Jul 022019
 


Salvador Dali Apparition of My Cousin Carolinetta on the Beach at Rosas 1934

 

Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Not So Much In Record US Expansion (R.)
Japan Inc’s Inflation Expectations Stagnate (R.)
Moon Calls DMZ Meeting End To North Korea-US Hostile Relations (Y.)
Only Trump Could Go To North Korea (Luongo)
Chinese State Paper Calls For ‘Zero Tolerance’ Over Hong Kong Protests (R.)
Southwest Expects Boeing 737 MAX Cancellations Beyond Oct. 1 (R.)
USTR Proposes $4 Billion In Additional Tariffs Over EU Aircraft Subsidies (R.)
New York Governor Cuomo Orders Probe Into Facebook’s Advertising Platform (R.)
How Merkel’s Plan For EU Top Jobs Fell Apart (Pol.eu)
Chelsea Manning on the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall (M.)
Academics Publicly Attacking UN Torture Rapporteur (Suzie Dawson)

 

 

Richer faster. And poorer faster. This will implode.

Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Not So Much In Record US Expansion (R.)

Welcome to the longest U.S. economic expansion in history, one perhaps best characterized by the excesses of extreme wealth and an ever-widening chasm between the unfathomably rich and everyone else. Indeed, as the expansion entered its record-setting 121st month on Monday, signs of a new Gilded Age are all over. Big-money deals are getting bigger, from corporate mergers and acquisitions, to individuals buying luxury penthouses, sports teams, yachts and all-frills pilgrimages to the ends of the earth. And while these deals grab headlines, there is a deeper trend at work. The number of billionaires in the United States has more than doubled in the last decade, from 267 in 2008 to 607 last year, according to UBS.


“The rich have gotten richer and they’ve gotten richer faster,” said John Mathews, Head of Private Wealth Management and Ultra High Net Worth at UBS Global Wealth Management. “The drive or the desire for consumption has just gone upscale.” But there are also signs of struggle and stagnation at lower-income levels. The wealthiest fifth of Americans hold 88% of the country’s wealth, a share that has grown since before the crisis, Federal Reserve data through 2016 shows. Meanwhile, the number of people receiving federal food stamps tops 39 million, below the peak in 2013 but still up 40% from 2008 even though the country’s population has only grown about 8%.

Read more …

How many decades now? You cannot scare people into spending their savings. Quit trying.

Japan Inc’s Inflation Expectations Stagnate (R.)

Japanese companies’ expectations for inflation over the next year stagnated, a Bank of Japan survey showed on Tuesday, adding pressure on the central bank to expand stimulus as the bitter U.S.-China trade war clouds economic prospects. Companies expect consumer prices to have risen 0.9% a year from now, unchanged from their projection three months ago and well below the BOJ’s 2% inflation target, according to the central bank’s detailed “tankan” survey for June. Firms expect consumer prices to have risen by an annual 1.0% three years from now, down slightly from 1.1% in the previous survey. Companies also saw inflation at 1.1% five years ahead, unchanged from three months ago.


The survey underscores the challenge of the BOJ’s monetary experiment that aims to boost inflation expectations with heavy money printing, in hope of prodding companies and households to boost spending now rather than save. “Six years have past since the BOJ deployed a radical stimulus and there’s no sign inflation expectations are approaching its 2% price target,” said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities. “There’s also no change to Japan’s deflationary structure created by a mix of a lack of demand and excess capacity.” The BOJ is maintaining a massive stimulus program to sustain a moderate economic expansion, so that companies will gradually raise wages and help push up inflation to its target.

Read more …

“More than 100,000 U.S. citizens reside in Seoul alone..”

Moon Calls DMZ Meeting End To North Korea-US Hostile Relations (Y.)

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that North Korea and the United States have effectively declared an end to their hostile relations with the symbolic weekend meeting between their leaders at the inter-Korean border. Although they did not sign any document, their action was tantamount to a “de facto declaration of an end to hostile relations and the beginning of a full-fledged peace era,” Moon stressed, speaking at a Cabinet meeting. He was referring to a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Sunday.

Trump even stepped over into North Korea, together with Kim, becoming the first sitting American president to set foot in the communist nation. The U.S. and North Korea fought fiercely against each other during the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice. The two Koreas remain technically at war, as a formal peace treaty has yet to be signed. Moon had a brief three-way meeting with Kim and Trump at Panmunjom, although he stayed away from their talks, which lasted for nearly an hour. Moon also offered an account of his joint visit with Trump to a DMZ observation post, named Ouellette.

He noted that it marked the first time the presidents of the allies had traveled to the DMZ together. It was also meaningful, Moon added, that he and Trump wore suits, not military uniforms or bulletproof vests. Moon told Trump there that half of the South Korean population of 51 million live in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Province, as little as 40 kilometers away from the inter-Korean border. More than 100,000 U.S. citizens reside in Seoul alone, he added.

Read more …

“Trump presumably had a good meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin which likely set the stage for his meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un.”

Only Trump Could Go To North Korea (Luongo)

Donald Trump did the unthinkable. He went to North Korea. He stepped over the line in the sand demarked by Washington protocol for nearly seventy years. And that Washington establishment, predictably, hates him for it. It can be felt from all sides of the political rotunda. They hate that Trump realizes their position, one of maximum pressure, isn’t working. They despise that Russia and China will benefit from ending this frozen conflict not to mention Koreans on both sides of the DMZ. The cynic in me thinks they are angry that the American people will benefit as well. So this weekend was a good one for peaceniks around the world. Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping agreed to back down on the worst of his trade war demands.

Trump presumably had a good meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin which likely set the stage for his meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un. Remember Kim met with Putin earlier this year and designated him as his go-between with Trump after the talks in Hanoi fell apart. This event should not be downplayed. Trump showed great humility and generosity towards Kim at the moment of truth. We should be cheering this regardless of what we think of him personally. Diplomacy is not groveling. It is the acknowledgment of the other person’s basic humanity, a fundamental point lost in the political cesspit that is D.C. Because of his previous mistakes and belligerence, only Trump could have made the walk across the DMZ to meet Kim on his territory.

Only someone as blunt as Trump could cut through the nonsense that North Korea isn’t capable of independent action. And only people so full of bile and despite would not be happy about this. Only people so enthralled with the thought of war and their own political and social ambitions would look at this event and seek to tear it down. These are the people who lost yesterday in Trump’s historic and brilliant bit of diplomacy. And they are complaining bitterly about it today. Everyone else wins.

Read more …

Scary. Xi can’t afford to lose this much face.

Chinese State Paper Calls For ‘Zero Tolerance’ Over Hong Kong Protests (R.)

A Chinese state paper on Tuesday called for “zero tolerance” after protestors in Hong Kong stormed and ransacked the city’s legislature following a day of protests against a controversial extradition bill. Tensions over the weeks-long movement against the bill escalated on Monday, and Hong Kong police fired tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of defiant protesters who had occupied the city’s legislature on the anniversary of Hong Kong’s 1997 return to Chinese rule. “Out of blind arrogance and rage, protestors showed a complete disregard for law and order,” the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said in an editorial.


“Chinese society is all too aware that a zero-tolerance policy is the only remedy for such destructive behavior witnessed. Otherwise, and without this policy, it would be similar to opening a Pandora’s Box,” it said. Opponents of the extradition bill, which would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party, fear it is a threat to Hong Kong’s much-cherished rule of law. In a separate editorial, the state-run China Daily reiterated the principle of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong — a formula that allows freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China — saying the former British colony is an “inalienable” part of the China, and that Hong Kong affairs concern China.

Read more …

Keep pushing it forward…

Southwest Expects Boeing 737 MAX Cancellations Beyond Oct. 1 (R.)

Southwest Airlines expects it will have to remove the grounded Boeing 737 MAX jets from its flying schedule beyond the current Oct. 1 re-entry date following the discovery of a fresh safety issue, Chief Executive Gary Kelly told employees on Monday. Last week, Boeing said that it would take until at least September to solve 737 MAX software issues – later than airlines had been expecting – after U.S. aviation regulators uncovered a new problem during simulator sessions. “I’m sure this will cause us to have to take the MAX out of the schedule beyond Oct. 1,” Kelly said in an internal update, adding that the company would also see “what other modifications we might need to make our plans for this year because it’s obviously extending well beyond what I had hoped.”


Kelly did not elaborate on the possible modifications. So far, the Texas-based airline has tried to substitute its MAX routes with spare aircraft but has still been forced to cancel about 115 daily flights. American Airlines Group and United Airlines Holdings, the other two U.S. carriers that operate the 737 MAX, have removed the jetliner from their flying schedules until early September. The three airlines are expected to provide more details on the financial toll of a prolonged MAX grounding during second quarter results later in July.

Read more …

Subsidies are not Boeing’s main problem.

USTR Proposes $4 Billion In Additional Tariffs Over EU Aircraft Subsidies (R.)

Just days after reaching a truce in the U.S.-China trade war, the U.S. government on Monday ratcheted up pressure on Europe in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies, threatening tariffs on $4 billion of additional EU goods. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office released a list of additional products – including olives, Italian cheese and Scotch whiskey – that could be hit with tariffs, on top of products worth $21 billion that were announced in April. USTR said it was adding 89 tariff sub-categories to its initial list, including a variety of metals, in response to public comments, but gave no further explanation. Over 40 individuals testified about products included on the initial list at a public hearing on May 15 and 16.


The United States and the EU have threatened to impose billions of dollars of tit-for-tat tariffs on planes, tractors and food in a nearly 15-year dispute at the World Trade Organization over aircraft subsidies given to U.S. planemaker Boeing and its European rival, Airbus. Senior officials from Boeing and a U.S. aerospace trade group urged the U.S. government last month to narrowly tailor any tariffs imposed on the EU over illegal aircraft subsidies to avoid harming American manufacturers.

Read more …

Blah.

New York Governor Cuomo Orders Probe Into Facebook’s Advertising Platform (R.)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday ordered the U.S. Department of Financial Services to investigate reports that state-regulated advertisers were using Facebook Inc’s advertising platform in a discriminatory manner. This is the second investigation that the state governor has ordered into the social media company this year. In February, Cuomo ordered two state agencies to investigate a report that Facebook may be accessing far more personal information from smartphone users, including health and other sensitive data, than had previously been known.


On Monday, Cuomo cited reports which said the social network allows advertisers to modify or block ads using ZIP code information to exclude consumers based on race, color, national origin, religion, familial status, sex and disability, among other classifications. The company is facing a similar probe at the federal level, in which the Trump administration has accused Facebook of selling targeted advertising that discriminated on the basis of race, in violation of the U.S. Fair Housing Act. The probes have come despite Facebook agreeing in March to overhaul its paid advertising platform, as part of a wide-ranging settlement with U.S. civil rights groups, which had filed five separate lawsuits accusing the company of enabling discrimination in advertising.

Read more …

The entire union risks falling apart.

How Merkel’s Plan For EU Top Jobs Fell Apart (Pol.eu)

It was a humiliation, the likes of which Angela Merkel had never experienced in her thirteen and a half years as chancellor of Germany, and as the undisputed supremo of the EU’s dominant political family, the center-right European People’s Party. With EPP leaders, including at least six of the party’s other prime ministers and presidents, arrayed before her at the neoclassical Academy Palace in downtown Brussels on Sunday afternoon, Merkel laid out a plan for filling the EU’s top leadership posts that would install Frans Timmermans, a Social Democrat, as Commission president, the bloc’s top job, instead of the EPP’s own nominee, German MEP Manfred Weber.

What she proposed would amount to a stunning climbdown for the conservative party that has long commanded the leading role on the EU stage and currently holds the presidencies of the European Commission, Council and Parliament. Under Merkel’s plan, which she had agreed with a small group of other leaders on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, the EPP would have been left with only the Parliament post and the job of high representative for foreign policy. Party bigwigs, including some of her fellow national leaders, were livid. And they quickly gave voice to their rage at the Sunday EPP meeting ahead of an EU summit — complaining the deal had been thrust upon them with no consultation, and that they would not support it. No one rose to her defense.

“Not a single intervention in favor,” said one senior EPP member. “People were very angry.” Merkel, the senior EPP member said, arrived “thinking that it was a little gathering, and that the Osaka agreement would be agreed.” Instead, “everybody said no … It was impossible.” The official said Merkel had not consulted with her fellow EPP leaders before sealing the deal in Japan. “There was no organization and it was all out of the blue,” the official said, adding “Merkel was highly surprised at the lack of agreement.”

Read more …

“Our acts of defiance became exhibitions. Our love and rage were commodified turned into something that could be packaged and branded and sold.”

Chelsea Manning on the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall (M.)

The following is a message from Chelsea Manning, who is currently being jailed for a resisting a grand jury in Alexandria, VA. The statement was relayed by her supporters on June 30th, 2019, during the NYC Queer Liberation March, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising: “Friends, I’m deeply saddened that I can not be here with you today. A few months ago, while speaking on the phone from jail with one of my friends out in Brooklyn, I came to a startling realization. I said: “I remember growing up as a kid searching for someone to look up to – someone to lean on for inspiration. I needed a role model. Right then I realized, the thing I needed as a young kid is now available. I said, Wow, look at all these kids and teens and young adults in the queer community – They found each other.


I felt something so profound that I broke down crying, and my friend did too. I finally felt that word that gets thrown around so much I felt PRIDE. I almost yelled into the phone: I m so fucking proud of my community. I m proud of you. I m proud of what we have, of what we ve built together. Despite everything, we as a community face daunting challenges every day. The world feels colder and more alien. Our society constantly reminds us in both obvious and subtle ways of the need for us to meet their standards. To meet their expectations. We somehow always need their approval. Our spaces changed. Our neighborhoods gentrified. Our protests became parades. Our acts of defiance became exhibitions. Our love and rage were commodified turned into something that could be packaged and branded and sold.

Read more …

Story: 200+ academics sent an Open Letter to UN officials protesting the way Nils Melzer defined “rape” in his op-ed. Now the narrative is not Assange’s torture, but the rape he never committed.

Why, as an academic, would you want to become part of the smear team? Suzie offeres a very personal reaction to it all, and dissects the flawed accusations.

Academics Publicly Attacking UN Torture Rapporteur (Suzie Dawson)

I am a survivor of rape, gang rape and the abusive police process I was subjected to when I reported it and I am fed up with watching sexual violence being used as a cover for political attacks on Julian Assange, his colleagues and his supporters. I am not alone. Numerous other survivors have reached out to me tonight expressing the same sentiment and we deserve to be heard. Today, members of what is supposedly a women’s advocacy group published an open letter addressed to UN top brass, from the Secretary-General on down, complaining about an article written by UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer and attempting to call into question his suitability for his role.

Melzer has recently transformed the debate around 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Julian Assange’s situation by formally finding that Assange is a victim of state-sponsored (and publicly perpetuated) psychological torture. The content of the open letter undermining Melzer is founded on a premise of advocating for and protecting the rights of women and of survivors of sexual violence. Yet when I self-identified as a survivor in tweets to the organisers of the open letter and dissented against their opinions, they belittled me and were dismissive of my arguments.

Yes, the very women who should have been most sincere about unpacking the experiences and feelings of a survivor of sexual assault could not muster a single shred of empathy for me, nor did they express even the mildest concern for my wellbeing or safety, despite my clearly having been triggered by the conversation. The very women who complained in their open letter against Melzer, of “insensitivity to victims of sexual assault” and “..a profound lack of understanding…” were themselves apparently incapable of demonstrating any sensitivity or understanding when dealing directly with a survivor.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle July 2 2019

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  • #48325

    Salvador Dali Apparition of My Cousin Carolinetta on the Beach at Rosas 1934   • Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Not So Much In Record US Expansio
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle July 2 2019]

    #48326
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    First; Salvador Dali Apparition of My Cousin Carolinetta on the Beach at Rosas 1934
    What a beautiful painting; knocked my socks off; if I ever wore any; which I don’t…
    😉

    #48327
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “The rich have gotten richer and they’ve gotten richer faster,”

    Welcome to Socialism, suckers. They’ll be setting up Dachas on Long Island and shopping in Zurich while for the good of fellow workers you share a flat and get only 3 shoe sizes. Without government “helping” there’d be competition devouring these guys from the bottom and the happy jobs that go with hammering their empires to powder every day.

    “How many decades now? You cannot scare people into spending their savings.”

    That’s not the point, the point is above. You make up some, any dumb excuse, however disproven and implausible, pay off any college you have to, just so long as your “stimulus” policy stimulates the rich getting richer faster. Step three: Profit! Retire into riches like Tony Blair.

    “Moon Calls DMZ Meeting End to North Korea-US Hostile Relations (Y.)”

    Cheeto attacked relentlessly for daring to promote peace. Hey, you know what that does for profits, never mind control??? We didn’t attack 25 nations since Bush Sr, 15 under Obama alone trample human rights worldwide and create an open-air slave market to have peace break out now.

    On the other side, they were attacking Gabbard with the claim that her anti-war, pro-peace position was actually a Republican, Conservative value. No joke. …And that means what? Yes, that constant unending war against everyone is now officially a Democratic, Progressive value. How times change.

    Meanwhile, the real point of this publicity stunt was missed: it says that despite near-constant calls for Trump’s assassination, the Deep State is so fundamentally powerless, they couldn’t assassinate him even in a killing field between two armies of fully-armed snipers, surrounded by mortars and short range missiles. No accidents, no scares, nothing. They probably didn’t even know it was planned, since KJI and DJT send sealed paper letters to each other, also mocked, intentionally misreported. And that means that now, when Obama and Kerry tour planet earth attempting to negotiate with Iran and Palestine instead of the legitimate government, nobody will listen to them. How times change from two years ago.

    However, he probably still controls less than 30% of government. Sure as heck the PEOPLE aren’t in control of it.

    “New York Governor Cuomo Orders Probe into Facebook’s Advertising Platform (R.)”

    My guess is he’s investigating why they’re not biased enough against peace and conservatives. They did promise this week they would definitely and definitively interfere to rig both the census and the 2020 election. That’s the whole point of the public-“private” partnership. (wait: wouldn’t that make them not “private” anymore?? Logic. Details.) It’s to let CORPORATIONS do all the totally illegal, biased personal attacks and illegal debanking on the basis of creed and color that are illegal under the law and the Constitution (but I repeat myself). Because Muh, Private Corporations. Who somehow are still private when get all their money, special legal protection, and direction from the government. Oh and are private billionaires. Because handing all power to unaccountable oligarchic billionaires is a Progressive value now or something. It’s hard to keep up.

    Anyway, on the “divide and conquer”, “make the peasants attack each other like ‘bum fights’ while we sit up here and laugh” plan, Facebook breaks every law and is never prosecuted for the 100,000 laws they JUST broke in NY, but are instead “probed” for the possibility of new bribes and go-ahead-and-rape payments like the ones Weinstein paid to Cuomo and the Manhattan D.A., and only, ever for race race race race race. Because if they break 10,000 laws, steal billions, set up monopolies, and gather blackmail but are NOT promoting race riots and race tensions, we just can’t be bothered. We haven’t enforced the law in 50 years and we’re sure not starting now.

    But this plan, which I propose has been planned as the endgame and kept simmering with endless effort since 1963, is going pretty well. The anti-racist, tolerant, Progressive freedom fighters are openly beating gay, Asian, immigrant reporters in the streets, and corralling and eliminating orthodox Jews online. Because: Tolerance! It’s a scam, people, don’t believe the hype. It’s all about fighting each other so they can escape with the $50 Trillion. And the joy of watching the world burn, of course.

    “Our acts of defiance became exhibitions. Our love and rage were commodified turned into something that could be packaged and branded and sold.”

    And sold to undermine and disempower you, with your own efforts. And they cheer, vote, and donate to the salesmen, because they sell them The Feels™.

    “Academics Publicly Attacking UN Torture Rapporteur (Suzie Dawson)”

    Because there’s never enough lying and smearing in service of your master. Lick those boots! Lick ‘em clean!

    “Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used.” and
    “There are always risks in challenging excessive police power, but the risks of not challenging it are more dangerous, even fatal.” ― Hunter S. Thompson

    #48328
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    V. Arnold Are you lucky enough to live in an area not infested with ticks? I pull one off myself almost every day after working in our orchard in spite of wearing full cover (socks tucked into pant legs, long sleeves). Lyme is nasty. That said on the insect front this year some of the wild bees are noticeably absent – no Mason bees in the houses we provide, we see bumble bees almost exclusively. However excellent pollination regardless. I am glad the word is starting to get out that non- native honey bees compete for available food with native wild bees.

    #48329
    John Day
    Participant

    http://www.johndayblog.com/2019/07/billionaires-agree.html
    I think both of these guys are smart and realistic, and sense that a change in tack is needed now, to better serve their​ oligarchic​ interests, as global winds change.
    This is tactical. They are not different from last week. The unipolar​ “New American Century”​ moment passed away, and they realize that the globalist financial/military/intelligence empire is in the process of restructuring.
    They are declaring “Swiss ​Bank ​Neutrality”.
    ​ ​A new Boston Globe article titled “In an astonishing turn, George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy” reports that the two influential billionaires have chipped in a half a million dollars apiece to start a new DC think tank with the goal of doing the exact opposite of the sort of thing that billionaire-funded DC think tanks normally do…
    ​ ​“In concrete terms, this means the Quincy Institute will likely advocate a withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and Syria; a return to the nuclear deal with Iran; less confrontational approaches to Russia and China; an end to regime-change campaigns against Venezuela and Cuba; and sharp reductions in the defense budget,” the article reads…
    ​ ​T​he term “think tank” almost always refers to a group of academics hired by plutocrats to come up with reasons why it is very good and smart to do something very evil and stupid, and then to market those reasons at key points of influence. They are key tools of narrative management for the billionaire class, and the interests of the billionaire class are rarely in alignment with those of ordinary people. This is especially true when said billionaires are operating in a bipartisan manner.

    New Soros/Koch-Funded Think Tank Claims To Oppose US Forever War


    https://www.carlbeijer.com/2019/07/the-oligarchs-wont-give-you-peace.html

    ​The real work must be between the “Koreas”. Trump’s step and handshake may be more effective outside the US.​
    SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) — President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that North Korea and the United States have effectively declared an end to their hostile relations with the symbolic weekend meeting between their leaders at the inter-Korean border.
    ​ ​Although they did not sign any document, their action was tantamount to a “de facto declaration of an end to hostile relations and the beginning of a full-fledged peace era,” Moon stressed, speaking at a Cabinet meeting.
    ​ ​He was referring to a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Sunday.
    ​ ​Trump even stepped over into North Korea, together with Kim, becoming the first sitting American president to set foot in the communist nation. The U.S. and North Korea fought fiercely against each other during the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice. The two Koreas remain technically at war, as a formal peace treaty has yet to be signed.
    ​ ​Moon had a brief three-way meeting with Kim and Trump at Panmunjom, although he stayed away from their talks, which lasted for nearly an hour.
    https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190702003151315

    ​Tom Luongo
    Trump presumably had a good meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin which likely set the stage for his meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un. Remember Kim met with Putin earlier this year and designated him as his go-between with Trump after the talks in Hanoi fell apart. This event should not be downplayed. Trump showed great humility and generosity towards Kim at the moment of truth. We should be cheering this regardless of what we think of him personally. Diplomacy is not groveling. It is the acknowledgment of the other person’s basic humanity, a fundamental point lost in the political cesspit that is D.C. Because of his previous mistakes and belligerence, only Trump could have made the walk across the DMZ to meet Kim on his territory.
    https://tomluongo.me/2019/07/01/only-trump-could-go-to-north-korea/

    ​Ray McGovern
    ​ ​Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who met individually with President Trump at the G20 in Osaka, have been singing from the same sheet of Korea music — particularly in the wake of Xi’s visit to North Korea on June 20-21. Putin’s remarks are the most illuminating.
    ​ ​In an interview with The Financial Times, Putin pointed to “the tragedies of Libya and Iraq” — meaning, of course, what happened to each of them as they lacked a nuclear deterrent. Applying that lesson to North Korea, Putin said,
    ​ ​“What we should be talking about is not how to make North Korea disarm, but how to ensure the unconditional security of North Korea and how to make any country, including North Korea, feel safe and protected by international law. …”

    RAY McGOVERN: Hope for a Breakthrough in Korea

    ​Who gained and who lost from the Democratic Party debates?
    Polls of likely Democratic voters leaned heavily to Kamala Harris (who gut stabbed “front-runner” Joe Biden to demonstrate her dominance).
    The Google-search results of the 2 nights had Tulsi (Is she a Democrat?) Gabbard leading as the debate proceeded the first night, and beautiful-power-lizard Kamala wearing the necklace of shrunken heads after the second night.
    Consequently, as of now, the likeliest winner of the Democratic nomination is Kamala Harris, who would then become a second Barack Obama, not merely in the sense that she is a light-skinned Black, but that she is an enormously gifted politician who is in the pockets of that Party’s billionaires. Pete Buttigieg had been trying to be that, but his style isn’t even nearly as effective as hers is…
    ​ What is particularly striking there is that in these results, one candiate, Harris, is also the likeliest to win the Party’s nomination, but the other, Tulsi Gabbard, scores dismally low in the (voting Democrats) polled figures:
    Gabbard before debates 0.7%, after 1st debate 0.6%, after second debate 0.7%
    What all this suggests is that, whereas possibly the strongest general-election candidate against Trump would be Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, who is one of the billionaires’ candidates, also might be. A voter in the Democratic Party primaries who is mainly concerned about beating Trump should be supporting either of those two candidates to become that Party’s nominee. As regards what criteria that person would be applying, no intelligent voter any longer trusts a candidate’s mere words, but instead votes on the basis of that person’s existing record of actual actions as a public official. And, of course, a part of that record is the politician’s current policy regarding acceptance of PAC money, and the politician’s record of largest donors, especially in the latest campaign.

    Who Gained and Who Lost from the Democratic Party Debates?

    #48330
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    Horrifying to watch the endless torture of Assange – academics bought along with so many others. Where will this end?

    #48331
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @ sumac.carol

    Yes, we have no ticks in our area. But there are ticks in Thailand; just not in our area.
    I dealt with them in N.Y., and Oregon though; bad news allround.
    Here we just have mosquito’s; two varieties in our area (west central) one of which carries dengue and a couple of other bugs, the names of which I cannot remember.
    Ticks; very bad news; take care and be vigilant…

    #48333
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Horrifying to watch the endless torture of Assange – academics bought along with so many others. Where will this end?

    Horrifying indeed; and it will not end well for those of us who speak truth to power…
    Orwell’s book, 1984, is no longer fiction; but our day to day reality…

    #48336
    seychelles
    Participant

    Tolerance! It’s a scam, people, don’t believe the hype. It’s all about fighting each other so they can escape with the $50 Trillion. And the joy of watching the world burn, of course.

    The more I understand, the more this capsule summary has the ring of truth. A nadir in the trajectory of civilization when such wickedness can amass such power.

    #48339
    zerosum
    Participant

    The EU is going to be okay …. Watch out Japan …. The rest of the world is catching up.

    It’s fair to assume that Lagarde would kick the central bank’s money-printing into high gear.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-02/uber-dove-lagarde-rumored-replace-mario-draghi-ecb-president#comment_stream

    Lagarde’s body language does not does not speak well of Ivanka Trump. ( rif-raf has no business with elites)

    #48340
    zerosum
    Participant

    Its wrong for the news media to keep running this insulting video.

    #48341

    there’s a video?

    #48342

    this one perhaps?

    #48344
    zerosum
    Participant

    Ivanka Trump was at her father’s side for several meetings at the G20, and new video posted by the French government shows the first daughter having an awkward chat with world leaders.

    https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/ivanka-trump-faces-criticism-for-g20-involvement-63017541920

    #48345
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    The separation of global corporations from reality has become crazy funny. Nike pulls their July 4th shoes because they have a Betsy Ross flag on the heel that celebrates the 18th century founding of a slave nation according to social media. The Dollar Bill is next.

    Julian Castro says his family never spoke Spanish while growing up because of oppression. Second generation of immigrants like my Mom who had to learn English in First Grade were maltreated. Meanwhile, the Elite ignore the homeless, the sick, and debt slaves who are abused today. All to avoid the truth that life expectancy is decreasing, get votes and get richer.

    Boeing retired its engineers and outsourced design, coding and manufacturing to increase profits. Only after the second crash did overseas aviation regulators recognize that the 737 Max’s computer trim control system was flight critical. Boeing didn’t acknowledge it had problem after killing 346 people; let alone, know how the fix it. The identification of a second software flaw by FAA pilots will delay recertification at least into next year. Military Contractors like Boeing are at the top of the pyramid. They have bought the politicians below to keep the endless wars going and the money rolling in. Similarly, the fossil fuel industry’s profits come from supplying energy that harms humans and degrades the environment from its extraction, shipping and use. Only Tulsi Gabbard is an anti-war candidate. Not Kamala Harris for whom open borders and racial politics are a means to gain more wealth for her family. Donald Trump is neutering the EPA to increase corporate exploitation.

    Facing facts: No one leaves home unless forced. The best birth control program is the education of women. Men need jobs and a purpose in life. The only fix is the restoration of democracy and the redistribution of wealth.

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