The Evening Blues - 1-30-17



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Bo Carter

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features early blues artist Bo Carter. Enjoy!

Bo Carter- Arrangement For Me

"If there's anything funnier than watching Lindsey Graham pretending to be heterosexual, it's watching neocons pretending to care about Muslims. These plutocratic hobgoblins have violently ended more Muslim lives than there are stars in the night sky, they're salivating over the prospect of murdering millions more, and we're supposed to believe they care about a few Libyans and Somalis being able to enter the United States?"

-- Caitlyn Johnstone


News and Opinion

Obama Killed a 16-Year-Old American in Yemen. Trump Just Killed His 8-Year-Old Sister.

Two weeks after the 2011 drone killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a separate CIA drone strike in Yemen killed his 16-year-old American-born son, Abdulrahman, along with the boy’s 17-year-old cousin and several other innocent Yemenis. The U.S. eventually claimed that the boy was not their target but merely “collateral damage.” Abdulrahman’s grief-stricken grandfather, Nasser al-Awlaki, urged the Washington Post “to visit a Facebook memorial page for Abdulrahman,” which explained: “Look at his pictures, his friends, and his hobbies His Facebook page shows a typical kid.” ... And a firestorm erupted when former Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs offered a sociopathic justification for killing the Colorado-born teenager, apparently blaming him for his own killing by saying he should have “had a more responsible father.”

In a hideous symbol of the bipartisan continuity of U.S. barbarism, Nasser al-Awlaki just lost another one of his young grandchildren to U.S. violence. On Sunday, the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, using armed Reaper drones for cover, carried out a commando raid on what it said was a compound harboring officials of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. A statement issued by President Trump lamented the death of an American service member and several others who were wounded, but made no mention of any civilian deaths. U.S. military officials initially denied any civilian deaths, and (therefore) the CNN report on the raid said nothing about any civilians being killed.

But reports from Yemen quickly surfaced that 30 people were killed, including 10 women and children. Among the dead: the 8-year-old granddaughter of Nasser al-Awlaki, who was also the daughter of Anwar Awlaki.


As noted by my colleague Jeremy Scahill – who extensively interviewed the grandparents in Yemen for his book and film on Obama’s “Dirty Wars” –  the girl was “was shot in the neck and killed,” bleeding to death over the course of two hours. “Why kill children?,” the grandfather asked. “This is the new (U.S.) administration – it’s very sad, a big crime.”

This is how the New York Times reported the above event:

U.S. Commando Killed in Yemen in Trump’s First Counterterrorism Operation

One American commando was killed and three others were wounded in a fierce firefight early Sunday with Qaeda militants in central Yemen, the military said on Sunday. It was the first counterterrorism operation authorized by President Trump since he took office, and the commando was the first United States service member to die in the yearslong shadow war against Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate.

Members of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 carried out the surprise dawn attack, and the military said that about 14 Qaeda fighters were killed during a nearly hourlong battle. A Qaeda leader — a brother-in-law of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric and top Qaeda leader in Yemen, who died in a drone strike in 2011 — was believed to have been killed.

After initially denying that there were any civilian casualties, American officials said they were assessing reports that women and children had died in the attack.

The military’s Joint Special Operations Command had been planning the mission for months, according to three senior American officials. Obama administration aides had deliberated extensively over the proposed operation, weighing the value of any information that might be recovered against the risk to the Special Operations forces plunging into hostile territory. But administration officials ultimately opted to hand the decision on the mission to their successors. ...

In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump called the raid “successful” and said that it had captured “important intelligence that will assist the U.S. in preventing terrorism against its citizens and people around the world.” He also lamented the loss of the American service member “in our fight against the evil of radical Islamic terrorism.” ...

A Yemeni government official in Bayda Province said the targeted buildings belonged to the Dhahab family, which is known for its ties to Al Qaeda. Two male members of the family have been killed in drone strikes over the past two years.

The Yemeni official said that at least eight women and seven children, ages 3 to 13, had been killed in the raid. Qaeda supporters said that Mr. Awlaki’s young daughter was among the dead and denied that any senior Qaeda leaders had been killed, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist communications.

US - The Trump ban & the first operation in Yemen under his rule

Rachel Maddow Plays Glenn Beck

When Rachel Maddow finished a 26-minute monologue that spanned two segments on her MSNBC program last Thursday night, her grave tones indicated that she thought she’d just delivered a whale of a story. But actually it was more like a minnow — and a specious one at that.

Convoluted and labored, Maddow’s narrative tried to make major hay out of a report from Moscow that a high-ranking Russian intelligence official had been dragged out of a meeting, arrested and charged with treason. Weirdly, Maddow kept presenting that barebones story as verification that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had directly ordered the hacking and release of Democratic campaign emails in order to get Donald Trump elected president.

It was a free-associating performance worthy of Glenn Beck at a whiteboard. Maddow swirled together an array of facts, possible facts, dubious assertions and pure speculation to arrive at conclusions that were based on little more than her zeal to portray Trump as a tool of the Kremlin. Even when sober, Joe McCarthy never did it better.

We might dismiss her performance as just another bit of stagecraft on “MSDNC,” but Maddow was in sync with widespread fear-mongering by pundits and Democratic Party loyalists who think they’re picking some low-hanging fruit to throw at Trump. But what they’re doing is poisonous — and extremely dangerous.

The standard memes demanding hostility toward Putin virtually never address some crucial questions. Such as: What are the plausible results of escalating a new Cold War? Is it wise to push the U.S. government into evermore assertive brinkmanship with Russia? Wouldn’t the degree of success in that endeavor increase the degree of danger that the antagonisms will spiral into a military confrontation and, from there, into a nuclear holocaust?

Micah Zenko, who has done considerable excellent reporting on Obama's flying death robots and his Middle East wars, safe-zones, etc., has some pretty good questions about what Trump is up to with his developing policy of "safe zones" in Syria.

Fifteen Questions Trump Should Answer About His “Safe Zones”

Yesterday, the White House released the readout of a call between President Donald Trump and the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud. The statement featured this remarkable statement: “The President requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts.” ...

If President Trump is now serious about authorizing the U.S. armed forces to implement safe zones (as indicated by his request to the Saudi monarch), he and his senior aides must clarify exactly what he means by this new, expansive, and poorly conceived military mission.

[See article at link for questions. - js]

Trump gives generals 30 days to formulate new anti-ISIS strategy

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Saturday giving the US military 30 days to devise a plan to "defeat" the Islamic State group.

The plan makes good on a key campaign pledge of Trump, who mocked and criticized the slow pace of his predecessor Barack Obama's progress in the fight against the extremist fighters.

The text, which calls for a "comprehensive strategy and plans for the defeat of ISIS," is seen as meaning more US forces and military hardware moving into Iraq and Syria.

Pentagon chief James Mattis is also tasked with recommending changes to US rules of engagement and policy restrictions to eliminate those that "exceed the requirements of international law regarding the use of force against ISIS" under the order, which also seeks to cut the group's financial support.

Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone call to establish "real coordination" against the Islamic State group in Syria, according to the Kremlin.

Greek and Turkish warships in standoff in Aegean sea

Greek and Turkish warships were involved Sunday in a brief faceoff near a group of disputed Greek islets in the Aegean, coinciding with renewed tensions between Athens and Ankara.

The Greek defence ministry said a Turkish navy missile boat, “along with two special forces rafts”, entered Greek territorial waters near the Imia islets.

Located just off the Turkish coast and claimed by Ankara, the uninhabited rocky islets are a historic flashpoint in a long-running demarcation dispute.

Greek coastguard vessels and a navy gunboat shadowed the Turkish group, notifying them of the violation, and the Turks left the area after about seven minutes, the defence ministry said. ...

Sunday’s incident comes amid fresh tension between the two countries, after the Greek supreme court on Thursday blocked the extradition of eight former army officers who had fled to Greece after the failed 15 July coup. Turkey criticised the ruling as “political” and threatened to scrap a “readmission agreement” under which Turkey has been taking in migrants landing illegally in Greece.

Edward Snowden: 'National Security' Really Means Protecting the Status Quo

Trump downgrades the role of military advisers on his National Security Council in favor of Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon will assume a seat on the National Security Council after an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Saturday. The order came as part of an effort to reshuffle and restructure the council, which usually is made up of members of the president’s Cabinet and the military, among others.

The order weakened the roles played by the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, removing them as permanent members of the council’s principals committee. An administration official clarified on Sunday that the Joint Chiefs were still invited to attend all council meetings.

Bannon is the former executive chairman of the right-wing Breitbart News and the president’s chief strategist. He has played a major role in the week-old Trump administration, helping the president to draft a flurry of executive orders including major changes in immigration policy. Now he will be part of the core group, led by retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, tasked with advising Trump on national security and foreign affairs.

The Muslim ban has brought the US close to constitutional crisis

Donald Trump’s White House is plunging the United States into a full-blown constitutional crisis a little more than a week into his administration. One of the prime culprits seems to be his controversial chief strategist: Steve Bannon.

Massive protests sprouted up around the country on Saturday following Trump’s unconstitutional executive order banning all refugees and all travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries – including those with valid visas. But somewhat lost in that news was Bannon’s central role in the controversy and move to consolidate even more power within the government.

On Saturday, Trump installed him on the influential National Security Council (NSC) as part of a radical re-shuffling of the influential White House board of advisers that usually is composed of intelligence and military officials who provide the White House with guidance.


Meanwhile, chaos reigned on Saturday as dozens of immigrants were detained after the executive order was put into force immediately. As CNN reported Saturday night, the mayhem seems to be Bannon’s doing.

DHS lawyers reportedly determined that [the order] did not apply to green card holders and permanent residents, but the White House – led by Steve Bannon – overruled that objection and kept the restrictions on green card holders in place, allowing exemptions on a case by case basis.

Thankfully, several judges put an immediate stay on deporting legitimate green card holders stuck in airports on Saturday night and ordered those still detained get access to lawyers. But the situation got even more bizarre and Orwellian on Sunday: CBP officials at some airports – in direct violation of the court orders – were reportedly still refusing lawyer access and apparently not responding to congressional representatives who were trying to figure out what was going on.

"Let Them In": Thousands Descend on Nation's Airports to Protest Trump's Refugee & Muslim Ban

Trump’s Muslim Ban Is Culmination of War on Terror Mentality but Still Uniquely Shameful

It is not difficult for any decent human being to immediately apprehend why and how Donald Trump’s ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries is inhumane, bigoted, and shameful. ...

The sole ostensible rationale for this ban — it is necessary to keep out Muslim extremists — collapses upon the most minimal scrutiny. The countries that have produced and supported the greatest number of anti-U.S. terrorists — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, UAE — are excluded from the ban list because the tyrannical regimes that run those countries are close U.S. allies. Conversely, the countries that are included — Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Iran, Sudan, and Yemen — have produced virtually no such terrorists; as the Cato Institute documented on Friday night: “Foreigners from those seven nations have killed zero Americans in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil between 1975 and the end of 2015.” Indeed, as of a 2015 study by the New America research center, deaths caused by terrorism from right-wing nationalists since 9/11 have significantly exceeded those from Muslim extremists. ...

Making this worse still is the central role the U.S. government played in the horrors from which many of these now-banned people are fleeing. The suggestion that Trump protected the countries with which he does business is preposterous. The reality is that his highly selective list reflects longstanding U.S. policy: Indeed, Obama restricted visa rights for these same seven countries, and the regimes in Riyadh and Cairo have received special U.S. protection for decades, long before Trump. ...

It is critical to recognize and fight against the unique elements of Trump’s extremism, but also to acknowledge that a substantial portion of it has roots in political and cultural developments that long precede him. Immigration horror stories — including families being torn apart — are nothing new. As ABC News noted last August, “The Obama administration has deported more people than any other president’s administration in history. In fact, they have deported more than the sum of all the presidents of the 20th century.” ...

There are factions on both the center-left and right that are primarily devoted to demonizing Muslims and Islam. A government can get away with bombing, invading, and droning the same group of people for more than 15 years only by constantly demonizing and dehumanizing that group and maintaining high fear levels, which is exactly what the U.S. has done under two successive administrations.

Thus did we witness the spectacle last week of many acting as though Trump’s plans for CIA black sites, torture, and rendition were shocking Trumpian aberrations even though many of those denouncing the plans were the ones who advocated or implemented those policies in the first place or protected those who did from criminal prosecution. Denouncing and opposing Trump should not serve to obscure sins of the recent past or whitewash the seeds planted before him that have allowed him to sprout. Opposing Trump’s assault on basic liberties requires a clear understanding of the framework that gave rise to it.

Trump Lets Saudis Off His ‘Muslim Ban’

President Trump’s ban against letting people from seven mostly Muslim countries enter the United States looks to many like a thinly concealed bias against a religion, but it also is a troubling sign that Trump doesn’t have the nerve to challenge the false terrorism narrative demanded by Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Israeli-Saudi narrative, which is repeated endlessly inside Official Washington, is that Iran is the principal sponsor of terrorism when that dubious honor clearly falls to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Sunni-led Muslim states, including Pakistan, nations that did not make Trump’s list.

The evidence of who is funding and supporting most of the world’s terrorism is overwhelming. All major terrorist groups that have bedeviled the United States and the West over the past couple of decades – from Al Qaeda to the Taliban to Islamic State – can trace their roots back to Sunni-led countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Qatar. ...

Privately, this reality has been recognized by senior U.S. officials, including former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. But that knowledge has failed to change U.S. policy, which caters to the oil-rich Saudis and the politically powerful Israelis.

So, what Trump’s initial foray into the complex issue of terrorism has revealed is that he is unwilling to take on the real nexus of terrorism, just as Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama shied away from a clash with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf sheikdoms.

In the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency, the regional interests of Israel and Saudi Arabia have continued to dictate how Official Washington addresses terrorism.

Trump’s seven-nation list includes Iran, Syria and Sudan as state sponsors of terrorism and Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Libya as countries where there has been terrorist activity. But the governments of Iran and Syria arguably have become two of the leading fighters against the terrorist groups of most concern to the U.S. and European populations.

Iran is aiding both Syria and Iraq in their conflicts with Al Qaeda and Islamic State. Inside Syria, the Syrian army has borne the brunt of that fighting against terror groups funded and armed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and – yes – at least indirectly, the United States. Yet while none of the Al Qaeda/Islamic State benefactors made Trump’s list, Iran and Syria did. ...

Trump’s ban is really a twisted case of “political correctness” purporting to reject “political correctness.” While Trump claims to recognize that it is dangerously naïve to let in Muslims when Islamic terrorism has remained a threat to Americans, Trump has left off his list the most likely sources of terrorists because – to do otherwise – would have negative political consequences in Official Washington.

ACLU: We Have Won the First Victory to Overturn Unconstitutional Muslim Ban, But Fight Continues

Judge Halts Deportations After Protesters Swarm Airports Over Trump’s Order Barring Muslims

A federal judge in New York issued a nationwide temporary injunction, halting the implementation of part of President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration on Saturday night, blocking the deportation of travelers with valid visas detained at airports in the past 24 hours.

Judge Ann Donnelly, a United States District Court Judge in Brooklyn, issued the ruling at an emergency hearing on a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups on Saturday, as Trump’s executive order temporarily banning citizens of seven nations with Muslim majorities from entering the U.S. took immediate effect.

The judge ruled that the government must immediately stop deporting travelers from those nations, including refugees who already went through a rigorous vetting process, and provide a complete list of all those detained, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project Lee Gelernt told reporters in Brooklyn. ...

Robert Howse, professor at New York University Law School, called the ruling “a pretty sweeping order,” but, he noted, it does not say that people in the U.S. have to be released from airport detention. “I think that’s a problem,” he said.


Trump’s refugee ban is causing chaos, protests, and detentions at airports

Asylum-seekers and ordinary travelers from around the world — including dual citizens and U.S. green card holders — faced detention and were denied entry to the United States on Saturday, as security officials began to implement President Trump’s executive order temporarily barring all refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.

In response, protests broke out at airports in several U.S. cities, continuing days of pro-immigrant and pro-refugee actions under the banner #nobannowall, and the ACLU sued the government in an effort to block the order. At J.F.K. airport in New York City, a crowd of protesters continued to grow and reached more than a thousand people by the early evening. Security corralled the group outside Terminal 4 and locked down the building.

It was unclear how many people had been stopped and denied entry or detained around the country. A White House official said the administration was still working to resolve questions about refugees who had already been approved for asylum and were in transit to the U.S. when the order was signed. ...

In an interview with Christian Broadcast Network Friday, Trump confirmed that Christians will be given priority over other refugees. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who came out in support of the order on Friday, maintained the ban did not amount to a religious test. ... Trump was asked again on Saturday whether the order amounted to a Muslim ban. He denied it was and said the measure was “working out very nicely. You can see it at the airports.”

Iran and Iraq Take Steps to Bar Americans in Response to Trump's Muslim Ban

Amid international outcry over U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order barring citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, at least two of those nations are taking steps to ban U.S. citizens from their borders.

Members of the Iraqi parliament voted Monday in favor of a resolution calling on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "respond in kind to the American decision in the event that the American side does not to withdraw its decision," a parliamentary official told Agence France Presse.

While questions remain about whether that ban will extend to the U.S. military or aid organizations, Iraqi lawmakers Kamil al-Ghrairi and Mohammed Saadoun told the Associated Press that "the decision is binding for the government," the news outlet explained.

"Both say the decision was passed by a majority votes in favor but couldn't offer specific numbers," AP reported Monday. "No further details were available on the wording of the parliament decision. It was also not immediately clear who the ban will apply to—American military personnel, non-government and aid workers, oil companies and other Americans doing business in Iraq." ...

Iran has also responded in kind. On Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement blasting the temporary ban as an "imprudent decision" that will only "further promote the campaign of hatred, violence, and extremism." ...

Meanwhile, the Iranian English language newspaper Financial Tribune reported Monday that the republic is "going to stop using the U.S. dollar as its currency of choice in its financial and foreign exchange reports from the new fiscal year that begins in March," per an order from the governor of the Central Bank of Iran.

Sudanese Stanford Ph.D. Student Speaks Out After Being Detained at JFK Under Trump Muslim Ban

Border agents defy courts on Trump travel ban, congressmen and lawyers say

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents defied the orders of federal judges regarding Donald Trump’s travel bans on Sunday, according to members of Congress and attorneys who rallied protests around the country in support of detained refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

On Sunday afternoon, four Democratic members of the House of Representatives arrived at Dulles airport in Virginia on word that people had been detained and denied access to lawyers.

“We have a constitutional crisis today,” representative Don Beyer wrote on Twitter. “Four members of Congress asked CBP officials to enforce a federal court order and were turned away.”

Representative Jamie Raskin, also at the airport, tweeted that the federal agency had given “no answers yet” about whether agents were ignoring the courts. Raskin joined several other attorneys there, including Damon Silvers, special counsel at AFL-CIO, one of the groups trying to help visa holders.

“As far as I know no attorney has been allowed to see any arriving passenger subject to Trumps exec order at Dulles today,” Silvers tweeted on Sunday evening. “CBP appears to be saying people in their custody not ‘detained’ technically & Dulles international arrivals areas not in the United States.”

“Rogue customs and Border Patrol agents continue to try to get people on to planes,” Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, told reporters on Sunday morning at JFK airport in New York. “A lot of people have been handcuffed, a lot of people who don’t speak English are being coerced into taking involuntary departures.”

Trump defends travel ban and lashes out at GOP critics McCain and Graham

Donald Trump and his advisers have stood firm after a weekend of outrage over his vague and chaotically enforced ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries.

On Sunday afternoon, while attorneys argued with customs and border officials over the fate of people still detained at airports around the country, the US president released a statement that insisted on the legality – and non-religious premise – of his orders to temporarily halt the admission of refugees and ban some travel.

“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” Trump said. ...
In his statement on Sunday, the president compared his order to a 2011 decision by Barack Obama to delay visas for Iraqis, and said Obama’s White House had chosen the seven countries singled out in his order. ...

Earlier on Sunday, two prominent Republican senators broke with the president over his order, warning that it betrayed American values by turning away refugees and green-card holders.

“Such a hasty process risks harmful results,” John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a joint statement. “We fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism.”

In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, McCain said that the order “in some areas will give Isis some more propaganda”.


World leaders urge Trump to rethink his “unfair” ban on refugees

World leaders, activists and rights groups were quick to condemn President Trump’s executive order prohibiting citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia — from entering the U.S.

On Saturday, Germany’s Angela Merkel used part of her first phone call with President Trump to discuss the Geneva refugee convention rules. Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said the German chancellor regretted Trump’s decision and was convinced that the “battle against terrorism does not justify a general suspicion against people of a certain origin or a certain religion.”

French President François Hollande was less reserved and warned Trump that “In an unstable and uncertain world, turning inward would be a dead-end.”

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the ban by reiterating his country’s policy of welcoming all refugees regardless of their faith.

Forget protest. Trump's actions warrant a general national strike

On the morning after Donald Trump’s so-called Muslim ban went into effect – preventing all Syrians from entering the US, halting refugee admissions for 120 days and banning the citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days – I received an affecting email featuring the photographs and names of Jewish men, women and children who died in Nazi concentration camps because “the US turned me away at the border in 1939”.

Now, America is repeating its mistakes of the past. But our fellow citizens did not stand by idly as this happened. On Saturday, a large crowd of protesters had gathered outside Terminal Four at John F Kennedy international airport, and similar demonstrations were in progress at airports across the country.

These protests succeeded in several significant ways. Two Iraqi men, Hameed Khalid Darweesh (a former interpreter for the US military) and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi were released, through the valiant efforts of ACLU lawyers. Ann Donnelly, a federal judge in Brooklyn, as well as federal judges in Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington, ruled that those still being held in detention could not be sent back to their home countries. ...

One reason that Saturday’s protests were so effective was that, while peaceful, they were disruptive. Terminal Four was closed, incoming flights were delayed. ... And economic boycotts – another sort of trouble and inconvenience – have proved remarkably successful in persuading companies to cease supporting repressive governments. ... So what can we do to protest our current government’s callousness about our environment and our health, its rampant greed, its disrespect for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

I believe that what we need is a nonviolent national general strike of the kind that has been more common in Europe than here. Let’s designate a day on which no one (that is, anyone who can do so without being fired) goes to work, a day when no one shops or spends money, a day on which we truly make our economic and political power felt, a day when we make it clear: how many of us there are, how strong and committed we are, how much we can accomplish.

Meanwhile, in Obamacare: Republican disarray follows Trump’s first order

Donald Trump has been in office for just a week, but Republican attempts to rip up and reassemble the American healthcare system have subsided into disagreement, backtracking and public outrage.

At a GOP retreat in Philadelphia this week, audio of a closed-door policy session captured disagreement among rank-and-file members over how to reform the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known to many as Obamacare. Some worried that the party was about to “pull the rug out” from people, potentially leaving millions without any insurance at all. ...

On his arrival in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order to begin the unraveling of the ACA, instructing federal agencies to take any measures available to “ease the burdens of Obamacare”. Developments since highlight the political minefield Republicans have created for themselves, particularly after Trump, consistently inconsistent, promised both “insurance for everyone” and ACA repeal.

The leaked recording from Philadelphia revealed how some party members worried about political fallout, according to the Washington Post.

“We’re telling those people that we’re not going to pull the rug out from under them,” said Tom MacArthur of New Jersey. “And if we do this too fast, we are in fact going to pull the rug out from under them.”

Federal Reserve Bankers Mocked Unemployed Americans Behind Closed Doors

IN 2011, unemployment was at a near crisis level. The jobless rate was stuck around 9 percent nationally, an unusually high number due to the continuing effects of the financial crash. ...

The Federal Reserve’s mandate is to promote “maximum employment,” which essentially means: print enough money so that everyone who wants one has a job. Yet according to transcripts released this month after the traditional five-year waiting period, Federal Reserve officials in November 2011 were debating whether unemployment was caused by bad work ethics and drug use – rather than by the greatest financial crisis in 80 years. This debate then factored into the argument over setting monetary policy.

“I frequently hear of jobs going unfilled because a large number of applicants have difficulty passing basic requirements like drug tests or simply demonstrating the requisite work ethic,” said Dennis Lockhart, a former Citibank executive who ran the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. “One contact in the staffing industry told us that during their pretesting process, a majority—actually, 60 percent of applicants—failed to answer ‘0’ to the question of how many days a week it’s acceptable to miss work.”

The room of central bankers then broke into laughter.

Trump Shut Down White House Comment Line, So This Tool Lets You Call One of His Businesses to Complain

The digital team behind Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential primary run, Revolution Messaging, has launched a creative way for people to lodge complaints against the right-wing Trump administration while calling attention to the president's continued refusal to fully divest from his business empire.

Visitors to WhiteHouseInc.org are asked for their phone number and then connected with a Trump property. "You may be asked to make a reservation or a tee-time, but tell management that until Trump steps away from his businesses for real, their property is no different from the Oval Office and you want to talk about the issues that matter most," the website reads. 

It continues:

By not divesting himself from his businesses, he's actually creating satellite White Houses all over the world. That means we have dozens of phone numbers we can use to reach the president and discuss the issues that matter most.

Foreign leaders and Wall Street executives know that if they want to reach out to our President, they can just connect with his business associates. Now the American people have a direct line to Trump too.

The group says it has thus far connected more than 10,000 calls.



the evening greens


Donald Trump Puts Coal Lobbyist in Charge of Prosecuting Environmental Crimes

A lobbyist for a utility company that heavily relies on coal-fueled power plants and has clashed with regulators is the new acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Department of Justice division that oversees environmental crimes.

The appointment of Jeffery H. Wood, who up until last week was a lobbyist for Southern Company, was announced only with a modest notice posted on January 23 on the Environment and Natural Resource Division’s website.

It’s the latest personnel move that signals the coal industry’s return to power in the Beltway.

President Trump has yet to nominate anyone to hold the assistant attorney general job on a permanent basis, but for the time being Wood will be overseeing the division that enforces civil and criminal environmental laws to reduce pollutants discharged into the air, water and land, and brings cases to enable the clean-up of contaminated waste sites.

Anti-pipeline activists and film-makers face prison, raising fears for free press

Climate change activists and film-makers who documented their anti-pipeline demonstrations are facing criminal charges and hefty prison sentences, with cases across the US that have raised concerns about press intimidation and the targeting of peaceful protesters.

The slew of upcoming trials, beginning on Monday in Washington state, stem from a series of coordinated actions on 11 October 2016 aimed at shutting down oil sands pipelines. Nine criminal cases include several filed against film-makers and live-streamers who recorded protesters closing the emergency valves on pipelines but did not directly participate in the disruptions.

“These activists are responding to a climate emergency,” said Steve Liptay, a film-maker facing trespassing and aiding and abetting charges in Minnesota, where he documented protesters shutting down two Enbridge pipelines. “As media, we have to tell their stories.” ...

The October #ShutItDown protests were organized in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s fight against the Dakota Access pipeline. Those demonstrations have also led to serious criminal charges, including a case against radio host Amy Goodman, which a judge eventually rejected.

Two well-known documentary film-makers, who had faced decades in prison for filming the 11 October actions, have since had charges suspended or dismissed. But several activists who live-streamed and filmed the actions, including Liptay, are now preparing for trials alongside five demonstrators who were directly responsible for shutting down pipeline valves. Charges include mischief, criminal damage, trespassing and conspiracy.

Facing Decades in Prison, Climate Activist Says We Have 'No Choice But Direct Action'

Amid a growing state-level crackdown on civil disobedience, climate activist Ken Ward appeared at the Skagit County Superior Courthouse in Washington state on Monday resolute in the face of a potential 30-year sentence because, he says, Americans now have no option but to take radical action to defend our planet.

Ward is one of five activists facing trial for taking part in a coordinated direct action last October, which shut down all the Canada-U.S. tar sands pipelines in solidarity with the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance. Ward was arrested for closing a safety valve on Kinder-Morgan's TransMountain Pipeline in Anacortes, Washington, along with documentarians Lindsay Grizzel and Carl David.

As the first "valve turner," as they call themselves, to appear in court, Ward's trial has "far-reaching implications for the widening pipeline protest movement and the intensifying crackdown against it," according to the Climate Disobedience Center, which is among the organizations that is arguing on the activists' behalf.

The groups, which also include the Climate Defense Project and the Civil Liberties Defense Center, had prepared a necessity defense for the trial, which argues that an action was done in the public interest, on behalf of the planet.

Ward had claimed a similar defense after he and another activist in 2013 were charged with conspiracy and disturbing the peace for blocking a coal freighter with a lobster boat. In that landmark case, the Massachusetts district attorney dropped the charges after agreeing with the activists.

But, in this case, the judge "has barred Ward's lawyers from formally mounting a 'necessity' defense or arguing that his actions were justified in light of a looming environmental crisis," according to Reuters. "Ward, however, said he would try to make that case from the witness stand."


Also of Interest

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

Does Rachel Maddow Want Russia Bombed?

Six other times the US has banned immigrants

German Ambassador 1933: "Hostility to Jews Aimed Mainly at 'Immigrants'"

Gabbard allies rush to her defense after Assad meeting

Mexicans mull response to Trump's wall: let migrants through – or boycott McDonald's?

Trumpsters And Neocons Are In A Cut Throat Proxy Fight For The GOP, And It’s Delicious

The Chaos President

Silicon Valley Is Letting Trump Get Away With It

24 under Trump: why the hit show's use of torture is all-too-relevant

Should Officials Resign When the Government Goes Crazy?

Texas Is Leading the Right-Wing Crusade Against Planned Parenthood

U.S. Seeks to Double Video Surveillance Towers Along Mexican Border

Things Just Got Serious in Europe’s War on Cash

Here’s how we know Trump’s cabinet picks are wrong on human-caused global warming

Single Payer Engineer Rips Duplicitous Democrats

The True Enemy Of Progress Isn't The GOP, It's The Democratic Establishment

Milky Way being pushed through space by cosmic dead zone, say scientists


A Little Night Music

Bo Carter - Let Me Roll Your Lemon

Bo Carter - The Ins And Outs Of My Girl

Bo Carter - Let's Get Drunk Again

Bo Carter - Doubled Up In A Knot

Bo Carter - Pussy Cat Blues

Bo Carter - Who's Been Here?

Bo Carter - I Get The Blues

Bo Carter - She's Your Cook But She Burns My Bread Sometimes

Bo Carter - Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me

Bo Carter- The Law Gonna Step On You

Bo Carter- Pin In Your Cushion



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Comments

In the course of what Trump believes was a “successful” raid, they also crashed a $72 million MV-22 Osprey aircraft.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

joe shikspack's picture

@rmwarnick

trump owns it, but we pay the rent. considering the trillions that bush and obama before trump have spent to spread death and destruction, an osprey helicopter is small change.

"success" is damnably expensive.

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to say now "We honor your service"

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

joe shikspack's picture

@duckpin

yah, i can usually working up to feeling thankful that someone is willing to protect the folks back home while i think very dark thoughts about the kind of people that send them out to hustle as the shock troops of american capital.

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Lookout's picture

First evening I've been around to catch the EB early...I've been reading the next morning and not commenting. Just want to say this is the best news around anywhere that I've found. I sure appreciate all your work to put it together.

They're not worried about the constitution...they're planning to write their own
http://inthesetimes.com/article/19811/constitutional-convention-of-state...

Lee Camp takes CNN to task for finally noticing Standing Rock and the environment...mildly entertaining (10 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX5veXAEyOM

All the protests have been encouraging. When they shut down flights, that hits 'em in the pocketbook...where they're sensitive.

We need to start an advertising campaign...
stand up.jpg

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

i've been thinking for a while that it would be a good idea for the left to put together its own constitution so as to have a position to negotiate from when the republicans get up owning 34 state governments.

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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

heh, i remember when my daughter brought green day home years ago, it seemed like everything old was new again. i went down to the basement and dragged my old punk albums out for her.

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link

With al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front having launching major offensives against rival groups in the Idlib Province, the “moderate Islamist” group Ahrar al-Sham announced the formation of a coalition of Islamist forces to resist Nusra in northwest Syria, leading to even heavier fighting.
Undaunted, the Nusra Front today announced the formation of what they’re calling the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist coalition of their own which will include the US-backed Nour al-Din al-Zinki and several other groups which have long allied with them.
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CB's picture

@gjohnsit
I suppose this tells us who the REAL "moderates" are.

Hundreds of rebels reconcile with the government, drop their weapons in Dara’a province
Dara’a, Syria – Over 600 people including 280 armed rebels turned themselves in to the Syrian authorities making use of the government’s amnesty offer in Dara’a province.
...
A source revealed that such a process may include the entire Dara’a region including the provincial capital. Noticeably, Syria’s southern fronts have been dormant for most of the past year only occasionally interrupted by a failed rebel offensive targeting the abandoned base near Ibta’.

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CB's picture

@gjohnsit
that surrounds this US backed "moderate rebel" group

Child-Beheading-Terrorist Supporter Wins Getty and Sunday Times “Defining Images” Award 2016
January 28, 2017 By Vanessa Beeley
...
Raslan gave a tear-jerking account of his role in Omran’s rescue and the taking of the arresting image:

“While taking the photo and looking at the boy, I was crying, while pleased that I was doing my job and taking a powerful photo. I wanted the focus to be clear. When I really started to sob was when I saw the eight-year-old sister of Omran. His sister was as calm as him and she had a similar injury in the face and eye. She made me cry 10 times stronger. We are humans, we are people. I was crying for the children and fearing that my daughter may go through the same experience.”
...
The only problem is, Raslan was far from an innocent observer of a child’s plight. He was swiftly identified as the supporter and selfie-taker appearing with Syria’s militant extremist group, Nour Al Din Zinki, notoriously noted for their brutal torture, humiliation and public beheading of 12 year old Palestinian child, Abdullah Issa.
...
The response from Bette Lynch (BBC) is without hesitation:

“No I dont..and I think it comes back to the truthfulness of imagery and where the images are sourced from and that they are reliable photojournalists.”

Reliable photojournalists” like Mahmoud Raslan photographed here with Nour Al Din Zinki and wearing the Zinki headband, thus affiliating himself with this group of child torturing, US funded, extremist mercenaries, who participated in the Nusra Front/Al Qaeda-led brutal occupation of East Aleppo for almost five years.
...
Yes, children must be protected from the horror of war but right now they are being used to prolong the horror of war. Getty Images, and the Sunday Times just awarded an Al Qaeda affiliate, a prize for child exploitation. The BBC failed to condemn this media, universal, platforming of extremism in Syria, because the BBC is an integral part of the terrorist cheerleading apparatus. This nomalisation of terrorism and extremism is a disease that is sweeping the corporate media channels in the west and it must be eradicated before we, the public, are irrevocably infected by its perversion of the facts.

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joe shikspack's picture

@gjohnsit

it looks like there is a realignment of power happening on the ground in syria and nusra is consolidating forces. nusra wiped out one smaller "moderate" terrorist groups for negotiating in kazakhstan last week. my guess is that they are digging in for the long haul.

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CB's picture

Bon Appétit!

Trumpsters And Neocons Are In A Cut Throat Proxy Fight For The GOP, And It’s Delicious
...
Ha! How sweet is that? Tell me that doesn't make you just a teensy bit happy that Trump won. This is everything the average Trump voter was hoping for; just toss the reality TV star and WWE Hall-of-Famer in with the Washington elites and watch him smash stuff like a bull in a china shop. For ages I've been dying to hear someone in power call these bloodthirsty war criminals what they are, to just say "Oh shut up, you only want death and destruction, go away," and now finally that's happened. It hasn't happened how I was hoping, and it certainly hasn't happened how I was expecting, but by God it happened, and now the slow death of the Republican party can commence. Praise Kek and hallelujah, let us dance and piss on its grave.
...
The conflict is happening because the agendas of the neocons and the Trumpite nationalists could not be more diametrically opposed in a number of crucial areas. Just like Hillary Clinton, who is herself nothing other than a neocon with a pro-choice bumper sticker, the neocons dream of "open trade and open borders," where America is up to its elbows in the affairs of the rest of the world, politically, economically, and militarily. Trump has been consistently advocating a rollback of American interventionism, to the point of being increasingly (and inaccurately) accused of isolationism. He's been killing the predatory trade deals the neocons adore, and far from "open trade with open borders," he's been threatening businesses with penalties for moving US jobs overseas. So we've got ourselves a political proxy fight.

Which is of course awesome. We on the left get to just grab some popcorn, kick back and watch the fun. Both sides suck so it barely matters who wins, and there's a possibility they'll rip each other apart so bad the whole diseased party collapses in on itself. It's a privilege we should relish, because we progressives have a proxy fight of our own to deal with on our side of the aisle which will get even uglier if we do it right.

But for now, let's enjoy the spectacle. It's what the good people of America voted for, after all.

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joe shikspack's picture

@CB

it would indeed be a delight if both major parties splintered and the duopoly fell apart.

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CS in AZ's picture

The great music helps make the news tolerable to read, even though it's nerve wracking. Things are getting wild real fast under Trumpolini.

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joe shikspack's picture

@CS in AZ

it is getting interesting. if every time trump does something stupid (which appears like it will be a regular occurrence) people get out in the streets, this could get even more interesting pretty fast.

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Azazello's picture

I don't watch it, but I swear some MSNBC viewers have been driven completely around the bend, so to speak. Rachel Maddow seems particularly unhinged.
Here's an oldie but goodie:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqPc7pqhk3I 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.

Bollox Ref's picture

@Azazello @Azazello
We don't have either Fox or MSNBC. A recent guest, who wanted to check up on Maddow's reaction to the recent marches, was left puzzled.

We're more than happy to not be bamboozled by either 'news' channel.

(Edited)

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

CB's picture

@Azazello @Azazello
rabid following of dead-ender Hillary sycophants.

Does Rachel Maddow Want Russia Bombed?
Here’s why I ask. Maddow devotes many minutes on MSNBC stirring up hatred of Russia in order to establish that there is a vague possibility that President Donald Trump might be corrupted by a foreign government.
...
I asked observant media critic Norman Solomon (with whom I work at RootsAction.org) what he thought of Maddow’s performance, and he replied:

“Maddow’s 25-minute soliloquy was a liberal version of Glenn Beck at the whiteboard. Her plot line was the current Democratic party line — free-associating facts, possible facts, dubious assertions and pure speculation to arrive at conclusions that were based on little more than her zeal to portray Trump as a tool of the Kremlin. Even when sober, Joe McCarthy never did it better.

“We might dismiss her performance as just another bit of stagecraft on ‘MSDNC,’ but Maddow is in sync with widespread fear-mongering by pundits and Democratic Party loyalists who think they’re picking some low-hanging fruit to throw at Trump. But what they’re doing is poisonous — and extremely dangerous. Escalate a new Cold War? Push the U.S. government into evermore assertive brinkmanship? Push the world to the precipice of nuclear holocaust and maybe over it? Humanity deserves better than mega-propaganda that could lead to the world blowing up.”

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joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

since i refuse to pay for teevee, i suppose that i won't get to watch rachel maddow slide away into full dementia. whenever i see clips, it appears that she is in meltdown and it shouldn't be long before she will be raving and drooling on air.

thanks for the clip!

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Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack Here's what I'm wondering. Many of have older relatives, parents maybe, who watch Fox News all the time and believe the nonsense that they hear there. They just can't be reasoned with. As we, the children of the 60s, grow older will we be the same way, raving about how Putin hacked the voting machines because we saw it on Rachel's show ? Will our kids see us watching MSNBC when they visit and shake their heads, thinking "poor deluded old fools" ?

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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

i think it will be more like, "my parents have a teevee, but they don't have an xbox, they actually watch news on it. what a bunch of silly old dears!" Smile

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack he has gone first where Rachel is heading. The recent clip of him i saw he was shouting about how the Russians had invaded this country and dammit we have to do something about it! Right GD now!
It's totally amazing that both of them have become parodies of themselves since I watched them during the Bush years.
I quit watching Rachel when she wasn't holding Obama to the same standards she held Bush to.
Not one word from her about his drone program, kill list and his assaults on Libya and Syria.
I caught glimpses of her at my aunt's house and couldn't tolerate watching her.
They are THE definition of hypocrites when they stayed silent about Obama doing the same things that Bush did.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

my first thought was, oh, i'm glad to see him back. then shortly after he got started, i thought, "he's gone off his nut!"

then i realized that he's actually just a manipulative slime and probably has been all along, but i didn't notice it because he was previously exercised about many of the right things.

it's a reminder that you don't near the mainstream media unless you toe the party line.

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CS in AZ's picture

@Azazello

I stopped listening to Rachel Maddow a long time ago, back when I still agreed with a lot what she said, because of her incredibly annoying habit of repeating herself about 30 times on every point, like she is so entertained and amazed by her (often obvious) insights that she just can't say it too many times. Really grating.

When I see clips of her now, especially the recent rantings about Russia, I can't even stand it for a minute. She's really lost it.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

compared Trump's Muslim ban to the Holocaust.

Anyone think she'd have gone full on Godwin if Trump had imposed his ban on Russian emigres instead?

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

joe shikspack's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger

i would imagine that all trump has to do is switch positions and make putin and russia the enemy and maddow and her ilk will change their position so fast it will give you whiplash. the important thing is to be in rabid opposition, after all.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@joe shikspack

More cartoons.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

joe shikspack's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger

they are cartoons. they are somehow turning themselves into 2 dimensional characters, predictable and with cartoon dynamics.

i would not be in the least bit surprised to see smoke coming out of maddow's ears. Smile

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@joe shikspack @joe shikspack
Go way back together.

The great irony of course is that Rachel launches into two minutes of hate against Russia and then presumes to lecture us on Nazi History.

Talk about show and tell.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

snoopydawg's picture

I got a good laugh out of it. And how true is it? Smile

In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump called the raid “successful” and said that it had captured “important intelligence that will assist the U.S. in preventing terrorism against its citizens and people around the world.” He also lamented the loss of the American service member “in our fight against the evil of radical Islamic terrorism.” ...

Isn't this what they always tell us after they kill some terrorists which they think makes the murdering of innocent civilians worth it? And of course the American people buy it.
The troops are fighting hard to defend this country and our freedoms.

I posted this question last night when I linked to the article about the commando who died.
How was it legal for Obama to put troops in Yemen without getting congressional approval first? There is nothing in the 2003 AUMF that would give him the power to do that.
I know that if he had asked for approval he would have gotten it, but he didn't.

I agree that what would get the elites attention is big boycotts when possible. But more people need to be hurting in order for that to work. The country is still too divided for this to be successful.

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

@snoopydawg

who it is. And they assume that any male, ~15 years old and up, is a militant - guilty until proven innocent. But they're dead anyway, along with the women and children.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

How was it legal for Obama to put troops in Yemen without getting congressional approval first?

i think that it is completely illegal. the us has been involved in hostilities in yemen for far longer than the 90 days that the war powers act allows, and by any reasonable reading of the law obama (and now trump) should have to obtain a congressional declaration of war in order to continue armed intervention in yemen.

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MarilynW's picture

"US - The Trump ban & the first operation in Yemen under his rule" -
Some people agree that the ban and the operation in Yemen are one event. It's possible that the ban was created to shock, distract and divide the people while the operation which killed many civilians took place. Add Bannon promoting himself to replace the Generals on the Security Council as another action kept behind the scenes by the "shock event"

This professor calls the ban a "shock event" and describes its purpose here but she doesn't reveal what is behind it, from what are we being distracted?

From Heather Richardson, professor of History at Boston College:
"I don't like to talk about politics on Facebook-- political history is my job, after all, and you are my friends-- but there is an important non-partisan point to make today.
What Bannon is doing, most dramatically with last night's ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries-- is creating what is known as a "shock event." Such an event is unexpected and confusing and throws a society into chaos. People scramble to react to the event, usually along some fault line that those responsible for the event can widen by claiming that they alone know how to restore order.
When opponents speak out, the authors of the shock event call them enemies. As society reels and tempers run high, those responsible for the shock event perform a sleight of hand to achieve their real goal, a goal they know to be hugely unpopular, but from which everyone has been distracted as they fight over the initial event. There is no longer concerted opposition to the real goal; opposition divides along the partisan lines established by the shock event.
Last night's Executive Order has all the hallmarks of a shock event. It was not reviewed by any governmental agencies or lawyers before it was released, and counterterrorism experts insist they did not ask for it. People charged with enforcing it got no instructions about how to do so. Courts immediately have declared parts of it unconstitutional, but border police in some airports are refusing to stop enforcing it. Predictably, chaos has followed and tempers are hot.
My point today is this: unless you are the person setting it up, it is in no one's interest to play the shock event game. It is designed explicitly to divide people who might otherwise come together so they cannot stand against something its authors think they won't like.
I don't know what Bannon is up to-- although I have some guesses-- but because I know Bannon's ideas well, I am positive that there is not a single person whom I consider a friend on either side of the aisle-- and my friends range pretty widely-- who will benefit from whatever it is.
If the shock event strategy works, though, many of you will blame each other, rather than Bannon, for the fallout. And the country will have been tricked into accepting their real goal.
But because shock events destabilize a society, they can also be used positively. We do not have to respond along old fault lines. We could just as easily reorganize into a different pattern that threatens the people who sparked the event.
A successful shock event depends on speed and chaos because it requires knee-jerk reactions so that people divide along established lines. This, for example, is how Confederate leaders railroaded the initial southern states out of the Union.
If people realize they are being played, though, they can reach across old lines and reorganize to challenge the leaders who are pulling the strings. This was Lincoln's strategy when he joined together Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers, anti-Nebraska voters, and nativists into the new Republican Party to stand against the Slave Power.
Five years before, such a coalition would have been unimaginable. Members of those groups agreed on very little other than that they wanted all Americans to have equal economic opportunity. Once they began to work together to promote a fair economic system, though, they found much common ground. They ended up rededicating the nation to a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Confederate leaders and Lincoln both knew about the political potential of a shock event. As we are in the midst of one, it seems worth noting that Lincoln seemed to have the better idea about how to use it."
COPY AND PASTE. DON"T "SHARE"

I didn't go along with the description "Kabuki Theatre" at first but now I am convinced.

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To thine own self be true.

joe shikspack's picture

@MarilynW

i agree with heather richardson. i have been expecting trump to organize regular outrages on a number of fronts, expecting to lose ground on what he views as the less important social wedge issues while his crew of right-wing business executives loots the treasury and destroys the regulatory agencies.

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CS in AZ's picture

@MarilynW

I still object to referring to what they did as "kabuki" because it seems to erase the real harm done to real people.

But Steve Bannon is the man pulling Trump's strings, he's a very dangerous person. The outrage over the airport detentions and travel ban covered up his coup in taking over the NSC, very convenient. And very worrying.

I like the part where she says people can use these shock events to turn the tables. I hope that's possible and somehow will happen. For now people seem too disoriented to think clearly, but I have to keep hoping a real resistance movement will emerge.

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MarilynW's picture

@CS in AZ
and I'm hoping the people won't fall for Bannon's plan to divide the people even more than they are already divided.

More shock events today, firing the acting AG and gag orders to the rest of the government employees ("either agree with us or leave.")

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To thine own self be true.

Raggedy Ann's picture

Great interview on Democracy Now! Nisrin Amin is friends with a dear friend of mine, who was out of her mind that Nisrin wouldn't get back to the states. Her story is incredible and indicative of what is yet to come. They've only just started. It does not bode well for America. The people must rise up and show the world that we are against this fascist, plutocrat, and oligarchy. We must protest everything.

The Women's March was a valuable movement, because it got America moving. I knew it's purpose was going to show itself to all. I took part and knew it was the first important step to what we will be doing most days for the next four years.

The idiot dem-asses have their fingers in their asses and can't figure out how to stop the madness. Their ineffectiveness is slapping them silly and they are still acting like helpless children. Am I even making sense?

I'm incensed!

Have a beautiful evening, folks. *anemojishootingitselfinthehead* 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

The people must rise up and show the world that we are against this fascist, plutocrat, and oligarchy. We must protest everything.

that's a start, but merely reacting to trump and the republicans is not enough. we have to put forward our own demands and force them down the throats of our congressworms. progressive ideas are popular ideas and this would be a great time to put them out there as alternatives to trumpism.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@joe shikspack I agree wholeheartedly. Thanks for reminding me to contact my congresscritters at every turn.

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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

Saw a headline that only 25% want the Patriots to win the Superbowl. Then I saw an article today which read "Scholars, activists worry that Donald Trump is using Putin playbook to hobble resistance." Apparently the ban on immigrants is straight out of Putin's playbook. I did a search on "Putin's playbook", and holy sheets--there a hundreds of articles over the last year on "Putin's playbook". God damnit, does anybody have a copy of this playbook? Does Wikileaks know about it?

Is the success of the NE Patriots due to having Putin's playbook? Brady after all is a Trump fan, which makes him a fan of Putin. And the nation is against the Patriots.

But really, if you want to see a propaganda echo chamber, search google for "Putin's playbook".

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joe shikspack's picture

@MrWebster

heh, that must be a pretty large playbook considering how often it seems to be the source of winning strategies. it seems like most of the time i see the "putin playbook" come up it is a sort of sour grapes, "damnit he won again," sort of commentary.

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Crider's picture

This one made me chuckle. The Trump people have fired the Acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, who is a holdover from the Obama administration, for refusing to defend the Muslim Ban in courts. Part of Yate's statement:

My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts. In addition, I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to
always seek justice and stand for what is right. At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful.

Indeed. I think the executive order was deliberately set up to make chaos -- being enforced immediately and on a Saturday, etc. Yates had a limited amount of time anyway to be the AG since I'm sure Beauregard will be confirmed Real Soon Now.

I finally got my passport in the mail! I'm backpacking to Canada this spring, summer and fall from the Mexican border on the Pacific Crest Trail. I hope the idiot Trumpeteers don't close down the National Parks for everybody's sake.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Crider

heh, that is pretty funny. it looks like parting from service to trump is becoming a sort of artform, perhaps there ought to be a panel of judges with diving cards. Smile

wow, the pacific crest trail, huh? that's awesome! i always wanted to do that when i was younger and never got the time to do it. i had to settle for segments of the appalachian trail. now, i don't think that even in the best shape i can get in that i could pull off the pacific crest trail which from what i hear is a much more difficult hike than the appalachian trail.

please take lots of pictures and when possible let us know all about it.

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Crider's picture

@joe shikspack @joe shikspack @joe shikspack
I'm leaving April 10.

[edit] Now I read Trump has fired Daniel Ragsdale, Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday night.

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janis b's picture

What a mixture of mind-boggling news and encouragement in the form of protests.

I like Chris Trotter's latest contribution ...

It is unnerving to discover that today’s headlines are best explained by a man who died in 118 BC. Perhaps it’s the extreme unpredictability of global events – especially the Trump Presidency – that makes this possible. So many people are disorientated and dismayed by their discovery that the news no longer fits into the explanatory frameworks they have relied upon to make sense of political and economic behaviour.
 
This is where Polybius comes in.
 
Polybius was an historian who looked for patterns in the chaotic spectacle of human affairs. He was interested especially in the way people governed themselves. There were, he said, three “benign” forms of  government: Monarchy – rule by the one; Aristocracy – rule by the few; and Democracy – rule by the many. Unfortunately, these three benign forms were dogged by their malignant shadows: Tyranny – misrule by the one; Oligarchy – misrule by the few; and Ochlocracy – misrule by the mob.

Enjoy the rest of your evening ...

[video:https://youtu.be/JcGtKojv5UY]

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