kjlevy | 100 seconds to midnight

"If Washington Post reporters and editors had access to the Washington Post, they would know that the Federal Reserve Board was ostensibly worried about the economy growing too rapidly, thereby triggering inflation. The data in this column are more supportive of the too rapid growth story than the recession story it’s trying to push on readers."   Washington Post Goes Full Looney Tunes in Whipping Up Recession Hysteria Dean Baker | Senior Economist Center for Economic Policy Research June 19, 2022  The media look to be switching rapidly from their full-fledged inflation hysteria to recession hysteria. The Washington Post is leading the pack with an article headlined, “Americans are starting to pull back on travel and restaurants.” The one clear substantive item in the piece supporting the headline is the drop in retail spending the Commerce Department reported for May. However, the May retail sales report actually showed restaurant spending was up 0.7 percent for the...

" For example looking just at the very examples that are given here, it's been a long battle, but over time, in fact the last couple of centuries, there's been a very consistent change. And the change is not without conflict. But it's going in a particular direction. And I think you can even understand the direction. The direction is of more tolerance of variation and more opposition toward coercion and control. I think that's a very definite tendency. And I think it suggests something pretty strong about what our fundamental moral values are."   Video and transcript of excerpt of a discussion with Noam Chomsky. The topic is cultural and moral relativism with reference to Michel Foucault. Date, event and other participants’ names are unknown to me. Transcript has very minor edits for clarity. Transcript by Ken J. Levy - any errors are mine. Excerpt is from a longer video at Noam Chomsky on Moral Relativism and Michel Foucault , retrieved June 19, 2022.   Speak...

"When it comes to the election in 2024, many more swing voters are likely to cast their ballot on the state of the economy than on preserving democracy. That means that by pushing the Fed to needlessly bring on a recession, the Never Trumper gang at CNN will have played a huge role in getting Trump back in the White House."     Will CNN Put Donald Trump Back in the White House? Dean Baker | Senior Economist Center for Economic Policy Research June 16, 2022 That may seem a strange question, given that the network packs its shows with Never Trump Republicans, but yesterday’s big rate hike by the Fed is a clear warning. The issue here is the network’s coverage of the economy, which has been inflation, inflation, inflation 24-7. There is no doubt that inflation is a real problem. Higher prices for gas, food, rent, and other items has taken a big bite out of many families’ paychecks. It certainly warrants serious attention from CNN and the rest of the media. But inflation i...

"If you look at the media coverage, Zelenskyy's very clear, explicit, serious statements about what could be a political settlement - crucially, neutralization of Ukraine [kjl note: Ukrainian political and military neutrality in US-Russia relations] - those have been literally suppressed for a long period, then sidelined in favor of heroic Winston Churchill impersonations by Congressman [and] others casting Zelenskyy in that mold." Noam Chomsky and Jeremy Scahill on the Russia-Ukraine War, the Media, Propaganda, and Accountability. (2022, April 14). The Intercept. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://theintercept.com/2022/04/14/russia-ukraine-noam-chomsky-jeremey-scahill/ Video and transcript at The Intercept .

The Moscow Times is Russia’s leading, independent English-language media outlet. Our team of Russian and English journalists provide readers across the world with breaking news, engaging stories and balanced reporting about the largest country on Earth.  We pride ourselves on adhering to the highest journalistic standards.  All editorial decisions are made independently by our team of editors and reporters, a practice that has been in place since The Moscow Times was founded in 1992.  As a result of legislation on “fake news” passed by the Russian parliament in March 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine, we have taken a series of steps to protect our staff. Until safe to do otherwise, some articles may appear without bylines or, at the discretion of editors, under a pseudonym. About Us . The Moscow Times. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://www.themoscowtimes.com Ukraine As It's Happening Ukraine war reporting The Moscow Times

"If some sort of peace deal, or at least cease-fire, can be arranged in Ukraine, presumably most of the recent rise in energy and food prices will be reversed. If not, it would be good to have some tax and transfer system so that low- and middle-income people can be compensated for the hit to their living standards." *** How Do We Get a Wage-Price Spiral When Wage Growth Is Slowing?   Dean Baker | CEPR   June 12, 2022  That’s the question millions are asking, or hopefully at least the folks at the Fed making decisions on interest rates. Ostensibly, the Fed is concerned that the economy is too strong and that we are either on the edge, or already stuck in, the sort of wage-price spiral that led to double digit inflation back in the 1970s. The story back then was that higher prices led workers to demand higher wages, which in turn raised costs and pushed prices still higher. The Fed has begun to raise interest rates to head off this risk. There are many who are urgin...

This page streams full recorded open testimony to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol as recorded by C-SPAN . C-SPAN's coverage is without interruption, free of commentary, and their pages for such events include many useful features including text transcripts and indexing of video with points of interest. C-SPAN streams events live and allows embedding of concluded events. These embedded videos play properly but I haven't yet been able to correct the off-center framing. However they are viewable and do frame properly when full screen. These videos may be viewed at C-SPAN via the links.   __________    June 16th, 2022, Third Open Testimony Before January 6 Committee page at C-SPAN   FBI CI affidavit of militia members' intent to kill political opponents page at C-SPAN  __________ June 13th, 2022, Second Open Testimony Before January 6 Committee page at C-SPAN     __________       ...

Note (kjl): The construction of the US Constitution in 1787 was led primarily by James Madison. This excerpt includes useful references to Madison’s self-described intentions for what he wanted the fundamental power structure of the new nation to be, and why. The excerpt is Noam Chomsky’s response to a comment and question at a discussion in 1989 or between 1993 and ‘96, as published in Understanding Power , cited below. This collection of transcribed question-and-answer sessions is extensively footnoted. Included below are the notes to this excerpt and a link to the collection’s webpage where the entire 499 pages of notes, more pages than the book itself, is available to all. The footnotes themselves, in my opinion, are a thing of beauty.     ***     The Nation-State System   WOMAN: Noam, the problems you describe in the world sound almost chronic to me—systematic underdevelopment and exploitation in the Third World, proliferation of nuclear weapons, the grow...

"The chaos and the focus, the pugnacity and the enthusiasm, the transparency and the industrial-grade bullshit. Also, the mania: logomania, arithmomania, monomania (he’d likely cop to all of these, especially that last one—he’s the first to say that one of the features of his show is “wash rinse repeat”). Garden-variety hypermania (with a generous assist from espressos). And last of all, perhaps above all else, straight-up megalomania, which even those who profess affection for the man can see, though it appears to be a problem only for those who believe, as I do, that he’s attempting to insert a lit bomb into the mouth of American democracy."   full article: American Rasputin: Steve Bannon is still scheming. And he's still a threat to democracy. Note: Jennifer Senior doesn't hesitate to use obscure language that required me to refer to the dictionary a lot. That might impress the Pulitzer Board and the majority of her audience but I find it off-putting. Nev...