Please share your story, below.

Interesting article in Politico today on how Elizabeth Warren ended Obama’s nomination of rich Wall Street banker Antonio Weiss to be Under Secretary for Domestic Finance. Warren led the effort to totally shut the deal down – she wouldn’t even meet with Weiss. Some choice bits:



If it wasn’t obvious before, Warren’s speeches in Congress on December 10th and December 12th (required watching if you haven’t seen them!) made it clear that Warren’s at war with Wall Street Predators and their paid help in government. Her speeches were in response to the White House and Jamie Dimon whipping votes from Democratic senators to enable the big banks to use FDIC funds (which guarantee savings bank deposits) as collateral for huge and risky Wall Street derivative bets.

Thanks Sen. Warren!!!

With Republicans now owning both houses of Congress, there was a good chance, I thought, of Boehner and Obama teaming up for some awful deals - for example, they agreed to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in 2011 but Cantor seems to have scuttled it, they agreed to keep more than 80% of the Bush tax cuts, and both are very fond of [strike]sending American 99%er jobs to other countries so the Predator Class can make even more money[/strike] free trade agreements.

Hopefully this unbelievably foolish move by Boehner causes their personal animosity to reach a point where terrible "bargains" will be minimized for the next two years.

The US is a Center LEFT country! Broad Support for Progressive Proposals among 2016 Voters!

Further proof that both political parties are near-total shams, simply doing the bidding of zillionaires in exchange for pieces of silver for them, and for their families.

If you read nothing else today, please take a moment to read that post and the poll it links to. American want real change, real Democratic change. Not Republican/Third-Way bull@#$%,

ENOUGH!

(A terrifying thought in so many ways.)

If the Patriots cheated as wildly as they seem to have, I hope that the penalty demonstrates to our child - and to all others - that doing the right thing, not the expedient thing, is what our society values most. Because that's how great societies flourish.

I'm not super hopeful. But I hope.

The TPP and TTIP are about HELPING American workers:


The President even admits that previous trade deals, while awesome for American workers, haven't been as awesome as we'd hoped. Including, no doubt, the three Bush free trade deals that he forced through a Democratic Congress, that had stopped the same deals cold under Bush. Everyone agrees that those deals have created lots of American jobs but not quite as incredible number as we'd hoped (no need to look that up, you can trust me because I'm a Democrat like you.)

But this time, it'll be different. He said it himself!

Can't we put this TPP and TTIP rancor behind us and support the President, now that he's acknowledged our friends on the Left and said this one will be different?

Regards,

Third-Way Manny

P.S. Can you please not post those cartoons of Lucy and the football? I hate those. And under the TPP, there's a provision that you'll go to jail for 6 years if you violate copyright by posting it, just one of the things you don't know about yet.

P.P.S. Was this good enough, Josh?

A personal vehicle, faster than a bullet train. For every American, free of charge. We'd leapfrog those foreign countries with their show-offy overstuffed high-speed rail systems.

No more dealing with congested commutes, we'll all just hurtle toward our destinations in a straight line. And they'll use fuel that will smell really nice, maybe like fresh laundry. I love that smell.

Our growing population of homeless Americans could stage air shows to earn tips.

If you think this is silly, then it is only because you lack the courage to embrace the future: I can say, with some donfidence, that this would be at least as likely to pass as the other goodies he's proposing.

Calling for raising taxes on the wealthy so they'd almost be paying at a rate almost as high as those in the upper middle class, for two free years of college, and so forth. None if it will pass, but I'm glad he's come around to siding with the 99%. Better late than never.

I assume he'll also announce that he's ending efforts to grab money from the 99%, to hand to the wealthiest, via the TPP and TTIP. That would only be a natural thing for our newly-minted Liberal to do, and it's something he can actually do. All by himself. So I'm sure that he will.

And maybe he'll apologize for teaming with Jamie Dimon last month to whip congressional votes to allow the Big Banks to effectively gamble with FDIC deposits. Risking the ability of FDIC to guarantee savings bank deposits, just so Jamie (and Lloyd and the rest of the White House regulars) can make even more money isn't a very Liberal thing to do, I'm sure that the President feels awful.

I look forward to this SOTU address. Clearly, we'll be seeing a lot of change, real change, and for the better, in our country over the next two years.

(Cross-Posted from EW group)

A buddy of mine is thinking of creating a video game, probably a platformer that could be run in a browser. The trailer and a bit of description are below. I told him I'd pop it up on DU to get reactions. I *know* a trailer and description ain't the same thing as seeing the game... but he (and I) are looking for feedback on whether this sounds promising and worth developing.

Thoughts, suggestions, even Bronx cheers appreciated. But hold off with the "She's NOT flying!!1!", OK?