The Evening Blues - 1-5-17



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Omar Sharriff

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Texas boogie-woogie and blues piano player Dave Alexander a.k.a. Omar Sharriff. Enjoy!

Omar Sharriff - Boogie Woogie Homecoming Concert Marshall TX

“When the narrative at the heart of a system of rule falls apart, when the flow of history runs counter to the story told by those in power, then we know the entire edifice is crumbling under the weight of its own contradictions. The political crisis arrives when the people sense that the prevailing order is built on a foundation of oppressions and lies. The rulers panic, scrambling to reweave the matrix of fables and myths that justify their waning supremacy. At such points in history, the truth is up for grabs – and a change of regime is in the offing.”

-- Glen Ford


News and Opinion

Trump plans to shrink top intelligence agencies, including CIA

President-elect Donald Trump is planning to restructure two of the nation's top intelligence agencies, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday.

The newspaper writes that Trump plans to reduce the size of the office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA, fearing the agencies have become too large and politicized.

"The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world has become completely politicized," The Journal quoted someone close to Trump's transition team as saying. "They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring the agencies and how they interact."

The apparent plans come as Trump continues to mock US intelligence agencies and dismiss their reports that Russia hacked and leaked emails from Democratic officials in an attempt to influence the US election.

Republicans voice disdain after Trump tweets support for Julian Assange

Leading Republicans broke with Donald Trump on Wednesday after the president-elect appeared to put more faith in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange than in US intelligence agencies.

The sharp differences on a highly charged national security issue are the latest sign that matters of intelligence and policy towards Russia reflect a deep fault line in Trump’s relationship with the Republican party establishment.

The House speaker, Paul Ryan, called Assange “a sycophant for Russia” on a conservative radio show and GOP Senator Tom Cotton told MSNBC that he had “a lot more faith in our intelligence officers serving around the world … than I do in people like Julian Assange”

The comments followed tweets from Trump on Wednesday morning in which he approvingly repeated Assange’s claim that the Russian state was not the source of the hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign chairman, John Podesta, published by WikiLeaks during the election.

Chuck Schumer Accidentally Tells America That Intelligence Community Is Full Of Vindictive Thugs

In a recent interview with Rachel Maddow, undead Democratic neocon Chuck Schumer took a short break from leeching the life essence of gelflings to say that Donald Trump is being “really dumb” to take an antagonistic approach to the US intelligence community, because “if you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get back at you.

He actually said that. It came right out of the slit in his naked mole rat face, plain as day, in the King’s good English.

Visibly taken aback with a transparent “Did you just say what I think you said?” look on her face, Maddow asked the new Senate Minority Leader what he thought the intelligence community would do to the President Elect if motivated, to which he replied, “I don’t know. From what I am told, they are very upset about how he has treated them and talked about them.”

So to recap, America’s ruling Democratic Senator just looked right at the camera and said to MSNBC’s thirty-eight viewers that unless the soon-to-be President of the United States begins showing the intelligence community the respect they feel they are accorded, they will retaliate against him. Against the President. Of America.

So in case you’ve been wondering who wears the pants in your government, it turns out it’s a highly secretive group of thin-skinned and hyper-vindictive unelected thugs with an extensive record of lying to the American people about everything from government surveillance to arms deals to torture to WMDs to, of course, assassination plots. The most powerful Democrat in the Legislative Branch of the federal government has inadvertently revealed that these people operate according to their own agendas and by their own codes of conduct, and if you cross them, they’ll hurt you.

GOP congressman plans Russia trip to ‘work with the Duma’

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican ally of President-elect Donald Trump and a longtime enthusiast of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Wednesday that he is planning to lead a congressional delegation to Russia next month and expects to meet with Russian officials to discuss “how we can work with the Duma.”

“We’re going to look at certain goals we can set with our Congress and the Duma,” the Russian legislature, Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said in an interview. “What could we actually set in the legislature of Russia and in Congress? Could we work together, for example, and cooperate on space activities?”

Rohrabacher went on to list the rise of the Islamic State and President Obama’s latest round of sanctions against Russia as additional agenda items that he expects to come up during the talks in Moscow. ...

Rohrabacher, an advocate for warmer relations with Russia who once said he has known Putin since the Russian president was “deputy mayor of St. Petersburg,” said he is happy to facilitate the conversations.

“We’ll see who can come,” he said. “I’ll bring some people with me who seem antagonistic toward having better relations. We’ll put them together, sit down with some people in Russia who can talk to them, person to person, and start to have a real dialogue instead of screaming epithets at each other.”

WikiLeaks threatens to sue CNN after ‘pedophile’ charge repeated on air

The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks on Wednesday threatened to sue CNN over unproven allegations that its founder is a pedophile, an accusation that a former CIA deputy director repeated on air.

“We have issued instructions to sue CNN for defamation,” WikiLeaks said in a Tweet, unless the Atlanta-based network airs within 48 hours “a one-hour expose of the plot.” ...

Former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Mudd, appearing on CNN’s New Day program, called WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange “a pedophile who lives in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.”

Within hours, CNN’s New Day Twitter account carried a statement saying that Mudd regretted the remark and that the network “has no evidence to support that assertion.”

In fact, the pedophile allegation has little to do with Assange’s plight that has kept him in the embassy in London, which involves incidents in Stockholm in the summer of 2010.

Rather, it is a bizarre tale involving a Houston-based dating website and its global and well-funded efforts to discredit Assange around the globe. The byzantine saga involves disconnected telephones and mystery websites. ...

Whoever is behind the dating site has marshaled significant resources to target Assange, enough to gain entry into a United Nations body, operate in countries in Europe, North America and the Caribbean, conduct surveillance on Assange’s lawyer in London, obtain the fax number of Canada’s prime minister and seek to prod a police inquiry in the Bahamas.

[Hmmm... wonder what sort of group might have the people and global connections to pull off those sorts of things. And gosh, I thought this weird tale was a dead issue until a "former CIA official" brought it back up on CNN... - js]

FBI never requested access to DNC’s computer servers – National Committee official

The FBI Never Asked For Access To Hacked Computer Servers

The FBI did not examine the servers of the Democratic National Committee before issuing a report attributing the sweeping cyberintrusion to Russia-backed hackers, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Six months after the FBI first said it was investigating the hack of the Democratic National Committee’s computer network, the bureau has still not requested access to the hacked servers, a DNC spokesman said. No US government entity has run an independent forensic analysis on the system, one US intelligence official told BuzzFeed News.

“The DNC had several meetings with representatives of the FBI’s Cyber Division and its Washington (DC) Field Office, the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, and U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and it responded to a variety of requests for cooperation, but the FBI never requested access to the DNC’s computer servers,” Eric Walker, the DNC’s deputy communications director, told BuzzFeed News in an email.

The FBI has instead relied on computer forensics from a third-party tech security company, CrowdStrike, which first determined in May of last year that the DNC’s servers had been infiltrated by Russia-linked hackers, the U.S. intelligence official told BuzzFeed News. ...

The FBI declined to comment.

‘Brennan’s crocodile tears over scorched Syria give hypocrisy a bad name'

Turkey Hints at Ousting US from Incirlik Air Base

While Pentagon officials yesterday were bragging up their overflights of warplanes over the ISIS city of al-Bab, being attacked by Turkey, as “a show of force” meant to support the Turkish invasion, Turkish officials clearly don’t see it that way, and are even considering expelling the US warplanes from Inciirlik Air Base outright over the lack of actual help.

Defense Minister Fikri Isik warned that there was “serious disappointment” in the US not providing aerial support for the al-Bab offensive, warning it was harming public support and leading to serious questions among Turkish officials over the status of Incirlik.

U.S. likely to keep supporting Turkish troops near al-Bab: U.S. military

The United States is in talks with Turkey about the future support the U.S. military will provide Turkish forces around al-Bab, Syria, a U.S. military spokesman said on Wednesday, adding that he expected the assistance to continue. ...

"We do expect that there will be some ongoing support to Turkish operations in and around al-Bab," Air Force Colonel John Dorrian said, confirming the U.S. warplanes had supported Turkish forces near the town last week. He declined to say what U.S. support was available but said Turkish officials knew what was on offer.

Pentagon: US Doubles Number of Advisers Around Mosul

As Iraq continues to try to get their military offensive against the ISIS-held city of Mosul going, the Pentagon has announced that the US has doubled the number of advisers embedded with Iraqi forces in the area, saying there are “about 450” advisers now involved in the fight.

Military spokesman Col. John Dorrian further confirmed that there are an “unspecified,” but expanding number of US “advisers” embedded inside the city of Mosul itself, where heavy fighting is constantly ongoing.

North Korea able to test intercontinental ballistic missile this year, say experts

North Korea is capable of fulfilling its New Year’s threat to start testing an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2017, bringing a long-brewing standoff with the US to the boil in the first year of a Trump administration, weapons experts have warned.

Those experts said the regime in Pyongyang was likely to encounter multiple test failures in developing a two- or three-stage missile capable of reaching the continental United States or Europe, and that it would probably take a few years for such a weapon to become operational. But the first test would trigger a foreign policy crisis in Washington and western capitals. ...

Any attempt at a pre-emptive military strike would very likely trigger a ferocious response, quite possibly with short- and medium-range nuclear weapons aimed at South Korea and US bases in the region.

However, the Obama administration’s “strategic patience” approach, based on the hope that concerted international economic pressure would ultimately force North Korea to curb its nuclear activities, failed dramatically to reach its objective.

Over the eight years of the Obama administration, multilateral talks stalled and North Korea rapidly accelerated its programme, carrying out four nuclear tests and more than 50 missile and rocket launches.

U.S. to transfer four Guantanamo Bay detainees to Saudi Arabia

The United States will transfer four detainees to Saudi Arabia from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in the next 24 hours, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, in President Barack Obama's final push to shrink the inmate population there despite pressure from the president-elect to halt such releases.

It will be the first in Obama's final flurry of transfers aimed at sending as many as 19 prisoners to at least four countries, including Italy, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, before Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.

If the final transfers go according to plan, only about 40 prisoners will remain at Guantanamo, despite Obama's pledge to close the controversial facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

The Republican president-elect has vowed, however, to keep the Guantanamo military prison open and "load it up with some bad dudes."

Netanyahu Wants Pardon for IDF Soldier Who Shot Defenseless, Wounded Palestinian in the Head

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called for the pardon of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier who had just been convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian man last year in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

"Sgt Elor Azaria, 20, shot Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, in the head while he was lying immobile on a road," as BBC News writes. Al-Sharif was allegedly involved in a knife attack against another Israeli soldier and had already been shot, though he remained alive.

Video of Azaria's deadly shooting, condemned by a United Nations expert as an "extrajudicial execution," was posted online by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. In it, as Common Dreams reported at the time,

al-Sharif is seen wounded and unconscious in the middle of the street in the city of Hebron. While al-Sharif lies nearly motionless—though clearly still alive—numerous soldiers, police officers and medical personnel make no effort to administer aid, and largely ignore he's there at all. After approximately two minutes, a soldier is seen stepping forward, aiming his weapon at and shooting al-Sharif in the head from close range, killing him. "Although this occurs in the plain view of other soldiers and officers," B'Tselem noted, "they do not seem to take any notice."

... Netanyahu, however, said the conviction marked "a difficult and painful day for all of us." He added, "The soldiers of the IDF are our sons and daughters, and they need to remain above dispute.”

Azaria's sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 15. He could face up to 20 years.

Israel President Reuven Rivlin may consider a pardon request if one is made, the Associated Press notes, but even if Azaria carries out his sentence, Amnesty's Luther said, "Sadly, this case is just the tip of the iceberg."

"Time and again we have witnessed cases where Israeli forces appear to have carried out unlawful killings, displaying an appalling disregard for human life. The authorities' repeated failure to hold anyone accountable for flagrant violations has fostered a culture in which unlawful killings have become acceptable," he added.

2016 'deadliest year' for West Bank children in decade

Israeli forces have killed more Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2016 than any other year in the last decade, rights group Defence for Children International (DCI) has said.

The organisation's chapter in the occupied Palestinian territories recorded the killings of 32 Palestinian children (under 18), making 2016 "the deadliest year of the past decade" for them, the group said in a recent report.

Many of those killings happened during Israeli military raids on Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank, confrontations with the Israeli army or during unarmed protests.

"Israeli soldiers employ a shoot-to-kill policy. They have the green light to kill Palestinians, and the fact that they can do so with impunity and no consequences builds the foundation for such shootings to take place," Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Programme Director at DCI-Palestine, told Al Jazeera.

Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem Would Be a Dangerous Provocation

How nice! The Israel lobby wants to take hostages.

Senators Threaten to Cut Worldwide Embassy Security If U.S. Doesn’t Move Its Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem

A trio of GOP senators have introduced legislation that would cut security, construction, and maintenance funds for U.S. embassies around the world in half until the president moves the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. ...

Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would be seen as a green light to some Israeli government officials, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who seek to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of the state of Israel. That, in turn, would preclude the Palestinians from establishing a state that includes East Jerusalem. Most international observers believe that this would render the two-state solution impossible and thus be damaging to peace.

The pattern has been for candidates to campaign on the pledge, which is strongly sought by pro-Israel activists who are influential during election season, but drop it once they reach the Oval Office. While campaigning for president, Donald Trump initially wouldn’t commit to moving the embassy — but by the end of the campaign cycle placed himself fully behind the relocation to Jerusalem.

Because history suggests he might change his mind, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller introduced the new legislation, which would include real — and dangerous — consequences for U.S. diplomatic staff if Trump refuses to quickly relocate the embassy.

Mexico: Angry protests, looting and blockades after a 20% hike of gasoline price

Does your boss keep emailing you 24/7? The French have a solution for you

In the sometimes-good old days, you could simply take your phone off the hook and actually shut out the world while you concentrated on your dinner, your book or your lover. Of course you can unplug now as well, but if you work for a company where everyone else toils around the clock, it’s tough to do. You might even risk damaging your career if you try. But fret not. There is now hope from across the seas.

The French have found a way to free workers from the tyranny of octopus-like bosses and co-workers who send their tentacles through space and into your bedroom or your porch. As of New Year’s Day, they are protected by a new law establishing workers’ “right to disconnect.”

The law requires companies with more than 50 employees to establish a charter of good conduct that sets out times when staff should not send or answer emails. The goals of the law include making sure employees are fairly paid for work, and preventing burnout by protecting private time. ...

Myriam El Khomri, the French Minister of Labor, commissioned a report that catalogued the health impact of being constantly connected to work even when people were physically away from their workplaces. Burnout affects employees’ health as well as productivity. Lack of sleep can’t be good for morale or the bottom line. Benoit Hamon, the former French education minister, compared employees to dogs “attached by a kind of electronic leash.”

Trump Treasury Pick Steven Mnuchin's Former Bank Accused of Widespread Misconduct

Republicans Likely to Pass “Audit the Fed”

The Hill reported today that Republicans in the Senate and House intend yet again to push for the passage of an “Audit the Fed” bill. With their control of both houses, past support by some Democrats, and Trump no fan of the central bank, the measure is likely to become law. ...

The sorry fact is that the Fed has for far too long been able to shield its operations from democratic oversight and accountability by claiming it need to be independent. That is code for “democracies like to spend too freely and create too much inflation.” And the tacit assumption is that economic mandarins, in the form of central bankers, therefore need to be shielded from public pressure.

But this tidy story neglects the fact that central bankers are already subject to political influence, that from the banks for whom they act as a bankers’ bank. ... And the Fed’s claim to be independent has been a joke for decades. ...

If you need further proof of the politicization of the Fed, look at how the central bank decided right on the heels of the Trump win that it would shoot for three interest rate increases in 2017. Do they really believe that Trump will start making America great again right out of the box? ...

So the Fed is finally going to reap what it has sown. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.

[See also: Air Conditioners and the Federal Reserve Cooled Down the Economy - js]

Abortion under fire in Kentucky

Republican lawmakers in Kentucky wasted no time after returning to work this week fast-tracking anti-abortion legislation that would restrict women’s access to the procedure in the state.

Hours after the 2017 legislative session opened Tuesday, two measures were introduced. The first, in the House, would require abortion providers to conduct an ultrasound on women seeking an abortion and then show or describe the image to the women. Similar ultrasound bills have been introduced before in Kentucky, but never managed to make it out of committee until Wednesday. House Speaker Jeff Hoover told the Courier-Journal he was confident the House would pass the bill later this week. ...

The second anti-abortion bill, introduced in the state’s Senate, would ban abortion after 20 weeks, long before the fetus is viable. Supporters of 20-week bans contend that is the point when fetuses can feel physical pain, although this claim is unsubstantiated by medical evidence.

Kentucky Republicans won a majority in the House in November’s elections, which gave the party full control over the state government for the first time since 1921.

Four arrested over Facebook Live video of man tortured amid anti-Trump taunts

Chicago police have arrested four suspects after a Facebook Live broadcast appeared to show a man bound, gagged and brutally attacked amid shouts of “fuck Donald Trump”.

The footage, which was live-streamed on Facebook, showed several people taunting and assaulting the man while he was sitting in the corner of a room, restrained and with his mouth taped closed.

Police superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters late Wednesday that the suspects, who are likely to be charged in the next 24 hours, would face “the full weight of the Chicago police department”.

“Video of a brutal act towards an adult male with mental health challenges made its way onto social media,” Johnson said. “The images in the video put on display the brazenness of the offenders who assaulted the victim and then broadcast it for the entire world to see.”

Police said all four suspects, two men and two women, all of whom they said were “young adults”, were in custody and being questioned.

Asked about the shouts of “fuck Trump” and “fuck white people” heard in the video, police commander Kevin Duffin said they would form part of their investigation into whether the attack constituted a hate crime. He added that investigators are attempting to determine “whether or not this is sincere or just stupid ranting and raving”.

Trump team seeks info on DACA

Donald Trump has taken the first step toward confirming one of the worst fears of undocumented immigrants who’ve taken advantage of a program that grants them temporary stay in the U.S. A Department of Homeland Security memo seen by Reuters reveals that the president-elect’s team is poking around the agency for information about recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA.

President Barack Obama started the program through an executive action in 2012 as a way for undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements to achieve two-year status in the U.S. to work or attend college. While Trump pledged to “immediately terminate” DACA on his first day in the Oval Office, immigration groups worried he would take his hard-line policy a step further and use personal information gathered through the program to locate undocumented immigrants and pursue deportations. In fact, some have started advising their clients not to apply for DACA protection at all.

In a Dec. 5 meeting with Homeland Security officials, Trump’s transition team inquired if any employees had altered DACA records out of concern for immigrants’ civil liberties, according to the internal memo. The team also requested copies of every immigration executive order and directive since 2009, when Obama first took office.

American University Removes Leonard Peltier Statue After FBI Letter Amid Urgent Push for Clemency

Top prosecutor in Leonard Peltier case urges clemency in 'extraordinary' move

A senior US attorney who was involved in the prosecution of Native American activist Leonard Peltier has requested that Barack Obama grant clemency, with a rare plea that has energized the campaign to free the high-profile indigenous prisoner.

James Reynolds, who supervised a key part of the case against Peltier, who claims he was wrongfully convicted of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents, wrote to the president that clemency for the 72-year-old would be “in the best interest of justice in considering the totality of all matters involved”. ...

The clemency push from a former US prosecutor, which is highly unusual, comes as Obama has continued to pardon or commute the sentences of hundreds of prisoners in his final weeks in office, raising hopes that he will also release political activists jailed for decades. ...

Cynthia K Dunne, a former assistant US attorney who is representing Peltier, said she has never heard of a case of a federal prosecutor requesting clemency.

“It’s really incredibly extraordinary to have the lead prosecutor on the case stand up,” she said, noting that the FBI has continued to oppose Peltier’s release. “It takes a lot of strength to take on the institution.”



the evening greens


Analysis Shows 'Dangerous' Pipeline Mega-Merger Threatens Climate and Consumers

The proposed merger between pipeline giants Enbridge and Spectra would have devastating consequences for consumers and the climate, and would significantly reduce competition in the marketplace, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by the advocacy group Food & Water Watch (FWW).

The group called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to reject the proposal, announced last year, which would see the creation of the largest energy-infrastructure firm in the country—one that would control approximately a fifth of North America's natural gas supplies, as well as a large chunk of its processing capacity and other infrastructure.

Enbridge is based in Calgary, and Spectra in Houston. According to the group's analysis (pdf), the merger would give the companies control of 79 percent of the offshore Gulf of Mexico-Louisiana natural gas pipeline network; 92 percent of the pipelines crossing the U.S.-Canada border; and 100 percent of the pipelines in and out of Michigan.

It would also enable Enbridge-Spectra to raise prices on consumers or increase costs for its rivals in those key regions at will.

Both companies also have a history of safety issues, with a track record of leaks and spills that have impacted surrounding communities and environments.

'We Never Learn': Oil Platform Caught Fire in Gulf of Mexico


An oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire at about 2:30am Thursday morning, according to the Associated Press, and Reuters reported that the fire was put out at 9:30am.

Coast Guard officer Travis Magee told AP that no pollution had been reported, the wire service also noted that Clean Gulf, an industry-run oil spill clean-up organization, had sent an emergency response team to the site. ...

The oil platform is about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, one of the frontline communities still struggling with the devastating aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. 

This Wondrous National Park... Brought to You By McDonald's?

A controversial set of new rules quietly given final approval over the recent holiday—allowing national parks in the United States to expand corporate sponsorships and commercial contracts with private companies—is being called a "disgrace" by those who say the move is a betrayal of what the nation's parks should be.

Despite outcry from citizens, documented in public testimony and hundreds of thousands petition signatures, the director of the National Park Service Jonathan B. Jarvis announced on December 28 that he had signed an order—officially titled Order #21 on Donations and Philanthropic Partnerships—which, among other changes, ends an outright ban on commercial advertising and lifts restrictions on naming rights in parks.

"It is disgraceful that the parks service plans to sell our national parks to the highest bidder despite overwhelming public opposition to increased commercialism in our national parks," said Kristen Strader, campaign coordinator for Public Citizen, which organized against the proposed reforms. Strader cited more than 215,000 petition signers and hundreds of individuals who submitted official objections to the NPS.


Also of Interest

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

Cyclical vs. End Time Thinking

Trump’s Neo-Fascism will be built on Neo-Fascism of Obama and Democrat Party

Law Partners of Trump’s SEC Nominee Gave Huge Sums to Elect Hillary – Not Trump

Anti-Trump Coalition Shows Cracks

Americans can spot election meddling because they’ve been doing it for years

Source of mysterious deep space radio wave discovered for the first time


A Little Night Music

Omar Shariff - The Raven

Omar Shariff - Highway 59

Omar Shariff - The Rattler

Omar Sharriff (aka Dave Alexander Elam) - St. James Infirmary

Omar Sharriff (aka Dave Alexander Elam) - Love Is Just For Fools

Omar Sharriff (aka Dave Alexander Elam) - The Hoodoo Man

Omar Sharriff - Fingers of Fire

Omar Sharriff - Blues In the Night

Omar Sharriff - Music History



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divineorder's picture

Déjà vu ?

Mosel ?

'Advisers'?

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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

yes. it's the same plot restaged with different backdrops with a cast of millions constantly recreating the same tired roles endlessly. it is an eternally recurring example of the banality of evil.

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Azazello's picture

Good essay by Ajamu Baraka, I recommend this one as well -> The ruthless neo-colonialists of the 21st century

Greenwald was good on DemocracyNow! today.
Part 1, 11 min.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYNLsZepegI]

Part 2, 13 min.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvEaFUaQjuE]

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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

thanks for the link and vids! democracy now hadn't posted the greenwald segments yet when i put today's episode to bed.

good stuff!

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divineorder's picture

Excellent job by Democracy Now! as well. Thanks for sharing this. I have gone to dk recently and was appalled at all the fervor for a new Cold War.

And of course many there could learn from Greenwald, but reject him for critiques of Obama policies over time.

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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.

Schumer revealed not only that the CIA is vindictive, but also that neither Congress nor the President can control the CIA, which, after all, is theoretically beneath both of them. The CIA was created under Truman, who said it regretted it. Whether he was trying to have it both ways, I don't know.

No President dared cross J. Edgar Hoover because he had info on all them--usually relating to extra-marital affairs.

Such nice people!

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joe shikspack's picture

i'm very interested to see how this plays out. while i am surprised that somebody like schumer would say those things about the cia out loud and on teevee, his statement certainly seems like conventional wisdom. it looks to me like trump is playing a game rife with personal danger, but i suppose we'll see what happens after he takes office.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

i am surprised that somebody like schumer would say those things about the cia out loud and on teevee,

I recall being surprised during 2016 at the blatant on-air lying of the news media as well as the egregious abuses of the Elite heads of the Democratic Party. (They made the Republican Party Elite look like amateurs.) I had to wonder, "Are other people seeing what I'm seeing."

Then, I came to find that the "normalization" of the worst atrocities and abuses is a multistage "inner process" involving denial, justification, and surrender. Once the mind crosses the watershed of acceptance, however, into normalization, the individual will loses all contact with his inner gatekeepers. He will calmly blurt out horrific realities that he had prior kept to himself. He will fabulate lies with a complete absence of self-awareness. Hillary's snap flip on the TPP, which was shockingly evident to most Americans, was emblematic of that.

Entire populations can normalize together, as well, resulting in powerful and irredeemable consequences. One sometimes encounters this when reading histories.

Schumer should probably be medicated and put in a rest home. No doubt, the CIA will get right on that.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

Schumer should probably be medicated and put in a rest home. No doubt, the CIA will get right on that.

i should think that they would. i mean the key to their power is the mystique that "everybody knows" what they do, but they are afraid to give voice to the words.

unless, of course, they put chucky up to firing a public shot across the bow of someone so dimwitted as to think that his wealth and privilege insulates him from the wrath of the dark powers.

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affect only him, but all of us. Then again, so do all the "games" politicians play. (How about a nice game of chess?)

Snarking, smirking and sneering at Trump has been standard among Democrats and establishment media since he announced, as has acting as though every thing he does is (a) the end of life on earth; and (b) a huge surprise.

I don't disagree with the substance of much of what gets said, but I see this being done both stupidly and cynically and not at all with an eye to saving life on earth. I've been wondering if there are any adults at all in the room. Where's the gravitas on the side that is supposedly so far superior to Trump?

Like most who visit a political board regularly, I tend to follow politics more closely than many Americans. As a result, I've been noting this puerile, self-destructive version of "Divide et Impera" on the daily for well over a year now. For example, on MSNBC, commentators, politicians celebrities like Michael Moore and Elizabeth Warren were urging people to join the Not My President demonstrations--after a legal (as far as we know) election and after some of those demonstrations had already become riots. Saving the country? Or a diversion of time and energy from productive purposes like saving the country?

I am over all already and he hasn't even been inaugurated yet. I should probably do something else with my time. Know anyone who can teach me to tat? Biggrin

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blazinAZ's picture

Maybe this is why Trump is keeping his own security forces?

The CIA is utterly ruthless and amoral. They have killed lots of people, both here and elsewhere, although they did a bad job w/ Castro.

If Trump dies, we get Pence. I hope that wasn't the plan all along.

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

Shahryar's picture

as in "everyone knows about it, why bother getting upset?"

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Lookout's picture

A massive rift has opened up on the Larsen Ice shelf on the Eastern edge of the Antarctic peninsula. This reflects overall changes in the dynamics of the ice sheet and is a strong indicator that the climate system is undergoing abrupt change (9 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoJrLZxtsjQ

Here's a cool piece from last summer - Einaudi performed one of his own compositions on a floating platform in the middle of the Ocean, against the backdrop of the Wahlenbergbreen glacier (in Svalbard, Norway). (3 min)-
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHpHxA-9CVM]

Thanks for the news and music. The clips with Greenwald that Azazello posted above are great

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

joe shikspack's picture

yep, pretty much every time you turn around there is more dire climate news. given that there seems little will to do anything (positive) about it amongst the ruling elites and the captains of industry that organize our economy, it does not appear that this is going to work out well.

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mimi's picture

I regularly fall asleep over the Evening Blues and barely can keep up my eyes and mind that late into the night.

Great collection yesterday and today.

Oh wow, American University, what a shame. They have so much money, their tuition is borderline obscene, but they can't even handle the Peltier statue on their ground. I mean, I just shake my head and wanna cry. Wow. What else? After that I need a good night sleep now. It's all just too much.

Keep up the good work. It's needed more than ever. Thanks.

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joe shikspack's picture

thanks and sleep well.

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As we were heading from Santa Fe to central Texas yesterday, heard a very interesting broadcast from Native America Calling about the attempt to have Leonard Peltier released before President Obama leaves office. Was a very interesting segment we listened to and even though remember some of the events did not know all the background information that was presented.

Hoping something good comes from this.

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Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

joe shikspack's picture

well, if it is ever going to happen, this is the time. peltier is aging, in not-so-great shape and needs better medical attention than he's going to get in prison. it also seems like people are coming out of the woodwork to push for his release, too. his release would piss off the fbi to no end and they and their allies would never forgive obama for it. so, i don't know if obama has it in him to stand up to those people and do the right thing.

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Crider's picture

Just think how the local galactic neighborhood is burned to a crisp by those outbursts.

. . . likely emanated from a dwarf galaxy some 3bn light years from Earth. FRBs flash only for an micro-instant, and can emit as much energy in a millisecond as the sun does in 10,000 years.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ni1RY-eaI]

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joe shikspack's picture

heh, that's one heck of a powerful broadcast transmitter.

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Shahryar's picture

run by Russian ex-pat Dmitri Alperovitch. What's his story? Wiki has no birthdate, no birthplace.

There's something odd here. His "history" seems to go back about 10 years.

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joe shikspack's picture

there's a lot odd about this story and i keep wondering if the powers that be are just getting sloppy or if they just don't care.

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riverlover's picture

It could be possible most of the time. Some have definitely gone rogue.

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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.

enhydra lutris's picture

and hence Putin's love toy, if one thinks that we need to reign in, cut down and control our various intel/spy/covert warfare agencies. I guess I'm still a commie after all.

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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

i have always wondered if the covert services can be reformed. there was the appearance of some reform after the church commission, but, it doesn't seem to have stuck and things seem worse now than ever before.

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Steven D's picture

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

joe shikspack's picture

cool tune, thanks!

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riverlover's picture

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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.