How can we take it back?

[ImaginaryBloke]

The social and solidarity economy has been developed by local movements for at least 20 years, but the economic crisis and the relatively recent political project of municipal socialism have boosted its momentum. One of the most outstanding projects has been Som Energia, a co-op of consumers that uses only energy from sustainable sources. Guiamets, a small town governed by the CUP, has contracted all the energy to this co-op. It is not unusual for architects, psychologists, or lawyers to group together on co-op principles, and waste recyclers, carpenters, wine and olive producers, graphic designers and even local banking and insurance services are no different. The Network of Social Economy (XES) connects more than 150 co-ops and organisations.

Support for the “solidarity economy” as an alternative to capitalism is supported by new grassroots political structures. “Constituative, or constituent, assemblies” in the neighbourhoods involve hundreds of people discussing and then mandating the course of action their councillors and MPs take.

It is the same organising principle that came into play in the committees in defence of the referendum. The idea is to provide a model of participative democracy that outlives the referendum and gives people a chance to build new institutions and new forms of organising. Their power and reach across Catalonia should not be underestimated. It was those networks that built the mass participation in the general strike. One internal document leaked from the Spanish army indicates its own weakness in the face of those committees: “We are not sure that the Catalan government can control these structures at the moment … the street belongs to the radicals.”

Indeed, those neighbourhood assemblies played a decisive role in the political impetus for this referendum. The CUP forced an agreement with the Catalonian government to ratify the budget in exchange for the 1 October referendum. That deal was discussed and debated vociferously in the assemblies.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ependence-neighbourhood-nationhood-referendum


@Skarekrow

They are taking it back.

 

[Skarekrow]

The social and solidarity economy has been developed by local movements for at least 20 years, but the economic crisis and the relatively recent political project of municipal socialism have boosted its momentum. One of the most outstanding projects has been Som Energia, a co-op of consumers that uses only energy from sustainable sources. Guiamets, a small town governed by the CUP, has contracted all the energy to this co-op. It is not unusual for architects, psychologists, or lawyers to group together on co-op principles, and waste recyclers, carpenters, wine and olive producers, graphic designers and even local banking and insurance services are no different. The Network of Social Economy (XES) connects more than 150 co-ops and organisations.

Support for the “solidarity economy” as an alternative to capitalism is supported by new grassroots political structures. “Constituative, or constituent, assemblies” in the neighbourhoods involve hundreds of people discussing and then mandating the course of action their councillors and MPs take.

It is the same organising principle that came into play in the committees in defence of the referendum. The idea is to provide a model of participative democracy that outlives the referendum and gives people a chance to build new institutions and new forms of organising. Their power and reach across Catalonia should not be underestimated. It was those networks that built the mass participation in the general strike. One internal document leaked from the Spanish army indicates its own weakness in the face of those committees: “We are not sure that the Catalan government can control these structures at the moment … the street belongs to the radicals.”

Indeed, those neighbourhood assemblies played a decisive role in the political impetus for this referendum. The CUP forced an agreement with the Catalonian government to ratify the budget in exchange for the 1 October referendum. That deal was discussed and debated vociferously in the assemblies.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ependence-neighbourhood-nationhood-referendum


@Skarekrow

They are taking it back.

Let’s hope they succeed without some kind of stupid civil war.

 

[Sandie33]

Teaching Americans about Americanism



Even if a person was born in or became a legal citizen of the United States of America doesn't mean they automatically know what Americanism is. In fact, there may be more people in lands far and close that understand Americanism. America is more than a country, it is an idea. Americanism is the idea that people can be and should be self-determining and self-reliant -- this means that people should have the most freedom to determine what they will do and the most freedom to carry out that determination. People from other countries often come to the nation of America and think we believe that too. However, many "Americans" are no longer taught what it means to be an American. Instead, many are taught and told that it is okay to live years and years off the labors of other people. They are told they "deserve" to be taken care of by other people.

It is time to STOP talking about Republicanism or Conservativism and put the focus back where it belongs -- on being an American. You cannot be an American and think it is okay to have the government constantly take things from your neighbor and give it to you. That is not an America idea. What is frightening is, many people who demand others pay for their lives; don't care what it means to be an American. These people are here to continue to leech off of others and there will always be politicians that will use these people to get elected. These politicians will tickle the ears of these people; giving them empty slogans to repeat such as; "Hope and Change", "Yes, We Can!", and "Moving Forward". And the leeches eat it up, chanting it over and over and demanding more of their neighbor's property.

It is a sad state when the last bastion, the last shining city on a hill becomes overrun by a mob claiming it is advancing "democracy". A popular but anonymous quote on democracy is:

"A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch."

In 1913 the individual states ratified an amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would be the end to the individual states' voice in the federal government. The 17th Amendment changed how our founders envisioned our government to work, thus breaking it for all time. Originally, there were three branches of the U.S. government:

1. Executive - President and staff
2. Legislative - Congress and Senate
3. Judicial - Supreme Court and lower courts

These branches were given separate but supposedly equal power. This was supposed to help balance the government so no branch dominated. But again, something major happened when the 17th Amendment was passed. Originally, the Congress was meant to be the "house" that would represent the people of each district of each state. The Senate was originally supposed to be the "house" that would represent the interests of the individual states; thus senators were NOT elected by the people but rather by the state governments. In this way, the interests of the people were balanced with the interests of their states -- since sometimes the people would be focused more on what was best for their individual district rather than the state as a whole.

Now, it is pointless to have a Congress and a Senate. Both are elected by the people and instead of balancing powers; they typically behave like football teams for the individual parties. THAT is how this country became so partisan. Now we have no separation of powers and instead two "houses" jockeying for the vote of the mob.

The U.S. government is broken. Americanism is dead in ironically America. The mass of people are every day manipulated to vote for more and more politicians that will gut our society such as they did with the 17 Amendment. There are even calls for disbanding the Constitution and rewriting a new one. What will government by mob rule look like? How long can the elitists presently in power control the mob. Eventually, mobs want more than their handlers can or are willing to take from their neighbors. Is it too late?
http://rodericke.com/teaching-americanism-americans

Going to be a hard sale.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Let’s hope they succeed without some kind of stupid civil war.

Spain Won't Arrest Separatist Leaders, Blames "Fake News" For Catalan Crisis

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...talan-leaders-blames-fake-news-catalan-crisis

In Catalonia, it is more like the Velvet Revolution of 1989 in Czechoslovakia. It turned peaceful in East Germany too. Romania was one hell of a chaos, more like the French Revolution of 1789. In Catalonia, there were riots during the referendum and a hundreds of people were injured. But it is most likely not going to escalate in Catalonia.*

* Correction: I wrote previously that it is going to get worse in Catalonia.

The Revolutions Of 1989 ​

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Homelessness Reveals the 'Blatant Failure' of Capitalism: New NZ PM

01:51 22.10.2017(updated 02:01 22.10.2017)

© AP Photo/ Mark Baker

New Zealand’s newly-elected prime minister has called capitalism a “blatant failure” that has failed low-income people in the country and around the world.

Jacinda Ardern, who will take office next month after the New Zealand First Party agreed to form a center-left government with her Labor Party, aims to limit the systemic problem of homelessness plaguing New Zealand.

In her first interview since becoming the new prime minister, Ardern told The Nation that "wages are not keeping up with inflation."

"What is the point of economic growth when we have some of the worst homelessness in the developed world?" she stated.

Ardern, 37, suggest that prior New Zealand governments have failed the country's people.

"When you have a market economy, it all comes down to whether or not you acknowledge where the market has failed and where intervention is required.," she said.

"Has it failed our people in recent times? Yes," Ardern asserted, adding, "How can you claim you've been successful when you have growth roughly three percent, but you've got the worst homelessness in the developed world?"

[...]

https://sputniknews.com/society/201...ailure-capitalism-new-zealand-prime-minister/


New Zealand just got an ENFJ for prime minister. It is great that we are getting fewer psychopaths and sociopaths in power. This will be interesting to watch. NZ was a test case for deregulation in the 1980s lead by Labour. Now Labour is in charge with a traditional political program.

I sort of fear that she has not looked up what ISDS means for the nation state vs psychopathic companies. Her Ti needs to grow a bit in my view. She worked for Tony Blair in the UK for a while. That might have shaped her views. I saw this regarding free trade:

"She also intends to stick with the 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations as long as she can limit foreign investment in New Zealand housing."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...strip-australians-of-new-zealand-study-rights

So apart from the issue of free trade she sort of looks OK.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Repealing Obamacare May Severely Impact Native American Tribes

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201710171058295787-obamacare-repeal-hurts-native-americans/


Native American Tribes Set to Continue Fight Against Keystone XL Pipeline

https://sputniknews.com/us/201710191058361330-tribes-fight-keystone-xl/


Trump does not like negotiating with Native Americans, it seems like.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, October 24, 2017 - 3:15pm
Organization Profile:
Center for Biological Diversity
Contact: Nathan Donley, (971) 717-6406, ndonley@biologicaldiversity.org

European Parliament Votes to Ban Glyphosate

STRASBOURG, France - The European Parliament, representing 28 countries and more than 500 million people, voted today in support of phasing out glyphosate over the next five years and immediately banning its use in households.

“The European Parliament has correctly acknowledged the magnitude of glyphosate’s risks,” said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Now European regulators charged with protecting human health and the environment must follow the parliament’s brave leadership and phase out the gross overuse of glyphosate.”

The vote by the European Parliament, which is made up of the elected representatives of the European Union, is an advisory vote intended to influence a scheduled vote on Wednesday by experts from the 28 EU countries on whether to follow a recommendation by the EU’s executive commission to reauthorize glyphosate for another 10 years.

But following today’s overwhelming vote in support for banning the pesticide, the EU Commission has dropped its recommendation, instead calling for EU member countries to regroup and come to a consensus about how to move forward on the issue.

Today’s action was prompted by the World Health Organization's finding that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is a “probable” human carcinogen. The WHO's cancer research agency is widely considered to be the gold standard for research on cancer.

The WHO’s finding came after an analysis of publically available studies by independent scientists of glyphosate’s health risks. Because the scientists conducting the WHO analysis did not include in their assessment the findings of Monsanto-funded studies that have not been made available for public review, the pesticide maker has attempted to undercut the validity of the review process.

“This wasn’t just a vote against glyphosate,” said Donley. “This was a vote supporting independent science and a vote against an industry that has manipulated, coerced and otherwise soiled independent decision-making in Europe and the rest of the world.”

European and U.S. regulatory agencies have come under intense scrutiny lately as evidence has surfaced that Monsanto heavily influenced their safety assessments of glyphosate. Europe’s food safety authority, EFSA, plagiarized text from Monsanto’s renewal application when it concluded in 2015 that glyphosate does not cause cancer. And recently released emails indicate that the head of the U.S. EPA’s cancer review committee on glyphosate was in close contact coordinating with Monsanto employees during the analysis and even promised, apparently successfully, to suppress an investigation into glyphosate by another governmental agency.

At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature - to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive.

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/10/24/european-parliament-votes-ban-glyphosate


A little bit of schadenfreude. I mean, how much did Monsteranto spend on lobbying to get Glyphosate approved??

 

[TechnocolorJET]

I'm just watching the keiser report episode 586 and they are talking about why the youth haven't risen up. They are referring to an article that is discussing that. The generation that held the anti-polltax riots here in the UK and got that tax overturned were less oppressed than todays youth yet they turned out into the streets in large numbers

I think there are a number of things going on but one reason that is cited is a lack of a clear vision forward for example there are no political parties on the left and no strong leaders people feel they can rally behind

However i would argue we don't need leaders. We each must have a mini revolution in our own minds because that is where the battleground is

I don't think generally that individuals make a huge difference i think that movements make a big difference. Often people ask 'what can i do?' as if they are looking for some ground shaking single act that they can do because as a generation raised on films of super heros we have been conditioned to think that problems are solved by one stupendous effort

But what if the answer is more mundane than that?

What if the answer is that we accept that the political system is broken? And by that i mean that it has been completely bought out and dominated by big money

So really we need to look to other ways to make change. For example by boycotting. So we know that monsanto is making toxic roundup that ends up in the food supply and we know that it is making GMO's that have been shown to give lab rats tumours so why don't we stop buying their products and educate other people to do the same?

We know that mcdonalds isn't real food and that it uses taxpayer money to subsidise its wage costs so that it doesn't need to pay its workers properly so why don't we stop buying their products and buy from a local family run cafe instead?

We know that the food supply is being tainted with glysophate and antibiotics and other nasties so why don't we buy more organic therefore forcing the manufacturers to make more organic?

Sure organic might cost a little more...but do we want change or don't we?

people think getting in the street and waving a banner is going to make a difference? maybe sometimes. But perhaps what would make more of a change is if EVERYONE bought organic and if EVERYONE took their money out of the corrupt banks and put it instead in community credit unions and if EVERYONE boycotted the big corporations and instead shopped locally and if EVERYONE stopped relying on the corporate lamestream media for their news and instead followed the alternative media

If enough people withdrew from the banks instead of whining about how corrupt the banks were you know what would happen? The banks would dissapear

If enough people stopped voting for the same political parties that are totally bought out by the corporations and instead voted for parties like the pirate party do you know what would happen? The corporations would lose their political clout.

If everyone bought organic we would revolutionise our food supply

etc etc

There are a million different things we can each do in our life that when added up over millions of people will make a massive difference. Sure it lacks the 'fuck yeah-ness' of marching through police barriers wearing guy fawkes masks but maybe its what we need to do

We need to see each and every purchase we make as a mini revolution. First we must win the battle in our minds to overcome the unconscious desires that have been programmed into us by the advertising and other media. Instead of giving into the urge to buy that bigmac we say 'no, i'm going to eat from a small family run place and if i don't like what they sell i'll try another until i find one i do like or i'll make my own damn lunch from organic food'

This in turn will create the wider revolution

But for this to work it needs lots of people to participate and for that to happen people need to know about these things. People aren't going to go to the extra effort of eating organic if they aren't aware of the harm of non organic (and GMO's). People aren't going to withdraw their money from the corrupt banks unless they know about bank corruption etc

So a large part of the struggle is AWARENESS which can be waged largely on the internet

Some see the awareness aspect as merely talk...but it is about winning hearts and minds...without changing how we think we cannot then change our behaviour so awareness is vital

Internet activism could take the shape of adopting a forum and sowing some seeds on it. Lets say that you reach 50 people with your ideas. Those 50 people are also posting in various places on the net and they each then spread those ideas across the web and in turn each of the people they speak to then go on and speak to more people and so ideas go viral

It's a war over consciousness and the corporations with all their media clout have until now been winning that war...but we are now at a turning point

But maybe instead of one heroic moment we need to spread our heroism over each day...and think about where we shop, what we buy, who we vote for, what we say to other people,

How do we take back the US and the world from big money, big corporations, big politics, warmongers, psychopaths?
It has finally brought me to tears tonight as I watched the Daily Show...I guess it has been a gradual building of frustration and I finally snapped.
On the show they had Matt Taibbi talking about his new book ‘The Divide’...not the wealth divide in the normal sense that we may think, but the divide in our criminal justice system...mostly here in the US...but I’m sure it’s becoming more and more similar in other regions of the world.
He used the example of several big banks who laundered cartel drug money...they were caught red-handed and yet...they paid fines...nothing to them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/avinash-tharoor/banks-cartel-money-laundering_b_4619464.html
Meanwhile, a guy was prosecuted and spent 90+ days in jail for walking down the street smoking a joint...probably pot supplied by those very cartels.
The bankers drive their Maserati’s and live in their penthouse apartments, hand each other ridiculous bonuses, all with money that has basically been stolen from the average Joe. The sub-prime mortgages that they sold to little old ladies under false pretenses are different than a phone scammer selling fake magazine subscriptions how?
And yet, NO ONE has done anything to stop them.
It’s the very same thing at the hospital I work...
Right before Christmas last year they laid off 500 employees, mostly housekeeping staff, minor support roles...while they were patting each other on the back and giving hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions in bonuses to the Administrative staff - themselves.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oreg...sf/2013/08/steve_duin_that_healing_touch.html
Have we all gone insane to ignore such things? CEO pay has gone up to disgusting amounts (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...king-273-times-the-pay-of-the-average-worker/) while the working class has seen nothing but stagnation.
If you combine stagnating pay with inflation, the cost of food, gasoline, health care, rent, education, etc., etc. we have seen our average pay worth less and less.
All of the protections that the working class once had have been systematically torn down...union are being busted (not that they have had any real power since Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers for striking in the 80’s), retirement programs are nonexistent, pensions are a joke now, even the money that you think is safe in our “new” form or retirement the 401-K/403-B plans get raided and raped by the big banks ever since the regulations that stated specifically banks and investment houses MUST be separate (my Mom lost a huge part of her retirement when the banks collapsed in 2009/10).
They have deregulated and privatized everything they possibly could get their hands on...not because competition is good for business, but because it makes THEM the most money...it is theft, pure and simple.
In the 1950’s and 60’s one could go to college for FREE....in the 70’s you could work a part-time minimum wage job and afford to pay your tuition...then came the deregulation in the 80’s under the guise that competition would actually LOWER tuition rates for students - is that what happened? A resounding “NO!”.
"Since 1981 the list price level of tuition and fees has risen sixfold while the consumer price index has only increased two-and-a-half times.” -http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/ri...nions-best-colleges-10-feldman-archibald.html
The price of a university education has systematically “dumbed down” America and left the next generation starting a life after school with crushing debt.."Average Student Debt Climbs To $29,400, Up 63 Percent In Less Than A Decade” - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/average-student-debt-2012_n_4380946.html

It was the Baby Boomer generation who got us in this mess, who created the national debt, who spend more money on warmongering than any other country in the world - Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $10.17 million for Cost of War in Afghanistan Since 2001.
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $365,297 for Cost of War in Iraq Since 2003.
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $10.54 million for Total Cost of Wars Since 2001.
http://nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/
And yet...we cannot feed and clothe our poor? We cannot educate our nation? We cannot provide healthcare for all?
And then we hear how the subsequent generations are LAZY...because kids graduating college have to live at home with their parents...really?!
Who created that situation for them? Who raised them? Who destroyed any practical social benefit once enjoyed in the name of GREED?
We send young men and women to foreign countries and stick our noses in business that we have no real right to stick it in...the politicians, sitting in their cushy leather chairs in air-conditioned offices, send our KIDS to fight and die so OIL prices can be maintained at an already bullshit inflated rate...they are dying so fat cat politicians and banksters and corporations can make higher profits! And war is big business for American corporations...they make BILLIONS and BILLIONS in profits while people die...our kids...people who have nothing to do with the conflict at all die...innocents.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...10-companies-profiting-most-from-war/1970997/
I once had the opportunity to train at the Grossman Burn Center in souther California...and helped do facial reconstruction surgery on a 6 year old boy burned in the Iraq War over 90% of his body...he will NEVER, NEVER just be able to be a little boy...to play as a child should...how all children should.
(excuse me, I need to compose myself...more tears)
Okay...a cigarette fixed it all...lol.
Now we have a congress that cuts programs for the poor at every turn possible...while continuing to give HUGE tax cuts to giant corporations that by no means need tax incentives...they even get patted on the back for sheltering moneys offshore!
It isn’t just fiction that the 1% pays a lower tax rate than your average working class person...it is factual.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/25-of-m...-than-many-middle-class-americans-study-says/
Why? Why? Why?
Because they can...because this country has systematically stolen our Democracy and handed it to anyone who antes up.
With the Citizen’s United decision in the supreme court that says corporations are people, and now the McCutcheon v FEC decision that says individual donors have no limit to their donations we have securely taken the vote out of the hands of the average American.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...d50720-be80-11e3-9ee7-02c1e10a03f0_story.html
I’m sorry, but corporations are NOT fucking people...they are businesses. Even a 4 year old can tell you that.
There are reasons why there were laws governing how much money is allowed in political races and politics in general...because it is abused.
Who has more political sway? Your average working class Joe who cannot really afford to make political donations because he has to feed his/her family...or a Billionaire who now can make unlimited donations? They can both vote sure...but who will the political winner be beholden to? His constituents or his donors?
The answer is obvious. And those who can and do make such donations DO hold them accountable...in the name of profits, usually at the expense of the working class and poor.
That pretty solidly eliminates what should be a Democracy.
We are now a Corporatocracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatocracy
“- is a term used as an economic and political system controlled by corporations or corporate interests.[SUP][1][/SUP] It is a generally pejorative term often used by critics of the current economic situation in a particular country, especially the United States.”
How did this happen to us? How could we just sit back and let the profiteers take over like they have?
No one...not a single person who contributed to the bank crash has seen jail time...not a single person...even those who have been found grossly negligent, or worse purposefully criminal.
I don’t want my Son to grow us in this world if this is all he has to look forward to.
"Yale professor and economist Robert J. Shiller, who was among three Americans who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2013, believes that rising economic inequality in the United States and other countries is "the most important problem that we are facing now today."
"Conservatives like to say that "a rising tide lifts all boats." In other words, if an executive makes $20 million a year, his income will eventually trickle down into the rest of the economy and ultimately benefit poor people.But that theory hasn't exactly proven true. The highest-earning 20 percent of Americans have been making more and more over the past 40 years. Yet no other boats have risen; in fact, they're sinking. Over the same 40 years, the lowest-earning 60 percent of Americans have been making less and less."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/06/rich-richer_n_4731408.html

Top 1% own 38.1%
Top 96-99% own 21.3%
Top 90-95% own 11.5%
And it gets much uglier as you proceed downward. Bottom 40% of population has 0.2% of all wealth.

So the reason I decided to finally compile most of this together (and believe me there is SO MUCH MORE I could post concerning this issue) is because I personally feel helpless...but I don’t want to be...I want to fight it...I want to make it better, if not for me, then for my Son and his children.
I need thoughts and ideas on what we can do.
You can throw your political ideology in here if you like, but that isn’t the point of this thread...I don’t really care if you disagree with what I have posted.
I am NOT going to debate you on the state of politics and my own viewpoint.
I want constructive ways to fix what has been broken.
I am asking for your help.
Thank you.

You can change yourself and lead by example. Get active in your community. Others will change when they are too uncomfortable. So if that happens you need to be able to sell the idea of happiness without lavish. Invite people to come together for fun. Being close with someone going through hardship adds a face to it. Or sell how they save and benifit by change. Sell small steps. People may try something small. Praise what you do see that benefit wholely. Like stroke the ego of someone looking at organic veggies by saying something like " good taste, I bought that . . . and was complimented on how good it was." People want to be praised on their taste. Tell people when you recognize something good that "should be" common practice. They feel it and others get to see that it isn't thankless being kind. Encourage people to be empathetic.
Ok I'm sorry this turned into a rant. In conclusion the best you can do is be an example of compassion.

 

[Skarekrow]

In conclusion the best you can do is be an example of compassion.

I agree 100%, thank you!

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Friday, October 27, 2017
Common Dreams
White House Places All Blame for 'Astonishingly Corrupt' Whitefish Contract on Puerto Rico
Advocacy groups are calling for the deal to be cancelled and congressional Democrats are demanding an investigation
Jake Johnson, staff writer

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks to the media during her daily press briefing at the White House on October 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Amid growing outrage over the "astonishingly corrupt" $300 million no-bid contract given to Whitefish Energy to rebuild Puerto Rico's electrical grid, the Trump White House on Friday denied that the federal government had "any role" in crafting the agreement and placed all responsibility for the deal on shoulders of local Puerto Rican officials—despite language in the contract saying the Federal Emergency Management Agency "reviewed and approved" the agreement.

"This is a contract that was determined by the local authorities in Puerto Rico, not something that the federal government played a role in," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a briefing on Friday. "But as we understand, there is an ongoing audit and we’ll look forward to seeing the results of that later."

Watch:

"This was a state and local decision made by Puerto Rican authorities," @PressSec says of Whitefish Energy contract https://t.co/Jpp4Q84yjp pic.twitter.com/IgeYXroEDs
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 27, 2017

Shortly following the White House's denial of responsibility for a deal that has already sparked congressional scrutiny, Sierra Club wrote on Twitter: "This administration cannot be trusted. A full investigation must be launched and this contract must be cancelled."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...hingly-corrupt-whitefish-contract-puerto-rico


I remember in the 90s a historian saying that there is a tradition in Sweden to launch an investigation, when something goes wrong, i.e. something embarrassing happens. We are not alone.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

In Washington D.C., it is well understood that the game of politics is all about the money. If I win my election, and online polling suggests that there is a ton of enthusiasm for my campaign, I will be expected to spend most of my time on the phone raising money. As a freshman member of Congress, at orientation it will be explained to me that I am supposed to spend approximately four hours a day doing fundraising, and that is why the House and Senate floors are so empty most of the time.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...buy-politicians-and-incumbents-almost-always-


Four hours a day! You are basically a slave as a politician.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Beyond Catalonia: pro-independence movements in Europe
Nationhood and autonomy are issues that transcend north-east Spain, with others wanting to redraw the map of Europe

https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uplo...39021npnv3pv5k1r/main-image2-showcase_860.png
https://www.theguardian.com/world/n...onia-pro-independence-movements-in-europe-map

Following Catalonia, there are more independence movements in Europe.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

What Legal Personhood for U.S. Rivers Would Do
Indian Country could finally see an end to nonconsented infrastructure projects if they follow New Zealand’s Maori in achieving legal protection for natural entities.

Kayla DeVault posted Sep 12, 2017

In mid-March of this year, New Zealand officially recognized the Whanganui River as a living entity with rights. The river, which the Maori consider their ancestor, is now offered protection through the New Zealand legal system against any human or human-led project that threatens its well-being. It is a critical precedent for acknowledging the Rights of Nature in legal systems around the world.

The communities seeking protection for their natural entities through this approach are operating from a non-Western, often indigenous paradigm that holds a spiritual reverence to homelands and natural systems and an urgency to protect their natural resources. These values are not held in the laws of colonial governments like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, or the United States. But that does not mean they cease to exist, and, in fact, we are seeing a revival.

In response to the Standing Rock Sioux battle against the Dakota Access pipeline, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin amended its constitution to include the Rights of Nature. This is the first time a North American tribe has used a Western legal framework to adopt such laws. Some American municipalities have protected their watersheds against fracking by invoking Rights of Nature.

Operating from a Lakota paradigm, the oil pipeline damage to Standing Rock sacred sites and threats to the Missouri River are an infringement on spiritual connection. Consider the irony of a Western paradigm that gives corporations the rights of people while government agencies give insufficient protection to the actual people affected. What if these waters—connected to the Creation Stories of the Lakota communities—were given legal personhood?

[...]

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/j...od-but-rivers-dont-that-could-change-20170912

Legal personhood for companies in the US.

Legal personhood for rivers in New Zealand.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

Standing Rock Documentary: Who, What and Why of the DAPL Protests (Must Watch)


Protect Mother Earth

Published on Feb 23, 2017

Meet the youth at the heart of the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. For months, the International Indigenous Youth Council, known for their commitment to peaceful ceremony, has helped steer the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's efforts to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Native American protests against the Dakota Access pipeline have become an international rallying cry for indigenous rights and climate change activism, drawing thousands to the rural area of Cannon Ball, North Dakota. As the controversial oil pipeline approaches the river that the Standing Rock Sioux tribe fears it will contaminate – and as a militarized police force continues to engage in tense standoffs with demonstrators – here is what we know so far.

Subscribe for latest Update: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIlo... Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProtectMearth​

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

The Pentagon Money Pit: $6.5 Trillion in Unaccountable Army Spending and No DoD Audit
April 11, 2017

According to a July 2016 Department of Defense Inspector General (DODIG) report, $6.5 trillion of Army Spending allocated to the Pentagon have no paper trail and no audit has been made by the Department of Defense (DOD) for the past two decades to resolve this issue. In other words, David Lindorff reported that “the Department of Defense has not been tracking or recording or auditing all of the taxpayer money allocated by Congress — what it was spent on, how well it was spent, or where the money actually ended up. There are enough opportunities here for corruption, bribery, secret funding of ‘black ops’ and illegal activities, and or course for simple waste to march a very large army, navy and air force through. And by the way, things aren’t any better at the Navy, Air Force and Marines.”

[...]

http://projectcensored.org/pentagon-money-pit-6-5-trillion-unaccountable-army-spending-no-dod-audit/


I remember that story about the 600 dollar toilet seat in the 1980's. I wonder how much the toilet paper cost.

 

[ImaginaryBloke]

A basic income for everyone? Yes, Finland shows it really can work
Aditya Chakrabortty

Mark Zuckerberg, Bernie Sanders and Elon Musk back the idea. And trials suggest it can liberate jobless people from a life of humiliation

Wednesday 1 November 2017 00.28 GMT

Finland Is Giving Citizens $660 A Month For Free As An Experiment (HBO) ​

​

In a speck of a village deep in the Finnish countryside, a man gets money for free. Each month, almost €560 (£500) is dropped into his bank account, with no strings attached. The cash is his to use as he wants. Who is his benefactor? The Helsinki government. The prelude to a thriller, perhaps, or some reality TV. But Juha Järvinen’s story is ultimately more exciting. He is a human lab rat in an experiment that could help to shape the future of the west.

Last Christmas, Järvinen was selected by the state as one of 2,000 unemployed people for a trial of universal basic income. You may have heard of UBI, or the policy of literally giving people money for nothing. It’s an idea that lights up the brains of both radical leftists – John McDonnell and Bernie Sanders – and Silicon Valley plutocrats such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. And in the long slump that has followed the banking crash, it is one of the few alternatives put forward that doesn’t taste like a reheat.

[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/31/finland-universal-basic-income


@Sandie33

 

[Skarekrow]

A basic income for everyone? Yes, Finland shows it really can work
Aditya Chakrabortty

Mark Zuckerberg, Bernie Sanders and Elon Musk back the idea. And trials suggest it can liberate jobless people from a life of humiliation

Wednesday 1 November 2017 00.28 GMT

Finland Is Giving Citizens $660 A Month For Free As An Experiment (HBO)

​

In a speck of a village deep in the Finnish countryside, a man gets money for free. Each month, almost €560 (£500) is dropped into his bank account, with no strings attached. The cash is his to use as he wants. Who is his benefactor? The Helsinki government. The prelude to a thriller, perhaps, or some reality TV. But Juha Järvinen’s story is ultimately more exciting. He is a human lab rat in an experiment that could help to shape the future of the west.

Last Christmas, Järvinen was selected by the state as one of 2,000 unemployed people for a trial of universal basic income. You may have heard of UBI, or the policy of literally giving people money for nothing. It’s an idea that lights up the brains of both radical leftists – John McDonnell and Bernie Sanders – and Silicon Valley plutocrats such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. And in the long slump that has followed the banking crash, it is one of the few alternatives put forward that doesn’t taste like a reheat.

[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/31/finland-universal-basic-income


@Sandie33

Would be interesting to see a trial for here - but there is no way it would ever fly in the US.
People here are not altruistic enough - they would want their own piece of the pie - and they don’t want to give money to those they have prejudged to be “unworthy” because of economic status.
See, here in the US, the right and conservatives for years have been trying to equate being poor with being lazy.
That all you need to do is work extra hard and you too can have the American dream...did you know the streets are paved in gold too?
Just hike up your bootstraps and it’s super-easy to pull yourself out of poverty when you have no tools or help at your disposal.
People would hate those who got a basic income - while they have to work - even though it would be such a small amount of money - people here are too selfish.
But it’s also because more and more people can’t afford themselves to help other people when they are living paycheck to paycheck themselves.
The cost of everything continues to rise and the middle class wages have stagnated since the early 80’s.
This new round of tax cuts for the wealthy if it passes is the reverse of what a basic income is...it’s taking money from the poor and those who really need it to justify cutting taxes on those who can afford to pay them, plus some.
It’s BS and I’m hoping it doesn’t pass Congress.

 

[Sandie33]

A basic income for everyone? Yes, Finland shows it really can work
Aditya Chakrabortty

Mark Zuckerberg, Bernie Sanders and Elon Musk back the idea. And trials suggest it can liberate jobless people from a life of humiliation

Wednesday 1 November 2017 00.28 GMT

Finland Is Giving Citizens $660 A Month For Free As An Experiment (HBO)

​

In a speck of a village deep in the Finnish countryside, a man gets money for free. Each month, almost €560 (£500) is dropped into his bank account, with no strings attached. The cash is his to use as he wants. Who is his benefactor? The Helsinki government. The prelude to a thriller, perhaps, or some reality TV. But Juha Järvinen’s story is ultimately more exciting. He is a human lab rat in an experiment that could help to shape the future of the west.

Last Christmas, Järvinen was selected by the state as one of 2,000 unemployed people for a trial of universal basic income. You may have heard of UBI, or the policy of literally giving people money for nothing. It’s an idea that lights up the brains of both radical leftists – John McDonnell and Bernie Sanders – and Silicon Valley plutocrats such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. And in the long slump that has followed the banking crash, it is one of the few alternatives put forward that doesn’t taste like a reheat.

[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/31/finland-universal-basic-income


@Sandie33

Great article @ImaginaryBloke, thank you!

 

[TechnocolorJET]

Would be interesting to see a trial for here - but there is no way it would ever fly in the US.
People here are not altruistic enough - they would want their own piece of the pie - and they don’t want to give money to those they have prejudged to be “unworthy” because of economic status.
See, here in the US, the right and conservatives for years have been trying to equate being poor with being lazy.
That all you need to do is work extra hard and you too can have the American dream...did you know the streets are paved in gold too?
Just hike up your bootstraps and it’s super-easy to pull yourself out of poverty when you have no tools or help at your disposal.
People would hate those who got a basic income - while they have to work - even though it would be such a small amount of money - people here are too selfish.
But it’s also because more and more people can’t afford themselves to help other people when they are living paycheck to paycheck themselves.
The cost of everything continues to rise and the middle class wages have stagnated since the early 80’s.
This new round of tax cuts for the wealthy if it passes is the reverse of what a basic income is...it’s taking money from the poor and those who really need it to justify cutting taxes on those who can afford to pay them, plus some.
It’s BS and I’m hoping it doesn’t pass Congress.

I think it will sell itself in a generation or two. People won't just sit at home and do nothing. They will add to productivity in ways that will flourish and this stale way will finally be remodeled here. Kids are smart. They will see what is working.

I'm glad that they are doing studies to provide facts for the doubters.

 

[Skarekrow]

I think it will sell itself in a generation or two. People won't just sit at home and do nothing. They will add to productivity in ways that will flourish and this stale way will finally be remodeled here. Kids are smart. They will see what is working.

I'm glad that they are doing studies to provide facts for the doubters.

For sure, I agree that the current group of Baby Boomers and former 80’s yuppies are holding back changes that would be...need to be fixed in our society that the current group seems happy to ignore and kick the can down the road.
It would be nice to see such a thing happen...I don’t mean to sound pessimistic...I just don’t see it happening with the current mindset of a portion of our country who equate being poor to being lazy, when usually they work far harder than the 1% born rich moving investments around and watching their stocks grow.
One day...hopefully.