The Evening Blues - 11-23-16



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Phillip Walker

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Texas bluesman Phillip Walker. Enjoy!

Phillip Walker - Lay you down

"There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and sub-atomic and galactic structure of things today! ... There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state - Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies. ... The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, it has been since man crawled out of the slime."

-- Paddy Chayefsky


News and Opinion

Trump’s climate denial is just one of the forces that point towards war

Wave the magic wand and the problem goes away. Those pesky pollution laws, carbon caps and clean-power plans: swish them away and the golden age of blue-collar employment will return. This is Donald Trump’s promise, in his video message on Monday, in which the US president-elect claimed that unleashing coal and fracking would create “many millions of high-paid jobs”. He will tear down everything to make it come true. But it won’t come true. Even if we ripped the world to pieces in the search for full employment, leaving no mountain unturned, we would not find it. ...

Trump has also announced that on his first day in office he will withdraw America from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). ... But withdrawal will not, as he claims, “bring jobs and industry back to American shores”. The work in Mexico and China that Trump wants to reclaim will evaporate long before it can be repatriated. ...

But it’s not just Trump. Clinton and Bernie Sanders also made impossible promises to bring back jobs. Half the platform of each party was based on a delusion. The social, environmental and economic crises we face require a complete reappraisal of the way we live and work. The failure by mainstream political parties to produce a new and persuasive economic narrative, which does not rely on sustaining impossible levels of growth and generating illusory jobs, provides a marvellous opening for demagogues everywhere.

Governments across the world are making promises they cannot keep. In the absence of a new vision, their failure to materialise will mean only one thing: something or someone must be found to blame. As people become angrier and more alienated, as the complexity and connectivity of global systems becomes ever harder to manage, as institutions such as the European Union collapse and as climate change renders parts of the world uninhabitable, forcing hundreds of millions of people from their homes, the net of blame will be cast ever wider.

Eventually the anger that cannot be assuaged through policy will be turned outwards, towards other nations. Faced with a choice between hard truths and easy lies, politicians and their supporters in the media will discover that foreign aggression is among the few options for political survival. I now believe that we will see war between the major powers within my lifetime. Which ones it will involve, and on what apparent cause, remains far from clear. But something that once seemed remote now looks probable.

Trump Backs Off Promise to Bring Back Torture

President-elect Donald Trump has backed off of one of the most controversial pledges of his campaign today, his promise to bring back torture of detainees, saying following a talk with retired Gen. James Mattis that he was told torture doesn’t work as well as building a rapport with prisoners.

During the primaries, Trump emphasized his belief that the US needed to bring back waterboarding and “worse” tactics to better compete with ISIS’ own brutality. At the time, he dismissed arguments torture didn’t work on the grounds that the people being tortured “deserve it.” He also called the US ban on torture a “sign of weakness.” ...

Gen. Mattis, who is seen as a front-runner for Secretary of Defense, told Trump that in his experience torture and abuse didn’t work well, and that he’d do better with “a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers.” Trump cited this conversation in his statement today backing away from torture.

Are Trump's Plans to Expand Obama's Surveillance State & Activate Muslim Registry Unconstitutional?

US House Seeks Syria-War Escalation

Late in the day, on Nov. 15, one week after the U.S. elections, the lame-duck Congress convened in special session with normal rules suspended so the House could pass House Resolution 5732, the “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act” calling for intensifying the already harsh sanctions on Syria, assessing the imposition of a “no fly zone” inside Syria (to prevent the Syrian government from flying) and escalating efforts to press criminal charges against Syrian officials.

HR5732 claims to promote a negotiated settlement in Syria but, as analyzed by Friends Committee for National Legislation, it imposes preconditions which would actually make a peace agreement more difficult.

There was 40 minutes of “debate” with six representatives (Ed Royce, R-California; Eliot Engel, D-New York; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida; Dan Kildee, D-Michigan; Chris Smith, R-New Jersey; and Carlos Curbelo, R-Florida) all speaking in favor of the resolution. There were few other representatives present, but the House Foreign Affairs Committee stated that the resolution was passed “unanimously” without mentioning these special conditions.

According to Wikipedia, “Suspension of the rules is a procedure generally used to quickly pass non-controversial bills in the United States House of Representatives … such as naming Post Offices…” In this case, however, the resolution could lead to a wider war in the Middle East and potentially World War III with nuclear-armed Russia.

Most strikingly, the resolution calls for evaluating and developing plans for the United States to impose a “no fly zone” inside Syria, a sovereign nation, an act of war that also would violate international law as an act of aggression. It also could put the U.S. military in the position of shooting down Russian aircraft.

To call this proposal “non-controversial” is absurd, although it may say a great deal about the “group think” of the U.S. Congress that an act of war would be so casually considered. Clearly, this resolution should have been debated under normal rules with a reasonable amount of Congressional presence and debate.

Erdogan: Turkish Forces Attacking al-Bab Will Invade Manbij Next

Addressing the ongoing siege of the ISIS city of al-Bab, in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the forces there intend to invade the nearby city of Manbijj next, reiterating his demands that the Kurds cede the city to his forces. ...

The YPG has promised to leave Manbij repeatedly, most recently last week, but there is no indication they are actually doing so. Local militias set up by the Kurds since they captured the city have also indicated they are opposed to Erdogan, suggesting Turkey won’t be welcomed into the city easily.

Syrian Rebels Blocking Aleppo Civilians From Fleeing

While rebels in the Nusra Front-dominated eastern portion of Aleppo have presented the lack of civilians leaving as proof that no one trusts Russia and the Syrian government to let them out, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the rebels are actually blocking the civilians from getting out.

The Associated Press spoke to people within Syria familiar with the situation, saying that a number of civilians had told relatives outside the city that they’d decided to flee, and came to the al-Riz crossing to leave. The rebels told them they should wait until dark for safety.

When the families return at night, the rebels opened fire through the crossing out of the city to make sure that no one was able to get out. ... The Syrian military is also accusing the rebels of being a major reason behind the food shortages in eastern Aleppo, saying they believe the rebels are hoarding large amounts of food in several warehouses in the area.

Wilkerson: If Trump Moves U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, War Against Iran Could Come Next

WILKERSON: ... American power is receding at a rather rapid rate right now. If you’d been reading Lamoni, Der Spiegel, [Zazie Shimbun], the Financial Times or other newspapers which I do because they’re the only reputable newspapers left in the world. You understand that our allies and friends right now are not only questioning our sanity but our ability to govern ourselves. When that has happened historically, people begin to move in ways that balance the unstable power’s power.

That’s what’s happening in the world right now. China and Russia would flow into anything the United States did to simply tear up the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal - js] in a way that would make their seemingly budding alliance right now just enhanced, more dangerous more difficult to deal with and essentially to continue the diminishment of American power. We can’t keep doing these sorts of things Paul. If we pretend even to be in a way that we’ve been since WWII. Basically multilaterally, basically the leader, that bills and supports organizations like the IMF, the WTO, the United Nations itself and so forth. We can’t just isolate ourselves again and again and again and expect the rest of the world not to do something about it.

Sadly, the US, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Jimmy Carter will likely never be called to account for their support of the Khmer Rouge.

Cambodian court upholds life sentences for Khmer Rouge leaders

Cambodia’s UN-backed court upheld life sentences for two top former Khmer Rouge leaders on Wednesday for crimes against humanity, delivering a blow to their hopes of release as they face a second trial for genocide.

“Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, 90, and ex-head of state Khieu Samphan, 85, were in 2014 the first top leaders to be jailed from a regime responsible for the deaths of up to two million Cambodians from 1975 to 1979.

They appealed against their convictions, accusing the court of a string of errors and the judges of failing to remain impartial due to their personal experiences under the regime.

In a lengthy ruling on Wednesday after months of hearings, the bench upheld the bulk of the convictions and the jail terms, but accepted some legal errors had been made in the initial trial.

Kong Srim, the supreme court chamber’s top judge, said the pair “had a complete lack of consideration for the ultimate fate of the Cambodian population”, adding that the scale of their crimes was “massive”.

“The supreme court chamber considers that the imposition of a life sentence for each of the accused is appropriate,” he added.

The Khmer Rouge regime dismantled modern society in Cambodia in its quest for an agrarian Marxist utopia, killing vast numbers and leaving a generational scar.

NATO, Russia Spar Over Missile Deployment in Eastern Europe

NATO and the Russian Federation have continued their trend of arguing over their respective forces in Eastern Europe, and today it focused on yesterday’s announcement that Russia is deploying Iskander missiles and S-400 air defense systems into Eastern Europe.

Russian officials say putting the missiles in the exclave of Kaliningrad was in response to NATO’s buildup in the Baltics, as well as the US missile defense shield installation in the area. NATO insists the deployment of the S-400 defensive missiles is an “aggressive” act.

Russian officials rejected the complaints about their deployment, insisting they have every right to deploy military gear into Kaliningrad, which borders both Poland and Lithuania, both NATO members that are at the center of the NATO buildup.

US navy's most expensive destroyer breaks down in Panama Canal

The most expensive destroyer ever built for the US navy has suffered an engineering problem in the Panama Canal and had to be towed to port.

US Third Fleet spokesman commander Ryan Perry said a vice-admiral directed the USS Zumwalt to remain at ex-Naval Station Rodman in Panama to address the issues, which arose on Monday.

The ship was built at Bath Iron Works in Maine and was on its way to San Diego.

“The schedule for the ship will remain flexible to enable testing and evaluation in order to ensure the ship’s safe transit to her new home port in San Diego,” Perry said in a statement.

USNI News, a publication of the US Naval Institute, reported on its website that the ship was in the canal when it lost propulsion. ...

The Zumwalt cost more than $4.4bn and was commissioned in October in Maryland. It also suffered a leak in its propulsion system before it was commissioned. The leak required the ship to remain at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia longer than expected for repairs.

U.K. Parliament Approves Unprecedented New Hacking and Surveillance Powers

A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable for the British government to admit that it was hacking into people’s computers and collecting private data on a massive scale. But now, these controversial tactics are about to be explicitly sanctioned in an unprecedented new surveillance law.

Last week, the U.K.’s Parliament approved the Investigatory Powers Bill, dubbed the “Snoopers’ Charter” by critics. The law, which is expected to come into force before the end of the year, was introduced in November 2015 after the fallout from revelations by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden about extensive British mass surveillance. The Investigatory Powers Bill essentially retroactively legalizes the electronic spying programs exposed in the Snowden documents — and also expands some of the government’s surveillance powers.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the new law is that it will give the British government the authority to serve internet service providers with a “data retention notice,” forcing them to record and store for up to 12 months logs showing websites visited by all of their customers. Law enforcement agencies will then be able to obtain access to this data without any court order or warrant. In addition, the new powers will hand police and tax investigators the ability to, with the approval of a government minister, hack into targeted phones and computers. The law will also permit intelligence agencies to sift through “bulk personal datasets” that contain millions of records about people’s phone calls, travel habits, internet activity, and financial transactions; and it will make it legal for British spies to carry out “foreign-focused” large-scale hacks of computers or phones in order to identify potential “targets of interest.”

“Every citizen will have their internet activity — the apps they use, the communications they send, and to who — logged for 12 months,” says Eric King, a privacy expert and former director of Don’t Spy On Us, a coalition of leading British human rights groups that campaigns against mass surveillance. “There is no other democracy in the world, possibly no other country in the world, doing this.”

Judge Puts Overtime Pay for Millions in Limbo as Republicans Rejoice

A federal judge on Tuesday halted an Obama administration rule that would have expanded overtime pay for millions of workers, a decision that was slammed by employees' rights advocates.

The U.S. Department of Labor rule, which was set to go into effect on December 1, would have made overtime pay available to full-time salaried employees making up to $47,476 a year. It was expected to touch every nearly every sector in the U.S. economy. The threshold for overtime pay was previously set at $23,660, and had been updated once in 40 years—meaning any full-time employees who earned more than $23,600 were not eligible for time-and-a-half when they worked more than 40 hours a week.

Tuesday's decision keeps the rule from being implemented while U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant considers opposing arguments by a number of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and 21 states. Mazzant said the Labor Department had overstepped its authority by raising the threshold so significantly.

With the GOP set to control both chambers of Congress and the White House, the rule faces an uncertain future—but Republicans and corporate interests are already rejoicing.

The housing market has mostly recovered, homeowners haven’t

Housing has mostly recovered, homeowners haven’t. ...

Sales of existing homes in the U.S. — they’re the bulk of home sales, as opposed to newly built houses — rose 2 percent in October from the previous month, according to numbers just released from the National Association of Realtors. The rise in October brought home sales to an annual rate of 5.6 million, that’s the fastest pace since February 2007, before the housing bust hit. ...

On the other hand, thanks to the foreclosure crisis, relatively tight lending standards at banks in recent years and some remaining post-traumatic stress from the housing debacle and forcelosure crisis that’s made some people leery of buying, homeownership is now at low levels not seen since the 1960s. The U.S. homeownership rate was 63.5 percent during the third quarter of 2016. During the peak of the housing boom, it reached 69 percent.

That matters because as more people find it difficult to buy a home, it means a smaller share of Americans are benefitting from that appreciation of the housing market. And that could explain why the mood among many Americans is out of step with generally healthy looking data.

Hedge Fund Managers Expect a Return on Their Investment in Donald Trump

"The hedge fund guys didn’t build this country,” Donald Trump told “Face the Nation” in August 2015. “These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky.”

In fact, the paper-pushers got extremely lucky when Donald Trump was elected. Trump’s victory has facilitated one of the most audacious hedge fund plays in recent U.S. history — one poised to pay off in billions of dollars. Billionaire investors are buying worthless stocks in the hope of bullying the government into re-animating them. And now the government just might grant their wish.

The holdings in question are mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government put into federal conservatorship in 2008. The Treasury Department in 2012 changed the terms of the deal, sweeping all of Fannie’s and Freddie’s profits into the government.

After these maneuvers, shareholders were thought to have been wiped out. But hedge funds continued to buy stock in the companies. They wanted to force the government to recapitalize Fannie and Freddie and release them back into the private sector. In that event, the stock price would shoot up (before the financial crisis, each traded at $60 a share), giving investors an astronomical return on their investment. Hedge funds don’t have to disclose their stakes in individual stocks, but reports indicate that just one, Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital, has $475 million invested in the companies.

The hedge funds mounted pressure on several fronts to ensure they’d win their bet. They lobbied Congress to privatize the mortgage companies. They built advocacy groups to argue for their position. They fought Treasury’s profit sweep in a series of lawsuits. And this year, they embarked upon buying themselves a president. [See article for further details of the purchase of a president. - js]

Trump's tax plan: massive cuts for the 1% will usher 'era of dynastic wealth'

President Donald Trump is set to give America’s richest 1% an average annual tax cut of $214,000 when he takes office, while more than eight million families with children are expected to suffer financially under his proposed tax plan.

On the eve of the election, Trump promised to “massively cut taxes for the middle class, the forgotten people, the forgotten men and women of this country, who built our country”. But independent expert analyses of Trump’s tax plan show that America’s millionaire and billionaire class will win big at the expense of struggling low- and middle-income people, who turned out in large numbers to help the real estate billionaire win the election. ...

Single-parent families would suffer the most because Trump would lower the minimum of tax-free earnings to $15,000 per adult no matter how many children in the household. Under current law the threshold is $17,400 for single-parent families with one child and $24,750 for a couple with one child, and the threshold increases by $4,050 for each additional child.

Trump also plans to consolidate the current seven tax breaks into three: 12%, 25% and 33%. His plan would scrap the current 10% tax for earnings under $19,625 and replace it with 12%. Trump’s proposed childcare credits would not make up for the changes, according to Lily Batchelder, a law professor and tax expert at New York University. ...

While the poor will face tax increases, the Tax Policy Center research said the rich would received big tax cuts that get even bigger as you work up the income scale. The top 20% of earners would receive an average annual tax cut of $16,660 compared with an overall average cut of $2,940.

The richest 1% will collect 47% of all the tax cuts – an average saving of $214,000.

The 0.1% – the 117,000 households with incomes of more than $3.7m – would receive an average 2017 tax cut of $1.3m, a nearly 19% drop in tax they were due to pay in 2016. The tax savings of the super-rich will increase further in future, with the 0.1%’s estimated 2025 tax bill to fall by $1.5m.

Donald Trump’s Big Ethics Move Is to Replace Lobbyists With Former Lobbyists

Donald Trump, implementing what one news outlet called a “tough lobbying ban“, swept several registered lobbyists out of his transition team last week —  only to replace them on Monday with new officials heavily involved with lobbying for the same industry interests.

The junk food lobbyist overseeing the agency that is responsible for the federal school lunch program will be replaced — by a former junk food lobbyist.

The Koch Industries lobbyist who was overseeing transition efforts on energy and the environment will be replaced — by a former Koch Industries lobbyist who leads a think tank funded by Koch Industries.

The Trump transition-team ethics standards requires officials to deregister as lobbyists and agree to a five-year lobbying ban. But the rules do not preclude officials who have recently worked in the lobbying industry or currently work in the lobbying industry without having explicitly registered as lobbyists.

As Trump Disavows "Alt-Right" Support, Critics Question If He Will Still Normalize White Supremacy

"Alt-right" experiences buyers remorse. I suspect that they won't be the last of Trump's supporters to get that sinking feeling that they have been played.

Donald Trump's 'alt-right' supporters express dismay at disavowal

President-elect Donald Trump’s disavowal of Richard Spencer and his far-right thinktank the National Policy Institute, a day after video of Spencer’s supporters giving the Nazi salute at an event in Washington DC surfaced, has dismayed some of his supporters on the “alt-right”.

“This constant virtue signaling needs to finally end, otherwise our civilization will simply collapse,” a commenter wrote underneath the article of Trump’s disavowal on rightwing news site Breitbart.

People in the myriad “alt-right” communities that have flourished online in recent years are also expressing their displeasure that Trump appears to have abandoned the most extreme of his policies – at least for now – such as building a wall and prosecuting Hillary Clinton. ...

On /pol/, the political discussion board of the anonymous message-board 4chan, one poster wrote: “Already reneging on his word before he even takes office?! People will remember that.”

A post on Reddit’s r/altright board, one of the movement’s home bases, linked to Trump’s disavowal at the New York Times meeting and asked: “Anyone here feeling bamboozled by the Donald?” Dozens of commenters responded.

US - President-elect Donald Trump backtracks on climate, threat to jail Clinton

Nikki Haley chosen as US ambassador to United Nations

Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations, the first woman tapped for a top-level administration post during his White House transition so far.

In a statement, the president-elect said that Haley is “a proven dealmaker and we look forward to making plenty of deals”, adding that the South Carolina governor “will be a great leader representing us on the world stage”.

An outspoken Trump critic throughout much of the presidential race, Haley would become Trump’s first female – and first non-white – cabinet-level official if the appointment is confirmed by the Senate.

Two sources familiar with the decision told the Associated Press the ambassadorship would be a cabinet-level position, which is at the discretion of the president.

Hillary Clinton urged to call for election vote recount in battleground states

A growing number of academics and activists are calling for US authorities to fully audit or recount the 2016 presidential election vote in key battleground states, in case the results could have been skewed by foreign hackers.

The loose coalition, which is urging Hillary Clinton’s campaign to join its fight, is preparing to deliver a report detailing its concerns to congressional committee chairs and federal authorities early next week, according to two people involved. ...

Curiosity about Wisconsin has centred on apparently disproportionate wins that were racked up by Trump in counties using electronic voting compared with those that used only paper ballots. The apparent disparities were first widely publicised earlier this month by David Greenwald, a journalist for the Oregonian.

However, Nate Silver, the polling expert and founder of FiveThirtyEight, cast significant doubt over this theory on Tuesday evening, stating that the difference disappeared after race and education levels, which most closely tracked voting shifts nationwide, were controlled for.

Silver and several other election analysts have dismissed suggestions that the swing state vote counts give cause for concern about the integrity of the results.

Still, dozens of professors specialising in cybersecurity, defense, and elections have in the past two days signed an open letter to congressional leaders stating that they are “deeply troubled” by previous reports of foreign interference, and requesting swift action by lawmakers.

New York magazine reported that a conference call has taken place between the activists and John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman.

Democratic presidential electors revolt against Trump

At least a half-dozen Democratic electors have signed onto an attempt to block Donald Trump from winning an Electoral College majority, an effort designed not only to deny Trump the presidency but also to undermine the legitimacy of the institution.

The presidential electors, mostly former Bernie Sanders supporters who hail from Washington state and Colorado, are now lobbying their Republican counterparts in other states to reject their oaths — and in some cases, state law — to vote against Trump when the Electoral College meets on Dec. 19.

Even the most optimistic among the Democratic electors acknowledges they're unlikely to persuade the necessary 37 Republican electors to reject Trump — the number they'd likely need to deny him the presidency and send the final decision to the House of Representatives. And even if they do, the Republican-run House might simply elect Trump anyway.

But the Democratic electors are convinced that even in defeat, their efforts would erode confidence in the Electoral College and fuel efforts to eliminate it, ending the body’s 228-year run as the only official constitutional process for electing the president. With that goal in mind, the group is also contemplating encouraging Democratic electors to oppose Hillary Clinton and partner with Republicans in support of a consensus pick like Mitt Romney or John Kasich.



the evening greens


Buying Silence: Why So Many Democrats are Mute About Standing Rock

After weeks of calling for the United States Government to provide the efforts of water protectors at Standing Rock to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, Bernie Sanders finally has some company in the United States Senate joining him in that call. In a November 21 letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) called on the Department of Justice to protect the Dakota Access Pipeline water protectors. ...

The response from the Department of Justice and Obama Administration to what has been occurring at Standing Rock has left a stain on the end of President Obama’s second presidential term. Despite visiting the Standing Rock reservation in 2014 and affirming his commitment to Native American rights, his administration has remained neutral amid reports for weeks of abuses towards the water protectors. ...

Most politicians have remained silent or neutral on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who has claimed to be Cherokee, said she opposes the pipeline when questioned by a supporter, but has avoided making any public comments on the issue. Hillary Clinton issued a neutral, meaningless statement after protesters sat in her campaign headquarters demanding action. Since her defeat to Donald Trump, she has refrained from devoting any effort to addressing the Dakota Access Pipeline. Democratic Party leaders in the Senate, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, have ignored the issue.

This is likely because the Dakota Access Pipeline is being funded by some of the most prolific donors to the Democratic Party. Sunoco Logistics Partners is set to acquire Energy Transfer Partners, the company constructing the pipeline, while Sunoco will oversee its operation. The owners of the company primarily consist of Wall Street firms, including Goldman Sachs.

Phillips 66, who have financed 25% of the Dakota Access Pipeline project, is primarily owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s holding company. Buffett actively campaigned for Hillary Clinton this past presidential election, and has made large donations to Clinton, Obama, and other Democrats over the past several years.

Call for DOJ Observers in North Dakota as DAPL Activists Face Severe Injuries, Arrests

Water protectors battling the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline are grappling with terrible injuries and even more arrests in the wake of Sunday's police onslaught, in which law enforcement bombarded the peaceful activists with concussion grenades, rubber bullets, mace, and water cannons in sub-zero temperatures.

The attack from the Morton County Sheriff's Department and its aftermath has prompted supporters and politicians to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to send observers to the scene, to defend the activists' First Amendment right to safely protest:


Amnesty International echoed such calls in a letter sent Monday to the Morton County Sheriff's Department. "[T]he use of those water cannons against the protesters themselves risks potential injury and hypothermia for the protesters who were sprayed with water in below freezing temperatures," wrote Amnesty International USA executive director Margaret Huang
, according to Indian Country Today. "Also alarming are videos of the use of tear gas, and reports of rubber bullets used to disperse the crowd of protesters."

Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’

Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.

Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding in favor of exploration of deep space, with the president-elect having set a goal during the campaign to explore the entire solar system by the end of the century.

This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2bn next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a proposed budget of $2.8bn in 2017.

Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”.

Trump's "Open Mind" on Climate Denounced as Nothing but "Empty Rhetoric"

President-elect Donald Trump's claim to be keeping an "open mind" about the Paris climate change accord is nothing but "a bunch of empty rhetoric" when viewed alongside his policy proposals and personnel choices, environmental group 350.org charged on Tuesday.

Of the international climate agreement, which Trump repeatedly vowed to withdraw from on the campaign trail, he told New York Times editors and reporters on Tuesday: "I'm looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it."

Trump—who previously described man-made global warming as a "hoax"—also reportedly acknowledged "some connectivity" between human activity and climate change.

But in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, 350.org executive director May Boeve scoffed at the president-elect's alleged change of heart.

"Actions speak louder than words," Boeve declared. "As long as Trump has a climate change denier like Myron Ebell running his transition team, you know this is all a bunch of empty rhetoric," she added, referring to the climate change denier heading Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition.


Also of Interest

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

Childhood Immigrants Once Protected by Obama’s Program Now Face Betrayal and Deportation

What Is an Emolument? Donald Trump Has People Talking About This Part of the Constitution

Showdown at Standing Rock Is Not Just About the Dakota Access Pipeline

Network at 40: the flawed satire that predicted Trump and cable 'news porn


A Little Night Music

Phillip Walker - Laughing And Clowning

Phillip Walker - Louisiana Walk

Phillip Walker - Strange Things Happening

Phillip Walker & Long John Hunter - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Percy Mayfield & Phillip Walker - Two Years Of Torture & My Jug And I

Phillip Walker - I Can't Lose (With The Stuff I Use) & Tin Pan Alley

Phillip Walker - Special Built Woman

Philip Walker - Beatrice Beatrice

Phillip Walker Band - Live At Pit Inn 1979



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joe shikspack's picture

because i have some errands to run this afternoon. i'll be back this evening.

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than clean water; clean air; American Indian rights; private property owners; science; and earth itself. Little could be as telling as the silence from the Dems over the state terror unleashed at Standing Rock on behalf of international petro-profits and global capital.

Good for the few who are speaking out.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

seem a little hypocritical. Why is it that Democrats are better? They let private parties use private armies with the bought assistance of several local and state "law enforcement" agencies. Do they fear him bringing in federal troops or calling up the National Guard? Like that would be so much worse?

A water cannon is a water cannon.

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once had FDR(they have to use his initials now because they've forgotten his name); Because Dems___anyone is welcome to fill in the blank.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

lotlizard's picture

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html

Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand.

The Colombians had entered the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers. In fact, they were soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom.

Mr. Prince, who resettled here last year after his security business faced mounting legal problems in the United States, was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E., according to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times.

The force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country, defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks and put down internal revolts, the documents show. Such troops could be deployed if the Emirates faced unrest in their crowded labor camps or were challenged by pro-democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world this year.

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joe shikspack's picture

it appears that democratic elites would sell their grandchildren to the devil for the ability to remain in power and continue collecting graft and peddling influence.

obama's failure to assert his office's authority in the face of egregious human rights abuses at standing rock is yet another illustration of what a callous jackass he is. the democrats' failure to stand up is powerful testimony to the fact that their party does not deserve to exist as an institution.

history will not look kindly on either obama or the democrats, assuming that there are humans remaining to record and interpret history in the future.

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exists mainly to collect leftover graft that the Republicans couldn't handle. The Dems have dumpstered their short fling with working class interests and gone past Limo-Liberalism to Private Jet Plutocracy. It's really quite stunning a descent beginning with the Volkerization of the economy where wage earners bore the brunt of an anti-inflation mania through Reagan, HW Bush, Bill Clinton, W Bush, and Obama.

Obama can use executive powers to wage illegal wars and end constitutional rights but can't be stirred from the golf course to stop police and mercenary terror on American Indians and others who are trying to save both culturally important land and life sustaining clean water.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

blazinAZ's picture

when did the US ever stop torture? Sometimes it feels like the national hobby.

smh

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There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka

joe shikspack's picture

apparently it is mostly a semantic discussion amongst lawyers defining enhanced interrogations torture, so that one can say whether it is happening or not. the casual observations of decent people speaking plain language to each other are deprecated by us institutions as conspiracy theories.

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featheredsprite's picture

NASA has done some good data gathering on the climate. I hate to see it go.

On the other hand, cutting funding for climate studies doesn't mean that the climate monitoring satellites have to come down, does it? And the images could be made public and others could use them.

Perhaps we can salvage something.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

transmitting and the engineers at that agency will do what they are told to do. Hope not but if there's no appropriation for this part of NASA then there won't be any data gathered and transmitted.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

MarilynW's picture

It monitors the carbon 'exhaled' from the USA, it watches over our ocean. Stripping it away would be a climate crime.

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To thine own self be true.

scientists depend on this source and to shut it off would only benefit the polluters.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

joe shikspack's picture

i'm sure that the republicans will find a way to repurpose those satellites such that they report information that they find more useful. they will probably be repurposed as spy satellites or weaponized in some other way.

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Crider's picture

Then the wingnuts can pretend there's no climate change while their puppeteers can continue to make their fossil fuel profits.

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Lookout's picture

...and you better like it.

global rule.jpg

I've been listening to economist Mark Blyth and baking a turkey and cooking - getting ready for tomorrow. Here's several to chose from: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mark+blyth

And a 6 min teaser:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxBzcynHGEE]

Thanks for the great round up as usual!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

joe shikspack's picture

wow, economists and thanksgiving are an odd mix, but i do enjoy mark blyth. thanks!

have a great time!

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Bob In Portland's picture

By the forgotten sixties folk group, Pearls Before Swine, who took a WH Auden poem about Hitler and made it into a song. This seems appropriate for America.

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joe shikspack's picture

yep, it's about as cheery as a lot of folks these days - and not without reason.

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featheredsprite's picture

and anyone who needs to escape the cold, cruel world, I recommend this fb page:
https://www.facebook.com/thedodosite

It's about animals and people and love and kindness. I know it makes me feel better to check it out.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

joe shikspack's picture

it's a site full of aww and awesome, caring people.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

Hope everyone is doing well, out there. Me, I'm getting ready to travel for the holiday - going to spend the night in a place that has hot springs so I can soak my troubles away tonight and after a morning soak, on to the destination where we will be gathering with friends. Safe travels to all who will be "on the road."

Have a beautiful day, folks! Pleasantry

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

joe shikspack's picture

have a wonderful thanksgiving and a good soak!

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mimi's picture

when most of you are here reading.

Greetings from Germany, Joe and thanks for the EB, my daily reading pleasure that feels like mind torture...

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks to all admins and moderators and regular writers to "stick to your guns".

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joe shikspack's picture

or whatever time it is where you are. Smile

i hope that everything is going well for you. are you in germany to stay, or just visiting?

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mimi's picture

that is the question. I don't think I have an answer right now. It's just a personal extended family situation that is making it all a bit tough to decide. I think I will be back sooner than later.

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featheredsprite's picture

They fear that he has been abducted or, more likely, killed. They have no proof either way and the silence from sources that would know about Julian is fueling fears.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

OLinda's picture

I don't have that impression at all. Don't know who these people are that you speak of that are concerned. It's been a little over a week since he was interviewed by Sweden. I don't know what silence there is. The WikiLeaks Twitter page is active and normal. Well, there's not much I can say, except I think people just worry and stir things up.

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OLinda's picture

An excellent selection, as usual, but more so.

Are you going to post tomorrow? You deserve a holiday, that's for sure. Just wondering if I should look for TEB tomorrow. I spending the day home by myself. Picked up some cooked turkey, dressing, a few other items so I will eat good. Smile

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joe shikspack's picture

i plan to post a newsless eb tomorrow and friday. both eb's will be chock full of music at least somewhat tangentially related to thanksgiving themes.

glad to hear that you will be having a tasty feast. i hope that you enjoy it immensely. have a great thanksgiving!

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OLinda's picture

I haven't read this yet. I hope it isn't fake news!

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mimi's picture

Universal Declaration of Human Rights is violated all the time?
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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Shockwave's picture

There is a lot more to the Trump Argentina story

Donald Trump and Mauricio Macri have known each other for decades. According to a book written by Macri’s father Franco, Trump threw a tantrum after losing a round of golf to Mauricio Macri and broke his friend’s golf clubs one by one.

In 1979, the elder Macri tried buy a majority share in one of Trump’s Manhattan real estate projects, and ended up losing $30 million when the deal fell through. When the younger Macri was kidnapped and held for ransom in 1991, his father briefly suspected that Donald Trump was the “true intellectual author” of the crime.

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The political revolution continues

Deja's picture

How did the guy lose any money, much less $30 million, because a real estate shares deal fell through? If it fell through, how did he lose anything?

Did he spend $30 million in hopes of having controlling shares but end up with less than 51%? If so, he still had shares. Maybe it was one of the multitude of companies Trump tossed away going bankrupt (on purpose it seems)?

Sorry, I am just confused by rich people problems lol.

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joe shikspack's picture

that's quite a tantrum. talk about impulse issues, wow!

i read a story in the intercept that mentioned the macri-trump connection and there's a link to a book embedded in it that might have some more information on their dealings:

In an odd twist, Macri himself is a former business associate of Trump’s. In the 1980s, the current Argentine president’s father, Franco, who was a developer, was involved in a complex New York real estate deal with Trump, as Wayne Barrett explained in his book “Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth.”

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OLinda's picture

I had been feeling somewhat positive about The Trumpster, his saying that climate change was caused by human activity, and his changing his mind about torture after speaking with the general. Then, I read TEB.

Ha. Thanks, joe!

That he would change his position on torture at least said to me he will listen and try to learn. He probably has never actually talked about these issues with people who might know something. He is probably going with his gut and what he has seen on tv. So, hearing from others is new to him.

Same with climate change. From something the NYT posted, I got the impression he doesn't really understand what it even means. Maybe he can grow and be educated.

I guess I am grasping at straws, hoping for the best. Don't yell too much!

I still have the impression he wants to do the right thing for the American people. Of course, there is shale oil, clean coal, less regulations, etc. Very Republican. So, maybe those two things cannot go together. Scroll down here for the video of him talking about his first 100 days. Joe also links in in the first article in the essay.

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joe shikspack's picture

wind up with. he's been appearing to be less decisive than he appeared on the campaign trail - which i count as a good thing.

i share your hope that trump wants to do the right thing. my impression of him is that he wants to be loved and respected by the people. i also see a tremendous conflict where his own interests do not intersect with the everyday "forgotten people" that he has been pledging to assist. (see his tax plan, for example.)

how it will all wind up is hard to say, since his plans seem to be attached to a weathervane.

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riverlover's picture

is that Deep State has Shown Him the Way. Someone has suggested a never-before film of JFK's assassination, with the shooter(s) visible. Given his floated appointments, I am not sure he is not now fixed to the Republican star.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

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They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore

joe shikspack's picture

interesting vid. it's nice to see them incorporate bits from chayefsky's network in it.

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OLinda's picture

Quite the opening quote, joe. Some people just know how to say things, hmm?

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joe shikspack's picture

i have always been a sucker for a well-turned phrase. Smile

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GreatLakeSailor's picture

...that's fucking rich. The Clinton Machine, I suspect, is smart enough not to open the election integrity can of worms in any meaningful way lest a butt-load of Dem Primaries blowback, but their groupies? Not so much.

Better people than I might take this oppy to push for election administration reform, to create a system worth of public trust. I'd be ready to sign on to an effort that wasn't lead by NeoLiberal scum for partisan purposes.

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Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.

joe shikspack's picture

i agree. i was thinking that this sudden deluge of studies and demands by computer experts is the liberal equivalent of the brooks brothers riot.

i marvelled at how something that i have wanted for so long, a reform of the election system to provide verifiable audit trails, suddenly seems a bit dirty and partisan.

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MarilynW's picture

That's what I foresee. Trump will implode publicly because he can't stand the lack of privacy that goes with the office of the President. He also does not like to work everyday according to people who have worked with him. He never showed a health report and he does not look like a healthy person so his bad temper in the job will increase his blood pressure. He cannot stand to be insulted and that will also increase his blood pressure.

If he continues to use the office of the presidency to advance his foreign investments, he will be impeached for "EMOLUMENT" see article above.

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To thine own self be true.

joe shikspack's picture

it looks to me like trump's fate will depend upon remaining in the good graces of the republicans in congress. as you note, there are obvious markers of corruption already and he's more than a month away from taking office.

of course, that brings up a really frightening prospect. President Pence. (cue the horror house scream)

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Crider's picture

until you see him in his golfing togs. And at 70 years old, he's got huge risk factors for hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, and diabetes -- but to name a few. I'd love to see his medication list which probably begins with Lipitor.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyFidwDqSj0]

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Shockwave's picture

Professor Who Correctly Predicted 2016 Election Outcome Forecasts Trump Impeachment

The man dubbed “Prediction Professor” for accurately calling every presidential election since 1984, including the 2016 election, now forecasts the impeachment of President-elect Donald Trump.

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The political revolution continues

joe shikspack's picture

impeachment or not, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

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Crider's picture

Trump's opposition to trade deals may be a reason for the Republican's benefactors to demand his exit. I was looking at the Senate roll-call vote for TPP fast track and it was a Republican wet dream. Just four of them voted against it.

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snoopydawg's picture

Have a great day tomorrow everyone and try not to kill anyone who disagrees with you
Smile
It's my first thanksgiving without my mom, but I have the memories of her making it to last years even though she wasn't feeling well.

I'm looking for suggestions for some great movies or tv series for the weekend.
I like great drama and scifi and hate comedies.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

lotlizard's picture

while publicizing Alt-Right blogger’s home addresses.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3962682/Politico-editor-resigns-...

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