The Evening Blues - 6-22-17



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: The Olympics

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Doo Wop group, The Olympics. Enjoy!

The Olympics - Good Lovin'

"At the end, we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war. We came that close to nuclear war at the end. Rational individuals — Kennedy was rational, Castro was rational, Khrushchev was rational — came that close to total destruction of their societies. And that danger exists today."

-- Robert McNamara


News and Opinion

Russia cancels talks after US imposes new sanctions over Ukraine conflict

Russia has canceled a planned round of talks with the US in protest at new sanctions imposed this week over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. The deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, denounced the new sanctions, which expanded the list of individuals and organisations targeted by the US treasury, as the responsibility of “avid Russophobes” in Congress who were determined to derail US-Russian relations. ...

On Wednesday, a plane carrying the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, was approached by a Nato F-16 fighter over the Baltic Sea, prompting a Russian fighter jet to insert itself between the two planes and tilting its wings to show it was armed. The mid-air incident came a day after another close encounter above the Baltic between US and Russian warplanes.

Maxim Suchkov, a political analyst and editor of al-Monitor’s Russian coverage, said Moscow’s decision to cancel the St Petersburg talks “is explained by that given the recent events in Syria and Ukraine, Russia wants to raise the stakes and attempts to take its own ‘position of strength’ vis-a-vis Washington.”

“I’d say it’s a risky move on the Russian side, since in Washington the message to suspend the talks may be read differently from what Moscow intended it to sound,” Suchkov said.

MP slams US attempt to buzz Russian Defense Minister’s plane over Baltic Sea as ‘military rudeness’

Chairman of the State Duma’s Defense Committee and ex-Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Vladimir Shamanov, denounced the attempt of the NATO F-16 fighter to approach the plane of the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu over the Baltic Sea as "military rudeness." ...

On Wednesday, the NATO aircraft attempted to follow the Russian defense minister’s plane over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea when it was flying to Kaliningrad. The plane carrying the Russian defense minister on board was escorted by Su-27 fleet fighters. One of the NATO planes attempted to approach the defense minister’s plane, but a Russian fighter appeared between them, after which the F-16 flew away.

"The military have ethics of their own. When identifying a plane followed by fighters, it is clear that there are protected persons on board. Evincing too much curiosity, as was the case, is unacceptable," Shamanov told TASS.

Memo to America: You should still be terrified of World War III

Open conflict between Russia and the United States is heating up in Syria. After American forces shot down a Syrian fighter jet, Russia suspended use of an Obama-era communications line used to prevent collisions and conflict, and threatened to shoot down American planes.

America's Syria policy was and continues to be absolutely moronic. But this alarming development is also a reminder that there is simply no alternative to diplomatic engagement with Russia, the world's only other nuclear superpower. That's something both the American military, and liberals fired up over Trump's Russia scandal, would do well to remember. ...

So what are we doing in Syria to justify ratcheting up tensions with Russia? ... In Syria there is not only no strategic threat, there is not even a realistic American objective of any kind. Russia has a clear goal: Prop up the Assad regime, but avoid being drawn too far into the conflict. America is, as far as anyone can tell, fighting ISIS, attempting regime change without invasion, arming some rebels but fighting others, and trying to help Kurdish militia without annoying Turkey too much. Both Trump and the foreign policy establishment (a.k.a. "The Blob") childishly refuse to admit that most of these goals are incompatible with one another. ...

In any event, it's worth emphasizing that not only is America pouring money and lives down the drain in Syria for virtually no reason, we are also increasing the chance of extremely risky confrontation with Russia — during the presidency of the most inept person ever to hold the office. (The mind reels at the idea of this president attempting to navigate a serious diplomatic crisis.) If Congress had any sense at all, they would be asserting their constitutional duty to oversee the use of military force — remember there has never been any congressional authorization of Syrian intervention — and liberals would be a bit more careful with anti-Russia diatribes.

Frankly, the old US world role was the world's greatest threat. Heck, even though the US won't lead on climate change (and it's a very debatable proposition that the US has ever lead the world on climate change, well, ok, except in causing it) - the US is still the world's greatest purveyor of violence, death and destruction.

British ex-spy boss says new US world role threat to security

A former head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency told an Israeli security conference Wednesday that the United States' declining world role under President Donald Trump is today's greatest threat.

"The biggest threat the world faces is how we all adjust to the progressive withdrawal of responsible American leadership and the network of alliances that America maintained with Europe, with Asian countries and the pattern of alliances and partnerships they had across this region," John Sawers said.

"It's going to have a major disruptive effect and no one is yet adjusting to it," he added. "It is now having a major impact in the security world, and I think it's how we adjust to that -- the behaviours of other countries trying to take advantage of it -- which poses the biggest threat in the world."

Invisible Empire Beneath the Radar, Above Suspicion

When the United States went to war with Spain in 1898, it did so in a media environment of “yellow journalism,” that played no small part in the advent of the Spanish-American War. Yellow journalism was basically the use of sensationalism and poorly researched reportage to stir up excitement and pad the bottom line. In February on that year, the mysterious sinking of the American cruiser Maine on a quiet night in Havana harbor was seized upon by western media outlets like William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World to create an atmosphere rife with tension, accusation, and defamation. War fever was loosed upon the population. The McKinley administration was soon ensnared in combat, which it won in ten weeks across the Caribbean and Pacific theaters, effectively erasing the Spanish imperial footprint from the Philippines and Caribbean, and delivering American control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. American author Mark Twain wasn’t fooled by the jingoistic broadsheets, nor by the administration’s claims of support for Cubans, nor by its claims to want to bring democracy to the Philippines, a former Spanish colony. Twain said, “…we have gone there to conquer, not to redeem.”

It’s depressingly familiar to see the similarities between the scenario Twain and his anti-imperialist colleagues faced off against and the ones progressives face today. The imperial machine marches on, like W.H. Auden’s driveling ogre, subjugating nation after nation that attempt any sort of freethinking alternative to indentured servitude to the globalists. The tactics of the state and the machinations of the media are little different than they were in 1898. Both seek to cloud the clarity of imperial crimes behind a façade of moral necessity.

To the modern ear, yellow journalism sounds a lot like “fake news,” with its ceaseless reliance on anonymous sources, fake experts, misleading interpretations, and scare tactics. Yellow journalism and fake news are both euphemisms for state propaganda, typically employed to mask the machinery of empire. Whatever we name it, state deceit is in any case slated to grow more pervasive thanks to Barack Obama. Obama, the vacuous charlatan who infested the security state with his pro-war acolytes, signed into law the Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act (CDPA) as part of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This followed the 2013 NDAA which permitted the State Department to aim its public relations efforts directly at the American people, something previously illegal. Overt state propaganda is now legal on domestic turf, as if the state’s media fronts weren’t already busily engaged creating domestic propaganda.

Iran preparing to publish evidence US supporting ISIS – Revolutionary Guard media adviser

'Great treasure destroyed' Grand al-Nouri mosque 'blown up' by Isis in Mosul

The Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has said the destruction of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul is an admission by the militants that they are losing the fight for the country’s second-largest city. One of Islam’s most venerated sites, the mosque has been destroyed by explosions as Iraqi forces battled Islamic State fighters who had holed up nearby. “Daesh’s bombing of the al-Hadba minaret and the al-Nuri mosque is a formal declaration of their defeat,” Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym for Isis.

Iraq’s military blamed Isis for levelling the mosque, almost three years after its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ascended a pulpit inside to proclaim himself leader of a new Islamic caliphate. ...

[ISIS] said US-led airstrikes had caused the damage. ... The Iraqi military later released video footage, which showed the minaret tumbling to the ground after explosives detonated near its base. The blast was indicative of bombs being deliberately placed to bring it down. The US military denied it had carried out airstrikes in the area.

US Says Gulf States Have Prepared List of Demands for Qatar

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Saudi Arabia and its allies have prepared a list of demands for Qatar, and he emphasized the United States looks forward to the diplomatic dispute between the Gulf states "moving toward a resolution."

"We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable," Tillerson said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates imposed measures to isolate Qatar two weeks ago, causing the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years. The countries have accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, a charge that Doha strongly denies.

Nice. US involved in a new Abu Gharaib, this time in Yemen.

U.S. Tied to Torture in Network of Secret Yemen Prisons Run by UAE

In Yemen's secret prisons, UAE tortures and US interrogates

Hundreds of men swept up in the hunt for al-Qaida militants have disappeared into a secret network of prisons in southern Yemen where abuse is routine and torture extreme — including the "grill," in which the victim is tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire, an Associated Press investigation has found. Senior American defense officials acknowledged Wednesday that U.S. forces have been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen but denied any participation in or knowledge of human rights abuses. Interrogating detainees who have been abused could violate international law, which prohibits complicity in torture.

The AP documented at least 18 clandestine lockups across southern Yemen run by the United Arab Emirates or by Yemeni forces created and trained by the Gulf nation, drawing on accounts from former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials. All are either hidden or off limits to Yemen's government, which has been getting Emirati help in its civil war with rebels over the last two years. ... None of the dozens of people interviewed by AP contended that American interrogators were involved in the actual abuses. Nevertheless, obtaining intelligence that may have been extracted by torture inflicted by another party would violate the International Convention Against Torture and could qualify as war crimes, said Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University who served as special counsel to the Defense Department until last year.

At one main detention complex at Riyan airport in the southern city of Mukalla, former inmates described being crammed into shipping containers smeared with feces and blindfolded for weeks on end. They said they were beaten, trussed up on the "grill," and sexually assaulted. According to a member of the Hadramawt Elite, a Yemeni security force set up by the UAE, American forces were at times only yards away. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. ...

Amnesty International called for a U.N.-led investigation "into the UAE's and other parties' role in setting up this horrific network of torture" and into allegations the U.S. interrogated detainees or received information possibly obtained from torture. "It would be a stretch to believe the US did not know or could not have known that there was a real risk of torture," said Amnesty's director of research in the Middle East, Lynn Maalouf.


Here are some excerpts from a longer article with links to documents and video testimony:

Psychologists Open a Window on Brutal C.I.A. Interrogations

Fifteen years after he helped devise the brutal interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects in secret C.I.A. prisons, John Bruce Jessen, a former military psychologist, expressed ambivalence about the program. He described himself and a fellow military psychologist, James Mitchell, as reluctant participants in using the techniques, some of which are widely viewed as torture, but also justified the practices as effective in getting resistant detainees to cooperate. ...

The two psychologists — whom C.I.A. officials have called architects of the interrogation program, a designation they dispute — are defendants in the only lawsuit that may hold participants accountable for causing harm. The program has been well documented, but under deposition, with a camera focused on their faces, Drs. Jessen and Mitchell provided new details about the interrogation effort, their roles in it and their rationales. Their accounts were sometimes at odds with their own correspondence at the time, as well as previous portrayals of them by officials and other interrogators as eager participants in the program. ...

Both men denied accusations that they evaluated the effectiveness of the methods they promoted. However, the advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights, in a report being released this week, contends that the men and the C.I.A. engaged in unethical experimentation on detainees, which is banned by the Nuremberg Code for health professionals developed after World War II.

The group said the explicit mention of applied research in the psychologists’ contracts with the agency, released recently through the lawsuit, and similar references in recently released C.I.A. cables, indicate that the enhanced interrogation program “was itself an applied research regime and implicitly conceptualized as such by the C.I.A.”

The case is scheduled for trial on Sept. 5.

Austerity & Neglect Blamed as 79 Die in U.K. Apartment Fire Housing Immigrants & Low-Income Workers

England: Six hundred high-rises thought to have flammable exteriors

Tests are being carried out on 600 high-rise council buildings in England to see whether they have flammable exterior cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower, in west London. The estimate, revealed by Downing Street, came as Theresa May told parliament that urgent tests were taking place around Britain to see how many tower blocks might be at risk following the devastating fire in north Kensington.

Making a statement to the Commons about the fire last week in which at least 79 people died, the prime minister said initial test results had shown other blocks had seemingly used flammable cladding. Speaking after May’s statement, a No 10 spokeswoman said that after councils were told to provide the government with details of cladding, a “small number” of samples were tested, and three of these were found to be combustible.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) was coordinating the process and facilities to allow for 100 samples a day to be tested, the spokeswoman said. “So far, three samples have been found to be combustible,” she said. “In terms of how many buildings and how many homes have this type of cladding, the estimate provided to us by councils is that there are approximately 600 high-rise buildings with similar cladding. We are in touch with all the local authorities to encourage them to urgently send us the samples and then we will carry out the checks that we need to see where we are with that.”

Later the DCLG clarified that the 600 figure referred to high buildings with any form of cladding, not necessarily the aluminium composite material (ACM) panels used on Grenfell Tower.

Supreme court to consider appeal to allow Trump's travel ban

The nation’s highest court is considering an appeal by the Trump administration to allow the president’s controversial order restricting travel to the US from six Muslim-majority countries. Two federal appeals courts have temporarily blocked the revised presidential order by Trump that sought to suspend the issuing of visas from the countries and freeze the US refugee resettlement program.

The appeals court rulings upheld decisions by district judges in Maryland and Hawaii who ruled against the federal government in March. The Trump administration appealed these orders to the supreme court, and on Wednesday made its final submissions, calling on the court to temporarily overturn the lower court stays until a full hearing later in the year.

The nine justices are set to meet for their final closed-door conference of the court’s term on Thursday morning, meaning the pathway to a resolution of the case could be announced at any point.

Senate health-care draft repeals Obamacare taxes, provides bigger subsidies for low-income Americans than House bill

Senate leaders on Wednesday were putting the final touches on legislation that would reshape a big piece of the U.S. health-care system by dramatically rolling back Medicaid while easing the impact on Americans who stand to lose coverage under a new bill.

A discussion draft circulating Wednesday afternoon among aides and lobbyists would roll back the Affordable Care Act’s taxes, phase down its Medicaid expansion, rejigger its subsidies, give states wider latitude in opting out of its regulations and eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

The bill largely mirrors the House measure that narrowly passed last month but with some significant changes aimed at pleasing moderates. While the House legislation tied federal insurance subsidies to age, the Senate bill would link them to income, as the ACA does. The Senate proposal cuts off Medicaid expansion more gradually than the House bill,\ but would enact deeper long-term cuts to the health-care program for low-income Americans. It also removes language restricting federally subsidized health plans from covering abortions, which may have run afoul of complex budget rules.

Arrests of Trumpcare Protesters, Some in Wheelchairs, Outside McConnell's Office


Soon after a draft version of the Republican's Senate version of their Trumpcare care bill was released Thursday morning, Capitol Hill Police were systematically arresting people who staged a dramatic sit-in outside of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office.

Amid chants of "Don't Touch Medicaid!" and signs suggesting the same, many of those protesting the Senate bill were either elderly or in wheelchairs, offering a stunning visual as police tried to remove them from the hallway.

ADAPT, the national disability rights group behind the protest, said the Senate's bill is a direct threat to the future of people with pre-existing conditions and disabilities.

The proposed caps and cuts to Medicaid contained in the Republican bill, said ADAPT organizer Bruce Darling, would "greatly reduce access to medical care and home and community based service for elderly and disabled Americans who will either die or be forecd into institutions. Our lives and liberty shouldn't be stolen to give a tax break to the wealthy. That's truly un-American."

'The Sky Didn't Fall': Study on Seattle $15 Minimum Wage Proves Critics Wrong

In an analysis bolstering the arguments of those fighting for minimum wage hikes nationwide, a group of University of California, Berkeley economists has found that Seattle's decision to gradually raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour has not hampered job growth, despite the frequent warnings of doom-and-gloom critics.

The study (pdf), released on Tuesday, examined the effects of the incremental wage increases in 2015 and 2016. After analyzing Seattle job data prior to the wage hikes—which were signed into law by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray in 2015—and after they began to take effect, researchers found "no evidence of job loss in the city's restaurant industry, even as pay reached $13 for workers in large companies."

Professor Michael Reich, lead author of the analysis, said the Seattle wage hikes are "working as intended, raising pay for low-wage workers, without negatively affecting jobs." ...

The study's results come shortly following the decision of congressional Democrats to support the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, a measure introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would raise the minimum wage to $15 nationally over a period of seven years and index it to inflation thereafter.

Trump says he doesn't want a 'poor person' handling economy

Donald Trump has said he doesn’t want “a poor person” to hold economic roles in his administration as he used an Iowa rally to defend his decision to appoint the wealthy to his cabinet.

The US president told a crowd on Wednesday night: “Somebody said why did you appoint a rich person to be in charge of the economy? No it’s true. And Wilbur’s [commerce secretary Wilbur Ross] a very rich person in charge of commerce. I said: ‘Because that’s the kind of thinking we want.’”

The president explained that Ross and his economic adviser Gary Cohn “had to give up a lot to take these jobs” and that Cohn in particular, a former president of Goldman Sachs, “went from massive pay days to peanuts”.

Trump added: “And I love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don’t want a poor person. Does that make sense?”



the horse race



Russia-gate Flops as Democrats’ Golden Ticket

The national Democratic Party and many liberals have bet heavily on the Russia-gate investigation as a way to oust President Trump from office and to catapult Democrats to victories this year and in 2018, but the gamble appears not to be paying off. The Democrats’ disappointing loss in a special election to fill a congressional seat in an affluent Atlanta suburb is just the latest indication that the strategy of demonizing Trump and blaming Russia for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat may not be the golden ticket that some Democrats had hoped.

Though it’s still early to draw conclusive lessons from Karen Handel’s victory over Jon Ossoff – despite his raising $25 million – one lesson may be that a Middle America backlash is forming against the over-the-top quality of the Trump-accusations and the Russia-bashing, with Republicans rallying against the image of Official Washington’s “deep state” collaborating with Democrats and the mainstream news media to reverse a presidential election. ...

From conversations that I’ve had with some Trump voters in recent weeks, I was struck by how they viewed the Democratic Party as snobbish, elitist and looking down its nose at “average Americans.” And in conversations with some Clinton voters, I found confirmation for that view in the open disdain that the Clinton backers expressed toward the stupidity of anyone who voted for Trump. In other words, the Trump voters were not wrong to feel “dissed.” It seems the Republicans – and Trump in particular – have done a better job in presenting themselves to these Middle Americans as respecting their opinions and representing their fears, even though the policies being pushed by Trump and the GOP still favor the rich and will do little good – and significant harm – to the middle and working classes.

Sen. Warner Wants Russia Hacking Info Public but Pushes Prosecution for Alleged Leaker Who Revealed It

Weeks after calling for the prosecution of alleged National Security Agency leaker Reality Winner, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to reveal more about Russia’s attempts to hack into state and local election systems. On Tuesday, Warner sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly asking for the department to “publicly disclose the full scope of foreign attempts” to hack into “state and local election systems.”

As vice chair, Warner has helped lead the intelligence committee’s probe into Russian interference, and he’s been one of the Senate’s most passionate voices sounding the alarm on election related cybersecurity. Despite advocating for more transparency on Russian hacking, Warner has called for the prosecution of the alleged leaker the government claims helped release information about Russian cyber operations targeting U.S. election infrastructure.

State Election Boss Learned Russia Hacking Details From News Report, Not the Feds

A top state election official expressed alarm Wednesday that the federal government withheld information about cyberattacks against the U.S. election infrastructure from state-level governments that actually run the polling systems.

Connie Lawson, the Indiana secretary of state and president-elect of the National Association for Secretaries of State, said that last summer intelligence agencies found that some 20 state networks had been probed by Russian hackers. Yet, she said, the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly assured her that no “specific or credible threats” existed to the 2016 election. Lawson said the FBI had warned state officials about attempts to infiltrate some election systems, but the federal government hadn’t expressed the full scope of the attacks.

“In more recent days, we’ve learned from a top-secret NSA report that the identity of a company providing voter registration support services in several states was compromised,” Lawson said. She was referencing a report from The Intercept on a National Security Agency document that claims Russian hackers launched a cyberattack against a U.S. voting software supplier and more than 100 election officials just days before the election.

“It is gravely concerning,” Lawson went on, “that election officials have only recently learned about the threats outlined in the leaked NSA report, especially given the fact that the former DHS Secretary Jeh Johsnon repeatedly told my colleagues and I that no specific or credible threats existed in the fall of ’16.”



the evening greens


Norway issues $1bn threat to Brazil over rising Amazon destruction

Norway has issued a blunt threat to Brazil that if rising deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is not reversed, its billion-dollar financial assistance will fall to zero. The leaders of the two nations meet in Oslo on Friday.

The oil-rich Scandinavian nation has provided $1.1bn to Brazil’s Amazon fund since 2008, tied to reductions in the rate of deforestation in the world’s greatest rainforest. The destruction of forests by timber and farming industries is a major contributor to the carbon emissions that drive climate change and Norway views protecting the Amazon as vital for the whole world.

The rate of deforestation in the Amazon fell steadily from 2008 to 2014, an “impressive achievement” which had a “very positive impact” on Brazil and the world, according to Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s environment minister.

But in a forthright letter to Brazil’s environment minister, José Sarney Filho, seen by the Guardian, Helgesen said: “In 2015 and 2016 deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon saw a worrying upward trend.” He warned that this had already reduced Norway’s contributions and added: “Even a fairly modest further increase would take this number to zero.”

US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Chevron Pollution Case

Embracing Need for 'WWII Style Mobilization,' California Set to Go Big on Climate

Following news that legislation aiming to power California solely with renewable energy by 2045 passed the state Senate, bestselling author Naomi Klein joined Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz and community leaders on Wednesday in calling for a "World War II-scale mobilization" to combat climate change and lead the way in developing environmentally safe technology.

"Los Angeles took on the needs of the entire United States and much of the world during World War II by embracing wartime mobilization," Koretz said. "Hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles residents not only contributed massively to aircraft and ship manufacturing, they also volunteered to aid the Red Cross by the tens of thousands. I'm calling on all Angelenos to mobilize once again."

The initiative City Councilman Koretz announced on Wednesday will seek to make Los Angeles carbon neutral by 2025. A Climate Justice Mobilization Working Group will also be formed, the Hollywood Patch reported, and it will "partner with the national Climate Mobilization group and try to reach the goals outlined in Canada's LEAP Manifesto," which Klein helped produce.

Biggest Banks Fueling Climate Disaster With Billions Poured Into 'Extreme Fossil Fuels'

Threatening a climate-stable planet, the world's biggest banks are continuing business-as-usual by continuing to provide funding for "extreme fossil fuels."

So finds the latest Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card—produced by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Sierra Club, and Oil Change International—which defines the "extreme" sources as tar sands, Arctic oil, ultra-deepwater oil, coal mining, coal power, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

As RAN said Wednesday in an email to supporters: "To keep the planet under 1.5 degrees of global warming and stop human rights violations, banks *must* stop financing extreme fossil fuels. Our planet just can't take it." ...

JP Morgan Chase earned the dubious distinction of being the biggest Wall Street funder of extreme fossil fuels.

"In 2016 alone they poured $6.9 billion into the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet," said Lindsey Allen, RAN's executive director. "On Wall Street they are number one in tar sands oil, Arctic oil, ultra-deepwater oil, coal power, and LNG export. Even in this bellwether year when overall funding has declined, Chase is funneling more and more cash into extreme fossil fuels. For a company that issues statements in favor of the Paris Climate Accord, they are failing to meet their publicly stated ambitions."


Also of Interest

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

This article contains an hilarious recap of Jill Stein's beatdown of the moronic Clinton troll Neera Tanden. Not to be missed:

For The Record, Jill Stein Would Have Made A Great President

As Standing Rock Camps Cleared Out, TigerSwan Expanded Surveillance to Array of Progressive Causes

Dakota Access-Style Policing Moves to Pennsylvania’s Mariner East 2 Pipeline

Jared Kushner’s Pursuit of Middle East Peace Looks a Lot Like Total Surrender to Israel

Americans Tolerate Inequality Because They Over-Estimate Their Odds of Coming Out on Top

It’s Not (Just) the Working Class. It’s the Service Class

Fukushima’s Radiation Will Poison Food “for Decades,” Study Finds


A Little Night Music

The Olympics - Well

The Olympics - Baby It's Hot

The Olympics - The Slop

The Olympics - Chicken

Olympics - Baby Do The Philly Dog

The Olympics - Dodge City

The Olympics - Private Eye

The Olympics - Big Boy Pete


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enhydra lutris's picture

morning. This means alternating between indoor chores, you tubes and news. This, in turn, somehow turns into grogginess. This in turn leads to insane ideas like what would you include on "Tommy Tedesco's Greatest Hits"?

Thanks for the news and doo wop.

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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 --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

heh, i wonder if guitar player magazine didn't put tommy tedesco's greatest hits together already. Smile

now, i'd like to see "tommy tedesco meets teisco del rey."

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thanatokephaloides's picture

From the linked article, quoting Dr. Jill Stein:

Vanity Fair thinks “People, Planet and Peace over Profit” sounds like Trump? I knew corporate media was confused, but not *this* confused.

What are those Vanity Fair folks smoking, and where can I get some? Wink /s

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

joe shikspack's picture

@thanatokephaloides

i think that they are snorting blue clintonite. you can get it from your usual purveyors of illusions and delusions.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@joe shikspack

And if this is the case, I have a message for the Vanity Fair political editorial staff:

[video:https://youtu.be/N6uEMOeDZsA]

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Unabashed Liberal's picture

not experiencing a heat wave like so many other folks, but we're in for some fairly fierce thunderstorms today and tomorrow. Anyhoo, hope you C99'ers in the West get some relief soon!

Gotta run 'the B' out early according to 'my friend' Accuweather. Acutally, not sure what I did before they came up with MinuteCast--it sure makes my life easier, not to mention 'the B's.'

I got answers from both Ellison's and Bernie's staffers which I'll share when we get back in.

Later.

[Edited: Added italics; 'fairly,' not 'previous.' What was I thinking???]

Bye

Mollie


"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."--Old English Proverb

COUNTDOWN TO (FULL) RETIREMENT

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

it's been a little cooler here the last couple of days, but not cool enough for my tastes. i'll be glad when a decent cold front sweeps through.

have a great walk with the b, and give him my regards.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@joe shikspack

Bernie on CNN with Anderson Cooper. So, will wait until they post the transcript for tonight, to add to the comment about his staffers statements (regarding single-payer).

I wish there'd be another cool spell, too. I was amazed when we saw nighttime temps in the low 50's about 8-10 days ago. Today wasn't too bad--stayed in the mid-seventies, lots of cloud cover, and, of course, lots of rain.

Mollie

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Azazello's picture

Evening everybody,
Jimmy Dore has put some great ones up over the last two days.
What caused the Grenfell fire ? YouTube (12 min.)
Why was Ossoff beaten worse that HRC ? YouTube (16 min.)
Establishment press admits Russia story probably BS. YouTube (11 min.)
Even MSNBC says enough with the Russia BS. YouTube (14 min.)

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the links!

i hope that you haven't melted in the heat.

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Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack
only 106. We should be able to go outside by about 11 or midnight.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

@Azazello Awesome!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

Obama, the vacuous charlatan

This is a start, but many more words can describe the vacuous charlatan empty suit that he is.
How people can still wish that he was still president after the things he did in this country alone is , the only word I can think of is stupid.

From overseeing the brutal takedown of OWS, his total silence on the blatant cop killing Blacks and not addressing it, the increase of income inequality which saw more people on the food stamps program, to watching as 9 million people lost their homes while the banks continued to commit fraud, his allowing BP to spray poisonous Corexit over the ocean, people and their waterways to his allowing the first private mercenary company Tiger Swan to operate in this country and violently break up the DAPL protests.

These are just a few of the things he did to the citizens that he took an oath to protect. The banks are now much bigger and set for another taxpayer bailout while the bank CEOs have been receiving booko bucks for doing that.

And since people didn't see a problem with those things, they thought it was a good idea to elect Hillary to continue them. Even if she had to cheat to win, her supporters thought that stealing an election was just fine.
SMDH. Seriously, WTF?

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

it's the low-information people that wish obama was still president and thought hillary would be just fine.

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snoopydawg's picture

We have set records for abnormally high temperatures in Utah. Monday and Tuesday the temperatures were close to 100 degrees. It has cooled down for the rest of the week, but 100 degrees again Monday.
This is happening all over the country.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

we haven't broken triple digits here yet, but we've been close a couple of times. we had an unusually cool spring, though.

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and in court waiting for my case to be called all morning. No breakfast, no lunch, am eating dinner as I type.
Pause, took a bite of a sandwich...
At any rate, I have gotten temporary custody of a tiny baby for her Dad, a man of IQ in the low 60's.
My "I am Sam" moment.
Miracles do happen.
WWIII is imminent, unless there is a miracle.
Thanks, joe.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

cool! glad to hear that you had a rewarding day and something went very right.

re: wwiii - i keep wondering if some of the elites are looking for a quick way to depopulate the planet so that they can have it to themselves.

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@joe shikspack Unless they nuke. Surely the fuckers know the planet will not recover from it.
On one hand, I just can't understand TPTB. I scratch my head, thinking "what did they just say?"
On the other hand, my client and I communicate beautifully.
If the nukes hit east Texas, his baby girl's dust will be found wrapped in the dust of his arms. Their love for one another might drift up from their ashes, smell like roses.
He was perfect in that courtroom all damn day.
Just so fucking worth it all.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

With the drastic cuts to Medicaid, removing subsidies and making insurance more financially out of reach along with the threat of nuclear war, depopulating the planet doesn't seem that far out of reach.
Hopefully the zombies that are left behind will make their lives a living hell. Think of that as a warmup act for the real thing.

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had to delete

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Beware the bullshit factories.