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This evening's music features folk, jazz and blues singer Barbara Dane. Enjoy!

“When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.”

-- Michael Ende

News and Opinion

I learned a new word today:

The Birth Of F**kery: How To Think About Donald Trump's Lies

Fuckery is ascendant in our time, and while Trump is not its inventor, he is its most effective practitioner at the moment. The urban dictionary defines fuckery as “absolute bullshit; utter nonsense; something rather suspicious that can bring forth uneasy, angry and irritated feelings.” It’s a lie that is told, not just to achieve an objective, but to demonstrate the power of the person telling the lie relative to those affected by it. Fuckery creates a wall between the person or group telling the lie and the people hearing it. Fuckery throws down a gauntlet: It is too big to ignore, yet so absurd that it promises to debase anybody who grapples with it. It makes a mockery of the very idea of truth.

Thanks to writers like George Orwell, we are usually on the lookout for political language that says one thing, but implies another. In his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell writes that “political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible,” hence the need for euphemisms, “question begging” and what he calls “sheer cloudy vagueness”. Fuckery reinterprets Orwell and defends the indefensible in the least-imaginative way possible. Why? Because the audacious lie creates the “spectacular display of power.” The speaker is so powerful he doesn’t need to bullshit. ...

The power of Trump’s fuckery will be boosted by his ascension to the Oval Office, given that a key driver of the effectiveness of fuckery is the power of its propagator. In this sense, a political establishment that normalizes his fuckery out of “respect for the office” ultimately demeans it. The office of president has a number of expectations and requirements that Trump seems unwilling and unable to meet. Highlighting the shortcomings of the man doesn’t diminish the office. Removing those expectations does. ...

And when Trump tweets that interest in his inauguration is so big league that Washington has sold out of dresses, he should also be mocked. Instead, the media makes a mockery of itself by by calling Lord & Taylor and inquiring as to whether they still have dresses. (The shocking finding: They do.) When Trump claimed he could never have participated in a golden shower ritual with Moscow prostitutes because he is a “germaphobe,” the media fact-checked the claim by noting that urine is, in fact, sterile, followed by fact-checks of the fact-checks, noting that urine may be sterile in the bladder, but isn’t by the time it flows out. By engaging with this fuckery, the media is instead pissing all over itself.

Trump's Constant Lying Is a Power Game Called "Fuckery," and He's Winning At It

Yes, Virginia, that man said "fuckery." It's a lovely word with a lovely place in hip-hop culture. And it's exactly the word we need to understand Trump's (and really, all Republicans') outrageous lies and shenanigans, and also how to deal with them effectively.

Bottom line: Donald Trump isn't just lying, he's "fucking with us" and challenging us to call him on it. This is exactly the "Who do you believe, me or your lying eyes?" problem. And here as there, it's not about the lies; it's a naked show of power. It's about whether one person can impose his will on another person and make him publicly ignore the truth. This interaction is especially true of Trump and the national media, which Trump needs to bring to heel in order to rule for the next four years.

Cheating husband to spouse: "I can make you say you didn't see what you saw. Now, are you going to leave me? Thought not."

Trump to the media: "I can say whatever I want and make you swallow it. I can make you "fact-check" my language instead of laughing in my face for lying straight to yours. Watch me do it ... again." ...

After all, do even the mighty hosts of MSNBC call out these lies as "lies," or do they use words like "counter-factual," again and again and again? Do they call out the constant lying as "pathological" — which it certainly is if it's not fuckery? Not in my hearing, but maybe my ears are lying to me too.

Fuckery in action:

The White House is already skewing crime stats to fit Trump's agenda

Americans are meant to trust data and statistics published by the federal government. But in this new era of “alternative facts,” some criminologists are expressing concern that the integrity of official crime data used to shape criminal justice policy, drive decisions about law enforcement funding and personnel, and tackle problems like gun violence could be under threat.

In fact, just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, the White House website touted a misleading crime statistic. On a page entitled “Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community,” the White House bemoaned the “dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America” and  that “killings have risen by 50 percent” in Washington, D.C.

There were 135 homicides in the nation’s capital — a 17 percent decrease from the previous year, according to D.C. metro data from 2016. In a statement to VICE News, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department also pointed out that violent crime overall dropped by 10 percent last year.

It’s possible that the Trump administration mistakenly cited an old statistic — in 2015, murders increased by approximately 50 percent from the previous year. That year, however, was an outlier in a steady two-decade decline in violent crime in the district. Regardless, the White House website was amended Wednesday morning to say instead that “killings have risen by 50 percent in the past four years.”

“I can’t think of a time in my adult life where the White House puts something out and you start with wondering if there’s any truthful basis for it,” said Philip Stinson, a professor of criminology at Bowling Green State University who has collected extensive data about police misconduct. “It’s bizarre that the facts don’t matter, science doesn’t matter, and good data doesn’t matter. There seems to be a very cavalier attitude [in the White House] for the purpose of creating confusion.”

Hide, find Zen: Ultimate survival guide for Trump era (according to some media)

Draft Executive Order on Secret CIA Prisons Signals a Return to the Darkness of the Post-9/11 Period

A draft presidential order being circulated in the Trump administration could signal a return to the executive-branch lawlessness that followed September 11, 2001.

A draft of the executive order obtained by the New York Times and Washington Post calls for senior officials to consider re-opening the CIA’s network of secret prisons, where terror suspects were disappeared and deprived of their rights.

And by rescinding President Obama’s 2009 executive order that banned torture and closed the CIA’s prisons — where many of the worst abuses of CIA’s post-9/11 torture program took place – it paves the way for illegal torture to take place in secret.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer disputed the authenticity of the draft order on Wednesday, saying that it is “not a White House document,” and that he had “no idea where it came from.” But when asked whether the administration was considering re-opening black sites, Spicer refused to answer, saying he would not comment on the document.

Trumpemada the torturer is back with more fuckery:

“We have to fight fire with fire”

Donald Trump has advocated for a possible return of torture, saying: “Absolutely I feel it works.” The president is likely to face a backlash among the military, intelligence and political classes in Washington for such remarks, with experts already worried about reports that say he plans to bring back so-called “black site” prisons. 

President Trump on waterboarding: “I feel it works,” but will rely on team’s guidance and do everything “legally." https://t.co/89o6NhpsWh pic.twitter.com/vWoL5W2ycc

— ABC News (@ABC) January 26, 2017

In an interview with ABC News released Wednesday, Trump said he would defer to his national security team as to what could be done legally to combat terrorism. But when asked if he thought a torture technique such as waterboarding works, he answered in the affirmative. His opinion was formed after he spoke to unnamed people “at the highest level of intelligence” this week. When Trump asked if such methods were effective, “The answer was yes, absolutely.” 

US defence chief heads to Japan and South Korea to strengthen ties

The new US secretary of defence, James Mattis, is to reassure Japan and South Korea of Washington’s commitment to the security of the volatile Asia-Pacific region, despite suggestions by Donald Trump that he was ready to scale down the US’s military presence there.

Mattis, a retired Marine general, will reaffirm America’s role in strengthening security ties with its two strongest allies in the region when he visits South Korea on Tuesday and Japan the following day.

“The trip will underscore the commitment of the United States to our enduring alliances to Japan and the Republic of Korea, and further strengthen US-Japan-Republic of Korea security cooperation,” the Pentagon spokesman, Jeff Davis, said.

Trump rattled nerves in Tokyo and Seoul during the presidential election campaign when he suggested he would withdraw tens of thousands of troops from Japan and South Korea unless their governments paid more to maintain US forces based there.

In an interview with Fox News last April, he also intimated that the two countries should be able to develop independent nuclear deterrents – a move that would trigger a potentially catastrophic Asia-Pacific arms race.

This is one of those must-read articles. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard recently made a fact-finding trip to Syria and Lebanon. This is her narrative about her visit, which has become a media propagandist feeding frenzy because among the people that she met was Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian People Desperately Want Peace

As much of Washington prepared for the inauguration of President Donald Trump, I spent last week on a fact-finding mission in Syria and Lebanon to see and hear directly from the Syrian people. Their lives have been consumed by a horrific war that has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and forced millions to flee their homeland in search of peace.

It is clear now more than ever: this regime change war does not serve America’s interest, and it certainly isn’t in the interest of the Syrian people.

I traveled throughout Damascus and Aleppo, listening to Syrians from different parts of the country. I met with displaced families from the eastern part of Aleppo, Raqqah, Zabadani, Latakia, and the outskirts of Damascus. I met Syrian opposition leaders who led protests in 2011, widows and children of men fighting for the government and widows of those fighting against the government. I met Lebanon’s newly-elected President Aoun and Prime Minister Hariri, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard, Syrian President Assad, Grand Mufti Hassoun, Archbishop Denys Antoine Chahda of Syrian Catholic Church of Aleppo, Muslim and Christian religious leaders, humanitarian workers, academics, college students, small business owners, and more.

Their message to the American people was powerful and consistent: There is no difference between “moderate” rebels and al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) or ISIS — they are all the same. This is a war between terrorists under the command of groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda and the Syrian government. They cry out for the U.S. and other countries to stop supporting those who are destroying Syria and her people. ...

I heard testimony about how peaceful protests against the government that began in 2011 were quickly overtaken by Wahhabi jihadist groups like al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) who were funded and supported by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, the United States, and others. They exploited the peaceful protesters, occupied their communities, and killed and tortured Syrians who would not cooperate with them in their fight to overthrow the government.

Establishment Media Launches Smear Campaign Against Tulsi Gabbard After Syria Trip

Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard gave an interview to CNN’s Jake Tapper today about her recent fact-finding trip to Syria. The purpose of the trip was to move toward peace in Syria. In addition to the CNN interview, Gabbard sent an email to her supporters and posted pictures and details about the trip to her social media accounts. During the trip she met with Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. The corporate neoliberal media is predictably turning the story into an opportunity to smear Congresswoman Gabbard by focusing on her meeting with the Syrian President rather than the overall purpose of the trip.

A google search for Tulsi Gabbard yields mostly stories with titles about her ‘secret trip,’ with titles that all but insinuate that she was there conspiring with al-Assad to destroy America. I’m actually surprised I found no articles accusing her of stopping over in Moscow to hang out with Vladimir Putin on the way home.

First of all, the trip was not a ‘secret.’ As Politico reports, Gabbard had to clear the trip before leaving. It simply says she did not notify Paul Ryan or Nancy Pelosi, but last I checked neither of them were Gabbard’s master. Politico also makes it a point to note that Gabbard’s “attempted peacemaking with the Assad regime is not likely to go far,” as if it’s reasonable to think she expected to solve the entire crisis by meeting with the Syrian President for a few hours.

Even worse than the clear slant of the Politico piece is the treatment given to Gabbard’s visit by the liberal establishment website, Talking Points Memo. They focus on nothing except that she met with Assad. No clarification is given for the purpose of her visit. Just a few paragraphs letting everyone know she hangs out with Assad.

Free Syrian Army Faction Wiped Out by Al-Qaida in Syria

The jihadist group Fateh al-Sham has taken over areas held by a Free Syrian Army rebel faction in northwestern Syria, effectively crushing it, two FSA officials said on Wednesday. ...

Fateh al-Sham was Al-Qaida's official affiliate in the Syrian war until it officially broke the ties with it last year. The factions it attacked on Tuesday had representatives at a Russian-backed peace conference in Kazakhstan.

Trump eyes ‘safe zones’ in Syria

President Trump is expected to order the Pentagon and State Department to develop a series of “safe zones” in Syria, a move that administration critics claims could draw the U.S. military deeper into the country’s civil war.

The safe-zone mandate was tucked into the text of a draft executive order by Mr. Trump obtained by several news outlets* that establishes curbs on the flow of refugees from Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and other conflict zones from migrating to the United States. The order also institutes a revamped screening process for all U.S. immigrants.

Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Rex Tillerson, Mr. Trump’s pick to be secretary of state, would have 90 days to submit a blueprint to the White House on the establishment of “safe areas in Syria and in the surrounding region in which Syrian nationals displaced from their homeland can await firm settlement,” according to a copy of the draft order, obtained by The Huffington Post.

As president, Barack Obama resisted calls for the safe zones along the borders of Syria, designed to be a protective shield for Syrian refugees fleeing the violence, for fear that the U.S. would be forced to defend the zones in a war in which Syrian rebels, Islamic State militants, Kurdish militias and soldiers from Iran, Lebanon, Russia, Turkey and Iraq are all involved.

Trump’s Muslim Immigration Executive Order: If We Bombed You, We Ban You

A draft text of an executive order was leaked to the Huffington Post and Los Angeles Times. Titled “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals,” it would suspend the issuance of visas for at least 30 days to most people in the seven countries while the administration revamps its vetting procedures. Most citizens of foreign countries must first obtain a visa before being allowed to enter the United States. ...

The draft relies on Division O, Title II, Section 203 of the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which lays out security-related exemptions to the visa waiver program, to derive that list of seven countries. In the 2016 law, Iraq and Syria are explicitly listed, Iran and Sudan are included as state sponsors of terrorism, and Libya, Somalia, and Yemen are in the “area of concern” as designated by the Department of Homeland Security.

What all seven countries also have in common is that the United States government has violently intervened in them. The U.S. is currently bombing — or has bombed in the recent past — six of them. The U.S. has not bombed Iran, but has a long history of intervention including a recent cyberattack.

We bomb your country, creating a humanitarian nightmare, then lock you inside. That's a horror movie, not a foreign policy.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 25, 2017

Doomsday Clock closer to midnight in wake of Donald Trump election

The Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists, an expert group formed in 1945, takes into account the likelihood of nuclear Armageddon as well as other emerging threats such as climate change and advances in biotechnology and artificial intelligence. ...

The world is now a more dangerous place than it was a year ago, the scientists said, referring directly to the election of President Donald Trump and alleged Russian hacking during the campaign.

Trump’s comments on growing the US nuclear arsenal have been called ill-considered, they said, as they expressed concern at his “troubling propensity to discount or outright reject expert advice” on global security.

The scientists also described his appointments to environmental roles as people who “dispute the basics of climate science”.

The statement added: “In short, even though he has just now taken office, the president’s intemperate statements, lack of openness to expert advice, and questionable cabinet nominations have already made a bad international security situation worse.”

Intel Panel Member Calls For 9/11-Style Joint Investigation Into Russian Hacking

The top democrat on the House intelligence panel wants a joint congressional committee to investigate whether high-ranking Kremlin officials were involved in ordering the hacks of key American figures and institutions in an effort to influence the U.S. presidential election.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, suggested a joint investigation, not unlike the commission organized in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

On Tuesday night, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and ranking member Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., announced that they would be conducting an investigation into Russian hacking. On Wednesday, the House Intelligence Committee revealed its own ongoing inquiry into the alleged Russian meddling.

At the event in Washington on Wednesday morning, Schiff said he saw the Senate announcement as a problematic division of resources.

Democrats reluctantly accept James Comey at FBI as Russia inquiries expand

The director of the FBI has few friends among Capitol Hill Democrats after his high-profile statements about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. But some consider James Comey preferable to any FBI director Donald Trump would appoint, particularly in his weakened political state.

Comey is under significant political pressure. The US justice department’s internal watchdog has opened an inquiry into his decision to publicly discuss, days before the vote, an FBI investigation of Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, in violation of department regulations.

Democrats were further stunned and angered after Comey refused to confirm any FBI counterintelligence inquiry, either in public hearings or in private briefings, into Trump’s associates’ ties with Russia. Days later, Trump shook Comey’s hand in a White House ceremony, which was followed by reports that Trump would retain Comey. The FBI director’s tenure runs through 2023, but is at the pleasure of the president.

There is little sign of any thaw between Comey, a Republican and Bush administration veteran whom Barack Obama appointed in 2013, and Democrats, according to multiple Capitol Hill sources.

But some are pivoting to focus on whether and how Comey’s FBI examines any Russia connections to Trump’s circles, as well as its contributions to congressional inquiries into the same subject – one of which announced an expanded remit on Wednesday.

Trump orders construction of border wall

As Trump Orders Wall, Mexico’s President Considers Canceling U.S. Trip

With just a few strokes of the pen on Wednesday, the new American president signed an executive order to beef up the nation’s deportation force and start construction on a new wall between the nations. Adding to the perceived insult was the timing of the order: It came on the first day of talks between top Mexican officials and their counterparts in Washington, and just days before a meeting between the two countries’ presidents.

The action was enough to prompt President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico to consider scrapping his plans to visit the White House on Tuesday, according to Mexican officials. In a video message delivered over Twitter on Wednesday night, Mr. Peña Nieto did not address whether he would cancel the meeting, saying only that future steps would be taken in consultation with the country’s lawmakers. Instead, he reiterated his commitment to protect the interests of Mexico and the Mexican people, and chided the move in Washington to continue with the wall. ...

Calls began to come in from across the political spectrum for Mr. Peña Nieto to cancel his visit, and to respond with greater fortitude to the perceived menace from President Trump. On Twitter, Mr. Trump’s action was referred to by politicians and historians as a “an offense to Mexico,” a “slap in the face” and a “monument to lies.”

Historians said that not since President Calvin Coolidge threatened to invade a “Soviet Mexico” had the United States so deeply antagonized the Mexican populace.

The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017

of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017

[Looks like the Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto decided to cancel: Mexican president cancels US visit over Trump's order to build border wall]

How former Mexican president Vicente Fox uses Twitter to troll Trump

Donald Trump is not the only politician who enjoys writing 140-character diatribes.

For some time now, former Mexican president Vicente Fox has been using the platform to directly challenge, and troll, the new US president. As press secretary Sean Spicer insisted “Mexico will pay” for the border wall, Fox made his views clear:

Sean Spicer, I've said this to @realDonaldTrump and now I'll tell you: Mexico is not going to pay for that fucking wall. #FuckingWall

— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 25, 2017

#FuckingWall then began trending worldwide. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he repeated: “I have said and I have told the Donald, that Mexico will never pay for that fucking wall. And now I have to repeat it to this guy Sean Spicer. ...

Of course, Fox’s expletive-laden criticism did not escape Trump’s notice. He tweeted back in February 2016 that Fox “must apologise” for swearing while discussing the wall. Fox doubled down, repeating: “I am not going to pay for that fucking wall” on live television.

Trump may ask whoever he wants, but still neither myself nor Mexico are going to pay for his racist monument.
Another promise he can't keep.

— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 6, 2017

Trump you came to Mexico derailed government and President Peño..you lied and betrayed Pena. We need a WALL so you don't come back.

— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) September 8, 2016

As Trump and GOP Descend on Philadelphia, Protests Erupt In the Streets

People have taken to the streets in response to the Republican Party's retreat in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, voicing outrage and opposition to President Donald Trump's threats to healthcare, the environment, immigration, and human rights.

"If we don't get no justice, they don't get no peace!" the crowd of hundreds chanted as they rallied downtown, where the GOP conference is taking place from Thursday to Friday.

At a Thursday morning discussion, rally, and march called "Fight for Our Lives," organized by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and PA Home Care Workers, healthcare workers discussed the ramifications of the GOP's plans to repeal and replace Obamacare, and the lives at stake if millions of people see their healthcare disappear. The groups then rallied near city hall, where they were joined by other local progressive organizations and unions committed to resisting Trump's right-wing agenda.

Later Thursday, as Trump arrives to speak at the convention, the coalition plans to march to the Loews Hotel, which is hosting the retreat, and protest outside.

Protesters getting rowdy, righteous and numerous with #IBelieveThatWeWillWin chant #TrumpinPhilly #ResistanceInPhilly pic.twitter.com/yYvtkwySn1

— Paul Costa (@Oreland827) January 26, 2017

Exodus de Résistance? Entire Senior Staff at Trump's State Dept. 'Unexpectedly' Resigns

In what some are interpreting as a collective—and "unexpected"—expression of dissent aimed at President Donald Trump and his soon-to-be Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the entire senior management at the State Department reportedly resigned from their positions early Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Washinginton Post's Josh Rogin, who first reported the news:

Tillerson was actually inside the State Department’s headquarters in Foggy Bottom on Wednesday, taking meetings and getting the lay of the land. I reported Wednesday morning that the Trump team was narrowing its search for his No. 2, and that it was looking to replace the State Department’s long-serving undersecretary for management, Patrick Kennedy. Kennedy, who has been in that job for nine years, was actively involved in the transition and was angling to keep that job under Tillerson, three State Department officials told me.

Then suddenly on Wednesday afternoon, Kennedy and three of his top officials resigned unexpectedly, four State Department officials confirmed. Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions, followed him out the door. All are career foreign service officers who have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

"It’s the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate," David Wade, who served as State Department chief of staff under Secretary of State John Kerry, told Rogin.

Trump is prepping an executive order with drastic cuts to the U.N.

The Trump administration is preparing an executive order proposing dramatic cuts to the United Nations, according to a copy of the draft order seen by VICE News.

The order, still in draft form and subject to change, calls for a detailed, yearlong review of all U.S. funding to the U.N., and recommends a decrease in voluntary payments to the U.N. by “at least” 40 percent.

It also specifically calls for the end of any funding to an array of U.N.-affiliated organizations that meet a vague set of criteria, including any organization that includes the Palestinian Authority as a member, and any organization that supports or encourages abortions.

Though still subject to change, the order is in keeping with a series of executive orders being rolled out by the Trump administration this week, including new restrictions on immigration and refugee resettlement. The New York Times also reported on the draft orders Wednesday.

Mnuchin Lied About His Bank’s History of Robo-Signing Foreclosure Documents

Treasury Secretary Nominee Steven Mnuchin lied in his written responses to the Senate Finance Committee, claiming that “OneWest Bank did not ‘robo-sign’ documents,” when ample evidence proves that they did. ...

In a Florida foreclosure case, a OneWest employee plainly admitted to robo-signing. On July 9, 2009 – four months after OneWest took over operations from IndyMac, with Mnuchin as CEO – Erica Johnson-Seck, a vice president with OneWest, gave a deposition in which she admitted to being one of eight employees who signed approximately 750 foreclosure-related documents per week.

“How long do you spend executing each document?” Johnson-Seck was asked. “I have changed my signature considerably,” Johnson-Seck replied. “It’s just an E now. So not more than 30 seconds.”

Johnson-Seck also admitted to not reading the affidavits before signing them, not knowing who inputted the information on the documents, and not being aware of how the records were generated. And she acknowledged not signing in the presence of a notary. This resulted in false affidavits being submitted in court cases that attempted to take borrowers’ homes away. ...

OneWest continued filing sketchy documents for years, even after Johnson-Seck revealed the robo-signing scheme. According to a Reuters investigation in 2011, OneWest issued “foreclosure documents of questionable validity,” including filing mortgage assignments that establish ownership of the loan months after the foreclosure action, meaning OneWest (by their own evidence) didn’t own the loan at the time they decided to foreclose on the property.

Republicans look poised for three-part plan to repeal and replace Obamacare

House Republicans seem poised to use a three-part process to repeal and replace Obamacare, as laid out to members in the party’s annual retreat.

The first involves repealing the Affordable Care Act through the reconciliation process, a mechanism that allows only budget bills to be passed in the Senate without being subject to the filibuster. This would effectively change the threshold for passage in the upper chamber from the 60-vote super majority to a simple majority of 51.

The second involves executive actions through the Department of Health and Human Services following the confirmation of Georgia congressman Tom Price, who has been nominated by President Trump to lead the department. The third would be a separate standalone bill.

This three-pronged approach stands in contrast to that outlined by Trump who has urged a replacement “very quickly” after repeal. Pennsylvania Republican Charlie Dent noted to reporters this was “a little different than what leadership had represented at the time”.

Creating Jobs That Destroy The Environment Is Like Hiring Someone To Spit In Your Food

Could you imagine if some eccentric billionaire decided to start paying thousands of people to spit in all the food in Seattle, Washington? ... How crazy would it be if instead of defending the people of Seattle, people started defending the billionaire instead? If they started citing the fact that the billionaire was employing thousands of food spitters as a justification for what he was doing? How crazy would it be if the President of the United States signed an executive order that the food spitting should commence, saying, “This is gonna create a lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs, great food spitting jobs.” ...

This whole argument, that you can’t stop your nation’s ecosystem-killing policies because some people earn their living killing the ecosystem, might just be the single dumbest thing that humans have ever come up with, and we’ve invented war, religion, and Comedy Central.

President Trump ignored the voices of millions and put the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the future of our planet. https://t.co/veEc0AJeeH

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 24, 2017

Never mind the fact that Trump is vastly exaggerating the number of jobs that the construction of the pipelines will create. Never mind the fact that after one or two years of construction there’ll only be 35 permanent jobs at Keystone XL and probably not much more at Dakota Access. Never mind that pipelines are used to make professional transporters like truckers obsolete. I don’t care about any of that right now. I care that the fundamental premise of the argument is absurd. ...

“Well if we stop people from earning a living destroying the environment, we’ll have to let them starve to death. Is that what you want? For them and their children to starve, all for your stupid precious ecosystem?”

That’s not the sort of world I want to live in, where people are forced to wage war upon the ecosystemic context in which our species evolved and upon which our survival is built under threat of poverty and starvation. That is sheer madness and should be fanatically opposed, but it’s upheld as a perfectly normal and sane way of looking at things. If someone finds a way to make money by dumping actual, literal fish poison into the sea, you can bet your ass that Republicans and corporate Dems will all be there cheering them along in the name of job creation.

Thousands Take Part in Emergency Protests over Trump's Move to Revive Pipeline Projects

Iowa oil spill underscores pipeline risks day after Trump revives major projects

Just a day after Donald Trump signed executive orders to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects, a pipeline rupture spilled 138,600 gallons of diesel fuel in northern Iowa.

Magellan Midstream Partners, an Oklahoma company with more than 10,000 miles of oil and ammonium pipeline, acknowledged that the spill began on Wednesday morning in Worth County, Iowa, and said it was “unsure of the cause of the incident at this time”.

The oil has pooled in an agricultural field, according to Karen Grimes of the Iowa department of natural resources (DNR), but cleanup efforts are being somewhat hampered by heavy winds and snow.

The spill does not appear to threaten any waterways and has not caused any injuries or evacuations, according to the company and the DNR.

While the spill in Iowa is “not a major disaster” compared with other spills, said Greenpeace researcher Jesse Coleman, it does draw attention to the risks of pipelines.

Government Scientists at U.S. Climate Conference Terrified to Speak with the Press

While Donald Trump was reviving both the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, muzzling federal employees, freezing EPA contracts, and first telling the EPA to remove mentions of climate change from its website — and then reversing course — many of the scientists who work on climate change in federal agencies were meeting just a few miles from the White House to present and discuss their work.

The mood was understandably gloomy at the National Conference and Global Forum on Science, Policy, and the Environment. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. No one knows what’s going to happen,” one EPA staffer who works on climate issues told me on Tuesday, as she ate her lunch. She had spent much of her time in recent weeks trying to preserve and document the methane-related projects she’s been working on for years. But the prevailing sense was that, Trump’s claims about being an environmentalist notwithstanding, the president is moving forward with his plan to eviscerate environmental protections, particularly those related to climate change, and the EPA itself. ...

Directives have left scientists fearing reprisal for merely mentioning the global crisis that has been at the center of their professional lives for years. It’s the topic “whose name cannot be uttered,” as one Forest Service employee put it to me. A nearby USDA employee offered a series of euphemisms — “extreme weather events, very unusual patterns,” he riffed — before turning serious. “I’m actually scared to talk to you,” he said, turning his hanging name tag inward and backing away from me. The look in his eyes and the tight smiles I received from several federal employees after introducing myself as a reporter reminded me of interviewing scientists in China. My presence inspired fear.

Also of Interest

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

Constitutional Crisis Lurks Behind Trump’s Obsession With His Public Mandate

Tulsi Gabbard Knows More About Syria Than You Do

Read Draft Text Of Trump's Executive Order Limiting Muslim Entry To The U.S.

Mattis, Pompeo stunned by CIA 'black sites' report

Here are the potential sinister motives behind Donald Trump's voter fraud lie

Trump Did Not Fulfill His Day-One Promise to Drain the Swamp

Why the Corrupt, Worker-Hating New Democrats Must Be Purged

Double Standards: Where Were the Liberal Protestors During Obama’s Wars?

National Park Service climate change Twitter campaign spreads to other parks

The Keystone pipeline will create just 35 permanent jobs. Don't believe the lies

Standing Rock Camp Founder Refuses to Shut Down Water Protector Camp

Mark Zuckerberg 'reconsiders' forcing Hawaiians to sell him their land

A Little Night Music

Barbara Dane - I'm On My Way

Barbara Dane and The Chamber Brothers - You've Got to Reap What You Sow

Barbara Dane & Lightnin' Hopkins - I'm Going Back, Baby (Back Behind The Sun)

Barbara Dane - Mama Yancey's Advice, Love with a Feeling

Louis Amstrong and Barbara Dane - Old fashioned love song

Barbara Dane - Go 'Way From My Window

Barbara Dane - Why Don't You Do Right

Barbara Dane - Misery Blues

Barbara Dane W/Frank Hamilton & Bill Lee - Dink's Blues

Barbara Dane - Railroad Bill

Barbara Dane - Ain't Nobody Got the Blues Like Me

Barbara Dane - Hallelujah, I'm a Bum