MattSh
MattSh's JournalThe Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Election - The New York Times
They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.
Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago.
These donors’ fortunes reflect the shifting composition of the country’s economic elite. Relatively few work in the traditional ranks of corporate America, or hail from dynasties of inherited wealth. Most built their own businesses, parlaying talent and an appetite for risk into huge wealth: They founded hedge funds in New York, bought up undervalued oil leases in Texas, made blockbusters in Hollywood. More than a dozen of the elite donors were born outside the United States, immigrating from countries like Cuba, the old Soviet Union, Pakistan, India and Israel.
But regardless of industry, the families investing the most in presidential politics overwhelmingly lean right, contributing tens of millions of dollars to support Republican candidates who have pledged to pare regulations; cut taxes on income, capital gains and inheritances; and shrink entitlement programs. While such measures would help protect their own wealth, the donors describe their embrace of them more broadly, as the surest means of promoting economic growth and preserving a system that would allow others to prosper, too.
Complete story at - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/11/us/politics/2016-presidential-election-super-pac-donors.html
Weekend Economists: Fanfare for the Common Man and Woman - October 11-12 2015
MattSh here, getting this started for Demeter this morning. So, when I took on this awesome responsibility, 
I had nothing. No idea for a theme especially. But did I let that stop me? No way! Something would strike me, even if it was a branch falling from a tree! I threw around a couple ideas, some of which were probably too narrow and hard to do much of anything with. So, I came up with this idea. Cool, no? But then I thought maybe it's too much like the Labor Day theme, so I traveled through time to look at that and figured this idea would probably be different enough. So, enough about the process. On to some WEE!
Fanfare for the Common Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fanfare for the Common Man is a musical work by American composer Aaron Copland. The piece was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens. It was inspired in part by a famous speech made earlier in the same year where vice president Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man". Several alternative versions have been made and fragments of work have appeared in many subsequent US and British cultural productions, such as in the musical scores of movies.
The Fanfare
Copland, in his autobiography, wrote of the request: "Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, had written to me at the end of August about an idea he wanted to put into action for the 1942-43 concert season. During World War I he had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers". A total of 18 fanfares[1] were written at Goossens' behest, but Copland's is the only one which remains in the standard repertoire.
It was written in response to the US entry into World War II and was inspired in part by a famous 1942 speech[2] where vice president Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man".[3]
Goossens had suggested titles such as Fanfare for Soldiers, or sailors or airmen, and he wrote that "it is my idea to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort...." Copland considered several titles including Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony and Fanfare for Four Freedoms; to Goossens' surprise, however, Copland titled the piece Fanfare for the Common Man. Goossen wrote "Its title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance. If it is agreeable to you, we will premiere it 12 March 1943 at income tax time". Copland's reply was "I [am] all for honoring the common man at income tax time".[4]
Copland later used the fanfare as the main theme of the fourth movement of his Third Symphony (composed between 1944 - 1946.)
Complete story at - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanfare_for_the_Common_Man
Since some of the best stories of the common man and woman are in the form of music, I envision this as more of a music theme, though written word narratives are more than welcome too!
I’m Trying to Run for President, but the Democrats Won’t Let Me — Lawrence Lessig
Bio Below:I’m running for President. Or trying. After raising $1 million in less than 30 days, I entered the primary on September 9 as the Democrat’s only non-politician. My platform is simple: end the corrupting influence of money in Washington, so we might finally have, as Buddy Roemer would put it, a Congress free to lead.
But that message is being stifled with the tacit approval of the Democratic Party leadership, who are deploying the oldest method available for marginalizing campaigns they don’t like: keeping me out of the Democratic presidential debates.
Here’s how you make the debates: After one declares, a candidate is formally welcomed into the race by the Democratic National Committee. Polling firms, taking a cue from the DNC, include that candidate on their questionnaires. Candidates that poll at 1 percent nationally in at least three separate polls earn an invitation. Simple enough.
That’s how the process typically works for other candidacies — but not for mine. The DNC still has not formally welcomed me into the race — despite my raising money at a faster pace than more than half the pack, and being in the race nearly a full month. Polls, in turn, have taken the hint, only including me sporadically on questionnaires: of the last 10 major polls, only three mentioned my candidacy. One poll recently put me at 1 percent (for comparison, candidates O’Malley, Webb and Chafee, who will each get a podium at the debates, are all currently polling at 0.7 percent or less, according to Real Clear Politcs). Were I actually included on every poll, I would easily make the debates.
The Democratic Party could fix this by welcoming me into the race. Yet when I tried to talk about this with the chair of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she scheduled a call, but then cancelled it. So far she hasn’t had the time to schedule another. I’ve had similar experiences at the state level, where the same game is played: The chair of the New Hampshire Democrats invited me to speak at their convention. I was given 5 minutes. Hillary Clinton took an hour.
Have to use a URL shortener because DU does not post links from Medium.com correctly --> https://goo.gl/PqfbVW
original link: https://medium.com/@lessig/i-m-trying-to-run-for-president-but-the-democrats-won-t-let-me-7860eac918f8
Lawrence Lessig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig, III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist who is a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.[1] He is a member of the Illinois Bar.
In August 2015, Lessig announced that he was exploring a possible candidacy for President of the United States, promising to run if his exploratory committee raised $1 million by Labor Day.[2][3] After accomplishing this, on September 6, 2015, Lessig announced that he was entering the race to become a candidate for the 2016 Democratic Party's presidential nomination.[4] Lessig has described his candidacy as a referendum on campaign finance reform and electoral reform legislation. He has stated that, if elected, he would use that mandate to pass his proposed reforms, and then he would immediately resign the office and transfer power to his vice president.
Lessig has called for state-based activism to promote substantive reform of government with a Second Constitutional Convention.[5] In May 2014, he launched a crowd-funded political action committee which he termed Mayday PAC with the purpose of electing candidates to Congress who would pass campaign finance reform.[6]
As well as political reform, Lessig is a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications. Prior to his appointment at Harvard, he was a professor of law at Stanford Law School, where he founded the Center for Internet and Society, and at the University of Chicago. Lessig is a founding board member of Creative Commons and the founder of Rootstrikers, and is on the board of MapLight.[7] He is on the advisory boards of the Democracy Café,[8] Sunlight Foundation[9] and Americans Elect.[10] He is a former board member of the Free Software Foundation; Software Freedom Law Center; the Washington, D.C. lobbying groups Public Knowledge and Free Press; and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[11]
Complete story at - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig
Putin and Assad have made fools of the West
At the outset of Syria’s brutal four-year civil war, I was an almost unique voice in the British media deploring the push to depose the secular dictator President Bashar al-Assad, especially in the absence of a genuinely popular uprising against him. Here in The Spectator I tried to point out that such a short-term strategy would have devastating long-term consequences. Assad, I argued, would not fall, because the people of Damascus would not rise up against him. The so-called secular rebels were in fact vicious Islamists in disguise. Western interests in the region would be dramatically undermined by Saudi and Iranian militias, who would fight a devastating proxy war. Syria’s extraordinarily diverse population risked annihilation as a result. And we could even end up provoking a full-blown war with Russia.
No one listened, and I tired of trying to convince them of their folly. Four years on, the suffering of the Syrian people — 250,000 slaughtered, half of the population internally displaced and millions more made refugees — is obvious. And last week, in the midst of Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since the second world war (brought about in no small part by fleeing Syrians), the extent of the West’s geopolitical miscalculations became painfully evident. Jihadists of various affiliations, who are now unequivocally the only opposition, were encroaching on Syria’s Alawite-dominated coastal heartland, and inching ever closer towards Damascus. So the long-time Syrian ally Russia called Washington’s bluff by establishing military bases in the regime stronghold Latakia. In a flash its tanks, fighter jets, military advisers, warships and even its most modern anti-aircraft missile system were in place. Its engineers constructed an airport landing strip almost overnight, as its navy conducted menacing drills in the nearby (Russian-leased) Syrian port of Tartus.
This was the most brazen overseas military deployment by Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. But it caught Nato off guard. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, we learnt of the Islamic State’s new caliphate — arguably the most important development in the region since the founding of Israel in 1948 — only when its leader announced the event on YouTube. Still, the question remains: why did the Russians move to guarantee Assad’s survival? The short answer is because the West’s Syrian strategy was in such disarray that Russia could expect Nato to look the other way.
.....
Assad is in fact now more popular than ever in the roughly one third of Syria he still controls. Anyone in Damascus or on the coast who supported the Islamic State long since either joined it or blew themselves up among the infidels. The West, though, is more hated than ever. A recent poll found that 80 per cent of Syrians believe we created the Islamic State — a common belief, incidentally, throughout the Middle East (and not entirely inaccurate). So it took Washington and its reactionary Gulf allies four years and billions of dollars to end up eating humble pie. They have now effectively admitted that Moscow was right about Syria all along. In the process, they have undermined any humanitarian credibility our military adventurism may still have had after the Iraq nightmare.
John R. Bradley is the author of four books on the Middle East.
Complete story at - http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9643672/putin-and-assad-have-made-fools-of-the-west/
You Must Check out the Making of the Amazing 'Silver Arrows' | Fstoppers
This is it... I've come across the mother lode of photography personal projects that will just blow you away. Czech photographer Jan Rambousek and Creative Director Tomas Kopecny were inspired to visually recreate some of the most noteworthy scenes from Grand Prix racing during the 1930s. The series is entitled "Silver Arrows" due to the fact that Mercedes race cars were dominating the race series during that time period. The final images are incredible and gorgeous, but what's even more amazing is the research, detail, and overall production that went into creating these images. Prepare to be inspired and amazed.
The artists' statement about the photo series:
Join us and experience the most celebrated moments of the story of the Silver Arrows as they unfold right before your eyes in breathtaking scale. Our large format prints provide detail that could never have been captured with the photographic technology of the time.
Using a combination of original photography with the most advanced 3D graphics we brought the legendary silver cars of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union — along with other famous brands — back to life.
We’re confident that our story of the Silver Arrows and the people involved will feel as authentic to you as they did to the hundreds of thousands of spectators in the stands in era of the asphalt burning legends.
...Only a limited amount of material is preserved from the original 1934-1939 races, but we found as much text, photography, and film as we could, and pored over it until our eyes bled.
The goal: To achieve perfect historical accuracy and realism in every composition, down to the last detail. From the design of the cars to the type of welding on their bodies, from the landscape of the locations to the clothing of the crowd — we wanted everything to look just right.
It was a labor of love, and we think its fruits paid off. We hope you’ll think so too.
Complete story at - https://fstoppers.com/automotive/you-must-check-out-making-amazing-silver-arrows-85607
This Chrome extension reminds you that “refugees” and “migrants” are “humans” - Quartz
This Chrome extension reminds you that “refugees” and “migrants” are “humans” - Quartz
So contentious is the refugee crisis facing Europe that even the words used to reference it have come under fire. The concern is that the words “refugee,” “asylum seeker,” and “migrant” risk dehumanizing the people, who are being hidden behind the labels used to define them.
Such is the opinion of Australian creative studio Agency. On Sept. 4, four of the 20 people who work at the agency, a non-profit focused on promoting social causes, put down the work they do for clients to dedicate several hours to a project called “Rehumanize.” The project is essentially an app extension for the browser Chrome that replaces textual occurrences of “refugee,” “asylum seeker,” or “migrant” with “human.”
Even for those who argue these words are etymologically correct and not usually meant to be offensive, replacing them using the app still has a sobering effect, emphasizing that there is tangible, relatable suffering behind the labels. Below are some examples:
Complete story at - http://qz.com/497876/this-chrome-extension-reminds-you-that-refugees-and-migrants-are-humans/
Extension here... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/rehumanize/fndemhlchjmbionkkacpflllkfeppjpm?hl=en-US
Abby Martin returns to TV with "The Empire Files"
Toon - Do your job Muppets...
NOTE: That's not a misspelling...
LIBOR
The London Interbank Offered Rate is the average interest rate estimated by leading banks in London that the average leading bank would be charged if borrowing from other banks.
In June 2012, multiple criminal settlements by Barclays Bank revealed significant fraud and collusion by member banks connected to the rate submissions, leading to the Libor scandal. The British Bankers’ Association said on 25 September 2012 that it would transfer oversight of LIBOR to UK regulators, as proposed by Financial Services Authority managing director Martin Wheatley's independent review recommendations. Wheatley's review recommended that banks submitting rates to LIBOR must base them on actual inter-bank deposit market transactions and keep records of those transactions, that individual banks' LIBOR submissions be published after three months, and recommended criminal sanctions specifically for manipulation of benchmark interest rates. Financial institution customers may experience higher and more volatile borrowing and hedging costs after implementation of the recommended reforms. The UK government agreed to accept all of the Wheatley Review's recommendations and press for legislation implementing them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor
Czech Cops Haul Refugees Off Trains to Germany and Write Numbers on Their Arms in Ink
(ANTIMEDIA) United Kingdom — For most of us, the image of a serial number on a forearm conjures up indelible images of 1940s Germany, but it seems this is not the case for the Czech police, who adopted the controversial practice earlier this week.
As the immigration debate intensifies throughout Europe, police in the Southern Czech region of Moravia resorted to the method in an attempt to stem the tide of people fleeing war by heading to the E.U.
According to The Independent, during the early hours of Tuesday morning, over 200 people were arrested as their trains arrived from Austria and Hungary. The refugees were removed from the trains heading to Germany, detained, and flagged with identification numbers written on their arms with marker pens. Photographs in the Czech media showed police officers writing registration numbers on the arms of women and children among chaotic scenes of razor wire and makeshift camps.
“What never stops amazing me are people who look at the Holocaust and think that it only holds lessons for Germans & Jews,” European Media Director of Human Rights Watch Andrew Stroehlein said on Twitter.
.....
According to Czech media, after arrest, refugees are placed in secure institutions and believe it or not, are then required to pay for the privilege. Following a backlash of international criticism, the Czech Republic has since announced that it no longer plans to detain Syrian refugees trying to reach Germany, making it the latest country to abandon European asylum rules in the face of the global crisis.
Complete story at - http://theantimedia.org/czech-cops-haul-refugees-off-trains-to-germany-and-write-numbers-on-their-arms-in-ink/
More here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/czech-police-haul-migrants-off-trains-to-germany-and-write-numbers-on-their-arms-in-ink-10482651.html
IMF Officials Implicated In Theft, Concealment Of Ukraine Loan Corruption, US Justice Department
IMF Officials Implicated In Theft, Concealment Of Ukraine Loan Corruption, Us Justice Department Investigating | Dances With Bears
Officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are in flight from evidence of negligence, incompetence, and corruption in their management of billions of dollars in loans for Ukraine.
Nikolai Gueorguiev, head of the Ukraine team at IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, and Jerome Vacher, the IMF representative in Kiev, refuse to respond to questions on their role in the offshore diversion of IMF loan money through Privatbank and Credit Dnepr Bank, banks owned by Ukrainian oligarchs Igor Kolomoisky and Victor Pinchuk. The Fund’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde and her spokesman, Gerry Rice, are covering up evidence of conflicts of interest and multiple violations of the IMF Staff Code of Conduct which have been occurring in the Ukraine loan programme. Simonetta Nardin, head of the Fund’s media relations, refuses to explain her apparent violations of the Code, or respond to evidence that she fabricated elements of her career resume.
On Tuesday a spokesman at the US Department of Justice in Washington confirmed that an investigation is under way of the role played by US clearing banks in the movement of IMF funds through the Privatbank group and companies connected with Kolomoisky. Speaking for the Asset Forefeiture and Money Laundering Section, Peter Carr declined to give more details.
In recent indictments presented to US courts, Justice Department officials have defined the crime of money laundering as the transmission or transfer of money through “a place in the United States to or through a place outside the United States” with the “intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity”; with knowledge that the transfer of funds represents “the proceeds of some unlawful activity”; and with the intention to “conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of unspecified unlawful activity”.
The role of US system banks, such as Citibank, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase, in clearing US dollar transactions has been the basis of selective Justice Department prosecutions of Russian and pro-Russian Ukrainian companies and individuals since the toppling of President Victor Yanukovich in Kiev in February 2014. In contrast, Ukrainian allies of the US in that operation, including Yulia Tymoshenko, Kolomoisky, and Pinchuk, have not been pursued on court evidence of their involvement in corruption and money-laundering.
Complete story at - http://johnhelmer.net/?p=14017#more-14017
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