So, the threatened railway workers strike is over. President Joe Biden used his authority over interstate commerce to impose a settlement. As we all watch CNN and FOX News breath a sign of relief, let’s see if there is a lesson to be learned in these events.

Let’s take a brief look at the background to the dispute. The American railway system was deregulated in the 1980s. And, as always seems to happen, consolidation and profit-taking followed close upon the deregulation. What was once over 30 operating railroad companies was reduced to just seven through buyouts and mergers. These seven firms have all worked to increase their profits by reducing staffing, increasing and intensifying the workload of the remaining workers, and drawing back investment in safety equipment and other costly projects while increasing prices and rates.

THIS IS LITTLE KNOWN, THOUGH IT IS WELL-KNOWN, BUT PEOPLE IN THE WEST TEND TO DISMISS THIS AS "HISTORY". SURE IT IS HISTORY BUT THIS HAS TENTACLES INTO THE PSYCHES OF TODAYS. SO :

Apparently Forward is a site of "Jewish obedience". As part of a series devoted to monuments to Nazi collaborators around the world, they stopped in Ukraine. We can say that they have been served. This article appeared in January 2021, more than a year before the Russian Special Military Operation. A trip to neo-Nazi Ukraine... Better to warn right away: it makes you dizzy. (XP)

In the years since the Maidan uprising brought a new government to Ukraine in 2014, numerous memorials to Nazi collaborators and Holocaust perpetrators have been erected, sometimes up to a new one every week.

Throwing good money after bad is never a sound political strategy, especially at a time when the US public is feeling the strain of an economy in crisis.

The one thing every observer of US domestic politics must concede is that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi know how to work Congress. For four decades, Biden walked the halls of the US Senate, strong-arming colleagues to line up votes for legislation, with Pelosi team-tagging in the House of Representatives.

BY SCOTT RITTER

In the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi did the same thing. Now, as president and House speaker, respectively, Biden and Pelosi pulled out all the stops to get one last piece of legislation across the finish line—the passage of an additional $45 billion in assistance for Ukraine.

Insanity of Christmas

Ignominy of the Empire

Madness of Uncle Joe,

Madness of Obama, of Trump, of the Bushes and that of James Monroe

Madness of all the Presidents, setting precedents, botching experiments, lauding decadence, hiding evidence, pushing nasty sentiments, through beliefs in silly testaments, killing dissidents

Stupidity of NATO, idiocy of NATO, lunacy of NATO, grand folly of NATO, Imbecility of NATO, deadliness of NATO, 

Cretins of the kingdoms, morons of Europe, imbeciles of empire,

Dumb loonies of hell fire

Believe in the Devil’s justice

War is peace

Eternity is tomorrow

Humanity is stupid

Information is rabid

Media are warble

Hypocrisy is normal

Deceit is immortal

Our games are paranormal

But we claim to be normal

And moral

And non mortal

President Joe Biden delivered a Christmas address on Thursday but did not speak the name of “Jesus” or “Christ.”

“How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given,” Biden began, as he delivered his address to reporters at the White House.

The president spoke about a “child” born on Christmas but did not speak the child’s name.

“We look to the sky to a lone star, shining brighter than all the rest guiding us to the birth of a child, a child that Christians believe to be the Son of God,” he said.

Biden also spoke several times about the “light” and “peace” at the heart of Christmas.

They can’t work toward peace in Ukraine because it will serve Putin. They can’t work toward peace in Yemen because it will serve Iran. They can’t end the occupation of Syria because it will serve Assad. They can’t stop military expansionism because it will serve China.

Or, maybe they’re just warmongers.

 by Caitlin Johnstone

THE VOTES ARE in, the people have spoken, and Dominion has chosen the winner. Elon Musk will be stepping down as CEO of Twitter!

As of the moment this was written, there’s been no confirmation from Musk that he’ll actually follow through on this, and if so, when. It will certainly be interesting to see if he does. But also, who cares? Ultimately it makes little or no difference.

“These companies know their climate pledges are inadequate, but are prioritising Big Oil’s record profits over the human costs of climate change,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

A trove of internal documents from companies including BP, ExxonMobil, and Chevron reveal how the fossil fuel industry has continued to make massive long-term investments in oil and gas extraction even as the corporations have publicly claimed to be committed to aiding in a transition to a renewable energy economy.

By Guest author Julia Conley

FROM TURDY ABBOTT — no more Mr Nice Guy — TO SCAMMER SCOMO, THE "DEREGULATION, THE POWER SELL-OFFS AND THE ANTI-WINDMILLS" "LIBERAL" (AUSTRALIAN ULTRA-CONSERVATIVES FOR PROFIT, GREED, GUNS AND GOD) POLICIES PLUS THE AWFUL HALF-BAKED MALCOLMIAN NBN, ORDINARY AUSSIES HAVE BEEN SHORT CHANGED.

NOW THE LABOR GOVERNMENT HAS HAD TO "INTRODUCE" (LEGISLATE) A PRICE CAP ON GAS TO LIMIT THE DAMAGE TO YOUR GAS/POWER BILL. MEANWHILE THE GREEDY GAS COMPANIES, ALREADY SUFFERING FROM LARGE SUBSIDIES, ARE BLEEDING TO DEATH FROM A GENEROUS TOP-END GOLDEN-MARK FOR THIS GAS TO CONSUMERS... THE (KONSERVATIVE) MEDIA OBLIGES....

It’s an interesting time for culture war red herrings in the shadow of the empire. 

There are no major electoral races currently underway. Government Covid regulations have been mostly rolled back. The empire is waging an extremely dangerous and continually escalating proxy war with Russia that should be getting a lot of scrutiny. 

If one didn’t know better one might expect this to be a time when the rank-and-file public would be doing a bit less barking and snarling at one another and a bit more at the people in charge.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, urging US lawmakers to drop all their disagreements and unite behind Ukraine, while advocating for the passage of a $1.7 trillion spending bill that includes $45 billion in military and other aid earmarked for Kiev in 2023.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asked all members to attend in person to hear the “historic” speech, which Zelensky delivered in English, repeatedly interrupted by standing ovations. After several minutes of applause, the former actor opened his speech by thanking “all those who value freedom and justice.”

Incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called President Isaac Herzog late on Wednesday night to announce he has successfully formed a government, nearly 40 days after the Likud chairman received the mandate to form a government from Herzog, taking the deadline down the wire.

Netanyahu told Herzog that the new government, which will be comprised of the Likud, Religious Zionists Party (RZP), Shas, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), Otzma Yehudit and Noam factions, will work for "all Israeli citizens," a statement published by the Likud noted.

According to the diaries of former Blair spin doctor Alastair Campbell, Keating told the British Labour leader of Murdoch: "He's a big bad [expletive], and the only way you can deal with him is to make sure he thinks you can be a big bad [expletive] too." 

But as Trump is no doubt aware, the media baron's idea of a personal connection is just as transactional as his own is often said to be.

Or as one witness, in evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, said witheringly of one Murdoch paper's treacherous dealings: "It's just business.”

GUS: DEBT HAS BEEN USED BY THE WEST, AKA THE USA, AS A MEANS TO KEEP MANY NATIONS UNDERFOOT. IT'S THE NEW (OLD) FORM OF COLONIALISM THAT IS MANIPULATED BY THE SUPPLIERS OF CASH. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE REGULATIONS IN REGARD TO PERSONNAL DEBT IN MANY COUNTRIES, THERE ARE NO OVERSEERS TO THE WAY, SAY THE IMF OR THE WORLD BANK TWEAK THE DEBTS TO KEEP MANY COUNTRIES IN A STATE OF SLAVERY. MANIPULATION OF CURRENCIES LIKE THOSE MADE BY SOROS AND OTHERS, INCLUDING THE IMF AND THE WORLD BANK SHOULD BE ILLEGAL AS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THEY DO NOT REFLECT THE TRUE NATURE OF THE MARKETS...

SO HERE WE GO:

The external debt of the world’s low- and middle-income countries at the end of 2021 totaled $9 trillion, more than double the amount a decade ago. Such debt is expected to increase by an additional $1.1 trillion in 2023.

Patrick Lawrence delivered the following remarks, based on his book Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century, before the Committee for the Republic in Washington on December 15. The Committee is a nonpartisan group founded in 2003 that advocates a restoration of the U.S. Constitution, notably the War Powers Act, which assigns Congress, and not the Executive, the power to declare war.   

-----

By Patrick Lawrence / Original to ScheerPost