READING FOR THE WEEK (Nov. 18, 2014)

The city council of Nome, Alaska wants to remove tax exempt status of nonprofits and churches (KNOM Radio Mission).

The United States is the developed world's second most ignorant country (Mother Jones).

Scientists are afraid to talk about the Robot Apocalypse, and that's a problem (Business Insider).

The 8 hour sleep myth: How I learned that everything I knew about sleep is wrong (Raw Story).


U.S.-MEXICO BORDER ISSUES
Half of U.S.-Mexico border now patrolled only by drones (The Guardian).

Illegal border crossings at lowest levels in 40 years (CNN Politics).

4 out of 5 drug busts on U.S.-Mexico border involves U.S. citizens (Center for Investigative Reporting).

Mexico reels, and the U.S. looks away (LA Times).

When government succeeds (NY Times).


EUROPEANS LAND SPACE CRAFT ON COMET / WE BLOW UP ON LAUNCH PAD
How a European spacecraft has chased a comet for 300 million miles, and is now poised for a landing (CS Monitor).

European comet-landing spacecraft, now silent, was an 'incredible scientific success' (CS Monitor).

Meanwhile, in America, we're privatizing NASA and watching simple cargo rockets that we used to send in our sleep blow up on launching pads (BBC / Mark Martinez).

OBAMACARE NEWS
NC rejects Medicaid expansion, rural hospital closes, woman dies (Non Profit Quarterly).

This explains why the GOP wants to repeal Obamacare: Over 70% of Americans who bought health insurance policies through Obamacare rate their health care coverage as "excellent" or "good" (Gallup). 


RICH PEOPLE DOING STUPID THINGS
The brazen messages among bankers that rigged markets and produced a $4.3 billion fine (WP).

Monopoly Men: How two billionaires are destroying high speed rail in America (ATTN).


CONSERVATIVES BEHAVING BADLY
After nonsensical comments on Net Neutrality, conservatives rage against Ted Cruz (Daily Kos).

Right wing freaks out over China-U.S. climate change deal (David Horsey / LA Times).

Republican Trey Radel busted on cocaine charge, voted for drug testing food stamp recipients (Huffington Post).


NEED A REASON TO PROCRASTINATE? TAKE THESE USELESS QUIZZES
Are you a real SF Giants fan (CS Monitor)?

Which Beatles song describes your life (PlayBuzz)?

What type of Californian are you (Brain Fall)?


MISCELLANEOUS
California water officials aren't following own call for conservation (Center for Investigative Reporting).

Out of the Box: 10 amazing underground homes (Details).

1912 eighth grade exam: Could you make to high school in 1912 (CS Monitor)?

Paying for college in 1978 vs. paying for college in 2014: Why almost no one can pay for college without going into debt (ATTN).

Roseanne destroys every Republican who just won the 2014 mid-term elections ... 20 years ago (Addicting Info).

- Mark 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FEDERAL RESERVE! 100 YEARS AGO YESTERDAY IT BEGAN OPERATIONS ... UNFORTUNATELY, IT'S NOW OUR NATION'S ECONOMIC LIFELINE

After securing its charter in 1913, 100 years ago yesterday (November 16, 1914) the 12 cities chosen as the official "branch offices" of the Federal Reserve began operations.

Fast forward 99 years and we learn via Zero Hedge that by December of 2013 the Federal Reserve has over $4 trillion in "assets" to its balance sheet. Yeah, that's a "t" for a trillion.

If you're wondering, $4 trillion is almost the functional equivalent of one-quarter of all the goods and services that the United States produced in 2013 ($16.2 trillion). But $4 trillion is not a static number. By May 2014 the asset sheet of the Federal Reserve reached $4.3 trillion.

Today, the total value of what's on the books of the Federal Reserve now stands at about $4.5 trillion.

What this means is that the Federal Reserve has purchased about $4.5 trillion in contracts and other assets, which they would like you to believe are marketable, and hold real value in the market.

Here's the problem. If the products, or assets, they have purchased were so marketable why aren't market players lining up to purchase the goods themselves?

Good question.

Here's the answer: No one's lining up to purchase what the Federal Reserve is purchasing because the assets are either toxic crap no one wants, or they don't generate the kind of rate of return that market players want. Ergo, the Federal Reserve has to make these purchases to keep our market system from tanking, again.

Put another way, the successes we see in the market today are buoyed by trillion dollar purchases from the Federal Reserve. It's that simple.

So, what does the Federal Reserve get in return for the trillions that they've dumped into the market? Simple. The Fed's asset sheet is pretty much made up of the toxic crap we took off of Wall Street's books - which added billions in profits to America's financial sector - plus the U.S. Treasury Bills the Fed has been purchasing because few investors want to load up on T-bills that pay out less than 1 percent.

Happy Birthday Federal Reserve! It has officially become the Sugar Daddy of both Wall Street and our national economy.

Aren't free markets great?

- Mark 

THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE IN 30 SECONDS

For six years House Republicans couldn't pass a jobs bill unless it was drenched in poison pill tax cuts and more deregulation for corporate America. Well, guess what? They're at it again. Except this time they're doing the very specific bidding of the Koch brothers.

Today House Republicans approved the Keystone XL pipeline which will run Canadian tar sand oil, produced on land leased by the Koch brothers, through the American Midwest, and into U.S. ports in the Gulf of Mexico.

If built Keystone will generate perhaps $100 billion in profits for the Koch brothers, while making the American Midwest little more than the Koch brothers tar sand backyard.

Here's President Obama explaining in 30 seconds, and in very simple terms, what the Keystone pipeline actually does for America (Hint: Nothing) ...

To put not too fine a point on it, here's one artist's rendition of the Keystone XL pipeline project ...

The threat to the Ogallala Aquifer, which lies beneath 6 states, is explained here.

- Mark

Hat tip to Robin and Donna for the links.

Click here for Rep. Peter DeFazio's comments on the exemptions and legislative gifts (tax and "private taking" clause) that the Koch brothers get (as a pass?) from the U.S. Congress.

P.S. Here's Robert Reich's FB comments on Keystone, and the Koch brothers:

Question: Who’s the largest foreign lease owner in Canada's oil sands region of Alberta, Canada? Answer: Koch Industries, which holds leases on 1.1 million acres -- an area nearly the size of Delaware -- capable of producing tens of thousands of barrels of the region's thick brand of crude oil in the next few years. The Keystone XL pipeline will lower transportation costs for all oil sands producers, bolstering the Koch’s profit margins. Do you think this might explain why Republicans (as well as some Democrats like Louisana Senator Mary Landrieu) are so eager to have the pipeline approved?

TIME TO REEVALUATE WHAT PATRIOTISM REALLY MEANS

Real Americans don't participate in a decades long race to the bottom with the goal of making their ideas look better. Nor do real Americans make pledges that promise to undermine the President of the United States so that he and America fail together.

More to the point ...

- Mark

Hat tip to Cathee for the Reich quote.

SERIOUSLY, WHAT'S WRONG WITH AMERICA?

Via Daily Kos ...

- Mark

READING FOR THE WEEK (Nov. 12, 2014)

87 years ago today (Nov. 12, 1927) Leon Trotsky was expelled from Russia's Communist Party.

Military personnel trained by the CIA used Napalm against indigenous people in Brazil during the military dictatorship years (Truth Out).

Proof that Obamacare "rate shock" is an ugly insurance company deception (Forbes).

Wesley Clark calls for a new national strategy to unite and move us forward (Politics USA).

Over the past 10 years the amount of solar power produced in the U.S. has leaped 139,000% ... America's solar boom in charts (Mother Jones).


THIS SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING
Our national debt is approaching $18 trillion. You and your kids each now owe $59,041 as your share of our National Debt (Dave Manuel Debt Clock).

NY City adult home residents asked to repay FEMA aid (Associated Press).


2014 ELECTION FUMES
It's still about race: Obama hatred, the South and the truth about the GOP victories (Salon).

Thank you Gerrymandering ... Michigan Dems got more votes, and still lost (Daily Kos).

White House Aide: There's no way the GOP will work with us (Mother Jones).

Democrats lost big ... Why President Obama should double down (The Nation).

Who lost? It was the Blue Dog Democrats, that's who (The Hill).

Robert Reich: Why the Democrats lost (Robert Reich).


LET THE SIDE SHOW BEGIN ... THE DENIAL CAUCUS
Meet the Senate's new climate denial caucus (Mother Jones).

Surprise! This GOP Senator's theories about volcanoes and climate change are completely wrong (Mother Jones).


TACTICS OF THE PLUTOCRATS
The billion dollar a month club: A runaway transfer of wealth to the already super rich (Buzz Flash).

Corporate America's oily trick: How big business uses "yellow-dog" contracts (with "forced arbitration" clauses) to crush basic rights (Salon).

Creditors use new technologies - which include devices that allow them to shut off cars - to put the squeeze on debtors (Al Jazeea America).

MEXICO
Mexican President Enrique Nieto Pena faces outcry over $7.7 million mansion owned by a company associated with Mexico's first high speed rail contract (The Guardian).

Protesters set fire to Mexican palace as anger over missing students grows (The Guardian).


MISCELLANEOUS
New study says 'Medicare for All' would cover everyone, and save billions in the first year (Physicians for a National Health Program).

West Virginia police officer suspended (may resign) after throwing homeless man's backpack into the river. Backpack contained laptop with pictures of homeless man's late wife (Charleston Gazette).

Chuck Todd's true feelings about President Obama on vivid display in new book (Daily Kos).

Why we vote for judges - but should we (Politics USA)?

- Mark 

CLOSING OUT VETERANS DAY

Drawing from my previous post, one could argue that Glen Miller's "modernization" efforts had a small hand in making music like this from the U.S. military possible ...

- Mark

VETERANS DAY ... TAKING SACRIFICE TO ANOTHER LEVEL

As we celebrate Veterans Day I thought it would be a good idea to remind ourselves of people who actually went to war when they didn't have to, and perished in the process.

Unlike our modern day cowardly politicians, and blow hard media pundits who cheer every war opportunity without sacrificing anything, these are Americans who had fame and fortune but also believed they should contribute more to the cause. Not one of the three individuals below were drafted or forced to abandon the charmed and comfortable lifestyles that would be part of their future.

GLENN MILLER
Glenn Miller was a band leader in the swing era. His career was beginning to sky rocket with still recognizable hits like "In the Mood" and "Moonlight Serenade." In 1942, while making between $15,000 and $20,000 per week (roughly between $200,000 and $300,000 today), Miller decided to join the war effort. At 38 he was too old to be drafted, and was initially told by the Navy that they did not need his services. He convinced the U.S. Army that they could use him to help "modernize" their music, which allowed him to serve by entertaining the allied troops.

Miller and his 50-piece band played across Europe, and perished on December 15, 1944 while crossing the English Channel to play in Paris. Glenn Miller is still listed as Missing In Action.


PAT TILLMAN
Pat Tillman was a football player in his prime playing for the Phoenix Cardinals in the late 1990s. After the 9/11 attacks Tillman left a lucrative career in the National Football League to enlist in the U.S. Army at the age of 25. At one point Tillman turned down a multi-year $9 million contract from the St. Louis Rams because of the loyalty he felt towards the Cardinals. Before enlisting in the U.S. Army Tillman also turned down a 3-year $3.6 million contract offer from the Cardinals.

Tillman joined the Army Rangers and died in the mountains of Afghanistan under circumstances - first called an ambush, and later labeled as "friendly fire" - that remains a mystery for many.

JOSEPH KENNEDY, JR.
The Joseph Kennedy, Jr. story is a unique one because of his family connections and wealth. His father made a name for himself on Wall Street, and as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Ambassador to Britain. His younger brother, John F. Kennedy, would become the 35th President of the United States. A graduate of Harvard, Kennedy studied for a year at the London School of Economics before attending Harvard Law School. A delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940, Kennedy was already fabulously rich as a young man because his father, as the story goes, gifted each of his kids $1 million (about $17 million today) so they could make their own way in life, while telling the family to go to hell if they wanted.

Kennedy voluntarily left Harvard before finishing his final year in law school to join the U.S. Navy in 1942. There he completed 25 combat missions, and volunteered for Operation Aphrodite weeks before his tour was up. He died on a mission over England.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

For those who didn't click on the Glenn Miller links above ...

- Mark 

BIBLE PROPHECIES IN THE 21st CENTURY

After last week's election results, we now have several states where same-sex marriage and marijuana are legal. For my religious and conservative friends out there who think that this is a sign that the Apocalypse is upon us, think again ...

I know, I know ... but it's still funny.

In the FYI category, the Washington Post put together an interesting "Ven diagram" showing which states allow you to both smoke weed and get a same-sex marriage.

- Mark 

DWIGHT EISENHOWER ... 60 YEARS AGO TODAY

- Mark