[Glennda]

I meant to post this on Dec 24, but life intervened.

I think the date for the interesting photo is wrong.
It should more likely be 1941 or even 1945.
Her clothing would be way too risque for 1910, but just right for the 40s.
Note the intersting graffiti at her knee – it looks like it says:
…ARR RESIST Anyone have an idea of what union might have been active there?
Or some other group?

From Wikipedia about Doublas Aircraft (founded in the 20s, expanded to Long Beach in the 40s.)
“The company retained its military market and expanded into amphibian airplanes in the late 1920s, also moving its facilities to Clover Field at Santa Monica, California. The Santa Monica complex was so large, the mail girls used roller skates to deliver the intracompany mail. By the end of World War II, Douglas had facilities at Santa Monica, El Segundo, Long Beach, and Torrance, California, Tulsa and Midwest City, Oklahoma, and Chicago, Illinois.[13]

[Glennda]

After reading the words of Craig Murry I signed the petition at Move On.org. It was started by a friend of mine. The thought is good, but it probably just adds one more page to my file at the FBI. I rather doubt that Obama will respond to this request. Sigh.
Below follows the suggested post to put on FB. Since I don’t indulge in that I show it to you all.
=====
“Here’s a sample message to send to your friends:
———————————————————————————-
Hi,
The media tells us that it is the “consensus” of the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies that the Russians hacked our presidential election to help Donald Trump get elected. Yet so far no evidence has been made public to support such a shocking claim. With fairness of our electoral process being questioned and the risk of a military confrontation between the world’s most powerful nuclear armed states, the public needs to know the facts.
That’s why I signed a petition to President Barack Obama, which says:

“Tell President Obama to order the nation’s intelligence agencies to make public the evidence they have that the Russian government interfered in our election to help elect Donald Trump. With the integrity of our democratic elections at stake, the public right to know outweighs concerns about “sources and methods.””
Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:

https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/show-us-the-proof?source=s.fwd&r_by=492007

Thanks!”
====
My comment: They have less than 200 signatures, but it started only a few hours ago.
Feel free to sign it too and get another page in your FBI file along with the one that says you read TAE a non-MSM source of news.

First they came for the Muslims………

[Glennda]

It’s heart breaking. The first part of grief is denial. – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, And where do we go after Acceptance?

Our species has made such a wallow of garbage, how do I help to get out of it? Bargain?

I’ve come to accept that this world will be viciously hard on my grandson. Nothing I can do will really change this tragic out come for our world. Our little transition towns will suffer along with the rest of the planet.

But still I Stand with Standing Rock sending out my unanswered prayers.

Perhaps she will answer: “It’s not nice to fuck with Mother Nature” and we can get a massive collapse of the economy and more “extreme weather events”. And more chaos and war to thin our population. Then perhaps nature and species other than humans can start to recover.

[Glennda]

Peak and Decline – says it all. Without growth our capitalist system will decline. But TPTB won’t; they will fight to the last gasp of gas. My personal concern is that with all the squandering of fossil fuels, we won’t have enough for a graceful landing. Too many will suffer. The end of Growth in resources is the sea change/rising tide sweeping the political world as well.

I always like to hear what Beppe Grillo has to say. He seems to say that a left-right coalition makes sense in Italy. (Note to self: follow his blog.)

In my reading of web blogs and articles I’ve been searching for a vision of what Trump’s election will mean. I’m not so interested in Trump, but in his voters. (He likely will be every bit as bad with his advisers as many of us think.)

But what of his voters? I think we are meeting discontent on both left and right. Bernie lost to HIllary’s machine, but Trump won. What if it had been Bernie vs Trump? Bernie might have been able to take that disaffection towards social programs that all, both left and right, want.

Someone on an elist I’m on posted this article link. I echo her comment. It’s TOP vs BOTTOM.
Naturally many people on the lists this was posted on disagreed. But it’s thought provoking, especially in light of Beppe Grillo’s coalition.

“I really like her elegant framing – me need to make it our MEME!
I believe she’s right on about most of the people who voted for Trump, although I’m far less optimistic as her in her assessment of Trump himself.”

It’s Not Left/Right, It’s Top/Bottom, And Americans Are Being Played
by Caitlin Johnstone
https://www.newslogue.com/debate/109/Caitlin%20Johnstone

Here is another approach to this Top vs Bottom view.

Welcome to the Brave New (Trumpolitical/Trumponomic) World
by Pepe Escobar
Welcome to the Brave New (Trumpolitical/Trumponomic) World

Pepe’s closing comment: “In a Gramsci sense, the old order has completely collapsed, but the new order has not yet been born. It might be a new order based on the BRICS – mostly Russia, India and China. The progressive Left must find the conceptual road map to be part of it – and influence it.”

This is the challenge.

[Glennda]

I’ll be voting for Jill Stein, but if I lived in a swing state, I’d hold my nose and vote for Hillary.
Why? Because of the Supreme Court. That appointment will affect our grand children.

Thank you for the link to Ann Pettifor’s article in Open Democracy. I was also noting the mention of 1961 as the start of the “concept of Growth” for the economy. It is a telling point that it’s all a post-ww2 concept when the US became the last one depleted after the war, with debt and loans a new sharper tool..

It’s heartening to hear the word Sustainable so often these days, a light at the end of the tunnel.

I keep thinking that the huge circus of the election is a distraction from what the other hand is doing which is trying to keep the economic plate in the air.

[Glennda]

Magnificent! Well worth running every year. Let me thank you again for your blog.

It’s so easy to forget that the Global problems can only be worked on as local remediation. Even if our local solutions cannot scale up, they may hopefully help us to be farther from the train wreck when it comes.

So back to basics of improving my health and setting up local networks and safety nets. How else can we be proactive, and not “just” reactive? Preparing for the earthquake in our economy and society.

[Glennda]

Being & Doing are much the same for me, because Doing is a kind of Being and it can involve other people by Being a Safetynet for us all.

[Glennda]

I agree, Dr. Diablo — Financial fraud has been driving the global economies, since the 80s. Poor Greece, they are being kicked off the back of the truck in 2 ways – bottleneck for the inhumanity of the EU, and sucker for the troika.

My heart goes out to them. How can the small street clinics deal with the impoverished Greek people, and the international NGOs are leaving in disgust the Concentration Camps being set up all over Greece.

Raul, how are the groups you wrote about doing? How are they surviving this EU travesty?

[Glennda]

Oh, and Boycott Plastic as much as you can. I look at shelf after shelf of plastic from China and can barely find anything made of stainless steel or wood, even bamboo is hard to find. I looked at my clothes and bedding the other day – polyester, nylon. Cotton is so much better unless I think of how it was developed with slave labor both in the US and in India. Are conditions in Asia much better today? We seem to have outsourced our slave labor, now we only offer debt labor jobs.

Is China going to use up all that excess oil on more plastic for their “consumers” to buy? What locally produced non-petroleum products can we buy to replace all the old stuff? Can we dispose of it by building garden walls for our raised vegetable beds? Do we bequeath it to our progeny as family heirlooms?

[Glennda]

I wonder how China will handle the huge movement of people back home for the Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 8. Starting about 2 weeks before the new moon people typically go back to their family village to celebrate with new clothes and house improvements like our Xmas holidays. Almost every day for the next few weeks are special celebrations and a huge increase in travel. Considering the massive numbers of China this is a big migration each year. Are they counting on a consumer surge this year? Or are people going to stay home with family if their jobs have dried up? The deep slow down in manufacturing and transportation must have an affect on employment at some point. I think the return to the horrid pollution of the cities will drop along with the job market.

Gung Hay Fat Choy – it means “Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year.” What irony. This will be the year of the Fire Monkey. Fire sales? Monkey business any one?

[Glennda]

Hotrod said: ” The raw materials sector is where the only renewable wealth resides. ”
— “renewable”?? That is one of the problems – oil is not renewable, rare earth for solar panels is not renewable, coal is not renewable, the destroyed environment is not renewable. None of it is renewable in the “raw materials sector”.

On top of that, the Reason that prices are so low is that Demand is so low. When the engine of Chinese debt is removed from the picture, there is nothing left of the old Stagnant neoliberal economy. The US economy has been hollowed out along time ago, which is why so many companies that once were European or US are now Global corporations. They are Global companies so they can use Trade treaties to trump laws of national governments.

At least the unprofitable coal and extreme oil extraction may mean the Environment and the planet will get a break. They know the days are numbered for extreme profits from extraction. When the pieces of our economy stop bouncing there will be not money left for Extreme extraction, at least I hope that is the case. But for now they are squeezing the earth’s resources for all they can – they know the days are numbered. Even the Debt pump seems to be dry.

I’ve been worried that TPTB may decide that War is the only answer. It got us out of the Great Depression at the end of the 1930’s. We know the US Military machine is the largest in the world by many exponential numbers. Our weapons have gone to supposed enemies to be used against our poor soldiers. Our “used” military equipment has gone to local city police in great bargain sales. Will the next economic boom be in more prison camps, guards and privatization of it all?

[Glennda]

Dr. Diablo – Interesting thought experiment.

“Okay, so the US$ goes up dizzily, nations one by one cut ties to its “standard” and the U.S. economy is damaged by the deflation, then what? Again, the only way the U.S. itself can escape is also to devalue, as Roosevelt did in 1934. How much? They actually had a country back then and were in better shape, but the 1934 devaluation was from $20 to $35/oz or 40%.”

But….. how can the dollar be devalued against, not gold this time, but the dollar? How can that work? What is the standard. I don’t see it working this time. “They” will have to try something else.

Otherwise your story of what China is trying to do with its currency makes sense.

[Glennda]

“Refugees Hold Terrified, Frozen Children Above The Waves”
This is our world – caused by war/politics and climate change. We will not see less of this nature-driven migration.
I wonder if there are statistics for smart migrants moving north into Canada from the rest of the Americas? We already have lots of people coming to the US from south of the border. Canada is looking better all the time. It used to be “go West, young man” now to be revised to “go North, young people”.

[Glennda]

CON21 – very few here in NorCal, think “our leaders” like Gov.Jerry Brown will really move to cut fossil fuel use by 90% or even 10%. Course, the economic crash will do some of that.

Protest – an interesting word. What I prefer, is calling our actions – Rallies.

On Nov 21 in Northern CA, we had a Climate Mobilization (of about 2000) and included as broad a range of climate and social justice groups as we could pull together. For me and most of my companions it was NOT a Protest, but a statement of who we are and a time to get to know each other as we go forward into Business as Usual for our corporate owned governments. http://www.norcalclimatemob.net

Last time we had a rally was for the COP 20 last Sept. That was a time of US nation wide marches. And yes, many see what we do as protest, but in reality it is developing a United Front of Climate and Social Justice groups. I’m seeing our continuing NorCal Climate Mob, as being a start of a network to bring together, Social Justice, Climate and Sustainable Living groups. I’m hoping to help produce a Festival of Alternatives, for us to continue our networking. This is all local grassroots people, NGOs only came in slowly to sponsor it.

Locally we are continuing pressure on Oakland to not allow a huge bulk coal hub at the old Oakland Army base. If large numbers of public comments to the city council are not enough, protest and direct actions will come next. If large enough crowds show up to pressure for No Coal or for other social justice issues like police murders, then we can push changes. With a united front, better council members can be re-elected or elected.

What I have wondered is why other parts of the US and no National orgs called for a unified approach. So it turns out that our March and Rally were the largest in the US, and was largely ignored by the main stream media.

@ Ishkabibble

(what does FWIW mean?)
“And FWIW, movement toward sustainable lifestyles can mean great improvements in our environmental footprints. That’s real progress people can make now. I think it makes more sense than protesting.”
– Not protesting but Joining Together to make a statement.

[Glennda]

Back in the US of A, police profile blacks, especially young black men to shoot down rather than arrest them, or shoot them even while in hand cuffs. Black Friday has begun to be a #BlackLivesMatter day. We call out against the police actions against young surplus black men and protesters.

The police have had many Special Sales and auctions for surplus war supplies. The old guns and armor are being sold off to trigger happy police. . Even “progressive” cities need their new tanks, flack gear and Darth Vadar armor to dress up their Tack Squads.

The bottom 30% has been deemed surplus.

[Glennda]

I agree – beautifully written – kudos.

But the ugly truth is that this is not new – the lies and PR have been the American way from the start where we invaded native land with weapons and germs exterminating most inhabitants. Then later with a huge slave population that was mostly grown here after the English abolished their part in slave trade. After the civil war those who were freed became share crop slaves or went north to slave in factories. (See “The Half has Never Been Told”)

Also our US foreign policy cut its teeth on “helping” South American countries get civilized. Even the ever expanding “go west young man” mentality is part of the imperative of a growing GDP. I wish this was exceptional behavior for humans, but I think its been there through history.

The Greeks had sold so many family members into slavery that Athens finally elected Solon to deal with it, which he did with bringing back the sold slaves and canceling debts. The records are scant after his term of office, but he did leave town for Egypt for 10 years.

Look at the Romans – when they could not conquer and enslave, they finally (took 300 years) sank into probably a more sustainable Feudal culture. I wonder if we should re-examine our prejudice against the feudal style of having a strong warlord to protect a small territory.

But your call to wake up and look at the change coming is great. I only hope we can mitigate the coming climate chaos a bit by getting off our addiction to oil and cars and the system that promotes the endless growth cancer model.

[Glennda]

We should do this in US cities.
“Hamburg has become the first German city to pass a law allowing the seizure of empty commercial properties in order to house migrants. The influx of migrants has put pressure on the authorities of the northern city to find accommodation. Some migrants are sleeping rough outdoors. Hamburg’s law takes effect next week.”

Sleeping rough outdoors – People in CA do this. Their tent villages are regularly told to move. With a 1 bedroom apartment at over $3000 a month in Oakland, many working poor have cars and campers that also set up villages. The long term homeless just use tarps. At least in CA the climate is mild – hate to think what people endure in areas with snow.

“Hamburg’s new law is described as a temporary, emergency measure. Owners of empty commercial properties will be compensated. The law does not include residential properties.”

Temporary???? Maybe with these more affluent people coming from Syria, but in the US it is not temporary, but chronic. With little help for the mentally ill, who only get “treatment” in jail, when their term is up, out on the street. A huge % of the homeless are in this category and if they weren’t ill before being homeless, likely they resort to alcohol and drugs to bear it all, thus upping their likelihood of being permanently there. Talk about being kicked off the back of the truck.

Local cities should do like the Germans – oh, but this is not sudden, so who notices how many streets and street corners are staked out for begging.

[Glennda]

Your care-giving of your mother by both you and Nicole, epitomizes each of you. I think you both have that wonderful human capacity of gluing people together with your love of individuals along with humanity. Your beautiful eulogy tells of your mother’s bravery and your knowledge that she would have given her live for any of those refugee children – you take after her as you must know.

If anything saves humanity as we go in to the dark days of societal collapse, it will be people like you and Nicole who have the best of human traits – caring and community cooperation.

My thoughts are with you as you mourn and heal from this hard time. I can still weep for my lost loved ones and when I do, it heals me more. I wish you those healing tears.

Hugs, Glennda

[Glennda]

Thanks, seychelles – that answers the question I had in mind and looks like the Baltic Dry Index is not a leading indicator. Perhaps with other commodity and manufacturing data it would show what is happening now. Is there any good leading indicator? I suppose if there was I’d have heard about it by now.

[Glennda]

I’m very curious about global shipping as an important key indicator of world economics. It’s easy to get commodities prices for some things, but for world trade/economy I want info on global bulk shipping.

Anyone good at research? My work is too heavy right now to do this myself, but I’d like to know what trends this conference saw, even though I can guess the bad news. I like hard data.

Major Listed Companies Participate on Dry Bulk Shipping Panel at Capital Link’s 7th Annual Global Commodities, Energy & Shipping Forum on Wednesday, September 16, 2015 – New York City

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/major-listed-companies-participate-dry-120000818.html

FORUM OVERVIEW AND STRUCTURE
The Forum discusses trends and developments in key dry and wet commodities markets and how these impact shipping. It combines the view point on one hand of commodity producers, traders, end users and major charterers and on the other hand of vessel owners and operators attracting major industry participants. The Forum also discusses the interaction between physical and derivatives markets, including commodity derivatives, dry bulk and tanker FFAs, and issues related to the use of derivatives for trading and risk management.

[Glennda]

I mentioned that I had wishfully hoped that YV and Tsipras would leave the Euro and EU – he responded with this: (let us get your eye-witness report,largi).

“So I am wishful too. I wish that the 24-hour general strike the Greek public sector federation has called for tomorrow will be massively successful and signal a rising tide of resistance that will be taken up across Europe and smash this brutal third memorandum and those behind it. “

[Glennda]

I posted a link to this blog post on an eco-socialist e-list and got a response from a local guy I don’t really know. He sent me 2 alternate views of events.(I don’t happen to agree that your view is just wishful thoughts, but a real game-master view.)
‘This is wishful thinking. The first responsibility of any workers’ leader is to maintain the morale of his or her troops. Tsipras’s memorandum has confused (at best) a huge swath of the Greek workers. Here is a report on that from inside Greece. And here are some thoughts on a program that could stand as an alternative to the surrender of the “red lines” which Tsipras had promised he would not cross.’

Report From Greece
Posted on July 8, 2015 by oaklandsocialist
“This report is about the economical, political and social situation in Greece. I ‘m 26 years old unemployed Greek and I am member of Xekinima – CWI (Committee of a Workers International) which campaigned along with other left groups in Greece and with SYRIZA for the “NO” vote in last Sunday’s referendum.”
[more] https://oaklandsocialist.com/2015/07/08/report-from-greece-2/

Here are some interesting questions he has about what’s going on in Greece.

Greece: Some Thoughts for a Program
Posted on July 12, 2015 by oaklandsocialist
“In every struggle of working class people, clear goals – also known as a program – are necessary. Without that, the struggle inevitably gets led down dead-end streets or into a swamp that only the capitalists can benefit from. From outside, the best socialists can do is raise some thoughts. We hope these bear discussing inside the workers’ movement there.”
[more] https://oaklandsocialist.com/2015/07/12/greece-some-thoughts-for-a-program/

Ilargi, perhaps you can float some of these ideas/questions by some of your contacts. there.

[Glennda]

Brilliant analysis. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. YV and Tsipras are great game players. And you have articulated exactly what I was getting a glimmering of as I read about Schauble. He finally exploded.

This has been a real news line (unlike most msm news) and I’ve been following it through your posts. (Many thanks again for your blog!) I love the way I just have to laugh at how these guys are playing it. I bet Putin has been watching closely, as he is quite the chess player.

[Glennda]

Here is real Charity in action.

(Ilargi, how are your efforts with helping the needy going? Perhaps this group can be helped.)

https://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/17/greece-nears-bankruptcy-residents-organize-food-aid.html

I got this from the local Berkeley permaculture and community farm notes today.

[Glennda]

I was wondering how I could help. Doctors without Borders just deal with disasters other than fiscal. I’m so glad you figured out a good solution. Wish I could join you there. I hope to visit Greece when my work load and work in the “Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground”, climate justice work is lighter.

Expect a donation soon. I eagerly await your on the ground reporting. This is an exciting time for the future of Greece.

[Glennda]

Cui bono? I keep trying to wrap my head around who could possibly benefit from austerity. Is it really just punitive? So who benefits?

Thanks for the direction to the article by Amartya Sen: The economic consequences of austerity.

[Glennda]

Thanks for the great coverage of this pivot point for Greece. And very good point that the US won’t let it’s minion, the IMF, make a crisis of a political point of austerity that works as an inverse to the good of the economy and people.

Charles Hugh Smith’s blog Of Two Minds has a clear discussion of why the EU won’t let Greece go into default, but will put the debt into a Zombi file and continue negotiations.

When Europe Gets Greece’s Jingle Mail: Dealing with Default (May 15, 2015)

https://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay15/Greece-default5-15.html

[Glennda]

How about the D word -> Depression.

Funny how it’s all about a Great Recession.

[Glennda]

This refugee “problem” is reminiscent of the homeless “problem” in the US. Nobody wants it/them. At least one city in CA (it might be Las Vegas) handles it like this:

The homeless are rounded up and given a bus ticket to another city.

So why not Greece or Italy just filling empty seats on trains or buses to Germany or France with the unwanted guests? It would likely be “cheaper” than dealing with their huge numbers at home.

[Glennda]

I find my self pausing in outrage that

“According to their best military intelligence, Kiev’s army, after the recent IMF loan, was allocated no less than $3.8 billion for weapons.”

and the IMF treats Greece like naughty children, or worse with fiscal waterboarding.

[Glennda]

These guys, Yanis and Alexis, are doing a great job with the EU and their strategy.

So who is home minding the store? That is where the improvements of life will happen. Re-hiring, higher wages, no barricades, rolling back austerity – they must have some good folks doing all that while they fight on 2 fronts in the EU. What other fronts are they working on? Diplomats to the BRICS? and?

[Glennda]

I’ve found Vani’s blog and find it very interesting. While I’m not entirely clear about some of his economics, he actually has some very interesting ideas.

https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/euro-crisis/modest-proposal/

https://yanisvaroufakis.eu/euro-crisis/modest-proposal/5-the-modest-proposal-four-crises-four-policies/

His conclusion and comments are worth cc’ing here. These were with two other
by Y. Varoufakis, S. Holland and J.K. Galbraith (July 2013)

“Version 4.0 of the Modest Proposal offers immediate answers to questions about the credibility of the ECB’s OMT policy, the impasse on a Banking Union, financing of SMEs, green energy and high tech start-ups in Europe’s periphery, and basic human needs that the crisis has left untended.

It is not known how many strokes Alexander the Great needed to cut the Gordian knot. But in four strokes, Europe could cut through the knot of debt and deficits in which it has bound itself.

In one stroke, Policy 1, the Case-by-Case Bank Programme (CCBP), bypasses the impasse of Banking Union (BU), decoupling stressed sovereign debt and from banking recapitalisation, and allowing for a proper BU to be designed at leisure
By another stroke, Policy 2, the Limited Debt Conversion Programme (LDCP), the Eurozone’s mountain of debt shrinks, through an ECB-ESM conversion of Maastricht Compliant member-state Debt
By a third stroke, Policy 3, the Investment-led Recovery and Convergence Programme (IRCP) re-cycles global surpluses into European investments
By a fourth stroke, Policy 4, the Emergency Social Solidarity Programme (ESSP), deploys funds created from the asymmetries that helped cause the crisis to meet basic human needs caused by the crisis itself.

At the political level, the four policies of the Modest Proposal constitute a process of decentralised europeanisation, to be juxtaposed against an authoritarian federation that has not been put to European electorates, is unlikely to be endorsed by them, and, critically, offers them no assurance of higher levels of employment and welfare.”

What especially intrigues me is his “decentralised europeanisation, to be juxtaposed against an authoritarian federation” .

Decentralizing is a key to better management and that goes with localizing too.

I’ll be interested to hear other peoples takes on him.

[Glennda]

Congratulations on 7 years! What would I do without your to the point comments on all the news reports? There is a fire hose of information out there. Just coming here for my daily dose of event commentaries, gives me a real view of things. I read other blogs and news, like Pepe Escobar, Charles Hugh Smith, and the Tyler Durdens but this is the one I like best. Thanks so much for hanging in there.

[Glennda]

Finally all your knowledge and insights have been vindicated by the oil price cliff. I’ve been telling my friends about what was coming. Now they see that the MSM was just window dressing. Many thanks to you and your hard work. My donation to you will be coming in a month or so, when I can do it.

Also I just love the Goat story. It’s the frosting on the cake. I’ve been holding my breath for the crash and now that the slide has started, I can go back to planning for Spring.

I went to a local urban farm that UC Berkeley and a local Occupy group have join to form yesterday with my daughter and my 2 yr old grandson. What a joy to see a class in soil remediation and a discussion group about Fracking being attended. We saw fave beans regenerating one area. I see people thinking more about the YES answers to sustainable life along with the NO issues.

Here in CA Fracking is the big issue and it looks like “public” outcry can rally make a difference in tipping over the local govt. to keep our diminishing ground water unpolluted and refinery expansions stopped.

The fight against Big Fossil Fuel has the benefit of connecting the community. From here we can see more victories like the Richmond Progressive Alliance win against $3 million in ads by Chevron against those candidates. Richmond is now the “best” local govt in the Bay Area.

[Glennda]

Reality – I was also impressed by that post on Zero Hedge today.
It was routed thru Zero Hedge via https://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-end-of-year-report-and-look-into.html

That’s the same as the blog referenced by V Arnold above.

For the first time I feel like I’ve got a handle on what is happening over there. The other writer that gives me a real picture of what is happening in EurAsia is Pepe Escobar. He wrote this before xmas https://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-02-231214.html

[Glennda]

From what I see here in Oakland CA are a lot of very angry young people. They are uniting about Black Lives Matter. They are training themselves in a kind of urban guerilla warfare. The cops take a crowd of about 1000 and think that by funneling and “kettling” them into smaller groups of 200 or so they will break the movement, but it’s wack-a-mole. They pop up and out maneuver the loaded down police with their flack suites, tear gas and rubber bullets. These aren’t just black hoodied young men but also vibrant young women. These are not just white college students, there are also many young black faces. If they are not students, they are likely unemployed and have time to discuss tactics.

Now strategy – that is another question, but something is cooking here. All it takes is a lit match.

Also of interest is that one of the games younger people are playing is not Dungeons and Dragons, but one about the French Revolution where the object, I think, is to collect heads. One unintended consequence of the World Depression we are in, is that it is giving time to all those young idle hands to find – hopefully – some solutions.

No one really expects national govt to solve anything. Local solutions could only too easily look like what our Storm Troopers are instructed to relocate into detention centers. Hopefully the economic collapse will defund the police, bu too likely it will be medical care and disability and social programs that will be gutted.

[Glennda]

On another note Occupy Oakland is still going with about 1000 activists out maneuvering the police to get on the freeway.

https://occupyoakland.org/2014/11/taken-freeway/

We are all hoping that Libby Schaaf, the new mayor of Oakland and close friend of Governor Jerry Brown will rein in the Oakland Police. Though obviously they are still strutting their riot gear. Occupy Oakland is still simmering under the radar of media. I wonder if Jerry Brown was at his local residence this week.

Here is what a friend of mine sent out of his experience last night.

Last night’s action in solidarity with Ferguson began again at Oscar Grant Plaza—I got there as a group was just returning from having occupied a section of 980. Together all of us then marched through central Oakland toward the 880 onramp near Lake Merritt BART, but a wall of OPD refused to let us approach, and another group threatened to “kettle” us. Lighting was even more challenging than on Monday evening—why are there so few lights working in Oakland?—so apologies for the “even darker” quality of the few photos I took. Also, the OPD were in a very ugly mood, seemingly out for revenge after having been outmaneuvered on Monday night.
We marched back toward Oscar Grant Plaza, encountered another mass of police, both lined up in the street and waiting by the dozen in white van after white van after white van… After a short reconvergence in the Plaza the march turned onto Martin Luther King Jr. Way and then Telegraph, and into North Oakland. I normally travel extremely light to any potentially confrontational action, and was not prepared to venture this far from home on foot, so at this point I broke off. A section of 580 was occupied later in the evening.
Nationally, over 170 cities rose up in support of Ferguson, including a huge march in New York City (one estimate up to 50,000) and 10,000 in Boston. —Bill

My retail business is on Telegraph Ave where about 10 businesses were vandalized. I was personally sanguine because of the political posters in our window including one from crimethinc called “Capitalism is a pyramid scheme”.

https://www.crimethinc.com/tools/posters.html

[Glennda]

I’m not totally surprised that the Pope is so openly sexist, when he describes Europe

“As a grandmother, no longer fertile and lively” – women to him are stock breeders and a grandmother could not possibly be a wonderful source of comfort and wisdom.

I wonder how lively he is.

[Glennda]

“That’s why after the Oracle left they pushed first a bearded gnome and then a grandma forward as the public face. The kind of people nobody would perceive as a threat. Putting a guy who looks like second hand car salesman in charge of the Fed wouldn’t work.

So no, no sexism. Then again, how many female garden gnomes do you know, let alone bearded ones? I know, I kill me …”

Okay, Ilargi, I stand corrected. I really can’t see you as a sexist.

Still grandmas and garden gnomes are the fall guys.

[Glennda]

Hey Ilargi

Grandma‘s dementia setting in?
• Janet Yellen Believes You Can Get Rich By Going Into Debt (Phoenix)

I normally am inspired by your clear view of the world, but today I need to call you on one of your comments about Janet Yellen. I think she is the fall “gal” for tbtb, but calling her “Grandma” is really too sexist. Would you have called her predecessor “Grandpa”?

I’ve come to suspect that there is a reason that a black man became president and a woman is running for it. That’s to be the scape-goat when things go bad as they surly will. Only the 2nd string politicians are standing on the front line these days. The Rich ones are hunkering down somewhere else or have a bolt hole.

I’m personally starting to plan for the possibility of an October crash. Since I have no money in banks to speak of, I have little to plan for. If not October then March, but who knows? I think a cold winter could tip Europe and elsewhere.

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