via TYT
Ron Paul is hated by establishment Republicans. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks down a politico article on the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate.
December 21, 2011
December 20, 2011
David House of Bradley Manning Support Network, has 4th amendment rights violated
via The Young Turks
David House, co-founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network, was approached by ICE officials who took his electronic devices and did not return them for almost 2 months despite not having a warrant. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks.
David House, co-founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network, was approached by ICE officials who took his electronic devices and did not return them for almost 2 months despite not having a warrant. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks.
SPECIAL EDITION: Indefinite Detention Bill Passes Both Senate and House
I'm leaving for work right now.
My internet connection is slow as death, so this video won't be uploaded until noon, despite my starting to load it at 8am today.
If you want to help me get a faster internet connection so I can load content faster, please donate:
Kevin Gozstola on The Young Turks talking about PFC Manning's trial, Day 4
Kevin Gozstola of Fire Dog Lake on The Young Turks talking with Cenk Uyger about Day 4 of PFC Manning's trial.
Business Reply Mail Art
an anonymous fan did this using "Portland Paste."
Portland Paste is an anonymous art blog/ newsfeed / exhibition on facebook. Any graphic artist can take a photo of their political street art, and send that photo to PortlandPaste @ Gmail dot com, and it will load automatically and anonymously to the facebook feed.
note: the "Greenpeace" envelope is a credit card envelope with Greenpeace stickers on it.
Portland Paste is an anonymous art blog/ newsfeed / exhibition on facebook. Any graphic artist can take a photo of their political street art, and send that photo to PortlandPaste @ Gmail dot com, and it will load automatically and anonymously to the facebook feed.
note: the "Greenpeace" envelope is a credit card envelope with Greenpeace stickers on it.
December 19, 2011
via LeeCamp.net
"Vulture Funds" is an actual term for private equity firms that buy up the debt of destitute countries and then suck money out of the desperate people. There are people right in the US of A amassing millions in this fashion. Make sure to shake their hand next time you see them and say "Love your work." (more www.leecamp.net)
"Vulture Funds" is an actual term for private equity firms that buy up the debt of destitute countries and then suck money out of the desperate people. There are people right in the US of A amassing millions in this fashion. Make sure to shake their hand next time you see them and say "Love your work." (more www.leecamp.net)
Ron Paul is now the frontrunner in Iowa.
via RawStory
"If [Bachman] thinks we live in a dangerous world, she ought to think back to when I was drafted in 1962, when there were nuclear missiles in CUBA, and Kennedy calls Krushev and talks to him, and talks him out of this thing so we don't have a nuclear exchange. and you're trying to dramatize this and say that we need to treat Iran like we've treated Iraq, and kill one million Iraqis, and some 8,000 Americans have died since we've gone to war? You cannot solve these problems with war!"
Also, to hear the applause coming from a GOP audience at the line, "WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER WAR!" gives me goosebumps. It might really be possible that Ron Paul could be the nominee of the GOP. I would LOVE to see a debate between Ron Paul and Barack Obama.
Why?
Because this right-wing hardliner would be running to the LEFT of Obama on War, Civil Liberties, Drug Legalization, and Gay Marriage.
I want to make clear-- I disagree with 50% of what Ron Paul stands for. I disagree that personal liberty and economic liberty are the same issue-- in fact, those two things are often at odds with one another (see Singapore for example).
But the 50% I agree with, I agree with 100%.
According to a new poll release from Public Policy Poll, Paul has surged ahead at 23 percent, with Mitt Romney now in second place at 20 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has seen a dramatic drop in support, falling to third at 14 percent.
"If [Bachman] thinks we live in a dangerous world, she ought to think back to when I was drafted in 1962, when there were nuclear missiles in CUBA, and Kennedy calls Krushev and talks to him, and talks him out of this thing so we don't have a nuclear exchange. and you're trying to dramatize this and say that we need to treat Iran like we've treated Iraq, and kill one million Iraqis, and some 8,000 Americans have died since we've gone to war? You cannot solve these problems with war!"
Also, to hear the applause coming from a GOP audience at the line, "WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER WAR!" gives me goosebumps. It might really be possible that Ron Paul could be the nominee of the GOP. I would LOVE to see a debate between Ron Paul and Barack Obama.
Why?
Because this right-wing hardliner would be running to the LEFT of Obama on War, Civil Liberties, Drug Legalization, and Gay Marriage.
I want to make clear-- I disagree with 50% of what Ron Paul stands for. I disagree that personal liberty and economic liberty are the same issue-- in fact, those two things are often at odds with one another (see Singapore for example).
But the 50% I agree with, I agree with 100%.
Colbert Super PAC: Undaunted Non-Coordination
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
December 18, 2011
Ron Paul talks about Student Debt
via Occupy Student Debt:
I would like to add that Ron Paul's idea of taking away access to loans and letting the free market sort things out is koo koo bananas.
The reason why people who work would want their taxes to pay for the college of somebody else, is because that somebody else might end up being the heart surgeon who saves their life later-- if they get to go to college.
A well educated society benefits everybody. College should be free for those who want to go. College students have become the new sub-prime mortgages. We absolutely should "bail out" student debt: That's the transition to a society in which education is free for those who want to pursue it.
"This is not an endorsement for or against Ron Paul. He is just discussing some important issues about our plight, and it is well worth watching and considering. He is the only candidate from either party to really take this subject head-on in an open and honest way."
I would like to add that Ron Paul's idea of taking away access to loans and letting the free market sort things out is koo koo bananas.
The reason why people who work would want their taxes to pay for the college of somebody else, is because that somebody else might end up being the heart surgeon who saves their life later-- if they get to go to college.
A well educated society benefits everybody. College should be free for those who want to go. College students have become the new sub-prime mortgages. We absolutely should "bail out" student debt: That's the transition to a society in which education is free for those who want to pursue it.
Chinese Authorities Lose Control as Village Revolts
via NDT
The over twenty-thousand residents of the village of Wukan in south China's Guangdong Province have expelled all local Communist Party authorities, including police, and blocked road access to the village.
The British newspaper The Telegraph was able to get a journalist on the ground in Wukan on Tuesday. Malcom Moore called the current incident the first time on record that the Party has "lost all control" in a situation of "open revolt." This marks the latest escalation in an ongoing confrontation between villagers and local Communist Party officials they've called corrupt and abusive.
For three months, Wukan residents have been staging occasional large-scale protests against a longstanding series of abuses committed by local Party officials. The villagers' biggest grievance was corrupt officials profiting from illegally selling the villagers' land.
The current intensified protest, including the expelling of all police and officials, came after the death in Party custody of Xue Jinbo. He was a Wukan resident who had served as a negotiator with authorities. Party officials claim Xue died of "cardiac failure." But Xue's family say there was evidence of torture on his body, including broken thumbs and bruises.
By Monday, locals had stopped an attempt by hundreds of police and security personnel to enter Wukan. Those forces retreated to a backup location three miles distant, and are now blocking all food and water from entering the town.
As of now, at the fifth day of what some are calling a rebellion, police remain blocked from entering, and some townspeople are making comments suggesting that the confrontation has become about more than just land seizures.
The Telegraph quoted one villager as saying "We are not sleeping. A hundred men are keeping watch. We do not know what the government's next move will be, but we know we cannot trust them ever again."
The situation in Wukan remains uncertain. Other media have managed to enter the village. But anything about Wukan is being quickly censored on the Chinese internet.
America For Kids! Episode 3 - the #NDAA of 2012
via America For Kids
Holy shit. This video starts off TERRIBLE. Please, for the love of god, watch the whole thing.
You will be rewarded.
December 17, 2011
The Guards of State must reconsider their position
This is a message to the Police, to the military, to the TSA, to Homeland Security and to members of every other enforcement arm of the government.
via StormCloudsGathering
h/t to Kevin Zeese
December 16, 2011
24 hour Occuthon raising money for Occupations around the USA
Starting at 7pm ET on December 16th, going to 7pm December 17th, you can share your thoughts live by calling in at:
1-866-745-2667
Find an occupation near you to support by clicking here:
We All Occupy
I'll be appearing at 2:30am on the 17th.
D17 Anonops
Website: http://www.anonyops.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/anonyops_
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anonyops/119328501493033?sk=wall
December 15, 2011
Is Obama Incompetent, Cowardly, or Malevolent?
an great sample of logical thinking by Lucien Maverick
[...]
There is more in over at the original post, but this excellent set of paragraphs above is what really struck a chord with me. Laying out the history of betrayal of the base, it really seems to me that the Democratic Loyal has a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome.
I'd also like to point out that Liberals and Progressives DO have a place to go, where they can vote for somebody who is neither evil, nor insane.
Dr. Jill Stien is running for President with the Green party.
She's working to get ballot access in all 50 states, and thanks to increasingly exclusive and arcane ballot access laws put in place by both the GOP and DNC to keep third party candidates from challenging their duopoly, we are going to need to work extra hard to make sure that she is an option that we can vote for in 2012.
So that means we need to start working on it NOW.
"I previously had written a post where I had asked the question of if Obama was malevolent, or merely incompetent. I posed the idea that there are three liberal narratives that currently go around about Obama. The first is that he wants to do things, but the Republicans block him at every turn. I immediately discarded this option, because there was too much evidence against it. The second is that he never wanted to do any of what he said, and that he wanted to continue the Bush Doctrine. The third is that he did want to make good on his promises to the American people, but was simply too cowardly to stand his ground. Recent events have proven that neither the first nor the third narrative are correct. The second is the correct one. Obama is a malevolent force working against the American people.
The first major indication that Obama was playing dumb and really working to continue the Bush Doctrine was the acceptance speech that he gave when he received his Nobel Peace Prize. He basically said that it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks, America can do whatever the hell it wants, without consequences. That was the first major hint.
The next was when he failed to live up to his mandate of closing Guantanamo, instead, he pretty much franchised it. That was the next big hint that something was very off about his character. Next up came the Bush Tax Cuts. Obama could very easily have stood his ground, and said that he would veto anything that they put on his desk. He could have told them that there would be no fly with this. Instead, he gave the Republicans more than even Bush II had given them. Bush hadn’t been so generous, so that gives kind of a statement of where Obama stands.
The next big clue was the Debt Ceiling debate. This was another instance where Obama could have stood his ground, because everybody who is politically aware knew that the Republicans were bluffing. There was no way that they were going to not raise the debt ceiling. With the AARP breathing down their necks and the old people saying “You damn well better get me my Social Security!”, we all knew that it was a bluff. Again, he gave them everything that they want and more. He barely even hid it."
[...]
"With the 2012 elections just around the corner, the big question becomes – what should we do? The liberals like me really have nobody to turn to. All of the Republican candidates are jokes. Newt Gingrich is an idiot. Michele Bachmann is insane. Rick Perry is a bigot. Rick Santorum is a dumbass and a bigot. Mitt Romney is the Republican version of Obama (except he’s open about his malevolence, whereas Obama is trying to mask his as 'change')."
There is more in over at the original post, but this excellent set of paragraphs above is what really struck a chord with me. Laying out the history of betrayal of the base, it really seems to me that the Democratic Loyal has a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome.
I'd also like to point out that Liberals and Progressives DO have a place to go, where they can vote for somebody who is neither evil, nor insane.
Dr. Jill Stien is running for President with the Green party.
She's working to get ballot access in all 50 states, and thanks to increasingly exclusive and arcane ballot access laws put in place by both the GOP and DNC to keep third party candidates from challenging their duopoly, we are going to need to work extra hard to make sure that she is an option that we can vote for in 2012.
So that means we need to start working on it NOW.
December 14, 2011
Anonymous issues statement regarding #NDAA and #OpBlackout
TRANSCRIPT
____________
Citizens of the United States,
We are Anonymous.
This message is an urgent warning to the people of the United States. The government has been plotting treason against you.
An addition to the National Defense Authorization Act, Sections 1031 and 1032, will allow the United States government to imprison any person who commits any act they disagree with indefinitly and without trial. Section 1031 reads, "A covered person under this section" includes, "any person who has committed a belligerent act." All persons accused do not get a trial. The Feinstein Amendment, 1031 e, states that, "nothing in this section shall be construed." The Supreme Court are the only ones with the power to construe laws. If this law is passed exactly 24 hours after this video is published, there is no turning back.
They will call us liberals and fanatics. Those are words. Look at the proof. The United States government is decieving you. If you do not wake up now, it will be too late. Your last day of freedom is today. Will you ignore this message and continue your day without another thought? Or will you fight back against this corrupt and vile government? The choice is yours. The latter is best. Petitions will not work this time. Corporates and Billionaires have backed up this law and the government is certain that you will not take action. They are certain that their "bread and circuses" tactic will succeed. Let us prove them wrong.
We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not Forgive.
We do not Forget.
To the United States government, you should've expected us.
Lee Camp: Life, Liberty, and Indefinite Detention Without A Trial
It's seems that Obama and Congress have finally agreed on something! They support the indefinite detention of American citizens WITHOUT charges or a trial. Hurray! Cheers to cooperation!! [Also on today's Moment of Clarity podcast - NY Times bestseller GREG PALAST]
Subscribe to Lee Camp's YouTube channel here.
NYPD officer to civilian - Get out of my face, "I have a gun on me, okay?"
via ThinkProgress
Arresting 18 members of the 99 Percent Movement, hundreds of New York City police displayed tense and angry behavior in response to a peaceful #D12 protest in the Winter Garden atrium, owned by Brookfield Properties, at the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan. “Don’t get in my face,” one officer told a citizen trying to observe the arrests. “I have a gun on me, okay? I don’t want any people coming that close to me.”
December 13, 2011
SFPD sergeant orders officers: "If [Occupy protesters] do not do what you tell them, strike them."
via BoingBoing.net
In this video from the kettling of Occupy San Francisco protesters, SFPD sergeant Peter Thoshinsky (helmet #2197) is recorded walking the police line, ordering his officers, "If they do not do what you tell them, strike them."
The protesters who record this are understandably upset and try to engage the officers in a dialog about whether such an order is legal and should be followed. There's a certain amount of violating Godwin's Law here, which is understandable, even if it might not be the best way to win the day.
"If they do not do what you tell them, strike them." says SFPD while kettling OccupySF 2011-12-07
December 12, 2011
Retired Police Officer explains Police Brutality
One cause of police brutality explained here by OWS protester and retired Philly Police Captain, Ray Lewis at Zuccotti Park. This interview took place 3 days after his arrest on November 17, 2011.
This video compiles multiple angles of citizen journalists.
Help Dennis Trainor Jr spend 99 days with the 99%
FULL DISCLOSURE: I have a vested interest in seeing that Dennis is able to get funding for this project, as I will likely be hired back, possibly as a camera operator, and quite likely as an editor doing post-production work.
DONATE TO HELP FUND THE PROJECT: https://www.wepay.com/x1jea4b/donate/185351
December 11, 2011
Pop music's popularity is dependent on sexual language
A recent study found that pop music's popularity is dependant on language that talked about sexual reproduction.
So this track will probably become the most popular pop song in America:
Sex sex sex sex by PunkPatriot
Which of course answers the question: Why does pop music suck?
The answer is: Because the average American is intellectually comparable to a bonobo in heat.
LYRICS:
Enforcement
Positive
Reproductive
Messages
Your impulse to breed
says it's what you need
your top priority
is make new mouth to feed
sex sex sex sex (it feels good, do it now)
your body makes
you feel insane
you only use
your lizard brain
sex sex sex sex (it feels good, do it now)
just be a slave
to your biology
your nationality
your sociology
your geography
your economy
now dance for sex like you've had a lobotomy
sex sex sex sex
So this track will probably become the most popular pop song in America:
Sex sex sex sex by PunkPatriot
Which of course answers the question: Why does pop music suck?
The answer is: Because the average American is intellectually comparable to a bonobo in heat.
LYRICS:
Enforcement
Positive
Reproductive
Messages
Your impulse to breed
says it's what you need
your top priority
is make new mouth to feed
sex sex sex sex (it feels good, do it now)
your body makes
you feel insane
you only use
your lizard brain
sex sex sex sex (it feels good, do it now)
just be a slave
to your biology
your nationality
your sociology
your geography
your economy
now dance for sex like you've had a lobotomy
sex sex sex sex
The NYPD are just bullies who break kids hearts
The police are just bullies who break kids hearts. Literally and figuratively.
My submission to OccupyStudentDebt.com
I have well over $22,000 dollars in student debt.
I have to pay $200 dollars a month just to keep it from going up any higher.
I am currently unemployed in a market with almost no employment opportunity. I am self-employed as a musician, which is sort of the same thing as being unemployed.
I've completely given up on life, or the idea that I'm going to have any sort of normal life worth living.
I've tried working full time to pay back my student loans, but the wages are just too low, the cost of living is too high, and I can't keep up with payments, and my debt just keeps ballooning thanks to compounding interest.
In fact, I just received a letter from my last employer, LL Bean, telling me about the great program they have connecting their employees with welfare services. That's right. They brag in this letter about connecting over 9,000full time employees with welfare services. They know full well that they do not pay wages that are high enough for people to live on, such that over 9,000 of their full time employees are on WELFARE.
You know things are fucked up in this country when employers take putting their employees on state assistance for granted.
I just can't see how there is any way to escape, aside from just not paying my loans, and living a slightly less shitty life.
I would actually gladly default on my loan, because I have no money, no income, and cannot get loans as it is. Really how much worse could it be?
I have also considered committing suicide in the offices of those who hold my student debt as protest.
But there's problems with both of these:
The first problem is that I owe money to three separate institutions, and can only kill myself once.
The second problem is that my parents are cosigners on most of my loans, and even if I'm dead, they still will continue to owe a mountain of debt that I cannot pay.
I can't even escape my student debt through death.
How fucked up is that?
I have to pay $200 dollars a month just to keep it from going up any higher.
I am currently unemployed in a market with almost no employment opportunity. I am self-employed as a musician, which is sort of the same thing as being unemployed.
I've completely given up on life, or the idea that I'm going to have any sort of normal life worth living.
I've tried working full time to pay back my student loans, but the wages are just too low, the cost of living is too high, and I can't keep up with payments, and my debt just keeps ballooning thanks to compounding interest.
In fact, I just received a letter from my last employer, LL Bean, telling me about the great program they have connecting their employees with welfare services. That's right. They brag in this letter about connecting over 9,000
You know things are fucked up in this country when employers take putting their employees on state assistance for granted.
I just can't see how there is any way to escape, aside from just not paying my loans, and living a slightly less shitty life.
I would actually gladly default on my loan, because I have no money, no income, and cannot get loans as it is. Really how much worse could it be?
I have also considered committing suicide in the offices of those who hold my student debt as protest.
But there's problems with both of these:
The first problem is that I owe money to three separate institutions, and can only kill myself once.
The second problem is that my parents are cosigners on most of my loans, and even if I'm dead, they still will continue to owe a mountain of debt that I cannot pay.
I can't even escape my student debt through death.
How fucked up is that?
December 9, 2011
Man Bulldozes his own home rather than face forclosure
I like this guys attitude.
"When I see that I owe $160,000 on almost a $350,000 home and somebody decides they want to take it -- I wasn't gonna stand for that so I took it down." -- Terry Hoskins, Moscow, Ohio
To translate from midwestern politeness into a language that people from NYC might understand:
Fuck me? Oh no, my friend, fuck YOU.
Banks forclose on homes in the hopes of reselling them and regaining their losses. By leveling his home, the bank has essentially nothing but the dirt it stood on. I applaud you sir.
Bernie Sanders offers Constitutional Amendment to ban Corporate Personhood
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unrestricted and secret campaign spending by corporations on U.S. elections. The first constitutional amendment ever proposed by Sanders during his two decades in Congress would reverse the narrow 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission.
Public Citizen's webpage: Citizen.org
People For the American Way: PFAW.org
Center For Media and Democracy: PRwatch.org
December 8, 2011
[Infographic] Corporations are People. Evil people.
Created by: Online MBA Programs
Just a reminder
Click here to take part in this 3 step action, and push for the revocation of BP's corporate charter!
In case you missed this
So Rick Perry Made an ad:
And Second City made a parody of it:
What's sad is the real thing is so insane, such a cartoonish inversion of reality, that it's the one that seems like a parody; whilst the "comedic parody" is just... a guy saying things that make sense.
Rick Parody for president, 2012
OWS is winning: Los Angeles calls on DC to end Corporate Personhood
h/t to Lauren Minis
I just hope that as people start TALKING like populists, that they start ACTING like populists, and that the movement CONTINUES to hold them accountable and call them on their bullshit.
I feel like the idea that this movement is going to take 30 years to acheive our aims is both a good and bad one.
It's good, because it gives people permission to take a break and keep from getting burned out.
It's bad, because it also allows people to get lazy, and to accept half-loaves.
The revolutions in Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Tunisia, et al,; they took decades. Or it only took a week. Depends on how you look at it.
Nobody knows the point of revolution. Nobody knows where we actually are right now. We won't know where the movement is on the timeline of revolution until now becomes the past. So keep fighting like the revolution is tomorrow.
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