1/ The always insightful Matt Taibbi on Bernie Sanders....but his real target is our compliant corporate media who refuse to take Bernie seriously because he's not part of the rigged game.....check out this line from the story....
In fact, this numbing reality of how completely corrupted the modern American political process is bends the brains of those whose job it is to cover it.
This is Taibbi at his best.....an excellent article.....
The New York Times recently reported that Bernie Sanders "hardly ever kisses babies.
The New York Times published a piece over the weekend about the political prospects of Bernie Sanders, a politician who apparently does not kiss enough babies:
"[Sanders] rarely drops by diners or coffee shops with news cameras in tow, unlike most politicians. He hardly ever kisses babies, aides say, and does not mingle much at fund-raisers.
"His high-minded style carries risk. As effective as his policy-laden speeches may be in impressing potential supporters, Mr. Sanders is missing opportunities to lock down uncommitted voters face to face in Iowa and New Hampshire, where campaigns are highly personal."
The media response to the Sanders campaign has been alternately predictable, condescending, confused and condescending again.
The tone of most of the coverage shows reporters deigning to treat his campaign like it's real, like he has a chance. John Cassidy of The New Yorker, for instance, swore he wouldn't be patronizing about the Sanders run. "Indeed, I welcomed Sanders to the race!" Cassidy wrote recently.
But Cassidy's hokey "Welcome to the 2016 Race, Bernie Sanders!" piece from last spring had a small catch. It basically said that Sanders was welcome because he would be a boon to the real candidate, Hillary Clinton.
2/ One of the best Bill Maher "New Rules" segments for a while.....wonderful zingers, and the destruction of Trump and Carson in six minutes......4.9 stars!
Comedian Bill Maher nailed it on Friday night’s “Real Time” in his monologue about Ben Carson. Following jokes about Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, Maher had the ultimate burn when he said, “If neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson really believes that somebody with zero governing experience is qualified to be president, he must first let someone with zero medical training operate on his brain.”
Carson has long reiterated he’s not a politician, which should set him apart from many other candidates running for the 2016 nomination. In a January 2015 interviewwith Fox News, Carson said, “I do make it clear that I’m not a politician and that I never intend to become a politician.” Don’t worry, no one would mistake you for it.
3/ The Daily Show wanted to send one of their correspondents to the Republican Iowa caucuses, but they refused. Hmmm....after this segment i'm sure they regret it .....
Last week, the Iowa Republican party held their Growth and Opportunity Party, attended by a bunch of Republican candidates ahead of the Iowa caucus. Well, guess what: when The Daily Showtried to get press credentials, the Iowa GOP denied them. State chair explained, “The reason is, we were afraid they were going to make fun of Iowa.”
Well, in response, Trevor Noah unloaded on them for their “disingenuous” response, saying, “You don’t want people making fun of your terrible candidates and your ridiculous event.”
4/ The huge, dark monster that sits on top of this country quietly but ruthlessly is the military industrial complex.....and 95% of us have no clue, no idea it's there.
Tom Engelhard with an almost sad commentary on how the public has switched off from the national security state and the process has taken decades.....but it's the last few paragraphs that give one hope....
A long and rueful article.....
This piece originally appeared on TomDispatch.
You may not know it, but you’re living in a futuristic science fiction novel. And that’s a fact. If you were to read about our American world in such a novel, you would be amazed by its strangeness. Since you exist right smack in the middle of it, it seems like normal life (Donald Trump and Ben Carson aside). But make no bones about it, so far this has been a bizarre American century.
Let me start with one of the odder moments we’ve lived through and give it the attention it’s always deserved. If you follow my train of thought and the history it leads us into, I guarantee you that you’ll end up back exactly where we are — in the midst of the strangest presidential campaign in our history.
To get a full frontal sense of what that means, however, let’s return to late September 2001. I’m sure you remember that moment, just over two weeks after those World Trade Center towers came down and part of the Pentagon was destroyed, leaving a jangled secretary of defense instructing his aides, “Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.”
5/ If you are following DDD and/or non-corporate news, you may have begun to realize the "official" news is almost always bullshit, manipulated to cover up the truth which is always about the money trail. The 9/11 conspiracy is one of these.....all too convenient and pat, with a villain to exploit and use as an excuse to waste amazing amounts of money, crippling this country forever....
Anyway.....this five minute video explains it all with devastating logic......
But as the master George Carlin said "Nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care"......even if you get out there with a flag every year on Sept. 11, this is worth watching....
Regarding video, “9/11: A Conspiracy Theory,” described as “Everything you ever wanted to know about the 9/11 conspiracy theory in under 5 minutes.”
Bravo! Kudos! Congratulations!! Thanks to independent journalist James Corbett for producing this outstanding video, now complete with transcript linking key facts to evidence. Really … go to The Corbett Report, take five minutes and watch this.
6/ You know this country has brutalised the working poor and middle class for the last couple of decades. The consequences of this are the polarization and deep anger throughout the country, but there are also health consequences....for middle aged white males.....
A most interesting story....and not exactly surprising.....
Among middle-aged white Americans, the death rate is rising even as the rest of the world enjoys longer life spans
November 5, 2015 2:00AM ET
The death rate among white middle-aged Americans is rising at an alarming rate, even as death rates for all other Americans are falling. The increase is concentrated among whites with meager educations and is “largely accounted for by increasing death rates from drug and alcohol poisonings, suicide and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis,” according to two Princeton University scholars, one of whom was just awarded the Nobel in economics.
Their findings should awaken Americans to the price we pay for pursuing economic policies that enrich the few at the expense of the many.
Drug and alcohol use that results in death from either poisoning or chronic disease, as well as increased self-extermination, point to social pathologies fostered by government policies that favor moving jobs offshore, reducing wages, restricting access to health care and enabling age discrimination in hiring.
Macabre data
There is good reason to think worsening economic conditions are at the heart of what the Princeton economists — Anne Case and Angus Deaton, the new Nobel laureate — found by simply analyzing published mortality data.
Case and Deaton, who are married, found “declines in self-reported health, mental health and ability to work, increased reports of pain, and deteriorating measures of liver function all point to increasing midlife distress,” according to their paper published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
We’ll return to that in a moment, but first, let’s get a handle on the enormity of this macabre trend among middle-aged white Americans.
7/ Austin, Texas.....a disturbing video that shows three black young people being arrested for jaywalking .....brutally handcuffed and dragged to a patrol car by what looks like about 15 cops.....for jaywalking....
But hey, it's Texas.....
Visitors sit in the back of a tricycle taxi along Sixth Street in Austin, Texas November 16, 2012. ADREES LATIF/REUTERS
A harrowing video that appears to show several bicycle police officers from the Austin Police Department using questionable force to arrest three people who had allegedly jaywalked early on Friday morning was posted online and is now being reviewed by the organization’s “chain of command,” reports NBC News.
It’s unclear what events preceded the violent turn depicted in the video, but the alleged jaywalking arrests were captured by a friend of the two men confronted by the officers, Rolando Romiro, who said he had been out at bars with them near the 600 Block of East Sixth Street.
8/ As a follow-on, Tom Tomorrow puts it all in perspective.....
9/ John Oliver with a brilliant video on the choices voters made last week in the state elections.....make the wrong choice, and hundreds of thousands of people will lose their health care.
The results are in - the low turnout gave the elections to Republicans, and guess what.....no more health insurance. I am at the point where if the people are that stupid, so be it......
Just like Floriduh.....
The election might be a year away, but there are several elections in states across the country that are happening tomorrow that John Oliver wants Americans to look at. On Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver discussed the gubernatorial and legislative elections happening in Kentucky, New Jersey, Virginia and Mississippi.
There are also huge local elections, like Pennsylvania’s election of three judges, that could determine redistricting in 2020. But the other major outcome of Tuesday’s election is it could determine the expansion of Obamacare.
When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld “nearly all” of Obamacare in their 2012 decision, that wasn’t entirely enough. “Health care is like a pair of gym shorts — even if it covers nearly all it is supposed to, you’re still left with some problematic gaps and terrible things can happen,” Oliver explained.
10/ Marco Rubio seems to be the name floating to the top of the toilet bowl as the likely candidate with Jeb! sinking into the pit....one of the clues is the attention he is getting from the billionaire owners.....the latest is Paul Singer, who makes his money by bankrupting small countries.....
Rubio is owned by Norman Braman, Sheldon Adelson and now Singer.....
(Credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg)
The Sunday shows yesterday featured pretty much nothing but Republicans rehashing their debate and celebrating the ascension of Paul Ryan as Savior of the Republican Party. The GOP pundits were a little bit more subdued than usual, but everyone agreed that the Republicans are the party of youth and vigor and the future But for the fact that young people overwhelmingly support the Democrats, that might even make some sense.
But despite all the big political news of the week, there was a another political story that garnered no attention on the SundayMorning GOP love fest: The decision by vastly wealthy hedge fund manager Paul Singer to back Marco Rubio.
11/ And for confirmation, comic writer Andy Borowitz nails it....
Billionaire Acquires Rubio Pending Physical
BY ANDY BOROWITZ
12/ Good TV.......a PBS series "The Brain"....it's on Amazon Video for $1.99.....
Neuroscientist David Eagleman explores the human brain in an epic series that reveals the ultimate story of us, why we feel and think the things we do. This ambitious project blends science with innovative visual effects and compelling personal stories, and addresses some big questions. By understanding the human brain, we can come close to understanding humanity. Airs Wednesdays, October 14-November 18, 10-11pm ET.
Todays video - I love this one.....11 hypnotic minutes of planes landing at Birmingham airport in the brutal winter crosswinds.....
Todays Chicago joke
Moving To Chicago
Bob was sitting on the plane waiting to fly to Chicago, when a guy took the seat beside him. The guy was an emotional wreck, pale, hands shaking, moaning in fear.
"What's the matter?" Bob asked.
"I've been transferred to Chicago- I've heard the people are crazy there. They've got lots of shootings, gangs, race riots, drugs, poor public schools, and the highest crime rate in the nation."
Bob replied, "I've lived in Chicago all my life. It's not as bad as the media says. Find a nice home, go to work, mind your own business, and enroll your kids in a nice private school. It's as safe a place as anywhere in the world."
The guy relaxed and stopped shaking and said, "Oh, thank you. I've been worried to death. But if you live there and say it's OK, I'll take your word for it. What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a tail gunner on a Budweiser truck."Todays joke for the ladies
A Spanish language teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."
"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is 'Computer'?"
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher divided the class into two groups, Male and Female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "Computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.
Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that "Computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck to buy accessories for it.
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("el computador"), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.The women won.
Send this to all the women you know...... And to all the men that have a sense of humor.
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