10.12.16
Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, Decline and Fall, Shoeshine, The Corporate Bund at 11:51 am by George Smith
Lloyd Blankfein Joked “I’m Proud That The Financial Services Industry Has Been The One Unifying Theme That Binds Everybody Together In Common.??? “So it’s important that people speak out and stand up against it, and especially people who are Republicans, who say, look, that’s not the party that I’m part of. I want to get back to having a two-party system that can have an adult conversation and a real debate about the future. MR. BLANKFEIN: Yeah, and one thing, I’m glad—I’m proud that the financial services industry has been the one unifying theme that binds everybody together in common. (Laughter.)??? [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13]
Hillary Clinton Said She Would Like To “See More Successful Business People Run For Office??? Because The Have A “Certain Level Of Freedom.??? ““SECRETARY CLINTON: That’s a really interesting question. You know, I would like to see more successful business people run for office. I really would like to see that because I do think, you know, you don’t have to have 30 billion, but you have a certain level of freedom. And there’s that memorable phrase from a former member of the Senate: You can be maybe rented but never bought. And I think it’s important to have people with those experiences. And especially now, because many of you in this room are on the cutting edge of technology or health care or some other segment of the economy, so you are people who look over the horizon. And coming into public life and bringing that perspective as well as the success and the insulation that success gives you could really help in a lot of our political situations right now.??? [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13]
Hillary Clinton Said There Was “A Bias Against People Who Have Led Successful And/Or Complicated Lives,??? Citing The Need To Divese Of Assets, Positions, And Stocks. “SECRETARY CLINTON: Yeah. Well, you know what Bob Rubin said about that. He said, you know, when he came to Washington, he had a fortune. And when he left Washington, he had a small— MR. BLANKFEIN: That’s how you have a small fortune, is you go to Washington. SECRETARY CLINTON: You go to Washington. Right. But, you know, part of the problem with the political situation, too, is that there is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives. You know, the divestment of assets, the stripping of all kinds of positions, the sale of stocks. It just becomes very onerous and unnecessary.??? [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13
Originally.
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10.06.16
Posted in Culture of Lickspittle at 1:33 pm by George Smith
Red Dawn, from 1984, is five stars of utterly awesome Eighties excrement.
America, surrounded by enemies as always, is invaded by the Cuban & Nicaraguan armies (please don’t laugh) plus the Soviets, way out in the Rockies or Vasquez Rocks or Monument Valley, whichever was convenient.
Two girls, great with satchel charges and machine guns — Lea Thompson AND Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing!), who with Pat Swayze (Dirty Dancing!) are half of the Wolverines, a partisan group that brings an armored and airborne regiment to its knees.
The Soviets summon William Smith, the bareknuckle boxer who fought Clint Eastwood in Any Which Way You Can, so you know they’re that tough. Plus, there’s a Cuban colonel leading the occupying force in Love Cattle, ColoradoMontanaWyoming, who really only wants to get back to his warm and sunny homeland.
The occupation installs a Soviet-American Friendship Society in one of the old town’s bars. It features country music every night. So Jennifer Grey blows it up with a satchel charge! That’s my girl! You can see why she got the role in Dirty Dancing three years later.
Powers Boothe stars as a USAF hero who organizes the Wolverines but has to sacrifice himself for the good of the group as ‘Merica lays down a napalm attack on the Soviet/Cuban armor outside Horse Buggy, WyomingMontanaColorado. Lea Thompson, ace machine-gunner, had been picking mountain edelweiss for him and she breaks down: “I’ll never love again!”
If you don’t think this movie is stupendous, even if you’re an ex-Commie or new oligarch, there’s something wrong with you. You’ll love the vistas of pine forest hills covered in snow, too, almost as much as you loved the Battle of the Bulge, which was shot on the plain in Spain.
Harry Dean Stanton gives a corny inspirational speech from behind wire. No crying in war, children! Charlie Sheen (way before Hollywood hookers and blow warped his personality) and C. Thomas Howell are along for the trip, too! Howell even drinks the blood of a deer. You will almost be compelled to stand and sing the national anthem as the final credits roll.
I saw it on Hulu. Watch or steal it now. Thank me later.
Should we stumble into a nuclear war with Russia? The establishment thinks so, apparently.
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10.04.16
Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, Cyberterrorism at 3:49 pm by George Smith
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Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, Made in China, Ricin Kooks, WhiteManistan at 1:27 pm by George Smith
Translated, another plug for Old White Coot, still under construction. But a great 20 minute listen with the hit, “Ricin Mama,” featuring Blind Poison CastorSeed on blues harp.
Two people have tried to commit suicide by castor this year. One, in Boulder, was successful.
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09.30.16
Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, Decline and Fall, Extremism at 12:33 pm by George Smith
A friend pointed me to a new biography of Adolf Hitler, reviewed by Michiko Kakutani at the New York Times. In writing about Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich, Kakutani goes out of her way to insert Donald Trump into almost every paragraph without naming him. It’s that transparent.
Since the majority of American mainstream pundits, newspaper and web, are as lousy with history as those in the general population, there’s been a great outpour from the culture of lickspittle on how clever it is.
Factor in the hysteria over a Trump victory in November now gripping the swells. It virtually dictates a goose-step parade of crap-dumpling social media picture memes, pull-the-wings-off-flies sneering and more Hitler comparisons between now and election day.
Hitler is a book I’ve just started to read (obtained on the digital theft line — I will accept a hardback copy, too).
And it would be good to recall Trump still doesn’t have anywhere near the reputation for extreme political and street violence beating up the opposition Hitler possessed prior to being named chancellor in 1933. No failed revolt in a big city or state; no jail time in which to write a Mein Kampf.
People were intimidated, killed, disappeared, their houses and stores smashed, their belongings stolen by Hitler’s paramilitaries, the SA and the nascent SS. And Dachau was opened in 1933, a little after he was named chancellor but a year before he made himself reichsfuhrer.
I don’t say it’s necessary to read Mein Kampf but if you dig into a little of it — well, let’s say Trump couldn’t write a book like that, although he claims to have written a few bestsellers on how to use greed with skill.
Trump has no complicated ideas, other than terrible asshat ones, that vanish or change in instants. Hitler had many, well outlined, and he never wavered from them.
Relatively early in Mein Kampf, Hitler expresses his rage, in dense prose, at being poor while simultaneously cultivating a murderous contempt for “elites,” that disregard growing enormously while in Vienna as a struggling young man where fine arts college masters thought so little of his talents they wouldn’t let him take an entrance exam.
Hitler became a bitter homeless bum. But, to put it mildly, that was not the end of it.
Unlike Trump, Hitler never had any interest in money or becoming a businessman.
This essay, Hitler Comparisons Give Trump Too Much Credit, from a small newspaper, is another good way of addressing a hysteria — one practiced only by … dummkopfs [sic].
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Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, War On Terror at 11:54 am by George Smith
On the latest Designated Survivor, Kiefer Sutherland as President Tom Kirkman is confronted with a crisis: Michigan, Michigan (!) under the governor, cast to vaguely look like the guy who poisoned Flint, won’t recognize the federal government and its governor has ordered a pogrom against Muslims which results in the a young man being beaten to death by batons, captured on smartphone. Plus there’s a general roundup of Muslims, one vignette with a B-list character getting a stop-and-frisk.
Kirkman gets the governor to order his police force to stand down and release its prisoners by telling a lie, that undercover Feds have been jailed and must be set free to continue their investigations.
Remarkable that the President can make a video conference call and get this done. Too bad the country can’t jump into the Hollywood script and order a stop to street executions, eh?
The second installment of Designated Survivor continues down its awkward path of unintentional cognitive dissonance. I’m sure Sutherland and a few other cast members are acutely aware of it, too.
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09.28.16
Posted in Bioterrorism, Culture of Lickspittle, Ricin Kooks at 12:54 pm by George Smith
From a Texas news station:
“The Athens Fire Department assisted in the weekend raid of an Athens home.
“Fire Chief John McQueary explained their involvement.
” ‘There was a situation that our HAZMAT team, they’d like us to be involved with to support federal agents…’
“McQueary describes the decontamination role his team played. ‘Our role for the Athens Fire Department was to decon their agents when they got out… Deconning is outside the hot zone.’ The hot zone of a product suspected to be ricin.
“Homeowner Richard Fulton said in a statement that his teenage son had been attempting to make ricin out of castor beans … “
Before 9/11 and Homeland Security, there were no ricin squads. Now they’re everywhere. And though it may be hard to believe castor bean harvesting used to big agribusiness in the US. Fields of castor bean plants existed and they were not lethal. People worked in castor bean processing plants. [1] AND THEY DID NOT DIE.
Those places in the world that still harvest castor don’t care about the weird war-on-terror mythologies Americans have built up concerning castor beans and ricin.
But kids, don’t get the ricin squad called to your house. It will put everything in plastic bags and tubs and haul it away.
[1]. Health Aspects of Castor Bean Dust: Review and Bibliography provides something of a look back at castor oil and castor mash production in the United States through a looking glass of health effects associated with milling. The most noticeable were allergic reactions and asthma due to a potent small allergen, separate from ricin, but also found in castor bean mash.
Allergic reactions to the dust could be severe. The government recommended control measures and the wearing of goggles in plants that milled large quantities of castor seeds
Severe clusters of allergenic illness were associated with large quantities of very powdery dust produced after treatment with organic solvents to remove the oil component.
Much less often, ricin intoxication occured, apparently due to “incautious” consumption.
No significant hazard was associated with farming castor plants.
While castor oil was the primary product, castor mash was also diverted for use as fertilizer. In 1957, castor bean agriculture and milling was done in nine states, which included a region in southern California. The review contains some medical citations of allergic reactions and eye irritations associated with use of castor as fertilizer.
Readers of the pamphlet will note the huge piles of castor powder on the docks in Marseille, France. Their existence resulted in a large outbreak of allergic illness when the wind, or “Mistral,” went the wrong way.
And, now, the only rockin’ blues song on ricin ever. Pure Americana because that’s what castor bean religion and the ricin squad are — American as, um, pie. “Ricin Mama,” then, from the “Old White Coot” LP, an absolutely true story.
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09.27.16
Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, Cyberterrorism, Extremism, Made in China at 1:10 pm by George Smith
Blacked out for a few minutes during the middle of the debate.
I’ll be voting for HRC despite her being a pedant who talks nonsense about reviving the middle class through the fostering of small business. Sell your curios on eBay, in other words. Innovation!
Everything Trump said except the opening bits on trade and globalism sounded like gobble.
I blacked out again when the debate got to cyberwar, Putin being behind hacking us poor Dems and Trump going on about his 10-year old son being good with computers. Neither of the candidates has anything worth listening to on the subject. A few extra points off for HRC who assuredly knows about Stuxnet and our cyberwar with Iran but who insisted upon putting up a facade indicating the country’s behind in capability.
Blanked for a third and fourth time when it got to arguing about who was more likely not to use nuclear weapons first against a theoretical enemy. Trump seemed to say he would adhere to no-first-use then appeared to reverse himself seconds later.
Still unanswered, how to fix the wreckage caused by “free trade” in the US. Clinton had nothing for it last night. Expected nothing, got nothing.
However, since she’s going to be president she ought to have to keep answering for it, not just send her husband out the next day as cover:
“Mr. Clinton, who was president 1993 through 2000, acknowledged that the international trade deals have not always worked out as well as planned.” [the Toledo Blade]
“Not always worked out as well as planned,” accurate but like saying, “Deepwater Horizon was a bad oil spill.” It kinda leaves a lot out.
From Politico:
“Her opponent blamed NAFTA, but that’s not really what happened. You want to know what happened? It’s really important you understand this, because any president who wants to trade with other countries has got to take this into account.???
Clinton said Carrier wanted to break the union in a rush toward profits and in turn blew off an offer from employees to try to save the Midwestern plant from going to Mexico.
“They wanted to break the union, make the money in a hurry and give it to their activist shareholders, we used to call them raiders, and give it to their CEO. So an American president, until we go back to being a stakeholder country, where corporations take account not just their most active shareholders, but their workers, their communities and their customers and their future, we have to be a lot more careful,” Clinton said. “And that is something we have all learned.”
The Clintons would love to squirm out of this by throwing up a dust screen of nit-picky details. Economists, and authors like Thomas Frank, have written quite a bit about how NAFTA was made to give corporate wealth power at the expense of labor.
In this case, Bill Clinton is being slippery and it’s because his wife is extremely vulnerable in this area.
So it’s a choice between the teacher’s pet and the class clown. Between Reese Witherspoon and Jack Black. — Barbara Ehrenreich, today
And do listen to all 90 seconds of China Toilet Blues from “Old White Coot.” It helps me out, if only psychically.
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09.26.16
Posted in Culture of Lickspittle, Decline and Fall at 11:34 am by George Smith
It’s a Grave Social Ill: The phenomenon of “unworking men” in America, first developed by Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute over the Labor Day weekend.
Millions of men, like me, undereducated, who won’t work and have dropped out of society. Economist Tyler Cowan jumped on it the following week, adding that it’s not only that the men are uneducated but that they are addicted to net porn, too.
And today the WaPost chimes in: It’s men who are addicted to video games. They won’t work!
“Izquierdo represents a group of video-game-loving Americans who, according to new research, may help explain one of the most alarming aspects of the nation’s economic recovery: Even as the unemployment rate has fallen to low levels, an unusually large percentage of able-bodied men, particularly the young and less-educated, are either not working or not working full-time …Yet in the new research, economists from Princeton, the University of Rochester and the University of Chicago say that an additional reason many of these young men – who don’t have college degrees — are rejecting work is that they have a better alternative: living at home and enjoying video games…”
An alarmist aspect and prospect!
Except Dean Baker blows it all up by noting the statistics don’t support any of itit. It’s not just “undereducated” men, like me, who have seen unemployment increases, it’s women, too. Oops.
It’s lack of demand in a sluggish, or stagnant American economy, Baker thinks. And the Post, like many of the swell leaders of our great corporate dictatorship, always has a detail ready to bayonet the wounded on the battlefield, because, you know, they deserve it:
As is widely known the Washington Post never misses an opportunity to blame the victims of policy for bad outcomes, rather than rich and powerful folks who design policy. We are treated to yet another example of this charade with the Post running a major article that claims that video games are a major reason that fewer young men are working today than 15 years ago.
He’s right, probably. Still, I kind of fancy being thought of as part of a demographic deemed a grave social ill.
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09.23.16
Posted in Culture of Lickspittle at 2:31 pm by George Smith
So far, the only reason to watch is Kiefer Sutherland. You saw the teaser: A bomb destroys the political leadership during a state of the union address and continuity of government hoists the Secretary of HUD, Tom Kirkman, the only man offsite to the White House.
Sutherland is cast as a gentle soul, a nobody who’s been cut loose by the President for being too vociferous about affordable housing or something, the very day of the bombing that makes him President. Before the hour’s up you get to see him show he has the usual Sutherland-character steel interior.
Personally, I would have made him from anywhere but the Ivy League, for a change. Cornell. Why not a Kent State or Delaware?
“Designated Survivor” left me with a feeling of time and reality out of joint. Another drama about America’s many enemies, known and unknown, striking a terrible blow and the world immediately extending its sorrows — except for the Iranians. Always the Iranians.
Really, if I were the leader of a foreign country and I saw it happen in real time, I’d probably find there’s a jam up on the line to the White House with everyone pleading that their country not be rubble-ized in the next couple months.
There’s the smart and intrepid FBI field analyst/agent, finding the bomb or bombs that did the deed were common on the Afghan battlefield. But she cautions there might be more to come. A campaign.
Which would stink. No more black box overpowering and unknowable enemies of the US anymore, please. It just doesn’t work.
Which brings it back to Sutherland. Tom Kirkman is a nice guy. He looks like he’s getting ready to be presidential, tougher than Harry Truman, perhaps. Maybe he’ll even get into a fire or fistfight before too long. I bet they even work cyberwar into it.
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