Economic crises represent social and political transition points, times of great difficulty but also times of great opportunity: We now stand at the edge of one those rare windows in time...
Speech = money. On June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a decision of the Montana Supreme Court that had upheld a Montana state law prohibiting corporations from making expenditures supporting or opposing candidates or political parties. The Court held that the Montana decision was inconsistent with the high court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010). https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/american-tradition-partnership-inc-v-bullock/
The #WeThePeopleAmendment to the US Constitution unequivocally states that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.
I really was disappointed yesterday when a guy you were talking to wanted to dis Biden about inflation. You could of answered him it is not inflation, it is corporate gouging. I am reminded of that everytime I go grocery shopping or I get a notice or rate increases. Can't Biden do anything about the gouging of huge corporations? It looks like the FTC is going to allow the merger of albertson/safeway and Kroger. WTF
I think inflation is caused by many things. Trump comes to mind first. The supply line disruptions from China during the way Trump handled covid. The oil producing states withholding oil thanks to Trump's buddies. The Federal reserve chairman raising the interest rates that Trump appointed. Trump put tariffs on Chinese products. Also, the right wingers encourage corporate price gouging as well. I'm no Biden fan but I can't blame Biden for inflation. Right wing hate radio blames Biden all the time.
The Colorado AG has also uncovered evidence of criminal collusion between Kroger and Albertsons during a union strike against a Kroger owned supermarket chain in Colorado several years ago.
Biden and his surrogates could and should respond wit h the truth, like "it is not inflation, but corporate gouging", but they won't, they dance around without indicting the cash cow.. corporations. Everyone apparently slops at the money trough. We need backbone and fire in the DNC and administration.
I know Daniel. I totally know. At this moment in time Congress because it is controlled by the MAGats is an easily identifiable target.
The reason I did not vote after the 1964 election until 2016 is because I perceived that both parties were two sides of the same coin, they talk out one side of their mouth to get elected and out the other side once elected.
The Democrats have been in power and have had the opportunity to reverse course or at least change course of the Ship of State and did nothing., they did not want to alienate the donors. That's it, not even things that don't affect the donors bottom line, like DEI, legalizing gay marriage or abortion.
I see now that is because the donors do not have a single minded financial agenda, but many of them, like Mellon Scaife foundation also have a cultural agenda, and are financing the cultural war.
I don't care about the economy, the financial health of the nation, about GDP or the stock market because without individual freedoms, liberty, choice the ability to live, own your own body, make your own personal choices that affect no one, money is of no value, especially if you are persecuted, denied rights, rounded up, beaten or killed.
Hitler was good for Germany, until 1943, but bad, very bad for Jews, Queers,Socialists, Slavs and anyone he determined an enemy of the state are the Aryan peoples.
Frederick Thyssen, Henry Ford, GM.,Prescott Bush et al sure made out, before he rose to power, after he rose to power and after he committed suicide.
My case against politicians of all stripes is that they have no interest at all in the public weal, if they do then it falls by the wayside, after a couple of months inside the beltway and being tutored by the resident powers.
Here I am bloviating, yet will crawl over broken glass to vote to keep Trump and the Republicans away from the levers of power, because I know as bad as things are, they can get a whole lot worse,
Do people vote for or do they vote against?
The MAGAts aren't voting for Trump, they never were, they are voting against that which they fear, and shakes them to their bones, liberals, POC, the ungodly, immigrants, self validating women
They love Trump because he is their standard bearer, their avatar, their icon, they stand behind him, because he gives them license to be out front and open about who they really are, for the first time in our history,, well there was that period in the 1920's and 30's.
Anti trust enforcement is about the only way. Decades of looking the other way, by multiple DOJ s and POTUSes, will likely take multiple administrations to end the corporate policies of consumer gouging to gain political advantage.
Anti trust enforcement is about the only way. Decades of looking the other way, by multiple DOJ s and POTUSes, will likely take multiple administrations to end the corporate policies of consumer gouging to gain political advantage.
Probably your most important column, Mr. Hartmann. Perhaps the only way to rectify the great error of corporate personhood and money as speech is a blue wave lasting long enough to create an unassailable liberal majority on SCOTUS. Then tee up a case explicitly challenging those precepts harking back to that scurrilous head note, and reversing all the SCOTUS cases relying on it directly or indirectly. Absent that, we are looking at a new feudalism with billionaires as the aristocrats, or another era of great bloodshed with an uncertain outcome. So we have one mission: vote blue, everywhere, for every office, imperfect as some of those candidates may be. Because if you vote red, we’re all dead, or soon will be. That I sincerely believe.
The only way to change the Supreme court is for the In)Justices to die off, be impeached and/or jailed. all of which is possible if we can elect a government with a spine. What we have are pussy footing milquetoasts, ever hoping for favor from the donors.
Most are aware, but let it sink into oblivion, that Congress spends most of it's time on phones, soliciting political donations.. not from folk like you and me, but from "real money"
Reading only the headline though I read all posts most days I could simply answer YES! No data, no stats needed. Corporations own us, own our government, and are working hard to elect TFG. Talking especially about you, Jamie Dimon. Not rich enough. Feeling bad for you!
I showed this discussion to my son, who is a judge, and he agreed that the concept of corporate personhood is so deeply embedded in the law as to be immovable by conventional means. A constitutional amendment would be an excellent path, except for how difficult it is to get those through—and how much opposition there would be, thanks to Citizens United. As I’ve said here before, in a way that ruling was almost like AIDS for politics, since it added an invasive factor which destroyed the protective fabric of our system. And even if people get behind a change, we will have to be very careful in how this is worded—I can just see the push for “natural” to include the “unborn.”
Fossil fuel corporations control the anti-climate change narrative through the MSM, and MAGA has locked it in through fealty to Our Mad King Donald, even as 98% of climate scientists are seeing an acceleration of climate collapse leading to the certain extinction of life on planet earth. Even otherwise useless and always misleading CNN is featuring articles on "climate change", all the while promoting worldwide tourism, consumerism, total disregard for the biosphere, and ever larger human carbon footprints. Corporations were one thing when our population was a fraction of what it is today, and something far, far more evil in our massively overpopulated society. As usual, thanks, Thom, for your fine work and courageous patriotism.
There is a bright side to climate collapse and Gaia rebelling against the parasites that are befouling the very air they breathe, water they drink, food they eat and shelter in which they seek safety and comfort and that is... there is no escape, not even to Mars or the Moon, they who have profited over shitting in their bathtub will suffer the same fate as the rest of us.
Mankind can visit Mars and the Moon, but he can't live there. Though Elon Musk,the eternal idiot, thinks he can.
By the way Musk, Zuckerberg, Rick Scott, Dimon et al, aren't smart, but they do have the one requirement for wealth and power, Sociopathy and lack of morality and a conscience, divorce yourself of those and you too can become rich and powerful.
If you possess empathy, morals, a conscience then stay out of politics. Unless you represent a tight little community of people who share your values and beliefs, you will rise no higher than a local council member or like the Squad a safe, but ineffectual, seat in Congress.
Unless you are Madame Graham, a Mike Johnson, a Donald Trump, or a MAGAt success in politics requires a lack of values and ethics, because success depends on that filthy word "pragmatism" which means that you hold no true values or goals and you gauge success by compromise.
He or she who compromises with evil, is themselves evil.
Chamberlain compromised with Hitler when he allowed Hitler to walk into the Sudetenland.
Climate science. California sued five major oil companies — ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP — "which could prove an inflection point in the battle against human-caused climate change." Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island are pursuing similar legal actions.
So when are we going to sue Hydro Quebec? Between Russian hydroelectric power plants and Canada's mega reservoir hydroplants the major rivers up in the Northern Latitudes all along the subarctic regions have been destroyed. Many rivers have multiple dams, these dams are 400 feet to 800 feet tall, a definition of a river is flowing 24x 7, not so up there.. These dams store up to 90% of river flow throughtout the summer
Dam reservoirs are so huge they take 6-12 years to fill. storing that amount of water all summer long throughout the subarctic has forced an historically cool /cold dry climate to become wet and warmer. How about all the permafrost that has been melting under the reservoir waters adding even more fresh water and huge methane emissions.
Hydro Quebec continues to mislead the public and call this clean energy. Only during winter months throughout the subarctic this is when they generate the electricity. Try to imagine water temperatures coming well below the top of dams around 40F degrees F and imagine air temps 0 or -20
that is a lot of heat in the form of water vapor heating regions downstream from the outflows, heating them in the winter every winter for the past 50+ years. This form of hydroelectric (Strict Regulated Flow) has wrecked ecological havoc and has destab(ized Northern Hemisphere's climate and..... is continuing to do so unabated
Now imagine warmed freshwater dam discharge 10-20x greater than regular year-round river flow hitting the hudson and James bays and the st Lawrence estuaries, The delicate saline imbalance all this fresh-water is causing and is forcing the ice to melt and changing the ocean currents affecting the East and West coasts of US.
I'm old enough to have gone to law school when "the corporate veil" made no sense to me. People could do any harm, without personal responsibility, because of some paperwork in Delaware?
There are Quislings or Stepanfetch its, in the community of America descendants of Slaves (ADOS), most certainly you can see them on TV virtually fellating Trump, like Tim Scott, Kanye, Candace Owens, Herschel Walker, Clarence Thomas. they see monetary, social rewards and privilege by living in the "massahs" house. Just as Madam Graham fell to her knees, disgracing herself, fellating the would be god king.
You make a lot of sense Thom. Corporations do need to be taxed about 52%. That encourages them to invest in the working class mostly in America. If a corporation invests overseas I would tax them about 75%?
We also need to tax the rich up to 95% again. That will just postpone the suffering though. The human race will have to come to terms with the environment. Either have less babies or ride electric bicycles and live in little cubicles. Humans can't have it both ways!
Interesting not one mention of the Democratic Party's contributions to the current calamity of militarization and imperialism. Of course Thom your context is through a prism of nationalism and The International Division of Humanity so that the core problem of the duopoly's duping of their gullible bases into a tribalism that facilitates corporate rule is invisible. Biden has historically been as much a part of the problem as any politician in Washington, from his ardent racism in segregated busing, his 1994 Crime Bill which turned American's carceral state malignant and his public humiliation of Anita Hill to get Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court to his choosing of banks over students and workers to his militarization abroad and his dehumanization of the Palestinian people, the poor children of Yemen, his stopping of peace talks between Putin and Zelensky in March of 2022, and his grotesque nationalistic cheerleading for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Until we recognize that both parties are equally dangerous we will continue on a downward spiral in which a "progressive" talker blames China and Russia for their escalation to favor a presidential candidate who is not oriented to person, place or instead of looking at the real causes.
Barry said, "Of course Thom your context is through a prism of nationalism and The International Division of Humanity so that the core problem of the duopoly's duping of their gullible bases into a tribalism that facilitates corporate rule is invisible."
I need to think about that some more. How does the duopoly and tribalism facilitate corporate rule?
Gloria, please don't validate him. It is quite obvious that he has no concern or care for democracy, the U.S., you or I. He has one purpose and that is the same a a Russian troll farm, and that is to destroy the U.S. and our government, for the protection of Putin and his.
He has a lot say about our deficiencies and absolutely nothing to say about the house of horrors that is Russia.
He could care less about Palestine, but it serves as useful tool to weave into the conversation to suck in emotional people who lack knowledge and/or critical thinking skills.
I think he was channeling Sarah Palin word-salad with that. Some s---t we don't have to waste our life time on. Captain Kirk made many a computer blow up, you chill...
Everything is people except people. Humans when the leave the womb become liabilities, until they are big enough to pluck feathers and pick tomatoes, then they become a resource, to be consumed in the production of wealth.
"tiny, microscopic embryos" are god's lottery tickets, perishing according to god's will in untold numbers along the way to a certain percentage of surviving to birth. And that's without human intervention.
The rejection of fear by corporate rule will be overwhelmingly achieved in the near future. It cannot be otherwise as the human spirit will not be enslaved by anything. The swing is coming and will happen this year and fulfilled in the next 2 years. The pace is accelerating and seems to be going to April 8th eclipse.
The human spirit will not be enslaved by anything, you say Clayton.
History speaks otherwise, the 1000 year empire of Rome was built on slaves, the Greek democracy was built on slaves, Sparta called them helots, feudalism was built on enslavement to the property of dukes, lords and barons.
Sovereign rule exists only because the people have accepted slavery in any form.
The King commands and the people obey. Russians are enslaved by their master, those that think not, are murdered,imprisoned then murdered.
The path of the solar system through the galaxy, or the earth round the sun, or the moon around the earth has absolutely nothing to do with human affairs, only credulous dolts believe otherwise.
Financial corruption and crises led to increased regulation of corporations and the financial industry and corporations. Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank impose various financial reporting obligations on publicly traded companies. These Acts also protect, and even reward, whistleblowers (employees who report their employers violations of the laws by their employers), whistleblowers . Employees often fail to report the wrongdoing of their employers because they fear retaliation for whistleblowing.
I heard Sarbanes Oxley (SOX)/ Dodd Frank whistleblower cases. SOX whistleblower protection applies primarily to employees of public companies and contractors of public companies. The Dodd-Frank prohibition against whistleblower retaliation applies to “any employer,” not just public companies. I worked for DOL.
The SEC has a concurrent program. Congress created powerful incentives to encourage persons to report (i) potential violations of the federal securities laws to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)1 and (ii) potential violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”). Awards can range from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose any information that could reveal a whistleblower's identity E.G. https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-161#:~:text=Whistleblower%20awards%20can%20range%20from,could%20reveal%20a%20whistleblower's%20identity.
Astrology? I am not disrespectful. Too much "coincidence" in my life. But there have to be "birth dates," and there is no date on "the human spirit." What are you counting from?
Cycles 80 years mainly 1783, 1863, 1943, to 2023 plus or minus 2 years. You can find plenty of sages giving now 2024 for the next 2 years. April looks interesting. There are also meditations going around the world with one on Sunday 7 am UK which is Saturday 11pm Seattle that are reporting acceleration. I would suggest joining this one and maybe you will feel it yourself.
Does an 80-year cycle relate to anything astronomical? "Plus or minus 2 years" would seem to be nonsensical. What is "acceleration," and what am I supposed to join?
The Hebrew cycle of 40 years seems to be the basis. You do not have to join anything to be part of a meditation group. You just have to show up on time. In this case there are at least two different groups using the same time of Sunday 7 am local London time. I have to be ready at 11 pm Saturday at least until March 31 when UK daylight savings time ends which is different for Seattle that ends on March 10. I think that means midnight for Seattle for March 16, 23 and 30. Double check your time zone and good luck in feeling the acceleration for the first 15 minutes of the hour.
Your master class, Thom. Every history program in America should be teaching this---every law school too. Activists in this nation know this IS the problem and are trying to teach it too.
I would add that corporations can live forever. The very definition of what makes us human is that each PERSON knows the end will come for them. Smart ones are careful to not hasten it, loving ones plan for the future of others, and kind ones try to not be greedy. Corporations should have this moral code but rarely do.
I just heard a Republican say that our government should be run like a business. OH HELL NO! And ditto for fascism. It has taken a bloody fight to add real democracy to our republic. An economic crisis should be handled by a government of , for, and by the people not for the corporations.
About 11 years ago I went to the Texas Book Festival. It's a big deal. Authors from all over the world promoted their works in front of the Texas Capitol. There was a panel of historians who just wrote books about America in the late 19th Century. They pointed out that as Democracy and Capitalism developed in that period and became prominent, they were at odds with each other. They're always competing and one or the other will dominate for a while, and then the other will take over. They are basically incompatible.
Yes unlimited capitalism and democracy are incompatible without limits on campaign contributions. Like about $100 for unions and $100 for billionaires and corporations and individuals.
Also Christianity and capitalism are incompatible. Unregulated and unlimited greed is the opposite of what Jesus was preaching.
I am not contradicting you Thom, nor am I arguing with you, but we have to admit, that America was not founded as a democracy, it was founded as a Republic ruled by landed or property owning men.
That initially only property owning men could vote, that changed when the various state politico's realized that if they enfranchised non property owning men, they could triple their votes, and eventually, after the planters secession was beat down, bit by bit more groups were enfranchised
It took four amendments the 15th, 17th, 19th and 26th to franchise all Americans and finally produce a real democracy, which until they were enfranchised was a Republic as the founders envisioned.
Now men, and camp following women, want to reverse every advance and take us back to 1860.
I you like Helen I'm in an Arctic research group I can send you a book about all this that our senior member has spent 3 decades of research organizing many findings together. MY EMAIL if interested
The right wing granted personhood to corporations. Now it wants to grant personhood to embryos. What else will they want to grant personhood to… guns?
Speech = money. On June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a decision of the Montana Supreme Court that had upheld a Montana state law prohibiting corporations from making expenditures supporting or opposing candidates or political parties. The Court held that the Montana decision was inconsistent with the high court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010). https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/american-tradition-partnership-inc-v-bullock/
Also extends the 14th Amendment equal protection clause to "religion." Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. (06/27/2022) https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/kennedy-v-bremerton-school-district-2/
Religious objections by business owners who oppose same-sex marriage for religious reasons.
303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (06/30/2023) https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/303-creative-llc-v-elenis/
The #WeThePeopleAmendment to the US Constitution unequivocally states that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.
https://www.movetoamend.org/
Yup. I'll bet lots of folks name their guns like their dogs. Brilliant!
I really was disappointed yesterday when a guy you were talking to wanted to dis Biden about inflation. You could of answered him it is not inflation, it is corporate gouging. I am reminded of that everytime I go grocery shopping or I get a notice or rate increases. Can't Biden do anything about the gouging of huge corporations? It looks like the FTC is going to allow the merger of albertson/safeway and Kroger. WTF
yeah I will vote blue no matter who but getting pretty GD tired of it.
I think inflation is caused by many things. Trump comes to mind first. The supply line disruptions from China during the way Trump handled covid. The oil producing states withholding oil thanks to Trump's buddies. The Federal reserve chairman raising the interest rates that Trump appointed. Trump put tariffs on Chinese products. Also, the right wingers encourage corporate price gouging as well. I'm no Biden fan but I can't blame Biden for inflation. Right wing hate radio blames Biden all the time.
The FTC on Monday sued to block the Kroger/Albertsons merger as has nine other states and the District of Columbia.
The Colorado AG has also uncovered evidence of criminal collusion between Kroger and Albertsons during a union strike against a Kroger owned supermarket chain in Colorado several years ago.
Yippe! just read this AM
Biden and his surrogates could and should respond wit h the truth, like "it is not inflation, but corporate gouging", but they won't, they dance around without indicting the cash cow.. corporations. Everyone apparently slops at the money trough. We need backbone and fire in the DNC and administration.
Biden could not get authority from Congress.
He has been calling out some price fixers but doesn't have capacity to sue. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/27/white-house-supply-chain-bidenomics-wins.html#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20took%20aim,price%20gouging%2C%E2%80%9D%20Biden%20said.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/01/president-biden-takes-on-big-pharma-and-is-lowering-prescription-drug-prices/
California is suing Amazon for price fixing. https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-reveals-additional-evidence-antitrust-violations-lawsuit
I know Daniel. I totally know. At this moment in time Congress because it is controlled by the MAGats is an easily identifiable target.
The reason I did not vote after the 1964 election until 2016 is because I perceived that both parties were two sides of the same coin, they talk out one side of their mouth to get elected and out the other side once elected.
The Democrats have been in power and have had the opportunity to reverse course or at least change course of the Ship of State and did nothing., they did not want to alienate the donors. That's it, not even things that don't affect the donors bottom line, like DEI, legalizing gay marriage or abortion.
I see now that is because the donors do not have a single minded financial agenda, but many of them, like Mellon Scaife foundation also have a cultural agenda, and are financing the cultural war.
I don't care about the economy, the financial health of the nation, about GDP or the stock market because without individual freedoms, liberty, choice the ability to live, own your own body, make your own personal choices that affect no one, money is of no value, especially if you are persecuted, denied rights, rounded up, beaten or killed.
Hitler was good for Germany, until 1943, but bad, very bad for Jews, Queers,Socialists, Slavs and anyone he determined an enemy of the state are the Aryan peoples.
Frederick Thyssen, Henry Ford, GM.,Prescott Bush et al sure made out, before he rose to power, after he rose to power and after he committed suicide.
My case against politicians of all stripes is that they have no interest at all in the public weal, if they do then it falls by the wayside, after a couple of months inside the beltway and being tutored by the resident powers.
Here I am bloviating, yet will crawl over broken glass to vote to keep Trump and the Republicans away from the levers of power, because I know as bad as things are, they can get a whole lot worse,
Do people vote for or do they vote against?
The MAGAts aren't voting for Trump, they never were, they are voting against that which they fear, and shakes them to their bones, liberals, POC, the ungodly, immigrants, self validating women
They love Trump because he is their standard bearer, their avatar, their icon, they stand behind him, because he gives them license to be out front and open about who they really are, for the first time in our history,, well there was that period in the 1920's and 30's.
Anti trust enforcement is about the only way. Decades of looking the other way, by multiple DOJ s and POTUSes, will likely take multiple administrations to end the corporate policies of consumer gouging to gain political advantage.
Anti trust enforcement is about the only way. Decades of looking the other way, by multiple DOJ s and POTUSes, will likely take multiple administrations to end the corporate policies of consumer gouging to gain political advantage.
Probably your most important column, Mr. Hartmann. Perhaps the only way to rectify the great error of corporate personhood and money as speech is a blue wave lasting long enough to create an unassailable liberal majority on SCOTUS. Then tee up a case explicitly challenging those precepts harking back to that scurrilous head note, and reversing all the SCOTUS cases relying on it directly or indirectly. Absent that, we are looking at a new feudalism with billionaires as the aristocrats, or another era of great bloodshed with an uncertain outcome. So we have one mission: vote blue, everywhere, for every office, imperfect as some of those candidates may be. Because if you vote red, we’re all dead, or soon will be. That I sincerely believe.
The only way to change the Supreme court is for the In)Justices to die off, be impeached and/or jailed. all of which is possible if we can elect a government with a spine. What we have are pussy footing milquetoasts, ever hoping for favor from the donors.
Most are aware, but let it sink into oblivion, that Congress spends most of it's time on phones, soliciting political donations.. not from folk like you and me, but from "real money"
Can't remember when I wasn't sayin' about "feudalism" and "serfs."
Poet Laureate....shucks shults!
Reading only the headline though I read all posts most days I could simply answer YES! No data, no stats needed. Corporations own us, own our government, and are working hard to elect TFG. Talking especially about you, Jamie Dimon. Not rich enough. Feeling bad for you!
I showed this discussion to my son, who is a judge, and he agreed that the concept of corporate personhood is so deeply embedded in the law as to be immovable by conventional means. A constitutional amendment would be an excellent path, except for how difficult it is to get those through—and how much opposition there would be, thanks to Citizens United. As I’ve said here before, in a way that ruling was almost like AIDS for politics, since it added an invasive factor which destroyed the protective fabric of our system. And even if people get behind a change, we will have to be very careful in how this is worded—I can just see the push for “natural” to include the “unborn.”
Fossil fuel corporations control the anti-climate change narrative through the MSM, and MAGA has locked it in through fealty to Our Mad King Donald, even as 98% of climate scientists are seeing an acceleration of climate collapse leading to the certain extinction of life on planet earth. Even otherwise useless and always misleading CNN is featuring articles on "climate change", all the while promoting worldwide tourism, consumerism, total disregard for the biosphere, and ever larger human carbon footprints. Corporations were one thing when our population was a fraction of what it is today, and something far, far more evil in our massively overpopulated society. As usual, thanks, Thom, for your fine work and courageous patriotism.
There is a bright side to climate collapse and Gaia rebelling against the parasites that are befouling the very air they breathe, water they drink, food they eat and shelter in which they seek safety and comfort and that is... there is no escape, not even to Mars or the Moon, they who have profited over shitting in their bathtub will suffer the same fate as the rest of us.
Mankind can visit Mars and the Moon, but he can't live there. Though Elon Musk,the eternal idiot, thinks he can.
By the way Musk, Zuckerberg, Rick Scott, Dimon et al, aren't smart, but they do have the one requirement for wealth and power, Sociopathy and lack of morality and a conscience, divorce yourself of those and you too can become rich and powerful.
If you possess empathy, morals, a conscience then stay out of politics. Unless you represent a tight little community of people who share your values and beliefs, you will rise no higher than a local council member or like the Squad a safe, but ineffectual, seat in Congress.
Unless you are Madame Graham, a Mike Johnson, a Donald Trump, or a MAGAt success in politics requires a lack of values and ethics, because success depends on that filthy word "pragmatism" which means that you hold no true values or goals and you gauge success by compromise.
He or she who compromises with evil, is themselves evil.
Chamberlain compromised with Hitler when he allowed Hitler to walk into the Sudetenland.
Climate science. California sued five major oil companies — ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP — "which could prove an inflection point in the battle against human-caused climate change." Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island are pursuing similar legal actions.
https://truthout.org/articles/is-californias-climate-lawsuit-against-big-oil-an-inflection-point/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArfauBhApEiwAeoB7qLRLr1HzxGXulfBpfZVkV4BvHlPRMGGIbYnpmddUmWvhhxrzQ-h6vxoCo9YQAvD_BwE
So when are we going to sue Hydro Quebec? Between Russian hydroelectric power plants and Canada's mega reservoir hydroplants the major rivers up in the Northern Latitudes all along the subarctic regions have been destroyed. Many rivers have multiple dams, these dams are 400 feet to 800 feet tall, a definition of a river is flowing 24x 7, not so up there.. These dams store up to 90% of river flow throughtout the summer
Dam reservoirs are so huge they take 6-12 years to fill. storing that amount of water all summer long throughout the subarctic has forced an historically cool /cold dry climate to become wet and warmer. How about all the permafrost that has been melting under the reservoir waters adding even more fresh water and huge methane emissions.
Hydro Quebec continues to mislead the public and call this clean energy. Only during winter months throughout the subarctic this is when they generate the electricity. Try to imagine water temperatures coming well below the top of dams around 40F degrees F and imagine air temps 0 or -20
that is a lot of heat in the form of water vapor heating regions downstream from the outflows, heating them in the winter every winter for the past 50+ years. This form of hydroelectric (Strict Regulated Flow) has wrecked ecological havoc and has destab(ized Northern Hemisphere's climate and..... is continuing to do so unabated
Now imagine warmed freshwater dam discharge 10-20x greater than regular year-round river flow hitting the hudson and James bays and the st Lawrence estuaries, The delicate saline imbalance all this fresh-water is causing and is forcing the ice to melt and changing the ocean currents affecting the East and West coasts of US.
A corp. is a person? By that rationale: A person is a corp..
How about a quick 3% (maximum, ideally 0%) tax bill for me this year.
Money is speech? Then a horse is a ski-boot.
Next they'll tell us that Trump bagged 90% of Black voters last weekend with racist cant, alone.
I'm old enough to have gone to law school when "the corporate veil" made no sense to me. People could do any harm, without personal responsibility, because of some paperwork in Delaware?
There are Quislings or Stepanfetch its, in the community of America descendants of Slaves (ADOS), most certainly you can see them on TV virtually fellating Trump, like Tim Scott, Kanye, Candace Owens, Herschel Walker, Clarence Thomas. they see monetary, social rewards and privilege by living in the "massahs" house. Just as Madam Graham fell to her knees, disgracing herself, fellating the would be god king.
You make a lot of sense Thom. Corporations do need to be taxed about 52%. That encourages them to invest in the working class mostly in America. If a corporation invests overseas I would tax them about 75%?
We also need to tax the rich up to 95% again. That will just postpone the suffering though. The human race will have to come to terms with the environment. Either have less babies or ride electric bicycles and live in little cubicles. Humans can't have it both ways!
Interesting not one mention of the Democratic Party's contributions to the current calamity of militarization and imperialism. Of course Thom your context is through a prism of nationalism and The International Division of Humanity so that the core problem of the duopoly's duping of their gullible bases into a tribalism that facilitates corporate rule is invisible. Biden has historically been as much a part of the problem as any politician in Washington, from his ardent racism in segregated busing, his 1994 Crime Bill which turned American's carceral state malignant and his public humiliation of Anita Hill to get Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court to his choosing of banks over students and workers to his militarization abroad and his dehumanization of the Palestinian people, the poor children of Yemen, his stopping of peace talks between Putin and Zelensky in March of 2022, and his grotesque nationalistic cheerleading for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Until we recognize that both parties are equally dangerous we will continue on a downward spiral in which a "progressive" talker blames China and Russia for their escalation to favor a presidential candidate who is not oriented to person, place or instead of looking at the real causes.
Putin again.
On time and on schedule, Putin's puppet rears its befouled head again.
Give it up Boris, we are onto you, you have 5 cubicle mates that support you, and that is it.
If only "cubicle mates" didn't make me smile. Through tears, I guess....
Barry said, "Of course Thom your context is through a prism of nationalism and The International Division of Humanity so that the core problem of the duopoly's duping of their gullible bases into a tribalism that facilitates corporate rule is invisible."
I need to think about that some more. How does the duopoly and tribalism facilitate corporate rule?
Gloria, please don't validate him. It is quite obvious that he has no concern or care for democracy, the U.S., you or I. He has one purpose and that is the same a a Russian troll farm, and that is to destroy the U.S. and our government, for the protection of Putin and his.
He has a lot say about our deficiencies and absolutely nothing to say about the house of horrors that is Russia.
He could care less about Palestine, but it serves as useful tool to weave into the conversation to suck in emotional people who lack knowledge and/or critical thinking skills.
I think he was channeling Sarah Palin word-salad with that. Some s---t we don't have to waste our life time on. Captain Kirk made many a computer blow up, you chill...
Q. What are gigantic, mega-wealthy corporations?
A. People.
Q. How about tiny, microscopic embryos?
A. People.
Q. How about women?
A. Not people.
Everything is people except people. Humans when the leave the womb become liabilities, until they are big enough to pluck feathers and pick tomatoes, then they become a resource, to be consumed in the production of wealth.
"tiny, microscopic embryos" are god's lottery tickets, perishing according to god's will in untold numbers along the way to a certain percentage of surviving to birth. And that's without human intervention.
The rejection of fear by corporate rule will be overwhelmingly achieved in the near future. It cannot be otherwise as the human spirit will not be enslaved by anything. The swing is coming and will happen this year and fulfilled in the next 2 years. The pace is accelerating and seems to be going to April 8th eclipse.
The human spirit will not be enslaved by anything, you say Clayton.
History speaks otherwise, the 1000 year empire of Rome was built on slaves, the Greek democracy was built on slaves, Sparta called them helots, feudalism was built on enslavement to the property of dukes, lords and barons.
Sovereign rule exists only because the people have accepted slavery in any form.
The King commands and the people obey. Russians are enslaved by their master, those that think not, are murdered,imprisoned then murdered.
The path of the solar system through the galaxy, or the earth round the sun, or the moon around the earth has absolutely nothing to do with human affairs, only credulous dolts believe otherwise.
Financial corruption and crises led to increased regulation of corporations and the financial industry and corporations. Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank impose various financial reporting obligations on publicly traded companies. These Acts also protect, and even reward, whistleblowers (employees who report their employers violations of the laws by their employers), whistleblowers . Employees often fail to report the wrongdoing of their employers because they fear retaliation for whistleblowing.
I heard Sarbanes Oxley (SOX)/ Dodd Frank whistleblower cases. SOX whistleblower protection applies primarily to employees of public companies and contractors of public companies. The Dodd-Frank prohibition against whistleblower retaliation applies to “any employer,” not just public companies. I worked for DOL.
The SEC has a concurrent program. Congress created powerful incentives to encourage persons to report (i) potential violations of the federal securities laws to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)1 and (ii) potential violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”). Awards can range from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose any information that could reveal a whistleblower's identity E.G. https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-161#:~:text=Whistleblower%20awards%20can%20range%20from,could%20reveal%20a%20whistleblower's%20identity.
Astrology? I am not disrespectful. Too much "coincidence" in my life. But there have to be "birth dates," and there is no date on "the human spirit." What are you counting from?
Cycles 80 years mainly 1783, 1863, 1943, to 2023 plus or minus 2 years. You can find plenty of sages giving now 2024 for the next 2 years. April looks interesting. There are also meditations going around the world with one on Sunday 7 am UK which is Saturday 11pm Seattle that are reporting acceleration. I would suggest joining this one and maybe you will feel it yourself.
Does an 80-year cycle relate to anything astronomical? "Plus or minus 2 years" would seem to be nonsensical. What is "acceleration," and what am I supposed to join?
The Hebrew cycle of 40 years seems to be the basis. You do not have to join anything to be part of a meditation group. You just have to show up on time. In this case there are at least two different groups using the same time of Sunday 7 am local London time. I have to be ready at 11 pm Saturday at least until March 31 when UK daylight savings time ends which is different for Seattle that ends on March 10. I think that means midnight for Seattle for March 16, 23 and 30. Double check your time zone and good luck in feeling the acceleration for the first 15 minutes of the hour.
Good grief, not knowing what I'm "accelerating?" What is the intention?
I cannot say for others. Mine is to flip from a disunity to a unity mind set for the world. Fines $ may apply.
Your master class, Thom. Every history program in America should be teaching this---every law school too. Activists in this nation know this IS the problem and are trying to teach it too.
I would add that corporations can live forever. The very definition of what makes us human is that each PERSON knows the end will come for them. Smart ones are careful to not hasten it, loving ones plan for the future of others, and kind ones try to not be greedy. Corporations should have this moral code but rarely do.
I just heard a Republican say that our government should be run like a business. OH HELL NO! And ditto for fascism. It has taken a bloody fight to add real democracy to our republic. An economic crisis should be handled by a government of , for, and by the people not for the corporations.
Hartmann outdid Hartmann in this article. Very well done! Thank you for the insights.
Long, heavy and true. What tiny remnant are listening?
About 11 years ago I went to the Texas Book Festival. It's a big deal. Authors from all over the world promoted their works in front of the Texas Capitol. There was a panel of historians who just wrote books about America in the late 19th Century. They pointed out that as Democracy and Capitalism developed in that period and became prominent, they were at odds with each other. They're always competing and one or the other will dominate for a while, and then the other will take over. They are basically incompatible.
Yes unlimited capitalism and democracy are incompatible without limits on campaign contributions. Like about $100 for unions and $100 for billionaires and corporations and individuals.
Also Christianity and capitalism are incompatible. Unregulated and unlimited greed is the opposite of what Jesus was preaching.
I am not contradicting you Thom, nor am I arguing with you, but we have to admit, that America was not founded as a democracy, it was founded as a Republic ruled by landed or property owning men.
That initially only property owning men could vote, that changed when the various state politico's realized that if they enfranchised non property owning men, they could triple their votes, and eventually, after the planters secession was beat down, bit by bit more groups were enfranchised
It took four amendments the 15th, 17th, 19th and 26th to franchise all Americans and finally produce a real democracy, which until they were enfranchised was a Republic as the founders envisioned.
Now men, and camp following women, want to reverse every advance and take us back to 1860.
I you like Helen I'm in an Arctic research group I can send you a book about all this that our senior member has spent 3 decades of research organizing many findings together. MY EMAIL if interested
bcountry@psouth.net