Consortium News has published A Demand for Russian ‘Hacking’ Proof,

More than 20 U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic veterans are calling on President Obama to release the evidence backing up allegations that Russia aided the Trump campaign – or admit that the proof is lacking.
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Alleged Russian interference has been labeled “an act of war” and Mr. Trump a “traitor.” But the “intelligence” served up to support those charges does not pass the smell test. Your press conference on Wednesday will give you a chance to respond more persuasively to NBC’s Peter Alexander’s challenge at the last one (on Dec. 16) “to show the proof [and], as they say, put your money where your mouth is and declassify some of the intelligence. …”

Obama doesn’t have to reveal sources and methods. All he has to do is respond to this non-clasified report by civilian computer security experts. as indicated in my previous post US Govt Data Shows “Russia” Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware.

The Observer has the article Democrats Split Between Wealthy Donors vs. Sanders Progressives.

Despite the Democratic Party’s failures, mainstream Democrats are calling for blind loyalty under the false pretense of unity. “The party can’t win if it’s not inclusive, and the way to be inclusive is not to re-litigate the old battle. And there’s obviously some attempt to do that” corporate lobbyist and Clinton super delegate Howard Dean said in a recent interview. This misdiagnosis of the Democratic Party’s essential problem illuminates why it is in such a dire state.

This call for blind loyalty is what finally drove me out of the Democratic Party. I am just not the type to knuckle under. It should be an interesting race to see which party, The Green Party or the Democratic Party, is more successful in addressing the issues that ordinary US Americans face in their daily lives. It is not a matter of being Progressive, Neo-liberal, Conservative, or Libertarian. What matters is whether or not you can address and solve the problems that the bottom economic 90% of this country and the world face in their daily lives. If you don’t even address these issues, they just don’t have the time to even consider you, let alone vote for you. That’s a pretty big constituency to ignore.

Apparently I have never put this on this blog. This is the kind of priceless information that I use this blog to store.

I remember the first half of this, and it is the essential part. I don’t remember having seen the second part.

I had expected the second half to be about letting the loose end hang in front of the roll. I was disappointed.

Naked Capitalism has the article Bill Black: Obama Loved Austerity and the New Democrats Remain Addicted to It which you can also find on New Economic Perspectives as The New Democrats’ Addiction to Austerity Will Not Die.

People tell me that they cannot understand economics. So here is the essential lesson that you have to know boiled down to three paragraphs. If you cannot understand this, please let’s discuss it. This is essential to understand. If you can’t get it, you cannot understand how our Federal Government is supposed to operate. If you can’t understand that, how can you decide whom to vote for?

In a serious contraction, particularly one following a credit-driven bubble, consumers are worried about losing their jobs. They begin to repay their debts and reducing consumption. This is perfectly rational from their perspective. CEOs react to the fall in consumer demand in an equally rational manner – they reduce output and spending on investments. Banks are likely to constrain credit and try to build capital. This too is rational. The result is that there is inadequate demand and unemployment and business failures rise. At the very time that demand is most inadequate and the need for spending on consumption and investment would be most helpful to the economic recovery, consumers and CEOs are likely to do the opposite. Economists call this “the paradox of thrift.”

There is one entity that is an ideal position to do the opposite – to increase demand in response to a recession or depression. This entity is not credit-constrained by bankers. The entity is a government with a sovereign currency that borrows only in that currency and allows that currency to freely float. The U.S. is such a nation. It is critical that our federal government provide fiscal stimulus, in addition to the automatic stabilizers, to counter the recession or depression.

Obama’s metaphor is exactly the opposite of economic literacy. If “families across the country are tightening their belts” then it is particularly essential that the federal government do the opposite – not “the same” – to counter the effects of the sharp fall in effective demand.

Bill Black is just telling us what economists have known since 1930s and 1940s, and was taught in college economics courses in the 1960s. It is so very unfortunate that propagandists like Milton Freidman have succeeded in making even economists unlearn the truth they used to know.

Media ite has the post Bernie Sanders Has The Right Message—But The Wrong Strategy.

But the problem is who Sanders is allowing to piggyback off his powerful, consistent message. Schumer embodies everything that’s wrong, not only with the Democratic Party, but American politics in general. He’s a politician that, over the years, has invested more in his own personal perseverance [preservation] of power than in helping the average, working class person he’s entrusted in to represent.
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But if Sanders isn’t careful, he’ll repair a corporate-Democratic Party’s badly beaten vehicle for it just as the country predictably turns against President Trump, who by the looks of it, will be delivering one disastrous policy after another.

And without flinching, Schumer and the corporate establishment will open the car door, and toss him and the progressive movement he represents out into the muddy ditch—on their road back to power.

Senator Sanders, as obvious as it is not to drink and drive, it’s as politically obvious: don’t get in the car with Schumer and the oligarchs he represents. Or the ditch most Americans are already stuck in will only get muddier.

This is exactly why I did not attend the event in Boston. It seemed to be hosted by the Massachusetts congressional delegation personified by Elizabeth Warren. They are all on the team with Schumer and his ilk.

I wonder if Donald Trump will transfer some of his famous lines from his show The Apprentice to his duties as President.

What brings this thought to mind is Trump’s troubles with the intelligence community as epitomized by the latest from the CIA – Donald Trump slams CIA Director Brennan over plea for ‘appreciation’ of intel community.

Suddenly an historic event popped into my mind. The History Channel has just the article I needed – Truman relieves MacArthur of duties in Korea.

Problems with the flamboyant and egotistical General MacArthur had been brewing for months. In the early days of the war in Korea (which began in June 1950), the general had devised some brilliant strategies and military maneuvers that helped save South Korea from falling to the invading forces of communist North Korea. As U.S. and United Nations forces turned the tide of battle in Korea, MacArthur argued for a policy of pushing into North Korea to completely defeat the communist forces. Truman went along with this plan, but worried that the communist government of the People’s Republic of China might take the invasion as a hostile act and intervene in the conflict. In October 1950, MacArthur met with Truman and assured him that the chances of a Chinese intervention were slim. Then, in November and December 1950, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops crossed into North Korea and flung themselves against the American lines, driving the U.S. troops back into South Korea. MacArthur then asked for permission to bomb communist China and use Nationalist Chinese forces from Taiwan against the People’s Republic of China. Truman flatly refused these requests and a very public argument began to develop between the two men.

In April 1951, President Truman fired MacArthur and replaced him with Gen. Matthew Ridgeway. On April 11, Truman addressed the nation and explained his actions. He began by defending his overall policy in Korea, declaring, “It is right for us to be in Korea.” He excoriated the “communists in the Kremlin [who] are engaged in a monstrous conspiracy to stamp out freedom all over the world.” Nevertheless, he explained, it “would be wrong—tragically wrong—for us to take the initiative in extending the war… Our aim is to avoid the spread of the conflict.” The president continued, “I believe that we must try to limit the war to Korea for these vital reasons: To make sure that the precious lives of our fighting men are not wasted; to see that the security of our country and the free world is not needlessly jeopardized; and to prevent a third world war.” General MacArthur had been fired “so that there would be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose and aim of our policy.”

If we don’t watch out we might someday have the Presidency held by the head of the CIA. Oh, wait, we did that already with George H. W. Bush. And we get excited because Vladimir Putin is the President of the Russian Federation. How ironic is that?