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Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped? Bernie Sanders wants to know who owns America?

#12141 User is online   johnu 

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Posted 2019-February-16, 17:08

View Postandrei, on 2019-February-16, 11:13, said:

OMG.

Since JB's political opinions are well known, I thought it's evident that the LOL part is the "a friend sat next to him on a plane" (which is obviously true, right?).

Intelligence is not your strongest suit, is it?
I am only asking for a friend.

OMG, apparently you have never heard of coincidences? If somebody like Titus has hundreds or maybe thousands of friends and sources, and some of them fly dozens of times a year, there's a non-zero chance that one of them has flown next to John Brennan at some point. Especially if they have some connection to the media or entertainment world where they might be flying several times a week.

What ridiculous thing are you trying to say? That John Brennan never flies in an airplane? That if he flies, he never sits next to anybody? That he never talks to anybody on a plane? That there are no coincidences?

Or maybe you think Titus is like Dennison who lies about everything, big things, small things, things that are totally irrelevant and are easily fact checked and proven to be false? Why would Titus need to lie about a little thing about Brennan when there are so many negative things about Dennison out there that we need a 48 or 72 hour day to barely cover all of them before another news cycle begins.

You have some crazy conspiracy things going on in your head and should get some professional help.

BTW, I missed your comments on how Dennison won the last appropriations bill battle and got 5.7 billion for his wall.
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#12142 User is online   johnu 

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Posted 2019-February-16, 17:44

View Postrmnka447, on 2019-February-16, 11:54, said:

Well, if the collusion claims are such a slam dunk, then maybe someone should put real evidence of it out there.

Sadly, Brennan sounds like he's parroting his buddy shifty Rep. Adam Schiff who claimed there was plenty of evidence of collusion a year or two ago but that he couldn't share it with us. Now that he's Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he's said that they must move past the Russian investigation and investigate Trump's finances.

Like the famous campaign quip from either the '84 or '88 election parodying an Arby's ad, Cora's asking "Where's the beef?" It seems like all we've been getting for a couple is a lot of smoke and little barbecue.

Do you have any clue what Mueller has found besides what has come out in multiple indictments against Dennison cronies? Of course you don't, because apparently nobody except Mueller's team knows. The leading newspapers and TV news organizations continue to be surprised at what comes out in court documents that Mueller's team files, and they have spent tens of thousands of hours on their own investigations.

Nobody expect them to know what Mueller knows because they don't have subpoena power, grand juries, and the ability to make sentencing deals with people who might be indicted. If you follow reputable news sources, you'll know about as much as anybody in the general public. If you follow Fox Propaganda, you'll know considerably less than the average citizen because Fox doesn't like to push bad news about Dennison. Just repeat Dennison, "No Collusion, No Collusion".

As far as putting out all the information gathered so far, Dennison and his lawyers would love to peek at some of that so they could try to further obstruct justice by coordinating with potential witnesses and waging a press campaign to discredit anything and everything.

As far as the House, they are reopening the Russia investigation(s) which should make you very happy. I'm not sure what comment by Schiff you are referring to, but investigating Dennison's finances are one of they keys to seeing why Dennison has been a Russian puppet for the last 2+ years.

One example. How did Dennison get repeated mega million dollar loans from Deutsche bank when other banks were refusing to do business with him, and what were the terms of those loans. As I am sure you already know this since you have studied this area extensively, but for the benefit of "others", Deutsche Bank is under investigation for laundering money for Putin connected oligarchs in Russia.

To spell it out.

Laundered money from Russia oligarchs >> Deutsche Bank >> Dennison >> Make nice with Russia


Is that clear enough for you?
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#12143 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-16, 17:58

View PostChas_P, on 2019-February-14, 20:00, said:



So your contention is that support for President Trump's Individual-1 is directly proportional to how much light white is reflected from his supporters skin feel? Please elaborate.


Yes.
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#12144 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-16, 20:32

I would say unbelievable but that word no longer means what I think it means:

Quote

Inevitably, the book includes disturbing new detail about Trump’s subservience to Russian President Vladimir Putin. During an Oval Office briefing in July 2017, Trump refused to believe U.S. intelligence reports that North Korea had test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile — a test that Kim Jong Un had called a Fourth of July “gift” to “the arrogant Americans.”

Trump dismissed the missile launch as a “hoax,” McCabe writes. “He thought that North Korea did not have the capability to launch such missiles. He said he knew this because Vladimir Putin had told him so.”

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Black Lives Matter. / "I need ammunition, not a ride." Zelensky
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#12145 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-17, 11:34

This fits in well with my hypothesis that Individual-1 hates Obama so much he will do virtually anything to discredit him - including trying to win a Nobel Prize - like Obama did.

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize last autumn after receiving a request from the U.S. government to do so, the Asahi newspaper reported on Sunday
(my emphasis)
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Black Lives Matter. / "I need ammunition, not a ride." Zelensky
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#12146 User is offline   rmnka447 

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Posted 2019-February-17, 21:54

View Postjohnu, on 2019-February-16, 17:44, said:


To spell it out.

Laundered money from Russia oligarchs >> Deutsche Bank >> Dennison >> Make nice with Russia


Is that clear enough for you?


And the above "charge" is based on what evidence? Or is it wishful thinking because collusion which has been pushed by progressives for 2 years just isn't there?
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#12147 User is offline   hrothgar 

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Posted 2019-February-17, 22:33

View Postrmnka447, on 2019-February-17, 21:54, said:

And the above "charge" is based on what evidence? Or is it wishful thinking because collusion which has been pushed by progressives for 2 years just isn't there?


You do, our course, understand that most white collar prosecutions are based on circumstantial evidence, right?
And that Manafort looks to be going away for life...
Alderaan delenda est
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#12148 User is online   johnu 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 04:26

View Postrmnka447, on 2019-February-17, 21:54, said:

And the above "charge" is based on what evidence? Or is it wishful thinking because collusion which has been pushed by progressives for 2 years just isn't there?

If you are going to attempt to be a useful poster, please make an effort to remember own posts. B-)

You were questioning why Adam Schiff wants to investigate Dennison's finances. I said Deutsche bank was just one example.

I'll leave it to you to do your own searches

Fact - Deutsche Bank has been fined for money laundering for Russian oligarchs
Fact - Other banks have refused to loan money to Dennison and his company because he refuses to pay back loans on time
Fact - Deutsche Bank loaned Dennison hundreds of millions of dollars
Fact - Deutsche Bank is still under investigation for money laundering
Fact - Dennison has refused to back up intelligence agencies of the USA, and parrots puppet master Putin.
Fact - Dennison has refused to implement sanctions on Russia and Russian oligarchs over 2016 election interference
Fact - Dennison has engaged in private talks with Putin without US representatives being present
Fact - Dennison lied about his involvement in planning of a Russian hotel, including a $50 million kickback to Putin
Fact - Dennison fired Comey over that Russian thing

I don't have to resort to "wishful" thinking. Please feel free to disagree with any of these facts after doing do diligence to investigate the truth.
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#12149 User is offline   hrothgar 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 05:07

View Postjohnu, on 2019-February-18, 04:26, said:



Fact - Deutsche Bank has been fined for money laundering for Russian oligarchs
Fact - Other banks have refused to loan money to Dennison and his company because he refuses to pay back loans on time
Fact - Deutsche Bank loaned Dennison hundreds of millions of dollars
Fact - Deutsche Bank is still under investigation for money laundering



Its worth noting that Deutsche Bank has two branches.
The commercial banking side and the personal banking side.

All of the money laundering AND all of the commercial loans to Trump are out of the personal banking side...
Alderaan delenda est
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#12150 User is offline   y66 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 08:33

From Leslie Hook at FT:

Quote

US economists led by former US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen are uniting in record numbers to back the idea of a carbon tax as the most effective and immediate way of tackling climate change.

At a time when Democrats including New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pushing a sweeping “Green New Deal” programme to reduce greenhouse emissions, climate change is shaping up to be a major 2020 election issue. The US is the world’s second-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, behind China.

But Ms Yellen told the Financial Times the Green New Deal was costly, whereas the carbon tax, which would plough proceeds back to the public in dividend payments, would be the “most efficient way” to reduce emissions.

“Global climate change is a very serious problem and it calls for immediate national action,” she said. “If you were to start around $40 a ton and then raise this over time, by more than the rate of inflation, this would be a very effective way of reducing carbon emissions and would more than meet the Paris commitment.”

The carbon tax proposal, organised by the Climate Leadership Council, is a bipartisan effort that has united senior economists from both parties, and now garnered 3,300 signatures from professional economists and academics across the US.

That surpasses previous petitions across the US analysts’ community, such as the 1997 Economists’ Statement on Climate Change, which received 2,600 signatures, and the 1930 Economists Against Smoot-Hawley.

Ms Yellen said a carbon tax and dividend would be more “feasible” and “sensible” than the Green New Deal in its current form. “This is a plan that harnesses markets, it is much more efficient and less costly than methods proposed by the proponents of the Green New Deal,” she said. 

Under the terms outlined in the statement, which was first published a month ago, the revenue from a carbon tax would be redistributed to Americans on a per capita basis, which would disproportionately benefit the poorest households more. 

The proposal also envisages a carbon border tax that would impose a levy on carbon-intensive goods that enter the US from countries without a carbon price. 

Marty Feldstein, a prominent Republican economist and former chief economic adviser to Ronald Reagan, said that economists agreed that carbon emissions were a serious problem. 

“Our current method of trying to control carbon emissions by complex regulations is a bad idea, we think it is better to use a price mechanism to do it,” said Mr Feldstein, also one of the signatories. 

The chances of passing a carbon and tax and dividend under the current administration are viewed as extremely slim because of US President Donald Trump’s sceptical views on climate change, but the signatories say they hope the policy will gain momentum in future. 

“I’m not expecting progress on this during this administration,” said Ms Yellen. “My hope is that under a future administration, whether Democrat or Republican that there will be a call and a greater focus on doing something about climate change,” she added. 

Ms Yellen is an adviser at the Climate Leadership Council, which organised the proposal. The group is backed by large companies including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, General Motors and Unilever, as well as environmental groups such as the Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund. 

She said the plan was both environmentally ambitious and likely to attract business support. “Businesses I think, are able to get behind this because it is preferable for most businesses to have a predictable environment in which there are a set of prices . . . rather than have government regulations dictating what technologies must be used,” Ms Yellen said. 

The 3,300 signatories include former Treasury secretary Larry Summers, former Fed chair Ben Bernanke, former Clinton economic adviser Alan Blinder, and Christina Paxton, the president of Brown University.

The carbon tax has been criticised by environmentalists because it does not set a cap on total carbon emissions. But the idea has gained consensus as scattered carbon trading schemes around the world have struggled to dent emissions. 

Ted Halstead, founder of the Climate Leadership Council, said that returning the proceeds of a future carbon tax directly to households was important to help make the plan “small government” friendly and revenue neutral. 

“The most significant part of the statement, is that for the first time in history, there is consensus on what to do with the money,” he said. Next he hopes to get carbon tax legislation introduced by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, even though it may be unlikely to become law under the current administration. 

“I think it is fair to say that America has two choices, one is the route of the Green New Deal, one is the route recommended by the entire economic establishment, which is the carbon dividend plan,” he added.

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#12151 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 13:32

FWIW, this is an area where I think the Obama administration was an abject failure:

Quote

Iceland just sentenced their 26th banker to prison for his part in the 2008 economic collapse. The charges ranged from breach of fiduciary duties to market manipulation to embezzlement.
When most people think of Iceland, they envision fire and ice. Major volcanoes and vast ice fields are abundant due to its position on the northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. (A hot July day in Reykjavik is around 55 degrees.) However, Iceland is also noted for being one of the Nordic Socialist countries, complete with universal health care, free education and a lot other Tea Potty nightmares. Therefore, as you might imagine, they tend to view and react to economic situations slightly differently than the U.S.
When the banking induced “Great Recession of ’08” struck, Iceland’s economic hit was among the hardest. However, instead of rewarding fraudulent banking procedures with tons of bailout money, they took a different path.


At the same time, just because no bankers were charged doesn't mean I wasn't glad Obama was president when this occurred, as I shiver to think what might have been if Individual-1 had been in charge.
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#12152 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 13:36

Quote

Feb. 28, 2018

OSLO — The protocol for nominating and choosing recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize is one of the world’s most scrutinized and secretive.

A total of 329 candidates — 217 individuals and 112 organizations — are being considered for this year’s prize, which will be announced in October. The identities of the candidates are kept secret, and indeed, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prizes, is forbidden from divulging any information about its deliberations for 50 years, and even then, only for scholarship purposes and at its discretion.

But a wrinkle in this time-honored process — the peace prize was first awarded in 1901 — emerged on Tuesday, when the committee announced that it had uncovered what appeared to be a forged nomination of President Trump for the prize. The matter has been referred to the Oslo police for investigation.

Moreover, the forgery appears to have occurred twice: Olav Njolstad, the secretary of the five-member committee, said it appeared that a forged nomination of Mr. Trump for the prize was also submitted last year — and was also referred to the police. (The earlier forgery was not disclosed to the public at the time.)


If I had to bet on the forger, I'd put my money on Stephen "Whitey" Miller.
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#12153 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 17:45

Let's see how what the how Individual-1 has re-shaped the Republican party.

1) What is the Republican position on democracy?

Quote

The executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections revealed Monday that state officials had uncovered a “coordinated” and “unlawful” effort to collect absentee ballots on behalf of a Republican congressional candidate in the November election.


2) What is the Republican position on free speech?

Quote

Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into.


Quote

THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!

195K
6:56 AM - Feb 17, 2019


Two for two. Pretty impressive.
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#12154 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-18, 17:55

View Postrmnka447, on 2019-February-17, 21:54, said:

And the above "charge" is based on what evidence? Or is it wishful thinking because collusion which has been pushed by progressives for 2 years just isn't there?


Funny, but I responded to you with specifics of how the indictments and other information from Muller's court filings show strong evidence of collusion between the campaign and the Russian government, yet you don't respond to those specifics; instead, you repeat your talking points of "No collusion".

Perhaps there was no collusion. But I would think anyone with an open mind would have to wonder why such activity occurred and why everyone involved lied about their contacts with Russians, why Jared Kushner wanted backchannel commmunications with Russia eminating from inside the Russian embassy, among a host of questions about problematic actions by people like Junior and Roger Stone, just to name two.

If you don't think the facts I set out in the other post are questionable actions worthy of investigation and certainly strong evidence of not only "collusion" but of criminal conspiracy between the campaign and a Russian cutout, then you will never accept any evidence as convincing. If you have made up your mind without knowing the facts, why are you asking the question?

I know you give no credence to what I write, but perhaps some else might help. Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist who began disbelieving any collusion but the evidence has changed her views. Here is what she wrote recently:

Quote

We’re at a point where both sides are making claims of treason, which only serves to feed the intensity of both sides, without convincing Trump’s supporters (and other denialists) that the concerns about Trump’s loyalty — and therefore the investigation that McCabe opened into him — are well-grounded.

But there are neutral third party observers here, weighing the claims of loyalty. Four different sentencing processes have sided with those questioning the loyalty of Trump and those close to him.....

....Four times so far in this investigation, Trump’s aides have started the sentencing process for their crimes designed to obstruction Robert Mueller’s investigation. All four times, before four different judges, their misplaced loyalty to Trump above country has come up. And with both Flynn and Manafort — where the judges have seen significant amounts of non-public information about the crimes they lied to cover-up — two very reasonable judges have raised explicit questions about whether Trump’s aides had betrayed their country.


Yes, the judicial system is siding with Mueller. Yet you are unconvinced?
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#12155 User is online   johnu 

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Posted 2019-February-19, 04:29

Alabama newspaper editor calls for the Ku Klux Klan return to 'clean out D.C.'

Quote

When asked if he recognized the KKK as a racist and violent organization, Sutton disagreed, comparing the Klan to the NAACP.

"A violent organization? Well, they didn't kill but a few people," Sutton said. "The Klan wasn't violent until they needed to be."

Comparing the NAACP with the KKK? As Dennison has said, "you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides".

What can I say, Dennison's leadership by example is making America great again :rolleyes:
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#12156 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-19, 13:17

Who are those guys?

Quote

The people who applaud the lock-’em up stuff are easy to account for. The people who are harder to get are the other 10 or whatever percent who aren’t MAGA-heads but who approve of the job he’s doing.

These people are utterly unfathomable to me. The ones who love him by definition can’t see what a crook, shyster, and cheater he is, what a bunch of grifters that whole family is, that he’s never lived an honest day in his life, that he’s a complete racist, that the only thing he thinks about any woman is whether she’s a piece of ass or not a piece of ass, and that on top of all that he’s a moron. I understand those people.

But the non-lovers who approve of the job he’s doing mystify me.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Black Lives Matter. / "I need ammunition, not a ride." Zelensky
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#12157 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-19, 16:23

NYT exposes attempted obstruction of justice by Individual-1:

Quote

WASHINGTON — As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump called Matthew G. Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several American officials with direct knowledge of the call.

Mr. Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for the president, knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge because Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Mr. Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away.

Trying to install a perceived loyalist atop a widening inquiry is a familiar tactic for Mr. Trump, who has been struggling to beat back the investigations that have consumed his presidency. His efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finishes his work investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election
.
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#12158 User is offline   y66 

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Posted 2019-February-19, 17:55

re: Who are those guys?

Did you not see the episode near the end of the Sopranos when Christopher drives off the road after nearly colliding with an oncoming vehicle whose teenage occupants had this exchange: "Maybe you should go back Heidi." Heidi, who has no intention of going back, says "Kennedy, I'm on my learner's permit after dark". For those 2 and all the people who support Trump, it's not about doing the right thing. It's about self interest.

Here's a serious question: What song was playing on Christopher's car stereo when he crashed?

Spoiler

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#12159 User is offline   Winstonm 

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Posted 2019-February-19, 19:34

View Posty66, on 2019-February-19, 17:55, said:

re: Who are those guys?

Did you not see the episode near the end of the Sopranos when Christopher drives off the road after nearly colliding with an oncoming vehicle whose teenage occupants had this exchange: "Maybe you should go back Heidi." Heidi, who has no intention of going back, says "Kennedy, I'm on my learner's permit after dark". For those 2 and all the people who support Trump, it's not about doing the right thing. It's about self interest.

Here's a serious question: What song was playing on Christopher's car stereo when he crashed?

Spoiler



I didn't get to see much of The Sopranos so I don't know. My "Who are those guys" referenced Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
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#12160 User is offline   y66 

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Posted 2019-February-19, 20:28

From Martin Wolf at FT:

Quote

Might the US move from being a laggard to a leader in tackling global climate change? Two recent announcements — the “economists’ statement on carbon dividends” and the Green New Deal — suggest that it might. Intellectually, these proposals are from different planets. But they could be a basis for something reasonable. More important, influential people at least agree that for the US to stand pat is unconscionable.

The economists’ statement has been signed by 3,333 US economists, including four former chairs of the Federal Reserve, 27 Nobel laureates and two former Treasury secretaries. It has four elements: a gradually increasing carbon fee, beginning at $40 a ton; a dividend paid “to the American people on an equal and quarterly basis”; border adjustments for the carbon content of imports and exports; and removal of unnecessary regulations. This plan is also to be proposed to “other leading greenhouse gas emitting countries”.

The Green New Deal comes from a group of House Democrats, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It is a proposal to transform the US economy. Notable climate-related goals include “meeting 100 per cent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources”, “building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and ‘smart’ power grids”, and “upgrading all existing buildings in the US and building new buildings to achieve maximum energy efficiency”.

The US is a pivotal actor in global climate change discussions for four reasons: it is the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for 14 per cent of the total; its emissions per head are very high; it has exceptional technological resources; and it has been highly recalcitrant. In brief, US participation is a necessary, though not a sufficient, condition for addressing the climate threat.

Alas, that threat has become imminent, as the Green New Deal notes. The rise in average temperatures above pre-industrial levels is already 1C. It will take dramatic changes to keep it below 2C, let alone 1.5C. The higher it gets, the more unpredictable and dangerous these irreversible changes will become. Above all, the trend to higher emissions must reverse very soon if the rise in atmospheric concentrations is to halt.

This is one reason why reliance on the calibrated price incentives beloved by economists is inadequate. The challenges here are irreversible changes in climate with uncertain effects, on the one hand, and the imperfectly predictable consequences of carbon pricing on emissions, on the other hand. Quantitative objectives are inescapable. Moreover, the needed changes in the way the economy works will demand changes in spatial planning, in building regulations, in regulation of nuclear power, in spending on research and development, and in spreading new technologies across the world. The price mechanism is powerful. But, as a report from the Energy Transitions Commission makes clear, it will not be enough. The economists’ plan might have been adequate if implemented worldwide three decades ago. Now, it is almost certainly not.

The Green New Deal recognises the need for regulatory intervention and infrastructure investment. Unfortunately, it places no weight on incentives at all. A letter from activists in support of the Green New Deal states that “we will vigorously oppose any legislation that . . . [includes] market-based mechanisms and technology options such as carbon and emissions trading and offsets, carbon capture and storage, nuclear power, waste-to-energy and biomass energy”.

This looks like a dialogue of the deaf. But the economists just might recognise that the urgency of the Green New Deal and its focus on regulation and investment have some important things to offer. Activist proponents of the Green New Deal might realise that incentives matter and that the proceeds of a carbon tax might help buy public support. Above all, they might recognise that seeing every social ill through the lens of climate change guarantees that they will fail to achieve anything useful. As the British socialist Aneurin Bevan said, “the language of priorities is the religion of socialism”.

Only a broad coalition can tackle the climate challenge. So plans that have a chance of being politically workable will be compromises. A good plan must be a blend of price incentives with command and control, and investment in research and development. The fact that people with different policy approaches agree that climate is an urgent threat is a step forward. More Republicans might accept that the threat is not a hoax and join in.

The US cannot solve a global threat on its own. But it could combine the best of the economists’ plan and the Green New Deal. It would then need to make it global. This could be done by a combination of carrots — exporting technology freely and helping poor countries — with sticks — carbon border taxes. This could also be an area where the US, the EU and China might co-operate. Of course, nothing so forward-looking can be expected from the Trump administration. But at least people can plan for the day when he is gone.

Pessimism about humanity’s ability to address climate change is understandable. Time is limited, talk plentiful and action negligible. But we can only start from agreement that there is indeed a threat worth addressing. That may now be emerging, even in the US. Turning such a consensus into a workable, globally replicable and politically acceptable plan is going to be very hard. But despair is not an option. We can see some movement. Let us push hard for more.

If you lose all hope, you can always find it again -- Richard Ford in The Sportswriter
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