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"In capitalist society, providing it develops under the most favourable conditions, we have a more or less complete democracy in the democratic republic. But this democracy is always hemmed in by the narrow limits set by capitalist exploitation, and consequently always remains, in effect, a democracy for the minority, only for the propertied classes, only for the rich. Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners."

-- V. I. Lenin

News and Opinion

On Contact: The Power of Persuasion with Stuart Ewen

Check this article out, here's a taste to get you started:

McCarthyism Inc: Introducing the Counter-Terror 'Experts' Hyping Russian Threats and Undermining Our Civil Liberties

This September, Oklahoma GOP Senator James Lankford alleged that the widely popular #taketheknee Twitter hashtag that promoted NFL protests against racial injustice was, in fact, a Russian influence campaign spawned by Kremlin operatives. Hours later, Lankford’s claims received uncritical coverage from the New York Times’ Scott Shane and Daisuke Wakabayashi, who asserted that Russia was attempting “to influence social media discourse and foment division in the United States.” The assertion by Lankford added fuel to a wider narrative darkly insinuating covert Russian influence behind Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements.

The New York Times cited a new organization called the Alliance for Securing Democracy as the source of the allegations about the NFL protests. According to the Times, the ASD has tracked 600 Twitter accounts supposedly “linked to Russian influence operations” and exposed their nefarious agenda. A day before Lankford’s comments, the ASD asserted that a Russian online influence network had amplified the trending hashtag promoting NFL protests, #taketheknee, with the aim of promoting racial disharmony in the United States. Given that ASD refuses to name the Twitter accounts it is monitoring, the allegation is almost impossible to verify. ...

According to the New York Times, the ASD is a “public policy research group in Washington,” and a “bipartisan initiative” with no apparent agenda other than scrubbing the stain of subversion out of American democracy. Hosted by the German Marshall Fund, one of the most respected think tanks in Washington, the ASD has been granted the patina of credibility. However, an investigation by AlterNet’s Grayzone Project has yielded a series of disturbing findings at odds with the established depiction. The researchers behind the ASD’s “dashboard” are no Russia experts, but rather a collection of cranks, counterterror retreads, online harassers and paranoiacs operating with support from some of the most prominent figures operating within the American national security apparatus.

Andrew Weisburd, an ASD fellow who inspired and helped design its Hamilton 68 dashboard, has been solicited by the New York Times and Washington Post for expert quotes on Russian meddling. Neither outlet bothered to mention Weisburd’s well-documented history of online vigilantism, including his founding of a one-man, anti-Palestinian web monitoring initiative that specialized in doxxing left-wing activists, Muslims and anyone he considered “anti-American.” Weisburd’s murderous and homophobic fantasies about Glenn Greenwald, the editor of a publication the ASD has flagged without explanation as a vehicle for Russian influence operations, have also passed without notice by reporters promoting his findings. ... The composition of the ASD’s advisory council has also been exempted from mainstream media scrutiny. A look at the Beltway power players behind the group reveals a collection of military interventionists from both parties, all united in their desire for intensified conflict with Russia. ...

In recent days, the ASD’s master Kremlinologists have branded major American online outlets including the Intercept, Antiwar.com, ESPN, and even the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes as vehicles for Kremlin propaganda. ASD researchers emphasized that the outlets they placed within Russia’s supposed influence network were merely “relevant to Russian messaging themes.” But they failed to explain how they became relevant, making it almost impossible to know why the outlets listed on the dashboard were being amplified by any Russian influence operation, or whether they were at all.

Shareblue Pundit Apologizes For Lying McCarthyite Smear About Glenn Greenwald

Ten days after publicly accusing Pulitzer-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald of having “ties to Putin that he doesn’t want people to look too closely at,” Shareblue writer Matthew Chapman has apologized for his false claim. ... If you’re just tuning in, Shareblue Media is a pro-Dem establishment outlet run by Clinton attacker turned Clinton attack dog David Brock. ...

Greenwald, like myself and literally every single English-speaking person with a following who questions the Russiagate narrative, is routinely smeared as a Kremlin agent by rank-and-file Clintonites and McResistance social media addicts. Rarely however have I seen a political commentator who is trying to be taken seriously level such a brazen McCarthyist lie as the following:

Greenwald also has his own ties to Putin that he doesn’t want people to look too closely at.

— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) October 31, 2017

Chapman leveled the accusation during another smear campaign a week and a half ago when online liberal pundits were attacking Greenwald for appearing on Fox News for an interview. Greenwald was quick to return fire:

You should enlighten everyone on what these ties are: in detail & with evidence. Contrary to your claim, I'd really love for you to do this: https://t.co/MuNwHcrq5U

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 31, 2017

After receiving no response for ten days, Greenwald again pressed the issue:

It's been 10 days since I asked @Shareblue's @fawfulfan to provide the evidence for this he claims exists. Nothing. How is David Brock's @Shareblue any better than the "Fake News" or propaganda outlets so often denounced? pic.twitter.com/4Mg6pcdoTa

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 10, 2017

[Finally:]

Hi Glenn. I shouldn't have said this. You and I disagree on a lot, but I apologize for making an unfounded insinuation. It was not reflective of Shareblue and never would have made it through Shareblue’s editorial process.

— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) November 10, 2017

The Intercept Withheld NSA Doc That May Have Altered Course Of Syrian War

On Tuesday, the Intercept published a hitherto unknown document from the trove of National Security Administration (NSA) documents leaked by Edward Snowden over three years ago. The document was notable as it shed light on the early days of the Syrian conflict and the fact that, for the past six years, so-called “revolutionary” groups aimed at toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have largely acted as proxies for foreign governments pushing regime change.

The document explicitly reveals that an attack led by the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which was intended to mark the anniversary of the 2011 “uprising” that sparked the Syrian conflict, was directed by a Saudi prince. The document proves, in essence, that the armed opposition in Syria – from the earlier years of the conflict – was under the direct command of foreign governments pushing for regime change. According to the document, Saudi Prince Salman bin Sultan had ordered the FSA to “light up Damascus” and “flatten” the city’s civilian airport. The Saudis had also “sent 120 tons of explosives/weapons to opposition forces” for the operation. The Saudis, as the document notes, were “very pleased” with the outcome, which claimed at least 60 lives. ...

However, the Intercept article regarding the document is unusual for several reasons. First, the report inaccurately claims that the attack launched at the Saudis’ behest did not result in any confirmed casualties. Second, it states that the 2011 uprising in Syria was an organic, “peaceful” movement that led the Syrian government to wage “an open war against their own people” — a narrative that has since been debunked. Yet, the largest oversight of all is the article’s failure to mention the U.S.’ role in funding the Free Syrian Army, as well as the CIA’s well-documented role in training the FSA and pumping tons of weapons into Syria in order to foment and exacerbate the conflict in its early days. In light of the NSA document’s revelation that the U.S. had been given advance notice of the planned FSA attack – on a civilian target, no less – Washington’s decision to let it proceed clearly suggests that the U.S. was involved in and well aware of the Saudi directives to the FSA. However, the Intercept piece chooses not to mention this crucial context.

Perhaps even more troubling than the article’s failure to mention the CIA’s well-documented role in backing the Free Syrian Army, now exposed as a proxy force following orders from the Saudi royal family, is the fact that the Intercept had access to this document for nearly three-and-a-half years – deciding to publish only now that the Syrian conflict is effectively over and those pushing for regime change have lost. If this document had been published sooner, it could have dramatically changed the course of the war by exposing the true face of the “moderate rebels” — and potentially saved tens of thousands of lives.

Will cold war between Saudi Arabia & Iran become a full-scale military conflict?

Hmmm... now here's something with interesting implications, or, should I say, "And now for something completely different!" :

IHS Janes: Burkan-2 missile launched by Houthis is Scud derivative and is unlike variants made by Iran or DPRKhttps://t.co/vVifiTQ7TO pic.twitter.com/bQZMESs0I9

— Henry Rome (@hrome2) November 6, 2017

Group Investigating Police Conduct on Inauguration Day Has History of Siding With Police

A consultant paid by the Washington, D.C., City Council to investigate the Metropolitan Police Department’s crackdown on Inauguration Day protesters is coming under scrutiny for what activists and experts say is a bias in favor of police. The Police Foundation, the purportedly independent group conducting the investigation for the city, is poring over charges of police abuses from January 20.

The city’s police department faced scrutiny for violence and arrests that targeted anyone in close proximity to an anti-fascist demonstration, part of a thousands-strong “Disrupt J20” protest against Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Demonstrators were allegedly confronted with arbitrary mass arrests and sexual assault, according a lawsuit filed against D.C. and the police. The lawsuit said those in and around the protest came under attack from chemical agents, such as pepper spray, as well as rubber bullets and stinger grenades. Following the mass arrests, hundreds of people were charged with conspiracy, property destruction, and assault, and now many face decades in prison. Defense attorneys say the mass prosecution is unprecedented in Washington, D.C.

The police’s actions on January 20 quickly provoked concern. The Washington, D.C., Office of Police Complaints, overseen by the mayor, reviewed the police’s approach on January 20 and released its findings in a February report. The office acknowledged that the Metropolitan Police Department may have violated its own policies and called for an “independent consultant” to investigate police actions. That’s where the Police Foundation — which is run by retired Redlands, California, Police Chief Jim Bueermann — came into the picture. ...

The Police Foundation “is extremely tied in with police departments and with police leadership, as well as police officials who retire and go into the very lucrative business of police consulting,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a constitutional lawyer and executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which filed a lawsuit in March charging that D.C. police are unlawfully denying public records requests related to Inauguration Day. “We believe that, for there to be a truly independent investigation, it would need to be through an entity that has no ties to police departments, police officials, or former police officials.”

Defendants in the J20 trials and their supporters said the Police Foundation’s role in investigating police misconduct stood as yet another sign that the state is trying to dodge accountability.

Anti-abortion groups may have picked the wrong Supreme Court fight

The Supreme Court’s decision Monday to hear a challenge to a California law meant to regulate anti-abortion groups could eventually bring down some of biggest restrictions on abortion in the United States — but only if the anti-abortion groups win.

The lawsuit, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, deals with so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” or facilities designed to stop pregnant women from getting abortions. In 2015, California mandated that its 200-odd crisis pregnancy centers post signs indicating whether the facility was licensed and letting clients know that California subsidizes contraception and abortion care. The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, an anti-abortion group representing 73 medically licensed crisis pregnancy centers and 38 unlicensed centers, sued the state, arguing that this requirement violated centers’ right to free speech. ...

Yet this case, which experts told VICE News was the first Supreme Court case to deal with the issue of crisis pregnancy centers, could prove to be a double-edged sword for opponents of abortion. If the Supreme Court rules that California is restricting these centers’ right to free speech, that may mean it’s also illegal for states to make abortion providers tell their patients information that’s often designed to discourage them from having an abortion.

“If we allow the state to script speech for crisis pregnancy centers, then arguably we allow the state to also script speech for physicians who provide abortion,” explained Nicole Huberfeld, a Boston University School of Public Health professor who studies health care and constitutional law. “Right now, there’s a lot more of the regulation [on] what physicians must tell patients seeking abortion. And so if this [law] is struck down, then some of that scripted information may also be struck down in the future.”

Abby Martin Exposes Untold History of U.S. Empire

Richest 1% own half the world's wealth, study finds

The globe’s richest 1% own half the world’s wealth, according to a new report highlighting the growing gap between the super-rich and everyone else.

The world’s richest people have seen their share of the globe’s total wealth increase from 42.5% at the height of the 2008 financial crisis to 50.1% in 2017, or $140tn (£106tn), according to Credit Suisse’s global wealth report published on Tuesday.

“The share of the top 1% has been on an upward path ever since [the crisis], passing the 2000 level in 2013 and achieving new peaks every year thereafter,” the annual report said. The bank said “global wealth inequality has certainly been high and rising in the post-crisis period”. ...

While the global population of millionaires has grown considerably, the number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) – those with a net worth of $50m or more – has increased even faster. “The number of millionaires has increased by 170% [since 2000], while the number of UHNWIs has risen five-fold, making them by far the fastest-growing group of wealth-holders,” the report said.

A Week After Virginia Election Sweep, Democrats Join Republicans for More Bank Deregulation

Bipartisanship, long left for dead in Washington, has struck again. And Wall Street looks to be the winner. In the wake of the Equifax scandal, Congress has been under pressure to act. But the price of modest reforms in Washington is often much larger giveaways elsewhere, and that pattern holds true in the agreement announced Monday between nine Senate Democrats and the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.

The measure would roll back several key financial regulations, including sections of the Dodd-Frank Act. It does so under the cover of offering consumer protections and coming to the aid of community banks — though the financial institutions that benefit have not-so-obscure names, like American Express, SunTrust, and BB&T.

Four Banking Committee Democrats — Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Mark Warner, D-Va. — negotiated the bill with committee chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, after ranking Democrat Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, broke off talks on a compromise bill with Crapo just last month. Warner’s Virginia colleague Tim Kaine, last year’s vice presidential nominee, signed on as an original co-sponsor of the bill, along with Joe Manchin D-W.Va., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Gary Peters D-Mich., and Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats. The Democratic support would give the legislation enough support to break a filibuster, if all Republicans signed on. ...

“Using a moment the Democratic base is busy fighting the corporate giveaways in Trump’s tax scam to push through a gift-wrapped present for bank lobbyists is as cynical as Washington gets,” said Kurt Walters, campaign director for Rootstrikers, a grassroots progressive group.

If you think the Paradise and Panama papers are bad, wait until you hear about Delaware

The exposure of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca’s work helping the global elite hide money from the tax man, and the more recent leak of the “Paradise Papers” from firms Appleby and Estera in Bermuda, have prompted outrage and interest in corporate secrecy. In the US, it also should provide occasion for introspection, because anything Panama does, Delaware, South Dakota, and Nevada can do just as well.

In fact, the US is one of the largest recipients of illicit financial flows from developing countries—money often smuggled out by corrupt politicians, drug dealers, or everyday criminals.

The key reason is corporate secrecy. When individuals or companies want to hide their assets, they transfer them to shell companies that hide the true owners behind nominee directors who act as the custodian of the firm. Often, and especially in tax havens, the directors of the company are not required to disclose, to the tax authorities or anyone else, who the true owners are. ...

Just as small countries tend to breed the political culture that allows corporate secrecy, sparsely populated US states have competed in a race to the bottom to attract corporate investment through lax disclosure requirements. The tiny state of Delaware, called an “on-shore tax haven” by critics, garners more than a quarter of its public revenue—just over a $1 billion—from its business registry.

This probably factors into the World Bank’s assessment of the US as one of the worst offenders (pdf) when it comes to corporate secrecy. In fact, a 2012 academic study reports that it is easier to form a shell company (pdf) in the US than it is in Panama—or indeed, anywhere else but Kenya. At the top of their list? Delaware and Nevada.

Kucinich: I know why Trump was elected

VIDEO:

“I do understand why Donald Trump was elected. I really do.” He said that Americans want their politics “to actually mean something,” and for politicians to represent the practical interests of ordinary citizens. He called Cleveland, his hometown, “the epicenter of the sub-prime,” meltdown. He said his own house in Cleveland is worth less than the money he’s put into it. He said the Democratic Party has minimal understanding, and precious little sympathy, for the working class homeowner in Cleveland. “Remember,” he said, “Trump beat both parties.” Neither party had any handle on the disappearance of good jobs or housing values in urban or rural Ohio, or on what NAFTA has done to this state. Without really engaging with the Trump voter on lunch-bucket issues, he said, the Democratic Party cannot regain the presidency.

Poll: 37 percent of Alabama evangelicals more likely to vote for Moore after allegations

Nearly 40 percent of Alabama evangelicals said in a new poll that they are more likely to vote for GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore following allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

A JMC analytics poll found that 37 percent of evangelicals surveyed said the allegations make them more likely to vote for the GOP Senate candidate in the upcoming election. Just 28 percent said the allegations made them less likely to vote for Moore and 34 percent said the allegations made no difference in their decision. ...

The poll was conducted on Nov. 9 and Nov. 11 and was based on 575 responses. It has a margin of error of 4.1 percent.

15,000 scientists give catastrophic warning about the fate of the world in new ‘letter to humanity’

A new, dire "warning to humanity" about the dangers to all of us has been written by 15,000 scientists from around the world. The message updates an original warning sent from the Union of Concerned Scientists that was backed by 1,700 signatures 25 years ago. But the experts say the picture is far, far worse than it was in 1992, and that almost all of the problems identified then have simply been exacerbated.

Mankind is still facing the existential threat of runaway consumption of limited resources by a rapidly growing population, they warn. And "scientists, media influencers and lay citizens" aren't doing enough to fight against it, according to the letter.

If the world doesn't act soon, there be catastrophic biodiversity loss and untold amounts of human misery, they warn.

Only the hole in the ozone layer has improved since the first letter was written, and the letter urges humanity to use that as an example of what can happen when it acts decisively. But every single other threat has just got worse, they write, and there is not long left before those changes can never be reversed. ...

"Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory, and time is running out," the letter warns. "We must recognize, in our day-to-day lives and in our governing institutions, that Earth with all its life is our only home."

Yes or No: Amy Goodman Asks Trump’s Fossil Fuel Reps at COP23 If They Support US Quitting Paris Deal

US 'Spits in the Face' of World by Promoting Fossil Fuels at UN Climate Summit

Climate campaigners on Monday said that for the U.S. delegation to promote fossil fuel expansion and nuclear energy at the UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany is to "spit in the face of victims of climate change."

While President Donald Trump—currently on a 10-day trip through Asia—has drawn global scorn for his decision earlier this year to end the U.S. commitment to the Paris climate agreement designed to lower emissions to address the threat of global warming, the skeleton crew sent to represent the country in Bonn was lampooned after changing the name of a sponsored event from one focused on "innovation" and "advanced technologies" to simply, "The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation."

According to Reuters, the members of the delegation behind pro-fossil fuel event include: "George David Banks, a special assistant to Trump on energy and environment; Francis Brooke, a policy adviser to Vice President Mike Pence; and representatives of coal producer Peabody Energy Corp, nuclear engineering company NuScale Power and liquefied natural gas company Tellurian Inc."

Extolling "the virtues of fossil fuels at the year's most important international climate talks," said Karen Orenstein, deputy director of economic policy at Friends of the Earth U.S., should be considered a "slap in the face to countries that are party to the Paris Agreement—literally every nation on Earth except the United States."

Lunching ranger discovers species lost for 40 years

The last time anyone saw Jackson’s climbing salamander – I didn’t yet exist. It was 1975: Margaret Thatcher took over leadership of the Tories, Saigon fell to Communist forces, the USSR was still a thing, and everyone was listening to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. And in Guatemala, reeling from over a decade of civil war, two American conservationists found a little treasure of black and gold: they named it Jackson’s climbing salamander. Then it vanished as if it had never been.

Forty-two years later a lot has changed. The world is hotter than it has been in over 100,000 years and species are vanishing at rates that portend mass extinction. Yet, miracles can still happen.

Last month, Ramos León-Tomás, a 27-year-old guard from the Q’anjob’al Mayan community, was having lunch on the edges of the the Finca San Isidro Amphibian Reserve when he found what dozens of previous surveys could not – a small juvenile salamander, black and gold.

León-Tomás took several pictures and sent them on to Carlos Vásquez Almazán, the amphibian coordinator with the Foundation for Ecodevelopment and Conservation (FUNDAECO).

“I took [deep breaths] for a couple of hours, until they managed to send me a photo through WhatsApp, because the region is remote and there is little good internet signal,” Vásquez said, who’d visited the reserve more than 30 times to look for the species. “It was definitely the sought-after and awaited Jackson’s climbing salamander.”

Also of Interest

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

Anti-Trumpism Has Turned Liberals Into CIA-Cheerleading, Finger-Wagging Nerds

The Reverse Midas Touch of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Is Turning the Middle East to Dust

‘The Atlantic’ Commits Malpractice, Selectively Edits To Smear WikiLeaks

Mocking Trump Doesn’t Prove Russia’s Guilt

Canada's most shameful environmental secret must not remain hidden

A Little Night Music

The Trends - If You Don't Dig The Blues

The Trends - That's How I Like It

The Trends - Not Too Old To Cry

The Trends - (To Be) Happy Enough

The Trends - Dance With Me Baby

The Trends - Gonna Have To Show You

The Trends - Don't Drop Out Of School

The Trends - The Soul Clap