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"Fellow leftists, don’t let the right-wing link you to the Trump-pricked madness of James Hodgkinson. When we come for the ruling class, it won’t be as wild lone gunmen. We’ll come with great dignity and en masse, after a highly organized uprising, with handcuffs and a summons from the People’s Revolutionary Tribunal. We’ll be after a system, the profits system, not just that system’s richest and most powerful `elites.'"

-- Paul Street

News and Opinion

Russia claims it may have killed Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

The Russian military has said it may have killed the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in an airstrike in Syria in late May. Though acknowledging it was still checking its own claim, Moscow said it had information that Baghdadi was among a gathering of up to 30 Isis leaders in the north-eastern city of Raqqa that was struck by its fighter jets just after midnight on 28 May.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the claim remained unproved. “So far, I have no 100% confirmation of the information that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed,” he said.

There has been no suggestion since then from within the ranks of the terror group that its fugitive leader had been killed or wounded. The US-led military coalition fighting Isis in Iraq and Syria said it could not confirm the report. The loss of such a figure would be difficult to hide, even among an organisation renowned for securing sensitive information.

Claims of Baghdadi being hit by airstrikes have been made frequently over the past three years – the most recent came from the Syrian military this week. Both governments view psychological warfare as an essential component of the war against the group, and efforts to cripple morale are likely to intensify as it continues to suffer losses.

ISIS leader al-Baghdadi reportedly killed in Russia-led airstrike

Messy fight awaits Islamic State's next Syrian capital at Mayadeen

As Islamic State militants take a pounding in their eroding Iraqi and Syrian strongholds, its leaders have set up a new headquarters in Syria away from the front lines, where they are digging in and likely planning more attacks against the West. The militants' relocation could extend Islamic State's ability to wreak havoc in the region and beyond for months to come. ...

Militants may already be communicating, coordinating and directing attacks from Mayadeen, about 120 miles (190 kilometers) southeast of Raqqa, at a time when foreign fighters are returning to home countries in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia and conducting attacks. Command and control of the overall organization is now in the city, said several U.S. officials, who weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. ...

Tens of thousands of refugees also have descended on Mayadeen, driven from homes in Iraq and Syria by fighting. The exodus puts them in the line of fire at a time the U.S. has been criticized for airstrikes leading to heavy civilian death tolls.

In recent weeks, air attacks on the city have intensified. Residents were preparing for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in late May when waves of airstrikes struck several neighborhoods, demolishing buildings and killing scores. Many were buried beneath the debris. Casualties overwhelmed hospitals and mosque loudspeakers urged residents to donate blood to the wounded. Activists blamed the U.S.-led coalition, but Russia has also claimed airstrikes there, making it unclear who might be responsible.

Tillerson calls for regime change in Iran

The new U.S. policy towards Iran includes regime change, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson was asked on Wednesday whether the United States supports regime change inside Iran. He replied in the affirmative, saying that U.S. policy is driven by relying on “elements inside of Iran” to bring about “peaceful transition of that government.” ...

Trump’s foreign policy team is filled with hawks on Iran, but Tillerson is the first administration official to advocate for regime change in his official capacity.

The Iranian government was quick to condemn Tillerson’s remarks. On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi called Tillerson’s comments “interventionist, in gross violation of the compelling rules of international law, unacceptable and strongly condemned.”

“Since the 1950s, the United States tried to meddle in Iranian affairs by different strategies such as coup d’état, regime change, and military intervention.” Qassemi said, referring to U.S. involvement in the 1953 coup in Iran, dubbed Operation AJAX by the CIA. These efforts have all failed, Qassemi said, adding that the new U.S. government was “confused” and could be “easily manipulated by wrong information.”

Rexxon Tillerson Calls For Regime Change In Iran

US sending almost 4,000 extra forces to Afghanistan, Trump official says

The Pentagon will send almost 4,000 additional American forces to Afghanistan, according to a Trump administration official, an attempt to break a stalemate in a war that has now passed to a third US commander-in-chief. The decision by defense secretary Jim Mattis could be announced as early as next week, the official said, and will be the largest deployment of American manpower under Donald Trump’s young presidency.

It follows Trump’s move to give Mattis the authority to set troop levels and seeks to address assertions by the top US commander in Afghanistan that he does not have enough forces to help Afghanistan’s army against a resurgent Taliban insurgency. The rising threat posed by Islamic State extremists, evidenced in a rash of deadly attacks in the capital city of Kabul, has only fueled calls for a stronger US presence, as have several recent American combat deaths.

The bulk of the additional troops will train and advise Afghan forces, according to the administration official, who was not authorized to discuss details of the decision publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A smaller number would be assigned to counterterror operations against the Taliban and Isis, the official said.

Ignoring Humanitarian Pleas, Senate OKs Saudi Weapons Sale

Nuclear Weapons Ban? What Needs to be Banned Is U.S. Arrogance

In a context of almost total indifference, marked by outright hostility, representatives of over a hundred of the world’s least powerful countries are currently opening another three-week session of United Nations talks aimed at achieving a legally binding ban on nuclear weapons. Very few people even know this is happening.

Ban nuclear weapons? Ho hum… Let’s change the subject.

Let’s talk about Russian hacking instead, or the rights of trans-sexuals to use the toilet of their choice, or even about something really important: climate change. But wait a minute. The damage to human society, and to “the planet”, from the projected rise of a few degrees of global temperature, while commonly described as apocalyptic, would be minor compared to the results of all-out nuclear war. ...

Plans are surely being made right now to wage nuclear war against Russia and China, not to mention Iran. The executive summary for busy political leaders is apt to conclude optimistically that despite problems, the United States “will prevail”.

The United States with its nuclear arsenal is like a demented maniac with delusions of grandeur. The delusions are institutional rather than individual. Psychologists may be brought to the scene to try to cajole an individual maniac who has taken a schoolroom of children as hostages, but there is no known psychological treatment for such a mass delusion. Ostensibly normal Americans truly believe that their nation is “exceptional”. Their military doctrine does not talk about “defeating” but “destroying”. You may “defeat” an enemy in a war over some issue, but for the Pentagon, the enemy must be destroyed. ...

The fundamental reason that United States leaders feel obliged to maintain nuclear supremacy is their belief that “exceptional” America has a right and duty to possess an absolute power of destruction. So long as that mentality rules in Washington, there is no possibility of nuclear disarmament, and every possibility of nuclear war sooner or later. Nuclear disarmament – a totally necessary safety precaution for humanity – will be possible only when leaders in Washington recognize that other peoples also have a right and a will to live.

Clapper’s Unhinged Russia-Bashing

Whatever the ultimate truth about the murky Russia-gate affair, it appears that it is Donald Trump’s willingness to consider friendship and cooperation with the Russians that is driving this emotional debate. For some of the older U.S. intelligence and military officers, there appears to be a residual distrust and fear of Moscow, a hangover from the Cold War now transferred, perhaps almost subliminally, into the New Cold War and a sense that Russia is America’s eternal enemy.

James Clapper, President Obama’s last Director of National Intelligence, is a fascinating example of how this antagonism toward Russia never seems to change, as he revealed in a June 7 speech to the Australian National Press Club. “The Russians are not our friends; they, (Putin specifically) are avowedly opposed to our democracy and values, and see us as the cause of all their frustrations,” Clapper declared.

In reaching that harsh judgment, Clapper ignored the U.S. government’s own role in the mounting tensions – expanding NATO to Russia’s borders, renouncing the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and locating new missile bases in Eastern Europe. Instead, Clapper blamed the renewed arms race and resulting tensions on the Russians: “The Russians are embarked on a very aggressive and disturbing program to modernize their strategic forces — notably their submarine and land-based nuclear forces. They have also made big investments in their counter-space capabilities. They do all this — despite their economic challenges — with only one adversary in mind: the United States. And, just for good measure, they are also in active violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.”

That Clapper would offer such a one-sided account of the reasons behind the worsening antagonisms and the emerging arms race – leaving out the fact that the United States, despite its own budgetary and economic problems, spends about ten times more on its military than Russia does – suggests that he is not an objective witness on anything regarding Russia. Clapper’s shrill voice confirms his cold-warrior perspective, caught in the past but applying his thinking to the present, still believing that he has a special understanding of America’s interests and is protecting them. Clearly, the Russians have been at the center of Clapper’s frustrations for many years and Russia-gate just gives him the opportunity to rekindle anti-Moscow hysteria.

Clapper is repeating with new gusto what he has sold to recent presidents, Republicans and Democrats, for decades. His entire attack on Trump beats the drum of Russian deviousness. Yet, Clapper ignores the context of the Russians actions.

Senate Attacks Russian Civilians With Sanctions In Order To Effect Regime Change In Moscow

Reuters reports that the US Senate has voted 98–2 to impose new sanctions on Russia in order to “punish” the nation “for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and support for Syria’s government in the six-year-long civil war.”

This new development should ring odd in everyone’s ears for a number of reasons, including the fact that Russia’s actions in Crimea and Syria have been wholly justified, the fact that America has admitted to having meddled far more extensively and efficaciously in Russia’s elections in 1996, and the fact that the people most significantly impacted by economic sanctions are not a nation’s politicians but its civilians. ...

In 1996, the same year America meddled in Russia’s elections to ensure Washington puppet Boris Yeltsin’s re-election, Secretary of State Madeline Albright was asked by 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl about U.S. sanctions against Iraq, “We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?”

“I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it,” Albright replied.

Colombia peace process weathers the storm as Farc hands in weapons

As part of a historic deal between the government and the leftwing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, the rebel group this week handed over a second cache of weapons to the United Nations for decommissioning. ... Thursday’s ceremony means that 40% of the Farc’s arsenal has now been decommissioned, marking another success in a peace process that has at times stumbled.

“Today is a historic day,” President Juan Manuel Santos said. “What we have witnessed ... is something that just a few years ago the country would not have believed possible.”

Colombia’s 53-year conflict has left 260,000 dead and nearly 7 million displaced, with atrocities committed by all sides, including state-aligned paramilitaries. Most of the victims are civilians.

The Propaganda Broadcast System is at it again.

Why Is PBS Airing Right-Wing-Sponsored School Privatization Propaganda?

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her department have pushed for an expansion of privatized school choice programs in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2018, particularly in the form of private school vouchers. Now a propagandistic three-part documentary series called School Inc. will help DeVos in her efforts to gain public support for expanded private school choice options. The series has already aired on PBS stations in some markets and will be shown on more this month.

A majority of people across the partisan spectrum oppose private school vouchers, programs that redirect public education money to pay for private school tuition. Vouchers are problematic for many reasons, including their history of allowing for discrimination against LGBTQ, disabled, and special education students, their impact on reducing public education funding, and their ineffectiveness in boosting academic achievement. ...

In addition to School Inc.’s roots in the radical, libertarian Cato Institute, education historian and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch found that the film was funded by a number of arch-conservative foundations with ties to the “dark money ATM” DonorsTrust and the Ayn Rand Institute. Ravitch has prescreened School Inc. and provided this scathing review to The Washington Post:

This program is paid propaganda. It does not search for the truth. It does not present opposing points of view. It is an advertisement for the demolition of public education and for an unregulated free market in education. PBS might have aired a program that debates these issues, but “School Inc.” does not.

Seeking Economic Justice for All, Hawaii First State to Consider Basic Income

Hawaii has become the first state to officially begin exploring the possibility of a universal basic income (UBI) after a bill requesting the creation of a "basic economic security working group" recently passed both houses of the state legislature.

A UBI would, if passed, guarantee every resident a fixed income, regardless of their employment status or any other factors that come into play with welfare programs like food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Numerous countries have experimented with a basic income, but the idea has never gained much traction in the United States.

The Hawaii bill was put forth by State Rep. Chris Lee (D), who in a Reddit post on Thursday explained the motivations behind the measure and the ambitions driving the movement demanding economic justice for all.

America risks one-party rule if gerrymandering isn't stopped

As we are all experiencing, every day there’s some new shock from the Trump-Pence administration. Much of it is disgraceful. Yet we cannot let the tragedy of Donald Trump’s presidency distract us from the broader fight to restore and protect the legitimacy of our democracy. That legitimacy comes from the voters, and their influence is being systematically devalued by gerrymandering. A bedrock of our democratic legitimacy could rise or fall with the US supreme court’s decision as to whether to hear a case and finally rule on the constitutionality of hyper-partisan gerrymandering.

The court recently reaffirmed the illegality of racial gerrymandering in the case of North Carolina. But to protect fully our democratic legitimacy, the court must go further and prohibit gerrymandering done to cement one-party rule. ... [T]he US supreme court ... has an opportunity to ban this illegitimate political ploy by agreeing to hear Gill v Whitford, and ruling that Wisconsin’s hyper-gerrymandered map is unconstitutional. The court could almost single-handedly reinstate the influence of voters by doing this.

In Gill v Whitford, Wisconsin voters are arguing that the state’s redistricting map violates their first amendment rights and the equal protection clause in the 14th amendment. Using census data from 2010, the Wisconsin Republican party redrew the state district map so as to essentially guarantee that it wins a majority of seats in the state legislature. The district lines make no sense other than diluting the influence of Democratic voters and inflating the value of Republican voters. ...

In these sorts of “party politics” cases, the court often defers to the political process, and in theory to the voters who have the power to change something if they oppose it. Solving the problem of gerrymandering, however, is extremely difficult for the voters. In order for voters to make a statement about gerrymandering, they would have to elect new representatives, most likely from the opposite party. This is the very scenario that gerrymandering is designed to prevent. The Court should assert itself and be a check on out-of-control legislative bodies.

Democrats Launch "Resistance Summer" Focused on Healthcare, Education & Social Security

Russia investigation: Mike Pence hires personal legal counsel

Vice president Mike Pence has hired outside legal counsel to oversee his response to investigations into possible collusion between Russia and president Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Pence’s office confirmed on Thursday that he retained Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuireWoods LLP, to assist him in responding to inquiries by special counsel Robert Mueller.

I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2017

Standing Rock Sioux Chair on Militarized Repression & Ongoing Lawsuit to Stop Dakota Access Pipeline

Plastic polluted Arctic islands are dumping ground for Gulf stream

Beaches on remote Arctic islands are heavily polluted with plastic, a new expedition has found, demonstrating that the region is the dumping ground for waste carried northwards on the Gulf Stream. The shorelines of islands in the Svalbard archipelago and of Jan Mayen island were found to be littered with much more plastic waste than on European beaches, despite tiny local populations.

The cause is plastic drifting northwards up the Atlantic from Europe and north America, before being stranded in the Arctic. Plastic waste dumped in UK seas is carried to the Arctic within two years, according to a previous study. At least 1tn pieces of plastic have already been frozen into the Arctic ice over past decades, according to other research. This makes it a major global sink for plastic pollution, many times more concentrated than the well-known great Pacific garbage patch.

With global warming causing rapid melting of the ice cap, plastic is being released and making the problem even worse. Plastic pollution kills animals that become tangled up and seriously harms those that mistake it for food.

Standing Rock Sioux Launch Wind & Solar Renewable Energy Projects After Winning Henry Wallace Award

Houston fears climate change will cause catastrophic flooding: 'It's not if, it's when'

[Houston] has more casualties and property loss from floods than any other locality in the US, according to data stretching back to 1960 that [flood impact expert Sam] Brody researched with colleagues. And, he said, “Where the built environment is a main force exacerbating the impacts of urban flooding, Houston is number one and it’s not even close.” Near the Gulf Coast, Houston is also at annual risk from hurricanes: it is now into the start of the 2017 season, which runs from this month to November. Ike, the last hurricane to hit the Houston region, caused $34bn in damage and killed 112 people across several states in September 2008.

There is little hope the situation is going to get better any time soon. Earlier this month, days after Donald Donald Trump announced the US will withdraw from the Paris accord on climate change, a new report warned that rare US floods will become the norm if emissions are not cut.

In May 2015, eight people, many of them motorists, died in Harris County when a storm dropped 11in of rain in parts of the city in 10 hours. Last year, another six lost their lives in an April storm that hurled 240bn gallons of water at the Houston area. An inch of rain fell over the county in only five minutes, with a peak of 16.7in in 12 hours. The events damaged thousands of homes, turning major freeways into canals and piling up vehicles as if they were in a junkyard. The 2016 flood cost an estimated $2.7bn in losses and prompted more than 1,800 high water rescues.

Significant rains have always been a feature of life in south-east Texas. What bothers Brody and local environmentalists is the extent to which human activity is making things worse. “Houston is situated in a low-lying coastal area with poorly draining soils and is subject to heavy rainfall events and storm surge events, which makes it very prone to flooding. And the climate is changing. In Galveston Bay the sea level is rising. We know the area is experiencing more heavy downpours,” Brody said. “It pales in comparison with the other driving force, which is the built environment. If you’re going to put 4 million people in this flood-vulnerable area in a way which involves ubiquitous application of impervious surfaces, you’re going to get flooding.”

EPA head Pruitt had two government email addresses in his last job

Late Wednesday, I reported that Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, appears to have used two government email addresses while serving as attorney general of Oklahoma.

Pruitt told Congress he used only one government email address during his time in that office.

During the nomination process, senators sought clarity on Pruitt's email use during his time in office. News organizations, including most notably the New York Times in this Pulitzer-winning piece in 2014, used Pruitt's email records to establish his relationship with fossil-fuel industry representatives, including those for Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy. ...

The EPA said Pruitt referred to using "state-provided email accounts" — plural — in a May letter to the Senate. The letter did not further specify the number of government email addresses he had. ...

This is not the first time an apparent discrepancy in Pruitt's testimony concerning his email use has emerged. In February, the CMD published emails that showed Pruitt used his personal email address for state government work, which Pruitt also told the Senate he did not do, forcing Pruitt to clarify his testimony in a May letter to the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Also of Interest

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

Iran 1953: State Department Finally Releases Updated Official History of Mosaddeq Coup

Europe Discovers a Volatile Populism

Tax evaders exposed: why the super-rich are even richer than we thought

The Collapsing Social Contract

Yanis Varoufakis: Latest Eurogroup Statement Keeps Greece on the Austerity Rack

How Sanctuary Cities Can Protect Undocumented Immigrants From ICE Data Mining

Washington Bullets

A Little Night Music

James Harman + Tim Ielegems - Helsinki Laundromat Blues

James Harman - It's Too Late Brother

James Harman - Lonesome Moon Trance

James Harman, Magic Dick, Giles Robson & Big Pete - Nine Below Zero

James Harman - Long Long Time

James Harman - Jimmy's Pink Alligator

James Harman - Mad About Something

James Harman & Gene Taylor - Before you accuse me

James Harman - If The Shoe Fits (Wear It)