The Evening Blues - 12-7-16



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Kokomo Arnold

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Delta bluesman Kokomo Arnold. Enjoy!

Kokomo Arnold - Try Some Of That

“When a private talk over a bottle of wine is broadcast on the radio, what can it mean but that the world is turning into a concentration camp?”

-- Milan Kundera


News and Opinion

Privacy Watchdog Panel Getting Muzzled by Congress

The already handicapped independent government agency tasked with protecting privacy and civil liberties is at risk of being further crippled by new congressional legislation.

The House Intelligence Committee passed a version of the annual intelligence policy and budget bill that would compel the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to report to Congress anytime it disagreed with the intelligence community, even in informal discussions. ...

In the House version of the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Act, Members of Congress are now demanding the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board come to Congress to report on practically all its discussions with the intelligence community. While Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Ca., celebrated the provision in a press release as a means of “fully authorizing” the members of the board—some observers are concerned it might undermine the board’s influence with the nation’s top spies, an assessment the board appears to agree with.

“There are concerns that the provision….could have the unintended consequence of serving as a disincentive to agencies that might otherwise seek the Board’s advice,” wrote Jen Burita, public affairs and legislative officer for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board in an email to The Intercept.

Congress has a history of attempting to restrict the board’s already limited powers, and the executive branch has repeatedly failed to prioritize its work—taking several years to nominate members. For several years between 2004 and the present, the board ceased operations, before being revived to investigate the NSA’s surveillance. There are currently several vacancies, including the full-time director’s spot. The board has no actual enforcement powers, or ability to publicly challenge the intelligence community’s use of secrecy to cover up abuse.

American and British Spy Agencies Targeted In-Flight Mobile Phone Use

In the trove of documents provided by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is a treasure. It begins with a riddle: “What do the President of Pakistan, a cigar smuggler, an arms dealer, a counterterrorism target, and a combatting proliferation target have in common? They all used their everyday GSM phone during a flight.”

This riddle appeared in 2010 in SIDtoday, the internal newsletter of the NSA’s Signals Intelligence Directorate, or SID, and it was classified “top secret.” It announced the emergence of a new field of espionage that had not yet been explored: the interception of data from phone calls made on board civil aircraft. ...

The data was collected “in near real time” and an aircraft could be “tracked” every two minutes, according to the presentation. To spy on a telephone, all that was required was that the aircraft be cruising at an altitude above 10,000 feet. Secret aerial stations on the ground could intercept the signal as it transited through a satellite. The simple fact that the telephone was switched on was enough to give away its position; the interception could then be cross-referenced with the list of known passengers on the flight, the flight number, and the airline code to determine the name of the smartphone user. ...

Today, approximately 100 companies permit in-flight use of telephones. “Customers now consider it normal, even necessary, to remain connected in flight,” an Air France spokesperson said. Aviation security authorities have all approved the use of GSM phones on board aircraft and the experts estimate that the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 will go down in history as the years of the in-flight mobile phone, in particular with the long-term installation of in-flight Wi-Fi.

This will further extend the scope of espionage by providing a pool of potential targets comprising several hundreds of thousands of people, a level of popularity anticipated by the NSA seven years ago. This implies a population that goes far beyond terrorist targets.

Julian Assange defies Swedish prosecutors by releasing rape statement

Julian Assange has thumbed his nose at Swedish investigators, who he says have robbed him of his freedom for six years, by releasing the answers he gave to them under questioning in Ecuador’s London embassy last month.

The decision to issue the statement, which contains for the first time a detailed account by the WikiLeaks founder of his encounter with a woman in August 2010 who made rape allegations against him, marks a fresh twist in a case in which Assange claims an early leak of information from the Swedish police has shaped opinion.

The transcript of a police interview with the woman was leaked to media in December 2010, which the Australian, who has not been charged with any crime, says helped to establish an aura of guilt around him.

Since then, Assange has repeatedly asked to be allowed to tell his side of the story to prosecutors, but until recently they insisted he come to Sweden for questioning. Assange has been confined to Ecuador’s cramped London embassy since June 2012, after claiming asylum to avoid extradition over the allegations.

“I am now releasing my statement to the public,” Assange says in a letter accompanying the document. “The reason is simple. I want people to know the truth about how abusive this process has been.”

The release of the statement is likely to be met with dismay in Sweden, where prosecutors’ desire for personal aspects of the case to remain confidential has led them to deny Assange access to evidence against him, because of the risk that it might become public.

US withdrawal of Aleppo proposals shows chaotic nature of Obama presidency – former CIA officer

Donald Trump: 'We will stop racing to topple foreign regimes'

Donald Trump has laid out a US military policy that would avoid interventions in foreign conflicts and instead focus heavily on defeating Islamic State militancy.

“We will stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with,” the president-elect said on Tuesday night in Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina.

“Instead our focus must be on defeating terrorism and destroying Isis, and we will.”

Trump’s remarks came a few hours after Barack Obama delivered what was billed as the final national security address of his presidency. ...

Trump vowed a strong rebuilding of the US military, which he suggested had been stretched too thin. Instead of investing in wars, he said, he would spend money to build up America’s aging roads, bridges and airports.

But he also wanted to boost spending on the military. To help pay for his buildup, Trump pledged to seek congressional approval for lifting caps on defense spending that were part of “sequestration” legislation cutting spending across the board.

“We don’t want to have a depleted military because we’re all over the place fighting in areas that we shouldn’t be fighting in. It’s not going to be depleted any longer,” he said.

Trump said any nation that shared his goals would be considered a US partner.

“We don’t forget. We want to strengthen old friendships and seek out new friendships,” he said. But the policy of “intervention and chaos” must come to an end.

Gareth Porter posts an interesting piece analyzing a summary of the US report on why the US military bombed Syrian government troops at a critical point when progress was being made in negotiations with the Russians and Syrians on joint actions to end the war in Syria.

Here's a teaser:

The ‘Mistaken’ US Airstrike on Syrian Troops

The summary report on an investigation into U.S. and allied air strikes on Syrian government troops has revealed irregularities in decision-making consistent with a deliberate targeting of Syrian forces.

The report, released by U.S. Central Command on Nov. 29, shows that senior U.S. Air Force officers at the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at al-Udeid Airbase in Qatar, who were responsible for the decision to carry out the September airstrike at Deir Ezzor:

  • –misled the Russians about where the U.S. intended to strike so Russia could not warn that it was targeting Syrian troops;
  • –ignored information and intelligence analysis warning that the positions to be struck were Syrian government rather than Islamic State; and
  • –shifted abruptly from a deliberate targeting process to an immediate strike in violation of normal Air Force procedures

Last week, Brig. Gen. Richard Coe, the lead U.S. official on the investigating team, told reporters that U.S. air strikes in Deir Ezzor on Sept. 17, which killed at least 62 – and possibly more than 100 – Syrian army troops, was the unintentional result of “human error.”

The report itself says that the investigators found “no evidence of misconduct” – but it is highly critical of the decision process and does not offer any explanations for that series of irregularities.

The strikes against two Syrian army positions were the pivotal event in the breakdown of the Syrian ceasefire agreement reached between the United States and Russia in September. Both Moscow and Damascus denounced the strikes as a deliberate move by the Obama administration to support the Islamic State group and cited the attacks as the reason for declaring an end to the ceasefire on Sept. 19.

Syria Poised for Aleppo Victory as Rebels Talk Surrender

After two weekends of major gains in the northern city of Aleppo, Syrian forces are increasingly near to an outright victory in the former industrial and financial capital of the country, with several more districts seized and reports of the first troops making their way into the Old City, one of the last rebel strongholds.

Rebels have long downplayed the significance of these losses, insisting they will fight to the last man to defend the city, though reports today suggest the rebel leadership is in talks with the US on some sort of negotiated withdrawal from what little remains of their portion of the city.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that five new districts were taken today alone, while the Syrian Army says that in this most recent offensive over the past couple of weeks they’ve taken 35 districts from the rebels, well over half of the rebel territory in the city’s east. Russia has warned the rebels who refuse to leave the city face outright elimination.

Syrian government forces advance in Aleppo

The Syrian government now controls three-quarters of eastern Aleppo after rebels abandoned parts of the old city Tuesday night – areas that they had held for four years.

After days of intense fighting, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed on Wednesday morning that rebels had pulled out of the last remaining districts of Bab al-Hadid and Aqyul that surround the old citadel in the city.

Government forces also regained control of seven other districts Tuesday, according to the monitoring group. These included the Shaar neighborhood, which the Observatory called “the most important neighborhood in the heart of east Aleppo,” adding that rebels were reduced to fighting a “war of attrition.”

Guess Who’s Bombing the Crap Out of Libya

Twice in November 2016, the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, or BRSC — a group with ties to Al Qaeda — published photos of United Arab Emirates Air Force AT-802 and Reaper-style drones in the sky over the Ganfouda area of Benghazi in eastern Libya.

On Nov. 2, 2016, an S-100 Camcopter drone performed a reconnaissance mission over this district two hours before a Reaper or similar unmanned aerial vehicle carried out an air strike on a residential area.

Ten days later, an Air Tractor belonging to the UAEAF struck the same area, killing at least four civilians including two children — and injuring another child. Drones launched four others air strikes in Ganfouda later the same day.

Evidence is mounting that the UAE is indiscriminately bombing militant strongholds in Libya. And civilians are caught in the crossfire.

Worth a full read:

Flynn Simply Unfit

No doubt many of you have read the front-page Sunday New York Times article about Trump’s National Security Advisor-designate Michael Flynn entitled “In Security Pick, ‘Sharp Elbows’ and No Dissent.” And no doubt those who did were struck by the anecdote about Flynn’s stunning demand, after the storming of the U.S. compound in Benghazi, that his subordinates at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) find proof that Iran had a role in the attack. As noted by the Times’ reporters,

Mr. Flynn, whom President-elect Donald J. Trump has chosen to be his national security adviser, soon took to pushing analysts to find Iran’s hidden hand in the disaster, according to current and former officials familiar with the episode. But like many other investigations into Benghazi, theirs found no evidence of any links, and the general’s stubborn insistence reminded some officials at the agency of how the Bush administration had once relentlessly sought to connect Saddam Hussein and Iraq to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Indeed, that reminder made sense. According to the article, Flynn “connected immediately” with Michael Ledeen after meeting him around 2010 due to a similar worldview, including “the belief that America was in a world war against Islamist militants allied with Russia, Cuba and North Korea.” They connected so well that that they co-authored a book published just five months ago entitled The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies, which The Washington Post’s Carlos Lozada discussed in a highly critical and timely book review late last month. ...

Ledeen, of course, is a fantasist and conspiracy theorist (or cynic) and neocon of the first order. Ledeen is now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. But in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion, he was based at the American Enterprise Institute and served as a consultant to Doug Feith’s policy shop at the Pentagon, the one responsible for similarly “proving” that Saddam Hussein was behind September 11 and/or al-Qaeda. When it became public shortly after the invasion that Ledeen was the one foreign policy analyst that Karl Rove regularly consulted, I wrote a piece detailing his history, including his long-time and prominent advocacy of the completely discredited claim that the KGB was behind the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, the so-called “Bulgarian Connection.” Then there was his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. That Ledeen could now return as a top adviser to a man occupying quarters adjoining the Oval Office is one of the scarier prospects of a Trump administration.

Breakfast of Torturers: A Former CIA Psychologist Promotes His Memoir

At a catered breakfast in downtown D.C. Tuesday, James Mitchell – a contract psychologist who served as an interrogator and central architect of the CIA’s torture program – advocated for a return to “some form of legal coercion” for terror suspects.

In 2001, Mitchell, along with a colleague John “Bruce” Jessen, worked as a psychologist with an Air Force program designed to help American detainees resist torture tactics. After 9/11, without any prior experience conducting interrogations, the two founded a consulting company that was paid $81 million dollars by the CIA to weaponize those training tactics to torture CIA detainees.

On Tuesday, Mitchell was promoting his new book, Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying to Destroy America, to an audience at the American Enterprise Institute, a neoconservative think tank. Mitchell’s book dismisses the widely held criticism that torture does not work, describing in detail his role in interrogations, which included slamming prisoners into walls, known as walling, and waterboarding them. ...

Mitchell and Jessen are currently facing a civil suit from two former torture victims, and the estate of Gul Rahman – who was tortured to death in a the CIA prison called the “Salt Pit.” The American Civil Liberties Union attorneys assisting with the case say that the executive summary of the Senate Torture Report, which was released in 2014, provides more than enough evidence to establish the role of the two men in the CIA torture program. ... Mitchell and Jessen signed an indemnification contract with the CIA in 2007, in which the CIA agreed pay legal damages for the two men going forward.

Italy’s Voters Slap Down the Elites

Italian voters sent a strong message to their own government and to all of Europe, declaring through their rejection of a constitutional reform referendum that democracy is more important than efficiency and that the population won’t be bullied by threats from the political and financial elite.

This is the upshot of Sunday’s resounding defeat of the constitutional changes proposed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has now announced his resignation, opening the country up to a period of political uncertainty.

The higher-than-expected margin for the No side, which prevailed 59 percent to 41 percent and the high turnout for a stand-alone referendum (68.5 percent), makes it clear that the sentiment expressed by Italians went far beyond the merits of the reform. ... Renzi’s reform, despite having some positive aspects to it, ultimately fell victim to the population’s rejection of the overall political and economic conditions. An example is the impression that international financial interests were keen on obtaining the constitutional changes in order to pursue their own interests.

In May 2013, J.P. Morgan published a report entitled “The Euro area adjustment: about halfway there.” The bank lamented the weakness of the constitutions of countries of the “periphery” (usually referring to Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece). Astoundingly, among the complaints listed in the report were items such as “constitutional protection of labor rights” and “the right to protest if unwelcome changes are made to the status quo.”

J.P. Morgan’s conclusion was that these shortcomings have led to the failure of “fiscal and economic reform agendas,” although it held out hope for Italy, where the Renzi government was aiming “to engage in meaningful political reform.”

The political class scoffed at the “conspiracy theory” of how international banks were pushing the reform, but not surprisingly it made quite an impression on regular people. In the final months of the campaign the opposition grew based on the notion that the reform was anti-democratic, as it aimed to streamline decision-making power by limiting popular input. ...

The incessant threats of financial calamity due to a No vote that were waved around by supporters of the reform and the international press, likely had the opposite effect: the population refuses to be manipulated, because it doesn’t trust the motives of the press and the politicians.

Merkel: No repeat of 2015 migrant influx, no face veils

Merkel calls for German burqa ban

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed a partial ban on the face veil, hardening her party’s once-progressive view on immigration in the face of rising anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe.

Speaking at the Christian Democratic Party conference, Merkel suggested that the burqa and the niqab, head coverings traditionally worn by Muslim women,  are “inappropriate” and insisted that German law “takes precedence over codes of honor, tribal or family rules – that has to be spelled out clearly.”

While some of her closest colleagues in the party have previously suggested a ban on face coverings, purportedly for security reasons, the BBC reports that this is the first time Merkel has made such a strong statement publicly.

Merkel has often been criticized for her handling of Europe’s refugee crisis, when she opened German borders to allow hundreds of thousands of people, mostly fleeing war in the Middle East and Africa, to enter the country. Many will see this tough rhetoric as an attempt to assuage any worries that she has moved to the left. Addressing the events that led to the stark rise in  immigration, Merkel said: “A situation like the one of summer 2015 cannot, must not, and will not be repeated.”

Arrest of leading Egyptian feminist Azza Soliman sparks anger

Human rights activists in Egypt have reacted angrily to the arrest of prominent women’s rights advocate Azza Soliman, saying it marked a “chilling escalation” of pressure on civil society organisations.

Soliman, the founder of the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), is one of a number of activists, lawyers and journalists to have been prevented from leaving Egypt in the past month.

The rights lawyer and leading feminist said last week that she had been turned back on 19 November at Cairo airport. Soon after, Soliman discovered that her personal assets and those of her group had been frozen. On Wednesday, her foundation and a security source said she had been detained by police. ...

But the detention sparked immediate condemnation from Egyptian human rights activists, who say they are being subjected to a severe government clampdown targeting organisations accused of fomenting unrest during the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs), most involved in rights work, are embroiled in a long-running investigation, accused of receiving foreign funds to sow chaos. An Egyptian rights lawyer said Soliman’s arrest warrant had been issued by the judge who is presiding over that case.

Walter Scott was shot on camera. When will he receive justice?

Like most black people I know, I wasn’t especially surprised that a jury was unable to convict white South Carolina police officer Michael Slager for killing Walter Scott, despite shooting him multiple times in the back and on video. The people I know who live in black and brown skin were also relatively unsurprised to learn last week that a white man in Louisiana, Ronald Gasser, was initially released from custody without charges after shooting and killing former NFL player Joe McKnight. He was charged with manslaughter on Tuesday.

Are we hurt by news of tragedies like Scott’s killing and a lack of justice for it? Yes. Are we sad to know Joe McKnight’s killer was walking around free after the shooting? Of course. Humiliated to know that Gasser could have emboldened other people to shoot black men with impunity? Very much so.

But are we surprised? Not at all. ...

White people are often assumed to be innocent, while black people are assumed to be guilty. And this is built on outcomes like the Slager trial. The maintenance of white innocence, even in a clear shooting of a black man like Scott, is what the American legal system is designed to do. As the New York Times noted yesterday, the prosecutor charged with putting Slager away “acknowledged from the beginning of the trial that she thought Mr Scott had contributed to his own death by running away.”

“If Walter Scott had stayed in that car, he wouldn’t have been shot,” the prosecutor told the jury she was supposed to convince: “He paid the extreme consequence for his conduct. He lost his life for his foolishness.” The person allegedly seeking justice on Scott’s behalf blamed the dead black man for his own death. ...

That a jury couldn’t convict Slager isn’t an issue of a lone juror holding out, nor is it an anomaly. It is representative of American policy, law and justice, none of which value black lives.

Keiser Report: Restoring Faith in Capitalism

How a network led by the billionaire Koch brothers is riding the Trump wave

Despite deciding not to back Donald Trump financially with ads during the presidential election, the sprawling donor and advocacy network led by the multibillionaire Koch brothers is emerging as a winner in the transition.

Longtime ally Mike Pence is leading the transition team, and several veteran Koch network donors, operatives and political allies are poised to join the Trump administration when the new president takes office in January. ...

One of Trump’s early cabinet selections, for instance, was Betsy DeVos as education secretary: DeVos is part of a multibillionaire family that have long been hefty donors to advocacy groups linked to the Kochs and championed charter schools and school choice, both popular causes in Koch world.

Further, Trump’s key energy adviser for months has been fracking multibillionaire Harold Hamm, who has been mentioned as a potential energy secretary. While Hamm is expected to keep running his oil and natural gas company Continental Resources, two transition sources say he has pushed for Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin to be named interior secretary, and the state’s attorney general Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which he has sued to block climate change curbs. ...

Still the Koch network, which spent $42m on ads to help GOP Senate candidates, is expected to have some dust-ups with the Trump administration: Trump’s protectionist trade stances and some of his policy goals, such as a massive infrastructure spending program, pose potential conflicts with Koch world’s free-market views.

Hmmm... is PropOrNot a tentacle of the Kochtopus?

Who’s Behind PropOrNot’s Blacklist of News Websites

Wall Street On Parade closely examined [a] report issued by PropOrNot, its related Twitter page, and its registration as a business in New Mexico, looking for “tells” as to the individual(s) behind it. We learned quite a number of interesting facts.

As part of its McCarthyite tactics, PropOrNot has developed a plugin to help readers censor material from the websites it has blacklisted. It calls that its YYYCampaignYYY. In that effort, it lists an official address of 530-B Harkle Road, Suite 100, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505. That’s one of those agent addresses that serve as a virtual address for the creation of limited liability corporations that want to keep their actual principals secret. The address has dozens of businesses associated with it. There should also be a corresponding business listed in the online archives of the business registry at the Secretary of State of New Mexico. However, no business with the words Propaganda or PropOrNot or YYY exist in the New Mexico business registry, suggesting PropOrNot is using a double cloaking device to shield its identity by registering under a completely different name.

PropOrNot’s Twitter page provides a “tell” that its report may simply be a hodgepodge compilation of other people’s research that was used to arrive at its dangerous assertion that critical thinkers across America are a clandestine network of Russian propaganda experts. Its Tweet on November 7 indicates that the research of Peter Pomerantsev, a Senior Fellow at the Legatum Institute in London, who has also been cooperating on research with the Information Warfare Project of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington, D.C, inspired its efforts.

According to SourceWatch, the Legatum Institute “is a right-wing think tank promoting ‘free markets, free minds, and free peoples.’ ” SourceWatch adds that the Legatum Institute “is a project founded and funded by the Legatum Group, a private investment group based in Dubai.” According to the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine, the Center for European Policy Analysis previously indicated it was an affiliate of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). We can see why they might want to remove that affiliation now that the Koch brothers have been exposed as funders of a very real network of interrelated websites and nonprofits. According to Desmog, NCPA has received millions of dollars in funding from right wing billionaires like the Koch brothers and their related trusts along with the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation (heir to the Mellon fortune) along with corporations like ExxonMobil.

CEPA’s InfoWar Project is currently listed as a “Related Project” at PropOrNot’s website.

Member of Trump’s Labor Department Transition Team Specializes in Recruiting Cheap Foreign Labor

A newly-appointed member of Donald Trump’s Department of Labor “landing team” — tasked with helping set up and implement the transition to a Trump administration — is the president of a recruiting agency that specializes in connecting employers, including major hotels, with temporary laborers from Mexico, the Caribbean, and other parts of the developing world.

Veronica Birkenstock, named to the Department of Labor team on Monday, is the president of Practical Employee Solutions (PES). PES promotes itself as specializing in the use of H-2B visas, having recruited “over 40,000? workers in fields including hospitality, landscaping, welding, and construction, from 80 different countries. It is also the “preferred vendor of Marriott and Starwood Hotels.”

H-2B visas are reserved for foreign workers who are not immigrants: They come to the country to do typically seasonal, temporary work. ... The H-2B program has come under criticism for helping suppress wages of domestic workers. The Economic Policy Institute, which Trump frequently cited on the campaign trail, believes that the program leaves “workers vulnerable to low pay and abuse.” ...

Birkenstock has spent the last 20 years working at PES and helping employers find cheap labor. Needless to say, that isn’t America First.

Carrier Union Leader on Trump's Jobs Claim: "I Almost Threw Up in My Mouth"

Trump 'lied his as off' in telling Indianapolis plant workers that 1,100 jobs would be saved from outsourcing, says union head

Trump boasted last week that he reached a deal with United Technologies that would keep over 1,100 jobs at the Indianapolis plant and not be moved to Mexico. But T.J. Bray, a Carrier worker and communications representative for United Steelworkers 1999, which represents the workers, said to Indianapolis NBC affiliate WTHR on Monday, "We found out today that more jobs are leaving than what we originally thought."

"It seemed like since Thursday, it was 1,100 then it was maybe 900, and then now we're at 700. So I'm hoping it doesn't go any lower than that," Bray said. In fact, as workers found out, 730 factory jobs and 70 supervisor positions will be saved. ...

Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers 1999, told the Washington Post he had hoped Trump would offer an explanation when he came to speak at the plant. "But he got up there and, for whatever reason, lied his a-- off."

The figure Trump touted, WTHR wrote, may have been because he "was including 350 research and development jobs that were never going to move to Mexico in the first place. Those were jobs that Carrier said all along would stay in Indianapolis." ...

All 700 employees at the United Technologies plant in Huntington, Ind., meanwhile, are expected to lose their jobs, as they will be outsourced to Mexico.

[See also: Why Both Trump and Obama Are Wrong About How to Save American Jobs - js]



the evening greens


Donald Trump could undo the latest victory for Standing Rock — but it won't be easy

When the Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday that it would consider alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline, a looming reality tempered the celebrations at Standing Rock: Everything could change when Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Even before the announcement, the U.S. president-elect’s team said he supported completion of the oil pipeline project, running from North Dakota to Illinois. But if Trump wants to reverse the Army Corps’ decision, it won’t be quick or easy.

The Corps has ordered a full environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Protection Act, which would take a minimum of 100 days, according to Zygmunt Plater, an environmental law professor at Boston College. The statement will assess the potential environmental effects of the pipeline and inform future decisions. It’s not possible to backtrack that process, Plater added. ...

To bypass the environmental impact statement, Plater explained, Trump would have to pass a bill to exclude the Dakota Access Pipeline from the National Environmental Protection Act, created under President Richard Nixon in 1970. While any Democrat could filibuster, Congress and the presidency will be Republican-controlled. ...

On Nov. 15, the companies filed U.S. federal court applications asking a judge to declare they have a legal right to drill under Lake Oahe and can ignore the Corps’ decision to not grant an easement. Without the Army Corps’ easement or a judge’s ruling allowing the company to drill, construction under the lake can’t go forward.

Dakota Access company takes its battle to finish oil pipeline to court

Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline, has responded to the Army Corps of Engineers’ denial of a key permit by asking a federal judge to allow it to drill under the Missouri river immediately.

The court filing came as thousands of activists remained at the Standing Rock encampments, despite being buffeted by a blizzard and a plea from a tribal council leader for them to return home.

In documents filed in a US district court in Washington DC on Monday, lawyers for Energy Transfer Partners argued that the denial of permission by the US army corps of engineers represented a “transparent capitulation to political pressure”, which they implored the court to overrule and grant them permission to complete the pipeline.

The motion accused protesters of “an escalating campaign of violence and disorder”, and lawyers for Energy Transfer Partners claimed that the corps had previously granted permission for construction in the summer, and requested a summary judgment declaring the army corps’ decision null.

A hearing in the case is scheduled Friday.

Carl Tobias, a professor of law at the University of Richmond, said that the pipeline company’s argument – that it had already received permission to drill in August – was “not compelling”.

Thousands of snow geese die in Montana after landing on contaminated water

Several thousand snow geese have died after a snowstorm forced large flocks to take refuge in the acidic, metal-laden waters of an old open pit mine in Montana.

Mark Thompson, environmental affairs manager for mine company Montana Resources, said witnesses described the pit as like “700 acres of white birds” on 28 November.

Since 28 November, employees of MR and Arco had used spotlights, noise makers and other efforts to scare or “haze” the birds off the water and prevent others from landing.

The companies estimated that more than 90% of the birds had been chased off by 29 November, Thompson said.

Workers received some advance notice about the incoming flock from an off-duty Montana Resources employee about 25 miles away, who called to report there were about 25,000 geese in the air in Anaconda, Thompson said. ...

Typically, Butte sees between 2,000 and 5,000 birds all year, including spring and water migration, Thompson said.

The estimated death toll is based on drone and aircraft flights over the pit, which holds about 45bn gallons (175bn litres) of water.

Paris bans cars for second day running as pollution strikes

Paris authorities restricted traffic in the city for a second day after a “lid of pollution” sealed the capital, causing concern over public health.

Photographs showed a grey veil of dirty air trapped over the city, masking the horizon and, at times, landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower. Experts said it was the longest most intense spike in pollution for at least 10 years and was expected to continue for at least another day if not longer. ...


The Paris prefect, Michel Cadot, said the ban would be extended to a third day if air quality did not improve.

The spike in pollution was blamed on anticyclonic weather conditions, little wind combined with the cold snap keeping the pollution from escaping, and people turning up their gas heating or lighting fires.

“As long as the meteorological situation remains the same and emissions remain the same, we will not see the end of the pollution spike,” said Cadot.

The level of PM10 lead particles in Paris was higher than the recommended 80 micrograms per cubic metre several days last week.


Also of Interest

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

How War Propaganda Keeps on Killing

Witch Hunt: “Fake News” Software Touted by CBS Smears Naked Capitalism, ShadowProof, TruthDig, Others; Creator Admits He Made Up Who Went on Hit List

The Next Frontier: Trump and Space Weapons

No country with a McDonald’s can remain a democracy

Trump Cabinet Selections: Radical Militarization, A Country to be Governed by Generals and Billionaires

Trump seeks another retired general for top administration job

Surveillance and Border Security Contractors See Big Money in Donald Trump’s Immigration Agenda

Tourists Visit Plantation in Brazil and are Served by Black “Slaves”

Standing Rock: blizzard hits protesters as controversial pipeline halted – in pictures


A Little Night Music

Kokomo Arnold - Salty Dog

Kokomo Arnold - Milk Cow Blues

Kokomo Arnold - Old Original Kokomo Blues

Kokomo Arnold - Sissy Man Blues

Kokomo Arnold - Broke Man Blues

Kokomo Arnold- Stop, Look and Listen

Kokomo Arnold - Rocky Road Blues

Kokomo Arnold - Red Beans And Rice

Kokomo Arnold - Shake That Thing



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Pricknick's picture

Thanks Joe.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

joe shikspack's picture

as always, thanks for reading!

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Lookout's picture

Yeah, better muzzle those watch dogs - don't want people to know anything real. Knowledge is power, so keep it from the people.

Assange is getting some press after releasing his statement. May be he can still have a life. Glad to see he's not in a black prison somewhere.

I guess it was a mistake attacking Syria...period.

And now we got Egypt bombing Libya?

And it too late, I've lost my faith in capitalism. Workers of the world unite!

Here in Alabama it's been Koch world since they bought out GA-Pacific. The timber industry runs our state the way it appears the oil industry runs ND. It may be they want to make America like Alabama.

Sounds like it could be difficult to permit the drilling (but still wouldn't be too bad to just do it and pay the fine).

To bypass the environmental impact statement, Plater explained, Trump would have to pass a bill to exclude the Dakota Access Pipeline from the National Environmental Protection Act, created under President Richard Nixon in 1970.

Jordan's report today said to the best of his knowledge they were not drilling. (4.5 min) Sure looks cold...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGK5OcKqSsk]

All the best and thanks for the great reporting and Kokomo!

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

joe shikspack's picture

controlling the narrative is key to perpetuating your power. given the threat that assange and his organization pose to those who dictate the news to the stenographers, it's pretty amazing that he is still breathing, is above room temperature and enjoys a degree of freedom.

i'm interested to see how the dapl situation shakes out. i'm pretty sure that the water protectors are doing the right thing by standing their ground.

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Azazello's picture

You mean the Saudis and the UAE are buying their drones at Harbor Freight instead of getting them from us, what kind of "allies" are these ? Cheap bastards.

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

joe shikspack's picture

i'm sure that the saudis and emiratis are under some pressure to find chinese-made things that they can spend the money that they get from china for oil and gas on. it's not like the chinese couldn't find other suppliers for their needs.

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Azazello's picture

you get cheap from Harbor Freight. If you're only gonna' drone-kill every now and then, just around the house, then you can save money buying Chinese. But if you're gonna' drone-kill day in and day out for years, if you're in the trade and need a reliable tool, then it pays to go with the higher priced Boeing or Lockheed.

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

joe shikspack's picture

it's always good to use quality tools.

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How Castro and Cousteau's Legendary Friendship Preserved Cuba's Waters

The friendship of Cousteau and Castro continued and strengthened in environmental solidarity at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 where Castro delivered a sharply-worded and uncharacteristically brief address, imploring the developed world to "stop transferring to the Third World lifestyles and consumer habits that ruin the environment. Make human life more rational." In early 1998, less than six months after Cousteau passed away, Castro fondly remembers a playful encounter with Cousteau at the Rio Earth Summit: "They have all the heads of state lined up for a 'photo op' in Rio, and I pulled him [Cousteau] up with me, and say, 'Captain, join this picture in the 'photo op' because most people here know nothing about the environment. And he came up and was in the 'photo op' with all of us."

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

joe shikspack's picture

given the way that we are polluting the gulf (not least with deepwater drilling gone awry), it's not like cuba has a lot of choice about letting us in.

on the other hand, we could learn a great deal about sustainable culture from cuba (especially sustainable agriculture) so, perhaps it might be a good thing for americans to be exposed to cuba.

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divineorder's picture

press conference event in DC today prior to delivering 1 million petitions to Congress.

Was the first and probably only time I will see a vid of Bernie, Pelosi, Chuck, and three others from Congress speak as guests of these ngo's.

Bernie quoted Trump and said will hold him to pledges to not cut Medicare or SS.

The latino Congressman from California got quite choked up talking about Seniors healthcare impact on families. .

A doc talked about how many people especially children in disaster areas depended on Medicaid and that with weather events likely to cause more trauma it was essential it not be cut to save Medicare and that block grants not be allowed.

Social Security Works held the event with a number of partners.

Video here

https://www.facebook.com/socialsecurityworks/videos/vb.137389882951546/1...

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

joe shikspack's picture

perhaps the democrats and their associated ngo's could work towards redeeming themselves with working people by mounting serious opposition to any cuts to the social safety net. on the other hand, i won't hold my breath waiting for the democrats to become useful to the working class.

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divineorder's picture

for your health! Smile

Hear what you are saying, but still think I am going watch whoever is supportive on this issue rather than sit on my hands and do nothing. Sure to be disappointed, but's that's my view.

This event was not organized by the Dems AFAIK, if you have other info would be good to see. Looked like a grass roots effort that Dems jumped on that's for sure. But whatever.

I seem to recall it took millions of people to stop Obama on Chained CPI. Who knows what kind of bargains in the mill before this all shakes out. Of course docfix compromise still went on to screw the higher income Medicare recipients with higher premiums.

At any rate we both thoroughly enjoyed seeing something at least appearing to be progressive going on besides Trump. The speakers from the NGO's and the pols got into the weeds of what is at stake here and defend it, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the effect that ACA had on Medicare and Medicaid. Only Bernie and one pol went beyond talking about ways to expand the net not just fight the Republicans.

And of course the Dems will soon be in little position to do much so it could be said that's why they are so now gung ho. Smile

Several did imply that it will take huge numbers of people (including the working class of course) slapping both parties to make a difference on this.

FWIW here's mailing list sign up for any who are are not concerned about being able to avoid being veal penned and sheep dogged but still might like to keep informed with moves in this area:

http://www.socialsecurityworks.org/

###

Thanks for the snippet on Paris weather. Glad I was not there for that.

We lucked out in Paris this summer we were there for a week on free stopover from Africa. They had shut down some traffic near the Seine and it was unseasonably cool and air was pretty clear.

IMG_2315 (800x800).jpg

Sorry it posted sideways!

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

joe shikspack's picture

sorry do, didn't mean to get all grumpy on you. Smile

if any of these groups that i associate with mainstream democrats do something good, i'm happy to do my part to pressure the congressworms to do the right thing.

thanks for the info!

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divineorder's picture

Have learned a great deal from you and other Bluesters. Just grasping at straws probably, but not in makeup to flat give up. New party? Great. All in.

My mother is surviving with alzeheimer's because of Medicaid. One of the major points for me of the press conference today was about how many Seniors depend on sliding from Medicare into Medicaid for long term care. Old enough meshelf to have a concern about that for us as well.

Thanks for all you do.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Jazzenterprises's picture

Not a blues video tonight, but this video of following all earthquakes in and around Japan for a full year in 2011, is a must-watch. Enjoy the fear, because, wow!

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSBjEvPH2j4]

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Progressive to the bone.

joe shikspack's picture

wow, that's really quite something.

heh, well, there is one song that comes to mind...

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divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

divineorder's picture

booked and much of our places to stay for Costa Rica early next year but Vulcan Turialba has been misbehaving for months now. Who knows, we may have to cancel all.

CR has daily earthquakes, wonder what the last months would look like compared to this?

Turrialba volcano (Costa Rica): new ash emissions
VolcanoDiscovery-15 hours ago
The volcano continues to be restless with intermittent mild eruptive phases. After 5 days of no visible activity, it restarted to emit low-energy ...

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

snoopydawg's picture

And it looks like a lot of places got hit over and over. Was there a reason for so many of them? I don't remember hearing about them or how destructive they were.
Off to search the google.

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

PriceRip's picture

          is simultaneously easy to answer and impossible to answer.

          How was that for a definite maybe for an answer · · ·

          I doubt geologist will find a "cause" for them happening on those dates rather than one year earlier or one year later. But that the process is driven by Plate Tectonics is not in question.

          The "when" of a plates slip/stick event is generally a stochastic parameter, that is one event does not cause another event later. Similarly, the where is generally also a stochastic parameter. Please notice the weasel-word "generally". Generally plate tectonics happens slowly enough stress at the boundary stays low enough the events will not to be predictable, id est stochastic.

          If plate boundaries lockup so that stress becomes large then the dynamics change to a more classical cause → effect process. In this dynamic regime you can almost see a trigger quake causing a second quake causing a third and so on.

          I bet, if a geologist drops by they would say something about the plates not moving for some (probably short) time allowing the stress to get up to an "abnormally" large amount before the fault zone between the plates popped loose.

          I just checked and no geologist has stopped by yet so I will toggle the "Save" macro.

          Oh, I almost forgot, did you hear about the volcano that stopped an earthquake? Now, that was really neat.

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Crider's picture

Since he's been pledging to raise the military's budget, I think he's actually not going to 'stop racing to topple foreign regimes'. I think Iran is in their crosshairs for military-assisted, market-based conversion of their oilfields to profitable management by our lovely petroleum enterprises.

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

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joe shikspack's picture

i don't know if iran is in trump's personal crosshairs, frankly i don't suspect that he knows much about iran, but he has surrounded himself with people that seem to want to get a war on there.

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Crider's picture

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joe shikspack's picture

he used to play around my area a lot. he played with the nighthawks (a dc-based band) for a while and then went out on his own. he's an amazing surf guitar player.

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divineorder's picture

this week about the study about huge waste that got hidden at the Pentagon by the top brass shows that it was conducted by captains of industry who probably would like to see Pentagon jobs privatized.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Shockwave's picture

...he names Scott Pruitt to run the (EPA).

As the world comes to an end we can at least listen to good music. I'm always listening to classic rock.

[video:https://youtu.be/Z0GFRcFm-aY]

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The political revolution continues

joe shikspack's picture

heh, it's good to know that folks are working on an "end of the world" soundtrack. Smile

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Granma's picture

I wouldn't know any of this if it weren't for your EB. I lost my dog last week. It was a shock and I've been in the dumps.
But you bring us important news. And I can handle reading your summaries. I appreciate your effort.

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joe shikspack's picture

i'm so sorry to hear about your loss, it's really hard to lose a friend that gives you unconditional love. i hope that you feel better soon and are comforted by many happy memories.

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snoopydawg's picture

It's so hard when they leave us and I hope that the years of memories with him/her helps a bit.
Gentle hugs and wish that there were words that helped.
Take care and you are in my thoughts.

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

enhydra lutris's picture

and haven't yet read or heard anything, but I figured I'd say hi before it gets too too late.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

mmmm... well now, that sounds like a remarkably good idea. i think i know what i'm going to make this weekend, now.

have a great evening!

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divineorder's picture

news....
http://www.popsci.com/bacteria-with-resistance-to-last-resort-drug-found...

Bacteria resistant to a last-resort drug showed up on a US pig farm
Popular Science-9 hours ago
Bacteria carrying a gene that grants resistance against a powerful ... So it doesn't seem likely that they contaminated any pork from the farm.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Crider's picture

Can make pathogens spread lightening fast.

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Anja Geitz's picture

In Trump's announcement about military spending. Yeah, I agree we shouldn't be asserting ourselves in regime change other countries. But if we are going to lift the limits on defense spending that were implemented by the sequestration, then he'd better also be talking about the other side of that equation. The cuts that went into social safety nets due to the sequestration. What about that money Donny?

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Bet the rest remaining for social safety nets is slated to go directly into the military/corporate maw... because a democratic government using public money for the public good is, like, democratic socialism, A Very Bad thing which deprives Those Who Matter of having it all to themselves.

"The working public has no bread? Let them eat each other. We have robots now, or soon will." So say the fat, juicy Greeds to the starving people.

Edit: under the circumstances; damn, I've having fun with this, one way or the other, visualizing what these idiots are so frantically steering toward, even if I almost certainly won't live to see it.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.