The FBI responds to the Nunes memo

Today the FBI released a statement that said the memo had "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." The full statement on this partisan paranoid propaganda is at the link.

Dump is not postmodern; he's just a liar

Great article on those claiming that Dump is the epitome of postmodernism (pomo), the latter supposedly being the denial of objective truth. It examines the myths created about pomo and the fact that pomo is indeed concerned with and defends the truth. Dump is just a liar and not in the least postmodern.

The real State of the Union

Colbert saw it differently and more accurately.

Michael Weatherly's response to the State of the Union

As a fan of his show Bull, and NCIS, both of which were preempted last night for the bull Dump tortured us with, I wholeheartedly appreciate and support this response.

Colbert on the State of the Union

Thanks for making me laugh at this travesty of a Presidunce.

8 kinds of American f__k

As expounded by the Vietnamese woman in the moving Downsizing. It was the best and funniest part of an otherwise mediocre movie.

Sanders responds to the State of the Union

It starts at 0:55. He addressed Dump's lies, omissions and broken promises and then corrects them with the facts. Then he adds a progressive vision of what we should work toward, a vision shared and supported by the majority of Americans, a vision very different than what we're getting now with the oligarchs in charge and Dump the willing stooge at the helm.

 

New movie: Mary Magdalene

The story of Jesus told by Mary, played by Roony Mara. Joaquin Phoenix plays Jesus.

Fact checking the State of the Union lies

For those who think facts are fake news, read no further. For the rest of us with a functioning brain, see the fact check. For example:

The recent tax cut is not the biggest in history: It is the 4th largest since 1940, and 7th largest in percentage of GDP. Wages did not go up: Whatever gains were made in the first few quarters were wiped out in the last quarter so they remained stagnant. The tax cuts do not provide 'tremendous' relief for the middle class and small business: The majority of the cuts go to big corporations and the wealthy, and what cuts the middle class did get will go away when the cuts expire. And the immigrant Visa lottery does not just hand them out with no requirements; they must meet education and work requirements, and must be vetted before coming here. See the link for more.

Democracy Index 2017

The US stays in 21st place and remains a flawed democracy. Dump is contributing to increasing polarization and hence the US score declining in social cohesion. The US scored lower in functioning government due in part to partisan gerrymandering. Progressives and regressives are polarized on several issues: Dems favor immigration, Repugs not so much; Pros favor environmental protection, Repugs not at all (20).

US income inequality is worsening, and worse than any other rich country. And it will only get worse given the 2017 tax scam, given most of the benefits to corporations and the rich. This is heightened by the repeal of the mandate provision of Obamacare, leaving 13 million more people uninsured (21).

However the word 'polarized' is not aptly descriptive, for it suggests the fault is equally on both sides. Per above, one side is clearly right and the other wrong. Diverse immigration is what has made America great, so a Repug hatred of immigrants is on the wrong side of history. Same with environmental protection. It's a testament to the ideals of democracy, and returning the US to a full democracy, that progressives must indeed fight like hell against the oligarchs that have taken over our country. That is not polarization; that is democracy.

Schiff on Nunes' obvious partisan witch hunt

Schiff gives some historical context to Nunes previous partisan fiascoes and then how his latest memo is just more of the same Blight House fellatio. Also how the Repugnantans claim releasing the memo is in the name of transparency, yet refuse to allow the Dems to release their memo obviously in the name of partisan secrecy.

How FISA works and the fake Nunes memo

Good discussion of how the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) works, what it takes to get a warrant, and how Nunes and company are falsely twisting it into a pretzel to claim FBI corruption. They also discuss 10 irrefutable facts showing progress in the Russian collusion investigation proving Dump's claims that there was no collusion to be the fake news.

Maddow on Dump's Russian collusion and obstruction of justice

And how Repugnantans are colluding with it through the latest Nunes memo. Very detailed, accurate, factual analysis of what's really going on. The Nunes memo criticizes the Justice Dept. for only using the Steele (pee pee) memo in obtaining a FISA warrant for surveillance of Carter Page, claiming the Steele memo has been debunked. But as Maddow lays out in detail, the Justice Dept. used a lot of other evidence in petitioning for the FISA warrant, something not revealed in the Nunes memo. It's all a ploy to fire Rosenstein who is in charge of the Russia investigation in order to install a Dump lackey in that position and stop that investigation, yet another in the many layers of obstruction of justice.

Colbert on Dump wanting to fire Mueller

And Faux News and Repugnantan attempts to cover it up.

Sanders on Dump's State of the Union

Actually the Dump will lie through his fake teeth about how he's helped American workers. And uninformed, ignorant Dumpsters will believe him when he says "believe me." Not just sad but dangerous.

The real pro-life movement

From a real Christian.

>750 US communities built their own broadband

This article provides the details. We need most every community to do this and tell the ISP oligopoly to go to hell. Of course, we have to elect representatives in those States that forbid it, and those States are run by ISP-paid Repugnantans (and some corporate Dimocraps). If we want a free and open internet we need community based broadband networks owned by we the people.

A choice for spending our tax money

The choice tells us a lot about who is running our government. Perhaps we can make better choices in the upcoming elections?

Death and the self

Jay Garfield is one of the authors of this article. The abstract follows:

"It is an old philosophical idea that if the future self is literally different from the current self, one should be less concerned with the death of the future self (Parfit, 1984). This paper examines the relation between attitudes about death and the self among Hindus, Westerners, and three Buddhist populations (Lay Tibetan, Lay Bhutanese, and monastic Tibetans). Compared with other groups, monastic Tibetans gave particularly strong denials of the continuity of self, across several measures. We predicted that the denial of self would be associated with a lower fear of death and greater generosity toward others. To our surprise, we found the opposite. Monastic Tibetan Buddhists showed significantly greater fear of death than any other group. The monastics were also less generous than any other group about the prospect of giving up a slightly longer life in order to extend the life of another."

Repugnantans vote to release the Nunes memo

And they voted to block the Democrats from releasing their own memo correcting the errors and spin created by Nunes, a partisan hack that had to recuse himself from the Russia investigation in the first place. This is a clear attack on the Mueller investigation to provide cover for the traitor Dump and his crime family. See the link for more details on this disgusting farce and collusion with obstruction of justice.

The Dimocrapic Bailout Caucus

These 11 Dimocrapic and 1 Independent Senate traitors are supporting legislation to further destroy consumer and financial protections. Senator Warren said: "This bill increases the risk of another taxpayer bailout, and I will continue to challenge supporters of this bill—from both parties—to explain why they stand on the side of big banks instead of working families." Remember to primary them if they are up for reelection this year. The list of traitors: 

How Repugnantans rig elections

Dump was right about one thing; elections are rigged. This Rolling Stone expose shows that they gerrymander, use voter ID laws, get dark money from the likes of the Koch brothers, purge voter rolls, hack and misreport vote counts, reduce polling sites and hours and more. See the link for details. Given the poll numbers on the issues they know that they would lose every time so their only recourse is to lie, cheat and steal. And they do are are quite good at it. So much for ethics and morals, Christian or otherwise.

Our cartoon President: Showtime series premier

The blurb follows, with the entire series premier in the video.

"State of the Union. The President tries to revive his low approval ratings by delivering the greatest State of the Union speech in history and to strengthen his relationship with First Lady Melania by naming her the national bird. Executive Producer Stephen Colbert."

Repugnantans collude with Dump to undermine the FBI

Morning Joe discusses the Nunes memo, which purports to reveal FBI corruption. That memo was written by Nunes and Gowdy cherry picking intel received from the Justice Dept. while ignoring the entire context of other intel. And the Repugnantas that read the memo did not read the underlying intel upon which this biased memo was based and then manipulated. As noted in the clip below: "It's all about treating the Justice Department as an extension of the Dump Tower security force." That is, fascism in a nutshell.

SNL on the delicacy of sexual misconduct discussion

They lampoon how we can no longer have a reasonable discussion of the topic, since if a man says anything about fair dealing they are immediately taken as defending sexual impropriety. It takes about 20 seconds before they broach it.

Corden: Fire and Fury spoken word edition

Last night at the Grammys Corden did the skit below, taking auditions for a new audio book of the popular Fire and Fury. Cardi B was my favorite. You might enjoy who won the audition.

Trish Nowland on Jordan Peterson

I've copied below some of her Facebook posts from her thread on the topic:

"I've responded to a few Peterson admirers now that although he seems to rely a lot on some biological determinism in his claims regarding hierarchies, there is no biological basis on which his analysis that makes use of personality factors can be founded.

Those personality factors are only derived from correlational analyses of frequencies of peoples endorsements of linguistically constructed items (quite postmodern!), they have no foundation beyond this.

Folks who respond to me tell me that Peterson's research has scientific respectability.

I am curious where this respectability comes from, if it is not available in the well-foundedness, of the constructs.

Does social agreement constitute scientific respectability? What meaning can something like fallibility have in that context?

My whole doctorate centres on questions of whether there is anything like a biological basis for something like the personality factors that make up the big 5. I can appreciate all the applications of the Big 5 you have set out here - it doesn't answer whether there is a biological basis to them.

For the conferences that I have been to in the last few years, I'd say that the understanding that is no direct biological basis for the Big 5 is relatively well-accepted in the research community. There are always (for good reasons) gaps between what is accepted in research, and what is accepted in general community. But as an academic (?) I'd expect Peterson to be up on the research. Personality factors such as the Big 5 can only be reifications based on frequency of endorsement correlations of items, which may not be well specified, for what exactly, the item is meant to evaluate (I dare not use the word measure, there). What the factors evidence is something perhaps of the structure of language, and shared meanings as evidenced in language, much more so than anything intrinsic to men, women, or any one human (except perhaps, the original researcher who came up with the item, although we never require that researcher to justify the item construction).

Philip K. Dick and fake news

This article argues that it is Dick, not Orwell and Huxley, who was the most accurate predictor of today's world that blurs of reality and unreality, real and fake news. It's a key reason I've been a Dickhead from way back. A Dick quote from the article:

"The two basic topics which fascinate me are 'What is reality?' and 'What constitutes the authentic human being?' Over the twenty-seven years in which I have published novels and stories I have investigated these two interrelated topics over and over again.  [...] The bombardment of pseudo-realities begins to produce inauthentic humans very quickly, spurious humans—as fake as the data pressing at them from all sides. My two topics are really one topic; they unite at this point. Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we wind up with fake humans inventing fake realities and then peddling them to other fake humans."

Dancing or fitness sport?

The title of a recent article in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience. Parts of the abstract:

"Age-related degenerations in brain structure are associated with balance disturbances and cognitive impairment. However, neuroplasticity is known to be preserved throughout lifespan and physical training studies with seniors could reveal volume increases in the hippocampus (HC), a region crucial for memory consolidation, learning and navigation in space, which were related to improvements in aerobic fitness. Moreover, a positive correlation between left HC volume and balance performance was observed. Dancing seems a promising intervention for both improving balance and brain structure in the elderly. It combines aerobic fitness, sensorimotor skills and cognitive demands while at the same time the risk of injuries is low. Hence, the present investigation compared the effects of an 18-month dancing intervention and traditional health fitness training on volumes of hippocampal subfields and balance abilities.  [...] Both groups revealed hippocampal volume increases mainly in the left HC (CA1, CA2, subiculum). The dancers showed additional increases in the left dentate gyrus and the right subiculum. Moreover, only the dancers achieved a significant increase in the balance composite score. Hence, dancing constitutes a promising candidate in counteracting the age-related decline in physical and mental abilities."

Attendance at the women's marches

According to this analysis, there was a total of about 4.2 million at the combined US marches. Unlike Dump's inflated, egoic fake stats, this was considered the largest demonstration in US history. We the people are fighting back and we are winning.

Lakoff on Dump's State of the Union farce

Dump will of course take credit for things he had nothing to do with. And he'll spin a rosy picture of how well the economy is doing. But in this article Lakoff faces the reality that the Dumpster is quickly decimating democracy and adding to the already problematic oligarchy. To wit as one example, the tax scam that transfers wealth upward. It also transfers power upward so that only those at the top have any say in creating policy that further benefits the 1% and our expense. Dump is also destroying environmental and human protections while supporting racism and xenophobia.

The good news you won't hear about in the SOL is the Mueller is closing in on Russian collusion, obstruction of justice and money laundering. Also good news that we the people are getting organized and fighting back, like the recent Women's march, the Indivisible movement and several others. Many of us are not fooled by Dump's accusations of fake news because we can tell the difference between that and real news. And the real news is that Dump is the fake news and we're going to prove it in the elections of '18 and '20.

Real talk about Dump

Let's call him for what he is and does in plain, truthful, factual language.

NRA launders Russian money, gives to Dump

There is an FBI investigation into this. A Russian gangster with ties to the Kremlin gave money to the NRA, which turned around and gave it to Dump. It is illegal to give foreign money to political candidates in the US. Cenk Uygur provides the details in the clip below.

SNL: Weekend Update

Reviewing the week's news, including the government shutdown, immigration reform, firing Mueller, the World Economic forum, the FBI secret society.

Dubya Bush on SNL

Guest host Will Ferrell reenacts his infamous imitation, noting he's looking pretty good these days in comparison to Dump. However Bush reminds us that the comparison hides the reality of his Presiduncy.

Damasio: The neurological basis for free will

A 12-minute video. It starts around 6:00 in.

“We do have a measure of control […] but it is not true that we have full control and it is not true that when we are executing an action we are necessarily controlling it at that moment consciously.”

NY and MT governors protect net neutrality

Governors from both States have signed executive orders requiring ISPs to abide by net neutrality principles if they want State contracts. This is destined for a court challenge, as the FCC not surprisingly specifically stated in their net neutrality repeal that States could not implement their own rules.

Bravo to these Governors for fighting back against what has become our fascist government owned by global corporations. We need every Governor to do the same.

Signs from the Women's March

Maher shows some of the signs that couldn't be shown on 'polite' media. Then he shows some signs of those few white female Dump supporters in the crowd.

Colbert: Cyborgasm

His recurring segment on how technology is pervading our lives, and not necessarily for the better.

Roger McNamee on brain hacking & Facebook

Brain hacking is using social media and your smart phone to addict people and implant ideas. The advertisers put us in filter groups to feed addiction to our 'likes,' giving us a dopamine rush. It creates a sense of belonging with others who agree with us while further isolating human relations in real life. These filter groups are also geared to feed our fear and anger, which makes us more receptive to notice the ads and buy their products. While social media networking can be a positive thing it's basically the ad companies and Facebook that use it to create the above quagmire.

McNamee is a venture capitalist and an early investor in Facebook but became critical of it due to the above.

Snide and prejudice

Maher's New Rule of Dump's obvious racism, proving a partial list of the black people he's attacked. Maher then provides an alternative focus for Dump's hatred.

Maher's monologue

He humorously covers the week's political news, including: Dump wanting to fire Mueller; Stormy Daniels and Dump's marriage; Repugnantans undermining the FBI; Dump in Davos; immigration; typical Evangelical hypocrisy.

Hartmann on net neutrality

Continuing this post, why we must maintain it if we want to pretend to any semblance of democracy. Its demise is an intentional ploy to undermine democracy and install blatant, unregulated oligarchy. The way out of its demise can be reversed by a Congressional Resolution of Disapproval, but the Repugnantan leaders of the House and Senate refuse to bring it to a vote.

A member of FBI secret society speaks out

He's got nothing to hide. Well, almost.

Dump ordered lawyer to fire Mueller

Morning Joe reports on the NYT story revealing that Dump ordered his lawyer to fire Mueller last June. When the lawyer threatened to quit over this Dump relented. It's far too late now Dumpy Dung Dung Bing Bong.

Nunes' latest ploy to undermine the FBI

This story is on Nunes claiming to have, and will release, a secret memo that will supposedly demolish the Russia collusion story. Never mind that neither he nor the Congressional conspiracy nuts have read any of the background intelligence on what's claimed in the memo, except for Gowdy, paranoid wacko extraordinaire. Instead they voted to prevent anyone from reading that material.

A senior Justice Dept. official called this political grandstanding to protect Dump and jeopardize national security in that pursuit. The FBI wants to see it to validate its veracity and take action is necessary but they can't look at it either. A number of Republicans with some semblance of reality and patriotism before Party politics are also speaking out against this blatant and desperate attempt to undermine FBI credibility and defend treason. Repugnantans have gone completely beyond the pale and seriously need professional help.

Shep Smith, one of the very few reasonable, credible reporters at Fox News,  repeatedly calls it a "weapon of partisan mass distraction."

Colbert jokes about FBI secret society

And how the texts Repugnantans built a conspiracy theory on were just a joke. Those wingnuts not only have no sense of humor but are paranoid to the point of institutionalization. Of yeah, that's called Congress. This is the kind of stuff the previous post on the X-Files ridiculed, but unfortunately it's real.

The lost art of forehead sweat

The latest episode of the X-Files contained several belly laughs. It's one of my favorite episodes ever. The whole thing is an absurd farce on our post-truth, fake news era, and goes after paranoid conspiracy theories, including itself. In this case it's 'they' who are programming all of our memories to recall something different that what really happened. I delightful romp on how memory works, and usually doesn't very well. It closes with Scully paraphrasing the trademarked "I want to believe" with "I want to remember." This one is well worth watching several times.

Gerrymandering is rigging elections

Gerrymandering is when State legislators twist and distort voting districts to pick their voters. In some cases a Party can win only 40% of the total vote in a State yet control 70% of the district seats due to this rigging. Courts in PA, WI and NC have already struck down this obviously partisan gerrymandering. And the Supreme Corp has a case on this coming up in their next session. Trevor Noah explains it succinctly in this short video. Dump is right about one thing, and perhaps only one thing: The system is rigged.

Burger King explains net neutrality

Since some of us don't know what the hell net neutrality is, or how its repeal by the FCC will affect us, Burger King explains it in this ad about Whopper Neutrality. Now maybe even Dump supporters will get the picture?

Repugnantan paranoid conspiracy theory about the FBI

When even Bill Kristol finds this absurd and disturbing you know the latest claims of a 'secret society' within the FBI to undermine Dump is not just paranoia but a tried and true fascist tactic. And all this to collude with Dump and Russia against America and for the oligarchs? WTF.

Fake economic measurements

Meaning how most traditional economists measure it, like Gross Domestic Product (GDP). How about the Happiness Report? Or the Democracy Index?

Dump declares war on solar energy

This short video shows how the 30% tariff on foreign-made solar panels. Most of the US solar companies are against it because it will curtail the industry and eliminate several thousand jobs. If we truly care about people and the environment we won't fall for Dump's fake news. The real news sources referenced therein follow:

SOURCES: [i] https://www.seia.org/news/presidents-... [ii] https://www.seia.org/news/seia-oppose... [iii] https://www.seia.org/blog/solar-insta... [iv] https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar... [v]https://www.seia.org/sites/default/fi... [vi] https://www.seia.org/sites/default/fi... [vii] https://www.seia.org/blog/solar-insta... [viii] https://www.seia.org/news/presidents-... [ix] https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/10... [x] https://www.seia.org/research-resourc... [xi]Ibid.

The corruption cycle

How Repugnantans lie to keep you enslaved. Wake the f_ck up people!

So much for creating American jobs

Dump has lied to you yet again. You cannot trust anything he says.

The numbers on racist Dump supporters

See this article for the details and sources. Obviously not all Dump supporters are racist. But a significant percentage most definitely are. Some graphics follow.

Sanders' Medicare For All town hall

TYT discusses the town hall last night. 36,000 people died last year because they didn't have health insurance and we find that acceptable? Especially when most of the developed countries have figured this out with government health insurance for everyone paid for with tax money? Those deaths are a designed feature built into the US health insurance system. And none of the corporate news covered this town hall addressing our corrupt system with a feasible, cost-effective replacement that keeps us all healthy, thereby keeping the economy healthy.

You can also see the entire town hall here (starts at 5:00). Please share it far and wide given the corporate media blackout in the US. Let's show that there is a humanitarian alternative based on care and empathy for all.

Congress enables Dump's private army

In the funding battle Congress put a provision in the resolution that no longer requires intelligence agencies to get Congressional approval for spending. Combine this with Blackwater pitching Dump to create his own private army that answers only to him and the CIA Director. Down we go further into the rabbit hole of Fascism. Please check out the story below for the frightening details.

Vermont's new tourism ad

Now that recreational pot is legal.

The Collaborative Commons

Continuing the last post, here's Rifkin's replay summary on this emerging socio-economic system. Of course, net neutrality is critical to its enactment so we have to fight like hell to elect a government that will reinstate it so that the Internet of Things is used by and for we the people.

Amen to Ursula LeGuin

She died recently and her following quote expresses the sentiment that keeps this blog going strong. Down with capitalism and up with the collaborative commons!

Mueller focusing on obstruction of justice

As reported by the real news in this clip. Mueller is focusing on Dump's firing of Comey and Flynn, and the Presidunce's obsession with loyalty. Dump also attempted to get a loyalty oath from at the time acting FBI Director McCabe. A good update of the facts in this line of inquiry.

Great news for the upcoming '18 mid-terms. And impeachment will certainly strongly affect the '20 Presidential election, given the Repugnantan obstruction into the investigation and collusion with treason.

Kellyanne Conway celebrates Dump's anniversary

Kimmel interviews the spokes puppet.

Colbert on the Russia news

Especially AG Sessions being questioned by Mueller. Colbert has an exclusive tape on all of Session's answers. Also the encouraging news that Mueller wants to 'interview' Dump himself.

Lakoff's FrameLab #3

In this episode they discuss progressive values and provide 11 tips for moving forward. It's based on the empathic and caring parental frame, which creates autonomous adults with the same characteristics. Progressives aim to promote the freedom and well being of everyone, and to equitably share the wealth created by their collective efforts. They just need to learn how to frame separate issues by tying them together within their overall moral principles. Some of the tips are as follows: learn effective framing and create a broad and deep communications network; recognize you need a lot more than facts, that they have to be framed in values and morality; frame all issues within this overall progressive vision.

Dim Party blocking progressive candidates, again

They just cannot learn. They are too far gone down the corrupt money hole to see that the country wants progressive populists. And again they are trying to thwart the progressives in primaries while supporting the corporate candidate who can raise the most money. And this despite the severe beating their candidates took in the last election, and several previous elections, playing by the same tired and failed strategy.

So progressives are not going to get any support from the Party and have to get alternative help from progressive orgs coordinating together. Good thing is that is exactly what it happening. Let's primary the corporate Dims out, and in the process turn the Party into one for the people again. The link lists some of the upcoming races and the candidates. Get informed and get active supporting the progressives and voting the Dim Bums out.

Attorney General Sessions questioned by Mueller

The noose tightens. Mueller would only call the AG in if there was no other way to obtain certain inside information. It seems firing Comey being obstruction of justice is or prime concern. And of course the Dumpsters avoid the issue and try to divert attention to the integrity of the investigation. More charges and indictments are coming soon for the whole rotten bunch, including the AG.

Dump's FCC wages war on poor people

The FCC voted to dismantle a program called Lifeline, which provides a $9.95 monthly governmental subsidy to those below the poverty line for buying phone and internet service. Taking away this program means that millions of people will no longer be able to afford such service. Access to "lifesaving health-care services, employment and educational opportunities, news, self-expression and activism" will be cut off. Just one more way Dump is Making America Hate Again. Consider the petition here. 

FBI Director threatened to quit over pressure to fire Deputy Director

Both Dump and Sessions pressured Director Wary to fire Deputy Director McCabe over the false claim the latter was biased against Dump. So Wray threatened to quit over the pressure, defending his Deputy and the rest of the FBI from false attacks against from the Dumpsters in order to curtail their investigation into Russian collusion. Good on Wray for standing up to the Dump crime family.

New Mexico is the best at something

Yes, NM is ranked 50th for child poverty in the US. So it is the best at being the worst, a glowing accolade for us living here in the 3rd world. Of course those few % of the population that have Sandia Lab jobs, or other professional jobs, never see this reality for most of the rest of the population so think it doesn't exist. Or if it does, Repugnantans think its their own damned fault. Great job NM.

Colbert on the women's march

He gets there around 2:25 in this clip. He also shares some of the funny signs.

Colbert on the government shutdown standoff

And how the Dimocraps caved based on a promise from the pathological liar aka the Senate majority leader.

Kimmel on the womens' march

Kimmil gets to it around 3:20 in his monologue. Dump is completely clueless that the women are marching in part to protest his Presiduncy and his misogyny. The crowd in LA alone was far larger than his inauguration crowd. In the clip are some really funny signs at the rallies.

5 ways Dump betrayed us

See the clip below. While Dump ran as a populist for the people the reality is anything but. The highlights are: 1. He packed his Administration with corporate insiders and made the swamp even worse; 2. He failed to divest his business and instead is profiting off of his office, violating the Constitution; 3.  He's ignoring the real dangers of climate change and instead reducing or eliminating environmental protections while giving even more subsidies to oil companies; 4. He's hurt American workers by removing overtime pay and allows restaurant owners keep worker tips; 5. His tax plan gives even more money to corporations and the rich at the expense of the average worker, while Dump himself profits mightily.

For 101 ways Dump has betrayed us, visit corporatepresidency.org. He lied to all of us and betrayed our trust. And the Repugnantans know well this is true and are complicit with him for their own and their paymasters' benefit. Don't make the same mistake again by voting for these liars and cheaters that have shown repeatedly they could care less if we live and would prefer that we would die, and quickly.

Senator Duckworth has a message for Dump

After Dump said Dems didn't care about our military given their objections to the spending bill. Duckworth, a war veteran, said: "I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger" (1:10). See this clip for much more on Cadet Bone Spurs' complete contempt for our troops.

Wahl on systems thinking

An excerpt from his book Designing Regenerative Cultures can be found here. A whole system "is less a thing than a pattern of relationships and interactions--a pattern of organization of constituting elements." In defining something as a system we have to create boundaries between that system and its environment, but we need to keep in mind that its a boundary we created and that such boundaries connect as well as separate. Systems thinking also requires cross-disciplinary syntegration of data from specialists in their more narrowly focused paradigms.

Lichtman predicts Dump impeachment

Lichtman predicted Dump would win and everyone thought he was nuts. Now the Presidential historian tells us that the Muller investigation will reveal impeachable offenses and will lead to that result. To paraphrase the song from Jesus Christ Superstar: For the sake of the nation, this Dump must be impeached. 

PS: This in no way implies that Dump is a Christ like figure. Anti-Christ would be much more like it. And I'm only suggesting impeachment, for, as I said, I'm paraphrasing here. This should be obvious to anyone with half a brain, but just in case Dumpsters have mistakenly found their way here.

Speaking of swamp monsters

And Dump gave him this power, overfilling the Swamp to corrupt everything.

Kochs pay off Ryan for the tax Bill

Just days after the tax bill was passed, Speaker of the House Ryan got $500,000 in campaign contributions from the Kochs, who will benefit in $ billions from the legislation. This used to be of course illegal, but not anymore thanks to corrupt laws paid for by the Kochs and their fellow oligarchs, as well as the Supreme Corp. making money free speech. The Swamp everyone was supposed to be against is doing better than ever.

Dimocrap Senators cave on shutdown

They made a big show out of a government shutdown over the need to get a clean DACA bill passed. So today they caved on a promise from Senate leader McConnell that he'd hold this clean vote by February 8. Thing is, McTurtle had made this exact promise in the past and didn't follow through. What makes these Dims think he'll do so this time? It seems they just chickened out yet again, leaving their spine in the trash bin. That is, for those very few that ever had one in the first place.

House progressives backing challengers in primaries

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is backing progressive primary challengers in 2018. Of course the establishment corporate Dims are having a fit because they hate progressives. But the CPC has correctly diagnosed that Americans want people to represent them, not the 1%. And recent special elections are a clear indicator of this fact, given the progressive candidate wins. See this link for the CPC candidate picks.

The 1% got 82% of all wealth in 2017

According to Oxfam International. Hence GDP numbers that include the wealth generated do not take this into account, as this increases income inequality, a far more important statistic. This upward redistribution of wealth is not based on work or on goods produced, but merely on being born into it and on tax policy written by and for the wealthy. This is a clear sign that the economy based on this type of theft is in its death throes.

Schumer on the facts of Dump's government shutdown

Dump walked away from two bi-partisan deals. He also rejected Schumer's offer to include The Wall in negotiations. This is Dump's Shutdown and we need to repeatedly shout it from the rooftops.

The women's march

Hundreds of thousands of women in the US marched against Dump and his Dumpsters over the weekend. This is my favorite sign from the march.

Sanders responds to Dump's racist murder ad

In this clip they show the ad first and Sanders responds. The ad is in direct response to the Dems holding out for a deal for the Dreamers in the spending bill. The ad explicitly suggests that the Dreamers, brought here as children from Mexico, are murderers and by supporting DACA it means that the Dreamers are going to murder people. The facts are that  "Dreamers commit crimes and are incarcerated at a staggeringly lower rate than native born Americans. In one survey, 90% of Dreamers reported that they held steady jobs. In the same survey, 72% were pursuing higher education. And most Americans, regardless of party affiliation, support a clean DACA bill that would allow the Dreamers to stay in the country." Dump is clearly a despicable racist doing the worst kind racist baiting.

Aerodynamic

Really nice jam by Daft Punk.

Projected economic impact of climate change in US by 2100

From this article.

A take-off on Dump's infamous quote

To come out in force to vote in the mid-terms is in effect grabbing those corporate lackeys by their balls.

SNL: Dump's fake doctor report

Lampooning the fake medical report given this past week. Sara Sanders leads off with some spin.

SNL: Weekend Update

Covering the week's news with humor.

Miocic defeats Ngannou, retains UFC heavyweight title

This fight went the distance and Miocic dominated with a unanimous win. Ngannou, while having one-punch knockout power, could never connect with the champ as he constantly dodged punches and countered effectively. Miocic also took the challenger down 6 times, wearing him out. All 3 judges scores it 50-44. Also see fightmetric.com for the dominant stats.

White supremacists killed twice as many in US as Islamic terrorists in 2017

According to this new study by the Anti-Defamation League. Funny how we're not hearing about this on corporate news or from Dumpy Repugnantans. But when an Islamic terrorist is responsible there is no end to coverage, complete with anti-Muslim bile. See the link for the details.

The women's march returns

One year after the first march, another one took place today all across the US and around the world in 250 separate but coordinated events. The theme this time is 'march into action,' with a goal to register over 1 million women to vote in the upcoming 2018 elections.

Repugnantan lies and misdirection

Kyle & Victoria

They took 1st place in champions Strictly Swing at the 2017 Jack and Jill O'Rama, largely due to Victoria's incredibly innovative musicality.

Senator Cotton threatens constituents for asking questions

This Repugnantan Senator is so afraid to answer constituent questions that his office is now sending cease and desist letters to persistent constituents. This tactic then makes it illegal for further questioning. This tells us quite a bit about who exactly Cotton and his ilk are actually representing.

Schumer put the Wall on the table and Dump said no

In the meeting with the Presdunce to avoid a government shutdown over the spending bill, Schumer agreed to put funding for the Wall on the table in exchange for strong DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) protections. He even agreed to support defense spending, but Dump is the one who would not budge. Dump is the cause of the shutdown, not Schumer or the Dimocraps. Also recall that 6 Senate Repugnantans also voted against the funding bill.

Maher's new rule on #MeCarthyism

He's down with #metoo but not with the over reaction of blaming everything on those who have the horrible misfortune of having a penis. He champions discriminating rationality in response to this rabid frenzy of distinction deniers.

Maher's monologue

He's back from vacation and helps us relieve stress over our dire political circumstances.

Colbert: Stormy Daniels spanked Dump

And with a Forbes magazine with Dump on the cover! I agree it's just what she said, so I can't claim it's true despite my wish for it to be so. But it does make for some good comedic fodder.

Evan Thompson on philosophy, Buddhism & embodied consciousness

New podcast. The blurb:

Welcome back to the Imperfect Buddha Podcast. After our lively discussion of theory and practice, we embark on a new series of interviews for all you Imperfect Buddhas. Our first for 2018 features Evan Thompson, professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia, well known for his books “Waking, Being, and Dreaming: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy”, “The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience”, co-authored with the late Francisco Varela, “Mind in Life: biology, phenomenology and the sciences of mind” as well as “Self, No Self?: perspectives from analytical, phenomenological and Indian traditions”. 

How can I take part in the Commons Transition?

Good primer on the topic. It's so easy to get frustrated, to feel isolated and impotent in the face of gargantuan corporate capitalism. What can I as an individual possibly do to effect such a behemoth? The link provides some examples.

That's why I do this blog, as my job in all this is to not only fight the current oligarchs but to provide visions of a different way of seeing the world and doing economics. As I say in the tagline: "It ain't much but it's not nothing." If we all do our small part together we add up to a powerful and effective force to be reckoned with.

Why did Mueller subpoena Bannon?

Especially when there were no subpoenas for some of the other Blight House staff? This article thinks it's because of Bannon's relationship with Cambridge Analytica (CA). Bannon is a former VP of CA. And Congress has been investigating whether CA colluded with the Russians to target people in the US for fake Russian news. They already know CA proposed a collaboration with WikiLeaks to obtain Clinton's 33,000 missing emails. Flynn was also under contract with CA and was looking for any hackers, including Russian, that could get the emails. So Bannon was likely involved in all this and hence his particular interest to Mueller.

Gafni's philosophy

And even his delusional and dysfunctional sexual proclivities aside, his 'philosophy' is of the most absurd woo goo. See p. 93 in this link for one example. I appreciate Stein's contribution, but you can tell when Gafni takes over.

Dr. Phil interviews Marc Gafni

On today's show. Unlike complicit enablers, Dr. Phil will tell it like it is in accurate, psychological terms. And now Gafni denies it all, even after admitting some of it before? If anyone still believes this guy they need to see Dr. Phil themselves. And I'm sure Gafni acolytes will attack Dr. Phil with a host of faux rationalizations, the so-called 'integral' ones with accusations of his 'lower level' of understanding.  I'll be glued to the show this afternoon.

The dishonest and corrupt Presidunce awards

Kimmel returns the favor to Dump after the latter's fake news awards. Kimmel highlights just a small fraction of the fake news Dump has generated and gives the best lie awards.

What kids think of Conald Dump

From the mouths of the innocent comes truth. Well, most likely what their parents have said.

Colbert on Dump's Fake News Awards

The Biggest Fraud in History continues his quest to destroy the free press, and the last remnants of democracy along with it.

Dump's infrastructure scam

Yes, we desperately need to build new, modern infrastructure, as well as repair the old. It creates jobs and feeds the real economy. But Dump is using this need to give away infrastructure contracts to big corporations that only have to invest a minuscule amount of their own money while we pay the rest in taxes, meanwhile giving them the benefits of the profits generated by privatizing our public goods. We end up footing most of the bill and then paying more in tolls, fees etc. for our investment!

Enfant terrible

Dictionary.com often has words of the day that are relevant to current events. Today's word, for both definitions, is particularly so given that big Dump in the Blight House.

Enfant terrible

1. French. An outrageously bold or outspoken person who says or does indiscreet or irresponsible things.

2. An incorrigible child, as one whose behavior is embarrassing.

DeNiro on the movie The Post, Dump and the media today

DeNiro is proud of our press, doing what the Post did so long ago to expose corruption in the highest office. Keep up the good work of real news, US press.

Republican Senator Flake: Dump is destroying democracy

Great speech reaming the Dump Hole over the latter's constant attacks against the media and factual truth while himself lying out of his shithole. "Our own President uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies" (1:55), meaning Dump calling the press the enemy of the people. Flake directly implies that it is Dump himself who is the enemy of the people. It's so refreshing that a Republican is standing up for the truth, as those that do are far and few between.

The magic school bus goes inside Dump

Since a real doctor actually gave a fake medical report on Dump, the kids is this clip decide to explore what's going on inside Dump to see for themselves. It's a hell of a lot more accurate than the fake report.

Bannon gets a lie detector test

With James Corden playing Bannon is this satire.

Fallon's Fire & Rain parody: Fire & Fury

He does James Taylor quite well, and the lyrics are funny and accurate.

15 health & safety violations at Mar-a-Lago

For example, concrete was missing from a stairwell. Milk was stored at unsafe temperatures. Hotdogs were stored on the ground in freezers. Is anyone surprised that this is how the 'southern Blight House' is run, just like every other Dump business? And just like he's running out country (into the ground).

US approval near Russia in international poll

This clip discusses Gallap's new international approval poll, with the US only 3 points above Russia. Makes sense, as we become more like that dictatorship by the day. Dump is certainly making us 'great' again, eh?

Blight House muzzles Bannon's House testimony

As reported in this clip. Bannon's counsel was on the phone with the Blight House during Bannon's testimony asking if Bannon should answer certain questions. This is witness tampering and obstruction of justice, i.e., criminal. Score another one for the Dump Crime Family.

Stormy Daniels said sex with Dump was textbook generic

Colbert reports on how she described it and lampoons that it was made into a porn film, Hump Tower. I'm surprised Stormy didn't talk about the golden showers.

The Dems can't shut down the government

Dump and the Repugnantans are complaining that the Dems are going to shut down the government if they don't get DACA resolved in the spending bill. Hayes reminds of an obvious, observable and objective truth.

Chris Hayes‏Verified account @chrislhayes

It's hilarious that *HOUSE* Republicans would try to blame Dems for a shut-down. You control the house! Pass whatever you want!

4:04 PM - 17 Jan 2018

Lakoff on positive persistence

And effective resistance. Here are the bullet points from the article below. See it for more details.

Subscribe. Whether it’s your local paper or a national publication, SUBSCRIBE! Show that you value truthful journalism and will pay for it. Become a supporter of public radio or an independent outlet like Mother Jones.

Fund Victory. If we all gave 50 cents to candidates like Randy Bryce (@IronStache), Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA), and Andrew Janze (@JanzforCongress)every time Trump tweeted, we’d have more than a #BlueWave2018. We’d have a tsunami! Fund victory! Pick a candidate in a tough race. Pledge 50 cents per tweet! 

Support CPJ: Journalists around the world live under daily threat from dictators, criminals, and corrupt regimes. The Committee to Protect Journalists has their back. Follow them, fund them, and help! 

Talk to People. Turn off the computer or phone and TALK to people — your friends, your family, your neighbors — about what’s happening in our country right now. Make sure they’re paying attention, and make sure they plan to vote in November!

Evangelical hypocrisy

No surprise here.