Daily Archives: January 26, 2017


CNN Exclusive: Rep. Gabbard on meeting with Assad

There is a YouTube video of CNN Exclusive: Rep. Gabbard on meeting with Assad.

Published on Jan 25, 2017

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard just returned from a secret trip to Syria and told Jake Tapper in a CNN Exclusive said any reconciliation would have to involve Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.


Compare this to the deceptively edited version that CNN wants you to see in the clip mentioned in my previous post Tulsi Gabbard Knows More About Syria Than You Do.

The unedited version more closely corrresponds to the critique of the interview described in my previous post.


Tulsi Gabbard Knows More About Syria Than You Do

Newslogue has the article Tulsi Gabbard Knows More About Syria Than You Do (those are not my words). Here is the introduction to the article.

I have had just about enough of weak, sleazy, cowardly male pundits monologuing at war veteran and Hawaiian Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard about war and Syria. The western press has been completely absent from the conflict in Syria, probably as much out of cowardice as a need for plausible deniability when they get caught lying to to their audiences, so since there are no boots on the ground there doing the job that the press used to do, Gabbard went there herself to discover the truth about what’s happening. She is being rewarded for her selfless act of courage by being painted as a liar and a traitor by the pro-establishment American media, whose job she was generous enough to do.

I am sure Tulsi and many of the rest of us knew that the establishment would stop at nothing to silence her or get us to believe she is wrong and they are right. We also have to stop at nothing to prevent the corporate media from spreading lies for our government. We have to spread the truth 10 times as often as they spread the lies.

Here is the deceptively edited version from CNN, Gabbard says she met with Assad on Syria trip. See my subsequent post CNN Exclusive: Rep. Gabbard on meeting with Assad to see the whole interview, and judge for yourself.

Here is an interview with Gabbard and Tapper that Mox News published in December 2016.


President Donald Trump to publish weekly list of crimes committed by immigrants

The Independent has the article President Donald Trump to publish weekly list of crimes committed by immigrants.

The US President’s sweeping new executive order on immigration, which he signed on the fifth day of his presidency, includes a paragraph mandating the Secretary for Homeland Security to “make public a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens” in the US.

Maybe we can publish a weekly list of crimes committed by Donald Trump.

I was first introduced to this article by a Facebook Post from Steven D Grumbine.

Some of the commenters wanted to know what was wrong with trying to tell us about crimes that people commit. My response was the following:

He isn’t going to publish the level of crime among immigrants and compare it to the level of crime among non-immigrants. He is going to publish a one-sided story to convince you of something that is not true. That is what we are complaining about.

Some commenters want to know when we are going to stop people from coming to our house (country) and staying beyond their welcome. I had two responses to this general idea.

Don’t sign trade agreements, overthrow governments, and don’t encourage drug wars that encourage people to flee to the “safety” of the USA.

Also, I asked the following question:

How long are we going to continue destroying our neighbors’ homes so that they have to seek refuge with us?


China Says It Will Lead the World Economy If Western Nations Stand Down

Fortune has the article China Says It Will Lead the World Economy If Western Nations Stand Down.

A top Chinese diplomat has said that China is ready to lead the world economy if other nations should retreat from globalization.

That pretty much sums up the entire value of this Fortune article, For the rest of the article, Fortune manages to read between the lines on both sides of this story to misunderstand both sides. Here is just one example.

In Beijing, Zhang told reporters at the briefing that China would continue to pursue its own Asia-Pacific regional free trade deal independent of the TPP, reports the Journal. He also touted the country’s trillion-dollar One Belt, One Road trade initiative, which would connect China with countries along the ancient Silk Road trade route.

Is Fortune trying to imply that the TPP was something that China would have supported? One of our reasons for creating TPP was to fight with China. It certainly wasn’t going to be good for them, at the same time it managed not to be good for us 99%. Not all global trade policies are created equal. Depending on what is in the policy, it can either be good for the world, or it can be very bad for most people in the world. TPP fell into the second category. It would be better to have called it the rich people’s protection act (RPP).


Johnson: Elites Eying the Exits Signals America’s Crisis

Naked Capitalism has the article Johnson: Elites Eying the Exits Signals America’s Crisis.

In the introduction Yves Smith wrote the following:

Yves here. A former private equity partner mentioned the New Yorker story on 0.1% bunkering. He noticed how they focused on the private jet pilot as a point of vulnerability, that he might fly his family out and leave them stranded. So the approach is to assure him that his relatives get seats on the plane too.

I am light years away from the hedge fund managers, but some of what they are getting is starting to slop over on me. I may not be rich, but I am getting nervous about my “good fortune”.


Bill Black: Not 4 Sale – Why the Corrupt, Worker-Hating New Democrats Must Be Purged

Naked Capitalism has the article Bill Black: Not 4 Sale – Why the Corrupt, Worker-Hating New Democrats Must Be Purged.

Large corporations provided the bulk of PPI’s funding, but like the DLC it was also heavily funded by the Bradley Foundation. Harry Bradley, along with the Koch brothers’ father, was a charter member of the John Birch Society. That means they were off-the-charts looney and ultra-right wing. Mr. Bradley’s passion was his hatred for organized labor. He was a notorious for his employment discrimination against blacks and women. At the time the DLC and the PPI formed, the Bradley Foundation was the Nation’s most destructive funder of ultra-right wing efforts to influence policy. Today, it is the force behind Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s war against organized labor. The Nation’s most virulent and effective enemy of organized labor funded the New Democrats. The New Democrats knew what they were choosing to lie down with and they knew exactly what they were signaling to organized labor about their hostility to unions and disdain for the working class.

I used to laugh at the Tea Party members who did not realize that their organization was created with Koch Brothers’ funding. I guess I won’t be laughing anymore.

The article is too long to read it all, but I did notice one failure. I commented on the article with the following:

You keep mentioning Elizabeth Warren without mentioning that she is no longer a threat to the DLC nor the DNC. She has been bought out and completely gone over to the other side. How could you not notice what she did in support of Hillary Clinton? She is now supporting Trump’s cabinet nominees like Ben Carson for HUD. She says she would not want to stand in Carson’s way even knowing that he is totally incompetent to lead HUD. As if a vote from a Senate Democrat is needed for him to be approved.

I then read some of the other comments. I noticed that some of them had pointed out the same flaw in the article about claiming that Elizabeth Warren was still on our side.