Random Musings: 02/2020

2020/02/29

the Amazon trap

https://prospect.org/economy/how-amazon-uses-lending-to-control-small-businesses/

Not sure why Amazon gets such a pass on this. Any other business and the federal government would stick their nose in this situation.

"""

But they also indicate that the primary motivation behind Amazon’s lending program is not short-term financial gain, but rather the corollary effects of making third-party sellers deeply indebted to Amazon.

"""

blocking the votes

https://prospect.org/politics/all-the-ways-your-vote-may-not-be-counted-in-south-carolina/

2020/02/28

corruption is my name

https://prospect.org/justice/five-ways-william-barr-is-turning-america-into-a-dictatorship/

Can you get more Obvious

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-28/trump-takes-credit-as-markets-rise-points-finger-when-they-fall

This far into his presidency, and this headline of the obvious is their choice?
No wonder the media is part of our problems.

This is who you voted for

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/opinion/coronavirus-trump.html

At that point the administration appears to have finally realized that it might need to do something beyond insisting that things were great. But according to The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman, it initially proposed paying for a virus response by cutting aid to the poor — specifically, low-income heating subsidies. Cruelty in all things.

Profits over People

https://prospect.org/health/the-trump-administrations-contemptuous-pro-corporate-response-to-coronavirus/

2020/02/27

Nice Counterpoint

https://prospect.org/power/unlearning-lessons-hillbilly-elegy/

Vance's story pretty much ignores the working-class battle to get its share of the pie, and the racial turmoil, riots, and struggle for civil rights that would shape the politics of America's cities. It bypasses how millions of white workers would enter America's middle class in the three decades after World War II, as the government invested in their education and subsidized their homeownership. It misses how these workers' legs were then kicked out from under them by foreign competition, technology, globalization, and trade agreements like NAFTA that undercut American jobs. Indeed, Vance sympathizes with company executives who fought off unions, writing, “I might have done the same.”

HUMINT asset arrested

Russian Support Asset Arrested in Miami

https://news.clearancejobs.com/2020/02/18/russian-support-asset-arrested-in-miami/

2020/02/26

not a unifier

Coronavirus will test whether the planet can unite in the face of a global crisis

The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/coronavirus-will-test-whether-the-planet-can-unite-in-the-face-of-a-global-crisis/

I disagree. I dont see trump doing anything but isolation if this grows. No way will he embrace help from another country. God forbid it is Iran.

2020/02/25

Another Krugman GOP hypocrisy article

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/opinion/trump-2020-debt.html

Krugman has decried the fiscal hypocrisy of the GOP before. So no shockers in this article.

2020/02/24

Carville is going slightly mad

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/23/msnbc-full-blown-freakout-mode-bernie-sanders-cements-status-democratic-frontrunner#

There is one point in the article, where Carville is said to have turned to the camera, smiled, waved, and said "Hi Vlad!" Carville has become more insistent that Russia is pushing the Bernie Sanders campaign, and this article has certainly come up in the news as well. This does make sense, as Russia only wants to sow more seeds of dissent in the US and other countries around the world.

Carville handed a nother win to Vlad, when he pulled his stupid stunt. You giving the idea at air at all, James, also gives Putin a win. Jim, you are not helping.

The party is not where his politics is at, and I don't believe the country is where he is at anymore. A lot has changed since he helped Billy boy get elected. I am sorry if he can not keep up with the rate of change.

2020/02/18

Huawei targeted by DoJ again

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/technology/huawei-racketeering-wire-fraud.html

Dollars over People

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-inflict-severe-pain-on-disabled-community-just-because-he-can/

No one should be really surprised at the level of Trump's empathy here. The dollar is the most important thing in our society so we should do everything we can to screw people over.

2020/02/15

got what we voted for

https://time.com/5771169/food-stamp-rule-work-requirements/

2020/02/11

Further Corruption of Justice

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-to-reduce-sentencing-recommendation-for-trump-associate-roger-stone-official-says-after-president-calls-it-unfair/2020/02/11/ad81fd36-4cf0-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html

War against those with need

https://www.salon.com/2020/02/10/trump-budget-would-cut-medicare-medicaid-and-social-security-while-expanding-tax-cuts-for-the-rich/

The $4.8 trillion budget proposal released Monday would cut Medicare by $850 billion, cut Medicaid by $920 billion and cut Social Security by $30 billion over the next decade, according to The Washington Post. The proposal would also slash food stamp spending by $181 billion. The plan also calls for a steep 8% cut to the Education budget; a 9% cut to the Health and Human Services Budget, including the Centers for Disease Control; and a 26% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency budget. The Interior Department would see a 13% budget cut; the Department of Housing and Urban Development would see a 15% cut; and both the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development would be slashed by 22%.

2020/02/01

recognition at last

https://www.netflix.com/title/70137744?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp

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