The Evening Blues - 9-13-16



eb1pt12


Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Mississippi Delta blues singer and member of the Mississippi Sheiks, Sam Chatmon. Enjoy!

Sam Chatmon - Make Me A Pallet On the Floor

“The world is on the brink of radical changes. We see how the E.U. is gradually crumbling, and the U.S. economy is collapsing. This will end in a new world order. ... We are now witnessing the aggressive actions by the United States against Russia and China. I believe that Russia and China may form an alliance before which NATO will be powerless and it will put the end to the imperialist aspirations of the West.”

-- Xi Jinping


News and Opinion

Facebook Is Collaborating With the Israeli Government to Determine What Should Be Censored

Last week, a major censorship controversy erupted when Facebook began deleting all posts containing the iconic photograph of the Vietnamese “Napalm Girl” on the ground that it violated the company’s ban on “child nudity.” Facebook even deleted a post from the prime minister of Norway, who posted the photograph in protest of the censorship. As outrage spread, Facebook ultimately reversed itself — acknowledging “the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time” — but this episode illustrated many of the dangers I’ve previously highlighted in having private tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google become the arbiters of what we can and cannot see.

Having just resolved that censorship effort, Facebook seems to be vigorously courting another. The Associated Press reports today from Jerusalem that “the Israeli government and Facebook have agreed to work together to determine how to tackle incitement on the social media network.” These meetings are taking place “as the government pushes ahead with legislative steps meant to force social networks to rein in content that Israel says incites violence.” In other words, Israel is about to legislatively force Facebook to censor content deemed by Israeli officials to be improper, and Facebook appears eager to appease those threats by working directly with the Israeli government to determine what content should be censored.

The joint Facebook-Israel censorship efforts, needless to say, will be directed at Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians who oppose Israeli occupation. The AP article makes that clear: “Israel has argued that a wave of violence with the Palestinians over the past year has been fueled by incitement, much of it spread on social media sites.” As Alex Kane reported in The Intercept in June, Israel has begun actively surveilling Palestinians for the content of their Facebook posts and even arresting some for clear political speech. Israel’s obsession with controlling Palestinians’ use of social media is motivated by the way it has enabled political organizing by occupation opponents; as Kane wrote: “A demonstration against the Israeli occupation can be organized in a matter of hours, while the monitoring of Palestinians is made easier by the large digital footprint they leave on their laptops and mobile phones.” ...

All of this underscores the severe dangers of having our public discourse overtaken, regulated, and controlled by a tiny number of unaccountable tech giants. I suppose some people are comforted by the idea that benevolent Facebook executives like Mark Zuckerberg are going to protect us all from “hate speech” and “incitement,” but — like “terrorism” — neither of those terms have any fixed meanings, are entirely malleable, and are highly subject to manipulation for propagandistic ends. Do you trust Facebook — or the Israeli government — to assess when a Palestinian’s post against Israeli occupation and aggression passes over into censorship-worthy “hate speech” or “incitement”?

Facebook temporarily blocks Black Lives Matter activist after he posts racist email

Facebook temporarily banned a well-known Black Lives Matter activist and writer who posted a racist message he received, raising fresh questions about the way the social media site censors journalists.

Shaun King – a senior justice writer for the New York Daily News, who frequently writes viral stories about police brutality – posted on his Facebook page a screenshot of an email that twice called him the N-word, saying “FUCK YOU N*****!” The technology corporation said it was blocking him from posting for 24 hours, saying he had violated its “community standards”.

The ban, which Facebook later revoked and said was a mistake, comes amid a heated debate about the questionable editorial policies of the company, which now plays a major role in how people consume news. ...

In a statement to the Guardian on Monday, Facebook said: “The post was removed – and profile suspended – in error and restored as soon as we were able to investigate. Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we sometimes get things wrong. We’re very sorry about this mistake.” ...

King noted that Facebook’s censorship decisions can have a huge impact on people’s lives, citing the recent case of the company of Korryn Gaines, a Baltimore woman who was engaged in a standoff with police. Officers subsequently killed her.

North Dakota v. Amy Goodman: Arrest Warrant Issued After Pipeline Coverage

North Dakota arrest warrant for Amy Goodman raises fears for press freedom

North Dakota police have issued an arrest warrant for the Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, who has been reporting on the Native American protests against an oil pipeline, accusing her of entering “private property” to conduct interviews.

The charges have raised concerns about possible free speech violations and press intimidation, since the Morton county sheriff’s office accused the award-winning broadcast journalist after Democracy Now! filmed security guards working for the Dakota access pipeline using dogs and pepper spray on protesters. ...

An 8 September criminal complaint was filed against Goodman and Cody Hall, a protest organizer. The charging document from the state’s attorney for Morton County calls on the defendants to be “arrested and dealt with according to law” ...

Denis Moynihan, special projects coordinator for Democracy Now!, declined to comment further on Monday, but confirmed that Goodman had not been arrested. Goodman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spokespeople for the sheriff and prosecutor’s office declined to comment. Deputies stopped Hall on 9 September, allegedly for “expired tabs”, and then arrested him for two counts of criminal trespass, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. ...

Democracy Now! said it is now consulting with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and lawyers in North Dakota. CCR’s legal director, Baher Azmy, told Democracy Now!, “This is clearly a violation of the first amendment … an attempt to repress this important political movement by silencing media coverage.”

Edward Snowden makes 'moral' case for presidential pardon

Edward Snowden has set out the case for Barack Obama granting him a pardon before the US president leaves office in January, arguing that the disclosure of the scale of surveillance by US and British intelligence agencies was not only morally right but had left citizens better off.

The US whistleblower’s comments, made in an interview with the Guardian, came as supporters, including his US lawyer, stepped up a campaign for a presidential pardon. Snowden is wanted in the US, where he is accused of violating the Espionage Act and faces at least 30 years in jail.

Speaking on Monday via a video link from Moscow, where he is in exile, Snowden said any evaluation of the consequences of his leak of tens of thousands of National Security Agency and GCHQ documents in 2013 would show clearly that people had benefited.

“Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists – for the exceptions, for the things that may seem unlawful in letters on a page but when we look at them morally, when we look at them ethically, when we look at the results, it seems these were necessary things, these were vital things,” he said.

“I think when people look at the calculations of benefit, it is clear that in the wake of 2013 the laws of our nation changed. The [US] Congress, the courts and the president all changed their policies as a result of these disclosures. At the same time there has never been any public evidence that any individual came to harm as a result.”

Assad vows to retake every inch of Syrian soil — with ceasefire hours away

On Monday, in a rare public appearance, Assad spoke to congregants gathered for Eid al-Adha prayers in a mosque in Damascus.

Assad expressed dismay that, "after five years, some people still haven't woken up from their fantasies," and vowed to retake "every area from the terrorists and to rebuild."

Assad has often labelled all forces fighting against his regime as terrorists.

The speech took place in the Daraya suburb of Damascus, which, until last month, had been a stronghold for forces attempting to topple Assad.

A two-day ceasefire, brokered by the US and Russia, will begin at sunset on Monday. The deal calls for US-backed opposition, and the Russian-backed regime, to refrain from attacking each other, though the regime will still be able to target Islamic State and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) targets.

Few Violations as Syrian Ceasefire Takes Effect

The Syrian ceasefire came into effect this evening across the nation, and despite a handful of claims of violations, it appears to have largely been intact. Across the country there is considerable tension, and many expect the deal to fail, but there is also calm.

The largest reported incident of fighting was in the far southern Daraa Province, where southern rebels who were supposed to be part of the ceasefire bragged of killing four soldiers after it was supposed to have gone into effect.

Helicopter strikes were also reported against the rebel-held half of Aleppo, though since that area is held by the Nusra Front, which is not a party to the ceasefire, it is unclear if they actually amounts to a violation or not.

Russian DM: US Needs to Recognize International Order Isn’t Just Pentagon’s Wishes

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu today mocked his US counterpart Ash Carter for a bellicose speech in which he’d claimed Russia was plotting to erode “the international order” and was a threat to global security.

Shoigu insisted that Carter was mistaking the international order with a “American order,” and that the international order was up to the entire international community to decide, and not just for the Pentagon to dictate to everyone else.

He went on to say that ongoing disagreements over Syria would be a lot easier to solve if the Pentagon recognized this distinction, and that disagreements in a lot of other venues worldwide would be settled more easily as well.

Rep. Barbara Lee: Repeal 9/11 Authorization for Use of Force to Cancel Blank Check for Endless War

Obama to Veto 9/11 Lawsuit Bill

White House officials continue to insist that President Obama intends to veto the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which unanimously passed in both the House and Senate, claiming that the weakening of the principle of sovereign immunity is a danger to the US.

JASTA is designed to allow victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia over the attack, based on Saudi government involvement in the scheme, as detailed by the 9/11 Report’s 28 pages. Saudi Arabia has threatened to collapse the US Treasury market in retaliation. ...

The Obama Administration argument boils down to the idea that the US commits so many atrocities abroad itself that opening this Pandora’s box could really open the US government up to similar suits from its assorted victims. In that regard, they’re probably not wrong, though the US has tended to pick and choose with sovereign immunity, protecting its allies from lawsuits while setting up suits against international rivals.

The White House also faces the very serious possibility of a veto override, which would be the first in Obama’s presidency, since both the House and Senate unanimously passed the bill, and many are likely to continue to do so even in the face of presidential opposition.

Report: US, Israel Agree on $38 Billion Military Aid Deal

Israel’s Channel 2 has today reported that Israeli officials have accepted the most recent US military aid package, which will see them receiving some $38 billion over the next decade. Israeli officials are said to be eager to finalize it, and it is expected to be signed in the next few days.

This comes just a day after a report in the Washington Post claiming that the deal was being held up by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – SC), who was planning to advance his own, slightly larger military aid bill through the Senate and accused Obama of trying to take over appropriations duties that are rightfully Congress’.

Graham says Benjamin Netanyahu warned him he was holding up the deal, and that he told Netanyahu to tell the Obama Administration “to go F themselves.” The White House was said to be reluctant to sign the deal with Graham so outraged by it.

North Korea nuclear test: Washington sends bombers to fly over South Korea to reassure its ally

US nuclear bombers fly over Korean peninsula after North's nuclear test

Show of force after regime tested its biggest device yet as South’s president, Park Geun-hye, says Kim Jong-un’s ‘mental state spiralling out of control’

The United States has flown two nuclear-capable supersonic bombers over ally South Korea in a show of force meant after North Korea conducted a nuclear test.

The B-1B bombers, escorted by US and South Korean jets, flew over Osan air base, 75 miles (120km) from the heavily armed border with the North. The bombers were thought to have returned later to Andersen air force base in Guam, without landing in South Korea.

Such flyovers are common when tensions are elevated on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea does not have nuclear weapons and relies on its US alliance as a deterrent to the North. Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in the South and tens of thousands more in Japan.

The North Korea uses American military influence in the South in its propaganda as alleged proof of US hostility that it claims as the reason it needs a nuclear bomb programme.

In yet another tough statement against the North, South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday ordered her military to be ready to “finish off” North Korea if it fires a nuclear missile toward South Korea. She said Kim Jong-un’s “mental state is spiralling out of control” and his government showed “fanatic recklessness”.

Speaking of "fanatic recklessness"...

Pushing NATO to Russia’s Southern Flank

A Republican leader calling for a new military base in Georgia is hardly newsworthy — the state already has more than a dozen such installations. But when it’s the speaker of parliament in the country of Georgia, who belongs to that nation’s Republican Party calling for a U.S. military base on Russia’s southern border, and for a constitutional amendment to guarantee his country’s commitment to NATO, that should raise some eyebrows.

Although major U.S. papers didn’t report that news this month, it reflects another escalation of NATO’s dangerous confrontation with Moscow. Eight years ago, Georgia’s intense campaign to join NATO — combined with its reckless aggression against the breakaway territory of South Ossetia — helped spark a brief but bloody war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Today, the U.S.-led military alliance is once again promoting its expansion plans in Georgia and other countries on Russia’s periphery as if the Cold War had never ended.

On Sept. 7, ambassadors from all the NATO countries drove along George W. Bush Avenue to downtown Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, to meet with Georgian leaders about security cooperation and progress toward the country’s full integration into NATO.

At the end of the two-day visit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared “the bonds between NATO and Georgia are stronger than ever.” His news release noted that “the Alliance is committed to helping Georgia move towards NATO membership,” and that “NATO experts in Georgia are providing advice on defense planning, education and cyber security, while Allies have increased joint training and exercises with Georgian troops.”

Just days earlier, the U.S. Marine Corps announced that it had joined “NATO allies and partners from the Baltics and Black Sea regions” in the Republic of Georgia to conduct live-fire military exercises with heavy tanks, armored vehicles, and anti-armor TOW missiles. And in July, Secretary of State John Kerry visited Georgia before joining President Obama at a NATO meeting in Poland to sign a new security cooperation agreement with Georgia.

All of these moves followed President Obama’s request to Congress in February to quadruple U.S. military spending in Europe next year, including military equipment to help Georgia in “countering Russian aggression.” Days later, NATO dispatched ships and sailors to Georgia for joint naval exercises in the Black Sea.

Moscow’s ambassador to NATO complained, “NATO is trying to draw us into a state of Cold War by inflating the myth about the threat from the East and justifying the necessity to deter Russia.”

Donald Trump and the Art of Spinning Secrets Into Lies

Last month, Trump got his first two briefings at an FBI field office in New York City, inside a special room known as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, a SCIF, pronounced “skiff.” ... The leakage began on Wednesday night, during the Commander-in-Chief Forum ... At one point, Matt Lauer, the moderator asked Trump about his secret briefings. Was there anything surprising about them?

“Yes,” Trump said. “Very much so.” He hinted at a secret so vague and tantalizing that it almost sounded like a clickbait headline. “There was one thing that shocked me.” But Trump couldn’t say what it was. What he could say was that the White House had ignored its experts, turned around, and done “exactly the opposite. … Our leaders did not follow what they were recommending.”

Trump knew this, he said, because he could read his briefers’ body language. ... In fact, Trump was singing a familiar refrain, one that is heard whenever classified information touches political ambition. It goes like this: Trust me. You don’t know what I know. I was in the room. I heard some scary things. I can’t tell you any more.

There is no “red line” against this kind of semi-deceptive nondisclosure. Classified intelligence ... is an incredibly useful instrument for shaping public opinion. Most candidates wait until they actually win the presidency before using it in this way. Trump didn’t wait. Neither did John F. Kennedy, who received classified briefings on the U.S. nuclear program even as he attacked the incumbent, Dwight Eisenhower, over the nonexistent “missile gap.” Compared to Kennedy’s politicization of what turned out to be incorrect intelligence, which contributed to the early acceleration of the Cold War, Trump’s claim to be able to read the minds of people across the table was clumsy at best.

There is something unfair about Trump’s using his briefers as “props,” as [former head of the CIA and NSA, Michael] Hayden put it, to malign Obama’s policies without offering any names or specifics. But Trump’s misbehavior is not exceptional. His mendacity points to a much deeper problem of how government can claim to serve the people while holding back so much information. Those who have access — or who have been led to believe they have access — to secret information never have to engage in a reasoned debate with those who don’t. All they have to do is pound the table and wave their arms about the classified “facts” that supposedly back up their case.

Long-Secret Stingray Manuals Detail How Police Can Spy on Phones

Harris Corp.'s Stingray surveillance device has been one of the most closely guarded secrets in law enforcement for more than 15 years. The company and its police clients across the United States have fought to keep information about the mobile phone-monitoring boxes from the public against which they are used. The Intercept has obtained several Harris instruction manuals spanning roughly 200 pages and meticulously detailing how to create a cellular surveillance dragnet. ...

Richard Tynan, a technologist with Privacy International, told The Intercept that the “manuals released today offer the most up-to-date view on the operation of” Stingrays and similar cellular surveillance devices, with powerful capabilities that threaten civil liberties, communications infrastructure, and potentially national security. He noted that the documents show the “Stingray II” device can impersonate four cellular communications towers at once, monitoring up to four cellular provider networks simultaneously, and with an add-on can operate on so-called 2G, 3G, and 4G networks simultaneously.

“There really isn’t any place for innocent people to hide from a device such as this,” Tynan wrote in an email.

“As more of our infrastructure, homes, environment, and transportation are connected wirelessly to the internet, such technologies really do pose a massive risk to public safety and security.”

And the Harris software isn’t just extremely powerful, Tynan added, but relatively simple, providing any law enforcement agent with a modicum of computer literacy the ability to spy on large groups of people.

Florida black man killed by police was 'executed' in his back yard, relatives say

A black man who was shot dead by police officers called to a domestic altercation at his Florida home was “executed” as he sat eating chicken wings in his backyard, relatives claimed on Monday.

Deputies from Broward sheriff’s office shot Gregory Frazier, 55, multiple times outside the house in Pompano Beach on Friday night after a 911 call from his sister, who said he was threatening her and her daughter with a knife and “breaking up the house” after a day of drinking.

In the call, Deborah Frazier warned the dispatcher that her brother was wielding a Swiss army-style pocket knife.

But Frazier’s relatives insist he had regained his composure by the time the two officers arrived and was sitting calmly in the backyard eating chicken and fries when they approached him.

Quartaze Woodard, Frazier’s nephew, told the Broward New Times that the officers opened fire after his uncle twice refused an order to lie on the ground.

Woodard said that the officers handcuffed Frazier after shooting him, then released the handcuffs and attempted to perform CPR once they realized he was unresponsive.

Deborah Frazier, meanwhile, told the New Times that she regretted calling 911. “I would never have called the cops if I’d known this would happen. They just came in and started shooting right away,” she said.

NCAA pulls championship games from North Carolina over anti-LGBT law

The NCAA has pulled seven championship events from North Carolina, including opening weekend men’s basketball tournament games, for the coming year due to a state law that some say can lead to discrimination against LGBT people.

In a news release Monday, the NCAA said the decision by its board of governors came “because of the cumulative actions taken by the state concerning civil rights protections”.

“This decision is consistent with the NCAA’s long-standing core values of inclusion, student-athlete well-being and creating a culture of fairness,” said Georgia Tech president GP “Bud” Peterson, the chair of the board of governors.

The law – known as HB2 – requires transgender people to use restrooms at schools and government buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from local and statewide anti-discrimination protections. ...

The NCAA’s release also noted that five states and several cities prohibit travel to the state for public employees and representatives of public institutions, which could include athletes and staff members.

Pharma Company Funding Anti-Pot Fight Worried About Losing Business, Filings Show

Pharmaceutical executives who recently made a major donation to an anti-marijuana legalization campaign claimed they were doing so out of concern for the safety of children — but their investor filings reveal that pot poses a direct threat to their plans to cash in on a synthetic cannabis product they have developed.

On August 31, Insys Therapeutics Inc. donated $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, becoming the single largest donor to the group leading the charge to defeat a ballot measure in Arizona to legalize marijuana. ... A spokesperson told the Arizona Republic that Insys opposes the legalization measure, Prop. 205, “because it fails to protect the safety of Arizona’s citizens, and particularly its children.” ...

The company concedes that scientific literature has argued the benefits of marijuana over [its product] synthetic dronabinol, and that support for marijuana legalization is growing. In the company’s latest 10-K filing with the SEC, in a section outlining competitive threats, Insys warns that several states “have already enacted laws legalizing medicinal and recreational marijuana.”



the horse race



Trump puts $2 million behind ad attacking Clinton's 'basket of deplorables' comment

The Donald Trump campaign unveiled a new ad Monday attacking Democrat Hillary Clinton for her comments last Friday at a swanky fundraiser that half of the Republican nominee's supporters fall into a "basket of deplorables."

Speaking to a crowd at Cipriani on Wall Street, Clinton described these voters as "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that."

Trump immediately took to Twitter Saturday morning to unleash a tweetstorm, saying that Clinton's remarks were "SO INSULTING," and his staff quickly turned the footage into its new ad "Deplorables." The ad will run this week in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida with a $2 million ad buy "at least to start," according to the Trump campaign.



the evening greens


This Ain't Over: Rallies in 100 Cities to Demand Obama Cancel DAPL

The fight is not over, is the word from the tribes gathered at the Sacred Stone camp, whose months-long resistance against the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) has captured national attention. Heeding that call, more than 100 #NoDAPL solidarity actions are being held on Tuesday to put national pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama to revoke the pipeline's permits once and for all.

"To defeat a pipeline, it takes a movement of people from all corners of the nation," reads the call to action.

"Right now, we're witnessing one of the most courageous stands against a fossil fuel project this country has ever seen," it continues. "Thousands of Indigenous activists have set up prayer camps along the pipeline route in a historic moment of nonviolent resistance. They're fighting with everything they have to protect their water, the land, their history, and the climate—and we need to fight with them."

In Washington, D.C.'s Lafayette Square, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is scheduled to speak alongside Tara Houska with Honor the Earth, Chase Iron Eyes with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Van Jones, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Youth member Jasilyn Charger, and other native leaders from North Dakota.

August Was Another Hottest Month for the Record Books

NASA data released Monday shows not only that last month was the hottest August since record-keeping started in 1880, but that it tied with July for the warmest month in the last 136 years.

According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, August 2016's temperature was 0.16 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous warmest August in 2014. Last month also was 0.98 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean August temperature from 1951-1980.

Notably, NASA points out, "the seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July."

But recent months have been anything but typical. "The record warm August continued a streak of 11 consecutive months dating back to October 2015 that have set new monthly high-temperature records," NASA said in a press release.

What's more, climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf pointed out on Twitter, the temperature has risen even though this year's unusually strong El Niño is on the wane.



Also of Interest

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

I Was a CIA Whistleblower. Now I’m a Black Inmate. Here’s How I See American Racism.

What Comes after U.S. Primacy

China and Russia Press Ahead, Together

Foreign Spending on U.S. Elections Threatens National Security, FEC Commissioner Says

House Intelligence Committee to Discuss Classified Report on Snowden Ahead of Movie Launch

How America became a 1% society

Wall Street Today: Fake Accounts, Fake Money, Fake Courts, Fake Regulators

Standing Rock protests: this is only the beginning

The Big Difference at Standing Rock Is Native Leadership All Around

Why we should have fewer children: to save the planet

Lionel Shriver's full speech: 'I hope the concept of cultural appropriation is a passing fad'


A Little Night Music

Sam Chatmon - Blues

Sam Chatmon - Let's Get Drunk Again

Sam Chatmon - Prowling Groundhog

Sam Chatmon - Careless Love

Mississippi Sheiks - The World Is Going Wrong

Mississippi Sheiks - I am the Devil

Mississippi Sheiks - Honey babe let the deal go down

Mississippi Sheiks - He Calls That Religion

Mississippi Sheiks - Still I'm Travelin' On



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lotlizard's picture

Reckless security firm hired to protect Dakota pipeline company has dark past in Palestine

Facebook is collaborating with the Israeli government to determine what should be censored

Political prisoner hit with another Kafkaesque charge for writing NYT piece about harsh repression by U.S. ally Bahrain

Twitter account of newspaper Yemen Post showing mayhem caused by Saudi bombing (warning: photos of injured)

The real U.S. Syria scandal: supporting sectarian war

Former Google CEO Schmidt to head new Pentagon innovation board

Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive officer of Google, will head a new Pentagon advisory board aimed at bringing Silicon Valley innovation and best practices to the U.S. military, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday.

Carter unveiled the new Defense Innovation Advisory Board with Schmidt during the annual RSA cyber security conference in San Francisco, saying it would give the Pentagon access to "the brightest technical minds focused on innovation."

Schmidt, now the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), the parent company of Google, said the board would help bridge what he called a clear gap between how the U.S. military and the technology industry operate.

Israel using “black ops” against BDS, says veteran analyst

The tyranny of 9/11

This is how the CIA botched Iraq post-9/11: Bob Gates, careerist sycophancy, and the real history of the Deep State

United States announces $38 billion Israel military aid package (Ha’aretz version of same story already excerpted in EB)

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joe shikspack's picture

thanks for the links!

wow, imagine that! eric schmidt is jumping ship from state to dod. i guess he wanted to get closer to the real corporate gravy train.

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Knucklehead's picture

That Yemen twitter report is just sick.

Our bff`s in Saudi Arabia keep getting US weapons to keep devastating one of the poorest countries in the ME.
I cry.

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I`m already against the next war

joe shikspack's picture

sometimes i think about taking some of those gory images and printing them on postcards to send to my various "representatives" with the message that i am sick and god damn tired of them supporting these war crimes.

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Consider this:

https://ohtarzie.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/the-tarzie-snowden-reader/

And remember Chelsea Manning languishing in her own personal state-side Guantanamo.

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Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Shahryar's picture

he doesn't like Snowden, he doesn't like Greenwald.

Not knowing anything about Tarzie I'd say it's more likely that he's the paid stooge for the establishment.

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joe shikspack's picture

snowden's story is one that a lot of people are following.

i don't agree with your characterization of "pimping."

after a quick scan of the first few paragraphs of mr. tarzie's complaint, this jumped off the page at me:

Therefore, we must consider why, of the many weird things about Snowden, the very weirdest is the warm welcome the mainstream media and elites from industry and government — including members of the intelligence community — have given him.

this does not comport with my memory of the reaction of the msm and elites from industry and govt. i do not remember them giving him a warm welcome, in fact, quite the opposite.

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"Promoting" would certainly have been more temperate and appropriate than the word I used. I believe I spent far too long reading the "language meta" earlier today, which has not been good for either my language nor my mood. I'm still upset, I discover, about what I discussed in "push-back" comments that were lost in the database crash - on a point important to me and others supportive of my lost comments, a point that has nothing to do with language per se but the topics of so many of the "essays" of late, but a can of worms I don't wish to open tonight. The hostility spills over . . . .

I think that, as others have done, it's best for me to just step away a while, try to get my head clear.

Again, I am sorry. I wish you and all a good evening.

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Only connect. - E.M. Forster

joe shikspack's picture

i was not deeply offended. i figured that you had not put a lot of thought into your wording and had no intention of giving offense.

thanks for your considerate reply.

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Why is it relevant to measure and compare? Manning, Snowden and Assange all sacrificed their freedom to some degree or another to tell us what we should know as citizens of this Walmarts we call the USA. There is no doubt Manning paid the highest price, but I wouldn't want to be any of them.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

joe shikspack's picture

regarding promotion...

i post stories here about donald trump and the vampire squid and i am not promoting them. my base intent in posting a story is to inform about things i am interested in, that i believe others are or should be interested in, yadda, yadda.

that said, some stuff i post with editorial comments, some stuff i don't. i don't pretend to be an unbiased observer with no particular editorial intent even in what i choose to present without comment.

i am interested in snowden (as well as other whistleblowers who get plenty of coverage in eb, there are links/stories about at least four whistleblowers in tonight's eb) - i think that he's done some very useful things. i am open to a fair critique, though if there is one made.

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and not eb, so my response to wind dancer was off point. If a place like c99 can't actively support Snowden, who can.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Meteor Man's picture

What do you call this? From your link:

At one point, Greenwald and his army of dolts circulated a letter of inquiry by Florida Congressperson Alan Grayson to Eric Holder as if it were a Grand Jury indictment.

Is that your idea of objective reporting?

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Big Al's picture

questioned. Tarzie has been around for a long time, I've read his stuff on and off. He's goes out there. Funny thing about Snowden, and Greenwald, is how off limits to criticism they are among parts of the left, particularly the left we hang out with here on C99.
I've had questions too about this whole deal with Snowden and then with Greenwald. But I've not brought them up primarily because it's mostly speculation (who is this guy really) and I don't need the pushback.

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Azazello's picture

Did y'all catch this, from Democracy Now! ? Fucking Bibi says it's the Palistinians who are doing the "ethnic cleansing." What an A-hole.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

joe shikspack's picture

that bibi guy, what a card!

"The Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one precondition: no Jews. There’s a phrase for that. It’s called ethnic cleansing. "

heh, right, um, it's also called a "two state solution," you know, a compromise where both sides withdraw to their compounds and agree to leave each other in peace, despite the fact that one of the parties has stolen the others land.

that bibi would probably decide to park his spare tank in your garage and accuse you of ethnic cleansing if you suggested that he put his damned tank in his own damned garage.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

So, if you call the cops and they come in and shoot before asking questions, how are you supposed to trust calling them? This is a catch 22 situation, which they have created. We will leave dangerous people out on the streets or in homes terrorizing others because we'll be too scared to call them to stop the disturbance. Shit for brains.

Don't know what I can say around here anymore. I find it distressing. Can I call someone a chickenshit? I wrote a lengthy comment this morning calling someone a chickenshit and then deleted it because I thought I might offend someone and start another word war, which I wouldn't have participated in because I don't understand some of those arguments that went on and on this weekend and opted not to read any of those essays or comments, which kept me from interacting with everyone that was so invested in making sure everyone watches their p's and q's and doesn't fkn inflame a single soul on the planet. I can't call anyone a bitch - got that one. I call men bitches, too, so I'm a bit confused there. I guess I'll just have to stop cussing on this site. Many said they don't like when people cuss anyway and discount everything they say if they use cuss words. I don't do that because I try and listen to the message, but that's me and I'm not like regular people (I'm finding out).

Sorry I said shit, chickenshit, fkn, and bitches so far. I hope I didn't offend anyone. I do like this site and plan to stay. I've already committed to $10/month and I don't want to go back on that promise. I'll try and clean up my act so as not to put off any of the folks around here.

So, how is everyone today? I know her heinous is ill and no one seemed to think I made any sense when I mentioned the illnesses of other people in the POTUS office because those were different times, those were different people, those were different illnesses, and her heinous cannot run this country unless she is 100% perfect! I stand corrected and sorry I brought it up. Just trying to make people think, but how can one think when one is so emotionally wrought over the possibility of her heinous in the white house? I'm starting to sound like hectate. I hope I didn't offend you hectate. I enjoy your sesame's but sometime they are more than I can read in one sitting and most times I don't feel capable of commenting.

Well, I had lots of venting to do in your EB today, joe. I hope you don't mind. I find it a safe space.

Have a beautiful evening, everyone. I do so love each of you and hope we can all get along! Kiss 2

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

joe shikspack's picture

you could call clinton a chickenshit, though it would be nice if you did not call a fellow 99er the same thing in anger. Smile

jeezez, i'm tired of word war one and word war two. neither one of them was a good war.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

any of those terms. I only have terms of endearment for them. Wink

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

I wouldn't hesitate to call Hillary or Obama or Trump chicken shit. Not particularly keenly intellectual, but hey. I believe that public figures are different from our fellow travelers in the lifeboat.

I didn't read Joe's beautifully worded meta as a ban or censorship on anything. It was a plea for some common sense to know and work with your audience. JtC said we were staying the course. We've had a series of blow-ups on the same damn word. Beyond that, we have been getting along just fine despite our differences and considerable number. I really hope that people don't overreact. How hard is DBAD?

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Raggedy Ann's picture

He hit every point eloquently. It's why I enjoy interacting with the folks here. Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

It's been my position for some time that either we citizens were going to rise up and stop the U. S. killing machine or the rest of the world would unite to do it for us. I'll admit that pictures of Dresden and Hiroshima were in my mind as I said that.

Xi Jinping sounds like he will try the humane and reasonable way of bringing the mad dog in off the street. Let's hope our corrupt and half-witted "leadership" has the sense to see reality and quit trying to rule the world.

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joe shikspack's picture

my expectation of how things will progress is along the lines of what happened to the british empire during the suez crisis - overextended, rising global rivals (especially their best buddies ever, the us) did not bail britain out and their empire went under.

the us is way overextended. fighting the neocons wars of dominance has left the us with exceptional debt and degraded infrastructure. the us is but one global economic catastrophe away from being so far out of pocket that the creditor nations call in their debt leaving the us broke and in default.

the only question is whether the neocon lunatics that run the place will decide to play the north korea tango and attempt to assert their exceptional, indispensable dominance by force of arms.

fsm, i hope not.

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humane the Soviet leadership was as their "empire" collapsed. Would our leadership have gone "first strike" rather than let the Capitalist system go under? Maybe some of the Russian efforts in the media and elsewhere are an attempt to bring enough of us to sanity to pressure the leadership not to go for WW III.

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joe shikspack's picture

that gorbachev was a far more decent man than anyone who has inhabited the white house since wwii.

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lotlizard's picture

is a grand vision on the scale of the U.S. “man on the moon” space program.

Unlike the U.S. space program, though, it is more than just an offshoot of military technology, and success would bring tangible advantages to many countries, not just one.

Of course, one question is, won’t bringing hundreds of millions more people into the modern global economy just lead to humanity roasting the planet even faster?

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joe shikspack's picture

couldn't we just give them all cell phones and game consoles and let them entertain themselves into a state of catatonia? oh damn, that was the domestic plan.

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Roger Fox's picture

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FDR 9-23-33, "If we cannot do this one way, we will do it another way. But do it we will.

Crider's picture

I saw this chart made with data from the WHO and it shows life expectancy versus healthy life expectancy. In the US, it says, the average life expectancy is 78 years, but the average healthy life expectancy is only 70 years. Trump is 70 and Hillary is 69. To me they both look unhealthy, but that's expected, I guess, at their age. I'm 62 and retired this year but once a week I volunteer a shift working at the local senior center's thrift store. I do concur that the 60s are the last chance to be reasonably healthy and active. By the 70s the people I see and know are definitely falling apart.

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joe shikspack's picture

even when she was in her healthy prime she was an unhinged, war-mongering, racist, influence-peddling, dictator-loving, corrupt jackass.

those things outweigh the state of her health in my decision as to whether she is worthy of a vote.

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Roger Fox's picture

Though adding in to the mix Parkensonian induced dementia kind of brings it to a new level.

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FDR 9-23-33, "If we cannot do this one way, we will do it another way. But do it we will.

Gerrit's picture

mod question. What's management's view on the ideal shelf life of posts?

Back in the spring, there weren't as many posts obviously and they had a longer shelf life and were visible longer. Nowadays the flood of posts means the c99 comm-page is like a CNN ticker; it just streams by. I could post an article in the morning and it will have dropped off the screen by noon and off the right sidebar in the afternoon. The window for conversation with folks about a topic is very short. Well, I'm sure it's like that for everyone who try to put up content, so never mind. Cheers!

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

joe shikspack's picture

shelf life is something that we've always had a problem with. we've tried in the past to get people to make more use of the open threads with some partial success, but still a lot of very short essays wind up on the comm page.

i've been wondering if adding another open thread or two during the daytime would help, on the theory that people might be hesitating to post their bits further down a thread that started in the morning, thinking that they won't get much attention there. i dunno, the hard part is getting a largish group of people to habitually use the open threads all at once and focusing attention there.

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Gerrit's picture

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

enhydra lutris's picture

scroll rates are sort of built in to reality. The more stuff tht is posted, the faster it scrolls. That's one reason why a short item probably gets more views as a comment in an OT, since the OT will be up allday, than as a stand alone essay, which will scroll off at whatever speed the present activity level determines.

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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 --

Gerrit's picture

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

on the CC page from 35 to 40, that will help a bit. We actually had more content posted per day back in April and May.

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I just checked the timestamps and even without adding an extra 5 essays per page the essays are staying on the CC page for two days before falling off. So I don't know how you are figuring this:

Nowadays the flood of posts means the c99 comm-page is like a CNN ticker; it just streams by. I could post an article in the morning and it will have dropped off the screen by noon and off the right sidebar in the afternoon.

Gerrit, right now at 8:00 pm central time, 9-13-16, your 3D+ essay from yesterday is still on the CC page and 14 essays remain before it drops off. Subtract the 5 extra essays I just added to the page and it would still be 9 essays away from falling off, so I don't know what you're going on about.

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Gerrit's picture

it.

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Crider's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7AUri_K5AI]
Entertaining Max Kaiser talking about Wells Fargo bank in the first half just came out a couple of hours ago.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_om0W6xzQd8]

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joe shikspack's picture

heh, thanks! i get a kick out of max. i don't always agree with him, but he's always amusing and animated.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

to say 'hi,' and thanks for tonight's EB. Gotta run 'the B' out before a hail storm is slated to come through. For sure, we'll have a couple hours of heavy, and severe thunderstorms.

Gonna listen to the child care proposal that Ivanka Trump has supposedly helped craft (this evening).

I'm interested in 'comparing' it to FSC's proposal--if I can get sufficient details on either plan. I won't hold my breath on that. Last time I checked FSC's campaign website, it was just a bunch of platitudes. And, 'the Donald' never does anything but 'paint broad strokes,' when he presents a so-called proposal.

(I think both proposals revolve around the issuance of tax credits, but will be interested to see if they are 'refundable,' or 'nonrefundable' tax credits.)

Hey, Everyone have a nice evening--hope you are all spared the foul weather!

Bye

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!

Misty May - NMDR

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

i hope that you and the b had a great walk and got home to batten down the hatches before the hail.

heh, neither clinton nor trump is going to bother wasting much time creating detailed plans for their fake programs to fool their individual deplorables. the only detailed plans they are making is to feather their own nests.

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Meteor Man's picture

Good evenung joe. From your link:

In fact, men in uniform from the sheriff’s department and state troopers were already being used to turn people back on Highway 1806, which goes south from the Bismarck area to the reservation. I ran into them Wednesday afternoon, looking like they were combat-ready for Afghanistan, and they appeared to be turning all cars back not far down the highway from Bismarck. I took a huge detour through the rolling green countryside and got back without a mishap, but the goal seemed to be discouragement.

On Friday, I saw more uniformed men turning people back about a dozen miles above the camp and then, again, further north, another blockade sending people back. There seems to be a concerted effort to prevent people from reaching the camp or to at least inconvenience them.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/12/north-dakota-standing-ro...

The L.A. Black Panthers voted to lease a bus later this month to Standing Rock to show solidarity with Native Americans. I have permission to report that they will not be armed, but any dogs that attack them will be killed.

I suspect they will not be turned back easily.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

joe shikspack's picture

apparently the billions of dollars going into the pipeline include enough grease for the politicians that they are willing to commit the state's military resources to harass the citizens that are practicing peaceful civil disobedience. i'm sure that those military resources are pretty expensive to deploy.

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Meteor Man's picture

And kudos to hawkfish in a comment from gjohnsit's post. Explaining why even bankruptcy by the DAPL company will not necessarily stop the pipeline:

So all that really happens is that the initial investors give up their shirts to pay for the infrastructure but the second round get to use it essentially for free. I expect that the same dynamic will be playing out with oil fracking in a few years.

Which is why the pipeline is not a dead end: Someone will use it once the assets have been absorbed by the ghouls. By stopping the pipeline now, we reduce the future value of the assets, making restarting less attractive down the road. Which is good for our joint survival . . .

http://caucus99percent.com/comment/reply/7630/173553

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Meteor Man's picture

I was just informed by an OG Black Panther that they received an invitation to join the protest in solidarity and that Amy Goodman called for confirmation and was informed that the story is correct. No idea if this will be on Democracy Now. Time will tell.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

enhydra lutris's picture

Venture is not at all a shock nor a surprise, even though I didn't anticipate it. That's fine with me, they deserve each other, but I've never had any use for Facebook, so I'm not objective.

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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 --

joe shikspack's picture

yeah, i'm not terrribly surprised by facebook's actions either. i'll be interested to see if they answer the intercept's questions.

as a 1% scam, facebook is a pretty amazing technology to monetize its users information and feed them 1% approved propaganda.

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