Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues harmonica player and singer Jerry McCain. Enjoy!

“There is now the capacity to make tyranny total in America. Only law ensures that we never fall into that abyss—the abyss from which there is no return.”

-- James Bamford

News and Opinion

Judge Throws Wrench in Gears of Nearly Dead NSA Phone-Records Program

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ordered the NSA to immediately stop vacuuming up domestic telephone records on Monday, writing that “the loss of constitutional freedoms for even one day is significant harm.”

But the order was limited to one plaintiff in the case: a California lawyer and his law firm.

Even so, the effect could be much more extensive. The government has previously argued that ending the collection of just one person’s telephone information records would be so technically challenging that it would be forced to shut the entire program down. On Monday afternoon, Department of Justice spokesperson Nicole Navas would only say that “the government is reviewing the decision.” ...

Leon noted the government’s position: that “the immediate cessation of collection of or analytic access to metadata associated with plaintiffs’ telephone numbers … would require the NSA to terminate the program altogether.” But he indicated that was not his problem. “Unfortunately for the government the court does not have much sympathy for these last-minute arguments,” he wrote.

The NSA can appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously ruled against halting the program because the plaintiffs could not prove their records were collected. Now, after Little was added as a plaintiff, that obstacle has been removed.

“Judge Leon’s decision is a testament to the importance of the rule of law,” said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program. “This is an illegal program that violates the privacy of millions of Americans. It should not continue for another minute, let alone another three weeks. Judge’s Leon’s commitment to upholding the Constitution stands in stark contrast to the executive branch and FISA Court, which have been all too willing to play fast and loose with the law.”

The government's propagandists at work again at CBS:

’60 Minutes’ Pushes National Security Propaganda To Cast Snowden, Manning As Traitors

The television program, “60 Minutes,” aired a segment on Sunday in which it assassinated the character of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, and even went so far as to question their loyalty to America. The two whistleblowers were compared to the Washington Navy Yard shooter, who killed twelve people.

It was part of an examination of what U.S. government officials perceive to be serious flaws in the process by which the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reviews security clearances granted to government employees, but the framing made it seem like architects of “insider threat” programs from U.S. security agencies and politicians, who support total surveillance of government employees in the workplace and while they’re at home, had produced the segment.

Using language that would scare everyone’s grandparents, the CBS show used “fugitive” to describe Snowden, “convicted spy” to describe Manning (even though she is not), and “mass murderer” to describe the Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis. Anchor Scott Pelley amplified the terror by adding they all had “one thing in common: U.S. government security clearances which they turned into weapons.”

“Some believe that Snowden and Manning were right to expose what they saw as government abuses like the NSA’s domestic surveillance program, but few believe that all of America’s secrets should be at risk to spies, criminals, or the mentally ill,” Pelley added. “That has happened because of short cuts in a system that has placed American security into dangerous hands.” Once more, “60 Minutes” primed grandmothers across the country to tremble in their chairs while thinking of dangerous subversives lurking in the dark corridors of American security agencies.

Classified Report on the C.I.A.’s Secret Prisons Is Caught in Limbo

A Senate security officer stepped out of the December chill last year and delivered envelopes marked “Top Secret” to the Pentagon, the C.I.A., the State Department and the Justice Department. Inside each packet was a disc containing a 6,700-page classified report on the C.I.A.’s secret prison program and a letter from Senator Dianne Feinstein, urging officials to read the report to ensure that the lessons were not lost to time.

Today, those discs sit untouched in vaults across Washington, still in their original envelopes. The F.B.I. has not retrieved a copy held for it in the Justice Department’s safe. State Department officials, who locked up their copy and marked it “Congressional Record — Do Not Open, Do Not Access” as soon as it arrived, have not read it either.

Nearly a year after the Senate released a declassified 500-page summary of the report, the fate of the entire document remains in limbo, the subject of battles in the courts and in Congress. Until those disputes are resolved, the Justice Department has prohibited officials from the government agencies that possess it from even opening the report, effectively keeping the people in charge of America’s counterterrorism future from reading about its past. There is also the possibility that the documents could remain locked in a Senate vault for good. ...

The full report is not expected to offer evidence of previously undisclosed interrogation techniques, but the interrogation sessions are said to be described in great detail. The report explains the origins of the program and names the officials involved. The full report also offers details on the role of each agency in the secret prison program.

The Justice Department, which played a central role in approving the interrogation methods, has even prohibited its own officials from reading the full report.

Obama’s Risky ‘Mission Creep’ in Syria

When Russian President Vladimir Putin opted in late September to intervene in Syria’s horrendous civil war, President Barack Obama seemed so taken aback that a few hopeful souls wondered if the shock might cause him to rethink his failed strategy of toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while waging war on Al Qaeda’s Al Nusra and the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh). ...

But last week’s decision to insert 50 Special Forces troops in northern Syria suggests President Obama is veering off in another direction altogether. Militarily, the operation makes no more sense than anything else the administration has done in Syria.

After years of supporting so-called “moderate” rebels – who usually turn out to be allied with Al Qaeda, Al Nusra’s parent organization, or guilty of atrocities in their own right – the Obama administration is now pinning its hopes on a group calling itself the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish militias plus Arab fighters formerly tied up with Al Nusra.

But after spending ten days with the group, The New York Times’s Ben Hubbard concluded that “so far it exists in name only,” lacking both a flag and an organized command structure. Kurdish members, he found, look down on their ill-disciplined Arab partners while the Arabs worry about the Kurds’ ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which the U.S., Turkey and others designate as “terrorist.”

This is the rag-tag outfit that 50 lucky Special Ops troops have been given the task of whipping into a credible anti-ISIS force. But Obama’s micro-invasion is worth taking seriously as a form of mission creep that could – all too easily – lead to an even greater disaster.

Last week, über-hawk Sen. John McCain subjected Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to a nasty tongue-lashing.  “Right now as we speak,” the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee declared, “Russian aircraft are bombing moderate Syrian forces in Syria, while we have de-conflicted. Do you believe we should be protecting those young people?”

The U.S. does indeed have “an obligation to protect,” Carter replied, but so far such groups “have not come under attack by either Assad’s forces or Russia’s forces.”

This is contradicted by media reports stating that Russia has, in fact, bombed groups supported by the United States. But right or wrong, Carter’s response begs an all-important question: what happens when not only such forces come under attack, but the American Special Ops soldiers with them? Under pressure from people like McCain, how can the administration resist firing back?

Iraq military update: moves against Islamic State foundering

Iraqi forces’ hopes of recapturing the city of Ramadi from the Islamic State have stalled, largely because their efforts to cut resupply routes into the city of nearly 1 million have failed.

Iraqi planners had hoped a cordon around the city, the capital of Anbar province, Iraq’s largest, would prevent the Islamic State from being able to prepare for a long siege. But local military commanders, residents and analysts say the Iraqi forces were unable to maintain the cordon and that the Islamic State has been able to resupply.

Iraqi officials have announced a new operation to retake the city nearly every week since the Islamic State routed its defenders last spring. But despite the vows, it’s become clear that the government has neither the manpower nor the training to conduct an offensive in a huge city that remains packed with civilians. The Islamic State apparently has succeeded in keeping civilians from fleeing. ...

In nearby Fallujah, with 500,000 residents Anbar’s second largest city, both Iraqi and Western military advisers say Iraqi government troops have been more effective in targeting key Islamic State areas. But the Iraqi government remains focused on retaking Ramadi, despite the recommendation from American officials that recapturing Fallujah is more likely to be a success.

One key reason for the better Iraqi position in Fallujah, according to an Iraqi security official and a Western military adviser, is more active participation in combat operations there by U.S. special operations forces.

According to the adviser, and confirmed by the Iraqi official, both of whom asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of their information, Marine Corps special operators may be doing more than “mentoring” Iraqi troops.

Holy shit! Netanyahu wants $50 Billion! What the hell do Americans have to do to get that kind of money for the stuff that we need? If we all converted to judaism, do you think that we could get our cities rebuilt, raise the incomes of the 50% of Americans that live in poverty, improve our schools and replace the crumbling infrastructure of America?

Obama, Netanyahu Agree to Replace $30 Billion Arms Deal With ‘Substantially More’

President Obama and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu struck a hawkish tone in their high-profile White House meeting today, talking up massive increases in military aid for Israel while Obama praised Israel’s government for its use of “self-defense” in the ongoing crackdown against Palestinian unrest. ...

A 10-year, $30 billion military aid package signed under the Bush Administration is set to expire soon, and Obama made clear a new decade-long package was a “top priority,” with experts saying the talks are expected to put in place a package worth “substantially more” than the expiring one.

Israeli officials have made no secret their intention to get a massive increase above the previous deal, with the most recent talks late last week suggesting Netanyahu was looking for at least $50 billion over the next 10 years. US officials had previously suggested the deal would be in the $36-$37 billion range.

In addition to the new decade-long package, the US and Israel are also negotiating a one-off deal as “reparations” for Israel’s objections to the Iran nuclear deal, a package which itself is expected to be worth several billion dollars.

Netanyahu calls meeting with Obama ‘one of best’ they’ve had

PM says he was not asked to freeze settlements, only focused on how to move forward

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his sit-down on Monday with US President Barack Obama was “one of the best meetings I’ve had with him.”

Speaking to reporters moments after his two-and-half hour powwow with Obama, Netanyahu said the discussion focused mainly on Israel’s security needs and American military aid to Israel, and steps on the ground Jerusalem intends to take to stabilize relations with the Palestinians. Netanyahu is to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday to discuss such steps.

The president did not ask Netanyahu to freeze settlements, Netanyahu said. His controversial appointment of Ran Baratz as his new communications director did not come up during the meeting, the prime minister added, reiterating that he will “deal with the matter” upon his return to Israel. ...

The prime minister refused, however, to address reporters’ questions about possible resolutions on the peace process in the United Nations Security Council and whether he and President Obama discussed the administration’s position of any such resolution.

Israeli PM Netanyahu visits Washington for face-to-face talks with Obama

Acknowledging Reality in the U.S.-Israeli Relationship

On the eve of a visit by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, we have gotten yet another of the statements from members of his government that are sufficiently unrestrained or unhinged to cause a flap both in the United States and Israel. While Netanyahu's own comment about the Holocaust being a Palestinian idea is still fresh in our minds, the latest ear-catching remarks come from Ran Baratz, an inhabitant of a West Bank settlement whom Netanyahu has chosen to be chief of hasbara, the selling of Israeli policies overseas. Baratz has posted a trail of entries on Facebook that have insulted, among others, President Rivlin of Israel, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, whom Baratz says has the mental capacity of a 12-year-old, and President Obama, whom he accuses of being anti-Semitic. ...

There will be much evaluation of Netanyahu's meetings in Washington in terms of whether frictions between the two governments have been smoothed over, at least as far as the public face that they present is concerned. There already has been much commentary ahead of the visit that has essentially adopted that standard for assessing the meetings. But the kumbaya scale is not the right means for measuring success or failure of the visit. And harmonious U.S.-Israeli relations per se do not have value; harmony is valuable only if it advances U.S. interests. ...

Major, substantial differences exist between U.S. interests and Israeli interests—at least given how the latter are defined by the current Israeli government. The differences were in full display with the strenuous efforts by Netanyahu's government to sabotage a major U.S. foreign policy priority: the multilateral agreement to restrict Iran's nuclear program. The underlying difference on that issue was between on one hand the U.S. interest in using all available diplomatic tools to pursue nonproliferation and other goals consistent with improving regional stability, and on the other hand the Netanyahu government's objective of keeping a competitor for regional influence isolated and maintaining conflict with Iran as a bête noire in perpetuity. Certainly major differences of interest also persist regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More generally, the gulf between the United States and Israel has grown even wider insofar as Israel (including the territory it occupies) has become an increasingly intolerant place in which civil and political rights are apportioned according to ethnicity and religious belief. ...

Netanyahu has a strong interest in making it appear that, despite all the attempted sabotage of U.S. policy and the pokes in U.S. eyes, his government is in good graces in Washington. We all are familiar with the realities of U.S. politics that lead players in the United States to go along with him in maintaining such an appearance. With this month's visit even a paragon of the liberal establishment such as the Center for American Progress is welcoming Netanyahu into its spaces, despite all his blatant interference in U.S. politics in a direction opposed to what CAP stands for. That decision probably has mostly to do with how Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign sees its near-term interests. But that is distinctly different from the interests of the United States—and even, over the long term and looking beyond the current government, the interests of Israel.   

Netanyahu Has Never Actually Supported a Palestinian State, Despite What He Told Obama

In a meeting with President Obama today, Benjamin Netanyahu went through the familiar motions of expressing rhetorical support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Stating, “I remain committed to a vision of peace of two states for two peoples,” Netanyahu said that he wanted “make it clear that we have not given up our hope,” for achieving a two-state solution to the conflict. Just a day before this statement, however, the Israeli government took steps to ensure such a vision could never become reality, moving to authorize the construction of an additional 2,200 housing units in the occupied territories in the face of Palestinian opposition.

The reason behind this apparent discrepancy between word and deed is that Netanyahu does not, and has essentially never, supported the creation of an actual Palestinian state. Last year, during the Israeli election, Netanyahu briefly acknowledged this fact himself, explicitly stating to voters that there would not be a Palestinian state during his tenure as prime minister if he was reelected. Despite this, the convenient fiction that the Israeli prime minister supports a “two-state solution” continues to linger in the United States. Why? ...

It’s difficult to take seriously Netanyahu’s most recent claim that he supports the creation of a Palestinian state. At best, he has in the past expressed support for a Palestinian “entity” with some features of self-governance (an idea that has well-known historical precedents), but certainly not one that affords genuine independence, freedom or statehood to its inhabitants. At his most brazen, he has denied the possibility of even that limited form of self-determination, stating bluntly that Israel will control the entire West Bank and keep its inhabitants under indefinite military subjugation.

Netanyahu has nonetheless been allowed to maintain a convenient fiction that he supports the negotiated goal of Palestinian self-determination. In reality, he has never really supported it. Thanks in large part to Netanyahu’s leadership, a Palestinian state will likely never emerge. Due to his own obstinance, as well as American indulgence, a binational state or a formalized Apartheid regime have now become the most probable remaining outcomes to this disastrous, decades-long conflict.

Cameron: Brexit could pose national security risks

Britain can survive outside EU, says Cameron

Britain can survive outside the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday as he denied he was planning to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU regardless of the outcome of reform talks.

"The argument isn't whether Britain could survive outside of Europe. Of course it could," Cameron told the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the country's main business lobby. "The argument is how we could be best off," he told the group, many of whose members are concerned about the economic consequences of a possible "Brexit".

Cameron was interrupted by two protesters who stood up and chanted "Voice of Brussels!" reflecting a suspicion among Eurosceptics that he had already made up his mind in favour of Britain staying in the EU.

Helmut Schmidt, former West German chancellor, dies aged 96

Helmut Schmidt, an elder statesman of German politics who led West Germany as it rose to become a global economic powerhouse, has died aged 96. ...

A centrist, Schmidt steered the country through a wave of homegrown terrorism, preached free-market economics to his party and embodied pragmatic politics in a Europe divided by the iron curtain.

Amid efforts to ward off a global recession, Schmidt was among the movers behind the first economic summit of leading industrial powers at Rambouillet, France, in 1975, which later turned into the annual Group of Seven meeting. ...

A co-publisher of the influential liberal weekly Die Zeit, Schmidt continued to play an active part in international economic debate in later life, including criticising the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, during the eurozone debt crisis for lacking financial savvy.

Court again blocks Obama's plan to protect undocumented migrants

Barack Obama’s executive action to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation has suffered a legal setback with an appeal to the supreme court now the administration’s only option.

A 2-1 decision by the fifth US circuit court of appeals in New Orleans has upheld a previous injunction – dealing a blow to Obama’s plan, which is opposed by Republicans and challenged by 26 states.

The states, all led by Republican governors, said the federal government exceeded its authority in demanding whole categories of immigrants be protected.

The Obama administration has said it is within its rights to ask the Department of Homeland Security to use discretion before deporting non-violent migrants with US family ties.

Victims' hopes for justice fade as rape kits are routinely ignored or destroyed

For decades, tens of thousands of boxes of DNA evidence that nurses meticulously gathered from the bodies and clothing of sex assault victims sat stacked in storage rooms, ignored. Later, this mountain of untested evidence would be known as the “rape kit backlog”.

As scrutiny of disregarded rape kits mounted, a portrait of a more difficult to tally sort emerged – rape kits police destroyed. As with the rape kit backlog, there is no national tally of the kits police destroyed. But increasingly, local media have published reports of police destroying rape kits in states as disparate as Utah, Kentucky and Colorado.

In some cases, police destroyed kits because they deemed allegations unfounded, alleged that victims didn’t cooperate or arrested suspects without the benefit of DNA. In others, victims never filed a police report and relinquished DNA to a group of anonymous rape kits known as non-reporting or “Jane Doe” evidence, collected in case they one day decide they can report. ...

The destruction of rape kits comes as lawmakers take a keen interest in adding arrestee DNA to CODIS (short for the Combined DNA Index System). That national database was designed to serve as a bank of DNA from both suspects and from crime scenes. Advocates, however, contend that the destruction of rape kits represents the nation’s prioritization of offender DNA over crime scene DNA.

“[What] we are seeing is very retarded movement in the testing of crime scene evidence. In other words, you can collect all the offender evidence you want; if you have nothing to compare it to – in other words, crime scene evidence – you’re going to solve very few crimes,” said Rebecca Brown, policy director at the Innocence Project. Studying evidence retention policies was one of her first projects when she started at the agency in 2005, she said.

Most state lawmakers, she said, fail to provide guidance on when to test and retain crime scene evidence, which in the case of a sexual assault is a rape kit.

Sonia Sotomayor lambasts justices for backing officer who shot fleeing suspect

Supreme court justice Sonia Sotomayor accused her fellow justices of “sanctioning a shoot first, think later approach” after they overwhelmingly backed a police officer who ignored orders and shot a fleeing suspect in Texas.

Eight members of the nine-strong bench overturned a lower court ruling against trooper Chadrin Mullenix and found he was entitled to immunity from lawsuits. Legal experts say the ruling will probably make it harder to sue police in the future for using deadly force.

Mullenix was sued by the family of Israel Leija after he fired into Leija’s fleeing car despite having been told by a superior to wait for the vehicle to reach a series of tire spikes that had been set up nearby.

Leija, a 24-year-old from the rural town of Tulia, had sped off after being issued with a warrant for breaking the terms of his probation, but had threatened police that he would shoot if they did not call off an 18-minute car chase that reached speeds of up to 110mph.

“How’s that for proactive?” said Mullenix, after allegedly ignoring a request to wait and see if the spikes worked before attempting the unusual manouevre of stopping the speeding car by firing at it with his rifle from an overpass. Earlier, the trooper had been told in a counseling session that he was not enterprising enough.

“The comment seems to me revealing of the culture this court’s decision supports when it calls it reasonable – or even reasonably reasonable – to use deadly force for no discernible gain and over a supervisor’s express order to ‘stand by’,” wrote Sotomayor in her dissent.

“By sanctioning a ‘shoot first, think later’ approach to policing, the court renders the protections of the fourth amendment hollow,” she added.

Missouri Students Celebrate President’s Resignation — But Say It’s Just the Beginning

Music blasted on Monday as hundreds of University of Missouri students celebrated a momentous victory involving the school's football players — one that played out away from the stadium on campus.

Earlier in the day, University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe bowed to student pressure — including a strike by the football team — and announced his resignation amid mounting criticism over how the school had handled a series of racial incidents on campus in recent months. Hours after Wolfe said he would resign, R. Bowden Loftin, chancellor of the University of Missouri's flagship campus in Columbia, said he would also step down at the end of the year. ...

Concerned Student 1950, a student movement that refers to the year that black students were admitted to the university, called a press conference in the afternoon to announce additional demands, including meetings with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and the university's Board of Curators, the governing body that selects the system president. They also demanded a share of decision-making power at the university and increased black representation on the faculty.

MU's undergraduate body is 8 percent black, but only 3 percent of tenured or tenure-track professors are black. The University of Missouri System comprises four campuses across the state, including the flagship campus in Columbia, where the protests have taken place.

"We will not rest until we have achieved full governance within the UM system," said Marshall Allen, one of the founding members of Concerned Student 1950.

Egypt to Ben Carson: no, the pyramids were not for storing grain

Antiquities minister says presidential hopeful’s claim doesn’t deserve response, while another official points out that ‘this man is not an archaeologist’

Egyptian antiquities officials have scoffed at claims by the Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson that Egypt’s ancient pyramids were not built as pharaonic tombs but used to store grain.

“Does he even deserve a response? He doesn’t,” said the antiquities minister, Mamdouh el-Damaty, on the sidelines of a news conference about recent thermal scans of the pyramids that could reveal hidden tombs. ...

Carson has expounded his “personal theory” that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. He referred to the Old Testament story of Joseph predicting famine and advising the pharaoh to store surplus food.

“Some people believe in the Bible like I do and don’t find that to be silly at all, and believe that God created the Earth and don’t find that to be silly at all,” Carson said. “The secular progressives try to ridicule it every time it comes up and they’re welcome to do that.”

Low-Wage Workers to Target Republican Debate in Milwaukee

'Come Get My Vote': Low-Wage Workers Rise Up in Advance of 2016 Election

Fight for $15 organizers say workers will walk off the job in 270 cities across the U.S.

One year out from the 2016 presidential election, fast-food and other low-wage workers are striking on Tuesday in hundreds of cities across the U.S., demanding a livable wage, the right to form a union, and attention to their cause from those seeking elected office.

Under the banner 'Come Get My Vote,' workers will walk off the job in 270 cities from Detroit to Denver, while close to 500 cities will host rallies outside city halls in support of the Fight for $15 movement. In Milwaukee, following the strikes and city hall protest, members of Fight for $15 Wisconsin will rally outside the Republican presidential debate at the Milwaukee Theatre.

"Workers need a raise now," Latifah Trezvant, a McDonald's employee from Kansas City, Missouri, told the news website Attn. "McDonald's and other large corporations need to step up and pay more. Politicians need to use their power. We can't wait. We've got one message for anyone running for office in 2016, whether it's for dogcatcher or president: Come get our vote."

According to the SEIU-backed Fight for $15 organization, the 64 million Americans paid less than $15 an hour "are a voting bloc that can no longer be ignored."

Yannet Lathrop, a researcher at the pro-union National Employment Law Project (NELP), told Al Jazeera America that low-wage workers in the United States are "starting to wake up politically." She cited an October poll commissioned by NELP (pdf) showing that 65 percent of low-wage workers would be more likely to vote in the coming presidential race if a candidate supported a $15 minimum wage and unionization. ...

Organizers predicted Tuesday's strikes would be the largest of their kind. All three Democratic contenders for president have voiced their support for a higher minimum wage, with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both taking to Twitter on Tuesday to encourage the protesting workers. Sanders, for his part, is striking with low-wage workers in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

Sanders Campaign Argues Green Group Betrayed Own Metrics To Back Clinton

While Sanders has received 95 percent lifetime rating from League of Conservation Voters, group went with Clinton who only agrees with it 82 percent of the time

An establishment environmental group is under fire for its recent endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, which environmentalists and Bernie Sanders supporters say contradicts the organization's own rubric for grading candidates' political records.

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) on Monday threw its full weight behind Clinton, marking the organization's earliest endorsement of a presidential candidate. During an appearance in Nashua, New Hampshire, LCV Action Fund president Gene Karpinski touted Clinton's "long history of strong environmental leadership," saying she is "without a doubt the most effective leader to stand up to Big Polluters and push forward an aggressive plan to tackle climate change."

This strong statement of support comes despite the fact that the organization—which charges itself with electing "pro-environment candidates"—had essentially given Clinton a lifetime score (pdf) of 82 out of 100 for her environmental voting record, leading the Sanders campaign to cry foul.

"Bernie's record on the environment is unbeatable," said Sanders' spokesperson Michael Briggs. "He has a 95 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters." Sanders has already won a number of significant environmental endorsements, including from fellow Vermonter and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben as well as Friends of the Earth.

In contrast, Briggs observed that the League only "agreed with former Sen. Clinton 82 percent of the time," adding that the endorsement is likely "based on something other than the merits."

BREAKING: @LCVoters endorses the Democratic candidate with the weakest climate agenda https://t.co/wvGdtG2HNE

— Brad Johnson (@climatebrad) November 9, 2015

National Journal reporter Ben Geman notes that LCV has close ties to the Democratic establish­ment.

The endorsement is not insignificant. The group is now preparing to launch a program to mobilize mem­bers in early primary states to volunteer for the Clin­ton cam­paign. Further, according to the group, LCV ponied up $15 million in the 2012 elections and $30 million in the 2014 cycle.

A great musician has passed. Rest in peace, Allen Toussaint.

Allen Toussaint, R&B singer-songwriter and producer, dies aged 77

Songwriter, producer and revered New Orleans R&B performer Allen Toussaint has died aged 77 after suffering a heart attack, according to reports.

Toussaint died on Monday 9 November in Spain while on tour with his performance quartet, according to Louisiana station WWL-TV, and had played his last show in Bilbao on Sunday. ...

Toussaint was a legendary fixture of New Orleans R&B. Born in New Orleans on 14 January 1938, he started his musical career as an apprentice to composer, bandleader and producer Dave Bartholomew, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Toussaint then came into his own as a session musician, before becoming a songwriter and producer affiliated with record labels Minit and Instant.

Toussaint wrote hit R&B songs for the likes of Neville, Ernie K-Doe, The Showmen and Irma Thomas and collaborated with Joe Cocker and Paul McCartney, among many others.

How an Execution 20 Years Ago Shaped the Fight Against Oil Pollution in the Niger Delta

Exactly 20 years ago, Nigeria's military junta executed Ken Saro-Wiwa, an activist who fought against the environmental destruction of the Niger Delta by the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation. Today, the same destructive oil activities and pollution he rallied against still remain in the area, along with high rates of youth unemployment, poverty, and crippling health effects — but that doesn't mean Saro-Wiwa died in vain.

Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr. was 27 when his father was killed on November 10, 1995. Two decades later, and now a journalist-turned-government advisor, he will use the anniversary to reflect on his father's work and legacy, which has since reached far beyond the family. The work of Saro-Wiwa Jr. continues to influence activists from the Niger Delta to Lagos, and outside of the country to London and California. ...

In the 1980s and 1990s, Saro-Wiwa Sr. led a movement against Shell's activities in the Niger Delta, the area in West Africa where the Niger River pours into the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The activist, who also protested for government transparency and improved treatment of the Ogoni people, was arrested in 1992 and hit with controversial charges connected with the murder of local officials.

Global uproar over Saro-Wiwa Sr.'s trial turned to outrage when the military government swiftly carried out the execution. His family viewed Shell as an accomplice to the jail sentence and execution.

While the Niger Delta is still deeply troubled, the optimistic side of Saro-Wiwa Sr.'s legacy is the generations of Nigerians he pushed into action. ...

The annual commemoration activities will take place in the heart of the Niger Delta this week to mark the anniversary — a day that also saw eight other Ogoni activists executed in connection with the same case. Overnight on Monday, the annual candlelight walk began at Saro-Wiwa's house in the Rivers State capital of Port Harcourt, later moving to the jail the Ogoni nine were detained in before their deaths and eventually ending up at the unmarked grave in the local cemetery they were buried in after the execution.

"My father was way ahead of his time, he wrote his first letter about the protest activities in Ogoni at age 17," Saro-Wiwa Jr. said. "He spent the whole of his life to change that. ...

Shell halted operations on the indigenous group's homeland is known in 1993, but the company, along with Chevron and others, still operate in other parts of the Niger Delta. The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) put out an environmental assessment of Ogoniland in 2011, determining that it could take up to 30 years and $1 billion to clean up the oil spills in the area. Shell is reportedly set to commit $330 million to the effort, with the remaining cash expected to come from various shareholders. Nigeria established a separate restoration fund in August.

In a report published last week, Amnesty International slammed Shell, refuting the company's claims that it had cleaned areas of the Niger Delta experiencing high levels of pollution from oil spills.

[See also: Finally it seems as if Ken Saro-Wiwa, my father, may not have not died in vain - js]

Canada's Plan to Dump a Massive Amount of Shit Into the St. Lawrence River Is Back On — With Some Conditions

WMN4SRVL: RT stimulator: #Montreal set to dump shit on the river. Join the #ShitStorm! tweet deniscoderre+cathmcke… pic.twitter.com/QWNE6YEsTH

— Relax In Canada (@RelaxInCanada) November 10, 2015

Canada's environment minister has signed off a contentious plan to dump 8 billion liters of raw residential and industrial sewage into the St. Lawrence River, as long as certain conditions are met.

Calling the plan "less than ideal" and noting she was not "not thrilled to be in this situation," Catherine McKenna none-the-less called her approval "an example of evidence-based decision making."

"We looked at the risks associated with an unplanned discharge versus the risks associated with a planned discharge," the newly-minted minister of environment and climate change said on Monday from Paris, where she is attending talks related to the upcoming climate change conference.

"We could mitigate the risks if the city had a planned discharge, with conditions," she concluded. The conditions include monitoring the discharge, reviewing the dump afterwards, and a review of the effects on the nearby community.

[Some background information here. - js]

Environment minister greenlights Montreal's sewage dumping plan https://t.co/CXT4vJmTig pic.twitter.com/g6nttAKU0E

— Metro Ottawa (@metroottawa) November 10, 2015

Environment minister greenlights Montreal's sewage dumping plan

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has said the dump is necessary because the city must temporarily close a large sewer that feeds sewage to a treatment facility and alternative solutions would be too costly.

The city plans to relocate a snow chute and conduct critical work on aging sewage infrastructure.

Coderre's announcement in early October that the city "had no choice" but to release the sewage prompted former Conservative environment minister Leona Aglukkaq to suspend the project and order an independent scientific review.

The results of that review, released Friday, noted the discharge would have a limited impact on fish reproduction if done before the winter and monitored properly.

The scientists concluded fall is the best time to dump the sewage because doing so in other seasons could disrupt fish-spawning cycles.

Moreover, the independent panel noted that Montreal's sewer system is aging and a failure to upgrade the infrastructure could cause a rupture and an unplanned discharge of sewage during fish-spawning months.

China's Dirty Air Just Hit 'Doomsday' Levels

A thick smog engulfed the Chinese city of Shenyang on Sunday and Monday, sending air pollution levels 50 times above what's deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO) and marking the highest pollution on record since the country began monitoring air quality in 2013, according to the Associated Press.

The smog grounded flights, closed highways, and prompted officials to tell residents to stay indoors. Visibility in the northeastern industrial city of 5 million was just a few dozen feet, according to the New York Times.

The smog is particularly dangerous because of its high concentration of particulates measuring less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in diameter, which can be inhaled deeply into the lungs and absorbed into the bloodstream. PM2.5 pollution can contribute to a host of health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, emphysema, and lung cancer.

While the WHO recommends a safe level of PM2.5 to be no more than 25 micrograms per cubic meter over 24 hours, levels in the city of Shenyang had reached up to 1,400 micrograms on Sunday, according to China's official news agency Xinhua. ...

Last month, the organization said 80 percent of Chinese cities exceeded the national standard on PM2.5 — 35 micrograms per cubic meter — while levels in 367 Chinese cities were more than four times more stringent WHO guidelines. ...

Two years ago, when the country was suffering from severe smog, the state-run China Central Television (CCT) released a list outlining five "surprising benefits" of smog, including its ability to "unify" the Chinese people and make the country "more equal."

Also of Interest

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

Only Edward Snowden Can Save James Bond

How U.S. Schools Can Avoid Britain’s Problems with Radicalization Screening

NATO War Games Unwittingly Put Soviets and U.S. on ‘Hair Trigger’ in ’83, Analysis Suggests

A Better World Through Bombing

A Little Night Music

Jerry McCain - She's Tough

The Fabulous Thunderbirds - She's Tough

Jerry McCain - I'm a Ding Dong Daddy

Jerry Mccain - Juicy Lucy

Jerry Mccain - Rough Stuff

Jerry "Boogie" McCain - Twist "62"

The Shindigs (Jerry McCain & Sam The Sham) - Pussycat A Go-Go

Jerry McCain 'The Jig's Up'

Jerry McCain - Honky tonk

Jerry McCain - She's Crazy 'Bout Entertainers

Jerry McCain - Love Ain't Nothin' To Play With

Jerry McCain and his Upstart - That's What They Want

Jerry McCain - I've Got The Blues All Over Me

Jerry McCain - 53 Year Old Man

Jerry McCain - I'm a King Bee

Jerry Boogie McCain - Potato Patch

Jerry McCain - A Cutie Named Judy

Jerry McCain - Rock and Roll Ball

Jerry McCain - Courtin' In A Cadillac

Jerry McCain - Put Where I Can Get It