Last Saturday, August 22, around 10,000 citizens went down to the streets of Helsinki to protest against the governmental austerity measures. Does this come as a surprise if Finland just elected a billionaire businessman as prime minister?
Donald Trump, the bombastic builder of Trump towers and Trump gambling casinos is moving from his reality TV show to the theater of presidential elections. If he survives the first three months of mass media drubbing him and his notorious affliction of ‘leaving no impulsive opinion behind,’ he’s going to be trouble for the other fifteen or so Republican presidential candidates.
Last week we looked at the History Channel's account of the pivotal election of 1896 ("Wall Street vs Main Street, 1896"), which pitted populist icon William Jennings Bryan (D-NE) against Wall Street shill William McKinley (R-OH). McKinley was hand-picked as the GOP nominee by the three most powerful oligarchs in America-- John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan-- along with plutocrat Ohio Senator Mark Hanna. They then endeavored, successfully, to steal the election for McKinley.
by Gaius PubliusI was going to write about the collapse of the Democratic Party in the Senate (thanks, Harry Reid; you too, Patty Murray), but I think I'll save that. The other news is this — the battle over water in California. This isn't a drought story.
Do you want to know who made this lovely little documentary about Serge Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes possible?by KenThis is another of those stories you couldn't make up.Last night I wrote a post called "'Why are science museums in bed with science deniers?' (actor-activist Mark Ruffalo)," which I had finished far enough ahead of time (an hour, and maybe even a few minutes more) that by the time it was posting, I was enjoying an episode of DCI Banks on my local PBS station.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)by Gaius PubliusAre progressives willing to attack Ron Wyden on TPP? The question isn't mine — it's from the National Journal (my emphasis throughout):
Manufactured image, but speaks the truth (source)by Gaius Publius Howie has been covering the upcoming (perhaps) Netanyahu speech before Congress in light of (1) the relationship between Israel and the U.S., (2) the relationship between people like billionaires
Plus "Smelly Shelly" Silver update (see below)Chucky Koch, the brains of the Koch Bros. (little bro Davy, whom we see below, would be more like the sexy front guy), is seen here in 2012 in his office in Wichita."In 2014, Democrats made a concerted effort to make the Kochs into bogeymen. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) routinely used Senate floor speeches to castigate them.
[Click to enlarge.]by Gaius PubliusIn a tweaky tweet, the bipartisan right-wing organization and billionairist propaganda machine known as "Fix The Debt" challenged President Obama to mention seven "fiscal speed bumps" in his State of the Union address.
The ideological deficiency, not to say the total lack of ideology, within the national liberation movements — which is basically due to ignorance of the historical reality which these movements claim to transform — constitutes one of the greatest weaknesses of our struggle against imperialism, if not the greatest weakness of all.
— Amilcar Cabral1
