The Evening Blues - 1-23-17



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features gospel singer and influential guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Enjoy!

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - That's All

“Most people I know felt that 2016 was the beginning of a long decline with Brexit, then Trump and all these nationalist movements in Europe. It looked like things were going to get worse and worse. I said: ‘Well, what about thinking about it in a different way?’ Actually, it’s the end of a long decline. We’ve been in decline for about 40 years since Thatcher and Reagan and the Ayn Rand infection spread through the political class, and perhaps we’ve bottomed out. My feeling about Brexit was not anger at anybody else, it was anger at myself for not realising what was going on. I thought that all those Ukip people and those National Fronty people were in a little bubble. Then I thought: ‘Fuck, it was us, we were in the bubble, we didn’t notice it.’ There was a revolution brewing and we didn’t spot it because we didn’t make it. We expected we were going to be the revolution.”

-- Brian Eno


News and Opinion

Yanis Varoufakis: We need an alternative to Trump's nationalism

After the events of 2008 something remarkable happened. For the first time in modern times the establishment no longer cared to persuade the masses that its way was socially optimal. Overwhelmed by the collapsing financial pyramids, the inexorable buildup of unsustainable debt, a eurozone in an advanced state of disintegration and a China increasingly relying on an impossible credit boom, the establishment’s functionaries set aside the aspiration to persuade or to represent. Instead, they concentrated on clamping down.

In the UK, more than a million benefit applicants faced punitive sanctions. In the Eurozone, the troika ruthlessly sought to reduce the pensions of the poorest of the poor. In the United States, both parties promised drastic cuts to social security spending. During our deflationary times none of these policies helped stabilise capitalism at a national or at a global level. So, why were they pursued?

Their purpose was to impose acquiescence to a clueless establishment that had lost its ambition to maintain its legitimacy. When the UK government forced benefit claimants to declare in writing that “my only limits are the ones I set myself”, or when the troika forced the Greek or Irish governments to write letters “requesting” predatory loans from the European Central Bank that benefited Frankfurt-based bankers at the expense of their people, the idea was to maintain power via calculated humiliation. Similarly, in America the establishment habitually blamed the victims of predatory lending and the failed health system.

It was against this insurgency of a cornered establishment that had given up on persuasion that Donald Trump and his European allies rose up with their own populist insurgency. They proved that it is possible to go against the establishment and win. Alas, theirs will be a pyrrhic victory which will, eventually, harm those whom they inspired. The answer to neoliberalism’s Waterloo cannot be the retreat to a barricaded nation-state and the pitting of “our” people against “others” fenced off by tall walls and electrified fences.

Naomi Klein, Alicia Garza, Ralph Nader & Others Respond to Trump's "America First" Inaugural Address

Trump’s Inaugural Address: A Call For Holy War

President Donald Trump used his inaugural address to call for the “civilized world” to unite “against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.” It received one of the most enthusiastic responses from the crowd in attendance at the National Mall.

The words evoked memory of President George W. Bush and his administration. After the September 11th attacks, Bush referred to the “war on terrorism” as a “crusade.” It suggested the Bush administration meant to fight terrorism as a kind of holy war against Muslims.

Trump did not use the word “crusade,” but there was a distinct Christian theocratic theme to his gung ho declaration to “reinforce old alliances and form new ones” in the fight against “radical Islamic terrorism.” ...

Immediately after pining for a newfound commitment to war, he added, “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The Bible tells us, ‘how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.'”

“We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable. There should be no fear – we are protected, and we will always be protected.”

“We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and, most importantly, we are protected by God.”

CIA Nominee Leaves Door Open to Torture, Making Senate Vote a Test of Principles

CIA Director nominee Mike Pompeo — whose confirmation vote in the Senate is set for Monday — has said he is open to changing the rules governing the interrogation of detainees, which could mean re-authorizing the use of the torture technique called waterboarding.

The vote is shaping up as a test for Senate Democrats, who will have to choose between letting Donald Trump fill a key national-security post, on the one hand, and support for basic human rights on the other.

Pompeo’s admission came in a written response to inquiries from the Senate Intelligence Committee. Asked if he would refrain from taking steps that would reintroduce waterboarding or other similar techniques, he replied that he would “consult with experts at the Agency and at other organizations in the U.S. government” on whether the Army Field Manual — which currently establishes the legal limits of interrogation — should be changed. In other words, he’ll follow the law, but he’s open to changing it.

Donald Trump speech at CIA memorial risks fueling intelligence feud

Donald Trump may have thrown fuel on to his feud with the Central Intelligence Agency, through what he apparently intended as a peace offering. ...

Trump vowed “a thousand percent” support for an intelligence corps he has repeatedly and publicly insulted – including recently likening intelligence officials to “Nazi Germany” – and suggested they would have an open checkbook in his White House. Any feud between himself and the agency was the result of a dishonest press corps, the president astonished some by saying.

The speech’s tone, contrasting with the solemnity typically shown to the CIA memorial, prompted the just-retired director of the agency to proclaim his disgust.

Through a spokesman, John Brennan proclaimed himself “deeply saddened and angered at Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement”.

The Donald has launched his first drone strikes continuing Obama's policy of bombings, massacres and assassinations in countries that congress has not declared war on.

Renewed Fighting and Drone Strikes in Yemen Kill About 75

Renewed fighting in the Yemen conflict killed about 75 people on Saturday and Sunday, some of them in the first drone strikes launched during the new administration of President Trump, according to Yemeni news reports.

Two drone strikes in the central Yemeni province of Bayda on Saturday killed 10 militants with Al Qaeda, three of them hit while riding on a motorcycle and the other seven killed in a vehicle in a separate drone attack in the same area, the reports said.

The United States did not take responsibility for the strikes, as is its standard policy. No other forces are known to be conducting drone strikes in the area.

Donald Trump declines Russian invite to send US delegation to Syria peace talks

Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump has decided not to send a US delegation to planned talks on Syria’s civil war, which begin in the Kazakh capital next week.

The US was belatedly given a formal invitation to attend the talks in Astana by the Russian and Turkish organisers, but would only be represented by the country’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, the US State Department said on Saturday.

“The United States is committed to a political resolution to the Syrian crisis through a Syrian-owned process, which can bring about a more representative, peaceful, and united Syria,” a State Department release said. ...

Mr Trump’s exact policy position on the almost six-year-long Syrian civil war is unclear. Previously, the US has backed a broad coalition of Sunni rebels fighting against the Syrian regime, and maintained that President Bashar al-Assad must be removed from power.

On the campaign trail Mr Trump said that as president he would like to focus on wiping out jihadi terror organisations such as Isis, indicating that he could be willing to work with Mr Assad’s government to achieve their shared objective.

Syria peace talks: shaky start as rebels refuse to negotiate face to face

Peace talks between the Syrian regime and opposition fighters got off to a shaky start after the rebels refused to negotiate face to face in the first session and the representative for Assad’s government described remarks by his opposite number as insolent and provocative.

The negotiations sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey in the Kazakh capital, Astana, are the latest attempt to end the five-year civil war, and are seen as a test of Moscow’s influence in the Middle East.

A leaked draft communique for the talks broadly supports the existing UN talks process, and proposes the establishment of a trilateral commission to oversee monitoring of the ceasefire. It also calls for joint action to defeat Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Syria.

For the first time, the opposition delegation has been drawn from the armed rebel groups rather than their political representatives. The talks are designed to build on the fragile ceasefire that came into force in late December after the fall of the rebel stronghold of east Aleppo.

Mohammed Alloush, the leader of the opposition delegation, said the existence of Iranian-sponsored militias alongside regular Syrian government troops made peace more difficult to achieve, and called for them to leave the country. He also called for the release of prisoners from government jails, saying 13,000 women were being held arbitrarily.

Alloush insisted the political process would begin with the departure of Bashar al-Assad, Iran, and their militias – a set of demands that put the opposition at loggerheads with the regime.

Obama Admits Gap in Russian ‘Hack’ Case

Oops. Did President Barack Obama acknowledge that the extraordinary propaganda campaign to blame Russia for helping Donald Trump become president has a very big hole in it, i.e., that the U.S. intelligence community has no idea how the Democratic emails reached WikiLeaks? For weeks, eloquent obfuscation – expressed with “high confidence” – has been the name of the game, but inadvertent admissions now are dispelling some of the clouds. ...

At President Obama’s Jan. 18 press conference, he admitted as much: “the conclusions of the intelligence community with respect to the Russian hacking were not conclusive as to whether WikiLeaks was witting or not in being the conduit through which we heard about the DNC e-mails that were leaked.”

It is necessary to carefully parse Obama’s words since he prides himself in his oratorical constructs. He offered a similarly designed comment at a Dec. 16, 2016 press conference when he said: “based on uniform intelligence assessments, the Russians were responsible for hacking the DNC. … the information was in the hands of WikiLeaks.”

Note the disconnect between the confidence about hacking and the stark declarative sentence about the information ending up at WikiLeaks. Obama does not bridge the gap because to do so would represent a bald-faced lie, which some honest intelligence officer might call him on. So, he simply presents the two sides of the chasm – implies a connection – but leaves it to the listener to make the leap. ...

So I suppose we should thank Barack Obama for dispelling at least some of the obfuscation at which he is so rhetorically eloquent, while our lame “mainstream” media take steno and regurgitate ad nauseam.

U.K. government under pressure over nuclear missile test misfire

A report in the Sunday Times details a failed test of the Trident missile system that took place in June 2016. The test was of an unarmed Trident II D5 missile – fired from the HMS Vengeance located 5,600 miles off the coast of Florida – and intended to hit a sea target off the coast of Africa. A senior naval source told the paper that the missile “veered off in the wrong direction toward America.”

Downing Street and the Ministry of Defense issued a joint statement confirming the test took place but notably failing to deny the claims made in the Sunday Times report. “In June the Royal Navy conducted a routine, unarmed Trident missile test launch from HMS Vengeance, as part of an operation designed to certify the submarine and its crew.”

The timing of the test failure is critical. It occurred just one month before the Commons voted by 472 to 117 to back a £40 billion renewal of Trident. This raises serious questions as to whether Theresa May — who took over as prime minister in the meantime — knew about the test failure before she gave a speech in the Commons seeking support for Trident.

Israel approves hundreds of settlement homes

Israel lifts restrictions on building more homes in East Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told senior ministers he is lifting restrictions on settlement building in East Jerusalem, a statement said on Sunday, immediately after the city's municipal government approved permits for the building of hundreds of new homes in the area.

"There is no longer a need to coordinate construction in the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. We can build where we want and as much as we want," the statement quoted Netanyahu as saying, adding that he also intended to allow the start of building in the West Bank. ...

Jerusalem's City Hall approved the building permits for more than 560 units in the urban settlements of Pisgat Zeev, Ramat Shlomo and Ramot, areas annexed to Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement that the eight years of the Obama administration had been "difficult with pressure ... to freeze construction" but that Israel was now entering a new era.

Lawsuit to call for ban on payments to Trump firms from foreign powers

A US legal watchdog is to file a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of violating the US constitution by allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington will seek a court order on Monday forbidding Trump from accepting such payments, which it will allege violate the constitution’s emoluments clause, said Deepak Gupta, a lawyer working on the case.

Trump did business with countries including China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, the group noted in a statement.

“When Trump the president sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump the businessman,” it said.

Trump will issue executive order to begin Nafta renegotiation, report says

President Trump could sign an executive order on Monday intended to renegotiate the free trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico, it was reported on Monday.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), negotiated by George HW Bush and enacted in the 1994 by Bill Clinton, was supported by more Republicans than Democrats.

But Trump hammered the deal during his election campaign, focusing populist anger in industrial heartland against trade, and expressed similar sentiments to business leaders at the White House on Monday. ...

On Monday, Trump also intends to sign an executive order pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to NBC. The TPP, among 11 Pacific rim countries, was backed by Barack Obama but was never ratified by the Republican-controlled Congress.

Donald Trump Preaches Angry Nationalism, While Practicing Goldman Sachs Capitalism

President Donald Trump's Inaugural address was fiery and nationalistic, a considerable departure from the traditional Republican Party embrace of the free market and an activist foreign policy. Trump talked of an “America First” policy and vowed that “January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”

But Trump’s words on the steps of the Capitol bore little resemblance to the reality of the administration he is building.

It’s hard to argue with Trump’s assessment that “the establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs.”

But that establishment will be in full force in the Trump administration. The megabank Goldman Sachs, famously close to Trump’s opponents in the Democratic Party, has six alumni posed for key posts in his administration, including his treasury secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin. ...

The president used his concluding words to promise to listen to all Americans:

So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words: You will never be ignored again. Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams, will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.

But with a cabinet whose combined net worth is greater than that of a third of America combined, it’s likely that many, many Americans will continue to be ignored.

Trump administration to 'empower' US police forces

The administration of the US president, Donald Trump, condemned what it called the "anti-police atmosphere" in the United States and called for more law enforcement and more effective policing in a statement on the White House website after the new president's inauguration.

"The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump administration will end it," said Friday's statement on the White House's official website after it was taken over by the new administration.

Bernie Sanders on Women's March and Billionaires at Inauguration

Millions mobilize around the world for the Women’s March

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Washington D.C. for the Women’s March on Washington, one day after President Donald Trump was sworn into office, marking one of the largest mass mobilizations after an inauguration in recent history. And more than 100 solidarity marches and protests are taking place around the world, including an estimated gathering of 100,000 protestors in London. All told, an estimated 3-4 million people participated in the protests worldwide.

Estimates and D.C. Metro ridership data put attendance at more than 500,000 people, suggesting Saturday’s protest saw a significantly larger turnout than Trump’s inauguration the day before.

The Women’s March started as a decentralized movement organized primarily online in response to the election of Trump, but it quickly mushroomed into a massive mobilization. The march is not explicitly anti-Trump. Instead, it’s intended “to send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights,” according to the mission statement online.

Women’s March on Washington: Historic Protest Three Times Larger Than Trump’s Inaugural Crowd

Reinstating 'Global Gag Rule,' Trump Attacks Women Worldwide

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order reinstating a policy critics call the Global Gag Rule, further cementing reproductive rights advocates' warning that 2017 would entail an uphill battle for women's healthcare.

Officially known as the Mexico City Policy, the rule, as Nonprofit Quarterly explained, "specifically prohibits international charities from promoting abortion as a method of family planning even if that 'promotion' simply entails a physician engaging in a conversation about the option of abortion with a patient." As such, Kiersten Gillette-Pierce and Jamila Taylor write at Center for American Progress, it "infringes upon women's fundamental right to make informed decisions about their bodies and their health."

Since it was first signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, it has been an on-again, off-again U.S. policy, with Republican presidents keeping it in place, while Democrats have rescinded it, most recently President Barack Obama, who began his presidency in 2009 with an executive order striking down the rule.

U.S.-based reproductive health advocacy organization PAI decried Trump's order, saying it jeopardizes critical health services women and their families rely on, as clinics faced with funding shortfalls may be forced to slash services or close entirely.

Welcome to the United States of Emergency

For those of us who believe in core progressive American values – multiculturalism, civil liberty and civil rights, free speech, a free press, truth in government, economic fairness, environmental protection, inclusiveness, equal justice, a humane society, the list goes on – today marks the first day of a disaster on a scale that until a few months ago was beyond our imagination. ...

If one thing is certain, it is that the solution will not come from the current leaders of either of our political parties. Both groups respond to money and power more than to the public will. Both put winning above values. True deliverance from this disaster will have to be people-powered.

Political observers who have not been blinded by partisanship have long recognized that Washington elites are addicted to corruption, cronyism, authoritarianism and international aggression. ...

Donald Trump ran a long con on the American people, promising them to clean out Washington, make the economy work for them, and disentangle us from international quagmires. He is perhaps the least likely person in the world to do any of those things. But the best con men are astute at figuring out what their marks want most badly.

So on the bright side, perhaps we can use this moment to examine the corrupting influences now so plainly in sight, and reject them, so that whatever comes next, if we make it past this catastrophe, will be fundamentally different.

Unseen Mark Twain fairytale to be published

A 16-page note about a fairytale told to Mark Twain’s daughters is to be published this year, on the 150th anniversary of the Huckleberry Finn author’s first book.

The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine is based on handwritten notes by Twain of a story told to his young daughters one night in Paris in 1879. In the story, a young boy who can talk to animals recruits some creatures to help him save a kidnapped prince.

The long-lost story has been completed and illustrated by author and illustrator team Philip and Erin Stead. Publisher Doubleday said the tale explores themes of charity, kindness and bravery in the face of tyranny, with sharply drawn satire and touching pathos.



the horse race



Bill would require teaching of California students about Russian interference for Trump

Unwilling to wait for history to become, well, history, a Marin County legislator wants to make sure state schools teach students about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, requiring the topic in history classes.

Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, said he is introducing a bill to require the State Board of Education to develop curriculum to ensure “all California students will learn how the Russian government conspired to influence the United States Presidential Election to elect Donald Trump,” according to his office.

Not One Single DNC Chair Candidate Will Admit The Primary Was Weighted For Hillary

It’s official: none of the seven candidates vying for the position of DNC chair are willing and/or able to take a stand on the rigging of the 2016 Democratic primary. They will not call it what it was, they will not acknowledge what they damn well know former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz did, and they will not give the American people any reasonable assurance that it will not happen again. They will say whatever they need to say in order to get the 224 Committee votes necessary to secure the position, and if you are a Democrat you just have to trust that they won’t actively sabotage the next people’s candidate that comes along just like they did last time.

I finally got around to watching the excruciating sleazefest of the Huffington Post-hosted DNC chair debate from the other day, managing to resist putting my fist through the screen every time anyone started babbling about unity and togetherness only by making a fun but cirrhosis-inducing drinking game out of it. I was able to remain conscious for most of the ordeal, though around the one hour mark of the video I learned everything I needed to know from one single show-of-hands question:

“Who in here believes that the DNC did unfairly put its thumb on the scale during the 2016 primary?”

The question was asked by the debate’s co-host Ryan Green. Literally less than one second after the question left his lips, a candidate whose name I will not bother learning because this is the last time anyone will hear anything about her blurted “That’s a gotcha question, I’m not gonna answer.”

All seven candidates fervently agreed and made a great show of shocked, indignant facial expressions as though Green had just asked them to show the audience their best Stephen Hawking impression, even though it was really the only question the people watching at home want answered. Until this last election cycle nobody ever cared about DNC chair elections, and the only people paying attention to this one were the ones who saw how much damage a DNC chair can do to a candidate who dares to try and place the people before the oligarchy. But not one candidate was willing to go anywhere near it.



the evening greens


With the Rise of Trump, Is It Game Over for the Climate Fight?

One possibility is, we’ve lost. It’s a real possibility, and we should consider it carefully instead of ignoring it because it’s emotionally unpalatable. ...

That galloping momentum of warming (building on itself, as white ice gives way to blue ocean and as fires in drought-stricken forests send clouds of carbon aloft) scares me. It should scare everyone; for a decade now it has threatened to take this crisis beyond the reach of politics. To catch up with the physics of climate change we’d need a truly stunning commitment to change, an all-out, planet-wide decision to push as hard as we’ve ever pushed to spread clean energy and shut down the dirty stuff.

The closest we’ve gotten to that — and in truth, it wasn’t all that close — was the Paris Agreement that went into effect last November 4. ... And it helped conjure up the counter-momentum that was beginning to take hold: renewable energy was suddenly outpacing fossil fuel in many places. Carbon emissions were starting to stabilize.

Four days later, Donald J. Trump was elected.

He has promised, of course, to scrap the Paris accords, but even if he doesn’t do that, he and his team will do all they can to slow that building momentum. And since pace is everything here, that might well be enough. Our not-very-good-in-any-event chance just got much much harder. ...

Donald Trump and his band of fellow travelers won the vision battle by staring backwards — the key word in their ball-cap slogan is “Again.” And understandably, because the world around us is scary. It’s much nicer (at least for white people) to pretend we don’t have to deal with reality, that we can somehow turn things back to an earlier day. ...

Which means, in turn, that one goal of our fight must simply be to break the power of Trumpism and all that it represents. If you want good news, here it is: Trump and his crew have pushed all their bets onto fossil fuel. There’s no Obama-esque hedging and half measures. Which means that if they fall, then climate denial should fall with them. Fossil fuel worship should fall with them. Their backward-looking vision should tumble down around them.

‘They aimed at my camera’: Journalists shot by police at DAPL protests

'Only the Beginning': Nationwide Campus Walkouts Issue Climate Call to #ResistRejectDenial

To show that President Donald Trump's climate denialism does not have their consent, thousands of students at universities and colleges across the U.S. on Monday are expected to walk out of class to urge their campuses to divest their assets from the fossil fuel industry.

"Continuing to act is how we keep hope alive and build the resistance even stronger," the GoFossilFree.org website declares of the action, dubbed #ResistRejectDenial.

Campuses with scheduled actions span from Evergreen State College in Washington State to University of Arizona to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

At Harvard University, students are calling their action Inaugurate a New Harvard, and will deliver to the offices of University President Drew Faust a petition demanding, among other things, that the administration show climate change leadership. "A Trump era demands that we resist, protect, and progress at the local level," said university senior Mattea Mrkusic in a statement.

Blessing Marriage of Oil and State, Rubio Drops Opposition to Rex Tillerson

Betraying an earlier tough stance, Sen. Marco Rubio announced Monday he would be voting in favor of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be confirmed as secretary of State, all but assuring the controversial climate denier and oil titan will become the top U.S. diplomat under the Trump administration. ...

Now that Rubio has joined other Republican holdouts Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John McCain (Ariz.) in reluctantly backing Tillerson, he is "expected to be confirmed once the full Senate holds its vote," The Hill reports.

Environmental campaigners—who oppose Tillerson's appointment because of the threat he poses to global efforts to tackle climate change (350.org co-founder Bill McKibben has described him as "Big Oil personified")—were aghast over what they described as Rubio's "cowardice" in the face of White House pressure.


Also of Interest

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

Encrypted Email Service Once Used by Edward Snowden Relaunches

As A Foreigner, I Hope America Does Start Focusing On America For Once

How Clinton Defeat Derailed Syrian War

America’s Putin Derangement Syndrome

The Definitive Demise of the Debunked Dodgy Dossier on The Donald?

The intel chiefs did to Trump what Hoover did to MLK

Is Your Corporate Pension Benefit Safe Under the Trump Administration?

In Photos: Women's Marches on All Seven Continents Demand 'A Better Future'

Clinton Democrats In No Position To Call Themselves ‘The Resistance’

Hawaiians call Mark Zuckerberg 'the face of neocolonialism' over land lawsuits


A Little Night Music

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Strange things happening everyday

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up above my head

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - I want a tall skinny papa

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Who Rolled The Stone Away

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Jericho

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Ninety Nine and One Half Won't Do

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - This Train



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OLinda's picture

POTUS signed an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the TPP. Promise kept on day one. (He had previously said that with the inauguration activities, and the weekend, he would consider Monday day one.)

POTUS met again with big dogs of industry to discuss jobs, jobs, jobs. Sounded good to me. Maybe with the tax cuts these companies will actually pay taxes due instead of avoiding them. ? Trump stressed every time he mentioned business tax cuts that there are middle class tax cuts as well. Don't know much on this subject.

Saw several clips of Press Sec'y Spicer's first press conference (not the one where he chewed out the press). Thought he did a good job.

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OLinda's picture

@OLinda

Spicer said they will have 4 Skype seats at press conferences for reporters who are not in the WA DC area. Some around the country who can't come to DC for conferences can participate. Sounds good to me. The White House Press Corps could use some shaking up. We will have to wait and see if it is all Fox people, or who gets the seats. Spicer said people can apply for them.

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joe shikspack's picture

@OLinda

to bloggers. that could set a good precedent, even if all of the seats go to trolls like matt drudge, a future administration might assign such seats to better bloggers.

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joe shikspack's picture

@OLinda

i am delighted that trump killed tpp. i'll put that in his "good" column.

i'm glad that he wants to bring back manufacturing jobs, if he can pull that off, that will also go into his "good" column. i suspect though, that he will want to see to it that those manufacturing employees have fewer regulatory protections, a hobbled union and that the environmental regulations that apply to the manufacturer will be virtually non-existent. the latter items may outweigh the former.

i am a little more cynical than you are probably regarding the tax piece. i don't believe that any corporation or wealthy person is going to pay a penny more in taxes than they can get away with avoiding - and if they can get special items inserted into the tax code that allow them to avoid paying taxes like everybody else, they will do it.

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Azazello's picture

This good if you've got a half-hour to watch it. Chris Hedges talks with Glen Ford about Obama's legacy.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3-FFcCUMGk width:500 height:300]

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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

@Azazello

thanks for the video. i'll check it out when i get a chance, i've always enjoyed glen ford's directness and his take on obama.

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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

@Steven D

great stuff, thanks!

i hope that you and your are healthy and happy tonight.

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featheredsprite's picture

He said what he's been saying all along. Give him marks for consistency.

Trump is who he is. Why should he be any different now that he's president? If people didn't want Trump, they should have supported Bernie.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@featheredsprite

on many topics (particularly when he isn't responding to perceived slights) trump often appears to be brutally honest. sometimes he seems to be so honest as to embarrass other politicians, such as when he said flat out that we ought to just take iraq's oil. i mean, that's kind of american policy, but it's a bit, um, gauche i suppose, to state it like that, especially out loud, in public.

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link

Forty years later, German Tugas, a 42-year-old Uber driver, got to know it for another reason: Its parking lot was a safe spot to sleep in his car. Tugas drives over 70 hours a week in San Francisco, where the work is steadier and fares are higher than in his hometown, Sacramento. So every Monday morning, Tugas leaves at 4 a.m., says goodbye to his wife and four daughters, drives 90 miles to the city, and lugs around passengers until he earns $300 or gets too tired to keep going. (Most days he nets $230 after expenses like gas.) Then, he and at least a half dozen other Uber drivers gathered in the Social Safeway parking lot to sleep in their cars before another long day of driving.
...
Uber drivers across the country swap tips for finding sleeping spots, like: which stores have the most forgiving security guards and where to find free Wi-Fi. In Chicago, drivers call the 7-11 at the intersection of Wrightwood & North Lincoln Avenues the “Uber Terminal.” In Columbus, Ohio, drivers prefer the Walmart off the Jack Nicklaus Freeway. In Queens, New York, drivers are known to frequent the 7-Eleven off JFK Expressway. Drivers on the online forum Uberpeople.net joke that there is money to be made in a motel chain serving the large number of Uber drivers sleeping in their cars in New Jersey.

In Chicago, Walter Laquian Howard sleeps most nights at the "Uber Terminal." “I left my job thinking this would work, and it’s getting harder and harder,” Howard said. “They have to understand that some of us have decided to make this a full-time career.”

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joe shikspack's picture

@gjohnsit

i guess uber drivers are kind of modern-day hobos, who had their own means of communicating about where to go to sleep and take care of the other essentials of life.

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@gjohnsit
link

And according to the latest, just released report (in which COF incidentally missed both the top and the bottom line, reported EPS and revenue of $1.45 and $6.60 billion, both below expectations), the US taxicab industry must be on the verge of collapse, because in COF's Q4 report, the company reported that while the size of its runoff Medallion "held for investment" loans tumbled by $83 million from $773MM to $690MM, it was the surge in the nonperforming loan rate that was the stunner: surging from 38.8% in Q3 to a whopping 51.5% in Q4, it suggests that legacy cab drivers in the US are not only barely making money, but are in financial dire straits.
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Shahryar's picture

channeling Sarah Palin should disqualify anyone trying to run the DNC.

and that San Rafael Dem who wants propaganda in the schools....the Dems are possibly worse than the Repubs.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Shahryar

isn't it funny that the dems are now exhibiting the same behaviors that caused liberals to think that republicans were stoopid?

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mimi's picture

because I haven't found my new love in Donald Trump yet. What's wrong with me? My lips are closed. The Zuckerberg story reminds me of Oprah's on Maui. I just wonder why they call it neo-colonialism. It seems to me as old as the good ol'colonialism. Nothing neo-new to see here. From the link:

Two days later, Zuckerberg’s lawyers filed lawsuits against hundreds of Hawaiians who may own an interest in small parcels within the boundaries of Zuckerberg’s estate. The “quiet title” suits, first reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, are used to clarify the often complicated history of land ownership in Hawaii and can result in owners being forced to sell their land at auction. In some cases, defendants are even required to pay the legal fees of the plaintiff – in this case, the world’s fifth richest man.

Zuckerberg’s lawsuits have prompted a backlash from locals who place the billionaire within a long, painful history of western conquest and Native Hawaiian dispossession.

“This is the face of neocolonialism,” said Kapua Sproat, a law professor at the University of Hawaii who is originally from Kauai. “Even though a forced sale may not physically displace people, it’s the last nail in the coffin of separating us from the land.”

“For us, as Native Hawaiians, the land is an ancestor. It’s a grandparent,” she added. “You just don’t sell your grandmother.”

Kauai, known as the Garden Island, has long been a favorite playground of holidaymakers, Hollywood film-makers and millionaires on their second or third homes. The vine-choked forests, plunging waterfalls and broad sand beaches have served as the backdrops for films including Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean while the laid-back rural cool and mellow tropical vibe has attracted rock stars, celebrities and at least one Russian billionaire. (me: see the Trump-Putin love affair fans playing their secret deals out among the Facebookers and the Elon Muskers in the bushes?/s)

But the acquisition of vacation homes by wealthy malihini (newcomers) exacerbates a social chasm keenly felt by kamaaina (native-born or longtime residents of Hawaii).

So much hopey and changey thingies for the little people in Hawaii. How could we not understand the good intentions of their new colonial masters to bring prosperity to those "poor people".

And the worst of all, I still respect Bernie Sanders and will not throw my sanity out of the window and "drop" him in the dumpster. I kinda love me my non-billionaire little politician Sanders. So, do I still fit in here?

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

heh, i guess somewhere there is some intellectual type who is particular about terminology and is quite sure that what is happening is "neo-colonialsim" rather than being an extension of the old colonialism.

i don't think that i care enough about the distinction to defend it.

So, do I still fit in here?

i don't see why not. we are still a non-partisan site. i don't think that trump is particularly well-loved here, either. on the other hand, the democratic party is not particularly well-loved either. many folks here are fond of bernie, some like him but also have some reservations about his positions and connection to the democrats. others maybe aren't so fond of him.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack

colonialism, liberals or neo-liberals, progressives or neo-progressives (did we had that category yet?)

hmm, I have no other place to go, so I guess I better make it my home base here. For the time being I don't like anybody of the people with power and don't care anymore which party or category they belong to.

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@mimi
After years of NeoLiberlism taking a dump on the 99%, at least it is refreshing to not have to keep your mouth shut (yes, i recall when O could do no wrong and it was 'splained to me that i didn't recognize nth dimensional chess). So we know who you are not fond of, now tell me: who would you rather lead the circus?
Be realistic, it won't be Bernie for the next 4 years. That ship has sailed, now deal with reality. Clintons, DWS, and the DNC made sure this is the reality. Cope the best you can, hope that a new party arises from the flaming, shit heap that once had a claim to a proud and hard working past. But that is no more. Don't grieve for what is lost (it was lost long ago when WJC got elected). Instead, work to build anew, as those are the cards you/we are dealt. Enjoy the small victories (even the unexpected ones), when they happen. If you only look at the loss, despair will bbe your companion. Then, defeatism will be like prophecy.

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever

mimi's picture

@fight2bfree

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riverlover's picture

@mimi virtual wall, the keep out the restless natives. I think the elites are getting nervous. There could be backlash.

And now there is rumor that Zuckerberg may toss his curly hair into the ring for POTUS, 2020.

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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.

mimi's picture

@riverlover

... are you teasing me? Well, I did boycott his "enterprise" since day one and was ridiculed for it. So be it. I hope I don't live anymore when he gets elected.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

earlier this week, that I'd read, and heard (in a Newt Gingrich interview), that the WH Press folks were considering opening up the Press Briefings to far more (up to several hundred) than the 49 currently credentialed regular WH reporters.

During today's conference, as OLinda mentioned, Spicer brought up the '4 Skype seats' that they will make available to local reporters who live more than fifty miles from D.C. Obviously, that's a far cry from several hundred.

(I understand that the recent conference held at Trump Tower, had several hundred reports in attendance, even though DT didn't take many questions.)

I'm wondering if they're trying out the idea of adding outside reporters (on a small scale), and still considering expanding the scope. Hope so--anything to dilute the power of the corporatist MSM!

Wink

Hey, ran into some depressing stuff yesterday--an actuarial analysis of Representative Johnson's radical Social Security/SSDI cuts.

When I can assemble a coherent blurb, I plan to post excerpts (here). It would eviscerate Social Security, beyond recognition.

If they pass it this year, the Chained CPI begins in December 2018.

The drastic cuts begin for folks becoming initially eligible to file, beginning in 2023, and will be phased in over a decade.

I think that the progressive community needs to begin confronting Dems about this proposal. I've only heard a couple oblique public comments about it (from Dem lawmakers), which probably speaks volumes about their true intentions.

Our weather's turning more seasonal, later this week. Frankly, I'm glad. Not looking forward to an early summer.

Hey, Everyone have a nice evening!

Mollie


"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."
____Author Unknown

“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore–to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
____Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)

The SOSD Fantastic Four

Available For Adoption, Save Our Street Dogs, SOSD

Taro
Taro, SOSD

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

one would hope that the people (since social security is not just a progressive issue) would be able to stop the evisceration of social security that the peterson dems and republicans have always dreamt of enacting.

when they make a move, they will probably try to do it with minimal lead time and bury it as much as possible in a huge spending bill. we will all have to make a lot of noise.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Unabashed Liberal so why the hell doesn't that gas bag retire and do something fun instead of finding ways to screw the most vulnerable people in our society?
In addition to term limits I think that there should be an age limit.
Those people who have been in congress for decades are so far removed from knowing what people are going through.
When is the last time anyone of them went to a store and shopped for their food? Or drove a car that they bought with their own money and saw how the price of gas was going to affect their budget? Or any of the other things that we the people do every damn day.
The fact that they want to take away our measly funds is beyond cruel. Especially when they have been sucking off the government's teats for decades.
In the last 30 years or longer, this government has wasted $40 trillion on wars or coups that protect the corporations and puts our money into defense corporation's pockets, not us.
There hasn't been a war that was for protecting our country since the 1770's.
And after those bastards get done playing with our and people's lives around the world they get incredible retirement packages and they go to work for lobbying companies and get paid millions more.
I can't imagine what type of person is okay with holding people's lives in their hands and do everything that they can to make them miserable.
And it's not like that money is coming out of their pockets.
Well it is if they want to stay in congress because if they don't do their masters bidding they won't get the money from them.
Another great reason for public financed elections. Then they won't need to rely on their lobbying masters.

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

Creosote.'s picture

@Unabashed Liberal
- to your coherent blurb on specific plans for changes to Social Security, and your thoughts on how the process of putting them in place will be covered up yet can be effectively confronted. Broken promises break lives.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

Deep breaths. In, out, in, out. Keep going, just keep breathing. Sister Rosetta helped me breathe tonight.

Brian Eno is right on the money. So many others saw it coming long before Herr Drumpf. It was only after Bernie was quashed that I finally succumbed to the reality of the true nature of the state of our government/oligarchy. I'm watching a good friend going through the anger stage, as she realizes it, herself.

The cowards running for DNC chair - it astounds me, but it shouldn't. I already know this behavior to be their intention. Self protection at the expense of their constituents. They are incorrigible, pure and simple. It's why I left the party a decade ago.

Off to dinner!

Have a beautiful evening, folks! Pleasantry

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Raggedy Ann

breathing is good. Smile

have a great dinner and a wonderful evening!

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Crider's picture

Especially those sexy pink ladies who came to town the day after to show their appreciation for our awesome Commander in Chief!

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

[edit -- Site crash, double post]

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joe shikspack's picture

@Crider

here's some of those wonderful pink ladies singing:

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Crider's picture

@joe shikspack Yes indeed.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack @joe shikspack

but why have I heard voices here that question those protest marches as, I guess co-opted by money and under management of neo-liberals? That confused me a quite a bit. I read voices that said there are no mass demonstrations without massive amounts of money, suggesting that people like Soros and other billionaires supported financially over 50 groups that were represented in the march. There seems to be this thought that because they are boosted by billionaires the same way as Trump and the neo-liberals are, it's all the same.

I had the feeling that this kind of evaluation of the supporters of the women's march goes over the top. The only question I had is why they didn't march on to the Mall on the 20th of January, instead of a day later.

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When the influential try to tailor your reality, bring your opponent's reality to the fore.

Compete against them at their own game. Kill it, fucking murder it. Falsehoods should never pierce the heart, it is bigger than personal self-interest. Know your friends from your enemies. Their actions will reveal their reality. Sometimes, just being there early, works marveks. When your friend/enemy ratio balances are perfectly consistent: Be knowledgable. When you ar safe, Your friends are also your friends.

Respect your enemy, they know your limits, as you know theirs. Underestimation is often cited for a failure mode. Intelligence failure is the struggling fruit on the tree of Pity.

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever