January 12, 2014

What Do You Think It Would Take For The U.S. To Hold A Successful, General Strike ???

Let's say the GOP continues its obstruction, the Unions continue to be decimated, TPP gets "fast-tracked", Democrats join Republicans in promoting a war against Iran, and a thousand other possibilities...

What would it take, what would it look like, and how successful do you think a General Strike in America would be.

The French seem to be able to shut down the means of production... are we so brainwashed that we could never do that?

January 12, 2014

Behind-The-Scenes, White House Preoccupied By NSA Surveillance Controversy - WaPo

Behind-the-scenes, White House preoccupied by NSA surveillance controversy
By David Nakamura - WaPo
Published: January 9, 2014

<snip>

In public, President Obama has focused this week on income inequality, touting initiatives to help the poor and unemployed. But in private, the president and his top aides have spent more time dealing with another issue.

Obama met Thursday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to update them on his review of the National Security Agency’s vast surveillance program. A day earlier, he huddled separately with top intelligence officials and a White House advisory panel on privacy issues and civil liberties. He also called German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose mobile phone had been tapped by the NSA, and invited her to Washington.

In addition, his top lawyer, White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, met with privacy advocates Thursday, and executives from the nation’s largest Internet companies were scheduled to visit the White House on Friday.

Ever since Edward Snowden stole 1.7 million classified files from the NSA last summer, the Obama administration has been under siege and looking for a way out.

The behind-the-scenes effort to manage the fallout from the Snowden leaks has been so wide-ranging and time-consuming that officials from the George W. Bush and Obama administrations compare it to White House deliberations over the 9/11 and Iraq intelligence commissions’ reports, the U.S. military surge in Afghanistan, and the WikiLeaks disclosures.

The challenge is, in some ways, even more complicated this time...

<snip>

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/behind-the-scenes-white-house-preoccupied-by-nsa-surveillance-controversy/2014/01/09/2d6ee2ba-789b-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_story.html

January 12, 2014

Chris Christie Scandal Is An 'Impeachable Offense' If He Knew, Dem Lawmaker Leading Probe Says

Chris Christie Scandal Is An 'Impeachable Offense' If He Knew, Dem Lawmaker Leading Probe Says
The Huffington Post | By Chris Gentilviso
Posted: 01/11/2014 6:02 pm EST | Updated: 01/11/2014 6:26 pm EST

<snip>

Two days after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) claimed he had no knowledge of a political scheme conducted by his aides to cause traffic jams, the lawmaker heading a probe into those actions unraveled a new thread.

New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D) told NBC News Saturday that if Christie was at all aware of his aides' actions, impeachment could emerge as a potential issue.

"Using the George Washington Bridge, a public resource, to exact a political vendetta, is a crime," Wisniewski said. "Having people use their official position to have a political game is a crime. So if those tie back to the governor in any way, it clearly becomes an impeachable offense.It's hard to really accept the governor's statement that he knew nothing until the other morning," Wisnieswki added.

During his Thursday press conference, Christie apologized profusely for the conduct of his team members, saying he was "sad" and "heartbroken" by the acts he deemed as betrayal. "It is heartbreaking to me that I wasn't told the truth," Christie said. "I'm a very loyal guy, and I expect loyalty in return. And lying to me is not an exhibition of loyalty."

Additionally, the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger reported Saturday that Wisniewski said additional subpoenas are likely to go out Monday or Tuesday. That move would arrive ahead of a special session reauthorizing the state transportation committee's subpoena power.

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/11/chris-christie-scandal_n_4582353.html

January 11, 2014

So... We Want To Win 2014/2016 Do We ??? - Good Luck To Us All...

Support for Iran sanctions bill nears filibuster-proof majority
By Ed O’Keefe - WaPo
Friday, January 10, 3:55 PM

<snip>

Congressional support for a new round of sanctions against Iran is growing, with a near filibuster-proof majority of senators now willing to approve fresh legislation, according to senior Senate aides.

There are no plans for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to allow a vote on any proposal in the near future, the aides said, but if a bill moves forward, it could complicate negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

The Obama administration has urged lawmakers not to impose new sanctions while the U.S. and five other world powers negotiate with Iran on a permanent deal to ensure that it cannot develop nuclear weapons. Two months ago, Iran agreed to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for temporary relief on some sanctions.

On Friday, Iran’s top nuclear envoy signaled that the text of an initial agreement was being circulated among the negotiating countries for further approval. In Geneva, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top nuclear envoy, told the official IRNA news agency that he expected countries to respond within two days about whether they accept the terms of an interim agreement; it would map out a six-month plan to be implemented while diplomats continue negotiating any final deal.

The White House fear...

<snip>

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/support-for-iran-sanctions-bill-nears-filibuster-proof-majority/2014/01/10/33efdaee-7a2c-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html

January 11, 2014

New Documents Show Extensive N.J. Coverup - WaPo

New documents show extensive N.J. coverup
BY PHILIP RUCKER - WaPo
January 10 at 5:49 pm

<snip>

New documents related to a traffic jam planned by a member of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) staff show for the first time how furiously Christie’s lieutenants inside the Port Authority worked to orchestrate a coverup after traffic mayhem engulfed Fort Lee last year.

Inside the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Christie’s top appointees neglected furious complaints from Fort Lee’s police chief as well as from angry rush-hour commuters. One woman called asking why the agency was “playing God with people’s jobs.”

The Republican governor’s appointees instructed subordinates to stonewall reporters who were asking questions. They even ordered up an actual “traffic study” to chronicle the impact and examine whether closing the lanes permanently might improve traffic flow. The study’s conclusion: “TBD.”

The newly released e-mails do not appear to implicate Christie directly, but they shed new light on the lane closures that rocked the political world this week and threaten the likely Republican presidential candidate’s political future.

A cursory review of hundreds of pages of e-mails and internal documents released Friday afternoon show that:

<snip>

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/01/10/documents-raise-new-questions-in-christie-probe/

January 11, 2014

Christie Appointee Watched Bridge Closure In Person, Documents Show - NBC

Christie appointee watched bridge closure in person, documents show
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
1/10/14


The New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge, which connects Fort Lee, N.J., and New York City. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

<snip>

An appointee of Gov. Chris Christie personally showed up to observe the closure of lanes at the George Washington Bridge that triggered an epic traffic jam in New Jersey in September, according to documents made public Friday.

The appointee, David Wildstein, emailed the general manager of the bridge on the day before the lanes were closed to say, “Will be at bridge early Monday am to view new lane test,” the documents show. Other emails show that he arrived by 7 a.m. on Sept. 9, the first of four days of nightmare traffic in the city of Fort Lee.

The documents also show that Wildstein and Bill Baroni, another Christie appointee, were directly told on the first day that the backups were causing problems for police and paramedics. Lane closures at the bridge continued for four days, until the irate head of the Port Authority, which controls the bridge, ordered them reopened.

The matter exploded this week into the biggest scandal of Christie’s career after emails and texts appeared to show that Christie allies ordered the lanes closed as an act of political payback.

The documents were released by a committee of...

<snip>

More: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/10/22257330-christie-appointee-watched-bridge-closure-in-person-documents-show?lite

January 11, 2014

On White, Male, Privledge...

(Full disclosure: I'm a 58 year old white male.)

But several decades ago, I'm watch either Phil or Oprah, and there's some whiny white dude on the panel trying to argue for the poor picked-on, downtrodden white-male...

On the "panel", were a variety of white males...

From Father's rights advocates, to out and out racist assholes.

And as I listened to their whining... I got furious, and started shouting at the TV...

"Ask THIS Question, ask THIS Question... ASK THIS FUCKING QUESTION !!!"

(I realize that when you yell at the TV, they cannot hear you, but I was pissed.)

The Question: If it were possible to push a magical button that would change you from white to black, or from male to female, or BOTH, BECAUSE OF THE INHERENT ADVANTAGES OF BEING A FEMALE, OR A MINORITY. Would YOU push that button???

Although it never got asked on that TV show, when I asked it every now and again at a bar when a similar situation came up... not one white male raised their hands.

Just sayin...

January 10, 2014

:evilgrin: - Anyone Wanna Go Digging ??? - They Just Released More Documents On The Bridge Scanadal:

Link to article: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/908_pages_of_chris_christie_bridge_scandal_documents_released.html

Link to Docs (.pdf file): http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/pubhear/exhibit_a.pdf

January 10, 2014

Whoa... Once Again.... Check The Front Page Of HuffPo !!!

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

January 10, 2014

MUST READ: Chris Christie Is the TRUE Face Of The Republican Party - RJ Eskow/HuffPo

Chris Christie Is the True Face of the Republican Party
RJ Eskow - HuffPo
Posted: 01/09/2014 5:59 pm

<snip>

Some Republicans are claiming Chris Christie isn't really one of them. Some pundits are claiming, even as scandal erupts around him, that he's a "different kind of Republican." He's more than that: He is the archetypal Republican, the incarnation of its arrogant, corporatist soul.

It's like we said a while back: Christie is "the heartless, smug, bullying embodiment" of his party. He and his staff reflect a world in which other people are nothing more than rubes to be manipulated and exploited, whether they're trying to escape the trap of long-term unemployment or Fort Lee during the morning rush hour.

The conventional wisdom says that Christie's not like other Republicans. Pundits say he's a "moderate," a "pragmatist," a counterbalance to the far-right ideology of the Tea Party Republicans. But no leading Republican is really moderate, including Christie. And at the end of the day they're all pragmatists, ready to do whatever it takes to serve their paymasters' agenda.

Democrats and liberals routinely express frustration and bafflement at Republican hypocrisy. "They claim to hate big government," they'll say, "but they want to expand the Defense Department. They say they want government out of our lives, then vote to control women's sex lives or manage a brain-dead woman's care from the nation's capital."

Well, yeah.

It's true that Republicans are hypocritical in word and deed. But while they may be false to an ideology, they're always true to their mission: to promote and serve the interests of big corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals. And when it comes to that agenda, all of them -- the Chris Christies as well as the Paul Ryans -- are as extremist as the political climate will permit. Whether the subject is taxation, "corporate personhood," or the future of the planet, there's no room for either moderation or ideology in the service of corporate goals.

That's why the party's few real ideologues...

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/chris-christie-the-true-f_b_4571280.html