Corrente

At Foley Sq protest - one of them was a freedom rider, the other marched in Selma via @Jacob__Siegel pic.twitter.com/buIYps5mx8

— Conflict News (@rConflictNews) December 5, 2014

Astonishing video:

You think the self proclaimed most important Black leader, @TheRevAl, had any words for the 7 young organizers in the White House? Guess.

— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) December 4, 2014

Re-POST from June 9, 2014:

In “Police Violence and the American gulag” Andre Damon gives a sampling from across the country of recent gratuitously murderous attacks by the police against vulnerable citizens. Read below the fold...

Here is that Black-Eyed Susan again. Read below the fold...

The racoons have been trapped, and they didn't even dig a hole. Now the insulation project can roll on! Read below the fold...

WE CAN'T BREATHE via @harrysiegel pic.twitter.com/9WbBgQUE8a

— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) December 4, 2014

Read below the fold...

The Hill via PNHP:

Sen. Tom Harkin, one of the co-authors of the Affordable Care Act, now thinks Democrats may have been better off not passing it at all and holding out for a better bill.

“We had the power to do it in a way that would have simplified healthcare, made it more efficient and made it less costly and we didn’t do it,” Harkin told The Hill. “So I look back and say we should have either done it the correct way or not done anything at all.

“What we did is we muddled through and we got a system that is complex, convoluted, needs probably some corrections and still rewards the insurance companies extensively,” he added.

But he believes the nation might have been better off if Democrats didn’t bow to political pressure and settle for a policy solution he views as inferior to government-provided health insurance.

He believes Congress should have enacted “single-payer right from the get-go or at least put a public option would have simplified a lot.”

AAARGH!!!!!! Single payer the the public option are NOT THE SAME. Single payer is just that: Single. Payer. Not one of multiple options. One more option of many won't simplify squat. What's wrong with these people? Read below the fold...

Another British industrial film about steam engines!

Snow, then ice, now rain. The days are still getting shorter as we head toward the equinox....

Lovely pale, muted colors... And still green! Read below the fold...

PREFACE:

Mychal Denzel Smith in "No Indictment for Darren Wilson, No Justice for Black Lives":

Protesters in Ferguson should not be calm, as they have been admonished by everyone from the president on down. Michael Brown doesn’t need calm. Black boys and girls who grow up in America need their lives to be respected. They need justice.

----------------- Read below the fold...

For fans of British steam locomotives (like me), fans of industrial films, and fans of what, in the 1930s, was pretty high tech: Think of assembling a plane at Boeing.

Today I received an e-mail from the Friends of (the very popular with progressives) Senator Bernie Sanders. In it the Senator says:

I'm joining with the members of Progressives United to send a clear message to President Obama that we will stand with him when he vetoes Republican legislation that attacks the well-being of the struggling middle class.

Join me and members of Progressives United to urge the president to VETO any Republican legislation that attacks working families.

Read below the fold...

Interesting:

A new study (pdf) from the Center for Global Development says the richest 2% of Americans are responsible for producing four times as much greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) per person—53.5 metric tons of CO2 a year—as the bottom 20% of the population, which generates about 12.5 metric tons per person.

Kevin Ummel, who produced the report, says the top 10% of Americans generate a quarter of the United States’ GHG footprint. In contrast, the “least-polluting 40% of the population accounts for only 20% of the total,” Ummel wrote.

Hmm. Not as brutal as the income distribution/Gini Coefficient curve, but still.[1] Read below the fold...

Human Rights Watch:

2. In particular, there was an incident where several of our Amnesty observers were at MoKaBe’s coffee shop, a designated safe house for activists, which was tear gassed by the police. Amnesty staff were inside MoKaBe’s coffeehouse along with several dozen other protesters and community members. The coffee shop was distributing free coffee and hot chocolate to those who needed a quiet and welcoming place to gather or refresh themselves. It was staffed by community volunteers and clergy. There was a small protest taking place in the street outside, but it was peaceful. At approximately 1:00am, a large militarized police vehicle sped around the corner and fired tear gas and undetermined projectiles at the people running from the protests, hitting one in the back. The police then turned to MoKaBe’s and fired on the building. Amnesty International staff inside MoKaBe directly observed the entire interaction. 

The police again fired tear gas several minutes later, despite the presence of two Amnesty monitors clearly marked with bright yellow “human rights observer” T-shirts. The patrons, including people who came outside to recover from the initial tear gas and some children, were overcome with gas. There was no evident provocation for this action and no prior warning to disperse. One Amnesty observer was struck with three or four projectiles of unknown composition. Meanwhile, a column of police in riot gear lined up in a column outside, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the coffee shop for approximately 20 minutes.

Well now, that's interesting, isn't it? Read below the fold...