The Commentariat -- October 31, 2015

Internal links removed.

Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Robert Pear & Amy Goodnough of the New York Times: "Health insurance consumers logging into HealthCare.gov on Sunday for the first day of the Affordable Care Act's third open enrollment season may be in for sticker shock, unless they are willing to shop around. Federal officials acknowledged on Friday that many people would need to pick new plans to avoid substantial increases in premiums.

White House: "In this week's address, the President spoke to the need for meaningful criminal justice reform in America":

Helene Cooper & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama will deploy a small number of American Special Operations forces to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria, a United States official said. The White House is expected to make the announcement on Friday...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Scott Wong of the Hill: "President Barack Obama placed a call to John Boehner on his penultimate day as Speaker..... 'He said, "Boehner, man, I'm gonna miss you,"' Boehner recalled in an interview broadcast Friday on Fox News. 'Yes you are Mr. President. Yes you are,' Boehner replied." CW: Because they both know Paul Ryan is a lying, backstabbing weasel & confederate tool. ...

... An example of which was, not surprisingly, quickly forthcoming. Nicole Duran of the Washington Examiner: "It would be 'ridiculous' to bring up legislation aimed at overhauling the country's immigration laws to the House floor when 'a president that we can't trust' is in office, Ryan told a small group of Wisconsin reporters during a conference call Friday morning. Ryan has previously supported some immigration reform legislation. But without consensus among Republicans on 'such a controversial issue,' he won't bring any legislation to the floor except border security provisions, Ryan said." Via Paul Waldman. ...

... CW: Ryan does not tell the reporters he signed a pledge letter to the Crazy Caucus, promising not to bring up immigration reform while President Obama was in office. Then he blames the "untrustworthy" President for his refusal to stand up to the wingers in his own party. As I said, before I read Duran's report, he's "a lying, backstabbing weasel & confederate tool." And he proved it one sentence the day after he became speaker.

... digby: "By the way, [Boehner] still blames the president for the grand Bargain falling apart. It isn't true. The House wingnuts ruined that one. Thank goodness."

You're Screwed! Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "By banning class actions, companies have essentially disabled consumer challenges to practices like predatory lending, wage theft and discrimination, court records show. 'This is among the most profound shifts in our legal history,' William G. Young, a federal judge in Boston who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, said in an interview. 'Ominously, business has a good chance of opting out of the legal system altogether and misbehaving without reproach.'... More than a decade in the making, the move to block class actions was engineered by a Wall Street-led coalition of credit card companies and retailers.... One of the players behind the scenes, The Times found, was John G. Roberts Jr.," who represented Discover Bank. CW: Roberts has a new job now.

Rachel Swarns of the New York Times: "Outlawed decades ago, redlining has re-emerged as a serious concern among regulators as banks have sharply retreated from providing home loans to African-Americans in the wake of the financial crisis. Over just the past 12 months, federal, state and city officials have successfully required banks to expand minority lending programs and, in some instances, to pay penalties as part of redlining settlements in Buffalo; Milwaukee; Providence, R.I.; Rochester; and St. Louis. And more banks are facing scrutiny. The Justice Department now has more active redlining investigations underway than at any other time in the past seven years, officials said."

** Larry Thompson, a deputy AG in the Bush II administration, in a New York Times op-ed: "On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Foster v. Chatman, a case that challenges the all-too-common practice by which prosecutors deliberately exclude African-Americans from criminal juries. The Supreme Court tried to outlaw this practice in 1986 through its landmark ruling in Batson v. Kentucky. But prosecutors routinely ignore that decision, excluding black jurors because of marital status, manner of dress, last names and other allegedly 'race neutral' reasons.... Interracial juries make fewer factual errors, deliberate longer and consider a wider variety of perspectives than all-white juries, according to several studies.... In 2010, the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law firm, studied eight Southern states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee -- and found the problem to be rampant."

Alex Thompson in Politico Magazine: "Voters have accepted all sorts of behavioral warts and missteps in their political candidates.... Yet one large taboo remains stubbornly fixed -- mental illness.... For a president or a candidate, it's the 'kiss of death,; says Burton Lee, George H.W. Bush's presidential physician.... Yet, a review of the historical record finds that past commanders in chief, even well-regarded ones, struggled with mental health problems throughout their presidencies.... [Richard] Nixon and John F. Kennedy clandestinely filled their medicine cabinets with psychotropic drugs, recently uncovered documents reveal."

Gail Collins: "... it's absolutely crazy that the bigger [drones] -- the ones capable of flying in the same airspace as a helicopter or dropping a mystery package on a nuclear power plant -- aren't being licensed and strictly regulated.... A drone flew over the Oklahoma State Penitentiary this week, carrying a bundle of drugs and hacksaw blades dangling from a fishing line. Fortunately, it crashed before any inmates could grab the loot. Meanwhile, a drone flew into power lines in West Hollywood and knocked one to the ground, leaving about 700 customers without electricity.... When recreational drones first came on the market, Congress ... basically told the F.A.A. to keep its hands off.... You shouldn't be able to go on the web, make three clicks and -- with no training whatsoever -- buy a product that could threaten public safety. That's only true for drones. And of course, in some states, handguns."

This video was headed for Infotainment. Until I listened to it:

In the Wake of ISIS. Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "When Islamic State fighters fled [Tal Abyad, a] northern Syrian town in June, they took with them the electricity generators, the water pumps, the hospital equipment and pretty much everything else that had helped sustain the semblance that they ran a functioning state. They left behind their graffiti, their instruments of torture, the block of wood on which they beheaded their victims, the cage in which they punished smokers -- and a community riven with suspicion and distrust. Today, Tal Abyad is a tense and troubled place. Its new Kurdish masters are seeking to assert their control over a mixed town that, at least until recently, had an Arab majority -- some of whom were not entirely unhappy to be governed by the Islamic State.... As the U.S. military prepares to deploy 50 Special Operations troops to the vicinity ahead of a new focus on the Islamic State's self-styled capital of Raqqa, 60 miles to the south, Tal Abyad represents something of a test also for a strategy that will rely heavily on the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, to take control of Arab areas."

Jodi Rudoren of the New York Times: "After more than a week of local and international condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel issued a statement on Friday retracting his accusation that it was a Palestinian cleric who gave Hitler the idea of annihilating Europe's Jews during World War II.... 'Contrary to the impression that was created, I did not mean to claim that in his conversation with Hitler in November 1941 the Mufti convinced him to adopt the Final Solution. The Nazis decided on that by themselves.'"

Presidential Race

Margaret Newkirk of Bloomberg: "Speaking to several hundred black college students in Georgia, Hillary Clinton on Friday promised to fight racial profiling, private prisons and the practice of asking about criminal records on initial job applications. The former secretary of state and Democratic front-runner spoke over loud chants of 'black lives matter' and opposing cries of 'let her talk' as protesters interrupted the event at Clark Atlanta University." ...

... Justin Fishel of ABC News: "Today's release of over 7,000 pages of Hillary Clinton email marks the halfway point for the State Department, which is attempting to meet a federal court's mandate to release all 55,000 pages of her email collection by January 2016. The department has now published roughly 27,000 pages of her emails on its public records website that were once stored on Clinton's now-infamous private server.... Most of the emails available for review online tend to contain more of the same: mundane yet sometimes entertaining communications between Clinton and her aides."

Michael Shear & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The White House will try to block the release of a handful of emails between President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, citing longstanding precedent invoked by presidents of both parties to keep presidential communications confidential, officials said Friday. The State Department discovered the emails between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton as part of its effort to release the former secretary's emails, several thousand more of which were scheduled to be made public on Friday. Mr. Obama's correspondence was forwarded for review to the White House, which has decided against release." ...

     ... Update. Julia Edwards of Reuters: "The White House will not allow the release of emails exchanged between President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from when she was secretary of state, a senior administration official said on Friday. The emails may be withheld until after Obama leaves office under the Presidential Records Act, according to the White House, which governs public access to the president's records."

New York Times Editors: "... none [of the Republican presidential candidates] has a tax plan coherent enough to be the basis of a substantive discussion, let alone one that could meet the nation's challenges.... Quick-and-dirty calculations of proposals from Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz show red ink running into the trillions of dollars.... The tax proposals from Jeb Bush, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, while not as fantastical as those of Mr. Cruz and [Ben] Carson, all make big and broad cuts, mostly to benefit the wealthiest Americans, including an end to the estate tax, cuts in tax rates and enhanced tax breaks for investments.... All of these candidates deny fiscal reality.... The Democratic candidates ... have called for high-end tax increases, while keeping proposed tax cuts targeted on low- or middle-income Americans. They have also called for new taxes on financial transactions. Most important, their tax plans are part of broader economic proposals to raise wages, including support for a higher minimum wage, unions, expanded profit-sharing and employee ownership."

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. -- President Harry Truman

-- 2016 Republican Presidential Candidate

Abby Phillip & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "With GOP anger over CNBC's handling of Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate boiling over, the Republican National Committee announced Friday that it was suspending its partnership with NBC News for an upcoming debate in February.In a letter to NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said that their relationship for the debate, scheduled for Feb. 26 at the University of Houston, was on hold 'pending further discussion.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ashley Parker & Emily Steel of the New York Times: "The letter [from Priebus] seemed to be an attempt at damage control by the R.N.C., which many of the candidates felt had bungled its handling of the Republican debate process, after taking a more active role and 'sanctioning' debates' this year." ...

... "GOP Suspends NBC Debate Because Questions Might Be Too Hard." Jaime Fuller of New York: "Priebus also noted that the 'moderators engaged in a series of "gotcha" questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates' policies and ideas.' He did not add that the American people would have also gained a fuller portrait of the candidates' ideas if they had not evaded, ignored, or lied in response to many of the actual policy questions they were asked, and he didn't note that the idea that a 'gotcha' question includes the entire universe of queries that could point out the weaknesses of a campaign is a disputed one." ...

... Here You Are Bid to Imagine Prince Rebus as a Tough Guy. Stop Smilng. Colin Campbell of Business Insider: "Reince Priebus ... even called the debate a 'crap sandwich' during an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. 'I just can't tell you how pissed off I am,' Priebus said. 'It was a insanity. I mean just sitting there, seething through this thing ... thinking about hitting the circuit breaker in the auditorium -- it crossed my mind.'" ...

     ... If your imagination can't stretch that far, you can see the Hannity segment here. Hannity doesn't let Priebus speak till 2:43 minutes in. Just as well. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "In a pretty classic case of letting itself be panicked into a precipitous action by the excitement of the moment, the RNC has announced it has canceled the February 26 debate that was going to be cosponsored by NBC in order to punish the parent network for the behavior of the CNBC moderators of Wednesday night's event.... The RNC may ultimately regret setting the precedent of letting the inmates -- er, the candidates -- run the asylum -- er, the debate system.... It's ironic that the network that employs Larry Kudlow and Rick Santelli is now perpetually labeled as the agent of godless progressivism...." ...

... "Republicans Very Upset At How Bad They Looked on Wednesday." Kevin Drum: "CNBC did screw up, but mostly by failing to keep the toddlers on stage under control and being poorly prepared to deal with brazen lies delivered with a straight face.... But conservative grievance culture is once again demanding someone's head on a platter. After all, if conservatives look bad on television it's gotta be someone else's fault, right?... Jeebus. And these guys claim that they're the steely-eyed folks who can take down Putin and the ayatollah? What a bunch of crybabies." ...

... digby: "In other news, they are all very, very macho dudes who will defeat ISIS with their bare hands." ...

... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: "What every candidate wants, apparently, is a forum to provide extended campaign commercials without anyone asking them questions about stuff they've done and said that might give voters some insight as to what kind of job they'd do as president." ...

... Ashley Parker: "Republican presidential candidates will not give opening statements at the next debate, hosted by the Fox Business Network, but they will have more time to respond to questions -- 90 seconds in their initial answer, and a 60-second rebuttal -- according to an internal logistics memo the network sent to the campaigns on Friday. The candidates will also be allowed 30-second closing statements...."...

     ... Puppies & Rainbows. CW: In lieu of opening statements, each candidate will be allowed to air a two-minute campaign video with stock images of amber waves of grain & inspirational music. The candidates will be permitted to prescreen the questions & reject any they deem "offensive," "challenging" or "inappropriate." The hosts will assume everything the candidates say is factual. Candidates are asked to criticize Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders & Barack Obama, but not each other.

Billionaire Ballot. Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "One of the wealthiest and most influential Republican donors in the country is throwing his support to Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a decision that could swing millions of dollars in contributions behind Mr. Rubio at a critical point in the Republican nominating battle. The decision by the donor, Paul Singer, a billionaire New York investor, is a signal victory for Mr. Rubio in his battle with his rival Jeb Bush for the affections of major Republican patrons and the party's business wing. It comes as a major blow to Mr. Bush...." ...

... Ed Kilgore: Marco Rubio is "going to have to survive a real vetting, and the question is whether it will come from the media or from the campaign of a rival. The raw materials are there for some real problems: the man has a history of shaky personal finances, misuse of other people's money, and reliance on politically connected sugar daddies. He also has a generic response that fits in nicely with his son-of-a-bartender-and-a-maid aspirational message: unlike many of his rivals, he's not a trust fund baby or the son and brother of presidents, and hasn't worked for Lehman Brothers or married someone who works for Goldman Sachs. So yeah, he's struggled to pay bills.... In conservative mythology there's a fine line, of course, between 'struggling to pay bills' and being an undisciplined freeloader who can't be trusted to meet his obligations." ...

Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "A crucial part of Marco Rubio's big debate victory came directly out of his ability to lie with conviction and an innocent look in his eye. Not just about his tax plan, but about his own personal finances.... [In response to a question about his personal finances, Rubio said] 'Well, you just -- you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all.' Discredited attacks? As Florida Republican Joe Scarborough said Thursday morning: 'Marco just flat-out lied to the American people, there.... And I was stunned that the moderators didn't stop there and go, "Wait a second, these are court records. What are you talking about?:... Whatever you make of Rubio's personal finances, pay attention to his lying. Because he didn't flinch, he didn't equivocate." ...

... Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post track the 17-year relationship of Mutt & Jeb!, one that had its apparent climax in this week's GOP debate. If either of these jerks becomes the GOP nominee, it will be interesting to see to what extent the other supports him.

... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "On Thursday evening, U.S. News published a 112-page document that the Bush campaign provided to donors.... [Linked in yesterday's Commentariat.] The document highlights the campaign's plans to target Rubio.... The document says that 'Those who have looked into Marco's background in the past have been concerned with what they have found.' U.S. News, citing an anonymous Bush aide, said the reference was to 'concerns Mitt Romney's team unearthed when they vetted Rubio for vice president in 2012.'... 'As the senior Romney advisor who handled VP vetting and had access to all the vetting documents, I can say that Senator Rubio "passed" our vetting and we found nothing that disqualified him from serving as VP,' wrote [Beth] Myers, who counts herself a Bush supporter. 'The Bush aide referred to in this article is simply wrong.'" ...

... Caitlin Cruz of TPM: "The chief operating officer of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's struggling presidential campaign is out, according to a Friday report in the Wall Street Journal. Christine Ciccone was responsible for logistics and got paid about $12,000 a month."

Liar, Liar, Liar. Steve Benen: "Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina has a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, insisting that the economy under President Obama is terrible.... As proof of her thesis, the failed former business executive points to the national debt (which isn't the economy), the complexity of the tax code (which also isn't the economy), the rate of small business closures (which is wildly misleading), and the notion that 92% of the jobs lost during Obama's first term belonged to women (which is a ridiculous claim recycled from Mitt Romney's mendacious talking points).... But the real gem in the piece had ... to do with a claim from his would-be Democratic successor.'... Hillary Clinton said on Oct. 13 in the first Democratic presidential debate, "The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House,"....' [Fiorina's] op-ed makes no effort whatsoever to contest the accuracy of Clinton's historical claim; she simply expressed incredulity, as if the claim couldn't possibly be true." But it is. ...

... CW: This is perhaps the No. 1 sales pitch for Democratic candidates. They must do more to hammer it home. When I first read fairly irrefutable proof that the economy did better under Democratic administrations, it surprised me, too -- first, because I believed the common wisdom that "Presidents can't really do anything about the economy, but they get credit or blame for it," and second, because the "common sense" conclusion would seem to be that the economy should do better under a pro-business, Republican administration. "For years the pollsters have found that most voters believe the Republicans do better with the economy." (Arthur Blaustein, 2012) Democrats must disabuse voters of this erroneous "common sense" belief, & teach them new "common sense" lessons: (1) "business" ≠ "the economy"; (2) increasing the incomes of millions & millions of Americans improves the economy more than does increasing the incomes of the rich & super-rich; & (3) a well-regulated business environment creates a more stable economy than one which permits crooks & liars to get the best of consumers & honest businesspeople.

Jim Webb, in a Washington Post op-ed, makes the case for an independent presidential candidacy, even though he has not decided whether or not he'll run. CW: "Running," for him, seemed to mean "show up at a debate". At least he won't be subject to that humiliating exercise if he runs as an independent.

Gubernatorial Race

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "... nervous [Kentucky] Republicans are trying to decide whether their candidate [Matt Bevin] is a charismatic conservative who captures the anti-establishment instincts of the electorate, or a loose cannon capable of alienating voters from both parties in a state that is trending Republican. Mr. Bevin, a wealthy Louisville businessman, a Tea Party favorite and a political novice locked in a tight race with Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democrat, upended the Republican status quo in May when he squeaked past three other candidates to win a primary by 83 votes."

Beyond the Beltway

Ryan Felton of the Guardian: "St Louis police have arrested an individual in connection with a spate of arson cases at predominantly black churches. The suspect, a 35-year-old black male, was taken into custody on Thursday, said Schron Jackson, spokesperson for the St Louis police department." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: "On Thursday night, just four days before the former Austin police officer was set to stand trial, a federal judge in Texas dismissed a manslaughter charge against Charles Kleinert in the 2013 shooting death of Larry Jackson Jr., an unarmed black man. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel cites a little known 1889 case that determined federal agents can be granted immunity from state criminal charges and undoes one of a handful of indictments handed down to police officers out of the thousands of fatal police shootings that have occurred in recent years." Kleinert "was a member of an FBI task force.... Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said Thursday night that she has yet to determine if she will appeal the ruling." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "A Russian passenger airplane carrying 224 people crashed early Saturday in the central Sinai Peninsula, according to officials in Cairo and Moscow." ...

     ... New Lede: "All 224 people aboard a Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt early Saturday have been confirmed dead, officials say."

... The Guardian is liveblogging developments: "An Egyptian security officer has told Reuters he could hear the voices of trapped passengers from a section of the crashed Russian plane. The plane reportedly split into two parts." ...

... Washington Post Update: "Islamic State affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula claims to have brought down the plane in a statement circulated online on Saturday. The statement did not specify how the militants claimed to have caused the plane to crash.... And Russian officials say they have opened an investigation for gross negligence and safety violations that may have led to the crash.... Still, Air France-KLM and German carrier Lufthansa both said Saturday that they would avoid flying over the Sinai Peninsula due to the unclear circumstances of the crash, the Reuters news agency reported."

Washington Post: "A multi-day operation in southern Afghanistan this month that involved 200 Special Operations forces and scores of American airstrikes targeted what was 'probably the largest' al-Qaeda training camp found in the 14-year Afghan war, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan said on Friday."

Comments

[Ken Winkes]

More on scary Baby Face Rubio in tonight's Halloween NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/politics/paul-singer-influential-billionaire-throws-support-to-marco-rubio-for-president.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

When I said the other day he can't do math I was referring to his personal finances and his juvenile tax plan. I haven't changed my mind, but...

.....counting campaign contributions might be another matter.

[Citizen625]

"Roman Polanski, who is wanted over a 1977 conviction for having sex with a 13-year-old girl." This is the lede for a guy who drugged, raped, sodomized a kid?! He's a fuck. He makes good movies, but he's a pig. You wonder about the Donald, Cruz, CNBC? Look no further than Polanski.

[Ken Winkes]

So the Repugs chastise CNBC and punish its parent NBC for CNBC's mostly imagined (hardly new on the Koch-Confederate paranoid planet) mishandling the last debate?

From what I saw and from the reports I've read, CNBC's errors seem to consist of their nefarious "gotcha" questions, like asking candidates to elucidate their inexplicable tax plans, which of course they could not do, and to respond to reports of their own questionable business practices. Rubio and Carson ducked those questions, of course, if lying can be called ducking.

Judging from their behavior both on and off the debate stage, the challenge for the K-C's may be insurmountable, for the problem lies in the candidates, not in the media. It's hard to imagine a debate format that shows any of them to good advantage. The few who look good on camera don't think so good, and most (sorry, Jeb!) don't even make a good visual impression. And when they are together on stage, controlling some of those boobs so they don't portray themselves as what they are, arrogant and ignorant blowhards, would require a cattle prod.

I can see it now. Today NBC is erased from the fold. Tomorrow another network. Surely PBS, the only venue other than MSNBC, a relative niche market, which dares pretend it has an occasional liberal slant, can't be long from getting the K-C axe. According to Rachel Maddow tonight, the K-C party even harbors some doubts about the "fair" half of the fair and balanced network, which Rince P.'s sycophantic interview with Hannity was intended to allay .

So where do all these hissy fits lead?

Maybe a series of scripted one on one conversations with Glenn Beck? I hear he's still out there somewhere on the internet.

One can only hope.

[PD Pepe]

I'm back from my travels through Vt. and N.H. whose landscapes are glorious–-truly majestic and especially colorful this time of year.

The first couple we visited live in a protected forest preserve. They, along with 32 other residents, are responsible for the upkeep of the roads (such as they are––many are just dirt) snow removal, and tending to a small lake through a yearly fee. These residents and other concerned citizens around that area including those in Mass. are vigorously fighting a proposed Natural Gas pipeline that would run through their states. See link below.
http://350nh.org/natural-gas-pipeline-controversy-comes-to-nh/

In Vermont I had a bite to eat at a luncheonette that Bernie visits and chats up the locals who when I engaged them in conversation all seemed to be Bernie supporters. But I understand from our friends that there is a large population of conservative Christians who vote Republican. In all the small towns we passed through the little white churches–-sometimes three in a row––stood proudly with their steeples pointing high to the heavens.

On another occasion I was in a discussion with two retired history professors from a nearby college–-both liberal and both horrified at the GOP candidates especially Ben Carson. When asked if they had to choose one from that group whom would it be? Both said Kaisich, but they were holding their noses.

I managed to see part of the debate and have enjoyed reading the aftermath here on R.C. It's all so comical, so absolutely crazy nuts, it would be such fun to keep laughing, but sadly, this is serious stuff and it leaves such a stink, don't you think?

And by the way (Marie is right)––the FACT that this country thrives better under democratic leadership should be stressed again and again. We have the graphs to prove it!

[Ken Winkes]

Another Halloween horror story from the NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/business/dealbook/arbitration-everywhere

which details another frightening element of the Great Corporate Collective that is daily a-building.

By now we've all heard of "shadow banking," the major element of our economy that escaped notice and control until it was instrumental in the 2008 Bush Crash. But shadow banking, which is still with us in scaled-back form, is only one part of the powerful corporate world that is busily establishing self-serving alternatives to traditional democratic institutions and to the democracy we thought we lived in.

As the article says, forced arbitration clauses are now commonplace. In business arrangements, they neatly sidestep the customer's right to sue; in labor contracts, by keeping disputes out of the courts, they strengthen the employer's hands.

One of the main elements in last year's lengthy west coast longshoremen's (the ILWU) contract talks was arbitration arrangements. The union wanted the power to reject arbitrators who, particularly in Southern California as I understand it, had commonly ruled against the union in labor disputes. I believe the union prevailed on that issue, but negotiations (and associated port disruptions) lasted eight months. Weaker unions likely would not have won on that point.

Then there are the trade agreements (the TPP text has still not been released, I see) that establish dispute resolution courts that exist outside national court and law systems and in fact trump their authority.

Shadow banking, forced arbitration clauses in contracts, the Investor State Dispute Settlement System as it was called in NAFTA, all corporate governments that exist outside states and nations where people actually vote.

Happy Halloween!