garudabluffs

[garudabluffs]

Here’s how much a single person needs to earn to live comfortably in Mass.

"The analysis applied the “50/30/20″ rule, which theorizes a person should spend half their income on necessities like food and housing, 30% on wants, and 20% for paying off debt or building up savings. The MIT wage calculator was used to determine how much it might cost to just pay for needs.

The site found that a single adult in Massachusetts needed to earn at least $116,022 annually to cover basics, wants, and savings. That salary translates to $55.78 per hour.

But, for a family of two working parents with two children, the figure is significantly higher, at about $301,184 to maintain the same level of comfort, according to the site."

"The least expensive? West Virginia, according to the analysis."

READ MORE https://www.masslive.com/news/2024/04/heres-how-much-a-single-person-needs-to-earn-to-live-comfortably-in-mass.html

#living wage #estimate

[garudabluffs]

Here are the witnesses expected at Trump’s hush money trial

READ MORE https://www.wwlp.com/hill-politics/here-are-the-witnesses-expected-at-trumps-hush-money-trial/

#Trump trial dial-a-trial

[garudabluffs]

Loosh performing Corona at Sofar New York on September 6th, 2016.

How the solar eclipse gave us community

We shouldn’t have to wait for once-in-a-generation events to find community

"It’s a freak coincidence, an oddity of our little slice of the universe with a moon that is both 400 times smaller than our sun, and 400 times closer to us than our sun that produces some truly mind-blowing visuals."

READ MORE https://dailycollegian.com/2024/04/how-the-solar-eclipse-gave-us-community/

#music video #Corona Lucia Stavros #solar eclipse #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

TOP Prosecutor PERFECTLY DEBUNKS Trump Trial LIES

Apr 18, 2024 Former top federal prosecutor, Shan Wu, debunks several misconceptions and falsehoods surrounding the Manhattan criminal case against Trump.

5:10 the crime is the fact that Trump

5:13 falsified business

5:15 records to conceal those payments to

5:17 disguise the real purpose of them they

5:20 were money spent obviously to further

5:22 his campaign chances but they weren't

5:24 reported that way so it's pretty

5:26 straightforward you can make a contract

5:28 with whoever you want and pay them for

5:30 confidential confidentiality and silence

5:33 but you can't then try to hide the

5:35 payments by falsifying business records

5:37 that's a crime and if the money is being

5:40 spent to help your campaign then you

5:42 need to disclose that under campaign

5:45 Finance laws because the whole point is

5:47 for there to be transparency in what's

5:49 really being spent on politicians

5:53 campaigns so let's take a look at

5:56 whether three well-known commentators

5:58 get this right

277 Comments

#Trump TOP Prosecutor PERFECTLY DEBUNKS Trump Trial LIES #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

Apr 18, 2024 Former top federal prosecutor, Shan Wu, debunks several misconceptions and falsehoods surrounding the Manhattan criminal case against Trump

3:07 recognize this case for what it is which

3:10 is that it's an election interference

3:11 case there are different reasons they

3:13 have trouble recognizing it for that but

3:16 let's review the basic facts there's a

3:19 plan by Trump and the national inquir to

3:22 quote catch and kill stories that could

3:24 have hurt his campaign back in

3:27 2016 Stormy Daniels the actress Andor

3:29 dor the model Karen McDougall were two

3:32 such stories that Trump's team deemed

3:35 potentially fatal to his election

3:37 because it was coming on the heels of

3:39 this Access Hollywood tape where as we

3:42 may recall he was caught bragging on

3:46 tape about being able to grab women by

3:48 the genitals without their consent

3:50 groping them kissing them now today it

3:53 may be a little bit hard to remember

3:55 just how shocking that story was back in

3:57 2016

4:00 that's because I think we've all become

4:01 so accustomed or numbed to Trump's

4:04 actions that he's normalized so much of

4:06 what used to be deemed completely

4:08 unacceptable or fatal to a politician's

4:11 chances but to give us an idea of just

4:14 how bad the tape really is the judge in

4:17 this case Juan Maran has ruled so far

4:20 that it can't even be played to the jury

4:23 the transcript can be shown but not the

4:25 actual video presumably the judge is

4:27 feeling that actually seeing and hearing

4:29 Trump in real time on the video saying

4:31 these things would be so prejudicial

4:34 about his character that would outweigh

4:35 any benefit in terms of evidence now I

4:38 don't agree with that decision but it

4:40 does convey just how bad an effect that

4:43 video can have on people and certainly

4:46 back in 2016 in the final weeks of the

4:48 election it would have and did send

4:51 Trump's team into a panic crisis control

4:54 mode now that likely motivated their

4:57 urgency behind paying stormy Daniel and

4:59 others to stay silent now remember the

5:02 crime isn't the payment of money I mean

5:05 you're allowed to pay somebody to be

5:06 quiet about something for example

5:08 through a non-disclosure agreement no

5:10 the crime is the fact that Trump

5:13 falsified business

5:15 records to conceal those payments to

5:17 disguise the real purpose of them they

5:20 were money spent obviously to further

5:22 his campaign chances but they weren't

5:24 reported that way so it's pretty

5:26 straightforward you can make a contract

5:28 with whoever you want and pay them for

5:30 confidential confidentiality and silence

5:33 but you can't then try to hide the

5:35 payments by falsifying business records

5:37 that's a crime and if the money is being

5:40 spent to help your campaign then you

5:42 need to disclose that under campaign

5:45 Finance laws because the whole point is

5:47 for there to be transparency in what's

5:49 really being spent on politicians

5:53 campaigns so let's take a look at

5:56 whether three well-known commentators

5:58 get this right

6:00 first up we have Professor Jonathan

6:02 Turley of George Washington University

6:04 law school you may remember him from the

6:06 impeachment procceedings here is what

6:09 Professor Turley had to say on Fox News

6:12 and let's take a listen I'll talk to you

6:14 on the other side in this case you're

6:16 taking this misdemeanor Reviving it

6:18 because it was dead suggesting a crime

6:21 that doesn't exist and then hitting

6:24 Trump with dozens of counts most

6:27 citizens at least outside New York see

6:30 that for what it is it's the

6:31 weaponization of the Criminal Justice

6:34 System a crime that doesn't exist what

6:37 does he talking about so first as far as

6:39 I can tell Professor Turley has never

6:41 worked in the prosecutor's office

6:43 although he did serve as an intern for

6:45 the Department of Homeland Security

6:46 before embarking upon a very

6:48 distinguished career as a law professor

6:51 but as a law professor he should know

6:54 that the crime of quote first-degree

6:55 falsifying business records under New

6:57 York law certainly exists

7:00 you might also think you would know that

7:02 it has been charged quite frequently by

7:04 the Manhattan DA's office how frequently

7:08 well in fact from 2014 to 2023 it's been

7:12 charged some 10,000 times so that's a

7:15 lot of existence if you ask me and

7:18 that's something you can look up

7:20 yourself as to just how many times it's

7:22 actually been charged then there's

7:25 Professor Robert Hassen a UCLA law

7:28 professor and he's an expert on Election

7:30 law as well as campaign Finance he

7:33 writes in the Los Angeles Times that

7:35 it's hard to muster even a me over

7:38 Trump's New York criminal trial his

7:40 words they're headline in support of

7:42 this the election law scholar says and I

7:45 quote although the New York case gets

7:48 packaged as election interference

7:50 failing to report a campaign finance

7:52 payment is small potatoes in terms of

7:55 campaign Finance crimes willfully not

7:58 reporting expenses

8:00 to cover up an affair isn't interfering

8:03 with an election along the same lines of

8:05 trying to get a secretary of state to

8:06 falsify vote totals or trying to get a

8:09 state legislature to falsely declare

8:11 there was fraud in the state and submit

8:13 an alternative State slates of the

8:16 electors so he thinks that you can draw

8:19 a distinction between the kinds of

8:21 crimes here he writes there's a fairly

8:24 bright line between attempting to change

8:26 vote totals to flip a presidential

8:29 election

8:30 and failing to disclose embarr

8:32 embarrassing information on the

8:34 government form if every campaign

8:37 Finance disclosure violation is the

8:39 election interference our system is Rife

8:41 with it end of his quote so let's think

8:44 about what this election law scholar is

8:47 implying he's saying don't bother to

8:50 prosecute election law violations

8:52 because it's done all the time that's

8:54 the kind of moral relevan ISM that buys

8:57 you corruption and dictatorships

9:00 but even the professor's own internal

9:02 logic doesn't make any sense when you

9:04 read through his full

9:06 opinion because after putting down

9:09 Trump's actions as quote Small Potatoes

9:12 he then references the charging of

9:14 former Senator John Edwards as an

9:16 example of a failed campaign Finance

9:19 violation prosecution presumably he

9:21 thinks it failed because it's not really

9:23 important to prosecute campaign Finance

9:25 violations John Edwards was not a small

9:28 potato case Edwards was a former

9:32 presidential candidate and the former

9:34 Democratic Vice Presidential

9:36 nominee I've been at a high level in the

9:39 Justice Department I served as the

9:41 council to the attorney general I can

9:42 tell you there would have been a lot of

9:45 careful consideration before bringing a

9:47 case like that now by the way do you

9:50 know who was the prosecutor who tried

9:52 the John Edwards case Jack Smith yep the

9:55 same Jack Smith who has brought charges

9:58 against Trump as a special counsel for

10:01 election interference and mishandling of

10:03 classified

10:05 documents now Professor hasson's closing

10:07 argument is the following he says quote

10:11 anything less than a felony conviction

10:13 would only embolden Trump he has already

10:15 convinced a chunk of Republican voters

10:18 that all the claims against them are a

10:19 Witch Hunt a hung jury or quiddle or

10:22 even a conviction on minor charges would

10:25 only feed the lie that all the

10:27 indictments he's racked up are bogus end

10:29 of his quote I'm sorry but the fear of

10:33 losing is not the way to dispense

10:35 Justice prosecutors should charge the

10:38 crimes that the evidence

10:42 proves now last

10:44 up the Washington Post columnist Ruth

10:47 Marcus who did go to law school although

10:49 she doesn't practice law she entitles

10:52 her piece quote why did this semi Trump

10:56 trial have to be the first unquote

11:00 in a lot of ways that headline says it

11:02 all Marcus's Pearl clutching perspective

11:05 on the case now what strikes me about

11:08 her opinion piece it's not really the

11:10 faulty legal analysis because she

11:11 doesn't really do any legal analysis she

11:14 speculates about how a jury might hang

11:17 she writes quote so the case will go

11:20 forward starting Monday but it's not

11:22 hard to imagine that jurors could B it

11:25 just takes one to produce a hung jury

11:28 had shoehorning Trump's payments to

11:30 Daniels however odious into the

11:33 tangential crime of falsifying business

11:35 records which was outlawed to ensure

11:38 that New York citizens businesses and

11:40 investors could rely on the financial

11:43 accuracy of Corporations operating in

11:45 the

11:45 state how were voters harmed by false

11:49 bookkeeping entries they never saw now

11:52 holding aside the fact that that's so

11:53 wordy she should be teaching law

11:55 actually here's the answer to the

11:57 question voters were harmed because

11:59 there is a violation of campaign Finance

12:01 laws which are meant to keep campaigns

12:04 transparent that's how they're harmed

12:07 this is hardly insightful legal analysis

12:10 any jury can hang everybody knows that

12:12 she also goes on to try to give her

12:15 expert views on Michael Cohen as a

12:17 witness that's Trump's former lawyer and

12:20 she writes moreover a key witness in the

12:23 case Cohen is a Serial admitted and

12:26 convicted liar perhaps one reason

12:28 Federal prosecutors did not pursue the

12:30 election case against Trump in early

12:33 2021 Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to

12:37 Congress and she writes when he tried to

12:39 get his sentence reduced prosecutors

12:41 resisted arguing he had lied to them in

12:43 his interviews after promising to

12:45 cooperate most recently a federal judge

12:47 denying Cohen's bid to be released from

12:49 Court supervision said Cohen had

12:52 admitted lying under oath when he plead

12:54 guilty to tax evasion unquote okay so

12:57 what is she really telling us to do we

12:58 all understand understand Cohen pled

13:00 guilty we all understand that he's going

13:02 to be cross-examined over that but she

13:05 adds quote in short Cohen is a defense

13:08 lawyer's dream

13:10 unquote as a former prosecutor I beg to

13:12 differ I've also been a defense lawyer

13:14 Cohen is not a defense lawyer's dream

13:17 even though he's talked a lot publicly

13:19 about his views on Donald Trump he has

13:22 never wavered from the basic facts that

13:25 formed the evidence of the payment to

13:27 Stormy Daniels that was covered up

13:30 no what's striking to me about Marcus's

13:33 point of view is the sense you get from

13:35 her that important cases can't involve

13:38 anything she deems to be quote SEI and

13:42 while it might be a pet peeve of mine I

13:44 don't like her throwing around the term

13:45 porn star that way for a couple reasons

13:49 it reminds me of when I prosecuted sex

13:51 crimes cases how there was a built-in

13:53 prejudice against investigating or

13:55 Prosecuting sex crimes involving victims

13:59 who were involved in any kind of sex

14:01 work or ones who might have been

14:02 trafficked think about it this way

14:05 imagine that Marcus says this beist

14:08 actor as though the fact that an actor

14:10 is a quote beist actor means that

14:12 they're going to make a lousy witness of

14:15 course using the term porn star is a lot

14:16 more pejorative but you get the idea

14:19 what should count is really whether or

14:22 not the strength of the evidence The

14:25 credibility of the person testifying is

14:27 going to be strong that's what you need

14:29 to judge them on not the kind of work

14:32 that they do you might get an idea of

14:35 where Marcus stands on these kinds of

14:37 issues when you take a listen to what

14:39 she talked about with regard to the

14:42 district attorney in Fulton County

14:44 fonnie Willis you might recall that

14:47 Willis was the victim in my opinion of

14:49 quite a smear campaign and trying to get

14:51 her disqualified let's take a listen to

14:53 what Ruth excuse me what Ruth Marcus had

14:56 to say about that fonny Willis

14:58 disqualification effort

14:59 I'll talk to you on the other side

15:00 Behavior by a prosecutor I'm sure lots

15:03 of people watched fonnie Willis and

15:05 thought you go girl I watched it and I

15:08 cringed this is not the kind of

15:11 information and behavior and

15:14 observations that we want to hear from

15:16 our prosecutors I thought um she in one

15:20 sense stood up to Donald Trump and his

15:24 allies but she really well she'll

15:27 survive this episode in terms of

15:29 disqualification I thought she really

15:31 tarnished herself so Ruth Marcus cringed

15:35 not at the racist sexist smear campaign

15:38 against fonnie Willis but about Willis

15:40 defending herself you kind of get the

15:42 sense that maybe for her the only proper

15:44 cases prosecutions or cases at all are

15:47 ones she thinks are prim and proper the

15:52 real problem with all three of these

15:54 points of view is that it reflects one

15:57 of the big sources of Injustice within

15:59 our criminal justice system and that's

16:02 the misuse of prosecutorial discretion

16:05 and the misuse of really law enforcement

16:08 discretion prosecutors get to choose

16:11 which cases they bring and too often

16:14 opinions like those being expressed by

16:16 turle Hassen and Marcus have factored

16:19 into those decisions sometimes it's

16:21 conscious sometimes it's unconscious but

16:23 the result is it Shields the powerful

16:26 from accountability oh it may come

16:29 masked as this is too novel a legal

16:31 Theory to try which really means we're

16:33 afraid of the embarrassment of losing a

16:34 high-profile case and it also can mask a

16:38 fear of losing because the person

16:40 they're going against is a celebrity

16:42 type personality interestingly the DJ

16:45 manual Express expressly flags that as

16:48 an improper reason to decline a case

16:51 prosecutors can't be afraid to take on a

16:54 popular personality or to take on a

16:57 unpopular cause

16:59 it's the justice that counts it's not a

17:02 popularity

17:03 contest whenever these kinds of excuses

17:06 materialize what it almost always means

17:09 is that the privileged and Powerful are

17:12 being protected at the expense of the

17:15 rest of

17:15 us so I'm Shan woo this has been a hot

17:18 take on underc color of law as the Trump

17:21 trial is getting underway I look forward

17:23 to hearing your comments and suggestions

17:25 keep those comments coming I really

17:27 appreciate the input see you soon enough

17:30 send him to the big house not the White

17:33 House get the new exclusive te's mugs

17:35 and stickers right now at store.us

17:38 touch.com that's store. mightest

17:40 touch.com

277 Comments

#Trump #trials #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

Trump post attacking NY criminal case jury pool

Apr 17, 2024 #MSNBC#Trump#jury

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell reacts to the breaking news that Donald Trump posted on his social media site a claim made by a Fox host about the jury pool in Trump’s New York criminal cause.

this is by donald trump

2:16 by any interpretation juror intimidation this is

2:21 specifically aimed at intimidating the seven people

2:24 already seated on that jury and anyone else who might be

2:28 seated on that jury that when you're seated on donald trump's

2:31 jury you will be attacked you will be publicly attacked

2:35 by donald trump and his allies in the news media

269 Comments

#Trump #trial #gag order #contempt #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

Israeli Settler Rampage in West Bank Devastates Palestinian Villages

Apr 17, 2024 #TYT#TheYoungTurks#BreakingNews

Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the West Bank, killing at least two Palestinians while the IDF soldiers reportedly stood by and watched

336 Comments

#Middle East conflict #https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEbAo5Hvu38 #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

Israeli Settler Rampage in West Bank Devastates Palestinian Villages

Apr 17, 2024 #TYT#TheYoungTurks#BreakingNews

Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the West Bank, killing at least two Palestinians while the IDF soldiers reportedly stood by and watched

Read more HERE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...

"AL-MUGHAYYIR, West Bank — The attack by Israeli settlers on this Palestinian village was the worst anyone here could remember. There were pools of dried blood on the rooftop where assailants shot a man dead; a pile of lambs with their necks slit was thick with buzzing flies. At least two Palestinians were killed in the rampage across West Bank villages near Ramallah over the weekend, according to residents, monitoring groups and paramedics, fueled by calls for retribution after a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd went missing in the surrounding area and was later found dead. The Israeli military said he was the victim of a “terrorist attack.”"

336 Comments

#Middle East conflict #IDF #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

VIDEO 18:15

#Trump trial #election interference fraud #hush money payments

[garudabluffs]

Trump’s Plan With CROOKED KUSHNER Gets EXPOSED

Apr 17, 2024 Trump and his foreign policy IS UP FOR SALE through his son in law Jared Kushner. In one of the biggest fraud schemes we have scene, kushner has made $40 million a year from Gulf Arab States and their billions of investments in him, while 0 of those dollars are going into American businesses or to help everyday Americans.

2,963 Comments

#Trump #Kushner #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

IDF Likely KILLED This Little Girl, Investigation Uncovers

Apr 17, 2024 #TYT#TheYoungTurks#BreakingNews

More details are emerging from the death of a 6-year-old Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab.

Read more HERE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...

"For 3½ long hours on Jan. 29, the cellphone in 6-year-old Hind Rajab’s hands was the closest thing she had to a lifeline. Alone in the back seat of a car outside a Gaza City gas station, she was drifting in and out of consciousness, surrounded by bodies, as she told emergency dispatchers that Israeli tanks were rumbling closer. From the operations room of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), roughly 50 miles away in the city of Ramallah, the team on duty had done their best to save the child. Paramedics were on their way, the dispatchers kept telling her: Hold on."

789 Comments

#Middle East conflict #the death of a 6-year-old Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab. #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

Losing already: Trump criminal trial begins with losses on delay and Jan. 6 hearing

Apr 17, 2024 #Trump#hushmoney#trialThe first seven jurors have been selected for Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

940 Comments

#Trump #trials #https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWNZMG6MQqI #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

George Conway on Trump: 'He is a narcissistic sociopath, he's not a normal, he's unwell'

Apr 17, 2024 #Trump#donaldtrump#hushmoney

Andrew Weissmann, former top prosecutor at the Justice Department, and George Conway, Conservative Attorney and Staff Writer at The Atlantic join Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House with reaction to Donald Trump sitting as a defendant and how he has struggled in two days of courtroom appearances with being treated like everybody else and not an ex-President.

5:02I'M PRETTY SURE, UNLESS

5:03SOMETHING UNUSUAL HAPPENS, THAT

5:05THE JUDGE IS PROBABLY RIGHT,

5:09THAT ON MONDAY WE COULD SEE

5:10OPENING ARGUMENTS.

1,613 Comments

#Trump #trial #finance campaign fraud #Youtube

[garudabluffs]

1:41SO JUST -- I DON'T WANT TO CALL

1:43THIS A MAJOR NEWS OUTLET, BUT

1:45SAY A MEDIA OUTLET IN COMPLETE

1:49CAHOOTS WITH A POLITICAL

1:51CAMPAIGN.

1:51I MEAN, THIS IS --

1:52>> AND PEOPLE LAUGH AT THIS

1:54FACT, BUT "NATIONAL ENQUIRER"

1:56ENDORSES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN

1:58PUBLICATION HISTORY, IT ENDORSED

2:01DONALD TRUMP.

2:02>> JUST FAST FORWARD TO DOMINION

2:03AND FOX NEWS.

2:05THIS IS SORT OF A HORRENDOUS

2:09STORY.

2:09THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE SOME SORT

2:11OF IMPARTIAL BALANCE MEDIA

2:14ORGANIZATION AND THEY ARE

2:15ACTUALLY WORKING TO KEEP

2:18INFORMATION, TO DISSEMINATE

2:19FALSE INFORMATION AND ALL ON

2:21BEHALF OF ONE CANDIDATE.

#Trump trials National Enquirer #Youtube #https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQizZiPwazI

[garudabluffs]

“I’m Jewish, and I’ve Covered Wars. I Know War Crimes When I See Them”: Reporter Peter Maass on Gaza

APRIL 16, 2024  "I began seeing just the same kinds of incidents, that were the constituent elements in Bosnia of genocide, also happening in Gaza, but — kind of most disturbing in a way — at a scale that was larger than Bosnia. I mean, for example, you know, in Bosnia, over the course of its four-year war, there were something like 7,000 or 8,000 children killed, which is terrible. In Gaza, over the course of just six months, there have been more than 13,000 children killed. So, you know, I just could not help but see not only the parallels, but also how what seems to be unfolding in Gaza is even worse than what I saw in Bosnia."

VIDEO READ MORE Transcript https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/16/israel_war_crimes

We’ll link to your latest piece in The Washington Post.

#Middle East conflict #reporter Peter Maass #Democracy Now

[garudabluffs]

"And speaking to journalists on the ground, they tell us that what we’re seeing from them is only like 10% of what’s happening in Gaza at the moment."

Under Cover of War in Gaza, Assault on West Bank Intensifies: Palestinian Journalist Dalia Hatuqa

"This issue of journalists being killed, that you spoke of before — the memorial for Shireen, outside Jenin, has now been bulldozed over, destroyed by the Israeli military. But even in Gaza — and you took this up last night, you and your colleagues on the panel, of what’s happening to journalists. Even you were surprised, you said, as we spoke before the show, by learning about when David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, asked, “How do you know that journalists are targeted?” Talk about the response."

DALIA HATUQA: Absolutely, because what — the questions that they were being asked is, “Why did you write this? Why did you say this? Do you talk to Hamas people?” Of course they talk to Hamas people. It’s their job. It’s like how you talk to Israeli forces. You’re going to — how you talk to Israeli military personnel or government officials. I mean, that’s your job as a journalist. Your job is to talk to people."

APRIL 16, 2024 VIDEO READ MORE Transcript https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/16/west_bank_update

#Middle East conflict #Palestinian reporter Dalia Hatuqa

[garudabluffs]

“Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism”: Yanis Varoufakis on New Book & Why Assange Should Be Freed

April 16,2024

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Yanis Varoufakis, we only have a few minutes left, but I did want to take the opportunity to ask you about your most recent book, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. I’m wondering if you could lay out some of the amazing arguments that you make, especially about the new feudal lords and the rest of us becoming serfs of technofeudalism?

YANIS VAROUFAKIS: "Thank you for the question. Look, the moment you enter Amazon.com, you’ve exited capitalism. It looks like capitalism, but it isn’t. There are thousands of buyers and sellers, but we are all — whether we are buying or selling on Amazon.com, we are all the serfs of Jeff Bezos. He doesn’t produce anything. He simply has encased us in that digital fiefdom — I call it a cloud fiefdom — using very powerful algorithmic capital, which I also call cloud capital. And every time you buy anything, from a book to an electric bicycle, on Amazon.com, which he has not been produced, he charges up to 40% to the vassal capitalist that has produced it. So, markets have been replaced by these digital fiefs, and profit has increasingly been siphoned off into what is essentially a kind of rent, like the feudal lords of yesteryear used to charge rent or extract rent from the serfs.

My view is that this is what already has — in other words, capitalism was killed by capital, not by us on the left, not by trade unions. Capital became so triumphant that, like a stupid virus, it mutated into a very toxic version, which killed its host, capitalism — that’s the basic premise of my book — with repercussions going as far as explaining the New Cold War between the United States and China, because, let’s face it, the United States and China are the two places, countries, economic blocs, that contain a lot of this cloud capital. Europe doesn’t have it. The rest of the world doesn’t have it."

LISTEN READ MORE Transcript https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/16/technofeudalism?autostart=true

#JUlian Assange #'Democracy Now #book review #author interview #Yanis Varoufakis