February 6, 2015

Hillary Clinton in Winnipeg: An Exercise in Cognitive Dissonance

Hillary Clinton in Winnipeg: An Exercise in Cognitive Dissonance

Thursday, 05 February 2015 10:05
By Harrison Samphir, Truthout | News Analysis


On January 21, almost 2,000 people filled the RBC Convention Centre in downtown Winnipeg to see former US senator, first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton. At $300 per ticket, the event attracted plenty of affluent Manitobans - lawyer-philanthropist Gail Asper, University of Manitoba president David Bernard, hospitality mogul Doug Stephen - members of the media and other spectators.

Clinton was in the city as part of the Global Perspectives series sponsored by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The afternoon event was the first in a two-stop tour also including an evening date in Saskatoon.

It's part of an embryonic presidential campaign, her second, expected to be announced officially in the spring. She previously lost the nomination to Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, but became his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. During that period, she presided over a tumultuous office, at its lowest point accepting responsibility for the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, during an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi during the Libyan civil war in 2012.

In Winnipeg, the former secretary of state spoke on foreign policy, Canada-US relations, human rights and terrorism. She expectedly avoided the topic of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a project she said is "in our process, where it belongs," but discussed at length the recent assault on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, and what she described as a growing atmosphere of global insecurity spurred by rising extremism in the global south. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/28926-hillary-clinton-in-winnipeg-an-exercise-in-cognitive-dissonance

February 6, 2015

Leave Jamie Dimon Alone !!!

from truthdig:


A Whining Wall Street Banker Pleads for Pity

Posted on Jan 30, 2015
By Jim Hightower


J.P. Morgan was recently socked in the wallet by financial regulators who levied yet another multibillion-dollar fine against the Wall Street baron for massive illegalities.

Well, not a fine against John Pierpont Morgan, the man. This 19th-century robber baron was born to a great banking fortune and, by hook and crook, leveraged it to become the “King of American Finance.” During the Gilded Age, Morgan cornered the U.S. financial markets, gained monopoly ownership of railroads, amassed a vast supply of the nation’s gold and used his investment power to create U.S. Steel and take control of that market.

From his earliest days in high finance, Morgan was a hustler who often traded on the shady side. In the Civil War, for example, his family bought his way out of military duty, but he saw another way to serve. Himself, that is. Morgan bought defective rifles for $3.50 each and sold them to a Union general for $22 each. The rifles blew off soldiers’ thumbs, but Morgan pleaded ignorance, and government investigators graciously absolved the young, wealthy, well-connected financier of any fault.

.....(snip).....

With this long history of crime-does-pay for America’s largest Wall Street empire, you have to wonder why Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s CEO, is so P.O.‘d. He’s fed up to the tippy-top of his $100 haircut with all of this populistic attitude that’s sweeping the country, and he’s not going to take it anymore!

Dimon recently bleated to reporters that, “Banks are under assault.” Well, he really doesn’t mean or care about most banks—just his bank. Government regulators, snarls Jamie, are pandering to grassroots populist anger at Wall Street excesses by squeezing the life out of the JP Morgan casino. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_whining_wall_street_banker_pleads_for_pity_20150130

February 5, 2015

Howard Zinn: Have a More Interesting Life

February 5, 2015

Professor Richard Wolff: Global Capitalism February 2015 Monthly Update

These programs begin with 30 minutes of short updates on important economic events of the last month. Then Wolff analyzes several major economic issues. For this February 4, 2015 they will include:

Koch Brothers $ 889 Million Campaign for 2016 US Election: Historic Significance
New Syriza Government in Greece: Prospects for Debt Relief, Economic and Social Rebirth, and New Class Conflicts.
Class and Revolution: As Those Issues Rise Again, a Brief History of their Past


http://rdwolff.com/content/global-capitalism-february-2015-monthly-update