The Lyin King

HATE CRIES
Poetic Jusstice
by Jim Goad
February 18, 2019

Thursday, Feb 21st,  2018

Jussie Smollett arrested and charged after allegedly filing false police report Actor Jussie Smollett is in custody after being charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report about an assault he said took place in Chicago in January, Chicago Police announced Thursday. Police say Smollett turned himself in. Smollett had been under investigation for filing a false police report, which is a felony, and detectives presented evidence before a Cook County grand jury on Wednesday, leading to the charges. The Empire star said that on Jan. 29, he was attacked by two men who put a rope around his neck, yelled racist and homophobic slurs, and dumped bleach on him. Two Nigerian brothers reportedly told police Smollett paid them to attack him. Smollett will appear in court Thursday afternoon. Source: The Washington Post, Chicago Police

A fossil from a new species of tyrannosaur named Moros intrepidus is discovered in Utah. Scientists are using the find to better understand how Tyrannosaurus rex evolved during the Cretaceous period. (National Geographic)

One surviving female specimen of the Fernandina Galápagos tortoise species, which was thought to be extinct for more than 100 years, is found. (USA Today)

Russian president Vladimir Putin issues a threat to the United States saying his country is “ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis” if the United States is “foolish enough” to want one. This is in relation to missile deployment in Europe. (Reuters)

Mueller will finish Russia investigation ‘as early as next week’ Attorney General William Barr will announce “as early as next week” that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has completed his probe into any possible involvement between President Trump’s campaign and Russia’s election interference in 2016, sources tell CNN. At some point after that, he’ll reportedly give Congress a summary of the confidential report, rather than releasing details publicly. After two years of investigations, CNN says this is the “clearest indication” of Mueller wrapping up. “The precise timing of the announcement is subject to change,” CNN says. It’s unclear what Barr will include in the summary to Congress, or how long it will take for him to prepare that summary after announcing the probe has wrapped. Source: CNN

United States allies France and the United Kingdom say they won’t fill the void with their own troops when the United States pulls out of Syria. (Washington Post)

Democrats ready resolution to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration On Wednesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told congressional Democrats and Republicans that the House will “move swiftly” to pass a resolution to terminate President Trump’s emergency declaration, and she urged all members of Congress to cosponsor it. “The president’s decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated,” Pelosi wrote. Democrats are expected to file the resolution on Friday, setting up a vote in mid-March and a Senate vote 18 days later. The resolution will pass the House and may pass in the Senate, but there are probably too few Republican votes to override Trump’s expected veto. Source: The Associated Press, Politico

 

 

 Wednesday,  Feb 20th,  2019

The Venezuelan Navy closes its maritime borders with the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire ahead of the planned entry of international humanitarian aid into Venezuela on February 23, which Nicolás Maduro considers a precursor to invasion. (CNN)

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous 9–0 decision, rules the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines applies to state and local governments, as well as the federal government. (The Washington Post)

The United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee permits those North Koreans on its global travel ban list to travel to Hanoi, Vietnam, for the second summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Reuters)

 

Three Conservative Party MPs, Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen defect to The Independent Group, citing Brexit and the party adopting UKIPpolicies. This brings the total number of The Independent Group MPs to eleven following recent defections from Labour. (The Guardian)

US President Donald Trump plans to nominate Jeffrey A. Rosen to replace Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General. (CBS News)

Kentucky student sues The Washington Post for $250 million The family of Nicholas Sandmann on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against The Washington Post, saying the newspaper “wrongfully targeted and bullied” the Covington, Kentucky, high school student, and depicted him as racist in several articles about a January confrontation between Sandmann and his classmates with a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial. The suit accuses the newspaper of painting Sandmann, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat, as the instigator to support its alleged bias against President Trump. The lawsuit seeks $250 million in damages. That’s how much Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos paid for the Post in 2013. Trump celebrated the lawsuit on Wednesday, tweeting, “Go get them Nick.”Source: Reuters

Trump nominates Jeffrey Rosen as deputy attorney general President Trump is nominating Jeffrey Rosen to replace Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general, the White House announced Tuesday night. Rosen is the deputy transportation secretary, and served in the George W. Bush administration. Last week, William Barr was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as attorney general, and people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News Barr picked Rosen; both worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Rosenstein is reportedly expected to leave the Department of Justice in mid-March. After Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017. Source: Bloomberg News

Thousands of patients were improperly prescribed fentanyl Thousands of patients were improperly prescribed a highly potent and restricted class of fentanyl, an opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, between 2012 and 2017, research published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association found. Anywhere from 34.6 to 55.4 percent of patients, or about 12,900 people who received prescriptions for the drug were “opioid-nontolerant” or were not suffering the “breakthrough pain” that the drug is mean to treat. The FDA created a program to monitor prescription of the drug in 2011, but drug companies, doctors, pharmacists, and other professionals failed to minimize the use of the drug, the study found. Fentanyl was involved in about 28 percent of drug overdose deaths in 2016, more than any other drug. Source: CNN

 

Tuesday,  Feb 19th, 2019

In a speech, U.S. President Donald Trump urges the Venezuelan military to abandon Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or “lose everything”. (Reuters)

Ford Motor Company will stop selling commercial trucks in South America. (CNBC)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet with Vietnamese General Secretary and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng in Hanoi ahead of talks with U.S. PresidentDonald Trump. (Fox News)

American retailer Payless ShoeSource files Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to close all of their U.S. stores. (USA Today)

Honda confirms that it will be closing its car plant in Swindon, South West England, because of decreased demand for diesel cars and tougher emissions regulations. The closure in 2021 will result in the loss of about 3,500 jobs. (BBC)

Teva Pharmaceutical settles outstanding cases with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission involving payments from brand-name drugmakers to delay releasing a cheaper version of its product, so-called “pay-for-delay” agreements. (Reuters)

Vermont Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, announces on Vermont Public Radio that he is running for President of the United States as a Democrat in 2020. (NPR)

Seven Labour Party MPs (Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Ann Coffey and Mike Gapes) resign from the party, forming a new independent group, in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and “institutional anti-Semitism” within the party. (BBC)

The End

Gold Mines

The “Jamal Khashoggi affair” has been totally and completely forgotten. Outstanding. I love it. I love the human race.

Saudi Arabia signs $20 billion dollars in deals with Pakistan. (BBC News)

Florida rapper YNW Melly is arrested for allegedly murdering two friends. (CTV News)

A mass shooting inside a nightclub in Cancún, Mexico, leaves five dead and five wounded. (Fox News)

https://www.businessinsider.com/mexicos-cartel-dynamics-and-drug-related-violence-in-2019-2019-2

Scott Pelley Commits Career Suicide
Clusterfuck Nation
by James Howard Kunstler

The 15 best movies of all time that weren’t nominated for a best-picture Oscar

 

Monday,  Feb 18th, 2019

Twin explosions in Idlib, Syria, kills over 25 and injures more than 20. (Daily Sabah)

A summit between Israel and the Visegrád Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) is cancelled following Poland’s reaction and withdrawal in re Israeli officials statements on The Holocaust. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will hold bilateral talks with the three prime ministers attending. (BBC)

Seven Labour Party MPs (Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Ann Coffey and Mike Gapes) resign from the party, forming a new independent group, in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and “institutional anti-Semitism” within the party. (BBC)

The United States is discussing exchanging liaison officers with North Korea. (CNN)

 

Sunday, Feb 17th, 2019

At least nine people die after a fire sweeps through more than 200 slum dwellings in Chittagong, Bangladesh. (BBC)

Four children die after a landslide in Mauá, São Paulo, Brazil. (G1)

Eight people are rescued from a gold mine that is flooded in Battlefields, Zimbabwe. (Al Jazeera)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoints intelligence minister Israel Katz to take over the foreign minister portfolio. Netanyahu retains his defence minister and health minister roles. Israel’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for 9 April 2019. (Reuters)

Denny Hamlin wins the 2019 Daytona 500. It is his second win in the event, the first coming in 2016. (Fox News)

 

Saturday,  Feb 16th, 2018

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have taken control of Al-Baghuz Fawqani, following the surrender of the last remaining ISIL militants in the town. (Reuters)

Militants attacked an army checkpoint in Sinai Peninsula killing and injuring 15. It is believed that 11 were killed but that has not been confirmed. Seven militants also died in the attack. (The National)

32 Afghan border security troops are killed by a Taliban attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (The New York Times)

Voting is delayed in Nigeria for a week, hours before polling was due to start because of violent incidents in the lead up to the election. (BBC)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to arrive in Vietnam on February 25 ahead of the second summit meeting between the two leaders on February 27-28 in Hanoi. (Reuters)

United States Air Force C-17s land at Cucuta near the Colombia–Venezuela border, the aircraft are loaded with humanitarian aid intended for Venezuela. (ABC News)

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert withdraws from consideration for the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations nomination. Jonathan Cohen has been serving in that position since January 1, 2019, following Nikki Haley’s resignation. (NPR)

 

Friday,  Feb 15th, 2018

66 people were killed by gunmen in Nigeria’s Kaduna State including 34 victims being either women or children. The attack happened one day before the scheduled election before it was delayed another week.  (BBC)

Payless ShoeSource is closing all its 2,100 stores in America, starting liquidation sales on Sunday. (USA Today)

The government of Japan approves a bill which officially acknowledges the Ainu as an indigenous people, following a non-binding resolution that was passed in 2008. (The Japan Times)

U.S. President Donald Trump declares a National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States. (Fox News)

North Korean officials arrive in Beijing ahead of the second Trump–Kim summit. (ChannelNewsAsia)

Zara advert gets China asking: Are freckles beautiful?

A senior United States administration official says the U.S. is willing to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to negotiate an exit to the crisis, as the U.S. military helps deliver aid to Venezuela. (CNN)

Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators close in towards a broad agreement, with top officials from both sides to hold further talks next week in Washington. (The Wall Street Journal)

Eight Vale employees from Minas Gerais are arrested over alleged involvement in a dam collapse that killed at least 166 people. (Financial Times) (The Wall Street Journal)

Trump declares national emergency, will redirect federal funds to border wall President Trump, in a speech in the White House Rose Garden on Friday, announced that he would declare a national emergency, and is expected to sign a funding bill Congress passed Thursday to avert a partial government shutdown. He aims to obtain an additional $6.5 billion to build a border wall, and will redirect money from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture fund and a Defense Department drug interdiction program, in addition to using military construction funds. The military construction funds are only available with Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, White House officials say, though the declaration will likely face a legal challenge. Lawmakers on both side of the aisle criticized Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would support the move. The bill passed by Congress includes $1.75 billion for border fencing. Source: The Washington Post, The Guardian

1st Democratic presidential primary debate scheduled for June The first 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate will air simultaneously on NBC News, MSNBC, and Telemundo in June, the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday. The exact date and location have yet to be determined. The DNC wants to be able to include up to 20 candidates, and depending on the number of candidates eligible to appear onstage, the debate could be held over two nights. CNN will host the second debate in July. Source: NBC News

Thursday, Feb 14th,  2018

Thousands of ISIL fighters and their families flee or surrender to the Syrian Democratic Forces, pushing back ISIL control to a square mile in the last ISIL stronghold of Baghuz. It is expected that ISIL still holds several hostages, including British Journalist John Cantlie. (US News) (The Guardian)

Amazon cancels its New York City headquarters plans, citing opposition from local politicians. (CNN)

The death toll rises to 9 as protesters ask for Jovenel Moïse to step down as president of Haiti. The protest started Feburary 7. (BBC) (TIME)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accuses European Union members of trying to break U.S. sanctions against Iran, and calls on the EU to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. (Reuters)

The U.S. Senate votes to confirm Trump nominee William Barr as United States Attorney General with a vote of 54–45. (NBC News)

The End

Valentine’s Day Border Massacre

Thursday, Feb 14th,  2018

Trump to declare a national emergency over the border President Trump will sign Congress’ funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown while at the same time declaring a national emergency, the White House confirmed Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell first made this announcement on the Senate floor, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders subsequently confirmed the plan. Although Democrats and many Republicans had said they would not back a national emergency declaration, McConnell said he is going to support it. Trump had previously signaled that he would sign off on Congress’ agreement, which includes $1.3 billion for border fencing but not the $5.7 billion he had wanted for a border wall. Both the House and the Senate will vote on the funding bill on Thursday. Source: NBC News, The Guardian

American Congressman LTC Adam Kinzinger is deployed to the US-Mexico Border. (Politico)

Senate confirms William Barr as attorney general The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm William Barr as attorney general. Barr was nominated to the position by President Trump in December, and he now takes over for Matthew Whitaker, who served as acting attorney general for three months following the departure of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Barr, who previously served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush, said in his January confirmation hearing that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will be allowed to finish his investigation. “If confirmed, I will not permit partisan politics, personal interests, or any other improper consideration to interfere with this or any other investigation,” Barr said. Source: The New York Times

Vice President Mike Pence calls on the European Union to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. (Reuters)

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says he ordered the obstruction of justice probe of President Donald Trump. (CBS News)

 

More Below The Fold

Hawaii Blizzard

Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit
by David Graeber
2012

 

Mars One, a private Dutch organization that had claimed it would send humans on a one-way trip to Mars starting in 2024, releases a statement saying it has been declared bankrupt. (CBC)   Oh. Wow. This comes as a surprise. That looked like such a great idea.

A winter storm hits Hawaii, depositing snow at record-low elevations at Polipoli State Park, along with massive waves, coastal flooding, and strong winds, resulting in at least one death.  (The Washington Post)

More Below The Fold

The Final Irony

China’s Aging Population Is a Major Threat to Its Future

 

Technology That Gets Worse
Steve Sailer• February 11, 2019

Monday,  Feb 11th, 2019

California governor to pull most National Guard troops from state border California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday plans to order the withdrawal of most of the 360 National Guard members from the Mexico border. In released excerpts from the State of the State address he is to deliver on Tuesday, Newsom says he is giving the National Guard troops new missions so they can “refocus on the real threats facing our state,” instead of participating in the Trump administration’s “political theater” on the border. Newsom will redeploy National Guard troops to support wildfire prevention but leave specialists to help fight drug smuggling through international points of entry. “The Border ’emergency’ is a manufactured crisis,” Newsom will say Tuesday. Last week, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pulled most of her state’s troops from the border. Source: Los Angeles Times

More Below The Fold

76 percent? SOTU STFU

Wednesday,  Feb 6th,  2019

The Venezuelan National Guard blocks off a bridge on the Colombia–Venezuela border with a tanker truck. The Venezuelan opposition were planning to use the bridge to bring humanitarian aid into the country. Nicolás Maduro has rejected foreign aid, saying “we’re not a nation of beggars”. (BBC) (Daily Star)

Trump calls on lawmakers to choose ‘greatness’ over ‘gridlock’ in SOTU President Trump on Tuesday delivered his first State of the Union speech to a Congress where Democrats control one chamber. Trump called on lawmakers to “embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good,” and said that the only thing that can stop an economic boom “are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.” He shared that he believes if anyone else had been elected president, the United States would be in a major war with North Korea, and revealed that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Feb. 27 and 28 in Vietnam. He also said Republicans and Democrats must come together to tackle the “urgent national crisis” that is illegal immigration, and build a “smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier” along the southern border. Source: NBC News

Trump’s State of the Union address earns high marks in polls President Trump earned high marks among those who tuned into his State of the Union address Tuesday night. A CBS News poll found that 76 percent of speech-watchers approved of what the president said, and 72 percent specifically approved of his remarks on immigration. In this poll, 24 percent disapproved of the speech. CNN found that 59 percent of speech-watchers had a very positive reaction, up from 48 percent in 2018, while 17 percent had a somewhat positive reaction, and only 23 percent had a negative reaction. CNN also found, however, that the speech’s audience was more partisan than that of any State of the Union since 2001, and of those CBS polled, 43 percent identified as Republicans.Source: CNN

More Below The Fold

Protecting the Oil of the Industrial Nations

The American Way of Strategy: U.S. Foreign Policy and the American Way of Life (2006)
by Michael Lind

Protecting the Oil of the Industrial Nations (p.142-144)

The Iraq War that began in 2003 did achieve one goal. It put the U.S military in charge of the country with the fourth-largest proven oil reserves in the world.

Of the three major oil-producing nations in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia remains a U.S. protectorate, Iraq at the time of this writing [2006] is occupied by the United States, and Iran is bordered by three U.S. client states that contain significant numbers of U.S. military forces—Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. “Regime change” in Iran that brought a pro-American regime to power would complete the conversion of several major oil-producing countries into U.S. protectorates. The most populous Arab country, Egypt, has been a subsidized U.S. client state since the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel brokered by the United States in 1978.

Many frustrated Americans hoped that U.S. involvement in the Middle East could be reduced if only the United States could liberate itself from dependence on Persian Gulf oil. They did not understand, and America’s bipartisan foreign policy elite was careful not to explain, that the United States was In the Middle East to protect not only its own oil but also that of other great powers, in order to discourage those great powers from building and projecting military power of their own.

By the first decade of the twenty-first century, the United States derived only about one-fifth of its oil from the Middle East. Sixty percent of Middle Eastern oil went to Asia. Half of China’s oil came from the Persian Gulf region. The CIA estimated that by 2015 three-quarters of all Middle Eastern oil will go to Asia, with only one-tenth going to Western nations including the United States.”

The fact that Japan heavily subsidized the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq by the United States in 1991 was a clue to the bargain between the United States and its major protectorates in the post-Cold War period. Thomas P. M. Barnett, an influential American strategic thinker who taught at the Naval War College, noted that “the West … has come to rely less and less on Persian Gulf oil … The United States, for example, imports more energy supplies from Canada than from any other nation, and gets the bulk of its imported oil from North and South America. According to Barnett: “In effect, U.S. Naval presence in Asia is becoming far less an expression of our nation’s forward presence than our exporting of security to the global marketplace.” Barnett argued that “in the end, this is a pretty good deal. We trade little pieces of paper (our currency, in the form of a trade deficit) for Asia’s amazing array of products and services. We are smart enough to know this is a patently unfair deal—unless we offer something of great value along with those little pieces of paper. That product is a strong U.S. Pacific Fleet, which squares the transaction quite nicely.”

The power to protect by its nature is also the power to threaten. American policymakers did not make this explicit. But “Asia 2025,” the alarmist report about China published by the Pentagon in 2000, noted a potential weakness of China, Japan, and the two Koreas, observing that by 2020 Asia might consume three times as much energy as Europe. In a book published by the National Defense University, defense analyst Douglas E. Streusand wrote of “the American geopolitical imperative to retain control—the ability to use and to deny use—of the sea lines of communications between the Middle East and East Asia.” According to Streusand: “Asia, including China, depends on the United States, not merely on the actual sellers of the petroleum and natural gas, for its energy and thus for its economic prosperity and growth. The leverage of energy access control can counterbalance the leverage of China’s size and proximity on the Pacific Rim. It also offers significant leverage over China itself. From this perspective, the U.S. commitments in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean protect not only our own energy supplies but also our status as a global power. Since we are currently engaged in a war against Osama bin Laden, who claims the American presence in Saudi Arabia as the principal justification for his hostility, there is no doubt that the U.S. presence in the Gulf brings painfully expensive baggage. But it is an essential component of the maintenance of global order.”

The ability of the United States to cut off oil supplies to Asia did not go unnoticed in Asia. A zoos report commissioned by the U.S. Defense Department entitled “Energy Futures in Asia” cited the belief of Chinese officials that the United States had the military ability to cut off Chinese oil imports. To reduce its vulnerability to the United States, China sought to provide for its future energy needs by deals with oil-producing countries hostile to the United States, including Iran, Sudan, and Venezuela. In 2005 a bid, later withdrawn, by China’s state-owned oil company, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), to take over the U.S. oil company Unocal, which had large holdings in oil fields and pipelines in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, created alarm in the United States. China went on to buy Canada’s Petro-Kazakhstan.

In addition, according to a 2005 Pentagon report, “China is building strategic relationships along the sea lanes from the Middle East to the South China Sea in ways that suggest defensive and offensive positioning to protect China’s energy interests, but also to serve broad security objectives.” According to the report, China was pursuing a “string of pearls” strategy by building or upgrading naval bases in Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, and the South China Sea to deter the potential disruption of its energy supplies from potential threats, including the U.S. Navy, especially in the event of a conflict with Taiwan” in which the United States might impose a blockade preventing oil imports to China. With good reason the political scientist Robert A. Pape observed that “U.S. monopolization of Persian Gulf oil would be the single most significant act that the United States could take to increase its relative power, save for taking control of European or Asian resources.”

 

 

Tuesday,  Feb 5th, 2019

Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders to rebut State of the Union Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will respond to President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. Harris will air a “pre-buttal” on Facebook Live ahead of Trump’s speech on the House floor, while Sanders will respond after the address concludes. Both senators are tacking on to the official Democratic response, which will come from former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Harris, who recently announced a presidential bid, said on Twitter that “It’s critical we speak truth to the American people during this inflection moment in our country’s history.” Abrams said she plans “to deliver a vision for prosperity and equality, where everyone in our nation has a voice and where each of those voices is heard.” Source: Bloomberg

More Below The Fold

That’s his quote?…Learn To Code

 

The Fetid, Right-Wing Origins of “Learn to Code”
How an online swarm has developed a sophisticated mechanism to harass and gaslight journalists—and to get mainstream media outlets to join in.
By TALIA LAVIN
February 1, 2019

I’ve chosen to write and speak about it not to celebrate my own victimhood, or to claim that a harassment campaign against journalists is the most significant issue being faced by any American. I write about it because…

Yawn. Why would The New Republic have anything to do with this nitwit?…because it is a chance to smear Tucker Carlson who has at least a little integrity.

What goes around comes around, I guess.

https://www.thecut.com/2018/06/new-yorker-fact-checker-ice-tweet-resignation.html

“it seems ironic that, for the crime of being too hasty to associate someone with white supremacy, I’ve had self-identified neo-Nazis publicly fantasizing about turning me into soap.”

This country is going to Hell. The New Republic actually used to be kinda good. This Talia Lavin makes a living off of celebrating her own victimhood. Horrible person, horrible writer. Learn to swim.

 

State of the Union
Clusterfuck Nation
by James Howard Kunstler
February 4, 2019

The party’s strategy is to get every female voter in America on-board along with its supplemental People-of-Color-and-LBGTQ army for a surefire electoral victory.

I can see that possibly working, but is it a good fate for the country to be literally divvied up between a women’s party and a men’s party? It sounds like a recipe for Greek tragedy to me.

Anyway, both sides are marinated in delusion these days.

 

2020 Presidential Election
by James Howard Kunstler
February 4, 2019

BETTING ODDS ARE PREDICTING A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT IN 2020

 

Monday,  Feb 4th, 2019

 Patriots beat Rams 13-3 in lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever The New England Patriots won their second Super Bowl in three years on Sunday, beating the Los Angeles Rams 13-3. It was the Patriots’ sixth National Football League championship since 2001, and only the second time they have won without star quarterback Tom Brady being named the game’s most valuable player. This time, that honor went to wide receiver Julian Edelman, who caught 10 passes for 141 yards, including two quick receptions in the game’s only touchdown drive. Edelman was the only offensive player to distinguish himself in a mostly defensive battle, the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history. “We grinded it out,” said Brady, who at 41 is the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. “We were just chipping away.” Source: CBS Sports

 Several European Union states, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain officially recognize Juan Guaidó as interim President of Venezuela after Nicolás Maduro rejected the European ultimatum to call new a snap election. (BBC)

A 1.8-mile (2.9 km) highway tunnel in Seattle, Washington, US, opens to traffic. It was bored using Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel boring machine. (Washington Post)

More Below The Fold

02.01.2019

Friday,  Feb 1st, 2018

American singer Mariah Carey is expected to perform her concert in Saudi Arabia, despite Saudi women’s rights activists calling for her to cancel it. (ABC News)

U.S. to withdraw from milestone nuclear disarmament treaty Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to announce Friday that the Trump administration is suspending the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a pact with Russia that has been a centerpiece of European security since the Cold War. In remarks scheduled for Friday morning, Pompeo reportedly plans to accuse Russia of violating the Reagan-era treaty with a missile it has deployed near European borders. The two sides failed to resolve their differences on the issue in recent discussions. Pompeo and his deputies have called on Moscow to destroy the missile; Russia has said it’s the U.S. that has violated the treaty with antiballistic missile systems deployed in Europe. Source: The New York Times, CNN

Trump and Pelosi dig in on wall as border security talks begin President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hardened their positions on Trump’s demand for a border wall on Thursday, with just two weeks to go before a deadline that could result in another partial government shutdown. “There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation,” Pelosi said as congressional Democrats presented their opening offer toward a border security deal. As negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on a special committee got underway on Capitol Hill, Trump said at the White House that he didn’t expect much from the committee. “If they don’t give us a wall, it doesn’t work,” Trump said. Pelosi said Democrats could accept some metal “Normandy fencing” that was previously approved to stop vehicles but not people. “He can call that a wall,” Pelosi said. Source: CNBC

January job gains smash expectations The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 304,000 jobs in January, smashing expectations despite a feared drag from the 35-day partial government shutdown. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast, on average, a gain of 172,000 jobs in what have been a widely anticipated pullback following December’s surprisingly strong gain of 312,000 non-farm jobs. The Labor Department said the government shutdown had no “discernible” impact on hiring overall, although it helped nudge the unemployment rate higher. The unemployment rate edged up to 4 percent from 3.9 percent the month before. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people seeking unemployment benefits increased by 53,000 to a seasonally adjusted 253,000 for the last week of January, the biggest jump since September 2017. Source: CNBC

Cory Booker announces 2020 presidential campaign Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) officially announced Friday he is running for president in 2020. In a video posted to a newly-launched campaign website, Booker said, “I believe we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind,” also saying that “we will channel our common pain back into our common purpose.” Booker is the latest Democrat to jump into the 2020 race alongside Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and others. Following his announcement, he has several radio interviews lined up and is expected to appear Friday on The View. He will subsequently head to Iowa and South Carolina for events next week. Source: Cory Booker, The New York Times

After a fire at a Consumers Energy natural gas compressor station, Michiganders are asked to turn down their heat to conserve natural gas. (25nbc)

Several major cities in the Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada reach record low temperatures for the third consecutive day as a polar vortex continues to affect the region. (The New York Times)

The End

specially trained ants

Thursday, Jan 31st,  2018

Italy’s economy falls into recession for the third time in a decade after declining GDP growth in late 2018. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte blames the recession on external factors, including trade tensions between the United States and China. (The Guardian)

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn announces that the company is reconsidering their plan to manufacture LCD panels in a promised Wisconsin plant because of a changed global marketplace, and the high cost of United States labor. Foxconn said, earlier in January, that it still planned to create 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin. The State of Wisconsin pledged subsidies worth more than $3bn. (BBC) (Reuters)

Unemployment claims near highest in more than one year The number of applicants seeking unemployment benefits is near a one-and-a-half year high, the Labor Department reported Thursday. An increase of 53,000 to a seasonally adjusted 253,000 claims for the last week of January is the largest surge since September 2017, and the total number of claims is the highest since the same time. The jump could signal a slowing labor market, and is also likely affected by claims from government workers who were unemployed during the partial government shutdown. The spike in jobless claims will likely recede in coming weeks, writes MarketWatch, settling closer to the 49-year low that was reported earlier this month. Source: CNBC

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