MesoTrumplings ...
MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
- Thread starter CdnGuy
- Start date
The potential power of the ultra-right attack on the far right is [illustrated] by the fact that Moore spent about $200,000, in contrast to his Trump-backed opponent, the merely far-right Luther Strange, who received more than $10 million from the national GOP and other far-right sources. The ultra-right is spearheaded by Steve Bannon, one of the most dangerous figures in the shiver-inducing array that has come to the fore in recent years. It has the huge financial support of the Mercer family, along with ample media outreach through Breitbart news, talk radio and the rest of the toxic bubble in which loyalists trap themselves.
In the most powerful state in history, the current Republican Party is ominous enough. What is not far on the horizon is even more menacing.
Much has been said about how Trump has pulled the cork out of the bottle and legitimized neo-Nazism, rabid white supremacy, misogyny and other pathologies that had been festering beneath the surface. But it goes much beyond even that.
I do not want to suggest that adoration of the Dear Leader is something new in American politics, or confined to the vulgar masses. The veneration of Reagan that has been diligently fostered has some of the same character, in intellectual circles as well. Thus, in publications of the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, we learn that Reagan's "spirit seems to stride the country, watching us like a warm and friendly ghost." Lucky us, protected from harm by a demi-god.
Whether by design, or simply inertia, the Republican wrecking ball has been following a two-level strategy. Trump keeps the spotlight on himself with one act after another, assuming (correctly) that yesterday's antics will be swept aside by today's. And at the same time, often beneath the radar, the "respectable" Republican establishment chips away at government programs that might be of benefit to the general population, but not to their constituency of extreme wealth and corporate power. They are systematically pursuing what Financial Times economic correspondent Martin Wolf calls "pluto-populism," a doctrine that imposes "policies that benefit plutocrats, justified by populist rhetoric." An amalgam that has registered unpleasant successes in the past as well.
Last edited:
The facts are startling. It's an international scandal, and not unknown. A recent study by the US-based Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan health policy research group, found that once again, as repeatedly in the past, the US health care system is the most expensive in the world, far higher than comparable countries, and that it ranks last in performance among these countries. To have combined these two results is a real triumph of the market. The roots of the achievement are not obscure. The US is alone in relying on largely unregulated private insurance companies. Their commitment is to profit, not health, and they produce huge waste in administrative costs, advertising, profit and executive compensation. The government-run component of the health system (Medicare) is far more efficient, but suffers from the need to work through the private institutions. The US is also alone in legislation barring the government from negotiating drug prices, which, not surprisingly, are far above comparable countries.
These policies do not reflect popular will. Poll results vary, depending on how questions are formulated, but over time, they show considerable, often majority support for a public health system of the kind found elsewhere. Usually, Canada is the model because so little is known about the rest of the world, though it is not ranked as the best. That prize has regularly been won by the British National Health Service, though it, too, is reeling under the neoliberal assault. When Obama's [Affordable Care Act] was introduced, it included a public option, supported by almost two-thirds of the population. It was unceremoniously deleted. Popular opinion is particularly striking in that [it] receives so little mainstream support, even articulation; and if even brought up, is usually condemned. The main argument against the far more successful systems elsewhere is that adopting their framework would raise taxes. [However, single-payer usually results in] cutting expenses considerably more and benefitting the large majority -- so the experience of other countries indicates, [as does] US Medicare.
Pyongyang (CNN)A senior North Korean official has issued a stern warning to the world that it should take "literally" his country's threat to test a nuclear weapon above ground.
The official, Ri Yong Pil, told CNN in an exclusive conversation in Pyongyang that the threat made by North Korea's foreign minister last month should not be dismissed. North Korea "has always brought its words into action," Ri said, visibly angry.
Speaking on a visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly last month, Ri Yong Ho, the foreign minister, raised the possibility that North Korea could test a powerful hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean. The threat came hours after US President Donald Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea in a speech to the UN.
"The foreign minister is very well aware of the intentions of our supreme leader, so I think you should take his words literally," Ri told CNN in Pyongyang.
TrumPsychopath, TrumPOS ...
Oh No!!! MesoNazis ...
The biggest U.S. grid operator is asking regulators to reject Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s plan to prop up ailing coal and nuclear plants.
"I don’t know how this proposal could be implemented without a detrimental impact on the market," Andrew Ott, who heads up PJM Interconnection LLC, told reporters by phone Monday. Perry’s proposal is "discriminatory" and inconsistent with federal law, Ott said.
In response to rising retirements in PJM and elsewhere, http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2017/09/secretary-perry-seeks-market-rules-that-properly-value-coal-nuclear-generation.html to change the way that wholesale power markets price electricity so that certain coal and nuclear generators can recover their costs. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2017/10/how-catastrophic-is-perry-s-nopr-for-renewables.html from a wide coalition of natural gas producers, renewable energy generators, and public utilities, which argue that such an approach would distort markets, inhibit competition and raise consumer prices.
PJM, which spans more than a dozen states from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic and serves more than 65 million people, stands to be shaken up the most by the plan, which aims to reward plants capable of storing 90 days of fuel supplies at their sites. Coal accounts for one-third of electricity generation in PJM, which retired more than 19 GW of coal-fired power between 2011 and 2016.
Waterborne illnesses are on the rise in Puerto Rico in the wake Hurricane Maria — and health professionals fear the storm's aftermath could unleash an epidemic on the devastated island.
The death toll from to the storm rose to 51 on Tuesday, with the two latest victims dying of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease usually spread by contact with contaminated water, Puerto Rico Public Affairs Secretary Ramon Rosario told the Associated Press.
Authorities are investigating an additional 74 suspected cases of the infection as well, he said, and at least one additional previous death was attributed to the disease.
“It’s going to be higher, it’s like a perfect storm for leptospirosis, people are going to get sick and suffer,” said nurse Llamara Padro-Milano who returned last week from a relief trip to Puerto Rico with the American Federation of Teachers.
