#TTIP is dead, long live #CETA: Daily Bullshit, September 8-9, 2016 (updated again)

This issue of the (Almost) Daily Bullshit was incomplete when originally published because I was simply too tired to continue going through the news. It is now complete (but still subject to further updates) and it has been extended to cover Friday as well as Thursday.

I got up way too early Thursday morning to plunge into San Francisco Bay Area morning rush hour traffic to get to Oakland Airport in time to allow two hours for the TSA (I wound up needing only about five minutes but of course, if I’d allowed any less time, I’d have needed more). Oakland Airport’s Terminal One is not very vegan-friendly, then there was the flight, and then there was checking in for the conference and the welcoming session. I wound up not getting a proper meal all day until I found my way to Sage’s (the food was wonderful, the place is entirely vegan, they’re open until 10 pm, and if you’re in Salt Lake City, you absolutely, positively must go). And I had to be up early again Friday morning. And I wound up going to Sage’s again Friday night (the food is still wonderful).


I gave my talk on vegetarian ecofeminism Friday. My notes are here. It seemed to go well enough.


Unfree trade

Barack Obama is still pushing for ratification of the Transpacific Partnership, but with bipartisan (with Republicans refusing to concede Obama a victory and Democrats responding to populist opposition) opposition,[1] I just don’t see how it passes. Now it appears negotiations on the Atlantic version, TTIP, have broken down. But, according to George Monbiot, there’s another so-called trade deal on tap.[2]

George Monbiot, “Here They Come Again,” September 7, 2016, http://www.monbiot.com/2016/09/07/here-they-come-again/


‘Freedom’ Caucus

So, some folks deserve credit for forecasting that John Boehner’s ouster would not solve the problem Republicans have in the House of Representatives with the so-called Freedom Caucus.[3]

Scott Wong, “Ryan faces new pressures from House conservatives,” Hill, September 8, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/294913-ryan-faces-new-pressures-from-house-conservatives


For-Profit colleges

Mark Brunswick, “Globe U and Minn. School of Business must close, state says after fraud ruling,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, September 9, 2016, http://www.startribune.com/judge-globe-u-and-minnesota-school-of-business-committed-fraud-in-criminal-justice-programs/392801791/

Katherine Mangan, “After ITT Tech’s Collapse, Other Colleges Try to Pick Up the Pieces,” Chronicle of Higher Education, September 9, 2016, http://www.chronicle.com/article/After-ITT-Tech-s-Collapse/237732


The Bundys

This was exceedingly slow to hit my radar screen.

Bill Morlin, “First Guilty Pleas Entered in 2014 Nevada Standoff with BLM,” Southern Poverty Law Center, August 29, 2016, https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/08/29/first-guilty-pleas-entered-2014-nevada-standoff-blm


  1. [1]John T. Bennett, “Despite Convention Jeers, Obama to Continue TPP,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, July 29, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/despite-convention-jeers-obama-to-continue-trade-push (link is external)
  2. [2]George Monbiot, “Here They Come Again,” September 7, 2016, http://www.monbiot.com/2016/09/07/here-they-come-again/
  3. [3]Dan Balz, “For Republicans, questions of who can lead them and can they govern?” Washington Post, September 25, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-republicans-questions-of-who-can-lead-them-and-can-they-govern/2015/09/25/34f45c74-639d-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html; Elizabeth Drew, “Congress: Reign of the Implacables,” New York Review of Books, October 9, 2015, http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/oct/09/congress-reign-implacables/; Laurie Kellman, “Boehner slams some GOP hard liners as ‘false prophets’,” SFGate, September 27, 2015, http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Bush-Boehner-a-problem-solver-in-Congress-will-6533091.php; Cristina Marcos, “Furious Boehner allies lash out,” Hill, September 26, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255026-furious-boehner-allies-lash-out; Kristina Peterson and Siobhan Hughes, “GOP Discontent That Helped Sink John Boehner Isn’t Easing Up,” Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-discontent-that-helped-sink-john-boehner-isnt-easing-up-1443399225; Todd S. Purdum, “The Cannibal Party: Being a GOP House speaker might be the worst job in Washington,” Politico, September 25, 2015, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/boehner-resignation-house-speaker-history-213193; Tierney Sneed, “Republicans Openly Wonder: Will Kicking Boehner To The Curb Change Anything?” Talking Points Memo, September 25, 2015, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/boehner-replacement-gop-turmoil; Scott Wong, “Republicans worry new Speaker could face old problems,” Hill, October 1, 2015, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255568-gop-worries-new-speaker-could-face-old-problems

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