by Oui
Wed Aug 5th, 2020 at 09:15:43 AM EST
Divide and Conquer ... how de-colonialization and faction infighting destroyed a beautiful nation. Democracy never took hold and foreign interference led to total corruption.
The economic crisis, corona pandemic, lack of political leadership and now an apocalyptic explosion and obliteration of the port and neighbourhoods has put Lebanon on its knees.
More below the fold ...
by gmoke
Wed Aug 5th, 2020 at 03:20:14 AM EST
After the 2000 election of hanging chads and Bush v Gore and a totally non-precedential Presidential decision by the Supremes, I discovered that the Caltech/MIT Electronic Voting Project (https:/www.vote.caltech.edu) met sometime at MIT in Cambridge, MA where I live. So I went to a few of the open meetings.
It was an interesting process. Here were all these technical people not only computer people but also sociologists and user-interface psychologists and such looking at the very complicated way the USA registers people to vote, votes, and counts the votes. What I gathered then was that optical scanners with paper ballots are probably the most nearly accurate way to make sure that the votes are counted accurately and accountably. From what I gather now, it still is.
Millions of tax dollars have been spent on voting since 2000 but I tend to think it's at least as bad and probably worse all these 20 years later.
The Brennan Center Defend Our Elections Program (https:www.brennancenter.org/issues/defend-our-elections) is working on election defense and you can find out much more about the issues around election protection at the Fair Elections Center (https:www.fairelectionscenter.org)
In these days of COVID19, poll workers will be needed. Power the Polls (http://powerthepolls.org) and Work Elections (https:www.workelections.com) will point you in the right direction if you want to help out with the nuts and bolts of democracy.
In my neighborhood, Swing Left Boston is organizing voter protection in swing states (https:swingleftboston.org/sign-up-for-voter-protection-2) if you want to become a partisan poll watcher instead of a poll worker.
Vote, yes vote but make sure your vote is counted accurately, honestly, and verifiably. As the saying goes, "It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes."
by Oui
Tue Aug 4th, 2020 at 11:02:42 AM EST
A petulant Baby ...
More below the fold ...
by Oui
Mon Aug 3rd, 2020 at 01:18:39 PM EST
John Hume: Origin of a Derry Icon 1960-1974
Frontpaged - Frank Schnittger
More below the fold ...
by Oui
Sat Aug 1st, 2020 at 07:40:19 AM EST
Was never in doubt with Clinton voices more prevalent amongst delegates than Sanders'.
Palestinian-Americans sidelined during DNC platform debate | Mondoweiss |
According to a document shared with Mondoweiss, DNC delegates expressed their outrage at the exclusion of Palestinian-American voices from the platform drafting process while pro-Israel lobbyists openly bragged about their efforts to strip out language critical of Israel.
More below the fold ...
by Oui
Thu Jul 30th, 2020 at 02:05:46 PM EST
More below the fold ...
by Oui
Thu Jul 30th, 2020 at 12:48:47 PM EST
Only prior double digit GDP plunge was in 1958 when Chevy introduced the Impala ... memories as our family had arrived in America one year earlier.
America puts the economy first ... Europe puts the health of its people first... look at the strength of the Euro vs. the US dollar ...
More below the fold ...
by gmoke
Sun Jul 26th, 2020 at 12:19:45 AM EST
I've thought from the beginning that Trmp et alia are performing a Mafia bust-out on a national scale. Nothing is beneath them. It's all "Fck you, pay me," as this clip from "Goodfellas" points out.
https://youtu.be/WeK9e07Y65o
What's a bust out?
Definition: A forced bankruptcy of a person or an organization, usually through theft, fraud or extortion.
Source: http://mafiatrickster.tripod.com/kikai/mafiaslang.html
Once you get into business with a mobster, they take over. They exploit the business, run it into the ground, and then torch it for the insurance.
This is exactly what Trmp et alia are doing. Everything is a profit center, an opportunity to grift some graft, and wet the beak. It is why I would not be at all surprised to find out, someday down the road, that Trmp et alia were getting kickbacks on PPE and anything else that can put a buck in their pockets.
by Oui
Sat Jul 25th, 2020 at 08:44:40 AM EST
Calling the kettle black ... say hallo to the new Cold War vs. the Communist Party of China. Someone needs to call ping-pong diplomacy of war criminal Henry Kissinger in the Nixon years a GRAVE ERROR!!
Pompeo calls on nations to 'induce' change on 'Frankenstein' China
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took fresh aim at China on Thursday and said Washington and its allies must use "more creative and assertive ways" to press the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways, calling it the "mission of our time."
Speaking at the Nixon Library in President Richard Nixon's birthplace in Yorba Linda, California, Pompeo said the former US leader's worry about what he had done by opening the world to China's Communist Party in the 1970s had been prophetic.
"President Nixon once said he feared he had created a 'Frankenstein' by opening the world to the CCP," Pompeo said. "And here we are."
Nixon, who died in 1994 and was president from 1969-74, opened the way for the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with Communist China in 1979 through a series of contacts, including a visit to Beijing in 1972.
Pompeo delivered this speech after Washington's surprise order this week for China to close its Houston consulate.
Henry Kissinger is of course the darling of Democrats on their foreign policy joined by Albright, Brzezinski, Mrs. Clinton and Barack Obama.
More below the fold ...
by Frank Schnittger
Fri Jul 24th, 2020 at 09:46:56 AM EST
In Ireland we are used to insulting, malevolent, and utterly ignorant commentaries on our affairs in the British tabloids in particular, but also in "respectable" broadsheets like the Telegraph, and supposedly sophisticated magazines like the Spectator.
"Lttle Leo" was portrayed as the EU's Lapdog doing their bidding at the behest of Macron or whoever was the EU bully-du-jour. He was running scared of Sinn Féin and adopting their policies. He was regularly told to shut up and stop interfering as Great Britain went about its Great Brexit business.
In the past week two articles in the British media have offered a startlingly different perspective. The Editorial in the Guardian "an enviable beauty is born", was the less surprising. The Guardian is often more sympathetic to Irish (and Remainer) views, and even features Irish Times columnist, Fintan O'Toole, on occasion to offer an Irish perspective.
But if anything, it was the Economist which was the more gushing this week:
by Oui
Thu Jul 23rd, 2020 at 07:19:45 PM EST
Meet Jason Stanley - Yale U. Philosophy ... I listened a few minutes to Prof. Stanley putting today's politics and Trump into historical context. An intelligent view of Washington DC and We The People ... shredding the US Constitution.
More below the fold ...
by Frank Schnittger
Thu Jul 23rd, 2020 at 08:27:55 AM EST
For a prestigious UK magazine, the Spectator does print some rubbishy articles, easily debunked. Unfortunately this one by Matthew Lynn, Europe's coronavirus rescue fund is dead on arrival," has now disappeared behind a paywall on the Spectator's main site but is still available in their US Edition (linked to above).
This is my riposte published in the Irish Times (second letter down). It begins by praising an Irish Times article, as this is the best way to get a letter published!
by gmoke
Mon Jul 20th, 2020 at 07:56:11 PM EST
I've been publishing a free weekly listing of Energy (and Other) Events around Cambridge, MA for more than a decade as a listserv and a webpage (http://hubevents.blogspot.com). It covers public events in the community and in the local universities. I generally look at Harvard, MIT, BU, Northeastern, and Tufts, all of which have events to which the public is invited although they rarely know it. Since, in these days of quarantine, everything has migrated online, I've been finding online events from far beyond the Boston/Cambridge area.
These following events in the next week should give anyone a good idea of what the response to climate is among those Republicans and conservatiives who admit that climate change is happening. There might be some opportunities for agreement. Or not.
Still, it's good to know what the opposition (loyal or not) is thinking.
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Technology, Markets and Bipartisanship: The Future of Climate Action
Tuesday, July 21
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https:/www.eventbrite.com/e/technology-markets-and-bipartisanship-the-future-of-climate-action-tick
ets-113039279528
Benji Backer, president of the American Conservation Coalition.
We're living in a partisan times, but climate change won't wait for the next election cycle. More and more young people are looking beyond traditional political boundaries for solutions to the environmental challenges facing us all. These solutions must reach across industries, parties and ideological divides to achieve meaningful change.
Join us Tuesday, July 21, at noon CDT for a special lunchtime conversation with Benji Backer, president of the American Conservation Coalition. Benji will talk about his politically conservative approach to environmental activism and introduce the American Climate Contract, a nonpartisan, holistic set of commitments to solve the climate crisis.
Title: "American Climate Contract: Environmental Action Beyond Partisan Politics"
Location: Zoom link to be provided to registrants
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CRES Forum Event: How do conservatives plan to tackle climate change?
Thursday, July 23
Noon - 1.00 PM (EDT)
Online
RSVP at https:www.eventbrite.com/e/cres-forum-event-how-do-conservatives-plan-to-tackle-climate-change-tic
kets-113112173556
Join CRES Forum for a discussion of immediate opportunities and actionable policies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It has been a busy year for climate policy. At the start of 2020 the first batch of Republican climate bills were introduced in the House. We have seen growing support for energy innovation, energy infrastructure and clean energy jobs as critical to America's economic recovery. Last month, we saw the introduction of the bipartisan bicameral Growing Climate Solutions Act. But, most recently, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis released the Democratic Majority's staff report, which drew criticism for a lack of bipartisanship.
Join CRES Forum for a discussion of immediate opportunities and actionable policies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Opening Remarks:
Dave Banks | Chief Strategist for the Minority, House Select Committee on Climate Change
Panel:
Christopher Guith | Senior Vice President, US Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Institute
Devin Hartman | Director of Energy and Environmental Policy, R Street Institute
Mary Beth Tung | Director, Maryland Energy Administration
MODERATOR: Charles Hernick | Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, CRES Forum
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Putting Principles First: Climate Change & Environmental Policy
Thursday, July 23
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https:www.eventbrite.com/e/putting-principles-first-climate-change-environmental-policy-tickets-11
3589152212
Join us for a discussion with former Congressman Bob Inglis (R-SC) of republicEn about a principled approach to climate change.
We are delighted to welcome former Congressman Bob Inglis (R-SC) of republicEn for a Principles First discussion about new approaches to combating climate change and protecting our environment. We will hear from Mr. Inglis, engage in an open dialogue, and then reserve 30 minutes at the end of the meeting for other Principles First updates and topics.
The gathering will be hosted over Zoom and video conference details will be sent to all registrants prior to the event.
As always, all are welcome to join us.
About Bob Inglis
Bob Inglis launched the Energy and Enterprise Initiative ("E&EI") at George Mason University in July 2012 and serves as executive director, where he promotes free enterprise action on climate change.
For his work on climate change Inglis was given the 2015 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. He appears in the film Merchants of Doubt and in the Showtime series YEARS of Living Dangerously, and he's spoken at TEDxBeacon Street and at TEDxJacksonville.
Inglis was a Resident Fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics in 2011, a Visiting Energy Fellow at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment in 2012, and a Resident Fellow at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics in 2014.
Bob was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1992, having never run for office before. He represented Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, from 1993-1998. In 2004, he was re-elected to Congress and served until losing re-election in the South Carolina Republican primary of 2010.
Editorial Comment: I enjoy the fact that the Right tends to believe they are the only ones with principles, however defined.
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Tom Friedman: The "Trump Effect" on Foreign and Climate Policy
Wednesday, July 29
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT
Online
RSVP at https:/www.eventbrite.com/e/tom-friedman-the-trump-effect-on-foreign-and-climate-policy-tickets-109
832377598
Tom Friedman will share his thoughts and engage in dialogue on Trump and how they have impacted the world politic and climate change.
Tom Friedman is an American political commentator and best-selling author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues.
Editorial Comment: I include Tom Friedman because he may not be of the Right but he certainly has been someone who has supported Rightwing positions.
by Oui
Sun Jul 19th, 2020 at 12:06:53 PM EST
After Brexit and the election of Boris Johnson, it's Conservative Dutch Prime Minister to do Donald Trump a favor ...
'Frugal four' seek smaller aid package
The size of the recovery package has been the biggest bone of contention as the Netherlands, along with Austria, Denmark, Sweden — the so-called "Frugal Four" — as well as Finland have put their weight behind a smaller fund and smaller portion of grants.
They demanded that any loans or grants should be accompanied by strict conditions to ensure the countries that are under heavy debt carry out labor market reform.
Germany and France have been pushing for an ambitious package of loans and subsidies to member states, and have repeatedly appealed for a compromise.
Hungary's Orban: 'The Dutchman' Is Responsible for EU Summit Disarray
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Sunday that Dutch leader Mark Rutte was responsible for the deadlock at a European Union summit, where leaders were set to haggle for a third day over a vast stimulus plan for their coronavirus-hit economies.
More below the fold ...
Frontpaged - Frank Schnittger
by Frank Schnittger
Sat Jul 18th, 2020 at 12:46:55 PM EST
Text below, in case the above image doesn't render properly...
by Oui
Fri Jul 17th, 2020 at 07:10:15 PM EST
The Syrian volunteers were paid a $150 monthly salary...
More below the fold ...
by Oui
Thu Jul 16th, 2020 at 07:23:22 AM EST
Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out ...
More below the fold ...
by Bernard
Wed Jul 15th, 2020 at 08:40:31 PM EST
As the French farmers say: It's only once the cattle fair is over that you can count the cow pies.
After three years of Macron presidency, the municipal elections were seen as a sign of where the French people stand vis a vis the main political parties, and, of course, would these local elections point to any trend for the future presidential and legislative elections scheduled the spring of 2022. Especially after a long story of protests against the Macon-led neo-lib agenda: first, the "gilets jaunes" Winter of Discontent, then the 2019 protests and strikes against the retirement reforms; finally, in the wake of the global movement spurred by the killing of George Floyd, a general protest against police brutality and an endemic everyday racism.
Frontpaged with minor edit - Frank Schnittger
by Oui
Sun Jul 12th, 2020 at 09:49:41 AM EST
In January 2017 I reported my gut feeling on the "explosive" Steele Dossier paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign. My analysis and remarks did not fit well in the narrative pushed forward @BooMan's Place ... the #CancelMob did the rest to force me out.
This Court ruling you won't find in the headlines of the Western propaganda press parroting the briefings @Washington DC and @UK Conservative press conferences at Downing Street #10.
More below the fold ...
by Oui
Sat Jul 11th, 2020 at 06:05:58 AM EST
[Update-1] Title change “Planet Earth and People” (old)
The Dream...
Republican party delivered Donald Trump ...
More below the fold ...
