"Today, we’re taking action to hold financial institutions accountable for their role in financing the fossil fuel industry."

The same Financial Institutions that tanked Economies, Planet-fucking-Wide, whilst wiping out Stocks, our Pensions, oh-so-many Jobs et fucking cetra?

Plus got Bailed Out (how many TRILLION$ of Taxpayer Dollars?) and Bonused their Bosses to the tune of how many Tens of Billion$?

THOSE great financial institutions?

Good luck with that, if Republicans have any say in the matter. Hell, they don't seem to mind Australia going up in flames. Long as it can't (possibly!) happen here...

Jane Fonda looks great!

To quote Leonard Cohen,
“So Long, Marianne”.

@1
It already has - in California

4,

Time to buy waterfront property in the Yukon. That’s where Club Med will be in another ten years.

@4 -- well, that's just fruits nuts and the damn Hippie contingent (plus, they voted for a damn Democrat).

Should it ever (somehow) happen to the Heartland
well, that's gonna be a Completely Different story!

More KochsKleanKoal™ anyone
(put enough Corn Syrup on it,
you can almost eat it!)?

Who even needs Cali?!

Nice little obit on NPR for Rush's amazing drummer. Picked up drumming from a pair of (magic?) chopsticks. Here's a nine-minute taste:

(at first i was like, horns? Rush?!
but, fuck Yeah. Infawkingfectious)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWRMOJQDiLU

"He was the youngest person ever inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame when he was honored in 1983, and he was widely regarded as one of rock’s most skilled drummers. Rush were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 and celebrated their 40th anniversary tour in 2015."
--Entertainment

CBC (Canadian he was) chimed in too,
and tossed a little in Spirit of the Radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tq-UsaRchI

How truly tragic that Boeing's only good news is that its 737 that went down in Iran was shot down by Iran.

Meanwhile, it was reported today that Muilenburg left Boeing with around $60 million in pension and stocks. I guess crime pays very well.

Where is that theatre?

The "imminent threat" is Trump's impeachment:

Not only is the intelligence regarding Iran planning to attack US assets so sensitive that congress can't see it (wink-wink) but the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that following the drone strike on Soleimani last week, Trump told unspecified associates "he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/10/was-imminent-threat-his-impeachment-trump-reportedly-admitted-soleimani-killed

Far 'right' extremists/whackos VP Pence and former CIA Director (he's from Kansas!) 'iron' Mike Pompeo have such Hard-ons for Armageddon, if they cannot get US into a War on the Iranian people, they'll likely consider it a terrific Opportunity squandered.

That they and a few other far far right Republican Senators can goad el trumpfo to take out Iran's top General, and hope for the Best, apocolypse-wise, does not bode well for us, this seemingly-on-the-Brink nation, and the rest of the Planet.

Time to see if the Kocks, LLC, have a little 'extra' space in one of their deep, deep Koal Mines (underground far right-wing Utopias)? I hear they're always on the Lookout for young, Fertile, attractive (Straight!) breeding stock of the feminine persuasions...

Nevertheless, Iran's chief terrorist is dead.

@13 Wall Street indicators showed no such tension in 2003 when the US attacked Iraq. In fact, the Dow Jones decreased throughout 2002 and reached its lowest value 8 days before US intervention and kept rising for an entire year after that (besides minor fluctuations)

@14 He had plenty of blood on his hands but so do Republicans. I mean you people caused the death of 100ks Iraqis (You know Iraq the country right next to Iran) to name just one instance among many of your disgusting warmongering.

@16: Such a familiar tactic. When confronted with a factual statement, you get flustered and spew out insults because you don't have the maturity for the intellectual exercise of a serious debate.

@17 so Wall Street already knew you guys were lying about Saddam's arsenal?

@18 Sanctions are already killing innocent Iranians (just like they killed 100ks Iraqis in the 90's) but I am confident Americans will stop you this time around.

@19 you are a coward who refuses to acknowledge you supported murdering countless innocents (and still do)

@21: My goodness. I realize I made you loose you temper and caused you to lash out. So sorry.

@14
Yes, he was a terrorist.
He was also the terrorist that helped us fight ISIS.
Now that we don't have Iran or the Kurds to help us deal with ISIS, how long do you think it will be before we see a return of ISIS?

In one stroke Trump lost the entire Middle East.

@24: The entire middle east was lost long before Trump came around, more like 1948.

While everyone is bickering about Iran and Iraq, Puerto Rico continues to suffer and the body count continues to rise, you know the body count of actual Americans who have been deemed unfit to receive the financial assistance set aside for them by Congress by the terrorist squatting in the White House.

@25
Are you serious?

All the blood and treasure spent in Iraq has been wasted.
They've asked us to leave.
If we don't leave, then we're going to be in an unwinnable war against Iraq and Iran.
This time, we won't have any allies, because Trump decided to fuck over the Kurds.

Do you think the Saudis are going to help? They're going to be spending too much time and treasure helping Isis try to take over the Middle East.

It's a mixed bag Adam. Multiple things can be true at same time:

Killing of Soleimani was foolhardy: true
Further Iranian terrorist actions thwarted: true
Further Iranian terrorist actions to continue: true
Lives will be saved by the killing: true
Lives will be lost by the killing: true

And so on.

Conclusion: None - just have endure and deal with ambiguity

A waste of blood and treasure. True.
Leave Iraq. OK

@28 Committing war crimes during illegal wars is only ambiguous to war criminals and their supporters

@raindrop

Soleimani wasn't out committing acts of terrorism himself, he was a leader and a planner.
Killing him will not, did not and cannot stop any of his plans. The idea that it did or could is total nonsense.
In fact, killing him will increase the bloodshed as his successor seeks revenge.

No plots were thwarted. How could they be?
He doesn't have to be there to see his plans executed. Anyone can carry them out.
No lives were saved, period.

There is nothing ambiguous about it.
This was a stupid mistake that will cost the US untold amounts of blood and treasure.

@26
While you're complaining about Puerto Rico and your America First agenda, millions of people go without Healthcare in the richest country on Earth.
How many millions of people have to die unnecessary deaths before you will do something about it?

How dare you worried about an issue while there are other issues to worry about?
How do you live with yourself?
How can you sleep at night?

@32 "This was a stupid mistake"

You wish. Just like the Iraq war this was no mistake. It was likely completely deliberate on Trump's part to wildly increase tension with Iran just before the senate impeachment trial while Republicans get ready to rig the senate proceedings.

32: Hawks and their defenders are trying desperately to re-frame Soleimani as something akin to an Islamic State leader. Which is a little like comparing a high-ranking black ops commander or intelligence official in the US to an Islamist suicide cult. He was a military strategist and tactician who, yes, utilized asymmetric warfare and, yes, worked with terrorists as needed (sort of like how the US worked with contras in Nicaragua). He was also a bulwark against Sunni extremism.

But it's important for the right to convince the public that Soleimani is some kind of Shia version of Osame bin Laden instead of a high-ranking official in a sovereign state. Of course, aside form perennially wrong neocons and Trump worshipers, no one, and I mean no one, is actually buying it.

I've been bitching about the severe, unbalanced lack of Progressive beneficent Billionaires so long, it seems like one of them (finally!) fucking Heard me:

Headline -- "Michael Bloomberg Is Open to Spending $1 Billion to Defeat Trump

The Democratic presidential candidate said he would spend big even if the nominee was someone he had sharp differences with, like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren."

Move OVER, Hard "right" Kocks, Addledsons, Mercers, Murdochs et cetra ad fucking nausuem -- Free Speech just got a little cheaper.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/11/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-spending.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

@26 -- Bingo.

I'm thinking the only thing might save US is a fucking Paradigm Shift in our thinking/Government; with a 4yo nutcase at the Helm, with a great big Red Button to push, should need (his, not ours -- are you high?) arrive, more than willing to push that sumbitch, this Planet and all its Occupants be damned....

Kinda like Australia but right here and everywhere too.

We just gonna let him steal this Planet?
Probably -- we're letting -- SUBSIDIZING -- Big Fucking Fossil to have Their Way with Her...

Oh, but it CAN'T Happen here!
That what they all say

I'm not pointing any fingers, but if it was me, and I wanted to 'win' an Election, one thing I'd do is sew a bit of Internal Dissension among the ranks and files; keep people backing up, all the time angry, defending straw-men (and women) inserted solely to Fuck with the Convo. Make' em argue amongst themselves, keep 'em real Busy...

Distraction can be / is a very Handy tool, if you don't have enough Votes -- 'cause you represent only a small (VERY Wealthy) faction -- you can't possibly Win the thing on Merit.

Say, aren't Republicans all for the Merit System?
I mean, other than Nepotism, duh...

Considering the vast Depths Repub's're willing to go to
(and the paucity of scrotiminal fortitude of Dems,
in general), only a Fool'd bet again' 'im.

STILL gonna send the old geezer Bernie $4.20.
But nice try.

Wow. The New Yorker's got a Great obit on Peart:

"The Misfit Awesomeness of Neil Peart and Rush"
By Amanda Petrusich

Neil Peart, the lyricist and virtuosic drummer of the Canadian progressive-rock band Rush, died on Tuesday, in Santa Monica, California. He was sixty-seven, and had been fighting brain cancer for several years.

Rush formed in Toronto, in 1968 (Peart joined in 1974), and released nineteen studio albums, ten of which have sold more than a million copies in the U.S. According to Billboard, Rush presently ranks third, behind the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, for the most consecutive gold or platinum albums by a rock band.

Peart was wildly literate, and his earnest love of science fiction informed Rush’s singular aesthetic. Along with the singer Geddy Lee and the guitarist Alex Lifeson, he helped pioneer an audacious strain of brainy, intricate hard rock that perhaps borrowed more voraciously from Ayn Rand than the blues.

Though the band’s influence was vast, something about its music seemed to speak deeply and directly to marginalized young men. Both Lee and Lifeson were the children of immigrants who had left Europe following the Second World War (Lee’s parents were Holocaust survivors; Lifeson’s fled Yugoslavia after the war), and a person gets the sense that the members of Rush had internalized a certain degree of cultural exclusion. Rather than retreating, they embraced ideas that eschewed convention.

The album opens with its title track, which is twenty minutes long and takes up the entire first side of the LP. Peart wrote the lyrics, which have something to do with an interplanetary federation and an odious, vaguely fascist organization known as Priests of the Temples of Syrinx, who command “great computers”—to be honest, I’m not overly confident on the narrative particulars.

What the song does convey, unambiguously, is a kind of maniacal amplitude. Peart wanted to tell vast, complex stories that both embraced and rejected formal structures.

The rest of the record is a little bit goofier, but no less unique. “A Passage to Bangkok,” which Peart also wrote lyrics for, is a doting homage to weed, and various cities and countries around the world where it is cultivated: Colombia, Jamaica, Morocco, Acapulco, Thailand, Afghanistan, Kathmandu, Lebanon. “We only stop for the best!”

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/the-misfit-awesomeness-of-neil-peart-and-rush

'The album -- 2112 -- opens with its title track, which is
twenty minutes long and takes up the entire first side of the LP.'

@10: 1512 5th Ave. It's a Banana Republic now but used to be the Coliseum Theater. It used to have bats!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coliseum_Theater_(Seattle)

24 Absolutely. Trump is giving the middle east to ISIS and Saudi Arabia and their cohorts. Please, continue to kick U.S.war mongers ass.
By the way Adam, its ok for people to care about Puerto Rico and people of the mainland as well. I know many who care about the people of the whole world. People who care about the 99%. And all the poor people.

Kenny, the shitty, low paying jobs you are talking about are an affront to human dignity. Wage slavery is something that should have been drowned in the rivers of the world a hundred years ago. Sorry you have bought into the propaganda that tells us we should sell ourselves just to eat. We need to destroy this system.

40% of the homeless HAVE jobs. Look at what that has got them. So you believe this child man that has been pampered all his life and caused children to be locked in cages and torn from their families might probably win the election?
We deserve way better than that rot. Must not stand for it and fight back.

Hey Raindrop I called you a fascist and racist previously and I continue to stand by that statement.

@46: So noted. Do you have anything else to add?

@3 Trump's disapproval ratings has been greater than 50% throughout his term (a first?). There is almost no chance he'll win the popular vote if something doesn't change radically. Stop trolling or drinking (whichever is your case)

@52 is for @39

@54 Only on corporate media does working your ass off to continue falling in debt to pay for basic necessities like healthcare and housing amounts to "things are good right now". Time to pull your head out now.

@55: It doesn't matter how you perceive the economy, it only matters what everyone else thinks of the economy. That's why we have polls and elections.

I think it's a stretch that Trump would win the popular vote in 2020. However it is possible. From possible we work up the chart to plausible and probable as we evaluate the political landscape.

From now on, I would like everyone to refer to me as “HRH The Duke of Pornwall”.

Since there’s an opening in the Royal Palace, I feel I am the perfect Queen to take over for Harry and Meghan. Since there isn’t that much to the job- you just get paid for having been born- I feel I am qualified, as I have been born. While not inbred the way the other spawn of Mrs Lizzie Windsor have been, the majority of the Slog commenters seem to think I have the same inbred talents and intellect of any Hapsburg.

Pay me, you British bitches.

W. -- have you considered a #GoFundMe?
Perhaps you could retire...

@56 There are opinions and there are facts: the real wages and benefits of American workers have decreased for the last 40 years and the middle class has been hollowed out no matter what talking heads claim about "things are good right now".

@57 So you couldn't think of any alternative to oligarchic rule (Koch/Trump) but Sawant? red baiting much?

RIP Neil Peart though I've never been able to reconcile his reputation against the actual music.

"There are opinions and there are facts: the real wages and benefits of American workers have decreased for the last 40 years and the middle class has been hollowed out no matter what talking heads claim about 'things are good right now.'"

Very well said.
Thanks, Anon!

Things are not Nearly as shitty as they could be!