DL Open Thread: Sun., Nov. 10, 2019
Pity The Poor Billionaires. Finally, a debate over the role of billionaires in America. Something tells me that ‘Save the Billionaires’ is not a winning rally cry. In fact, they make the perfect villains b/c many of them are villains. Making Elizabeth Warren perhaps a…heroine?
D’s Elect Shitload of Judges in Texas, R’s Move To Eliminate Judicial Elections. But only for municipalities like Houston, that are electing all those black justices. Rethugs gonna Rethug.
Looks Like Bolton Released Aid To Ukraine, Bypassing Mulvaney. No wonder Mulvaney seeks to hide behind Executive Privilege.
Hope For Brazil As Lula Proclaims ‘I’m Back’. Popular former leader goes after Bolsonaro upon being released from prison.
The Sleazy Antics Of Joe Biden And His Family. Alby posted this yesterday. But it’s absolute must reading for those who have been oblivious to the sleazy ethics of the self-styled ‘poorest Senator in Washington’. Just another self-entitled pol. Please read it.
What do you want to talk about?
SF Elects Progressive As District Attorney:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/10/progressive-lawyer-wins-san-francisco-district-attorney-race-continuing-national-reform-trend/
Can locking up rogue cops be far behind?
Yeah. Elected a guy that is OK with pissing in the street.
Can spending nearly a million taxpayer dollars a year on picking up human shit from the streets be far behind?
Actually they already did that.
https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-poop-patrol-employees-make-184000-a-year-2018-8?r=US&IR=T
If that isn’t the perfect illustration of liberal policymaking I don’t know what is.
Speaking of local results. The Socialist Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant fought off an Amazon selected and funded challenger. Big loss for Bezos here.
“Amazon routed $1.5 million through the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s no-limit political action committee (PAC) to combat Sawant and other candidates. The PAC spent nearly $450,000 backing Orion.
“It looks like our movement has won, and defended our socialist City Council seat for working people against the richest man in the world,” Sawant said at a news conference Saturday in Seattle, taking a triumphant swipe at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.”
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/socialist-kshama-sawant-declares-victory-in-tightly-contested-seattle-city-council-race/
Also, as you probably guessed, I’m elated Lula is free. Thanks for putting it in the daily round-up. This photo made my week.
https://mobile.twitter.com/BrianMteleSUR/status/1193353279268364288
How long do you think it will be before he’s assassinated?
It’s always a possibility. Evo Morales just won again in Bolivia & the right wing immediately began a coup attempt. (Morales has called for new elections.)
Lula remains Immensely popular though. Like numbers you’d never see in the US. And he isn’t scared.
Additionally, in a message seemingly crafted directly for me, Lula has endorsed Bernie.
https://mobile.twitter.com/LulaOficial/status/1192936144759140355
I dunno, it seems inevitable to me. Do right-wing South Americans have any other tactics for dealing with the opposition beyond coups and assassinations?
“Some billionaires seem confused about how much they would pay under Elizabeth’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax. Don’t worry, now we have a calculator for that too.”
https://elizabethwarren.com/calculator/ultra-millionaire-tax
One thing critics of a wealth tax always complain about it how, if applied every year, it will eventually — see if you can follow this — reduce their wealth.
One is tempted to point out that reducing inequality isn’t possible without reducing the wealth of billionaires, but even media pundits who repeat this argument in good faith ignore the research showing that the reason rich people want more is that that’s how they keep score. If all lose a proportional amount of their wealth, each retains his place in the hierarchy, obviating the psychological need for more.
In short, it’s not necessarily the blow to their fragile egos that pundits imagine it would be.
When Bill Gates “retired” his net worth was round about $50 billion. He pledged to spend the rest of his life giving his money away.
So a dozen years on he is now worth over $100 billion.
Ok
You called it: Morales is out.
A link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/world/americas/evo-morales-bolivia.html
Unfortunately we’ve all seen this movie many times before.
The Central Intelligence Agency’s production company is very prolific.
The news is the death squads are out and he’s on the run. Evo’s home was invaded and ransacked last night.
Good. Another filthy commie on the run. The people have spoken.
When you are trolling one commenter, please try not to bring such weak shit. Thanks!
Flithy commie = first indigenous president of Bolivia who lifted millions out of poverty and hunger.
The people = The military backed by OAS. You should research OAS and CIA. (Sorry, should have asked. Can you read? Do you know what OAS is?)
Average health figures in Bolivia have been on the acendency. For example, the average height of Bolivian men and women has increased as malnutrition was addressed.
Cool troll though bro.
For easy reference. Whereby a flithy commie drives massive gains in CPI & wages against inflation and overall GDP!
https://mobile.twitter.com/sunraysunray/status/1193637264691286019
Communist! Hahaha. You fucking absolute dunce.
Also, please comment more often. I enjoy embarrassing you!
Ooooooh! A bunch of commies on Twitter defending another commie. Now there’s something that hardly ever happens. You sure got the best of me there though!
You’re very intelligent. We can tell. You brought all the facts to the table. Lol.
In other words, you got nothin’. Just once, address substance, to show us you can do it.
Let’s not be too hasty. If he’s arguing that the communists have all the facts and have the best understanding of the situation than he’s absolutely right.
He proved it right here! 😂
Here’s some facts. All he did was nationalize some industries, borrow a shitload of foreign cash, and redistribute money from the makers to the takers. Basically the Bernie playbook.
But as a typical commie he had no understanding of basic economics. Commodity prices fall, of course nationalized industries tend to fall apart over time, and the debts come due.
This guy saw it coming.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-22/bolivia-s-problem-is-macroeconomics-not-socialism
No more money to give to the takers, and next thing you know they are out in the street. Now both the makers and the takers are pissed.
Hint: If the people, the police, and the military want you out, maybe the problem is you.
So are any of these Latin American commies going to survive? Not many left at this point.
Bloomberg.
Got anything from The Economist or Financial Times?
How about from the Wall Street Journal editorial board.
Haha. You absolute fucking donkey…. Lol
Win 4 straight elections (like FDR) and deposed by the military. Hahaha. You’re smart.
@xyz: Thank you for linking to a story that pointedly notes that Bolivia’s problem was NOT socialism but “markets” — in other words, capitalism.
I don’t think you understand half of what you claim to.
I think I do. Let commies run your country and it tends to fall apart. Read carefully Alby – maybe even move your lips a little as you breath through your mouth, or run your fat little finger across the page to help with comprehension. The problem was not “markets” – it was a failure to understand markets and basic economics.
But commies gotta commie. Go Bernie! Go AOC!
Hahahaha! It’s a rEd ScARe!
You should take your own advice. The article pointedly says that socialism isn’t the problem. The basic macroeconomic problems cited are that the currency is pegged to the dollar, and that commodities markets — a capitalist way of dealing with markets — are fickle.
As I stated, and you have done nothing to disprove, you show no signs of understanding any of the things you link to. Stop pretending to be smart enough to hang here.
PS: My fingers are short, not fat. And you are in no position to insult anyone’s intelligence, having demonstrated so little of your own.
XYZ,
You don’t have the slightest idea of communism, socialism or any other form of civilized society’s economic constructs.
Now here’s the problem with toilet drinkers like you. You are obviously not a “maker” (if so prove it) and you are most likely a “taker” (roads, tax cuts, police and fire protections, health care and all of the many other “entitlements” lowlife defenders of “Capitalism/Wall Street”) such as you rail against. You sit at the table of Democracy and stuff your glutton’s mouth with the fruits of other people’s labors and when you are full you prefer to dump all of the extras into that same repository you drink from rather than sharing with anyone in need. Your soulless meanderings about what others deserve and do not deserve is an affront to any warm blooded creature of conscience and your heartless contempt for the needs of those less fortunate can only come from the blackened soul of a bitter, insecure and selfish specimen who cannot acknowledge his/her own failings.
Rep. Kowalko
I believe that every citizen in a true democracy has the right to have their vote counted in an election. Additionally I believe that the candidates in a democratic election are bound to respect the will of the voters and the results of such an election.
Morales clearly does not share these beliefs. How about you? You are OK with elected officials refusing to leave office when they lose their reelection bid? Or stuffing the ballot box?
I have paid well north of half a million dollars in taxes in the course of my working life. How about you?
I pay your salary and respect your efforts in representing my district, obviously that respect is not reciprocated. But that’s OK, maturity and respect for those with a differing viewpoint is clearly not your long suit.
Evo won the election. There is zero evidence of election problems. So there’s that part.
If you’d like to learn what actually happened feel free to listen to Mark Weisbrot the co-director of Center for Economic & Policy research. His interview with Sam Seder begins at around 26 minutes.
Or you could continue to sound stupid.
https://youtu.be/wz1C4D1MMt4
Look up “Quick Count screenshots”
You’re welcome
“maturity and respect for those with a differing viewpoint is clearly not your long suit.”
Irony alert.
All families in Delaware pay my salary and I am responsible to all of them. I am entrusted with ensuring that the needs of the haves and have-nots are met in order to allow all to live with a semblance of dignity and respect. The selfish opinions you’ve expressed regarding those who are forced to struggle because of pathetically low wages paid by greedy corporations or the unaffordability of health care and medications needed by them or the inability to provide basic sustenance for their families because of circumstances beyond their control speaks volumes to your lack of maturity and respect for those less fortunate than you. Yours is not a different “viewpoint” and your expressed “viewpoint” does not deserve any respectful consideration from me. You may feel that you are a “maker” because you have paid a fair share of taxes (I presume) but I know that you are also a “taker” (as is your right) when you use the assets and infrastructural necessities provided by the government that you pay taxes to. You are correct in one regard however. I will never respect the position you have consistently expressed that the less fortunate deserve less from their government. Certainly less than the wealthier class just because the wealthier class pays more in taxes. I’m happy to hear that you pay your full tax obligation and I’m proud that I pay mine but that is an obligation required for living in America and enjoying and sharing the fruits of democracy. It is not some type of forced sacrifice on your part and deserves no additional modicum of “respect”. A sincere concern and commitment to a moral obligation to help and support those in need earns all of my “respect” and to deny or ignore that moral obligation deserves my “disdain”.
Representative John Kowalko
CIA coups are often about resources and commodities (oil, fruit, coffee).
Google Bolivia and lithium (for batteries) to learn more!
And for the record, this guy saw it coming too.
Me!
Because when state resources go to poor, indigenous people who are literally starving (“takers”) international capital does not appreciate it.
toilet drinkers. Good one Rep K!
Lots of video of right wing gang violence today. Patricia Arce, the mayor of Vinto, was brutally attacked in the street for the crime of being in Morales’ MAS party. She was beaten. Doused in red paint and had her hair cut & ripped out with knives.
The Wiphala flag of the original indigenous peoples is being burned.
Fernando Camacho, leader of the opposition and military coup d’etat in Bolivia, placed a Bible on the flag inside the government palace. Then, he announces that “Pachamama (goddess venerated by indigenous Andean peoples) will never return to the Palace. Bolivia belongs to Christ.”
It’s a capitalist fascist coup driven by white (European) supremacists.
If xzy or ABC or TK or FU want to come on the podcast to explain the history of OAS and the pink tide movement my door is open. I’ll insist you use your real name though, so I can also embarrass your families.
FYI This from about 90 minutes ago. Morakes supporters with Wiphala flags are charging by the thousands in La Paz. The are chanting… “Ahora sí, guerra civil”
Now yes civil war
https://mobile.twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1193983796259041280
teleSur us a trusted Latin American news outlet.
All best wishes and solidarity to anyone anywhere who has no other alternative but to rise up against fascism and military rule.
I was paying attention when DiStephano wrote about Biden and the shady bit of business – the DBOT (DE Board of Trade) supported by Gordon/ Grimaldi
“Hynansky has bet not just on Biden but also on members of his inner circle. In 2015, Biden’s former chief of staff Dennis Toner was a leading promoter of the Delaware Board of Trade (DBOT), a digital penny-stock market started after Barack Obama signed a securities deregulation law. Failing to raise money on Wall Street, the group persuaded Tom Gordon, then head of the county government where Biden held his first elected office, to lend DBOT $3 million. Hynansky then joined Toner, a United Arab Emirates sheikh, and a Republican state representative as investors.”
WELL the DBOT is also in a Resolution before NCC Council tomorrow night.
R19-213: SUPPORTING AN AMENDMENT TO A SECURITY AGREEMENT
WITH DELAWARE BOARD OF TRADE HOLDINGS, INC. Introduced by: Mr. Smiley,
Mr. Cartier
Smiley and Cartier propose to agree with the DBOT’s new owners who are asking NCC to eliminate the terms for the loan’s collateral !!!
In lieu for a swap for DBOT stock?
https://www.nccde.org/DocumentCenter/View/35550/R19-213
This complex 13 page Resolution gets a place on tomorrow’s Finance Committee agenda in the afternoon and jumps to the evening meeting agenda.
I can only say WTF?
The public will have little to no chance to hear the deliberations of council in the afternoon ‘public hearing’ less than an hour before the evening vote on the Resolution. Can our council actually process this complicated deal-away in a matter of minutes and feel ok about a vote in favor?
Whoa. That train needs to sit in the station for awhile.
That’s a good catch, Nancy.
Doug Rainey has an essay that sort of says this is a bad idea. Weird that he doesn’t seem to want to spell it out – Payback time for Board of Trade loan from New Castle County
“On Tuesday night, the New Castle County Council take [sic] a look at a resolution that would allow County Executive Matt Meyer to negotiate an agreement with the new owner of the Delaware Board of Trade that would repay a controversial $3 million loan with stock.
The loan for the Board of Trade had been secured by the software that runs its trading system.
The new owner, Ideanomics now wants to replace the software and compensate the county via stock in the New York company. Ideanomics has a technology center in Connecticut and offices in Beijing.
At first glance, taking stock looks like a bad idea unless the shares are immediately sold at a guaranteed price, without commissions and other charges.
It is hard to see the stock as a long-term holding. Stock in Ideanomics has traded at more than $5 a share in 2018, but as of Monday stood at $1.10. That’s hardly a widows and orphans stock.
In 2015, Former County Executive Tom Gordon, pushed for the funding for the Board of Trade as part of his economic development strategy that for a time focused on building another port on the Delaware River.
In making the case for the loan, he noted that the interest rate was higher than amount earned from the park fund where it resided. In other words, the county became a bank.
Even at that time, the idea of using software as collateral was controversial, since its value can evaporate with new technology. (Anyone want to buy my old version of QuickBooks?). Others wondered why the venture could not find $3 million elsewhere.
The Board of Trade has muddled along in downtown Wilmington while remaining current on the loan.
The venture has retained a handful of employees, far fewer than the number touted by backers of the venture. Early projections called for the venture to attract highly paid traders along with support staff.
One way or another, the county wants its loan money back. As a taxpayer and user of county parks, cash is my preference.”
Maybe if people learned what’s happening in the world instead of telling us how much taxes they’ve paid in their lives they wouldnt make such a fool of themselves.
At least it explains the anonymity. I wouldn’t use my real name either if I didn’t know what the fuck I was talking about. So that’s a silver lining.
Also, last thing, here’s how you know it’s a coup d’etat. Regardless of the election results Evo’s term would run through the end of the year. His current term wasn’t even over!
It’s fun to know things!
No. He cheated.
Dude, if the Guardian is calling out a commie, it’s a safe bet the commie cheated.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/evo-morales-concedes-to-new-elections-after-serious-irregularities-found
Your explanation for the 24 hr delay and sudden change in the totals, putting the commie up by juuuuust enough to avoid a runoff after the count resumed?
Your explanation for why the commie was going to call for another vote?
Your explanation for why the COB has called for his resignation?
How willfully ignorant can you possibly be?
Never mind, I think you already answered the question.
Pink tide receding, almost all the way out. Sucks to be a commie these days, doesn’t it?
Nah. I gave you the info. I’m done with you.
No irregularities. I gave you the link.
Just say you support right wing military coups because you love freedom.
Pink tide is coming back. See also AMLO, Argentina recent election, Lula is free. Don’t forgot how the coup failed in Venezuela! They tried that for like a month!
You’re just a piece of shit fascist my dude.
For the literate, here’s a link to the full report Weisbrot was discussing with Seder in the clip above.
http://cepr.net/publications/reports/bolivia-elections-2019-11
My guess is you don’t math much.
Pretty meaningless simulation if you know anything about simulation.
Plus the source is basically Pravda.