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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Bertha "Chippie" Hill

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Vaudeville singer and dancer Bertha "Chippie" Hill. Enjoy!

^{Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Louis Armstrong - Trouble In Mind}

"But the greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness - each system only too delighted to find that the other is wicked - each only too glad that the sins give it the pretext for still deeper hatred and animosity."

-- Herbert Butterfield

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News and Opinion

Michael Brenner: American Dissent on Ukraine Is Dying in Darkness

As the death toll in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine continues to rise, there have only been a handful of Westerners publicly questioning NATO and the West’s role in the conflict. These voices are becoming fewer and further between as a wave of feverish backlash engulfs any dissent on the subject. One of these voices belongs to Professor Michael J. Brenner, a lifelong academic, Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and a Fellow of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS/Johns Hopkins, as well as former Director of the International Relations & Global Studies Program at the University of Texas. Brenner’s credentials also include having worked at the Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. Department of Defense and Westinghouse, and written several books on American foreign policy. From the vantage point of decades of experience and studies, the intellectual regularly shared his thoughts on topics of interest through a mailing list sent to thousands of readers—that is until the response to his Ukraine analysis made him question why he bothered in the first place.

In an email with the subject line “Quittin’ Time,” Brenner recently declared that, aside from having already said his piece on Ukraine, one of the main reasons he sees for giving up on expressing his opinions on the subject is that “it is manifestly obvious that our society is not capable of conducting an honest, logical, reasonably informed discourse on matters of consequence. Instead, we experience fantasy, fabrication, fatuousness and fulmination.” He goes on to decry President Joe Biden’s alarming comments in Poland when he all but revealed that the U.S. is—and perhaps has always been—interested in a Russian regime change.

On this week’s “Scheer Intelligence,” Brenner tells host Robert Scheer how the recent attacks he received—many of a personal, ad hominem nature—were some of the most vitriolic he’s ever experienced. The two discuss how many media narratives completely leave out that the eastward expansion of NATO, among other Western aggressions against Russia, played an important part in fueling the current humanitarian crisis. Corporate media’s “cartoonish” depiction of Russian president Vladimir Putin, adds Brenner, is not only misleading, but dangerous given the nuclear brinkmanship that has ensued. Listen to the full discussion between Brenner and Scheer as they continue to dissent despite living in an America that is seemingly increasingly hostile to any opinion that strays from the official line.

[Transcript at the link -js]

MSNBC Host Warns Of “Devastating Consequences” Of Free Speech On Twitter

DEVELOPING: UK Court Orders EXTRADITION Of Julian Assange To US

Outrage as Judge Approves Assange Extradition to US

A British judge on Wednesday officially approved the U.S. government's request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces espionage charges for publishing classified material that exposed war crimes by American forces.

The judge's new and widely expected procedural order, the culmination of a drawn-out legal battle, places the final decision on Assange's extradition in the hands of U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel, leaving the WikiLeaks publisher with dwindling options to fight his removal to the U.S.—where he could be hit with a 175-year prison sentence.

Patel is expected to make a final decision by May 18, after which Assange can attempt to appeal via judicial review, Reuters reported Wednesday. As Patel weighs the extradition order, Assange will remain jailed in a high-security London prison, where he has languished for years under conditions that experts have condemned as torture.

Human rights organizations wasted no time urging Patel to reject the extradition order. Allowing it to proceed, they warned, would endanger press freedoms around the world, given that the charges against Assange seek to punish a common journalistic practice.

Kim Iversen: Hypocrisy Is STRONG As Pro-Ukraine Moral Crowd REMAINS SILENT On Palestine Abuses

UN Chief Calls for Four-Day 'Humanitarian Pause' in Ukraine

As Russia ramped up its war on Ukraine with a focus on capturing the Donbas region, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called for a four-day "humanitarian pause" later this week, leading up to when Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter.

"Today I am calling for a four-day Holy Week humanitarian pause beginning on Holy Thursday and running through Easter Sunday, April 24th, to allow for the opening of a series of humanitarian corridors," Guterres said in front of Non-Violence, the knotted gun statue outside U.N. headquarters in New York City.

"The humanitarian pause would provide the necessary conditions to meet two crucial imperatives," he explained. "First, safe passage of all civilians willing to leave the areas of current and expected confrontation, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross."

"Second, beyond humanitarian operations already taking place, a pause will allow for the safe delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid to people in the hardest-hit areas such as Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk," Guterres added. The latter two cities are part of regions that are self-declared "people's republics" recognized by Russia as independent from Ukraine.

Guterres told reporters Tuesday that the United Nations is ready to send aid convoys in the event of a pause and that "humanitarian needs are dire. People do not have food, water, supplies to treat the sick or wounded or simply to live day-to-day."

"More than 12 million people need humanitarian assistance in Ukraine today," he said. "Of those, more than one-third are in Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk. We anticipate that this figure will increase to 15.7 million—that's about 40% of all Ukrainians still left in the country."

Nabiullina and Putin discuss the Russian Economy and failed Blitzkrieg

Russian Ambassador to US Says Biden Officials Don’t Want to Speak With Him

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told Politico in an interview published Monday that he can’t get meetings with senior Biden administration officials at the White House and State Department.

Antonov, who took the post in Washington in 2017, said that his letters to meet with US senators and House representatives have also been rejected. He said the Russian Embassy still maintains lower-level contacts with the Biden administration but described the situation as a “blockade.” ...

While Washington and Moscow still maintain formal diplomatic ties, the US has been leading a Western sanctions campaign aimed at isolating Russia from the global economy. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the US and its allies are digging to isolate Russia for the long-term and are preparing for a new world where they no longer try to cooperate and coexist with Russia.

From The Guardian, take with many grains of salt:

Russia deploys up to 20,000 mercenaries in battle for Ukraine’s Donbas region

Russia has deployed up to 20,000 mercenaries from Syria, Libya and elsewhere in its new offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region, sent into battle with no heavy equipment or armoured vehicles, according to a European official. The official said the estimates of mercenary involvement on the ground in eastern Ukraine range from 10,000 to 20,000 and that it was hard to break down that figure between Syrians, Libyans and other fighters recruited by the Russian mercenary company, the Wagner Group.

“What I can tell you is that we did see some transfer from these areas, Syria and Libya, to the eastern Donbas region, and these guys are mainly used as a mass against the Ukrainian resistance,” the official said. “It’s infantry. They don’t have any heavy equipment or vehicles.”

Syrian ex-soldiers have been offered monthly salaries of between $600 and $3,000, depending on rank and experience, to fight in Ukraine. Wagner is reported to have moved most of its soldiers who had been fighting in Libya to Ukraine, and last month Ukrainian military intelligence claim that Russia had made a deal with the Moscow-backed Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar to send Libyan fighters.

The mercenaries are being thrown into the Russian attempt to capture as much as possible of eastern Ukraine, in what western defence officials have described as a rush to have some sort of victory that Vladimir Putin can announce at the 9 May military parade in Moscow commemorating the second world war.

The Kremlin is seen as having four objectives in this second phase of its war in Ukraine, the European official said: capturing the Donbas, securing a land bridge to Crimea in which the besieged city of Mariupol is crucial, seizing Kherson oblast to secure the supply of freshwater to Crimea, and capturing additional territory that could be used as a buffer or a bargaining chip in negotiations.

Russia gives Ukrainian troops another chance to surrender

Russia on Tuesday offered another opportunity to surrender for the remaining Ukrainian forces holed up at the Azovstal steel plant in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol.

All those present at Azovstal should exit the facility between 14:00 and 16:00 Moscow time without any arms or ammunition on them, the Defense Ministry directed.

“Considering the catastrophic situation at the Azovstal metallurgical plant…the Russian Armed Forces again offer militants of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries to stop hostilities and lay down their arms starting 12pm Moscow time on April 19, 2022,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“All who lay down their weapons are guaranteed the preservation of life,” the ministry added.

The wording of the statement repeated – almost word for word – a similar offer made to the Ukrainian forces on Sunday, which they ended up rejecting. It has been reported that the Kiev authorities strictly forbid their troops from surrendering to Russians.

Under the new proposal, the commanders of the Azov battalion were told to establish uninterrupted radio contact with the Russian side, cease all hostilities and raise white flags along the perimeter of the steel plant.

U.S. to Start Training Ukrainians on Howitzers in Coming Days

The United States military expects to start training Ukrainians on using howitzer artillery in coming days, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine, expanding the aid to include heavy artillery ahead of a wider Russian assault expected in eastern Ukraine.

So far, four flights of weapons have been sent by the United States as part of the new package.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the howitzer training would take place outside Ukraine.

Security Deteriorates in Afghanistan as Two Bombs Kill Students at Kabul Hazara Shiite Boys’ School

'Stunning Clean Sweep' as Starbucks Workers Win 5 Straight Union Votes in Virginia

The nationwide wave of labor organizing by Starbucks workers continued to bear fruit Tuesday as employees at five of the coffee chain's Richmond, Virginia stores overwhelmingly voted to unionize.

According to More Perfect Union, the votes at the five Richmond Starbucks were 17-1, 22-3, 11-2, 13-8, and 19-0. The stores are the company's first in Virginia to unionize; workers at a Springfield location narrowly rejected forming a union last week. ...

Starbucks Workers United, the group coordinating the nationwide organizing effort, now boasts a record of 21 unionizations in 23 attempts.

Billionaires ATTACK FREE SPEECH On Twitter, Et Tu Elon?: Briahna Joy Gray

Texas advocates file new legal challenge to near-total abortion ban

Reproductive rights advocates in Texas have filed a new legal challenge to halt a near-total abortion ban that has been in effect for more than half a year.

Senate Bill 8 bars abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected – typically as early as six week of pregnancy, which is before most people are aware they are pregnant – and offers no exception for rape or incest. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asks a federal court to rule the extreme law unconstitutional. It cites public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activists against Texas abortion funds, groups that have been instrumental in helping patients travel out of state for care, arguing that this conduct has chilled their first amendment rights.

“Plaintiffs urgently need this court to stop Texas’s brazen defiance of the rule of law, uphold the federal constitutional rights of pregnant Texans, and restore the ability of abortion funds and their donors, employees and volunteers to fully serve Texas abortion patients,” the federal court filing reads.

SB 8 is not directly enforced by government officials, but includes an unprecedented private enforcement provision that allows any individual – including anti-abortion vigilantes with no connection to the patient – to sue abortion providers or anyone who “aids or abet” care. Those who bring successful suits can win at least $10,000 in damages. The scheme – meant to evade judicial review – has thus far allowed the law to remain in effect, despite previous legal challenges.

The new lawsuit takes aim at a handful of anti-abortion activists in Texas as well as rightwing state lawmaker Briscoe Cain, who have all seized on the law’s novel enforcement provision by taking “steps” to sue or publicly threaten Texas abortion funds. In March, Cain sent cease-and-desist letters on his official letterhead to Texas abortion funds, and cited the “criminal abortion ban” – a Texas statute that pre-dates Roe v Wade, the 1973 supreme court decision that guarantees the right to abortion and that is presently under consideration by the US supreme court.

Patrick Lyoya shot in back of head by officer while on ground, autopsy shows

Lawyers for the family of Patrick Lyoya, a Black man killed by police in western Michigan, have released results from an independent autopsy.

Video from a bystander showed that Lyoya, who was not armed, was on the ground when he was shot in the head during a struggle with a white Grand Rapids officer on 4 April.

The official autopsy report is being shared with state police and will not immediately be released to the public.

A separate autopsy was performed by Dr Werner Spitz, a 95-year-old forensic pathologist and former medical examiner who worked on investigations after the assassinations of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King, among other high-profile cases. ...

On Tuesday the civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Lyoya’s family, announced: “Today, based on scientific evidence, we can confirm that Patrick Lyoya was shot in the back of the head … [in] what his family believes was an execution.”

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This video is really interesting:

Congressman CAUGHT Telling Truth About CORRUPTION In DC

Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were in touch before US Capitol attack, texts reveal

Top leaders in the Oath Keepers militia group indicted on seditious conspiracy charges over the Capitol attack had contacts with the Proud Boys and a figure in the Stop the Steal movement and may also have been in touch with the Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, newly released text messages show.

The texts – which indicate the apparent ease with which Oath Keepers messaged Proud Boys – could strengthen a theory being explored by the House January 6 committee and the US justice department: that the Capitol attack included a coordinated assault.

Oath Keepers text messages released in a court filing on Monday night showed members of the group were in direct communication with the Proud Boys leader Enqrique Tarrio in the days before the Capitol attack.

Attempt to bar Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress can proceed, judge says

An attempt to bar the far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress over her support for the January 6 attack can proceed, a federal judge said. Citing “a whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests of public import”, Amy Totenberg of the northern district of Georgia sent the case on to a state hearing on Friday.

A coalition of liberal groups is behind the challenge, citing the 14th amendment to the US constitution, passed after the civil war. The amendment says: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Supporters of Donald Trump attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, seeking to stop certification of his defeat by Joe Biden. ... Organisers of events in Washington on January 6 have tied Greene to their efforts. Greene has denied such links and said she does not encourage violence.

Senators TELL ALL On Dianne Feinstein's Mental Decline

Joe Biden told Barack Obama he will run again in 2024 – report

Joe Biden has told Barack Obama he will run for re-election in 2024, according to a Washington website, the Hill. The site cited two anonymous sources. One was quoted as saying Biden “wants to run and he’s clearly letting everyone know”.

It was not clear when Biden told Obama his plans. But Obama visited the White House earlier this month, to celebrate the Affordable Care Act. ...

Amid competing crises, from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the coronavirus and rampant inflation at home, Biden’s approval ratings have plummeted. Most observers expect Republicans to retake Congress in November. But the president has dropped plenty of hints that he does plan to run again.

In September, it was widely reported that Biden and aides had told allies he planned to run again. In December, Biden said he would run if he stayed in good health. He has also said Kamala Harris, his vice-president, would be on the ticket again.

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Wildfire smoke in Pacific north-west erasing reductions in emissions – study

The billowing black smoke that has cloaked the US Pacific north-west during wildfire disasters in past years has caused atmospheric carbon monoxide levels to spike, with the contaminants offsetting recent reductions in emissions, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research have found.

As the American west faces increasing threats from big blazes that are fueled by a climate that’s growing warmer and drier, researchers have documented the impact of smoke on public health. But scientists are increasingly finding that the fires may be part of a feedback loop that could accelerate the change in conditions and that health impacts officials have long warned would worsen with climate crisis, may in fact already be here.

“Our research contributes to the growing body of research that shows that fires – in particular Pacific north-west region fires – are becoming more important for North American air quality” said Dr Rebecca Buchholz, a project scientist at National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Looking at carbon monoxide, a trace gas emitted during fires, researchers analyzed the impact on atmospheric chemistry from 2002 to 2018, Buchholz explained. Though the scientists relied on carbon monoxide data to guide them, the contaminant also provided a framework to understand how other sources of pollution might be tied to the flames.

Her team, which also included scientists from across the country and around the globe, found that the dangerous pollutant peaks in August when fires are typically raging in the region, but dips during other months. The deviation from the annual cycle, she said, “is telling us that fires are compromising the ability of the atmosphere to self-clean”.

'Another Loss For Big Oil': CA Lawsuits Against Fossil Fuel Giants Head to State Court

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that climate lawsuits filed by a half-dozen California municipalities seeking to hold fossil fuel corporations accountable for damages they knowingly caused should proceed in state court.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit marked the third time this year that a federal appeals court has rejected industry attempts to shift jurisdiction over climate liability lawsuits from state courts to federal court.

As a result of the panel's decision, the counties of San Mateo, Marin, and Santa Cruz, and the cities of Imperial Beach, Richmond, and Santa Cruz moved one step closer to putting major oil, gas, and coal companies—including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and Shell—on trial for deceiving the public about their role in worsening the greenhouse gas emissions that underlie soaring temperatures, rising sea levels, and increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather disasters.

Earth Rights International praised the ruling, calling it "another loss for Big Oil" and "another win for the communities fighting for climate justice." ...

In February, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit handed down a similar ruling in a climate accountability lawsuit filed in Colorado state court by the city and county of Boulder along with San Miguel County.

It marked the first decision on this issue since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in BP v. Baltimore. Without addressing the merits of the climate lawsuit filed in Maryland state court, the high court last year ordered an expanded review of the fossil fuel industry's arguments for federal jurisdiction.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the City of Baltimore's climate lawsuit belongs in state court—becoming the second federal appeals court to reject Big Oil's effort to move liability suits filed against them in state court to federal court, where polluting corporations believe they will be more likely to escape accountability.

These recent rulings by federal appeals courts affirm lower court decisions. According to the Center for Climate Integrity, at least 10 federal district courts have ruled that climate liability lawsuits filed in state court belong in state court—a consensus that, as one judge put it, gives industry executives "a batting average of .000."

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Also of Interest

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

Russia Has Launched Phase Two Of Its Operation In Ukraine

Houthis: US Naval Task Force Undermines Yemen Truce

Turkey Launches New Offensive Against PKK in Northern Iraq

The Russiagate Hoax Goes Deeper Than We Thought

The Petrochemical Age In Context

U.S. Welcomes Ukrainians at Border, Uses Title 42 as “Political Tool” to Block Other Asylum Seekers

Jack Dorsey Publicly ATTACKS Twitter’s Board Of Directors

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A Little Night Music

Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Louis Armstrong - Pratt City Blues

Bertha "Chippie" Hill - Some Cold Rainy Day

Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Tampa Red - Christmas Man Blues

Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Louis Armstrong - Georgia Man

Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Tampa Red - Hard Time Blues

Bertha "Chippie" Hill - How Long Blues

Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Louis Armstrong - The Flood Blues

Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Richard M. Jones' Jazz Wizards - Do Dirty Blues

Bertha "Chippie" Hill - Charleston Blues

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