“When Your Government Ends A War But Increases The Military Budget, You’re Being Scammed”
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Manchin and sinema are just the ones selected and agreeing to represent all Democrats’ true position on these bills. Democratic leadership knows that in the end they only have to answer to the rich as a party and they organize their members according to that and the individual members need for the type of theater that will get them re-elected
“Bernie Sanders Torches Manchin and Sinema for ‘Arrogance’ and ‘Acting Like Republicans’”
Coral Hairstreak (Satyrium titus)
Driftless Area South Central Wisconsin, Dane County USA
2014-07-02 742aaaaVsn2
“Global demand for coal could hit all-time high in 2022
Electricity from coal plants has risen by 9% this year to fuel economic recovery from Covid, says watchdog”
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Romeu Peitinho:
“Like Sabrina Miller, his rise to the position of pro-Israel propagandist began while in his final years at high school. In Isaacs’ case this was Haberdashers’ Boys’ School, a prestigious private establishment whose fees amount to more than $28,000 per year.
It was then that he secured a place with the United Jewish Israel Appeal’s elite Israel Fast Track Program, which aims to create a “lifetime of connection” between British Jews and the Zionist state, starting in primary schools. This was the exact same program of indoctrination which Sabrina Miller attended as a school child.”
“Meet Edward Isaacs, the student waging a campus war for Israel”
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“The corruption is out of control, over the top, etc
These lawmakers have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 by failing to properly disclose financial trades, many to a significant degree.”
“Dozens of federal lawmakers and at least 182 top congressional staffers are violating a federal conflict-of-interest law known as the STOCK Act. Others are failing to avoid clashes between their personal finances and public duties.”
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Eric Resnick:
“As I have said before, Mehdi Hasan is the best interviewer on MSNBC. In this video he merely pressed the right question, and Pramila Jayapal just embarassed herself over and over.
Jayapal chairs the House Progressive Caucus, which is comprised of anyone who wants to join it, whether they are actually Progressive or not.
Personally, I think Jayapal is a fool. But if she believes the tale she is spinning here, she's also lying to herself. This is one of the reasons why Democrats are so inept.
Jayapal led House Democrats to abandon their leverage on these infrastructure bills by passing the bi-partisan one first, against the judgement of true Progressives.
The bi-partisan bill contains money to subsidize coal companies. That was what Joe Manchin wanted. That was the leverage to pry his vote on the Build Back Better Act.
Jayapal led the Democrats to pass what Manchin wanted first, so now he has no incentive to vote for the bill she now wants (which Manchin and company have already negotiated to nothing).
No one has leverage to pass the bill now, and as Hasan suggests, it will not pass. It's dead. Killed by political malpractice -- Jayapal's political malpractice.
If you live in her district, please support a primary challenge to her.”
“Rep. Jayapal On Mark Meadows’ Text From “Lawmaker” | The Mehdi Hasan Show”
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“Democrats’ Shameful Betrayal on Student Debt Will Doom Them in 2022”
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“How "Moderates" Serve The Right”
“As much as they like to see themselves as enlightened arbiters of progress, centrists are little more than spoilers for actual democratic progress at best, and complete lackeys for the Right in most cases.”
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“German police remove pro-Palestinian students from campus meeting”
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Jean Waller:
"And yet, the industry is nonetheless driving climate change in two key ways.
The first is that the industry provides insurance for fossil fuel extraction projects, allowing investors to support them by protecting against catastrophic losses. The second way is through its investments. Insurance companies turn a profit in part by investing their revenues in other companies. Billions of dollars of those investments go to the fossil fuel industry."
“Insuring — And Ensuring — The Apocalypse
Regulators are taking aim at how insurance companies are helping to fuel the climate crisis.”
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“Andrew Nikiforuk: Energy Dead-Ends: Green Lies, Climate Change and Chaotic Transitions”
“Canadian journalist Andrew Nikiforuk’s Nov. 17, 2021 lecture at University of Victoria, “Energy Dead-Ends: Green Lies, Climate Change and Chaotic Transitions,” explains why we need to measure energy spending—not just greenhouse gas emissions. He also spells out the techno-sphere’s growing dominance. This talk echoes what Jeff Gibbs and Michael Moore report in “Planet of the Humans;” what Jensen, Keith and Wilbert report in “Bright Green Lies;” what Katie Singer and Miguel Coma report in Letters about Technology’s Impacts on Nature at www.OurWeb.tech/letters. I highly recommend Nikiforuk’s lecture!
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“Bill Clinton finished Ronald Reagan's dream of dismantling FDR's legacy, which Reagan could not achieve during his two terms, and this led to the 2007-2009 Great Recession and at least six million homeowers being foreclosed. None of the establishment Dems want a return of Glass-Steagall to this day (one of the differences between Hillary and Bernie in 2015-16).
From "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒖𝒑: 𝑯𝒐𝒘𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒏𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅𝑪𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒏𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒔𝑬𝒏𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆𝑴𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈𝑴𝒂𝒊𝒏𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕," by Robert Scheer (2010):
"Although as governor of California and later in the White House Reagan would preside over massive government budgets and even expand them, he found in Gramm an ideological “small government” soul mate. The Mercatus Center, an antiregulation think tank based at George Mason University from which Gramm has proselytized mightily, proudly boasts in her website biography that the Wall Street Journal “called her ‘The Margaret Thatcher of financial regulation.’”
However, unlike the former British prime minister, neither Gramm nor President Reagan was able to bring about much change in the balance between government and the private sector. While his administration did funnel hundreds of billions of dollars in new Cold War military spending to corporate contractors—hugely expanding the national debt in the process—Reagan was not able to deliver to Wall Street a parallel windfall.
For Wall Street, the holy grail was not cash handouts but a deconstruction of the complex public-private partnership ushered in by Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to restrain capitalism’s most self-destructive patterns. For these so-called FIRE firms—Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate—this half-century-old regulatory system, modest as it was, was an irritant that limited their ability to gamble and leverage their dominant positions.
While the companies just wanted to be free of restraint to profit at will, Reagan anGramm were true believers, arguing that the regulatory status quo was outmoded and onerous—even socialist—hobbling business growth. The top target in their sights was the New Deal-enacted Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, signed into law by President Roosevelt, which regulated the financial services industry. Key to its effectiveness was the seemingly simple wall it erected between the commercial banks entrusted with depositors’ funds—and insured by the government’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the agency created by Glass-Steagall—and the wilder antics of basically unregulated Wall Street investment banks like Goldman Sachs.
In 1982, Reagan signed the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, easing regulation of savings and loans and, in the eyes of critics such as Paul Krugman, paving the way for the S&L collapse in the 1980s as well as the subprime housing crisis decades later. Nevertheless, Reagan made clear even then that this was not the biggest target on his list:
'Unfortunately, this legislation does not deal with the important question of delivery of other services, including securities activities by banks and other depository institutions. But I’m advised that many in the Congress want to put this question at the top of the banking deregulatory agendas next year, and I would strongly endorse such an initiative and hope that at the same time, the Congress will consider other proposals for more comprehensive deregulation which the administration advanced during the 97th Congress.'
Reagan’s timeline, however, was overly optimistic; economic problems, particularly the savings and loan meltdown and the spiraling national debt, made politicians of both parties cautious. Yet, in one of the grand twists of American politics, the proposals he sought would eventually be signed into law more than a decade later by a Democratic president with a reputation of being a liberal child of the 1960s. In fact, at the end of Reagan’s presidency, Congress passed legislation that toughened rather than weakened financial industry regulation. As Time magazine reported on August 17, 1987:
'Ronald Reagan’s dream of carrying out a sweeping deregulation of the US economy has stirred a powerful backlash on Capitol Hill. Never has that been more apparent than last week, when Congress passed its first comprehensive piece of banking legislation since 1982. The White House had hoped the bill would remove many of the governmental shackles that inhibit competition between banks, securities firms and other institutions in the burgeoning field of financial services. In fact, it does just the opposite.'
Reagan signed the bill, the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987, only after criticizing it for not only failing to tear down the Glass-Steagall walls but, worse, temporarily extending “the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act restrictions on securities activities to state-chartered, non-member banks for the first time.” He made it clear he was signing the bill despite his quite vociferous objections because it contained provisions for funding for local banks in trouble. It was at once a statement of the enormous importance he attached to decimating Glass-Steagall and an admission that he would come to the end of his last term without accomplishing that goal.
So legislatively his administration was a bust when it came to reversing the New Deal. Yet rhetorically it was an enormous success in propagandizing a view that so-called big government was the cause of America’s late-twentieth-century crisis of economic confidence. He managed to popularize and make palatable the heretofore fringe belief that government regulation of the financial sector, rather than saving capitalism from itself, was an irrational hindrance to individual profit and even a threat to our national power. Speaking at the signing of the 1987 bill, Reagan noted[:]
“These new anti-consumer and anti-competitive provisions could hold back a vital service industry at a time when competition in the international capital markets increasingly challenges United States financial institutions, and they should be repealed.”
With great political irony, this speech would be repeated almost word for word a dozen years later, when Democrat Bill Clinton reversed a half century of his party’s core economic principles to argue for the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Clinton’s public rationale for this watershed shift was that if regulation of Wall Street were not “modernized”—political code for weakened or eliminated—the United States would lose out to foreign competition in capital markets. ... "”
“Glass-Steagall Act”
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“The corruption is rampant right across the board. Nancy Pelosi defends insider trading by saying "It's a free market economy!"”
“Pelosi DEFENDS Lawmakers Trading Stocks. Congress, Staffers Make MILLIONS Off Insider Trading?”
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BBB was always theater:
““If Sen. Joe Manchin wants to vote against the Build Back Better Act, he should have the opportunity to do so with a floor vote as soon as the Senate returns. He should have to explain to West Virginians and the American people why he doesn’t have the courage to stand up to powerful special interests and lower prescription drug costs; expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and eyeglasses; continue the $300 per child direct monthly payment which has cut childhood poverty by over 40%; and address the devastating impacts of climate change. He should also have to explain why he is not prepared to demand that millionaires and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. I also find it amusing that Sen. Manchin indicates his worry about the deficit after voting just this week for a military budget of $778 billion, four times greater than Build Back Better over ten years and $25 billion more than the president requested.” -- Senator Bernie Sanders”
“A good time remind everyone that Senate Dems never made Manchin vote. They never put him on the spot.
It suggests the fix was always in, the process was all performative, and Democratic leaders were complicit in today’s announcement”
“It’s time for Democratic leaders to make Manchin, Sinema and every other senator vote – and not on some gutted half measures, on a real $3.5 Trillion…”
“Manchin is a POS – but ultimately Jayapal fired the killshot – it just bled out on the Senate Floor. She knew damn well what would happen if she led her caucus to unilaterally surrender all leverage in exchange for absolutely nothing in return. Lots of failure to go around.”
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BBB was always theater:
“Why did Democrats bundle so many popular provisions in the #BuildBackBetterAct, gut them one by one, & ultimately shelve the bill?
1. To fundraise. Donors bribed them to kill policies they never intended to pass anyway.
2. To disillusion voters & lose their majorities. Dems can continue to campaign on them without passing them & blame voters & Republicans.”
“Pharma Dems Saved The Drug Industry Half A Trillion Dollars
Corporate Dems saved Big Pharma $450 billion by watering down the party’s drug pricing plan.”
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“Bill Mollison In Grave Danger of Falling Food 1989”
“In this introductory video to permaculture, Bill Mollison, the movement’s co-founder, takes the viewer through the history and developments of the movement. With startlingly laconic humor and insight he deconstructs the modern agribusiness and the “modern plague” : manicured ornamental lawns. In this video he offers an antidote, which is an antidote to both our currently unsustainable practices and our unsustainable culture. Both of these have to change and adapt. Permanently.”
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America is in very real danger of having it’s Constitution being rewritten in a Constitutional Convention of States. Both parties are bringing this threat to fruition. The rewriting will include a balance budget mandate that still permits the rich to benefit from currency printing:
“Urge your Senators to strengthen democracy with the Freedom to Vote Act (S. 2747), John Lewis Voting Rights Amendment Act (S. 4), and Protecting Our Democracy Act (H.R. 5314)”
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“The oil giant TOTAL to court in France. And a victory for the climate! This is the first legal action based on the legal duty of vigilance of transnational corporations.”
“Victory! Total Uganda case: the French Supreme Court recognizes the jurisdiction of the civil court
The Court of Cassation just issued its ruling on the case against the oil giant Total, led by six French and Ugandan civil society organizations (CSOs) - Friends of the Earth France, Survie, AFIEGO, CRED, NAPE and NAVODA. This is the first legal action based on the law on the duty of vigilance of transnational corporations.”
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Actions of the Senate Parliamentarian do not rise to the level of binding law. They are merely advisory:
“Senate Parliamentarian Rejects Democrats’ Immigration Proposal in $2 Trillion Bill Proposal would have provided work permits, deportation protections to millions”
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“15 Bleak Photos From 2021 That Sum Up the World’s Climate Crisis”
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“Ex-Republican who monitors Trump's die-hard base issues warning
Ron Filipkowski, a former Republican and prosecutor who monitors former President Trump's supporters, says organizers of the January 6 insurrection are targeting local government officials. “
“#RollingCoup #CoupAttempt #insurrection #GOPSeditionists #GOPTraitors #TheBigLie #Fascism #BogusElectionFraudClaim
Are we paying attention THIS time?????
“What we’re seeing is that many of the activists and influencers who promoted and attended the rally that became the violent attempt to stop the certification of President Biden’s election have now turned their attention LOCALLY - primarily to THREE PRIMARY TARGETS: school boards, city and county commissions, and Secretaries of State & supervisors of elections.” - Ron Filipkowski, a former Republican and prosecutor who monitors former President Trump's supporters”
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Understand your enemies pulse:
“The legal nature of money and the history of the Federal Reserve” with Rohan Grey
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And no, Juan Guido, wasn’t in attendance:
“Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia unite in Cuba at anti-imperialist ALBA summit”
“Leftist Latin American and Caribbean leaders gathered in Cuba for the 20th summit of the anti-imperialist Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA). Ben Norton discusses the important meeting, and translates highlights from the speeches of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Bolivian President Luis Arce.”
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“Big Oil - Masters of Deception”
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