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This evening's music features blues and jazz singer Charles Brown. Enjoy!

“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.”

-- Franklin D. Roosevelt

News and Opinion

This really is a must-read article by Joseph Stiglitz. Here's a taste to get you started:

America Has a Monopoly Problem—and It’s Huge

There is much to be concerned about in America today: a growing political and economic divide, slowing growth, decreasing life expectancy, an epidemic of diseases of despair. The unhappiness that is apparent has taken an ugly turn, with an increase in protectionism and nativism. Trump’s diagnosis, which blames outsiders, is wrong, as are the prescriptions that follow. But we have to ask: Is there an underlying problem that can and must be addressed?

There is a widespread sense of powerlessness, both in our economic and political life. We seem no longer to control our own destinies. If we don’t like our Internet company or our cable TV, we either have no place to turn, or the alternative is no better. Monopoly corporations are the primary reason that drug prices in the United States are higher than anywhere else in the world. Whether we like it or not, a company like Equifax can gather data about us, and then blithely take insufficient cybersecurity measures, exposing half the country to the risk of identity fraud, and then charge us for but a partial restoration of the security that we had before a major breach.

Some century and a quarter ago, America was, in some ways, at a similar juncture: Political and economic power seemed concentrated in a few hands, in ways that were inconsonant with our democratic ideals. We passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890, followed in the next quarter-century by other legislation trying to ensure competition in the market place. Importantly, these laws were based on the belief that concentrations of economic power inevitably would lead to concentrations in political power. Antitrust policy was not based on a finely honed economic analysis, resting on concurrent advances in economics. It was really about the nature of our society and democracy. But somehow, in the ensuing decades, antitrust was taken over by an army of economists and lawyers. They redefined and narrowed the scope, to focus on consumer harm, with strong presumptions that the market was in fact naturally competitive, placing the burden of proof on those who contended otherwise. On this basis, it became almost impossible to successfully bring a predatory pricing case: Any attempt to raise prices above costs would instantaneously be met by an onslaught of new firm entry (so it was claimed). Chicago economists would argue—with little backing in either theory or evidence—that one shouldn’t even worry about monopoly: In an innovative economy, monopoly power would only be temporary, and the ensuing contest to become the monopolist maximized innovation and consumer welfare.

Over the past four decades, economic theory and evidence has laid waste to such claims and the belief that some variant of the competitive equilibrium model provides a good, or even adequate, description of our economy.

In “Wet Kiss” for Wall Street, Congress Overturns Rules Allowing People to Sue Banks for Misconduct

Nick Turse weighs in with some background on US activity in Niger and across Africa. See also this article in the blog posts of interest section, which I'll include an excerpt from below.

It’s Not Just Niger — U.S. Military Activity Is a “Recruiting Tool” for Terror Groups Across West Africa

... U.S. forces are already deployed all across Africa by the thousands. Around 6,000 troops are on the continent, conducting 3,500 exercises, programs, and engagements each year – almost 10 missions each day — from Cameroon to Somalia, Djibouti to Libya. More than 800 of these forces, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Audricia Harris told The Intercept, are deployed to Niger. This is up from approximately 100 troops sent in 2013 to carry out drone reconnaissance missions, making the hardscrabble country, wedged between seven nations, including Mali, Libya, Nigeria, and Chad, the largest concentration of U.S. military forces in West Africa.

“The rapid, largely unrecognized increase in U.S. troops in Niger is part of the large expansion of the U.S. military footprint in Africa,” says William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. “This expansion is long overdue for congressional scrutiny and public discussion.” U.S. efforts, primarily focused on training allies and proxies, are flawed, often ineffective, and can have destabilizing effects on countries that military operations are meant to strengthen, according to experts. Cast as benign training operations, they can lead to unforeseen consequences and dangerous blowback. “While the Pentagon likes to downplay the military aspects of these missions, in a number of instances, they have involved acts of war that risk getting the U.S. involved in broader conflicts, even as they have had little impact on the spread of terrorism,” Hartung notes.

While 800-plus troops are in Niger today, many more soldiers rotated through the country as U.S. forces have been, according to (chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Gen. Joseph Dunford, carrying out intermittent missions for 20 years.

[Here's an excerpt from this article that I mentioned above. - js]

By ensuring the spread of terror groups across the region, the Western powers had magically created a demand for their military assistance which hitherto did not exist. They had literally created a protection racket for Africa.

In an excellent piece of research published last year, Nick Turse wrote how the increase in AFRICOM operations across the continent has correlated precisely with the rise in terror threats. Its growth, he said, has been accompanied by “increasing numbers of lethal terror attacks across the continent including those in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Tunisia.

In fact, data from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland shows that attacks have spiked over the last decade, roughly coinciding with AFRICOM’s establishment. In 2007, just before it became an independent command, there were fewer than 400 such incidents annually in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year, the number reached nearly 2,000. By AFRICOM’s own official standards, of course, this is a demonstration of a massive failure. Viewed from the perspective of the protection racket, however, it is a resounding success, with US military power smoothly reproducing the conditions for its own expansion.

Trump: 'My generals' had decision-making authority on Niger mission

President Trump on Wednesday said he did not personally authorize the mission in Niger in which four U.S. soldiers were killed, saying “my generals and my military” have decision-making authority. Asked if he authorized the mission, Trump responded, “No, I didn’t, not specifically.”

“I have generals that are great generals,” he continued. “These are great fighters; these are warriors. I gave them authority to do what’s right so that we win. That’s the authority they have. I want to win. And we’re going to win.” Trump made the comments to reporters on the White House south lawn as he left for Texas.

“My generals and my military, they have decision-making ability,” he added later. “As far as the incident that we’re talking about, I’ve been seeing it just like you’ve been seeing it. I’ve been getting reports. They have to meet the enemy and they meet them tough and that’s what happens.”

On Oct. 4, four Army Green Berets were killed when their group of 12 soldiers and 30 Nigerien troops were ambushed by 50 militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

"It's A Huge Story": China Launching "Petroyuan" In Two Months

The writing is on the wall for dollar hegemony. As Russian President Vladimir Putin said almost two months ago during the BRICs summit in Xiamen,

“Russia shares the BRICS countries’ concerns over the unfairness of the global financial and economic architecture, which does not give due regard to the growing weight of the emerging economies. We are ready to work together with our partners to promote international financial regulation reforms and to overcome the excessive domination of the limited number of reserve currencies.”

As Pepe Escobar recently noted, 'to overcome the excessive domination of the limited number of reserve currencies' is the politest way of stating what the BRICS have been discussing for years now; how to bypass the US dollar, as well as the petrodollar.

Beijing is ready to step up the game. Soon China will launch a crude oil futures contract priced in yuan. This means that Russia – as well as Iran, the other key node of Eurasia integration – may bypass US sanctions by trading energy in their own currencies, or in yuan. Inbuilt in the move is a true Chinese win-win; the yuan - according to some - will be fully convertible into gold on both the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges. ...

Which, according to Adam Levinson, of hedge fund manager Graticule Asset Management Asia, will be a “wake up call” for investors who haven’t paid attention to the plans. ...

All of which fits with recent comments and actions from Russian and Venezuelan officials...

“Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar,” Maduro said in a multi-hour address to a new legislative “superbody.” He reportedly did not provide details of this new proposal.

Maduro hinted further that the South American country would look to using the yuan instead, among other currencies.

Democrats push bill to stop a Trump pre-emptive strike on North Korea

Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation aimed at preventing Donald Trump from launching a pre-emptive attack on North Korea, as concerns grew about the administration’s failure to explore talks with Pyongyang.

The “No Unconstitutional Strike against North Korea” bill is the second legislative attempt to curtail’s Trump power to start a war unilaterally. Earlier this year, a bill was introduced to prohibit the president from ordering a nuclear first strike against a foreign adversary without a declaration of war by Congress, amid concerns over Trump’s belligerent language, erratic behaviour and frequent tweeted threats against other countries.

The new legislation prohibiting an attack on North Korea without congressional authority was launched by Democrats John Conyers in the House and Ed Markey in the Senate. It has two Republicans among the 61 backers in the House, but at present no formal Republican backing in the Senate. ...

The bill’s supporters acknowledge that it will not pass without attracting more Republican support, but they argue that it helps focus attention on the unlimited authority of a US president to order the use of nuclear weapons, many of which can be launched within a few minutes. No official has the power to stop or even delay the launch.

Catalonia Crisis: Carles Puigdemont declines to call snap election

Catalonia crisis deepens as region's president rules out snap election

Hopes of a possible solution to the Catalan independence crisis have been dashed after the regional president, Carles Puigdemont, ruled out a snap election, saying he could not offer fresh polls without a guarantee that the Spanish government would suspend its threat to impose direct rule.

Despite intense speculation that he was planning to defuse the situation by announcing elections in return for a similar show of good faith from Spain’s ruling People’s party (PP), Puigdemont said it would be up to the Catalan parliament to decide how to respond to Madrid’s unprecedented actions.

“We have not received the necessary guarantees to justify holding elections,” he said in an address at the regional government palace in Barcelona on Thursday afternoon.

“We have tried to get them but we have not had a responsible response from the PP and they have chosen to increase the tension. I have run out of options.”

Catalan vice-president says independence is only remaining option

Catalonia’s vice-president has warned Spain that its decision to impose direct rule has left separatists with little choice but to embark on the creation of a sovereign Catalan state, increasing speculation that a unilateral declaration of independence could be made within the next 48 hours.

Oriol Junqueras said the central government’s insistence on using the Spanish constitution to suspend regional autonomy had forced the hand of those who want to break away from Spain.

Junqueras told Associated Press that his Republican Left party – part of Catalonia’s ruling coalition – was “going to work towards building a republic because we understand that there is a democratic mandate to establish such a republic”.

He stressed that he was speaking only for his party and not the Catalan government, but added: “We also understand that the Spanish government is giving us no other option than to defend the civil rights and citizens’ rights through the best tools that our institutions have.”

His remarks came hours after the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, turned down an invitation to appear before the Spanish senate to defend his government’s bid for independence as the upper house of Spain’s parliament prepared to approve plans to strip him of his powers.

As olive harvest begins, settlers flood Palestinian trees with sewage

Israeli colonists flooded, Tuesday, dozens of Palestinian olive trees with sewage water, in Deir al-Hatab town, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Coordinator of the Israeli Rabbis for Human Rights organization in the occupied West Bank, Zakaria al-Sidda, said the colonists flooded the olive orchards near Elon Moreh illegal colony. He added that the Palestinian owners of the olive orchards have been isolated from them, and are only allowed to reach them twice a year through special permits and coordination. The coordinator also stated that the colonists already picked many olive trees in the area, and stolen the produce, especially since they have unrestricted access to the orchards.

FCC Enables Faster Media Consolidation as Pro-Trump Sinclair Group Seizes Even More Local Stations

Fake News Alert: Media Conglomerates Convince FCC That Facebook Can Replace Local News Stations

In a ruling seen as a major win for the largest media conglomerates in the country, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the Main Studio Rule, a 77-year-old regulation that required local television and radio broadcasters to maintain physical studios in the communities they serve.

The Tuesday vote, along party lines, with Republican commissioners supporting repeal, clears the way for major media companies to continue buying up local stations and eliminating positions for journalists, while centralizing programming decisions.

One of the primary arguments made by media companies petitioning the FCC for the repeal was that social media renders local stations an anachronistic requirement of the past.

The National Association of Broadcasters, the trade group for major broadcasting companies, argued that local studios are no longer necessary because stations today “are active on multiple social media platforms” that allow them to interact with their audience.

Nexstar Media Group, a conglomerate that owns 170 stations, including KRON-TV in San Francisco and the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas, told the agency that consumers prefer to interact with their “stations through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.” Trinity Broadcasting and McCarthy Radio Enterprises made similar arguments in the filings, claiming that social media sites such as Facebook can replace the interactions with the local community that physical studios once provided.

Americans Are Retiring Later, Dying Sooner and Sicker In-Between

The U.S. retirement age is rising, as the government pushes it higher and workers stay in careers longer. But lifespans aren’t necessarily extending to offer equal time on the beach. Data released last week suggest Americans’ health is declining and millions of middle-age workers face the prospect of shorter, and less active, retirements than their parents enjoyed.

Here are the stats: The U.S. age-adjusted mortality rate—a measure of the number of deaths per year—rose 1.2 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to the Society of Actuaries. That’s the first year-over-year increase since 2005, and only the second rise greater than 1 percent since 1980.

At the same time that Americans’ life expectancy is stalling, public policy and career tracks mean millions of U.S. workers are waiting longer to call it quits. The age at which people can claim their full Social Security benefits is gradually moving up, from 65 for those retiring in 2002 to 67 in 2027. Almost one in three Americans age 65 to 69 is still working, along with almost one in five in their early 70s.

Postponing retirement can make financial sense, because extended careers can make it possible to afford retirements that last past age 90 or even 100. But a study out this month adds some caution to that calculation. Americans in their late 50s already have more serious health problems than people at the same ages did 10 to 15 years ago, according to the journal Health Affairs.

University of Michigan economists HwaJung Choi and Robert Schoeni used survey data to compare middle-age Americans’ health. ... The study showed the number of middle-age Americans with activity of daily living (ADL) limitations has jumped: 12.5 percent of Americans at the current retirement age of 66 had an ADL limitation in their late 50s, up from 8.8 percent for people with a retirement age of 65. According to the latest figures from the Society of Actuaries, life expectancy for pension participants has dropped since its last calculation by 0.2 years. A 65-year-old man can expect to live to 85.6 years, and a woman can expect to make it to 87.6. As a result, the group calculates a typical pension plan’s obligations could fall by 0.7 percent to 1 percent.

George HW Bush issues new statement as second actor accuses him of sexual assault

George HW Bush has issued a second apology after an actor accused him of sexual assault, in which a spokesman admitted the former president had “patted women’s rears”.

Bush issued an initial apology on Tuesday after Heather Lind, who starred in the AMC cable television network’s historical drama Turn: Washington’s Spies, accused the former US president of groping her as they posed for photos together with his wife and others during a promotional event for the show in 2014. But Bush’s spokesman Jim McGrath, issued a further statement on Wednesday that sought to explain the former president’s behavior as an attempt to make light of social awkwardness posed by his own physical disability during photo sessions.

Confined to a wheelchair, as Bush has been for about the past five years, “his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures”, McGrath said. “To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke – and on occasion, he has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner. Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate,” McGrath wrote. “To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely.”

Meanwhile a second woman, actor Jordana Grolnick, told Deadspin a similar story. Following a performance of The Hunchback of Notre Dame that Bush had attended in Maine, “We all circled around him and [former first lady] Barbara for a photo, and I was right next to him,” she told the website. “He reached his right hand around to my behind, and as we smiled for the photo he asked the group, ‘Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?’ As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, ‘David Cop-a-Feel!’”

FBI informant in Obama-era Russian nuclear bribery cleared to testify before Congress

The Justice Department on Wednesday night released a former FBI informant from a confidentiality agreement, allowing him to testify before Congress about what he witnessed while undercover about the Russian nuclear industry’s efforts to win favorable decisions during the Obama administration.

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores confirmed to The Hill a deal had been reached clearing the informant to talk to Congress for the first time, nearly eight years after he first went undercover for the FBI.

“As of tonight, the Department of Justice has authorized the informant to disclose to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as one member of each of their staffs, any information or documents he has concerning alleged corruption or bribery involving transactions in the uranium market, including but not limited to anything related to Vadim Mikerin, Rosatom, Tenex, Uranium One, or the Clinton Foundation,” she said.

Multiple congressional committees have been seeking to interview the informant, whose name has not been released publicly, because he stayed undercover for nearly five years providing agents information on Russia’s aggressive efforts to grow its atomic energy business in America.

Democrats Funded the Steele Dossier that Fueled Russiagate

Clintonists Suddenly Claiming It’s Perfectly Normal To Do Oppo Research With Russians

One hard fact [Clintonists] never fail to provide is Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower, where he’d hoped to receive dirt on the Clinton campaign. There’s no question that this meeting took place; Trump Jr. has admitted to it, saying he met with Natalia Veselnitskaya in the hope that she’d make good on her claim of having damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Because it is an undeniably real thing that did happen between a Trump and a Russian national, the meeting has remained loudly front and center in all Trump-Russia collusion narratives since July, despite the fact that Veselnitskaya did not provide any useful information. Due to the lack of solid evidence for things like hacking or vote manipulation, or even any specifics on how exactly Trump is supposed to have colluded with Russia to rig the election, the Trump Jr. meeting has remained a crucial part of all Russiagate claims. ...

Clintonists have been attempting to spin the new revelation that the Clinton campaign was directly involved in funding the notoriously error-riddled and unverified Christopher Steele “Pissgate” dossier as old news or insignificant, but this is indeed new information and it is indeed newsworthy.

Back in July, long before the specifics of who paid for the Steele dossier were known, journalist Robert Parry pointed out the blatant hypocrisy of criticizing Trump Jr. for doing opposition research with Russia when it was known that Democrats had been funding Steele. “But the Steele dossier is a more immediate and direct example of close Hillary Clinton supporters going outside the United States for dirt on Trump and collaborating with foreign nationals to dig it up — allegedly from Kremlin insiders,” Parry wrote. “Although it is still not clear exactly who footed the bill for the Steele dossier and how much money was spread around to the Russian contacts, it is clear that Clinton supporters paid for the opposition research and then flacked the material to American journalists.”

So to recap, Democrats paid for opposition research with Russian insiders, but doing opposition research with Russians was not a big deal. Then Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, and suddenly doing oppo research with Russians was a big deal. And now that we’ve learned that the Democrats who paid Steele were not just Clinton supporters but Clinton campaign staff, we’re back to opposition research with Russians being no big deal again.

NYC's Board of Elections will admit it purged more than 200,000 voters from city rolls

New York City's Board of Elections will acknowledge it broke the law and be making serious changes in its practices, according to the proposed settlement of a legal fight over the purge of more than 200,000 voters from city rolls.

After many Brooklyn residents arrived at the polls during last year's presidential primary to learn they were deemed ineligible to vote, the good government group Common Cause New York filed suit. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office joined the litigation.

But rather than slug it out in Brooklyn federal court, the sides have been working on a settlement for months. ... According to WNYC, which first reported the proposed deal, the terms include the Board of Elections acknowledging it broke state and federal law with the purge, and scrutinizing every voter registration removed since July 2013. Another term is the board devising a plan in 90 days for the maintenance of voter rolls.

Disaster Capitalists Take Big Step Toward Privatizing Puerto Rico’s Electric Grid

The Board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances has taken its most conspicuous step toward privatizing the island’s power grid, a long sought-after prize that has been put on a plate by Hurricane Maria. The federally appointed control board announced that it intends to put the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or Prepa — the island’s sole, beleaguered power utility — under the direction of an emergency manager.

That manager will be Noel Zamot, who will become Prepa’s “chief transformation officer.” Zamot, who is Puerto Rican, is a known entity to the control board. It appointed him this summer to serve on its executive committee as the revitalization coordinator. His role mainly involved attracting private investment under Title V of PROMESA, a provision allowing for an expedited social and environmental review of major infrastructure projects. Since that time, he’s been in charge of something called the Critical Projects Process, soliciting proposals from a slew of private actors. As of mid-September, Zamot had fielded 12 proposals according to his Twitter, many of which have to do with energy infrastructure.

His first job will be to help return electricity to around 80 percent of Puerto Ricans still without power following the storm. His second could be turning that power over to private hands, a pattern described by The Intercept’s Naomi Klein as the “shock doctrine.”

Months before either hurricanes Maria or Irma struck, the board had been enthusiastic about the prospect of privatizing Prepa, which is $9 billion in debt. Oversight board chair José B. Carrión III was explicit about one of Zamot’s main goals shortly after he was brought on: to “privatize the Electric Power Authority as soon as possible,” as he told the Puerto Rican newspaper Metro at the end of August.

Maybe it's time for the people of Puerto Rico to dump the grid. Power to the people:

Tesla makes quick work of Puerto Rico hospital solar power relief project

Tesla CEO Elon Musk noted on Twitter that Tesla’s solar team could indeed outfit Puerto Rico with power facilities that could be used to generate and store power reserves when the existing grid isn’t available, as it has been after the U.S. territory faced the devastation of hurricane Maria. Now, Tesla is showing that it’s making good on its promise of help, with significant progress being made on one solar generation/storage facility on the island.

The facility in question will provide power to Hospital del Niño, with a combination of solar cells and Tesla’s Powerpack commercial energy storage batteries. That should mean it can not only generate power from the sun’s rays in times of need, but also store up a reserve that can be used to provide power around the clock and throughout varying weather conditions, even when the sun isn’t shining. ...

Tesla has also been shipping its home Powerwall battery storage units to the island for help restoring the grid, and Musk himself donated $250,000 of his personal money to support relief efforts.

A man who helped repair homes after Hurricane Harvey just died of flesh-eating bacteria

A 31-year-old Texas man died of a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection last week, nearly two months after Hurricane Harvey made landfall and the man began repairing homes damaged by the floods.

On Monday, the Galveston County Health District said the man went to a hospital on Oct. 10 with a “seriously” infected wound on his upper left arm. He was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis — a rare bacterial infection that kills soft tissue — and died six days later.

The Houston news channel KHOU identified the man as Josue Zurita. An obituary said Zurita was a hard-working carpenter who left Mexico to help provide for his family, and that he became infected while working to rebuild Harris and Galveston counties. ...

Philip Keiser, the local health authority for Galveston County, said in a news release published by the health district that the infection most likely occurred when bacteria from hurricane debris or floodwater entered the man’s body through a wound or cut. This case was the only known instance of necrotizing fasciitis in Galveston County related to Hurricane Harvey, according to the news release.

Also of Interest

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

Russia-China Tandem Changes the World

West Eyes Recolonization Of Africa With Endless War; Removing Gaddafi Was First Step

My Guantánamo Diary, Uncensored

Russian Bank Accused of Trump Connection Tries to Clear Name By Pressuring U.S. Computer Researcher

Hat tip, divineorder:

How Democratic Socialists Convinced a Congressman to Sign Onto Single-Payer Health Care Bill

A Little Night Music

Charles Brown - Homesick Blues

Charles Brown - Too Fine For Crying

Charles Brown - Trouble Blues

Charles Brown - Bad, Bad Whiskey

Charles Brown - Hard Times

Charles Brown - Fool's Paradise

Charles Brown - In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down

Charles Brown - Confidential

Charles Brown - A Virus Called The Blues