Nation of Change has the article WikiLeaks Releases CIA Director’s Hacked Emails. This is just too good to pass up recording this on this blog.

Unbeknownst to the hacker, Brennan had forwarded government documents, including an application form with Brennan’s personal information, geopolitical strategies for Iran, and positions concerning the legalities of torture, from his government work email address to his personal AOL account. Other emails contained the personal information and Social Security numbers of over a dozen top U.S. intelligence officials as well as Brennan’s own personal info, including his home address, date of birth, phone numbers, etc.
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In a memo titled “The Conundrum of Iran,” Brennan wrote, “The World Wars of the 20th Century and their aftermath made Iran a pawn of global politics, as illustrated by the CIA-engineered overthrow of Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953, which allowed the pro-U.S. Shah to return to power and rule with an iron hand for the next 25 years.”
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So many top U.S. intelligence officials are unable to maintain basic security over sensitive data with the most recent hacked private email account of CIA Director John Brennan. Are these hackers confirming that the wrong people have been leading this country for far too long?

Read the details of how the hacker social engineered his way into the accounts. You should think carefully about your own accounts after reading the details.

Here is an email I received from the Bernie Sanders campaign.

The Atlantic has the article History Class and the Fictions About Race in America. Ths subtitle to the article is:

High-school textbooks too often gloss over the American government’s oppression of racial minorities.

To sum it all up there is this quote.

“At its best, history embodies the triumph of evidence over ideology,” Loewen wrote. “Textbooks do not embody history at its best … White history may be appropriate for a white nation. It is inappropriate for a great nation. The United States is not a white nation. It has never been a white nation. It is time for us to give up our white history in favor of a more accurate history, based more closely on the historical record… Surely a great nation can afford that.”

I have blogged about Loewen and his book a number of times.

How many of the current political disagreements do you think are caused by the faulty teaching of history? There are facts that many people are absolutely sure of that are just not so.

From my Quotes page we have the following:

Mark Twain

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

The Root has the article Why Most Black Voters Still Aren’t Feeling Bernie Sanders.

Still, there’s something in the way he’s doing it that’s not clicking with most African-American voters. This isn’t an argument against Sanders. It’s genuine fascination with his dilemma, because no candidate can win the Democratic nomination without the black vote. Despite memorable debate lines and cover for an email-embattled Clinton, Sanders didn’t really budge all that much with black voters. Here are three main reasons that’s the case … and why it probably stays that way:

Even on the Tavis Smiley interview, Bernie Sanders immediately went to the economic issues as the reason why black voters should support him. For once in his life, maybe he could start out with BLM and Sandra Bland before he gets to economic issues and high rates of incarceration.

The anger issue comes up in thie article in a slightly different way.

2. Bernie should watch more black pastors on Sunday. While it’s still anecdotal, the core of Sanders’ black-voter problem could be this: He’s too depressing. Comedian Larry David couldn’t resist the temptation in last week’s SNL skit to call out Sanders’ aggressive “the sky is falling” ethos.

For sure, African-American voters generally love the public figures who claim to “keep it real” and cast rebellious shade at the “system.” But candidates who successfully woo black constituencies are those who can illustrate hope.

Sure, the black interruptions at the Sanders events have displayed a lot of anger. That’s only the side of the discussion that we have seen. There are other facets to the discussion.

The Young Turks has the video Warren Buffet Warns Elizabeth Warren.

Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, discusses Berkshire Hathaway CEO and chairman Warren Buffet who had some choice words for the current Democratic senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren.

I didn’t really get all that was wrong with what Warren Buffet said until I heard the discussion by The Young Turks.

Come to think of it, pinning the too angry label is not restricted to Elizabeth Warren and women. It is being used against Bernie Sanders. It was actually what pushed Howard Dean off the political stage. However, it is true that Elizabeth Warren is way below the threshold where they apply the angry label to men.

I also realize that one of the reasons I am not as much a fan of the left wing ranting media as the right wing is for Faux Noise and its ilk, is the anger factor. There is only so much of it that I can take.

Ring of Fire Radio has the article Inexcusable! Corporate Prosecutions Were Much Higher Under Bush than Obama.

According to a new report, prosecution of corporate crime has fallen by almost 30% in the last ten years. These are for instances of corporate fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. But just because prosecutions have fallen, don’t fall into the trap of believing that crime is going away. Quite the opposite is true. According to the report, the instances of prosecutable violations is increasing year to year, even though actual prosecutions are falling to near-record lows.

If anything shows the danger of electing a Wall Street representative to be President, this should make it clear. Yes, this all went down hill from Bill Clinton’s administration. President Obama took it to new extremes. Hillary Clinton has learned absolutely nothing from this experience. The Savings and Loan crisis was handled orders of magnitude better under the George HW Bush administration than even under the last three administrations, two of which were Democratic.

Have you been wondering why the sudden uprising of Palestinians in Israel in recent days? I have been so tied up in the Bernie Sanders campaign, that I have not been paying my usual attention to what else is going on in the world. I have been wondering why now is the turmoil in Israel suddenly coming to a boil with no seeming provocation from Israel.

I got the enclosed letter from Jewish Voice for Peace. I have no independent means of fact checking what they wrote. However, considering how CNN and the corporate media are selling the obviously untrue story that Hillary Clinton won the recent debate, when in fact she lost it, it shouldn’t surprise you that The New York Times lies about other important stories as well. There have been too many examples of blatant lies in The New York Times besides the debate story, that this should be no surprise if JVP is correct about what is actually going on.

YouTube has the video Bernie Sanders Takes Questions from the crowd at Town Meeting Iowa 10/18/15 (2)

This has got to be one of the finest Q&A sessions I have ever heard. Even some non-corporate media pundits are focusing on one issue or another covered here, but I think the breadth of topics he talked about so well is what makes this a stunning video.

I can almost promise you that you will never see this video in the corporate media. It is your responsibility to see what the corporate media is trying to hide from you. Then get angry at them for suppressing serious talk about serious issues.

Talking Points Memo had a Daybreaker post with the following in it:

BUZZING: Today in the Hive

From a TPM Prime member: “Up until now…its been sympathy and puppies for Joe Biden. If he runs, there are a whole lot of reasons to NOT vote for him. Here are mine. He wrote the crime bill that led to the mass incarceration problem we have now. He is a huge proponent of the failed war on drugs. He has a horrible record on IP and its not too far fetched to think his influence on this has been seen in the current administration. He savaged Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings probably paving the way for Justice Thomas to be confirmed by 1 vote. Those creepy back rubs.”

I decided to do some checking on some of the above accusations and one that I already knew about.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

H.R. 3355, Pub.L. 103–322 is an act of Congress dealing with crime and law enforcement that became law in 1994. It is the largest crime bill in the history of the United States, consisting of 356 pages providing for 100,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons and $6.1 billion in funding for prevention programs which were designed with significant input from experienced police officers.[1] Sponsored by U.S. Representative Jack Brooks of Texas, the bill was originally written by Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, passed by Congress, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

Biden and Anita Hill, Revisited

Mr. Biden at the time was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And while the Delaware Democrat ultimately voted against confirming Mr. Thomas, he was widely criticized by liberal legal advocates and women’s groups as having mismanaged the allegations of sexual harassment made by Ms. Hill against her former employer, Mr. Thomas, at the Department of Education and at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, at those hearings.

Joe Biden’s Bankruptcy Bill Could Complicate His Presidential Run

As Vice President Joe Biden reportedly mulls a bid for the U.S. presidency, his champions portray him as a credible alternative to Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Clinton, who faces accusations that she is beholden to the financial industry. But a Biden campaign risks confronting the scorn of one of the party’s most influential progressives, Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Though Biden has reportedly sought her favor, Warren has historically disdained him, charging him with acting as a tool of the credit card industry by limiting debt relief for people grappling with financial troubles.

As a Harvard law professor in 2002, Warren published a journal article excoriating Biden for playing a leading role in delivering legislation that made it more difficult for Americans to reduce debts through bankruptcy filings. As the senator from Delaware, Biden’s repeated push for the bill—signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2005—amounted to “vigorous support of legislation that hurts women,” Warren declared. She said “the group that will be most affected by the changes in the bankruptcy legislation Senator Biden so forcefully supports will be women, particularly women heads of household who are supporting children.”

In a separate 2003 book she co-authored with her daughter, Warren said, “Senators like Joe Biden should not be allowed to sell out women in the morning and be heralded as their friend in the evening.”

You can do your own research on his record on IP and on the war on drugs.

Naked Capitalism has the article Corrupt Corporatists Steve Israel And Debbie Wasserman Schultz Declare Fratricidal War Against Progressives.

Here is an excerpt from the article that is specifically about Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

After playing Hamlet for weeks and blocking a DNC resolution, she finally came around to support the Iran agreement, but only when it became pretty clear she would have lost her post as DNC chair, a message apparently delivered in person by vice president Biden. It must be exhausting to have to constantly answer to wealthy campaign donors and corporate lobbyists when making these decisions.”

So, when I have been complaining about Schultz in previous posts, I wasn’t just flapping my gums. I have been aware of this record of hers and Steve Israel. This awareness is what had turned me against them. The flap over the debates was just the latest episode of their traitorous behavior.

Just in case you don’t follow the link to read the article, here are the introductory paragraphs.

Steve Israel, de facto head of the DCCC (and the most outspoken member of their recruitment committee) and with a new title Pelosi invented for him, Chair, Policy and Communications, Israel’s war against progressives is multi-faceted. Although Pelosi, when giving him his new job, said that he “has consistently proved the depth of his wisdom and the strength of his strategic vision in making our case to the American people,” she overlooked the fact that under his catastrophic chairmanship, the DCCC– largely because of him and only him– managed to lose a net of 8 seats in a year when Obama won the country and a much smarter DSCC chairman just about swept the field and won tough races in Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Israel’s incompetence and /or lame strategy cost the Democrats CA-10 (Denham), CA-21 (Valadao), CA-25 (McKeon), CO-06 (Coffman), FL-10 (Webster), IL-13 (Davis), MI-01 (Benishek), MI-06 (Upton), MI-11 (Bentivolio), MN-02 (Kline), MN-06 (Bachmann), NV-03 (Heck), NJ02 (LoBiondo), NJ-03 (Runyan), NJ-05 (Garrett), NY-11 (Grimm), NY-19 (Gibson), NY-22 (Hanna), NY-23 (Reed), NY-27 (Collins), NC-08 (Hudson), NC-11 (Meadows), NC-13 (Holding), OH-06 (Johnson), OH-16 (Renacci), PA-06 (Gerlach), PA-07 (Meehan), PA-08 (Fitzpatrick), PA-12 (Rothfus), PA-15 (Dent), TN-04 (DesJarlais), VA-02 (Rigell), WI-07 (Duffy) and WI-08 (Ribble). [bolded districts were won by Obama as Israel’s depth of wisdom and strength of his strategic vision were leading the Democrats to another defeat.]

In 2014 Israel led the DCCC to an even more disastrous year by following his same lame playbook. He lost a net of 13 seats, primarily conservaDems who he had counseled to vote with the GOP at every opportunity, like Ron Barber (Blue Dog-AZ), Joe Garcia (New Dem-FL), John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Brad Schneider (New Dem-IL), Dan Maffei (New Dem-NY), Pete Gallego (Blue Dog-TX), Nick Rahall (Blue Dog-WV). 3 other right-wing Democrats– Bill Owens (New Dem-NY), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC) and Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)– knew they would be defeated and retired, their seats all going to Republicans. Israel’s only victories were for right-wing Democrats Gwen Graham (Blue Dog-FL), Brad Ashford (Blue Dog-NE) and Pete Aguilar (New Dem-CA), Aguilar the only one likely to retain his seat in 2016.

Why would Nancy Pelosi support these people who have cost her the Speakership of the House? What possible hold could they have over her that she would keep these people in their positions at the expense of her Speakership and the Democratic Party’s hold on the House majority? How much money would they have to offer you to take a dive on your position as Speaker of the House?