U.S. Politics

[peterms]

 

US Government  re-open for business ...

 

assume that phone call to Wonga paid off then .....

See you in February for operation re-run.  Lurching from crisis to crisis doesn't really seem like the best way to operate the world's largest economy.  

 

 

Some comment on the radio this morning along the lines that some senior people from big business have been having a word with Republicans, to explain that deliberately engineering a false crisis to pursue a Tea Party vendetta is not really their idea of good governance.

 

It was even suggested that the Koch brothers might have noticed some financial losses in some of their interests, and might be able to see the connection with the daft games they initiated.  I think that's a bit far-fetched, myself.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

David Simon: There are now two Americas

 

That may be the ultimate tragedy of capitalism in our time, that it has achieved its dominance without regard to a social compact, without being connected to any other metric for human progress.

 

We understand profit. In my country we measure things by profit. We listen to the Wall Street analysts. They tell us what we're supposed to do every quarter. The quarterly report is God. Turn to face God. Turn to face Mecca, you know. Did you make your number? Did you not make your number? Do you want your bonus? Do you not want your bonus?

 

And that notion that capital is the metric, that profit is the metric by which we're going to measure the health of our society is one of the fundamental mistakes of the last 30 years. I would date it in my country to about 1980 exactly, and it has triumphed.

Edited December 8, 2013 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[maqroll]

Obama, Corporate Shill

 

 

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post.

The memos, which come from a government involved in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, detail continued disputes in the talks over the deal. The documents reveal broad disagreement over a host of key positions, and general skepticism that an agreement can be reached by year-end. The Obama administration has urged countries to reach a deal by New Year's Day, though there is no technical deadline.

One memo, which was heavily redacted before being provided to HuffPost, was written ahead of a new round of talks in Singapore this week. Read the full text of what HuffPost received here. (Note: Ellipses indicate redacted text. Text in brackets has been added by a third party.) Another document, a chart outlining different country positions on the text, dates from early November, before the round of negotiations in Salt Lake City, Utah. View the chart here. HuffPost was unable to determine which of the 11 non-U.S. nations involved in the talks was responsible for the memo.

"These are not U.S. documents and we have no idea of their authorship or authenticity," a spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. "Some elements in them are outdated, others totally inaccurate." The spokesman declined to specify which parts were outdated or inaccurate.

The Obama administration has been leading negotiations on the international trade accord since 2010. The countries involved in the talks include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

One of the most controversial provisions in the talks includes new corporate empowerment language insisted upon by the U.S. government, which would allow foreign companies to challenge laws or regulations in a privately run international court. Under World Trade Organization treaties, this political power to contest government law is reserved for sovereign nations. The U.S. has endorsed some corporate political powers in prior trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the scope of what laws can be challenged appears to be much broader in TPP negotiations.

"The United States, as in previous rounds, has shown no flexibility on its proposal, being one of the most significant barriers to closing the chapter, since under the concept of Investment Agreement nearly all significant contracts that can be made between a state and a foreign investor are included," the memo reads. "Only the U.S. and Japan support the proposal."

Under NAFTA, companies including Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical and Eli Lilly have attempted to overrule Canadian regulations on offshore oil drilling, fracking, pesticides, drug patents and other issues. Companies could challenge an even broader array of rules under the TPP language.

New standards concerning access to key medicines appear to be equally problematic for many nations. The Obama administration is insisting on mandating new intellectual property rules in the treaty that would grant pharmaceutical companies long-term monopolies on new medications. As a result, companies can charge high prices without regard to competition from generic providers. The result, public health experts have warned, would be higher prices around the world, and lack of access to life-saving drugs in poor countries. Nearly every intellectual property issue in the November chart is opposed by a broad majority of the 12 nations. The December memo describes 119 "outstanding issues" that remain unresolved between the nations on intellectual property matters.

Also according to the December memo, the U.S. has reintroduced a proposal that would hamper government health services from negotiating lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. The proposal appears to have been universally rejected earlier in the talks, according to the memo.

Australia and New Zealand have medical boards -- similar to one established under Obamacare -- that allow the government to reject expensive new drugs for the public health system, or negotiate lower prices with drug companies that own patents on them. If a new drug does not offer sufficient benefits over existing generic drugs, the boards can reject spending taxpayer money on the new medicines. They can also refuse to pay high prices for new drugs. The Obama administration has been pushing to ban these activities by national boards, which would lock in big profits for U.S. drug companies. Obamacare, notably, sought to mimic the behavior of these boards to lower domestic health care costs.

The U.S. is also facing major resistance on bank regulation standards. The Obama administration is seeking to curtail the use of "capital controls" by foreign governments. These can include an extremely broad variety of financial tools, from restricting lending in overheated markets to denying mass international outflows of currency during a financial panic. The loss of these tools would dramatically limit the ability of governments to prevent and stem banking crises.

"The positions are still paralyzed," the December memo reads, referring to the Financial Services Chapter. "The United States shows zero flexibility."

Previously leaked TPP documents have sparked alarm among global health experts, Internet freedom activists, environmentalists and organized labor, but are adamantly supported by American corporations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Obama administration has deemed negotiations to be classified information -- banning members of Congress from discussing the American negotiating position with the press or the public. Congressional staffers have been restricted from viewing the documents.

 

Edited December 9, 2013 by maqroll

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

So, have the Yanks decided to take a break from policing the world?

 

Things didn't go so well the last time they decided on a bit of isolationism!

Edited January 29, 2014 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[peterms]

Obama, Corporate Shill

That stuff is just incredible.  Seeking to give private corporations the power to overturn government decisions in private courts!  What?

 

The role of the US in projecting military power for the financial gain of its elites could not be made more starkly obvious in any way.

 

If you had described this proposal to Attlee, or Churchill, or Heath, or Wilson, they would have thought you a delusional idiot.  But the supposedly enlightened president is pushing it.  Astonishing.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

E! News confirmed George Zimmerman will face off against rapper DMX in the ring for a Celebrity Boxing Match next month as Floyd Mayweather Sr. referees. The thought of going head-to-head in the ring was actually Zimmerman's idea, telling Radar Online last month that boxing is his hobby.

[Jon]

E! News confirmed George Zimmerman will face off against rapper DMX in the ring for a Celebrity Boxing Match next month as Floyd Mayweather Sr. referees. The thought of going head-to-head in the ring was actually Zimmerman's idea, telling Radar Online last month that boxing is his hobby.

Errrr. Only in America ... jesus that is sick.

[peterms]

Daft 18-year old faces 10 years inside for silly Facebook comments, under trrrsm legislation.

 

Is there a more ****-up country in the world?  You can include North Korea in your answer.

[maqroll]

Canada?

[snowychap]

The UK?

 

Edit: From the link above:

 

 

He has a court-appointed lawyer in Comal County. And this court-appointed lawyer, as far as we can tell, did nothing other than get an offer from the state.

 

Welcome to the future of British 'justice' from Grayling and beyond.

Edited February 14, 2014 by snowychap

[peterms]

[maqroll]

False flag operation to get in there and secure the oil fields. 

[peterms]

False flag operation to get in there and secure the oil fields.

Speaking of which, it turns out Joe Biden's son has joined the board of a big Ukraine gas company, while daddy does his best to foment war there.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

So, Ferguson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The line between army & police seems to be rather blurred these days.

 

Here's an NY Times article on the flow of old war gear into police departments.

 

 

During the Obama administration, according to Pentagon data, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.

 

The equipment has been added to the armories of police departments that already look and act like military units. Police SWAT teams are now deployed tens of thousands of times each year, increasingly for routine jobs. Masked, heavily armed police officers in Louisiana raided a nightclub in 2006 as part of a liquor inspection. In Florida in 2010, officers in SWAT gear and with guns drawn carried out raids on barbershops that mostly led only to charges of “barbering without a license.”

 

Edited August 14, 2014 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[Ads]

If he is going to sport an M4, he could at least wear a tie.

[peterms]

Andrew Brett @andrewbrett

How is that right to bear arms to guard against government tyranny working out

3:06am · 14 Aug 2014

[leviramsey]

Considering that the population in question is the population that's more or less always been the target of gun control...

[peterms]

Indeed.  Though I suppose the constitution is meant to apply to all?

 

I see it is reported that Egypt has advised the US to exercise restraint in dealing with protesters.  I suppose they're in a good position to know about that.

 

Egypt urged on Tuesday U.S. authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri - echoing language Washington used to caution Egypt as it cracked down on Islamist protesters last year, Reuters news agency reported....

 

And Amnesty is going in.

 

WASHINGTON — Amnesty International has taken “unprecedented” action to deal with the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, by sending resources the human rights group has never before deployed inside the United States...

 

And I gather Palestinians are tweeting tips for US protesters about dealing with tear gas.  (Milk, apparently).

[peterms]

Instead of protesting in the streets, these people should use the ballot box.

 

Oh, hang on...

 

Republicans are criticizing efforts by liberal organizers to set up voter registration booths at the site where Missouri teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a local police officer.

Reports of the voter registration tables have been reported via liberal activists on social media.

 

“In front of the makeshift memorial where Mike Brown was killed, they've set up a voter registration table,” tweeted Jessica Lee, a Human rights attorney at the Center For Constitutional Rights wrote on Twitter.

 

in front of the makeshift memorial where Mike Brown was killed, they've set up a voter registration table #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/Puj339x9o6

— Jessica Lee (@BusquedaJess)

August 16, 2014

Another activist urged Ferguson residents to register at both the QT convenience store protestor location and the crime scene memorial.

 

Voter registration for #Ferguson residents is at the QT & the crime scene. SIGN UP. Get on the juries, choose your leaders. #MikeBrown

— April (@ReignOfApril)

August 17, 2014

[leviramsey]

Indeed.  Though I suppose the constitution is meant to apply to all?

Indeed.

Any time one has something along the lines of "It is a fundamental right to..., except..." or "The government shall not infringe on..., except...", it's a quite reasonable expectation that that the exception will be applied in such a way as to magnify any existing privilege relationships.

There's an interesting split among Oath Keepers (who have been branded by some (e.g. the SPLC) as a right wing hate group).

Not difficult to see which side they're on here

Missouri’s governor said on Monday he would send the National Guard into the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson to restore calm after authorities forcibly dispersed a crowd protesting last week’s fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen by police.

Gov. Jay Nixon signed an executive order deploying the U.S. state militia, saying demonstrators had thrown Molotov cocktails and shot at police as well as a civilian, a description of the night’s events diverging widely from some eyewitness accounts.

“Tonight, a day of hope, prayers, and peaceful protests was marred by the violent criminal acts of an organized and growing number of individuals, many from outside the community and state, whose actions are putting the residents and businesses of Ferguson at risk,” Nixon said in a statement on his website.

A midnight curfew was imposed for the second night in the tense St. Louis suburb hit by racially charged demonstrations, violence and looting since Michael Brown, 18, was shot to death on Aug. 9 by white police officer Darren Wilson.

At around dusk on Sunday, hundreds of protesters in Ferguson including families with young children fled to safety after police wearing gas masks and body armor fired tear gas and smoke canisters to scatter them hours ahead of the curfew.

“The smoke bombs were completely unprovoked,” said Anthony Ellis, 45. “It (the protest) was led by kids on bikes. Next you know they’re saying, ‘Go home, Go home!’”

The Missouri Highway Patrol said “aggressors” were trying to infiltrate a law enforcement command post and that armored vehicles were deployed to ensure public safety.

This seems to be the overall sentiment in that circle; though I won't link to the to other bunch (whose blogs seem to carry less of an official imprimatur, it must be said)... a google for "Oath Keepers" "Ferguson" is enlightening.