Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features delta bluesman Robert "Junior" Lockwood. Enjoy!

"What I am mainly concerned with, we are in this position now of surrealism, of an Orwellian world that is unfolding before us, where the theme that has been put forward by Trump is that lies are the truth, that good is bad, that war is peace, that fantasy is fact, and we see this with the figure of the Trump Big Brother, there ever present, seven days a week, 24 hours, preaching from his one source of news, the only voice of truth."

-- Paul Flynn

News and Opinion

While Trump is accused of spreading propaganda (or "alternative facts," it appears to me that he is far from the only source of media-catapulted "facts" for which no apparent evidence exists. (Let me say up front while I am on my soapbox, lest anyone think that pointing out the flaws of his detractors is a defense of the odious Mr. Trump, that I think it's bad when any dog in this fight catapults propaganda and "alternate facts," whether it's Trump or the neoliberal class/deep state alliance.)

Goose-stepping Our Way Toward Pink Revolution

So the global capitalist ruling classes’ neutralization of the Trumpian uprising seems to be off to a pretty good start. It’s barely been a month since his inauguration, and the corporate media, liberal celebrities, and their millions of faithful fans and followers are already shrieking for his summary impeachment, or his removal by … well, whatever means necessary, including some sort of “deep state” coup. Words like “treason” are being bandied about, treason being ground for impeachment (not to mention being punishable by death), which appears to be where we’re headed at this point.

In any event, the nation is now officially in a state of “crisis.” The editors of The New York Times are demanding congressional investigations to root out the Russian infiltrators who have assumed control of the executive branch. According to prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, “a foreign dictator intervened on behalf of a US presidential candidate” … “we are being governed by people who take their cues from Moscow,” or some such nonsense. The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, The Guardian, The New Yorker, Politico, Mother Jones, et al. (in other words virtually every organ of the Western neoliberal media) are robotically repeating this propaganda like the Project Mayhem cultists in Fight Club.

The fact that there is not one shred of actual evidence to support these claims makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. As I wrote about in these pages previously, such official propaganda is not designed to be credible; it is designed to bludgeon people into submission through sheer relentless repetition and fear of social ostracization … which, once again, is working perfectly. Like the “Iraq has WMDs” narrative before it, the “Putin Hacked the Election” narrative has now become official “reality,” an unchallengeable axiomatic “fact” that can be cited as background to pretend to bolster additional ridiculous propaganda.

This “Russia Hacked the Election” narrative, let’s remember, was generated by a series of stories that it turned out were either completely fabricated or based on “anonymous intelligence sources” that could provide no evidence “for reasons of security.” Who could forget The Washington Post‘s “Russian Propagandist Blacklist” story (which was based on the claims of some anonymous’ blog and a third rate neo-McCarthyite think tank), or their “Russians Hacked the Vermont Power Grid” story (which, it turned out later, was totally made up), or CNN’s “Golden Showers Dossier” story (which was the work of some ex-MI6 spook-for-hire the Never Trump folks had on their payroll), or Slate‘s “Trump’s Russian Server” story (a half-assed smear piece by Franklin Foer, who is now pretending to have been vindicated by the hysteria over the Flynn resignation), or (and this is my personal favorite) The Washington Post‘s “Clinton Poisoned by Putin” story? Who could possibly forget these examples of courageous journalists speaking truth to power?

I Am Ashamed’ vs. ‘Get Over It’: U.K. Parliament Debates Trump Visit

With thousands of people demonstrating against President Trump outside Parliament, British lawmakers on Monday debated whether to deny him a formal state visit because — in the eyes of nearly two million Britons in an online petition — it would “cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the queen.”

The debate included the kind of political showmanship and heated language that members of Parliament often do well, with dueling lawmakers invoking Mr. Trump’s impetuousness, his strategic importance to Britain or even his willingness to misrepresent the weather during his inauguration as reasons to cancel or go ahead with the visit. ...

Still, the prospect of Mr. Trump’s visit has stirred great passion in Britain. The online petition, backed by 1.8 million people, does not call for Mr. Trump to be barred from Britain altogether, only that his visit be a political one, without the involvement of Queen Elizabeth II.

Another online petition, signed by more than 300,000 people, called for the state visit to take place. Petitions with more than 100,000 signatures are eligible for parliamentary debate, and any vote would not be binding. The government of Prime Minister Theresa May has been firm in saying that the invitation to Mr. Trump for a full state visit this year will not be withdrawn.

#StopTrump: Protests Erupt Across Britain as Lawmakers Debate Canceling Trump's State Visit

5 best moments from the UK’s anti-Trump debate

You couldn’t get further from the whoops, hollers and made-up stories about Sweden at U.S. President Donald Trump’s Florida rally Saturday than Westminster on Monday evening as British MPs discussed if it was appropriate for the American president to be granted a state visit later in the year after a petition against such a visit was signed by 1.8 million people. (House of Commons rules dictate that petitions attracting more than 100,000 signatures should be considered for discussion.) ...

Referring to reports that Trump does not want to meet Prince Charles during the state visit, in case the prince brings up climate change, former SNP leader Alex Salmond said Trump must be the first person invited on a state visit who tried to pick which royals he will meet.

The veteran Labour MP got the debate underway and didn’t hold back. He said the “intellectual capacity of the president is proto-zoan,” described Trump as a “petulant child,” decried the “cavernous depths of his climate ignorance” and described him as having “a ceaseless incontinence of free speech.” ...

While MPs were inside the debating chamber, anti-Trump protests were being held across the U.K. According to the Stop Trump coalition website, 11 British cities were hosting rallies to coincide with the parliamentary discussion, including in Parliament Square. Inside Westminster Hall, the SNP’s Carol Monaghan was asked to speak up because she couldn’t be heard over the sound of protesters outside. Organizers said more than 20,000 people were at the London rally.

Insults fly as UK Parliament debates Donald Trump's visit

C-Span has the full, 90 minute debate at the link below. I have pulled some excerpts from Paul Flynn's comments here:

MP Paul Flynn excerpts from Trump state visit debate

"Donald Trump should be invited to make an official state visit because he is the leader of the free world and the UK is a country that supports free speech and does not believe that people that oppose our point of view should be gagged. Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the United States government, but he should not be allowed -- he should not be invited to make and official state visit because it would cause an embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen. This is a fascinating prospect. One petition suggests that some way canceling the visit, the state visit, would deprive President Trump of his ability to speak freely. When we have heard from him in recent days a ceaseless incontinence of free speech, The man is everywhere, 24 hours a day, seven days of the week. But the other petition is saying not that he shouldn't come here. He should come here on business or other matters, but he shouldn't be accorded the rare privilege of a state visit."

"There is no question of any disrespect towards that country. There is a great feeling of concern, which welled up in this petition. The day after the inauguration 2 million, mostly women, marched on the streets of America. 100,000 marched here in this country. It was an expression of fear and anxiety that we had someone in the White House wielding this enormous power, the power was enormous, but unfortunately the intellectual capacity of the President is protozoan.

We are greatly concerned about the actions that he has taken. Extraordinary actions, blundering into frozen conflicts around the planet that needed delicate handling, that needed the microsurgery of decisions taken in the past by statesmen, but he has gone in and caused problems every particular area in which he has become involved, in the South China Sea, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine."

"His manner throughout the election period was greatly worrying, but it was extraordinary reaction to his inauguration that partially provoked the demonstrations that took place. He said that he was going to object to the election on the grounds of fraud when he thought he was going to lose, but it is extraordinary fir someone to complain when they actually win. But he complained about everything, he complained that the rain didn't fall, About the numbers that were in the crowd there were less. He complained, lied about the own result he had, and this was of great concern. When you have a man who is the president behaving like a petulant child, how is he going to behave in a future where conflict might arise?"

"It is extraordinary that the cavernous depths of his scientific ignorance are prepared to challenge the conclusions of 97% if the world's experts on [climate change]." It is a bad science conspiracy theory conclusion that he makes on what is probably the most important issue of our time. But it is on the nuclear issue where he is again almost unique in that he believes in nuclear proliferation and is trying to persuade countries like Korea and Japan to acquire their own nuclear weapons. We know that the danger of nuclear war is not because of the malice of nations, but the likelihood that it will come by accident, by human error, by technical failure like the one that happened when one of our missiles heading in the wrong direction towards the United States in a recent test. And the more nations that have nuclear weapons, the more likely it is that there will be that problem that will emerge and we could be plunged into nuclear war."

Trump’s Sweden tweets expose the essential problem with social media

When Trump talked at his rally on Saturday night about Sweden - “You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this?” – much fun was had on Twitter with what his rhetorical question could possibly mean. There had been no terrorist attack in Sweden on Friday, or any other extraordinary news event. ...

Trump then tweeted, “clarifying” his comments by saying he got his information from Fox News: “My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden”. It was almost as if he didn’t have access to the most in-depth intelligence reports of anyone in the world.

Immediately his supporters suggested a cover–up of what was really happening in Sweden, and before you know it, just as so many times before, we were down the Twitter sinkhole of rightwing conspiracy theorists, when all anyone really wanted was to see a picture of a hamster on a tiny motorbike.

Trump’s calculation that Twitter could give him direct access to a huge audience – presidency as celebrity as unmediated communication – has been absolutely right. What he says may be unhinged, misspelt and ungrammatical, and it may make many recoil, but by claiming his is a “real” voice, where all else is mediated and therefore distorted, is working for him strategically. Of course he is not bypassing the media, he is just selecting it, and Twitter is part of that media.

The West’s Moral Hypocrisy on Yemen

Only a few months ago, interventionists were demanding a militant response by Washington to what George Soros branded “a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions” — the killing of “hundreds of people” by Russian and Syrian government bombing of rebel-held neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo.

Leon Wieseltier, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former New Republic editor, was denouncing the Obama administration as “a bystander to the greatest atrocity of our time,” asserting that its failure to “act against evil in Aleppo” was like tolerating “the evil in Auschwitz.”

How strange, then, that so many of the same “humanitarian” voices have been so quiet of late about the continued killing of many more innocent people in Yemen, where tens of thousands of civilians have died and 12 million people face famine. More than a thousand children die each week from preventable diseases related to malnutrition and systematic attacks on the country’s food infrastructure by a Saudi-led military coalition, which aims to impose a regime friendly to Riyadh over the whole country.

“The U.S. silence has been deafening,” said Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch, last summer. “This blatant double standard deeply undermines U.S. efforts to address human rights violations whether in Syria or elsewhere in the world.” ...

The United States hasn’t simply turned a blind eye to such crimes; it has aided them by selling Saudi Arabia the warplanes it flies and the munitions it drops on Yemeni civilians. It has also siphoned 54 million pounds of jet fuel from U.S. tanker planes to refuel coalition aircraft on bombing runs. The pace of U.S. refueling operations has reportedly increased sharply in the last year. ...

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, to his credit, has cited “the urgent need for the unfettered delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout Yemen,” according to a department spokesman. But no amount of humanitarian aid will save Yemen’s tormented people from the bombs made in America and dropped from U.S.-made warplanes, with little protest from Washington’s so-called “humanitarian interventionists.”

‘Libya descended in total darkness, primarily because of illegal UN resolution’ – Gaddafi’s cousin

Russia increases involvement in Libya by signing oil deal

Russia has significantly boosted its involvement in Libya by signing a potentially major contract to help redevelop Libyan oilfields.

The head of the Libyan national oil corporation (NOC) signed a cooperation agreement with Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, which NOC said on Tuesday “lays the groundwork for investment by Rosneft in Libya’s oil sector”.

“The agreement envisages the establishment of a joint working committee of the two partners to evaluate opportunities in a variety of sectors, including exploration and production,” an NOC statement said.

Russia had extensive investments in Libya before the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and is eager to recover as many of them as possible in a country still plagued by violent conflict but keen to boost oil production with the help of foreign companies.

Russia overtakes Saudi Arabia as No. 1 crude producer

Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest crude producer in December, when both countries started restricting supplies ahead of agreed cuts with other global producers to curb the worst glut in decades.

Russia pumped 10.49 million barrels a day in December, down 29,000 barrels a day from November, while Saudi Arabia’s output declined to 10.46 million barrels a day from 10.72 million barrels a day in November, according to data published Monday on the website of the Joint Organizations Data Initiative in Riyadh. That was the first time Russia beat Saudi Arabia since March. ...

The U.S. was the third-largest producer, at 8.8 million barrels a day in December compared with 8.9 million barrels a day in November, according to JODI.

Fresh ceasefire appears to hold for now in eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists appeared to be respecting a new ceasefire attempt on Monday after international powers called for shelling to stop and for the withdrawal of banned heavy weapons.

In recent weeks, the area around the government-held town of Avdiyivka has seen some of the heaviest artillery fire of the past two years, refocusing global attention on a simmering conflict that has strained relations between Russia and the West.

Violence has since lessened, but the close proximity of the opposing sides and continued use of heavy weapons prompted the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine to call on Sunday for renewed efforts to implement the terms of the much-violated Minsk peace agreement of 2015.

As of Monday morning, each side acknowledged that the other was complying.

Iraq's looted treasures to be displayed at Venice Biennale

The Iraq Museum of Baghdad is to display 40 ancient artefacts at the Venice Biennale this year, including several that were recently returned after its looting in 2003. The exhibition will be the first time all the objects have been legally allowed out of the country.

Ancient clay pots, medical objects, musical instruments and figurines of deities and animals will be among the items on display, some of which date back to 6,100 BC.

It will be the first time since 1988 that permission has been granted for anything from the museum’s collection to leave Iraq. The museum reopened in 2015 after being closed for 12 years while the stolen and smuggled objects taken during the invasion of Iraq were recovered.

The display in the National Pavilion of Iraq at the biennale will be in direct response to what co-curator Tamara Chalabi describes as the “cultural genocide” happening at the hands of Islamic State across Iraq and Syria.

“It is more important than ever that people outside of Iraq see these objects and understand their cultural significance, at a time when they are being nihilistically destroyed in Palmyra, in Nimrud, in Mosul,” said Chalabi.

Israel: Soldier sentenced to 18 months in prison for fatal shooting of wounded Palestinian attacked

Israeli soldier jailed for killing injured Palestinian attacker

An Israeli military medic who was filmed killing an incapacitated Palestinian attacker last year has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Elor Azaria’s sentence was handed down by a panel of three judges sitting in a military court in Tel Aviv. Prosecutors had demanded a sentence of between three and five years, while Azaria had asked the court to be “merciful” and sentence him to open detention. ...

On 24 March last year, Azaria, 21, killed Abdul Fatah al-Sharif in a shooting near a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron that was captured on video by a Palestinian human rights activist. Sharif, who was immobile, had already been shot and badly injured during a knife attack on Israeli soldiers.

The presiding judge, Maya Heller, said the panel had found that Azaria’s actions had seriously harmed the values of Israeli society as a whole, as well as violating the “purity of arms” of the Israeli military’s ethical code. ...

Sharif’s family criticised the length of the sentence.

“We are not surprised, from the onset we knew this was a show trial that will not do us justice,” they said in a statement. “Even though the soldier was caught on video and it is clear that this is a cold-blooded execution, he was convicted only of manslaughter, not murder, and the prosecution asked for only a light sentence of three years. The sentence he received is less than a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones.”

Palestinian homes to be demolished for settlments road

Hundreds of Palestinians in the Jabal al-Mukaber area of occupied East Jerusalem say they are living in a state of anxiety and fear as Israeli occupation authorities begin excavations for the "American road" project, set to be built on the ruins of their homes.

The road that constitutes only one section of a larger highway, titled al-Touq, will cut through East and West Jerusalem, with the unstated aim of connecting illegal Israeli settlements north, south, and east of the city. It is set to bridge between the West Bank settlements of Har Homa and Maale Adumim, passing through Jerusalem. ...

To build the road, the Jerusalem municipality will confiscate approximately 1,200 dunams (300 acres) of Palestinian land in at least 12 Palestinian neighbourhoods within Jabal al-Mukaber. ...

About 57 homes, housing 500 Palestinians, will be demolished for the completion of the "American road", according to Raed Basheer, a lawyer with the Committee of Defence for Jabal al-Mukaber properties. ...

Suhad Bishara, a lawyer with the Haifa-based Adalah legal centre, said that the map for the planned project indicates that the road will serve only Israelis and Israeli settlements.

The Middle East 'peace process' was a myth. Donald Trump ended it

“I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like.” With these words at a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump may have finally dispelled the already receding mirage of any just solution. ...

For decades, Israeli governments, pursuing the colonization of the entirety of “Eretz Israel,” have systematically destroyed the prerequisites for a solution involving a contiguous, sustainable, sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Nevertheless, the myth that a real Palestinian state is on offer, and that there actually is a genuine “peace process,” endures as one of the greatest examples of magical thinking in modern times.

That myth has been crucial for the continuation of Israel’s permanent occupation and unending colonization of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, shielding it from any serious international pressure.

The final interment of the already moribund “two-state solution” would force all concerned to face what is obvious to any honest observer. For decades, an imposed reality of one-state – the only sovereign entity enjoying total security control – has existed between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. This one state is Israel. Irrespective of the label one uses for it, this is the only outcome that this Israeli government will accept, whatever subaltern, or helot, or “autonomous” status it deigns to allow the Palestinians. ...

In this brave new world, it is more urgent than ever for the Palestinians to overcome their crippling internal divisions, reject the pressures of the external powers that have helped to keep their national movement fragmented, and produce a clear strategy for a future of complete equality between Palestinians and Israelis. Perhaps Trump has provided the opportunity for them to lay out what a truly just and equal one-state, or binational, or confederal, or two-state solution would look like.

North Korean officials are preparing to come to U.S. for talks with former officials

reparations are underway to bring senior North Korean representatives to the United States for talks with former American officials, the first such meeting in more than five years and a sign that Pyongyang sees a potential opening with the Trump administration.

Arranging the talks has become a lot more complicated over the past eight days, with North Korea testing a ballistic missile and the assassination of Kim Jong Un’s half brother in Malaysia, an act that many suspect was ordered by the leader of North Korea. Malaysian police on Sunday named as suspects four North Koreans who left the country on the day of the attack.  

Analysts also say they highly doubt that Pyongyang, which has insisted on being recognized as a nuclear state, would be willing to moderate its position on its weapons program.

If the talks do take place, they could offer a glimmer of hope for an already-hostile relationship that has only deteriorated as the Kim government works aggressively to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the continental United States. ...

The planned talks are being organized by Donald S. Zagoria of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, who served as a consultant on Asia during the Carter administration and has organized previous rounds of such talks. Zagoria declined to comment on the preparations.

Rand Paul: We’re very lucky John McCain’s not in charge

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) ripped fellow Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Sunday after McCain criticized President Trump’s escalating war of words with the media.

He argued that the nation is “very lucky” that Trump is president and not McCain, who won the 2008 GOP nomination but lost to Barack Obama in the general election.

Paul said that McCain’s recent criticisms of Trump are driven by his “personal dispute” with the president over foreign policy.

He added that McCain and Trump are at odds because McCain supports the wide deployment of U.S. troops to protect and promote American interests abroad while he characterized Trump’s views as closer to a realpolitik approach to foreign policy.

“Everything that he says about the president is colored by his own personal dispute he’s got running with President Trump, and it should be taken with a grain of salt, because John McCain’s the guy who’s advocated for war everywhere,” Paul said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“He would bankrupt the nation. We’re very lucky John McCain’s not in charge, because I think we’d be in perpetual war,” Paul added.

Black Edge: New Yorker's Sheelah Kolhatkar on Wall Street's Biggest Insider Trading Story in History

Battle for key UK parliamentary seat heats up as all sides seek to woo Brexit voters

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May made a surprise visit to the city of Stoke-on-Trent Monday, ahead of a key by-election in the area which will take place Thursday. Her visit is a sign of just how important this election result will be – the outcome will likely be taken as an initial judgement on how Brexit is being handled.

Stoke-on-Trent is seen as the most pro-Brexit city in the UK – with nearly 70 percent of voters opting to leave the European Union in the June referendum. Mick Temple, a politics professor at Stoke’s Staffordshire University tells VICE News that this by-election is “one of the most important elections in British political history – no exaggeration.” ...

As Stoke-on-Trent’s traditional industries have collapsed, successive governments and local MPs have pledged to fill the void. But few in the city are entirely satisfied with the outcome. This growing sense of dissatisfaction with sluggish living standards helped fuel the Brexit vote. ...

If Labour, the traditional party of the working class, cannot win in Stoke-on-Trent, it can no longer be sure of winning anywhere. If UKIP, the party of Brexit, cannot win in a city it calls “the capital of Brexit,” it may struggle to have any real future in politics.

Dave Conway, a maverick and mustachioed 74-year-old, is now running Stoke’s city council. He ran as an independent, beating Labour out of power, which some see as a bellwether for change to come. “I think everybody had the shock of their lives when I won it, other than me,” he says with a grin. “People are fed up with all the mainstream parties. They’ve had enough of the broken promises.”

Keiser Report: Ingredients for a New Global Crisis>

British Muslim teacher taken off US-bound flight: I was treated like a criminal

A young British Muslim teacher escorted off a New York-bound flight by US officials in front of the school party he was helping lead has spoken of his concerns that he was targeted simply because of his religion.

Maths teacher Juhel Miah, 25, who was born in Birmingham and brought up in Swansea, said his treatment left him feeling humiliated. Both he and his school are demanding an explanation from the US authorities. ...

“I gave one of the American officials there my passport. My first name is Mohammed. It felt as if straight away she looked up and said: ‘You’ve been randomly selected for a security check.’ ...

Miah told the Guardian: “I’m not an angry type of person. I don’t get easily worked up, otherwise I wouldn’t be a teacher. But I was definitely angry. It hit me the hardest was when I was being escorted off the plane. Everyone was looking at me.

“Not just members of the public but my school, my kids, fellow teachers. It made me feel so small, as if I had done something wrong, as if I am a criminal. Everyone must have been thinking that – even the kids from my school. I hope not but that’s what was going through my head. I didn’t know where to look.

Trump Administration Issues How-To for 'Hyper-Aggressive Mass Deportation Policy'

The Trump administration on Tuesday issued new guidelines that constitute a "sweeping rewrite" of Obama-era policies on immigration, greatly expanding the number of individuals that can be forcibly deported and further emboldening the current crackdown.

The memoranda on implementation (pdf) and enforcement (pdf) of President Donald Trump's recent executive orders on immigration, which were dated Monday and published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), were leaked to news agencies over the holiday weekend and sparked wide concern among immigrants and civil liberties organizations.

The official guidelines, signed by DHS Secretary John Kelly, "expand raids and the definition of criminal aliens, while diminishing sanctuary areas and enlisting local law enforcement to execute federal immigration policy," The Hill reported.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday press call, Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said the memos are "breathtaking in scope," adding that "they basically throw the rule of law out the window."

Summarizing the order, the New York Times noted that the policy "also calls for an expansion of expedited removals, allowing Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to deport more people immediately. Under the Obama administration, expedited removal was used only within 100 miles of the border for people who had been in the country no more than 14 days. Now it will include those who have been in the country for up to two years, and located anywhere in the nation."

Somebody is feeling empowered:

Iowa Bill Would Force Universities to Hire Right-Wing Profs

As Republican-dominated state governments push frightening right-wing legislation nationwide, a GOP senator in Iowa joined the fray on Monday with a bill that would force universities to exclusively hire Republican professors and temporarily bar Democrats until "partisan balanced" is reached.

The bill, Senate File 288, "could bring about a Soviet-style purge of liberal-leaning college staff in Iowa," warned Pat Rynard in the local politics blog Iowa Starting Line. 

"The obvious impact and purpose of this bill would be to ban Democrats from getting hired anymore at Iowa colleges," Rynard continued. "If you took a survey right now, it's highly likely that Iowa professors are registered as Democrats at a much higher rate than Republican. So any new hires would be strictly limited to Republican or [n]o [p]arty voters."

Iowa state senator Mark Chelgren, who introduced the legislation, defended it to the Des Moines Register by arguing that students "should be able to go to their professors, ask opinions, and they should know publicly whether that professor is a Republican or Democrat or no-party affiliation."

The Iowa bill comes only a few weeks after the Republican-dominated legislature proposed ending tenure at state institutions and destroying collective bargaining rights in two previous bills, Inside Higher Ed notes.

On Contact: Medicare for All with Dr Margaret Flowers

Trump appoints HR McMaster as national security adviser

HR McMaster, an army lieutenant general whose unconventional career has earned him widespread respect in US defense circles, will be Donald Trump’s next national security adviser. ...

Like Trump’s pick to head the Pentagon, James Mattis, McMaster is a known entity to traditional US allies, and a figure reassuring to the US security establishment Trump has often scorned. ...

Yet it remains to be seen whether McMaster’s imminent arrival at the White House will settle an ongoing struggle for the future course of national security and foreign policy. At least one other candidate for the job, McMaster’s ally David Petraeus, dropped out of the running after insisting on the independence to select his own staff. ...

Trump also said during Monday’s announcement that his administration will be asking John Bolton, a hardline senior diplomat in the George W Bush administration, “to work with us in a somewhat different capacity… He had a good number of ideas that I must tell you, I agree very much with.”

Bill McKibben still can't bring himself to call out the corporate Democrats, despite the fact that they refuse to respond appropriately to climate change. Just look at this wimpy-assed rhetoric - it's shameful.

Is the Democratic party with the resistance? This weekend might tell

The resistance is doing as well as anyone could realistically hope. Deprived by the elections of any institutional power, we’ve marched in record numbers with courage and wit. That’s helped journalists to find their footing, and President Needy’s poll numbers have begun to tumble. But only a crazy person could keep up this plate-spinning pace for long. Since he clearly will, those fighting Trump need to find a fortress to call home – a place to find shelter in and from which to sally forth.

One of those fortresses may be the Democratic party, depending on how this weekend’s vote for a new DNC chairman comes out.

There are a number of candidates, but two appear to be in the lead: former labor secretary Tom Perez, and Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison. Both, by all accounts, are good guys, and not greatly divided by ideology. But they clearly represent the two wings of the party.

Perez is from the ruling wing, the institutional party. He is closely identified with Barack Obama, who he worked for, and Hillary Clinton, who he supported. Ellison is from the movement wing. He is closely identified with Bernie Sanders. Indeed, he was one of the few members of Congress who actively supported his insurgent candidacy.

The choice is actually about the best way to unite the opposition to Trump, at least for the purposes of winning elections.

We don’t need the Democratic party to tell us what to think – we have vibrant and engaged movements out there that are reshaping public opinion every day, in the airports and on Facebook. Black Lives Matter leads our movement intellectually in a way that the Democratic party never will. But we may need the Democratic party for the fairly limited purpose of winning elections and hence consolidating power.

Last Stand at Standing Rock as Police Prepare to Evict Pipeline Opponents

It could be the last stand for those who have braved the freezing winter to remain at the Oceti Sakowin camp, near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Earlier this month, the Army Corp of engineers issued an evacuation order with a deadline of February 22. The camp sits on a flood plain and authorities say the possibility of camp flooding could be dangerous for Oceti residents and cited the ecological impact on the nearby Cannonball and Missouri rivers. On Wednesday, Feb. 15, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum escalated tensions at the camp when he issued an emergency evacuation order.

As the governor’s press conference was taking place, Morton county police moved closer to the camp’s south gate and set up a roadblock. Oceti Sakowin was on high alert for hours. “They don’t understand people are willing to die here,”a 90-year-old woman told The Intercept. “They don’t understand we will not back down. We have our ancestors with us and we are in prayer that Tunkashila (Great Spirit in Lakota) will guide us in our freedom.” ...

By Friday, tribal police set up a check point. As we tried to enter, we were interrogated about bringing supplies into camp, including food.

Throughout the day, there were multiple incidents of harassment from the authorities. At one point, the South Dakota state patrol drove into the main roadway in front of camp and exited their vehicles with non-lethal weapons. After a tense standoff, the police moved back to their side of the barricade.

Former GOP Congressional Staffer Follows Revolving Door, Now Latest Keystone XL Lobbyist

TransCanada has wasted no time since President Donald Trump signed a January 24 executive order calling for U.S. federal agencies to permit construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. 

The Calgary-based company has already re-applied for a presidential permit through the U.S. Department of State to cross the U.S.-Canada border with the pipeline and has also applied in Nebraska to build the line across that state. It also has registered to lobby the federal government, deploying lobbyist and former GOP Congressional staffer Jay Cranford of the CGCN Group, for the job. ...

It only took TransCanada roughly three weeks to hire a lobbyist tied to the Republican Party to advocate for Keystone XL. In years prior, the company had spent millions of dollars on Democratic Party-aligned lobbyists in the attempt to get President Barack Obama and his U.S. Department of State (which included former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) to approve the pipeline.

Ultimately, TransCanada won that battle by half, with Obama signing an executive order in 2012 calling for the construction of Keystone XL's southern leg from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Port Arthur, Texas, now known as the Gulf Coast Pipeline. Put another way, partisan lobbying pays off, and now the business is going for the other half of the line.

Also of Interest

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

Outside coastal bubbles, to say 'America is already great' rings hollow

NoDAPL! Once Again the Chosen People/Promised Land Model Still Being Used Against the Oceti Sakowin Nation

System Change will not be Negotiated

Firestarter: the Unwelcome Return of Tony Blair

Biggest Gasoline Glut In 27 Years Could Crash Oil Markets

The Perils of Trump Addiction

Was Thomas Jefferson a Rapist?

A Little Night Music

Robert Lockwood Jr - Dust My Broom

Robert Lockwood/ The Sunnyland Trio - Pearly B

Robert Lockwood, Jr. - Little Boy Blue

Robert Lockwood, Jr. - Terraplane Blues

Johnny Shines & Robert Jr Lockwood - Lonesome Whistle

Robert Lockwood Jr. - Take a Little Walk with Me

Robert Lockwood Jr. - Big legged woman

Robert Lockwood Jr. - Feel Like Blowing My Horn

Robert Lockwood Jr. - Lockwood's Boogie