The Evening Blues - 11-19-15
The Evening Blues - 11-19-15
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues harmonica player James Cotton. Enjoy!
James Cotton - The Creeper
"Rome’s a city for sale and bound to fall as soon as it finds a buyer."-- Jugurtha
News and Opinion
Obama's drone war a 'recruitment tool' for Isis, say US air force whistleblowers
Four former service members – including three sensor operators – issue plea to rethink current airstrike strategy that has ‘fueled feelings of hatred’ toward US
Four former US air force service members, with more than 20 years of experience between them operating military drones, have written an open letter to Barack Obama warning that the program of targeted killings by unmanned aircraft has become a major driving force for Isis and other terrorist groups.
The group of servicemen have issued an impassioned plea to the Obama administration, calling for a rethink of a military tactic that they say has “fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like Isis, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantánamo Bay”.
In particular, they argue, the killing of innocent civilians in drone airstrikes has acted as one of the most “devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world”. ...
The number of lethal airstrikes has ballooned under Obama’s watch. The Pentagon has plans further to increase the number of daily drone flights by 50% by 2019. ...
One of the four drone operators who signed the letter to Obama, Brandon Bryant, was part of the team that tracked Anwar al-Awlaki by drone for 10 months shortly before he was killed. In an interview with the Guardian, Bryant said that he was not opposed to drone technology per se, which he saw as having beneficial uses.
“We just understand that in its current form the program is being abused, there’s no transparency, and we need to be open to other solutions.”
Bryant said that in his view he had been made to violate his military oath by being assigned to a mission that killed a fellow American. “We were told that al-Awlaki deserved to die, he deserved to be killed as a traitor, but article 3 of section 2 of the US constitution states that even a traitor deserves a fair trial in front of a jury of his peers.”
Paris attacks could delay Guantánamo Bay closure, Obama warns
Barack Obama has warned that his efforts to close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre will run into even more opposition as a result of the Paris terrorist attacks, despite the facility serving as an “enormous recruitment tool” for Islamic State by remaining open.
The White House is due to announce its latest plan to shut the prison when Obama returns from Asia this week, but it is increasingly gloomy about prospects for overcoming Republicans and Democrats in Congress who oppose the notion of relocating a hardcore of detainees to mainland US prisons.
Obama also compared the negative consequences of the political deadlock to parallel congressional efforts to suspend the Syrian refugee programme, which will be voted on in the House of Representatives today, claiming Guantánamo Bay in particular did more harm than good by fuelling terrorism.
“It’s part of how they rationalize and justify their demented, sick perpetration of violence on innocent people,” said the president.
[Wow, that Obama puts out some pretty harsh rhetoric about violence against innocent civilians for a guy whose thousands of drone strikes kill civilians 90% of the time. - js]
Between ISIS and Intervening Powers, Perpetual Conflict is Common Goal
Don't blame me for Isis, says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has declared his country was not a breeding ground for Isis, blaming the creation of the jihadist organisation on the west.
“I can tell you Daesh doesn’t have the natural incubator, social incubator, within Syria,” he said in a television interview with Italian national broadcaster Rai, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
Jihadists who trained in Syria for the Paris massacres and other attacks had done so due to “the support of the Turks and the Saudis and Qatari, and of course the western policy that supported the terrorists in different ways”, he said.
Isis “didn’t start in Syria, it started in Iraq, and it started before that in Afghanistan”, he said, quoting former British prime minister Tony Blair as saying “the Iraqi war helped create Isis”.
Blair’s “confession is the most important evidence”, Assad said.
Glenn Greenwald: "Shameless" U.S. Officials Exploit Paris Attacks to Defend Spying & Attack Snowden>
Paris terror: Air strikes will have little effect
French aircraft have bombed Raqqa, Isis’s capital, and hit an Isis training camp and a suspected arms depot according to a local monitoring group. But ten French planes dropping 20 bombs are unlikely to achieve very much because targets are concealed, dispersed and difficult to detect.
The limitations on the effectiveness of French military actions are made clear by the failure of the much larger US-led air campaign to contain Isis since air strikes began in August last year. It has caused damage and inflicted casualties on Isis and, on occasion, has led to their defeat in ground battles with the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds. But, despite being vulnerable to air attack, Isis was still able to capture Palmyra in Syria and Ramadi in Iraq in May.
France Wants Grand Coalition Against ISIS, But US Still Seeks to Exclude Russia
Since Friday evening’s attacks, French officials have repeatedly declared their desire to see a “grand coalition” of nations fighting ISIS, with President Hollande saying it’s time to put aside “diverging interests” and unite against ISIS in general.
This comment is pointed squarely at the current divide in the ISIS war, with the US-led coalition fighting one anti-ISIS war, and several other nations fighting ISIS, but being excluded by the US. Russia is the biggest of these nations, and the US seems eager to keep it that way.
Speaking during his visit to the Philippines, President Obama insisted Russia needed to be kept out of their coalition right now, and that the US intends to “wait and see” if Russia gets closer to the US position on a diplomatic settlement at the Vienna talks.
Oil on Fire: Russian jets destroy ISIS refineries, trucks and wells
World unites after IS terror but strikes may backfire
In the wake of the brutal attacks in France and the downing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, Paris and Moscow are now keen to present themselves as partners -- a potentially major turnaround after nearly two years of deteriorating relations over the Ukraine crisis.
A senior French official told AFP the bloodshed in Paris would spur an international effort that "strikes more intelligently together against Daesh (an alternative name for IS), to hurt Daesh by striking more damaging targets, particularly against financial resources."
He said there would be a focus on oil infrastructure and transport routes that are key to IS funding.
But striking economic targets could drive more locals into the arms of the jihadists, warned analyst Hassan Hassan, while doing little to signficantly degrade the group's capabilities. ...
"People depend on oil for their basic livelihoods. If you deprive them of that, it forces them either to flee and become refugees, or join IS, as they need a source of income," he said.
Expanding air strikes also raises the prospect of killing civilians, multiplying grievances and fuelling support for IS.
Turkey and US to carry out operation to drive Isis out of key Turkish border region
Turkey and the US are to carry out operations aimed at driving out Isis from a militarily important part of Syria’s border region with Turkey. The move is part of the elaborate chess game being played in the area in which the ultimate prize is Aleppo and a decisive victory in the Syrian civil war.
The aim of operation will be to establish an “Isis-free zone” in a 60-mile long area west of the Euphrates through which run the roads from Turkey to Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria.
The US and Turkey will provide air cover as the zone is cleared of Isis fighters by the Free Syrian Army, but no Turkish or American ground troops will be involved. ...
Problems are likely to arise for the US-Turkish accord because Ankara’s definition of a moderate appears to include the extreme Sunni hard-line groups like Ahrar al-Sham that normally fights alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. At the G20 meeting last weekend President Barack Obama made strong objections to the idea of a “safe zone” in Syria, saying its establishment would require US ground troops to be truly safe. He said “the bulk of deaths that have occurred in Syria, for example, have come about not because of regime bombing, but because of on-the-ground casualties”. ...
Turkey may feel threatened because of the three offensives launched by the Syrian army, with Russian air support, in the north of the country since the start of Russian air strikes on 30 September that could see Mr Assad’s forces take part of the frontier with Turkey north of Latakia.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 'Mastermind' Behind the Paris Attacks, Is Dead
French police have killed the suspected mastermind behind last Friday's Paris terror attacks, the city's prosecutor said in a statement on Thursday. ...
Police originally thought he was in Syria, but their investigations led them to a house in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis. Heavily armed officers stormed the building before dawn on Wednesday morning, triggering a massive firefight and multiple explosions.
Two people were killed in the police raid, including a woman who blew herself up, but French police did not say whether the other person was Abaaoud until today.
"Abdel Hamid Abaaoud has just been formally identified, after comparing fingerprints, as having been killed during the (police) raid," the prosecutor's statement said. "It was the body we had discovered in the building, riddled with bullets."
Signs Point to Unencrypted Communications Between Terror Suspects
News emerging from Paris — as well as evidence from a Belgian ISIS raid in January — suggests that the ISIS terror networks involved were communicating in the clear, and that the data on their smartphones was not encrypted.
European media outlets are reporting that the location of a raid conducted on a suspected safe house Wednesday morning was extracted from a cellphone, apparently belonging to one of the attackers, found in the trash outside the Bataclan concert hall massacre. Le Monde reported that investigators were able to access the data on the phone, including a detailed map of the concert hall and an SMS messaging saying “we’re off; we’re starting.” Police were also able to trace the phone’s movements.
The Telegraph reported that “eyewitness accounts and surveillance of mobile telephone traffic” suggested that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected strategist of both the Paris attack and one that was foiled in Belgium, was staying at the safe house.
Details about the major ISIS terror plot averted 10 months ago in Belgium also indicate that while Abaaoud previously attempted to avoid government surveillance, he did not use encryption.
Glenn Greenwald on "Submissive" Media's Drumbeat for War and Anti-Muslim Scapegoating
From Paris to Boston, Terrorists Were Already Known to Authorities
Whenever a terrorist attack occurs, it never takes long for politicians to begin calling for more surveillance powers. The horrendous attacks in Paris last week, which left more than 120 people dead, are no exception to this rule. In recent days, officials in the United Kingdom and the United States have been among those arguing that more surveillance of Internet communications is necessary to prevent further atrocities.
The case for expanded surveillance of communications, however, is complicated by an analysis of recent terrorist attacks. The Intercept has reviewed 10 high-profile jihadi attacks carried out in Western countries between 2013 and 2015 [click link for the details. - js], and in each case some or all of the perpetrators were already known to the authorities before they executed their plot. In other words, most of the terrorists involved were not ghost operatives who sprang from nowhere to commit their crimes; they were already viewed as a potential threat, yet were not subjected to sufficient scrutiny by authorities under existing counterterrorism powers. Some of those involved in last week’s Paris massacre, for instance, were already known to authorities; at least three of the men appear to have been flagged at different times as having been radicalized, but warning signs were ignored.
In the aftermath of a terrorist atrocity, government officials often seem to talk about surveillance as if it were some sort of panacea, a silver bullet. But what they always fail to explain is how, even with mass surveillance systems already in place in countries like France, the United States, and the United Kingdom, attacks still happen. In reality, it is only possible to watch some of the people some of the time, not all of the people all of the time. Even if you had every single person in the world under constant electronic surveillance, you would still need a human being to analyze the data and assess any threats in a timely fashion. And human resources are limited and fallible. ...
If any lesson can be learned from studying the perpetrators of recent attacks, it is that there needs to be a greater investment in conducting targeted surveillance of known terror suspects and a move away from the constant knee-jerk expansion of dragnet surveillance, which has simply not proven itself to be effective, regardless of the debate about whether it is legal or ethical in the first place.
Overwhelmed NSA Surprised to Discover Its Own Surveillance “Goldmine” on Venezuela’s Oil Executives
A top-secret NSA Document dated 2011, describes how, by “sheer luck,” an analyst was able to access the communications of top officials of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela.
Beyond the issue of spying on a business, the document highlights a significant flaw in mass surveillance programs: how indiscriminate collection can blind rather than illuminate. It also illustrates the technical and bureaucratic ease with which NSA analysts are able to access the digital communications of certain foreign targets.
The document, provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, is a March 23, 2011, article in the NSA’s internal newsletter, SIDtoday. It is written by a signals development analyst who recounts how, in addition to luck, he engaged in a “ton of hard work” to discover that the NSA had obtained access to vast amounts of Petróleos de Venezuela’s internal communications, apparently without anyone at the NSA having previously noticed this surveillance “goldmine.”
That the NSA, unbeknownst to itself, was collecting sensitive communications of top Venezuelan oil officials demonstrates one of the hazards of mass surveillance: The agency collects so much communications data from around the world that it often fails to realize what it has. That is why many surveillance experts contend that mass surveillance makes it harder to detect terrorist plots as compared to an approach of targeted surveillance: An agency that collects billions of communications events daily will fail to understand the significance of what it possesses.
This is a really excellent, well-researched article worth taking a look at. It is a fine reminder that the lunatic fringe of bigoted christianists has long had a home in the Republican party and that today's knuckle-dragging monsters are nothing new.
Anti-Syrian Muslim Refugee Rhetoric Mirrors Calls to Reject Jews During Nazi Era
During the 1930s and early 1940s, the United States resisted accepting large numbers of Jewish refugees escaping the Nazi terror sweeping Europe, in large part because of fearmongering by a small but vocal crowd.
They claimed that the refugees were communist or anarchist infiltrators intent on spreading revolution; that refugees were part of a global Jewish-capitalist conspiracy to take control of the United States from the inside; that the refugees were either Nazis in disguise or under the influence of Nazi agents sent to commit acts of sabotage; and that Jewish refugees were out to steal American jobs.
Many rejected Jews simply because they weren’t Christian.
In recent days, similar arguments are being resurrected to reject Syrian refugees fleeing sectarian terrorists and civil war.
From talk radio to the blogosphere to leading American politicians, anti-Syrian rhetoric claims that refugees are simply ISIS infiltrators; that migrants are Muslim invaders seeking to establish a “global caliphate” and impose Sharia law on America; and that Syrian refugees are lying about escaping violence and are focused instead on abusing the American welfare system.
And in a rehash of history, politicians are arguing that only Christian, not Muslim, refugees from Syria should be welcomed.
Oh looky! Democrats are getting the bigotry fever, too:
Virginia Mayor Cites WWII Japanese Internment Camps as Precedent for Refusing Syrian Refugees
Another Democrat has joined the growing number of Republicans calling for the US to suspend the resettlement of Syrian refugees following a series of deadly foreign terror attacks committed by the Islamic State.
David Bowers, the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, issued a statement on Wednesday saying that after recent events — including the downing of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people aboard and the Paris attacks that left 129 dead — he has become "convinced" that it is "imprudent" to "assist in the relocation of Syrian refugees to our part of Virginia."
But the mayor, who announced last week that he won't seek reelection, also went one step further, suggesting that a policy similar to the infamous internment of Japanese Americans during WWII may be applicable to Syrians in the current situation.
"I'm reminded that President Franklin D. Roosevelt felt compelled to sequester Japanese foreign nationals after the bombing of Pearl Harbor," he said, "and it appears that the threat of harm to America from ISIS now is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then." ...
The mayor's remarks come two days after New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan became the first Democrat to split from her party in calling for the US to halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees "until intelligence and defense officials can assure that the process for vetting all refugees, including those from Syria, is as strong as possible to ensure the safety of the American people."
Syrian family lucks out, doesn't have to live in crappy state of Indiana, governed by racist scum.
Connecticut welcomes Syrian refugee family after Indiana governor says no
A family of Syrian refugees destined for resettlement in Indiana was denied entry to the state and instead began a new life in Connecticut on Wednesday.
The family of three – a mother, father and their five-year-old son – had been waiting three years to move to Indiana before their placement was changed, a consequence of the growing tensions in the wake of the Paris attacks that Syrian refugees could pose a threat to national security.
The governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, is one of at least 30 governors who have said they do not want to resettle Syrian refugees in their state even though they do not have the authority to refuse to do so. ...
Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy welcomed the family to his state with open arms. “It’s the right thing for us to do to respond to this tragedy,” Malloy said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We have an obligation to the other nations of the world to do our part.”
Can Terrorists Really Infiltrate the Syrian Refugee Program?
Despite the current uproar, the U.S. has been resettling people fleeing war-torn countries for decades without trouble.
If you look solely at the U.S.’s long record of taking in refugees from countries torn apart by war, it’s hard to argue that national security should be a top concern in the debate over Syrian migrants.
In the 14 years since September 11, 2001, the United States has resettled 784,000 refugees from around the world, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute, a D.C. think tank. And within that population, three people have been arrested for activities related to terrorism. None of them were close to executing an attack inside the U.S., and two of the men were caught trying to leave the country to join terrorist groups overseas.
“I think I can count on one hand the number of crimes of any significance that I've heard have been committed by refugees,” said Lavinia Limón, a veteran of refugee work since 1975 and the president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. “It just hasn’t been an issue.” ...
The coordinated attacks in Paris have fanned fears that terrorists could infiltrate the U.S. by slipping in among the refugees—as might have occurred in the case of one of the Paris attackers.
As U.S. officials and refugee advocates point out, that has never happened in modern history. Not when the U.S. took in tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s. Not when 125,000 Cuban “Marielitos” arrived by boat in 1980. And not in the desperate aftermath of more recent wars in Bosnia, Somalia, or Rwanda. “Those fears have proven unfounded,” said John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE who previously served as a top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security.
Keiser Report: Radical Ideas to fix Inequality (ft Varoufakis)
Elizabeth Warren Blasts Tax Plan as 'Giant Wet Kiss' to Corporate America
Denouncing a "rigged" system that favors corporations over middle-class Americans, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a "must-watch" speech on Wednesday that any reform of the U.S. corporate tax code must force big businesses to "substantially increase" the amount of federal tax they pay.
She described that "deemed repatriation" plan—which would allow U.S. companies to pay less tax on profits generated abroad if that money is repatriated to the U.S.—as "a giant wet kiss for the tax dodgers who have already parked $2.1 trillion overseas."
"When I look at the details, I see the same rigged game," she said, "a game where Congress hands out billions in benefits to well-connected corporations, while people who really could use a break...are left holding the bag."
Warren pushed back on corporate claims that U.S. taxes are too high, citing a White House study that found companies' contribution to government tax revenue had dropped from $3 out of every $10 in the 1950s to $1 out of every $10 today.
"Only one problem with the over-taxation story: It’s not true," she said. "There is a problem with the corporate tax code, but that isn't it. It's not that taxes are far too high for giant corporations, as the lobbyists claim. No, the problem is that the revenue generated from corporate taxes is far too low."
New York Just Committed $2.6 Billion to Housing the Homeless
After months of headlines bemoaning New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's handling of homelessness on the city streets, the mayor announced on Wednesday a $2.6 billion investment in creating 15,000 new supportive housing units over the next 15 years for the city's most severely-disabled homeless people.
The project will help transition mentally-ill, disabled, and addicted individuals living on the street into apartment-style homes with health and community services on-site, and is one of the best ways for public officials to help that portion of the homeless population, according to experts.
"These housing units are designed for people with very severe disabilities who have been on the streets a long time, and it's proven to be very very effective at getting people off the streets and into housing that nobody thought could possible be housed," said Steve Berg, the vice president for programs and policy at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
It's also cost-effective, Berg noted. Individuals with disabilities — particularly mental health problems — who stay on the streets end up causing taxpayers more money in emergency medical and jail costs. Housing them and providing social services can help prevent those costs from accruing.
Hillary Clinton Attacks Bernie Sanders' Plan for Single-Payer Healthcare
Hillary Clinton took aim on Tuesday at Bernie Sanders' plan for a single-payer healthcare system.
She did not mention Sanders by name at a rally at a Dallas community college, instead saying, "One thing we should not do is follow a proposal that has been made by one of my opponents."
"I was actually the only one on that debate stage on Saturday who will commit to raising your wages and not your taxes," Clinton said, referring to the presidential debate. "I can't see how you can be serious about raising incomes if you also want to slap new taxes on them, no matter what the taxes would pay for."
The Clinton campaign pointed to legislation Sanders introduced in 2013, and said it would mean tax increase on working families; while a strategist for his campaign team said that details for how his current proposal would be funded is delayed until they have a "fully costed analysis," his, and many health experts', position is that a single-payer plan would ultimately reduce inequality and ultimately save taxpayers money by putting healthcare security above corporate profits.
Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon added in a statement Tuesday, "If you are truly concerned about raising incomes for middle-class families, the last thing you should do is cut their take-home pay right off the bat by raising their taxes."
But the Sanders campaign shot back against that framing of the issue. Sanders spokesperson Michael Briggs said Tuesday, "On Medicare for all, the middle class would be far better off because it would save taxpayers money."
"More people would get better care at less cost," he stated.
Briggs added that Clinton supports a system that "props up private insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies which have given so much money to her campaigns."
Hillary Is Already Triangulating Against Liberals
Her new attack on Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care plan shows her indifference to progressive voters.
The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign has begun using an odd new line of attack against upstart Democratic primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders: He’s too liberal on taxes and universal health insurance. Why is she doing this? After returning to the position in which she entered the race—as the near-certain nominee—she seems to be setting herself up for the general election. But it’s strange to see her now, after the previously shaky ship has been steadied, attacking a candidate whose supporters she’ll need in any general election campaign over an issue that his supporters care about very deeply. ...
The Clinton campaign is suddenly quite upset about that proposal and wants everyone to know. She has committed to the same (policy-constricting) pledge that President Obama took in 2008 and 2012, ruling out tax increases on individuals making less than $200,000 per year or joint filers making less than $250,000. This neatly positions her camp to say, by contrast, that the bug-eyed socialist Bernie Sanders wants to take all of your money. ...
If Clinton wanted to say that she wouldn’t push for a single-payer system because it’s a political dead-ender right now, or because she’s spotted another legitimate policy flaw with the idea, that would be more acceptable. What she’s doing, instead, is essentially red-baiting about Bernie Sanders’ Wacky Taxes in her dismissal of a policy that, on paper, draws plenty of support among Democratic voters. That’s not good for the single-payer health care movement, which is hoping that some blue states will be able to use ACA waivers to experiment with single-payer in their states but so far are running into trouble thanks to the exact talking point Clinton’s deploying. And it’s not good for American liberalism in general, which is supposed to defend the belief that government funded by taxes can solve problems and improve people’s livelihoods.
Perhaps the Clinton campaign has some horrific polling data that’s leading them to launch this direct assault on Sanders, or it’s just trying to distract everyone from Clinton’s bizarre explanation at Saturday’s debate for her voluminous contributions from Wall Street over the years. But it also seems like Clinton feels like she has the nomination secure and is triangulating ahead of the general election, mortgaging progressive policy in the process. Does that sound familiar?
[Also see Lambert's excellent analysis:
Remembering Joe Hill
Yellowstone proposes controversial slaughter of 1,000 bison
National park authorities want to kill one in five animals to bring population down to target size
Yellowstone National Park is proposing to reduce its celebrated bison herd by 1,000 animals this winter by rounding up those wandering into adjacent Montana and delivering them to Native American tribes for slaughter, officials said on Wednesday.
The longstanding but controversial annual culling is designed to lessen the risk of straying Yellowstone bison infecting cattle herds in Montana with brucellosis, a bacterial disease carried by many bison, also known as buffalo. ...
Brucellosis, which can cause pregnant cows and other animals to miscarry their young, is at the centre of a perennial dispute between Montana ranchers and wildlife advocates over management of Yellowstone’s bison. Ranchers also worry about bison overgrazing lands needed to feed livestock. ...
More than 700 bison were culled last year, most of them captured and turned over to tribes for slaughter but some killed through hunting. Some tribes, such as the Nez Perce in Idaho, support the program while others oppose it.
Jimmy St. Goddard, a spiritual leader of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana, said the culling, for him, evokes a painful chapter of American history in which US extermination campaigns pushed the massive, hump-backed creatures to the edge of extinction.
“Killing these buffalo is shameful,” he said.
Progress on Killing Coal, But 'Much, Much, Much More Needed'
Campaigners say pledges to curb subsidies and close power plants fall short of 'radical shift' necessary
The world's wealthiest nations appear to be slowly acknowledging the destruction that decades of coal burning has wrought on the environment, though campaigners are warning that pledges to curb subsidies and close power plants still fall substantially short of the "radical shift" necessary to keep global warming beneath the stated goal of 2°C.
UK Energy Secretary Amber Rudd on Wednesday announced that her country would close all coal-fired power plants by 2025, making it first major global economy to commit to such a plan.
That came on the heels of an announcement Tuesday that the 34 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed to cut back on subsidies to build coal power plants overseas, but not eliminate the financing completely. The OECD claims the move represents a "major step" ahead of the COP21 climate talks "towards aligning export credit policies with climate change objectives."
However, while both developments were seen as significant milestones in the movement to end coal, environmentalists say that neither goes far enough to tackle the polluting legacy and future of coal power. For example, the UK plan calls for an increase in nuclear power and plants fueled by fracked gas, rather than renewable alternatives.
France Cancels Major Climate March, But Groups Say They Won't Be Silenced
The Prefecture of Police of Paris has reportedly cancelled a march planned for November 29 that organizers expected to draw at least 200,000 people, citing security concerns.
Activists noted that other actions planned worldwide will still move forward.
Nicolas Haeringer, French campaigner for climate advocacy group 350.org, said in response, "The government can prohibit these demonstrations, but our voices will not be silenced. While this makes it difficult to go forward with our original plans, we will still find a way for people in Paris to make the call for climate justice heard, and we encourage everyone around the world to join a Global Climate March and raise their voices louder than ever. There’s never been a greater need."
"While our plans in Paris must change, the movement for climate justice will not slow down. Around the world, marches, demonstrations, and civil disobedience are all planned for the weeks and months ahead. Together, we will continue to stand against violence and hatred with our peace and resolve," Haeringer said. "For people around the world, join the Global Climate March in your community to show your support for climate justice. For those who were planning to travel to Paris, still come and join us, and together we’ll find a way to take action together."
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Stopping ISIS: Follow the Money
The bigger the haystack, the harder the terrorist is to find
Why Does the FBI Keep Arresting Asian-American Scientists?
Canada pledges 'innovative' inquiry into violence against indigenous women
The Department of Homeland Security: the largest police force nobody monitors
Climate change is 'single biggest threat' to polar bear survival
Brazil toxic mudslide devastates local water supply – in pictures
A Little Night Music
James Cotton Blues Band - Born In Missouri
James Cotton - Angel of Mercy / Blues in my Sleep
James Cotton - Mississippi Mud
Muddy Waters & James Cotton - Got My Mojo Working 1966
James Cotton - Just to be with you
James Cotton - Easy Lovin'
James Cotton & Mark Hummel - Don't Start Me To Talkin', She Moves Me + Blow Wind Blow
James Cotton - Dealing With The Devil
James Cotton Band - Ain't Doin Too Bad
James Cotton - Hold Me In Your Arms
James Cotton - Cotton Crop Blues
James Cotton - Diggin' My Potatoes
James Cotton, Junior Wells, Billy Branch, Carey Bell - Black Night
James Cotton - Don't start me talking
James Cotton - I Don't Know
The James Cotton Blues Band - Feelin' Good
James Cotton Band - Creeper creeps again
The James Cotton Blues Band - Fallin' Rain
James Cotton - You Got My Nose Open
Taj Mahal + James Cotton - Honky Tonk Woman
James Cotton Blues Band - Full Concert - 06/15/73
Comments
Thanks, Joe, just by the headlines I know already
there is too much good stuff to read.
https://www.euronews.com/live
afternoon mimi...
heh, happy reading!
not so happy about this reading ...
Clinton Says the US Needs Silicon Valley’s Help to Defeat ISIS
Well, wouldn't that be one step further of corporations having too much power over government? Whose interest will they serve first, the people's or their own interests, which includes buying the politicians?
https://www.euronews.com/live
evening mimi...
let's hope that the large corporate powers stay at odds with the government. in our descent into fascism it's kind of the new "checks and balances."
yeah, "money checks and power imbalances" that is /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
Greetings, Bluesters! Appreciate today's
roundup, Joe.
UPDATE: It should have read 2013 bill (below). Looks like I'll need to read a couple of your pieces, Joe, before commenting.
Hey, I just skimmed one of them, and see that Sanders campaign is going to release another bill. After I complete formatting my blog, I'll return to address only my preference for a straight "Medicare-For-All" plan, pending clarification of the details of the pending bill.
You know, it's a cryin' shame that so many members (over there) are not capable of discussing major issues without slinging invectives and insults. Before it's over, I guess my Mojo will go to zero--I simply don't have time for such "BS."
Unfortunately, the discussion at DKos appears to have already evolved into a massive food fight. If things calm down over there, I plan to re-post a previous comment that explains the 2013 bill--for what good it would do.
Whew!
Hey, one 'good' thing--think I saw bobswern over there.
I'm over there so little, now, that I've fallen to a Mojo of '3'--not that I'm going to worry about it.
Hey, Everyone have a great afternoon!
Later . . .
Mollie
"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."--Japanese Proverb
Postcript: I'm creating a blog today that will use the meter that I posted the other day; IOW, it will take on fallacies that we are spoonfed by the corporatist media. When I get a logo, I'll link to it in my signature line.
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Regarding the NC piece,
please read the following portion of the Sanders Bill:
So, maybe the writer did not read the actual Bill.
Mollie
"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."--Japanese Proverb
Postscript: I have no idea 'how' these emoticons showed up here.
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Maybe (A) is taken as shorthand for an angel emoticon?
Testing: (A) … yep, looks like it is. Gee, that could be inconvenient.
One way of preventing this is to replace the space before or after the (A) with a “no-break space” (alt-space on a Mac), as I did in this sentence.
Holy Cow! You're right, LL. I'll try to remember this
if there is a next time that 'unwanted' emoticons appear!
Thanks!
Mollie
"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."--Japanese Proverb
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
I deleted...
the "angel" emoticon, so that wont happen anymore. Thanks for the heads up, Mollie and lotlizard.
Awwww… it was kinda cute…
Now I feel guilty.
It was a...
fallen angel, it had to be put to rest.
evening mollie...
i so don't miss the food fights of the silly season. i have a feeling that this cycle will be even worse than the '08 debacle over there.
i'm glad to hear that bobswern is around. i hope that he's doing well.
Evening Joe...
I just can't do it anymore. I go there, start reading comments, make it through about 10 of them and find myself asking myself, "self, what are you reading this for"? Then I carry myself the hell out of there. I just can't do it anymore. I can read an occasional diary, but the comments just wear me down. Same old shit, over and over.
evening jtc...
it would be one thing if the arguments were substantive and were focused on moving the candidates to good positions on issues. sadly, that's rarely in evidence based upon my occasional sampling.
Hey Joe, I read this and thought of you:
.
Not a Tea Party, a Confederate Party
Now, I'm not sure why I thought of you on this unique historical analysis. So, you can tell me.
The Weekly Sift is a fun place to check weekly (former Kossack). For years, the blogmaster gathers each week's worth of US headlines, finds the overall theme, and puts it into American historical context. It's pretty radical. Of course, Stonekettle Station is an absolute weekly must, for me. Best rant on the Internet.
Thanks for the curated news.
This week at Stonekettle
…an excerpt and a serious prediction:
— From The Price of Civilization by the remarkable Jim Wright.
so that's where pericles went...
cool! thanks for the link, i very much appreciated his diaries at the gos.
that was an excellent article, i don't know exactly why it reminded you of me, though the opinions expressed track pretty well with my own.
I believe it was an unresolved discussion
…we had about the now-entrenched US constitution, which was written with slave owners in mind.
All of the original authors absolutely hated it. But they figured (wrongly) that their descendants would fix it. Just like Obamacare.
That article puts a fine point on this permanent conundrum that has taken the US well past its expiration date.
expiration looks to be on the horizon...
as entrenched economic and ideological battles prevent solutions to existential problems.
I second that sentiment, Joe. EOM
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
but you get nice big-eyed babies' and poor refugee kids' images
and "funny" facial expressions of your least favorite politicians, that is your reward for going over there, who needs the comments? And if everything is going to pull you down over there, some cute pooties are always there to lift you up...
I am just glad because their new design makes it easier to not read over there. Too sad of a development, but that's due to Markos' own decisions. He made a big pile of poop-style mistake, imo and with it missed to value his best writers and excellent content providers, imo.
https://www.euronews.com/live
It is not just the same old shit, but
the new formatting drives me crazy. It takes extraordinary patience to go very far down any comments over there simply because of the formatting. As I have posted both there and here, i thoroughly believe that was a conscious decision on the part of kos to limit commentary and keep diaries scrolling.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
This morning I was assembling a few articles into a draft.
I wasn't sure what I planned to o with it at c99p, but it was under construction. Well, one thing led to another, and I closed the page and lost everything. Of course, I never saved it. As it turns out, it really doesn't matter. Among your stories are two or three of the four articles I was stringing together. You must have felt the juju.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
evening dk...
glad to be helpful. every now and again there are days when clusters of news stories show up that when juxtaposed add up to something interesting. it makes for good diaries.
Want to thank you for the movie too.
All those old photos. Showed that the labor movement was much worse than I imagined.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Be afraid, very afraid
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
evening tim...
wow, those look like the sort of dangerous terrorists that would make chuck schumer pee his pants. goodness only knows what it might do to a republican governor.
I am fairly certain Schumer wears Depends
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Lol
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I know I'm skeeerd of da ebil.
The Assad family at home.
Thanks, Joe. We don't stop known terrorist because
we're still trying to look under every bed.
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 --
evening el...
look out! while you're busy peeping under the beds, the terrorists behind the woodpile are conspiring with the terrorist in the barn who is sending end-to-end encrypted messages to the terrorist in the haystack.
End-to-end encryption?
Two tin cans and a piece of string?
that works in my barnyard
Straight outta my brother's 1950s Cub Scout Handbook! n/t
Heh
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
good one!
Thanks for the news blues
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
heh... i hope it was good news...
Just now diggin' in
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Bernie talking about creating a new NATO-like
organization to fight terrorism.
Just lost my comment (pushing some buttons - who knows which ones - makes the comment disappear, sigh) and now I repeat it in short form. I listened to the whole speech of Bernie, which I think covered everything very well, just the ISIS and terrorism stuff I had difficulties to understand and be convinced by:
May be one needs to read this paragraph in context with the others, but what I basically don't understand is in how far the new NATO-like organization is supposedly to differ from the existing NATO. I also don't know, why bombardments of several NATO partners and Russia together with the US is much better than just one country doing the bombing alone. I can understand to bomb facilities, which generate money for the terrorist networks, but all other bombings just destroy the infrastructures of those countries so much that more civilians will suffer, more refugees are created and more angry young men and women are seduced to join terrorist networks like ISIS.
Sanders also speaks about more ME nations (like Saudi Arabia and Kuweit and UAE and Qatar) need to participate to fight ISIS. I thought they are actually financing ISIS so far.
But what do I know. I think Sanders has to be clearer on that. He sounds a little less hawkish than HRC, but still doesn't explain how one "destroys and defeats" a terrorist network and stop terrorist propaganda and rhetoric.
https://www.euronews.com/live
he's almost there...
we need a global coalition, or more accurately a global agreement to stop sending weapons and money to the sort of folks that we agree to stop radicalizing by propping up brutal governments like the saudi regime and the israeli occupation.
if he would actually say that
"stop sending weapons and money" and building a global agreement over that ... it would be nice, but he didn't say it ... you think he will?
https://www.euronews.com/live
i doubt that he will...
go that far unless there really is a revolution of the sort that removes the powers that be.
at least students should be joining in that kind of
revolution. If they wouldn't I think their universities and school missed educating them properly.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Fixed it for you
we need
a global coalition, or more accurately a global agreementto stop sending weaponsand money to the sort of folks that we agree to stop radicalizing by propping up brutal governments like the saudi regime and the israeli occupation.The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Bingo!
Instead we continue to arm to the two greatest human rights violators in the Middle East.
Rhetorical question: Is the US that stupid or simply corrupt?
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Terrorism is not a military tactic.
It you try to counter it with an army, the number of terrorists double in number, again and again.
That was the original US stupidity of Afghanistan. Everywhere the US goes, the number of terrorists explodes exponentially. This is a fact.
The solution is very simple, but not profitable for the MIC.
if the solution is that simple and as this solution
is only profitable for the MIC, but certainly very much not to profit the average American citizen or student, I ask myself why there is so little uprising against the military tactics used and so little support for stopping weapon and money supplies. It just baffles me.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Selling the weapons of war to the world
…is what the US does for a living. Those profits are what keep the Red states alive. One in four American jobs, directly or indirectly, depend on US global murder and mayhem.
The people cannot stop the plantation that feeds them. The US can only be stopped from the outside, and that is underway. The Paris massacre was an act of desperation from a dying empire. I thought Russia's Defense Minister, Sergei Lavrov, nailed it today:
It's out of our hands. Americans seem to be growing aware of the terrible war fraud that is exploiting and impoverishing them, but they are helpless.
Votes won't change that. Both Parties are fully corrupted.
and how much are the NATO allies corrupted?
... ??? They are all doing the US bidding and are in it. That's what gets on my nerves. I remember so well, when GWBush found all his new allies, the New Europe, the baltic friends etc. back when Rumsfeld and Cheney tickled the guilt-feelings of those Europeans who hesitated to support the US military intentions to go to war.
It feels this time around they do not even have to tickle anything, Europeans are in it voluntarily.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Evening, folks
Farmed Salmon is one of the most polluted food items legally available, but now we will be able to buy GMO farmed Salmon.
Well, it was the people who demanded GMO salmon!!! Here's a shot of a protest at a We Want GMO Salmon rally. The people spoke, and our elected guvmint responded. The FDA swung into action and approved frankenfish for human carcinogenic consumption!
Hey Crider
I have a Frankenstrat. It is pretty cool. Fender body, Callaham tremelo, Warmoth neck and G&L pickups.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
And those sweet high notes
sound just like a mandolin!
evening crider...
heh, yeah, our government is tremendously responsive to what the people want.
it sort of makes you want to move to some remote location and take up farming.
I know what you mean
I got the remote location down pat, but somehow missed out on the farming part!
may be the revolution comes in form of occupying
corporations' farm land and dig in there and farm it ourselves? May be they'll spray the occupiers with "chemicals"...
https://www.euronews.com/live
GMO salmon will contain eel genes
to make it larger. A large Franken-salmon for everyone to enjoy. But don't debate this on DKos, you will be called an anti-science, anti-vaxxer, CT spammer. I wouldn't touch farmed salmon anyway. The danger is these monsters will escape the fish farms and get into the ocean and that will diminish the real salmon.
To thine own self be true.
Indeed
I've been called a lot of names on those pro-GMO 'diaries' by a bunch of idiots who insist they are very sciency.
I followed your link, you won!
Definitely some shills there protecting GMO's. But you posted some good articles.
"Where's your peer reviewed scientific abstracts?" Blah! blah! They ask for that so they can post counter scientific papers financed by Monsanto through grants to Universities.
To thine own self be true.
Well, this is disturbing. Ammunition for right-wing xenophobes.
I first thought that “Rotherham” was just some kind of story invented by anti-immigrant, anti-refugee racists and right-wing xenophobes for propaganda purposes. But sadly, apparently not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham_child_sexual_exploitation_scandal
I can so much imagine that - sorry to say -
and - yes - it is always the same pattern and unless a person of the same ethnicity or tribal affiliation is starting to fight against that abuse - it won't be very successful (ie "white" interference is seldom doing the trick) - at least not in the country of that ethnicity's origin.
https://www.euronews.com/live
evening lotlizard...
yep, that's pretty disturbing. on the other hand, these sorts of awful things are certainly not only perpetrated by people from minority communities. i don't imagine that conservotwits could reasonably argue that the minority community perpetrates more of these horrors than, say, the catholic church.
may be, but often Catholic Churches are sought
out and thought of by these women, girls and childrens' as last refuge and resort, at least I believe that is the case in some sub-saharan countries. On the one hand it's the colonial style of religious oppression of traditional, indiginous religions as a cultural kind of genocide of old traditions (or newly nascent remakes of old traditions that are really very bad), on the other hand it's protection from abuses of those traditional, indiginous religions as well. There is a battle back and forth going on. People seek protection from abuses on both sides, the traditional healers/marabous and the catholic churches. I have much more doubt in the activities of evangelical protestant fundamentalist churches in those sub-saharan countries than in the catholic ones. But I can't prove it, so far neither side has won the battle to help women and children from abuse. I am neither catholic nor a religious protestant, but also not an atheist. Just saying.
https://www.euronews.com/live
The African Catholic Church
Certainly different than the church from affluent countries. I met an Angolan priest who walked from town to town and depended on the kindness of the people he met for sustenance and shelter. He visited a circuit of villages and stopped by about once a month to perform mass. On the other hand the local right wingy pastor drives a BMW and they just finished building a mega-church. Money corrupts.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
It's not that minorities are more likely to harbor perpetrators
What's disturbing is authorities being reluctant to expose perpetrators because of their minority's underdog history and attendant diversity and identity politics.
the thing is, the authorities are just as likely...
nay, i'd say more likely to protect "majority" perpetrators. witness the sad tale of the maggies in ireland.
see also:
Ireland finally admits state collusion in Magdalene Laundry system
A Most Convenient Massacre
Dmitry Orlov has written an interesting essay about authority, obedience, and how to figure out what is fake and what is real in our propaganda world.
Only connect. - E.M. Forster
evening dr...
yep, that is pretty interesting.
a brief survey of who profits from this attack points out that isis and the west's mic have a common interest.
Very sad: the opening editorial in Harper's
on the Climate conference in Paris. Rebecca Solnit writes before the Nov. 13 massacre about the fact that such a conference will be taking place in Paris. She writes that the public protests are the most important part of the conference. Protests that are now banned. The conference itself is not held in Paris, it's in a poor suburb Bourget outside the city. The Peoples Climate March was going to march and there was planned radical action to follow.
The streets will be filled with police instead. Although some activists are saying nothing will stop them from demonstrating. I wonder if the ISIS fanatics had the conference in mind when they timed their assault on Paris. I doubt it. There's no room in their small brains to process the threat of climate change.
To thine own self be true.
Of course the U.S. doesn't want Russia to bomb isis
They might take out the terrorist groups that they are arming and funding to help them over throw Assad.
Russia has destroyed more Isis camps and facilities since they started bombing them then the U.S. has in over a year.
As for the article on how they had the terrorist under surveillance yet didn't take them out seems to speak for itself. The CIA knew about the sleeper cells in the U.S. before 9/11, yet didn't do anything about them.
The CIA knew about the Boston bombers and got a warning from their uncle about them, yet did nothing.
Now we hear how they knew about the terrorist groups that attacked France. Anyone else seeing a pattern? And don't forget about the drills that just happened to be happening when the attacks went off.
But they are blaming Snowden for leaking information on the spying? Not surprising.
The House just passed a bil to not take any Syrian refugees and 47 deems voted for it.
What happened to 'never again'?
I posted a comment on how no one is telling Saudi Arabia to quit arming and funding the terrorists in another sickening diary praising Hillary and got jumped on by her rapid supporters. One of them asked me for a link that didn't come from RT. Gawd her supporters are delusional in my not so humble opinion.
They are so blinded by what she 'says' they won't bother to look at what she's 'done'.
I posted a comment about how her foundation took money from foreign governments that went against the agreement she made with Obama when he appointed her as SOS. I'm sure you can imagine the reaction that comment got.
I think that gulfgal has the right idea. Let the GOP win and watch the country burn down.
I don't know if anything they can do will top Obama's selling off the country to foreign corporations except for when they dismantle social security.
And if they try to do that, how many deems are going to fight back against it?
Remember that they can't put holds on bills or filibuster them for some reason the way that the GOP does.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
LOL
Thanks, snoopy! I am chuckling because in my younger years, I would have worried about being on some sort of watch list. But now I am old enough not to give a flying fruitcake about that kind of stuff.
Seriously, sometimes we have to hit a new low to realize just how low we have been all along and that it is time to fight back for real, not triangulate, or nibble around the edges, or pre-compromise.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy