Electrikmonkrjs

Once I got my green card this year, I was allowed to make the same campaign contributions as any US citizen: $2700 per candidate. But thanks to the three Republican members of the Federal Election Commission, who refused to even allow an agenda item to begin discussions to commence planning for limits on wholly-foreign-owned corporations making unlimited donations to super PACs, offshore oligarchs living abroad can go on spending tens of millions to influence the outcome of US elections. (more…)

New York City councilmember Ritchie Torres wants to know how much cash NYPD seizes every from citizens every year using using civil asset forfeiture, so he introduced legislation requiring annual reports from NYPD. But NYPD said at a hearing that the bill shouldn't be allowed to pass because NYPD's computers will crash if they attempt to generate the reports. Sounds legit!

Via Village Voice

"Attempts to perform the types of searches envisioned in the bill will lead to system crashes and significant delays during the intake and release process," said Assistant Deputy Commissioner Robert Messner, while testifying in front of the council's Public Safety Committee. "The only way the department could possibly comply with the bill would be a manual count of over half a million invoices each year."

When asked by councilmember Dan Garodnick whether the NYPD had come to the hearing with any sort of accounting for how much money it has seized from New Yorkers this past year, the NYPD higher-ups testifying simply answered "no."

[via]

Stephen Mader, a former police officer in Weirton, W.Va, was fired without severance because he decided not to shoot Ronald D. "R.J." Williams Jr, who had threatened to kill himself and was holding a gun that turned out to be unloaded. (more…)

The predatory payday lending industry -- "'legalized loan sharks collect 75 percent of their fees from people stuck in more than 10 loans a year by charging 300 percent APR" -- is lobbying hard to kill the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposed "debt trap" rule, "that would require lenders to determine whether borrowers can afford to pay back their loans and cut off repeated debit attempts that rack up fees and make it harder for consumers to get out of debt." (more…)

When FBI Director James Comey released detailed notes on the Bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, they broke with precedent, specifically, their refusal to release documents explaining why they totally failed to prosecute any of the bankers responsible for tanking the US economy in 2008 and destroying the lives of millions of Americans. (more…)

In 2014, an Indian company called Aglaya brought a 20-page brochure to ISS World (AKA the Wiretappers' Ball -- the annual trade fair where governments shop for surveillance technology): the brochure laid out the company's offerings, which ranged from mobile malware for Ios and Android to a unique "Weaponized Information" selection that combined denial-of-service with disinformation to "discredit a target" online. (more…)

Newsweek is expected to publish on Wednesday a bombshell Kurt Eichenwald report that reveals some of Donald Trump's financial conflicts of interest, and other unflattering information the reporter says could change the 2016 US presidential election.

(more…)

A 69-year-old woman was cold-cocked outside a Trump event by one of the Republican millionaire's supporters, reports ABC News—an attack so deplorable that cops plan to charge one of his violent rallygoers with a crime. (more…)

Someone -- possibly the government of China -- has launched a series of probing attacks on the internet's most critical infrastructure, using carefully titrated doses of denial-of-service to precisely calibrate a tool for shutting down the whole net. (more…)

Remember The Last Time The MSM Didn't Do Their Job?

By Spocko

I've noticed some serious anger at the mainstream media coming from multiple sources lately. It reminds me of 2003, during the build up to the Iraq war. I, like many people, were thinking, "The mainstream media is going to do their job, right? They will ask the tough questions, sort out the BS from the truth, hold power accountable, you know, the stuff from the movies." But they didn't.

Some of us started blogging during that time as an alternative to screaming at the TV.  The MSM didn't want me helping them be better, so I chose to defund the right-wing media, who were making the world worse. (They still are, but are getting a lot less money for it.)

After the disaster of the Matt Lauer interviews, I got the same sick feeling about the MSM as I had in 2003. "Wait, what? Are you KIDDING ME?" I suppose in the spring and summer people could forgive the MSM for going with the most entertaining candidate. I mean, would you want to cover the unctuous Ted Cruz for 9 months? I couldn't take enough showers every day.

But this isn't Dancing with the Stars, the winner of this contest gets the power of life and death over millions.

I think the mainstream media are still assuming that "cooler heads will prevail" and/or Trump will self immolate so they won't have to call him on his BS. They also expect the Hillary people to do the heavy lifting for them, so they can continue to look "objective."  Maybe that will work, but as the old saying goes,"It's all fun and games until a maniac gets the nuclear codes."

Cliff Schecter and Sam Seder talked about this last Friday on the Majority Report. Cliff was angry at the mainstream media in general and furious at NBC for the Matt Lauer debacle specifically. You can hear the frustration in Cliff's voice when he says he doesn't know how to solve this problem.

In this clip Sam points out some of the pressures on the media that most people didn't know about that led mainstream journalists to their defensive crouch in the first place. They also discuss what has changed with the rise of blogs and social media.



An increase of voices from the left has helped, but the bad news is that journalists are still being punished, not rewarded, for doing the job we expect them to do.  Especially when it comes to coverage of right wing politicians. But this isn't anything new.

Eric Boehlert wrote a book, Lapdogs, How the Press Rolled Over for Bush, about how the Bush/Cheney White House treated the press like dirt and how well it worked for them.

I remember the story of how Dick Cheney kicked an ABC reporter off the Vice President's plane. Her bosses and others in the media didn't stand up for her. Sounds just like how Trump treats the media who challenged him. And the Breitbart editor who didn't stand up for his own reporter? He's Trump's campaign CEO now.

Why so serious Spocko? Trump is funny! 

If you want some humor with your media criticism and miss Jon Stewart's smart, funny take on the Matt Lauer interview, listen to Jimmy Dore's political comedy podcast. "Matt Lauer failed at journalism during the town hall with Trump & Clinton, we break it down."

I'm happy that there are so many people who are pounding on the mainstream media to be better. They aren't going to get better on their own. The need to be pushed to do their job, especially when they are punished for it.

Joel Silberman wrote a piece, The Media Should Be Put on Trial for Its 2016 Election Coverage that has some good suggestions on what to do.

So, what can we do? Demand better media. Write to the station managers of corporate TV stations/cable operators and tell them you are not satisfied. Tweet about it. Call out CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX in all forms of social media. It’s time to demand that media live up to the vision of the founders of our democracy.

If that seems too old school, how about using technology better and faster to do the job the MSM journalists won't. Jordan Hoffner, Salon Media's CEO, had an interesting proposal, fact-check the candidates' statements in real time. What a great idea! We can act as if Google exists and people have memories! Woo hoo!

In the past if networks didn't treat Trump special, he would cut them off. But imagine the ratings bonanza for the first real journalist to demand the truth and hold his feet to the fire. What if instead of arresting Amy Goodman for doing journalism, she is rewarded for it? Imagine her Trump/Clinton interviews and debates.  I'd also love to see Sam Seder call Trump out during an interview.

But frankly, having to beat up the main stream media again to try to get them to do their job makes me weary. If you feel the same way there is another option. Support blogs like this and other progressive voices.

We are asking the tough questions and pointing out the BS, shouldn't that be rewarded? 

Pour one out for your old pitcher.

Read more...

On Sunday night, before their NFL season opener against the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots players Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty raised their fists after the playing of the national anthem—just as three Tennessee Titans players had earlier in the day. In doing so, they became the latest athletes to join San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in calling attention to racial inequality and police brutality in America.

So far, at least 15 athletes have sat, knelt, or raised fists during or right after the national anthem since Kaepernick sat before a preseason game on August 26. (Sports Illustrated's MMQB site reported that more than 70 NFL players had discussed what to do in light of Kaepernick's protest leading up to opening night.) These athletes include:

• Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos (NFL): When Marshall knelt before last Thursday's matchup against the Carolina Panthers, he said he was prepared for the backlash that might ensue. And it came for his wallet: The Air Academy Federal Credit Union and CenturyLink broke off partnerships with Marshall over the act. Despite this, Marshall says he plans to continue protesting. "I'm not against the police. I'm not against the military. I'm not against America. I'm against social injustice," Marshall told MMQB on Friday.
• Jeremy Lane, Seattle Seahawks (NFL): Lane sat on the bench during the national anthem before a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders on September 1. (On Sunday, his teammates joined him, standing and linking arms together. The team's "demonstration of unity" didn't exactly go as far as it could have, though, as Jezebel notes.)
• Eric Reid, San Francisco 49ers (NFL): A week after his teammate first opened the door to demonstrations, Reid joined Kaepernick in kneeling during the national anthem on the San Diego Chargers' "Salute to the Military" night. It came after the two met with free-agent long snapper and former Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, who recently wrote an open letter in the Army Times about the demonstrations.
• Marcus Peters, Kansas City Chiefs (NFL): Before Sunday's game against San Diego, Peters stood arm in arm with teammates in a sign of solidarity with Kaepernick. He took it one step further, raising his black-gloved right hand in the air during the anthem. "I come from a majority black community from Oakland, California…so the struggle, I seen it," he told the Associated Press after the Chiefs' win.
• Arian Foster, Miami Dolphins (NFL): Foster knelt beside three teammates along the sideline before Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks. "That's the beautiful thing about this country," Foster told reporters afterward. "If somebody feels it's not good enough, they have that right. That's all we're doing, exercising that right."
• Kenny Stills, Miami Dolphins (NFL)
• Michael Thomas, Miami Dolphins (NFL)
• Jelani Jenkins, Miami Dolphins (NFL)
• Jurrell Casey, Tennessee Titans (NFL): Casey raised his fist along with two other teammates after the national anthem at Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings. "A lot of times, a lot of people don't want to address the issues, and they want us to sit back and be quiet about it," Casey told reporters. "And I think to bring fairness and (equality) to all races and everything, I thought it was the right thing to do."
• Jason McCourty, Tennessee Titans (NFL)
• Wesley Woodyard, Tennessee Titans (NFL)
• Martellus Bennett, New England Patriots (NFL): The Patriots tight end and his teammate waited until the end of the anthem to raise their fists—Bennett wearing a black glove, McCourty a white one. 
• Devin McCourty, New England Patriots (NFL)
• Megan Rapinoe, Seattle Reign (National Women's Soccer League): On September 4, the national team standout knelt during a match against the Chicago Red Stars as a "nod to Kaepernick." When the Reign played its next game against the Washington Spirit, Spirit team officials decided to preempt the action, playing the anthem before players trotted out to the field. (Before Sunday's rematch against the Spirit, Rapinoe stood and linked arms with teammates.)
• Michael Oppong, Doherty High School (Worcester, Massachusetts): Oppong, a high school junior, dropped to a knee during the national anthem on Friday. He claimed on Twitter afterward that his coaches and school officials had suspended him for one game. On Monday, school district superintendent Maureen Binienda told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that Oppong's action did not violate any school rules and that he would not be punished.

Though the 49ers acknowledged Kaepernick's right to decline to participate in the anthem, the quarterback's actions were met with outcry from former players, pundits, and celebrities alike. The Santa Clara Police Officers Association threatened to pull officers from working 49ers games if the protests continued. (The union eventually backed off.) NFL commissioner Roger Gooddell told the Associated Press last week that he didn't "necessarily agree" with Kaepernick's actions; he added that while he supported players who wanted "to see change in society," the league believed "very strongly in patriotism in the NFL."

"To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way," Kaepernick told NFL.com on August 27. "There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." He continued a week later, kneeling alongside his teammate Eric Reid before "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Following his initial demonstration, Kaepernick's jersey sales soared; he announced recently that the proceeds will go to charity. (Both Kaepernick and the 49ers organization have pledged to each send $1 million to Bay Area charities toward "the cause of improving racial and economic inequality.") Kaepernick's protest is expected to continue Monday night, when the 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams.

During a Monday afternoon speech, Donald Trump again slammed Hillary Clinton for recently claiming that half of his supporters were racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic and belonged in a "basket of deplorables." The GOP presidential nominee asserted that this statement "disqualifies her," adding, "you can't lead this nation if you have such a low opinion of its citizens." Clinton had already said that she regretted the comment (though the generalization, while perhaps politically awkward, was not inaccurate). But Trump was still looking to exploit the remark. Earlier in the day, Trump's campaign released an ad bashing Clinton for having insulted tens of millions of Americans by calling them "deplorables." (Two days earlier, Donald Trump Jr. and Roger Stone, a longtime Trump confidante, retweeted a tweet that mockingly celebrated themselves, the elder Trump, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Rudy Giuliani, and a white nationalist mascot as "The Deplorables.")

Despite Trump's purported outrage over the Clinton remark, the mogul has engaged in his own demonization of Americans that has echoed the "47 percent" comment that landed Mitt Romney in trouble during the 2012 campaign. More than once, the reality television celebrity has dismissed tens of millions of Americans—up to half of all Americans—as shiftless people with no desire to work. During a June 2015 interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Trump declared:

The problem we have right now—we have a society that sits back and says we don't have to do anything. Eventually, the 50 percent cannot carry—and it's unfair to them—but cannot carry the other 50 percent.

Trump had expressed this view before. During a January 2015, interview with Kasie Hunt of MSNBC, he proclaimed, "We have a tremendous amount of people in this country that don't want to work. They have no inclination to work."

When Romney was caught saying that 47 percent of Americans do not accept the responsibility to take care of themselves, Trump declared that Romney should not apologize because he was essentially correct. "You do have a large percentage of people not paying taxes," Trump said at the time. "You do have a large percentage of people that feel they're entitled." Entitled to handouts and a free ride, that is.

Trump does appear to believe that the United States is full of losers. During a campaign stop in Wisconsin in March, he groused:

Now you have people that aren’t working. Look, it's all about incentive. People have to want to go out, they have to want to. We have no incentive in our country anymore. We're losing in every way. We're losing in that way because we have so many people that don’t want to work. We have so many people that if given the right incentive would love to work, but they'd love to do it. We don’t have incentives anymore. We don’t have spirit anymore. Our country doesn’t have spirit. We lose in so many ways.

Americans with no spirit, no desire to work, lazing about and feeling entitled—Trump has long been deploring scores of millions of Americans. But for him and his backers, this is not a disqualification. Dismissing these Americans is no slip; it's a key feature of his campaign.

The Donald J Trump Foundation raised a lot of other peoples' money and spent it on things that benefited Trump, while allowing the Republican presidential candidate to falsely claim to have made enormous, public spirited donations. (more…)

Sean Sullivan was fired from his police job in Oregon in 2004 for sexual contact with a 10 year old girl; in 2005, Cedar Vale, KS hired him to be their police chief, where he was accused of having sexual contact with another young girl, and eventually convicted of burglary and criminal conspiracy -- he's currently doing time in a Washington state prison for meth possession and identity theft. (more…)

The Intercept has got hold of a set of Harris's super-secretive manuals for their even-more-secret Stingray devices: fake cellular towers used to spy indiscriminately on whole populations by hacking their cellphones into giving up identifying information and more. (more…)

Socialist minister Francis J. Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1890s in an effort to paper over the post-Civil War divisions; to accompany it, he devised the "Bellamy Salute": "raise your right hand, flip your palm down, point it toward the flag in a salute and recite the words." (more…)

Prisoners across the country are gearing up for what they hope will be one of the largest prison strikes in history. According to activists, today prisoners in at least 21 states, including at least 800 inmates in California, will refuse to go to work to protest what they call "modern-day slavery."

"This is a call to end slavery," reads the official call for the strike, which coincides with the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising. "They cannot run these facilities without us." Though there have been prison strikes in the past, including one in Texas in April and one in Alabama in May, this will be one of the first times that inmates have tried to coordinate a strike on a national level.

"Work is good for anyone," says Melvin Ray, an inmate at the W.E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama, and a member of an organizing group called the Free Alabama Movement. "The problem is that our work is producing services that we're being charged for, that we don't get any compensation from."

Inmates throughout the country generally hold jobs that help maintain their prisons, such as landscaping, cleaning, and kitchen work. Wages vary from state to state. In at least three states—Texas, Arkansas, and Georgia—prisoners are not paid anything for their labor. In federal prisons, inmates earn about 12 to 40 cents an hour. Nor can prisoners opt out of working, says Paul Wright, an editor at Prison Legal News. "Typically prisoners are required to work, and if they refuse to work, they can be punished by having their sentences lengthened and being placed in solitary confinement," Wright says.

Phillip Ruiz, an organizer with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), was incarcerated in California for nearly 10 years. He recalls having a job baking bread that earned him just nine cents a month, while a can of soda at the commissary cost around $2 and a packet of ramen cost $1. "You have to save up for six months just to buy some food products," he says. "It reminds me of a sweatshop on a huge, much larger level."

Ray, who is serving a sentence for murder, says one of the strike's goals is to raise awareness among prisoners "that not only do we have a significant role in our incarceration, we have a significant opportunity to bring about our own freedom." The Free Alabama Movement came up with the idea for the strike. Last fall, it circulated a pamphlet encouraging prisoners in each state to come up with their own demands for improving prison conditions.

"We're realistic. We know that all our demands aren't going to be given to us," Ruiz says of the strike. "The hope is that some concrete things develop as far as changing the conditions." He hopes the protest will send the message to prison authorities that "You guys aren't going to get away with what you're doing to prisoners anymore."

Cole Dorsey, an IWOC organizer in the Bay Area, says that inmates understand that going on strike comes with serious risks: inmates could be put into solitary confinement or segregation, and could lose phone call and visiting privileges—"all the things that prisoners look forward to," says Ruiz.  But both Dorsey and Ruiz say that inmates are prepared to face them. "It's a slow death that we're facing anyway," says Dorsey, "so we're going to confront the system head-on."

h/t Driftglass for the video.

In case you missed it, last night's Commander in Chief forum was so bad, its badness is being covered this morning by People Magazine.

Matt Lauer interrupted most of Clinton's answers in order to "move on." He was so nice and condescending to Trump, that EVEN the New York Times noticed. That's pretty bad.

Pretty brutal headline in the NYT. pic.twitter.com/HTnTRuv9vX

— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) September 8, 2016

@RealDonalDrumpf created the hashtag #LaueringTheBar which immediately started trending.

Because the problem is the media. The Problem. Is the media.

And Matt Lauer is singled out because it was one event with both candidates and the immediate comparison could be made. But it's being going on this way for months. Trump lies about everything. But emails! Trump actually paid a fine to the IRS for falsely reporting a contribution to Florida's AG. But Clinton Foundation Optics! Trump's 'doctor' is a pothead hippie who wrote Trump's "health report" without the patient present. But Hillary coughed!

read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=50&v=3HFPUIYUMvo

Someone captured and leaked a live presentation by an RCS sales tech, demonstrating his company's cyber-weapon for spying on dissidents, criminals, and whomever else the customer wanted to infect. (more…)

The LA Times' Q&A column tapped a lawyer to answer a reader's question about their crazy-ass homeowners' association, which denied an application to plant a front lawn of drought-tolerant cactii and succulents because it wouldn't be "pretty" and because they "do not want New Mexico, Arizona or Nevada desert landscape." (more…)

Open thread below...

I'm amazed how many times I've said, "you can't make this up," while covering politics on a daily basis.

Trump supporter Newt Gingrich joined Trump's chief propagandist Sean Hannity on his radio program, and while the two were discussing their fantasies about Hillary Clinton's non-existent health problems and her recent coughing outburst, Gingrich broke out into his own coughing fit.

The Daily Beast's Andrew Kirell wrote, "This coughing stuff, I hope [Hillary’s] alright," Newt Gingrich said. “It’s a little disturbing.” Moments later, he had a coughing fit of his own.

And that's how it went for Hannity and Newt.

Hannity has been one of the most ardent Trump supporters, cooking up phony Clinton health problems for a while now, and his "Is Hillary on the brink of DEATH?" script has morphed into a bad vaudevillian act.

I thought it reached the pinnacle of absurdity with Rudy Giuliani's insane Fox News Sunday News appearance, where he told sub host Shannon Bream to go search 'Hillary Clinton illness' on the Internet 'and take a look at the videos for yourself.'

But after listening to this segment, it's obvious we have further to go to reach peak stupid when it comes to Hannity's Hillary Death Watch 2016.

read more

Lame, lame, lame.

With the Icelandic Pirates crushing it in the polls and set to form the next government of a sovereign, carbon-neutral, strategically located nation, it's worth asking how a party whose two issues -- internet freedom and copyright reform -- are wonky, minority interests rose to prominence. (more…)

Since Hillary Clinton gave the media their coveted press conference, with the expected results, it's only fair that this same media divert their attention to the actual scandal-ridden candidate, Donald J. Trump. Trump University is certainly a substantial blight on the campaign and the pay-for-play problem is only growing. CNN's New Day is one of the few news outlets finally covering the story.

Thanks to Media Matters for the transcript:

CHRIS CUOMO (CO-HOST): We have like three of the main things. I know we're going to get a lot of heat. You could list eight, nine, 10 different things if you want to call them controversies, but these are main ones. So we have this first one with the money with Pam Bondi. This wound up being about timing, right? And about the mechanism. It went through a charity that wasn't supposed to give political donations, the IRS found out about it, fine them. There's a question about disclosure there. The other question is about why he gave her the money. She said she was going to look at Trump University. Shortly after she said that, she got the money. Shortly after that, she decided not to investigate Trump University. What's the deal?

read more

Travel site Momondo interviewed 67 people about their feelings about nationality and patriotism. They then conducted a DNA test to show them just how global the world truly is.

[via The Daily Kos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ugC4NG1Zoc

Evan from Fight for the Future writes, "What do comedian Hari Kondabolu, Lost star Evangeline Lilly, a Navajo punk band, and one of the dudes from Chumbawamba have in common? They're all part of a nationwide tour to raise awareness about the dangers of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement: Rock Against the TPP." (more…)

As the highly controversial deaths of black people at the hands of American law enforcement officers has crept into our public discourse this decade, so too has the revelation that no federal agency maintains statistics on killings by police officers, prompting The Guardian -- a UK-based newspaper -- to launch The Counted, a project to piece together a national picture of death-by-cop from the fragmentary evidence of press reports and open records requests. (more…)

This insane presidential election season hasn’t been easy on anyone, but comedians W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu are here to help you through it. (more…)