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99th_Monkey
99th_Monkey's Journal
99th_Monkey's Journal
March 7, 2016
BY ANDREW PEREZ & DAVID SIROTA * 03/04/16 * ibtimes.com
When the Democratic presidential contenders meet on Sunday for their debate in Flint, Michigan — where thousands of residents have been poisoned by polluted water — the candidates’ records on clean water policy are likely to be in the spotlight. Hillary Clinton seems eager for that discussion, recently telling NPR: “The idea that you would have a community in the United States of America of nearly 100,000 people who were drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water infuriates me.”
But despite that rhetoric, the issue of clean water may be politically perilous for the leading Democratic candidate, thanks to her vote against banning a possible carcinogen at the center of one of the largest water pollution scandals in recent history.
Facing reports that a controversial fuel additive was contaminating water supplies across America, Clinton as a senator in 2005 opposed a bipartisan measure to ban the chemical — even though Bill Clinton’s Environmental Protection Agency had first proposed such a prohibition. At roughly the same time, one major company producing the chemical also tried to use provisions in a trade deal backed by Hillary Clinton to force local governments in the United States to let it continue selling the toxic compound.
Clinton’s campaign did not respond to International Business Times’ questions about her vote. ... Breaking with then-Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton joined 14 Republicans and 11 Democrats in voting against the measure to phase out MTBE, which passed the Senate by a vote of 70-26. ... When Clinton cast her vote against banning MTBE, she was in the midst of a re-election campaign in which she raised more than $74,000 from the oil and gas industry, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/hillary-clinton-spotlighting-crisis-flint-michigan-voted-against-measure-prevent
Before Flint, Hillary Clinton Voted Against Measure To Prevent Groundwater Pollution
Before Spotlighting Crisis In Flint MI, Hillary Voted Against Bill To Prevent Groundwater PollutionBY ANDREW PEREZ & DAVID SIROTA * 03/04/16 * ibtimes.com
When the Democratic presidential contenders meet on Sunday for their debate in Flint, Michigan — where thousands of residents have been poisoned by polluted water — the candidates’ records on clean water policy are likely to be in the spotlight. Hillary Clinton seems eager for that discussion, recently telling NPR: “The idea that you would have a community in the United States of America of nearly 100,000 people who were drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water infuriates me.”
But despite that rhetoric, the issue of clean water may be politically perilous for the leading Democratic candidate, thanks to her vote against banning a possible carcinogen at the center of one of the largest water pollution scandals in recent history.
Facing reports that a controversial fuel additive was contaminating water supplies across America, Clinton as a senator in 2005 opposed a bipartisan measure to ban the chemical — even though Bill Clinton’s Environmental Protection Agency had first proposed such a prohibition. At roughly the same time, one major company producing the chemical also tried to use provisions in a trade deal backed by Hillary Clinton to force local governments in the United States to let it continue selling the toxic compound.
Clinton’s campaign did not respond to International Business Times’ questions about her vote. ... Breaking with then-Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton joined 14 Republicans and 11 Democrats in voting against the measure to phase out MTBE, which passed the Senate by a vote of 70-26. ... When Clinton cast her vote against banning MTBE, she was in the midst of a re-election campaign in which she raised more than $74,000 from the oil and gas industry, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/hillary-clinton-spotlighting-crisis-flint-michigan-voted-against-measure-prevent
March 6, 2016
MAINE: YUUUGE TURNOUTS FOR BERNIE ALREADY AND YUGGE LINES
MAINE CAUCUS LIVEBLOG: YUUUGE TURNOUTS FOR BERNIE ALREADY AND YUGGE LINES!
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/6/1497051/-MAINE-CAUCUS-LIVEBLOG-YUUUGE-TURNOUTS-FOR-BERNIE-ALREADY-AND-YUGGE-LINES
March 6, 2016
By Medea Benjamin and Rebecca Green * 06 March 2016 * PINKtank via TruthOut
On Christmas Eve in 2011, Hillary Clinton and her closest aides celebrated a $29.4 billion sale of over 80 F-15 fighter jets, manufactured by US-based Boeing Corporation, to Saudi Arabia. In a chain of enthusiastic emails, an aide exclaimed that it was "not a bad Christmas present."
These are the very fighter jets the Saudis have been using to intervene in the internal affairs of Yemen since March 2015. A year later, at least 2,800 Yemeni civilians have been killed, mostly by airstrikes - and there is no end in sight. The indiscriminate Saudi strikes have killed journalists and ambulance drivers. They have hit the Chamber of Commerce, facilities supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders), a wedding hall, and a center for the blind. The attacks have also targeted ancient heritage sites in Yemen. International human rights organizations are saying that the Saudi-led strikes on Yemen may amount to war crimes.
During her tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made weapons transfers to the Saudi government a "top priority," according to a new report published in The Intercept. While Clinton's State Department was deeply invested in getting weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars in donations from both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the weapons manufacturer Boeing. Christmas presents were being gifted all around.
Despite the brutal attacks on Yemen and egregious domestic human rights violations, Saudi Arabia remains the number one US ally in the Arab world. While the original US interest was to secure Saudi's vast oil reserves, today only 10% of oil used in the United States now comes from the Kingdom. US dependence on Saudi oil has been superseded by US dependence on weapons sales.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35100-saudi-s-exploding-christmas-gifts-from-hillary-clinton
BOOM! Saudi Arabia's Exploding Christmas Gifts, From Hillary Clinton
Saudi Arabia's Exploding Christmas Gifts From Hillary ClintonBy Medea Benjamin and Rebecca Green * 06 March 2016 * PINKtank via TruthOut
On Christmas Eve in 2011, Hillary Clinton and her closest aides celebrated a $29.4 billion sale of over 80 F-15 fighter jets, manufactured by US-based Boeing Corporation, to Saudi Arabia. In a chain of enthusiastic emails, an aide exclaimed that it was "not a bad Christmas present."
These are the very fighter jets the Saudis have been using to intervene in the internal affairs of Yemen since March 2015. A year later, at least 2,800 Yemeni civilians have been killed, mostly by airstrikes - and there is no end in sight. The indiscriminate Saudi strikes have killed journalists and ambulance drivers. They have hit the Chamber of Commerce, facilities supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders), a wedding hall, and a center for the blind. The attacks have also targeted ancient heritage sites in Yemen. International human rights organizations are saying that the Saudi-led strikes on Yemen may amount to war crimes.
During her tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made weapons transfers to the Saudi government a "top priority," according to a new report published in The Intercept. While Clinton's State Department was deeply invested in getting weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars in donations from both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the weapons manufacturer Boeing. Christmas presents were being gifted all around.
Despite the brutal attacks on Yemen and egregious domestic human rights violations, Saudi Arabia remains the number one US ally in the Arab world. While the original US interest was to secure Saudi's vast oil reserves, today only 10% of oil used in the United States now comes from the Kingdom. US dependence on Saudi oil has been superseded by US dependence on weapons sales.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35100-saudi-s-exploding-christmas-gifts-from-hillary-clinton
March 6, 2016
The FBI Has a New Plan to Spy on High School Students Across the Country
By Sarah Lazare * Mar 4, 2016 * AlterNet via TruthDig
Under new guidelines, the FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report students who criticize government policies and “western corruption” as potential future terrorists, warning that “anarchist extremists” are in the same category as ISIS and young people who are poor, immigrants or travel to “suspicious” countries are more likely to commit horrific violence. ...
This overwhelming threat is then used to justify a massive surveillance apparatus, wherein educators and pupils function as extensions of the FBI by watching and informing on each other.
The FBI’s justification for such surveillance is based on McCarthy-era theories of radicalization, in which authorities monitor thoughts and behaviors that they claim to lead to acts of violent subversion, even if those people being watched have not committed any wrongdoing. This model has been widely discredited as a violence prevention method, including by the U.S. government, but it is now being imported to schools nationwide as official federal policy.
Schools as "hotbeds of extremism"
The new guidelines depict high schools as hotbeds of extremism, where dangers lurk in every corner. “High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support for their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of violence within our borders,” the document warns, claiming that youth “possess inherent risk factors.” In light of this alleged threat, the FBI instructs teachers to “incorporate a two-hour block of violent extremism awareness training” into the core curriculum for all youth in grades 9 through 12.
According to the FBI’s educational materials for teenagers, circulated as a visual aide to their new guidelines, the following offenses constitute signs that “could mean that someone plans to commit violence” and therefore should be reported: “Talking about traveling to places that sound suspicious”; “Using code words or unusual language”; “Using several different cell phones and private messaging apps”; and “Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).”
Under the category of domestic terrorists, the educational materials warn of the threat posed by “anarchist extremists.”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_fbi_has_a_new_plan_to_spy_on_high_school_students_20160304
FBI Now Spying on HS Students, To ID and Weed-Out "Extremists & Anarchists" for Pre-crimes.
The Establishment Has Spoken to Our Youth: "Absorb and regurgitate establishment propaganda in
your Texas text books. We'll tell you how and what to think & to believe. STFU about passionate
progressivism, radical change, etc. or you will be labeled a "terrorist", stalked, investigated, and
ultimately criminalized.
The FBI Has a New Plan to Spy on High School Students Across the Country
By Sarah Lazare * Mar 4, 2016 * AlterNet via TruthDig
Under new guidelines, the FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report students who criticize government policies and “western corruption” as potential future terrorists, warning that “anarchist extremists” are in the same category as ISIS and young people who are poor, immigrants or travel to “suspicious” countries are more likely to commit horrific violence. ...
This overwhelming threat is then used to justify a massive surveillance apparatus, wherein educators and pupils function as extensions of the FBI by watching and informing on each other.
The FBI’s justification for such surveillance is based on McCarthy-era theories of radicalization, in which authorities monitor thoughts and behaviors that they claim to lead to acts of violent subversion, even if those people being watched have not committed any wrongdoing. This model has been widely discredited as a violence prevention method, including by the U.S. government, but it is now being imported to schools nationwide as official federal policy.
Schools as "hotbeds of extremism"
The new guidelines depict high schools as hotbeds of extremism, where dangers lurk in every corner. “High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support for their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of violence within our borders,” the document warns, claiming that youth “possess inherent risk factors.” In light of this alleged threat, the FBI instructs teachers to “incorporate a two-hour block of violent extremism awareness training” into the core curriculum for all youth in grades 9 through 12.
According to the FBI’s educational materials for teenagers, circulated as a visual aide to their new guidelines, the following offenses constitute signs that “could mean that someone plans to commit violence” and therefore should be reported: “Talking about traveling to places that sound suspicious”; “Using code words or unusual language”; “Using several different cell phones and private messaging apps”; and “Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).”
Under the category of domestic terrorists, the educational materials warn of the threat posed by “anarchist extremists.”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_fbi_has_a_new_plan_to_spy_on_high_school_students_20160304
March 4, 2016
House of Cards - Season 4: Unofficially available at 3:01 a.m EST on March 4.
I'm an unashamed inveterate House of Cards junky. I'll be watching.
I wasn't sure if this should be posted this in GD or GD-P. 
House of Cards season 4 will be ripe for weekend binge-watching because all 13 episodes come out at once on Friday, March 4, 2016. For seasons 1 and 2, House of Cards became available around 3 a.m. EST on the release date.
However, last year with season 3 Netflix mixed it up by releasing the episodes at 6 a.m. EST.
But this year it seems that Netflix is going back to the ways of season 1 and 2 with a 3 a.m. release date. A countdown clock made by Redditor and House of Cards fan TheLuckiest states that the release time will be 3:01 a.m. EST.
Other online forums seem to confirm this, but Netflix never gives an official release time about show launches in order to ease their servers.
Unofficially, House of Cards will most likely be available at 3:01 a.m EST on March 4.
http://heavy.com/entertainment/2016/03/when-what-time-house-of-cards-season-4-episodes-release-drop-available-come-out-netflix/
March 2, 2016
NYTimes calls Mass. for Bernie Sanders
With 48% of the vote v. Hillary's 51%.
Someone pushed the wrong button I guess..
March 2, 2016
Looks like Bernie's winning 4-5 states tonight (out of 11 total). That a VERY respectable showing.
These results are NOT a Clinton "mandate" for Hillary (or her supporters) to climb on
a high-horse and start demanding that Bernie "get out now".
That is total BULLSHIT. Don't buy into it for a second.
GO Bernie!!!!
March 2, 2016
Massachusetts: Hillary lead shrinking, now down to just +3%
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results
March 2, 2016
Bernie's winning Colorado by +11 ... WOOT! nt
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