I think there should be 7 reasons- and the one to add is that Pompeo is a long-time denier of the science of climate change.
At his 2017 hearing for the CIA directorship, he said climate change is a significant issue for national security was “ignorant, dangerous, and absolutely unbelievable.”
In the last week, he has said that he'd think about it, that there may be something to this climate change. Weasel words to get the SoS position, imo.
In this article, Jiang Kejun says the costs of coal-fired backup must be considered together with renewable wind and solar.
However, that ignores energy storage technologies, from batteries, like Elon Musk's project in Australia, molten salt, which is being used in the huge solar project in Morocco, and so on.
Sounds like the myth of base power so beloved of coal companies.
The Koch bros. were convicted of selling petrochemical equipment to Iran when it was illegal about 10 years ago, and
many other criminal offenses over the years.
It's hard to figure out what goes through their head besides greed.
This reminds me of Rudyard Kipling's "Take Up the White Man's Burden."
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child..."
Kipling was encouraging the US to take up war-genocide in the Philippines.
The low end of the dead counted is about 300,000, which is horrendous given there were 9 million Filipinos.
Better histories list the number of the dead between 1.4 mn to 3 mn.
The Philippines had already declared a 1st republic and expelled the Spanish well before the US troops arrived.
Mark Twain wrote a lot about this horrific war, and his newspaper reporting and other writings are collected in the book, Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire : Anti-Imperialist Writings on the Philippine-American War,
I suggest that you try being forbidden to go outside without a guardian such as a female spouse, mother, sister, or daughter, wear a hot black robe outdoors at all times in one of the hottest countries in the world over your face and body, be forbidden to drive, etc.
Then come back and call this "simple manners."
There's a difference between a dress code and human rights, which Ms. Muzychuk perceives with clarity.
My fear is that part of the rationale of this move is to stir the pot among terror groups, provoking a large scale terrorist attack in the US. Then there's an excuse for making America fascist, and suspending the Constitution in a time of crisis.
It took the Nazis 8 weeks after Hitler got the chancellorship to make the German state a Nazi state.
From the bill of horrors, it's obvious that real world data, a/k/a facts, are irrelevant to Republican tax policy.
Except for this data: College grads skew Democratic.
Therefore, the Republican donor class gets breaks.
The college educated middle class gets screwed.
And blue collar and poor folks? The Ayn Randian Repubs feel happy screwing them.
The Ayn Rand health care plan: Only the weak need health care, and we're better off without the weak.
And the main contractor for the Keystone pipeline is another foreign company, Australia's WorleyParsons, according to Wikipedia.
America first= US short-term blue collar jobs with the profits flowing overseas, and the poisoned aquifer here.
Saudi goals have become the proverbial riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery.
Clearly, they hate Iran and want another country to do the fighting. Perhaps Jared was supposed to get Israel to go to war on Hizbullah in Lebanon?
And Saudi actions holding Hariri can only be described as kidnapping. Is that supposed to destabilize Lebanon in order to get a war with Israel? Did Jared OK that?
Plus, the civil war in Yemen is going badly. link to reuters.com
How is blockading Yemeni ports supposed to help the Saudi supported Sunni fighters? And why forbid their proxy Yemeni leader, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. from going back to Yemen?
All this leads to the question, how likely is a coup or civil war in Saudi Arabia?
Let's hope the revelations of the Paradise Papers at least get Mercer on tax violations.
Too bad most of this skulduggery appears legal. link to theguardian.com
In addition, even the Russians freed the serfs, beginning with Alexander II's emancipation proclamation in 1861. In fact, as early as 1801, it was illegal to sell serfs if it broke up the serf family.
Will the military force 25th Amendment action? The craven Republicans can't stop dithering about their race base.
The military has to know that we can't win in Iran, a country with far more resources than the Afghanistan quagmire.
Also, outdoing the "fire and fury" (massive war crimes) of the 1950-53 Korean War would be almost impossible, unless MacArthur's evil plan to create a radioactive dead zone was executed.
Executing that plan will put Trump and America in history like Hitler and Germany.
"General Douglas MacArthur’s plan to win was a list of targets sent to the Pentagon, requesting 34 atomic bombs to create 'a belt of radioactive cobalt across the neck of Manchuria so that there could be no land invasion of Korea from the north for at least 60 years,'”
from: link to irishtimes.com
Mayor Cruz is my new hero. Beside her leadership and dedicated service to the public, she also stands up to Trump's bullying.
She is bully-proof.
She wades through sewage flooded streets, he tweets. He tweets between rounds of golf and watching Fox on TV.
Finally, Trump looks like the pathetic loser he is, eating ice cream and playing golf, deaf to the disaster.
If Congress realized that a million Puerto Rican climate refugees-and they will flee, as soon as they can, were about to land and vote in red states, then, they might act with decency.
I don't see how Puerto Ricans can stay in Puerto Rico. No doubt they'll get jobs rebuilding Houston and Florida.
The changing demographics of white America will, I hope, be what keeps the US from constructing a 21st century version of 1930s Germany, which was quite homogenous.
How about social media, search engines, and such, having learned that a user looked at extremist materials, then used an algorithm to create filter bubbles that reinforce tolerance and anti-extremism.
Let's call the racist whites and breitbart-ites what they are, Nazis.
No more alt-right, no more neo- whatever, no more white nationalism.
They're Nazis, and nothing but Nazis.
Now Priebus and Sessions have a bully in common with Muslims and transgender people.
I hope Priebus and Sessions appreciate this improvement of their community.
Headline suggestion: Beginning of the end of the acceleration of global heating.
Warming sounds so benign, change sounds as if it were innovative, therefore global heating fits reality better.
Tillerson has done his bit for the Russians, so perhaps it's okay for him to leave now. On July 19th he did Russia a big favor by eliminating the State Department's cyber-security office.
Christopher Painter, head cyber coordinator at the State Dept. is out. link to bloomberg.com
Painter was supposed to testify before the House
Foreign Affairs Committee today-but his testimony was postponed-as they discuss a ban on Kaspersky software, as Kaspersky is close to Kremlin. Russia has made major threats of retaliation if the US government stops using its Kaspersky software. link to politico.com
The Russians have probably calculated that they've gotten all they can, given the president's vicious and unhinged mental state; they may be more rational about cutting their losses after the sanctions vote today than Republicans.
Your response is a distraction from the substance of Prof. Cole's article.
First, you mention Podesta, and nowhere does Podesta appear in this article.
The main point:
"I’m angry because the US intel community had this information in summer of 2016 and they’re only leaking it now. You mean they could have blown the whistle on the Trump gang over the Russian contacts and they didn’t bother?"
The intelligence agencies are supposed to protect us from enemies foreign and domestic.
Any foreign agent that interferes in an election of the US is an enemy.
By not releasing this information to the citizens of the United States, our intelligence agencies gave aid and comfort to our enemies, helping those enemies interfere with the election.
We did not have a free election, because this vital information was concealed.
After Trump left early, does anyone know where he went?
Did he find some Slavic admirers to console him while the grown-ups were in the other room? Or did he watch cable and pout?
Thanks for explaining this- I was utterly mystified when I read Tayek's piece, which lacked economic information.
And the idea that the Israelis, Saudis, and US are united behind the "Resistance?" What a hypocritical sick joke that is.
Must be the movement of Fascism is Freedom.
There may be even more ugliness to this visa rejection added to anti-Muslim prejudice.
A few years ago, I was a member of a church that was partners with some churches in Malawi. Malawi and US folks travelled to visit one another. This worked fine for a couple visits until some women were invited & given travel stipends.
The State Department refused to give the women visas, though they had had no problem with the men.
Go figure-as if these women would have wanted to desert their families.
This was during the Obama administration.
Quote from Mayo Clinic website: "Children younger than 6 years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development."
RT is a mixed bag of decent journalism with propaganda.
The good: they picked up on DAPL protests and documenting fracking.
The bad-comparing Mrs. Clinton to Joseph McCarthy. link to youtube.com
And, most shameful of all, their disingenuous coverage of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov - (maybe the Chechens did it! ), and other assassinated Russian journalists and politicians.
Anthony Bourdain did a terrific interview with Nemtsov in 2014
I'd appreciate knowledgeable commentary on whether Russia hacked Qatar.
There was a report on CNN, and some British press, e.g. the Independent & Guardian that this provoked the crisis.
Quote:
"Russian government hackers planted false news story which caused Gulf crisis: U.S. intelligence
U.S. intelligence officials say Russian government hackers planted a false news story into the text prepared for release by the official Qatari news agency. The release of the Russian-manufactured story by the official Qatari news agency prompted Saudi Arabia and several of its regional allies to suspend diplomatic relations with Qatar and impose economic sanctions on it. U.S. officials say the Russian goal appears to be to cause rifts among the U.S. and its allies." link to homelandsecuritynewswire.com
I wonder how this will work out within the United States.
For example, I don't want to vacation in Montana right now, despite having loved hiking in the Beartooth mountains in the past.
White supremacist culture and hospitality don't go together. Why vacation some place with hostile natives?
When figuring uranium's sustainability, is the heavy environmental cost of mining and disposing of radioactive waste counted? Or the cost of reclaiming aged nuclear power plants?
And what about the costs of accidents, inevitable in any human activity? Three Mile Island was costly, Chernobyl was a horrorshow, and so is Fukushima.
There's a reason sky-high insurance rates are making nuclear plants too expensive to build
The Republicans, courtesy of ALEC, have a much, much worse plan.
They want to rewrite the entire Constitution, allegedly so that a balanced budget amendment will be included. This type of amendment to the constitution is called an Article V amendment.
At least 30 states have, arguably, voted in favor of an Article V Constitutional Convention. For a good discussion of the proposed convention and state votes,see LA Times op/ed: link to latimes.com
When 34 vote in favor, there will be a new Constitutional Convention, only without James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, etc.
Quote from wikipedia: "While there have been calls for an "Article V Convention" based on a single issue such as the balanced budget amendment, it is not clear whether a convention summoned in this way would be legally bound to limit discussion to a single issue; law professor Michael Stokes Paulsen has suggested that such a convention would have the "power to propose anything it sees fit",[2] whereas law professor Michael Rappaport[3] and attorney-at-law Robert Kelly [4] believe that a limited convention is possible."
Source: link to en.wikipedia.org
Kentucky and Wisconsin are perilously close to voting yes.
Which may mean that the count could be 32 out of 34.
We need a law requiring disclosure of visitors to a public, taxpayer funded office, the West Wing, plus all of Trump's public housing, the White House.
Thanks for pointing out that the difference between dying from sarin and dying from bombing or shelling is probably irrelevant to the dead.
Before the US acts, it should ask the people of Syria if they want us in their country? I doubt it, given the Iraqi experience. Of course, there is no way to ask in Syria.
We could ask the refugees. Why didn't any of the news reports that I saw ask Syrian refugees for an opinion? (Rhetorical question)
Let's survey enlisted soldiers who have been deployed in the Middle East and Afghanistan in the last 7 years. Let's ask them if they believe a massive Syrian deployment would bring peace or help the people of Syria.
Even with renewable power, mines will continue to generate horrendous pollution. The Mt. Polley disaster in Canada, the Samarco catastrophe in Brazil - link to slate.com - mountain top removal mining in Appalachia that has filled in and poisoned 100s of miles of streams, according to the EPA, & also damaged public health...
Renewable energy is a start. It should help the mining companies' bottom lines, as renewable energy costs are cheaper than fossil fuels.
The simplest explanation for deferring to Russia, is, I believe, that the situation is complicated, even more than US health care, plus, any choice results in a loss. No action leads to a win for anyone.
There is no way to manufacture a tweetable trump triumph.
So, to simplify & avoid thinking, plus to avoid losing... the solution? Let Putin do it.
Thanks for the article-let us hope the "magic of the marketplace" wipes out high-priced carbon fuels soon.
Although soon may be too late for the drought-afflicted regions of Africa where 16 million are facing death by starvation.
One clarification about the spitefulness of the British burning D.C. in 1814. In the war of 1812 several cities were put to the torch before Washington. For example, when American troops invaded Canada in 1813, they burned down government buildings in capital of the province of Upper Canada, York (present-day Toronto). Many think the burning of Washington was revenge for this.
Perhaps someone who is a scholar of that place in time can recommend a book or an article.
Thanks for bringing up the class issue.
Funny but not funny- Marx wrote that "religion is the opium of the people" back in the 19th century.
Today, many go straight to the opiates.
Does Ms. Conway mean that Trump does something in the kitchen?
Somehow, my imagination is too small to imagine Trump re-heating leftovers in the microwave while he chats with the Kremlin.
Scenario for 45: "Donald Trump threw out that cold disaster you call food. Get me some real food, now."
45, when he feels attacked, follows Roy Cohn's teaching and attacks back, harder.
Nobody much cared about Schumer having doughnuts with Kislyak.
Therefore he had to blitzkrieg by dropping a big bomb of a claim. It is apparent that he doesn't care where the claim originates, who said it, or whether there is any evidence.
Evidence is irrelevant to Trump. Somebody said it, he believes it, and that's all the evidence he needs. Say it loud, say it often, and propaganda and delusion are REAL.
I pray that the his football of nuclear codes are all fake.
Thanks for the article.
I wonder what sedative created the veneer of a semi-civilized style. The crackpot malevolent substance was contradicted by nothing that he said.
The BBC was on the verboten press list, too.
And the BBC is owned by the British government.
Will the British have to "postpone" his visit now?
And homeland security is definitely at war with Muslims.
Read about the interrogation of the son of the late Muhammad Ali when he returned from Jamaica with his mom. link to theglobeandmail.com
I'm thinking that American greatness has become double-speak for American narcissism, which is true for Trump and Brooks. I don't think that Brooks caused Trump; but both come from a current/torrent of thought that refuses to admit America's screw-ups. Case in point from the article above is when Brooks is cited as writing of the humiliations of Iraq as an American humiliation, missing the humiliation and horrors Iraqis live with.
We made a mess of Iraqi society, plus killing and torturing Iraqis-see Abu Ghraib. And it's because of politicians like Cheney and Bush who insisted on dictating "alternate facts" to the intelligence services.
Until America goes through some kind of truth and reconciliation process, we'll have the thoughtful Brooks buying into an idea of American greatness much like Trump's.
Question: What evidence is there for the 97% figure?
Look at the US: It's a tricky question to figure out in the US; but 12% of US residents move in a year, looking at a variety of Census and other figures from an internet search. For demographics from 2010-2015, this Bloomberg article was interesting: link to origin-www.bloombergview.com
The article concludes, "There's also been a long decline in the percentage of U.S. residents who move each year. "Overall, it appears, not nearly enough Americans are moving to opportunity."
I agree, we should do whatever we can to help other countries to be as free and prosperous as possible. For example, don't take their oil.
Yet many of the best, brightest and most creative want to move, not stay where they were born. For example, take the Paris art world of the late 19th century. Pissaro, from a Danish W. Indies colony, Mary Cassatt from the US, Alfred Sisley, and later Van Gogh, etc. defined homeland as other than soil. Homeland was a community, in a place, where they can do the best in their calling in life.
Similarly, the best and brightest in the cyber world are in Silicon Valley, or other such communities on the West Coast. Home is not earth and soil, except, perhaps, for farmers and peoples who daily work and care for land and waters.
The United States has been peoples in motion from the start; else only the 13 colonies would have been populated.
Also, many Christians would say that heaven is their true home.
The English language is fortunate that it distinguishes between house and home, because that helps the understanding that a place and a home aren't always the same.
To say that moving within the US is to stay in our "homeland" isn't so. Moving from Chicago to eastern Iowa, as I did once, was a big cultural change.
Finally, the only peoples that can call North America homeland are Indians and Inuit. The rest of us are hyphenated Americans.
I
Has this malevolent right Israeli government spoken of its need for "lebensraum"?
They're ghettoizing and malnourishing the population of Gaza and stealing the West Bank. Walls make ghettos.
Sometimes I think this is a microcosm of a world where right-wing fascists have run amok, with their eyes on a ghastly prize. The new, global gulag archipelago is growing with outposts from Gaza, Nauru, Myanmar, Syria, ICE prisons in the US, and the list burgeons.
There is a lot of evidence and small doubts of Russian hacking and spying. The question is, where it happened, besides the DNC, and how much interference was there?
For example, December 29, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI released a joint report on “Russian malicious cyber activity.”
In the Senate, Armed Services cyber subcommittee is investigating that evidence and other issues of cyber defense.
You may choose to linger among the doubts.
To resolve the doubts, let us all join together, calling for an investigation like the 9/11 commission, in order to gather more data & information. That is necessary for a fact-based assessment of what was going on in the election and what is happening in the present, here and around the globe.
Interesting to compare Marbury vs. Madison (1803 case, decent summary on Wikipedia) with the claims trumpeting Presidential power that come from Miller and the ever-changing White House cast of characters.
Quotation from Justice Marshall on the case:
"The Government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right."
So, is he just a cynic who thinks himself above the law, and/or a malevolent supremacist seeking some sort of "racial holy war" while profiting from a Russian connection?
Conspiracy theories seem essential to apocalyptic lunacy.
Reread the article, and see that it says "If it is true that Obama was reluctant..." The statement is about decision-making for 1 raid. Therefore, the leap to a generalization that is not in the article, "Obama is a good killer and Trump is a bad killer", is not grounded in this article. One specific is less than a straw upon which to make a sweeping and unfounded generalization. And the generalization comes from the commentator, not the text of the article.
The article is an analysis of the implications of 1 failed raid, with uncertainties duly noted. It is informed commentary, not a news report, fake or otherwise.
Cognitive dementia sounds on-target. His father did have Alzheimer's disease, plus he's 70, so genetics and age put him at risk. And he said the sun came out at his inauguration!? Funny everybody out there got wet from the rain. link to time.com
And Steve Bannon looks like an alcoholic-puffy face, facial reddening, probably from broken capillaries, & bloodshot eyes visible in many photos.
An alcoholic with anger management advising a narcissist too deluded to know the difference between rain and sunshine.
Time for the 25th Amendment-except we need a real cabinet for that.
Jailtime in the face of demagoguery is to be expected.
Consider contemporary twists: how to pay the obscene fines and the lawyers' fees? With these laws, it's a "rite of passage" that leads to debt, at best, poverty, and an indefinite stay in a private, for-profit jail. I foresee new American concentration camps for impoverished protesters.
Get over it? I'll get over it as fast as Trump got over his birther fantasy, 2011-Sept. 2016. Also, gerrymandering and laws that cheat legitimate American voters and their elections are fact, according to the American law system. I agree with you, that the Dems and progressives need to get together, and take an honest look in the mirror. I'll get over it when the lies stop.
Don't worry so, this criticism is freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
If you want to see nasty, check out Glenn Beck and Fox re President Obama.
And Russia is not mentioned in Professor Cole's essay. Again, don't worry, Russia is a big country that can take care of itself.
Political rallies and press conferences are 2 different things.
The difference should be obvious to anyone familiar with democratic government.
To criticize Trump for being unable to survive an hour by himself with reporters is an affirmation of the freedom of the press.
And what's with the RT example? Do you mean the Russian government financed agency, Russia Today?
If you google "solar power calculator" there are a number of online tools that calculate your savings. Google itself has one. To verify the calculators, I suggest using 3 or 4 and comparing results.
Yes, thanks for bringing this issue forward. I'm wondering-what is the relationship between high latitude soil microbes creating CO2 discharge, and permafrost melt that results in CO2 and methane release? link to wunderground.com
1 suggestion for military leadership: Take physical fitness out of the generals' merit evaluations. Too many mediocrities game the military by becoming fitness buffs to game the ratings.
Better to be led by a cigar-smoking U.S. Grant than an average leader who exercises every day.
That is, unless the generals' job descriptions include the duties of enlisted combat infantry.
Sad to say, none of this surprises me.
One phrase that I wish was clearer, "...the post-2011 threat to present-day Western states and their constituent corporations..," Does this mean that corporations are constituents of government, as I, a voter, am a constituent of a legislator? Or is the meaning more that the corporations constitute, make up the government?
I keep wondering, what would DT have to do in order to have his faithful leave him? Lying is not enough. Racism hasn't chased away true believers.
Even if he was proved to be a rapist, probably no effect on DT supporters-the proof would be evidence of conspiracy.
Suppose that he was videotaped murdering someone? Would that be enough? Or would this hypothetical murder be called self-defense?
Sigh. I can't figure out what the moral standards of DT supporters are. He's Dirty Harry and can do no wrong.
This event probably has its roots in Texas public school biology textbooks & curricula. Creationism is taught as "scientific creationism." Darwin and evolution are being erased from schools.
See the National Council for Science Education's web page, link to ncse.com
Maybe the students believe that Africans have the mark of Cain, or are descended from Noah's bad son Ham. Those were very popular justifications of slavery.
I want to know in what shape the dam is. Would Daesh blow it up when they conclude Mosul is a lost cause?
Also, the Ottoman Turks of the 19th and early 20th century had fallen far from the far more tolerant glory days of Suleiman. The late Ottoman empire was no model of tolerance.
They commited genocide on the Armenians.
Yes, I'm well aware of Erdogan's and the Turkish state's denial of genocide. I'd trust Orhan Pamuk's historical perspective and not the pan-Turkic "Red Apple."
"English" is a misnomer for a language of this green and pleasant land, it comes from the Angles, a refugee Germanic tribe, who then uprooted a language full of immigrant words from the Romans. Why use words of Latin origin, a bloodthirsty bunch of warriors who had to borrow most of their culture from the Greeks?
So, I say, we must recover the language of Boudica. Let the Scots return to pure Pict language, the Welsh speak Welsh, each to their own true root, and get rid of all these immigrant influences.
And fie on Beowulf! He came from the south of Sweden, and the story takes place in Europe, a place called the land of the Danes, which many think is modern Frisia, now partly German and partly Dutch lands. Beowulf is an epic from alien invaders. Give that legend of blood and monsters back.
[This being the internet, I suppose that I must write that the above is satire.]
Trump is like an evil Homer Simpson tripping on acid.
He's riveting and repulsive, a horror movie in real life, Watching him is like watching a bloody car crash.
If he was consistent, Trump would allow law-abiding people carrying guns to come to his rallies.
If you follow his principles, his rallies ought to be places where his supporters with guns get to "empower law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves." (Phrase quoted from DT's campaign website)
The media can do reporting with drones, or wear Kevlar and bring their own law-abiding gun carrying guards.
It's surprising that he isn't packing heat as he speaks.
At first, I thought this almost humorous-the French police enforcing a fashion law. Fashionista fascists, anyone?
One stereotype of the French is reinforced: The French are fashion-obsessed.
Laws against the Burkini also bring another French stereotype to life, the stereotype that French men are sex-obsessed. That is the conclusion I draw from a law that women have to be almost unclothed at the beach.
It's reminiscent of the US silliness that led to "Freedom Fries." Which reinforced an American stereotype, that we obsess on fast food.
Trump speaks in incomplete sentences, and uses vague language. Often there is no way to definitively say what he meant because he throws together a salad of phrases and innuendo.
And that makes it difficult, at best, to say what he means. So the listener creates meaning that fits his/her worldview. No one can prove that he meant either gun violence or on the other hand, political force from "2nd amendment people."
The man is too incoherent. Go back to the virtue of a traditional education and try and parse his sentences!
Therefore, I disagree with anyone who says that it's outrageous to claim otherwise. In this case, he ended the infamous 2nd amendment bit by saying "I don't know."
"I don't know", he says, and we can't pin down what he means. Is "I don't know" true, a rhetorical device, or a bunch of weasel words to wiggle out of responsibility?
He has repeatedly had to backtrack, and, worse, sometimes not backtracking by sticking to vicious words- e.g. mocking a Gold Star mother and mocking a disabled reporter.
I've met 2 violent criminals that used the same tactics.
Just because you can't prove something is threatening does not mean that it's okay.
He is threatening. That is the effect of his words.
Parallel example: A stalker can say, "You better watch out", and then claim it's because Santa Claus is coming to town.
You can argue semantics. You can say he didn't mean it.
Or it was sarcasm.
The Secret Service doesn't mess around with that.
They know a threat.
They have lots of practice.
Thanks for this thoughtful piece on our horrorshow circus-election, and, most of all, for keeping the biggest horror, global heating.
in antiquity, the Romans,, at least had bread with their circuses.
Right now, I think it defies understanding. I wish Hunter Thompson was here to chronicle what is happening, this circus playing while the planet burns. Fear and loathing-how better to describe this election circus? Plus, I feel as though I'm hallucinating when I read the news.
There was wind enough for turbines in Iowa. For example, check July 21, an oppressively hot day in Iowa during the heat wave. Wunderground weather history shows wind speeds suitable for turbines in Des Moines and Mason City.
The same for the above cities on July 20th.
Check the data-it does not support your assertion for Iowa, subject of this article.
For those interested in molten solar, I suggest the article from IEEE, link to spectrum.ieee.org (Please wiki IEEE if you are unfamiliar with this standard-setting group of engineers.)
There are other informative articles to be found with a search engine, using the terms "Solar + molten salt."
The Tesla model 3 will sell for about ~$35,000. Fiat electrics, before rebates, are around $30,000.
Their main problem for electrics is charging infrastructure in urban areas. The Tesla superchargers take less than an hour.
Regarding the Tesla 3 & infrastructure for electrics, I suggest an article from MIT's "Technology Review ", link to technologyreview.com
Something I thought I'd never see: Netanyahu as deal-broker for anybody.
Did Russia and Turkey make a sub rosa alliance against the Kurds?
Russia won-except, how can anyone "win" in the desolation that afflicts Syria?
Will Erdogan bring back the law against the "Kurdish" letters of the alphabet, that is X, W, and Q?
X, W, & Q were finally legal to use in Oct. 2013.
Looks like Erdogan has gone round the twist, and it's a scary twist when, last month, he used Hitler as an example of a powerful presidency.
And if Erdogan slips into megalomania, no telling what he will want to do. He is frightening.
Ethnic repression can lead to "ethnic cleansing", which equals genocide bowdlerized & spun.
Censoring Sanders, is what this is.
Maybe this will give Sanders an edge-because by the end of the winter voters will be sick of seeing and hearing the other candidates who are all over the media. Overexposure might hurt them, and they'll jump the shark.
He's doing well without the corporate media. The lack of coverage makes him a breath of fresh air to a public sick of hype and re-hype ad nauseam.
As all here agree, Erdogan certainly gave the command to shoot down Russian planes.
I wonder why he wanted that pipeline after seeing Russia's constrictor behavior with the Ukraine.
Money, probably, given an uncertain election; but after a resounding election victory, then he does not need Russian money to retain power. Or so he calculates.
And the West? They may fume, even threaten sanctions, but they can't do much, because of Incirlik.
Don't forget-Incirlik has tactical nuclear weapons.
The Turks remember Gallipoli, and they and the Russians have the Crimean War still vivid in their memories, too.
The Russians aren't confused.
Anybody opposed to Assad is their enemy.
Everyone opposed to Assad is ISIL or an ally of ISIL. Ally of ISIL=ISIL/Daesh
Definition of enemy in Syria: ISIL/Daesh.
A lot of fundamentalist Christians push Romans 13, which, in a nutshell, says Christians should obey the governing authorities because they are established by God.
So I hope she's busy reading Romans 13 in her cell.
Naturally, these folks want to establish a "Christian" sharia type government,.
Walker dropped out of Marquette University, not a junior college, He "decided" to leave, when he was a senior, after he lost the election to be student body president, which was a bitter campaign with allegations of dirty tricks.
It was alleged that he was booted for cheating in a class, but the professor who blogged about the cheating withdrew the post, so there is no evidence of Walker cheating in his classes, too.
Walker denies that Marquette U. forced him to leave.
Next, let's defend the US from birds flying in from Central America.
None of them have a wildlife import permit.
And stop the Monarch butterflies coming from Mexico!
In April, Turkey adopted a new national anthem, praising Erdogan as "Our Leader." In addition, the anthem contains references to the "red apple", a symbol of the mythical pan-Turkic homeland. This occasion, with Erdogan and a military band, was celebrated 2015 April 10, and there are videos in the dailyhurriyet.
I think Erdogan, the Leader, wants ethnic cleansing of the Kurds as a step towards the pan-Turkic empire.
"Our Leader" is a scary title, way too close to the title "der Fuhrer."
I agree with PP, though there is so much I do not know.
I would add that Turkey has, for more than century, pursued "ethnic cleansing" under the guise of Turkish nationalism. Ugh-this phrase makes genocide sound like doing the laundry.
So conservative nationalism can join with fanatic religiosity and Likud political tactics.
(Note: My definition of religious fanatic begins with someone who is willing to kill in the name of God.)
In addition:
The Alevi Muslim/Zaza-speaking Kurds are together with the Sunni Kurds. The PKK did a lot, beginning in 1974, to bring the 2 groups of Kurds together, which alarmed the Turkish government.
As Turkey has had a hostile relationship with the Syria ruled by the Alawite Muslim Assads, there has always been the fear that Alevi Kurds would ally themselves with the Alawite minority in Syria, even though Alawis beliefs and practices are different from Alevis. And Iran claims that both are branches of Shi'a-Ayatollah Khomeini claimed that the Alevis of Turkey were Shi'a.
So, we have Sunni semi-secular Turkey doing a token bombing of Daesh, and many bombings of the Kurds.
They, the Turks, are terrified of a Kurdistan on their border, more terrified of that than they are of Daesh. I suspect the bombing of Daesh was the Turkish idea of proportionate punishment for taking the war to the Turkish homeland. By bombing the Kurds, I suspect the message is, Turks have the same enemies as Daesh, and will be covertly on the side of Daesh, as long as Daesh does not cross the Turkish line.
With so many strands here, Alevi & Sunni Kurds, Shi'a Iran, Alawis in Syria, refugee-flooded Turkey getting hostile to the unwanted Syrians, the PKK, brutal Turkish practices past and present, and all the rest, there is no definitive clear understanding.
I, too, welcome information and analysis, from more-informed people. There is so much that is so dark.
The Turkish paper, the Hurriyet, is on-line in English, by the way.
True, right now DC takes many voltages.
If a US resident travels to Europe or other countries with different voltages, there are already inexpensive AC voltage converters.
Inside a computer, the wiring comes with 3.3 volts, 5 volts & 12 volts in the harness-all DC.
Standardization of voltage will cause some market chaos and design mess.
I have read of a few cloud centers converting to DC-all those servers devour electricity.
I have a USB charger with a different voltages-yes, I have to be careful. I assume some kind of sensor/controller of voltage would be necessary for mass use.
It is a possibility for the near future. And consider the jobs
that can be generated manufacturing a conversion technology-expensive up front, but look at wind power now.
And I already need a micro-amplifier for my '80s Technic turntable to connect to the sound system.
It can be done. A hybrid AC/DC delivery system is possible-wind power will require AC for delivery, still.
I'd sure love to use the DC power from our solar panels without the conversion.
And the NSA ought to embrace DC, for decentralization will make our power system safer from blackouts caused by terrorists or latter-day Enron trader schemes.
If we achieve the goal of decentralized power generation, then it would make sense to switch from AC to DC power. NYC was originally run on DC. Thomas Edison was intransigent on the subject.
Power losses over long distance transmission made AC cheaper for creating the Great Electric Grid.
Imagine-no more converters for our electronic devices & computers.
DC could be stored straight to battery, unlike alternating current.
Not needing so many converters could create an eventual decrease of resource gluttony.
I wonder what the savings would be
Opposing a strategy that the President of the nation opposes, too, is called freedom of speech.
Opposing strategies are the reason we have debates and elections.
What if the FBI investigated you for opposing the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights? What if they investigated you, asked questions of your employer in order to find out whether you were loyal to the Constitution?
I wish they'd indict Cheney, and everyone, beginning with the top of the command chain, who are responsible for torture.
Add the responsible people from countries that have CIA black sites.
And while I'm dreaming, let's have an airlift of food, medicine and building materials with USAF escorts to Gaza.
This is robbery, not vandalism.
I remember Israelis proclaiming, "Let the desert bloom."
Israelis destroyed 800,000 trees, de facto saying, "Let the desert grow. And the winds of drought are worse, because the trees are gone. The drought and growing desert can't tell Israeli trees from Palestinian trees. No wall will help.
The desert will grow.
All sides in the US, Tea Party-ites and moderates,like the President are living in a legendary universe.By legendary, I mean constructing a world view in which belief trumps facts and evidence. For example, the US is fighting an"axis of evil."
And now Washington wants to help the group it identifies as the good guys,ignoring strong evidence that their weapons will help the bad guys.
Belief has trumped the convoluted truths on the ground.
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I think there should be 7 reasons- and the one to add is that Pompeo is a long-time denier of the science of climate change.
At his 2017 hearing for the CIA directorship, he said climate change is a significant issue for national security was “ignorant, dangerous, and absolutely unbelievable.”
In the last week, he has said that he'd think about it, that there may be something to this climate change. Weasel words to get the SoS position, imo.
I believe this unhinged sadist was selected with 1 qualification in mind: He will not invoke the 25th amendment, or be witness to it, on Trump.
In this article, Jiang Kejun says the costs of coal-fired backup must be considered together with renewable wind and solar.
However, that ignores energy storage technologies, from batteries, like Elon Musk's project in Australia, molten salt, which is being used in the huge solar project in Morocco, and so on.
Sounds like the myth of base power so beloved of coal companies.
Suggestion for punchy new title; "Gog, Magog, and demagogue."
The Koch bros. were convicted of selling petrochemical equipment to Iran when it was illegal about 10 years ago, and
many other criminal offenses over the years.
It's hard to figure out what goes through their head besides greed.
link to theatlantic.com
My hunch is that Erdogan wants to start genocide, a/k/a "ethnic "cleansing."
This reminds me of Rudyard Kipling's "Take Up the White Man's Burden."
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child..."
Kipling was encouraging the US to take up war-genocide in the Philippines.
The low end of the dead counted is about 300,000, which is horrendous given there were 9 million Filipinos.
Better histories list the number of the dead between 1.4 mn to 3 mn.
The Philippines had already declared a 1st republic and expelled the Spanish well before the US troops arrived.
Mark Twain wrote a lot about this horrific war, and his newspaper reporting and other writings are collected in the book, Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire : Anti-Imperialist Writings on the Philippine-American War,
I suggest that you try being forbidden to go outside without a guardian such as a female spouse, mother, sister, or daughter, wear a hot black robe outdoors at all times in one of the hottest countries in the world over your face and body, be forbidden to drive, etc.
Then come back and call this "simple manners."
There's a difference between a dress code and human rights, which Ms. Muzychuk perceives with clarity.
My fear is that part of the rationale of this move is to stir the pot among terror groups, provoking a large scale terrorist attack in the US. Then there's an excuse for making America fascist, and suspending the Constitution in a time of crisis.
It took the Nazis 8 weeks after Hitler got the chancellorship to make the German state a Nazi state.
From the bill of horrors, it's obvious that real world data, a/k/a facts, are irrelevant to Republican tax policy.
Except for this data: College grads skew Democratic.
Therefore, the Republican donor class gets breaks.
The college educated middle class gets screwed.
And blue collar and poor folks? The Ayn Randian Repubs feel happy screwing them.
The Ayn Rand health care plan: Only the weak need health care, and we're better off without the weak.
And the main contractor for the Keystone pipeline is another foreign company, Australia's WorleyParsons, according to Wikipedia.
America first= US short-term blue collar jobs with the profits flowing overseas, and the poisoned aquifer here.
How much kompromat does Russia have on the GOP?
Why is the GOP so obsequious to Russia?
How much Russian funding goes to dark money PACs?
Saudi goals have become the proverbial riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery.
Clearly, they hate Iran and want another country to do the fighting. Perhaps Jared was supposed to get Israel to go to war on Hizbullah in Lebanon?
And Saudi actions holding Hariri can only be described as kidnapping. Is that supposed to destabilize Lebanon in order to get a war with Israel? Did Jared OK that?
Plus, the civil war in Yemen is going badly. link to reuters.com
How is blockading Yemeni ports supposed to help the Saudi supported Sunni fighters? And why forbid their proxy Yemeni leader, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. from going back to Yemen?
All this leads to the question, how likely is a coup or civil war in Saudi Arabia?
Let's hope the revelations of the Paradise Papers at least get Mercer on tax violations.
Too bad most of this skulduggery appears legal.
link to theguardian.com
We need a new word for the fascist, organized-crime, totalitarian, ethno-religio identitarian, and kleptocratic governments and parties.
In addition, even the Russians freed the serfs, beginning with Alexander II's emancipation proclamation in 1861. In fact, as early as 1801, it was illegal to sell serfs if it broke up the serf family.
Facts are irrelevant to Trump.
Will the military force 25th Amendment action? The craven Republicans can't stop dithering about their race base.
The military has to know that we can't win in Iran, a country with far more resources than the Afghanistan quagmire.
Also, outdoing the "fire and fury" (massive war crimes) of the 1950-53 Korean War would be almost impossible, unless MacArthur's evil plan to create a radioactive dead zone was executed.
Executing that plan will put Trump and America in history like Hitler and Germany.
"General Douglas MacArthur’s plan to win was a list of targets sent to the Pentagon, requesting 34 atomic bombs to create 'a belt of radioactive cobalt across the neck of Manchuria so that there could be no land invasion of Korea from the north for at least 60 years,'”
from: link to irishtimes.com
Mayor Cruz is my new hero. Beside her leadership and dedicated service to the public, she also stands up to Trump's bullying.
She is bully-proof.
She wades through sewage flooded streets, he tweets. He tweets between rounds of golf and watching Fox on TV.
Finally, Trump looks like the pathetic loser he is, eating ice cream and playing golf, deaf to the disaster.
I am mystified by the EU's subsidies of dirty diesels.
If Congress realized that a million Puerto Rican climate refugees-and they will flee, as soon as they can, were about to land and vote in red states, then, they might act with decency.
I don't see how Puerto Ricans can stay in Puerto Rico. No doubt they'll get jobs rebuilding Houston and Florida.
The Bannon-Trump dream-nightmare world might look like apartheid South Africa 50 years ago.
The changing demographics of white America will, I hope, be what keeps the US from constructing a 21st century version of 1930s Germany, which was quite homogenous.
How about social media, search engines, and such, having learned that a user looked at extremist materials, then used an algorithm to create filter bubbles that reinforce tolerance and anti-extremism.
Let's call the racist whites and breitbart-ites what they are, Nazis.
No more alt-right, no more neo- whatever, no more white nationalism.
They're Nazis, and nothing but Nazis.
Now Priebus and Sessions have a bully in common with Muslims and transgender people.
I hope Priebus and Sessions appreciate this improvement of their community.
Headline suggestion: Beginning of the end of the acceleration of global heating.
Warming sounds so benign, change sounds as if it were innovative, therefore global heating fits reality better.
Tillerson has done his bit for the Russians, so perhaps it's okay for him to leave now. On July 19th he did Russia a big favor by eliminating the State Department's cyber-security office.
Christopher Painter, head cyber coordinator at the State Dept. is out.
link to bloomberg.com
Painter was supposed to testify before the House
Foreign Affairs Committee today-but his testimony was postponed-as they discuss a ban on Kaspersky software, as Kaspersky is close to Kremlin. Russia has made major threats of retaliation if the US government stops using its Kaspersky software. link to politico.com
The Russians have probably calculated that they've gotten all they can, given the president's vicious and unhinged mental state; they may be more rational about cutting their losses after the sanctions vote today than Republicans.
The Soviet Union's collapse probably had more to do with its 10 year long war in Afghanistan than anything the US did.
The US may become the next empire buried in Afghanistan's graveyard.
Your response is a distraction from the substance of Prof. Cole's article.
First, you mention Podesta, and nowhere does Podesta appear in this article.
The main point:
"I’m angry because the US intel community had this information in summer of 2016 and they’re only leaking it now. You mean they could have blown the whistle on the Trump gang over the Russian contacts and they didn’t bother?"
The intelligence agencies are supposed to protect us from enemies foreign and domestic.
Any foreign agent that interferes in an election of the US is an enemy.
By not releasing this information to the citizens of the United States, our intelligence agencies gave aid and comfort to our enemies, helping those enemies interfere with the election.
We did not have a free election, because this vital information was concealed.
Nobody is born knowing how to think with a reflective, civil, and critical approach.
There is much more to respond, but, how is a person to learn a foreign language without a teacher? A lot gets lost in translation.
Celebrating on a pile of rubble doesn't look like victory.
After Trump left early, does anyone know where he went?
Did he find some Slavic admirers to console him while the grown-ups were in the other room? Or did he watch cable and pout?
Trucks must be included next in the EV future, plus rail and other systems to replace them where possible.
Trucking's massive use of diesel is growing significantly. We need to think how to address this.
link to oilprice.com
Thanks for explaining this- I was utterly mystified when I read Tayek's piece, which lacked economic information.
And the idea that the Israelis, Saudis, and US are united behind the "Resistance?" What a hypocritical sick joke that is.
Must be the movement of Fascism is Freedom.
There may be even more ugliness to this visa rejection added to anti-Muslim prejudice.
A few years ago, I was a member of a church that was partners with some churches in Malawi. Malawi and US folks travelled to visit one another. This worked fine for a couple visits until some women were invited & given travel stipends.
The State Department refused to give the women visas, though they had had no problem with the men.
Go figure-as if these women would have wanted to desert their families.
This was during the Obama administration.
True, but children are worse affected.
Quote from Mayo Clinic website: "Children younger than 6 years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development."
Is there any country where al-Jazeera could go, any nation that would not hamstring or compromise their reporting?
Also, I'm hoping that Trump asks for asylum in Moscow.
RT is a mixed bag of decent journalism with propaganda.
The good: they picked up on DAPL protests and documenting fracking.
The bad-comparing Mrs. Clinton to Joseph McCarthy. link to youtube.com
And, most shameful of all, their disingenuous coverage of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov - (maybe the Chechens did it! ), and other assassinated Russian journalists and politicians.
Anthony Bourdain did a terrific interview with Nemtsov in 2014
Excellent article.
Any more thoughts on how climate change is fueling all of this?
I wonder what the Pentagon and State Department are quietly doing.
I'd appreciate knowledgeable commentary on whether Russia hacked Qatar.
There was a report on CNN, and some British press, e.g. the Independent & Guardian that this provoked the crisis.
Quote:
"Russian government hackers planted false news story which caused Gulf crisis: U.S. intelligence
U.S. intelligence officials say Russian government hackers planted a false news story into the text prepared for release by the official Qatari news agency. The release of the Russian-manufactured story by the official Qatari news agency prompted Saudi Arabia and several of its regional allies to suspend diplomatic relations with Qatar and impose economic sanctions on it. U.S. officials say the Russian goal appears to be to cause rifts among the U.S. and its allies."
link to homelandsecuritynewswire.com
For information, here's a Bloomberg article, from which I quote, on the subject:
"Power from solar panels now half the cost of a new coal plant"
link to bloomberg.com
I wonder what effect this will have on the Australian coal mines.
And Pax Americana looks more like Pox Americana.
I wonder how this will work out within the United States.
For example, I don't want to vacation in Montana right now, despite having loved hiking in the Beartooth mountains in the past.
White supremacist culture and hospitality don't go together. Why vacation some place with hostile natives?
When figuring uranium's sustainability, is the heavy environmental cost of mining and disposing of radioactive waste counted? Or the cost of reclaiming aged nuclear power plants?
And what about the costs of accidents, inevitable in any human activity? Three Mile Island was costly, Chernobyl was a horrorshow, and so is Fukushima.
There's a reason sky-high insurance rates are making nuclear plants too expensive to build
No wonder Melania is living a life of freedom from Trump.
The Republicans, courtesy of ALEC, have a much, much worse plan.
They want to rewrite the entire Constitution, allegedly so that a balanced budget amendment will be included. This type of amendment to the constitution is called an Article V amendment.
At least 30 states have, arguably, voted in favor of an Article V Constitutional Convention. For a good discussion of the proposed convention and state votes,see LA Times op/ed:
link to latimes.com
When 34 vote in favor, there will be a new Constitutional Convention, only without James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, etc.
Quote from wikipedia: "While there have been calls for an "Article V Convention" based on a single issue such as the balanced budget amendment, it is not clear whether a convention summoned in this way would be legally bound to limit discussion to a single issue; law professor Michael Stokes Paulsen has suggested that such a convention would have the "power to propose anything it sees fit",[2] whereas law professor Michael Rappaport[3] and attorney-at-law Robert Kelly [4] believe that a limited convention is possible."
Source: link to en.wikipedia.org
Kentucky and Wisconsin are perilously close to voting yes.
Which may mean that the count could be 32 out of 34.
Neo-feudal capitalism can also be called rule by robber barons.
I keep wondering about all the Turks arrested and/or fired since the half-baked coup attempt.
Where are the 45,000 jailed since the coup?
We need a law requiring disclosure of visitors to a public, taxpayer funded office, the West Wing, plus all of Trump's public housing, the White House.
Thanks for pointing out that the difference between dying from sarin and dying from bombing or shelling is probably irrelevant to the dead.
Before the US acts, it should ask the people of Syria if they want us in their country? I doubt it, given the Iraqi experience. Of course, there is no way to ask in Syria.
We could ask the refugees. Why didn't any of the news reports that I saw ask Syrian refugees for an opinion? (Rhetorical question)
Let's survey enlisted soldiers who have been deployed in the Middle East and Afghanistan in the last 7 years. Let's ask them if they believe a massive Syrian deployment would bring peace or help the people of Syria.
Even with renewable power, mines will continue to generate horrendous pollution. The Mt. Polley disaster in Canada, the Samarco catastrophe in Brazil - link to slate.com - mountain top removal mining in Appalachia that has filled in and poisoned 100s of miles of streams, according to the EPA, & also damaged public health...
Renewable energy is a start. It should help the mining companies' bottom lines, as renewable energy costs are cheaper than fossil fuels.
The simplest explanation for deferring to Russia, is, I believe, that the situation is complicated, even more than US health care, plus, any choice results in a loss. No action leads to a win for anyone.
There is no way to manufacture a tweetable trump triumph.
So, to simplify & avoid thinking, plus to avoid losing... the solution? Let Putin do it.
It's so much easier to make a puppet out of a witless man.
Thanks for the article-let us hope the "magic of the marketplace" wipes out high-priced carbon fuels soon.
Although soon may be too late for the drought-afflicted regions of Africa where 16 million are facing death by starvation.
One clarification about the spitefulness of the British burning D.C. in 1814. In the war of 1812 several cities were put to the torch before Washington. For example, when American troops invaded Canada in 1813, they burned down government buildings in capital of the province of Upper Canada, York (present-day Toronto). Many think the burning of Washington was revenge for this.
Perhaps someone who is a scholar of that place in time can recommend a book or an article.
Thanks for bringing up the class issue.
Funny but not funny- Marx wrote that "religion is the opium of the people" back in the 19th century.
Today, many go straight to the opiates.
Does Ms. Conway mean that Trump does something in the kitchen?
Somehow, my imagination is too small to imagine Trump re-heating leftovers in the microwave while he chats with the Kremlin.
Scenario for 45: "Donald Trump threw out that cold disaster you call food. Get me some real food, now."
In the US, 2016 set record highs for the corn, wheat, and soybean harvests.
45, when he feels attacked, follows Roy Cohn's teaching and attacks back, harder.
Nobody much cared about Schumer having doughnuts with Kislyak.
Therefore he had to blitzkrieg by dropping a big bomb of a claim. It is apparent that he doesn't care where the claim originates, who said it, or whether there is any evidence.
Evidence is irrelevant to Trump. Somebody said it, he believes it, and that's all the evidence he needs. Say it loud, say it often, and propaganda and delusion are REAL.
I pray that the his football of nuclear codes are all fake.
Thanks for the article.
I wonder what sedative created the veneer of a semi-civilized style. The crackpot malevolent substance was contradicted by nothing that he said.
Lovely-exquisite details.
From that photo, the Palestinians did well making the desert bloom. Nice plantings in the foreground.
The BBC was on the verboten press list, too.
And the BBC is owned by the British government.
Will the British have to "postpone" his visit now?
And homeland security is definitely at war with Muslims.
Read about the interrogation of the son of the late Muhammad Ali when he returned from Jamaica with his mom.
link to theglobeandmail.com
I'm thinking that American greatness has become double-speak for American narcissism, which is true for Trump and Brooks. I don't think that Brooks caused Trump; but both come from a current/torrent of thought that refuses to admit America's screw-ups. Case in point from the article above is when Brooks is cited as writing of the humiliations of Iraq as an American humiliation, missing the humiliation and horrors Iraqis live with.
We made a mess of Iraqi society, plus killing and torturing Iraqis-see Abu Ghraib. And it's because of politicians like Cheney and Bush who insisted on dictating "alternate facts" to the intelligence services.
Until America goes through some kind of truth and reconciliation process, we'll have the thoughtful Brooks buying into an idea of American greatness much like Trump's.
Question: What evidence is there for the 97% figure?
Look at the US: It's a tricky question to figure out in the US; but 12% of US residents move in a year, looking at a variety of Census and other figures from an internet search. For demographics from 2010-2015, this Bloomberg article was interesting: link to origin-www.bloombergview.com
The article concludes, "There's also been a long decline in the percentage of U.S. residents who move each year. "Overall, it appears, not nearly enough Americans are moving to opportunity."
I agree, we should do whatever we can to help other countries to be as free and prosperous as possible. For example, don't take their oil.
Yet many of the best, brightest and most creative want to move, not stay where they were born. For example, take the Paris art world of the late 19th century. Pissaro, from a Danish W. Indies colony, Mary Cassatt from the US, Alfred Sisley, and later Van Gogh, etc. defined homeland as other than soil. Homeland was a community, in a place, where they can do the best in their calling in life.
Similarly, the best and brightest in the cyber world are in Silicon Valley, or other such communities on the West Coast. Home is not earth and soil, except, perhaps, for farmers and peoples who daily work and care for land and waters.
The United States has been peoples in motion from the start; else only the 13 colonies would have been populated.
Also, many Christians would say that heaven is their true home.
The English language is fortunate that it distinguishes between house and home, because that helps the understanding that a place and a home aren't always the same.
To say that moving within the US is to stay in our "homeland" isn't so. Moving from Chicago to eastern Iowa, as I did once, was a big cultural change.
Finally, the only peoples that can call North America homeland are Indians and Inuit. The rest of us are hyphenated Americans.
I
Has this malevolent right Israeli government spoken of its need for "lebensraum"?
They're ghettoizing and malnourishing the population of Gaza and stealing the West Bank. Walls make ghettos.
Sometimes I think this is a microcosm of a world where right-wing fascists have run amok, with their eyes on a ghastly prize. The new, global gulag archipelago is growing with outposts from Gaza, Nauru, Myanmar, Syria, ICE prisons in the US, and the list burgeons.
There is a lot of evidence and small doubts of Russian hacking and spying. The question is, where it happened, besides the DNC, and how much interference was there?
For example, December 29, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI released a joint report on “Russian malicious cyber activity.”
In the Senate, Armed Services cyber subcommittee is investigating that evidence and other issues of cyber defense.
You may choose to linger among the doubts.
To resolve the doubts, let us all join together, calling for an investigation like the 9/11 commission, in order to gather more data & information. That is necessary for a fact-based assessment of what was going on in the election and what is happening in the present, here and around the globe.
Gorgeous. I also hope you'll continue showing art, and historic photographs, another art form.
Where's Homeland Security?
Perhaps, like Brownie, they're doing a heckuva job on issues like infrastructure and flooding.
Interesting to compare Marbury vs. Madison (1803 case, decent summary on Wikipedia) with the claims trumpeting Presidential power that come from Miller and the ever-changing White House cast of characters.
Quotation from Justice Marshall on the case:
"The Government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right."
Summary of Stevie's interview: "Bow to your new overlords! There is 1 president, the huge one, and only his words are the True Constitution."
So, is he just a cynic who thinks himself above the law, and/or a malevolent supremacist seeking some sort of "racial holy war" while profiting from a Russian connection?
Conspiracy theories seem essential to apocalyptic lunacy.
Reread the article, and see that it says "If it is true that Obama was reluctant..." The statement is about decision-making for 1 raid. Therefore, the leap to a generalization that is not in the article, "Obama is a good killer and Trump is a bad killer", is not grounded in this article. One specific is less than a straw upon which to make a sweeping and unfounded generalization. And the generalization comes from the commentator, not the text of the article.
The article is an analysis of the implications of 1 failed raid, with uncertainties duly noted. It is informed commentary, not a news report, fake or otherwise.
Trump is so far gone that no one could tell the "real" president from the president tripping on LSD.
Cognitive dementia sounds on-target. His father did have Alzheimer's disease, plus he's 70, so genetics and age put him at risk. And he said the sun came out at his inauguration!? Funny everybody out there got wet from the rain. link to time.com
And Steve Bannon looks like an alcoholic-puffy face, facial reddening, probably from broken capillaries, & bloodshot eyes visible in many photos.
An alcoholic with anger management advising a narcissist too deluded to know the difference between rain and sunshine.
Time for the 25th Amendment-except we need a real cabinet for that.
Taking=Stealing
Jailtime in the face of demagoguery is to be expected.
Consider contemporary twists: how to pay the obscene fines and the lawyers' fees? With these laws, it's a "rite of passage" that leads to debt, at best, poverty, and an indefinite stay in a private, for-profit jail. I foresee new American concentration camps for impoverished protesters.
Excellent article.
I'd change only one thing- my title would be "...translated from the original Russian."
Get over it? I'll get over it as fast as Trump got over his birther fantasy, 2011-Sept. 2016. Also, gerrymandering and laws that cheat legitimate American voters and their elections are fact, according to the American law system. I agree with you, that the Dems and progressives need to get together, and take an honest look in the mirror. I'll get over it when the lies stop.
Don't worry so, this criticism is freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
If you want to see nasty, check out Glenn Beck and Fox re President Obama.
And Russia is not mentioned in Professor Cole's essay. Again, don't worry, Russia is a big country that can take care of itself.
Political rallies and press conferences are 2 different things.
The difference should be obvious to anyone familiar with democratic government.
To criticize Trump for being unable to survive an hour by himself with reporters is an affirmation of the freedom of the press.
And what's with the RT example? Do you mean the Russian government financed agency, Russia Today?
If you google "solar power calculator" there are a number of online tools that calculate your savings. Google itself has one. To verify the calculators, I suggest using 3 or 4 and comparing results.
Yes, thanks for bringing this issue forward. I'm wondering-what is the relationship between high latitude soil microbes creating CO2 discharge, and permafrost melt that results in CO2 and methane release? link to wunderground.com
1 suggestion for military leadership: Take physical fitness out of the generals' merit evaluations. Too many mediocrities game the military by becoming fitness buffs to game the ratings.
Better to be led by a cigar-smoking U.S. Grant than an average leader who exercises every day.
That is, unless the generals' job descriptions include the duties of enlisted combat infantry.
The arsenal of thug-ocracies.
Bannon should simplify his statement to "Anger is a good thing if you're the right White."
Sad to say, none of this surprises me.
One phrase that I wish was clearer, "...the post-2011 threat to present-day Western states and their constituent corporations..," Does this mean that corporations are constituents of government, as I, a voter, am a constituent of a legislator? Or is the meaning more that the corporations constitute, make up the government?
I keep wondering, what would DT have to do in order to have his faithful leave him? Lying is not enough. Racism hasn't chased away true believers.
Even if he was proved to be a rapist, probably no effect on DT supporters-the proof would be evidence of conspiracy.
Suppose that he was videotaped murdering someone? Would that be enough? Or would this hypothetical murder be called self-defense?
Sigh. I can't figure out what the moral standards of DT supporters are. He's Dirty Harry and can do no wrong.
This event probably has its roots in Texas public school biology textbooks & curricula. Creationism is taught as "scientific creationism." Darwin and evolution are being erased from schools.
See the National Council for Science Education's web page,
link to ncse.com
Maybe the students believe that Africans have the mark of Cain, or are descended from Noah's bad son Ham. Those were very popular justifications of slavery.
I want to know in what shape the dam is. Would Daesh blow it up when they conclude Mosul is a lost cause?
Also, the Ottoman Turks of the 19th and early 20th century had fallen far from the far more tolerant glory days of Suleiman. The late Ottoman empire was no model of tolerance.
They commited genocide on the Armenians.
Yes, I'm well aware of Erdogan's and the Turkish state's denial of genocide. I'd trust Orhan Pamuk's historical perspective and not the pan-Turkic "Red Apple."
"English" is a misnomer for a language of this green and pleasant land, it comes from the Angles, a refugee Germanic tribe, who then uprooted a language full of immigrant words from the Romans. Why use words of Latin origin, a bloodthirsty bunch of warriors who had to borrow most of their culture from the Greeks?
So, I say, we must recover the language of Boudica. Let the Scots return to pure Pict language, the Welsh speak Welsh, each to their own true root, and get rid of all these immigrant influences.
And fie on Beowulf! He came from the south of Sweden, and the story takes place in Europe, a place called the land of the Danes, which many think is modern Frisia, now partly German and partly Dutch lands. Beowulf is an epic from alien invaders. Give that legend of blood and monsters back.
[This being the internet, I suppose that I must write that the above is satire.]
Hatred is the new opiate of the white people in the US.
Trump is like an evil Homer Simpson tripping on acid.
He's riveting and repulsive, a horror movie in real life, Watching him is like watching a bloody car crash.
If he was consistent, Trump would allow law-abiding people carrying guns to come to his rallies.
If you follow his principles, his rallies ought to be places where his supporters with guns get to "empower law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves." (Phrase quoted from DT's campaign website)
The media can do reporting with drones, or wear Kevlar and bring their own law-abiding gun carrying guards.
It's surprising that he isn't packing heat as he speaks.
At first, I thought this almost humorous-the French police enforcing a fashion law. Fashionista fascists, anyone?
One stereotype of the French is reinforced: The French are fashion-obsessed.
Laws against the Burkini also bring another French stereotype to life, the stereotype that French men are sex-obsessed. That is the conclusion I draw from a law that women have to be almost unclothed at the beach.
It's reminiscent of the US silliness that led to "Freedom Fries." Which reinforced an American stereotype, that we obsess on fast food.
The world according to the Donald:
Islam is the new axis of evil, and the Mexicans are their allies.
And the Chinese...he doesn't know.
Trump speaks in incomplete sentences, and uses vague language. Often there is no way to definitively say what he meant because he throws together a salad of phrases and innuendo.
And that makes it difficult, at best, to say what he means. So the listener creates meaning that fits his/her worldview. No one can prove that he meant either gun violence or on the other hand, political force from "2nd amendment people."
The man is too incoherent. Go back to the virtue of a traditional education and try and parse his sentences!
Therefore, I disagree with anyone who says that it's outrageous to claim otherwise. In this case, he ended the infamous 2nd amendment bit by saying "I don't know."
"I don't know", he says, and we can't pin down what he means. Is "I don't know" true, a rhetorical device, or a bunch of weasel words to wiggle out of responsibility?
He has repeatedly had to backtrack, and, worse, sometimes not backtracking by sticking to vicious words- e.g. mocking a Gold Star mother and mocking a disabled reporter.
I've met 2 violent criminals that used the same tactics.
Just because you can't prove something is threatening does not mean that it's okay.
He is threatening. That is the effect of his words.
Parallel example: A stalker can say, "You better watch out", and then claim it's because Santa Claus is coming to town.
You can argue semantics. You can say he didn't mean it.
Or it was sarcasm.
The Secret Service doesn't mess around with that.
They know a threat.
They have lots of practice.
Thanks for this thoughtful piece on our horrorshow circus-election, and, most of all, for keeping the biggest horror, global heating.
in antiquity, the Romans,, at least had bread with their circuses.
Right now, I think it defies understanding. I wish Hunter Thompson was here to chronicle what is happening, this circus playing while the planet burns. Fear and loathing-how better to describe this election circus? Plus, I feel as though I'm hallucinating when I read the news.
There was wind enough for turbines in Iowa. For example, check July 21, an oppressively hot day in Iowa during the heat wave. Wunderground weather history shows wind speeds suitable for turbines in Des Moines and Mason City.
The same for the above cities on July 20th.
Check the data-it does not support your assertion for Iowa, subject of this article.
For those interested in molten solar, I suggest the article from IEEE, link to spectrum.ieee.org (Please wiki IEEE if you are unfamiliar with this standard-setting group of engineers.)
There are other informative articles to be found with a search engine, using the terms "Solar + molten salt."
The Tesla model 3 will sell for about ~$35,000. Fiat electrics, before rebates, are around $30,000.
Their main problem for electrics is charging infrastructure in urban areas. The Tesla superchargers take less than an hour.
Regarding the Tesla 3 & infrastructure for electrics, I suggest an article from MIT's "Technology Review ", link to technologyreview.com
Something I thought I'd never see: Netanyahu as deal-broker for anybody.
Did Russia and Turkey make a sub rosa alliance against the Kurds?
Russia won-except, how can anyone "win" in the desolation that afflicts Syria?
The Gray Lady is taking Fox lessons.
Is it better to twist and slant Sanders' news, or to censor him? Tough call.
Will Erdogan bring back the law against the "Kurdish" letters of the alphabet, that is X, W, and Q?
X, W, & Q were finally legal to use in Oct. 2013.
Looks like Erdogan has gone round the twist, and it's a scary twist when, last month, he used Hitler as an example of a powerful presidency.
And if Erdogan slips into megalomania, no telling what he will want to do. He is frightening.
Ethnic repression can lead to "ethnic cleansing", which equals genocide bowdlerized & spun.
How long before he incites a riot?
And I'm thinking of brown shirts, Germany, 1930s.
Censoring Sanders, is what this is.
Maybe this will give Sanders an edge-because by the end of the winter voters will be sick of seeing and hearing the other candidates who are all over the media. Overexposure might hurt them, and they'll jump the shark.
He's doing well without the corporate media. The lack of coverage makes him a breath of fresh air to a public sick of hype and re-hype ad nauseam.
Bombing civilians is terrorism. Doesn't matter whether it's a car bomb or an airplane bomb.
As all here agree, Erdogan certainly gave the command to shoot down Russian planes.
I wonder why he wanted that pipeline after seeing Russia's constrictor behavior with the Ukraine.
Money, probably, given an uncertain election; but after a resounding election victory, then he does not need Russian money to retain power. Or so he calculates.
And the West? They may fume, even threaten sanctions, but they can't do much, because of Incirlik.
Don't forget-Incirlik has tactical nuclear weapons.
The Turks remember Gallipoli, and they and the Russians have the Crimean War still vivid in their memories, too.
The Russians aren't confused.
Anybody opposed to Assad is their enemy.
Everyone opposed to Assad is ISIL or an ally of ISIL. Ally of ISIL=ISIL/Daesh
Definition of enemy in Syria: ISIL/Daesh.
A lot of fundamentalist Christians push Romans 13, which, in a nutshell, says Christians should obey the governing authorities because they are established by God.
So I hope she's busy reading Romans 13 in her cell.
Naturally, these folks want to establish a "Christian" sharia type government,.
Walker dropped out of Marquette University, not a junior college, He "decided" to leave, when he was a senior, after he lost the election to be student body president, which was a bitter campaign with allegations of dirty tricks.
It was alleged that he was booted for cheating in a class, but the professor who blogged about the cheating withdrew the post, so there is no evidence of Walker cheating in his classes, too.
Walker denies that Marquette U. forced him to leave.
Next, let's defend the US from birds flying in from Central America.
None of them have a wildlife import permit.
And stop the Monarch butterflies coming from Mexico!
In April, Turkey adopted a new national anthem, praising Erdogan as "Our Leader." In addition, the anthem contains references to the "red apple", a symbol of the mythical pan-Turkic homeland. This occasion, with Erdogan and a military band, was celebrated 2015 April 10, and there are videos in the dailyhurriyet.
I think Erdogan, the Leader, wants ethnic cleansing of the Kurds as a step towards the pan-Turkic empire.
"Our Leader" is a scary title, way too close to the title "der Fuhrer."
I agree with PP, though there is so much I do not know.
I would add that Turkey has, for more than century, pursued "ethnic cleansing" under the guise of Turkish nationalism. Ugh-this phrase makes genocide sound like doing the laundry.
So conservative nationalism can join with fanatic religiosity and Likud political tactics.
(Note: My definition of religious fanatic begins with someone who is willing to kill in the name of God.)
In addition:
The Alevi Muslim/Zaza-speaking Kurds are together with the Sunni Kurds. The PKK did a lot, beginning in 1974, to bring the 2 groups of Kurds together, which alarmed the Turkish government.
As Turkey has had a hostile relationship with the Syria ruled by the Alawite Muslim Assads, there has always been the fear that Alevi Kurds would ally themselves with the Alawite minority in Syria, even though Alawis beliefs and practices are different from Alevis. And Iran claims that both are branches of Shi'a-Ayatollah Khomeini claimed that the Alevis of Turkey were Shi'a.
So, we have Sunni semi-secular Turkey doing a token bombing of Daesh, and many bombings of the Kurds.
They, the Turks, are terrified of a Kurdistan on their border, more terrified of that than they are of Daesh. I suspect the bombing of Daesh was the Turkish idea of proportionate punishment for taking the war to the Turkish homeland. By bombing the Kurds, I suspect the message is, Turks have the same enemies as Daesh, and will be covertly on the side of Daesh, as long as Daesh does not cross the Turkish line.
With so many strands here, Alevi & Sunni Kurds, Shi'a Iran, Alawis in Syria, refugee-flooded Turkey getting hostile to the unwanted Syrians, the PKK, brutal Turkish practices past and present, and all the rest, there is no definitive clear understanding.
I, too, welcome information and analysis, from more-informed people. There is so much that is so dark.
The Turkish paper, the Hurriyet, is on-line in English, by the way.
Stasi would have been drooling for these tools.
Are Ferguson and Detroit the cities of a new apartheid nation?
True, right now DC takes many voltages.
If a US resident travels to Europe or other countries with different voltages, there are already inexpensive AC voltage converters.
Inside a computer, the wiring comes with 3.3 volts, 5 volts & 12 volts in the harness-all DC.
Standardization of voltage will cause some market chaos and design mess.
I have read of a few cloud centers converting to DC-all those servers devour electricity.
I have a USB charger with a different voltages-yes, I have to be careful. I assume some kind of sensor/controller of voltage would be necessary for mass use.
It is a possibility for the near future. And consider the jobs
that can be generated manufacturing a conversion technology-expensive up front, but look at wind power now.
And I already need a micro-amplifier for my '80s Technic turntable to connect to the sound system.
It can be done. A hybrid AC/DC delivery system is possible-wind power will require AC for delivery, still.
I'd sure love to use the DC power from our solar panels without the conversion.
And the NSA ought to embrace DC, for decentralization will make our power system safer from blackouts caused by terrorists or latter-day Enron trader schemes.
If we achieve the goal of decentralized power generation, then it would make sense to switch from AC to DC power. NYC was originally run on DC. Thomas Edison was intransigent on the subject.
Power losses over long distance transmission made AC cheaper for creating the Great Electric Grid.
Imagine-no more converters for our electronic devices & computers.
DC could be stored straight to battery, unlike alternating current.
Not needing so many converters could create an eventual decrease of resource gluttony.
I wonder what the savings would be
Opposing a strategy that the President of the nation opposes, too, is called freedom of speech.
Opposing strategies are the reason we have debates and elections.
What if the FBI investigated you for opposing the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights? What if they investigated you, asked questions of your employer in order to find out whether you were loyal to the Constitution?
I have a hunch that big fossil carbon producers are snooping nearly as much.
Watch Graham predict ISIS is end of world.
(e.g. "...the gates of hell will open...")
link to youtube.com
I wish they'd indict Cheney, and everyone, beginning with the top of the command chain, who are responsible for torture.
Add the responsible people from countries that have CIA black sites.
And while I'm dreaming, let's have an airlift of food, medicine and building materials with USAF escorts to Gaza.
I hear the pundits' next topic is: How women are to blame for rape; rapists are the real victims.
This is robbery, not vandalism.
I remember Israelis proclaiming, "Let the desert bloom."
Israelis destroyed 800,000 trees, de facto saying, "Let the desert grow. And the winds of drought are worse, because the trees are gone. The drought and growing desert can't tell Israeli trees from Palestinian trees. No wall will help.
The desert will grow.
Funny-I must go to the wrong church.
I never saw a corporation in the pews.
And none of them put any money in the offering.
Does Wal-mart have a soul?
All sides in the US, Tea Party-ites and moderates,like the President are living in a legendary universe.By legendary, I mean constructing a world view in which belief trumps facts and evidence. For example, the US is fighting an"axis of evil."
And now Washington wants to help the group it identifies as the good guys,ignoring strong evidence that their weapons will help the bad guys.
Belief has trumped the convoluted truths on the ground.