Welcome to The Now

 " In whose interests do you exercise power ?" " To whom are you accountable ?" " How can we get rid of you ?" Three powerful questions, previously posed in a comic about some of my personally favorite characters. Derived from five questions that a noted British politician believed needed to be answered if a nation-state were to have true democracy. Questions that can help people in real life address the problems of powerful people and institutions. In Whose Interests Do You Exercise Power ? For elected officials, power should be exercised on behalf of the voters they represent. For CEOs and owners, they have many stakeholders. Usually there's a board of directors, but there's also the employees and customers, which keep the company alive by various, similar and different means. Generally-speaking, human beings are in power because they've been empowered by the masses, and it's expected that those in power use it to aid, protect and imp...

Keep in mind that the original version of this came out before Israel decided to involve Iran in Operation: Keep the Conflict Going So Netanyahu Doesn't Go To Court. 

 

From the CT Mirror : The General Assembly will consider emergency legislation Wednesday to spend $13.5 million to meet surging demand in winter energy assistance programs, top lawmakers announced late Tuesday. The measure will designate $10 million for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, the state’s primary winter heating assistance service, and another $3.5 million for Operation Fuel, a Hartford-based energy assistance nonprofit. Gov. Ned Lamont, who has been wary of using state funds to replace diminishing federal aid for energy assistance, indicated through a spokesman late Tuesday that he would support the measure. CEAP, which is administered by the state Department of Social Services, distributes federal Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds and is facing severe cutbacks. Congress rolled back LIHEAP funding this year to pre-pandemic levels. Connecticut has about $85 million to distribute this winter — well below the $110 million-plus it awarded last ...

 Russell Brand give a hilarious take on this seriously dangerous revelation:

 Representative government isn't exactly democratic:

 Should Congress investigate Jan 6th? Sure why not; it's not like we are still dealing with a pandemic. Anyway, while I'm sure people would like to know as much as possible about the whys and hows, the American Intelligence Community (FBI, CIA, etc.), whose main job includes getting information, seems to be having problems holding up their end: Even if the FBI didn't do anything, the fact that they can't answer is very telling. And by "is very telling," I mean, "fuels theories that our intelligence community is so out of control they have operatives doing things that the bosses have no clue about." I mean, learning that the FBI might have coaxed Trump supporters into doing something dumb and illegal would hurt their credibility (HA!), so why commit to an answer? 

( via the cats from DU ) Fresh for 2010, you suckas! This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy . I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration . I watched this while eating breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration . At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory . I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administratio...

One thing about America is that the government can do all sorts of things to you and yours without you even knowing about it: alter bank records, issue warrants, re-schedule your flight from Atlanta to Memphis...the sky's the limit. The catch is, they have to find you first. And in that regard, the government still has some work to do. Take our current political environment for example. It should go without saying that having the first American president who can't deny his non-white background (aka, he's BLACK, ya'll) would enrage our more uneducated, bigotted and racist citizens. From those who quietly fear minorities to those who just outright hate them, it was clear that having a President whose name is "Barack Hussein Obama" was going to cause some drama. Like with this guy : The man, identified as Daniel James Murray, is charged with making threats against the president of the United States. He recently withdrew $85,000 from a Utah bank and told a teller:...