The Evening Blues - 2-28-17



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Lowell Fulson

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features West coast bluesman Lowell Fulson. Enjoy!

Lowell Fulson - The Blues Come Rollin' In

"The only way you can do that [decrease taxes, balance the budget, and increase military spending] is with mirrors..."

-- John B. Anderson


News and Opinion

Trump’s Proposed Increase in U.S. Defense Spending Would Be 80 Percent of Russia’s Entire Military Budget

The U.S. Government already spends $600 billion dollars a year on its military — more money than the next seven biggest spenders combined, including China and Russia.

On Monday, the White House said it would request $54 billion more in military spending for next year. That increase alone is roughly the size of the entire annual military budget of the United Kingdom, the fifth-largest spending country, and it’s more than 80 percent of Russia’s entire military budget in 2015.

If Congress were to follow Trump’s blueprint, the U.S. military budget could account for nearly 40 percent of global military spending next year. The U.S. would be outspending Russia by a margin of greater than 9 to 1. ...

U.S. military spending has been at permanent wartime levels since the 2001 terror attacks, despite the significant drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq under President Obama. Spending has declined since the wars were at their peak in 2010, but U.S. military spending in 2015 remains at 190 percent of what it was before 9/11, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, a leading tracker of weapons and defense spending.

As Trump Pushes for Historic $54B Military Spending Hike, Which Programs Will He Cut to Pay for War?

Donald Trump’s proposed “historic increase” in defense spending will have a lot of hurdles to clear

The White House said Monday that its proposed fiscal year 2018 budget will increase defense spending by a massive $54 billion, and to pay for it, money for other federal programs will be slashed.

The White House said it will release its final 2018 budget blueprint, which it’s calling a “security budget,” in May. But the budget proposal is precisely that; it’s Congress, not the president, that ultimately decides how to appropriate tax dollars. House Speaker Paul Ryan said earlier this month that he expects to act on a 2018 budget proposal in July at the earliest. ...

While there may be deference shown by Republicans to their new president, Trump’s proposed surge in defense spending is likely to be extraordinarily difficult to pass due to spending caps still in place thanks to the 2011 Budget Control Act, also known as the sequester. While appropriations usually require a simply majority in the Senate, amending the Budget Control Act will require 60 votes. Republicans currently have 52, and Democrats are almost certainly not going to vote for a budget that slashes money for federal agencies like the EPA.

“It’s going to be harder than it looks,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said of increasing defense spending at a defense conference last December. “Without increasing non-defense spending, I don’t think we get to 60 [votes].”

Trump wants 'peace through strength' – but this budget is a recipe for war

Will it surprise you to hear that the early signs point to a budget that is anything but smart – that is, in fact, short-sighted, dumb and self-defeating? The core proposal is for a massive increase in defence spending, with Trump seeking an extra $54bn for tanks, ships and weapons systems. The money will come from cutting – “dollar for dollar” – spending on foreign aid, diplomacy and environmental protection. ...

What makes this shift so misguided is not just the piling of excess upon excess, but the opportunity cost – paying for all this hardware by depleting the arsenal of US soft power. Trump’s plans call for a 30% cut in the state department’s budget, with reports of a 40% cut in US contributions to international agencies, such as the United Nations, and a 25% cut in funds for the the Environmental Protection Agency (which is already saddled with a boss who doesn’t believe human-made climate change is real). It’s as if Trump decided that the best way to protect his buildings and hotels would be to spend millions on shiny new fire engines – and rip out all the smoke detectors.

That’s certainly how those with military experience see it. Hence the letter from 120 retired generals and admirals, urging Trump and the US Congress not to reduce the money available to diplomacy and aid. They quoted none other than Trump’s own secretary of defence, James Mattis, who said in 2013, “If you don’t fund the state department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition.” ...

Trump says he wants America “to start winning wars again”. His first budget will certainly make it more likely that America will start fighting wars again – but that is hardly the same thing.

Col. Wilkerson: Trump's Proposed $54 Billion Increase in the Military Budget Not for National Security

McCain, Thornberry: Trump's Proposed Defense Spending Hike Not Enough

The Republican chairmen of the Senate and House armed services committees said Monday that President Donald Trump's proposal to boost defense spending by $54 billion for fiscal year 2018 is not enough.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, are pushing for a $640-billion base defense budget and said the $603-billion proposal unveiled by the White House will not reverse the decline in recent years in spending and military readiness.

The White House released a spending cap-busting, top-line figure following pledges by Trump for a major defense buildup but declined to provide details of how the additional money will be used. It plans to release a fully detailed defense budget in May and that must be passed by Congress.

"With a world on fire, America cannot secure peace through strength with just 3 percent more than President [Barack] Obama's budget. We can and must do better," McCain said in a released statement.

Pentagon sends ISIS options to White House

The Pentagon has sent President Donald Trump what it calls a "preliminary framework" for options to ramp up the US battle against ISIS, in a plan he requested in order to make good on his campaign vow to crush the extremist group.

Trump called for the new blueprint to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq a month ago, and the document details possible military, diplomatic and financial measures to increase US engagement in the campaign, a US official said.

A "principals committee" of top administration officials will meet Monday afternoon to discuss the way forward in the fight against ISIS. It was not immediately known if Trump would attend the meeting. Defense Secretary James Mattis is scheduled to lead the discussion.

Details of the new ISIS plan were not immediately available.

Yemen SEAL Raid Has Yielded No Significant Intelligence: Officials

Last month's deadly commando raid in Yemen, which cost the lives of a U.S. Navy SEAL and a number of children, has so far yielded no significant intelligence, U.S. officials told NBC News.

Although Pentagon officials have said the raid produced "actionable intelligence," senior officials who spoke to NBC News said they were unaware of any, even as the father of the dead SEAL questioned the premise of the raid in an interview with the Miami Herald published Sunday. ...

A senior Congressional official briefed on the matter said the Trump administration has yet to explain what prompted the rare use of American ground troops in Yemen, but he said he was not aware of any new threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the al Qaeda affiliate that was targeted.

The official, and others briefed on the matter who spoke to NBC News, echoed the remarks of Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., that the raid was designed to kill or capture one or more militants — something the military did not initially acknowledge.

Instead, Pentagon officials called it a "site exploitation mission" designed to gather intelligence. Defense officials later did not dispute McCain's characterization, saying they were hoping to kill or capture certain militants, though they declined to name them.

Three probes opened into raid that killed SEAL

The military is conducting at least three reviews of the raid in Yemen last month that resulted in the first death of a U.S. service member in the Trump administration, according to the White House and Pentagon.

Chief Special Warfare officer William "Ryan" Owens died in the commando raid in Yemen that targeted the al-Qaeda terrorist network. His father on Sunday called on the White House for a probe into his son's death. The operation also resulted in several civilian casualties, including an 8-year-old girl, and the crash landing and destruction of a $90 million warplane.

Owens’ death, the civilian casualties from the raid and the loss of the tilt-rotor Osprey plane triggered separate reviews by the military, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday. Each review is ongoing, said Christopher Sherwood, a Pentagon spokesman. Owen's loss is subject to a full-blown military investigation, while assessments of the civilian casualties and crashed plane may lead to investigations, Sherwood said.

Hillary's humanitarian bombers have come through for women and children again!

Refugee women and children 'beaten, raped and starved in Libyan hellholes'

Women and children making the dangerous journey to Europe to flee poverty and conflicts in Africa are being beaten, raped and starved in “living hellholes” in Libya, the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, has said.

Children are being sexually abused, coerced into prostitution and work, and held to ransom for months in squalid, overcrowded detention centres, as they flee war and poverty in Africa to undertake one of the most dangerous journeys in the world to Europe, the agency warned in a new report.

Last year, more than 181,000 refugees and migrants, including more than 25,800 unaccompanied children, arrived in Italy via the central Mediterranean smuggling route, through Libya. Thousands of people died on the way.

Unofficial detention centres controlled by militia serve as lucrative businesses that profit from trafficking, and are “no more than forced labour camps … and makeshift prisons”, Unicef said. “For the thousands of migrant women and children incarcerated, [the centres] were living hellholes where people were held for months.”

Netanyahu: Israel, Trump at odds over settlements, 'things are not as simple as you think'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud lawmakers on Monday that Israel and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump are at odds over the construction of West Bank settlements. "Things are not as simple as you think," he said.

"There are no understandings [between Israel and Trump] about construction" in West Bank settlements, Netanyahu told fellow Likud members at a closed meeting. "We will develop a mechanism to try to reach understandings… [but] on this specific issue, there is no agreement."

Following his meeting with Trump earlier this month, Netanyahu told reporters that he was willing to examine with the Trump administration the matter of reining in West Bank settlement construction, as the U.S. president had requested. "It is worth making an effort," Netanyahu said in his White House remarks.

Several sources described a vocal debate at the Likud Knesset meeting, with heated argument between lawmakers who support Israeli annexation of the West Bank and those who seek a withdrawal from most of the occupied territories along with security arrangements.

In Ukraine, separatists issue ultimatum to end rail blockade

Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said on Monday they would take control of Ukraine-run businesses in rebel-held areas if the Ukrainian government does not end a rail blockade that has halted coal supplies.

For the past month, a group of Ukrainian lawmakers and veterans have blocked some rail traffic in eastern regions - a move opposed by the government as it prevents coal produced in separatist territory from reaching Ukrainian power plants and the steel industry, whose exports are a keystone of the economy.

In a joint statement, leaders of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR) said the blockade had caused many businesses to suffer in rebel-held areas and that it went against the spirit of the 2015 Minsk peace agreement.

"We are forced to announce that if by midnight on Wednesday the blockade is not taken down, we will introduce a system of external management on all companies registered in Ukraine's jurisdiction that operate in the DNR and LNR," leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky said.

They also said they would stop selling coal to Ukraine and send future coal supplies to Russia or elsewhere. ...

Ukraine stands to lose up to $2 billion in foreign currency revenue if the blockade continues, according to President Petro Poroshenko.

NATO’s Strange Addition of Montenegro

Any day now, Arizona Senator John McCain promises, the U.S. Senate will vote to approve the incorporation of Montenegro as the 29th member state in the NATO alliance. Though few Americans likely know where to find the tiny Balkan nation on a map, Montenegro has become another dubious focal point of the West’s new confrontation with Russia.

At first glance, the case for extending NATO’s umbrella over a country with fewer than 2,000 troops isn’t obvious. Its seven helicopters are unlikely to make America safer. The Obama administration, which championed this latest in a long line of recent additions to the alliance, actually offered as a rationale the fact that Montenegro had donated some mortar rounds to the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq and $1.2 million to NATO’s operations in Afghanistan over three years. ...

Maybe that’s why hawks are citing the mere fact of Russia’s predictable opposition as a prime reason to support Montenegro’s accession. “Backing Montenegro’s membership is not only the right thing for the Senate to do, it would send a clear signal that no third party has a veto over NATO enlargement decisions,” argues the Heritage Foundation. ...

NATO ostensibly conditions its acceptance of new members on strict criteria, which include “demonstrating a commitment to the rule of law and human rights; establishing democratic control of armed forces; and promoting stability and well-being through economic liberty, social justice and environmental responsibility.”

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Carpenter assured the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last September that Montenegro supported NATO’s “values of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law.” He must have missed the report from Freedom House, which gave the country a rating of only “partly free” for both political rights and civil liberties. ... Carpenter must also have missed the State Department’s human rights report, which accused Montenegro of numerous violations, including “impunity for war crimes, mistreatment by law enforcement officers of persons in their custody, overcrowded and dilapidated prisons and pretrial detention facilities, violations of the right to peaceful assembly,” and “selective prosecution of political and societal opponents.”

[There's much more. See the article for a catalog of corruption. - js]

Trump accuses Obama of orchestrating a campaign of leaks and protests


U.S. President Donald Trump has accused his predecessor Barack Obama of orchestrating a campaign of leaks and protests to undermine his administration — but failed to provide any evidence for his claims.

[Heh, why should Trump have to provide evidence when the intelligence community, congresspeople, assorted Democrats and pundits making allegations don't have to? - js]

In an interview with Fox News’ Fox and Friends show, which aired Tuesday morning, Trump accused Obama and his “people” of organizing the waves of protest which have come to symbolize the first month of his administration. He also claimed they were behind the unprecedented leaking of classified information to the media, which the president has strongly criticized in recent weeks.

Dispute erupts over investigation into alleged Trump-Russia contacts

A dispute erupted on Monday between top US lawmakers on the intelligence committees in Congress, as Democrats suggested Republicans were incapable of conducting an independent investigation into alleged contacts between Donald Trump and Russian intelligence sources.

Tensions between the two parties escalated when Devin Nunes, the Republican who chairs the House intelligence panel, claimed he had not seen any evidence that associates of Trump had communicated with Russian officials and said calls for a special committee to investigate the issue would amount to a “witch hunt”.

“As of right now, I don’t have any evidence of any phone calls,” Nunes, who served on Trump’s transition team, told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but I don’t have that. And what I’ve been told by many folks is that there’s nothing there.” ...

Within hours, Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, held a dueling press conference to rebuke Nunes’s characterization of the investigation. He also criticized his Republican counterpart for disclosing information on the investigation that only just began.

“When you begin an investigation, you don’t begin by stating what you believe to be the conclusion,” Schiff said.

“I don’t think that anybody should prejudge at this point whether there were contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, either directly or indirectly, through cutouts with business-people or any other way.”

Spicer suggests Trump gained concession from China

The White House has rebuffed claims that Donald Trump was left empty-handed by his decision not to challenge Chinese president Xi Jinping over China’s claims to Taiwan. Before taking power Trump, who has called China a US “enemy”, had hinted he might shred decades of policy towards the democratically-ruled island, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province, unless China’s leaders offered trade concessions.

Trump’s appointment of several notorious China hawks fuelled fears he would follow through on such threats and usher in a potentially dangerous new era of US-China relations.

However, the US billionaire president back-pedaled during his first conversation with Xi on 9 February, sparking heated debate over whether he had capitulated to his Chinese counterpart or in fact managed to secretly negotiate some unknown deal.

On Monday White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to detail what, if any, concessions Trump might have secured from the Chinese in exchange for his compliance over Taiwan. “The president is not one to discuss his negotiating tactics,” Spicer said, according to Politico. However, asked if “he got something”, Spicer replied: “The president always gets something”.

U.S. Economy Grew 1.6 Percent in 2016; Worst Performance Since 2011

The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace in the fourth quarter, as previously reported, and appeared to remain on a moderate growth path as President Donald Trump took office with a promise to reinvigorate manufacturing and protect jobs.

Trump has pledged to boost annual economic growth to 4 percent through a mix of infrastructure spending, sweeping tax cuts and deregulation. He is expected to outline part of his program in a speech to Congress on Tuesday night.

Gross domestic product rose at a 1.9 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate, as downward revisions to business and government investment offset robust consumer spending.

The estimate matched what was published last month. Output increased at a 3.5 percent rate in the third quarter.

The economy grew 1.6 percent for all of 2016, its worstperformance since 2011, after expanding 2.6 percent in 2015.

States' rights? Limited government? Who knew that the 10th Amendment was so malleable? It's like putty in Republican hands.

A Trump crackdown on legal weed could cost the U.S. a quarter million jobs

Legal weed is expected to create more than a quarter million new American jobs by 2020, according to a new study. That is, unless a potential federal crackdown snuffs out the growing industry in states where marijuana is now legal.

A report released recently by New Frontier Data, a Washington, D.C., startup linked to a group of marijuana industry investors, projects that legal marijuana sales will surpass $24 billion nationwide by 2025 and create at least 280,000 jobs within the next three years. ...

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the public can expect to see “greater enforcement” of federal marijuana laws under President Donald Trump. Spicer indicated that Trump supports medical marijuana, which is now legal in 28 states and Washington, D.C., but he said recreational marijuana use is “a very, very different subject.” ...

Spicer compared marijuana legalization to the opioid epidemic and said “the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people” to use the drug. He didn’t specify how the feds might crack down, and referred a follow-up question asking for details to the Department of Justice. The DOJ hasn’t issued any clarification yet, but marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the DEA technically has the authority to arrest state-sanctioned pot vendors.

US tourism experiences a 'Trump slump'

Interest in travel to the US has “fallen off a cliff” since Donald Trump’s election, according to travel companies who have reported a significant drop in flight searches and bookings since his inauguration and controversial travel ban.

Data released this week by travel search engine Kayak reported a 58% decline in searches for flights to Tampa and Orlando from the UK, and a 52% decline in searches for Miami. Searches for San Diego were also down 43%, Las Vegas by 36% and Los Angeles 32%.

Though flight prices are holding firm (they usually take weeks rather than days to adjust to consumer trends), Kayak has identified a knock-on effect on average hotel prices. It found prices in Las Vegas are down by 39% and New York City by 32%.

It is the latest in a string of reports from the travel industry that suggests a “Trump slump”, with the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) estimating that since being elected President Trump has cost the US travel industry $185m in lost revenue.

Congressman to Trump: If Your Healthcare Plan's So "Fantastic," Let Us See It

Speaking to the nation's governors on Monday, President Donald Trump mused that "nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated," while reiterating that on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, his administration has "come up with a solution that's really, really I think very good."

He similarly bragged to health insurers later in the day: "We have a plan that I think is going to be fantastic. It's going to be released fairly soon."

But U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.) has heard that vague promise one too many times—now, he wants to know specifics.

According to the North Attleboro, Massachusetts Sun-Chronicle, Kennedy "filed a resolution of inquiry Monday calling for the secretary of health and human services to hand over the department's health care plans."

The obscure parliamentary maneuver, which can be employed by lawmakers to obtain information from the executive branch, is the same one Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is attempting to use to probe Trump's conflicts of interest and Russia ties. Kennedy is a co-sponsor of Nadler's measure.

"Are You Muslim?": Muhammad Ali's Son & Former Wife on their Detention & Interrogation at FL Airport

After ICE Stakes Out a Church Homeless Shelter, Charities Worry Immigrants Will Fear Getting Help

Two dozen homeless men and women filed out of Rising Hope United Methodist Church, where they had found sanctuary the night before from the wind and brutal cold. ...

That morning in early February, as the men and women gathered in the church parking lot, a few of them noticed three unmarked cars parked across the street. Then a group of seven or eight Latino men split off from the group and headed for the shopping center across the street. As soon as the men stepped onto the opposite sidewalk, a dozen federal agents burst out of the cars, forced them up against a wall, handcuffed them, and interrogated them for at least half an hour.

A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Intercept that the ICE agents had “conducted consensual interviews” and “identified two criminal aliens.” She refused to say how many people were arrested, or explain why agents were waiting across the street from a church.

But to the longtime pastor of Rising Hope, the message was chilling: His church is now a target. “They were not here because they were doing a routine community sweep. They were clearly targeting,” said Rev. Keary Kincannon. “They were waiting until the Hispanic men came out of the church. And they rounded them all up. They didn’t question the blacks. They didn’t question the whites. They were clearly going after folks that were Latino.”

Outcry Kills Anti-Protest Law in Arizona, But Troubling Trend Continues Nationwide

An Arizona bill that sought to prosecute protest organizers like racketeers is officially dead after widespread outcry forced state lawmakers to put that effort to rest, marking a victory for the national resistance movement currently facing a rash of legislation aimed at stifling dissent.

Arizona House Speaker J.D. Mesnard announced late Monday that the bill, SB 1142, would not move forward in the legislature.

"I haven't studied the issue or the bill itself, but the simple reality is that it created a lot of consternation about what the bill was trying to do," Mesnard, a Republican, told the Phoenix New Times. "People believed it was going to infringe on really fundamental rights. The best way to deal with that was to put it to bed."

Indeed, the legislation, which would have expanded state racketeering laws to allow police to arrest and seize the assets of suspected protest organizers, made national headlines last week after passing the GOP-led Senate.

However, according to The Arizona Republic, the bill's "fate was sealed over the weekend" as Mesnard "fielded phone calls from the public to complain about the bill. The House leader's personal cellphone number is listed on his personal website. As he listened to the callers, Mesnard realized their belief that the legislation was intended to curb free-speech rights outweighed any merits its supporters might put forward. He carefully read the legislation and by the time he returned Monday to his office, where there were more than 100 messages about the bill awaiting him, he decided he would kill the measure." ...

A recent analysis by the Washington Post found that "Republican lawmakers in at least 18 states have introduced on voted on legislation to curb mass protests," which includes bills that would "increase punishments for blocking highways, ban the use of masks during protests, [and] indemnify drivers who strike protesters with their cars."



the horse race



An interesting piece from Caitlyn Johnstone, worth a full read. Here's a taste:

They’d Welcome You With Open Arms — A Case For #GreenEnter

Does anyone else think it was kind of weird how Rachel Maddow started attacking Jill Stein, seemingly out of the blue, right before the DNC decided to spit in the eye of its progressive base once again by electing Tom Perez over Keith Ellison? At the time I assumed that she did it for the same reason she keeps collaborating with the deep state’s push toward a military confrontation with Russia: she’s an asshole. Ever since the elections at the DNC Winter Meeting in Atlanta, however, I’ve wondered if maybe I was a bit too charitable in my assessment of her. ... It could ... be that she’d heard the rumors that Tom Perez was a lock for DNC Chairman, and, knowing the outrage this would inevitably cause progressive Democrats, decided to smear the only political party that’s currently ready, willing and able to absorb progressives from that party and hit the ground running.

Now, here’s the real thing, so listen up — it’s obvious to me that literally any movement that tries to hijack the Democratic party’s progressive base will be instantly inundated by such propaganda campaigns from establishment mouthpieces like Rachel Maddow, and the more threatening they become the more aggressive, dishonest and vitriolic those campaigns will get. People don’t think of the Green Party as a fringey hippie party of stoner edgelords and commies because the party has done a poor job of getting its message out there, they think that because the neoliberal corporate media has been aggressively smearing its image since its inception to keep it marginalized and ensure the continued functionality of the one-party Dempublican extortion scheme. That’s one of the many reasons I keep talking about this revolution as first and foremost a media war; too many people severely underestimate how pervasively the corporate media is influencing the way people think and vote with its nonstop barrage of psy-ops upon the American psyche.

So that’s going to happen with a new party too. We can be dead sure of that. As soon as the fragments of our movement starts to coalesce into one again (which I imagine will happen over the next couple of months or so), no matter what we call that party or what beauty we put into it or how vigilant we are with our ethics or how watertight our funding practices are, they will find six ways from Sunday to wedge us with smears. That is a given. That will happen.

Trump administration will formally end opposition to Texas voter ID law

An attorney for a voting rights group said Monday that Donald Trump’s administration will no longer challenge a strict Texas voter ID law, signaling a dramatic change in the government’s approach to civil rights under its new attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

The justice department told plaintiffs in the case against the law that the government will formally end its opposition to the law, according to Danielle Lang, the deputy director of voting rights for the Campaign Legal Center.

“It’s a complete 360,” Lang told the Associated Press. “We can’t make heads or tails of any factual reason for the change. There has been no new evidence that’s come to light.” Lang said the reversal was an “extraordinary disappointment”. ...

The justice department under Barack Obama had joined the civil rights groups and voters against the lawsuit, arguing that the claims to prevent voter fraud lacked evidence and were used to make it harder for non-white people to vote. Obama’s attorneys general, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, repeatedly took action against voter ID laws, either through investigations or lawsuits against state governments. Last July, an appeals court struck down a similar voter ID law enacted in North Carolina.



the evening greens


Hillary Clinton's handiwork in Hondouras emerges again:

Berta Cáceres court papers show murder suspects' links to US-trained elite troops

Leaked court documents raise concerns that the murder of the Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres was an extrajudicial killing planned by military intelligence specialists linked to the country’s US–trained special forces, a Guardian investigation can reveal. Cáceres was shot dead a year ago while supposedly under state protection after receiving death threats over her opposition to a hydroelectric dam. ...

Eight men have been arrested in connection with the murder, including one serving and two retired military officers. Officials have denied state involvement in the activist’s murder, and downplayed the arrest of the serving officer Maj Mariano Díaz, who was hurriedly discharged from the army.

A legal source close to the investigation told the Guardian: “The murder of Berta Cáceres has all the characteristics of a well-planned operation designed by military intelligence, where it is absolutely normal to contract civilians as assassins. It’s inconceivable that someone with her high profile, whose campaign had made her a problem for the state, could be murdered without at least implicit authorisation of military high command."

In recent years, US support has focused on Honduras’s special forces units, originally created as a counterinsurgency force during the 1980s “dirty war”. The elite units ostensibly target terrorism, organised crime and gangs, but campaigners say the Honduran intelligence apparatus is used to target troublesome community leaders. Violence against social activists has surged since a military backed coup d’état ousted populist president Manuel Zelaya in 2009.

From Standing Rock to the Red Power Movement: New Series "RISE" Focuses on Indigenous Resistance

‘Shell knew’: oil giant's 1991 film warned of climate change danger

The oil giant Shell issued a stark warning of the catastrophic risks of climate change more than a quarter of century ago in a prescient 1991 film that has been rediscovered.

However, since then the company has invested heavily in highly polluting oil reserves and helped lobby against climate action, leading to accusations that Shell knew the grave risks of global warming but did not act accordingly.

Shell’s 28-minute film, called Climate of Concern, was made for public viewing, particularly in schools and universities. It warned of extreme weather, floods, famines and climate refugees as fossil fuel burning warmed the world. The serious warning was “endorsed by a uniquely broad consensus of scientists in their report to the United Nations at the end of 1990”, the film noted.

“If the weather machine were to be wound up to such new levels of energy, no country would remain unaffected,” it says. “Global warming is not yet certain, but many think that to wait for final proof would be irresponsible. Action now is seen as the only safe insurance.” ...

But, despite this early and clear-eyed view of the risks of global warming, Shell invested many billions of dollars in highly polluting tar sand operations and on exploration in the Arctic. It also cited fracking as a “future opportunity” in 2016, despite its own 1998 data showing exploitation of unconventional oil and gas was incompatible with climate goals.


Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

The New Yorker’s Big Cover Story Reveals Five Uncomfortable Truths About U.S. and Russia

Trump has reminded Palestinians that it was always about one state

Mainstream Media’s ‘Victimhood’

Gaius Pubilus: Obama and the Perez Election — Are the Democrats Trying to Fail?

A Crackdown on the Poor and Hungry

Doctors could prescribe houses to the homeless under radical Hawaii bill

Sony world photography awards 2017 shortlist


A Little Night Music

Lowell Fulson - Mellow Together

Lowell Fulson - Strange Feeling

Lowell Fulson - I'm a Drifter

Lowell Fulson - The Letter

Lowell Fulson - Bluesway

Lowell Fulson - Make A Little Love

Lowell Fulsom - Too Many Drivers

Lowell Fulsom - Do You Feel It?

Lowell Fulson - Lady in the Rain

Lowell Fulsom - I Cried

Lowell Fulson - The Thing

Lowell Fulson - No More (Part 1)

Lowell Fulsom - I'm Sinking

Lowell Fulsom - Push Me

Lowell Fulson - Talkin' Woman



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Arrow's picture

It's depressing how the news is reported here. Really is.

which cost the lives of a U.S. Navy SEAL and a number of children

sigh

On the other open tread I declared it 'Fat Tony Day'(lighter note) Smile

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I want a Pony!

joe shikspack's picture

@Arrow

yes, our national news media are despicably short of reporting the salient facts about events. thank the flying spaghetti monster for the internet.

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Roy Blakeley's picture

@joe shikspack Ajit Pai will take care of that. The end of Net Neutrality will lead inexorably to the strangulation of sites like this.

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Big Al's picture

doing, or trying to do, with defense spending and the military and his emerging foreign policies, his campaign rhetoric about Russia, NATO, regime changes, and "interventions" and the supposed coup by the deep state because they don't like his foreign policies, which includes the MIC and the neocons and the corporate media.

Like his plan to balance the budget, it doesn't fit. Without his past rhetoric (lies) you'd think he was a godsend to the MIC and the neocons based on what he and his staff are doing so far. What more could the MIC want than what he's asking? What more could the neocons want than what he's doing? What more could the rich want than what he's planning?
Maybe that's why the coup talk regarding the deep state has tapered off, haven't heard much of it lately. The stage had to be set.

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@Big Al

he gets to stay in office.
nothing criminal will be leaked.

wonder- how bannon is on saudi arabia?
ideology or realpolitic.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Big Al

think of it as a reprise of the last administration. you remember hamilton project barry "gosh i'm surprisingly good at killing people" obama and his frequent eruptions of lofty, principled-sounding locutions followed by actions intended to bolster the 1%, right?

remember how, no matter much his programs and proposals served the 1%, it was always too little for the extremely vocal opposition?

is that history repeating itself or is the record skipping?

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Here is another one

How many of the leaks are from the administration

Former ombudsman for NY Times now writing at WA Post

Trump’s tough talk on leaks is one thing. His actions tell another tale.

And Kate Arnoff's proposal of grass roots movement based on place and environment

THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT GOES TO WAR WITH TRUMP But to save the planet, we need to remake the Democratic Party

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joe shikspack's picture

@DonMidwest

heh, the wapo story is kind of the same-old, same-old. every administration leaks both intentionally and against the wishes of the leadership. every administration complains bitterly about whistleblower-type leaks, and sometimes attack whistleblower leakers vindictively (as we saw under the obama administration).

it standard washington hypocrisy.

i appreciate aronoff's understanding that climate action is necessary and that time is of the essence, but i think that her strategy of remaking the democrats is doomed to failure. i don't think that they can be remade in the time frame that is needed. after all, the neoliberal, centrist dems have just sent progressives and climate activists a little note that says, "fuck off, this party is ours and we would rather destroy the party than let you have a functioning platform for your political agenda."

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Roy Blakeley's picture

@irishking @DonMidwest It will probably fail, but an objective appraisal of the situation is that a new party, renovation of the Green Party, etc. are even less likely to succeed. I have no illusions about the national leadership of the Democratic Party or their media stooges or their corporate bosses, but there are a lot of good people in the Democratic Party at the state and local levels and that provides me with a glimmer of hope.

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Bollox Ref's picture

NATO’s Strange Addition of Montenegro

That must be it. I seem to remember from the Great Gatsby that the Order of Danilo I was referred to.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

joe shikspack's picture

@Bollox Ref

heh, i'm surprised that the guy who has been leading montenegro for the past couple of decades, djukanovic, hasn't figured out a way to sell memberships in the order of danilo i. he seems to have figured out a way to corruptly profit from just about everything else in montenegro.

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Bollox Ref's picture

@joe shikspack

has ever enjoyed 'good governance', whether monarchy or republic, but I admire them for wishing the peaks and valleys of the Black Mountain to be free for themselves, no matter how chaotic. The corruption, they will have to deal with.

Much like the Albanians throwing off Ottoman rule.

(Edited)

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Granma's picture

The text below has been running through my mind for days. I plan to print a leaflet and distribute it on cars in large parking lots. But it isn't quite right and I'm stuck. Suggestions for improving it will be welcomed.
*********
They banned Muslims, but I wasn't a Muslim so I didn't say anything.
They killed black men and women, but I wasn't black so I didn't say anything.
They came for Latinos, but I'm not Hispanic, so I didn't say anything.
They came for immigrants and anyone with brown skin, but I'm white, so I didn't say anything.
They came for people who wanted to keep their water clean.
They came for people who lost their housing, but I still have mine so...
They froze our pay, but I was afraid of losing my job so...
They destroyed health insurance for the old, disabled, unlucky sick people, most people, but I was healthy....
Who will be left when I need help?
The enemy is not immigrants, people of a different religion, people who have lost their jobs and/or homes.
The enemies are rich corporations robbing us and paying no taxes.
The enemies are the billionaires who are robbing the earth of clean air, oceans, and water, and us of everything they can get their hands on.
****
edited for copying goofs

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joe shikspack's picture

@Granma

i would probably try to put it more in the form of pastor niemoller's poem:

first they came for the muslims, and i did not speak out-
because i am not a muslim

then they came for the...

and i would finish up with:

but they will never come for you, because you will never grow old, never need clean water, never get sick, never lose your job, etc.

i am so happy for you.

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Granma's picture

@joe shikspack Thank you Joe. And I see that I messed up big time when I copied and pasted. I'll edit.
The way you phrased it is more powerful. I was trying to not outright plagiarize.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Granma

rather than plagiarizing. it is using the form, but not the content. lots of people have used the form - though often in the creation of a parody. what is important i think, is that you are using the form with different content and an extension of the message.

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Granma's picture

I'm not sure the USA actually meets those conditions? Maybe I misread them.

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smiley7's picture

bullet proof...

they would have us believe that surrendering what it is to be human will make us better.

Simple as that

'EM

Down protects from the cold

Wetlands live

Children learn

Peace begets peace

What's on First, Who's on Second,

I don't know is on Third!

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joe shikspack's picture

@smiley7

i apologize in advance for the darkness of my thoughts...

they would have us believe that surrendering what it is to be human will make us better

in the fascism that we are sinking into, they would have most of us have our humanity forcibly taken from us by those who have slowly lost theirs, day by day enforcing the rules, doing the will of the elites.

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@joe shikspack

They want to actually become robots/computer-run programs on the grounds that 'machines do things better' and can exist 'forever' without dying and billionaires are paying multi-millions in this pursuit of an unliving 'immortality' - what more can I say?

They wish to dispose of life itself, which may help explain the rush to kill it all off ASAP, in the belief that either Super-Jesus or Super-Tech will save only them in the last instant - and presumably while they still have oxygen supplies while they need it.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Arrow's picture

@smiley7 You're one hell of a poet.

Your art speaks to me.

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I want a Pony!

Shockwave's picture

I better light one before he takes it away.

A cigar I meant;

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The political revolution continues

joe shikspack's picture

@Shockwave

i've been watching trump. what a maroon.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@joe shikspack
from those who remember it's a Bugs Bunny punchline, and not get jumped all over by Injustice Collectors who think it's a racial slur.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

joe shikspack's picture

@TheOtherMaven

as bugs might say, "sometimes a carrot is just a carrot." Smile

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enhydra lutris's picture

already, imagine that. At the same time, we advance but do not progress. Imagine that.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

thanatokephaloides's picture

@enhydra lutris ..... is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. "Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." And if Trump and the GOPpers have their way, we all shall return quickly!

Looks like America gave up sanity, reason, and compassion for Lent this year.

Sad Bad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

enhydra lutris's picture

@thanatokephaloides

"neither a borrower nor a lender be", not even in the past tense.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

thanatokephaloides's picture

@enhydra lutris ...... growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, I used to quip that the Church wanted us all to live on Soylent Green throughout the early Spring.....

And Easter, don't forget, is about as good for the common hog as Thanksgiving is for turkeys!

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Shockwave's picture

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The political revolution continues

mimi's picture

@Shockwave
hosted somewhere else than on facebook. If you know how, please let us know.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@mimi Linkie: https://youtu.be/8eK-5ivYb3o

Embed:

[video:https://youtu.be/8eK-5ivYb3o width:500 height:306]

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Here is Jimmy Dore video showing the Keith Ellision was left off a list of DNC leadership.

DNC Omits Keith Ellison From List Of Party Officials
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2LaDctl7Z0&lc=z123vpoq4mi4yn5m423kezhhb...

Essentially, the party has purged itself of any progressive leadership with the election of Perez. The next step is to prevent any re-emergent progressive movement inside or outside the party. Think Jesse Jackson, Nader, Dean, Kaisich, OWS, and now Bernie. I take Adam Schiff represented the establishment when he said he feared that the current resistance movement could radicalize the base and offer people an alternative to the party. Hillary's former communications director had to go on MTP and insist that resistance to Trump didn't involve moving to the left and supporting such things as a $15/hr min.

Johnstones article may be a harbinger of a massive assault of the dem establishment on groups like the Greens, The Young Turks, Stein, and even bloggers like Jimmy Dore (this site?). Here is video of Dore on Clinton lackey.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ2aQR6IZC4&t=6s]

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Perez still won because he had elitists Dems — the biggest bundlers and political operatives, as well as the president and VP, working on his behalf.

Remember, Perez had barely any union endorsements, a couple state Party Chair endorsements, did not have the minority leader of the senate and absolutely NO Sanders supporter endorsements.

And he still won by 35 votes.

Hey. Call me naive. And it took me a while. I'm an optimist. Usually.
But Fuck these assholes. I'm officially no longer a democrat.

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@peachcreek

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mimi's picture

Ralph Nader on Trump's Speech to Congress talking to Paul Jay on the Real News Network.
Haven't heard or read a transcript yet of Trump's speech.

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