yallerdawg

yallerdawg's Journal

August 24, 2016

As Hillary Clinton’s Lead Grows To 12 Points, Media Creates Clinton Foundation Scandal

The predictable response from the media to Hillary Clinton's growing lead over Donald Trump is to drum up a Clinton scandal in the hopes that the polls will get closer.

Source: PoliticusUSA, by Jason Easley

The fact that Clinton’s lead continues to increase over Trump no matter how much time the press spends on her emails was bad news for a corporate media establishment for whom a blowout presidential election will result in the loss of billions of dollars in potential profits.

If the corporate owned press was going to use their influence to help narrow Trump’s deficit in the polls, they needed a new strategy, so they followed Donald Trump’s lead and began to play up The Clinton Foundation.

The AP ran a screaming headline about many Clinton Foundation donors meeting with her while she was Secretary of State. Republicans and many in the media immediately screamed pay for play, but there is no evidence that the donors who met with Clinton received anything, so no, it wasn’t pay for play.

The motivation for these stories isn’t truth or even political bias. It’s money. The election can’t be allowed to take its natural course because a big Hillary Clinton win will result in lower profits for some media giants.

Read it at: http://www.politicususa.com/2016/08/23/hillary-clintons-lead-grows-12-points-media-pushes-clinton-foundation-scandal.html

August 24, 2016

A Basic Income Would Upend America’s Work Ethic—and That’s a Good Thing

Freedom to control our time should lie at the heart of any struggle.

Source: The Nation, by Fred Block and Frances Fox Piven

*****
Simply put, wage work has become one of the most elemental pillars of our civic religion. It is not just an American religion, although Americans tend to be especially fierce devotees, but virtually a world religion. Remember the myth of the Garden of Eden, shared by all the Abrahamic creeds, Christian and Muslim and Jewish traditions alike. Once upon a time, the story goes, God was generous. He created Adam and Eve and gave them a garden of plenty in which to live. But although there were many trees with many fruits, they were tempted by the serpent and disobeyed God’s warning not to bite into the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For this sin they were cast out of the garden and made to struggle for their subsistence. They had sinned, and so ever after they were made to work for their livelihood. Work is our punishment, the story goes, and our redemption.

The myth explained the harsh reality of life for people who struggled over the millennia to survive in a subsistence economy. But the myth was also put to the service of dominant groups who wrested control of the fields, the forests, and the streams on which subsistence depended and then blamed the ensuing poverty on the poor themselves. Over time, many of the world’s people were not only cursed by the need to work; they also had to work for those who controlled the resources that turned labor into subsistence. They became workers for hire by the propertied, and the drudgery and the abuses of wage work now became the fate to which humankind was consigned for the sin in the Garden of Eden.

*****
Could it be that people are afraid of being freed from wage work, even from a portion of wage work? What would they do with their newfound free time? Watch television or play with their iPhone? A shorter work week, or no work week would make a rich leisure life possible, and it would make a dense social life possible. There would be time to invest in our communities, and time to care for one another, and especially to care for the young, the old, and the sick. But if the patterns of that leisure, the elements of that community, have become invisible to us, well, maybe everyone might as well go to work for whatever camaraderie the workplace provides.

These fears are another reason that the debate over basic income has such extraordinary political potential. It is not just another reform; it is a proposal that makes us think about what it is we are here on earth to do. Both our civic religion and harsh economic necessity dictates that we must work in order to live—how else are we going to pay off those student loans? But when a tiny population of farmers can feed many millions and highly automated factories can churn out more cars and more consumer goods than people can afford to buy, what is the point of the tyranny of wage labor? And what precisely is the justification for the huge gap between the ostentatious wealth of the billionaires and the misery of those who can find only the most degraded forms of work? Basic income raises the big questions—what is an economy for, and why can’t we have one that serves the needs of everyone?

Read it at:https://www.thenation.com/article/a-basic-income-would-upend-americas-work-ethic-and-thats-a-good-thing/

August 24, 2016

MSNBC tops CNN for third straight week in August

What are they doing different now?

Source: The Hill, by Joe Concha

MSNBC is on a ratings roll in August.

The Comcast-owned cable news network, beat CNN in both total viewers and in the key 25-54 demographic for the third straight week in the 6 a.m. to 9 am ET morning time-slot. MSNBC also beat CNN in the prime-time slot from 8 p.m to 11 p.m. for the week of Aug. 15-19, finishing second in the cable news ratings race, behind Fox News.

Over the first three weeks of August, MSNBC has topped CNN among total viewers with both its morning show “Morning Joe” and in prime-time via "All In with Chris Hayes," "The Rachel Maddow Show" and "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell."

The MSNBC victories over CNN are notable, given how well the Time Warner-owned outlet performed from a ratings perspective during the Democratic National Convention in the last week of July. During that coverage out of Philadelphia, CNN beat all broadcast (NBC, ABC, CBS) and cable news competition, including Fox News.

Read it at: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/292411-msnbc-on-ratings-roll-in-august

August 24, 2016

Something brewing on the horizon?

Hurricane Hermine Doesn’t Exist Yet, But Experts Are Starting To Worry

It’s late August, which means it’s the peak of hurricane season. Not surprisingly, weather models have begun to key in on a particularly interesting area of disturbed weather near the Eastern Caribbean islands that shows potential for growing into a tropical storm or hurricane that may track toward the U.S. coast. If it gets a name, it’ll be called Hermine. (The National Hurricane Center has unfortunately turned down a request to rename it Harambe.)

But this area of disturbed weather — officially designated “invest 99L,” as in, “we should investigate it further” — is at the edge of predictability when it comes to forecasting what its location and strength will be in about six days, when some weather models show that it could be approaching Florida. (Errors for predicted five-day paths issued by the National Hurricane Center, which uses weather models as guidance, averaged 222 miles in 2011-15.)

August 23, 2016

Obama Readies One Last Push for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Tough row to hoe for President Obama - but if it's the right thing to do, it's worth fighting for.

New York Times, by Jackie Calmes

*****
Although the administration’s push will begin in September, no vote on the accord will occur before the election. Just as the White House and congressional Republican leaders mostly agree on the economic benefits of trade, they have parallel political interests in delaying debate.

Republicans do not want to provoke attacks from their presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, who called the trade accord “a rape of our country,” or hurt other Republican candidates. Mr. Obama does not want to make trouble for the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, who has struggled to persuade voters of her sincerity in switching from support of the pact to opposition. This month, during an economic address in Michigan, she declared, “I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election and I’ll oppose it as president.”

*****

While administration officials and bipartisan surrogates will counter opponents’ economic arguments, a big focus will be on national security. Mr. Obama has emphasized that the pact would expand American influence in the Asia-Pacific region as a counterweight to China, which is not part of the pact.

*****

Many Republicans and the tobacco industry object that the tobacco companies would be barred from using international trade tribunals to sue countries that restrict smoking. More problematic is the complaint of Republicans, led by Mr. Hatch, and the pharmaceutical industry that the agreement would undercut drug makers’ intellectual property protections on the advanced drugs known as biologics. The issue was the last to be settled among the T.P.P. countries in October; other nations demanded fewer years of protection, to hasten the production of less costly generics.

*****

Read it all at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/business/international/trans-pacific-partnership-obama.html

August 23, 2016

Trump's stamina attack on Clinton stirs talk of gender bias

AP, Jill Colvin

He has repeatedly called attention to Clinton's voice, saying listening to her gives him a headache. Last December, he mocked her wardrobe. "She puts on her pantsuit in the morning," he told a Las Vegas audience. At rallies and in speeches, the billionaire mogul has also used stereotypes about women to demean Clinton, who stands to become America's first female president if she wins in November.

Trump's allies have piled on. Running mate Mike Pence often uses the word "broad-shouldered" to describe Trump's leadership and foreign policy style, a tacit swipe at Clinton. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani argued that all of the miles Clinton logged during as secretary of state resulted in more harm than benefit.

"Maybe it would've been better if she had stayed home," said Giuliani, who more recently questioned Clinton's health, suggesting an internet search of the words "Hillary Clinton illness."

Kelly Dittmar, a scholar at the Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics' Center for American Women and Politics, who has been tracking the gender dynamics in the race, said that even during the primaries when Trump was competing mostly against men, he took on the role of strong man, demeaning rivals.

"His message has been: I'm the manliest candidate, I'm the strongest, I know how to protect women - which is a pretty paternalistic take on it - I'm going to destroy ISIS and be very tough, to the point where he's talking about the size of his own manhood," she said of the candidate. "If you're trying to prove you're the manliest, then you're trying to emasculate your opponent."

Read it all at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CAMPAIGN_2016_TRUMP_GENDER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-23-08-20-56

August 23, 2016

White House: This Thursday, August 25, the National Park Service turns 100 years old.

Email from Cheyenne: Find your park this week!

My name is Cheyenne and I am a rising 5th grader at an elementary school in Maryland.

This Thursday, August 25, the National Park Service turns 100 years old.

To celebrate this anniversary, all national parks will be free to visit from August 25 -- 28, and I wanted to tell you why I hope you will go to FindYourPark.com and plan a visit to some of these amazing places.

Parks are very important to me. When you go to parks, you are able to see just how beautiful and awesome the outdoors can be and how we must be good stewards of our planet.

*****

You too can find a park to visit -- just go to FindYourPark.com

I hope that everyone will join in the celebration of the National Park Service’s 100 years of existence and have the chance to get outside and explore the great outdoors!

Thank you!

Cheyenne

August 22, 2016

"BrainDead" Michael Moore Guest Appearance spoiler

When you like your satire full-frontal...

Rightwing nightmare - homage to "Eyes Wide Shut."

August 20, 2016

NPR to close website's comments section

The Hill, by Joe Concha

"In July, NPR.org recorded nearly 33 million unique users, and 491,000 comments. But those comments came from just 19,400 commenters," Montgomery wrote. "That’s 0.06 percent of users who are commenting, a number that has stayed steady through 2016."

Jensen also concluded that NPR's commenting system "is serving a very, very small slice of its overall audience."

The Guardian, The Daily Beast and The Verge have all closed their comment sections relatively recently, with the Guardian citing “unacceptable levels of toxic commentary.”

The Huffington Post requires its users "to verify their identities by linking to a verified Facebook account," in order to "allow people to express their ideas in a civil and responsible manner."

http://thehill.com/media/292024-npr-to-close-websites-comments-section

August 20, 2016

Hope Is What Separates Trump Voters From Clinton Voters

The Atlantic, by Andrew McGill

It’s pretty clear who Donald Trump wants to help, because he names them at every rally. Miners. Steelworkers. Guys on the assembly line, whose jobs are either being stolen by the Chinese or strangled to death by Obama’s regulations. If globalization has put your livelihood in jeopardy, Trump wants you on his side. And given his sky-high popularity among white men without a college degree, I’d argue this pitch is gaining traction.

I’d argue the real dividing line is optimism. Consider this: Two-thirds of Hillary Clinton’s supporters think the next generation will be in better shape than we are today, or least the same, according to Pew Research. The reverse is true for Trump’s camp. Sixty-eight percent of his supporters think the next generation will be worse off. What’s more, the vast majority of Trump voters say life is worse today for people like them than it was 50 years ago. Only two percent —two!— think life is better now and that their children will also see improvement.

What we’re seeing is a hope gap. And it turns out that hope isn’t necessarily linked to a person’s current circumstances. Folks living in a poor community can still believe their children’s lives will be better, and people working in a reasonably secure local economy can still despair for the future. Rothwell’s work suggests it’s the communities that have seen the least societal change that are most likely to support the New York billionaire—by and large, they have fewer immigrants, fewer lost jobs, fewer impacts from global trade. People who have lost something aren’t voting for Trump, at least not uniformly. It’s the people who think they’re about to lose something.

So maybe it isn’t about education, or poverty, or jobs. A voter’s choice may instead be more closely linked to how optimistic they feel about the future. Trump’s supporters view the global economic policies of the modern world as a Pandora’s Box: bright and shiny on the outside, disastrous when uncorked. But Clinton’s voters might better remember the end of the Greek myth. Once all the demons had escaped into the sky, the story goes, only one thing remained behind. It was hope, fluttering and fragile.

Read it at: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/donald-trump-manufacturing-jobs-hope/496541/

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