SAR #15162

Elections create the illusion of consent. 

 
Majority Rues: The people of the world are “very concerned” about global climate change, want their countries to reduce CO2 emissions even if other nations do not, and want their leaders to do”whatever it takes” for a global agreement that effectively addresses global warming. The leaders of the world's richest countries say we must take it slow, for there are still profits to be made. Like the tobacco companies before them, the coal, gas and oil companies are knowingly killing their customers in search of a few more dollars.

Legal Term: “Precedent”, that which we got away with before. 
 
Representative Government: A majority of Americans oppose the TPP, TTIP and letting Obama have Fast Track authority. So? Most Americans don't have tens of thousands of dollars to invest bribing their representatives.

First Gouge 'Em: Hospitals routinely charge uninsured patients ten times the actual cost of their care, or more. Not because they've found a way to get money out of the broke – although they can and do hound them ever after, even into the everafter – but because they can write the “loss” off their outrageous profits. Why are hospitals allowed to make a profit, anyway? 
 
The Illustrated Dictionary: ISDS -“The obscure legal system that lets corporations sue countries.” Thought to be mythical by people living in the White House. [Readers are directed to comments, below.]

Smoke/Mirrors: Sixty percent of Americans believe that we are still in the middle of a housing crisis and that “the worst is yet to come.” More than half of America has to make “at least one sacrifice or tradeoff” in order to pay their rent or mortgage. Just can't fool all the people all the time.

Leave Blank: If someone asks you “is voting worth the effort,” don't think about it, just say “yes.” Even though it isn't.

Musical Chairs: On top of the $4 trillion the US printed under QE I,II, III(80% of which sat at the Fed in the form of excess reserves), the ECB pumped out $1 trillion, as did the BOJ, while US corporate stock buybacks pumped yet another $1 trillion into assets... and then there's China, which has been doing things on a grand scale, too. What happens when all this money gets disappeared? Really, what happens to asset prices, stock prices, bond prices, house prices? One day you'll look at your ticket and see that you're the last Greater Fool.

Watch and Learn: The Justice Department is using grand jury subpoena powers to force a website to identify people who posted comments on the site that the government didn't like. Silly people forgot that freedom of speech is just a figure of speech. 
 
Here's Looking At You: Wikileaks has published the TTP's Healthcare annex to the draft chapter with the curious name “Transparency”, publication of which is forbidden by the TPP for four years after the passage of the TPP. How are the people supposed to trust a set of rules they cannot know about until four years after their leaders agree to them and put them in place?

Impulse Purchases: Wisconsin's Republicans think that making folks think for a couple of days before they buy a gun and start shooting folks is a bad idea. Maybe a 48 hour waiting period before voting should be enforced in the Wisconsin legislature.

Times Change: At a Pentagon ceremony, US Army General Randy Taylor introduced his husband Lance. Deserves a medal for bravery.