The barbarians (us) are starting to get restless outside the gates...

CanonRay

At the age of Nero - it was no barbarians knocking on the doors of the empire - in fact by the time of Nero - most of the Empire was at peace with the rest of the world.. But then again, it ended in a civil war when Nero killed himself - because he overstepped his boundaries as Emperor - as long as his antics was not to shameless it was tolerated but in the end Nero stepped over his own boundaries - and was started to be hated - and in the end - as a grasp of the old power the Roman Senate worked at one, and demoted the emperor to a common thief - who everyone could execute if they was able to find him... He killed himself outside Rome in a villa a friend of him owned - if the annals do it right, he was killed by a slave, one of the few who was with him to the end - and as he stabbed himself with a sword, he should have claimed to have said "what an artist the world loose in me" - he was infamous for his "stage acting" that even shocked the romans... And by the time of Nero - that was not a Small ability to be honest...

I would say, this story remind me of the time of Comondus - Caracalla and Alexander Servus - at THAT time the barbarians was indeed knocking on the doors of the empire - and some of them cared not for the security of the empire - Comondus was known, or infamous for his horrible private life - not to say the public life, who was worse than Nero would ever imagine..

Or it could remind us all of the time before the French revolution, who the upper echelon of the power structure was at its peak - and where the rest of the population for the most part was living in horrible conditions where shortage of food was one of the prime factors why in the end a revolution broke out.... Who was not over before ten of thousands was killed.. And the whole world was changed forever (I suspect the french revolution changed the world more than the US revolution a few years before)

Or it could remind of the time of the early 1900s when russians was starting to be inpatients to how the country was run - it was first a revolution in 1905, who ended in a blood bath when the guard of the emperor shoot down thousands of rather peacefully remonstrants who wanted a better life, food and a better paid salary.. (It was some of the reasons) In the end it ended in a revolution in 1917, first the February revolution who ended 500 year of absolute ruling by the Tsars - and in october same year - the Bolsheviks was able to do a coup against the new, but week government - and the history of Russia changed forever...

Diclotican

Thanks for that.

Fantastic Anarchist

One of my great hobbies is history - from a small age (after I was able to learn to read) I have been a keen reader of history - from ancient to our own time. And sometimes it stick in the brain too . I have been told later on, that I more or less was plowing true the books back home - and they had a few books.. and then I hit the local library - who got their hand full when I asked for books they do not had on the shells - but who could be loaned from other libraries... Or was in storage...

And now I do have a "few" books on my own - and is often buying a new one now and then.... Some says I sould give away a few books - I just deny it hard and brutal - no books to give away thank you


Diclotican

...who act monstrously. Otherwise, they'd use their wealth and power to make this a better world, not to accumulate more wealth and power. They've got everything in the world, except humanity. No amount of money can buy them that.

does it really make much difference that your callous murder is the act of a monster, or a monstrous act?

It's like a motto and a call-to-action.



Know your BFEE: Spawn of Wall Street and the Third Reich

will have to pop it in tonight...

I LOVE kaiju moves, especially that one.

Watched it for the first time in the early 70s on channel 29 out of Charlottesville on a show called "Slime Theater"

Another cheezy Saturday Night horror host.

Watched him back in the 70s in Battle Creek.

"monster is someone who lacks empathy".

Sometimes the word "monster" gets used in a way that excuses human behavior.

"He's no longer responsible for his inhumane action. The stress of war made him into a monster."

Well, the reality is, if one has empathy, one follows the Golden Rule and treats others as they would like to be treated -- with all the respect and dignity owed a fellow human being.

In a new study it is found the elephants too are capable of empathy. The finding has been published in the PeerJ journal.

Over a period of one year researchers studied behavior of 26 captive elephants in Thailand, spending 30 to 180 minutes a day recording and watching the behavior of the animals.

Researchers said when stressful periods arises the elephants too showed telltale distress signals like the snakes do by rustling in the grass and dogs do by walking nearby. In the case of elephants they flares ears, erect their tail and roared.

Behavioral elephants Joshua Plotnik at the Mahidol University in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, said the nearby elephants too responded by the same type of emotion similar to what we do when watching a scary movie together.

SNIP...

The researchers recorded more than eighty moments of distress of the elephants and noted down the weather, time, location and presence of other elephants. They later compared the incidents to similar ones when no such stress happened.

CONTINUED...

http://www.thealmagest.com/study-finds-elephants-feel-empathy/10287

They're still at a loss as to why it didn't.

plenty of money went into both campaigns, which is what my post said. Obama 2012 had close to a billion in"hard" money alone. My post said nothing about the source of the money. Without checking, my imperfect recollection is that Obama got more from Wall Street in 2008 than in 2012. Many donors give to both campaigns, to hedge their bets (no pun intended).

Please be specific.

For example, the very first headline of the first source that you link says "Wall Street abandons Obama." That does suggest that they were with Obama at some point; and my post specifically volunteered that Obama got less from Wall Street in 2012 than in 2008.

And, as my second post specified, my first post had said nothing about the source of the money, only that both campaigns had received (and spent) a lot, which is true.

ETA: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/19/wall-street-turncoats-the-money-guys-loved-obama-in-08-this-year-romney-s-their-man.html

The ONLY reason Obama got that much in 08 is because the McCain/Palin ticket was a LOSER.

ESPECIALLY after the Bush Years.

What I find amazing is how STUPID the financial types are when it comes to all of this. They are suckers for a slick sales pitch and they think the public is too.

The ONLY reason Obama got that much in 08 is because the McCain/Palin ticket was a LOSER.

He got a ton of money from many places in '08, including me and Wall Street. And?

Some sunlight is called for.

Hopefully he will appear on many more shows to promote his book.

I rarely watch Morning Joke, but I wanted to catch up on the weather. TeeVee was still on MSNBC from last night and his segment had just started.

Lost interest in the weather.

What a gutsy reporter--the audio recordings he managed to make were as clear as a bell, and so revealing...more so than any written recounting could be.

The horribly unfunny jokes were just, well, mind-blowing. Who the hell TALKS like that in this day and age?

Here we have an example of Republicon "Values" (whether held by Repubbies or Dems) in full-on, freak-flag-flying, fuck-you-smelly-proles, ha-ha assholes, soul-shrunken, sucky slurpy barfy manifestation.

Many of these people are Democrats.
Hillary Clinton Democrats.

Jon Corzine, the former Democratic governor of New Jersey is probably the most famous Kappa.
This has nothing to do with "Republicon values."
It's all about the Benjamins, which are bipartisan.

The hate that most on Wall Street have for Democrats is palpable.

"The hate that most on Wall Street have for Democrats is palpable."
That's really quite amusing, when you think about it.

Barack Obama is the best Republican president since... Bill Clinton!

Let's just use the S&P, starting with Reagan, to show how Wall Street should love Democrats:

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/presidential-stock-market-scorecards-reagan-to-obama.html/?a=viewall

isn't enough for them.

"Hillary Clinton" Democrats don't make disparaging jokes about "Hillary Clinton" at their gatherings.

The abuse and excess regularly practiced by the parasite class would not get by the American censors.

Any film that attempted to document the depravity would be refused a rating from the MPA.

you will find them pouring money into Hilary Clinton's campaign coffers in 2016.

have the scars.

Not a big HRC fan (also not much of an Obama fan).

Also, folks who were part of the PUMA movement have damned little to snipe about.

Lots of stinking money there.

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/

Public financing of campaigns is our only hope, but that will never be allowed.

Where have the reporters been all this while on this story?

adventures of Justin Bieber...

could be very helpful...if you could just keep their privacy in mind."

I'm sure they're "very helpful" to many reporters, which is why we rarely see stuff like this covered in the news.

Judges and policemen, too.

They define sociopath.

You are indeed correct.

divorce and what he wanted to do with his ex wife. This was in a bar in Reykjavik while his son stood beside him with a smirk and several people were in earshot. The woman I was with, looked at me in horror. He did buy everyone a round at the bar...seeking new acquaintances. We both ended up taking the drink and leaving.

There's also more personal experiences that I'd rather not share on a public forum, but will say the privileged know how to put on an ugly show.

that had the distinction of having the most millionaires per capita than any other place in the US. I saw friends of mine who were good kids inherit their part of the pie and turn into sociopaths in a very short time.

on top of the dupes

even though she made me angry."

From the link in the article: http://nymag.com/news/features/bob-benmosche-aig-2012-10/

...good name for this assclown.

and I also read the membership list and those comments.

By far the best comment, credited to woodcider:

"If you fail to take a Grand Swipe after a Grand Loaf, you end up with a Grand Smudge.

I'll be here all week..."



Peace

We may as well be half entertained since we're the ones paying for these fuckwits in power.

how to get the planet's food to the planet's people, how to keep resources fueling our future, how to create peace in the hearts of the warlords.

Hm. All they are is people who will bend over for a buck, anywhere, anytime. The worst of our humanity.

"Worthless neophytes" - dressed as woman, where they might 'cry like girls'. Why not dress them in pig costumes, for the 'pork' allusion?

allowed to completely take over our Country.

It. is. a. crying. shame.

This was a literal "let them eat cake" moment, captured and documented.

This really needs to go viral so the morons who vote against their interest can finally see what their overseers really think of them.

It's time for the 1%ers to start making some fucking concessions.

"<...>that if you had dropped a bomb on the roof, global finance as we know it might have ceased to exist."

I can think of worse things to happen.

Signed,

Furious

The Psychopath Test

Here's the publishers blurb:

Many people are probably upset by this because they don't have enough invested to be invited. But you can still party on your own. It matters not the amount invested. They appreciate every dollar donated for the cause and people with no consideration for anyone but themselves are all too happy to provide it.

The final paragraphs:

The last thought I had, and the saddest, was that many of these self-righteous Kappa Beta Phi members had surely been first-year bankers once. And in the 20, 30, or 40 years since, something fundamental about them had changed. Their pursuit of money and power had removed them from the larger world to the sad extent that, now, in the primes of their careers, the only people with whom they could be truly themselves were a handful of other prominent financiers.

Perhaps, I realized, this social isolation is why despite extraordinary evidence to the contrary, one-percenters like Ross keep saying how badly persecuted they are. When you’re a member of the fraternity of money, it can be hard to see past the foie gras to the real world.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/02/i-crashed-a-wall-street-secret-society.html

...this opportunity to try and snag the talent that's out there now that the 'ol battle-ax is out of the picture.



- K&R

One can't help feeling a certain intrigue and similarly disgust at the ongoings and attitudes of the plutocrats in party mode. 

One can argue that our society is riven with extreme social disparities, inequitable distribution of wealth, inequitable mobility and access to wealth as well as wonder out aloud given the obvious why we as a society have yet resisted to call into question the behavior of this set and fought for structural changes that might bring a more equitable alignment amongst our lot.

But the irony of all this is, despite the moralizing, finger pointing, the guilt, there are many who aspire to be as rich and powerful as the plutocrats and who use their education, their talent towards those ends. Which posits the question, aren't we all in some way being just as hypocritical and divorced from reality as we claim these people are when we aspire and still believe in the American dream of wealth and power? It isn't just what these people do that ought to concern us, it's the way that so many of us in the end ultimately idolize and lionize such characters and jealously wish such existences for ourselves .....

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2014/02/kappa-beta-phi-secret-wall-st-fraternity-appalls-spy-journalist/

How much does one need?


My husband and I have our number. We are very close to obtaining it. After that - nothing else needs to be acquired.

You can only spend so much - and you can only use so much before you become a mockery - of yourself.

I'm going to read it when I have more time.

oh wait, those are the waiters.