The Evening Blues - 5-10-17
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features soul singer Johnnie Taylor. Enjoy!
Johnnie Taylor - We're Getting Careless With Our Love
"The Democrats’ cancerous role in the anti-Trump movement was exposed at a critical moment: in one week Trump bombed the Syrian government and dangerously threatened North Korea. In response, the anti-Trump “resistance” movement crumbled, as Democrats lined up to support Trump at his most dangerous moment. A perfect opportunity to jumpstart the anti-war movement was surrendered. The ‘resistance’ flinched, and now Trump is insisting on a new ‘surge’ in Afghanistan."
-- Shamus Cooke
News and Opinion
Democrats are "terrified" over Trump's firing of Comey. Why aren't they terrified over government-sponsored torture? Why do we never hear a peep out of Democrats about this?
Guantánamo prisoner to testify about CIA torture ahead of 9/11 trial
The Guantánamo detainee known as Abu Zubaydah, who was subjected to prolonged torture at CIA black sites, is expected to give testimony for the first time on Wednesday at a pre-trial hearing convened under the military commission system.
The hearing is the precursor to a long-delayed military trial at which five Guantánamo prisoners on war crimes charges related to the 9/11 attacks face the death penalty. ... If he does appear, it will be only the second time that he has been seen in public since his arrest in Pakistan 15 years ago. He came close to testifying last summer, but his appearance was postponed at the last minute.
Zubaydah, 46, was then unveiled to the world last August at a periodic review board – the Guantánamo equivalent of a parole hearing. He appeared with an eye patch after he lost his left eye in disputed circumstances under CIA captivity in Thailand. What is not disputed is that the Palestinian was subjected to prolonged torture, including 83 bouts of waterboarding in one month, being kept naked and being placed in a box the size of a coffin. The US government claims he played a key role through the 1990s in connecting al-Qaida operatives around the world, though the CIA’s initial assumption that he had been the third most senior al-Qaida leader turned out to be a gross exaggeration.
Zubaydah has been called to testify at the military commission war court in Guantánamo over the treatment of fellow captive Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of five detainees charged with committing the 9/11 attacks. Al-Shibh has long complained that he is subjected to psychological torture at Camp 7, including the beaming of sounds and vibrations into his cell to disturb his sleep. Evidence to support Al-Shibh’s contention, which has been denied by the military, is contained in Enhanced Interrogation, the book written by James Mitchell, the retired air force psychologist who helped develop the CIA’s interrogation program. The book refers to sound and vibrations having been inflicted on the detainee.
The Extremists Did Win in France
In 2002 there was a real sense of relief when Le Pen senior lost to Chirac. But now in 2017 the loss of Le Pen junior feels diabolically different. The world has changed a lot in the last 15 years. In the race to kill all the people and to kill all the planet liberalism has overtaken fascism. Right now it’s liberalism rather than fascism which is the greatest danger facing humanity. ...
But who are the extremists? Who are today’s psychopathic killers and psychopathic slave-drivers? Since 2002 it has been the advocates of liberalism. The fascists don’t even come close. The forces of “individual freedom” have given us the on-going holocaust in the Middle East. And the champions of the “free market” have more respect for Guantanamo Bay prisoners than they do for the international working class.
And who are the racists? Right before our eyes we are seeing one genocide and seeing the preparation for two or three more. The Arabs – this instant – are being burnt alive. And the Koreans, Russians and Chinese are next in line. And the Africans and Latin Americans? No one cares anymore about those subhumans! The fascists are not responsible for this “divide, kill, starve and rule” global agenda. On the contrary it is the lovable liberals who are masterminding this – the final solution to the White Man’s Burden.
In the beautifully young face of Macron we see the beautifully young faces of Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Barack Obama. We see another glamorous marketing trick but feel the same old class agenda. ... Make no mistake about Macron: he is a nihilistic imperialist. In all the talk about him that’s the missing word -“imperialism”. However as an ex-investment banker (an ex-employee of the Rothschild mafia) he knows the the fundamental need of investors: imperialism.
The Silent Slaughter of the US Air War
April 2017 was another month of mass slaughter and unimaginable terror for the people of Mosul in Iraq and the areas around Raqqa and Tabqa in Syria, as the heaviest, most sustained U.S.-led bombing campaign since the American War in Vietnam entered its 33rd month. The Airwars monitoring group has compiled reports of 1,280 to 1,744 civilians killed by at least 2,237 bombs and missiles that rained down from U.S. and allied warplanes in April (1,609 on Iraq and 628 on Syria). The heaviest casualties were in and around Old Mosul and West Mosul, where 784 to 1,074 civilians were reported killed, but the area around Tabqa in Syria also suffered heavy civilian casualties. ...
Airwars has also collected reports of civilians killed by Russian bombing in Syria, which outnumbered its reports of civilians killed by U.S.-led bombing for most of 2016. However, since the U.S.-led bombing escalated to over 10,918 bombs and missiles dropped in the first three months of 2017, the heaviest bombardment since the campaign began in 2014, Airwars’ reports of civilians killed by U.S.-led bombing have surpassed reports of deaths from Russian bombing. Because of the fragmentary nature of all Airwars’ reports, this pattern may or may not accurately reflect whether the U.S. or Russia has really killed more civilians in each of these periods. There are many factors that could affect that. ...
To put the 79,000 bombs and missiles with which the U.S. and its allies have bombarded Iraq and Syria since 2014 in perspective, it is worth reflecting back to the “more innocent” days of “Shock and Awe” in March 2003. As NPR reporter Sandy Tolan reported in 2003, one of the architects of that campaign predicted that dropping 29,200 bombs and missiles on Iraq would have, “the non-nuclear equivalent of the impact that the atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on Japan.” When “Shock and Awe” was unleashed on Iraq in 2003, it dominated the news all over the world. But after eight years of “disguised, quiet, media-free” war under President Obama, the U.S. mass media don’t even treat the daily slaughter from this heavier, more sustained bombardment of Iraq and Syria as news. They cover single mass casualty events for a few days, but quickly resume normal “Trump Show” programming.
As in George Orwell’s 1984, the public knows that our military forces are at war with somebody somewhere, but the details are sketchy. “Is that still a thing?” “Isn’t North Korea the big issue now?”
Donald Trump May Escalate the Afghanistan War He Spent Years Calling a “Terrible Mistake”
The Trump administration is reportedly weighing a proposal to send thousands of more troops to Afghanistan, an escalation of the longest war in U.S. history.
This would be a significant about-face from Trump’s public position in the years prior to his presidency.
Ron Paul is right that we are wasting trillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2011
It is time to get out of Afghanistan. We are building roads and schools for people that hate us. It is not in our national interests.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2012
Do not allow our very stupid leaders to sign a deal that keeps us in Afghanistan through 2024-with all costs by U.S.A. MAKE AMERICA GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2013
South Korea: Moon begins term as president after landslide election win confirmed
New South Korea leader Moon Jae-in willing to meet Kim in North
South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in, has said he would be willing to go to North Korea to meet the country’s dictator, Kim Jong-un, if it meant bringing lasting peace to the Korean peninsula.
In an early sign of a clean break with the hardline approach of his conservative predecessors, Moon said he was prepared to travel the world to bring about a peaceful resolution to Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme.
“I will quickly move to solve the crisis in national security,” Moon told the national assembly in Seoul after he was sworn in as successor to Park Geun-hye, who is awaiting trial on corruption and other charges after being impeached late last year.
The former human rights lawyer said he would also “negotiate sincerely” with the US and China over the recent deployment of Thaad, a US missile defence system designed to thwart attacks by North Korea. Moon has vowed to review Thaad, which was installed in the South Korean countryside weeks before Tuesday’s election. China has urged the new president to scrap the system, claiming its powerful radar could be used to spy on its missiles.
US - Trump authorises arming Kurdish forces for Raqqa battle, risking Turkish ire
US to arm Kurdish fighters against Isis in Raqqa, despite Turkish opposition
The Trump administration has announced it will arm Syria’s Kurdish fighters “as necessary” to recapture the key Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, despite intense opposition from Nato ally Turkey, which sees the Kurds as terrorists.
The decision is meant to accelerate the Raqqa operation but undermines the Turkish government’s view that the Syrian Kurdish group known as the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) is an extension of a terrorist organization that operates in Turkey. Washington is eager to retake Raqqa, arguing that it is a haven for Isis operatives to plan attacks on the west.
Dana W White, the Pentagon’s chief spokeswoman, said in a written statement that Donald Trump authorized the arms Monday. His approval gives the Pentagon the go-ahead to “equip Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces as necessary to ensure a clear victory over Isis” in Raqqa, said White, who was traveling with defense secretary James Mattis in Europe. ...
While White did not mention the kinds of arms to be provided to the Kurds, other officials had indicated in recent days that 120mm mortars, machines guns, ammunition and light armored vehicles were possibilities. They said the US would not provide artillery or surface-to-air missiles. The officials described no firm timeline, with the American intention to provide the new weapons to the Syrian Kurds as soon as possible. A congressional aide said officials informed relevant members of Congress of the decision on Monday evening.
Glenn Greenwald on Trump's "Shocking" Firing of FBI Chief James Comey Amid Russian Probe
Donald Trump fires FBI director Comey, raising questions over Russia investigation
Donald Trump has fired James Comey as FBI director in a move that has raised concerns over the independence of the bureau’s investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia in the run-up to last year’s US presidential election.
The president cited Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as the reason behind his decision, but Democrats were quick to cry foul, and there were vociferous demands for a special prosecutor to be appointed to oversee the Russia inquiry. One Senate Democrat described the move as “Nixonian”.
On Tuesday, CNN reported that a grand jury had begun issuing subpoenas to associates of Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser at the centre of the ongoing inquiry into Russian meddling in the election. If confirmed, the report suggests that the FBI’s investigation into the Trump camp’s links with Moscow has entered a significant new phase. ...
The timing of Comey’s dismissal was related to the recent confirmation of Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general, according to the White House. In a memo released on Tuesday, Rosenstein wrote: “The director was wrong to usurp the attorney general’s authority on 5 July 2016, and announce his conclusion that the [Clinton] case should be closed without prosecution.”
The memo added: “Compounding the error, the director ignored another longstanding principle: we do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation … the director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument, but without a trial.
“It is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do.”
FUN FACT: President Nixon never fired the Director of the FBI #FBIDirector #notNixonian pic.twitter.com/PatArKOZlk
— RichardNixonLibrary (@NixonLibrary) May 9, 2017
Democrats "terrified."
Trump’s sacking of the FBI director drew immediate comparisons to Watergate and tinpot dictatorships
Donald Trump’s decision to fire the FBI director, James Comey, who was investigating links between the president’s associates and the Russian government, has taken US democracy into dark and dangerous new territory. That was the assessment of Democratic leaders, legal observers and security experts last night, with some drawing direct comparisons to Watergate and tinpot dictatorships.
FBI directors are given 10-year terms in office, precisely to insulate them from politics. It is very rare to fire them. The last time it happened was 24 years ago, when Bill Clinton sacked William Sessions, who had clung to office despite a damning internal ethics report detailing abuse of office, including the use of an FBI plane for family trips. ...
The New York Times has reported that Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was “charged with coming up with reasons to fire him”. ... Comey was castigated from both sides for his handling of the Clinton emails. But Democrats were adamant on Tuesday that was not the real reason for his dismissal. It was pointed out that during the campaign, Trump and his team warmly praised Comey’s decision to speak up.
Robby Mook, Clinton’s former campaign manager, tweeted on Tuesday night that US politics had entered a “twilight zone … I was as disappointed and frustrated as anyone at how the email investigation was handled. But this terrifies me.”
Matthew Miller, a former justice department spokesman in the Obama administration, said: “Trump came up with the most convenient excuse possible to fire the person investigating him, but it’s just that: an excuse. This is legitimately terrifying.”
Greenwald: Hillary is to Blame for Losing 2016 Election, Not James Comey
Behind Comey’s firing: An enraged Trump, fuming about Russia
President Donald Trump weighed firing his FBI director for more than a week. When he finally pulled the trigger Tuesday afternoon, he didn't call James Comey. He sent his longtime private security guard to deliver the termination letter in a manila folder to FBI headquarters.
He had grown enraged by the Russia investigation, two advisers said, frustrated by his inability to control the mushrooming narrative around Russia. He repeatedly asked aides why the Russia investigation wouldn’t disappear and demanded they speak out for him. He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser said. ...
Trump had grown angry with the Russia investigation — particularly Comey admitting in front of the Senate that the FBI was investigating his campaign — and that the FBI director wouldn't support his claims that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump Tower. ...
Trump received letters from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, calling for Comey's dismissal, on Tuesday, a spokesman said. The president then decided to fire the FBI director based on the recommendations and moved quickly. The spokesman said Trump did not ask for the letters in advance, and that White House officials had no idea they were coming.
But several other people familiar with the events said Trump had talked about the firing for more than a week, and the letters were written to give him rationale to fire Comey.
Could Firing of James Comey Mark the Beginning of the End for Trump Presidency?
Why Trump Really Won
Americans have a shorter attention span than a goldfish.
According to the Television Bureau of Advertising, the average American family has 2.5 TVs per household. 75% of Americans have at least one television set in their living room, and 31% have 4 sets or more. Kids 2-11, spend 26 hrs a week watching TV. That amounts to 1,248 hours a year. The average American adult watches 4 hours of TV each day. Every 4 hours a viewer witnesses 80 minutes of commercials.
Microsoft funded researchers in Canada surveyed 2,000 participants and studied the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms (EEGs). They found that since the year 2000 (or about when the mobile revolution began) the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. The goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds.
Could it be that the ultimate reason a cameo actor on The Nanny, Sex and the City, Home Alone 2, The Little Rascals, and Zoolander- and an executive producer of the Miss Universe pageant and The Apprentice- was able to become POTUS, is because the name Trump is a commercial brand that screen addicted Americans knew and trusted?
Chelsea Manning envisions life after prison: 'I can see a future for myself'
Chelsea Manning, the army private who released a vast trove of US state secrets to WikiLeaks, has issued an emotive statement eight days before her release from military prison thanking her supporters and rejoicing that she can at last see a future for herself as a transgender woman.
“For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea,” she said. “I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world.”
Manning will be set free from Fort Leavenworth in Kansas on 17 May, bringing to an end a seven-year ordeal in which she has been held captive in Iraq, Kuwait and the US, always in male-only detention facilities. In that time, she has waged a relentless legal battle to be respected as a transgender woman, winning the right to receive hormone treatment but still being subjected to male-standard hair length and dress codes.
She was granted freedom by Barack Obama as one of his final acts in office. The outgoing commander-in-chief said that by commuting to time served Manning’s 35-year sentence, the longest ever penalty dished out in the US to an official leaker, “justice had been served”.
'The end of the Socialist Party'
MSNBC, Joy Reid and the Myth of Compassionate Capitalism
Macron’s comfortable victory in the French Presidential election is being used by neo-liberals and centrists in the United States to reaffirm the narrative of their own political agenda. MSNBC’s Joy Reid, a fervent Clinton supporter, tweeted ” we need a global conversation on how to develop a ‘compassionate capitalism’ that answers economic displacement w/ alternatives to fascism,” invoking the ‘compassionate capitalism’ myth championed by Betsy Devos’ father, Rich Devos, in a 1993 book. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi expressed a similar worldview perspective during a CNN Town Hall in February 2016, during which she told a millennial that the solution to the problems caused by capitalism are not progressive policies, but trying to make wealthy people more compassionate. This attitude is why Democrats are failing miserably, as they are willing to diagnose the problems of economic displacement as bad, but insist the driving causes of that displacement are inherently positive or deliberately misdiagnose them as symptomatic of a lack of identity politics.
Conservatives: Lets round up Muslims and put them in camps
Liberals: HIRE MORE WOMEN GUARDS
— maple cocaine (@historyinflicks) March 9, 2017
Irish police halt investigation of Stephen Fry for blasphemy
Irish police have halted an investigation of Stephen Fry for blasphemy because the Garda Síochána could not find enough people to be outraged over the actor’s anti-God remarks on Irish TV. Only one viewer made a formal complaint against Fry over comments he made on a programme with Irish broadcasting legend Gay Byrne back in 2015. One individual complaint alone cannot result in a prosecution under the legislation. Fry told Byrne he could never respect “a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world … full of injustice”.
The sole man who complained to the Garda under the terms of the 2009 blasphemy law previously told the Irish Independent: “I did my civic duty in reporting it. The guards did their duty in investigating it. I am satisfied with the result.” Atheist Ireland, which campaigns to have the blasphemy law abolished, said a referendum was now needed to repeal the legislation.
The then Fianna Fáil-led government said it brought in an updated blasphemy law because Ireland’s 1937 constitution only protected the rights of Christians from offence and that the Republic was now a multifaith, polyethnic society. But Mick Nugent, co-founder of Atheist Ireland, said the dropping of the case against Fry underlined how “dangerous and absurd” the country’s relatively new blasphemy law actually is.
Journalist arrested for asking Trump cabinet member about healthcare bill
Police said a journalist was arrested after yelling questions at US Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price during his visit to West Virginia. The exchange came as Price and senior white House aide Kellyanne Conway visited the state capitol in Charleston on Tuesday to learn about efforts to fight opioid addiction in a state that has the nation’s highest overdose death rate.
Capital police said in a criminal complaint that Daniel Ralph Heyman, 54, was yelling questions at the two. It says he tried to breach Secret Service security and had to be removed from a hallway at the Capitol. He was charged with willful disruption of governmental processes, a misdemeanor, and later was released on $5,000 bond.
Heyman, who works for Public News Service, said he was arrested after asking repeatedly whether domestic violence would be considered a pre-existing condition under the proposed health care overhaul. Heyman said he’s been a journalist for three decades and has been with Public News Service since 2009. He said he believed he was doing nothing wrong.
Trump Is Helping Big Media Companies Get Bigger
Sinclair Broadcast Group’s $3.9 billion purchase of Tribune Media, announced Monday, would have been impossible a few short months ago. The Federal Communications Commission’s clear intent to relax media ownership rules have facilitated a bonanza of rumored consolidations and mergers, empowering a small cabal of media tycoons to control the flow of news and information to shockingly large segments of the public. Sinclair/Tribune is only the beginning of a flood of deals we can expect in coming months. ...
In December, Politico reported that Jared Kushner struck a deal with Sinclair during the general election campaign for favorable media coverage of Donald Trump. In exchange for more access to campaign officials and the candidate himself, Sinclair ran the interviews without additional commentary, giving Trump an unfiltered pipeline into millions of homes. Sinclair Executive Chairman and former CEO David Smith appeared as a guest of honor in the Trump inaugural parade. Last month, former Trump surrogate and White House spokesman Boris Epshteyn joined Sinclair’s Washington bureau as its “chief political analyst.”
Now Sinclair adds 42 local stations to its roster, including in big cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington. This makes it the largest single owner of local television stations, reaching over 70 percent of US households. And Sinclair can thank Trump’s FCC for the opportunity, in a deal that looks suspiciously like a quid pro quo for all that slobbering coverage during the campaign.
5 Types of Bullsh*t Jobs with David Graeber
Pressure on Democrats Pays Off as Chuck Schumer Picks Consumer Advocate for FTC Nominee
After pressure from consumer advocates, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has recommended Rohit Chopra, a former official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), for an open Democratic seat on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
As reported by The Intercept in March, Schumer had previously been considering his ex-Chief of Staff David Hantman — a former lobbyist for Yahoo and Airbnb who opposed regulation on Silicon Valley firms — for the position. After details of Hantman’s past work became public, Schumer last month told the International Business Times that he would not be submitting Hantman’s name. Chopra, by contrast, has a strong record of action on consumer issues. ...
Though President Trump makes the final decision on nominees for federal agencies, agency rules give Democrats an opportunity to name members. ... Traditionally, the minority leader in the Senate — Schumer — has wide discretion to recommend minority-party commission members, who the president then nominates. These nominations matter, because while minority party panel members routinely get outvoted, they can create a record of opposition and carry the banner for the party’s ideas and principles. Plus, when the presidency changes parties, those remaining commission members are first in line to take the chairmanships. ...
Democrats have not always installed mainstream progressives aligned with the party’s putative values onto these commissions, occasionally opting for business-friendly nominees who collaborate with Republicans and industry to deregulate. Schumer’s initial consideration of Hantman suggested a continuation of this trend.
Emergency Declared After Tunnel Collapse at Toxic Hanford Nuke Site
A tunnel used to store highly radioactively contaminated waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington state collapsed Tuesday, leading to a declaration of emergency. ...
Local NBC affiliate station KING 5 reported: "A manager sent a message to all personnel telling them to 'secure ventilation in your building' and 'refrain from eating or drinking'."
A worker at #Hanford just shared these videos with us. Sirens wailing in the background. "Gotta take cover." pic.twitter.com/wj8aOStj52
— Ted Land (@TedLandK5) May 9, 2017
Just over one year ago, a leak at the site prompted warnings of "catastrophic" consequences, as Common Dreams reported at the time.
On Tuesday, Kevin Kamps, of Beyond Nuclear put the most recent accident in a larger context. "The current unfolding crisis at Hanford, the bursting barrel at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico in 2014, and the exploding radioactive waste dump in Beatty, Nevada in 2015, show that radioactive waste management is out of control," he said.
Looking forward to other troubling projects in the works, he added: "That's why the Yucca Mountain dump in Nevada, the Canadian dump targeted at the Great Lakes shore, and the parking lot dumps in Texas and New Mexico must be blocked, to prevent future disasters."
Work begins to fill hole at collapsed Hanford nuclear facility tunnel
There continues to be no signs of radiological release from the site of an underground tunnel collapse at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a Hanford spokesperson said Wednesday. But the wind could be a factor Wednesday because big gusts could stir up the radioactive particles in the hole and release them into the air.
Employees worked at the site overnight, preparing to fill the hole inside the collapsed plutonium-uranium extraction (PUREX) tunnel, spokesman Destry Henderson said. The workers laid gravel down on which heavy equipment will operate to begin placing soil into caved-in portion.
"This is a conservative approach. We're going to approach this slowly, safely, and methodically," said Henderson.
The vast majority of employees are being asked to stay home Wednesday. Personnel essential to the cleanup of the hole are the only ones being asked to report to work.
The collapse of the underground tunnel containing radioactive waste that forced workers to shelter in place is the latest incident to raise safety concerns at the sprawling site that made plutonium for nuclear bombs for decades after World War II.
Oh, good. Rick Perry has been briefed and is on this.
Statement on the incident at DOE's @HanfordSite: pic.twitter.com/zfZkQJyLhd
— DOE Press Staff (@EnergyPressSec) May 9, 2017
Somalia on the brink of famine
Three months after the United Nations warned of the imminent risk of famine in Somalia, aid agencies there are battling a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.Drought has devastated vegetation and water supplies, and hunger is soaring. More than half the country — 6.2 million people — are in need of emergency aid to avoid starvation. And around 1.4 million children will risk acute malnutrition in 2017, according to UNICEF — 50 percent more than what the charity predicted in January.
April should have been the height of the rainy season, but most of Somalia saw little to no rain during the month. Estimates for March and April show that the north of the country received little or no rainfall. After three woefully dry rain seasons, the effect on family livelihoods has been catastrophic. Some 60 percent of Somalis depend on livestock for survival, but as the scorched landscape yields scant vegetation for the animals to eat, 10 million of the 18 million cows, sheep, and goats typically exported have died.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Intercepted Podcast: James Comey, Chelsea Manning and the Secrets America Keeps
The Korea Crisis: Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors
Falling Through the Cracks: Insecure Work and the Social Safety Net
Proof That Your Government Is Lying To You And The Media Is Helping Them
The Trump “Resistance” is Slipping Through Our Fingers
A Little Night Music
Johnnie Taylor - Who's Making Love
Johnnie Taylor - Cheaper To Keep Her
Johnnie Taylor - I Found A Love
Johnny Taylor - Steal Away
Johnnie Taylor - Try Me Tonight
Johnnie Taylor - Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
Johnnie Taylor - Still Called The Blues
Johnny Taylor - Testify (I Wonna)
Comments
Ugh... too much war news swept under the rug...
by politicians busy accusing each other of being traitors.
How long till the Secret Service starts selling the presidency? (Or would SOCOM be the equivalent to the Praetorian Guard?)
On a major history kick right now... keep going back to those flashpoints right before a war. They're so obvious in retrospect... right now, REALLY feels like one.
Here's hoping for peace, but fearing what is to come.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5JkHBC5lDs]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
afternoon dmw...
the military junta seems to be making its plans to get its war on in several fronts at once. it seems like only a matter of time until one of the brush fire wars catches fire to a larger adversarial force.
not a happy-making picture unless you're a neocon or "humanitarian interventionist."
@joe shikspack On how many fronts does
On how many fronts does Trump think he can actually wage effective war?
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
afternoon featheredsprite...
heh, probably as many as his military handlers tell him he can.
Trump will support military action because
of "wag the dog" - his ratings moved up with unleashing of moab in Afghanistan.
He will always have the bloodthirsty segment of the population on his side for bombings..
To thine own self be true.
This is the key
Comey answered the question on that "we have no information to support those tweets." When I heard that I knew Trump would get him for it. The firing is the action of a wounded narcissist. It's not about HRC or the Russians.
To thine own self be true.
evening marilyn...
that sounds about right to me. trump seems to be the vindictive, aggressive sort. after all, his television persona was built around giving viewers a vicarious thrill when he fired people, i assume that he was typecast.
Spot on about Macron. He is to me more like Reagan.
People in the US think it's a great thing that he won. Yes, Le Pen would have been a disaster. But the French people voted against Le Pen not for Macron. A very high abstention rate which is unusual for France. The voters turned out but left the top line blank.
Great News and Blues as always. Thank you.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
evening lch...
it seems like it is up to the french people to get out and vote for legislators who will oppose macron's neoliberal policies.
Which is even worse than it sounds, because in this case,
the “top line” is the only thing on the ballot.
@LeChienHarrry - Why didn't they vote for Melanchon?
I still haven't found an explanation that a know-nothing foreigner like me would understand. Can you help? And sorry for asking this with three days delay. I was offline the last four days.
https://www.euronews.com/live
HI mimi, didn't check on my comment til now.
Melanchon was on the left running against Hamon also on the left in the primaries for the first round. Melanchon was gaining in the last couple of weeks and came within a few points but Hamon drew enough that they both lost.
Voters were beginning to see a choice between a racist, nationalist Le Pen and an anti government Reagonite, Macron, and were waking up to Melanchon. A lot of moderate voters however, did not like him and viewed him as a radical leftist.
Not knowing enough about his thoughts, and actions in government, I can't say, but it seems whenever a leftist, populist gains traction a lot of media suddenly pops up to discredit the candidate or winner.
Some of our British expat friends did want Melanchon to succeed.
After the primaries, the top two winners, stand for the General vote for President, who then picks the Prime Minister, who in effect picks the rest of the government and runs the day-to-day activities of the government.
Macron removed himself from the party and ran as an independent in a party of one. The National Assembly and departmental elections are in June. It will be interesting to see how Macron will be able to form a coalition, from whoever is voted for in the next round. He may have a difficult time.
Sarkozy was a lame duck after one year in office. So four years of treading water.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
If humans have shorter attention spans than goldfish,
How are either timescales even measured? I have seen some koi who seem to be triggered to beg for food. So is my dog. Those are fighting words. Only for clueless fighting people.
W00t! A collarbone "specialist" tomorrow. I am not sure I can drive there. Friday is foot. A foot orthopod. Same complications. Different ends and sides.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
evening riverlover...
heh, i guess that it is plausible that goldfish have longer attention spans than the average american, though perhaps it won't stand up to strict scrutiny.
i'm glad to hear that you are getting treatment for your injuries and things are going tolerably well.
the first physician you see
Please tell the first physician you see about your falling. He/she can probably get somebody to look at your problem right away.
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
Usually in straight forward experiments
But first: I agree with , please talk to the first physician you see, they are obligated to deal with "extraneous" issues. Consider yourself scolded if you do not do this.
As for the "attention span of (insert species)": On occasion I have come across papers describing species specific "task" evaluations that yield time dependent results that can be interpreted as linear or relaxation (id est exponential) time constants. The most "storied" experiments involve the corvids (usually crows), and dolphins but most species (even insects) display some sort of cognitive function that suggest more than a simple "robotic" stimulus → response existence.
Greetings, Joe & Gang! Here's a podcast
that I ran across some time ago about 'inequality.' Unfortunately, the economist (Tyler Cowan) is probably correct regarding his prediction that inequality will only increase.
Here's an excerpt from his interview:
Cowan is affiliated with the Koch-funded Mercatus Center at George Mason University--a libertarian think tank, IIRC.
IMO, this is the reason that the PtB have no intention of providing a single-payer benefit that is the same for everybody. Remember, about 10-15 years ago employees began the practice of offering tiered benefits, including for health care, depending upon a person's 'status'--meaning different health care plans for professionals, blue collar workers, pink collar workers, etc.
That's 'why' the ACA Exchange made sense--you get coverage depending upon your pocketbook.
IOW, no more are the days that the CEO and the building maintenance worker receive 'equal' health care coverage from their employer. And, more and more, we're seeing this same philosophy applied to government health coverage.
BTW, watched the educator's informative video--I've heard some of what she said, and think that she is spot on. FSC has spoken at forums that push for-profit online education, as does Jeb Bush. As a matter of fact, one organization that Bush has an interest in, paid FSC over $200,000 to speak at this very topic ($225,000, IIRC).
Gotta get the critters fed, and 'the B' walked. Bracing for more seasonable weather that's on the way, but, grateful that at least we've had a break in the monsoon-like weather.
Hey, Everyone have a nice evening!
[Edited: Added words - building, worker]
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore– to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
The SOSD Fantastic Four
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
a lot of people are expecting a further major thinning of the middle class. the elites seem to be pretty excited to thin out the ranks of the "useless eaters."
you might also be interested in this:
The US Middle Class is Shrinking and Moving Towards a "Dual Economy"
Thanks, Joe. His forecast was similar
to Cowan's--Cowan predicted about 15% would become ultra-wealthy; Temin's prediction was 20%.
One thing Cowan mentioned that Temin didn't account for (as much)--automation, outsourcing, etc.
In 2012, the US Labor Department projected that only about one-third of jobs created for the next decade or more would require education beyond industrial or trade school-level--1 to 2 years of training, beyond H.S.
That is the 'truth' that many American pols consistently avoid--many young college grads are making pitiful wages because our neoliberal society no longer creates enough jobs to accommodate the [employee] pool of college grads it produces.
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."
____Author Unknown
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
The natural flow of Capitalism ...
... unless we kill it before it kills us.
You're right, PR. I hope
that for our sake, and for the sake of future generations, we're up to the task!
Mollie
"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."
____Author Unknown
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
When talking about the Nazis, this is what is often overlooked
nowadays.
Why was anyone even attracted to their ideas, anyway? Well, people had suffered bad times. They’d seen and felt in their own families what happens when society is treated as a collection of single cells, or at best tribal colonies of cells, each struggling to thrive or starve on its own.
If, on the other hand, “the nation” is a single big organism, like your body, then the health of every cell in it is important to the whole and ought to be taken care of by the whole. In bad times this is going to start to sound real good to some folks.
But then the thought comes that a healthy body needs a strong immune system, whose job it is to stop colonization by anything foreign . . . unfortunate implications that go downhill from there.
@lotlizard
But under the Nazi's, weren't Good Germans supposed to eagerly sacrifice themselves for the Good Of The State, pretty much all in capital letters?
I recall reading that something on the order of 100,000 Good Germans who were no longer useful to The State - being elderly, sick, crippled, etc. - had been euthanized by the time the Allies showed up at the end of WW2, and it was felt that 'useless' people ought to be glad to die and get out of the way.
In the modern common conception of democracy, of course, the state exists to serve the public interest, and if this stage could actually be reached and maintained, we'd have sustainable societies. Otherwise, there are no worries about a future none of us will likely ever reach. The Psychopaths That Be are killing us and the other life on the planet as fast as they profitably can, in this looting phase.
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.
Good evening, Joe. The quote from Cooke is just too perfect.
Thanks for all you do.
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...
the whole article that the quote was drawn from is well worth reading. lots of support for the idea that the real resistance needs to get the dead hand of the democratic party off of it.
Can you even imagine the poutrage....
Can you imagine the howling in official Washington if Maduro of Venezuela had a reporter arrested?
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
evening gls...
america is exceptional. even west virginia.
Yep, this pissed me off
That the democrats reacted that way is not only childish but down right ridiculous. And cruel. It didn't seem to bother how it's going to affect the people that they are supposed to be representing. Instead they thought of themselves and how they can get control of congress again.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
evening snoopy...
it used to piss me off regularly, but now, almost as often it provokes a dark laughter at the idiocy and corruption. perhaps if enough of us ridicule them, it will make the people who should pay attention to the corruption of the elites and venality of their democrat lackeys prick up their ears.
Good evening, joe and bluzerz!
Beautiful evening as we just got a little shower.
Comey 24/7. Will this become comeygate?
Enjoyed the tunes, joe.
Have a beautiful evening, folks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
evening ra...
the wurlitzer certainly appears to have been shifted into high gear. i suspect that we are about to be inundated with another wave of russiagate. perhaps trump will have to bomb something else.
have a great evening, ra!
Thanks for link to AIDAN O'BRIEN piece.
It is stunning when in perspective, that the only remaining effective counter forces to the neoliberal violent globalist order are European right wing reactionary parties. Between Obama and Clinton, American progressives have been driven into the dirt and co'opoted; Trump openly has back stabbed his base (which I think everybody knew would happen) given his campaign rhetoric.
@ MrWebster - Huh?
"Me not understand noodle salad".
First which right wing reactionary parties of Europe are you talking about? We have a lot of different countries in Europe and right-wing reactionaries parties are different from country to country.
And why are they effective against "neo-liberal violent globalist order"? Who are the violent globalists in Europe? List me all the violent globalists in each European country, please.
Who in Europe is more violent-prone? The neo-liberals (tell me who they are?) or the right-wing reactionaries?
I get diarrhea with that kind of kool-aid smoothies.
Well, I missed the last four days of news, because I was off the grid. Now I am catching up reading on the EB. I almost have a comment to each of the stories I read on the EBs as of May 9th. There is a bit of off-the-hocker wording in some, imo. A little anecdote.
Riding the metro train yesterday morning back home (into Northern Germany), the TV monitors hanging from the ceilings in the regional local sub-urban metro train showed the following news. A poll in the US (didn't say which poll it was) asked the US population the question which words come to their minds first when thinking about Trump. Answer: 1. Idiot 2. Incompetent 3. Liar.
So, this is an answer of the "vox populi" in the US finding its way into a little metro trains news monitors in little towns of Germany.
Tell me now, considering that I believe it's the reactionary right-wing parties in Germany that might have a crush on Trump more than the American "vox populi", why they should be the "last men fighting" ... "the violent neo-liberal globalist forces"?
In one of the counterpunch articles they called France "a third tier country".
Oh yeah ... my German francophile heart just couldn't help it
[video:https://youtu.be/Ln2dwq3vdJE]
PS What is calming me down is my hope that the unintended consequences of something evil could be something good. But you know, it's getting a little bizarre, don't you think?
Have you been an old-timer at dailykos by chance? Do you remember"Jerome a Paris". He was a banker, I saw him in a little conversational encounter with Markos in the first Las Vegas Netroot Nation conference. I think he was the first to "get Markos" and took his option to remain silent and disappear. So much for third tier countries' intelligent folks. ...
https://www.euronews.com/live