Empire Dusk

The world is exploding in protests

2019-10-22T11:28:00.001-07:00

Everyone around the world is getting fed up.

The New York Post 10/21/2019: Inside the protests rocking nations around the globe
Business Insider 10/03/2019: 13 major protests happening around the globe right now, from Chile's deadly riots to Hong Kong's face mask demonstrations
USA Today 10/22/2019: Bolivia says Evo Morales almost has the votes to avoid runoff; riots erupt as US raises election concerns
The Times of Israel 10/18/2019: Lebanese PM gives gov’t 72-hour ultimatum as riots bring country to standstill
NPR 10/06/2019: Hong Kong Demonstrators Continue Anti-Government Protests, Clashes With Riot Police
Financial Post 10/22/2019: Riots, state of emergency in Chile force Scotiabank to postpone investor day
Los Angeles Times 10/21/2019: Opinion: Riots around the globe are linked by a common thread: frustration
Bloomberg 10/20/2019: Political Risk Is Revived in Latin America as Protests Spread
Time 09/30/2019: Thousands of Indonesian Students Protest Law Restricting Anti-Corruption Agency
News 18 10/22/2019: Thousands Protest Against Bangladesh Police After it Shot Dead 4 in Deadly Riots
Washington Post 09/27/2019: In Egypt, dissent is silenced by masked men, riot police and blocked roads
BBC News 10/22/2019: Do today's global protests have anything in common?

The end is nigh!

The Border Wall and Climate Change

2019-03-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

There is a humanitarian crisis going on at the U.S. Southern border, but there is also a humanitarian crisis along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. There are humanitarian crises along the southern hemisphere borders between the temperate climate zones. When all is said and done about the southern border wall of the United States, how much difference will it make?

VOX 01/30/2017: 9 maps and charts that explain the global refugee crisis
University of Richmond 09/27/2017: A World Ravaged by Global Warming
NASA Earth Observatory 01/03/2007: Defining Desertification
Invasive Notes 12/15/2008: Climate Change - Invasive Species
Climate Central

I believe the biggest security threat of all is to our clean fresh water. If there's a chance that the U.S. will suddenly find itself in a national humanitarian crisis, would the rest of the world sympathize? Maybe some, but not likely most.

The Final Recession was in 2008

2019-03-05T18:51:00.001-08:00

I received an email from the U.S. Census Bureau today as part of preparations for the 2020 Census. There was a special report on the problem of under counting young children. One factor listed was that families with small children had moved since the previous Census, into or out of what they called "complex households."

Included in many of the data sets was one called Geographic Mobility. I had just the previous day finished a blog post over at Safe Work Space called Job Losses in 2019 which focused on the Retail Apocalypse of stores closing. It got me thinking about why the stock market keeps going up and the main-stream media keeps reporting how good the economy is, but things are not as they seem.

It occurred to me that the geographic mobility of families over time might be evidence of the truth, so I downloaded the data and made this chart:

This demonstrates that geographic mobility has been declining since the mid-1980's. It didn't seem to make sense, until I came across a YouTube video of the Jimmy Dore Show with featured guest Michael Hudson, who until this moment I never heard of, despite my familiarity with Richard Wolff and Chris Hedges. After watching it, another video interview of Michael Hudson popped up from Democracy at Work including this quote I made into a graphic which explains everything about the above chart:

Michael Hudson is the author of J is for Junk Economics: A Guide to Reality in an Age of Deception

Night at the Alfalfa Club: Oligopolitics

2019-01-29T04:22:00.000-08:00

Every conspiracy theory about a shadow government, deep state, dark state, ruling donor class and the repression and marginalization of the unwashed masses, is vindicated in a crass display of hegemonic avarice at the Alfalfa Club. If you want to see what an oligopoly looks like, here it is. A perfect marriage of politicians with their true and only constituency. I call this Oligopolitics. Like George Carlin said: "It's a big club and you ain't in it." Now it actually has a name and faces.

Politico 01/27/2019: POLITICO Playbook: Best lines from the Alfalfa Club dinner.
Wikipedia: Alfalfa Club.
The Washington Post 01/27/2019: John Kerry and Mitt Romney hugging, and Mitch McConnell in a hospital gown? It must be the Alfalfa Club dinner.
CNN Politics 01/27/2019: Pence, Ivanka, Kushner no-show as Mattis gets standing ovation at elite DC dinner.
Salt Lake Tribune 01/28/2019: Utah Sen. Mitt Romney elected president of secret Washington group of politicians, business leaders.

Apparently this club is a hundred years old. I think it dates back to the Teapot Dome Scandal [YouTube].

These guys are insatiable. Just look at Warren G. Harding. You were never taught this in public school history class.

Michael Cohen and the Poll Rigging

2019-01-18T09:44:00.000-08:00

News articles related to the story that Michael Cohen was ordered to manipulate polls during the 2016 election:

USA Today - Michael Cohen offered Liberty University CIO $50,000 to rig two online polls for Trump, report says
CNN Politics - Cohen says Trump directed him to pay for poll rigging
The Washington Times - Michael Cohen hired IT firm to manipulate polls for Trump before Republican primary: Report
Esquire - I Was Wondering When We'd Get Trump's Cash-in-a-Bag Episode
Reuters - Ex-Trump lawyer: rigging polls 'was at the direction of' Trump
The rest of the Google search results.

Lead and Arsenic Poisoning

2019-01-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

I recently went to the VA clinic to give blood and urine. While waiting for the blood to be drawn I asked the technician if I could have my blood tested for lead and arsenic poisoning because Springfield is powered by a coal burning power plant, and the reservoir that supplies Springfield with tap water is directly adjacent to the plant, and to the plant's coal ash pit.

This is part of an interest I have in trying to understand why people are behaving in a way never before seen, so public and vicious. The behavior stems from what seems like an inherent out of control hormonal balance, causing a plague of wrongfully attributed anger and hysteria. Normally I would plant this post under my other blog Indictment of Humanity, as just another collection of data, but the problem with toxins in our food chain has become my focus due to political and social upheavals in recent history.

Industrial interests are doing what they can to stifle reports on toxins created from burning coal.

Lead will cause the downfall of society	Lead will not cause the downfall of society

Washington Post: Lead Poisoning and the Fall of Rome.	Science Magazine: ScienceShot: Did Lead Poisoning Bring Down Ancient Rome?
War History Online: The reasons why Rome fell – Lead poisoning is often dismissed as a major cause for the decline of Rome, but the theory does have some merit	ARS Technica: Plumbing discovery reveals the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Encyclopaedia Romana: Lead Poisoning and Wine	ThoughtCo: A Short Timeline of the Fall of the Roman Empire
World Health Organization: There is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe.	Mayo Clinic: There is treatment for lead poisoning, but taking some simple precautions can help protect you and your family from lead exposure before harm is done.
Justice Policy Institute: Lead Poisoning, a Persistent Sign of Poverty, Is Linked to School Suspensions and Lower Student Test Scores	Vox: The risk of lead poisoning isn’t just in Flint. So we mapped the risk in every neighborhood in America. (Where to find places to live with the least amount of Lead exposure.)
Essence: 7 Cities That Prove America’s Problem With Contaminated Water Is Larger Than Flint.	Yale: Clean Air and Money: Key Ingredients to Well-Being? (Pollution is the key ingredient for maintaining socioeconomic class stratification and slave labor around the world.)

Why conservative speakers are protested on college campuses

2018-12-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

Simple answer: They keep touting arguments that have long been debunked. Take tax cuts for example: They keep insisting that tax cuts will pay for themselves despite the fact such a policy eventually cost' George H. W. Bush his second term when he had no choice but to raise taxes again.

Check these sources if you will:

NO, TAX CUTS ARE NOT PAYING FOR THEMSELVES	YES, TAX CUTS ARE PAYING FOR THEMSELVES
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: Do Tax Cuts Pay For Themselves? The Fiscal Times: Are the Tax Cuts Paying for Themselves? New York Times: No, Trump’s Tax Cut Isn’t Paying for Itself (at Least Not Yet) FactCheck.org: CBO Didn’t Say Tax Cuts Were ‘Virtually Paid For’ The Washington Post: History lesson: Do big tax cuts pay for themselves? Politifact: Do tax cuts pay for themselves? Evidence is thin / Trump economic chief Larry Kudlow wrong about CBO report on tax cuts	Investor's Business Daily: It's Official: Trump Tax Cuts Are Boosting Growth And Mostly Paying For Themselves. The Wall Street Journal: The Corporate Tax Cut Is Paying for Itself Forbes: The Tax Cuts Will Pay For Themselves If We Wait Long Enough YouTube: Mnuchin - Trump's tax cuts will pay for themselves. American Thinker: Trump's tax cuts already paying for themselves Town Hall: Dems Wrong Again: Republican Tax Cuts Are Paying for Themselves

NO, TAX CUTS ARE NOT PAYING FOR THEMSELVES

YES, TAX CUTS ARE PAYING FOR THEMSELVES

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: Do Tax Cuts Pay For Themselves?
The Fiscal Times: Are the Tax Cuts Paying for Themselves?
New York Times: No, Trump’s Tax Cut Isn’t Paying for Itself (at Least Not Yet)
FactCheck.org: CBO Didn’t Say Tax Cuts Were ‘Virtually Paid For’
The Washington Post: History lesson: Do big tax cuts pay for themselves?
Politifact: Do tax cuts pay for themselves? Evidence is thin / Trump economic chief Larry Kudlow wrong about CBO report on tax cuts

Investor's Business Daily: It's Official: Trump Tax Cuts Are Boosting Growth And Mostly Paying For Themselves.
The Wall Street Journal: The Corporate Tax Cut Is Paying for Itself
Forbes: The Tax Cuts Will Pay For Themselves If We Wait Long Enough
YouTube: Mnuchin - Trump's tax cuts will pay for themselves.
American Thinker: Trump's tax cuts already paying for themselves
Town Hall: Dems Wrong Again: Republican Tax Cuts Are Paying for Themselves

Then there's Market Watch: Opinion: The unanswerable question: Do tax cuts pay for themselves?

Income Distribution and Civil Unrest

2018-10-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

This chart will plainly explain why corruption and civil unrest spreads and more militarized police are needed to crack down on the deprived masses who are desperate for basic needs. What was the income distribution in Rome when it fell? How about France in 1797? Russia in 1917?

What Turned America Brutal?

2018-09-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Answer: The American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002. Which is "intended to intimidate countries that ratify the treaty for the International Criminal Court (ICC)."

Consequence: Americans can act with impunity around the world and get away with war crimes that would normally be tried in the International Criminal Court.

The human rights violations continue to add up around the world. Illegal wars, regime changes, murders of American citizens abroad, torture, bombing civilian targets, and so on.

Who is to be held responsible? After all, we the voters are supposed to replace with sensible people, those who commit crimes.

Nobody is willing to punish injustice from any position of authority, from anywhere around the world.

If America doesn't want to make an enemy of the rest of the world, and wind up an isolated pariah, or if America doesn't want the rest of the world to say, switch to the Euro, Deutsche Mark or some other currency no the U.S. Dollar, justice will need to come from somewhere.

The brutal, narcissistic, psychopaths and sociopaths who torture and destroy anything in their path for their own personal gain must be dealt with or all of us are in peril.

One only needs to look up the history of U.S. intervention abroad to find who is responsible and still alive, as well as their descendants here at home. They are just around the corner.

The New Catch-Phrase is 'The New Gilded Age'

2018-06-13T20:50:00.001-07:00

The Supreme Court just made another decision in favor of employers, rolling back worker protections that were borne of blood. As old as they are, the justices seem to have forgotten the coal mine wars. Oh, you never heard of the coal mine wars? This is where the term 'Redneck' originated.

Supreme Court backs employers over workers in first of two major labor cases
We are proud to be 'rednecks'. It's time to reclaim that term

The Mine Wars (PBS: American Experience video)

Trump’s National Labor Relations Board will be anti-labor

Rent's going up, and so are evictions:

Now everyone is starting to talk about "The New Gilded Age."

Lessons From the Gilded Age

A comparison of income inequality and working conditions of present day to the late nineteenth century. Support for the working class peaked and began declining with the Reagan administration, and deregulation is accelerating.

'The Alienist' Stars on How TNT's Drama Shines a Light on New York's ...

The cast of 'The Alienist' reflects on their roles in the setting of New York in the 1890's, and mention the "timeliness" of the story.

Montana's Primary Tonight Could Be a Testament to the New Gilded ...

Esquire report on a carpetbagging east coast real estate developer who was able to run in the state because an old law protecting fair politics in the state was erased by the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision.

In the second Gilded Age, the mansions get bigger, and the homeless ...

Karma reaches a five hundred million dollar home in the hills of Bel Air in the form of a wildfire started from a portable stove at a homeless encampment.

America's Second Gilded Age: More class envy than class conflict

Nine specific events from present day and the past are presented as indicators of our current economic and social status. A surprise about a new project by the creator of Downton Abbey.

Wall Street Needs a New Tom Wolfe: John Micklethwait

A profile of Tom Wolfe who wrote about Wall Street, among other authors who wrote about our Gilded Ages.

It's Billionaires at the Gate as Ultra-Rich Muscle In on Private Equity

Avarice is leaving millionaires in the dust of bankers drooling for the absurdly wealthy.

Opinion: Blame tax breaks for loss of historic neighborhoods

15 year tax abatements are giving developers enough time to raze historic homes, build new ones at an extreme tax discount, then flip the properties at the last minute before the tax abatement expires, leaving the new owners hold the bag.

PACIFIC • These five companies own the future

The future of monopolies and price gouging.

America's new aristocracy: the 9.9% and their delusion of hereditary ...

And introduction and summary of a much longer article in the Atlantic about The New Aristocracy.

The pressure is on. What and where the breaking point will be is anyone's guess.

The Powell Manifesto

2018-05-02T13:39:00.003-07:00

The Antebellum Cycle

2018-04-22T14:13:00.001-07:00

When you learned history in school as I did, you were likely bored to tears. The way I was taught was filled with names and dates of people long-dead and their accomplishments, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, etc., etc., We had to pass tests to make the teachers look good, so they could keep their jobs. Nobody actually told me that, if they did it would be easier. It teachers straight-out said "here's what you need to remember so I look good and can keep my job," that would be fine, because when you feed the teacher good scores, he or she reciprocates with little favors too. It's human nature.

When you don't know why you must remember things, and the basic answer to the question why is "because your grades will go down," then you either rebel by ignoring the work or you just remember "whatever" with zero context and even less care. I became averse to history of any kind because of this. I hated it.

It wasn't until I was laid-off from what I thought would be a life-long career, that I became interested in economics. When I dug into the history of my own plight, I found countless examples of history, repeating. It's one thing to warn people that "he who ignores history is condemned to repeat it." but it's an entirely different thing to teach students only the rudimentary history of conquests.

I'm certain many people assume that Russia was the aggressor for invading and annexing Crimea, but one can go back to the late 1990's when Gorbachev was promised again and again that NATO would not expand any further east beyond the boundaries at that moment. By 2002 during the Prague Summit, former eastern bloc nations were invited to join NATO. Because as part of the Helsinki Formula, a loophole in the accord allows states to choose their own alliances. Foreign Affairs posits this argument and other possible explanations.

When Japan declared war on the U.S. did anyone ever tell you why? It all started on 18 September 1931. Japan created a false-flag pretext to invade Manchuria by setting off weak explosives near a railroad track. After years of gradual expansion into the Asian continent, the United State started an oil embargo in response. I wonder what would have been if the oil embargo never happened and Japan was allowed to try expanding throughout China unfettered?

Capitalism has cycles of booms and busts, yet we rationalize it's existence because it's most appealing to our desires. There is a larger, more menacing cycle, the Antebellum Cycle that builds up over generations of growing economic inequality and repression, until the final result is violent revolt.

Our global capitalist economy is entering a phase that remotely matches but is drawing gradually closer to conditions that meet the criteria for revolution. France 1789, Russia 1917, etc. Indicators are violent police action against peaceful protesters, politicians ignoring the needs of voters in exchange for the needs of their donors, news media criticism of political issues disappearing because of acquiescence to corporate owner gate-keepers, the injection of corporate ideologues on academic boards of trustees through bribery.

The Occupy movement started a year after the Arab Spring. They both appear to have been tamped down by brute force, the only difference is the U.S. is brimming with distractions and the Middle East is literally on fire with proxy wars over oil and gas. Things are not getting better.

Net Neutrality and the Stamp Act of 1765

2017-12-02T11:17:00.001-08:00

Wikipedia

Once again, here we are, getting ready to repeat history. If you don't care or understand anything about Net Neutrality, you better stock up on canned and dry goods and stay the Hell out of the way, because what is about to happen may cost you dearly if you are caught in the crossfire.

First. a history lesson about the Stamp Act of 1765, one of the many triggers of the American Revolution.

Needless to say, the acts and coercions listed in the aforementioned articles ended badly for the British occupiers of the colonies. Now the self-proclaimed overlords are trying to gag all of us again.

Net Neutrality (Wikipedia)
Save The Internet

DNC Leaked Emails Edited?

2017-11-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

The leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were published by Wikileaks in July of 2016. As of this post, they've been public at least sixteen months. The revelation caused immense turmoil within the organization.

Think Progress (07/24/2016): Debbie Wasserman Schultz Resigns From DNC In Wake Of WikiLeaks Email Dump
Brazile under siege after giving Clinton debate question

Some people maintain the emails were hacked by Russia while others suggest the emails were leaked from within the DNC.

A Previous post here at Empire Dusk suggests the possible players involved in leaking the emails.

Meanwhile, in all this time, no one disputed the authenticity of the emails, either directly, or implied through behavior. No one suggested the emails may have been edited or otherwise modified, until Donna Brazile revealed her new book in a post on POLITICO.

Now, amid the clarion call that it's Russia, Russia, Russia, after sixteen months of scrutiny and exposure, it's being suggested that the emails were edited.

The Hill (11/03/2017) Russia-linked hacker edited DNC email to call it 'confidential': report
Salon (11/03/2017) The DNC’s emails weren’t only hacked, they were edited: report
The Washington Examiner (11/03/2017) At least one document hacked by Guccifer 2.0 was edited to draw reporters' attention: Report

Whether or not the Russians or anyone else hacked or leaked the emails, didn't change the facts of the emails, and the facts of the emails are apparently authentic enough to have resulted in the changes of leadership at the DNC. Despite the Associated Press' (AP) sychophantic report.

Tax Cuts Stimulating the Economy

2017-10-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Will cutting taxes for the wealthy stimulate the economy? The answer is an unequivocal no.

Slate (07/16/2014): Gov. Sam Brownback Will Keep Floundering in Kansas Because Reagan
NBC News (10/22/2017):The GOP Tried Trump-Style Tax Cuts in Kansas. What a Mess.
Forbes (06/07/2014): The Great Kansas Tax Cut Experiment Crashes And Burns
NPR (09/30/2017): Trump's Tax Plan Has Echoes Of The Kansas Tax Cut Experiment
CNBC (09/27/2017): What Trump and the GOP need to learn from Kansas' tax cut disaster
The New York Times (10/10/2017): Kansas Tried a Tax Plan Similar to Trump’s. It Failed.
Los Angeles Times (06/22/2017): Op-Ed Kansas' tax cuts are a spectacular failure. Meanwhile, in California ...
Business Insider (06/14/2017): Kansas’ experiment with tax cutting failed spectacularly — on its own terms
Chicago Tribune (06/20/2017): Epic fail of Kansas' tax-cut plan offers a lesson for us all.
The Washington Times (07/23/2017): Kansas’ failed tax experiment offers economic lessons for Republicans at national level.
The Kansas City Star (10/11/2017): U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins turns to Twitter to call out Kansas GOP lawmaker over tax cuts
The Kansas City Star (06/07/2017): Kansas tax ‘experiment’ offers lessons to the nation, analysts say

Money and Drugs in Politics

2017-10-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

PBS News Hour, CBS 60 Minutes and the Washington Post have blown the lid off Big Pharma and the revolving door to Washington:

The Washington Post (10/15/2017): THE DRUG INDUSTRY’S TRIUMPH OVER THE DEA
CBS News (10/16/2017):

NPR(10/16/2017): Washington Post, 60 Minutes Investigation Finds Bill Helped Fuel Opioid Crisis
PBS Newshour (10/2017) America Addicted (series)
Times Free Press (10/16/2017): Blackburn actions on opioid bill under fire at home after '60 Minutes' report
USA Today (10/16/2017): Trump’s drug czar nominee could be in trouble after report on drug industry ties

And they call me a conspiracy theorist. Please.All conspiracy theories are predicated on this glaringly obvious template of human behavior.

Siege in the 21st Century

2017-09-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

Venezuela is under siege by the few companies it came to depend on for many critical products. The aim is to force the people to revolt and replace the current leadership, because they attempted to nationalize and socialize their oil industry.

What companies do we depend on for most of our products?

Some suggest that these companies were behind the market manipulation that devastated small farms in the 1980's, so the corporations could snatch up their land and build huge factory farms. Luckily, Farm Aid put a stop to it and continues to help small farmers today.

Become aware of your local food producers and sellers.

09/11/2001 started on 05/26/1908

2017-09-11T07:10:00.002-07:00

The Oil Story 5: Behind The Anglo Persian

Nobody in the media ever asked why it happened. All of the academic scholars who raised the issue of why it happened were vilified and punished. But you must look beyond only one degree of cause-and-effect. You must learn to think about the long-term consequences of actions, because they don't teach you theses kinds of critical thinking skills in school for a very bad reason.

The 9-11-01 Comics And Cartoons

Evo Morales Defends Venezuela Against the Empire

2017-08-16T12:42:00.001-07:00

News Report Reveals Trump Not in Charge.

2017-08-11T18:19:00.001-07:00

At 00:50 it's revealed that Trump's comments on the THADD missile system are "not the administration's official stance." Really? Who in the White House determines the administration's official stance? Steve Bannon? Who is the President of the United States?

Is Imran Awan the real Guccifer 2.0?

2017-08-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

*Updated August 12, 2017
The DNC has a scandal you're probably not hearing about on the main-stream news. Here are the related stories. Compare and contrast these stories with each-other and with your own reality.

Jimmy Dore (YouTube) Proof That "Russia Hacked DNC Server" Is Bullsh*t Posted By The Nation Magazine

Town Hall: How Did the Dems' IT Scandal Suspects Get Here?

Heavy: Hina Alvi: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
National Review: Why Was Wife of DWS’s Swindler Staffer Allowed to Leave the Country?

The Washingon Post: The story of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and an indicted IT staffer that’s lighting up the right, explained
Daily Caller: Grassley Seeks Immigration Files For Pakistani Suspects In House IT Probe
New York Post: What the ‘House IT Scandal’ was really about
Slate: Is There Anything to the Conservative Media Story About Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s IT Staffers?
Politico (02/02/2017) : House staffers under criminal investigation for alleged equipment theft
Politico (02/06/2017): House staffers under criminal investigation still employed
Sun Senrtinel: Exclusive: Wasserman Schultz talks about arrested aide Imran Awan
The Daily Caller ( 05/24/2017 ): Wasserman Schultz Threatened Police Chief For Gathering Evidence On Her IT Staffer’s Alleged Crimes [VIDEO]
Fox News Opinion: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, House Democrats and the incredible scandal the mainstream media wants you to ignore
Politico: Watchdog wants investigation into Wasserman Schultz over IT staffer
Wikipedia: Imran Awan
Snopes: Imran Awan
MSNBC (07/26/2017): Debbie Wasserman Schultz Aide Arrested Trying to Flee the Country
Miami New Times: Here Are the Unanswered Questions About Wasserman Schultz's Awan Brothers IT Scandal
American Thinker: Imran Awan coverage betrays media bias
Gateway Pundit: It Has to be Asked: Was Wasserman Schultz Having Affair with Criminal IT Staffer Imran Awan?
Center for Security Policy (02/22/2017): Another Major Democratic Email Scandal the News Media is Ignoring
Daily Caller (Twitter): Imran Awan Possessed The Password To iPad Used By DWS When DNC Emails Were Given To WikiLeaks http://trib.al/tYXtb3p #DWS #Awan #WikiLeaks

Question: Since Imran Awan was arrested for bank fraud, would such allegations lead to the logical conclusion that he had access to, and sold the leaked Podesta emails to Guccifer 2.0, who then forwarded the data to Wikileaks?

Question: Would Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC scapegoat Russia to distract from this scandal?

Welcome To Your Post-Protest Epoch

2017-06-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

What is the next logical step when grievances go ignored and protests are then rebuffed with militarized violent police brutality? Ask Congressman Steve Scalise.

Throughout history, time and time again, the same behaviors beget the same responses. Machiavelli over 490 years ago was just one of innumerable historians and philosophers who laid out this pattern, yet no one to this day who takes the reins of power seems to get it. They also said over and over that a one-time Pb injection or some similar intrusion of the flesh would not foment empathy for poverty, infirmity, or economic hardship of the masses.

I'm just one of many in the chorus of warning, simply reiterating history. Now I can only watch helplessly as those who ignore history doom themselves to repeated consequences.

#PostProtestEpoch

Syria and a Trip Down War Memory Lane.

2017-05-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Now they say Syria has mass crematoriums and Syria is denying it. They said a lot of things about many leaders around the world, maybe we can look at the Iraq War:

Had enough?

The Trouble With Town Hall Meetings

2017-03-31T06:37:00.002-07:00

Representatives are elected to represent those who elect them in Washington. Sounds simple enough, right? Aren't kids still taught that in school? Are kids taught that they have free will to choose their representative for congress?

Oh. They aren't taught that they only get to choose from people who can afford to make themselves known through the mass media, or get to choose only from people who are bankrolled by greed.

So when voters must hold their noses when they vote, they are not happy, and the results are similar to what's going on with Illinois' 13th district representative Rodney Davis.

The News Gazette: Rodney Davis: No plans for C-U meeting
Smile Politely: Rodney Davis won’t do a town hall meeting because he doesn’t do “grandstanding events”
WMCI: Protesters Demand Congressman Rodney Davis Hold Town Hall Meeting
Illinois State Journal-Register: Rep. Davis sets Wednesday 'tele-town hall'
GLT89.1FM: Congressman Rodney Davis
OnlineActions.org: Tell Rodney Davis: Hold a Town Hall in Springfield!
Driftglass.blogspot.com: Local Weasel Plans To Duck Constituents

When voters are angry at the people they elect, this is known in some circles as Cognitive Dissonance. They are not happy with their choice of representative. It's a symptom of rigged political system.

In Other News Today...

2017-03-26T19:51:00.001-07:00

What is going on while everyone is distracted by main-stream news.