Tuesday, May 17, 2016

SAR #16138


Capitalism's power seems insurmountable. So did the divine right of kings.
The Word: Responding to the complaints of those who miss their flights standing in line to be embarrassed by the crap that is supposed to make us feel safe on airplanes (while we pretend not to know that the TSA fails to find weapons 90% of the time), the TSA has come up with a solution: Get to the airport at least three hours before your flight and pay us extra money to skip most of the bullshit.
Sobering Data: The National Highway Traffic Safety folks say that drivers under the influence of marijuana were “no more likely to crash than who had not used any drugs or alcohol prior to driving.” Those on alcohol continue accumulate DUI/DWI tickets until they kill someone.
It's A SNAP: About all those folks living high on food stamps: A family on food stamps gets $253 a month in benefits, about $127 per month per person. Most food stamp recipients live in Republican controlled states (think on that for a bit). Half of us – those between 20 and 65 will need this sort of help at some time in their lives. The majority of SNAP recipients have jobs (but don't make enough to survive), or are over 65. One in five of the little leeches is a child. Let 'em eat cake.
If Only: For four consecutive days Portugal ran entirely on renewable energy, mostly from wind generators facing the ocean breezes. Bless 'em.
Nutshelled: Hillary's promise to put Bill “in charge of revitalizing the economy” is exactly what's wrong with her whole campaign. Been there, done that – and Bill's legacy is in all the jobs shipped overseas and all the young blacks incarcerated for profit in our prisons. She's saying “Don't vote for me, vote for Bill!” And that's a good thing because she is a lousy candidate. Sure, she may turn out to be good once in office, but she has no charisma and is not the natural politician Mr. Clinton is. Her handlers hope the voters will overlook her inherent inelectabilty in favor of her her résumé and policy-wonk reputation. Maybe. But it didn't work for Al Gore (he couldn't even persuade 5 out of 9 when it counted). If Hillary were clearly the choice of elected, pledged delegates then she would not need superdelegates. She does and therein lies her doom, and quite possibly ours.
Lay That Burden Down: In each year from 2006 to 2012, at least two-thirds of all active corporations had no federal income tax liability. Among large corporations (generally those with at least $10 million in assets), 42.3% paid no federal income tax in 2012.
We'll Always Have Chicago: After an audit of 5% of the votes in Chicago's Democratic primary showed that “the numbers didn't match”, the Chicago Board of Elections decided that the sample was just a sample and could not be used to challenge or change the results of the election. All it did was prove tht there was fraud, which everybody expects, Chicago being Chicago. Right Jack?
A Parting Shot:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I keep hearing the placating insinuation that Bernie has forced Hillary to tack left. This should have happened, but is there any veracity to this? Seems she may pay lip service to some of his ideas, but in practice she is as hardened a neoliberal policy champion as there is. Putting Bill into the policy fray adds one more piece of evidence. When Bernie is out, she will have no reason to put up the facade anymore, and if anything, to court big money she will do an about face in the public realm. The mask will come off. Trump being so unpalatable to large groups of people will allow her plenty of room to be be more evil whilst still being the "lesser evil."

Gegner said...

Well 'Anon @ 7:29', you're on the right track but still far too 'optimistic'. Like her healthcare initiative, she'll spend her presidency overturning Citizen's United and failing to pass the ERA. She might even take credit for the next doubling of the minimum wage but that doesn't change 'the physics', [the more YOU make, the more THEY take!]

If you need more money you have to ask your boss for it but if he needs more money he simply jacks up his prices (or cuts your wages/co-workers, more with less, yeah, that's a thing! You can find it right next to the rigid middle finger!)

The saddest part is NOBODY running for office has YOUR back and the only thing you can do about it is go on strike.

Think about it. [Whatever you do, DON'T 'take it to the streets'! They're not listening, they don't care.]

Look at what 'taking it to the streets' did for the Occupy movement?

essere_umano said...

Jeffrey Sachs nailed it in his Op-ed at Boston Globe, calling it the Age of Impunity.

Liberty does not exist in the absence of morality - Edmund Burke.

We dump pesticides into the biosphere, carbon dioxide into the air, and inadequately tested drugs into our bodies, and then figure out from the results what kind of harm they’re going to cause. That’s a thoroughly stupid way of going about things , and the vast majority of the preventable catastrophes that are dragging modern industrial society down to ruin result directly from that custom. - The ArchDruid.

It appears only under a significant duress to the society, will meaningful reform emerge. The good people must outnumber the bad and the stupid to reform this system.