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POST 2016 ELECTION
NOVEMBER 2016

November 30, 2016 -
The specter of a growing far-right nationalism anywhere, but particularly in Central Europe, immediately – and for good and obvious reasons – raises fears of an anti-semitism revival. But at least thus far, the leaders of most of these nationalistic parties – increasingly inspired and fueled by one another’s success – have showcased dangerous animosity toward Muslims, accompanied by strong policy support for Israel and a rhetorical repudiation of anti-semitism. Intercept 

Frightened by Donald Trump? You don’t know the half of it - Many of his staffers are from an opaque corporate misinformation network. We must understand this if we are to have any hope of fighting back against them.   Guardian Many of his staffers are from an opaque corporate misinformation network. We must understand this if we are to have any hope of fighting back against them
Guardian

Think Trump's scary now? Obama is leaving him with broad war powers - The president-elect keeps news cycles churning with his unhinged tweets, but it’s the current administration’s expanding military license that should scare us.   Guardian  

The CIA and the Press: When the Washington Post Ran the CIA’s Propaganda Network -
CounterPunch



November 29, 2016 -

Chris Hedges Strategy for Radical Change at Green Party of New Jersey Convention - (50min video.)  

November 28, 2016 -
US veterans are gathering and plan to join the struggle at Standing Rock. This could develop into something big. Finally, US soldiers have a chance to fight for the American people. CounterPunch

We await the crisis. It could be economic.. a terrorist attack ... widespread devastation by global warming.,,, nationwide unrest as the death spiral of the American empire intensifies. The crisis is coming. And when it arrives it will be seized upon by the corporate state, nominally led by a clueless real estate developer, to impose martial law and formalize the end of American democracy.
TruthDig (Hedges)

With Rule 41, Little-Known Committee Proposes to Grant New Hacking Powers to the Government ... The government hacking into phones and seizing computers remotely? It’s not the plot of a dystopian blockbuster summer movie. It’s a proposal from an obscure committee that proposes changes to court procedures—and if we do nothing, it will go into effect in December. EFF
Related:  Senators Not Impressed By DOJ's Answers On Rule 41 Changes TechDirt  
Related: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure -
Rule 41. Dismissal of Actions.  Cornell  

Relativism and Castro - Murray

November 27, 2016 -
Arrests of Journalists at Standing Rock Test the Boundaries of the First Amendment - "... Denver-based journalist, was shot in the abdomen last Sunday by a rubber bullet as he reported from North Dakota on a clash between demonstrators and police that would end with 26 protesters sent to hospitals and 300 requiring other medical treatment.
Intercept  

MSM (Main Stream Media) will hit on "fake news", but rarely, because they promote it. The real issue is much deeper ...

The Biggest Political Lie of 2016 -
We are in very dangerous times, of mobs and meaninglessness. People aren’t swayed by facts anymore; they’re indifferent to reality and openly scornful of experts. Slate  

Yes, I’d Lie To You - "...It is thus tempting to dismiss the idea of “post-truth” political discourse ... as a modish myth invented by de-haut-en-bas liberals and sore losers ignorant of how dirty a business politics has always been. But that would be complacent. There is a strong case that, in America and elsewhere, there is a shift towards a politics in which feelings trump facts more freely and with less resistance ... (now) a deluge of facts and a public much less given to trust than once it was, some politicians are getting away with a new depth and pervasiveness of falsehood.... Economist 

Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group.  Intercept  

What Is The Alt-Right And Who Is In It? The Frightening Rise And Rise Of The White Nationalist Movement.  Huffington

November 26, 2016 -
Dakota Pipeline issue gets almost zero coverage in the main stream media (MSM). It does get considerable coverage outside the US. To see full coverage go to Democracy Now

Wounded Knee III in the Making?
CounterPunch
 

Feds Plan To Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp .... Hundreds of protesters have until Dec. 5 to get out or face prosecution.
Huffington

Sheriffs Refuse to Send Troops to Standing Rock as Costs and Public Outrage Mount  TruthDig

Indian Country News
Not My Tribe
Sacred Stone Camp

The most interesting question about 2016 is not why the Brexit result and Trump happened, but whether historians will regard both as incidental; whether this will go down as the year democracy revealed itself unworkable in the age of the internet – in which reality, already engaged in a life-or-death struggle with inverted commas, finally gave way to “alt-reality”. Guardian  

November 25, 2016 -
Over the weekend, there were a flurry of stories about how Donald Trump and his family are already using the presidency to leverage his overseas businesses as well as his new DC hotel. Well, now there's more. This time in Argentina  TPM

"Perhaps 2016 will be the year we stop telling ourselves that we live in a democracy." -
The system is rigged for the Presidential election ,,, The system is rigged at the local government level too ...CELDF  

If You Think the Electoral College is the Only Problem – Well, that’s Part of the Problem ... The Counter Revolutionary “Founding Fathers” and the Electoral College ... The answer isn’t pretty. It exposes the “founding fathers” who wrote the current US Constitution for the undemocratic, racist, misogynist counter-revolutionaries that they were. In 1789 when the US Constitution was ratified, it included provisions that protected the property rights of slave owners against any claim that their human chattel had legal and civil rights. CELDF


November 24, 2016 -
Funny... YouTube  

You can tell a lot about potential Cabinet nominees by the terrorist group they shill for. - Giulaini took money from a Group that Killed Americans. Does Trump care?   Politico

Making White Supremacy Respectable Again.
LA Times

Donald Trump Taps Billionaire School Voucher Advocate To Run America’s Schools
The president-elect rewarded GOP megadonor Betsy DeVos with the position of education secretary. Huffington  

President-elect Donald Trump’s authoritarian style and personality, which attracted an overwhelmingly authoritarian following, is manifesting itself in the selection of his national security team.
CounterPunch


November 23, 2016 -
Jack London's vision of workers' future looks a lot like our present ... "
The Iron Heel is a dystopian story of the US crushed under the boots of super-rich oligarchs, and often feels like a contemporary documentary" Guardian

The dramatic protests against an oil pipeline in North Dakota ....... has grown into something much larger, and more contentious. And that could bode either ill or well for a nation.... LA Times

Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’ -
Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding as the president-elect seeks to shift focus away from home in favor of deep space exploration
 Guardian

Chris Hedges: Trump Will Crush Dissent With Even Greater Violence and Savagery
(YouTube video)  View   (8 minutes)

Dumocrats finally grew a pair? .... top Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to Inspectors General at federal financial services agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Justice, calling on them to root out any potential conflicts of interests in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.  Read  
Update - HC calls for recount Read


Hedge fund managers expect a re turn on their investment in Trump - “The hedge fund guys didn’t build this country,” Donald Trump told “Face the Nation” in August 2015. “These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky.” Read

November 22, 2016 -
Note: 2 weeks on and we still don't have a final tally of the votes cast. Reminder: Hillary won the popular vote.

Trump’s financial disclosures obscure his foreign business interests - ... most recent financial disclosure statement by Trump shows that of the 564 companies on which he reported holding an executive position, at least 120 of them were tied to his business dealings abroad. Read
Update on meeting: Read

Donald Trump Met Privately With Network Executives And Anchors - The president-elect reportedly scolded the media for its coverage and discussed access concerns. Read
(Nnte: this event has not been reported on the majority of main-stream-media (MSM) sites, including CNN. However, CNN does report on NYT's canceled, then reinstated meeting here  

Will Republicans rein in a corrupt Trump presidency? Don’t bet on it. ... Trump vowed to “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington. But experts on governmental ethics are increasingly worried that Trump’s presidency, and his refusal to place his global business empire in a blind trust...
Read  

Trump in the White House: An Interview With Noam Chomsky ... has warned that the political climate in the U.S. is ripe for the rise of an authoritarian figure.
Read


November 21, 2016 -
The ruthlessly effective rebranding of Europe’s new far right - Across the continent, rightwing populist parties have seized control of the political conversation. How have they done it? By stealing the language, causes and voters of the traditional left  Read  

(May 2016) Fascism: Can It Happen Here?
“When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross,” goes a saying that is widely attributed to the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Sinclair Lewis.
Read

Something will crack:... Americans trying to unpick the phenomenon of Donald Trump have turned to a late left-leaning academic, who predicted that old industrialized democracies were heading into a Weimar-like period in which populist movements could overturn constitutional governments.
Read  

(July 2016) In 2004, the eminent political scientist offered key insights into the nationalist-cosmopolitan divide at the heart of our society. Read

(April 2010) Noam Chomsky Has ‘Never Seen Anything Like This’ Read  

Surveillance Self-Defense Against the Trump Administration - (Trump) ... ego-maniac - and with it control over a vast and all-too-unaccountable intelligence apparatus; and in a speech .. three weeks ago, .. promised to sue all of the women who have come forward with sexual assault accusations against him.  Read  

It's Offical, Truth is dead. Facts are Passed. - The Oxford dictionary defines “post-truth” as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
Read  

November 20, 2016 -
Trump on Israel - May 22 - Trump Wins Over AIPAC Audience With Strong pro-Israel Stance -
'President Obama is the worst thing to happen to Israel,' Trump says to massive applause at AIPAC gathering, vowing to pressure Palestinians to accept Israel as Jewish state and Jerusalem as its capital.
Read
 

But then: Trump’s top Pentagon pick said settlements were creating ‘apartheid’ - Retired Marine Corps general James Mattis, seen as front-runner for defense secretary post, also insisted the US pays a price in Middle East for its support of Israel.   Read  

American activists must move from detached indignation to revolutionary engagement by using the techniques of social movement creation to dominate elections. Read  

November 19, 2016 -
Donald Trump's election has put establishment.
Politicians in Europe in a state of panic. In Berlin, nobody knows what the US president-elect intends to do. In Brussels, fears are growing he will put wind into the sails of the growing anti-EU populist movement. Trump Spells End of Normality for Europe   Read  

The Election was Stolen – Here’s How…
Starting in 2013 – just as the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act – a coterie of Trump operatives, under the direction of Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, created a system to purge 1.1 million Americans of color from the voter rolls of GOP–controlled states. Read  
Related:
The GOP’s secret scheme begins purge of a million minority voters from voter rolls Read  

Related: March 5, 2015 - From White Sheets to Spreadsheets.  Read  

The Art of Speaking Like Donald Trump, in 10 Easy Steps   Read  

The "new normal". Pence booed - Read

November 17, 2016 -
Americans who think the 2016 presidential election was far too reminiscent of the 2000 edition might be on to something. What’s more, like a busted clock, President-elect Donald Trump could actually be right twice: that the “swamp” of Washington, D.C., needs draining, and that U.S. elections can be stolen.
Read .

The neoliberal era in the United States ended with a neofascist bang. The political triumph of Donald Trump shattered the establishments in the Democratic and Republican parties – both wedded to the rule of Big Money and to the reign of meretricious politicians.  Read

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems..... Imagine if the people of the Soviet Union had never heard of communism. The ideology that dominates our lives has, for most of us, no name. Mention it in conversation and you’ll be rewarded with a shrug. Even if your listeners have heard the term before, they will struggle to define it. Neoliberalism: do you know what it is? Read


November 16, 21016-
Republicans are one state legislature away from acquiring the legal authority to call a new constitutional convention under Article V of the Constitution, reports Charles Pierce at Esquire.
Read  

Titanponte: NSA Spy Hub in NY Hidden in Plain Sight  Read  

Right-wing leaders in the Israeli government have seized on the election of Donald Trump to push forward assertive new legislation that would legalize Jewish settlements in the West Bank built on privately owned Palestinian land. Read

"Netanyahu was among the first to congratulate Trump by phone. The US president-elect reciprocated by inviting him for talks “at the first opportunity”. And yet Netanyahu is reported to be anxious about a Trump White House. Why?
Read

November 15, 2016 -
""In short, in neither the US nor the UK is a viable radical alternative going to be put before the electorate in the near future. Those who believe either Brexit or Trump presage a break from neo-liberalism will be sore disappointed. They represent the continuance of neo-liberalism, but with popular discontent diverted into added racism."
Read

November 14, 2016: -
On November 8, the most powerful country in world history, which will set its stamp on what comes next, had an election. The outcome placed total control of the government -- executive, Congress, the Supreme Court -- in the hands of the Republican Party, which has become the most dangerous organization in world history.
Read  

The events that led to Donald Trump’s election started in England in 1975. At a meeting a few months after Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative party, one of her colleagues, or so the story goes, was explaining what he saw as the core beliefs of conservatism.  Read  


November 13, 2016 -
Chomsky on Trump: 'Almost a death knell for the human species' May 2016 interview  

Recommended reading: Right turn : the decline of the democrats... 1987 by Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers. (Amazon link here)

Then read this: The Collapse of Bill Clinton’s Third Way (2006)
Margaret Weir - Univ.of California, Berkeley

The United States has been plunged into a state of purgatory following the election of Donald Trump. In all political quarters, people are engaged in their own post-mortem analysis of how this happened and what it means, not only for the future of this country, but for the world. Read   
Or listen to it here  

November 11, 2016 -
It's Worse Than You Think:
Widespread social unrest will ignite when Donald Trump’s base realizes it has been betrayed. I do not know when this will happen. But that it will happen is certain. Investments in the stocks of the war industry, internal security and the prison-industrial complex have skyrocketed since Trump won the presidency. There is a lot of money to be made from a militarized police state. Read

Even before Donald Trump's election victory it was becoming clear that we are living in an age of disintegration. Nation states are returning to relationships based on rivalry and friction when the trend was meant to be in the opposite direction
Read  

Americans have now entered into one of the most sickening and dangerous periods of the 21st century. Trump is not only a twisted caricature of every register of economic, political, educational, and social fundamentalism, he is the apogee of a warrior culture committed to rolling back civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, and all vestiges of economic justice and democracy. Read  

 

 

 

DECEMBER 2016 - 1 THRU 15TH

December 14, 2016 -
Starting to get officially obscene:
It's a good thing former Texas Gov. Rick Perry once forgot he wanted to eliminate the Department of Energy, because President-elect Donald Trump is nominating him to lead the agency. That's according to reports by multiple news outlets.. AlterNet

Only if there is a superlative to the word “nightmare” can the dictionary provide a description of his bizarre selection of men and women marinated either in corporatism or militarism, with strains of racism, class cruelty and ideological rigidity. Many of Mr. Trump’s nominees lack an appreciation of the awesome responsibilities of public office.
Common Dreams  

Officially, Donald Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes. But a record 75,335 votes were never counted. Most of these votes that went missing were in Detroit and Flint, Michigan, majority-black cities
Democracy Now  

Neoliberalism turned our world into a business. And there are two big winners .... Fearmongering Donald Trump and optimistic Silicon Valley seem to epitomize opposing ideologies. But the two have far more in common than you think.  Guardian  

December 13, 2016 -
Republicans launch plan to annihilate Social Security - Trump said he’d oppose his own party to stop Social Security cuts. Time to find out if he meant it.  ThinkProgress  

Greg Palast: By Rejecting Recount, Is Michigan Covering Up 75,000 Ballots Never Counted?  DemocracyNow  

Obama Loses His War on Whistleblowers
Murray   

Thanks to the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act last week, President-elect Donald Trump could have the power to transform the Broadcasting Board of Governors—an independent U.S. agency that runs Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcast Networks and Voice of America—into a state-sponsored propaganda arm of the White House. AlterNet

Decenber 12, 2016 -
I have watched incredulous as the CIA’s blatant lie has grown and grown as a media story – blatant because the CIA has made no attempt whatsoever to substantiate it. There is no Russian involvement in the leaks of emails showing Clinton’s corruption.
Murray  
Followup; Facebook suppresses the truth  

Demagogue-in-Chief - Hedges  

Trump's War on Science: Exxon CEO Expected to Head State, While "Enemies List" Alarms Energy Dept.
Democracy Now  

Trump’s Second Gilded Age: Overcoming the Rule of Billionaires and Militarists - During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump made it clear that he liked the uneducated and that once he assumed the presidency, he would appoint a range of incompetent people to high ranking positions that would insure that many people remain poorly educated, illiterate, and impoverished. Giroux  

December 11, 2016 -
Socialism for the Rich, Capitalism for the Poor: ..... Taxpayers have been subsidizing the unfettered, risky investments of major US financial institutions at an estimated $80 billion per year. In this Truthout exclusive, Noam Chomsky discusses the sham that passes for US capitalism and the corrosive effect of gross inequality on democracy and the economy.
Truthout  

The (news) filters in the future won’t be programmed to ban pornographic content, or prevent user harassment and abuse. .... it’s likely to normalise the weeding out of viewpoints that are in conflict with established interests. Guardian  

Google is not ‘just’ a platform. It frames, shapes and distorts how we see the world. Guardian  

Pew poll, 35 percent think he’ll be a good or great president compared to 38 percent who think he’ll be poor or terrible — his numbers are getting better. Just before the election, only 25 percent thought he’d be good or great and 57 percent thought he’d be poor or terrible. This is what you call normalization. While half the nation is in mourning, the other half is ready to root Trump on.
Colorado Independent  

December 10, 2016 -
Anonymous Leaks to the WashPost About the CIA’s Russia Beliefs Are No Substitute for Evidence
The Intercept    

Unpacking the New CIA Leak: Don’t Ignore the Aluminum Tube Footnote   EmptyWheel  

"It's All Collapsed": New Chomsky Documentary Details Death of American Dream.Truth-Out  
Requiem For The American Dream-A Synopsis

The cover up - the uncover up - the comedown:
On Thanksgiving, the Washington Post splashed a huge story alleging that Putin’s Russia had used 200 independent media sites to infect the minds of at least 15 million Americans with Russian propaganda and disinformation. The story was written by the Post’s technology reporter, a man called Craig Timberg. CounterPunch

Top House Republican Unveils Plan To Gut Social Security. Huffington  

December 9, 2016 -
The Anonymous Blacklist Promoted by the Washington Post Has Apparent Ties to Ukrainian Fascism and CIA   AlterNet    

The Army Halted The Dakota Access Pipeline, But No One Is Sure What That Means.... The pipeline developers could still complete the project using the same route.   Huffington  

The Manafort Dossier  -   A New York Times report sheds new light on the close ties between Donald Trump’s campaign chairman and Kremlin cronies in Ukraine and elsewhere. The Atlantic  

"... I began the draft of an essay expecting a future attack by the government on the First Amendment citing President Obama’s most recent mellifluous verbal assault on free speech as HRC’s campaign speeches indicated that protecting a diversity of opinion would not be a top priority in her Administration."  CounterPunch  

December 8, 2016 -
Julian Assange defense statement  

Have you ever noticed how the CIA never gives up, on certain things, even if there’s no chance they’re going to change anyone’s mind? How they’re still pushing the Oswald-acted-alone meme, for example, or the phony war on drugs? MadCow

The Electoral College plan to stop Trump explained ... Who are the Hamilton Electors? What do they want? Could they succeed? CO Independent

Groups Demand Arrest of 'War Mastermind' Kissinger at Nobel Peace Prize Forum ... Nobel Peace Prize committee honors Kissinger a second time with speaking engagement at new forum on world peace.  CommonDreams  

December 7, 2016 -
From Climate Change to Nuclear War, Noam Chomsky Warns of Literal Threats to Our Survival.
Democracy Now video 

Here is how the US empire will devolve into fascism and then collapse - according to science.
 RawStory    

Trump is an Eerily Perfect Match With a Famous 14-point Guide to ID Fascist Leaders - AlterNet

The Dakota Access Pipeline and the Doctrine of Native Genocide  Truth-Out  

James Mattis Is a War Criminal: I Experienced His Attack on Fallujah Firsthand  Truth-Out  

December 6. 2016 -
Israel’s parliament has voted to retroactively legalise thousands of illegitimate settler homes in outposts built on private Palestinian land, in a highly controversial move described by critics as a “land grab”.   Guardian  

Tar Heel Heist: How the Charter School Industry is Hijacking Public Education. ... NC offers a harrowing preview of what American classrooms might look like under President Trump.
AlterNet  


December 5, 2016 -
Petraeus Mistress Got Black Books Full of Code Words, Spy Names, and Obama Briefings. The one-time CIA director didn’t just disclose sec rets to his mistress. He shared with her some of the most sensitive information the Pentagon has.
DailyBeast      Note: Beyond fact that Petraeus leaked more sensitive docs,than Snowden and Manning, with a huge difference in motives (informing public vs enabling mistress to write hagiography).

Systems of governance that are seized by a tiny cabal become mafia states. The early years - Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in the United States - are marked by promises that the pillage will benefit everyone. The later years - George W. Bush and Barack Obama - are marked by declarations that things are getting better even though they are getting worse. The final years - Donald Trump - see the lunatic trolls, hedge fund parasites, con artists, conspiracy theorists and criminals drop all pretense and carry out an orgy of looting and corruption.
Hedges  
 
Once, the national-security wing of the Republican party formed the core of the #NeverTrump coalition, issuing open letters that denounced the businessman’s geopolitical recklessness or ignorance. Now ... that wing is coming to terms with it. At the Reagan library, it appeared most comfortable reframing Trump within familiar Republican approaches to foreign affairs, no matter how much rhetorical finesse the task required.
Guardian 

Pence and Priebus defend Trump's false claim that millions voted illegally ..... Vice-president-elect says president-elect will ‘say what he believes to be true’, describing Trump’s ‘refreshing’ habit of speaking his mind. Guardian  

Google, democracy and the truth about internet search .... Tech-savvy rightwingers have been able to ‘game’ the algorithms of internet giants and create a new reality where Hitler is a good guy, Jews are evil and… Donald Trump becomes president   Guardain  

Standing Rock: US denies key permit for Dakota Access pipeline, in win for tribe .... Army Corps of Engineers will not grant the permit for the pipeline to drill under the Missouri river, handing a major win to environmental activists. Guardian  


December 4, 2016 -
Narcissist-in-chief.. Psychopathology explains Trumps Deparavity. AlterNet  

It's Trump's America now. Time to get over our attachment to facts  Guardian  

December 3, 2016 -
Idiocracy now: Donald Trump and the Dunning-Kruger effect - when stupid people don’t know they are stupid .... Trump is not merely ignorant. He is also supremely confident and feels superior — the most dangerous kind of idiot   Salon
(Dunning-Kruger on Wiki)

The backstory on Standing Rock, the federal government, and tribal sovereignty. Grist  

Justice department to deploy mediators to Standing Rock to 'maintain the peace' - JD is also offering assistance to law enforcement from division that led reform efforts following massive protests and unrest in 2014, Loretta Lynch said.  Guardian

Standing Rock live blog  

Professor Watchlist website elicits both fear and ridicule in US universities - Website recently established by conservative thinktank targets professors who they say spread ‘leftwing propaganda’ at US universities. Guardian

The Iron Heel at Home: Force Matters - I’ve long been taken aback by the readiness of some leading left intellectuals to downplay the role of state violence in the enforcement of social hierarchy and class rule inside the US. Counter Punch


December 2, 2016 -
The Propaganda About Russian Propaganda
New Yorker  

I’ve long been taken aback by the readiness of some leading left intellectuals to downplay the role of state violence in the enforcement of social hierarchy and class rule inside the United States. Perhaps you know the argument:.... Counter Punch

... ideologues associated within the Trump circle suggest that after the new administration takes office there might be a move by Congressional conservatives to resurrect a 21st century version of the long-dead House Un-American Activities Committee... Counter Punch  

Donald Trump has tapped conservative billionaire Betsy DeVos to serve as Education Secretary. DeVos is the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and a longtime backer of charter schools and vouchers for private and religious schools. Democract Now  

Cornel West on Donald Trump: This is What Neo-Fascism Looks Like.   Democracy Now  




December 1, 2016 -
2,000 Veterans To Form ‘Human Shields’ To Protect Standing Rock Protesters ... Their support comes after state officials issued a deadline for protesters to vacate.  Huffington  

 

 

 

 

 


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DECEMBER 2016 16TH THRU 31ST

December 31, 2016 -
Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid ... What’s the problem here? It did not happen. Intercept  
Related: Rolling Stone  

Economic Update: We Can Do Better Than Capitalism  Truth-Out/Wolf  

"I know nothing that I may say can influence you," he said. "You have no souls to be influenced. You are spineless, flaccid things. You pompously call yourselves Republican and Democrats. There is no Republican Party. There is no Democratic Party. There are no Republicans nor Democrats in this House. You are lick-spittlers and panderers, the creatures of the Plutocracy. You talk verbosely in antiquated terminology of your love of liberty, and all the while you wear the scarlet livery of the Iron Heel"
 -  Jack London, The Iron Heal, 1908
Excerpt from The Scarlet Livery
Download the book here (E-pub)
Purchas: Amazon

December 30, 2016 -
Weapon of Mass Distraction: Donald Trump Has Conned America into the Abyss ... Celebrity is an instrument of exploitation, and no one wields it better than the president-elect.  AlterNet  

December 30, 2016 - ALEC's Little Brother, ACCE, Has Big Plans for 2017 - Influencing local government.  TruthOut  

Are Governments Attempting to Curtail Dissent of Seniors by Stopping Social Security Checks.
 TruthOut  

The Coming Assault on Social Security - The first assault of the new Trump administration and Republican Congress upon Social Security has been launched. It comes in the form of release of a new report by the Congressional Budget Office....
CounterPunch  

Quietly, Trump and Republicans Are Gunning to Destroy Medicaid .... As Democrats focus on Obamacare and Medicare, there's a "quieter war" on Medicaid brewing.   CommonDreams  

December 29, 2016 -
By all means: let’s confront and defeat the menace of Fake News. But to do so, it’s critical that one not be selective in which type one denounces, and it is particularly important that one not sanction Fake News when it promotes one’s own political objectives. Most important of all is that those who want to lead the cause of denouncing Fake News not convert themselves into its most prolific disseminators whenever the claims of a Fake News account are pleasing or self-affirming. Intercept

World War Three, by Mistake -
Harsh political rhetoric, combined with the vulnerability of the nuclear command-and-control system, has made the risk of global catastrophe greater than ever.  The New Yorker  

Obama’s Christmas Gift to Trump: a Ministry of Truth  CounterPunch  

The US could be vastly different a year from now. Here's how... If Donald Trump and his cabinet picks have their way, our country could be quite changed at this time next year.  Guardian      

December 29, 2016 -
Jewish Students and Scholars Object to US Bill Banning Criticism of Israel   Juan Cole  

December 28, 2016 -
Tracking Influence Peddling in the US.
Tip Sheet ... Journalist's Resource  

Why Politicians Are to Blame for Most Terrorist Attacks - European political leaders are making the same mistake in reacting to the massacre at the Christmas fair in Berlin, in which 12 died, as they did during previous terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels.  CounterPunch   

UN Declares Israeli Settlements Illegal; Netanyahu Vows to Retaliate After US Abstains From Vote
Democracy Now 

Netanyahu 'told New Zealand backing UN vote would be declaration of war' ... Israeli PM reportedly warned that support for motion on settlements would ‘rupture relations’ between two countries.
Guardian  

North Carolina is no longer classified as a democracy  -  News & Observer  

North Carolina is no longer a democracy, report says ... The analysis likens the Tar Heel state to countries like Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela. Independent  

December 27, 2016
(The New Normal): They Thought They Were Free -  Then it was too late...  U of Chicago press  

Un-rigging our democracy: The GOP’s “unconstitutional political gerrymander” practices finally under fire ... Democrats need to focus on redistricting reforms that protect their right to vote, or they'll keep losing. Salon   

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems - Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative?
Guardian     Related: The end of the world as we know it Naomi Klein's critique of neo-liberalism, The Shock Doctrine, is both timely and devastating....
Guradian  

In the Time of Trump, All We Have Is Each Other.
TruthDig/Hedges   

The 1MDB scandal should be addressed by an international criminal tribunal - an important first in the fight against grand corruption  
Global Witness

December 26, 2016 -
Best of Truthdig’s Reports 2016: Chris Hedges Prophesies.Throughout the Election. TruthOut

Robert Reich: Like a Tyrant, Trump Is Deploying 7 Techniques to Control the Media ... Trump calls the media "dishonest," but they're directly responsible for his rise. AlterNet  

2016 was the end of the world as we know it. So what's next? - Trump and Brexit challenged fundamental beliefs, while the Syrian war left many in despair. And there’s more to come in 2017
Guardian
 

Planned aid for FY 2017....
Israel $3.1 Billion
Top 7 countries the US bombed: $3.04billion

Obama Allows Toothless UN Resolution Against Israeli Settlements to Pass. Intercept  

Barak: make peace with Palestinians or face apartheid.  Guardian  

December 25, 2016 -
In the Time of Trump, All We Have Is Each Other
TruthDig/Hedges  

Prophesies Throughout the Election. TruthDig/Hedges  

December 24, 2016 -

December 23, 2016 -
Militant Hope in the Age of the Politics of the Disconnent   CounterPunch/Giroux   

December 22, 2016 -
Fake News and the New McCarthyism
TruthDig  

December 21, 2016 -

December 20, 2016 -
Robert Reich: Like a Tyrant, Trump Is Deploying Seven Techniques to Control the Media
DemocracyNow  

December 19, 2016 -

December 18, 2016 -

December 17, 2016 -

December 16, 26016 -
Donald Trump: The Dress Rehearsal for Fascism
TruthDig/Hedges  

White Nationalism in the Oval Office and the Suppression of Dissent   Giroux  

December 15, 2016 -
George W. Bush’s Criminal Wars of Aggression: a Detailed History   CounterPunch  

 

 
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