"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, February 2, 2023
repugnant — incompatible, inconsistent, hostile, distasteful, contradictory, abhorrent, obnoxious, odious; originates directly from the Latin term repugnantem (nominative case repugnans), present participle of repugnare, meaning “to resist, fight back, oppose; disagree, be incompatible.”
early 15c., repugnaunt, “hostile, opposed; contrary, inconsistent, contradictory,” from Old French repugnant “contradictory, opposing” or directly from Latin repugnantem (nominative repugnans), present participle of repugnare “to resist, fight back, oppose; disagree, be incompatible,” from re- “back, against, in opposition” (see re-) + pugnare “to fight” (from PIE root *peuk- “to prick”).
The meaning “distasteful, objectionable” is from 1777; that of “offensive, loathsome, exciting aversion” is by 1879.
“female intercrural foramen,” or, as some 18c. writers refer to it, “the monosyllable,” Middle English cunte “female genitalia,” by early 14c. (in Hendyng’s “Proverbs” — ʒeve þi cunte to cunni[n]g, And crave affetir wedding), akin to Old Norse kunta, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, and Middle Low German kunte, from Proto-Germanic *kunton, which is of uncertain origin. Some suggest a link with Latin cuneus “wedge” (which is of unknown origin), others to PIE root *geu- “hollow place,” still others to PIE root *gwen- “woman.”
The form is similar to Latin cunnus “female pudenda” (also, vulgarly, “a woman”), which is likewise of disputed origin, perhaps literally “gash, slit” (from PIE *sker- “to cut”) or “sheath” (Watkins, from PIE *(s)keu- “to conceal, hide”). De Vaan rejects this, however, and traces it to “a root *kut-meaning ‘bag’, ‘scrotum’, and metaphorically also ‘female pudenda,’ ” source also of Greek kysthos “vagina; buttocks; pouch, small bag” (but Beekes suspects this is a Pre-Greek word), Lithuanian kutys “(money) bag,” Old High German hodo “testicles.”
Hec vulva: a cunt. Hic cunnus: idem est. [from Londesborough Illustrated Nominale, c. 1500, in “Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies,” eds. Wright and Wülcker, vol. 1, 1884]
First known reference in English apparently is in a compound, Oxford street name Gropecuntlane cited from c. 1230 (and attested through late 14c.) in “Place-Names of Oxfordshire” (Gelling & Stenton, 1953), presumably a haunt of prostitutes. Used in medical writing c. 1400, but avoided in public speech since 15c.; considered obscene since 17c.
in Middle English also conte, counte, and sometimes queinte, queynte (for this, see Q). Chaucer used quaint and queynte in “Canterbury Tales” (late 14c.), and Andrew Marvell might be punning on quaint in “To His Coy Mistress” (1650).
“What eyleth yow to grucche thus and grone? Is it for ye wolde haue my queynte allone?” [Wife of Bath’s Tale]
Under “MONOSYLLABLE” Farmer lists 552 synonyms from English slang and literature before launching into another 5 pages of them in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. [A sampling: Botany Bay, chum, coffee-shop, cookie, End of the Sentimental Journey, fancy bit, Fumbler’s Hall, funniment, goatmilker, heaven, hell, Itching Jenny, jelly-bag, Low Countries, nature’s tufted treasure, penwiper, prick-skinner, seminary, tickle-toby, undeniable, wonderful lamp, and aphrodisaical tennis court, and, in a separate listing, Naggie.] Dutch cognate de kont means “a bottom, an arse,” but Dutch also has attractive poetic slang ways of expressing this part, such as liefdesgrot, literally “cave of love,” and vleesroos “rose of flesh.”
Alternative form cunny is attested from c. 1720 but is certainly much earlier and forced a change in the pronunciation of coney (q.v.), but it was good for a pun while coney was still the common word for “rabbit”: “A pox upon your Christian cockatrices! They cry, like poulterers’ wives, ‘No money, no coney.’ ” [Philip Massinger: “The Virgin-Martyr,” Act I, Scene 1, 1622]
And, given the opportunity, Repugnicunts would ruin the U.S. economy.
Even now, in the opening days of the 118th Congress, there’s talk among Repugnicunts of eliminating the Federal Income Tax, along with all other forms of Federal tax, and replace it with a 30% Value Added Tax.
If you think inflation is a bugbear now, just add 30% to it, and see what it’s like. Repugnicunts are such morons.
The reason why, is because that’s what they want to do:
TEAR IT ALL DOWN.
Not repair, not rebuild, not reinforce, not improve efficiency… but TEAR IT DOWN — and hope for the best, then sell off to the highest corporate bidder the skeletal remains.
For example, NOT A SINGLE REPUGNICUNT in the House or Senate voted for Pandemic Economic Relief.
Had the American people not had that money, our economy would have melted down, and suffered a depression even worse than the Great Depression.
But, it didn’t.
In fact, it didn’t even have a recession.
Not even.
So, when the Repugnicunts cry and whine about national debt, not only are they TOTALLY missing the boat, they’re missing the BIG PICTURE.
And here’s the odd thing about it:
They want to cut spending, but don’t want to pay for it — they do NOT want PayGo, or pay-as-you-go. And if they had their way, they’d let America default on its “loans.”
But, there’s an even BIGGER picture that few, if any, ever talk about, and certainly, most probably don’t even understand it. This entry will try to correct that.
“…the U.S. government’s ability to borrow.”
U.S. To Max Out On Debt Soon, Setting Up Political Fight
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is on track to max out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority as soon as this month, starting the clock on Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 23, 2023
Perhaps the most “burning” question in many political observers imagination in the matter of George Santos/Anthony Devolder’s election is:
“How DID this happen?”
I’ll take that question for $1000.
In a word, “apathy.”
Constituents who entrusted their support to him in NYD3 were hypothecated.
Allow me to explain. They pledged their support (as evidenced by their votes), and when the pledge expired following the election’s certification, he took the Congressional Oath of Office, and to their dismay, voters discovered they did not control (own) him. After all, they DID allow him to run under their banner. Had they any control over their own party, they would have never done so… or, at least they want us to believe that.
Frankly, NYCD3 voters have no one to blame but themselves.
One of their several news outlets — no, NOT The Old Gray Lady, but the North Shore Leader — warned constituents long in advance (in September) that he was a fraud.
The metaphorical “voice of one crying in the wilderness” was largely ignored, until it was convenient for the OG to belatedly “pounce” upon the dirty deal done dirt cheap in December… after the election was over, and certified, and hope to draw some belated attention to themselves… long after the fact.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, March 18, 2022
Here’s everything that Congress has done about the matter.
Yeah.
Bupkis.
Nada.
Isn’t that what Congress specializes in doing — NOTHING!?
But, in all fairness… Congress (the House) did pass legislation about hair styles.
That’s NOT a joke.
Or, is it?
H.R.2116 – CROWN Act of 2021 — “An act To prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s texture or style of hair.” — was referred to the Committees for Judiciary; Education and Labor; Budget. In a roll call vote held on 03/18/2022, the act was Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 235 – 189 (Roll no. 82).
And to compound problems, the Mass Media hasn’t done a good of their job of reporting on what exactly HAS been done… as in what bills have been written, and sent to committee. And there have been some, with full information — including the text of the bills — about which are linked herein to the Congress.gov website.
Of course, Republicans have little of any substance to offer except for “tax cuts,” which is their standard tune, and their answer to all of life’s problems.
Yeah.
But, do you ever get the feeling that you’re being manipulated by the Mass Media?
That’s because YOU ARE.
Is there anything else it could be called when full information and details of bills that could help We The People are purposely omitted from being reported upon?
Given that the Energy Information Administration shows that taxes account for only about 15% of the price of gasoline and diesel fuel, a so-called “tax holiday” would hardly provide any substantial relief, if any at all.
Jeff Davis, a Senior Fellow with the Eno Center for Transportation — a Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan think tank founded in 1921 by traffic safety pioneer William Eno that examines transportation issues across modes and levels of the federal-state-local government chain — is also the Editor of the Eno Transportation Weekly, and said that cutting the federal gas tax really won’t save drivers much money.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, October 9, 2021
Adam Parkhomenko recently wrote a brief political Opinion piece which was published on the website Today’s Big Stuff dot com and entitled “This might be our last chance to listen to Hillary.”
Full Disclosure: Mr. Parkhomenko is a 30-something political consultant/strategist who has an extensive record of support for Hillary Clinton, worked briefly on the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008 as an Assistant Campaign Manager during the Democratic primary, and in 2003, while then a 17-year-old student at Northern Virginia Community College, established the candidate-unaffiliated website VoteHillary.org, an in an effort to convince voters to support her 2004 campaign to be the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee. He promoted his piece on Twitter, writing that, “I haven’t written about Hillary Clinton in a few years but I hope you will take three minutes and read this and retweet to pass it on. I worked for her for over a decade and I think what she’s saying is important and we should listen to.”
Young Mr. Parkhomenko’s ardor for his preferred candidate could be understood in the light of his obvious zeal for her, and overlooked, or even forgiven, since such eagerness often overlooks another’s flaws, because often, when in love, “the object of one’s desire can do no wrong.”
Mr. Parkhomenko couches the introduction of his threadbare piece as Hillary being a political prophetess or seer by using metaphoric imagery such as “time machine,” “villagers,” and “danger that was coming.” Naturally, that presupposes that the “villagers” are morons, or at least seriously daft in some manner.
Of course, one could suppose where he was headed with such colorful descriptors, which is the shaming “but they didn’t listen,” the I-told-you-so taunt of “it turned out she was right,” along with a repeat of the earlier “and the villagers are ignoring her again.”
Next, he takes square aim at blaming external factors, rather than a flawed candidacy, by writing pointedly, “first of all because she’s a woman. And second of all because her name is Hillary Clinton.”
I suppose her name could have been “Rapunzel,” or “Juliet” and she would have been blamed for cakes and biscuits not rising, or any other such nonsensical tripe. That’s not to say that women have not been subjected to some type of sex-based discrimination, for they have. But to blatantly assert or claim, that she was “repeatedly invited by the national media to just go away despite,” he further attempts to spread blame so thinly that it’s quite easy to see through.
It also reminds one a childhood moralistic tale entitled, “The Remarkable Story of Chicken Little,” in which the protagonist, a hen character named “Henny Penny,” had an acorn to fall on her head, and then loudly, though erroneously, warned exclaiming that, “THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!”
Mr. Parkhomenko seems to express bafflement, and befuddlement that his favorite candidate never won the nation’s highest political office, and quoted her, writing that “I’m astonished that more people don’t see, or can’t face…” That quote, of course, was a statement made in agreement by Ms. Clinton in a non-challenging, puff-piece interview with Jennifer Senior, a staff writer at The Atlantic during the Atlantic Festival, where she appeared “virtually” live, Thursday, September 30, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Mr. Parkhomenko added his own remarks which echoed a similar sentiment by writing “why in the world would the villagers ignore someone who…,” and similarly “why would they ignore someone who…”
So let’s examine just a few things, as he has, in order to allow him – or, anyone else – to more clearly see a picture which apparently, has not yet emerged.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Though I loathed her, and still do, I voted for Hillary Clinton over the Republican candidate, because: 1.) She had some experience in politics, and was 2.) “The devil you know,” whereas the Republican candidate was utterly inexperienced politically, and was “the devil you didn’t know.”
First, like it, or not, Hillary is a lightning rod. And to remind our readers, a lightning rod is a metal stick placed vertically atop elevated structures in order to DRAW lightning, and thereby allow it to be run (conducted) to ground through circuits and conduits in order to prevent damage to the structure. Again, a lighting rod attracts lightning, which is a powerful, and natural destructive force. And that describes Hillary to a ‘T’ — a lightning rod.
To be characterized as a “lightning rod” – a thing which draws powerful, troubling and destructive forces – is not a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 3, 2021
GOP Voters DidNOTWant A Second Helping Of Trump
And, in their estimation, Trump v2.0, i.e., Trump 2024, is 100% OUT OF THE QUESTION.
Comments from the focus group referenced in the article linked below illustrate the GREAT NEED for our nation to be focused upon PROGRESS & CHANGE.
Regardless of anyone’s opinion, or any nation’s actions, catastrophic, or otherwise, tomorrow will happen.
It’s inevitable.
PROGRESS WILL OCCUR.
BUT, we could all do something to PREVENT bad things from happening, and should. We should improve conditions for our residents and humanity, rather than to allow them to suffer by negligence and neglect.
And yet, whether we do, or don’t, the sun will still rise.
Time marches on.
Recall the adage,
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
That quote is by Dr. Jessie Potter, PhD (1922-1994), Founder/Director, National Institute for Human Relationships, Oak Lawn, Illinois; faculty member University of Illinois Medical School, Northwestern University Medical School, who was featured speaker at the Friday opening of the seventh annual Woman to Woman Conference, in an article entitled “Search For Quality Called Key To Life” by Tom Ahern, published in “The Milwaukee Sentinel” of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 24 October 1981; the quote appearing on Page 5, Column 5.
In my estimation, and in the estimation of that focus group’s members, America and American policy – domestic, and international – has REGRESSED, rather than progressed.
Progress supposes improvement. It’s like progressing from 3rd Grade to 4th Grade, or beyond. Progress implies a journey, and ALWAYS supposes improvement — getting from “Point A” to “Point B,” and beyond.
Like the primarily-Republican voters in this focus group, I too, have voted FOR candidates who were neither my first, nor best, choice. Sometimes, you vote for “the devil you know,” rather than “the devil you don’t know.”
I voted for Hillary, though I utterly loathed her for various reasons; besides being a proverbial “lightning rod” for controversy and division, rather than unity, another one being that she demonstrably screwed Bernie, and though what she did was not illegal, it was exceedingly unethical, and that she did it in secret, was very telling about her character. Had she not done that, Bernie would have most likely been the Democratic party‘s nominee – NO ONE ELSE had crowds the size of his – NO ONE.
But, because she had governmental experience, and was the nominee, I held my nose and voted FOR her. Similarly, I voted FOR Biden, though again, I much rather preferred Bernie, because I thought and hoped that Biden would essentially be a “yes man” to the party’s Progressive ideas. And quite frankly, I don’t think he’s ever demonstrated effective LEADERSHIP with ideas.
BIDEN is a conciliator, and after the previous administration, our nation was very ready for significant “conciliation.”
“Boring government” can be a good thing, per se — at least insofar as what it’s compared to in the immediately preceding administration.
Bold new ideas are not Biden’s forte. That’s Bernie’s bailiwick. And, as we all know, sometimes, “you gotta’ go along, to get along.”
We’re not even a year — 8 months 13 days, or; 36 weeks 3 days, or; 255 calendar days – into this administration, and yet, the prognosticators, pundits, and political soothsayers are busy at work. In my way of thinking, that demonstrates a deep longing for CHANGE. Not change from the GOP, but fundamental, wholesale CHANGE in governmental operations, i.e., PROGRESS.
Do we need change in our nation?
You bet your sweet bippy we do!
The colloquialism “politicians are like diapers on babies; both need changing regularly” is not mere hyperbole, it is true.
Consider our income tax system.
No one genuinely “likes” paying taxes – has anyone, ever? Even though it’s a patriotic duty, I don’t think so. But in your and my lifetime, the graduated income tax system in our nation has been highly compressed (there are now fewer brackets than ever), and the top rate for the highest income earners (multi-millionaires & multi-billionaires) has been so significantly reduced, that the net effect is a so-called “flat tax,” in which everyone – the wealthy and the impoverished – pays the same percentage rate, regardless. That’s an inherently unjust system, simply because the wealthy and the impoverished pay the same price for a gallon of milk, or loaf of bread. It just takes a BIGGER BITE out of the poor man’s paycheck, than it does the wealthy… who probably owns the farm –and– the bakery –and– the store that sells it.
It simply boggles my mind to know that Jeff Bezos, by FAR the world’s wealthiest man -and- his corporation Amazon, PAID NO INCOME TAX LAST YEAR… or, the year before, or the year before that. And he wasn’t the only one, not by a long shot. Elon Musk and Warren Buffett are also on that list of shame. Men whose names are practically household words, like Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg all come to mind. They too, paid little, if any, personal income tax compared to the Average American. To my way of thinking, that’s just plain wrong. Maybe you think differently.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 20, 2021
Following are excerpts of a letter to a long-time friend who has historically voted for Republicans… almost exclusively, at all levels – local, state, and federal.
I have not.
As I recall, the last Republican for whom I voted was Reagan in his first campaign. Yet, I have not voted for Democrats whom I either do not like, nor think they would do a good job. And, I would vote for a Republican… if I could find one worth voting for.
I cannot.
And the party nowadays is in wholesale disarray, which further complicates matters. One faction wants to tear it all down, while another radicalized faction has actually attempted to burn it all down by attempting to overthrow its Constitutionally-ordered processes… and to add insult to injury, it was at the behest of the sitting President. And neither faction wants to repair anything, much less economic infrastructure.
“Privatize it all!” is their battle cry.
Yet, he is like me in this regard: He is not now, nor has he ever been, a member of ANY political party. He is also like me insofar as he cares for the future of our nation, which, more specifically, means We the People — the Common Man.
“Blind Men Appraising an Elephant,” c.1800-1850, by Ohara Donshu (d.1857), Japanese Edo Period, Brooklyn Museum
But, to casual observers, they would not know that how we are similar, and would rather, note our seeming dissimilarities, when in fact, the opposite is true. We are more similar, than not — at least we are, on an essentially basic, fundamentally root level.
“Our individual views of the universe may be different from one another’s because we each encounter only one small part of what is there. The ancient Hindu parable of the six blind men and the elephant — wherein each man describes only the part of the elephant he is touching, forming an incomplete representation of the whole — is an illustration of such individual differences. The elephant, a metaphor for the universe, is perceived by one man as a snake (because he feels the trunk), by another as a tree (because he feels the leg), and so on. However, individual differences in perception are not usually as large as the differences between the six blind men’s percepts of the elephant. The differences are not so large because perception is a complex phenomenon resulting from multiple small effects, such as many different genes and accumulated experiences, acting mostly separately.”
My hearing loss is now much more significant than previously. And, I contend that it was because of the loud *!*BOOMS! *!*BANGS*!* & *!*EXPLOSIONS*!* to which I was exposed while in the Army. Training, of course. And so far, I’ve been denied a Service-Connected Disability rating. But, to be certain, I’ve not hammered the piss out of ‘em — the VA, that is — to get such a rating, and more importantly TO GET HEARING AIDS WHICH I DESPERATELY NEED!
You see, T, my good friend, this – my example – is but ONE of MILLIONS MORE exactly like me. Good and decent pubic education, college degreed, honorable service to our nation, and despite it all, not having healthcare insurance, nor the ability to shell out $10,000, or more, for hearing aids. And if my glasses break, I’m similarly up shit creek. And forget about my teeth. I’ve not seen a dentist in I-don’t-know-when. My next-door-neighbor D, who is 1 year younger than I, and a widower, had all his teeth pulled recently so that he could get fitted for dentures. ALL of that he had to shell out of pocket. ALL OF IT. And he delivers flowers for a living. A very modest paying job – not even $15/hr.
I’m fully certain that you KNOW that I am unapologetically FOR THE PEOPLE. And, I think you know me well enough to know that, by NO MEANS, am I “anti-business,” and rather, am anti-BIG BUSINESS — a scenario in which profiteering comes first, and people are an afterthought. THAT is a “cardinal sin,” because it demonstrates conclusively that, LITERALLY, we (our nation, our people, by and through our elected officials) DO NOT CARE FOR OUR OWN. And, I know the Scriptures well enough to know (and, I would hope that you do, also) that such a tact is 100% diametrically opposed to Biblical/Judeo-Christian principles. And indeed, it is against the principles of EVERY religion.
“If anyone fails to provide for his own, and especially for those of his own family, he has denied the faith [by disregarding its precepts] and is worse than an unbeliever [who fulfills his obligation in these matters].”
– 1 Timothy 5:8 AMP
For TOO LONG we have disregarded the sage, prophetic advice of POTUS Dwight David Eisenhower, a 2-term Republican, who, before campaigning for President, during WWII was Supreme Allied Commander – our nation’s last 5-star general.
And concurrently with that, we have continued to reduce income tax rates upon the wealthiest Americans, and their corporations, while simultaneously reducing and compressing the number of income tax brackets, thereby placing an increasingly undue responsibility and burden upon the impoverished and working families. Again, that burden has shifted AWAY from upon the wealthy, to be foisted upon the poor. Such an action is fundamentally UNJUST.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 28, 2021
“Redistricting is like an election in reverse! It’s a great event. Usually the voters get to pick the politicians. In redistricting, the politicians get to pick the voters!”
— Thomas Hofeller (1943-2018), Republican National Committee Redistricting Director, GOP strategist and district mapmaker at “Redistricting & Census 2000,” an event sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures, (see video at 33:50–34:24), at Henry Gonzales Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas
Should politicians choose their voters?
Or, should voters choose their politicians?
That’s the essence of what will be the next great political fight to come from Republicans.
And, if things go the way that many expect them to go, the GOP will crown themselves the victor.
“The fix is in,” as the saying goes.
Here’s one recent news item detailing how the formerly-Grand Old Party will manipulate the system:
Republicans Eye Nashville Crack-Up To Gain House Seat
By Reid Wilson – 06/20/21 04:32 PM EDT
“Republicans plotting to maximize their advantages in state legislatures across the country during the decennial redistricting process are considering cracking apart Tennessee’s largest city, an ambitious move that could signal how aggressively the party will try to rig maps in its favor in the coming months.
“In preliminary conversations, top Republicans in the Volunteer State have contemplated dramatically redrawing the boundaries of a district anchored in Nashville, one of just two U.S. House seats in Tennessee held by a Democratic member of Congress.
“The move would put the squeeze on Rep. Jim Cooper (D), the dean of Tennessee’s congressional delegation and a presence in Washington since he first won his district in 1982, save for an eight-year absence after he lost a race for a U.S. Senate seat in 1994.
“Cooper has never had trouble winning reelection: He ran unopposed in 2020, and he hasn’t taken less than 62 percent of the vote since the Republican wave of 2010.
“Cooper’s strength lies in Nashville’s Davidson County, home to about four in five of his constituents. The county gave President Biden almost two-thirds of the vote in 2020, while the smaller but more Republican suburbs in Dickson and Cheatham counties voted heavily for former President Trump.
“Nashville and Davidson County have been wholly contained within one congressional district since at least the 1950s, a logical function of its role as the population epicenter of Middle Tennessee.
“But if Tennessee Republicans decide to divide Davidson County between neighboring districts, Cooper may find himself facing the unpalatable decision to run in a district that is much more favorable to Republicans: All three of the neighboring districts — held by Reps. John Rose (R) to the north and east, Mark Green (R) to the west and south and Scott DesJarlais (R) to the southeast — gave Trump at least two-thirds of the vote.
““Tennessee has changed dramatically, in a lot of ways,” said Gregory Gleaves, a Republican strategist in Nashville. “I don’t think it would be that unusual for Nashville to get split. It happens in other states. There’s no law saying Davidson County is the one county that can’t be split.”
“Democrats would have little ability to resist the GOP power play. Republicans hold 26 of 33 seats in the state Senate, and 74 of 99 seats in the state House of Representatives. Gov. Bill Lee, also a Republican, has the final say in approving any new district maps.
“It’s always going to be chopped up to the advantage of the ruling party. So that’s expected,” said state Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D), the chairman of the Tennessee state legislature’s Black Caucus. “It makes it harder for Democrats to get elected.”
“Cooper’s office did not respond to a request for comment. But he is no fan of partisan gerrymandering: Cooper introduced legislation earlier this year that would require states to create independent and bipartisan redistricting commissions.
“Voters should continue to choose their elected officials — not the other way around,” Cooper said in a statement introducing the bill in January. “The redistricting process shouldn’t be about protecting the powerful and we need to fix it.”
“The U.S. Census Bureau has not put out block-level population data that will inform state legislative mapmakers, after the pandemic delayed data collection and analysis, so any potential plans to split Nashville are preliminary at most.
“But redistricting experts say they see the move to divide Tennessee’s biggest city among multiple districts, diluting the power of Nashville’s voters and giving Republicans a chance to pick up a seat, as emblematic of a strategy the GOP will use in other states.
“This is a common tactic used by state legislators especially in order to crack voters into different districts,” said Ari Goldbloom-Helzner, a computational research analyst at the Electoral Innovation Lab at Princeton. “It makes it difficult for those groups to constitute a majority in electing a representative of their choice that represents their community.”
“Several other cities have been chopped between districts for partisan gain, too: In the last decade, Texas Republicans split Travis County, home of liberal Austin, among five separate congressional districts, four of which are held by Republicans. Pennsylvania Republicans drew district lines so bizarre in the increasingly Democratic Collar Counties around Philadelphia that the state Supreme Court set a new map of boundary lines in place for the 2018 elections. In Michigan, liberal Lansing is divided between districts held by Reps. Tim Walberg (R) and Elissa Slotkin (D), after Slotkin defeated Republican incumbent Mike Bishop in 2018.
“As the Census Bureau prepares to deliver new block-level data to states, Republicans and Democrats are beginning to outline strategies they will implement to take full advantage of the control they wield.
“Republicans, by dint of their advantage in so many state legislatures, will have a leg up. The GOP holds complete control over the redistricting process in 20 states that will collectively send 188 members to the House of Representatives.Democrats control the entire process in only seven states that account for 72 members of Congress.
“Sixteen states will draw new boundary lines through independent or bipartisan commissions or through power-sharing agreements because both Democrats and Republicans hold at least one lever of government. The seven remaining states send only one at-large member to Congress.
“The Republican advantage is less than it was a decade ago, just after the 2010 election handed the GOP control of a large number of governorships and state legislative chambers. But recent Supreme Court rulings have removed some of the guardrails that constrained legislatures last time around, potentially giving Republicans and Democrats alike greater freedom to exercise their control over the redistricting process.” https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/559207-republicans-eye-nashville-crack-up-to-gain-house-seat
If it’s wrong for one party to do it, it’s wrong for the other party to do it — regardless of which one is in power. Both parties would decry such an unjust and inequitably lopsided measure if the other one did it.
It’s not mere politics. The problem is very real, and is a dangerously destabilizing force upon our free and independent Constitutional processes, most notably upon voting, by making it ineffectual, null and void, and jeopardizing our national security and our democratic republic. In essence, it is a theft and usurpation of power out of the hands of The People, and into the pockets of politicians.
All that is thanks in large part to Thomas Hofeller, a Republican strategist who some say “perfected” the art of gerrymandering – a manipulative process designed to usurp power from the people, and instead, give it to politicians.
However, HR1 and companion bill S1, would put a stop to such abusive practices by establishing independent, nonpartisan redistricting boards in all 50 states, which is but one reason why that bill is so very important. It also puts an end to the abuses of “dark money,” and brings to a screeching halt the disastrous “money is free speech” SCOTUS ruling in Citizens United.
After Hofeller’s death, his daughter Stephanie discovered what amounted to a veritable treasure trove of information, all which was from his work drawing maps that would significantly benefit Republicans. What was embarrassing, was that all of his work was designed to limit the political influence of Blacks, Hispanics, and other non-White people. Stephanie’s discovery of his arguably racist work was so shocking, that the Republican party in North Carolina – where Hofeller’s maps work was successfully utilized by the GOP – sought to legally prevent her from publicly releasing his work.
Thomas Hofeller’s work creating gerrymandered exclusionary political maps was nationwide and included redistricting in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia, as well as Nassau County New York, and Galveston, and Nueces counties in Texas.
Hofeller was also significantly responsible for the idea of a prospective Census question “Is this person a United States citizen?” which was eventually nixed by the judicial system.
Stephanie said that her father’s stated objective was to use the manipulative process of gerrymandering to “create a system wherein the Republican nominee would win. State legislature, it doesn’t matter who votes for what. Congress, it doesn’t matter who votes for what. And president, it doesn’t matter.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, May 24, 2021
Democratic senators say if the Supreme Court strikes a blow against Roe v. Wade by upholding a Mississippi abortion law, it will fuel an effort to add justices to the court or otherwise reform it.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority this week agreed to hear the Mississippi case, which could dramatically narrow abortion rights by allowing states to make it illegal to get an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“It will inevitably fuel and drive an effort to expand the Supreme Court if this activist majority betrays fundamental constitutional principles,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“It’s already driving that movement,” he added.
Senator Blumenthal said it doesn’t mean that a Congress led by Democrats would immediately be able to add justices to the court, but he suggested it would add momentum to reform efforts at a minimum.
“Chipping away at Roe v. Wade will precipitate a seismic movement to reform the Supreme Court. It may not be expanding the Supreme Court, it may be making changes to its jurisdiction, or requiring a certain numbers of votes to strike down certain past precedents,” he said.
No one knows for sure when the Supreme Court will hand down its decision on the Mississippi abortion law, but it is widely expected to hear arguments after it convenes in October. That could set up a decision next year.
Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D), another member of the Judiciary Committee, said the court’s review of the Mississippi law raises serious concerns.
“It really enlivens the concerns that we have about the extent to which right-wing billionaire money has influenced the makeup of the court and may even be pulling strings at the court,” he said.
“We’ve got a whole array of options we’re looking at in the courts committee,” Senator Whitehouse said of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, which President Biden established by executive order in April.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, May 1, 2021
Donna Brazile, publicity photo
There are probably plenty of reasons to dislike Donna Brazile, the twice-former interim DNC Chair – not the least of which was the discovery that, following a WikiLeaks email dump, she’d been sharing debate questions with Hillary, and subsequent to a second release of the tranche, she resigned in shame from her position at CNN as a political commentator/pundit.
Perhaps she was trying to redeem herself, or, maybe she was trying to hold a light illuminating the damning evidence of HRC’s unethical behavior and corruption (though not illegal), or maybe she was hoping to drive another nail into Hillary’s political coffin, or “throw some others under the bus,” and even if it was a cathartic political “kiss and tell,” her motivation for what she wrote is not the question.
It is ~what~ she wrote in her book “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House” that tells the story.
She discovered that because of the party’s fiscal indebtedness, a backroom deal had been struck with Hillary and the DNC in August 2015, just Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, April 3, 2021
Legalizing, taxing, and regulating cannabis is a smart move for the same reasons that legalizing, taxing, and regulating beverage alcohol was. Because Prohibition was so phenomenally successful, you know.
But here’s something else to consider: There has NEVER been one documented death from cannabis consumption. Not even one. Ever.
That cannot be said of alcohol.
There is quite a bit of truth in the remark that no government can be a “nanny state” to continuously monitor its peoples actions, and prevent anything bad from ever happening to them.
We must be afforded freedoms and liberties, and part of those freedoms and liberties include risk-taking.
But as far as risk goes, with cannabis, consumption of it has nominal risk in comparison to many other things.
And eventually, we all die, anyway.
Few have ever examined the history of cannabis prohibition, and have simply swallowed – hook, line, and sinker – propaganda from Nixon’s “War on Drugs” machine which was part and parcel of his “Southern Strategy” to win over racist Democrats, aka “Dixiecrats” who eventually became Republicans.
But the history of cannabis prohibition goes back to at least 1937 with the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act, which was passed in response to a wave of anti-Mexican sentiment that was sweeping across America, beginning on the West Coast, and moving eastward.
Harry Anslinger, who lived in that era, and is considered the first head of the Federal agency that is now the Drug Enforcement Administration (a law enforcement agency under the aegis of the Department of Justice), was a virulent racist, and as an excellent propagandist himself, he never failed to miss an opportunity to blame cannabis for every horrible, violent crime, consumption of which he claimed was the root cause of terrible things like:
“Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.”
-and-
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”
Yeah.
There’s probably nothing more that needs to be said.
But there are some things that should be said – such as research has shown that Blacks and Whites consume cannabis at about the same rate, but Blacks are arrested at a significantly greater and disproportionate rate than Whites. That is true in all 50 states.
If unequal enforcement of law that skews against Blacks is not evidence of racism, I don’t know what is.
And with remarks like “…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races,” it’s easy to understand why Harry Anslinger is the root cause to blame.
Schumer Says Senate Will Move Ahead On Marijuana Legalization
By Celine Castronuovo, 04/03/21 12:31 PM EDT
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Charles Schumer of New York has vowed to move forward with legislation to federally legalize marijuana, even if President Biden resists such a move.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, March 16, 2021
“We have raised our GDP forecast to reflect the latest fiscal policy news and now expect 8% growth in 2021 (Q4/Q4) and an unemployment rate of 4% at end-2021 — the lowest among consensus forecasts—that falls to 3.5% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023.”
Goldman Sachs lifted its 2021 US growth forecast to 8% from 7.7%, citing new stimulus for the boost.
The bank also expects Biden and Democrats to pass at least $2 trillion in infrastructure spending.
That sum could hit $4 trillion if the deal includes education, child-care, and health-care spending.
Goldman Sachs joined its Wall Street peers in revising its US economic outlook on Saturday, pegging an increasingly bullish forecast to Democrats’ latest stimulus package.
The team led by Jan Hatzius now expects US gross domestic product to grow 8% in 2021 on a fourth-quarter-to-fourth-quarter basis, according to a note published Saturday. That’s up from the previous estimate of 7.7%. The bank’s full-year growth estimate climbed to 7% from 6.9%.
The current-year projection largely hinges on President Joe Biden’s stimulus plan, as Goldman had initially expected a $1.5 trillion deal to reach Biden’s desk. The $1.9 trillion plan signed by the president on Thursday will accelerate the nation’s economic recovery through Read the rest of this entry »
Should there be a law (or laws) that addresses these matters?
1.) Should cash transactions involving United States real estate be subject to anti-money laundering laws?
2.) Should Congress examine the money laundering and terrorist financing risks in the real estate market, including the role of anonymous parties, and review legislation to address any vulnerabilities?
3.) Should Congress examine the methods by which corruption flourishes and the means to detect and deter the financial misconduct that fuels that driver of global instability?
4.) Should Congress monitor government efforts to enforce United States anti-corruption laws and regulations?
5.) Should United States elections be free of interference from foreign governments, including any contribution, donation, expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication by a corporation, limited liability corporation, or partnership, and should they file with the Federal Election Commission, under penalty of perjury, a statement that a foreign national did not direct, dictate, control, or directly or indirectly participate in the decision making process relating to such activity?
6.) Should foreign nationals be forbidden from participating in any way in the decisionmaking processes of Corporate PACs and Super PACs?
7.) Shall the Federal Election Commission conduct an audit after each Federal election cycle to determine the incidence of illicit foreign money in such Federal election cycle?
8.) In order to prevent money laundering, and improper spending, should corporations, labor organizations, and certain other entities be required to report campaign-related disbursements aggregating more than $10,000 in an election reporting cycle, and not later than 24 hours after each disclosure date file a report of the same with the Federal Election Commission?
9.) Should that report identify each such legal entity and each such beneficial owner who will use that other entity to exercise control over the entity, and the name and address of each person who made such payment?
10.) Should commercial transactions in the ordinary course of any trade or business conducted by the covered organization be exempted from such reports?
11.) Should the integrity of American democracy and national security be enhanced by improving disclosure requirements for online political advertisements in order to uphold the Supreme Court’s well-established standard that the electorate bears the right to be fully informed?
12.) Should regulations on political advertisements provide sufficient transparency to uphold the public’s right to be fully informed about political advertisements made online?
13.) Should transparency of funding for political advertisements be essential to enforce other campaign finance laws, including the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals?
14.) Should digital or online political advertising clearly state who paid for it?
15.) In order to prevent fraud, deceit, and money-laundering, should platforms that sell political advertising be required to maintain records of transactions?
16.) When political advertising is paid for with a credit card by a citizen of the United States who is living outside the country, should they be required to be identified as a United States citizen to the seller by providing the United States address they use for voter registration purposes?
17.) Should broadcast stations, providers of cable and satellite television, and online platforms be required to make reasonable efforts to ensure that political communications made available by such station, provider, or platform are not purchased by a foreign national, directly or indirectly?
18.) Should pre-recorded telephone and video calls made for political purposes announce the political nature of the call at the beginning of the call?
19.) Should shareholders of corporations have the right to know that their money is being spent for political campaigns, and the details of them?
20.) Should Presidential Inaugural Committees be prohibited from soliciting and accepting money from corporations and foreign interests, i.e. should the obtain money or funds from United States citizens only?
21.) Should Inaugural Committees shall file with a report with the Federal Election Commission disclosing any donation by an individual to the committee in an amount of $1,000 or more not later than 24 hours after the receipt of such donation?
22.) In order to protect the integrity of democracy and the electoral process, and to ensure political equality for all, should Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Let’s talk a few minutes about what should, and what should not be.
For example…
1.) • Should there be, and should Federal Judges abide by, “a code of conduct, which applies to each justice and judge of the United States”?
2.) • Should there be a DEDICATED ENFORCEMENT UNIT “within the counterespionage section of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice for the enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938”?
3.) • Should it be illegal “for any person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote or to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from aiding another person in registering to vote”?
4.) • Should “a State motor vehicle authority require each individual applying for a motor vehicle driver’s license in the State to indicate whether the individual resides in another State or resided in another State prior to applying for the license, and, if so, to identify the State involved; and to indicate whether the individual intends for the State to serve as the individual’s residence for purposes of registering to vote in elections for Federal office”?
5.) • Should it be illegal for a political party or another partisan organization to send mail to addresses of registered voters whom they have identified as likely to be unfriendly to their candidate, and then use all the undeliverable returned mail to make what is called a caging list to challenge voters when they show up at polls to vote?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 12, 2021
“Trump told us to do it.”
Trump’s MAGA supporters rioter-insurrectionists who were assembled at the White House Ellipse Park January 6, 2021 quickly became violent exclusively because they believed that Trump was asking them to do so – that they were doing his bidding.
“He said, ‘Be there.’ So I went and I answered the call of my president.”
House Impeachment Managers cited social media posts, recorded video, and court documents which reflected as much.
“I Answered the Call of My President.”
Impeachment Managers also extensively documented that several months BEFORE the election, Trump was laying the groundwork for convincing his cult of followers that the November presidential election was fixed, and that his victory was stolen because of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, February 8, 2021
There’s a segment of society that’s cool with totalitarianism, and authoritarianism.
They’d be happy as a lark to live in a prison, with security cameras at every corner watching everything they do 24/7/365, complete with concertina wire-topped electric fences, armed guards, and people telling them what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and when and where to go – complete with patdowns and searches for contraband. Every moment of their life would be under scrutiny and available for public consumption.
Those are the Banana Republicans – people who have so little confidence in the government that they’ve helped to destroy since 1980, that they feel like they have to carry firearms and other weapons, openly and clandestinely, in order to protect themselves. People who say hate is love, and war is peace, and slavery is freedom all while doing their damnedest to convince the ignorant and fearful that the GREAT BIG BOOGEYMAN OF BIG GOVERNMENT IS COMING TO EAT YOUR BABIES!
Boo!
AP-NORC Poll: Few In U.S. Say Democracy Is Working Very Well
By Steven Sloan and Thomas Beaumont
Monday, Feb ruary 8, 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — Only a fragment of Americans believe democracy is thriving in the U.S., even as broad majorities agree that representative government is one of the country’s bedrock principles, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Just 16% of Americans say democracy is working well or extremely well, a pessimism that spans the political spectrum. Nearly half of Americans, 45%, think democracy isn’t functioning properly, while another 38% say it’s working only somewhat well.
Only 16% Of Americans Say Democracy Is Working Very Or Extremely Well
A new AP-NORC poll finds Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say democracy is working at least somewhat well. Few Republicans or Democrats say it is working very or extremely well.
How well would you say democracy is working in the United States these days?
CAPTION: Results based on interviews with 1,055 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 28-Feb. 1. The margin of error is ±3.8 percentage points for the full sample.
Source: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Graphic: Kati Perry
“At every turn, it’s gotten worse and worse,” said Curtis Musser, a 55-year-old Republican-leaning independent in Clermont, Florida, who didn’t vote for Trump. “You could see it brewing even before the election. And everything just kept spiraling downward from there.”
10,252,500 unemployed people
x $40,000 = $410,100,000,000 ($410 billion)
That’s MUCH LESS than the $1.9 TRILLION proposed.
Plus, the $10,000 FICA/SECA money would be for their employers, a $10,000 tax deduction!
Why do something like that?
First, it puts a significant amount of money (delivered in a lump sum) into the hands of hurting people. And they need that help DESPERATELY. It keeps them from being evicted/foreclosed upon, it keeps the lights turned on, and water and gas turned on, etc.
Second, it significantly helps employers, many which are also hurting, and need help. In the case of small businesses, many owners are employees of their companies, so they would also get $30,000 checks. PLUS, they would also get $10,000 checks (per se), which would be credited to the company’s books as a deduction in operating expenses, thereby increasing their profit (perhaps they’ll use it to pay down long-term debt). How they use the value of the deduction is entirely up to them, but it (the money) MUST BE PAID TO THE EMPLOYEE’S FICA ACCOUNT. In fact, the mechanics of the transaction are Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Democratic Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you.
Perhaps you’ll recognize the opening words of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, delivered March 4, 1861. There is one very minor, only slight change, however, and it is the substitution of the word “Democratic” for the word “Republican.”
That is purposeful, and deliberate, to illustrate a case in point.
Photograph shows participants and crowd at the first inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln, at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. Lincoln is standing under the wood canopy, at the front, midway between the left and center posts. His face is in shadow but the white shirt front is visible. (Source: Ostendorf, p. 87) “A distant photograph from a special platform by an unknown photographer, in front of the Capitol, Washington, D.C., afternoon of March 4, 1861. ‘A small camera was directly in front of Mr. Lincoln,’ reported a newspaper, ‘another at a distance of a hundred yards, and a third of huge dimensions on the right … The three photographers present had plenty of time to take pictures, yet only the distant views have survived.” (Source: Ostendorf, p. 86-87)
Slave Southern states nowadays are largely Republican political strongholds.
That is not accidental. It is deliberate, and has been an ongoing effort in the Republican party since at least 1964, or, perhaps even earlier.
States below the Mason-Dixon line – a surveyor’s line of demarcation delineating primarily the southern border of Pennsylvania, and the western border of Delaware, from Maryland – sometimes also known as, or referred to as “slave states,” i.e., states where slavery as an institution was considered not only legal, but morally upright, ethical, and good – were once largely Democratic strongholds until around the mid-1960’s, or thereabouts.
The tables, however, were largely turned, and the tide began to shift in earnest beginning with the candidacy of Arizona United States Senator Barry Goldwater, who was the failed Republican candidate for President in 1964, opposite President Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas, who as Vice President, succeeded to the Presidency upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
At the GOP National Convention that year, New York’s Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller ominously warned of the invasion of the GOP by radicalized elements from the South, which included members of the Ku Klux Klan, John Birch Society, Communists, and other domestic terrorists. In his address to the party’s delegates at the July 1964 Republican National Convention at Cow Palace in Daly City, California, he was given 5 minutes to address the delegates, and was booed for over 16 minutes. He was requesting adoption of a resolution to the 1964 official party platform condemning those groups and individuals whom belonged to them, who had infiltrated the Republican party, and sought to include the following language: “The Republican Party fully respects the contribution of responsible criticism, and defends the right of dissent in the democratic process. But we repudiate the efforts ofRead the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, December 7, 2020
The Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young Debate Series featuring U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff (D), Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock (D), and Kelly Loeffler (R) is now over.
The Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young Debate Series hosted debates between the candidates for both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats.
While Jon Ossoff and Senator David Perdue were also invited to participate, David Perdue declined participation.
Poor Jon… he had the stage all to himself. Thus, the Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff having the floor all to himself, proceeded to pummel his opponent in absentia and “debated” an empty podium, because the cowardly incumbent Banana Republican Senator David Perdue skipped out. An yet, it’s an entirely apropos picture of the coronavirus-stock-trading fraudulent Senator.
Not smart, David. Not smart at all. In fact, it’s pretty damn stupid. You lost by not showing up. In sports terms, that’s called a “forfeit,” or if you prefer pecuniary terms, a “loss given default.” Which is also probably how it’ll all go down for you, anyway. But for Jon, it’s a Credit Default Swap, and he’s the one profiting from your loss/forfeit/default.
After Ossoff’s solo performance, or soliloquy (take your pick), which was broadcast live on Georgia Public Broadcasting, and available online, on Sunday, December 6 from 7 – 8PM EST, the appointed (not anointed) Banana Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Reverend Raphael Warnock also participated in a debate in the same venue.
Billionairess Banana Republican Kelly Loeffler stood at the podium with her standard smirky pseudo-smile and stared straight ahead throughout the event, rarely ever making eye contact with anyone present – either the moderator, her opponent Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, or the two panelists.
But in all fairness, she did turn her head a few times – but very few.
Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlanta’s Ebeneezer Baptist Church, formerly pastored by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and where in significant part America’s Civil Rights Movement was cultivated, was calm, cool, collected, and willingly corrected for the record the deliberate misrepresentations, twists, and outright lies that Kelly Loeffler spouted. He was certainly more animated, though not exaggerated. Loeffler, however, was more robotic, automaton-like.
Warnock pointed out that, aside from campaigning, Loeffler had not visited any of Georgia’s rural areas, or small towns during the brief 10-month period of her appointment to office by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. He contrasted himself with her lackadaisical and purposeful ignorance of her constituency by Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 26, 2020
Happy Thanksgiving 2020, y’all!
If you’re unaware, “tofurkey” is an imitation substitute for turkey, made from tofu, which is the semi-solid paste-like protein curd made from the soy bean.
It’s “supposed” to taste like turkey.
But!
Riddle me this:
Why would vegetarians want to eat something that tastes like meat?
And if you can also answer this, you’ll be doing quite well:
Why is there such as thing as turkey “bacon”?
Bonus points for this one:
Almond “milk” and other milk substitute products from plants are anything but natural, and are highly processed, chemically-enhanced, made-in-a-science-laboratory substitutes for dairy milk – a 100% all-natural product – and should be called “juice” or “beverage” rather than milk. If one eschews highly processed foods, and chemical additions to food, why would anyone drink plant by-products which are falsely advertised as “milk”?
Once again, why avoid and attempt to imitate the natural thing?
It’s nonsensical, isn’t it?
Know what else is nonsensical?
Allowing the GOP to maintain control of the Senate.
Mitch McConnell is the LEAST liked politician in America.
See the numbers compared at the end of this article.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Previously entitled as: “Is this your “WTF America?!?” moment?”
As these words are being composed, it’s Wednesday morning, November 4, 2020.
Yesterday was the General Election.
Voters went to the polls nationwide to decide if they’d had enough, or if they wanted 4 more years.
Turnout was at all-time highs – literally. Not since 1908 has there been such voter participation. And for the greatest part, things went off without a hitch… despite what the incumbent Chief Executive said, whom is the current occupant of the public housing located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
There were at least 2 improbabilities for both candidates:
• Impeachment of the POTUS – impeached presidents have never been re-elected (there are now only 3 – Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 during his 2nd term, and Trump in 2019, while Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 during his 2nd term before he could be impeached), and;
• For the challenger, the fact that historically, aside from succession, former Vice Presidents have not won election as President. Of the 13 former VPs who ever became POTUS, 8 were from Presidential succession, while the remaining 5 were elected in their own right. That’s 5/45, or 11.1% – and they were: John Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Nixon, and G.H.W. Bush.
And, as things now stand, there are states which – as the Associated Press characterizes it – are “too close call.” Among them, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan.
Florida has gone to the incumbent, so says the AP, and was a “must win” for the first term Republican President in order to stay competitive.
At the moment, the Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, appears to be leading in Electoral College votes with 227 to the incumbent’s 213.
As things now appear, the election will be a squeaker, and regardless of which candidate wins, neither party will have a clear “mandate” from The People by which to govern.
A billboard on I-65 in Horse Cave, KY. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
The Senate, which previously had a narrow GOP majority, is likely still in the tight-fisted little hands of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Most polls which ask the question “Do you think America is headed in the right direction?” find that an exceeding majority of respondents answer “NO” to that very simple, straight-forward question.
Since January 2009 to today (October 13, 2020), those who believe the country is on the wrong track has ranged from a high of 76.5% to a low of 45.8%, with the majority occurring in the 60% range for most of that time, who think the country is headed in the wrong direction. That’s according to the averaged aggregate polling data collected by RealClearPolitics from a variety of polling organizations.
About the President, some have intoned sarcastically, “Poor ol’ Trump is the only President that has ever made mistakes.”
No, of course not, and it’s easy to understand the tenor and gist of such sarcasm.
Flooding by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
I can say, have said, and will say this, however, and it is that, to date, in our nation’s history, he is the ONLY President whom has NEVER held any office of Public Trust of any kind, whatsoever – neither elected nor appointed – nor has he EVER volunteered for or with any kind of Public Service in ANY capacity with any public policy or public service-based organization. And for that reason, he is as unfit for duty as his bone spurs made him during Vietnam.
While many criticize and make political hay out of regarding a candidate’s “inexperience,” and tout that as being a strong point of benefit, there is this to consider – which I’ll explain using analogy.
Most people are employees. They have a job to do, and do it well. But they’ve never owned, nor run a company of any kind.
So it would be utterly preposterous, absurd, and even stupid, to imagine that just anyone would be able to step into Jeff Bezos’s shoes (Amazon’s Founder, President, CEO) and perform his job at least as good as he does.
We would be utter failures… just like the President is.
Another part of that problem is that the President’s “mistakes,” or “failures,” as they’re properly called, affects 330,441,455 people, and the world’s LARGEST economy.
And on that note, I’ll make this observation:
As the world’s 3rd most populous nation, to China and India, respectively, each with over 1 BILLION MORE people than we have, it is the height of absurdity and preposterousness to imagine for even a moment that somehow, with that many people and STILL GROWING, that we should somehow have a “smaller” government is not merely stupid, it is moronic.
Analogously again, it’s like imagining that you should wear smaller clothes the bigger you get.It’s nonsensical on the order of Alice in Wonderland.
VERY few people want to talk about it, and even FEWER want to hear it, but… because our elected officials Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 7, 2020
The year 2020 has been one of black swans, to be certain.
Some would say 2016 was the precursor, when Hillary won the Popular Vote, and Trump was elected.
Who saw it coming, eh?
Certainly not the pollsters.
One man did, however, and since 1984 he has CORRECTLY predicted every Presidential Election’s outcome… including Trump’s impeachment.
More on that in a moment.
But just so we’ll understand one another, the term “black swan” in this and other such contexts (not necessarily politically related, however), is the moniker given to events that are outside the context of normalcy, or the normally-expected, are exceedingly rare, difficult to predict, may often have severe consequences, and in hindsight, often have broad acceptance that the event(s) in question were characterized as obvious.
In fact, I would suggest that many who supported the Current White House Occupant now, and then, would also consider him a “black swan” president.
His promises were fairly straight-forward (though neither drastic, nor sweeping, and have been done previously):
First: I am going to re-institute a 5-year ban on all executive branch officials lobbying the government for 5 years after they leave government service. I am going to ask Congress to pass this ban into law so that it cannot be lifted by executive order.
Second: I am going to ask Congress to institute its own 5-year ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and their staffs.
Third: I am going to expand the definition of lobbyist so we close all the loopholes that former government officials use by labeling themselves consultants and advisors when we all know they are lobbyists.
Fourth: I am going to issue a lifetime ban against senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
Fifth: I am going to ask Congress to pass a campaign finance reform that prevents registered foreign lobbyists from raising money in American elections.
Not only will we end our government corruption, but we will end the economic stagnation.
The promise is one thing. However… the reality is much different.
Consider these ACTUAL EVENTS of his administration which call into question the veracity of his claims, and the integrity of his administration:
• His former-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Scott Pruitt, was living in super-cheap housing courtesy of the wife of a man who was lobbying the EPA, and the administrator Scott Pruitt.
• Trump opened the door for 281 lobbyists to work for his administration in his first three years. Former lobbyists now run four agencies, including the departments of Defense and Energy.
• A former coal lobbyist was put in charge of regulating air pollution.
• Trump fired the State Department Inspector General at the request of the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, because the IG was investigating how Pompeo used staff from the Department of State to run personal errands for him, such as picking up takeout food orders, and the family dry cleaning.
• Pompeo spoke at the Republican National Convention, live from Jerusalem, while on a taxpayer-funded trip.
• The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security used the White House to stage a naturalization ceremony starring the president, which became a video segment for the GOP convention.
• Trump’s White House Press Office recently announced they have compiled a “very large dossier” on Washington Post writer David Fahrenthold, after he reported that “taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $900,000 since he took office.” (Remember Nixon’s “Enemies List”?)
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, September 5, 2020
GOP candidate wanna-be for the Presidential nomination, Donald Trump at Ames, Iowa Family Leadership Summit, Saturday, July 18, 2015.
At this point, that’s the only question remaining.
America, what further evidence do you need in order to kick Liar in Chief, Asshole in Chief, POS45 Donald John Trump to the curb?
Why in the hell did you ever elect such a low-life scumbag in the first place?!?
Seriously.
Why?
Whose lies did you believe – his, or Jerry Falwell, Jr.’s?
Or both?
Recently (Friday, September 4, 2020), Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor in Chief of The Atlantic, quoted at least 4 separate unnamed military sources who were present in 2018 when Trump, as POTUS said of his decision not to attend a memorial ceremony in Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018,
“Why should I go to that cemetery?
It’s filled with losers.”
Read Jeff Goldberg’s article in The Atlantic. How could anyone support Trump? pic.twitter.com/xqfnklmCBq
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, August 28, 2020
All matters of politics, policy and governance aside, yes, aside, what this matter speaks to is the lack of authenticity and lack of veracity of polling techniques. And mathematically, that is problematic.
Oh, perhaps you’re not interested in math, you may say.
“He told me that they fundamentally undercounted the Trump vote;
that the Trump voter is not a voter in every single election,
that they come out for Trump,
so they’re hard to count.”
Roaches come out when you turn off the light.
Turn it on and they scatter.
Very well, then… move along, move along – there’s nothing here to see.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Perhaps it’s been said before – “common sense isn’t so common anymore.”
Maybe even, at one time, or another, you’ve said as much.
Common sense, of course, is a thought process that implies a.) one is thinking, and b.) one is using process of reasoning.
And, without exception, EVERYONE thinks. Not everyone exercises good judgment.
Some take common sense for granted, while others do not.
Common sense may arise from experience, and/or education, and sometimes, experience is a harsh taskmaster – lessons learned aren’t always learned the easiest, or best way. But, it’s education nevertheless.
Point being, is that when we think, we use our highest and best faculties, which separates us and makes us unique in the animal kingdom.
So let’s quickly talk about common sense and politics – an area in which many seem to disagree, some even vehemently, and unfortunately, sometimes violently.
When we fight, we often “lose our mind,” and are motivated and actuated by feelings… which can often betray us. Yet, even in structured fighting, such as war, we employ our faculties of reason to win the victory. War, its strategies and tactics, is studied, and taught. So that very act itself demonstrates that our thinking faculties are a higher order than feeling.
Note that instead of saying “I think,” many people say, “I feel.”
That, I think, is a mistake to say that one “feels” rather than “thinks” when expressing an opinion, for it – the feeling – is something which rationally, one cannot argue against. Feelings may be pleasant, or unpleasant. And if one feels this way, or that way, it is a merely a feeling – and may be, and often is, fleeting, or passing – it is temporal, and lasts only briefly. Consider the feeling of being sad, bloated, or even gassy.
This too, shall pass.
But let’s not delve too deeply into the matter, not to become too philosophical or analytical, per se, and suffice it to say that we want to share some common sensical thoughts – ones that many, if not most, or, even all, could agree upon – in the realm of politics.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 6, 2020
“I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.”
– partial lyric from “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” as popularized by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, 1968
Some critics would point to the recent economic downturn caused by our nation’s inadequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic as proof positive that we should completely forego any attempts or efforts to control spread of the disease.
With cries of “I want my freedom!” and other similar remarks, of right-wing extremists, in conjunction with their attacks on states’ capitols (most notably in Wisconsin) with loaded assault rifles, and their attempts to disrupt the legislatures, are evidence, and proof positive that the “wrong wing” is purely misguided, and even
The American Industrial Production Index (IPI) “measures levels of production by the manufacturing sector, mining – including oil and gas field drilling services – and electrical and gas utilities. It also measures capacity, an estimate of the production levels that could be sustainably maintained; and capacity utilization, the ratio of actual output to capacity.”
The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) publishes the IPI in the middle of every month, and revisions to previous estimates are released at the end of every March.
In short, it is a head-on, unvarnished examination of the underlying ability of the industrial sector to meet the demands placed upon the economic infrastructure in order to continue and sustain economic growth.
If you’re really froggy, the Federal Reserve states this about the IPI, which they call the INPRO:
The Industrial Production Index (INDPRO) is an economic indicator that measures real output for all facilities located in the United States manufacturing, mining, and electric, and gas utilities (excluding those in U.S. territories).(1)
Since 1997, the Industrial Production Index has been determined from 312 individual series based on the 2007 North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes. These individual series are classified in two ways (1) market groups and (2) industry groups. (1) The Board of Governors defines markets groups as products (aggregates of final products) and materials (inputs used in the manufacture of products). Consumer goods and business equipment can be examples of market groups. “Industry groups are defined as three digit NAICS industries and aggregates of these industries such as durable and nondurable manufacturing, mining, and utilities.”(1)(2)
The index is compiled on a monthly basis to bring attention to short- term changes in industrial production,. It measures movements in production output and highlights structural developments in the economy. (1) Growth in the production index from month to month is an indicator of growth in the industry.
For more information regarding the Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization index, see the explanatory notes issued by the Board of Governors.
References
(1) Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization.” Statistical release G.17; May 2013.
(1) For recent reports on market and industry groups, please visit the Board of Governors.
Now, if you’ve managed to slog through (or skip over) the preceding information, you’re in good shape to continue.
The American economy as demonstrated by the Industrial Production Index has NOT changed significantly since 1999.
Simply look at the “90” line along the vertical column, and follow it through to April 2020.
Because of President Pollyanna’s approach to governing, decline in the economy – which could have been prevented – the economy is essentially back to where it was in 1999.
Federal Reserve Economic Data, Industrial Production Index, January 1998-June 2020
Up, down, up, down… it’s like a roller coaster – until about 2015, when it hits a high in November 2014 of 106.6634, then “recovers” slightly to March 2016 at 101.4155, then increases again, until it peaks in December 2018 at 110.5516, then pegs along around 109/110, and then, in February 2020 at 109.3246, thereafter falls to 91.1991 in April 2020, where it begins to show some modest improvement through June to 97.4587.
As we all know, things don’t stay down, and once again, it’ll eventually return to elevated levels, but we don’t know exactly how long it’ll take.
Federal Reserve Economic Data, Real Disposable Personal Income (RDPI) 2010-June 2020 –– As shown here, the CARES Act provided a GENUINE and substantial economic stimulus, which is still ongoing.
And in an effort to stave off almost certain practical wholesale economic collapse, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020.
As seen in the FRED graph (Federal Reserve Economic Data), even though Real Personal Disposable Income (RDPI) has declined somewhat since significant boost to a high in April, as of June, the effects of the CARES Act were still ongoing, and have not fallen below February, or March levels – which is a good sign. It means that the economic boost WORKED by placing money in the people’s hands.
“I like your spirit of being more upbeat, more optimistic so I will offer this: why can’t you go across the aisle and say, ‘Representative Lewis, civil rights legend, would have loved it if we could do something for the totally disenfranchised in this country. No matter what, can we give a huge chunk of money to the people who are disenfranchised, to minorities who want so badly to stay in business and can’t and to people who are trying to go to college or have student loans who are minorities who are the most affected because they had the least chance in our country?’ That’s got to be something both sides can agree to.”
In reply, Madam Speaker Pelosi said,
“Yeah. That’s the problem. See, the thing is, they don’t believe in governance. They don’t believe in governance, and that requires some acts of government to do that. But just what you described is what Mr. Schumer, Chuck Schumer, is proposing that we do with some of the resources in the bill. And that – you described Chuck Schumer’s proposal exactly, in addition to the Heroes Act.
If we’re talking about how much and how long and how targeted, if we’re going to juggle some of this money, let’s focus it where it’s going to do the most good. And basically, economists tell us, spend the money, invest the money for those who need it the most, because they will spend it. It will be a stimulus or at least a stabilization of – and that’s a good thing. Consumer confidence is a good thing for the economy. You know that better than anyone.
And one of the things we want to do just before we leave on this, what we’re trying to do to help hotels, which are big employers, restaurants, which are big employers and the rest, is to lower the threshold for how someone can qualify for a second loan. Republicans have it at 50 percent.
Nydia Velázquez, our Chairman, is urging a 30 percent threshold or 30 percent of revenues, of losses from the previous year. It was based on the previous quarter – the similar quarter of the former year. Now, we’re talking about the whole year, and 30 percent rather than 50 percent, which would make, I’m told by the hospitality industry, a big difference for them. Many jobs, many entry level jobs, many union jobs, many people of color jobs, and I would hope that they would consider that.
Jim Cramer: Okay. I’m so glad you mentioned Congresswoman Velázquez, who is my Congresswoman. I think she knows small business better than anyone. I also believe that Chairman Powell would agree with that.
Speaker Pelosi, thank you for coming on Squawk on the Street.
Speaker Pelosi: My pleasure. Thank you. Always a pleasure. Thank you.
The NPR article is largely a rehash of a Politico article published in March 2016 which was entitled “Trump kills GOP autopsy.”
The premise and the conclusion in the NPR headline are both wrong, just as much as it is in the Politico article.
Both articles point to a 100-page report entitled “Growth & Opportunity Project” published in January 2013 and authored by Henry Barbour, Sally Bradshaw, Ari Fleischer, Zori Fonalledas, and Glenn McCall, which was an unvarnished review of the party, its operations, strategies, tactics, and policies, among others. In essence, it answered the question “how does the national Republican party become more appealing and relevant?”
The report was the December 2012 brainchild of Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus following the defeat of GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan, who charged the party’s co-chairs with “making recommendations and assisting in putting together a plan to grow the Party and improve Republican campaigns.”
Their work which culminated in the report included contacts with over 52,000 people, conversations with over 2600 people within and without the Washington, D.C. beltway, “with voters, technical experts, private sector officials, Party members, and elected office holders,” Republicans of all ideological backgrounds, including those who had left the part for various reasons. They also conducted a poll among 2000 Hispanic Republican voters, as well as with “political practitioners at the state and national level and also conducted a survey of GOP pollsters [and] consulted with independent pollsters.” They noted also that “more than 36,000 individuals participated in our online survey to determine priorities and to identify additional volunteers for the Party.”
It was an almost-exhaustive work which identified that the party needed to increase its outreach to youth, women, and minorities, if it was going to flourish.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, July 11, 2020
Yes, despite what numerous polls are reporting – that Biden is leading Trump, that GOPers like Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Susan Collins of Maine are facing challenges, including declining approval at home among their constituencies – Trump could be re-elected.
Republican Joe Walsh waves to the crowd of supporters, while standing next to his wife in Wauconda, Illinois, on November 16, 2010. U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean conceded to Walsh on Tuesday in the tightly-fought race for her former 8th Illinois Congressional District seat.
Depending, of course, upon how much stock you place in Joe Walsh (not the musician, but the washed-up GOP politician – a former TEA Party-type Illinois Representative who lost to Army infantry helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth after Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, June 26, 2020
The Great American Boogeyman – “socialism” – has long been used as a political punching bag LONG before either the Soviet Union -or- Nazi Germany came along.
Yeah.
LONG, LONG before.
Que viene el Coco, Lu (Here Comes the Bogey-Man, Lu), 1799 etching and burnished aquatint by Francisco Goya (1746–1828)
So just bear that in mind anytime any political moron (like Republicans) use the term to attempt to scare (ignorant) people.
Yeah, IGNORANT.
Because they DELIBERATELY use your ignorance AGAINST you.
It’s even in the Miranda Warning – “anything you’ve say can, and will, be used against you in a court of law.”
And that’s PRECISELY WHY the American voter MUST BE well-informed.
Though she mentioned a couple of her senatorial colleagues by name, she didn’t mention if the idea was exclusive or joint to the Senate, and/or the House.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, April 6, 2020
The Financial Times is no slouch organization – neither are they “left-leaning,” nor “liberal,” per se – at least not in the common, modern political sense.
They’re as “conservative” as they come.
And to read that “an irregular and precarious labour market,” combined with “monetary loosening by central banks [that] will help the asset-rich,” the loss of income by ” the young and active,” multiplied by
In short, nothing but “radical reforms” – defined as “reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades” – will save individual nations’ economies, and the global economy at large.
The “laissez faire” attitude toward business, economy, and finance must be replaced by governments taking “a more active role in the economy,” including making “labour markets less insecure.”
Investing in public economic infrastructure, i.e, considering “public services as investments,” reconsidering the notion of “redistribution” of wealth, in conjunction with eliminating “the privileges of the elderly and wealthy,” and implementing “basic income and wealth taxes” will no longer be “considered eccentric.”
In short, “you must offer a social contract that benefits everyone.”
Suddenly (it seems), Bernie’s ideas aren’t so “radical,” anymore.
Suddenly (it seems), Elizabeth Warren’s ideas aren’t “way out in left field.”
Suddenly (it seems), Andrew Yang’s “Freedom Dividend” isn’t “extremist.”
Suddenly (it seems), everything old is new again.
But, you know the saying,
“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
The post-WWII Bretton Woods agreement, which pegged international currencies to the U.S. Dollar, which was itself based upon the “Gold Standard,” will again be in the fore of discussion, and was unilaterally abolished by then-POTUS Richard Nixon through a series of measures called the “Nixon Shock” which effectively destroyed the Agreement, which was created when the world’s nations assembled in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to establish a globally stabilizing economic system.
“The international monetary system after World War II was dubbed the Bretton Woods system after the meeting of forty-four countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944. The countries agreed to keep their currencies fixed (but adjustable in exceptional situations) to the dollar, and the dollar was fixed to gold. Since 1958, when the Bretton Woods system became operational, countries settled their international balances in dollars, and US dollars were convertible to gold at a fixed exchange rate of $35 an ounce. The United States had the responsibility of keeping the dollar price of gold fixed and had to adjust the supply of dollars to maintain confidence in future gold convertibility.”
Up until the time of the “Nixon Shock,” employees’ wages in the United States had generally kept pace with increases in GDP, or economic output. But after the “Nixon Shock” in 1971, wages have essentially flat-lined, while GDP has risen.
In response to Nixon’s unilateral decision, the ten leading developed nations in the world – Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States – entered into an agreement monikered as the Smithsonian Agreement which was a temporary agreement negotiated in 1971 which adjusted the system of fixed exchange rates established under the Bretton Woods Agreement and created a new standard for the dollar, to which other industrialized nations then pegged their currencies to the U.S. dollar.
As Certified Financial Analyst Michael Lebowitz, wrote in 2016, “unshackling the U.S. monetary system from the discipline of a gold standard, allowed the Fed to play a leading role in replacing the Virtuous Cycle with an Un-Virtuous Cycle. Eliminating the risk of global redemption of U.S. dollars for gold also eliminated the discipline, the checks and balances, on deficit spending by the government and its citizens. As the debt accumulated, the requirement on the Federal Reserve to drive interest rates lower became mandatory to enable the economic system to service that debt. And this effectively changed the course of U.S. economic history.”
These observations, and others, are, and have been, borne out by others, as well, such as in February 14, 2019, by Bloomberg writer Noah Smith, who wrote about wage stagnation in part that, “Workers lost a lot of ground between 1973 and 1994, and didn’t make up enough of it between 1994 and 2009. Stronger worker representation within companies, as well as government health care, would help restore some of those losses.”
But perhaps the simplest explanation I’ve ever heard, or read, about the value of good, strong and effective regulation is one which I’ve said for many years, which is this:
Regulations strengthen markets the same way that regulations create competitive sports, and operate machinery. Remove regulations and games become a pointless free-for-all, while removing or changing regulations on an automobile engine (such as through changing timing), and it will self-destruct fairly quickly.
But again, it seems that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, March 16, 2020
If, like me, you were hoping for more with the 11th Democratic debate which was to feature a 1 on 1 with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, you were abysmally disappointed.
This Sunday’s 11th Democratic Candidate Debate featured only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in a 1 on 1, after every other candidate dropped out, and was nothing more than an opportunity for each candidate to rehash what they’d already said seemingly countless times earlier – on the stump, and on “debate” stages.
Previously scheduled to be held at Arizona Federal Theatre, 400 W Washington Street in Phoenix, AZ 85003, the debate was relocated and held at CNN’s Washington D.C. studios, before moderators only, with no live audience members, in order to limit possible exposure to COVID-19 coronavirus, which is now sweeping the country and world. Only 3 Moderators – Dana Bash, and Jake Tapper of CNN, and Ilia Calderon from Univision, who replaced Jorge Ramos, who had self-quarantined following possible COVID-19 exposure – were present.
The debate started out slowly, and even though there were only 2 candidates, the “rules” were just as before, that each candidate was allotted 90 seconds to respond to a question. I had hoped that there would be more interaction between the 2 candidates, and was only briefly satisfied with by their more free-wheeling interactions which Jake Tapper allowed, while Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Ed. note: This entry was written shortly after HRC made her remarks, found transcribed herein, but remained unpublished. As of publication today, Wednesday, 11 March 2020, Tulsi Gabbard remains a candidate to be the Democratic Party’s Presidential Nominee, though her viability as a candidate is practically non-existent, while Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are the two major candidates remaining in the race.
Tulsi Gabbard, Official Portrait
In the recent edition of the podcast “Campaign HQ with David Plouffe,” (Google podcast link) the former 2008 Obama campaign adviser interviewed Hillary Clinton on a wide range of topics, primarily about strategy and tactics that Trump and Republicans will most likely use in an attempt to defeat the 2020 Democratic party presidential nominee.
In the hour-long, often-rambling podcast, guest Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom was the 2016 Democratic nominee for POTUS, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and a former United States Senator from New York, obliquely and surreptitiously accused Tulsi Gabbard, a current Major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, current Hawaii U.S. Representative (D-CD2), and Iraq War Veteran, of being a “Russian asset.”
The shocking incredulity which Hillary accuses a fellow Democrat of being – an open traitor to our nation, not merely a “faithless” candidate – could possibly be taken seriously, if not at face value – but for at least two things:
Tulsi Gabbard, Promotion to Major
1.) Tulsi Gabbard is a Major in the Hawaii National Guard, and as such, has sworn an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…”;
2.) Tulsi Gabbard is an Iraq War Veteran, and;
3.) Tulsi Gabbard is a current Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, and in that capacity has similarly sworn an oath of fealty – fidelity to and support of the Constitution.
If what Hillary surreptitiously claimed, suggested, or intimated (she did not mention Rep. Gabbard by name) were true (which it is not), Tulsi would be an open traitor – and she is not.
The seriousness of such charges are not to be taken lightly, which is also why, in large part, that they’re incredulous. Hillary’s claims are not even specious, they are fully unjustified, and wholly unwarranted. And so, they should not, and cannot be taken seriously.
Most American journalistic and media outlets have hardly taken notice, save for a nominal categorical mention on Twitter, and a CBS Evening News report by Norah O’Donnell, and one, or two other stories, including Fox News Tucker Carlson’s brief interview with Tulsi Gabbard about the ordeal shortly after it came to light.
Even Chuck Todd, the marshmallow-soft replacement for the late, take-no-prisoners attorney/host Tim Russert on NBC’s once-revered Sunday newsmaker program Meet the Press, only had a passing interaction on the subject with South Bend, Indiana “Mayor Pete” Buttegieg, who is also a Navy Iraq War Veteran and Democratic candidate to be the party’s Presidential Nominee. Their brief exchange follows:
CHUCKTODD: Before I let you go, I was curious if you had any reaction to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implying that Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard might be a Russian asset.
MAYORPETEBUTTIGIEG: What I’ll say is, I’m not going to get into their dispute. What I will say is we know right now –
TODD: Is that appropriate?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, I suppose when you become a private citizen you can say whatever you want. But…
TODD: I understand that, but she’s a sitting member of Congress. She served.
BUTTIGIEG: Well, I certainly honor her service. As we saw in the debate, I also have strong disagreements with her on topics like Syria. But the bigger issue here is Russia is working to interfere with our elections right now. And we know a big part of how they’re going to do it is exploiting divisions among the American people, with their information operations. We’ve got to become a harder target and as president, I will make sure using all of our tools, diplomatic, economic, and security there is enough deterrence that Russia, or any country, would never again calculate that it is in their interest to mess with our democracy.
TODD: I just wonder if you are comfortable at all – I mean, throw a charge out there making her deny it. That’s a Trumpian move.
BUTTIGIEG: Well, we got to focus on the task at hand right now. And that includes making sure that this presidency comes to an end. That is my focus. That, and what happens after this presidency comes to an end.
TODD: So, you’re comfortable with Hillary Clinton’s critique of Tulsi Gabbard and how she went about it?
BUTTIGIEG: No, I’m not. I’m also not getting in the middle of it because we as a party and as a country have to focus on the future.
NBC’s Chuck Todd was asking “Mayor Pete” Buttegieg about the exchange with David Plouffe and Hillary Clinton in which she spoke about the possibility of another unexpected potential outcome like 2016 (in which the Vladimir Putin-run Russian government significantly meddled online using false narratives and “bots” to alter the outcome according to their wants, thereby getting Donald Trump elected), and the likelihood of Trump’s re-election in conjunction with the possible strategy and tactics they’ll use against the Democratic nomine.
The pertinent part comes about 35 minutes into the one-hour interview. After her controversial remarks, the podcast took a break. In context, and in pertinent part, she said the following: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Official Portrait, President Donald Trump-R (b.1946)
Can you say…
“FOUR MORE YEARS”?
Increasingly, it looks like it’s gonna’ be yet ANOTHER Popular Vote win, and Electoral College loss for the Democrats in 2020.
And, as I have said, in a very perverse way, DT will have been VERY good for America, precisely because his abuses and corruption have pointed out every area of weakness in our laws pertaining to the Office of the President and of governmental operations, but because another recession is coming on, as Wall Street has warned, and is – once again – demonstrating that corruption by Wall $treet, the Banksters, and BIG INSURANCE still harms America.
And we have so MANY, MANY needs!
Reform of our voting systems, so that they can’t be hacked, manipulated, or gerrymandered.
So that life-saving, life-giving medications are readily and freely available to ALL The People.
So that people are AUTOMATICALLY Registered to Vote, and Vote by U.S. Postal Service mail is enabled in ALL 50 states.
So that once again, American Foreign Policy no longer unwantedly meddles in other nations’ internal affairs.
So that Healthcare is readily available to EVERYONE, not just those in cities or suburbs, and that Hospitals are OPENED and not closed.
So that The People can TRULY vote FOR their Presidential candidate of choice by ELIMINATING the Electoral College.
So that Schools and Education are not merely “adequately” funded, but have MORE than enough.
So that racist and discriminatory practices in voting registrations and purges are made ILLEGAL.
So that our Congress (House & Senate) is Term Limited to 20 years TOTAL service.
Good, bad, or indifferent, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Like him, love him, or loathe him… this is the beginning of the end of Biden.
Republicans are preparing to burn their crosses in Biden’s political front yard in retribution for Trump’s impeachment.
It makes no difference if their investigation into Biden, Biden & Burisma is based upon illegitimate and disproven false claims, because they will pillory, draw, and quarter Joe Biden until the only thing remaining of him are his his bloody political entrails which will be strewn from coast-to-coast.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, March 6, 2020
Bernie should announce that he’s choosing Warren for his VP running mate.
U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (VT-I), and Elizabeth Warren (MA-D).
Ideologically, they’re 2 peas in a pod. Her supporters would (or, at least should) DEFINITELY support Bernie, even since she is no longer running, and would most assuredly pitch in if he named her as his VP choice.
However… the VP is a politically dead-end job, since in the history of our nation, aside from succession, ONLY 5 VPs have ever been elected in their own right.
Only 13 former Vice Presidents have ever been POTUS, who all arrived in office either through succession, or through election apart from succession.
“To date,
16 Senators have also served as
President of the United States.
Three Senators,
Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama moved directly from the U.S. Senate
to the White House.”
That’s 16/45, or 35.5%, of all POTUSes who were ever a Senator.
And 3/16, or 18.75%, were elected as POTUS directly from the Senate.
Historically, and statistically, it doesn’t look good for Biden.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, March 3, 2020
It could have been written by Bernie Sanders.
But it wasn’t.
Meet your Russian interference.
“Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain.
From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a …
… concerted campaign to destroy my reputation.
We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and …
… powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose.
It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly.”
– Tweet by Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-2) (who remains in the race) 1:20 PM, 18 October 2019, in response to Hillary’s accusation of her that “…they [Russians] got their eye on somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary, and are grooming her to be the third party candidate. She’s a favorite of the Russians; they have a bunch of sites and bots, and other ways of supporting her so far, and… that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up – which she might not, because she’s also a Russian asset. Yeah! She’s a Russian asset! I mean, totally! And so, they know they can’t win without without a third party candidate. And so, I don’t know who it’s gonna’ be, but I will guarantee they’ll be a vigorous third party challenge in the key states that most need it.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, March 2, 2020
Following the results of the South Carolina Primary, in a period slightly over 24 hours, no less than THREE Democratic contenders have quit the race.
In a seemingly slow burn of announcements, California businessman Tom Steyer, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar made their announcements in that order, that they were “suspending” their campaigns to be the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee.
There are now only three contestants remaining on that island: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. While Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard technically remains in the race, she has garnered very little popular vote support, and won no delegates.
Tom Steyer, who was unashamedly the solitary candidate of the entire lot of Democratic contenders to support reparations for Blacks, who as a group have categorically continued suffering the effects of racism long after the Civil War ended, was Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 28, 2020
Crooked Hillary…
Everyone who pays attention to the news – especially political news – has heard the phrase uttered by the Current White House Occupant, sometimes also known as POS45. There’s even a Wikipedia page of the nicknames he gives folks.
Que sera, sera… eh?
Nevertheless, recall the 2016 General Election?
Why, of course you do!
Who could forget it, right?
I mean, it was a choice between “the devil you know, and the devil you don’t know.” Either way, it was a devil. But at least with one, you could half-way predict what that devil might, could, or possibly would do.
Not so with the other devil.
Or, put another way, a known quantity versus an unknown quantity.
And, time has proven it to be the case.
But for all the investigations which have been launched against her, or about her, and her dealings, nothing has stuck. So maybe she’s the “Teflon Don,” rather than her husband “Blowjob Bill,” eh?
And, perhaps you may recall how she later revealed in her book, an excerpt of which was made into a Politico article, what she’d found when she was briefly DNC chair, specifically, how a back-room deal was struck between Hillary and the DNC a year before the 2016 election campaign season began.
“I had promised Bernie when I took the helm of the Democratic National Committee after the convention that I would get to the bottom of whether Hillary Clinton’s team had rigged the nomination process, as a cache of emails stolen by Russian hackers and posted online had suggested. I’d had my suspicions from the moment I walked in the door of the DNC a month or so earlier, based on the leaked emails. But who knew if some of them might have been forged? I needed to have solid proof, and so did Bernie.
“So I followed the money. My predecessor, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had not been the most active chair in fundraising at a time when President Barack Obama’s neglect had left the party in significant debt. As Hillary’s campaign gained momentum, she resolved the party’s debt and put it on a starvation diet. It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”
Focus upon that last sentence – “It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”
“…for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”
That, my friends, is a classic example of a quid pro quo – giving one thing of value in exchange for another thing of value. Legally defined as a type of valid contract, the quid pro quo is not an illegal act in and of itself, per se, and must be considered within context to determine if it was an illegal act, or not.
There’s little-to-no question that it was unethical, at the very least, and certainly hasn’t reflected positively on the party, nor upon Hillary.
But how did it get to that point?
After the convention, Ms Brazile called Gary Gensler, Chief Financial Officer of Hillary’s campaign, who told her that the Democratic Party was broke and $2 million in debt.
Stewardship of the party’s finances was in shambles, to say the least, and it was due in significant part, or so she claims, from her predecessor Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Representative from Florida’s 20th Congressional District.
Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, as you may recall, also later resigned as DNC Chair after a tranche of WikiLeaks emails showed she had given significant help to Hillary during her Presidential campaign, rather than remain a supportive, yet independent observer. So perhaps it was for the best, anyway.
Not everyone in the party had been happy with her at the helm, either. Lis Smith, a longtime campaign operative, former Communications Director, and former Deputy Campaign Director for candidates like Martin O’Malley, Bill de Blasio, Claire McCaskill, and Barack Obama, said of Wasserman-Schultz’ resignation that, “Her resignation is good news for Democrats, and great news for anyone who believes the DNC needs wholesale reform. Hopefully we can all learn from her little experiment this past primary season and never repeat it as a party.”
Senator Sanders was more diplomatically circumspect in his remarks, saying that, “While she deserves thanks for her years of service, the party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people. The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race.”
But, back to the story at hand.
Ms. Brazile wrote that while she was interim DNC Chair that, “I wanted to believe Hillary, who made campaign finance reform part of her platform, but I had made this pledge to Bernie and did not want to disappoint him.” But in her search for the “smoking gun,” after diligent efforts, speaking with numerous party lawyers and officials who feigned knowledge or responsibility, she continually came up empty-handed… until later. She wrote:
“When I got back from a vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, I at last found the document that described it all: the Joint Fund-Raising Agreement between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund, and Hillary for America.
“The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook [Hillary’s Campaign Manager] with a copy to Marc Elias [General Counsel for Hillary’s campaign]—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.”
She wrote that while she was the interim DNC Chair, she experienced some unusual events, which at the time, seemed nothing more than purely odd, if not curious, but certainly not suspicious, nor even eyebrow-raising. One of those trifling matters was that, as chair of the party, she was hamstrung from doing anything the party chair would have normally done, such as write press releases, unless Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 21, 2020
Tom Perez, Democratic Party Chairman
It has occurred to me that Democratic Party Chairman Tom Perez and other Corporate/BIG MONEY Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, et al, are most likely the ones behind the anti-Bernie movement within the party -AND- were most likely the ones who changed debate participation rules mid-stream to anoint multi-billionaire Bloomberg to counter Bernie+Liz… a process through which omitted Tom Steyer, also a billionaire – albeit one with a conscience.
James Carville (RIGHT) with Bill Clinton in 1999 at the White House.
They (the C/BM Dems, and their corporate media masters/handlers, including Pete Buttigieg and Bill Clinton strategist James Carville) attempt to portray themselves as “centrists” or “moderates” and Bernie as “radical,” or “communist” (like Bloomberg did), ostensibly to court voters, especially including (they claim) fence-sitting Republicans, and undecided Democrats. But it’s “an inconvenient truth” that the very words they use also happens to be the Republican party line and anti-Democrat talking point.
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) at his “Conversation with Cory” campaign event at the Nevada Partners Event Center February 24, 2019 in North Las Vegas.
Julian Castro speaks to media members in Miami, FL, June 27, 2019.
Naturally, Julian Castro, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, and others, have loudly and justifiably complained about Tom’s hypocritically unilateral decision to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, February 19, 2020
The Democratic Party’s Establishment cronies, whom are probably more accurately known as Corporate Democrats, or even as “Republicans Lite,” have had their knives out for Bernie Sanders for quite some time.
Not only have they no idea what they’re talking about when they go about Bernie bashing, and falsely claiming that the ideas he promotes are somehow “radical,” but they’re just plain old wrong. Of course, it would be very easy to imagine that anyone who opposes such ideals to benefit the people are in the pockets of their Big Money Corporate Donors, and doing the bidding of their Wall Street Corporate Money masters.
“We need to create a culture,
an entire culture,
which as Pope Francis has reminded us,
can not just be based on the worship of money.
We must not accept
a nation in which
billionaires compete as to the size of their super-yachts,
while
children in America go hungry
and
veterans sleep out on the streets.”
Neither is he a “socialist,” a brush and political nom de guerre which his opponents attempt to paint him with, and thereby demonize him. It would be more accurate to say he’s a social Democrat, insofar as his ideas and policies are designed to benefit the people – not mega-corporations, not billionaires.
President Harry Truman (D), seated LEFT
His opponents’ efforts to make political hay for themselves with the fact that he calls himself a “Democratic socialist” are purely self-seeking, self-serving efforts to ensure continued votes from their constituents… but most importantly, Big Money from Corporate Donors.
Bernie Sanders has NEVER participated in any anti-American activity or organization, and has NEVER promoted any such thing. And, in fact, like every Military Service Member, and countless others in Federal Service whether elected, or not, he has sworn an oath of allegiance to the Constitution, and to the United States.
The principles Bernie Sanders talks about are NOT “radical.”
In fact, the ideas like a:
1.) Right to education;
2.) Right to earn a decent wage;
3.) Right to a job;
4.) Right to housing;
5.) Right to medical care,
and more, are straight out of the FDR playbook from his SOTU January 11, 1944, when he said in part that “necessitous men are not free men.”¹
The Democratic Party has simply chosen to ignore those ideals – wrongfully so, in my estimation – and instead, has proceeded down the merry Republican path, oblivious to the damage and destruction that lies ahead.
“Real freedom must include economic security.
That was Roosevelt’s vision 70 years ago.
It is my vision today.
It is a vision that we have not yet achieved.
It is time that we did.”
Republicans have a long lineage of falsely claiming anything that benefits the people is somehow “socialist.” It could be thought of as their “birthright,” because Republican fear mongering using that term, and others, is nothing new. If they can convince you that someone, some idea, plan, or thing, is going to steal something from you, they’ve already won. That’s their strategy, plain and simple.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Medicare Bill at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, with President Truman seated next to him. Twenty years earlier, President Truman proposed his idea for nationwide health care. Archive photo from the White House Press Office.
They did it in the three Republican administrations (1921-1933) – Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover – which in turn, gifted America, and the world, with the Great Depression.
They did it with Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy’s unfounded fear-mongering “Red Scare” tactics, who found a Communist behind every shrub, and on every street corner.
They did it to “Give ’em Hell Harry” Truman in 1945 a mere 7 months into his Presidency when he proposed mandatory “universal” health care, and later proposed expanding Social Security, a full-employment program, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act, and public housing and slum clearance, which in his January 5, 1949 SOTU he called the “Fair Deal.”
• During a 1946 Senate hearing on the National Health Insurance Bill, Republican Senator Robert Taft shouted out: “I consider it socialism. It is to my mind the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it,” then led his party members out of the room. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce accused Truman in 1947 of taking a “backroad to socialism” in the fast lane toward a “police state.”
They did it with LBJ’s Great Society programs.
Reagan did it long before becoming President with a 1961 recording “Reagan speaks out against socialized medicine,” and continued the same rhetoric after winning election in 1980, and re-election in 1984.
They did it to President Obama with the Affordable Care Act.
• Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann infamously called the ACA “the crown jewel of socialism,” and “socialized medicine.”
Trump, and others, are doing it to Bernie, and to AOC’s Green New Deal.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders – I , official portrait
For Republicans, the dread “socialism” is their great boogeyman – a nondescript, amorphous thing to fear, that’ll not only kill you, but will eat your babies first. It’s their ideological whipping boy. But like the boy who cried ‘WOLF!,’ the problem with their tired old argument, and oft-repeated claim, is that not only is it a disservice to the public, and an utter lie, but by so doing, they take the people for complete fools who they manipulate by using such terms.
They have NEVER defined the term “socialism,” because it is not in their interest to do so. In fact, no Republican, Corporate Democrat, Wall Street trader, billionaire, or any other person who has never had the people’s interest at heart has ever defined, nor attempted to define, “socialism.” NEVER.
Senator Sanders, on the other hand, has.
In his Thursday, November 19, 2015 Georgetown speech, he said in part that,
“So let me define for you,
simply and straightforwardly,
what democratic socialism means to me.
It builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said
when he fought
for
guaranteed economic rights
for all
Americans.
And it builds on what Martin Luther King, Jr. said
in 1968 when he stated that; “This country has socialism for the rich,
and rugged individualism for the poor.”
It builds on
the success
of
many other countries around the world
that have
done a far better job
than we have
in protecting
the needs of
their working families,
the elderly,
the children,
the sick
and
the poor.
“Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.
“Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system in America today which is not only grossly unfair but, in many respects, corrupt.”
He continued by saying, “It is a system, for example, which during the 1990s allowed Wall Street to spend $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to get deregulated. Then, ten years later, after the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior of Wall Street led to their collapse, it is a system which provided trillions in government aid to bail them out. Wall Street used their wealth and power to get Congress to do their bidding for deregulation and then, when their greed caused their collapse, they used their wealth and power to get Congress to bail them out. Quite a system!
“And, then, to add insult to injury, we were told that not only were the banks too big to fail, the bankers were too big to jail. Kids who get caught possessing marijuana get police records. Wall Street CEOs who help destroy the economy get raises in their salaries. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. meant by socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else.”
(¹ Vernon v. Bethell (1762). 2 Eden 110 alp. 113, 28 E.R. 838 (H.C.)), found in “Abusive or Unconscionable Clauses from a Common Law Perspective” (2010) p381, by Stephen Waddams, Universil.y Professor and holder of the Goodman/Schipper Chair, faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 49 Canadian Business Law Journal 378-399. The complete quotation in context is: “The court, as a court of conscience, is very jealous of persons taking securities for a loan, and converting such securities into purchases. And therefore I take it to be an established rule, that a mortgagee can never provide al the lime of making the loan for any event or condition on which the equity of redemption shall be discharged, and Lhe conveyance absolute. And there is great reason and justice in tills rule, for necessitous men are not, truly speaking, free men, but, to answer a present exigency, will submit to any terms that the crafty may impose upon lhem.”)
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Poor Joe… Biden is hoping for strong Obama-coat-tail-winds, though he’s only getting a puff-and-pass.🤣
Former Vice President Joe Biden beat a hasty retreat from New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primaries yesterday before any preliminary results were announced and boarded a private jet bound for Charleston, South Carolina, where he’s hoping to reinvent, er… resuscitate his ailing campaign through support from the African-American and Hispanic community there.
He addressed his meager Granite State supporters from Charleston, and reminded them, and Palmetto State residents there assembled, several times that he was once VP to Obama, and that the two states which have held caucuses/primaries – Iowa and New Hampshire – are predominately White.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Iowa is 90.7% White, while New Hampshire is 93.2%. On the other hand, South Carolina has a 27.1% Black population, and is 5.8% Hispanic.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, February 10, 2020
Yesterday evening’s Democratic Debate in New Hampshire, was the 8th of 12 in an ongoing series winnowing the party’s 2020 field of nominee candidates. The Friday night event which lasted from 8 – 11PM EST was held at St. Anselm College in Manchester, and was sponsored by ABC, WMUR, and Apple News.
Moderators George Stephanopoulos and David Muir of ABC, Linsey Davis, Adam Sexton, Monica Hernandez
Candidates former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, billionaire businessman/entrepreneur Tom Steyer, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and businessman Andrew Yang rounded out the field.
Of course, most people are whistling past their own graveyards, whatever they may be – particularly since most Americans are only one paycheck, one illness, one job loss away from utter devastation and homelessness.
Candidate Biden was consistent throughout the debate, and never ceased to mention that he was with the former POTUS Obama. Clearly, he’s riding Barack’s coattails. Or, at least he’s trying to.
But, let’s look to history to see if we can discern anything of bearing for today.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, February 9, 2020
Just in the case you may not know it, there’s a law in our United States called HIPAA, which is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Signed into law in 1996 by then-POTUS Bill Clinton, the long title is “An Act To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1996 to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes.”
The biggest takeaway from the bill for most people is the privacy it mandates for patient’s medical records, care, and treatment. With fines/penalties for violation starting at $250,000 per violation, an entire industry has grown up around HIPAA.
“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) required the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop regulations protecting the privacy and security of certain health information.1 To fulfill this requirement, HHS published what are commonly known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule. The Privacy Rule, or Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, establishes national standards for the protection of certain health information. The Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information (the Security Rule) establish a national set of security standards for protecting certain health information that is held or transferred in electronic form. The Security Rule operationalizes the protections contained in the Privacy Rule by addressing the technical and non-technical safeguards that organizations called “covered entities” must put in place to secure individuals’ “electronic protected health information” (e-PHI). Within HHS, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has responsibility for enforcing the Privacy and Security Rules with voluntary compliance activities and civil money penalties.”
POTUS Bill Clinton Signing HIPAA
Before the HIPAA existed, there were no security standards nor requirements to protect patients’ health information or patients privacy in the entire health care industry. In reality, physicians, or anyone with access to the record – including the janitor and housekeeping crew – could simply access and divulge a patient’s entire medical record to the press, or to anyone, without any legal recourse for the victim. Now, it’s a violation of the law to even discuss any Personal Health Information, or Personally Identifying Information about the patient outside of a clinical setting, and that includes on elevators in hospitals. The law is so strict, that anyone who is not involved in the patient’s care cannot access the patient’s record without violating the law.
There have been cases where renown individuals, or those with celebrity status, including politicians, have had their records accessed by those within the healthcare system in violation of the law, ostensibly to satisfy their 24karat curiosity, or for other nefarious purposes, such as to gossip about the patient, or to divulge the information they found to the press. Healthcare organizations, especially large ones, are particularly sensitive to such violations of the HIPAA, and many, if not most, have policy in place to censure, or most often, dismiss for cause (fire) any employee who examines a record of a patient whom they’re not treating, or caring for.
In short, the law safeguards and protects patients’ right to privacy of their healthcare information in ways the average patient cannot imagine, including transmission of such information electronically, such as via facsimile or Internet.
The law also provides authorization for a patient to request a healthcare organization voluntarily release select portions of, or their entire medical records, to individuals whom they specify, such as to attorneys who may be representing their interests in a matter of law, including to the patients themselves, personally.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 20, 2020
Ukraine, schmookraine.
Who gives a rats rip what Trump did, eh?
Seriously.
And yet, that is precisely the attitude that some have about the matter in which the President has found himself placed, which has also led to his impeachment.
Some say, “Ukraine got their money. What’s the big deal?”
Yet others say, it’s all water under the bridge, or worse.
So, let’s examine the matter more fully in order to understand exactly what’s going on, and what’s at stake.
And, for the most part, we’re going to ignore many remarks the Democrats have been making. Well, at least much of them. We’re concerned with the basis for the claim. As it turns out, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is also concerned with that matter – that matter being the question, “Did the President of the United States violate any law in the Ukraine affair?”
But before we proceed further, let’s first answer a couple of important questions about the Government Accountability Office:
What is the GAO, what do they do, and what authority do they have?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, January 9, 2020
Of the Democrats, who do you think stands the BEST chance of getting elected?
There are now 4 top-polling candidates:
1.) Joe Biden, former Vice President to Barack Obama
2.) Bernie Sanders, current Senator from Vermont
3.) Elizabeth Warren, current Senator from Massachusetts
4.) Pete Buttigieg, former Mayor of South Bend, IN
No, I do NOT mean a “play it safe,” middle of the road” candidate like the Democrats chose in 2016.
And no, I do ~not~ mean ‘who do you think or hope will get elected,’ but rather instead mean to ask, ‘who do you think has the statistically best chance of being elected?’
Let’s look to history to help us answer that question.
In our nation’s 243-year history, there have been 57 Presidential Elections, 45 POTUSes, 9 of whom ran for second terms and lost, and only 3 since WWII – Ford, Carter, and Bush I.
The most recent one, George H.W. Bush, was Vice President during Reagan’s two terms, and lost to Bill Clinton in 1992.
Historically, since our nation’s founding, 7 of 9 one-term POTUSes who lost re-election have been Republican. The Federalist Party was a forerunner of the modern Republican party, as was the Democrat-Republican and National Republican.
In reverse chronological order, term in office, and party during office, they are:
1.) George H.W. Bush – 1989-93 – R
2.) Jimmy Carter – 1977-81 – D
3.) Gerald R. Ford – 1974-77 – R
4.) Herbert Hoover – 1929-33 – R
5.) William Howard Taft – 1909-13 – R
6.) Benjamin Harrison – 1889-93 – R
7.) Martin Van Buren – 1837-41 – D
8.) John Quincy Adams – 1825-29 – Democratic-Republican/National Republican
9.) John Adams – 1797-1801 – Federalist
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren – D
Historically as well, Vice Presidents do not get elected as President in their own right.
That means, apart from succession, when VPs have campaigned for the Office of the President, they have not won.
Only 13 former Vice Presidents have ever been POTUS, and arrived in office either through Read the rest of this entry »
First, let it be known that I am exceedingly glad that Soleimani is dead.
-and-
The Twidiot in Chief is 100% correct when when he tweeted (in part) that “He should have been taken out many years ago!”
Qasem Soleimani, late commander of the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force
Qasem Soleimani, late commander of the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force
Even a broken clock is correct twice a day, right?
Look, Soleimani was a terrorist – plain and simple.
“Qasem Soleimani [was] the
head of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force,
a
U.S.-designated
Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
“General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the
deaths of hundreds of American and
coalition service members and the
wounding of thousands more.”
“The U.S. government, the United Nations, and the European Union have all sanction-designated Soleimani for involvement in either Iran’s nuclear program or the Syrian civil war in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.¹ Furthermore, U.S. Central Command documents declassified in 2015 reveal that Iraqi Shiite militants under Soleimani’s command killed more than 500 U.S. service members in Iraq between 2005 and 2011.² U.S. intelligence has also linked Soleimani to a 2011 assassination attempt of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C.³
“Soleimani was banned from international travel because of his 2007 U.N. designation for his role in Iran’s nuclear program.⁴ Nonetheless, he reportedly flew to Moscow at least three times—in July 2015, April 2016, and February 2017—for meetings with Russian officials.⁵ After Soleimani reportedly traveled to Russia for military discussions in April 2016, the U.S. State Department confirmed that U.N. travel sanctions on Soleimani remained in effect despite the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1.⁵
“Soleimani’s influence extended to Syria as well. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Soleimani oversaw Iran’s military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.⁶ One Free Syrian Army commander told the Wall Street Journal in 2013 that Soleimani was “running Syria. [President] Bashar [al-Assad] is just his mayor.”⁷ During the October 2016 funeral of IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, Soleimani justified Iran’s role in Syria as repayment for Syria’s support during the Iran-Iraq War. He further argued that it was in Iran’s interests to intervene on Assad’s behalf.”⁸
⁴ “Security Council Toughens Sanctions Against Iran, Adds Arms Embargo, With Unanimous Adoption of Resolution 1747 (2007), United Nations, March 24, 2007, http://www.un.org/press/en/2007/sc8980.doc.htm.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Y’know what the Democrats need to do?
I mean to refer to Bernie and Liz.
STOP DISSING Donald Trump!!!
Seriously.
Folks who are gonna’ vote for him are gonna’ vote for him.
What Democrats need is VISION –– CLEAR 2020 VISION, and beyond for America!
Allentown, PA – and manufacturing… is not coming back.
Detroit, MI – and automobile manufacturing… is not coming back.
Pittsburgh, PA – and steel… is not coming back.
Rochester, NY – and Kodak… is not coming back.
Flint, MI – with General Motors, and Ford… is not coming back.
The Rustbelt’s “Big Eight” cities:
Akron, Canton, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown – which ALL owe their existence – except Columbus, the capital city – to manufacturing’s phenomenal rise in the 19th and early 20th century… are not coming back.
In short, America’s factories aren’t coming back.
And coal?
Coal – along with its toxic ash sludge’s inability to be safely or permanently stored anywhere – is DOA.
We all know it.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots are taking our jobs – even in medicine – telehealth, robotic surgery… it’s ALL OVER!
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, December 28, 2019
“Witching for water” is the colloquial term given to the use of an-often Y-shaped “divining rod” by a “witcher,” someone with allegedly special skill to find hidden underground water sources.
So, to “witch” for something is to employ an alleged skill with a simple, and readily-available tool (often as a common, everyday item with no seeming special qualities) to search for something hidden, and find it.
Sometimes also called “dousing,” “divining,” or “witching” for water is considered a fraudulent practice, also known as a pseudoscience, which has not and cannot withstand the rigors of independent scientific testing to validate the claims made by adherents, practitioners, and supporters.
Despite the overwhelming evidence contrary to the claims made by adherents, practitioners, and supporters, the practice remains somewhat popular today, especially among farmers who need water to irrigate their crops.
So again, to “witch” for something is to use readily-available common tools to find something hidden.
In this case, it’s polling data, and the Top Four Democratic Candidates for Party Nominee: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg.
A former VP, two U.S. Senators, and one Mayor of South Bend, IN, with an estimated population of 101,000, it’s a modest-sized college town (the University of Notre Dame is nearby) – the 306th most populous city in America – about half the size of Huntsville, AL, are contending to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in July.
The charts are telling, and from the outset, while demonstrating normal and up-and-down weekly chart, over the long-haul, the trends haven’t changed significantly.
What’s fascinating is Biden’s trend down, Bernie’s trend down, while Liz’s trend is up, along with Buttigieg’s trend. Again, that trend has been established from the outset.
The early chart is Polling: To 9-17-19.
The most recent chart is beneath, and is dated 12-27-19.
Notice something interesting: Only TWO candidates’ lines show positive movement– Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg. All others show downward, or largely static trends: Bernie, Biden, and Harris, who has now dropped out of the race.
Note also the prospective intersecting dates, the points in time at which the candidates would overtake another in popularity, or support.
Warm Southern Breeze 