The Left Is Self-Destructing

Paul Craig Roberts

The mindlessness is unbearable. Amnesty International tells us that we must “fight the Muslim ban” because Trump’s bigotry is wrecking lives. Anthony Dimaggio at CounterPunch says Trump should be impeached because his Islamophobia is a threat to the Constitution. This is not to single out these two as the mindlessness is everywhere among those whose worldview is defined by Identity Politics.

One might think that Amnesty International should be fighting against the Bush/Cheney/Obama regime wars that have produced the refugees by killing and displacing millions of Muslims. For example, the ongoing war that Obama inflicted on Yemen results in the death of one Yemeni child every 10 minutes, according to UNICEF. Where is Amnesty International?

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Which Path to Persia? US Had a Plan to Topple All 7 Countries on Trump’s Refugee Ban List

The Daily Sheeple

by Darius Shahtahmasebi

According to Reuters, Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that would include a temporary refugee ban on and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries.

The list is expected to include Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. If those countries are starting to sound familiar, there’s a reason for that.

According to four-star General Wesley Clark, shortly after the attacks of 9/11, the Pentagon adopted a plan to topple the governments of seven countries; Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.

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The “Wind and Solar Will Save Us” Delusion

Our Finite World

The “Wind and Solar Will Save Us” story is based on a long list of misunderstandings and apples to oranges comparisons. Somehow, people seem to believe that our economy of 7.5 billion people can get along with a very short list of energy supplies. This short list will not include fossil fuels. Some would exclude nuclear, as well. Without these energy types, we find ourselves with a short list of types of energy — what BP calls Hydroelectric, Geobiomass (geothermal, wood, wood waste, and other miscellaneous types; also liquid fuels from plants), Wind, and Solar.

Unfortunately, a transition to such a short list of fuels can’t really work. These are a few of the problems we encounter:

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The First Firestorm

Patrick J. Buchanan

That hysterical reaction to the travel ban announced Friday is a portent of what is to come if President Donald Trump carries out the mandate given to him by those who elected him.

The travel ban bars refugees for 120 days. From Syria, refugees are banned indefinitely. And a 90-day ban has been imposed on travel here from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.

Was that weekend-long primal scream really justified?

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Drug Prices in the US vs. Canada - The Big Pharma Political Connection of Corporatist Democrats

Jesse's Café Américain



This is a slide used by Bernie Sanders when he proposed making drug imports from Canada to the US legal.

The proposal was voted down in the Senate 52-46, with a few key Democrats helping overturn Bernie's proposed legislation.

Among those voting against it was the recipient of big pharma campaign contributions Democratic rising star Cory Booker.

Booker used the Big Pharma talking point that 'the bill did not include provisions requiring the protections of the FDA.'

Oh really?  We think that the Canadian government's regulation of medicine is weaker than in the US?   Please, Cory, tell us exactly where they fall down on the job.

And oh by the way, most it not all of those drugs are the same drugs being sold in the US by the same manufacturers, so the point could be moot.  Just allow the imports of drugs the FDA has already approved.

But a real solution, which appears to be far too much for our pampered plutocrats, would be to repeal the US law that prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices as is done by the government health services in Canada. But I would not expect the US political establishment to seriously consider overturning that sweet monopoly deal with the drug companies.

Not as long as Big Pharma can keep holding that SG&A level around 45 percent, compared to 25 percent or less of most other industries.  There is a lot of money being spent there to motivate doctors and lawmakers in the drug industry.

And then there is the 'balance billing' racket where hospitals toss in enormous zingers to your medical bills by using doctors and test labs that are not in your network, for which you get little to no insurance coverage, or insanely high deductibles.  And you have no knowledge of their choice in advance.

New York state has passed a ban on this.  But most other states have not.

The current US healthcare system is like a protection racket.  It is dominated by monopolist behemoths, in the providers and the insurers, and sustained by huge amounts of public relations and their paid functionaries in the media and the Congress.

It is the most expensive healthcare system in the developed nations.  And that is largely due to corruption and a twisting of the laws due to the influence of Big Money in lawmaking and regulation.

The Persuasion Filter Looks at Torture. Does it...

Scott Adams' Blog

If I ever get captured and threatened with torture it will take about five seconds for me to give up every secret I have. That’s because I know I would break eventually, so why put up with unnecessary torture?

I assume the same is true for the lightly-trained ISIS fighters. Some are just teenagers. Once the bravery-inducing drugs in their system wear off, I have to assume that at least some of them – if not most – would become quite flexible under the threat of torture, not to mention the torture itself.

But won’t they lie?

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Mexican Official Threatens to Combat President Trump By "Unleashing Drug Cartels"

SHTFplan



There will be war in the streets, or at least there could be.



The strong armed tactics against Mexico are not making officials happy south of the border.



Now, with an executive order facilitating the deportation of illegal immigrants – and especially those who have committed criminal offenses – as well as building a wall on the border, President Trump has many Mexicans up in arms.



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