June 5 Open Thread: All Bets Are On
Today’s the day Delaware casinos start losing money by accepting single-game sports bets, according to crybaby Dover Downs CEO Denis McGlynn. “People need to manage their expectations on this,” McGynn said. “The dollars that are left over after you pay off the winners are very little and you divide it among a variety of people in this state.” There’s not even enough left over to pay for the wahmbulance. The News Journal has a helpful wagering guide for those eager to help bankrupt the casinos.
Trump’s blundering foreign “policy” is starting to have serious ramifications, with the latest outrage a statement by a U.S. diplomat in Germany that he was there to help Europe’s conservatives, a gross violation of diplomatic rules. Digby thinks it’s part of Trump’s agenda, but it sounds more like something hatched by his staff of movie villains.
You won’t be able to complain about the Koch brothers’ influence on American politics anymore, because they’re down to just one. David Koch announced his retirement from both the privately held Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity, the brothers’ political operation, because of declining health. Just a reminder: Like Trump, the Koch boys are legatees. The family fortune is based on their father’s oil-refining patent.
Gretchen Carlson, the former Miss America who helped get the current #metoo wave rolling by speaking out against the sexual harassment at Fox News, is now running the Miss America Pageant, and she doesn’t want you to call it a pageant anymore — it’s now a competition. To that end, it will no longer hold a swimsuit competition, which I’m sure has Bert Parks rolling over in his grave.
Eddie Glaude Jr (Professor of Religion and African American Studies, Princeton): The Democrats continue the pursuit of that line, that political strategy, that colludes with the authoritarian shift. Because they won’t stand in a radical position and we need to interrogate why they’re not engaged in a much more radical articulation of what’s wrong with the country.
Jeremy Scahill: Why do you think that is?
Prof. Glaude: Because they’re in cahoots with big money. Clintonism and its various iterations has a deep and very, very problematic relationship with Wall St. and corporate America.
https://theintercept.com/2018/05/30/white-fear-as-the-gop-veers-toward-fascism-establishment-democrats-face-a-grassroots-insurgency/
Also a great interview with insurgent US House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez NY-14.
Get on board folks. This is what we’re doing. If you think Robert Mueller or Joe Biden are going to save us, they aren’t.
RE V….you got it. In Ca. there are too many democrats running giving the pukes a lead. DCCC and DNC are trying to throw out the ones they dont like…like the more progressives. It will be the democratic downfall…keeping company with Wall Street and big corpses.
I working on a piece about the failure of the Clinton third-way.
Don’t ask. Don’t tell.
Defence of Marriage Act.
Crime Bill.
Welfare to Work.
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealing Glass–Steagall.
(Granted the G-S repeal was the coup de grace after years of weakening.)
The Third Way is no way. Abject failure. Just kicked the can down the road. And as with most things, the longer it festers the worse the infection gets.
If “liberals” don’t come to terms with the fact that neo-liberalism and Clintonian triangulation was a major cause of the straight we’re in, we are in terrible trouble.
Making pragmatic deals with Goldman Sachs and Citibank isn’t liberal. It’s bullshit and we aren’t abiding it anymore.
So dead-enders can cry about Bernie Bros and Susan Sarandon and “pragmatism” and electability, but we’re not buying and it’s not our fault. It’s Clinton fault.
Left is best.
https://www.alternet.org/renowned-economist-turns-psychologist-donald-trump-hes-delusional-psychopathic-threat?src=newsletter1092880
Speaking of Clinton:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/opinion/bill-clinton-trump-sexual-harassment.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
I’m just going leave this here:
https://twitter.com/KerriHarrisDE/status/1004098203317399553
And, again, this is open to the public.
https://twitter.com/KerriHarrisDE/status/1002533284721684480
It’s time to abandon Facebook.
“Facebook Gave Data Access to Chinese Firm Flagged by U.S. Intelligence”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/technology/facebook-device-partnerships-china.html
No really. Just delete everything (not that anything will really be deleted), and walk away. Facebook is pure scum.
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/republican-governors-radical-tax-cut-plan-backfires-exposes-conservative-economics
This is what republicans want to do to the whole country
“It’s time to abandon Facebook.”
Not that I’m an avid Facebooker but…..lol
“Facebook officials said the agreements with the Chinese companies allowed them access similar to what was offered to BlackBerry, which could retrieve detailed information on both device users and all of their friends — including religious and political leanings, work and education history and relationship status.”
@m “Not that I’m an avid Facebooker but…..lol”
You don’t see this as untenable? For those of us who travel a lot and have lots of Chinese friends and associates (personal note: I supervise four Chinese nationals), this really is bad.
Sucks to be them. But then, sucks to be on Facebook.
Detailed info such as …..” including religious and political leanings, work and education history and relationship status.”
So what? Call me when they can get my ss# or bank account from FBook.
@m “So what?”
It’s a huge deal, especially if you’re Chinese or in China, or have any Chinese friends and associates.
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-credit-score-privacy-invasion
That’s what this is being used for. …and many lives have been ruined, and many are imprisoned unfairly. Some are even killed.
“For now, technically, participating in China’s Citizen Scores is voluntary. But by 2020 it will be mandatory. The behaviour of every single citizen and legal person (which includes every company or other entity)in China will be rated and ranked, whether they like it or not.”
Sounds more like a China problem, rather than FBook, as they take data from everywhere, not just digital media.
@m “Sounds more like a China problem, rather than FBook…”
I see it a screwing over any Facebook user who may have Chinese friends or associates. My sister had a really rough time with the Chinese authorities. Many of her friends were killed. Many others were imprisoned. She was arrested and held for only 18 hours, but then she was forcibly separated from her young son for about six months… That’s not all that different from Trump’s efforts to separate parents from the children. But it’s a truly despicable act whether done by the Chinese or by the Americans.
So go ahead and call it a “China problem” as if that makes it all irrelevant… but it’s not. Facebook is truly despicable, since they had a choice and certainly knew better.