Chris Hayes of The Nation on the tax deal
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Sam Seder Joins Ring of Fire Radio!
11:28 am
the cspan popup players can be brought up with:
http://www.c-span.org/flvPop.aspx?src=cspan2
if you add the parameter &msg= you can create a custom screen
11:29 am
that is supposed to be:
&msg=<your text use plus sign to get a blank>
12:08 pm
FYI outside the USA and on slow servers c-spanvideo.org has the best streaming quality (better than YouTube and Vimeo for example).
But the site is very cumbersome for searching video archives. Washington Journal is always there though!
11:31 am
Wanna participate in The Majority Report?
===> check this out <===
11:32 am
Morning all!
Another day of bad news!
11:32 am
Happy Holidays,
A couple of wikileaks support petitions.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks_petition/?cl=849123269&v=7727
http://www.wikileaksisdemocracy.org/
The second one has some impressive names behind it.
Anyway else knowing of any other actions in support of Julian Assuage, please post them.
If THEY succeed in their persecution of this man and his organization, I hope WE understand that it will be a “precedent” which can then openly be applied to anyone, except the elite who are the power behind this real treachery.
Julian Assuage is placed on the Interpol most wanted list for a couple of “consentual sex without a condon” charges, while Dick cheney is charged some 27 counts of “bribery” in Nigeria, which almost certainly could be connected to the killing of innocent people, and no one in the “free” world bats an eyelid.
If all fine and dandy to discuss tax breaks, the economy, austerity, immigration, gay marriage, war, poverty, torture and on and on, but if we lose our “voice”, then none of these things can be discussed openly any longer, if they offend the powers-that-be.
I just wanted to put these thoughts somewhere I hope might have a perpetual growth effect…
11:32 am
Senate voting on tabling the Dream Act.
11:33 am
Morning, all! (been away this week, and even missed Sam’s Countdown hosting gig)
11:33 am
cnn breaking news:
– Defying President Obama, House Democrats vote not to bring up tax deal he negotiated with GOP in its current form.
11:37 am
Jinx dan!
11:36 am
House Dem Caucus rejects Tax Cut Deal
Just now MSNBC reports
11:37 am
Whoa whoa whoa hold on.
What did Sam just say? Betten muiore? Sp?
I don’t know what that is; it sounds a little two French/Swedish for an American political show.
5:07 am
bête noire (plural bêtes noires)
(pronounced bet nwar)
1. An anathema; someone or something which is particularly disliked or avoided; an object of aversion, the bane of one’s existence.
wiki dictionary
11:42 am
Sammy! The leaks are being blogged as released, right here: http://www.thenation.com/blog/156972/blogging-wikileaks-thursday-day-12
11:31 pm
Thanks for that link
11:42 am
Media Matters Hires Angelo Carusone, Leader Of ‘Stop Beck’ Movement, To Ramp Up Campaign Against Fox News
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/angelo-carusone-media-matters-fox-news-glenn-beck_n_793817.html
12:57 pm
Yay!!!!
Sometimes that whole “the money will follow” thing does work out!
11:46 am
The Aussie who blitzed Visa, MasterCard and PayPal with the Low Orbit Ion Cannon — http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/the-aussie-who-blitzed-visa-mastercard-and-paypal-with-the-low-orbit-ion-cannon-20101209-18qr1.html
11:50 am
Markos Moulitsas
RT @chucktodd: Senate will NOT vote on DREAM act today, instead they’ll vote NEXT week on version HOUSE passed last night.
11:52 am
http://comics.com/mike_luckovich/2010-12-09/
11:52 am
Sam Stein
house caucus vote against tax deal is not a “deal killer” aide says. just a rejection of package in current form.
11:53 am
Amerikan hypocricy:
You need a federal judge to approve spying on citizens overseas, but not to assasinate them…
11:57 am
Why would it be armageddon if WE defaulted on our debt? Would “someone” reposess the White House? How about the Fed? That might be a good thing. Oh, how about the Pentagon and Military Industrial Complex???
Listen to yourselves. Sticks and stones, bullets and bombs can kill you. The National Debt? Money is an illusion created by the banks to hold power over your daily lives.
But I’m listening, what would happen if we “defaulted”? Details please, not chicken little vague visions of horror. No closet boogymen rhetoric.
11:58 am
Elizabeth Edwards Funeral To Be Picketed By Westboro Baptist Church
12:04 pm
Christian hypocrites. You could find their type in the crowds at the condemnation of Jesus, heckling for the release of their hero, Barrabus, and the crucifixion of their Crist.
12:01 pm
I really hope Bernie Sanders follows through with his threat.
I am one of those at the bottom, and if I am anyone’s hostage it is the Amerikan Sheeple who themselves are too “consumered” to stand up. Or too busy being petty their FOX.
12:04 pm
unemployment needs to be tied to percentage of unemployed.
12:53 pm
Yep. And I’d suggest that unemployment extensions also be tied to automatic upticks in tax rates for the highest earners. (i.e. a nice incentive for the so-called “job creators” to create jobs)
12:04 pm
Sarah Palin Cyber Attack: WikiLeaks Supporters Take On Ex-Governor
London-based hackers reportedly working in support of the website WikiLeaks as part of “Operation Payback” have turned their keyboards on Sarah Palin, launching a cyber-attack targeted at her fundraising arm SarahPAC, as well as the former Alaska Governor’s personal credit card information.
Read More
2:20 pm
I like it.
3:54 pm
Sweet.
12:07 pm
Harry Reid Signals Willingness To Rumble Over Debt Ceiling
Brian Beutler
One of the Democrats’ main concerns with the tax cut compromise is about what’s not in the plan: a measure that would increase the amount of debt the United States can legally take on. It gives the Republican an opening to repeat this hostage situation next year when they control the House: agree to raise the debt ceiling, but only if Democrats agree to slash spending programs by billions. Spending cuts or default. You pick!
President Obama flubbed a question earlier this week about whether he’d given the GOP the leverage they need to repeat this scenario early next year when the country hits its debt ceiling. But maybe Dems are more prepared for that fight than critics give them credit for.
Briefing reporters yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he’s glad the debt ceiling was left out of this tax package. And he was unusually blunt about why.
Why?
The tax cut bill was probably the only vehicle by which Dems could have averted a filibuster and raised the debt ceiling this year. That ship has sailed, so now the question is whether Democrats will let Republicans set the terms of the debt ceiling debate next year. Republicans have been very clear that they’ll try to use the threat of a default to force spending cuts. Reid seems awfully eager call soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner’s bluff and watch him squirm.
12:18 pm
Sam you just said the sentence that is the “tell”. Too bad you said it with a different emphasis. So I’ll state it in true context.
Paraphrasing, “By the time the implications of all this become clear…” no one will be able to point backwards and draw the clear line between “cause and effect”. It’s a kind of economic-political blowback, that favors the rich and powerful, and leave the rest of US having these droll and ultimately meaningless conversations that we seem to always end up having instead of taking real action and building solidarity in numbers and standing up to THEM.
12:24 pm
James, that the truth. Its all good for us to say what we want, but the endless speculation on political calculations….hey, Sammy is saying that now….yes, no bird poison in the bush…hey Sammy lost me again….now with the underground tunnels. hey pretty funny stuff.
12:19 pm
This may be niaeve but can we find some George Soros character to come out and cut his pre-tax income by donating unemployment benefits for a year (via some NGO) and rescue the “hostages”?
(never mind that the big hostages being rescued from harm here are Tim Geitner and Goldman Sachs)
12:23 pm
The people should not fear their governments, their governments should fear the people.
And there should not be the kind of secrets that we keep. Please name any secret divulged by wikileaks that should have happened and thereby needed to be secret in the first place.
If you condone any of these secrets, then you condone the actions that made their secrecy (purported as) necessary.
12:25 pm
markos Markos Moulitsas
Summers: Payroll tax holiday was GOP’s preference. Of course it was, since it’s their trojan horse into defunding SS. shar.es/Xq3WO
12:27 pm
they could have left social security alone and structured it as a 2 percent tax cut for those earning less than 106K a year.
12:27 pm
Best strategy, blame the repugs, blame the blue dogs, get everyone to take look at the debt they are running up, all for some piggish billionaires.
fuck bloomberg
12:27 pm
Don’t you see Sam? It’s their love of money and power. Their vanity and conceit. Their greed and sloth that is why all our elected officials behave as they do.
12:40 pm
James James why can’t you see the superior intellect that is Obama. When we were training in Dimension 5 we understood we were dealing with the avatar of the beltway. Never have we seen such fluid prodigal abilities from a being from planet earth.
Wait and see the greatness unfold itself!
1:23 pm
It wasn’t Obama’s intellect I was addressing there…
As for Obama, his “greatness” has been unfolding since Inauguration Day. Unfolding like that thing in the film “Jeepers Creepers”
1:39 pm
Ha!!!
12:29 pm
Huffington Post:
WASHINGTON — In a meeting on Thursday morning, the House Democratic caucus rejected the president’s proposed deal on the Bush tax cuts but did not fully submarine the possibility of its passage, multiple sources tell The Huffington Post.
12:31 pm
OK Sam. In that case we are fucked. Obama is a corporatist plant. Fuck it. If the Dems are as gutless and stupid as you make them out to be, they deserve everything they get. Enjoy the cat food
12:31 pm
Sammy, YOU challenge Obama in 2012.
To a chofar contest.
12:32 pm
Kind of like dueling chofars.
12:32 pm
Maddow Blog
If whiteboard hero Austan Goolsbee can’t sell the Obama tax compromise, it maybe can’t be sold: http://on.msnbc.com/h2pxKz
12:56 pm
Except we didn’t elect Austan Goolsbee, and he’s about as charismatic as a piece of toast. Arrogant toast, but still toast.
2:22 pm
Ha, ha!
12:34 pm
Why can’t Sam Seder & the left see the brilliance in this strategy? Gaze into the triangulation and game theory wizardry that is BHO. We have taught him well in the dimension of Quizzocktl! Show the world your deft abilities & of the 2nd dimension, Barack! The time is now!
12:34 pm
Markos Moulitsas
GOP wants no DREAM vote until tax cuts. So Dems asked for unanimous consent to table DREAM vote, and GOP opposed. Vote had to be taken.
12:35 pm
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
House Dems passed a resolution rejecting the tax cut proposal as currently written-we will work to improve it before having a floor vote.
12:37 pm
We do need a “third way”, but it’s a political party, not an embedded strategy.
I’m hoping Ralph Nader will run again. Maybe certain people who have the ears of the people (hint hint) will begin to understand that so long as you play in their sandbox, their are no real “alternatives”. You’re debating within broken system that doesn’t work how to make it work some longer. You’re stuck n a “brand loyalty” loop. You’re “hostage” to a party ideology in a party that is corrupt to the core and which differs very little from the Republicans in every way that matters to the most people.
The sooner WE recognize that the sooner things really will begin to get better for everyone…
12:39 pm
I don’t think Nader could get elected dog catcher at this point.
12:42 pm
Nader: we tried to train this gentleman but he lacked the calm spirit in order to traverse through the dimensions. He kept going on about car safety and how many books he had written.
1:13 pm
You apparently are not familiar with this man directly, or you do not support his anti-corporal-political views.
Or you are parroting what other pessimists, party-hanger-ons and elite pundits say.
Like Michael Moore, who while making some fine films has done nothing himself to make change, yet without giving it a second thought sees Nader as unelectable. He doesn’t even consider that his “public” opinion may be part of the very evidence he uses as evidence for his opinion. Dog chasing his own tale…
Ralph Nader has done more for this country and it’s citizens than any living President. and he did it all over 30 years ago. It’s because people like him are marginalized that every consumer protection he helped establish has been either dismantled or turned to favor the very corporations he has successfully fought in the past and could do so again with your support.
Maybe instead of insulting him, making fun of him, belittling him, you should study his character and his beliefs.
It’s no wonder nothing changes.
1:05 pm
If you believe that than you only contribute to it’s possibility. It’s like when people say they don’t vote because their vote doesn’t count…
It’s a counter-productive, enabling statement, don’t you see?
12:49 pm
UK Parliament Back student rate hikes, msnbc reports
12:52 pm
jonward11 Jon Ward
by DavidCornDC
RT @ivylarsen BREAKING: Tax vote tonight in the Senate, says Reid.
12:55 pm
“the Doors” singer, Jimmy Morrison, may be pardoned, per MSNBC
1:19 pm
“Jimmy”?
1:22 pm
Maybe it was a dimensional influence. We have great admiration for the “LIZARD KING”
2:10 pm
i like your style
1:03 pm
Glenn Greenwald
Interesting: RT @RawStory “Amazon share price plunges after #operationpayback promises denial of service attack http://su.pr/258kq5 “
3:58 pm
HOT DAMN!!! Now this is the kind of “just like in the movies” I wanna see!!!!
1:08 pm
ThinkProgress
Impeachment Of Porteous Establishes Precedent For Impeaching Torture Advocate Jay Bybee http://thkpr.gs/eFsnNs
1:18 pm
Sam, are you getting more incredulous with a corporation like Facebook being fascist than your own government?
1:31 pm
That segment with Chris Hayes was great, thanks Sam!
1:35 pm
Just in:
POLITICO Breaking News
————————————————-
The House Democratic Caucus voted to oppose President Barack Obama’s tax plan, throwing into flux weeks of negotiations on an issue that has turned many congressional Democrats against the White House. It is a non-binding measure but illustrates Democratic displeasure with the bill that extends upper-income tax rates and offers what they consider generous deal for Republicans on the estate tax.
For more information… http://www.politico.com
————————————————-
All they have to do is let the tax cuts expire. I haven’t had steady income in over 4 years. I am one of the “affected” and I say “hold fast!!!”
And why couldn’t Obama just issue an emergency executive order to extend unemployment benefits until Jan 1? I mean if we have to focus on “sound bites”…
Because the truth is there are many more people suffering who are not eligible for unemployment than those who are at risk with this debate.
But, as usual, the people who think they speak for us, who think they represent the needy, do not know what is really going on down here. They haven’t a clue.
2:02 pm
That’s right James!!
How come do you read Politico so much though?
2:19 pm
I don’t read it at all. I just get the email alerts because as much as I hate the “right” I realize I must “know thine enemy”, even if only a little. They’re good about getting these things out fast. Believe me there is no loyalty there…
Thanks for asking. you’re only one of a few people so far on this here blog that I have gained any political respect for.
did you see/sign the wikileaks petitions I posted way up top that everyone seems to have ignored?
2:30 pm
Signed #1. Had already signed #2.
I am sure other people did not ignore if they hadn’t already signed. If everyone was just reporting back on signing petitions, it would be a pretty long and dull thread.
Thanks for the kinds words tho’.
3:03 pm
“If everyone was just reporting back on signing petitions, it would be a pretty long and dull thread.”
On the one hand I agree, but feedback also lets you know you’re not pissing in the wind…
Feedback to Sam is what the foremost purpose of this blog should be, but he seems to focus almost entirely on twitter and IM. I have neither nor Facebook. So that cuts me out?
Something I try to watch for even in myself is operating inside “convention” when I’m trying to change something. And I don’t mean working from the inside, we should do that. What I mean is making judgments on strategy, tactics, analysis from a conventional standpoint. Like earlier Sam says “We can’t default on the National Debt!” That’s because he’s thinking conventionally, and in this case that means from the banks perspective. He’s not even following that statement to any possible outcome, i/e. what would happen if we defaulted? Would a financial black hole swallow Amerika? When in reality money is debt and all is fungible because it only represents a promise to pay, but not for anything in particular, in the first place. Will corn stop growing? Will the Earth’s resources disappear?
We talk about thinking outside the box when we want to solve technical problems. In this case, it means throwing out THEIR “conventional wisdom” because it’s only purpose is to keep us in their greedy grasp, and has no real connection to what you might produce with your hands, etc.
Do you grasp what I’m getting at here?
3:56 pm
Short answer: Yes.
I do not know enough to know if Sam is thinking too conventionally about defaulting on the debt. No time to explain why I think maybe not.
It would be interesting to hear what Svengali has to say.
I do think Sam is thinking too conventionally about the Democratic party and a primary challenge.
2:01 pm
So see toniD, There was some good(ish) news after all.
A lil’. Bettern none.
2:23 pm
I like her style though (toniD). She’s rubbing it in. We need that…
3:25 pm
Women, children, puppies…
Hahahaha
4:00 pm
Wha?
Did you see where Amazon and others are getting their cyber-cum-uppence?
So sweet is the sound of revolution…
7:42 pm
Yes. Totally did not know it was spelled like that (with a instead of e, but the u is right)…
5:11 pm
Afternoon gang
just starting the podcast.
5:23 pm
Wow, check this out:
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1291648380371.shtm
Secretary Napolitano Announces Expansion of “If You See Something, Say Something” Campaign to Walmart Stores Across the Nation
Release Date: December 6, 2010
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Washington, D.C. – Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the expansion of the Department’s national “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to hundreds of Walmart stores across the country – launching a new partnership between DHS and Walmart to help the American public play an active role in ensuring the safety and security of our nation.
“Homeland security starts with hometown security, and each of us plays a critical role in keeping our country and communities safe,” said Secretary Napolitano. “I applaud Walmart for joining the ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign. This partnership will help millions of shoppers across the nation identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to law enforcement authorities.”
The “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign—originally implemented by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and funded, in part, by $13 million from DHS’ Transit Security Grant Program—is a simple and effective program to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.
More than 230 Walmart stores nationwide launched the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign today, with a total of 588 Walmart stores in 27 states joining in the coming weeks. A short video message will play at select checkout locations to remind shoppers to contact local law enforcement to report suspicious activity.
The public service announcement will air in all Walmart stores equipped with checkout video screens.
Over the past five months, DHS has worked with its federal, state, local and private sector partners, as well as the Department of Justice, to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign and Nationwide SAR Initiative to communities throughout the country—including the recent state-wide expansions of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign across Minnesota and New Jersey. Partners include the Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, sports and general aviation industries, and state and local fusion centers across the country.
In the coming months, the Department will continue to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign nationally with public education materials and outreach tools designed to help America’s businesses, communities and citizens remain vigilant and play an active role in keeping the country safe.
###
5:31 pm
good conversation, discussion 1st segment warmup for the interview.
5:32 pm
@ArrestKRoveNow ArrestKarlRove
As I predicated 2 days ago, Limbaugh says he’s hearing from small businesses that 2 yrs is not enough 2 make them feel secure enough to hire
—–
Time for a Random Rush!!
6:31 pm
“a limited Super Power”… works on Progressives only…. HAHAHAHAHA….
Don’t agree with Chris’ Cosmo from Sneakers comparison to Assange. The Kingsley character, in the diatribe Chris mentioned, was bent on destroying the world economic information systems to create wealth equality, Assange is just providing transparency. Good movie though… excellent cast, ¢¢¢¢ out of 5.
3 Days of the Condor is a GREAT movie… gets the ¢¢¢¢¢ award…
I agree with you both, call Boner’s bluff on the Debt Ceiling.
No chance the repubs vote against a middle class only tax cut next session either.
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Obama’s stance on assassinations is just another capitulation…
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Clinton might not have governed better, but we would probably feel better about her failures because she would go down swinging and shrieking in the media. Not whinging at the base, apparently without a fight…
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Randi is turning into a cranky defensive OBot… on every issue… tried again to tune in recently, but just can’t listen to her for more than 5 mins… still love her though….
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O’Donnell made a total ass out of himself last night.
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…and DDoS is DISTRIBUTED Denial of Service, not “dedicated”. “Distributed” because it is launched from many sources simultaneously.
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Good show sammy and Chris.
7:45 pm
Looking for MR/Sam bling?
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