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This evening's music features the King of the Delta Blues Singers, Robert Johnson. Enjoy!

"A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation."

-- Adlai E. Stevenson

News and Opinion

Obama, the world's greatest hypocrite, calls out Putin at the UN for violating the sovereignty of Ukraine - and in the same speech says that Russia is "misguided" in supporting the government of Syria, which Obama has repeatedly violated the sovereignty of and has encouraged other nations to join in doing so. What a maroon!

Obama Hits Putin Hard at the UN, But Says He's Willing to Work With Russia and Iran on Syria

President Obama took aim at Moscow in his address at the UN's General Assembly general debate on Monday, just hours before a planned bilateral meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

"We can't stand by when the sovereignty of a nation is flagrantly violated," said Obama, criticizing Russia's annexation of Crimea and continued involvement in Ukraine. "If that happens to a sovereign nation like Ukraine it can happen to any nation here."

Obama also said Russia and its allies were misguided in their support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. ...

But on Syria, Obama, in keeping with a push towards diplomacy that has characterized his second term, said that, "the United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict."

Putin: Chaos of Iraq and Libya Warn Against Western Regime Change in Syria

In a televised interview with Putin that aired Sunday night on 60 Minutes, the Russian leader made his nation's position clear on why the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad must be maintained as it battles the tide of ISIS and other armed militias, some of which have been backed by the United States.

Asked by CBS News' Charlie Rose whether part of Russia's plan was to "rescue" Assad, Putin acknowledged this was true, but pointed to other destabilized countries in the region that fell into chaos after their governments were forcibly removed from power by the U.S. military and their NATO allies.

"Yes, you're right," Putin said of his support for Damascus. "We support the legitimate government of Syria. And it's my deep belief that any actions to the contrary in order to destroy the legitimate government will create a situation which you can witness now in the other countries of the region or in other regions, for instance in Libya where all the state institutions are disintegrated. We see a similar situation in Iraq. And there is no other solution to the Syrian crisis than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. But, at the same time, urging them to engage in positive dialogue with the rational opposition and conduct reform."

Asked about those who hold the position that 'Assad must go' before a diplomatic solution can be forged in Syria, Putin said he had this message for the U.S. State Department and others who hold that view: "It's only the Syrian people who are entitled to decide who should govern their country and how."

Asked to account for the human rights abuses and alleged war atrocities committed by the Assad regime as he wages a military campaign against those forces opposed to him, Putin would not take responsibility for those charges, but said, "Well, tell me, what do you think about those who support the opposition and mainly the terrorist organizations only in order to oust Assad without thinking about what will happen to the country after all the government institutions have been demolished? Today, you have repeatedly said that Assad is fighting against his own population. But look at those who are in control of 60 percent of the territory in Syria. It's controlled by either ISIS or by others."

Obama Condemns Putin, Republicans, Many Others in UN Speech

Suggests Willingness to Work With All Those Things He Condemned

As expected, Obama’s main focus was railing against Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying Putin stood for a “darker, more disordered world” because of his support for the Syrian government in its war against ISIS, and also for the civil war in Ukraine, which has been in ceasefire for half a year now.

Obama also found time to condemn China for building islands in the South China Sea, and to condemn Iran for supporting Syria and for being “anti-American,” while bragging about having the most powerful military on the planet at his command. ...

Incredibly though, President Obama followed up condemning pretty much everybody by saying he is “willing to work with them” on the Syrian War, reflecting an increasingly confused US narrative on even where they’re at on the Syrian War.

Vladimir Putin's UN speech (analysis from the Guardian's liveblog)

By Vladimir Putin’s standards this was a relatively restrained speech. Unlike in Munich in 2007, when he famously launched an all-out attack on US global hegemony, Putin didn’t even mention America by name.

His key message, as expected, was on Syria. Putin said that Russia was convening an anti-Isis coalition and that the best way of defeating Islamist terrorism was to bolster state structures - in other words to rescue the enfeebled government of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad.

All eyes will now turn to Putin’s meeting this evening - due at around 10pm GMT - with Obama. In his speech Obama made it clear that a “managed transition” in Syria can only take place if Assad leaves power. Putin today said the opposite: that Assad is the solution rather than the problem.

There were no surprises on Ukraine. Putin stuck to the narrative that he’s repeated since the dramatic events in Kiev in spring of 2014. According to Russia’s president a ‘military coup’ from outside - in other words engineered by America and the CIA - provoked a “civil war” in the country.

Multinational Deal May Allow Assad to Stay

The “official” positions of myriad Western nations on the Syrian Civil War have been demands for the unconditional surrender of the Assad government. This has been the US position as recently as a few days ago, when the State Department reported US and British officials met and agreed Assad has to go.

But they seem to be getting flexible on that matter suddenly, with British Premier David Cameron now reportedly in favor of keeping Assad in power for the sake of forming a “unity government,” which is the exact same Russian plan that the US and Britain have been repudiating for months.

US officials, after spending the past couple of weeks railing at Russia for still being on board with this plan, today report that Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov to discuss a “political transition” which US officials were insisting just days prior was totally impossible.

Abby Martin & Chris Hedges: War, Propaganda and the Enemy Within

China hits back at Hillary Clinton in women's rights row

China has hit back at US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton after she called President Xi Jinping “shameless” for hosting a meeting on women’s rights at the UN while continuing to persecute activists at home.

A strongly worded editorial in the fiercely nationalistic, state-run newspaper Global Times likened Clinton to Donald Trump, a “demagogue” whose popularity is based on his “big mouth”.

“It seems that Hillary, eager to keep a competitive edge in the game, has also resorted to these ignominious shenanigans,” the editorial said, calling her a rabble-rouser who has thrown away her decency and reputation in order to gain a leg up in the election.

Clinton, who is campaigning to become the first female president of the US, on Sunday condemned the Chinese president and voiced support for the #FreeThe20 campaign, whose aim is to release 20 female activists around the world.

Despite Pledge, U.S. Still Not Letting Gitmo Detainees Tell Their Stories

Despite promises to allow Guantánamo prisoners to speak more freely about their experiences there, the U.S. government is still blocking the release of over 100 pages of notes and diaries from torture victim Abu Zubaydah.

The U.S. had for many years taken the position that the prisoners could not describe their own experiences of torture and confinement because those activities were classified.

But in January, after the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report, the government changed its classification rules. In a brief filed in a military commission case, the government wrote that “general allegations of torture” minus specific details about the CIA agents involved or the location, were now unclassified.

The brief specifically lists 119 names of prisoners who could now discuss details about their treatment — and, according to Joe Margulies, a law professor at Cornell and lead defense attorney for Zubaydah, his client’s name is the first one on the list. ...

However, as Margulies first told Reuters, the government has responded with an almost blanket refusal: “We submitted 116 pages in 10 separate submissions. The government declared all of it classified.”

What I Learned About al Qaeda from Analyzing the ‘Bin Laden’ Tapes

What do the tapes reveal about Bin Laden and al Qaeda? Here are several surprising discoveries.

First, Bin Laden was not al Qaeda's leader at its outset — in fact, the organization sought to marginalize him. ... Bin Laden's Saudi credentials and wealth [were] suspect since Saudi support came with strings attached: don't bring your revolution back home. ... While al Qaeda is typically distinguished from other militant and terrorist groups for its unequivocal focus on attacking the West and the United States, the organization's chief leaders prioritized multiple enemies, foremost among them authoritarian leaders within the Arab world. Bin Laden's speeches from as late as 1993 avoid any public mention of directing militant activity toward America, despite the fact that massive US-led coalition forces had been stationed in his homeland for a full three years.

Bin Laden makes no mistake that Saudi Arabia is occupied: "Disbelief has surrounded the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries [of Mecca and Medina] like a bracelet coiled upon the wrist. We ask God to liberate Muslims everywhere and to protect our Two Holy Sanctuaries." ...

Bin Laden's first and most notorious "Declaration of War against the United States" in 1996 was neither a declaration nor a call to war. These labels were given to Bin Laden by Western journalists and translators who sought to draw attention to growing Arab anger at the devastating effects of US-led sanctions against Saddam Hussein on Iraq's people.

Featuring 15 poems often condensed or omitted from English translations, the speech is better understood as an epistle to the Saudi monarchy warning them of militant insurrection should they continue to sacrifice Arab and Islamic cultural values to Western secularism.

Saudi royal calls for regime change in Riyadh

A senior Saudi prince has launched an unprecedented call for change in the country’s leadership, as it faces its biggest challenge in years in the form of war, plummeting oil prices and criticism of its management of Mecca, scene of last week’s hajj tragedy.

The prince, one of the grandsons of the state’s founder, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, has told the Guardian that there is disquiet among the royal family – and among the wider public – at the leadership of King Salman, who acceded the throne in January.

The prince, who is not named for security reasons, wrote two letters earlier this month calling for the king to be removed.

“The king is not in a stable condition and in reality the son of the king [Mohammed bin Salman] is ruling the kingdom,” the prince said. “So four or possibly five of my uncles will meet soon to discuss the letters. They are making a plan with a lot of nephews and that will open the door. A lot of the second generation is very anxious.”

“The public are also pushing this very hard, all kinds of people, tribal leaders,” the prince added. “They say you have to do this or the country will go to disaster.”

Journalism is Not a Crime: Freed Al Jazeera Reporter Peter Greste Seeks Pardon from Egypt

Hundreds gather at Ramstein to protest US drone strikes

Carrying signs telling the U.S. military “to go home” and “to stop war,” hundreds gathered for several hours outside Ramstein Air Base on Saturday, peacefully protesting against the ongoing military activities supported by the base.

The Berlin-based alliance Stop Ramstein – no Drone War organized the demonstration.

One of the aims of the demonstration was to call for the end of the base’s alleged use as a satellite relay station in the U.S. drone program overseas. As such, one sign in English read: “No to the killer terror drones.”

Secret Surveillance Court Picks First Outsider To Get a Look In

The shadowy Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has appointed its first “friend of the court” to add an outsider’s perspective to the highly secretive process of approving surveillance requests from the government.

Preston Burton, a criminal defense attorney known for his work with accused spies, is the first of at least five amici curiae the court must appoint due to a provision in the USA Freedom Act, the surveillance-reform legislative package passed in June. ...

The role of the amici is fairly limited, however. They will only be brought in on “certain matters” that may present “a novel or significant interpretation of the law.” The FISA Court does not necessarily have to share classified information with the amici, and has the authority to determine whether or not information they present is “relevant.”

Burton is best known for representing famous clients, including Monica Lewinsky, the so-called D.C. Madam, and several former FBI, CIA, and DIA agents accused of being spies for foreign countries.

It’s unclear why he was chosen to represent the public’s interest in this way. ... One factor could be that in espionage cases, defense attorneys are required to have security clearances — something that is also required of amici for the FISA Court.

By contrast, most civil liberties activists don’t have security clearances, and wouldn’t accept the non-disclosure prohibitions that go along with them.

Interesting article, here's a taste:

The Greatest Threat to Campus Free Speech is Coming From Dianne Feinstein and her Military-Contractor Husband

One of the most dangerous threats to campus free speech has been emerging at the highest levels of the University of California system, the sprawling collection of 10 campuses that includes UCLA and UC Berkeley. The university’s governing Board of Regents, with the support of University President Janet Napolitano and egged on by the state’s legislature, has been attempting to adopt new speech codes that — in the name of combating “anti-Semitism” — would formally ban various forms of Israel criticism and anti-Israel activism.

Under the most stringent such regulations, students found to be in violation of these codes would face suspension or expulsion. In July, it appeared that the Regents were poised to enact the most extreme version, but decided instead to push the decision off until September, when they instead would adopt non-binding guidelines to define “hate speech” and “intolerance.”

One of the Regents most vocally advocating for the most stringent version of the speech code is Richard Blum, the multi-millionaire defense contractor who is married to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. At a Regents meeting last week, reported the Los Angeles Times, Blum expressly threatened that Feinstein would publicly denounce the university if it failed to adopt far more stringent standards than the ones it appeared to be considering, and specifically demanded they be binding and contain punishments for students found to be in violation. ...

Blum’s verbatim comments at the Regents meeting are even creepier than ... reporting suggests:

I should add that over the weekend my wife, your senior Senator, and I talked about this issue at length. She wants to stay out of the conversation publicly but if we do not do the right thing she will engage publicly and is prepared to be critical of this university if we don’t have the kind of not only statement but penalties for those who commit what you can call them crimes, call them whatever you want. Students that do the things that have been cited here today probably ought to have a dismissal or a suspension from school. I don’t know how many of you feel strongly that way but my wife does and so do I.

Sarah McLaughlin of the campus free-speech group FIRE wrote: “Yes, a UC Regent flatly threatened the university with political consequences if it failed to craft a ‘tolerance’ policy that would punish — and even expel — its violators.”

Catalonia independent? Pros & cons of secession from Spain

Catalan separatists win election and claim it as yes vote for breakaway

Separatists took control of Catalonia’s regional government in an election result that could plunge Spain into one of its deepest political crises of recent years, by forcing Madrid to confront an openly secessionist government at the helm of one of its wealthiest regions.

A record-breaking number of Catalans cast their vote in Sunday’s election, billed as a de facto referendum on independence. With more than 98% of the votes counted, the nationalist coalition Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) were projected to win 62 seats, while far-left pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy, known in Spain as CUP, were set to gain 10 seats, meaning an alliance of the two parties could give secessionists an absolute majority in the region’s 135-seat parliament. ...

After attempts by Catalan leaders to hold a referendum on independence were blocked by the central government in Madrid, Catalan leader Artur Mas i Gavarró sought to turn the elections into a de facto referendum, pledging to begin the process of breaking away from Spain if Junts pel Sí won a majority of seats. ...

The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has vowed to use the full power of the country’s judiciary to block any move towards independence.

'Another World Is Possible': Corbyn's Labour Party Lampoons Austerity

As austerity comes under fire across the European continent, the UK Labour Party can show that "another world is possible," Jeremy Corbyn's top economist said Monday—one that rejects harsh cuts while embracing a platform of fair and progressive taxation, living wages, and "a radical review of the national institutions that manage our economy." ...

"We are embarking on the immense task of changing the economic discourse in this country," Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the Labour Party's annual conference on Monday in Brighton. ...

McDonnell took specific aim at corporate welfare policies that benefit big businesses more than average people, saying: "We will force people like Starbucks, Vodafone, Amazon and Google and all the others to pay their fair share of taxes. Let me tell you also, there will be cuts to tackle the deficit but our cuts will not be the number of police officers on our streets or nurses in our hospitals or teachers in our classrooms."

"We need to prove to the British people we can run the economy better than the rich elite that runs it now," he told his party's four-day annual conference.

"Idealists yes, but ours is a pragmatic idealism to get things done, to transform our society," he added. "We remain inspired by the belief and hope that another world is possible. This is our opportunity to prove it. Let's seize it."

Over the weekend, Labour leadership announced it it had set up an economic advisory committee including Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz and Frenchman Thomas Piketty to help develop its anti-austerity policies.

Trump Hotel workers use candidate's anti-Latino rhetoric to galvanize union

Donald Trump has called it a “great honor” that workers at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas had thus far declined to unionize. “They love me,” he said last month on the campaign trail.

But workers were signaling otherwise. That very day, Latino staffers protesting at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas were using his harsh stance on immigrants to galvanize a majority-Latino workforce to join the Culinary Union, one of the most powerful entities in Nevada politics.

“Eighty percent of Trump [culinary] employees are Latino,” Carmen Harull, a Trump Hotel housekeeper from Argentina, told the Guardian. “He is very wrong to say that we’re criminals and drug addicts. We are people who work hard for our families.”

“The idea is to draw on the momentum Trump’s campaign has activated within the Latino community,” said the Culinary Union’s political director, Yvanna Cancela. “People are realizing that if they don’t engage on issues like worker’s rights, like voting, like civic engagement, we could very well end up with someone who shares these kind of anti-immigrant sentiments in the White House, whether it’s Donald Trump or one of the other candidates.”

According to the Culinary Union, Trump Hotel employees earn $3.33 less on average than workers who do the same jobs at the Bellagio, Wynn, Caesar’s Palace, the Stratosphere and all of the other 95% of Las Vegas resorts which have organized labor representing hotel staff. In addition to better wages and benefits, organizers are demanding equal treatment and respect, an allusion to the nationalist rhetoric Trump has used throughout his campaign.

Trump: Rivals Want to Start World War 3 Over Syria

After months of all the Republican presidential candidates trying to out hawk one another, front-runner Donald Trump made a surprise appeal to reason Friday, saying he didn’t support “starting World War III over Syria” and that if Russia wants to fight ISIS in that country, the US should let them do it.

Trump’s attempt to retain his hawkish position with any suggestion of not starting a war against someone is liable to be difficult, with other candidates like Lindsey Graham openly talking about ground invasions to kill as many people in other countries as theoretically possible.

Shell abandons Alaska Arctic drilling

Shell has abandoned its controversial drilling operations in the Alaskan Arctic in the face of mounting opposition in what jubilant environmentalists described as “an unmitigated defeat” for big oil.

The Anglo-Dutch company had repeatedly stressed the enormous hydrocarbon potential of the far north region in public, but in private began to admit it had been surprised by the popular opposition it faced.

Shell said today it had made a marginal discovery of oil and gas with its summer exploration in the Chukchi Sea but not enough to continue to the search for the “foreseeable” future.

Shell has spent over $7bn (£4.6bn) on its failed hunt for oil which critics said could only endanger one of the world’s last pristine environments and produce expensive hydrocarbons that were no longer needed. ...

The company has already come under increasing pressure from shareholders worried about plunging oil prices, a planned merger with rival BG as well as the costs of what has so far been a futile search in the Chukchi Sea.

Glacier melt shows a climate change tipping point. We must pay attention

Mountain glaciers and humans have coexisted for roughly 200,000 years, but that long idyll appears to be ending. The earth’s 190,000 glaciers, sentinels of climate change that appear to be more sensitive to the climate than are humans, are disappearing at an unprecedented pace, the canaries in climate change’s coal mine. ...

Most of the world’s glaciers began changing in the late 1980s from relative stability to negative mass balances. Mass balance is the difference between growth from snow accumulation and shrinkage from snow and ice melting. The relatively abrupt change to negative glacier mass balances strongly suggests a climate tipping point, when the climate changes from one stable state to another.

If the warning glaciers gave us in the 1980s had been heeded and a crash program to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy had been initiated then, the climate-change crises we are facing now would be less acute. Transitions to alternative energy such as solar and wind are underway now, but they were late getting started and are not yet substantial enough to reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

After Decades of Discrimination, Farm Workers Get Pesticide Protections

Farm workers will now have sweeping new protections from pesticides under new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules announced Monday—safeguards which labor leaders say eluded farm workers for decades due to racial discrimination.

The new rules, announced by EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, and United Farm Workers (UFW) president Arturo Rodriguez, include the following stipulations:

• All pesticide applicators will be required to be at least 18 years old, rather than 16;
• Whistleblower protections, including for undocumented workers, must be implemented so that farm laborers can safely file complaints over workplace abuse;
• Workers or their representatives must be allowed easy access to records involving hazardous chemical exposure.

The full list of regulations can be found at the EPA website.

"Farm workers deserve to be healthy and safe while they earn a living," McCarthy said on a press call Monday. "We will not turn our backs on the people who help feed this nation."

Will TTIP Get Terminated? Negotiations Falter as Europe Balks

While public opposition to the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—the massive proposed "trade" deal between the European Union and the United States—has grown steadily since negotiations started two years ago, new signs suggest that official government backing is also faltering across Europe.

In an interview with French regional newspaper Sud Ouest published Monday, Junior Trade Minister Matthias Fekl said TTIP negotiations were favoring American interests and "either weren't advancing or were progressing in the wrong direction."

"If nothing changes, it will show that there isn't the will to achieve mutually beneficial negotiations," he said, before adding: "France is considering all options including an outright termination of negotiations."

Meanwhile, a group of more than 55 UK members of parliament (MPs) has signed onto a motion expressing major concerns about the mammoth trade pact, which civil society groups have dubbed a corporate giveaway. Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, put forward the Commons motion, and it has now been signed by every member of the Scottish National Party group at Westminster, as well as the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Politico's Paul Ames wrote of the "cooling ardor on both sides of the Atlantic" earlier this month, saying that since talks began in July 2013, the trade deal "has lost some of its shine."

Also of Interest

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

Profiled:
From Radio to Porn, British Spies Track Web Users’ Online Identities

Pope Francis scorecard: liberals take away biggest wins from pontiff's US visit

Senator Elizabeth Warren's speech on racial inequality in full

A Little Night Music

Robert Johnson - Cross Road Blues

Cream Renuion Concert - I Went Down To The Crossroads

Adam Gussow - Crossroads Blues

Robert Johnson - Kind Hearted Woman Blues

Bob Dylan - Kind Hearted Woman Blues

Roy Rogers - Kind Hearted Woman

Robert Johnson - Come on in my Kitchen

Allman Brothers Band - Come On In My Kitchen

David Bromberg - Come on in my Kitchen

Robert Johnson - Love In Vain Blues

The Faces - Love In Vain

Robert Johnson - I Believe I'll Dust My Broom

Elmore James - Dust My Broom

Luna - Dust My Broom

Robert Johnson - They're Red Hot

Robert Johnson - Hellhound on my Trail

Kelly Joe Phelps - Hellhound on my Trail

Robert Johnson - Milkcow's Calf Blues

Robert Palmer- Milkcow's Calf Blues

Robert Johnson - I'm A Steady Rollin' Man

Robert Lockwood, Jr. & Carey Bell - I'm a Steady Rollin' Man

Robert Johnson - Walkin' Blues

Son House - Walkin' Blues

Robert Johnson - Stones In My Passway

The White Stripes - Stones In My Passway

Robert Johnson - Travelling Riverside Blues

Led Zeppelin - Travelling Riverside Blues

Robert Johnson - Sweet Home Chicago

Freddie King - Sweet Home Chicago