The Evening Blues - 9-7-17



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Jackie Brenston

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b singer and saxophone player Jackie Brenston. Enjoy!

Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats - Rocket 88

"It is difficult to talk to people who confuse Austria and Australia. But there is nothing we can do about this; this is the level of political culture among part of the American establishment. As for the American people, America is truly a great nation if the Americans can put up with so many politically uncivilised people."

-- Vladimir Putin


News and Opinion

Putin unveils big plans to boost North Korea's economy in plans to infuriate Trump

The Kremlin chief announced plans to strengthen Russia's trading relationship with Kim Jong-un's regime. Proposed measures include piping Russian gas to the hermit state, and integrating Russia's electric grids to those in Pyongyang. Mr Putin claimed the move would help diffuse tensions in the Korean Peninsula, which have dramatically ramped up in recent weeks.

He said: "North Korea needs to be gradually involved in regional co-operation. Russia has some specific proposals that everyone knows about. Implementation of the initiatives will not only have economic benefits, but will also contribute to strengthening trust and stability in the Korean Peninsula. It is obvious that the Korean Peninsula's problems cannot be solved only with sanctions and pressure. One should not give in to emotion and drive North Korea into a corner."

His comments are likely to infuriate Mr Trump, who has urged world leaders to push for further economic sanctions on Kim's regime.

South Korea deploys missile system as US strengthens North Korea trade threat

Dozens of South Korean protesters have been injured in clashes with police over the full deployment on Thursday of a controversial US missile defence system intended to counter attacks from North Korea.

According to South Korean media, 38 people, including six police officers, were injured in the village of Seongju, 300km south of Seoul, as preparations were made to install four further terminal high-altitude area defence (Thaad) system batteries at a golf course in the village.

The morning protests came as the US threatened to impose sanctions on any country that trades with North Korea ahead of a crucial meeting of the UN security council to discuss fresh measures against the regime.

Donald Trump, along with South Korean president, Moon Jae-in and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, are pushing for an oil embargo against the North – a measure opposed by China and Russia. The US treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, warned on Wednesday that if the UN security council failed to agree on additional sanctions when it meets on Monday, he had an executive order ready for Trump to sign that would impose sanctions any country that trades with North Korea.

"Talks Can Work": As Tensions Rise on Korean Peninsula, Advocates Call for Demilitarization

India army chief: we must prepare for simultaneous war with China and Pakistan

India’s army chief said on Wednesday the country should be prepared for a potential two-front war given China is flexing its muscles and there is little hope for reconciliation with Pakistan.

General Bipin Rawat referred to a recent 10-week standoff with the Chinese army in the Himalayas that ended last week. He said the situation could gradually snowball into a larger conflict on India’s northern border. Rawat said Pakistan on the western front could take advantage of such a situation.

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted Rawat’s remarks at a seminar organised by the Center for Land Warfare Studies, a thinktank in New Delhi. India fought a war with China in 1962 and three wars with Pakistan, two of them over control of Kashmir, since securing independence from Britain in 1947. All three countries are nuclear powers.

Rawat said credible deterrence did not take away the threat of war. “Nuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence. Yes, they are. But to say that they can deter war or they will not allow nations to go to war, in our context that may also not be true,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

UN: Syrian opposition must accept it has not won the war

Syria's opposition must accept that they have not won the six-and-a-half year war against President Bashar Assad, UN peace talks mediator Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday. De Mistura suggested the war was almost over because many countries had got involved principally to defeat Islamic State in Syria, and a national ceasefire should follow soon after. The main rebel-held area, the city of Idlib would be "frozen."

"For the opposition, the message is very clear: if they were planning to win the war, facts are proving that is not the case. So now it's time to win the peace," he told reporters. Asked if he was implying that Assad had won, he said pro-government forces had advanced militarily, but nobody could actually claim to have won the war. "Victory can only be if there is a sustainable political long-term solution. Otherwise instead of war, God forbid, we may see plenty of low intensity guerrilla (conflicts) going on for the next 10 years, and you will see no reconstruction, which is a very sad outcome of winning a war."

Israel reported to have bombed Syrian chemical weapons facility

Israeli jets have reportedly bombed a Syrian government facility in north-west of the country believed to be associated with Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons programme. The strikes were initially reported by Hebrew and Arab media sources on Thursday morning. A Syrian military statement appears to confirm the reports.

The airstrike on the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre was reported to have taken place overnight. Western intelligence reports have linked the centre near the town of Masyaf to Syria’s chemical weapons programme.

A statement from the Syrian military said the attack had occurred early on Thursday and hit a facility close to the Mediterranean coast. It said Israeli warplanes fired several missiles after entering neighbouring Lebanon’s air space. “Israeli warplanes at 2.42am fired a number of missiles from Lebanese air space, targeting one of our military positions near Masyaf, which led to material damage and the deaths of two members of the site,” the army said in a statement.

It warned of the “dangerous repercussions of such hostile acts on the security and stability of the region”.

Syrian army fights to secure corridor into Deir al-Zor

The Syrian army and its allies are fighting to secure a corridor to troops in Deir al-Zor, a day after they smashed through Islamic State lines to break the jihadist siege.

The army reached Deir al-Zor city on Tuesday in a days-long thrust that followed months of steady advances east across the desert, breaking a siege that had lasted three years. ...

“Work is progressing to secure the route and widen the flanks so as not to be cut or targeted by (Islamic State),” said a commander in the military alliance backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“The next step is to liberate the city,” the non-Syrian commander said.

It points to a tough battle ahead as the army aims to move from breaching the siege to driving Islamic State militants from their half of the city, the sort of street-by-street warfare in which they excel.

While defeat of Isis dominates global attention, al-Qaeda strengthens in Syria

Al-Qaeda is creating its most powerful stronghold ever in north-west Syria at a time when world attention is almost entirely focused on the impending defeat of Isis in the east of the country. It has established full control of Idlib province and of a vital Syrian-Turkish border crossing since July. “Idlib Province is the largest al-Qaeda safe haven since 9/11,” says Brett McGurk, the senior US envoy to the international coalition fighting Isis.

The al-Qaeda-linked movement, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which used to be called Jabhat al-Nusra, has long been the most powerful rebel group in western Syria. After the capture of east Aleppo by the Syrian army last December, it moved to eliminate its rivals in Idlib, including its powerful former Turkish-backed ally Ahrar al-Sham. HTS is estimated to have 30,000 experienced fighters whose numbers will grow as it integrates brigades from other defeated rebel groups and recruits young men from the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have sought refuge in Idlib from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Al-Qaeda is growing in strength in and around Idlib province just as Isis is suffering defeat after defeat in eastern Syria and Iraq. Its latest setback was its failure on Tuesday to stop the Syrian army linking up with its enclave at Deir Ezzor, where Isis has been besieging the government held part of the city for three years. Divided by the Euphrates, the city is the largest in eastern Syria and its complete recapture opens the way to the al-Omar oilfields that once provided half of Syria’s crude production.

Bad news for Isis is good news for HTS and al-Qaeda. Its defeat preoccupies its myriad enemies and largely monopolises their military efforts. Short of combat troops, the Syrian army is only really capable of making a maximum effort on one front at a time. The Syrian Kurds have an interest in fighting Isis but not necessarily defeating it so decisively that the US would no longer need a Kurdish alliance and could return to the embrace of its old Nato ally Turkey.

HTS stands to benefit politically and militarily from the decline of Isis, the original creator and mentor of Jabhat al-Nusra, as the earliest of al-Qaeda’s incarnations in Syria was known. Under the name of al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of the movement split off in 2013 and the two sides fought a bloody inter-jihadi civil war. If Isis is destroyed or rendered a marginal force, Sunni Arab jihadis refusing to surrender to Mr Assad’s army and intelligence service will have no alternative but to join HTS. Moreover, Sunni Arabs in eastern Syria may soon be looking for any effective vehicle for resistance, if Syrian government armed forces behave with their traditional mix of brutality and corruption.

Socialist Forced Off Democratic Campaign for Criticism of Israel

Chicago Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, a young populist politician who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has been forced off a gubernatorial ticket that he only recently joined, after coming under fire for his ties to DSA and the group’s support of the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment movement.

Ramirez-Rosa joined Democratic state senator Daniel Biss’s gubernatorial ticket in late August — setting up Biss’s campaign as the unapologetic left edge of a Democratic primary in a field that includes a billionaire and a member of the Kennedy family. ...

Illinois Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider penned a Facebook post on September 3 citing the alderman’s views on Israel and particularly his “affiliation with a group that is an outspoken supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel” — namely, DSA — as a cause for concern. He wrote that he had spoken to both Biss and Ramirez-Rosa and decided to withdraw his endorsement of the campaign.

Ramirez-Rosa’s statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been critical of the status quo but hardly extreme. “You know, for too long the U.S. government has subsidized the oppression of the Palestinian people, and it’s time that that’s stopped,” he told the Real News Network during an interview in June 2016.  “And we have seen a shift internationally in favor of justice for the Palestinian people. You know, people stand with Israel, but they also want to make sure that Palestinian people have [justice].”

On Wednesday evening, Ramirez-Rosa posted news of his departure from the ticket on Facebook.

Worth a read, here's a taste:

It’s Time to Get Violence: Breaking Down the Assault on Antifa

Violence is the great obfuscator. When its name is invoked by the powerful, rest assured that it is masking much more than it reveals. While it is presented as an objective description of a state of affairs requiring immediate condemnation, it simultaneously serves to discredit movements and ideas, deny the political agency of certain actors, and cloak brutal forms of domination. Its purportedly objective presentation is, in fact, a legerdemain that stirs up moral sentiments in order to muddy political analysis. Under the guise of indubitable moral rectitude, the world is turned upside: those who stand up for justice are often made to appear as senseless savages, and the greatest perpetrators of violence are exonerated, or even presented as victims.

Of late, violence has made headlines in the U.S. corporate media by serving to discredit the work of anti-fascist activists and distract from the actual threats of fascism and white supremacy. One would think that the very expression “anti-fascism” would immediately convoke pledges of allegiance in a country whose nationalist narratives include the story of its own rise to power as the global hegemon through the militant defeat of fascism in WWII. Regardless of whether or not we sanction its veracity, the story of the violent fight against fascism—not with kicks and punches, but with bombers, tanks, heavy artillery and nuclear bombs—is, indeed, one of the founding narratives of contemporary America.

However, in the current political climate, innumerable spin-doctors, corporate-funded pundits, and even supposed leftists are intent on misrepresenting and discrediting antifascism with their sweeping and self-congratulatory denunciations of the “violence” of antifa activists. Rhetorically, they do this through a series of elisions and obfuscations. For one, they sever contemporary antifa movements from the long history and deep ideological commitments of anti-fascism. They aggressively misrepresent activists mobilized in defense of equality and justice as nothing more than savage progenitors of violence, obfuscating the fundamental political stakes of the movement, as well as the vast array of its activities. It should come as no surprise that this is occurring precisely at the moment when racist, xenophobic, and fascist ideologies are gaining institutional power and seeking greater normalization in U.S. political culture (indeed, the Department of Homeland Security has recently classified antifa activities as “domestic terrorist violence”).

To take but one glaring example, the dominant mass media image of antifa has recently been consolidated by Chris Hedges, who has indisputably demonstrated that public figures associated with the Left can sometimes serve the agenda of the Right better than their own foot soldiers. From a privileged vantage point far removed from the violence enacted by white supremacists, Hedges peremptorily proclaimed that antifascist direct action that openly confronts fascist violence is nothing but the mirror of the latter. In one grandiose and historically inaccurate claim after the next, he levels the variegated and heterogeneous social phenomenon of antifa, patronizingly flattens the political agency of all of the different actors involved, collapses the colossal difference between fighting for fascism and struggling for freedom and equality, and crushes an entire field of political struggle in order to make it fit neatly within his simple moral categories.

How Right-Wing Extremists Stalk, Dox, and Harass Their Enemies

Chat logs obtained rom message boards used by neo-Nazis and other far-right groups show a concerted effort to compile private information on leftist enemies and circulate the data to encourage harassment or violence. The messages were obtained by an anonymous source, who infiltrated and gained the trust of white nationalists and other right-wingers, and has been leaking the material to Unicorn Riot, a “decentralized media collective” that emerged from leftist protest movements. The chat logs originate from various web discussion communities hosted by the provider Discord and closed to the public. ...

This article is based solely on chat logs from a community called “Pony Power” (Unicorn Riot published the logs yesterday). The Pony Power server has 50 users, and the chat logs contain just over 1,000 messages, posted over the course of 10 days and ranging in topic from far-right politics to advice about digital and operational security to debates about the legal limits of online behavior. The primary activity on the Pony Power server is posting private information like names, photos, home addresses, and phone numbers of dozens of anti-fascist activists.

Victims of the outings, also known as “doxings,” described reactions ranging from terror to anger to annoyance and have variously turned to friends and family for support and locked down their accounts. They said the Pony Power doxing campaign is just the latest in a series of online efforts by neo-Nazis and their allies to marginalize their opponents. The information compiled on Pony Power hasn’t yet been distributed to the larger right-wing extremist community. However,  doxing efforts associated with prior online hate campaigns have forced targets to leave their homes in the face of death threats, rape threats, and other forms of harassment. And those attacks were mounted even before President Donald Trump came to power on the back of racist attacks against his predecessor, against Mexicans, and against Muslims, and before he embraced white nationalists or encouraged violence against protesters at campaign rallies. ...

During the 10-day span that the Pony Power chat logs cover, from August 17 to August 27, so-called alt-right members collected private information from over 50 anti-fascist activists from the states of California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. The information collected often included photographs, social media profiles, home address, phone numbers, email addresses, date of birth, driver license numbers, vehicle information, place of employment, and in one instance, a social security number.

Keiser Report: Social Media Making Hillary Great Again

Trump ignores Republicans on Democrats' debt limit and Harvey funds plan

Donald Trump has ignored the objections of Republican leaders and sided with Democrats on a deal to fund the US government and raise the debt limit for three months, in addition to providing emergency aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

The president threw his support behind the proposal during a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House on Wednesday, hours after the House speaker, Paul Ryan, said it was both “ridiculous and disgraceful” for Democrats to suggest a short-term increase of the debt ceiling.

The agreement comes as Congress, which reconvened this week following the August recess, faces a series of pressing fiscal deadlines. Lawmakers must raise the country’s borrowing limit by 29 September and pass a spending bill by 30 September to avert a shutdown of the federal government.

“We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” Trump told reporters, referring to the two Democratic leaders without mentioning Ryan or the Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who were also present at the meeting.

The ACA is Failing Because It Didn’t Account For Hospital Monopolies in Rural Areas

The logic behind the design of the Affordable Care Act does not hold up well when faced with the reality of how markets actually work outside cities. ACA exchanges were built on the fundamental idea that competition between regulated private insurance companies would improve quality and hold down prices, but competition is lacking in most rural counties. That’s very unlikely to ever change.

Because of the way hospital networks and private insurers independently negotiate prices with each other in most of the country, rural hospitals are often de facto monopolies with massive leverage. As a result, only insurers that are also effectively monopolies can hope to negotiate for decent prices to drive out competition. Even increasing insurer competition in these concentrated hospital markets could actually make the cost problem worse. ...

Under our current system of negotiating fees between insurers and hospitals, research has found that markets with concentrated insurers and hospitals had 6.2 percent higher premiums than markets with competitive insurers and hospitals. Markets with competitive insurers and concentrated hospitals, however, had 8.3 percent higher premiums. The nature of how reimbursement rates are negotiated effectively pushes places with few hospital networks toward an insurance monopoly or duopoly. ...

The ACA already gave away the biggest possible carrot to providers in the form of a mandate for individuals to buy health coverage and large subsidies to help them do so — subsidies that end up in insurers’ coffers. In contrast, when the Swiss adopted a law mandating individuals buy health insurance in 1994, the law also contained provisions giving the government power to set standard provider rates.

Sorry, I had to fix a few things in this article.

Warren Officially Joins Sanders on Single Payer Public Option: 'It's Time to Fight for Medicare for All' Something Less Than What Is Needed

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced Thursday that she will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) Medicare for All Public Option legislation, calling it "the best way to deliver high quality, low cost healthcare to all Americans." ...

With her announcement, Warren becomes the second Democratic senator to officially endorse Sanders' legislation, which is reportedly set to be introduced next week. As Common Dreams reported, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) announced at a town hall last week that she plans to co-sponsor Sanders' bill, saying "it's the right thing to do."

Texas Abortion Ban That Would “Require Doctors to Experiment on Women” Is Temporarily Blocked

A federal judge in Austin issued a temporary restraining order last week blocking Texas from enforcing a new law that would in effect ban second-trimester abortions in the state. “The state cannot pursue its interests in a way that denies a woman her constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy before the fetus is viable,” District Judge Lee Yeakel wrote in a 17-page order suspending the law just hours before it was slated to take effect on September 1.

Texas quickly vowed that it would continue to “defend our state’s legal right to protect the basic human rights and dignity of the unborn,” a spokesperson for Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.

At issue is an abortion method known as dilation and evacuation, or D&E, which is considered the safest and most effective method of termination during the second trimester of pregnancy. While Texas argues that it isn’t banning D&E per se, but rather the way the procedure is performed, doctors would have to completely change the procedure to comply with the new law.

According to Janet Crepps, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, the state is outlawing the most common, proven method in favor of alternatives that are “untested with unknown safety risks” and that in essence would “require doctors to experiment on women” in order to avoid possible jail time.

Cop shoots Ohio journalist at traffic stop after confusing camera, tripod for gun

A cop shot an Ohio news photographer after confusing his camera and tripod for a weapon, according to the paper. The Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot New Carlisle News photog Andy Grimm in the side as he unloaded a tripod from his vehicle to snap pictures of a traffic stop around 10 p.m. Monday.

Without warning, the deputy opened fire as Grimm was setting up the tripod. The photographer said he and the deputy knew each other. One bullet struck him in the chest and Grimm said another may have grazed his shoulder. The officer that wounded the cameraman rushed over to help, repeatedly saying, “I thought it was a gun,” Grimm said.

“Now that I’m OK, I’m not so much mad, but when I was on the ground and in the back of the ambulance, I was kind of angry at him,” Grimm said.



the horse race



LIVE: Thomas Frank on Clinton's Attack on Sanders



the evening greens


Irma is hurtling toward two Florida nuclear power plants

As Florida prepares for one of the largest mass evacuations in U.S. history in the face of Hurricane Irma, two nuclear power plants are bracing for impact.

Officials at Florida Power & Light (FPL) are monitoring two facilities housing their four nuclear reactors along the state’s coast, which could shut down if Irma makes landfall as expected this weekend in the Sunshine State. Combined, the reactors provide power for nearly 2 million homes. ...

A spokesperson at FPL could not comment on the current status of the facilities Thursday as they prepare to meet the storm. As of Wednesday afternoon, though, the facilities were still open, but that may not continue. “If we anticipate there will be direct impacts on either facility, we’ll shut down the units,” FPL spokesman Peter Robbins told the Miami Herald.

"We Have Never Had Anything Like Them": Bill McKibben on Floods, Winds & Fires Devastating U.S.

Hurricane Irma Threatens $1.2 Billion of Florida Crops

Hurricane Irma is threatening to wreak havoc on Florida farmlands, menacing $1.2 billion worth of production in the top U.S. grower of fresh tomatoes, oranges, green beans, cucumbers, squash and sugarcane.

Though its economy long ago diversified from its rural roots, Florida still has a huge influence on American grocery stores as the No. 2 U.S. produce grower, trailing only California. The state accounts for almost 10 percent of the nation’s land dedicated to fresh fruits and vegetables, according to government data. The storm threat has pushed orange-juice futures and domestic-sugar prices higher this week.

Twin megastorms have scientists fearing this may be the new normal

One week after the record deluge in Texas, the biggest hurricane ever measured in the mid-Atlantic is tearing through the Caribbean. ... For Donald Trump, these twin megastorms are a source of awe. “Hurricane looks like largest ever recorded in the Atlantic!” he tweeted of Irma on Wednesday. “Even experts have said they’ve never seen one like this!” he posted of Harvey last week.

But for many scientists they are a worrying sign of a “new normal” in which extreme weather events become more intense as a result of manmade climate change. Rather than expressing astonishment, they say policymakers need to strengthen long-term countermeasures and act more effectively on reducing carbon emissions.

“Even I as a climate scientist am startled to see another potentially devastating storm in this region so shortly after Harvey,” said Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “Unfortunately, the physics are very clear: hurricanes get their destructive energy from ocean heat, and currently water surface temperatures in this region are very high.”

Climatologists are careful to point out that rising greenhouse gas emissions are not the sole cause of hurricanes, which buffet the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico around this time every year. But there is strong evidence that warming temperatures and rising sea levels are increasing the destructive power of storms.

“Higher than average sea-surface temperatures are fuelling Hurricane Irma, giving additional energy and moisture,” said Julian Heming, a hurricane expert at the Met Office. He said the impacts – intense rainfall, flash floods, extreme winds and a potentially lethal storm surge – would be felt far from the centre as Irma moves north-west.

Hurricane Irma: Trump Caribbean mansion SLAMMED by deadly storm barreling towards Florida

Irma has already destroyed four of the "most solid" buildings on St Martin, according to the French Government.

The US President’s beachfront property on St Martin is understood to have suffered “serious damage”.

Hurricane Irma swept over the 11-bedroom beachfront mansion, named Chateau des Palmiers, or Castle of the Palms, on Wednesday. It is the first of several luxury the Trump’s properties threatened by the storm's path.

"New normal" seems to be a very frequently recurring phrase these days.

The unprecedented drought that's crippling Montana and North Dakota

While much of the country’s attention in recent weeks has been on the hurricanes striking southern Texas and the Caribbean, a so-called “flash drought”, an unpredictable, sudden event brought on by sustained high temperatures and little rain, has seized a swathe of the country and left farmers with little remedy. Across Montana’s northern border and east into North Dakota, farms are turning out less wheat than last year, much of it poorer quality than normal.

Most farmers in and around the Fort Peck Reservation agree that climate change is to blame for the sudden drought and ruined crops, but that doesn’t change the fact that farmers and others who make their living off of agriculture are now subject to shifting political winds and strained debate around the issue.

“This is unprecedented,” says Tanja Fransen of the National Weather Service in Glasgow, a larger city just up the road from Fort Peck. “This is as dry as it’s been in recorded history and some of our recording stations have 100 years of data. A lot of people try to compare this to previous years, but really, you just can’t.” ...

As of late August, the US Drought Monitor classified all of Montana in some stage of drought, with 65% of the state’s vast lands in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.

“The new normal is that now we have a warmer world, in times when you’re not getting your normal load of rain, things can go bad very quickly,” said Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.


Also of Interest

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

What Country is This?

Black People Ask: Can You Hear Us Now? The American Police State Finally Hits White People

Putin: “It is difficult to talk to people who confuse Austria and Australia”

Nikki Haley Falsely Accuses Iran

Here Are the 11 State Officials Who Went After 800,000 Dreamers

The Politics of the DREAM Act Seem Pretty Easy, But Some Democrats Are Still Screwing It Up


A Little Night Music

Jackie Brenston w/Ike Turner's Orchestra - You Ain't The One

Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats - Independent Woman

Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats - Come Back Where You Belong

Jackie Brenston - Trouble Up The Road

Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats - You Won't Be Coming Back

Jackie Brenston - Juiced

Jackie Brenston w/Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm - Gonna Wait For My Chance

Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats - Starvation

Jackie Brenston - Much Later

Jackie Brenston - Leo the Louse


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JekyllnHyde's picture

Democrats Dread Clinton’s Book Tour

President Trump “may be the only person in politics truly excited about Hillary Clinton’s book tour,” Politico reports.

“Democratic operatives can’t stand the thought of her picking the scabs of 2016, again — the Bernie Sanders divide, the Jim Comey complaints, the casting blame on Barack Obama for not speaking out more on Russia. Alums of her Brooklyn headquarters who were miserable even when they thought she was winning tend to greet the topic with, ‘Oh, God,’ ‘I can’t handle it,’ and ‘the final torture.'”

“Political reporters gripe privately (and on Twitter) about yet another return to the campaign that will never end. Campaign operatives don’t want the distraction, just as they head into another election season. And members of Congress from both parties want the focus on an agenda that’s getting more complicated by the week.”

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A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

joe shikspack's picture

@JekyllnHyde

heh, some democrats dread it, others want to savor it in the same way that dogs enjoy rolling in dead fish at the beach.

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Azazello's picture

Not. But as the storm approaches the Turks & Caicos, I know all of our thoughts and prayers go out to Keef. Here's hoping his place at Parrot Cay is spared.

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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

yeah, i was having a serious bout of schadenfreude earlier when i saw that trump's mansion got slammed, but i felt terribly guilty due to the pain and suffering of so many decent people who happened to be in harm's way. isn't that always the way, when the rich assholes take it in the shorts, they are safe and dry and their insurance covers it, while the regular folks get pasted.

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detroitmechworks's picture

And I saw a lot of it here in Portland recently. It's sobering to think that while climate change goes on and on, politicians continue to spend time talking about the most important issues... themselves...

It's not even plumbing on the titanic. It's arguing about who gets to form a committee to investigate the possibility of repairs on the titanic's plumbing, after they finish auctioning off the furnishings to the rich people in the lifeboats...

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

joe shikspack's picture

@detroitmechworks

yeah, the talent of politicians has gone into the dumper. some people fault nero for fiddling while rome burned, but, hell, at least he had a viable talent, our politicians don't even have the gumption to learn to fiddle. Smile

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snoopydawg's picture

@detroitmechworks
Are you still stoned? This comment is so funny. Keep going, I can use the laughs.

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

detroitmechworks's picture

@snoopydawg Yeah, I have an entire recorder filled with random stoned thoughts I want to turn into a stand up routine...

"So yeah, college is really just an overpriced book club. I mean, you buy some ridiculously overpriced books, go to a place where a lot of folks drink coffee, talk about how the book is completely wrong and instead listen to somebody talk about how it SHOULD have been written, and do some writing based off ideas you think the person running the club thinks. It's cool if you miss a session or two, but if you miss like half the book, you're kinda screwed...

So, I think we should replace colleges with book clubs. I figure somebody with a triple major in Dick Francis, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle might be a bit more qualified for a cop job than the guys doing it now. "

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

mjsmeme's picture

@detroitmechworks sounds a lot like father sarducci's 5 minute college https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=kO8x8eoU3L4

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enhydra lutris's picture

Perhaps god is punishing FL orange growers for Anita Bryant. Has anybody considered that?

CA can only pick up so much of the slack, we need Cuba and Mexico to step up. Anybody for tearing down some of the existing border fence?

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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 --

@enhydra lutris It will be a great day when our borders are friendly again. Plus taxpayers can stop flushing millions down the lie hole Ds and Rs created with their capitalist propaganda. Better to repurpose "the wall" money for restoring the environment all along the way, escpecially the watersheds. I am dreaming.

http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states/

Between 2006 and 2010, the number of Mexican immigrants increased by 200,000 compared to the more than 2 million who arrived in the five years prior (see Figure 1). Following this trend, in the last decade and a half, the Mexican share among all immigrants dropped from 29.5 percent in 2000 to 27.6 percent in 2014.

Mexico is also no longer the top origin country among the most recent immigrants to the United States. In 2013, China and India overtook Mexico as the most common countries of origin of immigrants who have resided in the United States for one year or less. Furthermore, more Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico than have migrated to the United States since the end of the 2007-2009 Great Recession, according to a recent report from Pew Research Center. The decline in Mexican inflows results from a mix of factors including weakened job opportunities in the United States, tougher border enforcement, the long-term decline in Mexico’s birth rates, and the improving Mexican economy.

The exploitation of immigrants in Sonoma County (and elsewhere I'm prety sure) is disgusting, it has literally made me sick watching the environment go to hell in 35 short years. Wineries can build massive mansions and cellars, but no worker housing? They can "farm" thousands of acres and not pay living wages? Fuck them! California Ds and their corporate lobbyists exploit everything to the Nth degree, and beyond. Then they "try" to "mitigate" the damage. NO! Stupid wall.

peace

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

to drop by a bit earlier, but still having Wi-Fi connection headaches. I finally found out from a customer service rep that the reason that my Wi-Fi hotspot service isn't working properly, is because someone decided that my 'Grandfathered' plan would no longer allow the plan data to be shared by my phone and hotspot.

What the heck? That was the reason that I selected the plan in the first place. Anyhoo, the CS rep agreed with me that it didn't make sense to consider a plan to be 'Grandfathered,' and deny a subscriber one of the features of the plan. So, I guess if my appeal doesn't work, the account will be history, or I'll suspend it until I figure out my next move. Finally, (today) I managed to reactivate another older hotspot plan that I had abandoned, mostly, because it's so expensive. BTW, it still is!

Wink

Earlier today, I re-found a blurb about Warner's resolution/amendment--

“to repeal or reduce the estate tax, . . . " that passed the Senate with 35 Dems voting for it in March of 2014.

It is important for folks to know this, since DT's tax plan is basically the one in O's 'Grand Bargain'--meaning, it is a rehash of the Bowles-Simpson' Tax Reform proposal--except that, unlike B-S, it calls for eliminating the Estate Tax. Which, apparently, Democrats were considering as far back as 2014.

(I'll furnish an excerpt and link later--if I'm going to post them, I'd prefer to do it earlier in the afternoon, so that the material receives maximum exposure.)

Hey, hope Everyone in the path of Irma is doing okay. Fingers crossed that it won't make landfall, or at least, does so at very much reduced speeds. I've been run ragged today, so, honestly, not sure of the latest news regarding it's path and strength.

Everyone have a nice evening. There is a considerable chance that we'll be traveling tomorrow evening, so, just in case, want to wish folks a nice weekend. Stay safe!

Bye

Mollie


"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures--they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive."--Gilda Radner

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers

Fences For Fido Screenshot.png

Fences For Fido

When a dog is unchained, a transformation begins.

It starts with what we call “zoomies:” The running, jumping, exuberant joy our Fidos display once unchained – many for the first time in years.

That visible happiness puts smiles on the faces of our volunteers and most importantly, on the faces of our client families who through this process being to connect with their pets in a more meaningful way.

Meet 'Cupcake' - FFF's 1000th Zoomy!

[video:https://youtu.be/wmTPDjXW8gE width:250 height:150]

Thank You 'Fences For Fido' Volunteers - You Are All Saints! Give rose

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

Unabashed Liberal's picture

about hospital monopolies in rural areas. When we selected our Medigap plans, we took that into consideration, since one of our locations is pretty 'small town.' In our case, Mr M could have had a monthly premium increase of 8%, and 'moi' an increase of 6%.

That we dealt with, only one Medigap insurer in our area didn't differentiate (when setting premiums). That was because it was a state-based company, not a national one. So, if an individual purchases a Medigap plan from them, and completely moves to another state, or switches their primary/secondary residence--unless the state is Georgia, where the insurer also has agents--their plan premium will remain the same, because it's based upon the actuarial stats of the state where the policy was originally issued.

If you think about it, that would be a windfall to someone who later moves to an expensive state like California, New York, or maybe Hawaii, which we can see from Mimi's experience, is very pricey.

BTW, thanks for the 'fixes' you made to the Common Dreams article. They were sorely needed.

Pleasantry

And, thanks for tonight's EB!

Mollie

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

Shahryar's picture

Went in today, spent a good while talking to them. The upshot is (dig this!) they're gonna give us a bunch of money! And since we're both past 66 we can keep working without worrying that it will affect what they're sending us. Direct deposit, too.

The only glitch is we have to get a copy of shaharazade's old divorce decree from the 70s. Her birth certificate, Oregon ID and our marriage license wasn't enough so we'll have to go back. But dang! This money will come in handy.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Shahryar

that's great news! glad to hear that you guys are going to collect the windfall that you've been paying for all of your lives. Smile

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LeChienHarry's picture

@Shahryar if you get a lump sum catch up, it may bump your tax status up and cause you a higher bill than expected. Don't know if in your situation you have any protection against that one time income increase.

We had a ERISA claim finally get resolved which included resumption of payments and back pay owed through a private insurance plan run by a former employer who quit paying disability. We won the case in federal court pro se. Very difficult, but DH was very good. Very few protections to consumers and wage earners left under ERISA.

While I'm at it: we are expats and as such even though we have paid into the Medicare system for decades, we are considered "traitors" and cannot bring our medical coverage with us. One of just a couple of countries in the world that doesn't afford its out of country citizens the benefits they paid for. And not a hint we would get the money deducted from our lifelong payments back. Luckily our host country will now allow us into their system for a price. Still cheaper than buying international health insurance to keep us from being a burden to our new residence. Congress is still working at denying expats (over 9 million and growing) their Social Security benefits, also paid for in advance.

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You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce

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Pricknick's picture

Why does Putin sound like the adult in the room?
I must be a lover.
Thanks for all you do joe.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

joe shikspack's picture

@Pricknick

gosh, do you suppose that it could be that most of america's political class are over-indulged children allowed to maintain their perpetual childhood due to the privileges conferred by dynastic wealth?

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Thanks for the articles on India, Pakistan, China. Thanks joe. Armed nuclear drones coming soon? Hells bells.
General Atomics targets first big international Avenger drone sale

POWAY, Calif. — Fewer than a dozen Avenger drones have been purchased since the product first flew in 2009, but General Atomics believes it may be able to sell about 90 aircraft in the next few years to a single international buyer, its president said Wednesday.

General Atomics has struggled to find a major customer for the Avenger, also called the Predator C, since the collapse of the U.S. Air Force’s MQ-X program and the U.S. Navy’s UCLASS program, both of which sought out UAVs that could survive contested environments.
...
That Obama-era policy is now under review by the Trump administration, which could open a path for an Avenger sale to India, a longtime partner nation of the United States that has been denied armed UAVs in the past, or other interested countries that have trouble getting weaponized drones.

What ... other countries? jaw floor So, like there is a sub-prime market for PINK DUST makers? No that is not their design, it is humanitarian. So they named it Angel One, it delivers heaven I guess.

“So if you wanted to fly this aircraft and look into somebody else’s country, deep in, something like that — that would be a sensor so big that you can’t really put it on an MQ-9,” he said. “Anything that carries something large within the airframe, that aircraft has an advantage. Like a laser weapon can fit in there, for example.”

If Drone Swarms Are the Future, China May Be Winning (December 2016)

The Chinese drones in the video have been identified as Skywalker X6s , made by the Skywalker Technology Co. based in Wuhan, China. Skywalker drones are popular among hobbyists as they can be bought in kit form for a few hundred dollars and fitted with custom electronics. ARSENL even used Skywalker X8 drones in their swarm. Skywalker drones are so popular because they're cheap, readily-available, and easy to customize. It's also why ISIS has adapted Skywalker drones to carry bombs.

The surprising thing is that Chinese swarming drones have come out of nowhere. So does this new announcement mean the Chinese are quietly edging ahead in swarm technology? China already makes portable kamikaze drones with explosive warheads, and effective swarming software would allow them to be deployed in large numbers, whether launched from the ground, sea, or air.

"Currently one man can control multiple drones in the system. In the future, one man will be able to control hundreds and thousands of drones," says Zhang.

Swarming portable kamakaze drones with explosive warheads, launched from ground, sea, or air. They forgot to say space too. Reminds me to ask again, what's going up in Elon's returnable rockets? Sorry, that's Classified. California's obscene class of war profiteers. meh

good luck

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