The Evening Blues - 8-19-16
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues and r&b singer and guitarist Joe Louis Walker. Enjoy!
Joe Louis Walker - T-Bone Shuffle
“To cheapen the lives of any group of men, cheapens the lives of all men, even our own. This is a law of human psychology, or human nature. And it will not be repealed by our wishes, nor will it be merciful to our blindness.”
-- William Pickens
News and Opinion
Doctors Without Borders leaves north Yemen because of 'indiscriminate bombings' by US-backed Saudis
Doctors Without Borders, one of the largest medical charities, has decided to evacuate its staff from all six hospitals it supports in northern Yemen, because it cannot guarantee their safety from "indiscriminate bombings" by the Saudi-led coalition.
The group, also known by its French acronym MSF, said it made the decision after Monday's attack on Abs Hospital in Yemen's Hajjah Governorate that killed 19 people, including one MSF staff member. The departure of MSF doctors and staffers will leave northern Yemen in an even more dire humanitarian situation.
Since the suspension of peace talks in Kuwait between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi forces fighting against it, the bombing campaign has intensified. MSF said it has lost confidence in the coalition's ability to avoid such fatal attacks. The Abs attack is the fourth on an MSF facility in under a year, and the deadliest thus far. ...
Saudi officials have insisted that their warplanes and those of allied nations, which are getting air-to-air refueling and targeting support from the US, have targeted only military sites.
UK govt urged to kick Saudi Arabia off UN human rights council for Yemen brutality
Amid Fresh Yemen Killings, UN May Re-Blacklist Saudi Arabia
The U.N. is ready to place Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies attacking Yemen on the organization's blacklist for abusing and killing children after the coalition attacked a school, a hospital and family home within four days, killing more than 35 civilians, a report by Foreign Policy magazine said Wednesday.
The threat is likely to come in the form of a letter from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office to the Saudi government as early as Thursday, the magazine was told by unnamed senior officials at the United Nations.
In June, Saudi Arabia reacted angrily to a decision to blacklist the coalition after a U.N. report found the alliance responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in Yemen last year. Ban later took the coalition off the list after threats to cut off funding to U.N. aid programs. ...
However, Foreign Policy reported that officials say the mood in the U.N. has shifted in the past week and Ban’s top advisors, including Leila Zerrougui, are now brandishing the threat to shame the coalition if they fail to rein in their bombs.
Syrian Rebels Quickly Endorse Rebranded Nusra Front
While everyone seems to have been pretty clear on the fact that last month’s “rebranding” by long-time al-Qaeda affiliate the Nusra Front, which renamed itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, was just a cynical effort to forestall joint US-Russian operations against them, the move appears to have been sufficient to net them a whole new collection of “moderate” rebel allies.
While a lot of the rebels publicly expressed sympathy for them even as an al-Qaeda affiliate, there were relatively few eager to overtly ally with them in Aleppo before the name change. Now, they’re awash in new partners, and Nusra leaders claim they’ve never been stronger. ...
At the same time, it’s not like Nusra is really distancing itself from al-Qaeda in anything but a nominal way. Al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is the one who publicly proposed the rebranding strategy as a way to gather allies and form an Islamic “emirate” of their own.
Worth a thousand words: Can one photo change the course of the Syrian war?
"In fact one of the depressing things about the Syrian war is that it's a proxy war. There are all these powers playing against each other there, but none of them are being hurt. Iran is not being hurt, Russia's not being hurt, the United States is not being hurt, even Turkey is not being hurt by that war. They can keep people dying in Syria for another ten years - and may well do it."
Turkey and Iran Reach Agreement on Conditions for Syria Peace
In a stunning diplomatic surprise, Turkey and Iran have announced a preliminary agreement on fundamental principles for a settlement of the Syrian conflict.
The dramatic turn in the diplomacy of the Syria War was revealed in Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s regular weekly speech to the ruling AKP Party in the parliament and confirmed by a senior Iranian foreign ministry official Tuesday.
Both Yildirim’s speech and the Iranian corroboration were reported Tuesday by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and Al-Hayat, Arabic-language newspapers published in London, but the potentially pivotal development has been unreported thus far in Western news media.
The new negotiations between Iran and Turkey are the result of a major policy shift by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan toward diplomatic cooperation with Russia and Iran on Syria and away from alignment with the United States and its Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Turkey has been coordinating military assistance to the armed opposition to the Assad government – including jihadists and other hardline extremists – with Saudi Arabia and Qatar since early in the war. However, Erdogan began searching in May for an alternative policy more in line with Turkey’s primary strategic interest in Syria: containing the threat of Kurdish demands for a separate state. ...
It is also possible that Turkey may be planning to use the threat of allying with Russia and Iran on Syria to force the United States to reduce its own reliance on Kurdish forces in Northern Syria – the main issue dividing US and Turkish policies toward the conflict. But Yildirim had already hinted last month – before the failed military coup in Turkey and the launching of a new offensive by al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front around and in Aleppo – at Turkey’s intention to revise its policy toward Syria in order to prevent Kurdish forces in Syria from establishing their own mini-state.
Congress Seeks to Establish Russia as Permanent Enemy
The Cold War provided a solid generation of unfettered government growth in the US on the pretext of the Russian threat, and over the past few years American officials have relished at the new round of tensions with Russia, and the budget-busting spending it has permitted.
They’re hoping to make that permanent, with a new bill called the STAND for Ukraine Act aiming to make temporary measures imposed during Ukraine’s regime change permanent, and hamstring all future governments from a diplomatic rapprochement with Russia.
While there’s a lot of taxpayer money to be frittered away on preparing for war with Russia, however, those aren’t the only moneyed interests at play here. The US-Russia Business Council is fighting vigorously against the bill, and the sanctions, with ExxonMobil’s agreed to $500 billion drilling deal with Rosneft at risk if the sanctions become permanent. ...
This puts two wildly influential lobbying powers, America’s military contractors, and its oil industry, directly at odds with one another, and with massive sums of money ultimately at stake.
Putin visits Crimea amid military buildup on Ukraine border
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are heating up even more as President Vladimir Putin landed in Crimea on Friday to meet with his security council just after Moscow announced it's putting advanced anti-aircraft missiles there.
Over the last week, the number of heavy weapons deployed near the front lines in eastern Ukraine has doubled, part of a pattern of Russia ramping up its military presence in the region throughout the summer. An estimated 40,000 soldiers have been stationed there, on top of aircraft and the anti-missile defense system. ...
US officials and observers are not entirely convinced that Putin is planning a new offensive, saying the latest moves might be part of routine troop rotations, or efforts to instill patriotism ahead of the parliamentary elections in September.
"It's highly unlikely that the Russians are truly planning some major offensive," Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russia at New York University, told the New York Times. "We're looking at a classic strategy of building up tension."
In Crimea, Putin is slated to meet with security officials in the territory, and make an appearance at a children's summer camp.
Report: U.S. Transfers Nukes From Turkish Airbase to Romania
The U.S. has started transferring American nuclear weapons stationed at an airbase in southeastern Turkey to Romania, the independent Euractiv website reported on Thursday.
The reported move comes after a U.S.-based think tank said on Monday that the stockpile at Incirlik airbase, which consists of some 50 nuclear bombs, was at risk of being captured by "terrorists or other hostile forces."
"It's not easy to move 20 plus nukes," a source told Euractiv, adding that the transfer to the Romanian base of Deveselu has posed technical and political challenges. The report noted that the move has especially enraged Russia.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry strongly denied that any U.S. nuclear weapons were transferred to Romania.
US delayed $400m payment to Iran until American prisoners released
The US government confirmed on Thursday it initially withheld a $400m cash payment to Iran in January to maintain leverage over the release of American prisoners.
A spokesman for the state department insisted the payment eventually made in August was not a ransom, and that negotiations over the release of four US prisoners were conducted separately from the settlement of a decades-old account pertaining to a failed arms deal with Iran.
The new statement followed a report in the Wall Street Journal stating that the delivery of the cash was contingent upon the American prisoners being freed. The events, which occurred in January, have recently been seized upon by Republicans as evidence that the Obama administration made a ransom payment to Iran in order to secure their release.
“What the State Department admitted today was the dictionary definition of a ransom payment and a complete contradiction of what they were saying just two weeks ago. Hillary Clinton’s support for this dangerous blunder, which has put a price on the head of every American citizen, shows once again she does not have the judgement to be president,” RNC spokesperson Michael Short said in a statement.
The White House has virulently disputed the characterization, pointing out that the transfer was announced in January.
The NSA Leak Is Real, Snowden Documents Confirm
On Monday, a hacking group calling itself the “ShadowBrokers” announced an auction for what it claimed were “cyber weapons” made by the NSA. Based on never-before-published documents provided by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, The Intercept can confirm that the arsenal contains authentic NSA software, part of a powerful constellation of tools used to covertly infect computers worldwide.
The provenance of the code has been a matter of heated debate this week among cybersecurity experts, and while it remains unclear how the software leaked, one thing is now beyond speculation: The malware is covered with the NSA’s virtual fingerprints and clearly originates from the agency.
The evidence that ties the ShadowBrokers dump to the NSA comes in an agency manual for implanting malware, classified top secret, provided by Snowden, and not previously available to the public. The draft manual instructs NSA operators to track their use of one malware program using a specific 16-character string, “ace02468bdf13579." That exact same string appears throughout the ShadowBrokers leak in code associated with the same program, SECONDDATE.
SECONDDATE plays a specialized role inside a complex global system built by the U.S. government to infect and monitor what one document estimated to be millions of computers around the world. Its release by ShadowBrokers, alongside dozens of other malicious tools, marks the first time any full copies of the NSA’s offensive software have been available to the public, providing a glimpse at how an elaborate system outlined in the Snowden documents looks when deployed in the real world, as well as concrete evidence that NSA hackers don’t always have the last word when it comes to computer exploitation. ...
SECONDDATE is a tool designed to intercept web requests and redirect browsers on target computers to an NSA web server. That server, in turn, is designed to infect them with malware. SECONDDATE’s existence was first reported by The Intercept in 2014, as part of a look at a global computer exploitation effort code-named TURBINE. The malware server, known as FOXACID, has also been described in previously released Snowden documents.
NSA Leaks: Irresponsibility or the Result of a Mole?
Speculation of a Russian “plot” is unsatisfying, and well short of a complete explanation for what happened, given that these tools appear to be “the keys to the kingdom” and perhaps the most advanced hacking tools on the planet. Experts say this sort of collection wouldn’t just be sitting around for some random hacker group, state-run or otherwise.
Or at least it shouldn’t. The competing theories right now for how the code got out of the NSA in the first place are that the agency either indeed just left a bunch of highly secret kit on some server by mistake, which would be wildly irresponsible, or that the whole “hacking” story is a cover, and the code leak is actually the result of a mole who made off with it.
Pinochet's widow under investigation on suspicion of swindling millions
Lucia Hiriart, the widow of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, is under investigation for allegedly swindling the Chilean treasury of millions of dollars by selling properties designated as community centers.
A report by Chilean prosecutors also accuses Hiriart, 93, of siphoning funds from the NGO she ran, CEMA Chile, to pay General Pinochet’s living expenses in the United Kingdom while he was under house arrest following his arrest in 1998.
Chile’s minister of public property, Víctor Osorio, told the Guardian that prosecutors are preparing to file formal charges over allegations that CEMA Chile misappropriated millions of dollars in government funds.
During her 43 years at the head of the organisation, Hiriart oversaw the sale of dozens of government properties which had been donated to the foundation. Chilean officials say that profits from the sales were transferred abroad or simply disappeared. ...
The CEMA Chile foundation was founded in 1954 as a vehicle for charitable works by the country’s first ladies. Hiriart took over following the bloody 1973 military coup that put her husband in power, acting as the group’s president and then president-for-life until she resigned the position last week.
Bolivia opens new military academy to combat US 'imperial oppression'
President Evo Morales said the new academy was Latin America’s answer to the US School of the Americas and its dark history supporting right-wing dictatorships during the Cold War.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales has inaugurated a military academy he promised will help push back US imperialism in Latin America and the world.
"While the empire's military schools teach how to dominate the world, this school will help us learn to free ourselves from imperial oppression," Morales told soldiers gathered at the school for the opening ceremony on Wednesday. "We'll be a school for the defense of the people, and not the empire."
According to the Bolivian newspaper Página Siete, the institution's "anti-imperialism" diploma will be a mandatory requirement for promotion to the rank of captain within the Bolivian army.
President Morales said the School of the Anti-Imperialist Commando, located in the eastern Bolivian town of Warnes, will begin work with 100 pupils and will be open to soldiers from other Latin American countries.
The original idea came from the Venezuelan president and onetime regional leftist icon, Hugo Chávez, who financed the construction of the building before his death in 2013. ...
Latin America's left still harbours a deep disgust for that US school that trained many Latin American officers in their abuse-filled battles against guerrillas during the Cold War, and has since been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
In Historic Shift, U.S. Government to End Use of Deadly, Costly, Negligent Private Prisons
Federal decision to phase out private prisons has limited impact, activists say
The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it would begin “phasing out” the use of private prisons for federal prisoners citing superior safety and rehabilitation outcomes at state-run facilities. ...
The move has been widely hailed by advocates as one that could signal positive change for about 22,000 federal inmates across 13 facilities, but many have also paused to note that the Justice Department decision only affects about a quarter of inmates and detainees held in US private facilities.
“While the Justice Department’s announcement is a step in the right direction, much more action is needed to scrub private prisons from our criminal justice system,” said Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, an online racial justice organization. ...
“Refugees, children, parents and everyday people seeking a better life are routinely locked up, abused and even killed by corporate-run immigrant detention facilities and despite the evidence, the Department of Homeland Security refuses to shut them down,” said Greisa Martinez, advocacy director for United We Dream Action, an immigrant rights activist organization. She added that today’s decision is “yet more evidence of why Hillary Clinton must commit to use executive authority to provide relief to immigrants in her first 100 days, should she become president”
The Justice Department Is Done With Private Prisons. Will ICE Drop Them Too?
The Justice Department's announcement on Thursday that it would seek to end the use of private contractors to run its federal prisons was a monumental one that quickly sent private prison stocks plunging and drew praise from dozens of human and civil rights groups that for years had been denouncing abuse and neglect in private facilities.
In a memo explaining the decision, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates wrote that private prisons “simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources,” “do not save substantially on costs,” and “do not maintain the same level of safety and security” as facilities operated by the Bureau of Prisons.
But as the criminal justice community began to take stock of the news, many also expressed hopes that the DOJ would not be the only government agency to cut ties with the private companies, which also operate state prisons and immigration detention centers.
Advocates directly called on the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement — which is responsible for holding a growing number of detainees with pending immigration cases or awaiting deportation — to end its multimillion-dollar relationship with the private corrections industry.
Private Prisons May Be Phased Out, But Industry Leaves Trail of Bodies from Medical Neglect & Abuses
'Good to Be King': The Very Good Loans Key Lawmakers Get from Wall Street Banks
A new study identifies "a direct channel through which financial institutions contribute to the net worth of members of the U.S. Congress"—especially those ostensibly tasked with overseeing those very Wall Street entities.
The paper from London Business School professors Ahmed Tahoun and Florin Vasvari, which is based on a "unique dataset" provided by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), finds that members of Congress sitting on the finance committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives "report greater levels of leverage and new liabilities as a proportion of their total net worth, relative to when they are not part of the finance committee or relative to other congressional members."
The authors write that their analysis was "motivated in part by anecdotal evidence suggesting that some U.S. politicians, who are in a position to potentially affect the future performance of financial institutions that lend to them, have allegedly received preferential treatments from lenders." ...
The researchers conclude by confirming that indeed, data indicates that "finance committee members may use their oversight and legislative power to potentially extract benefits from financial institutions." ...
Look here to see the members of the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Banking Committee, and the House Financial Services Committee, all cited in the paper.
Gawker.com to shut down next week after acquisition by Univision
Gawker.com, the flagship site of Gawker Media, will cease publication on Monday, according to a statement by Gawker Media founder Nick Denton delivered to staff on Thursday and reported by the site.
The other Gawker Media publications, including Jezebel (women’s issues), Gizmodo (tech), io9 (science fiction, fantasy and science), Kotaku (gaming), Deadspin (sports), Jalopnik (all things automotive) and Lifehacker, are expected to continue publication after Univision’s acquisition of the company. It’s been reported that Univision has agreed to keep 95% of the company’s nearly 300 employees in the United States and Hungary, to take over the leases for its office space in New York City and Budapest and to honor the recent union contract.
Univision confirmed in a statement that it would not be acquiring Gawker.com as part of the deal. Denton sent a note to staff late Thursday, indicating that he would not be part of the acquisition and would be ending his time in the “news and gossip business”. Though Gawker.com will remain an asset of the bankrupt and defunct Gawker Media organization, Denton said that the archives will remain online and held out hope for “a second act” for the site at a later date.
Liberal Hate for the Green Party
Liberals are no longer going through the motions of criticizing the Democrat. Instead they openly show love for Hillary Clinton and disdainfully pile on Stein and Baraka with fury. The blog Wonkette called Jill Stein “cunty” and “a mendacious nihilist piece of shit.” The site Very Smart Brothas declared that a vote for Stein was akin to putting it in the trash. They also threw in a dig at Cornel West because he dared to criticize Barack Obama. The Huffington Post chose to deride Green Party convention delegates because they ate at McDonald’s. Gawker tried to link Ajamu Baraka to holocaust denial. His unassailable human rights credentials didn’t mean much when the media decided to go into attack mode.
The list is long and will get longer between now and Election Day. The degree of antipathy is actually quite useful. It tells us why the Green Party is so important and why liberals are such a dangerous enemy.
They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They spend years wringing their hands because Republicans control state legislatures but when the recently released DNC emails show that the party starves local races of money they say nothing. When they spoke up at all they made a big deal about a spurious Russian hacker connection to Donald Trump.
There is no longer any pretense of claiming a desire for systemic change or even calling themselves progressives. They are “with her” — as the slogan goes — and her illegal activities and record of mass killing don’t dissuade them from supporting her.
Liberals don’t want the Democrats to change. They cling to a bizarre hope for reform, nibbling around the edges while keeping the criminals in charge. They prefer to look down their noses at Trump supporters or consider themselves the cool kids in the high school clique. When they have an opportunity to make history and begin the process of dismantling the hold of the Democratic Party they instead become quite vicious on their behalf.
Liberals have sided with the ruling classes and resist anyone pointing out the truth. While they falsely accuse Jill Stein of being anti-vaccine, even after she clearly stated she was pro-vaccine, American police departments keep up their body count. The United States risks war with China and Russia and unemployment is still high. But they say nothing about any of those issues. They cheerlead for Hillary Clinton just as they did for Barack Obama and will say nothing against her once she is in office.
Jill Stein dismisses perception she is anti-vaccines as 'ridiculous'
Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein has sought to quash a “ridiculous” perception that she is anti-vaccines, during a televised town hall meeting where she denounced both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Stein, a Massachusetts physician, has recently been plagued by accusations that she rejects the mainstream scientific view that vaccines are fundamentally safe. She has said that there are “real questions” about corporate influence over vaccines and that there is “widespread distrust of the medical-industrial complex”.
But in a CNN town hall event on Wednesday, Stein said her statements have been taking out of context and that previous concerns over mercury in vaccines have now been resolved.
“I think there’s kind of an effort to divert the conversation from our actual agenda, because the idea that I oppose vaccines is completely ridiculous, or that I’m anti-science,” Stein said.
Few (If Any) Progressives on Clinton's Transition Team
Clinton Foundation won't accept foreign money if Hillary wins
The Clinton Foundation will no longer accept corporate and foreign donations if Hillary Clinton becomes president, according to The Associated Press.
Former President Bill Clinton announced the plan to staffers Thursday, the AP said, citing anonymous participants at the meeting. A formal announcement is expected soon.
Under the proposed changes, the family's charitable group would only accept donations from U.S. citizens and independent charities.
Bill Clinton said the foundation will continue its work and would refocus its efforts after an overhaul that could take a year. He added that the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual summit that brings together influential world leaders, would hold its final meeting next month in New York City regardless of the election's outcome.
Clinton also said he would also step down from the board of the foundation, according to the report. He was accompanied daughter Chelsea Clinton at the meeting. ...
According to the AP, Bill Clinton denied that the changes were brought about by outside pressure, but said they were motivated by the need to eliminate any concerns if his wife wins the White House.
Paul Manafort resigns as Trump's campaign manager after week of staff shakeups
Donald Trump's embattled campaign manager Paul Manafort stepped down from his position Friday morning, capping off yet a chaotic week of staff reshuffling and ending his five-month stint of running the Republican nominee's operation.
"I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today," Trump said in a statement. "[In] particular his work guiding us through the delegate and convention process. Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success." ...
Manafort was a controversial figure nearly as soon as he came on board the Trump campaign in March. A veteran GOP operative, Manafort was hired to bring some adult supervision to the campaign and help Trump clinch the nomination through the end of the primary process. But in recent days, details have emerged about Manafort's connections to foreign authoritarian leaders, in particular his work for Ukraine's pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych.
Nude Donald Trump Statues Unveiled in 5 Major U.S. Cities
Statues of a veiny, naked Donald Trump appeared in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cleveland and Seattle on Thursday morning.
Anarchist group INDECLINE took credit for the statues, releasing a video of the process of creating the bright, unflattering images of the Republican presidential nominee. They titled the project The Emperor Has No Balls, a play on the idiom "the emperor has no clothes," and highlights the part of Trump's anatomy that is missing from the artwork.
@realDonaldTrump They are erecting this statue of you in major cities. LOVE IT pic.twitter.com/AE8liJaM8K
— Democratic Patriot (@puppymnkey) August 18, 2016
Went to #Trump rally. NOTHING BIG. Disappointed. So sad. #emperorhasnoballs thanks @indeclineofficial #madrespect pic.twitter.com/NCHqjcVPCv
— Stacey Ransom (@hld4ransom) August 19, 2016
Donald Trump Casts Himself as Mr. Brexit, Mistaking Depth of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in U.S.
Donald Trump tried to reassure his millions of Twitter followers on Thursday that all is not lost. He did so by giving himself a new nickname: Mr. Brexit.
They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2016
Although he did not explain what parallels he sees between his faltering campaign for the American presidency and the results of the British referendum vote in favor of an exit from the European Union, just minutes later, the London editor of the conservative website Breitbart, Raheem Kassam, suggested that Trump was referring to the surprise victory of the anti-immigrant Leave campaign despite a raft of bad poll numbers.
Kassam did not say if he based this reading of Trump’s tweet on any inside information — but the message was posted one day after the Republican candidate put Breitbart’s chairman, Stephen Bannon, in charge of his campaign.
@NeilTurner_ @realDonaldTrump @KatrinaPierson @donlemon #Emperorhasnoballs haha #smalldick pic.twitter.com/yWEsJS4r1F
— Ben Hurr (@BenBhur2011) August 18, 2016
Alaskan village threatened by rising sea levels votes for costly relocation
The residents of a small coastal Alaskan village have voted to move to the mainland because of rising sea levels, but they may not have the funds to do it.
The 600-person village of Shishmaref, located on an island just north of the Bering Strait, has for decades been ravaged by erosion tied to climate change, leading residents to seek a more sustainable place to live.
But the community is racked by poverty, making it difficult to relocate, which is estimated to cost $180m.
Officials held a special election on Tuesday so residents could vote on whether to relocate or to stay and add environmental defenses. The vote was relatively close, with 89 for relocating and 78 to remain.
But both choices came with a steep price tag. The most recent estimate on relocating, from a 2004 Army Corps of Engineers study, was $180m. Officials said it would cost $110m for the environmental protections needed for the community to safely stay in one of Alaska’s most eroded coastal areas.
Devastating Floods in Louisiana Are the Sign of Things to Come
'We are protectors, not protesters': why I'm fighting the North Dakota pipeline
Our elders have told us that if the zuzeca sape, the black snake, comes across our land, our world will end. Zuzeca has come – in the form of the Dakota Access pipeline – and so I must fight.
I am Sicangu/Oglala Lakota, born in Rosebud, South Dakota, and writing from the frontline of the movement against the pipeline in Cannon Ball. I have been holding this ground with my Standing Rock Sioux tribe relatives since the spring. I am defending the land and water of my people, as my ancestors did before me.
The $3.8bn pipeline project is proposed to carry approximately 470,000 barrels per day of fracked oil from our Bakken oil fields, 1,172 miles through the country’s heartland, to Illinois. The pipeline will cross the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers, where it threatens to contaminate our primary source of drinking water and damage the bordering Indigenous burial grounds, historic villages and sundance sites that surround the area in all directions. Those sites that were not desecrated when the area was flooded in 1948 by the construction of the Oahe dam are now in danger again.
This week, I have witnessed pipeline construction tear its way toward the waters of the Missouri river which flow into the Mississippi, threatening to pollute the aquifer that carries drinking water to 10 million people. I have seen where their machines clawed through the earth that once held my relatives’ villages. I have watched law enforcement officials protect the oil industry by dragging away my indigenous brothers and sisters who stood up for our people. ...
This pipeline poses threats strikingly similar to those posed by the now defeated Keystone XL, but has received a fraction of the attention from mainstream media and big environmental groups. On 26 July, we were surprised to learn that the North Dakota permits were approved by the US Army Corps of Engineers to run the pipeline within a half-mile of our reservation. My tribal leaders have said that this done without consulting tribal governments, and without a meaningful study of the impacts it will have. This is a violation of federal law and, more importantly, of our treaties with the US government – the supreme law of the land.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
America Is Complicit in the Carnage in Yemen
Where Would U.S. Olympians Get the Idea They Could Lie With Impunity?
Liberal Myths: Would Al Gore Have Invaded Iraq?
Revealed: The Secret Donor Behind “Children of Israel,” the Ghost Corporation Funding GOP Super PACs
Roaming Charges: Prime Time Green
Hillary Clinton Says Colin Powell Told Her to Use Personal Email
US Targeted Killing Rules Conflate Legality and Politics
Sanders Condemns Obscene Levels of Inequality Documented in New CBO Report
Lost cities #10: Fordlandia – the failure of Henry Ford's utopian city in the Amazon
A Little Night Music
Joe Louis Walker - Don't You Know
Joe Louis Walker - Blues of the month club
Joe Louis Walker - Shake For Me
Joe Louis Walker - High Blood Pressure
Joe Louis Walker - I'm On To You
Joe Louis Walker - City of Angels
Joe Louis Walker - Too Drunk to Drive Drunk
Joe Louis Walker - Jazz San Javier 2015
Comments
The Making of a Great Novel
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
afternoon jnh...
heh, cartoon memories. thanks!
Clinton Foundation
heh, guess the big dog will have to give a lot of "speeches"...
in order to maintain
tom and daisythe clintons in the style to which they are accustomed.Good evening and
Happy Friday, Bluesters!
Thanks for another great news and blues, joe.
Hey joe, I wondered if a lot of c99ers might not realize The Evening Blues has the must-read super news roundup as well as blues. So, a suggestion that came to mind is to put a notice to that effect before the page break. And, maybe part of the first news item. Maybe not. Thinking it might get more readership for your great essays.
What do you think?
evening olinda...
you are probably right. there are likely a lot of folks here who have no idea that there's a news roundup inside. i'll try to figure out a good way to signal that in the space above the fold.
thanks! have a great evening!
Hey Joe
As a longtime Bluester, I get the importance of both parts of your program.
One is to set us up for the weekend after a hard week at work & the other is to keeps us informed (& very well). I must add, so we know "what`s up" around us & the world & to not allow complacency to creep into our lives.
I always seem to think that your Friday offerings are a little special. (At least to me they seem that way)
Thank you for starting off my awaited weekends with your great selections of news & most times, more importantly, music.
I`m already against the next war
Hey Knucklehead good points. It's one of the things
we really look forward to.... What has joe dug up tonight?!!!
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
evening knuck...
thanks!
i usually try to put up more material and links on fridays, often of longer form articles for folks to check out over the weekend. i can't remember when i started doing this, but i also try to finish the week with a more hard-driving artist, more toward the blues-rock end of the blues spectrum. so, yes i do try to make fridays a little different.
Trump Security
Wonder what the Secret Service thinks of this. They must be there too, right? Or did Trump fire them and hire his own security?
I still maintain
when Trump is elected Secret Service will quit in droves. No one wants to get between Donald and a bullet. Hold him still for a better shot maybe...
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
And they want to take a bullet for Hillary?
The rumors aren't great about what the Secret Service thinks of Hillary.
Doesn't Trump realize
the type of people he attracts are precisely the folk with no qualms to take him out as soon as they realize he lied to them? Those aren't business folk using lawyers in a board room.
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
that close to mexico...
i'm sure that trump needs a little extra security to make him feel comfortable.
How do you stop that damn graphic?
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 --
Joining OLinda with my hearty thanks
to you, Joe, for collecting up the important news for us to think about, while listening to great music.
I make it a point never to miss the Evening Blues!
evening er...
thanks! it's always good to hear that folks are reading and listening and enjoying. it makes it all worthwhile.
Evening (almost) joe, and bluesters
Yes, the Pickens quote! Excuse me while I ignore the rest (except for the Trump sculpture photos) while I find out more about Pickens while listening to Walker, and try to accomodate the fact that American politics is divorced from anything progressive.
From his autobiography, free online ...
https://books.google.com/books?id=WOMcAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=wi...
evening janis...
(it is quite legitimately evening here) anything progressive is quite consciously managed out of the marketplace of acceptable political demands by tptb. the job that clinton has been doing throughout her candidacy is diminishing the expectations of the electorate, explaining to us how impossible it is for us to use our government as a tool to promote (actual) equality and the general welfare.
think in increments! little steps promote the least resistance!
Giant steps are jazzier ...
[video:https://youtu.be/h6NCx0wcrC4]
heh...
Even better!
Thanks joe
Hi joe, good evening to you.
While Clinton lowers expectations old Dem punching bag Ralph Nader still focusing on the possible.
####
Evening Animal
Stunning sunsets regular feature at The Wildlife Camp, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia May 2016
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
evening do...
gotta love nader. he just keeps on speaking truth to power, and no matter how much power tries to marginalize him with smears and propaganda, he just keeps on making irrefutable arguments that take them down.
wow, a stunning sunset and an elephant at no extra charge!
Why are the Hillary people going after Jill Stein?
Look, if they are very lucky the Green Party might get 5 percent of the vote this year. That's why I am voting for Jill Stein, so they can reach that threshold and be considered a "real" political party for the first time.
I honestly don't care if Jill Stein would make a good President. Neither do most of the voters who go Green. I might as well admit it, I voted for Cynthia McKinney in 2008. McKinney would have been a horrible President.
Why are the Hillary people going after Jill Stein so viciously, as if they are afraid of her?
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
Because those are HER votes, damnit!
They belong to HER. How DARE we vote for someone else?
Besides; she knows bill never got 50%. Despite the polls that say trump is tanking I suspect she knows it won't be that easy.
They have all contracted Hillarabies
and must. obsessively and rabidly, attack anyone who is not Totally Devoted To The Glory of Her Heinie.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
hey tom
love the mental image of getting hill-a-rabies. was just wrapping the mind around art-hil-ery before you said that. ha!
Her Heinie!
Love it!!!
evening rmw...
they are afraid of her. well, not so much her as the ideas that she stands for. they need to purge those ideas from the mainstream.
those sorts of ideas could get out of hand.
getting jill on the debates
http://www.jill2016.com/openthedebatespetition?recruiter_id=740288
Hi Joe
Hope you don't mind me doing this here but it didn't seem to warrant an essay of its own:
Just a quick note to let people know that I'm taking a short break from photography. Consequently the Friday photography open thread will disappear for a while (around six weeks or so). Reasons are twofold - a lot of other stuff on the go at the moment and a little bit of burn out. Nothing serious but I need a break for a few weeks.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
Hi steve,
take it easy for as long as you need. Your dedication is appreciated. PM me if you want me to cover one of the weeks. I will be back home in two weeks when I'll have more free time to assist if you'd like.
In the mean time, don't ignore us ...
Hi, Janis--great to see you. Glad you're still enjoying
your visit stateside.
You may know that I can't manage to operate a cell phone camera-- but, I'll sure drop by, if you, or any other of our fine Caucus photographers, should decide to fill in while Steve's on sabbatical (so to speak).
I don't recall where you're visiting in Florida, but my old stomping grounds were Temple Terrace (Tampa)--lived there a couple years during grammar school.
Hey, have a nice rest of your trip!
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit, and, therefore, to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
National Mill Dog Rescue (NMDR) - Dogs Available For Adoption
Update: Misty May has been adopted. Yeah!
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Thank FSM for Misty May's adoption. I was thaaat close.
Two female terriers in the house and yard, bad portents. So happy for her!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Hey, RL-Misty May was a doll, so I'm very happy for her, too! NT
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Hi Mollie,
I'm always happy to meet you too.
I'm about a 4 hour drive, mostly south and on the opposite side. My time here was unexpectedly extended due to extenuating circumstances, but I'm still managing to enjoy. Thank you Mollie.
Thanks Janis
appreciate it. I should have added that if anyone wants to fill in that would be great! I've been through this before and it doesn't really sort itself out until I step away for a few weeks - usually about 4 to 6.
To be honest I would love it if it was done on a rotating basis.
For what its worth the issue is purely photography based -I want to participate more with the political stuff.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
I'll sign up for mid-sept. (the 16th)
Hey, Steve, I hope you enjoy your break--you are certainly
deserving of one.
Even though Mr M and I are political junkies, I found that taking a recent brief break from blogging (due to vacation, business, and travel) was somewhat restorative. Since I have umpteen hot spots and Wi-Fi devices, I normally continue to blog--even while traveling. But, having come back more rested this time, I may do as some folks already do, and periodically schedule myself some time off--just for the mental rest.
Anyhoo, have fun, and stay safe!
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit, and, therefore, to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
National Mill Dog Rescue (NMDR) - Dogs Available For Adoption
Update: Misty May has been adopted. Yeah!
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Thanks Mollie
like you I am always connected laptop/desktop/tablet/phone -(full set in other words) I have found recently that I do need to disconnect sometimes and focus on the real world - very restorative. This time its photography specific - no spark lately. Have been through this before and don't worry too much as it usually resolves itself within a few weeks. By Occtober I suspect that I'll be raring to go again!
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
evening steve...
sorry to hear about the burn out, but i certainly understand. it's ok to have a life.
i hope everything gets sorted out for you and you come back better than ever.
in the meantime, if you'd like, i'd be happy to post a photography open thread on friday nights as a place holder and an outlet for folks who would like to share their recent work. it wouldn't be the same without your excellent essays and inspiration, of course, but, if you'd be ok with that, i'll toss it out there and perhaps some other folks would pitch in as well.
Thanks Joe
Its nothing serious and happens roughly every two years or so - after a few weeks my shutter finger starts to get itchy again
I learned the hard way that the only real cure for being slightly burned out on something is to take a break and let things sort themselves out.
I would love it if you could put something up - tbh I never planned it to be a one person show and my ideal would be to post on a rota with others. I am just a really bad organizer.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
do you want me to post one tonight...
or did you have one prepared?
If an Indiana vaca moves you, I have room and tramping spots.
You just have to get to central NY. I can even room two (2) kids without tents.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Business as usual
U.S. Defense Contractors Tell Investors Russian Threat Is Great for Business
I'm with Jill (and Bernie) on this one (and many others);
I guess the Pentagon is on board with the removal of nukes from Turkey.
The political revolution continues
I saw a clip of Neil deGrasse Tyson,
I think on Maher's show. He said the bank bailout was more than entire NASA funding in the last fifty years. It isn't we don't have enough money, we just move it to the wrong places.
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
evening shockwave...
the anti-russian drumbeat is getting pretty loud and it's emanating from a lot of places these days. hermann göring would be proud:
Flooding!
Remember when 1000 year floods came once a millennia? How many are we up to in the US in the last month? I think they're going to have to revamp the naming system.
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
Ya mean like This Week's Mega-Flood? Who will sponsor that?
Who knew that upstate NY would be in drought? I wait a NE hurricane, I know enough not to drive in water conditions... It's getting so that night rain showers sound odd.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Our weather has been getting weirder
the last few years. Not so much more strange, just the unusual a lot more frequently. I'm about halfway between Wichita and Oklahoma. I only have about 55 years of remembering, but don't recall Jan or Feb temps in the 70s until a few years ago. First one day, the next year had two, and this year a solid week with one day nearing 90. August is Hades hot and muggy normally, but only seen a couple triple digit temps this year as opposed to week long stretches. Hell, we even had a few days of lows in upper 60s instead of upper 70s, low 80s. It might rain a few times in August here, but we had overnight rain four nights in a row as well as the occasional sprinkle that's normal every 8-10 days.
Can any of the Dixie's remember a year Texas AND Louisiana flooded in the same year that wasn't part of the same storm system or a hurricane? And within weeks of was it Maryland that got hammered so hard?
We're definitely living in interesting times. Farmers are definitely going to have to do some rethinking.
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
evening gp...
heh, we'll have to start the "millenial flood of the month club." it can have noah's ark as part of its logo.
Oh good, KY has a Noah's Ark plus dinosaurs (models)
So Northern KY is ready. Or maybe near Lexington, elenacarlena, do you have a flatboat or canoe?
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Maybe they could adopt the size names used for olives . . .
http://sizes.com/food/olives.htm
Large
Extra Large
Jumbo
Extra Jumbo
Giants
Colossal
Super Colossal
Mammoth
Super Mammoth
Sounds like a Starbucks menu
but I only guess, more familiar with olive grading, from consumer-view. Funny!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Greetings Joe & Bluesters! Wanted to share this Tweet
since some folks are still hoping that FSC might be bumped from contention this Fall.
Personally, I think FSC would run if she was in the Federal Pen--but what do I know?
Gonna have to swing back by to take in all of tonight's news and tunes, but wanted to say 'hi,' before we take our evening walk.
Hope everyone manages to stay cool--we're actually going to get a break for a couple of days, with temps only in the high 80's. Yeah!
Hard to believe that we'll soon be seeing summer come to a close. But, not any too soon for us. It's weather like this that makes me miss, and appreciate Alaska, even more. I loved the weather there! The interior was so dry, that the cold--even though potentially dangerously cold, at times--was a 'comfortable' cold for 55 to 70 below, ambient air. And, the summers were perfectly lovely!
Hey, Everyone have a safe and nice weekend.
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit, and, therefore, to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
National Mill Dog Rescue (NMDR) - Dogs Available For Adoption
Update: Misty May has been adopted. Yeah!
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
clinton must be seething with incandescent rage at being forced by a judge to submit to judicial watch's questioning.
i hope that they pull off the "gotcha" of the century.
Diary on LOF is saying that the judge told
J.W that they didn't have enough evidence. I wonder which is true?
Edit to add that she can respond to their questions in writing and has 30 days to do so.
Will she be under oath or have to sign a form which states that everything she said is to the best of her knowledge?
I'm betting it's the latter
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/judge-wont-order-deposition-of-cli...
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Thanks Joe, for the news and music this week
Thanks as usual for all the work you put into this blog. Really gives you a lot to think about.
Have been spending time trying to sort through all the mail that has accumulated since we have been gone but taking a break occasionally.
Found this article and thought it was an interesting read.............. you may have already carried it?
Have a great weekend!
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
evening jb...
i guess after all the time you guys were gone you must have enough junk mail collected to heat your house for part of the winter.
thanks for the article suggestion, i haven't posted it yet, so i'll try to remember to post it monday.
interesting comment
used to live down on the bayous. saw the changes the Atchafalaya basin went thru in the 80's. the big ole Mississippi would drain out there, if left to it's own devises. cause of the levee system and core of engineers steering it thru new Orleans, the shape of the foot is changing, ruining one of the largest ecosystems in the gulf. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River_Delta
Was hoping someone would mention that
The Old River Control System has nearly been wiped out at least twice since its first installation in 1958. Katrina very nearly did for it the second(?) time - and something Katrina-size or bigger just might finish the job.
If (when?) it goes, New Orleans dies, and a lot of fossil-fuel companies have to eat tremendous losses.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
The (apparently missing?) link to “Louisiana loses its boot”
https://medium.com/matter/louisiana-loses-its-boot-b55b3bd52d1e
Me, too! I'll cheer on the Repubs from the Peanut Gallery ;-) NT
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
My local airport was closed for 2 weeks for resufacing.
And for those who care, asphalt is no solution, against FAA certs. I am on an approach path, visible runway over there over hills. Nice for no noise then, but creepy like 9/11. Then it started again. Only 10 flights or so/day. But several in the "midnight hours" of 3-6 AM. UPS and FedEx deliveries early. At least new pup does not alert to incoming. I do. A mother's light sleep. Still.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Do the Very Smart Brothas always say smart things like
they apparently have, as you mentioned in the article "Liberal Hate for the Green Party?" Brings up some uncomfy memories.
Why are they then permanently linked here on the left hand side? Are they usually Very Smart Brothas (or Sistas), who say the right things?
I can't often grasp where people stand, so I am confused. Not a condition I like to be in. Is there a new group: "Hating liberally" out there?
Otherwise many thanks for your work as always. I also realize that I linked (or at least started to put links up in) comments for three articles you have linked tonight. Then I self-censored because of lack of self-esteem.
I can't wait til we see naked Hillary Clinton statues too in some cities. I mean would be nice, if they were a little bit more "Leni Riefestahlish" in body-built.
But all your mileage may vary.
Good Night, all. Be good people and don't hate liberally.
https://www.euronews.com/live
evening mimi...
well, i don't know. but this crap isn't very smart at all.
i presume that they must have said something that made somebody think they were smart enough to recommend them. presumably, not all of their writers are jerks and their commentary represents a portion of the left opinion spectrum.
heh:
I would think that is valid for all news publications, print and
alternative.
May be I should follow them for a while and see what i think of them by myself.
Thanks.
https://www.euronews.com/live
good idea...
i was utterly unaware of them until they were quoted in the counterpunch article. i quickly scanned their front page a little while ago, but that's not enough to base an opinion upon.
Thanks for the news Joe,
This one brings back the memories...I caught Joe Louis Walker at Larry Blake's more than a few times in Berkeley in the mid '80s. A very special time for me.
Late to the party, but listen to the BBC at night.
Rain and lower temps here in central France. Unseasonable swings in weather. Lots more rain than usual; much warmer when the sun is out and nights; then cooler when it rains. Many around us are saying very unusual.
About the Clinton Foundation ceasing certain funding if she becomes president: I can't take credit for the thought but oh, so true...if it's not ok when she's in the WH, what makes it ok now? hmmmmmm?
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
And their best bud Guistra (sp) says the Canadian org
will remain, no matter what. How many sub-funding groups are in other nations? Will TPP make a difference when we are all one big happy, hot, flooding, burning, drought-stricken world?
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.