June 2, 2015

Elizabeth Warren’s good news for Bernie Sanders fans

Progressives have a mixed bag today.
Politico is reporting that the group most ardently advocating for Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for president in 2016 is folding its tent. It realizes that the quest is futile.

Top pro-Elizabeth Warren group says she’s out

While some of us who have supported a Warren candidacy are disappointed, we can be consoled that the progressive wing of the party will still be ably represented by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who's star has been rising fast since he announced his candidacy a month ago.
We explain the main reason Sanders has bolted out of the gate with such an impact in our post today
Bernie Sanders gains traction with plain speaking, authenticity

It comes down to one word: authenticity!
Bernie is the real deal.
He will be a great standard bearer for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and is already exerting a positive influence on it.
If he accomplishes nothing else, Sanders will catapult a mature discussion of really important issues into an otherwise irrelevant slugfest between America’s two dynastic family clans.

June 19, 2014

Cheney reminds everyone who is to blame for Iraq disaster

In all that has been written about the impossibly bad choices facing the US in Iraq, too little has been said about how the US and the world got to this impasse and why.
Until now.
The utterly outrageous op-ed by Liz and Dick Cheney - the one most wrong about most things to do with Iraq - in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal dares to call President Obama “blithely unaware.”
Dick Cheney is wrong again. But, perhaps inadvertently, he has performed a valuable public service in reminding everyone of the disastrous historical mistakes and outright falsehoods and criminality that put the US in its current position.
Everyone needs a history lesson.
You can get some of it in
Outrageous: Cheney dares to critique Iraq policy
It seems like President Obama has learned his history.
His response is measured and proportionate.
He knows there are no good options and won’t rush into a senseless military adventure.
Cheney should just shut up already. Forever.

June 11, 2014

Clinton ‘inevitability’ in 2016 a myth: Elizabeth Warren could pose formidable challenge

Cross posted from In the (K)now blog

With all the hype surrounding Hillary Clinton’s new book rollout this week, it may seem her victory in 2016 is increasingly inevitable.
But the punditocracy is overlooking a significant concurrent development that could turn the conventional wisdom on its ear.
The same week as the headlines trumpeted the military precision of the Clinton machine, the White House embraced student loan reform – an idea first proposed over a year ago by freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
If there is any meaningful threat to Clinton’s inevitability, this is where it lies: the Senator from Massachusetts already has an organic national constituency begging her to run.
While this week’s headlines are dominated by Clinton’s “Hard Choices” memoir and its relentless, ubiquitous rollout, Sen. Warren’s own book “A fighting chance” has been on the best seller lists for weeks.
Warren was first out of the gate on student loan reform. Her first piece of legislation, after her surprise trouncing of former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown in 2012, was on the topic, as we reported in May 2013 in Senator urges action on student loan crisis
That attempt was largely successful at preventing a massive hike in student loan interest rates last summer.
Her latest bill on student loans is now before the Senate as S. 2432, the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act
In a statement of administration policy released after President Obama’s press conference on the issue this week, the White House said:

“The Administration strongly supports passage of S. 2432, which would provide Americans with student loans the opportunity to refinance their loans at the lower interest rates available to current students."

While Republicans killed this bill in the Senate on Wednesday, it is just one battle in a continuing struggle.
With the election more than two years away, there is plenty of time for an upset.
From all the hype, it is easy to conclude the Clinton memoir is a carefully scripted paean to her time at the Department of State. Some have even described it as “boring,” others have called it “safe.”
In contrast, the Warren book is personable, folksy in tone and pugnacious in its treatment of those who shipped boatloads of cash to the banks without any strings attached while leaving financially troubled borrowers to fend for themselves.
Sen. Warren is unabashedly a populist. It is a refreshing change.
But political memories are short. Everyone seems to have forgotten that Hillary Clinton also seemed “inevitable” in 2008 – until an upstart from Illinois proved otherwise.
If there is a remote chance that anyone can challenge the emerging Clinton lock on the 2016 presidential race, it is embodied in Elizabeth Warren. Let’s all hope she is up to the challenge.

May 29, 2014

‘Big brother’ is watching: dark side of big data exposed

George Orwell could scarcely have imagined that his sci-fi novel, set in 1984, would come true a mere 30 years later.
But according to a Federal Trade Commission report on “big data” released this week, it apparently has.
In Data Brokers: A call for transparency and accountability, the government watchdog lays out in frightening detail how much is being collected about all of us and the uses to which it is being and could be put.
The FTC unanimously calls for legislation to give consumers the right to learn about the existence and activities of data brokers and give them access to their data.

“The need for consumer protections in this area has never been greater,” the report concludes.

There’s much more detail and analysis at Federal watchdog urges curbs on data brokers
The FTC has sounded the alarm. Now it is up to each one of us to amplify its voice and make it heard on Capitol Hill.

December 11, 2013

Obamacare narrative morphs into good-news story

The most difficult task for untrained news consumers is to see what is not there.
It is not an easy thing to learn. But Obamacare provides an example.
For more than six weeks, the story about problems with the federal web site created to enroll in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act dominated the front pages – and the entire news cycle.
Now it is gone.
We analyze this development today in
Healthcare website woes vanish from the news
It may be a tad too early to declare victory – unforeseen problems may yet arise – but this was a completely foreseeable development.
With the president’s entire legacy at stake, all the resources of the federal government were harnessed. It would have been a fool’s errand to wager they would not succeed.
We have not heard the end of the Obamacare rollout disaster by any means yet. It is bound to haunt us at least through the next election cycle.
But the narrative has surely changed, just as predicted.

November 11, 2013

BOMBSHELL: Saudi Arabia could get nukes before Iran

In a stunning development that could change the balance of terror in the Middle East – and the world – it was reported last week that Saudi Arabia might be able to get atomic weapons before Iran.
The BBC report has been all but ignored in the U.S., but coming on the eve of the now failed Geneva negotiations over Iran’s weapons program, it is of great significance.
We analyzed it in
Kingdom’s deal with Pakistan may trigger nuclear arms race
The accuracy of the report was not denied by the Saudis, but the timing was also seen as a ploy to influence and deflect the warming of relations between the U.S. and Iran, which is also bitterly opposed by Israel.
If it turns out to be true, it has profound global implications.
The video of the show is blocked in the US, but a great deal of in-depth reporting behind the broadcast can be found at Saudi nuclear weapons 'on order' from Pakistan which carries byline of the BBC’s Diplomatic and Defense Editor Mark Urban.
A Saudi Arabia with immediate access to atomic weapons would enormously complicate the delicate balance of terror in the Middle East and the world. It is a game changer, and deserves far more attention.

November 7, 2013

Secret trade negotiations could be bad for everyone

A secret trade deal being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim nations including the United States rose to a prominent place in the public eye with a mysterious editorial in The New York Times on Wednesday.
The Trans Pacific Partnership is something every American needs to know about. Yet media coverage has been scant – even in The New York Times itself.
We analyzed it and researched the history today in
Trans Pacific Partnership on fast track to approval without public input (with video)
If agreement is reached as the Obama administration hopes before the end of the year, it could be a gift to the richest American corporations at the expense of everyone else.
Negotiations are proceeding largely out of sight and without participation by anyone except huge, multi-national corporate giants.
But details are available, if one looks hard enough, and they are frightening in their potential consequences.
The editorial in The New York Times on Wednesday was headlined:
A Pacific Trade Deal
But it is mysterious because The Times has done virtually no reporting on the topic on the past 12 months. Inquiring minds want to know where did it get its facts from?
The very secrecy shrouding the talks must make everyone suspicious that something nefarious is taking place that is not in the public interest.
And it is, indeed, as various experts have pointed out.
It is time for a robust debate on the issue.

November 7, 2013

Capturing the essence of motorcycle riding: video from a biker’s perspective

On several occasion this summer I mounted video cameras on my motorcycle to capture (and share) the experience for others from the rider’s perspective.
I’ve been searching everywhere for a similar concept but so far in vain.
I believe it is unique.
One of my best was of the Angeles Crest Highway that runs 66 miles from LA to the Mojave Desert across the top of the San Gabriel Mountains.
You can get a feel for it from the rider’s perspective in the video at
ANGELES CREST HIGHWAY: a motorcycle rider’s perspective (with movie)
There’s a whole back story explaining the production problems and how they were surmounted.
I shot a similar video on a run with about 25 other bikers to the southern Sierra Nevada near Kernville. You can see it at
KERNVILLE GSR RUN 2013: Motorcyclists conquer the Sierra Nevada (with movie)
There is a back story with this one, too, but the production issues were omitted.
Do you think these videos capture the essence of the experience?
If you know of any others I would enjoy comparing notes.
Your thoughts and comments would be most welcome.

November 5, 2013

History is on the side of ENDA: its time has come

It was a development that seemed to come out of nowhere, when a federal ban on discrimination in employment against LGBT folk suddenly gathered momentum on Monday.
The 61-30 vote in the Senate to open debate on ENDA is long overdue but most welcome.
We analyzed the history of the bill today in
The time has come to ban bigotry
The history of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act goes back almost two decades. The latest version, introduced by former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank in 2011, has languished in obscurity until this week.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner immediately said he opposes the law, but history is not on his side.
He will face enormous pressure to bring ENDA to a vote, not the least from his own party. More than a few Republicans voted with all the Democrats in 2010 to repeal the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. History could repeat itself.
And several Republicans voted for a previous version of the bill in 2007, according to the Center for American Progress which has the most detailed account
in A History of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act reported July 19, 2011, by Jerome Hunt.
Poll after poll has shown increasing majorities in favor of equal rights under the law for all in the LGBT community. Gay marriage is now legal in 14 states, with Hawaii likely to be the 15th.
The House of Representatives may be like a troglodyte, but Boehner is unlikely to be successful forever.
History is on the side of equal protection for all. It may have to wait until 2015, but it will inevitably arrive.

November 4, 2013

Healthcare reform’s most unlikely winner: India

While the media and Republicans seem obsessed with the problems related to the rollout of healthcare reform, a few entities are rejoicing.
They are about to become very rich – or, on some cases, even richer.
The most surprising one of all, however, is not even in America. We analyzed it today in:
India’s pharmaceutical industry eyes vast expansion
India and its generic drug makers are gearing up for a massive expansion as millions of new prescriptions are written for generic drugs covered under the new insurance policies.
This was reported during the height of the government shutdown on Oct. 4 by the BBC in
'Obamacare' boost to Indian pharmaceutical industry
However, before you rush out to buy stock in one of the Indian pharmaceutical companies that stands to benefit, better do some homework.
The industry is rife with problems, and it’s not difficult to find examples.
It would pay to do a great deal of research on the topic before ingesting prescribed medications imported from India.
And it could cost an arm and a leg if you rush headlong into investing in a drug maker with a dubious track record.