Home · News · News Jul 2013 · July 25 2013
Thursday July 25, 2013
News Articles

The B-Team Tries to Save Capitalism. Is it worth saving?
Truth-out | Dennis Trainor Jr | 07/23/13

A group of hyper-capitalists, including Sir Richard Branson and Arian Huffington recently launched the "B-Team." As Huffington describes it, the global business leaders come together to form the B-Team in order to "introduce a Plan B that will prioritize people and planet alongside profit and to move beyond our obsession with quarterly earnings and short-term growth." ... Read more

Dust Bowl Blues
Nation | Sasha Abramsky | 07/17/13

A severe drought in the Southwest is devastating crops and farm communities—and sending a warning about climate change.

In a typical year, the winds ease up in mid-spring, and the dust tamps down. In the past three years, however, as the rains have failed and the land has dried up, the winds have continued into the searingly hot summers. As they blow, the soil disintegrates, and what little moisture there is in the earth evaporates. The soil quality is now so poor that on the few occasions when it does rain, the next day’s wind simply blows the newly moistened topsoil away. Across the area you can see rows of cotton, black and dead in the orange earth—entire fields burned by the static electricity generated by the sandstorms. ... Read more

Conservatives and Libertarians should Support the Return of Glass Steagall
TRNN | William Black | 07/22/13

Glass-Steagall prevented a classic conflict of interest that we know frequently arises in the real world. Commercial banks are subsidized through federal deposit insurance. Most economists support providing deposit insurance to commercial banks for relatively smaller depositors. I am not aware of any economists who support federal “deposit” insurance for the customers of investment banks or the creditors of non-financial businesses. ... Read more

Dick Durbin
Richard Joseph "Dick" Durbin is the senior United States Senator from Illinois

Observation by Dick Durban:

Guantanamo Bay Budget
2012 $448 million
2013 $454 million

$454 million/166 prisoners = 2.7 million/yr/prisoner
The Financial Industry
The global financial crisis of 2008, at a cost of more than $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression. The financial crisis became a human crisis. The World Bank estimated that 53 million people worldwide were thrown into poverty and that between 200,000 and 400,000 babies died annually as a result. Millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa have suffered severe malnutrition and long-term brain damage as fallout from the financial disaster.

Suicide rates rise and fall with the state of the economy. Unemployment and foreclosure are the largest triggers in increased suicide risk. About 35,000 Americans die every year from suicides, up about 28 percent since 1999. Suicide rates in Europe, where the recession has been even more severe, are even higher. Ervin Lupoe from Wilmington, California, shot his five children and wife to death before turning the gun on himself. Lupoe was deep in debt, behind on his mortgage and had been fired from his hospital job. Anxiety, fear, crime, domestic abuse, murder and suicide all increased worldwide because of the financial crisis.

It was an "avoidable" disaster caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street, according to the conclusions of a federal inquiry. It was the private market, not government programs, that made, packaged and sold most of these wretched loans without regard to their quality. The packaging, combined with credit default swaps and other esoteric derivatives, spread the contagion throughout the world. That's why what initially seemed to be a large but containable US mortgage problem touched off a worldwide financial crisis.

The speculative binge was abetted by a giant "shadow banking system" in which the banks relied heavily on short-term debt, snake oil mortgage hucksters and credit rating agencies that essentially prostituted themselves for cash from the investment banks. Regulators "lacked the political will" to scrutinize and hold accountable the institutions they were supposed to oversee. The financial industry spent $2.7 billion on lobbying from 1999 to 2008, while individuals and committees affiliated with it made more than $1 billion of campaign contributions.

The banking industry is completely unchastened. It is now pressing a full-frontal assault on repealing Dodd-Frank - a small, inadequate attempt to prevent it from destroying our economy again.

I found these Interesting and Inspiring
Boy Girl Meets Girl Boy: Transgender Couple Fall In Love [2:15]
Arin and Katie : Transgender teenagers are in love after they BOTH had gender reassignment surgery [5:26]
The Tallest Man Meets The Smallest Man [1:18]
DemocracyNow Daily News
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, July 25 [17:13]
*DN | Yemeni Reporter Who Exposed U.S. Drone Strike Freed From Prison After Jailing at Obama's Request (07/25/13) [3:46], Part 2 [23:35]
*DN | Richard Wolff: Detroit a "Spectacular Failure" of System that Redistributes Pay From Bottom to Top (07/25/13) [12:54]
Banking/Financial System
The B-Team Tries to Save Capitalism. Is it worth saving? (07/18/13) [5:04]
"Too Big To Fail" Banks - Click to zoom
TRNN News
TRNN | Chris Hedges: Answers Questions from Viewers, Part 7 (07/25/13) [14:29]
*TRNN | Frank Hammer: Detroit Red Wings Get New $400 Million Taxpayer-Financed Stadium While the City Goes BankruptDetroit Red Wings Get New $400 Million Taxpayer-Financed Stadium While the City Goes Bankrupts (07/25/13) [8:28]
*TRNN | Bill Black: Banks Rewarded and Blacklisted Appraisers to Artificially Inflate Real Estate Prices (07/15/13) [10:18]
TYT News
Diane Rehms Show
Diane Rehm The Future Of The Mortgage Market (07/25/13) [1hr]
Albert Bartlett, professor emeritus of Physics at Univ of Colorado-Boulder, talks about how to view unfettered growth [1:13:54]
Give the above video a chance. Watch the first 10 minutes and see if it doesn't spark an interest. Professor Bartlett has an easy way of explaining exponential (hockey stick) growth that most of us don't understand.
Comedy News
Carlos Danger
John Oliver Destroys Anthony Weiner: Withering 'Daily Show' Takedown Explains Why Weinergate 2.0 Matters (07/25/13) [4:26], Part 2 [6:01]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again at a later time.

07.25.2013. 13:38



Special Interest Important stuff
GOOD Shorts Videos

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

GOOD Short Videos
Newer Documentaries You Might Not Have Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

Newer Documentaries
Documentaries You've Never Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title
Documentaries (small | pop-up)
Documentaries (big | full screen)
Good YouTube Documentaries

Note: To view a video, click on its name/title
Great YouTube Docs. (small | pop-up)
Good YouTube Docs. (big | full screen)

Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Sponsors

I'm looking for sponsors to financially help with this site.  If you might be interested please send me a message using the Contact form.

Donation


I am one of those "once" middle class, over 60, over educated, under-employed, semi retired, soon to be poor workers, that everyone is talking about. 
But I have a modest standard of living so I plan to give all extra donation, beyond my immediate needs, to several of my favorite charities.

save-the-children

News Pages
News March 2024
News February 2024
News January 2024
News December 2023
News November 2023
News October 2023
News September 2023
News August 2023
News July 2023
News June 2023
News May 2023
News April 2023
News March 2023
News February 2023
News January 2023

News December 2022
News November 2022
News October 2022
News September 2022
News August 2022
News July 2022
News June 2022
News May 2022
News April 2022
News March 2022
News February 2022
News January 2022

News December 2021
News November 2021
News October 2021
News September 2021
News August 2021
News July 2021
News June 2021
News May 2021
News April 2021
News March 2021
News February 2021
News January 2021

News December 2020
News November 2020
News October 2020
News September 2020
News August 2020
News July 2020
News June 2020
News May 2020
News April 2020
News March 2020
News February 2020
News January 2020

News December 2019
News November 2019
News October 2019
News September 2019
News August 2019
News July 2019
News June 2019
News May 2019
News April 2019
News March 2019
News February 2019
News January 2019

News December 2018
News November 2018
News October 2018
News September 2018
News August 2018
News July 2018
News June 2018
News May 2018
News April 2018
News March 2018
News February 2018
News January 2018

News December 2017
News November 2017
News October 2017
News September 2017
News August 2017
News July 2017
News June 2017
News May 2017
News April 2017
News March 2017
News February 2017
News January 2017

News December 2016
News November 2016
News October 2016
News September 2016
News August 2016
News July 2016
News June 2016
News May 2016
News April 2016
News March 2016
News February 2016
News January 2016

News December 2015
News November 2015
News October 2015
News September 2015
News August 2015
News July 2015
News June 2015
News May 2015
News April 2015
News March 2015
News February 2015
News January 2015

News December 2014
News November 2014
News October 2014
News September 2014
News August 2014
News July 2014
News June 2014
News May 2014
News April 2014
News March 2014
News February 2014
News January 2014

News December 2013
News November 2013
News October 2013
News September 2013
News August 2013
News July 2013
News June 2013
News May 2013
News April 2013
News March 2013
News February 2013
News January 2013

News December 2012
News November 2012
News October 2012
News September 2012
News August 2012
News July 2012
News June 2012
News May 2012
News April 2012
News March 2012
News February 2012
News January 2012

News December 2011