American Delusions — fixed false beliefs resistant to reason or confrontation with actual facts

Recently Noted – Serial the Podcast – More Evidence of the Delusion of Justice –

November 4, 2018

We have written earlier about the fact that effective legal representation and trial by jury is a rarity making one…

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Recently Noted – Hudson NY and Its SWAT Team

September 1, 2018

photo by Lance Wheeler for Columbia-Greene Media. State St Hudson NY 6/12/2018

Hudson NY and Its SWAT Team Even here in our little city of Hudson NY (population ~ 7,000) we have…

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inequality, political system, politics

Inequality, Jeff Bezos, Amazon and Bernie Sanders

August 22, 2018

It is always useful to put a face to trends. The grotesque yawning extent of inequality is one of those…

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environment, free-market ideology, political system

Plastics and Run Amuck Capitalism

August 20, 2018

The earth is burdened by the tsunami of plastic refuse that will never degrade. Government needs to protect us from capitalist enterprises delight in externalizing costs to our detriment and their short-term benefit.

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empire

President Authorizes Coup in Iran

August 19, 2018

Intervention in Iran – 65th Anniversary On August 19, 1953 President Eisenhower authorized the CIA to support British efforts to…

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political system, politics

Do Protests Work? – Time for Class Warfare

May 21, 2018

illustration by Adam Maida in 8/21/17 New Yorker

In the August 21, 2017 edition of The New Yorker Nathan Heller writes about the efficacy of protest as a…

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racism

White Affirmative Action – Martin Luther King in 1968

May 13, 2018

White Affirmative Action – Martin Luther King in 1968 In recent years scholars and activists have begun to point out…

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justice/jails, politics

Gun Regulation, the 2nd Amendment, and Scalia’s Majority Opinion

May 9, 2018

Gun Regulation, the 2nd Amendment, and Scalia’s Majority Opinion Fire arms proponents make much of the 2008 case District of…

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justice/jails, racism

Mass Incarceration – The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander

March 7, 2018

Mass incarceration, largely through the War on Drugs, combined with white racism has produced a catastrophe for African Americans. It is hard to imagine that if young whites, despite being no more likely to offend drug laws than blacks, were subjected to these laws that we would have seen a sharp reaction from the white majority. Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is important reading and a call to action.

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free-market ideology, healthcare

Heart Stents, Tricycles, and an Argument for Consumer Protections (Regulations)

February 21, 2018

Since corporations have reason not to worry about safety and efficacy, we do need the government to represent us. Common sense and ethics suggest that a company establish the safety and efficacy of products and services BEFORE selling them. In a world better balanced to the needs and interests of the vast majority this would be a required step. Heart stents and tricycles are examples of the failings of our current system.

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free-market ideology

John Oliver and Monopoly Capitalism

February 21, 2018

Corporate concentration of income and wealth are core features of capitalism. From its earliest cheerleaders like Adam Smith, the drive for corporations to get ever larger and in the doing drive their competitors out of the market was noted and warned against. John Oliver provides a thorough and amusing introduction.

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economy, free-market ideology

The New Digital Monopoly Capitalism

February 20, 2018

The new digital economy is displaying the same drive to concentration, monopolies and oligopolies, that capitalism has always displayed. Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are just a new face of the predatory monopolists of the Rockefeller Standard Oil age.

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politics

How to Spot Fake News – libraries get in the game…..

February 20, 2018

Fake news is now a political strategy used around the world. How can we defend ourselves, how can we identify it and its sources? Here is a beginning from FactCheck.org and the New Orleans Public Library.

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healthcare

Prescriptions, Tests and Procedures – the more the better – it has nothing to do with your health

February 14, 2018

Prescriptions, Tests and Procedures – the more the better – it has nothing to do with your health We have…

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free-market ideology

Stagnant Wages, New York Times, and Unions

February 11, 2018

Bonuses vs pay raises 1980-2108 NYTimes-01102018

NYTimes reports that one-time bonuses are the preferred pay strategy vs pay raises.Mysteriously the Times leaves out the role of unions and the long-term fall in unionization rates in the private sector in the US.

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free-market ideology, healthcare

Recently Noted – Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Try to Disrupt Health Care

January 31, 2018

These corporate giants are “disrupting” healthcare or so the headlines say. Despite the media flurry we should not expect much. The structure of US healthcare defies little nibbles at the periphery. As noted many times here, we need to look to our developed country competitors for their proven approaches to how to set up a world-class healthcare system at world standard costs.

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economy, free-market ideology

Structure of Jobs Is Changing Rapidly – Political System Failing to Address Issue

January 23, 2018

Shifts to contract work, losses in jobs due to automation and robots, growth in poorly paid occupations, low participation rates, healthcare and retirement tied to full-time jobs, and extremely unequal gains in income for the top 10% characterize jobs in our economy. Something radical needs to be done. Republicans are trickling, Democrats cautious, neither addresses the big changes underway.

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economy

Recently Noted – the future of bitcoin and blockchain technologies – UPDATED

January 17, 2018

UPDATE: IBM does blockchain….Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies are subject to the same control by the rich and corporations as our existing financial and business sectors. These technologies are embedded in the socio-economic structures of capitalism. Concentrations of power dominate the existing capitalist world and they will dominate these new “disruptive” technology entrants.

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