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This evening's music features Louisiana swamp blues singer and guitarist Lightnin' Slim. Enjoy!

“If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.”

-- Hillary Rodham Clinton

News and Opinion

Trump Already Demanding Leak Investigation and He’s Not Even President Yet

President-elect Donald Trump isn’t waiting until his inauguration to push for investigations of leaks to the press — an indication that he’ll emulate and possibly surpass President Obama’s practice of criminalizing disclosures to the media.

Trump on Friday urged Congress to investigate leaks of “top secret intelligence shared with NBC,” in a tweet:

I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

He was apparently referring to the NBC News write-up of what was actually a leak to the Washington Post, which reported on Thursday about the contents of a new Obama administration report describing alleged efforts by the Russian government to influence the U.S. election. NBC confirmed the Post’s account with an anonymous “senior U.S. intelligence official.” ...

When he becomes president, Trump will inherit a Justice Department already accustomed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting leaks.

Despite claiming to oversee “most transparent administration in history,” Obama has presided over an unprecedented crackdown on leaks and whistleblowers, laying the groundwork for future presidents to threaten would-be leakers.

US election Russian hacking report dismissed as 'press release' by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has denounced last week's US intelligence report on Russian hacking, calling it a politically motivated "press release" that provided no evidence that Russian actors gave the organisation hacked material.

In an online news conference, Mr Assange maintained that the report was vague and that US intelligence officials should be embarrassed by the 25-page, declassified document.

"This is a press release," Mr Assange said.

"It is clearly designed for political effects."

'Not an intelligence report': WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange slams ODNI

Underwhelming Intel Report Shows Need for Congressional Investigation of DNC Hack

After President Obama and Donald Trump were briefed on a classified report explaining the United States Intelligence Community’s belief that Russia hacked the Democratic Party, the public has received its own, declassified version. Unfortunately for us, it appears virtually anything new and interesting was removed in the redaction process, leaving us without the conclusive, technical evidence we were hoping for — and that the American people are owed. Failing a last minute change of heart, the next best (and perhaps last) hope for the government to show us its work would be a formal, bipartisan probe.

The immensely confident report, based on the combined findings of the NSA, CIA, and FBI, includes virtually no new details about why the nation’s intelligence agencies attributed the attacks to the Russian government (and in some cases, directly to Vladimir Putin), other than a reference to the involvement of the “Guccifer 2.0″ hacker persona, a fact they had been open about since the hacked documents first started spreading. Instead, we’re left with this, which does not move the evidentiary ball forward even an inch:

We assess with high confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election, the consistent goals of which were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.

We don’t even get an allusion to NSA SIGINT, or a brief reference to the existence of more evidence — the report is all confidence, no justification.

Russia slates 'baseless, amateurish' US election hacking report

The Kremlin has hit back at a US intelligence report blaming Russia for interference in the presidential election, describing the claims as part of a political witch-hunt.

“These are baseless allegations substantiated with nothing, done on a rather amateurish, emotional level,” Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday. “We still don’t know what data is really being used by those who present such unfounded accusations.” ...

“We are growing rather tired of these accusations. It is becoming a full-on witch-hunt,” Peskov said, in an echo of Trump’s own assessment and disparagement of the US intelligence agencies. ...

“The unclassified report is insulting to the knowledge of anyone who covers Russia either from the outside or the inside,” said Alexey Kovalev, who runs a website devoted to debunking Russian propaganda.

The report appears to be based on reading the tea leaves of Russian open-source publications and media reports, and includes pro-Trump quotes from figures such as the nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky as an indicator of Kremlin intentions. Zhirinovsky has, on various occasions in the past, suggested sinking the US with gravitational weapons and dropping a nuclear bomb on Istanbul.

Much of the report is made up of an annex about the Kremlin-funded television station Russia Today, which was written in 2012 and has little relevance to the most recent election cycle. RT was accused of being part of a subversion and disinformation campaign aimed at “fuelling discontent” in the US.

‘They are the most scared of real reporting’: Abby Martin blasts US intel hacking report

US Spy Chief Presents Third-Party Debates as Proof Russia Today Channel Is Anti-US

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s latest report on the alleged “election hacking” by Russia includes a substantial section focused around the idea that Russian government-funded channel RT is overtly anti-American. This is a common enough accusation, but when set out in a multi-page report format, a lot of the charges fall remarkably short.

Nowhere was this more apparent, however, than on the first page of the Annex on RT, which presented the fact that RT America hosted US presidential debates which included third-party candidates.

There has of course been long-standing annoyance among many in the US that the “mainstream” US media’s debates consistently exclude all but the Democratic and Republican candidates. US spy agencies, however, see this exclusion as such a core aspect of US democracy that they are presenting more inclusive debates as inherently anti-American.

Trump acknowledges Russia role in U.S. election hacking: aide

President-elect Donald Trump accepts the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia engaged in cyber attacks during the U.S. presidential election and may take action in response, his incoming chief of staff said on Sunday.

Reince Priebus said Trump believed Russia was behind the intrusions into the Democratic Party organizations, although Priebus did not clarify whether the president-elect agreed that the hacks were directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"He accepts the fact that this particular case was entities in Russia, so that's not the issue," Priebus said on "Fox News Sunday."

It was the first acknowledgment from a senior member of the Republican president-elect's team that Trump had accepted that Russia directed the hacking and subsequent disclosure of Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential election. ...

With less than two weeks until his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has come under increasing pressure from fellow Republicans to accept intelligence community findings on Russian hacking and other attempts by Moscow to influence the Nov. 8 election.

Author David Van Reybrouck on why elections are outdated

115 journalists killed in 2016 - simply for doing their jobs

A total of 115 journalists died in 2016 simply for doing their jobs, according to the annual report compiled by the International News Safety Institute (INSI), Killing the Messenger.

Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan, Iraq and Russia were the top five most dangerous countries for journalists this year, according to the report, which is compiled for INSI by the Cardiff school of journalism.

Five citizen journalists lost their lives in 2016, all in Syria. There has been a marked decrease in the number of professional journalists reporting from this long-running conflict, leaving it up to activists and untrained locals to document and broadcast the atrocities being committed there.

Out of the 115 media casualties, 60 died in countries supposedly at peace, such as Guatemala, where the government is battling drug cartels, plus India and Brazil.

The vast majority of casualties were local journalists, living and working where they died. INSI identified four cases where suspects were identified or arrests made, though this is a slight improvement on previous surveys.

Cornel West tells it. Here's a taste:

Pity the sad legacy of Barack Obama

The age of Barack Obama may have been our last chance to break from our neoliberal soulcraft. We are rooted in market-driven brands that shun integrity and profit-driven policies that trump public goods. Our “post-integrity” and “post-truth” world is suffocated by entertaining brands and money-making activities that have little or nothing to do with truth, integrity or the long-term survival of the planet. We are witnessing the postmodern version of the full-scale gangsterization of the world. ...

A few of us begged and pleaded with Obama to break with the Wall Street priorities and bail out Main Street. But he followed the advice of his “smart” neoliberal advisers to bail out Wall Street. In March 2009, Obama met with Wall Street leaders. He proclaimed: I stand between you and the pitchforks. I am on your side and I will protect you, he promised them. And not one Wall Street criminal executive went to jail.

We called for the accountability of US torturers of innocent Muslims and the transparency of US drone strikes killing innocent civilians. Obama’s administration told us no civilians had been killed. And then we were told a few had been killed. And then told maybe 65 or so had been killed. Yet when an American civilian, Warren Weinstein, was killed in 2015 there was an immediate press conference with deep apologies and financial compensation. And today we still don’t know how many have had their lives taken away.

We hit the streets again with Black Lives Matter and other groups and went to jail for protesting against police killing black youth. We protested when the Israeli Defense Forces killed more than 2,000 Palestinians (including 550 children) in 50 days. Yet Obama replied with words about the difficult plight of police officers, department investigations (with no police going to jail) and the additional $225m in financial support of the Israeli army. Obama said not a mumbling word about the dead Palestinian children but he did call Baltimore black youth “criminals and thugs”. ...

Bernie Sanders gallantly tried to generate a leftwing populism but he was crushed by Clinton and Obama in the unfair Democratic party primaries. So now we find ourselves entering a neofascist era: a neoliberal economy on steroids, a reactionary repressive attitude toward domestic “aliens”, a militaristic cabinet eager for war and in denial of global warming. All the while, we are seeing a wholesale eclipse of truth and integrity in the name of the Trump brand, facilitated by the profit-hungry corporate media.

Trump is Obama's Legacy

America dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016. What a bloody end to Obama's reign

Obama dropped nearly three bombs every hour, 24 hours a day. Dare we think how Donald Trump will continue Obama's legacy?

Most Americans would probably be astounded to realize that the president who has been painted by Washington pundits as a reluctant warrior has actually been a hawk. The Iran nuclear deal, a herculean achievement, and the opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba unfortunately stand alone as President Obama’s successful uses of diplomacy over hostility.

While candidate Obama came to office pledging to end George W Bush’s wars, he leaves office having been at war longer than any president in US history. He is also the only president to serve two complete terms with the nation at war.

President Obama did reduce the number of US soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he dramatically expanded the air wars and the use of special operations forces around the globe. In 2016, US special operators could be found in 70% of the world’s nations, 138 countries – a staggering jump of 130% since the days of the Bush administration.

One bombing technique that President Obama championed is drone strikes. As drone-warrior-in-chief, he spread the use of drones outside the declared battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, mainly to Pakistan and Yemen. Obama authorized over 10 times more drone strikes than George W Bush, and automatically painted all males of military age in these regions as combatants, making them fair game for remote controlled killing. ...

What does the administration have to show for eight years of fighting on so many fronts? Terrorism has spread, no wars have been “won” and the Middle East is consumed by more chaos and divisions than when candidate Barack Obama declared his opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Trump Must Expose Obama’s Abuses of Power

President-elect Donald Trump will face pervasive doubts about his legitimacy from the day he takes office. Trump’s opponents will assert that he is governing in unprecedented and reckless ways. The best response to that charge is to open the books to reveal how the Obama administration stretched its power far beyond what most Americans realized.

Trump should follow the excellent precedent set by Barack Obama. In 2009, shortly after he took office, Obama released many of the secret Bush administration legal memos that explained why the president was supposedly entitled to order torture, deploy troops in American towns and cities, and ignore the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on warrantless, unreasonable searches.  Those revelations proved that the Bush administration was far more of an elective dictatorship than most people suspected.  The disclosures signaled a new era and helped give Obama – at least temporarily – a reputation as a champion of civil liberties.

Turnabout is fair play.  Trump should quickly reveal the secret memos underlying Obama’s “targeted killing” drone assassination program. Administration lawyers defeated lawsuits by the ACLU and New York Times seeking disclosure of key legal papers on how the president became judge, jury, and executioner. Obama sought to codify a presidential right to kill that would have mortified earlier generations of Americans.  His program has been cloaked in secrecy and sanctimony from the start and most of the media have shown little curiosity and no outrage even when the feds admitted that innocent civilians were killed.  A Trump administration could disclose the memos and legal rationales on the program without endangering anything other than the reputation of the soon-to-be former president and his policymakers.

Most Israelis Want Pardon for Soldier Who Executed Wounded Palestinian Suspect

Hours after an Israeli army medic was convicted on Wednesday of manslaughter, for executing a wounded Palestinian suspect last year in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called for the soldier to be pardoned.

Netanyahu’s move completed a full retreat from his initial position. He had first expressed revulsion at the behavior of the medic, Elor Azaria, after viewing video of the incident published by an Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem. That graphic clip, recorded by a witness, showed that Azaria had fired a point-blank shot into the head of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a suspect in a knife attack at an army checkpoint who had already been subdued and was lying prone at his feet.

The prime minister began to back-track, however, when it became clear that a majority of the Israeli public considered the killing to be justified and a vocal minority called Azaria a hero. ...

Despite seeing the same images of the crime — and more video showing that no medical attention was offered to the suspect after he was immobilized by gunfire during the attack at one of the city’s many military checkpoints — polls found that most Israelis sympathize with Azaria.

Poll: 70% of Israeli public favors pardon for soldier convicted of manslaughter @IsraelHayomEng

— Mairav Zonszein (@MairavZ) January 5, 2017

(It is important to note that many polls conducted for the Israeli media, including one published the day after the verdict by Israel Hayom, a tabloid Sheldon Adelson set up to support Netanyahu, only survey Jewish Israelis. That poll, finding that 70 percent of respondents “believed Azaria should be pardoned immediately,” drew on “a random pool of 500 Jewish Hebrew-speaking Israelis over the age of 18.”)

Benjamin Netanyahu under pressure as investigation details leak

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been forced to defend himself as a cascade of alleged leaks from two police investigations that saw him formally interviewed by detectives on two separate occasions in the last week hit Israeli media.

Netanyahu strongly denies any wrongdoing in relation to the two cases – including receiving tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from a billionaire Hollywood producer. However, the claims have led his supporters to rally round to insist that even if he were charged he could continue in office.

It comes amid reports that at least one key member of his coalition had already begun sounding out other political leaders in the event of Netanyahu’s resignation. ...

Netanyahu has been questioned under caution in relation to two separate investigations – the so-called Case 1000 and Case 2000. He was questioned by detectives for five hours at his official residence on Thursday, following questioning on Monday.

His problems were compounded on Sunday by new revelations in the Israeli media regarding the second case, including reports it was prompted by the discovery by police of a tape recording of Netanyahu discussing favours in return for political support. The Guardian has not independently verified the existence of the tape.

Oakland may become rare American city with strict rules for spy gear use

A local privacy committee has sent a proposed surveillance oversight ordinance to the city council. This is a rare example of a major American city set to impose stricter controls on the acquisition, use, and evaluation of spy gear.

The “Surveillance and Community Safety Ordinance” unanimously passed out of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission on Thursday night, formally moving it to the Oakland City Council. Passage of the ordinance was roundly applauded by local civil liberties advocates and legal scholars, some of whom spoke at the meeting. ...

Catherine Crump, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the commission that the ordinance it has drafted “is thorough, clear, comprehensive, and has the potential to be adopted nationwide.” ...

Oakland’s privacy commission was created in the wake of the controversy that bubbled up here shortly after the Snowden revelations during the summer of 2013. Local privacy activists and other concerned citizens caught wind of the fact that the city had formally accepted federal grant money to build a “Domain Awareness Center” for the Port of Oakland (the nation’s fifth-largest port) and the city itself. That plan was eventually scaled back to exclude the city.

Senate to Begin Confirmation Hearings for Wealthiest Cabinet in U.S. History Despite Lack of Vetting

Corporate Education Nominee DeVos Faces Pushback from Dem Senators

As one U.S. senator denounces Betsy DeVos' record in Michigan, six others are demanding President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Education Secretary untangle the "complicated web of political and not-for-profit organizations" she has spun over her career pushing a corporate education agenda nationwide. 

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) met Thursday with DeVos, a former head of the Michigan Republican Party who has championed conservative education policies in that state and around the country. Her efforts have been largely successful in Michigan, where DeVos has spent two decades advocating for more charter schools and less oversight.

But investigations by the Detroit Free Press and others have found that work to be detrimental to students—an opinion apparently shared by Stabenow.

"Our conversation reaffirmed my strong concerns about her nomination," Stabenow said following Thursday's meeting. "Betsy DeVos and her family have a long record of pushing policies that I believe have seriously undermined public education in Michigan and failed our children. Therefore, I cannot support [her]."

Meanwhile, also on Thursday, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Al Franken (D-Minn), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)—all members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that will consider DeVos' nomination on Wednesday, January 11—sent DeVos a letter seeking answers about her work as a charter school lobbyist.

Specifically, the letter requests DeVos provide the committee with information about her roles with dark money groups such as the American Federation for Children, which the Center for Media and Democracy describes as one of several "major contributors to the right-wing corporate education reform echo chamber," and the Great Lakes Education Project, whose "political action committee does the most prolific and aggressive lobbying for charter schools," according to the Detroit Free Press. 

GM CEO: Won't change production plans despite Trump tweet

General Motors has no plans to change where it produces small cars because of criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, the company's top executive said Sunday night.

CEO Mary Barra said the auto business has long lead times for where it produces vehicles, with decisions are made two to four years ahead.

Last week Trump threatened on Twitter to slap a border tax on GM for importing the compact Chevrolet Cruze to the U.S. from Mexico.

As it turns out, GM only imports a small number of Cruze hatchbacks from Mexico and Barra said it makes all of the sedans at a factory in Lordstown, Ohio, near Cleveland.

Protests Erupt in Kentucky After GOP Supermajority Passes Extreme Anti-Choice, Anti-Union Bills

In Statehouses Won By Republicans, the First Move Is to Consolidate Power By Weakening Unions

Republicans stormed to power in state elections across the country in November on a promise to take on the establishment and return government to the average citizen.

But in state capitals where they gained control, they moved quickly to do something else entirely: They’ve consolidated their newfound power — and rewarded their corporate donors — by delivering death blows to a longtime enemy: organized labor.

In Kentucky, Missouri, and New Hampshire, three states that flipped to unified Republican control, legislators have prioritized passing Right to Work, a law that quickly diminishes union power by allowing workers in unionized workplaces to withhold fees used to organize and advocate on their behalf.

That might seem odd to voters who heard promises to “drain the swamp,” but its what Republican partisans and business lobbyists have been demanding for years.

Business interests helped win new Republican victories, now legislators are paying them back.

Speaker Paul Ryan, After Passing Regulatory Rollback, Parties With Lobbyists at Fundraiser

Just hours after passing the very first bill of the new Congress on Wednesday — one designed to roll back a range of environmental and consumer regulations — House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., celebrated with a corporate lobbying firm at a fundraiser for his campaign committee.

The vote on the Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2017 took place at 4:48 p.m. on Wednesday. The fundraiser, at the offices of the BGR Group, a major lobbying firm, started at 7 p.m.

The bill would amend existing law to allow Congress to repeal en masse multiple regulations finalized since the end of May last year. The law is believed to be aimed at rolling back a rule designed to deter mining companies from polluting drinking water sources, rules designed to curb hazardous methane emissions from fracking sites, and a rule that extends the threshold for overtime pay to workers, among others. ...

The high-dollar event had a $10,000 price tag for each sponsor of the event, $2,500 for each political action committee, and $1,500 per individual, according to an invitation obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy and shared with The Intercept.

A block of Antarctic ice the size of Delaware could trigger a 4-inch sea-level rise

A block of ice roughly the size of Delaware is set to detach from an ice shelf in Antarctica, creating one of the 10 largest icebergs ever recorded. The incident could provoke the breakup of the entire ice shelf, which scientists predict might increase global sea levels as much as four inches.

Ice shelf Larsen C, one of the largest and most unstable, currently holds the 2,000-square-mile Western Antarctic sheet. While the break-off itself wouldn’t raise sea levels since icebergs float, ice shelves slow the flow of glaciers, which contribute to global sea-level rise.

Recent images revealed to scientists at the British Antarctic Survey that a rift in Larsen C — already more than 70 miles long and 300 feet wide — increased at a nearly unprecedented pace. If Larsen C breaks apart, scientists are concerned glacial flow would cause a 10-centimeter, or 3.9-inch rise in global sea levels. ...

Aside from increasing sea levels, scientists predict Larsen C’s disintegration could have unforeseen geographical implications on the whole Antarctic Peninsula as well.

House GOP wants to transfer federal lands to the states

On Tuesday, the new Republican-controlled Congress passed a new House rules package, which, among others things, made it easier for federal lands to be transferred to states. What this means is that states that need to raise extra money could, and likely will, lease or sell lands to oil companies, loggers or ranchers instead of maintaining them for public use.

This is a substantial change. Previously, the federal government had to offset any income it lost through land transfers by cutting budgets or raising revenues elsewhere. But the new rule removes that obstacle, which means the federal government will likely be a lot more willing to hand land over to states.

Given that both Donald Trump and his pick to run the Department of the Interior, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, had previously voiced their opposition to federal land transfers, the GOP’s proposed rule change seemed like it might cause a fight between Republicans and the incoming administration. After all, Zinke had previously said he would “never agree with the transfer or sale of public lands. I view our lands as sacred.” And Trump had said he opposed these kinds of transfers because he wanted “to keep the lands great.” But, in an epic flip-flop, Zinke voted in favor of the new House rules package on Tuesday.

Native Americans fight Texas pipeline using 'same model as Standing Rock'

Indigenous activists have set up camps in the Texas desert to fight a pipeline project there, the latest sign that the Standing Rock “water protector” movement is inspiring Native American-led environmental protests across the US.

The Two Rivers camp, located south of Marfa near the border, has attracted dozens of demonstrators in its first week to protest the Trans-Pecos pipeline, a 148-mile project on track to transport fracked natural gas through the Big Bend region to Mexico.

Citing concerns about damage to the environment and sacred indigenous sites, the camp parallels the high-profile effort to block the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) and is one of multiple Native American land campaigns building on the momentum of the demonstrations in North Dakota.

“We’re going to follow the same model as Standing Rock,” said Frankie Orona, executive director of the Society of Native Nations and an organizer at the Two Rivers camp. “This is a huge historical moment for environmental issues, for protecting our water, protecting our land, protecting sacred sites and protecting treaties.”

The campaign against the Trans-Pecos project, which is also owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, has the closest connections to Standing Rock, with activists adopting similar tactics, including setting up spiritual camps in the region of construction and planning nonviolent “direct actions”.

“Our hope is that we can create a public pressure crisis,” said Lori Glover, a Big Bend Defense Coalition spokeswoman who owns the land in Texas where the camps are expanding. “I hope this helps us stop the pipeline long enough to get the government and Energy Transfer Partners’ attention and push them to do the right thing.”

Win for Whales, Dolphins as Obama Rejects Explosive Blasting for Oil

In a move praised by conservation groups, the Obama administration on Friday announced that it rejected the six pending permit applications to conduct airgun seismic surveys for fossil fuel exploration off the Atlantic coast.

"Without a doubt, this decision will save whales, dolphins, and other animals from suffering painful hearing loss and other damage inflicted by these terrible blasts of noise," said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The federal government had already determined that up to 138,000 whales and dolphins could be harmed, and millions more disturbed, by proposed blasting in the area stretching from Delaware to Florida.

"We know that seismic airgun blasting is dangerous," declared Oceana campaign director Claire Douglass. "Seismic airguns create one of the loudest manmade sounds in the ocean, firing intense blasts of compressed air every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for weeks to months on end. The noise from these blasts is so loud that it can be heard up to 2,500 miles from the source, which is approximately the distance from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas."

"In addition to being extremely loud," she stated, "these blasts are of special concern to marine life, including fish, turtles and whales, which depend on sound for communication and survival. Numerous studies demonstrate the negative impacts that seismic airgun noise has on ocean ecosystems, including reduced catch rates of commercially valuable fish and silencing bowhead whales."

Also of Interest

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

Allegations Against Russia Less Credible Every Day

Donald Trump’s Pick for Spy Chief Took Hard Line on Snowden, Guantanamo, and Torture

History After “the End of History”

Israeli witness in Gaza: No water, no electricity and children dying unnecessarily

Ebrahim Raisi: the Iranian cleric emerging as a frontrunner for supreme leader

Here’s How Goldman Sachs Became the Overlord of the Trump Administration

Facebook’s New Head of News Partnerships, Campbell Brown, Has Deep Ties to Trump Nominee Betsy DeVos

A Little Night Music

Lightnin' Slim - Winter Time Blues

Lightnin' Slim - Wonderin' And Goin'

Lightnin' Slim - Lightnin's Troubles

Lightnin' Slim - Nothing But The Devil

Lightnin' Slim - I'm Warning You Baby

Lightnin' Slim - I'm Grown

Lightnin' Slim - I'm Leaving You Baby

Lightnin' Slim - Mind Your Own Business

Lightnin' Slim - Just Made Twenty-One