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This evening's music features Chicago blues musician Magic Slim. Enjoy!

"Like the sun, nations also fall into eclipse."

-- Victor Hugo

News and Opinion

Trump Administration Can Sift Through User Data of Inauguration Protest Website, Judge Rules

Defying First Amendment concerns, a judge in a Washington, D.C., trial court has upheld a controversial search warrant that would allow the government to sift through data from a major protest website. Prosecutors allege that the website, DisruptJ20.org, was used to coordinate a riot on Inauguration Day, which led to property damage at multiple businesses in downtown Washington. But the vast majority of the actions and protests the site coordinated were peaceful. It’s unclear what connection, if any, the site had to the violence.

Robert E. Morin, the chief judge of the D.C. Superior Court, ruled in favor of the government. But Morin added additional protections, ordering that the government must, before executing its search, file special affidavits describing its procedures. “I’m going to be supervising their search,” he said. The data that investigators don’t identify as criminal evidence would be filed with the court and placed under seal, according to the ruling. Morin forbade the investigators from sharing that data with other government agencies.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice received pushback from privacy and free-speech organizations after it obtained a search warrant against the website-hosting company, DreamHost. The original warrant order was incredibly broad, requiring the company to produce all of its data on the website – including visitor logs from all 1.3 million people who viewed it. DreamHost challenged the warrant, saying that the information could be used to identify people’s political preferences, and that the request for so much data couldn’t possibly be legal under the First Amendment.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice dropped its request for visitor logs, but still demanded communications and group email lists from the organizers — information that DreamHost says could still be used to identify the political beliefs of innocent people.

North Korea Keeps Saying It Might Give Up Its Nuclear Weapons — But Most News Outlets Won’t Tell You That

The current phase of the decades-long U.S.-North Korea standoff began this past July 4, when North Korea launched its first genuine intercontinental ballistic missile. In a statement, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un called it “a gift for the American bastards.” Then, on August 8, President Trump terrifyingly declared that “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Two days later he said, “maybe that statement wasn’t tough enough,” and tweeted that “military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded.”

Meanwhile, North Korea explained that it was examining its options “for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam,” a U.S. territory. Kim later walked this peculiar provocation back, at least for the moment.

But here’s what you don’t know, unless you’re an obsessive North Korea-watcher:

Also starting on July 4, North Korea has been saying over and over again that it might put its nuclear weapons and missiles on the negotiating table if the United States would end its own threatening posture.

This fact has been completely obscured by U.S. and other western media. For the most part, newspapers and television have simply ignored North Korea’s position. When they haven’t ignored it, they’ve usually mispresented it as its opposite – i.e., claiming that North Korea is saying that it will never surrender its nuclear weapons under any circumstances. And on the rare occasions when North Korea’s statements are mentioned accurately, they’re never given the prominence they deserve.

Russian nuclear bombers fly near North Korea in rare show of force

Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers have flown a rare mission around the Korean peninsula at the same time as the United States and South Korea conduct joint military exercises that have infuriated Pyongyang.

Russia, which has said it is strongly against any unilateral U.S. military action on the peninsula, said Tupolev-95MS bombers, code named "Bears" by NATO, had flown over the Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, prompting Japan and Seoul to scramble jets to escort them.

The flight, which also included planes with advanced intelligence gathering capabilities, was over international waters and was announced by the Russian Defence Ministry on the same day as Moscow complained about the U.S.-South Korean war games.

"The U.S. and South Korea holding yet more large-scale military and naval exercises does not help reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, told a news briefing in Moscow.

"We urge all sides to exercise maximum caution. Given the arms build-up in the region, any rash move or even an unintended incident could spark a military conflict."

Tariq Ramadan: The U.S. & Allies Are Destabilizing the Middle East & Selling Arms to All Sides

The Possible Education of Donald Trump

Though little noted, arguably the most important foreign policy decision of Trump’s presidency was his termination of the CIA’s covert support for Syrian rebels and his cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin to expand partial ceasefire zones in Syria. By these actions, Trump has contributed to a sharp drop-off in the Syrian bloodshed. It now appears that the relatively secular Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is regaining control and that some Syrian refugees are returning to their homes. Syria is starting the difficult job of rebuilding shattered cities, such as Aleppo. But Trump’s aversion to any new military adventures in Syria is being tested again by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is threatening to attack Iranian and Hezbollah forces inside Syria.

Last week, according to Israeli press reports, a high-level delegation led by Mossad chief Yossi Cohen carried Netanyahu’s threat to the U.S. government. The Israeli leader surely has raised the same point directly in phone calls with Trump. I was told that Trump, who appears to be growing weary of Netanyahu’s frequent demands and threats, flatly objected to an Israeli attack and brushed aside Israel’s alarm by noting that Netanyahu’s policies in supporting the rebels in Syria contributed to Israel’s current predicament by drawing in Iran and Hezbollah.

This week, Netanyahu personally traveled to Sochi, Russia, to confront Putin with the same blunt warning about Israel’s intention to attack targets inside Syria if Iran does not remove its forces. A source familiar with the meeting told me that Putin responded with a sarcastic “good luck!” and that the Russians thought the swaggering Netanyahu appeared “unhinged.”

Still, a major Israeli attack on Iranian positions inside Syria would test Trump’s political toughness, since he would come under enormous pressure from Congress and the mainstream news media to intervene on Israel’s behalf. Indeed, realistically, Netanyahu must be counting on his ability to drag Trump into the conflict since Israel could not alone handle a potential Russian counterstrike. But Netanyahu may be on somewhat thin ice since Trump apparently blames Israel’s top American supporters, the neocons, for much of his political troubles. They opposed him in the Republican primaries, tilted toward Hillary Clinton in the general election, and have pushed the Russia-gate affair to weaken him. ...

The question is whether Trump’s instinct for survival finally will lead him to policies that blunt his enemies’ strategies or will cause him to succumb to their demands.

Israel destroys Palestinian classrooms ahead of first day of school

Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank have started the new school year in improvised tents after Israeli authorities demolished their classrooms the day before term began. Around 80 children aged five to 10 from the village of Jub-Ad-Dhib had to attend classes in cramped tarpaulin tents or under the hot sun on Wednesday. One day earlier, Israeli authorities had decided to confiscate and destroy steel terrapin cabins used as school buildings along with other educational equipment.

The area was sealed off, declared a military zone, and security forces used stun grenades to keep residents away, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a statement. Israeli media said that locals had thrown stones at soldiers during the demolition.

The six newly installed cabins, donated by the EU, were put in place so that local children did not have to walk an hour to get to school.

Over the past two weeks, four Palestinian communities have seen their educational facilities – donated by international bodies and NGOs – destroyed on the grounds that they had been built without proper planning permission. Critics of Israeli policy point out that building permissions for new Palestinian homes and infrastructure in the occupied West Bank are almost impossible to obtain.

“The demolition of a school building the night before the start of the year epitomises the administrative cruelty and systematic harassment by authorities designed to drive Palestinians from their land,” Roy Yellin of B’Tselem said.

Kushner Assures Abbas That Trump Is Optimistic on Mideast Peace, But Offers Few Details

Earlier this week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas complained that he’d met with US officials some 20 different times, and still didn’t have a real understanding of Trump’s Mideast peace plan. Today, he met with Jared Kushner, apparently with hope that the deal be ironed out.

Kushner assured Abbas of President Trump’s optimism and hope for peace, though once again this came without any real specifics on what the plan actually was, and still not even offering clarity on whether this is to be a two-state solution or not.

Has the Pentagon Taken Over US Foreign Policy in Afghanistan?

U.S.-led airstrikes are killing hundreds of civilians in the battle for ISIS-held Raqqa, groups say

U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria are killing hundreds of civilians each month, according to monitoring groups, deepening already grave concerns for thousands of families trapped inside the city.

At least 725 civilians have been killed in coalition airstrikes since the offensive to retake Raqqa began June 6, according to Airwars, a London-based monitoring organization that works with local activists, human rights groups and the Pentagon.

“We had been flagging for months prior to the offensive that far more civilians were dying around Raqqa than we would have expected even a few months earlier,” said Chris Woods, the director of Airwars.

“Since the assault began, we have seen a casualty count that is relatively high compared to the rest of the coalition’s war against ISIS,” he said, using another name for the Islamic State. “In Raqqa, this means high numbers of identifiable civilians, many of them women and children.”

10 Civilians, Including Kids, Dead in US-Backed Somalia Raid

Ten civilians, including three children, were killed in a raid by foreign and Somali forces on a farm in southern Somalia, a deputy governor said Friday, as the U.S. military confirmed it supported a counter-terror operation in the area and said it would look into the allegations.

The deaths raise questions about growing U.S. military involvement in the Horn of Africa nation after President Donald Trump approved expanded operations against the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab, often in support of Somali forces.

The farmers were killed "one by one" after soldiers stormed into Barire village early Friday, the deputy governor of Lower Shabelle region, Ali Nur Mohamed, told reporters in the capital, Mogadishu, as victims' bloodied bodies were on display. ...

"These local farmers were attacked by foreign troops while looking after their crops," Mohamed told reporters. "The troops could have arrested them because they were unarmed but instead shot them one by one mercilessly."

Mattis: US 'actively reviewing' sending weapons to Ukraine

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Thursday that the Trump administration is “actively reviewing” whether to provide weapons to Ukrainians who are fighting Russian-backed rebels. “On the defensive lethal weapons, we are actively reviewing it,” Mattis said during a press conference alongside Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. ...

Congress has given the president the authority to send Ukraine so-called lethal aid as it fights Russian-backed rebels in its east. Former President Obama opted not to use that authority for fear of provoking Russia and worsening the conflict, and instead sent only nonlethal aid.

Mattis on Thursday dismissed the idea that sending defensive lethal aid would be controversial.

'Time to Redistribute Wealth': 1% Thriving While 78% Living Paycheck to Paycheck

Top CEOs may be thriving, but most American workers are drowning in debt, saving little, and living paycheck to paycheck.

That's according to a new report by CareerBuilder, which found that:

• 78 percent of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent last year;
• 71 percent of workers are in debt, up from 68 percent last year;
• 56 percent believe their debt is unmanageable;
• 54 percent of minimum-wage workers say they have to work more than one job to make ends meet.

The report's findings—based on a survey of more than 3,400 full-time workers across various industries and income levels—suggest that the stock market boom President Donald Trump has so frequently flaunted has done little to help the workers he claims to support.

As Michelle Styczynski pointed out in an analysis for the People Policy Project, "the stock market tells us about the prospects of capital owners, but it certainly doesn't tell us much about the average worker."

David Hildebrand, a democratic socialist challenging Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for her Senate seat in 2018, observed that the numbers found in the CareerBuilder survey are "nothing new," and that they show "it's time to redistribute wealth."

After a UN warning over racism, America’s self-image begins to crack

There is a certain expectation, a certain image that comes to mind of the country that receives a rebuke from the United Nations on human rights. One in the south or the east, with a military dictatorship perhaps – a country that has a large oppressed religious or ethnic minority, or has a poor record of treating women as second-class citizens. Earlier this week, the US joined those countries; that publicly shamed stable of those that have incurred the wrath of the global human rights ombudsman. Inevitably, it was due to race.

A UN committee charged with tackling racism has issued an “early warning” over conditions in the US and urged the Trump administration to “unequivocally and unconditionally” reject discrimination. The warning specifically refers to events in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the civil rights activist Heather Heyer was killed when a car crashed into a group of people protesting against a white nationalist rally. Such statements are usually issued by the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (Cerd) over fears of ethnic or religious conflict. In the past decade, the committee has only issued six warnings. Those admonishments went to Burundi, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria.

Civilisations are undone in many ways, not all of them obvious. We tend to think of decline along military or economic lines but it is actually a nation’s culture, particularly in terms of equality, that determines its civilisational credentials. America’s descent into what looks like a full on race crisis is graphically dragging it down the “development” scale. Reality is closing in on the country’s exceptionalist self-perception. But to be shocked by this is to have thought of the US as a superior civilisation in the first place. ...

It took only eight months to go from a nation that voted for a black president two terms in a row to one that is suffering from race riots and killings, with officials having to send troops out on to the streets and declare a state of emergency. The speed with which it happened is the clue that it was in fact happening all along, unseen. And the fact that it was lying in wait is an indicator of how little racial equality is prized in the United States’ DNA.

Politics have been getting more extreme as the middle class shrinks

Even before President Donald Trump’s contorted series of quasi-condemnations, the image of helmeted neo-Nazis squaring off with protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, stood out as a remarkably awful moment in the country’s recent history. But it was also just the latest sign of mounting stress in an America where political polarization, extremism, and just plain ill will between people of different ideological stripes regularly spills into sporadic violence.

Sure, racist violence is nothing new. And in that sense Charlottesville was just a reboot of America’s long struggle with race, identity and power. But I write about economics. And looking at those young white guys in VICE News Tonight’s footage of the Nazi-style Tiki torchlight parade, I couldn’t help but see Charlottesville as part of the social rot that has set in — particularly among some white men — after a decades-long rise in inequality in the U.S. “That makes them sort of susceptible to political mobilization along these identity lines, in a way that’s hard to imagine happening in the 1990s, when the economy was rather good,” said Nolan McCarthy, a Princeton University political science professor who has studied the interplay between economic inequality and political polarization. “I think economic growth is very helpful for dampening down these animosities.” ...

Some argue the decline of the middle class doesn’t really matter because at least some of that decline is due to people climbing up to the ranks of the richer classes. But that’s wrong. The middle class is more than just an average of rich people and poor people. The group has unique attributes — such as high rates of investment in education, homeownership, and entrepreneurship — that help make it a key ingredient for healthy economic growth and, more importantly, a healthy democracy. ...

[The precipitous decline of the middle class] is occurring against the backdrop (and longtime) trend of Americans clustering in different areas defined largely by lifestyle, culture, education, and economic opportunity. That process, known as the Big Sort, essentially ensures that Americans of different views have lead increasingly separate lives with few opportunities to get to know one another. And it’s a lot easier to hate people you don’t know. ...

Perhaps the jump from extreme political polarization to hatred isn’t quite as far as we think. Vanderbilt University political science professor Marc Hetherington has found that, increasingly, political polarization among everyday Americans has reached levels that he describes, basically, as hatred. “This is new, and it’s intense,” said Marc Hetherington, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University who has studied political polarization, at a lecture at the London School of Economics late last year. “The two different sides hate each other.” Again, it’s hard to say for sure that rising U.S. inequality is responsible for that increase in hatred among Americans — whether it’s hatred of people for their politics or their race or religion. But if we’re interested in trying to save this democracy of ours, it would make sense to prop up the middle class, and tamp down on the hatred, sooner rather than later.

As Calls Grow, Former Adviser Warns of Armed 'Insurrection' If Trump Impeached

As questions swirl about President Donald Trump's mental stability and fitness for office—and with calls for his impeachment again spiking after his repeated embrace of white supremacists—one of the president's former top advisors warned Thursday that the result of Trump's removal would be an "armed" and violent "insurrection."

"You will have a spasm of violence in this country, an insurrection like you've never seen," declared Roger Stone, a prominent Republican operative and top advisor during last year's presidential campaign, when asked about impeachment. Stone argued that those calling for Trump's impeachment were simply upset that Hillary Clinton lost the election, but that they should "get over it."

In his interview with TMZ, Stone said he wasn't "advocating violence," only "predicting" that it would it occur. He also warned that anyone who voted for impeachment "would be endangering their own life."

Turd Reich: San Francisco dog owners lay minefield of poo for rightwing rally

When a group of far-right activists come to San Francisco to hold a rally this Saturday, they will be met by peace activists offering them flowers to wear in their hair.

Also, dog shit. Lots and lots of dog shit.

Hundreds of San Franciscans plan to prepare Crissy Field, the picturesque beach in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge where rightwing protest group Patriot Prayer will gather, with a generous carpeting of excrement.

“I just had this image of alt-right people stomping around in the poop,” Tuffy Tuffington said of the epiphany he had while walking Bob and Chuck, his two Patterdale terriers, and trying to think of the best way to respond to rightwing extremists in the wake of Charlottesville. “It seemed like a little bit of civil disobedience where we didn’t have to engage with them face to face.”

Tuffington, a 45-year-old artist and designer, created a Facebook event page based on the concept, and the dog owners of San Francisco responded in droves. Many have declared their intention to stockpile their shitpiles for days in advance, then deliver them in bags for the site. (The group is also planning to reconvene on Sunday to “clean up the mess and hug each other”.)

New York state's final chance to stop fracking is slipping away

New York banned fracking in 2014, Maryland recently followed suit, and local ordinances to limit it have been passed in 22 states. But a fracking expansion juggernaut is subverting state and local attempts to keep fracking’s negative impacts out. The federal fix is in, with the Trump administration ramming through project approvals and reversing Obama’s initiatives to regulate fracking’s air and water impacts and methane leakage. There has been some push-back from the courts, including important decisions over the last few days rejecting Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of Florida's Southeast Market pipelines because it ignored their climate impacts, and upholding New York state's refusal to issue a water permit for the Constitution Pipeline.

Still, some of the damage to state power to say “no” to fracking has been self-inflicted. Even in states like New York and California, which proclaim themselves sustainability leaders, fracked gas power plants and infrastructure are getting built over local objections, to serve as markets for fracked gas producer states like Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Increasingly, fracking’s environmental and health impacts are coming home to residents who fought to keep fracking out and believed they had prevailed. Sadly, they haven’t. New York is a cautionary case in point. Already the fourth-largest consumer of fracked gas in the U.S. despite its famous fracking ban, New York is surely on track to become the largest. It took a giant step down that path by allowing Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) to build an unneeded 680 MW fracked gas plant in the Hudson Valley’s Orange County.

CPV opponents call it “the head of the snake,” because the plant necessitates a vast network of pipelines, compressor stations and fracking wells. Despite CPV’s spectacularly inappropriate siting, its efforts to preempt state laws and regulations, and an egregious corruption scandal, construction of the plant continues. If it becomes operational, it will signal a public health and climate catastrophe, and carte blanche for fracking expansion elsewhere.

Science Envoy who Resigned in Protest of Trump: Climate Change Makes Storms like Harvey More Severe

Texas braces for Hurricane Harvey as Trump administration faces a major test

As Texas residents boarded up windows, stockpiled supplies and evacuated their homes ahead of Hurricane Harvey on Friday, Washington braced for what was set to be the first major natural disaster faced by the Trump administration. Donald Trump spoke with the governors of Texas and Louisiana on Thursday,anticipating the arrival on the Texas shoreline of what is predicted to develop into a category 3 hurricane.

Hurricanes are rated on a 1-5 scale based on wind speed. If Harvey became a category 3, that would make it the most powerful storm to hit the US since Wilma pummelled Florida in 2005. Earlier that year, the Bush administration offered a calamitously inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina.

Harvey was expected to make landfall near Corpus Christi early on Saturday, then potentially roll up the coast towards Houston and stall for days, bringing sustained rainfall and causing extensive flooding in the US’s fourth-largest city and surrounding areas. Forecasters warned of rising sea levels and 25in or more of rain in some areas.

Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, said in a statement that Trump had “pledged all available resources from the federal government to assist in preparation, and rescue and recovery efforts”.

With Trump in Charge, Heightened Fears of a Hurricane Harvey Petrochemical Nightmare

Texas is bracing for potentially "catastrophic" flooding as Hurricane Harvey is set to make landfall Friday, and many are raising concerns that given the state's role as the heart of the petrochemical industry, the storm could create a "nightmare situation" for the environment—one that the Trump administration's aggressive deregulatory agenda will only make worse.

Writing for The New Republic, Emily Atkins highlights the devastating impact Hurricane Sandy—a Category 1 Hurricane—had in several states in 2012, and underlines the fact that Harvey now threatens as a Category 3 storm.

"In the devastating wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, parts of the East Coast were left not only demolished, but polluted," Atkins observes. Wastewater treatment plants lost power and discharged 11 billion gallons of sewage into receiving waters."

Harvey, environmentalists and researchers worry, could be even more devastating—"a huge pollution disaster," Atkins writes. As Reuters reported Friday, oil prices are beginning to surge as the petroleum industry prepares for the hurricane's impact.

Quoting former EPA administrator Judith Enck, Atkins continued:

There is a huge environmental risk to this storm. If the "biblical event" predicted materializes in this densely packed industrial area, "it may impact the Gulf Coast oil refineries and chemical plants," said Judith Enck, who served as administrator for EPA's Region 2 during Hurricane Sandy. "I am extremely concerned about the path of Hurricane Harvey."

Environmental advocates are also worried that Harvey will create long-term public health problems due to accidental toxic substance releases, and not just from refineries and power plants. In the 30 counties where a disaster has been declared, there are dozens of Superfund sites, many of which are essentially waste pits containing harmful chemicals.

These risks are magnified by the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, which has taken aim at environmental rules designed to protect the public from dangerous pollutants. Adding to these concerns is the fact that there are still numerous vacancies in federal agencies that will be tasked with confronting the hurricane's impact.

Also of Interest

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

Even WikiLeaks Haters Shouldn’t Want it Labeled a “Hostile Intelligence Agency”

The War That Time Forgot

Venezuela: Chavistas Gain Upper Hand, Big Challenges Remain

The Road to Charlottesville: Reflections on 21st Century U.S. Capitalist Racism

Whistleblower Lawsuit Charges Illegal Retaliation, Dangerous Practices at CIA’s Elite Directorate of Operations

Vote Tallies and Class Struggle

Mathematical secrets of ancient tablet unlocked after nearly a century of study

Heh, mark this day on your calendar. I'm linking to an article at National Review:

The Very Strange Indictment of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s IT Scammers

A Little Night Music

Magic Slim - I Don't Want No Woman

Magic Slim - Mary Lou

Magic Slim - How Unlucky Can One Man Be

Magic Slim & Keb' Mo' - Help Me

Magic Slim & The Teardrops - Down In Virgina

Magic Slim & The Teardrops - I Don't Believe You Baby

Magic Slim & The Teardrops - Before You Accuse Me

Magic Slim - Look On Yonder Wall

Magic Slim - 1823 South Michigan Avenue