The irony of global climate collapse is those who actively forestalled mitigation of this certainty for at least three decades will not be the first to lose their property and forced into the MIGRATIONS to come.
The massive multi-decade conspiracy of misinformation and lie of omission aka DUPED INTO DENIAL, may be the greatest crime in Earth’s history.
Only dangerous criminal psychopaths would endeavor this outcome.
Another truly wonderful side-effect of the transition away from poisonous sources of fuel.
A more or less complete list of significant man-made disasters in no particular order:
• Chernobyl Meltdown
• Fukushima Daiichi Meltdown(s) and global contamination (on-going)
• Kuwaiti Oil Well Infernos
• Yucca Flats above-ground nuclear weapons testing
• IXTOC I Deep Sea Oil Gusher
• BP/Gulf of Mexico Oil Gusher
• Four Corners Methane Plume (on-going)
• Iraq/Syria use of radioactive munitions (on-going)
• Hiroshima & Nagasaki Atomic Bombs
• Bhopal/Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals) Mass Killing
• Flint public water supply poisoning (on-going)
• Love Canal/Hooker Chemical Company mass poisoning
• Tokaimura Nuclear Plant Uncontrolled Chain Reaction
• The Exxon Valdez Supertanker Disaster
• The Aral Sea Crisis (on-going)
• The Prestige Oil Tanker Sinking
• Seveso Dioxin Cloud Disaster
• The Mercury Poisoning of Minamata
• Three Mile Island Meltdown and radioactive material release(s)
• Hanford Plutonium Waste Site Contamination (on-going)
Nowhere on this list can be seen either a solar power disaster or wind turbine catastrophe.
The U.S. incestuous relationship with the global fossil fuel industry and allowing the need for a soon-to-be obsolete energy source dictate foreign policy for approaching SEVENTY YEARS is the root cause of conflicts set in oil/gas producing countries in the region(s). This befouled relationship must be diminished, greatly, for peace to break out.
The oil-soaked TWO BUSH - THREE WARS destabilized entire regions allowing large bandit armies to rise and spread. And stability is nowhere in sight.
But the brain-dead national hobby of blaming a President who is not old, white or testicular for everything wrong will continue, unabated.
When did enthusiastically pandering to a tiny, little country openly practicing creeping apartheid, flagrantly engaged in human rights violations and to extremists hiding under Christianity become such a very high priority for this kakistocratic (thanks Bruce) Congress?
Israel has a population less than Los Angeles County yet receives more U.S. foreign aid that ANY OTHER COUNTRY on Earth.
What is it with these disruptive, attention-grabbing extremists who advocate enabling the long-arm-of- the-law to reach inside every woman and girl in our country?
Donald Trump will NOT become our President. The fact the corporate-controlled media has foisted an ego-maniacal •••clown into our faces is merely a distraction. Something to feed the 24/7 news cycle.
Media-feeding far-right extremists like Trump who promise “change” have no problem spewing the most absurd, uninformed, nonsubstantive campaign promises ever seen and heard in U.S. politics. The fact that campaign “gollywallop” is reported in media at such a high amplitude is irresponsible and unnecessarily confusing.
For example, amplifying the promise for Republican Convention disruptions including violence has resulted in more that forty thousand 2nd Amendment advocates to sign a petition to allow firearms into the convention in Cleveland, Ohio. A movement completely forbidden by the Secret Service, fortunately.
Trump spews pure BS and media authenticates his droppings - does not make for a viable candidate in any country.
The transition from the pure poison, fossil fuel, over to clean, renewable energy is about three decades late. And it is merely the beginning to save our way of life and our only home, Earth.
Here are a few more “beginnings.”
The LIE OF OMISSION cannot continue:
• Media must now accurately inform the public on what has always been suppressed by the fossil fuel industry.
• Educators and TEXTBOOKS must become factually up-to-date on the serious threat WE ALL FACE.
Stop PANDERING to poison:
• Elected government at large must remove their fossil fuel industry knee-pads and get busy on behalf of ALL Americans and indeed, the entire planet,
• Realization by our military that exclusive access to unlimited fuels and lubricants does not assure success - as proven by 17 years of fruitless, unnecessary wars which ironically only serve the fossil fuel industry, itself.
The transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy sources offers the fossil fuel industry a unique long-term source of revenue and the opportunity to create hundreds of thousands of vital jobs, worldwide.
Addressing the astonishing numbers of uncapped, seeping, leaking, forgotten, unmaintained, unmaintainable and undocumented planet-killing fossil fuel punctures (both oil/gas and coal) belching pure poison into the seas and atmosphere, worldwide, 24/7 and on an increasing basis will be a formidable, laudable and necessary task for some time to come.
alec - great observation regarding voting appliances.
• Made in non-US locations like Brazil.
• No firmware or software scrutiny.
• Default setting to a specific party if no vote is cast for a candidate.
• Credentials traceability for programming and installation nonexistent.
In some counties, YOUR vote means absolutely nothing.
Those who CONTROL the outcomes of elections like things just the way they are.
Just as corporate-controlled media delayed and obscured the facts regarding man-made global climate collapse, two avalanching problems are now being actively ignored.
• The frozen carbon bomb.
• The astonishing magnitude of uncapped, seeping, leaking, forgotten, unmaintained, unmaintainable and undocumented fossil fuel punctures belching pure poison into the seas and atmosphere, worldwide, 24/7 and on an increasing basis.
Let’s just pretend the MIC/fossil fuel industry hasn’t completely dominated our foreign policy and both sides of the aisle since 1938? Something that will not change anytime soon.
What should Democrats change for this election cycle?
Suggestion: Opt for sanity as opposed to blaming the recipient for the mess they will be receiving.
The Russian naval facility at Tartus (Tartous) is expanding and there are significant Russian military assets defending Banais Oil Terminal/pipelines. Khmeimim airbase (Latakia Air Base), shared with the Bassel Al-Assad International Airport, continues to launch Su24 attacks. There are reports of a another Russian airbase at Qamishli near the border with Turkey. The S-400 air defense systems are operational.
Many thousands of Russian personnel are required to keep these permanent Russian assets within Syria in operation and thousands of “security personnel” required to secure.
Like corporate-controlled media coverage of the U.S. political campaigns - the Russian/Syria “pull-out” is magnified, amplified b^¡¡$#i† and nothing more.
Matt - You could read “Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick?
Steven Spielberg made a movie on the topic, as well.
"Anomalous behavior prediction" would require real-time scrutiny of every single person including the monitoring of data only detectable by physically intrusive methods to be completely effective.
phil - We can only hope Donald Trump is not an American version of Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde aka Francisco Franco who remained in office for 39 years as Caudillo of Spain.
Franco got started using rhetoric not unlike Trump.
“Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise,” – Donald Trump, Feb. 1, 2016
How is this not incitement, tantamount to making terrorist threats?
spyguy - Access and encryption are two distinctly separate issues.
You make an excellent point regarding the effective use of encryption to protect intellectual property.
However, the government will contend email and chat traffic (data) via an FCC-regulated source is not intellectual property unless formally protected by DRM.
Our highest government officials have had their personal communications scrutinized.
There is also the over-integration of Apple devices issue and the continuous stream of personal information already granted to private enterprise.
Everyone will LOSE this specific battle unless access and encryption are not completely separated in the minds of investigators, the courts and Apple, especially.
Access and encryption are as mutually exclusive as a coin toss.
All the sanctimonious preaching by the EFF and Apple is duplicitous nonsense given the FACT using Apple devices entitles PRIVATE ENTERPRISE access to a constant and unstoppable flow of granular information about YOU as long as that device is powered.
Although Mr. Wozniac is a pretty good super-tech, a fair dancer and Apple evangelist, he completely ignores one entire side of personal privacy destruction from using the iOS and OSX operating systems as do most Apple accolades.
Now, if Apple and the EFF can “protect First Amendment Rights” from government encroachment with such passion, why can the constant flow of collectable private data from iOS devices not be met with the same voracity?
Unfortunately, Apple and the EFF will lose in court as will Apple customers due to a lopsided defense based on duplicity given that PRIVATE SECTOR data collectors and data aggregators already take without a warrant or your permission everything it wants from you.
Fracking significantly depletes surface water supplies magnifying drought effects brought on by human-generated climate destruction, Surface water depletion forces local municipalities and agriculture to acquire water from ANY source - often sources far less potable. A single average injection well requires hundreds of thousands of gallons of fluid in the drilling process. Deep wells in Texas and Oklahoma required MILLIONS OF GALLONS in drilling. Since hydraulic fracturing commenced in the U.S. over 10 trillion gallons of fluid (SURFACE WATER) has been irretrievably poisoned and vanished in the process.
Fracking, especially when conducted over major aquifers in Oklahoma and Texas, is flagrantly contaminating these aquifers with substances and constituents foreign to the natural contents of aquifers. There are well over 500 ingredients contained in fracking fluid and most are highly toxic, some radioactive and many of the ingredients are held as company/industry secrets.
Aquifers intercepted by hydraulic fracturing are being enlisted for the enormous pressure within the aquifers themselves to augment the fracking process. In Oklahoma and now, Texas, recent earthquake swarms occur at the very same depth as the aquifers being contaminated. Some of the earthquakes have reached 5+ on the Richter Scale. At 3 to 5 miles down these earthquakes produce nuclear bomb forces in energy release. According to the USGS there are no earthquake faults in these regions to cause the quakes.
The water contained in aquifers is one of the most important sources of water on our planet: More than 30 percent of our liquid freshwater comes directly from underground aquifers.
Ingesting petroleum hydrocarbons in even minute amounts is a known carcinogen and is extremely well documented.
In time, the fossil fuel industry will lose their media immunity over the facts about fracking. FRACKING INDEED CAUSES CANCERS! The CRIMINAL ACT of contaminating our underground aquifers will finally be identified.
Until such a time, cancer outbreaks will become obvious near the more densely populated areas like Denton, Texas where local residents tried to ban fracking. Only to have the Texas State Legislature and Governor Abbott sign into law, a law banning the banning of fracking.in Texas. This law prohibits Texas cities and towns from imposing local ordinances to protect themselves from fracking and harmful oil/natural gas activities. This law is in flagrant disregard of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S Constitution, public safety and reality.
And laws like the Texas law are spreading (like) cancer within our country.
Donald Trump on protesting and First Amendment Rights.
"Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell -- I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise," - quote from Donald Trump on Feb. 1, 2016
Obviously, the GOP candidates are tacitly advocating for re-institution of the draft. Fighting four wars, one which we have LOST previously, is a runny-nose little boy imagining which will require person-power far beyond volunteers and involving military alliances which can never exist.
One maladate brags about his flagging appendage and the others promise more death and more destruction on two continents. These particular men seem very concerned about projecting manhood to hide their actual “military status.”
There is nothing more vicious than four extremist chickenhawks holding a cocktail sausage contest on national prime time TV.
Man-made climate collapse handled by corporate media is the very best example of a generation-long concerted LIE-OF-OMISSION which has been institutionalized and is now part of our culture.
What better way to destroy a great country than from the inside - while waving a bible, wrapped in the flag? We saw this same tactic used after the last Great Depression, circa 1935. It worked in Europe.
Senator Lindsey Graham is a pretty good stand-up comedian who has been rattling around inside the U.S. Congress since 1995. But he is also a leading “Bomb Iran” and War-on-Syria advocate. Senator Graham says stuff like “Free speech is a ‘great idea,’ but we’re in a war.” or "And when they say, ‘I want my lawyer,’ you tell them, ‘Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer.'” with regards to a CITIZENS rights.
No amount of funny can offset a mindset focused on pandering to sources of funding, war-mongering and anti-Constitutional totalitarian concepts.
When war-monger and personal privacy opponent Senator Lindsey Graham becomes the voice of Republican “reason,” the GOP is indeed lost in their own abysmal swamp.
The Republican Party has reached such a nadir in decline that a random, non-substantive BEE ESS artist can become a leading Republican presidential candidate.
in the vacuum of clear GOP direction, corporate-controlled media has sublimated that a President Trump will somehow protect everyone’s self-interests - sidestepping the racism, bigotry, faux religiosity, indifference to facts and reactionary, self-aggrandizing pig-ignorance constantly demonstrated by the current Republican frontrunner.
Please consider - the U.S. is now a full-blown plutocracy, where an oligarchy mobilizes institutions such as corporations and controlled media, government, unions, and political parties for strategic ends.
The U.S. is far past a democracy, a fascist state or socialism.
How many more high capacity gas and/or “oil” facilities and pipelines are operating in our country without the capability to be shut down in the event of failure?
If this Republican maladministration is allowed to get away with this blatant criminal act and remain walking free it shows the State of Michigan has fallen into truly evil hands. Although Governor Snyder claims to be Christian, he has purposefully poisoned a water supply for 100,000 citizens primarily brown-skinned. Besides being a hypocritical racist POISONER OF LITTLE CHILDREN and indifferent to the great suffering of many of his citizens, he makes all of Michigan look like backwards knuckle-dragging unAmerican FOOLS!
Should the citizens of Michigan not remove this POS maladminstration and establish appropriate examples for those who would commit such a cowardly CRIME, they are just a GUILTY as Governor Snyder and those he enriches.
Rubio is a blindly pro-Israel, ultra-“free enterprise” Phil Gramm right-wing economic extremist. Everything the government now does moves into the private sector where fees are added to taxes. Everything includes Social Security and national healthcare. No firewalls inside the banking cartels. Industry self-regulates. “Free enterprise” means no U.S. government except military and police being the single “social responsibility” maintained by government.
Cruz will perform for anyone who funds his campaign. Currently, Cruz is the darling of well-oiled evangelical and far-right religious extremists. Cruz is just as dangerous as Rubio to the vast majority of our citizens but adding a seriously deranged egomaniac to his mix. Blocking Senate funding to help Flint, Michigan where a horrible governor has been poisoning a city water supply for years - is an example of Cruz leadership. He relented only when his poll numbers took a hit.
Trump is a corporate owned and controlled media spawn who brings out the very worst in our country. He is an accidentally wealthy, carnival barker and 21st Century bad imitation of Benito Mussolini. And suspect Trump is just as amazed at his early bloated victories as many are? The big dogs have yet to bark regarding Trump’s reality show. A future minor footnote in media history.
These three right-wing extremist candidates masquerading as Republicans, base their popularity on h8 and divisiveness. ALL have repeatedly assured going to WAR will be a CERTAINTY.
The only method by which any could stay in office if voting appliances prevail in November.
Quoting media @$$¢10w≠ “I’d like to punch him in the face.” Donald Trump - who is currently lowering our country in the eyes of the world merely running for office.
Imagine what this accidentally wealthy, spoiled, totally unqualified, amp-medicated entertainer will do if allowed to actually gain a high position of power, trust and authority as our President?
Created by corporate-owned and controlled media, Trump and the late squirrel glued to his head make acceptable distraction for the imposed 24/7 news cycle. Oozing from the corporate media petri dish, he is a racist, bigot “frankenbaby” unfit for public office.
Consider an “I’d like to punch him in the face.” Donald Trump with the “Nuclear Football?”
Donald Trump is living proof the current gaggle of Republican primary election candidates are the weakest, least qualified and most deranged in U.S. history.
An almost unbelievable accomplishment.
How far the GOP has fallen since Nixon lost his mind? A dullard, a deranged actor, a war-monger, a disastrous son of a war monger who started two wars and presided over the worst economic collapse since the Great 20th Century Depression.
Infested with the anti-American Tea Party aka Freedom Caucus movement and those who wish to force our country into a pseudo-Christian form of Sharia Law, the Republican Party has now become one notch above an angry mob.
Can an overt racist, non-substantive spoiled man of wealth who constantly weasel-words his qualifications and intentions be the best the Republican Party has to offer?
Republican presidential candidates either will not acknowledge climate change is actually happening or they deny the root cause is human induced.
Coincidentally, Republican presidential candidates push wars, apocalyptic gods, more guns, carpet-bombing and torture.
Since the actual root cause of climate change is too many people burning too much stuff for the atmosphere and oceans to scrub perhaps GOP tendencies for death and destruction would be the most crude form of corrective action?
Why do these Koch Bros. articles overlook Oxbow Corporation? Oxbow is a privately-owned company which was founded by William I. Koch, the brother of David Koch and Charles Koch, who operate Koch Industries.
Oxbow Corporation business arms are focused on the “mining” and marketing of energy and commodities such as petcoke, coal, natural gas, petroleum and metallurgical furnace fuels. Oxbow is a leading “producer” and shipper of petcoke, the “dirtiest” form of fuel sold commercially.
Oxbow subsidiary, Oxbow Carbon LLC, is one of the world's largest recyclers of refinery waste aka petcoke to be sold into countries which have no regulation or enforcement to stem pollution. Petcoke is banned in the U.S. as a source of fuel.
Oxbow also operates a growing international transportation enterprise necessary for the global movement and distribution of their products of planetary poison and other “cargos.”
A reminder from a founding father - “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Ben Franklin
Has it occurred to anyone that Donald Trump is just a very rich, spoiled @$$#0¡¡ who is simply making a mockery of our ridicules media-blown electoral malfunction we call a national election?
And then he began to take himself seriously.
So dull witted is this man that he fooled himself and unfortunately, many others as dull witted.
Fortunately, Donald Trump will NEVER be our President.
And for those who don’t know an anti-democratic oligarchy controls our once great country - here we have a privileged and spoiled son of a former MIC-employee President who grew up to be a mass-murderer by proxy, who displaced and disadvantaged millions of innocent people and is directly responsible for destabilizing an entire region of our planet - all under a false pretext. This spoiled son is an utter disgrace to the United States of America and is currently walking free, shameless and aloof, showing absolutely no remorse for his monumental maladministration.
No actual democracy would permit this to occur - much less allow this person to foist more of his ilk into a position of power, trust and authority.
Senadate Ted Cruz was born in Canada - who refuses to rescind his Canadian citizenship. Which makes him a Canadian, not a “Latino.” Or even a U.S. citizen by birth.
Senadate Marco Rubio is an elitist, establishment snob and much the same as Cruz, supports his blood only when it is for political gain.
Previously in history, military constructions and manufacturing were done out of the necessity of war.
Now, war is done for the necessity of constructions and manufacturing.
The special interest driven continuous state of war and a corporate-controlled media feeding anger, h8 and FEAR are destroying the little that remains of our once great country.
“And in our new American oligarchy, the character of our billionaires, from Trump to Adelson to Saban, is also consequential.”
Needs to be said with more force. Especially the “new American oligarchy” part. Some folks still think they live in a constitution-based federal republic with a strong democratic tradition. link to cia.gov
Both the Des Moines Register and the NYT initially misreported the numbers from precincts as votes.
This note appeared in the NYT after the initial results were reported.
“*The vote totals for the Iowa Democratic Party are State Delegate Equivalents, which represent the estimated number of state convention delegates that the candidates would have, based on the caucus results. The Associated Press inflates county level totals by 100, as state delegate equivalent numbers for some candidates are often very small fractions.”
But it is my mistake, nevertheless. And thanks for pointing it out, bob.
Does not alter the fact the Iowa Caucus means nothing except evangelicals can get out the vote in rural areas.
The Iowa Caucus means absolutely nothing. The TOTAL Democratic Party polling for the entire state was a few votes over 1,600. Republican dingbat Dr. Carson received 17,395 votes, 10X the total accumulated by the entire opposition party. The top three Republicans, (father, son and holy ghost - Trump, Rubio and Cruz accumulated 140,358 votes, Cruz winning with 51,666).
Basing anything on the results in Iowa given the stilted voter turnout by the far-right evangelicals (witness the Canadian false-prophet Cruz victory) and the utter lack of involvement by Democratic Party voters makes Iowa results statistically irrelevant.
A future which includes the balance attainable through Bernie Sanders-like leadership cannot be characterized as a trend based on 700 votes. No matter the age of the voters.
Once another Republican gains the White House, major U.S. war and occupation somewhere in oil producing non-Christian regions will bring low oil prices to an end within a few months.
The Republican Party was the easiest political party to subvert. It has taken about a half century to turn a loyal and meaningful political party into an irrational, counterproductive and ANTI-AMERICAN gaggle of randomly subversive INDIVIDUALS with one guiding purpose - CONTROL THROUGH GREED.
Trump is merely one pungent ingredient in the extreme right-wing stew being served up by corporate-controlled media.
The normal hardworking American is far too busy to be an extremist. A fact which will be reaffirmed at election time.
It’s a shame those running for public office and their campaign staff personnel do not receive testing for controlled substances, periodically.
As an example - The Donald Trump campaign’s statement to FAUXNews on his refusal to debate:
“Unlike the very stupid, highly incompetent people running our country into the ground, Mr. Trump knows when to walk away. Roger Ailes and FOX News think they can toy with him, but Mr. Trump doesn’t play games. … He will … instead host an event in Iowa to raise money for the Veterans and Wounded Warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians.”
Russia supports the al-Assad regime due to long-standing agreements involving the Russian Tartous naval facility lease (the primary Russian port on the Mediterranean Sea) and the vital terminal(s) near Banais. Mr. Putin knows he can work with the al-Assad regime but cannot be certain with some of the assorted rebel factions in this conflict should al-Assad be removed from power.
One of the primary reasons Russian airpower has not been priority targeting a certain rebel faction is because the leadership of those forces originate from within former Soviet republics. So, Mr. Putin may have influences to maintain current arrangements should they prevail?
Russia can maintain the hold on Syria and the assets being protected no matter the outcome.
he process of poisoning the watering hole is an age-old scheme to motivate those using that watering hole to eventually move on.
Firewalling the apparatus for corrective actions from those actually being poisoned through leadership “appointments” is a failure of LEADERSHIP, not government. Transposing this fact muddles the view, forming a defense.
Given a crisis and doing NOTHING, a predictable outcome will occur. This is a method.
If a fascinated-by-combustion species of animal burns down forests and jungles, uses the planet’s atmosphere and oceans as a huge toilet and over-breeds in the process, what will be the eventual outcome?
When a multi-term Governor attempts to operate his state like a business rather than a government, the continuous mass poisoning of little children occurs in fact.
This entire tragedy smacks of elitism, racism and sloth.
Republican Governor Rick Snyder is preparing his SIXTH State-of-the-State Address as this long-term ignored crisis unfolds.
In another 20 to 30 years, spiderwebs of land and underwater oil and gas pipelines will start failing. Capped and obsolete production and transmission resources will degrade and cease their intended safeguards.
Fading record-keeping will likely contribute to lengthy corrective actions, like discovering an old gas pipeline had no shut-off valve installed is currently spewing tons of pure poison in Los Angeles County. Or a specific Gulf of Mexico undersea drilling platform BOP (blowout preventer) maintained in a criminally negligent fashion contributing to 11 deaths and a 4,900,000 barrel (42 gallons per barrel) April to July 2010 undersea oil gusher. The BOP should have been removed from service, inspected and retrofitted two years prior had a “lost record” error not occurred. Imagine the problems 20 or more years out?
It takes one teaspoon of crude oil to sterilize one cubic meter of seawater.
Tar sands and dilute bitumen pipelines when ruptured are virtually impossible to “clean up,’ resulting in permanent damage to land and water. Ruptures in Michigan and Arkansas have been catastrophic.
The forced over-dependence on fossil-fuels for far too long without industry long-view planning, effective self-regulation or meaningful Congressionally-induced controls will likely result in the largest PRIVATE SECTOR failure in history once the impacts of global climate collapse become more obvious. Also, toss in a bankrupt decaying, leaking fossil-fuel industry infrastructure to magnify the problems.
All of which will be waiting for our next few generations.
Had this warning been recognized with corrective action(s) in 1963, the world would be a much different place.
Heeding this warning in 2016 is at least a half century TOO LATE. Most U.S. citizens have no clue as to what constitutes the MIC and where the vast majority of funding goes and who benefits most.
Disengaging the omnipotent MIC will require actual courage and resolve - traits which will get a potential candidate for any U.S. elected position immediately disqualified.
The intelligence community starting with the NSA finds social networks and nntp activity very useful and to some extent justifies their very existence.
Thanks for the update on political machinations developed to defend a long-time poisoner of little children. Governor Rick Snyder is preparing for his sixth State of the State Address.
The U.S. firearms epidemic is the result of a living-in-the-past U.S. Congress permitting blatantly irresponsible profit-driven private sectors to self-manage the public good. By employing media-driven Second Amendment hysteria, manipulating lobbyists and supporting pandering politicians, the unfettered firearms manufacturers are abetting a completely OUT OF CONTROL slow-motion human slaughter within our country.
And the private-sector solution? MORE GUNS!
The President is very correct in his actions. The only criticism being the delay. But this is a start.
Media circus clown Donald Trump wouldn’t be news if the GOP Presidential candidates were the least bit interesting or maybe even qualified for the position.
Beating the drums of h8, appealing to a noisy retro Anglo minority and distracting from actual Presidential-level issues will never get anyone elected President.
Trump is merely ego-driven, anti-American noise played at distraction level by a corporate-controlled media - a media that loses relevance any time Trump is a news item.
Amongst the “Most important Neglected Middle East Stories of 2015” is one very important omitted.story.
Why is the Middle East a story at all?
Since the early 21st Century more U.S. military and local blood has been spilled, public interest diverted, taxpayer money squandered on the region than anywhere else on Earth. The results of an orchestrated overreaction is near utter failure. In fact, the hatred engendered by military attacks and subsequent occupations beginning a decade ago and our continued murderous presence in the region is the primary recruiting tool used by militants. This is the absolute opposite consequence of the stated desired result to previous administration efforts and policy perpetuated by our military today.
The Most important Neglected Middle East Story of 2015? - The simple fact the citizens of the United States continue to be played for fools by corporate-controlled media over the supposed importance of the region to the extent WE ARE STILL THERE!
The onset of the widespread use of renewable energy has another good effect: the lessening of importance and national influences exerted by the the fossil fuel multinationals and the MIC on our planet.
A previous Republican administration started a murderous U.S. policy in South Asia and Mesopotamia which has made these enemies. Recruiting into militant groups began well over a decade ago.
Putin-endorsed, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is merely the most recent and greatly media amplified butt-trumpet of h8 riding on the emotion of recent isolated events.
The largest of all ISIL recruiters remains the current Republican Party and their chckenhawk warmongering which threatens increased U.S. military actions into these regions.
Gary - good work. Mention of Mencken and Hofstader is particularly nice.
But one nit to pick, “. . . the FEELING that “mainstream media” can’t be trusted . . .” really should be, “. . . the FACT that “mainstream media” can’t be trusted . . . “
Fortunately, Trump supporters are a distinct but loud and over-produced in media minority.
Donald Trump and his bromance partner, Mr. Putin are corporate-controlled media sideshow to distract from the absolute worst GOP field of Presidential candidates in history.
Corporate-owned and controlled media herded our country, including Congress, into an orchestrated false war that destabilized an entire region of our planet for decades to come, and wasted TRILLION$, killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Corporate-owned and controlled media is currently employed to turn one of our most cherished American privileges - democracy - into circus sideshow and soap.
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Those who have 30 or more years left on their “Use Before Date” should plan on moving to areas at least 500 feet above current sea levels.
The irony of global climate collapse is those who actively forestalled mitigation of this certainty for at least three decades will not be the first to lose their property and forced into the MIGRATIONS to come.
The massive multi-decade conspiracy of misinformation and lie of omission aka DUPED INTO DENIAL, may be the greatest crime in Earth’s history.
Only dangerous criminal psychopaths would endeavor this outcome.
Another truly wonderful side-effect of the transition away from poisonous sources of fuel.
A more or less complete list of significant man-made disasters in no particular order:
• Chernobyl Meltdown
• Fukushima Daiichi Meltdown(s) and global contamination (on-going)
• Kuwaiti Oil Well Infernos
• Yucca Flats above-ground nuclear weapons testing
• IXTOC I Deep Sea Oil Gusher
• BP/Gulf of Mexico Oil Gusher
• Four Corners Methane Plume (on-going)
• Iraq/Syria use of radioactive munitions (on-going)
• Hiroshima & Nagasaki Atomic Bombs
• Bhopal/Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals) Mass Killing
• Flint public water supply poisoning (on-going)
• Love Canal/Hooker Chemical Company mass poisoning
• Tokaimura Nuclear Plant Uncontrolled Chain Reaction
• The Exxon Valdez Supertanker Disaster
• The Aral Sea Crisis (on-going)
• The Prestige Oil Tanker Sinking
• Seveso Dioxin Cloud Disaster
• The Mercury Poisoning of Minamata
• Three Mile Island Meltdown and radioactive material release(s)
• Hanford Plutonium Waste Site Contamination (on-going)
Nowhere on this list can be seen either a solar power disaster or wind turbine catastrophe.
The U.S. incestuous relationship with the global fossil fuel industry and allowing the need for a soon-to-be obsolete energy source dictate foreign policy for approaching SEVENTY YEARS is the root cause of conflicts set in oil/gas producing countries in the region(s). This befouled relationship must be diminished, greatly, for peace to break out.
The oil-soaked TWO BUSH - THREE WARS destabilized entire regions allowing large bandit armies to rise and spread. And stability is nowhere in sight.
But the brain-dead national hobby of blaming a President who is not old, white or testicular for everything wrong will continue, unabated.
Keeping it under the ground until there is another Bush in our White House?
When did enthusiastically pandering to a tiny, little country openly practicing creeping apartheid, flagrantly engaged in human rights violations and to extremists hiding under Christianity become such a very high priority for this kakistocratic (thanks Bruce) Congress?
Israel has a population less than Los Angeles County yet receives more U.S. foreign aid that ANY OTHER COUNTRY on Earth.
Congress establishes ALL budgets and spending.
What is it with these disruptive, attention-grabbing extremists who advocate enabling the long-arm-of- the-law to reach inside every woman and girl in our country?
Donald Trump will NOT become our President. The fact the corporate-controlled media has foisted an ego-maniacal •••clown into our faces is merely a distraction. Something to feed the 24/7 news cycle.
Media-feeding far-right extremists like Trump who promise “change” have no problem spewing the most absurd, uninformed, nonsubstantive campaign promises ever seen and heard in U.S. politics. The fact that campaign “gollywallop” is reported in media at such a high amplitude is irresponsible and unnecessarily confusing.
For example, amplifying the promise for Republican Convention disruptions including violence has resulted in more that forty thousand 2nd Amendment advocates to sign a petition to allow firearms into the convention in Cleveland, Ohio. A movement completely forbidden by the Secret Service, fortunately.
Trump spews pure BS and media authenticates his droppings - does not make for a viable candidate in any country.
The transition from the pure poison, fossil fuel, over to clean, renewable energy is about three decades late. And it is merely the beginning to save our way of life and our only home, Earth.
Here are a few more “beginnings.”
The LIE OF OMISSION cannot continue:
• Media must now accurately inform the public on what has always been suppressed by the fossil fuel industry.
• Educators and TEXTBOOKS must become factually up-to-date on the serious threat WE ALL FACE.
Stop PANDERING to poison:
• Elected government at large must remove their fossil fuel industry knee-pads and get busy on behalf of ALL Americans and indeed, the entire planet,
• Realization by our military that exclusive access to unlimited fuels and lubricants does not assure success - as proven by 17 years of fruitless, unnecessary wars which ironically only serve the fossil fuel industry, itself.
The transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy sources offers the fossil fuel industry a unique long-term source of revenue and the opportunity to create hundreds of thousands of vital jobs, worldwide.
Addressing the astonishing numbers of uncapped, seeping, leaking, forgotten, unmaintained, unmaintainable and undocumented planet-killing fossil fuel punctures (both oil/gas and coal) belching pure poison into the seas and atmosphere, worldwide, 24/7 and on an increasing basis will be a formidable, laudable and necessary task for some time to come.
alec - great observation regarding voting appliances.
• Made in non-US locations like Brazil.
• No firmware or software scrutiny.
• Default setting to a specific party if no vote is cast for a candidate.
• Credentials traceability for programming and installation nonexistent.
In some counties, YOUR vote means absolutely nothing.
Those who CONTROL the outcomes of elections like things just the way they are.
Being absolutely correct, objective and righteous in your contentions will get anyone unelected in 2016.
However, if Senator Sanders was crass, passive aggressive and totally full of $#¡† he would have a chance.
Like Fukushima Daiichi and San Onofre?
Excellent point.
Just as corporate-controlled media delayed and obscured the facts regarding man-made global climate collapse, two avalanching problems are now being actively ignored.
• The frozen carbon bomb.
• The astonishing magnitude of uncapped, seeping, leaking, forgotten, unmaintained, unmaintainable and undocumented fossil fuel punctures belching pure poison into the seas and atmosphere, worldwide, 24/7 and on an increasing basis.
Any candidate must suck up to AIPAC to get elected President in this Christian nation.
Let’s just pretend the MIC/fossil fuel industry hasn’t completely dominated our foreign policy and both sides of the aisle since 1938? Something that will not change anytime soon.
What should Democrats change for this election cycle?
Suggestion: Opt for sanity as opposed to blaming the recipient for the mess they will be receiving.
The very first "But but but Clinton" and in the first response to a Bush-Cheney topic.
Worth noting.
The Russian naval facility at Tartus (Tartous) is expanding and there are significant Russian military assets defending Banais Oil Terminal/pipelines. Khmeimim airbase (Latakia Air Base), shared with the Bassel Al-Assad International Airport, continues to launch Su24 attacks. There are reports of a another Russian airbase at Qamishli near the border with Turkey. The S-400 air defense systems are operational.
Many thousands of Russian personnel are required to keep these permanent Russian assets within Syria in operation and thousands of “security personnel” required to secure.
Like corporate-controlled media coverage of the U.S. political campaigns - the Russian/Syria “pull-out” is magnified, amplified b^¡¡$#i† and nothing more.
Matt - You could read “Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick?
Steven Spielberg made a movie on the topic, as well.
"Anomalous behavior prediction" would require real-time scrutiny of every single person including the monitoring of data only detectable by physically intrusive methods to be completely effective.
Enjoy.
For the good of Apple and indeed our country, Apple and the EFF would do well to win this before the next administration takes office.
Hasn't this already occurred in North Carolina?
phil - We can only hope Donald Trump is not an American version of Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde aka Francisco Franco who remained in office for 39 years as Caudillo of Spain.
Franco got started using rhetoric not unlike Trump.
Raise your right hand and say - "Trump."
“Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise,” – Donald Trump, Feb. 1, 2016
How is this not incitement, tantamount to making terrorist threats?
Congrats - you get the very first “But but but Hillary” of the topic.
spyguy - Access and encryption are two distinctly separate issues.
You make an excellent point regarding the effective use of encryption to protect intellectual property.
However, the government will contend email and chat traffic (data) via an FCC-regulated source is not intellectual property unless formally protected by DRM.
Our highest government officials have had their personal communications scrutinized.
There is also the over-integration of Apple devices issue and the continuous stream of personal information already granted to private enterprise.
Everyone will LOSE this specific battle unless access and encryption are not completely separated in the minds of investigators, the courts and Apple, especially.
Access and encryption are as mutually exclusive as a coin toss.
All the sanctimonious preaching by the EFF and Apple is duplicitous nonsense given the FACT using Apple devices entitles PRIVATE ENTERPRISE access to a constant and unstoppable flow of granular information about YOU as long as that device is powered.
Although Mr. Wozniac is a pretty good super-tech, a fair dancer and Apple evangelist, he completely ignores one entire side of personal privacy destruction from using the iOS and OSX operating systems as do most Apple accolades.
Now, if Apple and the EFF can “protect First Amendment Rights” from government encroachment with such passion, why can the constant flow of collectable private data from iOS devices not be met with the same voracity?
Unfortunately, Apple and the EFF will lose in court as will Apple customers due to a lopsided defense based on duplicity given that PRIVATE SECTOR data collectors and data aggregators already take without a warrant or your permission everything it wants from you.
Fracking significantly depletes surface water supplies magnifying drought effects brought on by human-generated climate destruction, Surface water depletion forces local municipalities and agriculture to acquire water from ANY source - often sources far less potable. A single average injection well requires hundreds of thousands of gallons of fluid in the drilling process. Deep wells in Texas and Oklahoma required MILLIONS OF GALLONS in drilling. Since hydraulic fracturing commenced in the U.S. over 10 trillion gallons of fluid (SURFACE WATER) has been irretrievably poisoned and vanished in the process.
Fracking, especially when conducted over major aquifers in Oklahoma and Texas, is flagrantly contaminating these aquifers with substances and constituents foreign to the natural contents of aquifers. There are well over 500 ingredients contained in fracking fluid and most are highly toxic, some radioactive and many of the ingredients are held as company/industry secrets.
Aquifers intercepted by hydraulic fracturing are being enlisted for the enormous pressure within the aquifers themselves to augment the fracking process. In Oklahoma and now, Texas, recent earthquake swarms occur at the very same depth as the aquifers being contaminated. Some of the earthquakes have reached 5+ on the Richter Scale. At 3 to 5 miles down these earthquakes produce nuclear bomb forces in energy release. According to the USGS there are no earthquake faults in these regions to cause the quakes.
The water contained in aquifers is one of the most important sources of water on our planet: More than 30 percent of our liquid freshwater comes directly from underground aquifers.
Ingesting petroleum hydrocarbons in even minute amounts is a known carcinogen and is extremely well documented.
In time, the fossil fuel industry will lose their media immunity over the facts about fracking. FRACKING INDEED CAUSES CANCERS! The CRIMINAL ACT of contaminating our underground aquifers will finally be identified.
Until such a time, cancer outbreaks will become obvious near the more densely populated areas like Denton, Texas where local residents tried to ban fracking. Only to have the Texas State Legislature and Governor Abbott sign into law, a law banning the banning of fracking.in Texas. This law prohibits Texas cities and towns from imposing local ordinances to protect themselves from fracking and harmful oil/natural gas activities. This law is in flagrant disregard of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S Constitution, public safety and reality.
And laws like the Texas law are spreading (like) cancer within our country.
Donald Trump on protesting and First Amendment Rights.
"Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell -- I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise," - quote from Donald Trump on Feb. 1, 2016
Dr. Ben Carson ends the campaign.
link to csmonitor.com
The meds wore off.
Obviously, the GOP candidates are tacitly advocating for re-institution of the draft. Fighting four wars, one which we have LOST previously, is a runny-nose little boy imagining which will require person-power far beyond volunteers and involving military alliances which can never exist.
One maladate brags about his flagging appendage and the others promise more death and more destruction on two continents. These particular men seem very concerned about projecting manhood to hide their actual “military status.”
There is nothing more vicious than four extremist chickenhawks holding a cocktail sausage contest on national prime time TV.
They make our country look like fools.
Man-made climate collapse handled by corporate media is the very best example of a generation-long concerted LIE-OF-OMISSION which has been institutionalized and is now part of our culture.
Sir - Good points all.
What better way to destroy a great country than from the inside - while waving a bible, wrapped in the flag? We saw this same tactic used after the last Great Depression, circa 1935. It worked in Europe.
History records the consequences.
Senator Lindsey Graham is a pretty good stand-up comedian who has been rattling around inside the U.S. Congress since 1995. But he is also a leading “Bomb Iran” and War-on-Syria advocate. Senator Graham says stuff like “Free speech is a ‘great idea,’ but we’re in a war.” or "And when they say, ‘I want my lawyer,’ you tell them, ‘Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer.'” with regards to a CITIZENS rights.
No amount of funny can offset a mindset focused on pandering to sources of funding, war-mongering and anti-Constitutional totalitarian concepts.
When war-monger and personal privacy opponent Senator Lindsey Graham becomes the voice of Republican “reason,” the GOP is indeed lost in their own abysmal swamp.
The Republican Party has reached such a nadir in decline that a random, non-substantive BEE ESS artist can become a leading Republican presidential candidate.
in the vacuum of clear GOP direction, corporate-controlled media has sublimated that a President Trump will somehow protect everyone’s self-interests - sidestepping the racism, bigotry, faux religiosity, indifference to facts and reactionary, self-aggrandizing pig-ignorance constantly demonstrated by the current Republican frontrunner.
Note - No offense intended to swine, everywhere.
Will Syria be another Russian mess like Afghanistan, left dangling for the United States of America to blunder into?
The long-overdue “take-down” of the amped-up white trash demigod Donald Trump was refreshing to watch and sadly amusing.
Which raises a question - Why is it in America 2016 we must rely on comedians to get real news?
Aside from Professor Cole of course.
Please consider - the U.S. is now a full-blown plutocracy, where an oligarchy mobilizes institutions such as corporations and controlled media, government, unions, and political parties for strategic ends.
The U.S. is far past a democracy, a fascist state or socialism.
And We the People have been left far behind.
How many more high capacity gas and/or “oil” facilities and pipelines are operating in our country without the capability to be shut down in the event of failure?
Poisoning a public water supply is a CRIME!
No matter who is responsible.
Incompetence is not a defense.
If this Republican maladministration is allowed to get away with this blatant criminal act and remain walking free it shows the State of Michigan has fallen into truly evil hands. Although Governor Snyder claims to be Christian, he has purposefully poisoned a water supply for 100,000 citizens primarily brown-skinned. Besides being a hypocritical racist POISONER OF LITTLE CHILDREN and indifferent to the great suffering of many of his citizens, he makes all of Michigan look like backwards knuckle-dragging unAmerican FOOLS!
Should the citizens of Michigan not remove this POS maladminstration and establish appropriate examples for those who would commit such a cowardly CRIME, they are just a GUILTY as Governor Snyder and those he enriches.
Rubio is a blindly pro-Israel, ultra-“free enterprise” Phil Gramm right-wing economic extremist. Everything the government now does moves into the private sector where fees are added to taxes. Everything includes Social Security and national healthcare. No firewalls inside the banking cartels. Industry self-regulates. “Free enterprise” means no U.S. government except military and police being the single “social responsibility” maintained by government.
Cruz will perform for anyone who funds his campaign. Currently, Cruz is the darling of well-oiled evangelical and far-right religious extremists. Cruz is just as dangerous as Rubio to the vast majority of our citizens but adding a seriously deranged egomaniac to his mix. Blocking Senate funding to help Flint, Michigan where a horrible governor has been poisoning a city water supply for years - is an example of Cruz leadership. He relented only when his poll numbers took a hit.
Trump is a corporate owned and controlled media spawn who brings out the very worst in our country. He is an accidentally wealthy, carnival barker and 21st Century bad imitation of Benito Mussolini. And suspect Trump is just as amazed at his early bloated victories as many are? The big dogs have yet to bark regarding Trump’s reality show. A future minor footnote in media history.
These three right-wing extremist candidates masquerading as Republicans, base their popularity on h8 and divisiveness. ALL have repeatedly assured going to WAR will be a CERTAINTY.
The only method by which any could stay in office if voting appliances prevail in November.
Quoting media @$$¢10w≠ “I’d like to punch him in the face.” Donald Trump - who is currently lowering our country in the eyes of the world merely running for office.
Imagine what this accidentally wealthy, spoiled, totally unqualified, amp-medicated entertainer will do if allowed to actually gain a high position of power, trust and authority as our President?
Created by corporate-owned and controlled media, Trump and the late squirrel glued to his head make acceptable distraction for the imposed 24/7 news cycle. Oozing from the corporate media petri dish, he is a racist, bigot “frankenbaby” unfit for public office.
Consider an “I’d like to punch him in the face.” Donald Trump with the “Nuclear Football?”
Who benefits, SPECIFICALLY, from the continuous state of war?
Donald Trump is living proof the current gaggle of Republican primary election candidates are the weakest, least qualified and most deranged in U.S. history.
An almost unbelievable accomplishment.
How far the GOP has fallen since Nixon lost his mind? A dullard, a deranged actor, a war-monger, a disastrous son of a war monger who started two wars and presided over the worst economic collapse since the Great 20th Century Depression.
Infested with the anti-American Tea Party aka Freedom Caucus movement and those who wish to force our country into a pseudo-Christian form of Sharia Law, the Republican Party has now become one notch above an angry mob.
Can an overt racist, non-substantive spoiled man of wealth who constantly weasel-words his qualifications and intentions be the best the Republican Party has to offer?
How about a natural-born Canadian false prophet?
Who benefits from a constant state of war??
To update this headline - “ Strongest Tropical Storm ever in S. Hemisphere Hits Fiji (It’s Getting Hot in Here)”
The two highest sustained wind-speed land-falling tropical cyclones ever recorded on Earth occurred since 2013.
• 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan - 190 mph sustained at landfall
• 2016 Tropical Cyclone Winston - 185 mph sustained at landfall
The same wind-speed as an EF-4 tornado. (166 to 200 mph)
Republican presidential candidates either will not acknowledge climate change is actually happening or they deny the root cause is human induced.
Coincidentally, Republican presidential candidates push wars, apocalyptic gods, more guns, carpet-bombing and torture.
Since the actual root cause of climate change is too many people burning too much stuff for the atmosphere and oceans to scrub perhaps GOP tendencies for death and destruction would be the most crude form of corrective action?
Too many people, no problem.
Vote GOP.
Why do these Koch Bros. articles overlook Oxbow Corporation? Oxbow is a privately-owned company which was founded by William I. Koch, the brother of David Koch and Charles Koch, who operate Koch Industries.
Oxbow Corporation business arms are focused on the “mining” and marketing of energy and commodities such as petcoke, coal, natural gas, petroleum and metallurgical furnace fuels. Oxbow is a leading “producer” and shipper of petcoke, the “dirtiest” form of fuel sold commercially.
Oxbow subsidiary, Oxbow Carbon LLC, is one of the world's largest recyclers of refinery waste aka petcoke to be sold into countries which have no regulation or enforcement to stem pollution. Petcoke is banned in the U.S. as a source of fuel.
Oxbow also operates a growing international transportation enterprise necessary for the global movement and distribution of their products of planetary poison and other “cargos.”
A reminder from a founding father - “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Ben Franklin
How many slippery slopes of the dramatic must we endure before actual individual privacy becomes a CRIME?
Giving crap to the Pope and calling for an Apple boycott will set the decline of this non-substantive entertainer and spoiled person of wealth.
Has it occurred to anyone that Donald Trump is just a very rich, spoiled @$$#0¡¡ who is simply making a mockery of our ridicules media-blown electoral malfunction we call a national election?
And then he began to take himself seriously.
So dull witted is this man that he fooled himself and unfortunately, many others as dull witted.
Fortunately, Donald Trump will NEVER be our President.
And for those who don’t know an anti-democratic oligarchy controls our once great country - here we have a privileged and spoiled son of a former MIC-employee President who grew up to be a mass-murderer by proxy, who displaced and disadvantaged millions of innocent people and is directly responsible for destabilizing an entire region of our planet - all under a false pretext. This spoiled son is an utter disgrace to the United States of America and is currently walking free, shameless and aloof, showing absolutely no remorse for his monumental maladministration.
No actual democracy would permit this to occur - much less allow this person to foist more of his ilk into a position of power, trust and authority.
The late Justice Scalia was a very progressive justice - for the 19th Century.
If one has S&M as a personal hobby, advocating torture is easy.
50 Shades of GOP.
Bashar al-Assad cannot maintain his domain without the war power of an oligarchy.
No actual democracy would ever allow continuous intervention in this region.
Senadate Ted Cruz was born in Canada - who refuses to rescind his Canadian citizenship. Which makes him a Canadian, not a “Latino.” Or even a U.S. citizen by birth.
Senadate Marco Rubio is an elitist, establishment snob and much the same as Cruz, supports his blood only when it is for political gain.
Henry Kissinger is the best international sales and marketing the MIC has ever had.
Previously in history, military constructions and manufacturing were done out of the necessity of war.
Now, war is done for the necessity of constructions and manufacturing.
The special interest driven continuous state of war and a corporate-controlled media feeding anger, h8 and FEAR are destroying the little that remains of our once great country.
It's a 70 year-old "fat spoiled brat."
“And in our new American oligarchy, the character of our billionaires, from Trump to Adelson to Saban, is also consequential.”
Needs to be said with more force. Especially the “new American oligarchy” part. Some folks still think they live in a constitution-based federal republic with a strong democratic tradition. link to cia.gov
There is absolutely NO DEFENSE for poisoning a public water supply.
None whatsoever.
This is a crime without any doubt.
Q - Where are the State of Michigan prosecutors?
A - Drinking bottled water.
“Coalition” means U.S. boots on the ground in numbers.
Both the Des Moines Register and the NYT initially misreported the numbers from precincts as votes.
This note appeared in the NYT after the initial results were reported.
“*The vote totals for the Iowa Democratic Party are State Delegate Equivalents, which represent the estimated number of state convention delegates that the candidates would have, based on the caucus results. The Associated Press inflates county level totals by 100, as state delegate equivalent numbers for some candidates are often very small fractions.”
But it is my mistake, nevertheless. And thanks for pointing it out, bob.
Does not alter the fact the Iowa Caucus means nothing except evangelicals can get out the vote in rural areas.
Source was NYT at 10 am, Feb. 3
Enjoy.
The Iowa Caucus means absolutely nothing. The TOTAL Democratic Party polling for the entire state was a few votes over 1,600. Republican dingbat Dr. Carson received 17,395 votes, 10X the total accumulated by the entire opposition party. The top three Republicans, (father, son and holy ghost - Trump, Rubio and Cruz accumulated 140,358 votes, Cruz winning with 51,666).
Basing anything on the results in Iowa given the stilted voter turnout by the far-right evangelicals (witness the Canadian false-prophet Cruz victory) and the utter lack of involvement by Democratic Party voters makes Iowa results statistically irrelevant.
A future which includes the balance attainable through Bernie Sanders-like leadership cannot be characterized as a trend based on 700 votes. No matter the age of the voters.
Low oil prices - no problem.
Once another Republican gains the White House, major U.S. war and occupation somewhere in oil producing non-Christian regions will bring low oil prices to an end within a few months.
The Iowa shindig means nothing.
Except the religious right can get out the vote in rural America.
Desperate media circus sideshow distraction, Donald Trump, has commenced the inevitable decline.
This candidate is not worth the tomato.
The Republican Party was the easiest political party to subvert. It has taken about a half century to turn a loyal and meaningful political party into an irrational, counterproductive and ANTI-AMERICAN gaggle of randomly subversive INDIVIDUALS with one guiding purpose - CONTROL THROUGH GREED.
Trump is merely one pungent ingredient in the extreme right-wing stew being served up by corporate-controlled media.
The normal hardworking American is far too busy to be an extremist. A fact which will be reaffirmed at election time.
More research and statistical data is desperately needed to help stamp out the effects of in-breeding combined with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
It’s a shame those running for public office and their campaign staff personnel do not receive testing for controlled substances, periodically.
As an example - The Donald Trump campaign’s statement to FAUXNews on his refusal to debate:
“Unlike the very stupid, highly incompetent people running our country into the ground, Mr. Trump knows when to walk away. Roger Ailes and FOX News think they can toy with him, but Mr. Trump doesn’t play games. … He will … instead host an event in Iowa to raise money for the Veterans and Wounded Warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians.”
This is a serious press release, not satire.
Russia supports the al-Assad regime due to long-standing agreements involving the Russian Tartous naval facility lease (the primary Russian port on the Mediterranean Sea) and the vital terminal(s) near Banais. Mr. Putin knows he can work with the al-Assad regime but cannot be certain with some of the assorted rebel factions in this conflict should al-Assad be removed from power.
One of the primary reasons Russian airpower has not been priority targeting a certain rebel faction is because the leadership of those forces originate from within former Soviet republics. So, Mr. Putin may have influences to maintain current arrangements should they prevail?
Russia can maintain the hold on Syria and the assets being protected no matter the outcome.
Poisoning a public water supply is a CRIME!
This a leadership failure in Michigan for which incompetence cannot be used in defense.
he process of poisoning the watering hole is an age-old scheme to motivate those using that watering hole to eventually move on.
Firewalling the apparatus for corrective actions from those actually being poisoned through leadership “appointments” is a failure of LEADERSHIP, not government. Transposing this fact muddles the view, forming a defense.
Given a crisis and doing NOTHING, a predictable outcome will occur. This is a method.
If a fascinated-by-combustion species of animal burns down forests and jungles, uses the planet’s atmosphere and oceans as a huge toilet and over-breeds in the process, what will be the eventual outcome?
When a multi-term Governor attempts to operate his state like a business rather than a government, the continuous mass poisoning of little children occurs in fact.
This entire tragedy smacks of elitism, racism and sloth.
Republican Governor Rick Snyder is preparing his SIXTH State-of-the-State Address as this long-term ignored crisis unfolds.
Trump is an insult to wazzocks everywhere.
Even the shovel.
In another 20 to 30 years, spiderwebs of land and underwater oil and gas pipelines will start failing. Capped and obsolete production and transmission resources will degrade and cease their intended safeguards.
Fading record-keeping will likely contribute to lengthy corrective actions, like discovering an old gas pipeline had no shut-off valve installed is currently spewing tons of pure poison in Los Angeles County. Or a specific Gulf of Mexico undersea drilling platform BOP (blowout preventer) maintained in a criminally negligent fashion contributing to 11 deaths and a 4,900,000 barrel (42 gallons per barrel) April to July 2010 undersea oil gusher. The BOP should have been removed from service, inspected and retrofitted two years prior had a “lost record” error not occurred. Imagine the problems 20 or more years out?
It takes one teaspoon of crude oil to sterilize one cubic meter of seawater.
Tar sands and dilute bitumen pipelines when ruptured are virtually impossible to “clean up,’ resulting in permanent damage to land and water. Ruptures in Michigan and Arkansas have been catastrophic.
The forced over-dependence on fossil-fuels for far too long without industry long-view planning, effective self-regulation or meaningful Congressionally-induced controls will likely result in the largest PRIVATE SECTOR failure in history once the impacts of global climate collapse become more obvious. Also, toss in a bankrupt decaying, leaking fossil-fuel industry infrastructure to magnify the problems.
All of which will be waiting for our next few generations.
Will Palin doom Trump as she did McCain?
You betcha.
“Politically correct” is merely another form of censorship tantamount to a mild form of bullying.
These folks demand results from their investments.
For upside-down America in 2016, Money = Speech and ballots - not so much.
And a sad day for the “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” crowd infesting Congress.
Both JFK and RFK clearly recognized the danger and actually tried to change the direction our country was heading.
Had this warning been recognized with corrective action(s) in 1963, the world would be a much different place.
Heeding this warning in 2016 is at least a half century TOO LATE. Most U.S. citizens have no clue as to what constitutes the MIC and where the vast majority of funding goes and who benefits most.
Disengaging the omnipotent MIC will require actual courage and resolve - traits which will get a potential candidate for any U.S. elected position immediately disqualified.
The intelligence community starting with the NSA finds social networks and nntp activity very useful and to some extent justifies their very existence.
Thanks for the update on political machinations developed to defend a long-time poisoner of little children. Governor Rick Snyder is preparing for his sixth State of the State Address.
And to further increase U.S. ignorance of the region - Al Jazeera America goes dark on April 30th.
Another reason Informed Comment is vital.
The U.S. firearms epidemic is the result of a living-in-the-past U.S. Congress permitting blatantly irresponsible profit-driven private sectors to self-manage the public good. By employing media-driven Second Amendment hysteria, manipulating lobbyists and supporting pandering politicians, the unfettered firearms manufacturers are abetting a completely OUT OF CONTROL slow-motion human slaughter within our country.
And the private-sector solution? MORE GUNS!
The President is very correct in his actions. The only criticism being the delay. But this is a start.
These “terrorists” want to convert public land to private use - THEIRS.
The same b@†$h¡† fools who tried this in Nevada.
Just an excuse for man/child to express private shortcomings by waving firearms.
Great! We can store the radioactive waste at your house?
Right?
Probably be a good time for the new Saudi King, Salman, to learn to rein in his subordinates about now?
Media circus clown Donald Trump wouldn’t be news if the GOP Presidential candidates were the least bit interesting or maybe even qualified for the position.
Beating the drums of h8, appealing to a noisy retro Anglo minority and distracting from actual Presidential-level issues will never get anyone elected President.
Trump is merely ego-driven, anti-American noise played at distraction level by a corporate-controlled media - a media that loses relevance any time Trump is a news item.
Amongst the “Most important Neglected Middle East Stories of 2015” is one very important omitted.story.
Why is the Middle East a story at all?
Since the early 21st Century more U.S. military and local blood has been spilled, public interest diverted, taxpayer money squandered on the region than anywhere else on Earth. The results of an orchestrated overreaction is near utter failure. In fact, the hatred engendered by military attacks and subsequent occupations beginning a decade ago and our continued murderous presence in the region is the primary recruiting tool used by militants. This is the absolute opposite consequence of the stated desired result to previous administration efforts and policy perpetuated by our military today.
The Most important Neglected Middle East Story of 2015? - The simple fact the citizens of the United States continue to be played for fools by corporate-controlled media over the supposed importance of the region to the extent WE ARE STILL THERE!
The onset of the widespread use of renewable energy has another good effect: the lessening of importance and national influences exerted by the the fossil fuel multinationals and the MIC on our planet.
21st Century corporate-controlled media cannot be trusted.
Get used to it!
Aren’t we supposed to be out of this quagmire by now?
Screw those pipeline$!!
We have lost enough on this folly.
Chickenhawks are always so vicious.
A previous Republican administration started a murderous U.S. policy in South Asia and Mesopotamia which has made these enemies. Recruiting into militant groups began well over a decade ago.
Putin-endorsed, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is merely the most recent and greatly media amplified butt-trumpet of h8 riding on the emotion of recent isolated events.
The largest of all ISIL recruiters remains the current Republican Party and their chckenhawk warmongering which threatens increased U.S. military actions into these regions.
Gary - good work. Mention of Mencken and Hofstader is particularly nice.
But one nit to pick, “. . . the FEELING that “mainstream media” can’t be trusted . . .” really should be, “. . . the FACT that “mainstream media” can’t be trusted . . . “
Cheers.
Fortunately, Trump supporters are a distinct but loud and over-produced in media minority.
Donald Trump and his bromance partner, Mr. Putin are corporate-controlled media sideshow to distract from the absolute worst GOP field of Presidential candidates in history.
And nothing more.
Corporate-owned and controlled media herded our country, including Congress, into an orchestrated false war that destabilized an entire region of our planet for decades to come, and wasted TRILLION$, killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Corporate-owned and controlled media is currently employed to turn one of our most cherished American privileges - democracy - into circus sideshow and soap.
Is Corporate Media a danger to Society?
It is now.