The Evening Blues - 2-14-17
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features boogie woogie pianist Pete Johnson. Enjoy!
Joe Turner's Orchestra w/Pete Johnson - Radar Blues
"All the public business in Congress now connects itself with intrigues, and there is great danger that the whole government will degenerate into a struggle of cabals."
-- John Quincy Adams
News and Opinion
The first scalp is taken.
Michael Flynn resigns, leading to new questions about White House links to Russia
Donald Trump’s national security adviser has resigned his position just three weeks into the new administration, after admitting he misled Vice President Mike Pence and discussed sanctions with Russia before he took office.
Instead of damping down the controversy, Michael Flynn’s resignation has instead raised more questions about how much Trump knew about his conversations with Russia and has led to calls for a deeper investigation into the administration’s links with the Kremlin.
A forlorn Flynn was seen entering the Oval Office at 8.20 p.m. Monday, and soon after the White House distributed his resignation letter, which said: “I inadvertently briefed the vice president elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the president and the vice president, and they have accepted my apology.”
Flynn’s resignation came just hours after a report in the Washington Post revealed that the Justice Department had briefed Trump late last month about the issue, suggesting that Flynn could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail. Democrats are now asking who else within the White House could be seen as a security risk.
Dems blast Chaffetz for declining to investigate Flynn
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee ripped into Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Monday for ignoring their requests to investigate White House national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia.
In a letter to Chaffetz, the committee’s Democrats called on him to reconsider his decision to pass on probing whether Flynn had inappropriate contact with Russia. The request comes in the midst of reports that Flynn discussed sanctions imposed by President Obama with Russia's U.S. ambassador during the transition and then allegedly misled Vice President Pence about the conversations.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the panel’s ranking Democrat, had also called on Chaffetz to investigate Flynn’s appearance at an event celebrating the Kremlin-aligned news outlet RT with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2015, along with whether he potentially violated federal law and deceived members of the Trump administration after speaking with the Russian ambassador about lifting sanctions put in place to respond to Moscow's alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election.
Trump security adviser Flynn resigns after leaks suggest he tried to cover up Russia talks
Flynn’s – and the Trump administration’s – problems run far deeper than the December phone calls with Kisilyak. The former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) chief is also reportedly being investigated by the army for accepting money in late 2015 for a speaking engagement in Moscow, which could have breached military rules. Furthermore, the repeated and detailed leaks by a disgruntled and alarmed US intelligence community suggested that Flynn’s contacts with Kisilyak dated back to before the election, raising more questions about whether the Trump campaign had any knowledge of the Russian effort to skew the elections.
A handful of intelligence agencies are looking into those suspicions, as are four separate congressional committees. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on one of those panels, the House intelligence committee, demanded to know when contacts with Russian officials started and how far up the Trump chain of command did responsibility for those contact rest. ...
At the time of his departure, Flynn appeared to have been losing a power struggle inside the White House in which the established institution and processes of the national security council (NSC) were being sidestepped by a small group of Trump advisors, led by Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and former head of Breitbart News, which has been a platform for the far right.
Alongside him are Stephen Miller, another rightwing ideologue, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and advisor. They have set up the Strategic Initiatives Group, a parallel institution to the national security council inside the White House, which produces policies, in the form of quick-fire executive orders and memoranda, without consultation with the staff experts on the National Security Council (NSC).
Ignored at best, berated at worst, the NSC career staff began leaking copiously about Trump’s erratic phone calls with other world leaders and other missteps, infuriating the president, who ordered leak investigations, further deepening the discontent and dysfunction inside the White House. Any successor to Flynn would face the same struggle for influence and the president’s ear as he did.
Missile crisis by candle light
Trump: 'Real story' of Flynn resignation is illegal leaks
President Trump on Tuesday said the “real story” of national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation was “illegal leaks,” rather than reports Flynn misled senior White House officials about his conversations with Russia.
"The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal with N.Korea etc?" Trump tweeted.
The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017
Flynn Resignation Shows Leaks Under Trump Are Working. Keep ‘Em Coming.
Leaks are coming out of the White House at a seemingly record pace, many of which have painted a picture of a dangerously ignorant and ill-equipped president who is narcissistic to the extreme, unable to let go of even the smallest of slights. But some of these leaks have halted a Trump appointment and controversial policies in their tracks, and it’s a lesson showing how whistleblowers and leaks to the press are vital for democracy. ...
It turns out it wasn’t the lying that got National Security Adviser Michael Flynn fired; it’s that his lying leaked to the press. The Washington Post reported that the acting attorney general told the White House weeks ago that transcripts showed Flynn likely misled administration officials. It wasn’t until the public found out he lied—based on a torrent of leaks from inside the administration in the past week—that Flynn was forced out.
The Flynn episode is just the latest and most high-profile case in which the Trump administration has been forced to reverse course because of leaks to journalists. The New York Times reported on Sunday night that “Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was exploring whether the Navy could intercept and board an Iranian ship to look for contraband weapons possibly headed to Houthi fighters in Yemen,” a policy which many people would consider both incredibly dangerous and potentially illegal—and could have been considered an act of war.
But the Times reported that “Mr. Mattis ultimately decided to set the operation aside, at least for now. White House officials said that was because news of the impending operation leaked.” Whoever leaked those plans was likely committing a crime, but also potentially staved off a huge international controversy that could have led to yet another military incursion in the Middle East.
Are these the leaks you're referring to, @realDonaldTrump? This wasn't in Washington. pic.twitter.com/A9Z94tWnqc
— David G. McAfee (@DavidGMcAfee) February 14, 2017
Mar-a-Lago guest takes picture with nuclear 'football' briefcase
A visitor to President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida posted a Facebook photo with a person he says is responsible for carrying the black bag that contains the nuclear launch codes for the president of the United States.
“This is Rick...He carries the ‘football’ The nuclear football (also known as the atomic football, the President's emergency satchel, the Presidential Emergency Satchel, the button, the black box, or just the football) is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the President of the United States to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room,” the caption reads. ...
He also posted pictures that appear to show Trump and Japanese Prime Minister discussing confidential national security information about a North Korean missile test in the public dining room at Mar-a-Lago.
Dresden commemorates allied bombing
Trump moves spark Iraqi anger, calls against future alliance
Reverberations from President Donald Trump's travel ban and other stances are threatening to undermine future U.S.-Iraqi security cooperation, rattling a key alliance that over the past two years has slowly beaten back the Islamic State group.
Iraq's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has sought to contain any backlash from public anger sparked by Trump's executive order banning Iraqis from traveling to the U.S. Also breeding resentment and suspicion are Trump's repeated statements that the Americans should have taken Iraq's oil and his hard line against Iran, a close ally of al-Abadi's government. ...
Lawmakers are demanding al-Abadi reduce cooperation with Washington in the future, limit or prevent American troops from staying in the country after the defeat of IS, and reciprocate for any travel ban on Iraqis. Members of powerful Shiite militias have outright warned of retaliation against Americans if the U.S. carries out any military action against Iran, their patron.
GOP senators to Trump: We support 'maintaining and expanding' Gitmo
Eleven Republican senators are encouraging President Trump to follow through on his pledge to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention facility open and send any new captives there, as well as immediately suspend a parole-like review board.
“As you consider policies and actions that may affect [Guantanamo], we want to express our support for maintaining and expanding the utilization of the detention facility during your administration by detaining current and future enemy combatants who pose a threat to our national security,” the senators wrote in a letter to Trump released Monday. ...
The letter was organized by Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and co-signed by Sens. Roy Blunt (Mo.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), James Inhofe (Okla.), John Boozman (Ark.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Steve Daines (Mont.) and Orrin Hatch (Utah).
During the campaign, Trump promised to load Guantanamo up with “bad dudes.”
On Contact: “Insane Clown President” with Matt Taibbi
‘Blackwater Air’ Is Back, and Flying for U.S. Special Forces
A mercenary air force that became a symbol of the U.S. occupation of Iraq is back in action—this time in Central Africa, supporting a shadowy American U.S. Special Forces commando operation targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army.
In late January, a source on the ground in Central African Republic spotted a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter with the registry number N408RC carrying American Special Forces troops. The LRA, a cultish band of thieves and rapists led by warlord Joseph Kony, is most active in the forested region where Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo meet.
In 2010, President Barack Obama deployed around 100 Green Berets and other personnel to Central Africa to help local forces hunt down Kony and the LRA. Seven years later, Operation Observant Compass continues, mostly unnoticed by the press. The Pentagon asked Congress for $23 million to extend the operation through 2017.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Sikorsky helicopter that The Daily Beast’s source observed in Central African Republic belongs to Illinois-based EP Aviation, LLC. ... The “EP” stands for “Erik Prince,” Blackwater’s founder and the younger brother of billionaire U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
The copter’s appearance is a reminder of the tangled web of corporate relationships that support the Pentagon’s expansive shadow wars in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa—and some of the companies’ ties to wealthy, powerful American politicians.
Ukraine turns a blind eye to ultrarightist militia
Despite Kiev’s pledge to rein them in, rogue militias continue to fight against Moscow-backed separatists. When war erupted in 2014, Ukraine’s army was on its knees after decades of corruption and neglect. So the top brass joined forces with volunteer battalions to counter the pro-Russian insurgency. But these informal groups proved difficult to control, with some committing heinous abuses. Almost all have been incorporated into Ukrainian state forces.
One major group refuses to submit: Right Sector. This organization was formed during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan revolution from hardened protesters and far-right, fringe parties. Analysts say Right Sector has thousands of members, including hundreds of armed men deployed alongside Ukrainian government troops.
Despite official claims to the contrary, fresh recruits continue to arrive and operate with regular troops. “It’s generally understood the army controls Right Sector fighters,” says Vyacheslav Likhachev, an analyst of right-wing radicalism. “Their every step is coordinated with Ukraine’s commanders.”
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. For now, Kiev benefits from these guerrilla units; they’re highly motivated and don’t qualify for state pensions. ...
But with fighting picking up along the front here, just at the moment when many Ukrainians have been worrying that President Trump’s desire to reset relations with Russia will cast their country into the cold, there’s little likelihood that Kiev will move anytime soon against the Right Sector fighters.
The Coming Showdown in Okinawa
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga arrived at the National Press Club last Friday to address the media after spending three days in Washington talking about his opposition to a new U.S. Marine base on the island.
What might have been a hopeful message turned into disappointment when word came in of meetings held in Tokyo that same day between Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and the government of Shinzo Abe. Directly addressing the Okinawa question, Mattis and Defense Minister Tomomi Inada agreed that a decade-old pact to reduce US Marine operations at Futenma Air Base by building a new facility at Henoko Bay near the city of Nago was “the only solution” to the dispute.
Without even a nod to Onaga and the powerful opposition movement he represents, Mattis and Inada cut off all chances that construction at Henoko might be delayed so the two governments could work out an agreement that took into account Okinawa’s grievances. “That is unfortunate [and] extremely rude to islanders,” said Onaga in his opening statement in Washington. “If both sides stick to the view that Henoko is the only solution to resolving” the Futenma issue, “the U.S.-Japan relationship will be unresolved, leaving serious problems in the future.”
Visibly angry, Onaga added that “Okinawa’s patience has its limits.” The people of Okinawa “are united as one” against the US Marine presence and “our solidarity will become stronger,” he vowed. ...
The Okinawan opposition to one of America’s most important overseas bases, however, seems to draw little interest from the U.S. media. Of the two dozen reporters at Onaga’s press conference, only one was from the United States. Moreover, Onaga’s visit and his pleas for the United States to respect Okinawa’s human rights didn’t get a single mention in the US media.
FCC Under Trump: Net Neutrality & Internet Freedom Faces New Attack
30 pieces of silver still get the job done.
Civil Rights Groups, Funded by Telecoms, Back Donald Trump’s Plan to Kill Net Neutrality
Leading civil rights groups who for many years have been heavily bankrolled by the telecom industry are signaling their support for Donald Trump’s promised rollback of the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules, which prevent internet service providers from prioritizing some content providers over others. ...
In a little-noticed joint letter released last week, the NAACP, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, OCA (formerly known as the Organization for Chinese Americans), the National Urban League, and other civil rights organizations sharply criticized the “jurisdictional and classification problems that plagued the last FCC” — a reference to the legal mechanism used by the Obama administration to accomplish net neutrality.
Instead of classifying broadband as a public utility, the letter states, open internet rules should be written by statute. What does that mean? It means the Republican-led Congress should take control of the process — the precise approach that is favored by industry. ...
It’s not the first time civil rights group have engaged in lobbying debates seemingly unrelated to their core missions, but in favor of their corporate donors. At a time when OCA received major funding from Southwest Airlines, the group filed a regulatory letter on behalf of the airline in support of Southwest’s bid to open flights at Houston airport. The NAACP, after receiving financial backing from Wal-Mart, helped the retail chain during its contentious bid to open stores in New York City.
As the U.S. Stumbles, the World Is Watching — Nervously
Today’s news headlines are not the stuff of confidence-building. It seems like a 241-year old democracy should have gotten its act together a lot better by now.
Bloomberg News is reporting that 17 of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country (including Harvard, Yale and Stanford) have filed court papers seeking to join a lawsuit in a Brooklyn Federal court against President Donald Trump’s hastily constructed Executive Order. The Order called for an immigration ban which has drawn a flurry of lawsuits, nationwide protests and a rebuke by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The schools told the court that during the last academic year, more than one million international students studied at U.S. universities and now, as a result of the immigrant ban, 42,000 scholars, including Nobel Laureates, are calling for a boycott of educational conferences in the United States. With a tepid growth rate of less than 2 percent since the financial crash, the last thing the U.S. needs is to drive a stake through the heart of the U.S. travel and lodging industry. ...
During the early days of Trump’s immigration order, “chaos” was the word most frequently used to describe the impact at the airports and on people’s lives. The Washington Post is using the word “chaos” again today, following the abrupt resignation of Michael Flynn, the President’s newly installed National Security Adviser, over Flynn having discussions with a Russian diplomat before he took his post. The Post writes: “Once dismissed as growing pains, the chaos that was one of Donald Trump’s trademarks in business and campaigning now threatens to plague his presidency, according to interviews with a dozen White House officials and other Republicans.”
Crossing the Northern Border: Immigrants in U.S. Flee into Canada Seeking Refuge from Trump
Trump DOJ Loses Again as Federal Courts Advance Travel Ban Hearings
U.S. District Court Judge James Robart on Monday dismissed the call from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to delay a hearing on President Donald Trump's motive for implementing the executive order in January that banned travelers to the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim countries and halted entry for refugees for 120 days, and for Syrian refugees indefinitely.
Robart said the issue was "time-sensitive" and should not be held up, and cited Trump's own tweets in his decision, reportedly stating, "I thought the president said 'we'll see you in court'?" ...
Also Monday, a separate federal court in Virginia issued a preliminary injunction against the application of the ban to Virginia residents and those with connections to state-run institutions. The injunction will stay in place until it can be fully argued in court.
U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, of Arlington, wrote (pdf) that the ban was a "centerpiece of the president's campaign for months, and the press release calling for it was still available on his website as of the day this Memorandum Opinion is being entered."
"The 'specific sequence of events' leading to the adoption of the [executive order, or EO] bolsters the Commonwealth's argument that the EO was not motivated by rational national security concerns," she wrote, adding that the government has "not offered any evidence to identify the national security concerns that allegedly prompted this EO, or even described the process by which the president concluded that this action was necessary."
Senators Told Their Jobs At Risk After Confirming Wall Street Banker for Treasury
Each of the 53 "yeas" cast in the U.S. Senate on Monday night to confirm former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary will "haunt those who cast it in the months and years ahead," one progressive advocacy group warned in the wake of the vote.
"Voting to put Steve Mnuchin in charge of the Treasury Department isn't just a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who lost everything in the great recession, it's a disgustingly cynical bet that no one will notice that U.S. senators are acting like Wall Street puppets while pretending to stand up for working people," declared Democracy for America (DFA) executive director Charles Chamberlain following the 53-47 vote (roll call here).
"Republicans in the Senate cannot excuse putting a lying foreclosure profiteer at the head of our economy by pointing to party loyalty or a fear of Donald Trump," added Demand Progress campaign director Kurt Walters of the man some have dubbed the "foreclosure king."
But it wasn't just Republicans. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat to join the GOP and vote in Mnuchin's favor—and as with his vote to confirm Jeff Sessions as Attorney General last week, Manchin drew significant flak for that decision.
"The 53 senators, including Democrat Joe Manchin, who voted to put millions of jobs at risk by putting another Wall Street banker in charge of the Treasury Department shouldn't expect to keep theirs," said Chamberlain.
Veterans at Standing Rock see police retribution after arrest and charges
Police have filed charges against two US veterans supporting Standing Rock, holding one in jail for several days, raising concerns that law enforcement is trying to prevent them from aiding activists at the Dakota Access pipeline.
Officers in North Dakota and South Dakota have pulled over and searched at least four veterans on their way to the camps at Standing Rock in recent days, charging two of them for medical cannabis. Police confiscated one veteran’s car and also seized what officials called “protester gear”, which included camping supplies.
The charges against two veterans, who said they use medical cannabis to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, come days after a veterans service organization announced it would be returning to Standing Rock to provide support. Indigenous activists, known as water protectors, have been fighting the $3.7bn pipeline since last spring and have continued to live at camps near the construction site as drilling has resumed.
“I’m honestly disgusted. It makes no sense to us,” said Mark Sanderson, executive director of VeteransRespond, the group coordinating the return to Standing Rock. “Why are you trying to attack a group of veterans doing nothing more than a humanitarian aid mission in North Dakota?”
News of the charges adds to growing concerns that law enforcement is aggressively monitoring, arresting and prosecuting people affiliated with the anti-pipeline movement.
DAPL Construction Proceeds as Standing Rock Emergency Request Denied
A U.S. federal judge on Monday rejected an emergency request from the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes that sought to halt construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.
Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company behind the pipeline, resumed construction last Thursday after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the final easement it needed to drill under Lake Oahe, a reservoir off of the Missouri River near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., ruled "that as long as oil isn't flowing through the pipeline, there is no imminent harm to the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes," reported the Associated Press.
The tribe had argued that "the project would prevent them from practicing religious ceremonies at a lake they contend is surrounded by sacred ground," Reuters noted.
AP adds:
The tribes say the pipeline would endanger their cultural sites and water supply. They added a religious freedom component to their case last week by arguing that clean water is necessary to practice the Sioux religion.
"The mere presence of the oil in the pipeline renders the water spiritually impure," said Nicole Ducheneaux, lawyer for the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe.
Boasberg said he would consider arguments more fully at another scheduled hearing on February 27, at which the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will seek an injunction against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for granting the final easement.
Pipeline Partners: Trudeau & Trump Meet as They Push for Keystone XL & Other Big Oil Projects
Another tragedy of globalization.
'It's killing us': how steel giant ArcelorMittal is failing to reduce emissions
Global steel giant ArcelorMittal is failing to meet minimum environmental standards at its massive plant in central Bosnia, a Guardian Cities investigation has learned.
The vast Zenica steelworks is operating without valid permits and a number of pledged improvements to reduce emissions from the factory have not been made.
When Lakshmi Mittal bought the Zenica plant in 2004, the Indian billionaire promised to make “all appropriate investment in the protection of the environment”. But a decade on, much of this work has not been completed. Bosnia suffers from some of the world’s highest levels of air pollution, with Zenica among the worst affected. ...
The Zenica steelworks first opened at the tail-end of the 19th century, when Bosnia-Herzegovina was a restive part of Austro-Hungarian empire. Under Marshal Tito, production boomed. Workers were recruited from all over the former Yugoslavia and even further afield.
Production ground to a halt during the Bosnian war, which began 25 years ago this April. In 2004, Lakshmi Mittal, one of the world’s richest men, purchased most of Bosnia’s steel industry during the postwar privatisation drive. The deal was widely welcomed in Zenica – in a city devastated by war and hardship, many saw this as a chance for work, a chance to return to normality.
But prosperity has not returned to Zenica. The steelworks employed around 22,000 people in 1991, but barely a 10th of that figure work in Željezara today. Many complain that their jobs are insecure and have come at huge cost to the local environment.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Consider This: Every Time You Focus On Trump, You Are Helping The Dem Establishment
How Corporate Media Paved the Way for Trump’s Muslim Ban
A Documentary You’ll Likely Never See
The Negotiation Option with North Korea
Worst Joke Ever? U.S. Spy Chief Gives Saudi Prince Highest Award for “Fighting Terrorism”
48 Questions the FBI Uses to Determine if Someone Is a Likely Terrorist
Israel wants settlements, not peace
David Cay Johnston: 'Publishers assumed Trump would soon disappear'
Foreign Spies Must Be Bored by How Easy Trump Makes Their Jobs
Welcome to Trumpland: Obama’s Legacy
Prospects for Further Meaningful Wage Growth Are Dimming
'Overpaid' CEOs a risk for investors, study finds
A Little Night Music
Pete Johnson with Harry James - Boo Woo
Pete Johnson - Mutiny in the Doghouse
Pete Johnson - Death Ray Boogie
Pete Johnson - Half Tight Boogie
Pete Johnson And His Boogie Woogie Boys - Baby, Look At You
Joe Turners Orchestra W/Pete Johnson - Ol' Piney Brown's Gone
Pete Johnson - Rocket Boogie
Pete Johnson - Let 'Em Jump
Joe Turner and Pete Johnson - Roll 'Em Pete
Pete Johnson - Atomic Boogie
Comments
‘Blackwater Air’ Is Back, and Flying for U.S. Special Forces
link
evening gj...
now that erik prince is trump's new best friend, i guess we can expect more of this sort of thing. it's probably a great time to be a mercenary.
@joe shikspack I don't think it's
I don't think it's stopped being a great time for that since Patriot Act 1.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@gjohnsit Betsy wants to privatize
Betsy wants to privatize education and Erik wants to privatize the military. It makes sense now that the Donald has privatized the White House.
The political revolution continues
@Shockwave The privatization of
The privatization of the military has been going on at least since GW Bush. Probably a lot longer.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Assange
Julian Assange Twitter page.
@julianassange
Julian has opened his own Twitter account, in addition to the WikiLeaks acct. When Internet access was taken from him and others started posting to the WikiLeaks page, you could really tell the difference. I preferred it before others got involved. I'm glad he has his own account now, and I suspect others posting at WikiLeaks is what prompted him to get his own.
I suppose he will post both places. At WikiLeaks now you can't tell if it is him posting or who, so his own page will help that.
evening olinda...
i'm kind of glad that assange got more people involved in posting. it probably means that wikileaks will continue if something happens to assange. it's also good that he has his own platform now though, too.
@joe shikspack
Oh yes, very glad others posted when Assange's internet was cut off. I think the U.S./Ecuador thought they could stop the WikiLeaks posts by taking away Assange's internet. Ha! It actually got worse (from a U.S. govt. viewpoint) after Assange couldn't post.
There are several WikiLeaks employees around the world, so I believe it will continue if it became necessary without Assange.
WikiLeaks
Looked up about staff. There are more than several:
Ratner died ... unfortunately
... I remember him being guest often at Democracy Now. I hope there is a new good guy who replaces him.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@joe shikspack The danger there is not
The danger there is not that Wikileaks would die if Assange did, but that Wikileaks would be, or would appear to be, compromised. And it would be hard to tell which was true.
Glad he's alive.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@OLinda Glad he's alive.
Glad he's alive.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hedges/Taibbi
On Contact: “Insane Clown President” with Matt Taibbi
I LOVE this video. A great look at Hedges laughing, enjoying Taibbi's book and enjoying Taibbi's in-person discussion. Not the usual, very serious, disturbing, intellectual Hedges. I loved seeing him enjoy himself, (even though the subject is serious). He and Matt should get together more often.
Thanks, joe!
heh...
it is nice to see that he's not entirely consumed with doom and gloom.
Evening all ...
From the Wosrt Joke Ever? article:
The answer is yes, it is worth investigating and that investigation has been done. You'll find it in Shadow Wars by Cristopher Davidson. Foreign jihadis have been the shock troops in all of the above conflicts.
Here's a link to that documentary you'll likely never see: Ukraine on Fire (Eng subs), YouTube
Here's another good one we just saw, I don't know how much longer they'll leave it up: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, YouTube It's about vote caging and Kris Kobach's Crosscheck program. Very good.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
i've seen a couple of articles over a period of time from reputable sources that indicate that the cia and the saudis have a relationship such that the saudis fund ops that the cia wants to run but doesn't want to have to go to congress for the money or report them to congressional oversight. i'll have to add davidson's book to my list.
thanks for the links!
@joe shikspack
Yep, that's exactly how it works. The Qataris too. Like the Saudis, they're Wahhabis, they have a lot of money to throw around and they hate Iran.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
This is an excellent article about the ties between the CIA
Saudi Arabia going back decades and how SA has funded the CIA's weapons programs and arming the terrorists groups that our military fought against during the Iraq war and why the USA doesn't call out against the human rights abuses that they commit. Even though SA funded Al Qaida and other terrorist organizations, the US' presidents look the other way. And Bush' good ole friend Bandar Bush has been in the middle of so many actions going back to the Reagan administration.
The Saudis have spent tens of millions on funding terrorists yet it was left off the list of countries that Trump said provided terrorists and they not Iran are the ones who are the biggest terrorist backers, yet every one in our government and media blame Iran.
The article has a lot of great links in it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on...
And there are people in congress who are calling for more American troops on the ground in Syria even though the war is because Assad told the Saudis and Qatar no to building their pipelines in Syria. So why should Amazon troops have to risk their lives when it doesn't have anything to do with keeping Americans safe?
Good evening, Joe. Boogie Woogie is good for the soul,
and, today, little else is, so thanks for that. I have trouble thinking that Blackwater ever really left - we have so much clandestine shit going on at all times that they're fairly certain to have been involved in something continuously, but we haven't seen or heard of it.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening el...
i'm sure that if blackwater were to be disbanded it would be rebanded almost instantly under another name. unfortunately, the pentagon is allowed to purchase the sort of services that blackwater offers, avoiding direct accountability.
Didn't Blackwater like Prince
change it's name to X(something or other) or did I dream that? What a nightmare but believe me the evil clown pres. may be a loose cannon, majorly insane but his main problem is he suffers from the no filter between his sick brain and his mouth. What he's doing is not that much different then what Obama's administration was covertly up to. The Third Way? The PNAC. Kissinger and Madeline 'It's worth it. Why is it worth it?
The Hairball has brazenly appointed and brought out in the open these creepy crawlers that both parties have been using for 'national security' for decades. Mercenaries are a fascistic dicey concept that alerts my bs. meter every time these fucking asshole use it and call it security. Be it the Repug's or the Demorat's national security is bad news for both humans or the planet. Why would any human being think the killing grounds or their global pillaging (The Great Game), or their big brother surveillance of humanity have anything to do with 'security'.
How did the USA! get to the point where any person, nation state, or humans that opposes their sick global agenda is a threat to security and can be classified as a terrorist. Fuck all the spooks, fuck all the spies, fuck all of these monsters who work for our 'interests'. They work for the worst of humanity which we all as humans should reject and resist regardless of party, nation state, culture, race or any other affiliation that promotes this global madness.
Start with the Demorat's people, as they are going to do nothing to obstruct their carefully constructed NWO. The one that offers no security to anyone except the inhumane psychotic pillagers/thieves and psycho killers that 'rule the world'. Trump is nothing but the real face of their collective global psychosis. Fear the real deal which is the fact that these fuckers do rule the world. Who gives a rat's ass which asshole pol or creepy spook violated their insane security?
They have no use for security it doesn't promote their mad world vision. Look at history there have always been destroyers, killers, pillagers, scourges on humanity that claim their sickness is inevitable and use the same bs were hearing now from both sides in the USA! USA! USA!. 'I don't give a shit about newspapers'.
"When I become death
death is the seed from which I grow'"
@shaharazade
Holy cow, that was some video! Thanks for posting it!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
afternoon shaz...
i think that they were xe for a while and then academi. i think prince may have sold off parts of the blackwater (renamed) company and he has started fresh over in the middle east where the money flows and the nit-picky rules about who kills who are few.
@joe shikspack Yeah, they
Yeah, they reconstituted as Xe for a while.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@joe shikspack
This is 7 years old; there has been a more recent name change.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2010/02/02/same-blackwater-different-names
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi
Based on a fast and partial skim, the corporate history which follows looks interesting, (albeit considerably white-washed in at least some areas,) including the reference to security work done by them following Katrina and (unquoted here) CIA connections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi
(My interjection: emphasis mine)
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Hiya, Joe & Bluesters! Say it Sister, that
[My bolding and re-paragraphing for emphasis.]
Also, take a gander at a study that divides the populace up in regards to their support, or possible support, of a Trump Administration--IF he delivers on jobs/the economy.
This study was discussed on Face The Nation this past Sunday. If I can find the video, I'll post it later. BTW, anyone who listens to/watches CBS, probably knows that the network is virulently anti-Trump (as is the rest of the MSM); so, I'm 'guessing' that they were trying to sound a clarion call by releasing this study.
IMO, this is what should keep folks up at night--not the hysterical rantings of the Democratic Party Leaders/lawmakers that, 'The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!'
Seriously, this study should make it plain that the Dem Leadership is going to have to do more than sling invectives and ad hominems, if they want to succeed in the 2018 midterms. IOW, they will have to be seen as helping to create decent paying jobs--which from my reading, was probably the overriding concern of the majority of voters in 2016. I'll be curious to see if they get the message, but I won't hold my breath.
Hey, gotta run 'the B' out before the rain starts again (before nightfall). Hopefully, after tomorrow, we'll have 2-3 days that are sunny and cool.
Thank you for tonight's News & Blues, Joe; Everyone have a nice evening!
[Rather pushed--apologize in advance for typos, etc.]
Mollie
"The original meaning of 'fiscal conservative' may be gone. In fact, Democrats have had a better claim on the label in recent years than Republicans."
____David Leonhardt, Journalist, NYT, January 9, 2017
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."
____Author Unknown
The SOSD Fantastic Four
Available For Adoption, Save Our Street Dogs, SOSD
Taro
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
heh, somebody is going to have to explain to the dems that, yes, actually people can tell when their bank account is empty, their pension went bust and the larder is empty. they have gotten so used to pissing on the public's legs and telling them that it's raining (and getting away with it, thanks obama!) that they think that it is a strategy that will remain effective forever.
have a great walk with the b. give him a scritch for me.
@joe shikspack
And I wish someone would explain why anyone should be encouraging either half of The Two-Faced Corporate Party to win? Especially now that American elections are isolated by Homeland Security to be arranged as TPTB please in - at long last - decent privacy and well away from all snoopy citizens and fair-election investigatory groups.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
We tried Mollie. Most of us here did try to tell
that both them that Hillary, Obama and the DP were neoliberals and that Bernie was offering us something different.
And I kept reading this was right wing talking points and Bernie won't be able to pass his legislation because congress would work against him and that is if he could even become the president. (why they didn't think Hillary would face the same obstructionism? We knew that she would be able to work with them because hers and the republicans goals are the same)
Even today with all the protests marches, people are protesting against Trump because they think that Hillary should have become president since she got more votes.
Where were those people when Obama was killing people in 11 countries?
From the article joe linked to. Look at the numbers of people who were killed during his terms and not very many people said a damned thing about it.
That's the definition of hypocrisy!
@snoopydawg
There ought to be a special license to allow for extra recs issued to some posters...
Edited for my trademark typo of a letter, only noticed immediately following my having pressed 'post'...
Got the error message again, wonder if this'll be a dupe... assuming that it ever goes through...
Edit: weird, somehow this took me back to a previous post rather than the one I'd just written.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
strange market research jargon
look at what they call those categories!
Believers, Conditionals, Curious, Resisters.
oh brother. That's a new-ish trend in market research. The analysts who give names to segments think they're "telling a story". That's a phrase they use, thus the quotation marks.
But I suspect what these categories mean are "approve strongly, approve somewhat, disapprove somewhat, disapprove strongly", the old fashioned but, I think, more honest names. Note the different connotation of "Curious" and "disapprove somewhat". "Curious" sounds a lot more favorable.
But there's a lot of flim-flam in market research which fits in well with our political system.
OK so Flynn has been cultivating ties with Russia.
Why is this considered to be verbotten? I fail to understand why trying to improve relations between Russia and the USA would disqualify someone from a top advisory position. At the time Flynn was cultivating his Russian contacts, Obama was busy doing whatever he could to undermine rapprochement between the two nations. He was clearly making a last ditch effort to subvert any easing of tensions before he left office, and in fact he was deliberately escalating hostilities.
Yet this kind of overt belligerence on the part of Obama's administration is considered to be perfectly acceptable, while Flynn's behind-the-scenes efforts to lessen the damage it caused, is not. Can anyone provide a rational reason why America and Russia should not be in a more cooperative relationship with one another? Crimea is not a rational reason.
I'm disappointed that Trump asked for Flynn's resignation over this affair, which is really a non-affair. It's a sign of Trump's weakness in the face of his neocon adversaries, that he would so readily capitulate to what seems little more than another media blitz.
I am anything but a Trump supporter. However one of the few intelligent, sensible positions he has taken is to advocate for improved bi-lateral relations with Russia. And this is no small thing - it is a matter of crucial importance. To have it denigrated by the entirety of US media, and particularly by the so-called US "Left" is discouraging indeed. Msm propaganda continues to overwhelm reality with selective reporting. And worse: Its distortions seem to be centrally coordinated and specifically directed.
native
Spot On
Flynn's transition diplomacy convinced Russia not to retaliate against Obama's provocative actions taken in the final few weeks of his Presidency.
Maybe my understanding of diplomacy needs an upgrade, but I always thought convincing a country NOT to take an aggressive step against US interests was considered a good outcome.
But not in DC, where apparently improving relations with other countries is now considered a felony offense.
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?
Heh
Because it doesn't fit the dominant post-election narrative (see Hillary Clinton/Ego/MSM Fealty/TOP).
(Edited)
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Unless it's with KSA of course.
The Sheiks of the Kingdom can do no wrong. What will it take to wean America's fearless leaders (champions of Democracy all) from the Saudi teat?
native
This shows how far back the relationship
between us and the Saudis go if you are interested
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on...
All the way back to the Reagan administration or further
And that's why Hillary, the greatest defender of women never said a word to the Saudi leaders about how they treat their women or why no one says anything about their human rights abuses, especially beheadings, whippings, ect
evening native...
the democrats and their neocon allies are essentially claiming that flynn violated the logan act:
since the conversation(s) occurred prior to trump's inauguration, the democrats are claiming that flynn's contacts with russian diplomats and his alleged discussion of rescinding sanctions undermined obama's foreign policy.
so, both the content and the timing of the conversations will be important. if the talk of sanctions occurred after trump's election but before his inauguration, it may fall into a grey area.
if it was before the election, all bets are off, as the democrats imagination (and how they might be able to twist whatever raw intelligence they are able to get their hands on) is pretty much unlimited. i would imagine that they will try to find a way to connect flynn's alleged talk of rescinding sanctions with "russian election assistance," likely with some sort of quid pro quo implied.
i haven't seen or heard any firm evidence yet. as i understand it, no transcript of flynn's phone calls has been released, even to the congressional intel oversight committees, so all there is is hearsay at this point.
you can bet, though, that regardless of how small the molehill is, the dems and the neocons will attempt to use it to infame relations with russia and constrain trump's options in terms of detente - which is clearly not wanted by dems and many republicans.
The Times says after the election.
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?
if the times is right...
in their details, then it should make it pretty difficult to bring a logan act case. depending on how the transcripts turn out, it may also make it pretty difficult to connect sanctions relief to election hacking.
so maybe it'll turn out to be another tempest in a teapot.
Thanks Joe, I get it.
But invoking the Logan Act of 1799 is more than a bit of a stretch. More like a legalistic excuse actually, to fuck Trump over. What bothers me more is not this attack on Flynn, but the fact that Trump so readily capitulated to it. This does not bode well, for anyone counting on the stiffness of his spine.
native
Kucinich sees a 'deep-state' / IC attack on the White House
Kucinich Goes There
This is a pretty amazing interview on Fox where he actually points to the leak of intercepted conversations by the Intelligence Community to undermine Trump, and ties it to the attack on Syrian troops by the US that undermined the Obama administrations' accord with Russia. He maintains that the Intelligence Community is trying to start a new cold war for profit.
You go Dennis!
@Sandino
In case anyone's interested, the posted video was followed by this; portion of Redacted Dennis Kucinich interview was previously posted - but the Sane Progressive makes the point that the promise of investment into critical infrastructure is thought by some to not necessarily involve essential replacement of water pipes, or bridges but potentially military infrastructure instead. And how chilling it is that so many people fall for propaganda of the "Rooshia" type, a manipulatory tactic and response traditionally associated with the Republicans.
She typically gives a great pep talk along with the information, which really helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsF-t18AG5I
And down the page options was this, which everyone else may have seen, for all I know, but I'd so far missed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1eJkHRnxW0
She first shows some of the Redacted interview previously posted here, but has her own interview later.
And she points out that it's not just the puppets but those pulling the strings which are the real issue and that the stakes are planetary life. That the only thing keeping us trapped at the bottom awaiting our squashing is the restricted group-think drilled into us. That we have to draw the lines and hold our principles of civilization and democracy and not allow politicians in conflict with these to demand our votes and get them.
I see her point about Bernie, but I think he's terrified of the people losing the only validating voice in Washington politics reminding them of what democracy is/should be/could be, because change has to come up from the bottom, as he's always said.
He's in the den of globally controlled thieves and monsters, walking with great caution.
And as the Sane Progressive says, we have to quit expecting orders to come from the top and demand, staff and support the government of, by and for the people or it will never be done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9A9eLUQ7fo
Was this perhaps at least in part because of the Draft Bernie Movement, even though Bernie temporized to the Press?
(You'll have to search for this one following, as I'm not even putting the URL up for this - not that I want to send him traffic after that threat below... although it may be available elsewhere, no idea.)
We are so very close to losing our voice, information and communication ability through the internet initially developed at American taxpayer cost and belonging to The People...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
BTW, that's some first-class jump piano
you've got compiled there. I could listen to that stuff all day long.
native
heh...
my guess is that trump has very little in the way of a spine, i expect him to fold like a cheap accordion whenever he meets with stiff opposition.
I try to follow this late, but I can't help
seeing Trump not even able to read his notes properly during his press conferences. I don't think you will ever get out from his meaningful sentences or verbal expressions other than bully or senseless supporting thumbs up quotes, I do not think that Trump could hold a press conference without paper work that was written for him. Even with notes, he still stumbles and has to read it quite slowly and insecurely. Trump is like a favorite doll of some people who use him. The interview Hedges/Taibibbi made it clear how perverse that is. The fact that Trump can't come up with his own meaningful words, is getting gets angry, when he then is mocked or if his plans are crossed, is the very fact that 'the little people' like him. They like him getting angry, because they think it shows his 'independence' and 'courage' to speak out against the press and the judges. Indeed a very twisted and convoluted process. Rightfully felt as 'dangerous'. I read in the German Press that Putin has reacted very low-key, may be a little happy, saying that all of it is an internal affair in the US.
The article describing the movie "Ukraine on Fire" was very helpful. I have yet to see if the documentary itself will convince me as much as the article convinced me with the explanations it contained.
ok, meanwhile I fell asleep twice over this comment and we have th1 16.02. 9:30 my time. Sorry for this. I will read now yesterdays EB and hope to finish before today's EB. The world is still round and cycling around something. Good.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@native
I suspect that Trump want's to be friendly with Russia because of his many business interests.
It's okay for Exxon etc. to be very friendly with Russia. In the end it appears to be all about money.
To thine own self be true.
Yeah, maybe so.
Maybe it's all about money. It's getting hard to find anything that isn't, these days.
native
@MarilynW
But they seem to think the oil companies will not be discommoded by the MIC blowing up the world for their profits?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@MarilynW
And somehow they don't seem to feel that oil companies will be discommoded by the MIC war-profiteers blowing up the world with nukes?
Perhaps they feel that all of these destructive corporations will re-evolve to profiteer again billions of years from now in any new methane Earth-life-cycle which might someday occur if the atmospheric lid holds. (Industry 'science' and Virtual Reality Made Somehow Real Rule, you know.)
Edit: looks like the error message one made it through after all...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@native
Yes, they telegraph their pathology and nightmare dream of global Empire via destruction by framing this so negatively.
Both halves of the Two-Faced Corporate Party have to go, and their rabid-dog-agency staffers, too.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Oroville evac order lifted
They got some good news from the weather service about the next (week long) storm system.
Nice to hear, but man, if I was an evacuee and was able to do it I think I'd want to give it another week just to be on the safe side.
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?
evening nhk...
i think that i might be inclined to give it a week or two as well - at least until the lake level comes down enough to accommodate a largish storm.
This is an great article on the Syrian war
and who is funding the different groups and why. It has lots of links to other articles on the different factions and the obscene amounts of money being spent on killing up to a million people and displaying others
And as always, there is plenty of money to spend on private contractors who after being found guilty of defrauding the government and paying a small fine, gets more no bid contracts.
I don't know how many of you read Moon of Alabama, but this is a great essay on the Ukrainian war and as usual the same players who are always willing for others to die for their wars are in the middle of this one.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/02/russia-ukraine-neocon-ceasefire-sab...
I think if I had been held as a prisoner of war for 5 years I would be more conscious about the effects of what happens to people who are sent into war zones, but maybe that's just me.
evening snoopy...
thanks for the moon of alabama link.
trump might say a lot of stupid crap, but when he called out mccain and graham for "always trying to start wwiii," he was spot on.
Now for some light reading there's this
I think that this type of technology is something that could have happened decades ago if countries hadn't been spending the money on wars that only benefited the few and killed up to a billion people.
cool beans, snoopy...
perhaps the future has arrived and our flying cars are really here.
@joe shikspack
With Windows technology? Or?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@joe shikspack
With Windows technology? Or?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
OK.
Somebody please explain to me why it was wrong to brief the President- and Vice-President-elect.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Better watch that screwing around with veterans, Deep State.
I know you don't like them helping protesters, but police harassment of vets is unlikely to go over well.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Cogent already broke Net Neutrality FYI. Again.
Try not to turn your brain off because it says piratebay. Net neutrality means all network "traffic" is treated the same. No router operator decides what happens by looking at the content of the data packets. Everything is equal, even movies and music as well as "speech" content, it all gets treated the same. Until now.
Internet Backbone Provider Cogent Blocks Pirate Bay and other “Pirate” Sites
Lurking the North American Network Operator Group mail list (NANOG) I saw the alarm raised:
But then the discussion dies after it is determined to be LEA, a law enforcement action. NANOG can't do shit if it's a LEA, they don't want to anyway. Us consumers never know because it is "upstream" from the ISPs, agreements are made, you wouldn't believe how. I bought an ebook to understand better what peering was a couple years ago. The Internet Peering Playbook. Fascinating. (spock eyebrow) So the clampdown is occurring silently as I see it. MPIA (go hollywood) and RIAA got their party favors, next? As if they're not rich enough already.
Bouncing over to Oroville dam, I really appreciate this guy's analysis, I watched his godzilla flight which made me look up Oroville-Thermalito Complex. The follow up video explains a lot, California is pretty pretty amazing. Hope we can recover from neoliberal rule. Thanks
Offerings for the surviving fishes, peace be the journey. Peace & Love
"Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King Of Rock & Roll"
thanks
@eyo
Lol, when we were kids, one of our much older cousins, who was a studio musician, toured with Long John Baldry, on sax. My cousin (long since deceased) did a lot of jazz, which I wasn't into, so I kinda missed out on having free albums which mostly weren't rock, although I remember that he did send us a rock album he did with a band we all liked at the time and played to death, rather than ignoring it as probable jazz, which in its more extreme forms tended to make me feel as though I'd stepped on a step that wasn't there. And I figured Long John would be more of all that jazz and never listened to them back then...
Thanks for the video - and, however inadvertently, thanks for the memories. I will now go and kick myself for being such a silly child, and in mindless rebellion against my mother, the well-taught opera singer and classical pianist who detested our (that's not)music! with a passion.
But if we already had to listen endlessly (with a strong aura of underlying tension from birth, related to Mother's being married with children and being dragged to a cultural backwater depriving her of a promised audition at the NY Met and thereby ruining her life) to opera and classical music, jazz was just a syncopated step too far.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
The Obama years: 10 promises and results
Arabnews put this up at the end, one failure after another.
Edit: oops forgot the actual link here it is:http://www.arabnews.com/node/1038541/obama-years-10-promises-and-results
etc.. www.arabnews.com is Kingdom of Saudi Arabia mouthpiece, I think.
Also read defensenews.com for reality checks, opposition.
https://www.synack.com/2017/02/13/hack-the-pentagon-results-revealed/
@eyo
Just saw an ad for Islamic Relief Canada, showing refugees tenting in snow... damn, wish I had money...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.