The Evening Blues - 9-15-15
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features r&b singer Big Maybelle. Enjoy!
Big Maybelle - I Ain't Mad at You
"Balk the enemy's power; force him to reveal himself."-- Sun Tzu
News and Opinion
Guantánamo force-feeding videos released to US court in redacted form
The US government has provided a court with redacted versions of eight videotapes showing forced feeding at Guantánamo Bay that detainees describe as torture.
Images on the tapes depict medical and security teams at Guantánamo restraining and feeding detainee Abu Wa’el Dhiab against his will. Dhiab has since been released.
Lawyers for Dhiab and news organizations including the Guardian are attempting to get the videotapes released. If they succeed, the version of the tapes the Department of Justice (DoJ) has turned over is likely to be what the public will see.
Although the DoJ continues to oppose public release of all 32 force-feeding videos, Dhiab’s attorneys said the new provision of the tapes – from which identifying information about Guantánamo personnel has been removed – indicates that national security would not be harmed by their disclosure.
In October 2014, federal judge Gladys Kessler ordered the disclosure of the eight tapes, and the DoJ finally provided versions of them to her under seal on 31 August, according to court filings.
Lawsuit could establish end to prosecution of war criminals living in US
Almost three decades after he was imprisoned and tortured by henchmen of brutal Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, Farhan Warfaa is still haunted by the moment the army officer interrogating him drew out a pistol and shot him five times at close range. ... Warfaa survived and escaped the prison compound with the aid of sympathetic jailers who smuggled him to safety, leaving him to deal with years of nightmares and the mental anguish of his brush with death.
The officer alleged to have shot him, Colonel Yusuf Abdi Ali, went on to become one of the most feared and ruthless commanders of the 20-year Siad Barre dictatorship, according to the California-based human rights group The Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA). ... When Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, Ali fled to Canada and later became a permanent resident of the United States.
Ali’s attorneys are demanding that Warfaa’s long-running lawsuit, originally brought in 2004 and much delayed since, is thrown out on the grounds that a recent US supreme court ruling in a separate case gives him immunity from prosecution. But lawyers for the CJA, who are representing Warfaa alongside a pro-bono team of attorneys from international law firm DLA Piper, will argue before the fourth circuit court of appeals that the ruling in that corporate case should not benefit an individual torturer residing on US soil.
A decision in Ali’s favour, they believe, would effectively render impotent the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), the centuries-old legislation widely used by human rights groups in recent years, which allows foreign nationals to gain relief in US courtrooms for wrongs committed against them in other countries.
UN: Libya Govts Have ‘Consensus’ on Basics of Power-Sharing Deal
The Western-backed Libyan government in Tobruk and the Tripoli-based government are moving closer to some sort of power-sharing agreement, according to UN officials familiar with the ongoing talks, and have reached a basic “consensus” on the main points of how it will work.
Details aren’t being released on this framework agreement, but both sides are to submit a list of names for possible candidates in key positions in the unity government, including a list of prime ministers who would be agreeable to them.
Days of Revolt: We Are All Greeks Now
Remember when America erupted in fury over France’s refusal to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003? President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin warned that George Bush’s unprovoked aggression against Iraq would destabilize the Mideast and inflict untold dangers on Europe.
America’s response to the sage warning was to change the name of French fries to ‘Freedom fries’ and press ahead with the invasion of Iraq. President Saddam Hussein of Iraq warned that an America invasion would ignite the “Mother of All Battles” and would “open the gates of Hell.”
The French leaders and Saddam were absolutely right as confirmed by the waves of desperate Mideast refugees flooding into Europe and the rampaging wildmen of Islamic State. ...
How to stop today’s flood of political refugees? Halt the western-led war against Syria. Today. Cease arming and funding the anti-Assad jihadis. The United States, France, Britain and the Saudis can quickly end the Syrian bloodbath by cutting off arms and money. ...
As we listen to all the hypocritical moralizing in the West over refugees, just remember the warnings of Chirac and DeVillepin. There are now 3.1 million displaced people in Iraq as a result of the US invasion. Add two million refugees in Afghanistan caused by the Soviet, then US invasions. Add Somalia and Libya. All the result of western military misadventures.
‘We need to abandon double standards to combat ISIS’ – Putin
Who’s to Blame for Syria Mess? Putin!
Sen. Lindsey Graham may have been wrong about pretty much everything related to the Middle East, but at least he has the honesty to tell Americans that the current trajectory of the wars in Syria and Iraq will require a U.S. re-invasion of the region and an open-ended military occupation of Syria, draining American wealth, killing countless Syrians and Iraqis, and dooming thousands, if not tens of thousands, of U.S. troops.
Graham’s grim prognostication of endless war may be a factor in his poll numbers below one percent, a sign that even tough-talking Republicans aren’t eager to relive the disastrous Iraq War. Regarding the mess in Syria, there are, of course, other options, such as cooperation with Russia and Iran to resist the gains of the Islamic State and Al Qaeda and a negotiated power-sharing arrangement in Damascus. But those practical ideas are still being ruled out.
Official Washington’s “group think” still holds that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “must go,” that U.S. diplomats should simply deliver a “regime change” ultimatum not engage in serious compromise, and that the U.S. government must obstruct assistance from Russia and Iran even if doing so risks collapsing Assad’s secular regime and opening the door to an Al Qaeda/Islamic State victory.
Of course, if that victory happens, there will be lots of finger-pointing splitting the blame between President Barack Obama for not being “tough” enough and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who has become something of a blame-magnet for every geopolitical problem. On Friday, during a talk at Fort Meade in Maryland, Obama got out front on assigning fault to Putin.
Obama blamed Putin for not joining in imposing the U.S.-desired “regime change” on Syria. But Obama’s “Assad must go!” prescription carries its own risks as should be obvious from the U.S. experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine. Ousting some designated “bad guy” doesn’t necessarily lead to some “good guy” taking over.
More often, “regime change” produces bloody chaos in the target country with extremists filling the vacuum. The idea that these transitions can be handled with precision is an arrogant fiction that may be popular during conferences at Washington’s think tanks, but the scheming doesn’t work out so well on the ground.
West 'ignored Russian offer in 2012 to have Syria's Assad step aside'
Russia proposed more than three years ago that Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, could step down as part of a peace deal, according to a senior negotiator involved in back-channel discussions at the time.
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said western powers failed to seize on the proposal. Since it was made, in 2012, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions uprooted, causing the world’s gravest refugee crisis since the second world war.
Ahtisaari held talks with envoys from the five permanent members of the UN security council in February 2012. He said that during those discussions, the Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, laid out a three-point plan, which included a proposal for Assad to cede power at some point after peace talks had started between the regime and the opposition.
But he said that the US, Britain and France were so convinced that the Syrian dictator was about to fall, they ignored the proposal. ...
“[Vitaly Churkin] said three things: One – we should not give arms to the opposition. Two – we should get a dialogue going between the opposition and Assad straight away. Three – we should find an elegant way for Assad to step aside.”
Spanish ‘safe cities’ hope to offer a haven for refugees
The Spanish government, led by Mariano Rajoy, may have dragged its feet in response to pressure from Brussels to take Syrian refugees, but Barcelona, Madrid and several other cities governed by councils with roots in the indignado movement took the initiative with a network of “safe cities” to assist some of those arriving in Europe.]
Ada Colau, the mayor of Barcelona, started the ball rolling when she announced the launch of a register of families willing to open their home to refugees or simply help them. It proved an immediate success. Thousands of Catalans emailed their details to the list.
A dozen cities have signed up to the scheme. Madrid mayor Manuela Carmena has been looking at “ways of alleviating the distress”. Valencia plans to open emergency accommodation for refugees and is allocating 110 social workers specifically to look after children. Several councils have asked banks to release housing stock that has been vacant since the property market tumbled. Other cities involved include Pamplona, Zaragoza, La Coruña and Malaga.
Colau said the predicament of people fleeing war and persecution was “shameful, condemning Europe for dodging the issue and criticising the “ridiculous” figure initially proposed by the Rajoy government to cope with the crisis.
Canada Wants Muslim Women to Take Off Their Face Coverings for Citizenship Oath
The showdown over Canada's ban on face-coverings during citizenship ceremonies takes center stage in an Ottawa courtroom tomorrow, for a case that has reignited a national debate about multiculturalism and religious freedom in the country.
Last February, the Federal Court of Canada sided with Zunera Ishaq, a Pakistani Muslim woman who sued Canada's immigration ministry over a policy that requires new Canadians remove their face-covering veils — also known as a niqab — while taking their oath of citizenship. The 29-year-old says the niqab ban violates her religious belief that her face and hair must remain covered in the presence of men.
In its ruling, the court deemed the ban "unlawful" — a decision that was met with swift condemnation from the Conservative government. And now, lawyers for Citizenship and Immigration Canada will fight to have its ban upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already said that covering one's face while taking the oath required to become a Canadian citizen is "not how we do things here."
"It is offensive that someone would hide their identity at the very moment where they are committing to join the Canadian family," he said earlier this year.
Frozen Norwegian Archipelago Might Provide A New Home For Syrian Refugees
Three years ago, a large shipment of seeds arrived in Svalbard — a group of tiny arctic islands between Norway, to which they belong, and the North Pole. The seeds were from Syria, and had been sent to the Global Seed Vault amid the escalating violence of the Syrian war and looting of seed banks.
The vault, located on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, is a sort of agricultural time capsule, designed to last thousands of years and withstand disasters ranging from climate change to nuclear war.
Now, the sparsely populated islands, where polar bears outnumber people, might again provide a safe harbor — this time, for refugees fleeing war and conflict in Syria.
Andrew Kroglund, who is head of international communications for the Green Party, Norway's eighth largest party, said the Green party branch in Svalbard has offered to help mainland authorities accommodate an unspecified number of refugees. Norway's parliament has already backed a plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next two years. ...
The same report says that the Green Party is exploring the possibility of constructing a reception center in the region to accommodate refugees.
Hungary's New Migrant Crackdown Might Breach UN and EU Rules
A Hungarian crackdown on migrants crossing its southern frontier "looks like" a contravention of its obligations under United Nations and European Union (EU) rules on refugees and asylum, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
Crowds of people built up at a razor-wire fence clamoring for entry into the EU on Tuesday, but faced swift rejection under new Hungarian restrictions on the bloc's inundated eastern border. ...
Hungary today also declared a state of emergency in two southern counties bordering Serbia and set up transit zones to handle asylum requests from migrants along the frontier.
A day after two decades of frontier-free travel across Europe unraveled in the face of an unprecedented influx of people seeking refuge from war and poverty, Hungary effectively sealed this EU entrance.
Having spent the night in the open, families with small children sat in fields beneath a new 3.5-metre high fence running almost the length of the EU's external border with Serbia, halted by a right-wing government that hailed a "new era."
Others pressed against gates, confused and demanding passage. More still sat on the main highway from Serbia to Hungary. "I will sit here until they open the border. I cannot go back to Syria. Life in Syria is finished," said a Kurd from Syria who gave his name as Bower.
Operation Naked King: Secret DEA Sting in Bolivia Confirms Evo Morales’ Fears About U.S. Meddling
Federal Court Lifts National Security Letter Gag Order; First Time in 14 Years
A federal district court judge in New York has fully lifted an 11-year-old gag order that the FBI imposed on Nicholas Merrill, the founder of a small Internet service provider, to prevent him from speaking about a National Security Letter served on him in 2004.
It marked the first time such a gag order has been fully lifted since the USA Patriot Act in 2001 expanded the FBI’s authority to unilaterally demand that certain businesses turn over records simply by writing a letter saying the information is needed for national security purposes. ...
Merrill said the court ruling allowing him to discuss the details of the sealed request in full will allow him to ignite a debate among Americans about the unchecked surveillance powers of the U.S. government.
“For more than a decade, the FBI has fought tooth and nail in order to prevent me from speaking freely about the NSL I received,” Merrill said in a press release published by the Calyx Institute, where he serves as director.
U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero’s decision “vindicates the public’s right to know how the FBI uses warrantless surveillance to peer into our digital lives,” Merrill said. “I hope today’s victory will finally allow Americans to engage in an informed debate about proper the scope of the government’s warrantless surveillance powers.”
Julian Assange: U.S. Spying on WikiLeaks Led to Mistaken Downing of Morales Plane in Snowden Hunt
Ukraine President Under Pressure to Install Saakashvili as New PM
In his interview today with The Independent, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tried to talk up the possibility of peace with Russia, a dramatic shift for a politician whose whole term in office has been built around talking up the idea of a full-scale war with Russia.
The bigger news, however, is that Poroshenko is facing growing pressure to oust current premier Arseny Yatsenyuk and install former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in his place. A petition is ongoing which shows growing support for the Georgian as a “reformer.” ...
If Poroshenko wants to resolve tensions with Russia, Saakashvili couldn’t be a worse choice, as the Georgian President was best known for his 2008 attack on breakaway South Ossetia, during which the military hit Russian troops that were known to be positioned in the area, starting the brief Russo-Georgian War, during which most of Georgia’s military was destroyed.
Man Who Filmed Freddie Gray’s Arrest: Power of a Copwatch Camera is "Almost Like Live Bullets"
The Ferguson Commission won't bring social change. Black Lives Matter will
It’s going to get a lot harder to pretend that the suffering in Ferguson, Michael Brown’s death and the explosive reaction after his shooting weren’t all about race now that the Ferguson Commission has bluntly written: “make no mistake: this is about race.” ...
The commission’s assessments about structural racism in and around St Louis are direct and to the point. The commission acknowledged its own limitations, writing: “we do not know for certain if these calls to action are the answer. We can’t”. They wrote that, historically, commissions after riots have focused on “economic revitalization ‘to the exclusion of social issues, such as racial tension, segregation and discrimination”; this whitewashed over racism in an expedient, cowardly way. Citing political scientist Lindsey Lupo, the Ferguson Commission scolds previous commissions for (emphasis added):
Arguing that our society has moved beyond race, thus the problems must be purely economic. But race remains at the root of the violence, as evidenced by its very inception with every riot studied here being the result of white law enforcement harming a black civilian.
...
But culture precedes policy, not the other way around, as I’ve been discussing a lot lately with writer Jeff Chang and artist Favianna Rodriguez. A commission is much more likely to ride out the tail of a social change wave, not lead it. And perhaps, if we’re lucky, that is what we are seeing here: clearer language about racism because the commission itself has been shaped by a cultural shift. Black Lives Matter wasn’t started by a government commission. It’s not a working group of the Democratic Party. Black Lives Matter is having a cultural moment, infecting art and music and, yes, even infiltrating the stodgy fields of presidential politics and gubernatorial commissions.
The Ferguson Commission should not be put on a pedestal with an unrealistic expectation that it alone will instigate change. But, if read as evidence of social change that is already taking place, then what it is saying is indeed the marker of something big occurring.
Seattle Strike Enters Fifth Day as Teachers Protest Testing Policies, Racial Inequity & Low Wages
David Cameron claims Jeremy Corbyn is a 'threat to national security'
Jeremy Corbyn is a "threat to national security", David Cameron has claimed.
The Prime Minister said the mild-mannered Islington MP, who was elected Labour leader yesterday, would undermine the UK's defences.
The push is part of a new strategy by the Conservatives to define the new Labour leader with their own terms early on.
Yesterday Defence Secretary Michael Fallon criticised Mr Corbyn's foreign policy, highlighting his commitment to nuclear disarmament.
"Labour are now a serious risk to our nation's security, our economy's security and your family's security," he said. ...
The media battle comes ahead of a likely parliamentary vote on bombing Syria, one of the first foreign policy tests of Mr Corbyn's leadership.
The Labour Party is now a threat to our national security, our economic security and your family's security.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 13, 2015
Establishment Fit: Jeremy Corbyn branded as ‘natl security threat’
Why Bernie Sanders’s speech at Liberty University matters
Yesterday, Bernie Sanders spoke at Liberty University. The progressive presidential hopeful went to the heart of the Republican base — appearing at an evangelical, Jerry Falwell-founded university in the south — and made his case without distorting or moderating his message. ... Sanders did what Democrats ought to do constantly: He challenged the largely Christian crowd to think differently about ethics, politics, and religion. His remarks are worth quoting in full:
Are you content? Do you think it’s moral that 20 percent of the children in this country, the wealthiest country in the history of the world are living in poverty? Do you think it is acceptable that 40 percent of African-American children are living in poverty? In my view, there is no justice, and morality suffers, when in our wealthy country, millions of children go to bed hungry. That is not morality. I think when we talk about morality, what we are talking about is all of God’s children, the poor, the wretched, they have a right to go to a doctor when they are sick…I want you to go into your hearts. Millions of people in this country are working long hours for abysmally low wages. You have got to think about the morality of that, the justice of that.
Many on the left have waited in vain for a Democrat to forcefully make the case to Christians that we have a moral (and religious) imperative to alleviate poverty and human suffering. One of the great travesties of contemporary American politics is the unholy alliance between economic libertarians and the religious right. Christian conservatives have managed, thanks to the propaganda efforts of monied interests, to reconcile their love of Ayn Rand with their Christianity, which are entirely contradictory worldviews. Sanders makes the crucial point that capitalism is a morality, too. And the profit motive is the supreme good. “We are living in a nation,” Sanders said, “which worships not love of brothers and sisters, not love of the poor and the sick, but worships the acquisition of money.”
This is an excellent challenge to Bernie Sanders from David Swanson, well worth reading in full:
Bernie Sanders Insists Saudi Arabia Should Kill More People
Senator Bernie Sanders taped a PBS show at the University of Virginia on Monday. I had corresponded with the host Doug Blackmon beforehand, and offered him ideas for questions on military spending and war, questions like these:
1. People want to tax the rich and cut military spending, which is 54% of federal discretionary spending according to National Priorities Project, but you only ever mention taxing the rich. Why not do both? What — give or take $100 billion — is an appropriate level of military spending?
2. Do you agree with Eisenhower that military spending creates wars?
3. Can you possibly be serious about wanting to keep the wars going but have Saudi Arabia play a bigger role? Do you approve of Saudi Arabia dropping U.S. cluster bombs on Yemen?
4. Would you approve of John Kerry promising Israel $45 billion of free weapons over the next decade?
5. Jeremy Corbyn was just elected leader of the Labour Party. He wants to pull out of NATO. Do you? He wants to unilaterally disarm of nuclear weapons? Do you? He wants to end drone murders and wars. Do you? Are you both socialists?
Blackmon at the very end asked Sanders to say something about foreign policy. Sanders replied with the 2002 Iraq vote. Then Blackmon mentioned Saudi Arabia, including its slaughter in Yemen, but rambled on until it became an unrelated softball. Sanders nonetheless brought it back to Saudi Arabia and insisted that Saudi Arabia should “get their hands dirty” and take a much bigger role in a war against ISIS and generally lead the wars with U.S. support.
Who has dirtier hands than Saudi Arabia? Is this some kind of a sick joke?
Hanging chad redux? US heading for 2000-style election catastrophe, report finds
Voting technology deployed by most states across the US is now so antiquated it is in danger of breaking down, experts say
The United States is heading for another catastrophe in its voting system equivalent to the notorious “hanging chad” affair that shook the country in 2000 and propelled George W Bush into the White House, experts on electoral procedures are warning.
The voting technology deployed by most states around the country is now so antiquated and unreliable that it is in danger of breaking down at any time, the experts say. Some states are having to go on eBay to buy spare parts for machines that are no longer manufactured.
The extent of decay in America’s electoral infrastructure is laid bare in a new report from the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan institute at the New York University School of Law specializing in democracy and justice. Having consulted more than 100 voting specialists in all 50 states, the center concludes that the country is facing an impending crisis in the way it conducts elections. ...
The center discovered that at least 31 states have recognized they need to buy new voting machines within the next five years, yet, of those, 22 said they had no idea how they were going to pay for them. The jurisdictions with equipment reaching the end of its natural lifespan cover about 40 million registered voters, and account for 387 of the 538 electoral college votes that decide the presidency.
In a further stark finding, Brennan found that 43 states are using machines that by election day next year will be at least 10 years old, while 14 states will have machines at least 15 years old. Bearing in mind that today’s iteration of voting equipment is computer-driven, the technology is ageing fast. Lawrence Norden, co-author of the Brennan report, said that voting machines were no different from laptops in the sense that they rarely survived for 15 years. “That’s what we are seeing today with voting machines – we are reaching the end of their lifetime.”
The Evening Greens
400+ Groups to Obama: You Have the Power to 'Keep it In the Ground'
'You can't be a climate leader while continuing to open up large amounts of federal land to extraction and encouraging continued fossil fuel development.'
Hundreds of prominent organizations and leaders from Alaska to Florida are formally calling on President Barack Obama to stop new federal fossil fuel leasing on public lands and oceans in the United States, arguing that doing so would accomplish more in the global fight against climate change than any other single action taken by the president's administration.
In a letter to be delivered Tuesday to the White House, the 400-plus signatories note that "[u]p to 450 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution could be immediately removed from the global pool of potential climate pollution" if Obama were to deem unleased oil, gas, and coal "unburnable." What's more, the letter continues, as "the world’s largest historic cumulative polluter and a global economic leader," the U.S. has an obligation to take such a bold action.
The American public owns nearly 650 million acres of federal public land and more than 1.7 billion acres of Outer Continental Shelf—as well as the fossil fuels beneath them.
More than 67 million acres of public land and ocean are already leased to the fossil fuel industry, according to the letter, representing an area 55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park and containing up to 43 billion tons of potential carbon pollution.
While 15 million land acres and 21 million acres of ocean have been leased during the Obama administration alone, the groups behind the letter state that under existing federal laws, including the Mineral Leasing Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, the president has "clear authority to stop new leases...[w]ith the stroke of a pen."
US and Chinese cities reveal stronger pledges to cut emissions
China’s mega-cities and major US metropolitan areas will pledge swifter and deeper cuts in carbon pollution on Tuesday, shoring up an historic agreement between presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping.
Beijing and 10 other Chinese cities will agree to peak greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2020 – a decade ahead of the existing target for the world’s biggest emitter, under a deal to be unveiled at a summit in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Seattle will commit to go carbon neutral by 2050, with more than a dozen other major metropolitan areas in the US, and the entire state of California, pledging an 80% cut in emissions by mid-century. Atlanta, Houston, New York, Phoenix and Salt Lake City also put forward new climate commitments.
“This is a big deal,” Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles told the Guardian. “It is the heavy hitters. It is the biggest emitters, and it is the folks who are coming ready to act.”
Two untamed wildfires displace 23,000 people in northern California
Two explosive wildfires have displaced 23,000 people in northern California and threaten to wreak more devastation in rural communities, which have lost hundreds of homes.
The so-called Valley fire in Lake County raged untamed on Monday after incinerating 61,000 acres, or 95 square miles, in just two days.
Overcast weather grounded firefighting airplanes and helicopters, leaving ground crews to battle without air cover and prompting warnings of worse to come from a blaze that is just 5% contained. ...
Since erupting on Saturday the fire’s speed and ferocity has astonished experts, who said it moved faster than any other in California’s recent history. Sheriff Brian Martin called it the worst tragedy ever seen in Lake County, 20 miles north of Napa winelands. ...
Another 10,000 people fled a second blaze, the so-called Butte fire about 200 miles away in the Sierra Nevada. Since flaring on 9 September it has scorched 71,000 acres and more than a hundred homes and buildings. It is 30% contained.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Former Koch Industries Official Says He Ghostwrote Letters On Behalf of Congressmen
Why Malcolm Turnbull Might Not Be the Change Australia Is Hoping For
State-sanctioned killings without trial: are these Cameron’s British values?
The Leap Manifesto: A Call for Caring for the Earth and One Another
Attorneys: U.S. Claims ‘Unchecked Power’ to Keep Gravely Sick Prisoner at Guantanamo
What Bernie Sanders Talks About When He Talks About War
Hat tip JayRaye:
Winona LaDuke Open Letter To Governor Dayton
Hat tip DonMidwest:
A Day of Speaking Truth to Power
A Little Night Music
Big Maybelle - Whole 'Lotta Shakin Goin On
Big Maybelle - That's A Pretty Good Love
Big Maybelle - One Monkey Don't Stop The Show
Big Maybelle - I'm Getting ' Long Alright
Big Maybelle - I've Got A Feelin
Big Maybelle - Gabbin Blues
Big Maybelle - Tell Me Who
Big Maybelle - Going Home Baby
Big Maybelle - Pitiful
Big Maybelle - Rockhouse - Live
Big Maybelle - Baby Please Don't Go
Big Maybelle - Ocean of tears
Big Maybelle - My Country Man
Big Maybelle - 96 Tears
Comments
Israelis burn Palestinian family to death; suspects just smile
http://www.opednews.com/articles/PALESTINE-Champagne-in-Ka-by-Joseph-Zer...
(A fourth suspect appears to be have been an Israeli government agent.)
evening lotlizard...
i guess the impulse to bring the terrorists to justice has faded pretty much like everybody expected. the israeli government is utterly without honor or decency.
DEA targeted Bolivian President
DEA playing high-stakes politics
So if the War on Drugs is used for politics abroad, what does that mean for the War on Drugs at home?
if you haven't watched it...
check out the democracy now segment on operation naked king above; they interview the author of the huffpo piece that is quoted.
the war on drugs at home has always been political. harry j. anslinger was instrumental in creating it as a means of infiltrating and suppressing disfavored minority communities. the racist nature of the war on drugs is particularly evident in its early propaganda.
Watch Al Jazeera America
I know the name sounds funny but they are actually running a great series; Freeway: Crack In The System. It is great at documenting both the CIA/FBI corruption that fueled the crack wars of the 1980's as well as the police corruption that accompanied it.
Homers24
I can't help wondering
if the reason we're fucking with Bolivia so much is that the Obama administration is still pissed about the way they were embarrassed when Edward Snowden wasn't on Morales's plane.
They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore
I totally agree (n/t)
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
evening jq...
it looks to me like the us is trying to punish morales for his insolence.
imagine, failing to genuflect when the great white father demands to install its military under the guise of the war on drugs! why, it's enough to give a great nation the vapors!
Official collusion keeps lid on fraudulent foreclosure docs scam
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/14/officials-cover-housing-bubbles-scum...
heh, makes you wonder...
how long those montana judges can hold out without doing their job and entering a decision. it does certainly shed light on the fact that justice is not fair and impartial.
When the debt jubilee happens
…which is inevitable and soon — those banks are going to be butt-hurt big-time. Mortgages will be marked to market, banks will be nationalized, and no mortgage interest will be above 3 percent.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
I am so impressed by the interviews Hedges does, this one
really explained so much in one piece. I wished I could retain and repeat their wording, but in order to use their thoughts I always would need the transcript. Great how Leo Panitch talks on global neoliberalism. I think I would profit much more to read the books and then just selectively articles and interviews, so to not be distracted and pulled down into a depressive mood by blog discussions and comments.
Thanks for the TRN intv. Days of Revolt.
I though you might stop by my GOS diary this morning ...
Couldn't resist that Holsteiner Katenschinken ? Happy Oktoberfest.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Linky please (n/t)
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Here ya' go:
CUA, 9-15-'15
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
I am not far from Asheville
And it really pains me that I cannot attend due to out of town company coming in. I thought I was going to be able to do the Friday event and get to see Rev, Barber, but my guests are arriving some time on Friday.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
heh, I step by every day at the CUA,
I am a traitor on both sides. Here and there. So, I can as well show up and talk nonsense from both sides of my mouth at both sides of the aisles of the progressive people.
But I never have participated in Oktoberfests, especially not in American ones...
I am from the North of Germany. Oktoberfest are for those from the South, Bavarians, they can't stand the people from the North much. We drink hard liquor, not gallons of beer. And we don't talk much. Bavarians don't know what to do with us boring Northerners.
Aquavit - and a little beer - that's "Lütt un Lütt" - little 'n little - a small beer and a schnapps. Ice cold and strong.
Prost !
Ferguson Commission article
It says in there:
Is that true? Is the BLM movement affiliated clearly to the Democratic Party and not party independent?
afternoon mimi...
as far as i know, #blm is not officially affiliated with any party.
from
Black Lives Matter:
Hear Hear!
I agree 100% with this. This will set off the rabid Dem. partisans just like OWS did. All dissent and activism must fly under the Democratic party or else they are not valid and spoilers and a public menace and out of order. Get thee to a veal pen, agitators.
I'm also getting pretty disgusted with the pols appropriating music to herald their entrances and rally the faithful and so apparently are many of the musicians/ songwriters who work has been hijacked. Who do they think they are the owners of the world?
REM blast Donald Trump for using their music in US presidential campaign
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/10/rem-blast-donald-trump-usin...
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-06-17/neil-young-sorry-d...
Neil Young: Sorry, Donald, But I Support Bernie Sanders
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2015/03/05/why-po...
Why political candidates keep getting in trouble with musicians for using their songs
these
music-swiping pols are both shameless, and titanically stupid.
In 2012 Paul "Ayn Rand" Ryan claimed Rage Against The Machine was his favorite band. To which Tom Morello responded: "Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades . . . I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of 'Fuck the Police'? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production?"
Then there is the ceaseless appropriation by Republicans of "Born In The USA," which has been going on for 30 years now. They simply don't get the song.
The Hairball's theft of Neil Young is particularly hilarious, because under The Hairball's immigration "plan," Young would be drug by his hair to the border, and there be kicked back into Canada.
You have to wondeer if they've actually listened to the songs
Maybe they only heard the music and not the lyrics. Or maybe they are simply so disconnected from reality that they don't realize that their policies are causing the pain that the songs are about?
I remember watching a commercial a few years ago that sampled CCR's "Fortunate Son", but only used the words "Some people are born, made to wave the flag. Ohh, that red, white, and blue."
And then it cut out because it had to. The very next lyrics in the song are "It ain't me".
it's
clear that The Hairball didn't listen to the song he stole, not with lyrics like:
we got a thousand points of light
for the homeless man
we got a kinder, gentler
machine-gun hand
But then I don't think The Hairball has ever listened to anyone or anything but himself, in all his life.
With "Born In The USA," probably they just fix on the refrain, and figure the song is the aural equivalent of a giant "USA #1" foam-finger.
heh, i guess lee greenwood, toby keith and ted nugent...
aren't enough for them. i think that nugent's, "wang dang sweet poontang" would be an excellent theme song for the trump campaign since it seems to be all about dick-waving.
lol
Yeah, The Hairball is all about his plastic fantastic member. Plus, he and The Nuge both suffer from the birther brain-damage. So it is natural for them to share a stage, there to frantically wag their micropeni while ululating about the Kenyan.
Such geeks could also get down with Pat Boone, who is still alive and quacking. Boone, like The Hairball and The Nuge, knows that Obama is a Kenyan Mooslim, and he also possesses Positive Proof that mass shootings are the work of Lucifer. Plus, he is so godly he once declined a movie role opposite Marilyn Monroe, because he was afraid she would satanically engorge his penis.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z67IqrmygZY]
similarly
there was the ad campaign for Target using this song. Apparently they didn't listen to it all the way through.
They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore
The Democrats and Move On tried to
do the same thing with Occupy Tallahassee. Most of the young people in our Occupy group disliked both political parties.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
thx, Hecate and Joe, /nt
Corbyn's golden opportunity
Corbyn's golden opportunity
Excellent, sorta long article on Corbyn
The really big difference with Sanders is the very strong anti war position of Corbyn
We are so far down the path of being a military state, that not clear that anyone could get anywhere if spoke out as strongly as Corbyn.
Criticisms from people like Chris Hedges stress that the power is in the military
However, if the power of banksters, medical empire, etc could be challenged, that could open up discussion on how we squander our treasure
GulfGal98 you will like the section on his anti war stand
One of HRC's
PAC's has attacked Bernie for congratulating and supporting Corbyn on his victory. They say Corbyn is dangerous 'foreign policy' wise not to mention he's a 'unpatriotic rotten Dr. Commie rat'. The Tories and the New Labour Blairites have their hair on fire and are catapulting the fear and doom. Kinda of fun to watch the neoliberal/neocon's reaction to a little democracy. They are getting desperate and panicky as lots of people globally aren't buying their austerity and endless bloody wars.
Wish Bernie wasn't such a freaking endless warrior. I was appalled at the Q&A part of his speech at LU when he was asked about Syria and started waxing on about our allies Saudi Arabia, Qtar and assorted oil rich Arab states who must deal with the refugees and then fear mongered about barbaric beheadings and 'terrist's who are gonna kill yer family'. I also don't like his 'most cops are good people' riff. No Bernie they are mostly out of control psycho killers who are the goon squads for the owners of the place. Bet Corbyn wouldn't support lawless pigs being given a license to shoot black people with impunity.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/15/bernie-sanders-clinton-su...
Bernie Sanders rejects 'vicious' attack over his support for UK Labour leader
there was this diary on the GOS about it
The Pro-Hillary-Clinton-War on Progressives has officially started
I could barely restrain myself and post: Yes, how sad, I would wish Sanders had foreign policies more like Corbyn than Obama, but...
forgettaboutit
I did post on it
the hillary crowd's opposition to Bernie and Corbyn was ugly. No wonder I'm no longer a Democrat they no longer really exist.. Jeeze Bernie is almost as big a neocon as HRC but that didn't faze them one bit. I swear they are in a time warp and are outdoing the Republican's McCarthy era with their freaking commie hunting and fear and hate endless war loving. Hillary really is the same Republican Goldwater Girl she started out as. How stupid to run a Democratic campaign like this when people are sick and tired of this endless mayhem of death and destruction along with the austerity banksters sucking up the all funny money. Gotta stay off that site it makes me mad and sad. Hilarious in a way as Bernie's 'forgien policy' is the very reason I have trouble getting behind him.
to be fair, there was no Hillary signature on that PAC thing
She didn't sign it or submit an affidavit saying her campaign was involved. Therefore it's unfair to suggest that they knew anything about it or approved it. And, because it has nothing to do with Hillary or her campaign, as proven by lack of a signed confession, there is no need for her or her campaign to comment on it, much less smack it down.
Furthermore it's insulting to criticize any Queen, whether it be Elizabeth, Boadicea, Latifah or Hillary. Cast not your eyes upon her person, knave!
Hillary bailed on the GOP because of their racism.
Its pretty clear that she still is happy with most of the rest of their old agenda, still otherwise a GOP at heart.
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 --
I don't think you can judge Sanders' foreign policy yet
... and to say he is comparable to Clinton's neo-liberal positions is something I can't see. What did I miss? Sanders just hasn't come out yet and it is possible that he actually doesn't know much about the ME. So, I keep my mind open and will not dismiss him prematurely, unless someone points me to something I don't know yet. There are people who believe he doesn't come out, because he knows he would crushed by the Netanyahu neo-liberal project and AIPAC. Sanders might not be that suicidal and is in there to win an election.
oh, just read the article of Sanders
in Counterpunch Bernie Sanders Insists Saudi Arabia Should Kill More People
I would like to see the video of that quote and the context. This is not a direct quote aside from "get their hands dirty", the rest is "generally lead the wars with U.S. support" is something one can draw conclusions from with regards of Sanders war-mongering attitude?
I like to hear it.
i don't know if this is the source of the quote...
because sanders has been making comments like this since 2014 at least, but here's an example:
i think that this guy has a great point:
People should evolve morally and intellectually
…BEFORE they run for President.
It is quite disgusting to watch them try to do it on the campaign trail.
It's like watching them take a poop.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
exactly...
i've been wondering if somebody administers a kohlberg scale test to people filing to run for president and disqualifies anybody that scores higher than a 2.
that's true, but I think foreign policy issues are
so complex and volatile that it's almost unavoidable that a candidate can change his own mind during a long campaign trail of one and a half years. It's not only a question of morality and intellectuality, but a question of time and keeping up with developments. More important to me is that they end up changing their pov in the right direction than not having changed them yet or "learning on the campaign trail". I would also say it's way, way hard to see through motivations of other countries policitians' foreign policy actions. People have easily the idea that they are "in the know of absolute moral foreign policy actions, especially if it comes to war activities and their justifications".
I just would wish they all would go home, destroy their shit weapons and live modestly in their own home corners and mind their own business. I can have my girly dreams ...
But yes, I would like to see Sanders to take a stronger stance against the support of the Saudi and Israel. But I believe he sees this request from the "left" as a trick to get him in troubles and crush his campaign. So, it makes no sense to expect otherwise.
And I think the issue is above "my paygrade" to judge.
and here is in essence the reason why I am so conflicted
because this paragraph in Hedges article: Where is our Corbyn is unfortunately so darn true, nobody can ignore it:
It's true that Sanders has not shown yet to have had that vision, or if he had, he was not yet fighting clearly for it, or he decided to not fighting for it openly, because he believes that then every opportunity would be lost and seeing him being cannibalized is not a solution either.
Thanks for the link mimi
It's a very good article. I think Bernie is a war hawk, endless war is part of his vision. He probably believes the world is a dangerous place for his own reasons. He is not our Corbyn. I don't expect him to be. There is a lot of what he advocates and talks about, especially economically that is similar to Corbyn's vision but it seems to stop with economic disparity. Foreign policy in my opinion is not really a separate issue but the same vision of the neoliberal/neocon's who want to rule the world and are not democratic. Listening carefully to him talk about global conflict and the wars, I hear the same fear mongering, xenophobia, and disregard for human lives and rights that we hear from the rest of the by-partisan neocon psycho's who see war and killing as necessary for world domination and profit. He talks about the extremist barbarian terrorists and justifies Israel's barbarism as self defense.
Perhaps we should accept his stances for what they are and not dwell on his motivations or intentions political or personal. I do have a hard time swallowing his talk of 'morality' when he seems unable to extend his vision morality beyond economic disparity. He does seem to have a blind spot about using authoritarian force and killing. I think #BLM has a point about his trivializing the wanton killing by the cops. Economic justice for black people along with education reform will not do the trick. There is something basically wrong with this country and it's not just our 'foreign policy'.
You cannot keep the violence and killing at the magnitude we are implementing globally out of the Homeland. When your vision of the world is that it's a dangerous place so we must use deadly force and destruction to keep the order both here and around the world it's incompatible with real democracy and leads to the dark side. Unless you recognize universal human and civil rights and those inalienable self evident truths there can be no justice or rule of law. I found his speech at LU to be enlightening in the fact that I failed to see how he could talk about morality and yet justify and advocate the killing and destruction grounds in the ME. A 'security state' domestic and global is never moral or democratic it's always the opposite. Human rights belong to all humans even the so called 'barbarian's Bernie talks about.
I also did not like his referring to Chavez as a communist dictator. In his reply to the HRC e-mail from her PAC, he made it quite clear that he is not willing to negotiate with 'terrist's who are going to kill yer family'. The bush preemptive doctrine is alive and well and the axis of evil is any nation state or people that won't comply with or threaten our supremacy and 'interest's'. I guess this does it for me, I am now an official 'purist far lefty' who cannot support any more of this double speak, with immoral killing, human suffering, destruction and burning up the planet. If he can't bring himself to connect the dots which I don't believe for a minute he's just another lying pol. He may be our only sane choice but this is not what democracy or justice looks like. In fact he's quite belligerent about his hawk stance. Oh well, at least I took a good look at this wolf in sheep's clothing instead of believing he was empowering a needed political revolution.
Chavez was democratically elected on a reform platform much like Bernie's. He took on the US and the global oligarchical collectivists who do not confine their evil doing to the US. I fail to see how he can reconcile his democratic moral vision so selectively. Yes indeed he is no Corbyn, and unfortunately the Democratic party does not have a democratic 'far lefty' wing that has the guts to support any candidate or pol like Corbyn. Bernie's speaking truth to power is also selective as military dominance and endless war is some kind of inevitable truth.
Excellent points, Shaz! If the DNC doesn't
manage to 'fix' the debates so that there won't be a venue for meaningful discussion, I believe that we'll all see several issues in a new light.
It's one thing for candidates to run around the country, speaking to their respective ardent followers. It's yet another, when they are on the national stage addressing a bipartisan/nonpartisan audience.
That's one reason that I'm waiting to post much on their policy prescriptions--I expect to hear a somewhat different version once the Primary Debates begin.
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
well said, shaz!
the democrats cannot produce a corbyn because there is no money in anti-militarism or anti-imperialism. at bottom, the two corporate parties that have a virtual lock on our electoral system are for-profit enterprizes.
the lock on your electoral system as being for-profit
enterprises needs to be cracked open with an "explosive legal device" as a matter of self-defense of American democracy for the people by the people. Won't happen though.
thanks, Shaz, I understand all the points and I agree
with all of what you say to a certain extent, but I can't get over myself to express them in that clarity and harshness yet. May be when I see Sanders win and doing the same thing as all other Democrats and previous Presidents did, I am ready to call him a war monger. If I would be convinced he is really that "bad" as you and many others say (including Hedges) , I am ready ... to boycott every election in the United States.
If elections don't make sense anymore, because there is no choice and no hope of changes via the political reform pathway (and there seems none), I can as well just go home and wait til I die. I can't deal with that much of hopelessness. I need something to believe in, so that any engagement makes at least sense for a little while.
I adore what Hedges and others say and know it's the truth, but then I need something to believe in. And if I look at the young people wanting and hoping that Sanders message is what will be implemented, I can't get it over my heart to tell them, he isn't what you believe he is. He is a war monger. They all need to believe into something. You can't take that away from a them. It would be cruel. And I think they won't believe you and do their own thinking their way anyway. Somehow one has to be glad that they do. Let them decide. It's their future they are voting for. Not ours. We are gone pretty soon.
What do you want them to believe in? What is it supposed to be?
there is another article by Sam Husseini on truthdig
When it comes to world peace don't look for Sanders for progress
I guess I can't avoid the truth and better deal with it.
(Typo Correction) Is it really fair to demand that FSC
forthrightly state her position(s) on various very dicey issues--such as TPP, Keystone, etc., which she tries to avoid--but defend Senator Sanders for not doing so on issues that may hurt him with some of the Base--such as foreign policy, privatization of the VA health care system, etc.?
(Just for the record, I'm no fan of FSC's. I wouldn't vote for her if my life depended on it. Seriously.)
But, as someone who is yet to have a horse in this race, Democratic or Third Party, I feel that all candidates, whether they are running in one of the two mainstream legacy parties, or running as Third Party candidates, OWE the American people the truth. And I mean the 'absolute' truth, when it comes to stating their stances.
Heck, one reason that we're in this mess (meaning the takeover of the Dem Party by corporatist neoliberals) is because the Dem Party Base has been too timid [for decades] to challenge their candidates.
Sorry, nothing personal in this comment, Mimi. It's just that, IMHO, all citizens/voters--Dem Party folks included-- are entitled to more transparency, not less.
Hey, I've leave you Guys alone for a while. I'm still working on my primary wi-fi connection, and getting nowhere fast.
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
thank you, Joe, the second article from Truthdig
by Sam Husseini is very convincing. The whole issue makes me feel so torn apart and it literally causes emotional pain. On the one hand I see the Sanders candidacy as a chance, on the other hand I see it may not be all what we would need.
I believe that many in Europe would be ready for a stronger stance in US policy along the lines of Corbyn. It will just take more time for it to bubble up in earnest.
Thank you for your brilliant way you offer us the sources. I would feel pretty lost without your work in the EB, no matter where it's published.
if you can't judge it, that's by design...
i will admit to being a bit peeved at bernie for his failure to articulate a foreign policy. by this point, having been called on it on national teevee (abc's martha raddatz pushed him hard to disclose his policy) his refusal to speak up really can't be blamed on unfamiliarity with the issues (he's been in congress or the senate for a very long time) it can only be ascribed to political calculation.
if sanders wants to distinguish himself from the other democrats (including neocon hillary) and republicans in the race, he is going to have to speak up, because the record so far shows that the choice of sanders foreign policy in relation to the other contestants is like the choice of colors that henry ford offered his early customers - "they can have any color that they want as long as it's black."
Well, I'm less restrained these days, so
I posted it for you, here.
Thanks for the inspiration
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon
Hey, John! Good for you. ;-) N/T
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
The reference to "a dead communist dictator"
supposedly implies Hugo Chavez, so say this :
http://www.sunherald.com/2015/09/15/6416283/clinton-allied-group-ties-sa...
Sanders coming unhinged and loosing his bearings already?
while chavez is a controversial figure...
who along with creating one of the most successful anti-poverty programs in living memory, certainly had his failings. but, "communist dictator" seems a very inapt description.
it does make one wonder how easy it will be for conservatives and neocons to whip sanders into line regarding relations with the more left-leaning regimes in latin and south america. one would hope that sanders would be more resistant to the right-wing wurlitzer than that.
Chavez reminded me of (and was often compared
unflatteringly to by the mainstream imperialist media) Juan Peron, though more clearly and decidedly left wing. Very much more authoritarian in his governing style than I would prefer, although you do have to take into account just how much the oligarchs, which includes the media primarily run by oligarchs, had it in for him and his economic and social reforms. A good overview is Wikipedia's entry. Compare it with Peron's and you can see some general similarity.
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon
Whoa! If that was his response, I'm stunned. That's
quite worrisome.
Heck, that sounds like something Fred Barnes would say when he hosts the government propaganda radio show,"Voice of America," (VOA).
Hugo Chavez was a 'hero' to millions and millions of dirt poor Venezuelan's, because they finally received educational, medical, and social services while he was President.
Please, anyone who hasn't watched Stone's movie, "South Of The Border," do so. It was streamable on Netflix, at one time.
If anything, we were in awe of many of Chavez's accomplishments. The Stone movie traces his background--the son of two teachers, I believe. Yet, because of the autocratic Venezuelan government rule that he grew up under, his own childhood 'conditions' bordered on poverty.
(BTW, Chavez was democratically elected.)
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Sanders age and the times he grew up with shows up
in that response ... argh, I have to read the books ...
And watch the movie, too,
if you have access to it. Sometime soon, when things settle down a little more for us, I'm going to watch it again.
It's a little fuzzy in my mind, so I didn't attempt (above) to relay many incidents from the movie. But I know that I was in tears watching some very elderly people (70's, 80's) describe their happiness when one of his (Chavez's) programs taught them 'how to read."
I know that as compassionate as you are, you would really enjoy watching "South Of The Border."
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
corbyn's anti-war stance really frightens the powers-that-be...
i suspect more than anything else. you can see the whole british establishment closing ranks against corbyn. the sorry bastards are reduced now to fear-mongering. well, actually fear-mongering is their whole game, they're just doing it more stridently now, with their voices all going up an octave. they're saying he's a threat to national security, but i think that they're overplaying their hand.
i remember back when i was in high school and we all had to go to a mandatory assembly where a bunch of cops and social services types lectured us about the evils of marijuana. the claims that they were making were a bit over the top and they wound up being the butt of jokes for months afterwards.
when the british establishment starts waving their arms and screaming that corbyn is a threat to national security, surely people are recognizing that he is a threat to the job security of the powers-that-be.
Turkey is on the verge of civil war
link
There are 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Wonder if it is a bug or a feature? US and Israel love it
when there is chaos (and that is putting it mildly) in Middle East. Where does the Western/NATO "ally" Turkey fall in this?
it's a feature...
of erdogan's making. he is a dictator in the making. the instincts and the drive are there, he just needed a "catalytic event" so to speak, to allow him to consolidate his dictatorship. if the people and the turkish military let him get away with it, you are looking at the ascension of president-for-life erdogan.
The U.S. and NATO are backing Al-Sisi to the hilt in Egypt.
Rather let himself be set up as the Muslim bogeyman as Morsi in Egypt was, and then be dumped in favor of some designated U.S.-NATO strongman, perhaps Erdogan has figured out that it's better (for him) to just become the U.S.-NATO's strongman himself.
Cue the next genocidal massacre of Kurds — merely the latest in a long series — while, as in the case of Israel, the West once again supplies the arms and diplomatic cover and looks the other way.
Putin calls out the world: Stop arming terrorist groups
link
That means you, Obama.
My 2 cents :
I think Obomba might do it if it doesn't come from Putin - atleast there is a slight chance. But he won't definitely do it if it comes from Putin. That is how much he (and the West) are against Putin - they don't have any bearings left.
heh, at this point, i don't think putin is addressing obama...
his comments are really aimed, i think, at europe. he's telling them, "look you're being dragged into a quagmire, do you really want to go there?"
I hope Europe has better listening skills with regards to Putin
than the US.
I doubt it...
They want Ukraine in the union -- all of it. And in NATO so they can kick Russian troops and the Russian navy out of the Crimea.
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon
they want the land. the people not so much.
the last thing that europe appears to want is to bail out another country that is even worse off than east germany was when it was absorbed.
In these cases it's not called "land," it's called "territory"
And it's all about "strategic value."
Which means one of two things: Preparing for war, or another place to colonize with corporations.
So, yeah, you're right.
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon
Evening Joe and Bluester hippies.
Joe, first visit after you setup shop here at c99%. Opening the Blues Bar here on Labor Day is a nice little touch. Kudos to you for bringing in some realism regarding Sanders' campaign and his war-mongering specifically. Sam Husseini had posted another article days earlier on the topic.
Yet another reality check:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/14/opinion/charles-m-blow-bernie-sanders-...
evening funkygal...
i am hoping that there is a way of getting the attention of the movement that is making bernie possible and reminding them that endless war is a terrible policy, it is the basis of our country's moral and economic bankruptcy and bernie really needs to be pushed hard to cut the militaristic crap.
oh, I agree, won't happen during the campaign though,
but may happen after Sanders won the general elections. Even after he might have won the primaries, it won't happen. Too scared about all the neo-types eager to kill his campaign That movement should be completely independent of who wins and who runs and last as long as US military is everywhere around the world and getting on people's nerves and scare the heck out of them, especially if they are so "cute and shitty" to drop bombs and drones on their heads. That's where I agree with Hedges.
Regardless of who is elected President
I am not sure any one person can cut back on the militaristic crap. The MIC has too much power behind the scenes and Congress is too corrupt to cut the funding. The only thing a President will be allowed to do is nibble along the edges. But in the end, the corporations hold all the high cards.
So the only way I see the militaristic crap stopping is one of three ways:
1) Congress severely cuts the military's budget.
2) The military itself revolts and refuses to fight.
3) The country collapses economically.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
This is old but Gold from the chronicles of bipartisanshit :
www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2015/08/brazile_says_bush_got_katrina.html
Donna Brazile is epitome of the Black Misleadership Class and the Liberal Class. And what a sorry figure she cuts.
My song (Donna to Bush the Lesser):
"I scratch your back,
You scratch my back,
We are a happy family
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, wont you say you love me too!"
set to this tune :
Ditto, FG! I can't bear to watch Brazile, anymore. N/T
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Good evening, Joe, thanks for the news & blues.
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 --
evening el...
i hope that you're having a great evening.
Pretty funny about Saakashvili ...
First they appointed him Mayor of Odessa, now he's being considered as a replacement for "our guy" Yats. I wonder how the Ukrainian ultra-nationalists will react to a Georgian as premier. I don't guess it matters, his real loyalty is to NATO and that's what counts.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
heh, i guess nato is still trying to find ways to reward him for creating a ruckus with russia. chances are he's not talented enough to do much other than being a failed politician, so i guess they're helping him fail upwards and at the same time "sending putin a message." because putin needs to be reminded that our neocons really hate him and would relish an opportunity to screw with russia.
Greetings Joe, and Bluesters! Thanks for the excellent
roundup this evening.
I'm so exasperated after having dealt with a Mobile Broadband carrier off and on today for several hours, that I'll reserve my comments for tonight, for tomorrow's EB. My head is about to split--and I almost never have headaches.
Looking forward to the GOP Debates in Simi Valley tomorrow--should be great entertainment. From what I hear, all of D.C. is panicked because 'the Donald' knows where all the skeletons are buried. Frankly, I get so sick of the pompous, dishonest, and mostly vacuous MSM reporters/talking heads, I hope that Trump goes after all of them!
I haven't done much except tussle with the wi-fi people today, but I finally took a minute to check my cell phone news aggregator, and saw this piece:
"CNN Plan: Have Debaters Go At One Another" (which has been re-titled, it appears) as
Not that I don't find the Repub field of candidates to be ridiculous, but, I must admit that I have to chuckle at the desperation that the MSM exhibits as they try to find a way to eliminate Trump from contention. It seems that the harder they try to destroy him, the more his followers adore him.
(Actually, I doubt that this debate format would ever happen in a Dem Party Primary. Most likely, the handful of Dem Party debates will be so phony, or staged--because of the Clinton Campaign--one will be lucky not to fall asleep half-way through them. Sigh . . .)
Hopefully, they [the MSM] will eventually figure out that they are probably the only category of people more despised than politicians.
Hey, sorry to be so surly--I'll try to be in a better frame of mind tomorrow.
In the meantime, you Guys all have a nice evening!
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
i hope your wifi problems settle out, i know how painful they can be.
let me know how the rethugs do. i can't bear to watch.
Will do--I'm a real glutton for punishment. That's one reason
that I was so hyped up about getting my primary broadband connection fixed, today.
And, hey, I do draw the line at some things. Like listening to a Rand Paul rant. IMO, his voice is super irritating--sorta like a male version of FSC's!
So, it could wind up being a rather short evening for us.
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.