It's not
about being liberal or conservative anymore y'all. That is a hype offered by the fascist whores who want to confuse the people with lies while they turn this country into an aristocratic police state. Some people will say anything to attain power and money. There is no such thing as the Liberal Media, but the Corporate media is very real.
Digby recently put out a post about how it's important to keep a weekly list of
events during authoritarian crises so as to not forget how far things evolve, and not become
defeated by moving goal posts.
She came up with 36 for week 9, and has lists for the other 8 weeks to boot. Kick ass.
The Office of Government Ethics director publicly lamented, "we seem to have lost contact with
the Trump-Pence transition since the election."
Three vendors have placed liens on the Trump hotel in DC for unpaid bills of over $5 million, in
total.
The OGE similarly said they had not completed ethics reviews of Trump's cabinet nominees.
Leader McConnell said the Democrats need to "grow up" on Trump's desire for speedy confirmations.
Sean Hannity endorsed a tweet which said "Make Russia Great Again" with the word, "Amen."
Hannity later deleted his tweet.
Meryl Streep used her Golden Globes lifetime of notable work speech to eloquently attack Trump,
without mentioning his name.
Trump responded via a tweet that Streep is an "over-rated" actress, and denied he had mocked a
disabled reporter.
Trump took credit for a Fiat Chrysler plant and jobs in MI and OH. Fiat Chrysler responded that
Trump had nothing to do with it.
Trump appointed Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, to a top WH post, possibly violating the 1967
federal anti-nepotism statute.
Trump told the NYT that all the dress shops in DC are sold out for his inauguration. This was a lie.
Trump team dismissed the National Nuclear Security Administration and his deputy, responsible
for maintaining our nuclear arsenal, as of January 20. Trump also dismissed the commanding general
of the DC national guard.
Cory Booker became the first US Senator to speak out against a fellow sitting senator at a
confirmation hearing (Sessions for AG).
CNN reported a bombshell - Intelligence chiefs had briefed Trump that Russia had gathered
information to blackmail him (the dossier).
Same day, BuzzFeed published contents of the dossier, which apparently had been in the hands of
the FBI and some in the media since the summer. Contents included the infamous golden shower.
Trump denied having been briefed, and said the contents of the dossier were confirmed by
intelligence to be fake. DNI Clapper issued a public statement indicating the dossier's contents are
still being verified (not fake), and media reported that Comey met with Trump one-on-one to review
the dossier the prior Friday.
Trump held his first press conference since July. Trump packed the room with paid employees, who
applauded him, and jeered at reporters.
At presser, Trump said he had no plans to release his tax returns, or resolve conflicts of
interest, saying, "I have no-conflict situation because I'm president."
Trump bullied reporters at two news outlets, calling them "fake news," and used other news
outlets as evidence.
The director of the OGE publicly blasted Trump's non-plan for dealing with conflicts of
interest. Next day, Rep Jason Chaffetz threatened to investigate the OGE.
Next day, while meeting with CEO of AT&T at Trump Tower (AT&T needs approval for their merger
with Time Warner, parent company of CNN) Trump tweeted CNN is "FAKE NEWS" and tanking.
Rep Barbara Lee said she would not attend Trump's inauguration. During the week, the list grew
to 6 members of Congress.
Trump encouraged his followers in a tweet to "buy L.L. Bean," in violation of a WH policy
prohibiting the endorsement of products.
The Justice Department inspector general opened an investigation into allegations of misconduct
by the FBI and Comey, leading up to the election.
C-Span's online broadcast was interrupted by Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT, while Rep Maxine
Waters was speaking. Waters has said she will not meet with Trump. The broadcast was also
interrupted that morning when a Senator discussed Russian hacking.
WAPO reported that Michael Flynn, Trump's NSA, spoke to Russia's envoy on Dec 29th, the day
Obama announced sanctions on Russia. Trump team initially denied this, then later, said they spoke
only once that day. Reuters reports they spoke 5 times that day.
Trump continued to deny Russian hacking, and to use quotes around Intelligence in his tweets.
Trump appointed Rudy Giuliani to a cybersecurity role - albeit though a private company.
Trump appointed a sixth Goldman Sachs (past or present) employees to a major role in his
administration.
After Congress was briefed by Intelligence chiefs, Rep John Lewis said, "I don't see Trump as a
legitimate president."
Next morning, Trump tweeted a disparaging attack on Lewis, on MLK weekend, saying he was all talk.
Democrats in Congress were furious with FBI director Comey's unwillingness to answer their
questions and fully brief them.
UK media broke that the former agent who gathered the info in the dossier, had shared his
findings with the FBI, starting in the summer, and had become concerned that a cabal within the FBI
was compromised and attempting to cover-up information.
The Senate announced hearings on possible Russia-Trump ties, and said subpoenas would be used if
necessary.
The FEC sent Trump a letter listing 247 pages of illegal contributions to his campaign.
In the wake of the Trump dossier becoming public, Russia's cybersecurity head is out of a job.
Human Rights Watch issued it's annual report of threats to human rights around the world. For
the first time in 27 years, the US is listed as a top threat because of the rise of Trump.
A Quinnipiac poll showed Trump's favorability ratings continuing to slide to historic lows for
modern day presidents: only 37% of Americans view Trump favorably.
I wrote this almost 10 years ago. I still cry around the 5:35 ish mark. I'm beginning to
think this song meets the criteria of magnum opus (10 years and still tears, right?) One of my
personal favorite compositions.
Good Lord if I ever actually recorded all my compositions. Easily two hundred.
Friday, 13 January 2017 at 4h 28m 28s
Seesaw by Kowalski
I still dig this song, and video.
Friday, 13 January 2017 at 1h 55m 59s
Those credible stories about a Russian Dossier
[SOURCE:Paul Wood | BBC News |11 January
2017 ]
[SOURCE:Scott Shane | New York Times | 11
January 2017]
The Obama "birther" story had a shelf life into his second term, with Trump stroking the flames from
day one. This story however concerns various sources which all point to Russia having blackmail
tapes and video on Donald Trump from not one but two incidents involving Russian hookers. And then
Trump accuses CNN of being a "fake" news pusher because he was upset that CNN was the first major
television news outlet to break the story. He refuses to take a question from the CNN reporter, but
then takes a question from the well-known fake news pusher Breitbart. Now I am not a fan of CNN. I
call them the "Corporate News Network" but publishing fluff stories is not the same thing as false.
Ignoring stories that affect the connected rich and corporations, or putting a certain paradigmatic
slant on whatever news story they present is not the same thing as fake.
That's not what Breitbart does. Breitbart publishes actual fake stories. Promotes them even.
Breitbart regularly allows politically contrived videos to be shown which give such a skewed
perspective that it is beyond a shift based on ideological preferences (like CNN) slicing speeches
and video in a way that portrays events in a false manner.
The corporate media may do a poor, incomplete job on reporting about matters that affect the
coin-counters in corporatocracy, but they don't publish fake stories unless they are planted by
political operatives and get snookered. "Fakebook" and Breitbart actually enable and sometimes
originate fake news to pollute the minds of the weak and ignorant. There are people who are paid to
produce daily memes and content on Facebook. The corporate media however is more
sophisticated. It does the job by making the perspective sound reasonable, by using selected facts
to make an argument.
So when Trump calls the Corporate News Network "Fake News" ... Me thinks you protest too much, kind
sir.
If people talk shit about me that I know is not true, I laugh. I could give a shit less. If
people wanna listen to liars, that's their choice. True friends will see your heart. When you get
upset about other people talking shit, it's because there is some element of truth in what people
are saying.
Thursday, 12 January 2017 at 2h 58m 5s
New Poem
I write a new poem today. Oh joy
I call it ... Hypocrisy.
It’s team A versus team B
versus teams C and D
and maybe even E
and then of course there is always
team I don’t give a fuck
about this team bullshit
can you just leave me alone
and let me live my damn life
without all this pressure and fucking pretense
about
TEAM.
Yes yea I know
I know there ain’t no “I” in TEAM
but that’s like saying no cat will eat out of a dog’s bowl
or all the stars in heaven can never be seen as once.
Yea duh no shit mother fucker
everyone realizes the letter “I” is nowhere to be found in the four letters that constitute
the word “TEAM”.
Are you implying something about my personal character when you bring this shit up
during the most odd instances.
Me pointing at inconsistency
You saying how I am insensitive.
Me saying that your words are inaccurate
You saying that I don’t appreciate you.
Me saying that you are full of shit.
You
you say that I have no respect.
Look man
if I call you out on your bullshit
that has nothing to do with whether I give a fuck or care
the fact that I bother means
by default
that I care
so don’t belittle the genuine perspective and honest logical argument
with some disclaimer or denial
that resides within your own
obvious
weakness
your own obvious insecurity.
When the emperor wears no clothes
you can either cheer
or snicker
or ignore
or distract
but you can never deny the truth in the nakedness of hypocrisy
because it will always be there
for all to see.
Thursday, 12 January 2017 at 2h 28m 0s
Oh by the way ...
This is how these fucking people operate ...
LAUREN WINDSOR (narrator): Convicted criminal and right-wing con artist James O'keefe and
his cohorts in the Trump Foundation-funded Project Veritas are at it again; this time, infiltrating
progressive groups in an attempt to create a storyline smearing progressives by promising to fund
money for violent schemes to unsuspecting advocates. But this time the tables were turned. We
received a tip on suspicious behavior and immediately recognized O'Keefe's malicious handiwork. We
partnered with Ryan Clayton of Americans Take Action and launched a counter-sting.
Two days later, the weather North of Hawaii, spun by the Hawaiian Pineapple express, sends
California a whole lotta wet.
And it's looking like another 7 straight days of wonderful wet weather. That's why they call this
the Pineapple Express. Notice the group of clouds Northeast of Hawaii, that's 4 or 5 days from now
weather. The strong band you see about 1000 miles east of Hawaii is going to spin everything just
north of
Hawaii over into California, and then crash into California. The whole process can take 10 days
once it gets established over the Pacific waters just East of Hawaii.
Now just in case you didn't see the expected inches of rainfall in the graphic above. Adding
Saturday and Sunday alone, you get 3.5 inches of rain. The rest of the week looks to spill out
another 2 plus inches of rain. That's 5.5 in one week in a part of the world that averages 23.6 per
YEAR !!! Which is almost 25% of the yearly total in just 7 days, 1.9% of the year.
Honestly, Obama is surprising me about both his recent actions and his post-Presidential attempts to
get involved in the various state anti-democratic actions, in particular "Gerry-Mandering" voting
districts. Which is older than the KKK by the way -- hey that rhymes :-). All the way since
BEFORE the America revolt against Britain in the 1770 to 1780 time frame, as far back at the later
1600's in fact.
Obama's 9 year
Attorney General, Eric Holder -- who could not hold Wall Street financiers accountable for a single
offence -- has been recently hired by California Jerry Brown to represent the state in any and all
probable law suits the state takes against the incoming Federal administration. This is the same
guy who made a big to-do against various California pot medical dispensaries -- but unable to
prosecute a single Wall Street or big-bank criminal -- during Obama's first term. Nevertheless, I
look at his with an open mind, because I trust Jerry Brown.
Boy am I so glad to be a Californian at this point in American history.
Full disclosure. I have met and have spoken with governor Jerry Brown's brother infrequently. He is a
law professor at USF. Interesting person and mind. The entire family, all the way back to the
father, ex-governor Edmund "Pat" Brown from 1959 to 1967. Responsible for the state water project,
"Pat" Brown is the reason why California is great today.
Even though I am usually skeptical of Wikipedia, Wikipedia is fair on this matter.
Opposition to the State Water Project was immediate, especially with Sacramento River Delta users
worrying about saltwater intrusion which had already been a concern without factoring in redirection
of outward freshwater flow. Residents of the Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California were
concerned about the increase in water draw the South might demand as populations expanded. While
Southern support for the project was clear, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
worried that the project did not ensure permanent rights to Northern water. This lead the
legislature to amend the plan, prohibiting the state's southern water rights from being rescinded,
clearing any remaining reservations from the state's southern water authorities.
Governor Brown was a staunch supporter of the plan, energetically opposing critics and seeking
solutions. He lobbied Congress to exempt California from the 160 acre rule, lauding the benefit of
employment and progress to the state's northern and southern residents, calling for an end to the
north-south rivalry. Brown also reduced his introductory bond issuance from $11 billion to $1.75
billion, beginning a television campaign to appeal to residents. Governor Brown insisted on the
Burns-Porter Act which sent the bond issue to a referendum; the 1960 vote saw Butte County as the
sole Northern California county not voting against the measure. However, the growth in Southern
California's population lead to the plan's adoption.
Thom Hartmann :"Why aren't the Democrats doing anything about this?"
Hello, that was my question, spoken loudly on this blog fucking one month ago. Thanks Thom.
And would you look at that queer
scowl on James Clapper's face (current head of CIA) ? Almost like he's ashamed that his asshole is
where his mouth is located, and hopes no one realizes it during the brief duration when he has to
speak in front of cameras and video recording devices. Creepy.
Mike Papantonio :"The Corporate-controlled media won't touch issues like [this] because
they're
not sensational enough, uh, they can't make the story appealing enough to an audience with a 30
second attention span so they feed us absurd fake news about Russia hacking the election or [what]
Donald
Trump ... tweeted this morning.
Right now you see the new DNC [Democratic National Committee] ... It's outrageous. The 'new' DNC
Leadership -- which is nothing more than the Hilary camp -- is now making the Russian hacking story
their number one attention. This is the number one story they are paying attention to rather than
voter suppression that probably killed them in the last election. We know that Republican trolled
states have been systematically purging Democratic voters for at least 16 years. And these methods
keep evolving."
Yikes, Mike really tears apart the corporatist Democratic establishment. Awesome skewering. The
"Pap" attack is spot on, and really shows his feisty fearless intellect for those of you who may not
be familiar with this fellow Southern Italian. (I admit to being a fan)
We got Trump largely because Kris Kobach got 28 state Republican Secretary’s of State to send him
their voter registration lists so that he could run a computer program called “cross check” that
removed loosely associated names under the pretense that these were persons who were double
registered. Hence Michael Eugene Jackson of Georgia was matched with Michael Lebrun Jackson of
Virginia, and Donald Alexander Webster Jr. of Ohio was matched with Donald Eugene Webster Sr. of
Virginia. Over 7 million persons were paired in this way, and had their names removed off the
voting rolls. When they showed up to vote, they had to vote on provisional ballots, most of which
were never counted. 75,355 ballots in Michigan alone were not counted, in a state where Donald
Trump won by only 10,704 votes. And those votes largely came from Detroit and Flint, majority-Black
cities that vote Democratic.
This happened in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and all throughout the 28 states who sent
their registration lists to Mr. Kobach. This was why the Republican establishment stonewalled Jill
Stein’s recount efforts, otherwise why would they deny democracy if they were not afraid of their
anti-democratic actions? Instead, Jill Stein and Democrats are called “sore-losers” or “cry babies”
who “waste tax payers dollars” when really it’s as simple as Jill Stein standing up for democracy
and the right of citizens to have their votes counted.
Kris Kobach’s state of Kansas was the only state out of 50 states not to respond to a recent New
York Times survey of actual voter fraud, of which less than 100 incidents were actually legally
acted upon, 65 of which were in the combined total of Georgia and Tennessee. According to the New
York Times: "The findings unambiguously debunk repeated statements by President-elect Donald J.
Trump that millions of illegal voters backed his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.”
Thursday, 5 January 2017 at 1h 38m 0s
Modern Weather
This is how I discern the weather nowadays. I go look at Intellicast.com and see the West Coast
Pacific Satellite imaging.
Notice that counter-clockwise weather system spinning rain out of the Pacific that is just North of
Hawaii. That's called the "Pineapple Express". It usually means rain for the next four or five days.
Then I check out Wunderground.com for San Francisco, and look at the following panorama of weather
data displayed graphically
Yikes, looks like this weekend is gonna be rain, rain, and more rain. Confirmed by the satellite
imagery.
Back in the day, people actually watched the weatherman on a regular basis, or listen to the radio
to get weather information. The National Weather Service nationalized the collection of weather
information so that citizens would not have to pay a premium to get less than reliable weather.
During the 1980's and 1990's the Weather Channel developed a way to provide radar information from
the National Weather Service. Every 10 or 15 minutes, you got to see a radar of the region where
you lived -- Pacific, Northwest, Southwest, California, Southeast, Mountain-central, Mid-South,
Mid-west, Northeast, and so on.
Once the internet came, people got access to the raw data from those
who set up graphical imaging and data displays, like Intellicast and Wunderground. A lot of people
get their weather from cell phone app nowadays, but all of these sources are using data obtained by
the National Weather Service. If these businesses had to include the cost of collecting such data
themselves, these companies would have a lot more overhead, and more than likely eventually skimp on
certain data analysis. Or if not, the cost of the service would be prohibitive, just like many
hi-end university data and library collection systems (like Lexus-Nexus) -- sometimes costing $600
or more per year. The result would inevitably be a secondary market of substandard or stripped
services controlled by the data collection agents.
Which is a perfect example of what government does well. Governments invest the tax collections into
developing basic or necessary infrastructure so that other businesses can take advantage of the cost
or service savings and not distort the market into oligarchical funnels. If every single thing that
is needed by or necessary for society gets outsourced to private firms, than what happens is the gradual
devolution into those firms who control the necessary check points in the distribution system of
goods and
services, and those firms who do not. The market becomes oligarchical and the quality of service
becomes fractured or
stratified into rent-seeking tiers.
Government not only needs to be a functioning part of every economic order for capitalism to
properly function, but also to ensure that the needs of the community and society will inhibit the
inherent bent
of mankind to evolve into aristocracy, irrationality, and authoritarian regimes.