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This evening's music features Chicago blues harmonica player and singer Lester Davenport. Enjoy!

“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”

-- Napoleon Bonaparte

News and Opinion

New Cold War Spins Out of Control

In the aftermath of the U.S. attack on the Syrian army positions overlooking and commanding the Dier A-Zor airfield – the airfield, whose daily “Berlin air-bridge” style flights, are the sole lifeline to a city long besieged by ISIS – the Russian U.N. Ambassador asked a pertinent rhetorical question at the United Nations Security Council: Who is running U.S. policy: Is it the Pentagon or the White House?

There was no official response, of course, but one was not necessary: the New York Times editorial board gave us the answer in its verdict of Sept. 15:  Praising the U.S. Secretary of State for his energetic, but “quixotic” diplomacy, the “Board” wrote:

“The [Syria ceasefire] agreement also has powerful critics inside the Obama administration, including Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. On Tuesday, Pentagon officials refused to say whether they would comply with their part of the deal, which calls on the United States to share information with the Russians on Islamic State targets in Syria if the cease-fire holds for seven days. This would be an unusual and possibly risky collaboration with a Russian regime that has become increasingly adversarial and could profit from learning American military secrets.”

What is so surprising here is the non-surprise evinced by the editorial writers of the New York Times. The Board blandly states that the Defense Secretary and the Pentagon might not comply. Not a hint of surprise is evident at the constitutional implications of this open defiance of Presidential authority.

No, rather the Board seems to view it as quite natural and commendable that Carter should refuse to comply with this “unusual and risky” proposition. But this was not some “proposition for collaboration.” This was an agreed formal accord between the United States and another state – reached after lengthy negotiations, and done with Presidential mandate.

In brief, President Obama’s authority is no more – if it runs against the settled opinion of the Pentagon, the CIA, the New York Times, the Washington Post and of the Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate. It is not unreasonable therefore to assume that Obama’s grudging détente with a Russian President that he personally, viscerally dislikes, is now no more than diplomatic chatter.

Russia Concerned Syrian Terror Groups Used Ceasefire to Regroup

A week after Syria’s ceasefire collapsed and with fighting picking up around Aleppo, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov downplayed the chances of a new ceasefire effort any time soon, warning the “situation is extremely complicated” and that Russia is concerned that terror groups used the last ceasefire to regroup for new attacks.

The ceasefire, which lasted for a week, included a humanitarian pause of strikes against the Nusra Front-held areas around Aleppo, and was meant to also give time for US-backed “moderates” to distance themselves from Nusra forces.

Instead, Peskov says that the separation of the two sides never happened, and that Nusra used that fact to continue strikes on military positions, while using the fact that the ceasefire halted airstrikes to regroup and to replenish their arsenals along the front lines.

Syria seems intent on recapturing Aleppo

Putin Ups the Ante: Ceasefire Sabotage Triggers Major Offensive in Aleppo

The attack on Deir Ezzor was a flagrant act of betrayal. For the first time in the five year-long war, US warplanes targeted an SAA military outpost killing 62 Syrian regulars. The surprise attacks — which lasted for the better part of an hour and were followed by a coordinated ground assault by members of ISIS– were intended to torpedo the fragile ceasefire agreement and send a message to Moscow that the US was prepared to achieve its strategic objectives in Syria whether it had to launch direct attacks on defenders of the regime or not. ...

Having reflected on Obama’s de facto rejection of the agreement, Putin pursued the only viable option left open to him; more war. As a result, he has intensified his efforts on the battlefield particularly around Aleppo where the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and crack-units from Hezbollah have launched a three-prong attack that will dispose of the US-backed jihadists that have destroyed much of Syria over the last half-decade and displaced over 7 million civilians. ...

Obama’s de facto rejection of the ceasefire has created the conditions for a decisive military defeat in Aleppo. The fate of the CIA-trained “moderate” terrorists hunkered down in East Aleppo is not that different from that of General George Armstrong Custer at the Little Bighorn who was surrounded by a superior military force and summarily slaughtered to the man. This is the option Pentagon warlord, Ash Carter chose when he decided to sabotage the joint military implementation agreement and go rogue. Carter opposed the ceasefire deal and in doing so signed the death warrant for hundreds of US-backed extremists who chances for survival are growing slimmer by the day. ...

To grasp what’s really going on behind the endless recriminations, we need to understand that the Obama administration has abandoned its original plan to oust Syrian President Bashar al Assad, and moved on to Plan B; partitioning the country in a way that establishes a separate Sunni state where US troops will be based and where vital pipelines will be built to transfer natural gas from Qatar to the EU.

This ambitious plan is more than a redrawing of the Middle East and a pivot to Asia. It is a critical lifeline to a country (USA) whose economic prospects are progressively dimming, whose credit card is maxed out, and who is counting on a Hail Mary pass in Syria to save itself from cataclysmic economic collapse and ruination. ... Washington wants to control Syria’s eastern quadrant (where Deir Ezzor is located) for military bases, pipeline routes, and a Sunni homeland, which is more-or-less the pretext for continued military occupation.

Bunker-buster bomb reports may mark new stage in Russia's Syrian assault

The recent claims by the Syrian opposition and the United Nations that Russia is using bunker-buster bombs in Aleppo would, if proven, confirm that a new, more destructive phase in the Russian assault on rebel forces is under way, and that the diplomatic track is effectively closed.

The bombs – capable of destroying underground shelters and command centres – would also suggest Russia is determined to bring the months-long siege of Aleppo to a speedy end, and that they have high-grade intelligence of the whereabouts of Syrian opposition positions.

Justin Bronk, research fellow at the defence thinktank RUSI, explained that bunker-busters are a very specific kind of destructive precision weaponry. “They show up as very different-shaped craters. They go very deep and explode deep underground so they tend to leave deeper but less wide craters than other bombs.”

He added it was very unlikely Russia would use such specific bombs at random or simply to blitz a city since they are very expensive and require specific targeting intelligence to be worth using. If they hit an underground shelter the number of deaths would be huge, but it would be much lower than other generalised heavy bombs if no specific target had been located.

He added it was quite possible Russia had acquired detailed information on the location of opposition headquarters. Both sides in the conflict are very aware the other is using underground tunnels to fight these quite static battles, and may have good intelligence of the other’s networks.

Syria: Army takes rebel neighbourhood in Aleppo, military says

Dozens of Airstrikes Pound Aleppo, At Least 85 Reported Killed

Heavy airstrikes that began in earnest on Friday continued into Sunday evening in the north Syrian city of Aleppo, with dozens of additional strikes against the Nusra Front-held eastern half of the city reported, overwhelming hospitals with more casualties.

Accurate figures are often difficult to obtain from the area, but the Western-backed Aleppo Media Center, bankrolled by French and US governments, reported at least 85 more people killed on Sunday, and 300 more wounded, putting the death toll over the three day period to around 200.

'Americans know their weapons will end up in hands of terrorists' - Al-Nusra commander interviewer

Senate to Vote Wednesday on 9/11 Victims Bill Veto Override

Following last Friday’s presidential veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has announced that the vote on an attempted veto override will be held on Wednesday. The House also says a vote is expected later this week.

Both the House and Senate voted unanimously in favor of JASTA, which would allow the families of 9/11 victims’ families to sue Saudi Arabia over its involvement in supporting attackers in the lead-up to the attack. ...

The House is believed to have more than enough votes to override, and while senators from both parties have expressed confidence as well, the Senate has been the focus of heavy lobbying from both the White House and Saudi lobbyist factions, hoping enough senators change their vote to sustain the veto.

Ha, the government is suing the CIA-funded firm for discriminating against Asian engineers, but not for undermining the privacy of all Americans and launching a secret hacker war against the political opponents - progressive groups, labor unions and assorted progressive websites. Apparently targeting left-leaning groups and whistleblowers with sabotage is a-ok with Uncle Sam and the thing that pisses Sam off is employment discrimination.

The US is suing Peter Thiel’s secretive data startup for discriminating against Asians

Working at Palantir sounds pretty sweet. According to jobs site Glassdoor, the secretive data analysis startup pays software engineers six-figure salaries, and interns can get $7,500 a month plus corporate housing in places like Palo Alto or New York.

But according to the Department of Labor, white applicants have a dramatically unfair advantage in landing those gigs.

In a lawsuit against the Palo Alto tech company filed Monday, the government charges Palantir with violating federal law by "using a hiring process and selection procedures that discriminated against Asian applicants for software engineering positions on the basis of their race."

Colombia: Government and FARC sign final peace deal

Colombia signs FARC peace deal

Colombia's president and the head of the country's biggest rebel group signed an agreement on Monday ending a half-century of conflict, though Colombian voters could still reject the deal in a referendum on Sunday.

President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londoño, the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (the FARC) who is better known by his alias Timochenko, used pens made from the casings of bullets used in combat to sign the accord that took four years to negotiate.

Around 15 heads of state from Latin America, as well as UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, and Secretary of State John Kerry, were in the walled colonial city of Cartagena to witness the ceremony in which almost everybody wore white.

After both the president and the rebel leader had signed the peace accord on a white stage, Santos gave Timochenko the gift of a pin of a white dove, before they warmly shook hands to applause.

The deal includes pledges of joint operations by the government and former rebels to eradicate landmines and search for some of the thousands who disappeared in the decades of war that killed an estimated 200,000 and forced millions from their homes. ...

Peace further promises special courts that are supposed to ensure that FARC members who committed atrocities in the war face justice, albeit of a relatively lenient kind if they confess. And it commits the government to carrying out a reform that addresses unequal land distribution in a nod to the rebel army's roots as a peasant uprising in 1964 within the wave of Latin American insurgencies inspired by the Cuban revolution.

Call to topple Christopher Columbus statue from its Barcelona perch

A group of anti-capitalist councillors in Barcelona are hoping to topple the statue of Christopher Columbus that has stood at the foot of La Rambla for more than a century, arguing that the city should not be celebrating the explorer’s colonial legacy. ...

The image of Columbus is not the only monument on their hitlist: the councillors also want the statue of the merchant and slave trader Antonio López y López, Marquis of Comillas, removed from its plinth outside the post office building. In its place, the trio propose a monument to commemorate the victims of the slave trade.

Their suggestions, however, go well beyond statuary. As well as removing Spanish flags from municipal buildings in Barcelona, they would also like to see 12 October – the national holiday on which Spain celebrates Columbus’s landfall in the Americas – turned into an ordinary working day. ...

Last year, Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, said the country should not be marking “a genocide” with an €800,000 (£700,000) military parade, while José María González, the Podemos-backed mayor of the southern city of Cádiz, tweeted: “We never discovered America; we massacred and suppressed a continent and its cultures in the name of God.”

Canada First Nations chief won't join UK royals for 'empty gesture' ceremony

One of British Columbia’s most influential First Nations chiefs has turned down an invitation to participate in a reconciliation ceremony with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Canada, describing the symbolic ceremony as a “public charade” that papers over the Canadian government’s failure to keep its promises to indigenous peoples.

The Black Rod ceremony is slated to take place on Monday evening, in a private sitting room at the stately Government House in Victoria. Officials have spent more than a year carefully crafting every moment of the ceremony, which will see Prince William add a carved silver ring to the Black Rod, a ceremonial staff created in 2012 to commemorate the Queen’s diamond jubilee.

The staff is currently adorned with three rings, representing the province, Canada and the link to the UK. Prince William is expected to add a fourth ring – engraved with eagle feathers and a canoe – that will symbolise First Nations in the province.

“Reconciliation has to be more than empty symbolic gestures,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs in explaining his decision to decline the royal invitation.

He had been asked to hand the ring to Prince William and invite the royal to affix the ring on the Black Rod. Last week he and the chiefs of the 115 First Nations represented by his organisation decided it would not be appropriate to attend or participate in the event. “The Chiefs-in-Assembly just didn’t feel that it was appropriate to feed into that public illusion that everything is okay.”

Critical Flint Aid Held Hostage as Congressional Showdown Looms

Even as Flint residents continue to struggle to provide clean drinking water for their families, Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate appear to be thumbing their noses at the Michigan city, excluding Flint assistance from a must-pass spending bill ahead of (yet another) congressional recess.

"Have Congressional Republicans forgotten about Flint?" The Flint Journal wrote in an editorial on Monday. "Or maybe it's that they just don't really care."

News outlets reported late last week that the Senate's proposed Continuing Resolution (CR)—a short-term funding agreement that would keep the government operating after the current budget expires on October 1—did not include emergency funding for the beleaguered community that has been grappling with a long-term lead-contamination crisis. The proposal did include flood assistance for states such as Louisiana and Maryland.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) backed that approach, telling reporters, "For Flint, this is more of a local government issue," and pointing to aid for Flint that's included in the Senate-passed Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The House is set to bring up its version of the WRDA bill, which does not currently include Flint relief, this week.

Big investors join list of heavyweights against North Carolina 'bathroom bill'

Some of the world’s most powerful investors have added themselves to a growing list of business leaders, sports stars and performing artists demanding North Carolina overturns the state’s “bathroom bill” law that requires people to use public restrooms of their sex at birth and not the sex to which they identify.

The investor group, which includes Morgan Stanley Investment Management, RBC Wealth Management and the managers of public pension funds in New York and California, said the North Carolina House Bill 2 (HB2) “invalidate[s] the human rights of individuals across the state” and has “troubling financial implications for the investment climate in North Carolina”.

The letter, signed by 53 investors with $2.1bn of assets under management collectively, called for the “full repeal of HB2”.

“Quite simply, HB2 is bad for business and investors do not support legislation that limits discrimination protections and hampers the ability of our companies to offer open and productive workplaces and communities,” the open letter said. ...

The Williams Institute, which is part of the UCLA School of Law, said the HB2 bill could cost the state as much as $5bn in lost federal funding and business investment.

Why Wells Fargo’s Executives Will Keep Their Bonuses, Even After Fake Accounts Scandal

Last week, Wells Fargo EO John Stumpf testified before the Senate Banking Committee after the bank paid fines for creating over 2 million fake customer accounts to boost their sales growth statistics. Stumpf, under fire from senators demanding that the bank claw back executive bonuses as punishment for the scandal, insisted that any such decision would be made by a committee of the board of directors that handles compensation issues.

That board is made up of five current and former CEOs and executive chairpeople who have enjoyed giant salaries throughout their careers. Pulling the trigger on clawbacks would force them to turn on the system that made them rich. They’d also have to bite the hand that feeds them a steady supply of Wells Fargo stock. ...

Federal regulators do not actually have to hope the collection of CEOs on the Wells Fargo board will reject personal self-interest and claw back executive pay. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency both have the authority to impose a civil money penalty on individual executives but declined to do so in the Wells Fargo case. Despite the fact that Wells Fargo was fined $190 million in the fake accounts scandal, the executives responsible for the misconduct have paid no price.

Outside First Presidential Debate, 24 Arrested at Protests & Jill Stein Escorted Away by Police

Trump, to the left of Obama, pledges not to use nuclear weapons first

After Hillary Clinton attacked Donald Trump’s rhetoric on nuclear issues as reckless and dangerous, Trump pledged not to be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into a conflict. “I would certainly not do first strike,” Trump said. “Once the nuclear alternative happens, it’s over.”

That may seem like common sense, but it’s actually a commitment that President Obama has been reluctant to make.

War Criminals, I See War Criminals

So—Bush Jr., of Iraq and torture, will vote for Clinton. The Clinton team is pleased. Michelle Obama has a publicity photo with her embracing him.

1st Lady Michelle Obama hugs Pres. George W.Bush at opening of @NMAAHC I was there for 1 of museums chief sponsors @BankofAmerica pic.twitter.com/XWw41G5nHO

— kennerly (@kennerly) September 24, 2016

Meanwhile they are screaming at third party voters, claiming they caused Iraq by not voting for Al Gore? ...

Let us be clear, while Trump is a member of the establishment, he is not a member of the political establishment. Bush and Clinton and Obama are closing ranks against an upstart who threatens to change their world; to change how things are done.

You can’t make much of an argument from principle against Trump if you’re kissing up to George W. Bush.

The Great Debate: Proto-Fascism vs. the Real Thing

From the subtitle, it is hard to know which is which; perhaps it would be better to say, “Equal Voices of Fascism,” so as not to indicate a preference for this race to the ideological bottom. Clinton and Trump equally menace human freedom, one through war, confrontation, and as the benefactor of wealth, the other, militarism and wealth itself. Together they favor power vested in upper groups in a framework of Total Order. Perhaps their sole difference lies in the paradigm each offers of the long-term development of monopoly capitalism, a question of means, not the end-result of the financialization and militarization of the System itself: i.e., varieties in the form of fascism.

Stated differently, the outcome rests on the internal pacification of working people in America (as well as global unilateral hegemony, in aspiration if no-longer-possible fact), turning on whether or not repression is central to social control. The best that can be said for Clinton is that the concentration camp/gas chamber syndrome is structurally and historically avoidable because her confidence in advanced capitalism and its ruling parties—chiefly, banking, industry, business, the military—can do the work of co-optation and absorption of the working class, obviating the need for overt force. I would term this, liberal fascism or the fascistization of liberalism. Neither one is oxymoronic, given liberalism’s ideological sanctioning of wealth accumulation and penchant for war and expansion—the foregoing ingrained in what C.B. Macpherson called, “possessive individualism”—only that, as now, liberalism in America fuses Capitalism, the State, and Militarism.

Thus, Clinton, for the present, need not go the path familiar to fascism in its Nazification mode. Her sympathy for, dedication to, and confidence in, capitalistic upper groups suffices to keep repression normalized through garden-variety indoctrination of consumerism and heightened patriotism, appealing to working people and minorities as their friend, indeed, champion, and counselor, while Trump is portrayed as an unreliable, gauche, Neanderthal-like figure (not necessarily off-base) who is essentially winging-it into a nebulous future. Wrong. Trump is Clinton stripped of liberal sophistication, i.e., a more truthful version of Clinton because he does not hide his attachment to war, confrontation [...], ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and personal contempt for what each views as softness and weakness whenever America does not maximize its muscle-power. ...

Does it matter who “won” or “lost,” when it is the country that is on a collision course with history? The basic profile of both domestic and foreign policy remained unchanged, which means drastically skewed income distribution at home, intervention and regime change abroad. Smugness of one was met by arrogance of the other. Whether NATO or autarky, respectively, was favored, it doesn’t matter, because hegemony remained the Holy Grail. In that regard, the differences on public policy, if believed, were never brought out, and probably were not meant to be. I confess, on one hand, to be dispirited, and on the other, not to have expected more. Perhaps one needs to revise one’s definition of fascism, to accord more room to bread-and-circuses as the means of instilling a faith in “democracy” in the public, when in fact business tyranny rules the roost and militarism becomes the latest flavor of false consciousness.

US emissions set to miss 2025 target in Paris climate change deal, research finds

The US is on course to miss its emissions reduction target agreed in the Paris climate accord nine months ago, with new research finding that the world’s largest historical emitter doesn’t currently have the policies in place to meet its pledge.

Even if the US implements a range of emissions-slashing proposals that have yet to be introduced, the nation could still overshoot its 2025 target by nearly 1bn tonnes of greenhouse gases. This failure would have profound consequences for the US’s position as a climate leader, as well for the global effort to stave off the dangerous heatwaves, sea level rise and extreme weather associated with climate change.

“If the policies were locked today, there would be a low likelihood of meeting the target,” said Jeffery Greenblatt, scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and lead author of the study, published in Nature.

“I wouldn’t disparage the US’s efforts so far, but we need to do more as a nation and globally to reduce emissions. However we splice it, that’s hard to do. We can’t make small alterations to our economy – we need fundamental changes in how we get and use energy.”

Over 200 Groups Demand EPA Revise Dangerously Flawed Fracking Study

Groups charge that the EPA has "done the public a disservice" by helping promote a toxic drilling method

Not only did that language "seriously misrepresen[t] the findings of its underlying study," the letter charges that the EPA has "done the public a disservice" by helping promote a drilling method that has a known impact on water and air quality, and has been found to be a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

"News media quickly relayed this wholly inaccurate statement about the findings of the 1000-page study, much to the delight of the oil and gas industry and much to the satisfaction of the large financial interests invested in continued drilling and fracking for decades, to maximize U.S. oil and gas production," Monday's letter states.

What's more, the letter follows recent revelations that the White House was actively engaged in the "messaging" for the roll-out of the EPA's June 2015 draft report. The Obama administration has long been criticized for embracing and promoting fracking as part of its 'All of the Above' energy policy.

The groups cite a report issued by the agency's own Science Advisory Board (SAB) last month, which concluded that the EPA's report on the drilling method was inaccurate and misleading.

China tops WHO list for deadly outdoor air pollution

China is the world’s deadliest country for outdoor air pollution, according to analysis by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The UN agency has previously warned that tiny particulates from cars, power plants and other sources are killing 3 million people worldwide each year.

For the first time the WHO has broken down that figure to a country-by-country level. It reveals that of the worst three nations, more than 1 million people died from dirty air in China in 2012, at least 600,000 in India and more than 140,000 in Russia.

At 25th out of 184 countries with data, the UK ranks worse than France, with 16,355 deaths in 2012 versus 10,954, but not as poorly as Germany at 26,160, which has more industry and 16 million more people. Australia had 94 deaths and 38,043 died in the US that year from particulate pollution.

Maria Neria, director of the WHO’s public health and the environment department, told the Guardian: “Countries are confronted with the reality of better data. Now we have the figures of how many citizens are dying from air pollution. What we are learning is, this is very bad. Now there are no excuses for not taking action.”

Jupiter's moon Europa may expel water plumes from under icy shell, Nasa says

Scientists have found tantalizing evidence of a liquid water ocean swirling under the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa, Nasa announced on Monday, with new evidence of water plumes bursting out into space.

With Jupiter as a bright light behind the moon, the scientists observed Europa in silhouette, and with ultraviolet light saw what appeared to be evidence of the plumes.

“If plumes exist, this is an exciting find,” lead researcher William Sparks said. “It means we may be able to explore that ocean, that ocean of Europa, and for organic chemicals,” he added. “It would allow us to search for signs of life without having to drill through miles of ice.”

Also of Interest

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

America’s Deceptive Model for Aggression

Who Is Making American Foreign Policy—the President or the War Party?

The hard-partying surfer turned master assassin who is Trump’s guest at the debate

Conservatives aren’t just backing Clinton because Trump is scary

The Nobel Prize in Economics: How It Took a Hard Neoliberal Turn

The New Banking Crisis — In Two Frightening Graphs

Debate Commission waits until last minute to reveal (and thank) its corporate donors

Democratic Convention Donor List Disclosed

A Little Night Music

Lester Davenport - I Got a Woman

Lester Davenport - When the Blues Hit You

Lester Davenport - Slow Down Baby

Aron Burton & Lester Davenport - Ah'w Baby + Evenin' Sun Goin' Down

Mad Dog Lester Davenport - West Side Blues Harp

Lester 'Mad Dog' Davenport - When My Troubles End

Mad Dog Lester Davenport - Be Careful Baby