Nobody Cares: PRS

[Jolene Benoir]

Preaching to the choir for most here, but the BBC reel is only 5 minutes long...

Should we ban billionaires?

Should we allow structures that enable some people in our society to make and hold onto extreme amounts of money?

www.bbc.com

Having billionaires in and of itself isn't necessarily the problem as shown in the video in relation to billionaires in Sweden.

The problem is that, in the US at least, they take that money to dramatically alter policy. I don't see that changing, in fact getting far, far worse. They aren't content with just buying off the politicians, they are brainwashing the public with some fairly sophisticated means. I don't believe that it's just US billionaires doing this, either. We've seen almost every western democracy targeted for that.

Normally, this would end in some kind of bloodbath, their blood, if they continue down that path, but that can take decades if not centuries and with climate change that may not even be in the cards. So basically, many millions will suffer and die for their greed and lust for power.

 

[danielravennest]

Having billionaires in and of itself isn't necessarily the problem as shown in the video in relation to billionaires in Sweden.

The problem is that, in the US at least, they take that money to dramatically alter policy. I don't see that changing, in fact getting far, far worse. They aren't content with just buying off the politicians, they are brainwashing the public with some fairly sophisticated means. I don't believe that it's just US billionaires doing this, either. We've seen almost every western democracy targeted for that.

Normally, this would end in some kind of bloodbath, their blood, if they continue down that path, but that can take decades if not centuries and with climate change that may not even be in the cards. So basically, many millions will suffer and die for their greed and lust for power.

We don't have to ban billionaires, just tax them appropriately. They have way too many loopholes so they end up paying a lower percentage than average people.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Barack Obama: One election won't stop US 'truth decay'

America faces a huge task in reversing a divisive conspiracy culture, Barack Obama tells the BBC.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

A short but interesting thread:

 

[Essence Lumin]

Alaska Airlines flight hits bear on runway during landing | CNN

In an unusual collision, an airplane hit and killed a brown bear while landing at the Yakutat Airport in Alaska on Saturday.

www.cnn.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

OANN: what is the alternative far-right media outlet Trump is pushing?

Trump is urging his supporters to turn to One America News Network as his romance with Fox News sours

www.theguardian.com

The network finally found its metier with the ascendancy of Donald Trump, gradually becoming the in-house broadcaster for the parallel universe inhabited by the president and the movement he inspired. In the process, they jettisoned not only any pretense to journalistic credibility, but factuality itself.

OANN has been energetic throughout Trump’s presidency in pushing any narrative that might favor his interests, including numerous baseless conspiracy theories. They gave credence to every signature Trumpist falsehood: that George Soros both funded a so-called refugee “caravan” and collaborated with Nazis as a teenager; that there was no chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, in 2018; that Parkland mass shooting survivor David Hogg had been “coached” for his media appearances by his father, a former FBI agent.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Free]

'It's Horrifying': Pro-Trump Caravan Protests Outside Of Clintons' NY Home

Within hours of President Trump finally admitting on Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden won — a factual admission that the...

talkingpointsmemo.com

Within hours of President Trump finally admitting on Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden won — a factual admission that the mercurial sitting president predictably walked back as he continues his refusal to concede — a pro-Trump caravan descended on the homes of Bill and Hillary Clinton and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in New Castle, New York.

According to the Rockland/Westchester Journal News on Sunday evening, dozens of Trump supporters blasted music, honked horns, shouted through megaphones and carried pro-Trump flags as they walked past the Clintons’ and Cuomo’s residences. Signs read: “Cuomo sucks,” “Expose the corruption,” and “Dead people don’t vote!”

Chelsea Clinton tweeted on Sunday evening that Trump supporters were outside of her parents’ residence chanting “lock her up” — a phrase that the President has egged on since the 2016 cycle when he ran against his Democratic rival and has recently appropriated during campaign rallies when attacking Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).

 

[Free]

 

[Cindy Claveau]

President ‘discussed attacking Iran’ as Pompeo discusses transition

Donald Trump sought options for attacking Iran to stop its nuclear program but was dissuaded by advisers’ warning it could escalate into a larger conflict, according to The New York Times.

More substance, but behind a paywall:

Trump Sought Options for Attacking Iran to Stop Its Growing Nuclear Program

A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike. The advisers — including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — warned that a strike against Iran’s facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

Any strike — whether by missile or cyber — would almost certainly be focused on Natanz, where the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Wednesday that Iran’s uranium stockpile was now 12 times larger than permitted under the nuclear accord that Mr. Trump abandoned in 2018. The agency also noted that Iran had not allowed it access to another suspected site where there was evidence of past nuclear activity.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Pancake]

I loved this video. Sorry don’t know how to share a non FB version.

 

[Sovereignty]

The crisis isn’t too much polarization. It’s too little democracy.

To reliably win the Electoral College, Democrats need to win the popular vote by 3 or 4 percentage points. To reliably win the Senate, they need to run 6 to 7 points ahead of Republicans. To reliably win the House, they need to win the vote by 3 or 4 points. As such, Democrats need to consciously strategize to appeal to voters who do not naturally agree with them.

For Republicans, the incentives are exactly the reverse. They can win the presidency despite getting fewer votes. They can win the Senate despite getting fewer votes. They can win the House despite getting fewer votes. They can control the balance of state legislatures despite getting fewer votes.

And so they do. Their base, like the Democratic base, would prefer to run more uncompromising candidates, and their donors would prefer a more uncompromising agenda.

But our electoral system is imbalanced, and it’s led to imbalanced parties: It forces Democrats to lean into the messy, pluralistic work of winning elections in a democracy, and allows Republicans to avoid that work, and instead worry about pleasing the most fervent members of their base.

Our Political System Is Unfair. Liberals Need to Just Deal With It.

The argument [cites previous article] is logical, but it is also a strategic dead end. The United States is and in almost any plausible scenario will continue to be a federal republic. We are constituted as a nation of states, not as a single unitary community, a fact that is hard-wired into our constitutional structure. Liberals may not like this, just as a man standing outside in a rainstorm does not like the fact he is getting soaked. But instead of cursing the rain, it makes a lot more sense for him to find an umbrella.

Liberals need to adjust their political strategy and ideological ambitions to the country and political system we actually have, and make the most of it, rather than cursing that which they cannot change.

 

[Free]

Op-Ed: Four deadly threats to American democracy are raging all at once

Biden's victory alone won't restore the pillars of democracy that have been damaged under Trump.

www.latimes.com

In this pandemic election, Americans stepped up and voted in record numbers to make their voices heard. The result is a testament to democratic resilience. And yet our democracy remains in precarious health.

Even now, when President-elect Joe Biden’s victory is clear, President Trump continues to issue false claims of stolen votes and rigged counting while pursuing lawsuits that deny the election’s decisive outcome. Some of his most fervent supporters, including elected officials, have repeated these dangerous claims, refusing to accept the people’s democratic judgment. These desperate moves are reminiscent of the actions not just of autocratic rulers abroad but also of scenes from the United States’ own history.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Prayer

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Prayer

www.smbc-comics.com

 

[danielravennest]

Alaska Airlines flight hits bear on runway during landing | CNN

In an unusual collision, an airplane hit and killed a brown bear while landing at the Yakutat Airport in Alaska on Saturday.

www.cnn.com

The runway cleanup crew afterwards found right-hand bear arms.

 

[Isabeau]

Just a delay but yay!

Poland delays abortion ban as nationwide protests continue

Anti-government rallies continue over court’s ruling to restrict access to terminations

www.theguardian.com

.


The Abortion Protests in Poland Are Starting to Feel Like a Revolution

People are calling it a revolution. Since October 22nd, hundreds of thousands across Poland have been protesting—in five hundred and eighty cities and towns, by one organizer’s count. In some places, including the town of Kościerzyna, population twenty-four thousand, more than ten per cent of residents have taken to the streets. The umbrella term for the protests is “Women’s Strike,” though it’s not just women participating, and it’s not exactly a strike. The demonstrations were sparked by a decision in the nation’s Constitutional Court, in Warsaw, that would have further narrowed access to abortion in Poland. The government has since delayed implementing the decision, yet the protests go on. The goal now, it seems, is to bring down the government of the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has been in power since 2015.

 

[Free]

 

[Free]

*sigh*