The Rich And Powerful Are Getting Into Your Head.

The Guardian

Are Gates and Rockefeller using their influence to set agenda in poor states?

Philanthropists have evolved from unconditional giving to conditional giving.

Tech Times

Philanthropy Impacted Education Policy In New York City, Says Book Author

Professor wrote a book about philanthropic influence on education

Pando.com (02/2014)

The Wolf of Sesame Street: Revealing the secret corruption inside PBS's news division

The demise of PBS was well underway long ago as underwriting congealed to only a few very large influential donors.

AAUP (2012)

When Billionaires Become Educational Experts

Did you notice more outspoken conservative professors at your college lately?

Crooked Timber

Universities are highly responsive to very rich people

When looking at collges and universities, get a list of the members of the board of trustees, and ask who the big donors are.

In These Times

Dumbing America Down

As long as Progressive professors still remain on campuses across America, the oligarchs must settle for disparaging education and intellectual achievement.

The rich and powerful may be spending a lot on politics to make the world a better place for themselves, but politics is not the only means to their end.

As the middle class alumni of colleges and universities are too far in debt to support their alma maters', colleges are relying on ever-more wealthy "philanthropists" for support.

It seems the common assumption about philanthropy is that donors find a worthy cause to support, and that's it. But it's not it. There are strings attached. More now than ever before.

Institutions of education such as museums, public television, colleges, universities are falling under increasing pressure by rich donors to modify themselves to influence their agenda. Under threat of withholding donations and grants, they influence the makeup of board members, deciding who gets hired and fired, and which professors get tenure, and which professors are relegated to part-time Adjunct work so minimal they are forced to resign.

How does one cut off such tentacles of influence? Literally?

Iowa Caucus 2016

This is a test. I'm not sure if these links will work for people not already a member of the Google+ community.

Here are some of my Google+ Collectiions with articles you might find useful before the Iowa Caucus on 02/01/2016.

Trump Nation: Recent articles about Donald Trump

The Clinton Dynasty: A partial history of Hillary and Bill Clinton, among other Establishment Democrats.

Bernie Sanders 2016: #FeelTheBern

A collection of related articles.

The Ted Cruz Experience: Articles 

Rubio's World: Recent articles about Marco Rubio.

Jeb: The Jeb Bush collection.

The Undercards: Posts about some of the other candidates.

I hope this works.

Oregon Standoff: Is it rooted in commodity prices?

News.GroopSpeak

Oregon Militia Member Gets Hit Right Where It Hurts, Way Worse Than Being Arrested

It was mentioned the family broke-even on the ranch they owned. I was reminded of the recent crush of commodity prices.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A 'mountain of meat' translates into lower prices

Severe drought reduced cattle herds, raising beef prices and causing a surplus in grain for feeding domestic livestock.

The Times-Tribune

After rocky 2015, price of cattle begins to rebound

The Story from the Northeast part of the U.S. is different from the drought-stricken Southwest.

Powdersville Post

Clemson economist: Over-supply could stress crop prices in 2016

The production costs remaining the same is partly due to farmers locking in long-term price contracts on fuel and fertilizer which are related to the price of oil.

The Real News

The Interests Shared by the Oregon Militia Movement, Koch Brothers and LDS Church

I was looking for some kind of rational explanation from the above articles. This seems to go all the way back to Joseph Smith and the LDS Church.

Skeptical Analysis

High-Pocket Pickpocket

In the end it's really just illegal business practices.

I'm searching for a rational explanation behind the stress that seems to have triggered the standoff in Oregon and I wondered if it might have something to do with economics.

I wondered if the drought might have something to do with this, but it turns out the problems go much farther back before the drought.

HEY GUESS WHAT!

Politico

Cruz slams White House's plan to leave SOTU seat empty for gun victims

TPM

Ted Cruz Skipping State Of The Union To Campaign

There's going to be an extra empty seat at Obama's final SOTU Address.

It belongs to Ted Cruz. It should be dedicated to all the Women's Health Care Workers Murdered By Attacks On Women's Health Clinics.

Timothy A. Canova To Challenge Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Florida's District 23

Tim Canova: A Progressive Alternative to the Debbie Wasserman Shultz "Machine" Candidate

Op/Ed News

By Scott Baker (01/09/2016)

Debbie Has A Primary. You're Invited!

Crooks And Liars

By Howie Klein (01/11/2016)

Tim Canova

Ballotpedia

Data for candidate

Florida's 23rd Congressional District

Ballotpedia

Data for candidate's district

Timothy A. Canova

Faculty at Nova Southern University

Profile information

Tim Canova for Congress

FEC Filing Data

Form 1 Statement of Organization

Designation of Principal Campaign Committee

FEC Statement of Candidacy

FEC Form 2

We have a brand new challenger to the "Machine" on the stage (Don't forget to scroll down in the box for more details).

Timothy A. Canova only recently filed, so I couldn't find any data at OpenSecrets.org about who has contributed to his campaign. Do you think we of the Internet can propell him to victory without any contributions to the main-stream media for advertising?

It will require a ground-game in Florida's 23rd district. Here's the thing. He's appears to be a real progressive, not just a Democrat. More like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson and sadly I can't think of more.

His primary is on August 30, so we better get moving.

Economy Chicken: Coming Home to Roast

New York Times

Stock Markets Shudder After Chinese Stock Plunge Forces a Trading Halt

Producers in China may have been betting on faked economic reports, overproducing with false expectations. Now their inventories are filling up and they are not getting as many orders.

Fox News (06/2014)

Peter Schiff - No Economic Recovery Since 2008 & Unemployment Numbers Fake

Peter Schiff and Lou Dobbs start the session nailing the basics, but then digress at 1:41 minutes, into blaming Obama and the government, instead of remaining focused on lack of consumer demand due to low wages and fewer work hours.

FinViz

Map of Stock Exchange Performance

An amazing tool for evaluating stocks and seeing the Big Picture.

The Guardian

Don't be fooled by the false economic recovery

A critical analysis of how the economy is reported to the public.

Zero Hedge (02/2011)

Guest Post: How To Fake An Economic Recovery

This got me wondering why people are buying over-priced farm land that won't yield enough per year to break-even on the loan payment. It turns out they might be anticipating something that will change in the near future. Something that will make commodity prices skyrocket.

Salon (11/2014)

Robert Reich: Americans are convinced the game is rigged

It all comes back to lack of consumer demand due to low wages, fewer work hours, student debt, etc.

Town Hall

The Weakest Economic Recovery in Modern Times

Because the 1% wanted to go global, they tied most of the world together financially and OOPS!

Well, Everyone has been decrying a fake economic recovery for years now. Some who try to sell us their gold, others because they actually dig into the numbers and suffer the headaches of research.

The powers that be have been force-feeding us skewed sugar-coated numbers for decades, but everyone under their skin knows it's BS!

The motivation for doing so is probably bait to try and motivate with their Snake Oil, consumption and investment in things we can't afford or don't need.

*What's Economy Chicken? I searched online for some visual representation of "chickens coming home to roost." I Photoshopped it into a bad pun,

I think we all have had enough of being lied to by the main-stream media and the Financial Sector.

Proactive Capitalism

What a shock it would be if everyone got a basic income of $15 per hour regardless of their employment status. Would that be Communism? No. Communism is when nobody owns anything. Is it Socialism? No. Socialism is when workers own the means of production.

This is more like Proactive Capitalism. The infusion of disposable income in the local economy won't be felt for a while since most people will be paying off their debts, but once most of the debts are cleared, what's left after the basic expenses will most likely begin to circulate wider throughout the economy.

People who hated their jobs will quit and begin to pursue their dreams. This means that many businesses will lose so many employees that they will not be able to function.

McDonald's has come up with a solution for the sudden loss of employees. Interactive kiosks in place of people taking verbal orders. This will make communicating orders clearer and more efficient.

The problem is that the new income will elevate the standards of consumers beyond what they are accustomed. We will realize that we have been consuming trash for generations.