Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1217
January 24, 2017
How the GOP Is Playing Trump Until They Can Dump Him
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Do the Republicans plan to dump Trump? I’m willing to wager they do.
By Robert Reich
January 22, 2017 “Information Clearing House” – I had breakfast recently with a friend who’s a former Republican member of Congress. Here’s what he said:
Him: Trump is no Republican. He’s just a big fat ego.
Me: Then why didn’t you speak out against him during the campaign?
Him: You kidding? I was surrounded by Trump voters. I’d have been shot.
Me: So what now? What are your former Republican colleagues going to do?
Him (smirking): They’ll play along for a while.
Me: A while?
Him: They’ll get as much as they want – tax cuts galore, deregulation, military buildup, slash all those poverty programs, and then get to work on Social Security and Medicare – and blame him. And he’s such a fool he’ll want to take credit for everything.
Me: And then what?
Him (laughing): They like Pence.
Me: What do you mean?
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GIRLS RUN WORLD: A REPORT BACK FROM LOS ANGELES
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Young protestors break away from official nonprofit run women’s protests to address real issues that affect poor people and minorities.
Submitted to It’s Going Down…… LOOK, Los Angeles is getting a lot of attention for the 750,000 participants of the Women’s March. In all the reports there is not one mention that, for the last two days, breakaway marches have stormed DTLA. LA often gets passed over in report-backs that list things like these anti-Trump protests because politics here tend to be very localized and are not necessarily in a coded political framework. But folks in LA are lit and deeply tuned into the way speculative capital is destroying our city.
#DAYONE
The first day was a march against the parade of nonprofits: forty organizations working together, from Code Pink to Union del Barrio to ANSWER. Though they gave many speeches their words rang hollow on a crowd that had heard it all before. It became obvious that the crowd wanted to have a march that was not in…
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January 23, 2017
One in Five CEOs are Psychopaths
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I can see how that could happen, since corporate culture selects on factors other than morality, and for some factors morality can be a handicap (e.g., dumping toxic waste to save money and increase profits: if the benefit to the bottom line is great enough, any who seriously objected would just lose their job; or consider an outrageous increase in price for a lifesaving drug: a psychopath would have no problem with that—did have no problem with that).
Harriet Agerholm reported in The Independent last September:
Around one in five corporate bosses are psychopaths – a proportion similar to that among prisoners – according to a new study.
Research conducted by forensic psychologist Nathan Brooks from Bond University found 21 per cent of 261 corporated professionals had clinically significant psychopathic traits.
Characteristics such as an inability to empathise, superficiality and insincerity are all associated with the condition.
Mr Brooks said the findings suggested businesses should screen employees according to their personality features, rather than simply their skills.
A type of “successful psychopath” who may be inclined to unethical or illegal practices has been allowed into the top ranks of companies because of the way firms hire, according to Mr Brooks.
Along with researchers Katarina Fritzon of Bond University and Simon Croom of the University of San Diego, Mr Brooks presented the study at the Australian Psychological Society’s annual congress in Melbourne.
“We’ve looked at around 1,000 people, and the supply chain management study that involved 261 corporate professionals – was the most interesting,” he told ABC.
Mr Brookes says that figure “shared similarities to what we would find in a prison population”.
Scott Lilienfeld, from Atkanta’s Emory University, who was also presenting on psychopathy at the APS Congress, told Australian news site news.au: “[Psychopaths] are over-represented in certain occupations: politics, business, high-risk sport. The research on that is in the preliminary stages. . .
That link in the article goes to “Help! My boss is a psychopath,” an interesting article from 2015.
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via 1 in 5 CEOs are psychopaths, according to a new study — Later On
Photo credit: Cesar Vargas via photopin (license)
Congressional Bill for US to Leave UN
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US attempts to leave UN – the world’s ultimate embodiment of corporate interests.
This is H U G E !
US leaving UN
You cannot make this up…
Its like telling the cabal, “YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!”
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/193/all-info
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Save
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Class Society and Inequality: Debunking the Myth
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
By Nancy Isenberg
Viking (2016)
Book Review
White Trash is a meticulously documented investigation of the historical roots of class inequality in the US. Despite the warm and fuzzy founding myths all American children are taught in school, the foundation for class inequality was laid during the early colonization of North America. The wealthy English elite who financed the colonies viewed the New World as a giant workhouse for England’s surplus poor (following the Enclosure Acts that drove them off the commons). British vagrants, vagabonds and convicts were both voluntarily and involuntarily transported to North America as apprentices, indentured servants and impressed* seaman. A surprising number of indentured servants, particularly in New England, were teenagers.
Most indentured servants (who functioned as virtual slaves) were promised land on completing their term of servitude. However nearly all went on to lose their land to property speculators and rigged taxation schemes, becoming squatters on the outskirts of established settlements. Comprising at least half of the population of most colonies, they were used by colonial elites as a wedge to encroach on Native American lands – only to be driven off their farms once the land was cleared and planted.
The lifestyle enjoyed by these squatters and their descendants was one of entrenched poverty and malnutrition, as well as hookworm, pellagra and other chronic illnesses associated with malnutrition. The disparaging attitude of wealthy elites and the emerging middle class towards this population clearly debunks ubiquitous corporate media claims about the “classless” nature of US society. Labels applied to them have changed over time, but the most prevalent have included “white trash,” “rednecks,” “mudsills,” and “mudeaters” (mud eating is a common symptom of hookworm). During her recent election campaign, Hillary Clinton referred to them as “deplorables.”
Isenberg reveals that post-World War II industrialization would lead many of these families migrate to northern cities, where they became “trailer trash.”
The wealthy elites have alternated between blaming white trash squatters and their descendants for their miserable circumstances and attributing their problems to genetic aberrations. The latter would lead to the eugenics movement and forced sterilization in the 20th century.
For me the most interesting parts of the book concerned the election of Andrew Jackson, the first “white trash” president, and the effects of slavery and the plantation system in creating a permanent “squatter class.” During his term as President, Jackson was repeatedly mocked by the elite-owned press for his lack of refinement – in much the same way as President-elect Donald Trump.
Isenberg assets that the creation of massive plantations maintained by slave labor created a permanent “squatter class” by driving an unprecedented number of poor white settlers off their land. She also maintains that the secession of seven states (which led to the Civil War) was more about preserving racial and class hierarchies than about preserving states rights. An astonishing number of poor southern whites either fought for the Union side, deserted or participated in food riots to protest shortages stemming from the exclusive dedication of prime agricultural land to cotton (rather than food).
*Impressment refers to the involuntary kidnapping of men, during the 18th and 19th century, into a military or naval force.
Originally published in Dissident Voice
January 22, 2017
Trump at Langley, the CIA’s Lion’s Den
On Saturday, Trump entered the lion’s den, visiting and speaking at CIA headquarters.
The agency under departed director John Brennan wanted his scalp – delegitimized and undermined, based on phony claims of Russian US election hacking, helping him defeat Hillary.
He’s now America’s 45th president. His incoming CIA director Mike Pompeo has yet to be confirmed. Senate Democrats Ron Wyden (OR), Patrick Leahy (VT) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) delayed his confirmation, solely for political reasons.
It was scheduled for Friday, Trump’s inaugural day. A joint statement said “in these dangerous times, (his) nomination (must) be thoroughly vetted, questioned and debated.”
With or without Pompeo in charge, the CIA constitutes a major threat to Trump, all other prominent figures challenging dirty business as usual – and most important world peace.
The late Chalmers Johnson called the agency incompatible with democratic freedoms. Its “unchecked power” threatens everyone everywhere. Its existence “shorten(s) the life of the American republic.”
At Langley, Trump spoke to around 400 CIA personnel, coming in on their day off to hear him. With Pompeo accompanying him, he criticized Senate Democrats for delaying his confirmation, saying they’re “playing little political games.”
Trump wants him heading the agency posing his greatest threat, saying he was the only one he interviewed for the job. “I didn’t want to meet anybody else. I said cancel them, cancel them.”
He told House Speaker Paul Ryan “I don’t want to lose this guy.” Does he believe Pompeo as his man heading the CIA can protect him from potential agency anti-Trump long knives?
Does he believe a peace offering by showing up as his “first (post-inaugural) stop,” and saying he’s “behind you 1000%…(N)obody…feels stronger about the intelligence community and CIA than Donald Trump” can save him if agency dark forces want him eliminated?
Last week, he blasted now departed CIA head John Brennan for being “the leaker of (anti-Trump) fake news”- referring the fabricated dodgy dossier, claiming Russia has compromising information about him, alleging it could be used for manipulative purposes.
No one is afforded a honeymoon with America’s leading rogue agency without playing by its rules, established by America’s deep state.
If Trump goes his own way, contrary to longstanding US practices, especially geopolitically, he’ll be vulnerable to impeachment or assassination.
Peacemaking at Langley, with his man in charge once confirmed, won’t help if he’s targeted for removal.
His vulnerability, or lack of it, will be better known once his policies become clear. Unprecedented vilification throughout the political season and post-election aftermath isn’t an encouraging sign.
The best advice he should heed is watch your back. Even that won’t help if America’s deep state wants him removed and replaced. Rough and tumble times ahead seem likely.
Source: Trump at Langley, the CIA’s Lion’s Den
White House announces exit from TPP, warns of possible exit from NAFTA
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Trump confirms his previously stated intention to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and outlines the possibility of a withdrawal from NAFTA if partners to that agreement refuse a renegotiation.
Source: The Duran, by Sergey Gladysh
Along with a new president comes a new White House website, complete with new information on the administration, its plans, and daily activities. As Donald Trump’s White House website went live shortly after the inauguration, some official policy details have been released.
For instance, here the list of Trump administration’s top issues:
America First Energy Plan
America First Foreign Policy
Bringing Back Jobs And Growth
Making Our Military Strong Again
Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community
Trade Deals Working For All Americans
The section on trade is particularly interesting, as it confirms Trump’s previously stated intentions to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and outlines the possibility of a withdrawal from NAFTA if partners to that agreement refuse a renegotiation.
Here is the what the text on trade reads:
This strategy starts by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and making certain that any new…
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US Drone Strikes in Yemen Continue to Kill Civilians
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Press TV – January 22, 2017 Separate US drone attacks have killed four people in the southwestern Yemeni province of Bayda. The United States carries out drone attacks in Yemen and several other countries, claiming to be targeting al-Qaeda elements, but, local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. The drone strikes in Yemen continue alongside the Saudi military aggression against the impoverished conflict-ridden country.attacks in Yemen and several other countries, claiming to be targeting al-Qaeda elements, but, local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. The drone strikes in Yemen continue alongside the Saudi military aggression against the impoverished conflict-ridden country.
A radio host and political commentator says US drone strikes are “absolutely atrocious,” adding that Washington is directly involved in Yemen’s war when it is “actively dropping bombs” on the war-torn country.
“I do not think a lot of the people in the United States even realize that United States is actually bombing Yemen. They think that the United States is simply supplying arms to Saudi Arabia, but the fact is United States is actually in there bombing people themselves with these drone strikes,” Max Igan told Press TV in an interview on Sunday.
He noted that it is “pretty outrageous” and “terrible” that the drone strikes are going on at the time of US presidential transition.
The commentator further argued that if US President Donald Trump wants to deescalate the war on terror and try to bring about stability and peace to the Middle East, he should stop the drone strikes.
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Why is Trump continuing to drone civilians in Yemen? During his campaign he promised to end US military intervention in the affairs of other country.
via US drone strikes in Yemen, absolutely atrocious: Analyst — Aletho News
photo credit: Al Jazeera
January 21, 2017
Meanwhile The Conservative Postal Service Con Rolls On
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Contrary to Republican claims, the Postal Service is operating in the black. US Postal Service revenue exceeded operating expenses by $610 million in Fiscal Year 2016, bringing its total operating profit the past three years to $3.2 billion. This is all earned revenue – by law USPS gets no tax dollars.
If history is any guide, Republicans will definitely try to further weaken and privatize the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). As per their usual strategy, they will claim the Postal Service is losing money, even though those losses are due to a Congressional mandate that USPS must fund the next seventy-five years of retirement benefits over a ten year time period–something no private mail carrier could possibly due (it’s all the more absurd because USPS has been overcharged already by at least $50 billion on pensions). The most recent installment of this chicanery (boldface mine):
The U.S. Postal Service delivers to 155 million homes and businesses from coast to coast, six and increasingly seven days a week. It’s based in the Constitution, is consistently rated the public’s most-trusted federal agency, and delivers 47 percent of the world’s mail.
It’s also the centerpiece of the $1.3 trillion national mailing industry…
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Pressure on EPA to Prohibit Fluoride in Public Drinking Water
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In 2014 the Lancet, one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals, officially classified fluoride as a neurotoxin. See Fluoride Officially Classified as Neurotoxin
by Alexa Erickson, Collective Evolution
Long ago fluoride was thought to promote good oral health, and so it made its way into our drinking water and toothpastes. Today, it seems it’s everywhere, and yet, it’s not even known to actually prevent the buildup of harmful oral bacteria. However, it is known to be toxic, with long-term ingestion linked to brain, heart, and bone issues, among other things.
A few years a go, a ground breaking publication in one of the top main-stream medical journals added six fluoride into its classification of neurotoxicants. You can read more about that here.
But if the facts are all there, why in the world is fluoride still so present? Fluoride Action Network (FAN) is among a coalition of environmental, medical, and health groups who think we deserve better, and are now urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the addition of fluoride…
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