmits that data on a constant basis to a number of companies, including that genius app developer in Russia — rather than having that information spread over various banks, credit card companies, etc. who don’t always eagerly surrender that data.
Eventually, it might even eliminate the need for data brokers. At that point, a single device knows practically everything. And from there, it’s one simple step to transfer part or all of this data to any government’s data base. Opinions are divided over whom to distrust more: governments or corporations. But one thing we know: mobile payments and the elimination of cash….will also make life a lot easier for governments and corporations in their quest for the perfect surveillance society.
I had seen Nicole Foss before with regard to peak oil. She has a great understanding of just what is going on, on both the micro- and macro-level, and communicates her understanding very well.
Posted by: jfl | Sep 10 2016 3:39 utc | 43
Jack Smith | Sep 9, 2016 3:12:33 PM | 6
I utterly fail to see how FTB's comment @ #5 re: #3's comment about a poorly written article about a stalled tramway, was ad hom; I just read it as agreement with #3's observations (above Mt. Blanc).
Geez Louise...
Posted by: V. Arnold | Sep 10 2016 4:10 utc | 44
Back to my broken spinning plate examples
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/08/fight_over_internet_handover_down_to_wire/
The US Congress almost didn't approve the inclusion of China into IMF top tier. This is just another example of the end of empire.....and potential start of next empire.....or will we evolve as a species?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 10 2016 4:13 utc | 45
@ jfl and Dr. WY
I read part 4 by Nicole Foss and disagree with the timing of the coming shift in finance away from the US dollar. I posit that it is already happening and could accelerate quickly now that geopolitical tensions are rising globally.
The private finance empire has been in control of society for a long time while staying in the background of nation/state posturing. Now that the ongoing growth cycle that would have given all that cash on the sidelines something to do is dead, what but pure war porn can keep capitalism alive? Private finance does not want to face the reality of the debt jubilee staring them in the face.....it is not going away, is only get worse and stand to go POOF when the public finds out those who own private finance are not gods.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 10 2016 6:02 utc | 46
@ V. Arnold | Sep 10, 2016 12:10:39 AM | 44
Thanks for remarks, appreciated.
Perhaps an indicator of intellectual failure can be found in replies to @ 8 Curtis, example @ 17 jason having a reading capacity approaching 4th grade level, and comprehension of a six year old Duhmerican (word-salad, indeed one wonders if the lad thought that one up all by his-self), or @ 26 juliana faithfully voting following their comfortableness levels (noting how a change in comfort level results with either pleasure or regret) irregardless. My remarks to Curtis were addressed assuming a mature, educated and numerate reader, none have bothered replying at this time. Nothing in my remarks was intended to support these voters who have already closed their minds and will persevere in their chosen opinions. Duhmerica, the wasteland between Mexico and Canada from one plastic infested sea to the other, certainly a doG bedevilled land.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 10 2016 6:25 utc | 47
Posted by: Laguerre | Sep 9, 2016 5:21:10 PM | 15
Your comment was vague to say the least, but I suppose you are talking about the 'Gulensists' imprisoned / removed from duty since the coup.
But, I am not.
I am not talking about the coup. I am talking about the ongoing political and military offensive against Turkey's Kurdish communities which started in spring 2015 - just after HDP legally gained 13% of the vote in the general election - not related to the coup despite AKP using the latter to mask recent actions against Kurds.
The actions are rarely reported in the West, hence my highlighting them here.
Posted by: AtaBrit | Sep 10 2016 10:37 utc | 48
@ Laguerre | Sep 9, 2016 6:16:49 PM | 23
Just noticed your second comment and it is clear now that you do not understand what is happening now/ has happened in Turkey over the last few years.
Posted by: AtaBrit | Sep 10 2016 10:49 utc | 49
james says:
@27 paul.. nicely played yourself.. another thread and another opportunity to tell moa how putin is always fucking up.. lol.. waiting for john to pitch in with the same broken record play-along.. thanks for being consistent!
you referring to me, james?. if so, and you're feeling capable, perhaps you could elaborate?
Posted by: john | Sep 10 2016 10:58 utc | 50
I saw a little blurb about BLM in the lying times;BLM fundraiser called off over Palestinian support.
And 37;Only commie Trotsyite losers for zion would characterize Trump as getting favorable coverage from the MSM.
Posted by: dahoit | Sep 10 2016 13:58 utc | 51
Word to the wise, it has become a good bet that HRC's health is now so fragile that lower order abilities could snap it like a toothpick. Good chance this might happen.
Posted by: ThatDamnGood | Sep 10 2016 14:00 utc | 52
Tom, 40 --
I've said before that media is neither completely true nor completely false. Neither would serve the interests of capital. They serve to coordinate and facilitate the bourgeois political economy, and so substantial amounts of the info must be reasonably accurate.
If it is too inaccurate, nothing will be believed. The info in the MSM is largely true -- excepting Fox of course. It's what they emphasize, what they omit, what they elide. It's mot like the other polls aren't noted. But it will be this one hyped.
Different factions of capital will, from self-interest, hide or highlight different elements. Close reading will tease out the information. And of course assorted alternative outlets (of varied quality and reliability) will often bird-dog these tidbits.
Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 10 2016 14:06 utc | 53
Submitted for your approval -- while the MSM clutches the pearls, they're pretty light on The Donald. That seems to be the consensus about Lauer's moderation of the military forum.
And how is the MSM helping Make America Great Again (TM) [hats for sale! Ask your server, Barlies!]? Well, the latest contribution is that the debate moderators have totally sworn off fact checking. Advantage Trump.
Considering that the Rethuglicans have been working the refs for years with the "liberal media" tag (duh, they're owned by major corporations, its a corporate and not a political agenda, they are not bringing down capitalism), it's no wonder Moderators Like Matt Lauer Fear False ‘Liberal Media Bias’ Arguments. Interesting conclusion, institutional factors in journalism favor Trump presently.
And not just sins of omission. By helpfully mainstreaming the filthiest sort of white nationalism, they're doing their bit to spread a noxious ideology.
I've said it for years. White people with more money then sense could be the death of this country. Now it seems it could be the whole planet. Either, in fact, would be huge....
So this is it, the apocalypse? Welcome to the new age. It's a revolution, I suppose....
Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 10 2016 14:52 utc | 54
Formerly T-Bear | Sep 10, 2016 2:25:35 AM | 47
Well Jack, last name should be *ss misses the very substance of a post.
There comes a point where this all becomes boring; just where are the surprises?
There aren't any; at least if one has a working brain, yes?
The U.s. Munchkin's pretty much follow a fixed path; so, where are the surprises, the revelations?
There aren't any; same old, same old; invade, kill, drone, kill, special OPS, kill and maim, and carry on to the next abomination.
The scope of the carnage escapes the rational, if healthy, mind, unto/into a suspension of believe and hopefully, embracing a different reality; one anchored in the real world.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Sep 10 2016 15:01 utc | 55
@50 john.. sorry john - meant tom... he hasn't chimed in yet!
Posted by: james | Sep 10 2016 16:09 utc | 56
- Hillary Clinton has serious health problems ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbDBRWb63s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld-yRgZL-8Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhZJBHrX-T8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8AO5MDBEw
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3774461/CNN-demanded-Dr-Drew-comments-Hillary-Clinton-s-health-just-days-axed-claimed-suffering-brain-damage.html
http://www.morningledger.com/hillary-clinton-seizures-democrat-hiding-secret-illness-from-brain-blood-clot/1392051/
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/31/politics/hillary-clinton-hospitalized/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/us/politics/hillary-clinton-is-discharged-from-hospital-after-blood-clot.html?_r=0
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hillary-clinton-blood-clot-life-threatening-medical-experts/story?id=18101213
http://heavy.com/news/2016/08/hillary-clinton-health-medical-stamina-jimmy-kimmel-seizures-stroke-concussion-giuliani-trump-age-doctor-lisa-bardack-syringe-video-muffin-shop-hannity-breitbart-conspiracy-diet/
http://freebeacon.com/politics/clinton-kicked-125k-hospital-receiving-treatment-blood-clot/
Or Google the words "hillary clinton blood clot brain". See also videos on YOUTUBE.
Posted by: Willy2 | Sep 10 2016 16:35 utc | 57
This morning, after finishing my paramilitary exercises, I took a walk down by the lake. The weather here is still late summer- a bit balmy if not for a crisp breeze from the north. I watched the few small craft and pleasure boats intermingle with the roaring of jet skis, in a maelstrom of late summer fun. I soon grew tired of watching, and made my way home through the public park.
It was then I realized that it was truly over. Had been truly over for some time. Cara y contra. There were twenty to thirty fellow strollers in the park, and every one of them was bowed over his electric rectangle. A perfect pageant of death eating somnambulants so yoked to their demon dongles- God help us all.
I don't know when it ended exactly. Perhaps with the words Watson . Come over here. I need you.. Perhaps with The Magic Pudding. Perhaps when RCA flipped the switch and Felix the cat spun a vortex of ever expanding nothingness around the earth.
Once more, with feeling, the band will play Nearer my God to Thee
Posted by: battling maxo | Sep 10 2016 16:37 utc | 58
Petri @ 1, some argument/disc :)
Imho (posted some reasons before, another is that the polls are useless) the vote for Trump will be huge.
Even the official polls are now showing ‘a close race’ and sometimes an advantage for DT, the Donald.
1) will be implemented but won’t be effective, the tribalism is operating at mega hysteria level, yet the members who MAY change their minds, vote 3rd, or not vote, are in the HRC camp. The HRC campaign is burdened with excruciating failures, in deep difficulty, nobody likes a loser. The Donald continues blithely on as Trump.
2) If DT gets about 1- 4 % over HRC, the vote rigging will do the job. (Leaving aside electoral college high jinks etc. ..) For Romney-Obama the rigging was implemented by the Rs, a few %, but Obama’s advantage was simply too great, as everyone behind the scenes knew, so the vote rigging was irrelevant (> hush.)
3) HRC has been hyping the Putin interfering > elections story. It is also the ONLY reason for the new McCarthy-ism, as an outside enemy is required, even mentioning or hinting that elections are rigged by R/Ds, Diebold, corporations, whatever, is taboo. Horrors! some devil monster - Satan, Putin, sadly Saddam is deceased .. - must be doing that! Should Trump win, Clinton and top dems - neo-cons, may try this tack, a hard sell all the same?
The question becomes, would the PTB be *able to* and go so far as to invalidate the election and declare HRC the winner? That would terminally quash the myth of the US as as a ‘democracy.’ What would Trump / supporters do? Imho the spectre of civil war hovers, but this is NOT YET crunch time, though some PTB might be for it. Therefore, 4) will not happen, but the election might be cancelled. (For various other reasons.)
links of interest.
Killary calling Russia an ally:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFJGufkcEj0
Cyber war, US:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5220
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr5220/text
NATO on cyber war:
Posted by: Noirette | Sep 10 2016 16:54 utc | 59
- I think that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are extremely unfit to become the next US president. It's simply a sign how deep the corruption in Washington DC has taken root.
Posted by: Willy2 | Sep 10 2016 16:57 utc | 60
AtaBrit@48
You disappeared two critical incidents from the timeline leading to the renewed conflict between Turkey and the Kurds. First was the suicide bombing, by the IS, of Kurds and the bloody response by the PKK targeting Turkish military, police and civilians as a vendetta for Erdogan supposedly allowing the attack.
I read a while ago that many of the Kurds who joined and voted with the HDP to produce the 13% representation have returned to the AKP, where they came from, because of their disgust at the bloody insanity displayed by the PKK after the IS attack.
Posted by: wayoutwest | Sep 10 2016 20:07 utc | 61
Pensacola, Florida (CNN)Donald Trump vowed Friday that if Iran inappropriately approached US ships, they would be "shot out of the water."
"And by the way, with Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures that our people -- that they shouldn't be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water," he said at a rally here.
Of course, once in office, Trump may acknowledge expert opinions attesting that IRG boats were actually cute, while the American destroyer was esthetically challenged, but he voiced similar opinions about Russian planes, "I would command to shoot them down". My summary is that while Hillary may start a war for some stupid reasons, Trump will do it instead for no reason whatsoever. On domestic issues, there is a contrast between nonsensical (IMHO) and sensible (although not perfect), but if your chief concern is foreign policy, vote Stein.
On an optimistic note, picking on Russia (as HRC does) is relatively harmless, Russia knows how to take care of its own. Fomenting the civil war in Syria is quite harmful, but I am afraid that Trump's philosophy would be to cater to Gulfies (they pay good dollar for following their whims, unlike, say, Estonia, moreover, Trump is quite open to suggestions from his inner circle which included a well informed pro-Russian insider, but his in-laws are very much enthusiastic Zionists).
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 10 2016 20:14 utc | 62
- Both Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump don't want to cut "Defense spending" by one (dollar-)cent.
Posted by: Willy2 | Sep 10 2016 20:21 utc | 63
@ Noirette | Sep 10, 2016 12:54:57 PM | 59
Thanks Noirette for bringing up some of the mathematical calculations involved in electioneering. The traditional rule of thumb was a low turnout favoured Republicans whereas a high turnout favoured the D. party - that is likely to hold true this election as well, but (depending on outlaying factors currently being overlooked) may be in reverse given the uniqueness of these particular contestants and the distorting information and disinformation of the campaign media on a weary public awash to their eyeballs in propaganda overload. If this hypothesis holds, those 'undecided' voting mainline parties may be sufficient to overwhelm the professional calculations used in what is now 'normal election fraud and theft' and possibly expose the men behind those party curtains pulling leavers (one can hope), and actually control the outcome of this election. Those who vote their moral consciences will have fallen victim to a variation of voter suppression - the removal of their votes from effective count, another form of purging of voter rolls based upon voter preferences rather than the traditional racist standards heretofore used. It is time those framing the public discourse with moralistic good and evil be replaced and that discourse restored to those framing the public discourse in terms of better or worse as it relates to the public's interest.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 10 2016 20:33 utc | 64
Gaza man shot dead in protest near border with Israel: Palestinian official
Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said Abdel-Rahman Al-Dabbagh was killed by an Israeli bullet to the head during the border clash in the central Gaza Strip.The Israeli military said troops had sought to contain the violence on the other side of the border fence and had used only tear gas.
“Dozens of rioters breached the buffer zone and attempted to damage the security (border) fence. … Forces stationed at the border used tear gas that led to the dispersal of the riot. Following a preliminary review, the Israel Defense Forces did not conduct the reported shooting,” a military statement said.
The Israelis amuse themselves by shooting Palestinians inside Gaza, protesting the Israelis' walling them in alive. The Israelis treatment of the Palestinians in Palestine is now not much different than the NAZIs treatment of the Jews in Europe ... in Warsaw, for instance ... seventy years ago.
Full support for the Israelis from Clinton/Trump, you bet on that. They'll play the Sphinx, just as Obama has. Trump seeks to emulate the Israelis' treatment of Palestinians with similar treatment of Iranians ... same with anyone else who pisses him off, presumably. Muslims, Mexicans ... making America great again.
Trump: Iran’s ships would be destroyed
“And by the way, with Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats, and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water,” Trump said on Friday.
Hillary is right behind ... more likely in front of ... him.
Can't tell at this point if Trump is trying get himself or Hillary elected. That's been the question all along, I suppose, as with McCain and whatwashisname ... Romney. It's early in the morning of 9/11, fifteen years after, here. Too much is too much. No to Clinton, no to Trump.
Posted by: jfl | Sep 10 2016 20:38 utc | 65
Once again, What resolution was made between Russia and the US about turkeys invasion of Syria ? *Crickets.*
Don't want to bring that up to we, cause all the Putin cultists refuse to view any weakness from their beloved fraud.
Syrias sovereignty was just destroyed by Turkish state criminal invaders, I also then only heard crickets from Russian misleadership. Till it was too little, too weak and too late.
Imagine Turkush leaders slaughtering Russian soliders, then only a few months later having a Russian unobstructed reign to then invade Syria from the north under the "protection" of Russian Air Force.
Not his biggest fan, but I would take 1 Castro them 1000 Putins. Compare their Record of resistance.
Posted by: tom | Sep 10 2016 20:40 utc | 66
@ Piotr Berman | Sep 10, 2016 4:14:17 PM | 62
Are you still accepting whatever CNN tells you as true? even on a video spot?
I thought CNN was pre-lobotomy Faux News material.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 10 2016 20:44 utc | 67
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmNkSxroLsw
Everybody needs to see this. Palestinians, dispossessed by Zionist scum, fight for Syria who gave them refuge. Actual heroes, not celulloid cutouts. "Were you not strangers in Egypt" - The Good Book
Posted by: ruralito | Sep 10 2016 20:47 utc | 68
Dear Formerly T-Bear,
what aspect of the story reported across English language media, on the public event in Pensacola, Florida, attended by scores of journalists should I doubt? Trump, a "savior of peace" to some, clearly worked hard to dispel any such thought, vowing to sink Iranians "for making rude gestures", as Daily Mail put it, while his supporters cheered and shouted "kill them". As reported by Wall Street Journal, Press TV (Iran) etc. What do you conjecture the true story to be? That true Trump would never sound so inflammatory, "sink them", so infantile, "our beautiful ship", or so moronic, as an actual shooting at a group of torpedo boats could be fatal to the US vessel. It is not like shooting at a passenger airliner, after all.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 11 2016 3:46 utc | 69
@ Piotr 69
If one is to take a magnifying glass to a broken boil on the skin, one would find a very ugly sight. I haven't a doubt that D. Trump was speaking to his audience at a level THEY could understand. Magnifying that does indeed make for a very ugly sight. The broken boil is still not actually as life threatening as is made out to be. Sorry you went to such lengths to reply to a metaphoric commentary.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 11 2016 5:22 utc | 70
Teardrop Monument - A Gift from the People of Russia to America 9/11. If you find the information useful, please shares it. (make sure you go to the last weblink) . Thanks
http://www.lunaticoutpost.com/thread-600092.html
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/tributes/teardrop.asp
https://soapboxie.com/world-politics/TEAR-DROP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kNRWuZwR1I
http://www.nj.com/bayonne/index.ssf/2010/08/russian_artist_zurab_tsereteli.html
Posted by: Jack Smith | Sep 11 2016 5:39 utc | 71
Yeah, I'm sure CNN faked every one of The D**khead Donalds speeches. They have a body double....
Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 11 2016 13:44 utc | 72
@ 72
Pull your head out Rufus. Air is good for you.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 11 2016 14:22 utc | 73
You're the one ripping on CNN for reporting what The D**khead says. Stop fouling the air.
Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 11 2016 14:33 utc | 74
rufus magister @72? Why dots? Duckhead Donald, or Donald Duckhead actually sounds ok, "Oh, how I love his mighty quack!".
By the way, Duckhead still has no official position on foreign policy, so we have to rely on incoherent statements like the one cited by me @62 and apply "Do it yourself: Kremlinology kit for middle school pupils". But he has a very lucid program on this or that. How to pay for the wall:
On day 1 promulgate a "proposed rule" (regulation) amending 31 CFR 130.121 to redefine applicable financial institutions to include money transfer companies like Western Union, and redefine "account" to include wire transfers. Also include in the proposed rule a requirement that no alien may wire money outside of the United States unless the alien first provides a document establishing his lawful presence in the United States.
On day 2 Mexico will immediately protest. They receive approximately $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexican nationals working in the United States. The majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens. It serves as de facto welfare for poor families in Mexico. There is no significant social safety net provided by the state in Mexico.
On day 3 tell Mexico that if the Mexican government will contribute the funds needed to the United States to pay for the wall, the Trump Administration will not promulgate the final rule, and the regulation will not go into effect.
====
Day 4: claustrophobic migrants climb, acrophobia ones dig.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 11 2016 14:42 utc | 75
Oh yeah,Trump is the stealth candidate for the MSM and zion.
Only from zionist Trotskyite losers would that be considered the truth.
As far as sinking Iranian boats,Trump is only vote mining,as that position is supported by the majority of Americans,as the zionists have brainwashed US into stupidity.I believe in Yankee come home,where these events would be impossible to enact,as minding our own business would preclude it.Will Trump do the same?I don't know,but I do know the HB is full on for zion,and has already threatened to nuke them,the Iranians.
And with the HB saying half of Trumps supporters are deplorable,which the moron walked back of course,she just exposed her inner Romney.
And right now I'm listening to the roll call of American dead from 9-11,and all I know is they died for zionist hegemony over US and the world.
But I'm sure our resident wackos disagree,like their buddies,the MSM,who never ever link the two.
And the CNN Fox thing;They are both now Hell bitch country,as Rupert knows Trump will end Zions reign over America.
And he will win,despite the pantie scrunching horseshite from the red heads.
Posted by: dahoit | Sep 11 2016 15:16 utc | 76
PB at 75
Duckhead, I like it. His hair is rather like a bill. Suitably PG-13.
I saw somewhere that he doesn't feel the need to articulate a foreign policy until after elected. In part, because he doesn't have access now to info Mrs. Clinton did years ago as Secretary of State. They do get the same briefing now. If he pays attention. At least to what his advisors dauphinize for him.
I find averring this lack of sufficient information puzzling. Because, you know, he knows more about ISIS than the generals. He says. Words cominng out of....
Oh, and here's something ABC shouldn't have broadcast live that Guiliani said. 'Of Course' Taking Iraq's Oil Would Have Been Legal.
Posted by: rufus magister | Sep 11 2016 15:18 utc | 77
Oh yes pensions in the third world;Chile is up in arms over the $315 a month private pension system enacted at the shrubs urging and promotion.(NYTs?or Wapo)
The hero zero,unscathed by demoncrat opprobrium,a teflon man as slippery as the flim pam man,Obomba,and his retinue of world destroyers,like HRC,who will protect his awful legacy if elected.
What a collection of losers.
Trump is an American for America,unlike these traitors for Israel.
Posted by: dahoit | Sep 11 2016 15:23 utc | 78
@ dahoit | Sep 11, 2016 11:16:19 AM | 76
Care there, Rufus has had a sad life. When he was little he didn't have a lot of friends, but then bullies usually don't. When he grew some and arrived at this 'pub', only the pixels were his friends, he employed so many of them. He still was a bully though, nothing changed there; bullying the reader with endless tracts, filled with trivium, nary a one memorable. Since his arrival he has self-promoted himself into the realm of the erudite; Rufus has become the Wayoutwaste of erudite, know your betters.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Sep 11 2016 15:42 utc | 79
- "Russia: Israel, Palestinian Leaders Agree to Meet for Talks"
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/08/world/middleeast/ap-israel-palestinians.html?_r=0
Posted by: Willy2 | Sep 11 2016 16:14 utc | 80
This "election" theater now showing in the U$A, is such fun, absolutely breathtaking.
Trump or HRC, same-o same-o. Puppets on a string.
For all working folks and Peons, lube up, and bend over.
" It's just business, get over it."
P. S.-- They're coming for your Social Programs too Europe, prepare yourselves.
Posted by: ben | Sep 11 2016 16:50 utc | 81
wayoutwest | 61
"that many of the Kurds who joined and voted with the HDP to produce the 13% representation have returned to the AKP"
İf you are talking about the results of the repeat election, then yes, the tactics of 'beat into submission' worked to some small extent - lets not forget Erdogan and Davutoglu promised an end to the onslaught against Kurdish cities if re-elected - they lied!
Kurds in the South East/ South are being systematically targetted and attacked and have been for over just under 18 months. The western media is all but silent - the reason fpr my original post - Even the UN treads on eggshells despite having proof of civilian deaths, torture etc. There is no lack of evidence against the Turkish state. HDP is not going anywhere. Demirtas and HDP have considerable support amongst Kurds and amongst young educated liberal Turks. İt may take time, but political strength will grow yet more.
İf you are talking about support for Erdogan since the coup, then there is nothing less than a McCarthy- like witch-hunt against everyone, not just Kurds, and the majority of people are justifiably scared of speaking their minds.
İf you can find the stats İ'd be interested to see them, especially the source! We are talking about Turkey after all ...
As for the Suruc Bombing - the immediate call by AKP was that it was İSİS, only later did it claim the perpetrator to be PKK which was then changed to be PKK and İSİS working together! Aboslute bollocks of course!
For me, and it is my opinion only, the idea that PKK would bomb a march of Kurdish and Turkish socialist youth, marching in support of Kobane is beyond belief quite simply. Many media centres still claim that the bombing was committed by İSİS which would negate the need for Turkey to take revenge on Kurds. İ dont have the answer, but İ do not believe and İ am far from being alone, that PKK would bomb a march in support of Kobane. I must add that MIT has a long dark history of fals flags in ots deacdes lpng war with the Kurds, but the Suruc bombing would be a new low for them, so am not convinced of yhe false-flag stories. I dont know, but I am certain it was not PKK.
Many commenters in Turkey are of the opinion that the Kuridsh vote ran its course in terms of worth - Erdogan was now president. He needed only to reverse the 3 or 4 per cent swing away from AKP and did so by threatening the country with terrorism, partition and civil war promising 'peace' if AKP won the required votes to have the overall majority in parliament sufficient to drive through constitutional change without opposition. He achieved that, and of course did not 'grant' the peace he promised because he now no longer needs the Kurdish vote.
Posted by: AtaBrit | Sep 11 2016 17:00 utc | 82
Trump is an American for America, unlike these traitors for Israel.
Posted by: dahoit | Sep 11, 2016 11:23:44 AM | 78
One can dispute if "Israel first" mentality constitutes treason. It polls well, and while it strongly depends on the way you ask the question, there opposition is feeble in general. So what is the percentage of the "traitors" in the general public, and among "likely voters"?
One can dispute if HRC is an "Israel first" person, although mostly using the accounts of particularly unhinged individuals like Glick. A better case can be made is that Trump himself deviates from "Israel first" position in ways that are more disturbing than comforting, at least, if you are not an IF person yourself. For example, in-laws of Trump arranged his visit to Israel and a meeting with Netanyahu, which was cancelled after Netanyahu criticized Trump's idea of banning ALL MUSLIM from visiting USA. In other words, here we have an American politician that is more extreme and pigheaded than Bibi himself. But Trump addressed AIPAC very nicely, listing his support for each and every of their positions. I would need to make a more detailed study, but I suspect that Clinton would skip some. Extremely disturbingly, picking a war with Iran, something that extreme Zionist would love to do but alas, Israel cannot do it alone, seems to be an Israel-pleasing priority of Trump that is not shared with HRC. That he could do it for "vote mining" is not reassuring in the slightest. "Vote mining" is the best explanation for Bushies attacking Iraq, the plethora of other "reason" being either contradictory in themselves, or sharply contradicted by events that followed (we produced no democracy, we did not secure oil etc., but by golly, we secured several election cycles of electoral success.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 11 2016 17:14 utc | 83
Piotr Berman @83:
1) One can dispute if "Israel first" mentality constitutes treason.Thoughts are not treasonous. But the term is often used loosely with regard to undermining of a country's military capability or resolve during peacetime.
You can dispute whether constant flirting with attractive women constitutes cheating but your wife will still be suspicious.
[Trump is] ... more extreme and pigheaded than Bibi himself.Bibi heads an apartheid state. Suggesting that Trump is worse than Bibi is ridiculous.
<> <> <> <> <> <>
Attacking duopoly candidates with semantics, innuendo, and hyperbole discredits the attacker and promotes the duopoly by cloaking the illusion of choice with emotion.
Vote Green Party.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 11 2016 19:28 utc | 85
Is the Daily Mail trying to smear Alexander Zakharchenko Prime Minister Donetsk People's Republic?
Or is the following story just lazy shoddy journalism?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3784186/
Wrong picture! Wrong name! The picture is not of Dmitry Zakharchenko who was arrested and who had $122 million in his house.
Daily Mail is showing a picture of Alexander Zakharchenko Prime Minister Donetsk People's Republic, who had nothing to do with the story except have the same last name.
Picture and correct name of who was actually arrested is at
http://en.crimerussia.ru/corruption/zakharchenko-does-not-plead-guilty-defense-seeks-house-arrest-/.
Posted by: noelm | Sep 11 2016 19:36 utc | 86
Hillary's chances of becoming the next POTUS have slightly decreesed. It seems the rumors about her health might contain some truth. On the 9/11 memorial you can see her leaning like a fake doll and she couldn't even enter the black van by herself. If not for her vassals, she would have fallen head first to the ground or maybe even knock her head on the van entry. That would have been magnificent! Then we could have added to here paraphrase: "we came, we saw, he died, I knocked my head and broke my neck."
The hillaryous video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXY75UTkdS4
Her death or at least her exit from the elections will save many lives (probably in the hundreds of thousands or maybe even in the million) as her legacy would probably be more bloody than Trump's.
There's also the other recent video which is at least as hillaryous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMHOcmDVBP0
The creepy sound actually reveals her true nature... a death fiend.
Posted by: Lamassu | Sep 11 2016 20:54 utc | 87
The hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed,
But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread:
Besides what the grim Woolf with privy paw
Daily devours apace, and nothing sed,
But that two-handed engine at the door,
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.
Milton
from
Lycidias
Posted by: derby ram | Sep 11 2016 21:58 utc | 88
Anybody know the protocol for a political campaign that can't continue? Does the president anoint a succesor? Does the VP step in or the prospective VP. Does Obama continue past January?
Posted by: ruralito | Sep 11 2016 22:38 utc | 89
Nothing serious folks. Just a touch of pneumonia. Don't listen to those stories about psychosis. She'll be fine. Really.
"The doctor's statement said she was now re-hydrated and "recovering nicely"."
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37332106
Posted by: dh | Sep 12 2016 0:28 utc | 91
Protocol: DNC selects new candidate, probably sans primaries. I always said it's Biden's if he wants it. In fact, I said months ago that he didn't run cuz he was anticipating getting it by a more direct means. But I think it's no longer automatically his since perhaps a fresher face will now be chosen.
There was never a possibility of Hillary's being Prez; negatives too high. It's conceivable that her health problems or their sudden worsening are a preferred technique for her exit, rather than continued corruption headlines.
I would make "The Donald" part of the current power-grabbers' establishment. At any rate, w/o military backing it wd take an extraordinarily brave man to do anything to discommode the power structure.
Posted by: Penelope | Sep 12 2016 1:10 utc | 92
Still too early to say with any certainty but carefully orchestrated bulls*t leads me to believe that an exit might be planned. Was she too important to prosecute but was not going to be allowed to be President?
I remember Bloomberg's appearance in late January where he stated that he would run if the major Party nominees were Trump and Sanders. I imagine that he was one of the few (at that time) that understood how bad Hillary's email troubles really were. Was Hillary allowed to stay in the race to a) defeat Sanders and b) have an opportunity to exit public life without disgrace (via health issues)?
Some will say that her negatives caught up to her or her misdeeds weighed on her conscience (causing or exacerbating her health problems). Maybe. But the rumors of her health issues are fairly recent (most appeared within the last few weeks), and the circumstances around today's event are rather strange. She just rebutted questions about her health days ago(!) but we get a peak(!) at her being dragged to a van and a comical, goofball act from her campaign that starts with heat exhaustion and ends with pneumonia (and a canceling of a campaign trip to California).
Additionally, the timing of an exit couldn't be better. And this would not be the first time that Hillary's health mysteriously became an issue. She put off testifying to the Benghazi investigation for weeks due to a health issue.
<> <> <> <> <> <> <>
News media seem rather uncurious about Zdenek Gazda. He's the guy that got the video of Hillary being put into the van. Here is Fox News description:
The New Jersey resident who took the video, Zdenek Gazda, told Foxnews.com he had been a fireman in the Czech Republic and came to the 9/11 ceremony to pay his respects.In an election season in which the possibility of Russian manipulation of the election has been raised as a serious issue, the fact that a foreign/foreign-corn individual has taken a video that may have changed the race has not raised any questions?"Everything was fine, everything was good before," said Gazda, who snapped several shots of Clinton before taking the video. "I take a lot of pictures of her. She looked very nice and everything, and I don’t know what happened to her."
Why is he in the US? Is he a Democrat? A Republican? Why was he so well positioned - not just for the shot of Hillary entering the van but also other pics and videos of the event?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 12 2016 2:57 utc | 93
Republicans rave about Tim Kaine
After Hillary Clinton’s collapse this morning, is it time to consider the possibility of President Tim Kaine?
The Donald out-polling The Hill? Under the bus with Ma Clinton? Move The Tim to The Top of The Ticket?
Posted by: jfl | Sep 12 2016 3:09 utc | 94
Hitlery is dying. It's a good news for the whole world.
https://vid.me/UjS5
Posted by: Nick | Sep 12 2016 4:46 utc | 96
Jackrabbit @93. Excellent questions. My guess is that the take-down of Hillary is an establishment op. Failing a personality transplant it was never intended that she be prez. All the drama has kept all substantive policy issues out of any real discussion & I think that was the real purpose & design of the entire campaign.
Posted by: Penelope | Sep 12 2016 5:42 utc | 97
Ah, Jackrabbit, look at this. Somebody's suggesting that the last installment of health issues isn't even played by Hillary, but by a look-alike:
https://mobile.twitter.com/_AltRight_/status/775074787357929472/photo/1
See also "Before Its News"
Posted by: Penelope | Sep 12 2016 5:57 utc | 98
Hillary dragged on her face into her limo. Weekend at Bernies. Now maybe it's Bernies time to step up. We'll see.
Posted by: Alexander Grimsmo | Sep 12 2016 6:12 utc | 99
Alexander Grimsmo | Sep 12, 2016 2:12:54 AM | 99
Bernie is done, finished. He'll not be allowed back into the fraudulent "election" campaign.
IF Clinton drops out; my guess is it will be Biden. He's a Russophobe and warmonger; perfect fit for the shadow government's public face.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Sep 12 2016 6:48 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
COLOR REVOLUTION USA! (...or why Trump can't win.)
Three weeks ago I wrote about the prospect of a Trump win in the U.S. elections. Even if Trump gets a majority of the votes the chances of him actually becoming President are slim. Here are some of the tactics and tricks the Hillary camp could use to block his election. I cannot say what is the probability of these options, but they have all been tested in previous US sponsored color revolutions.
1) Massive propaganda campaign will pressure the electorate to vote against their favorite candidate.
2) If Trump still gets over 50% of the vote, the vote count will be falsified. (Something similar seems to have happened in the Austrian presidential election.)
3) If the election results actually show a victory for Trump, the results will be annulled. DNC will claim that "Putin" hacked the voting machines. The Supreme Court will declare Hillary the winner.
4) If all else fails, Hillary will call for a Maidan-style occupation of Washington DC. The revolutionaries will take over the Capitol and the White House -- with the support of pro-Hillary officials.
This article appeared in the Washington Post on Monday.
This seems like preparation for scenario 3: if Trump wins, then Putin hacked the voting machines!
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Sep 9 2016 18:18 utc | 1