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“Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.”

-- George Carlin

News and Opinion

Accused 9/11 masterminds want to put CIA black sites on trial

The five men accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks appeared in the military courtroom here at Guantánamo Bay on Monday, as their lawyers argued another round of pretrial motions in the government’s case. The so-called “9/11 five” face five criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit the 9/11 attacks, attacking civilians, and murder in violation of the laws of war. But more than sixteen years after the attacks, there is still no trial date set. ...

Among the most consequential questions the court will consider is whether the government can stop the defense from speaking with foreign nationals in countries where CIA black sites may have been located -- and from speaking with Americans who may have knowledge of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques used at these sites. The government has invoked a national security privilege, declaring such information classified and off-limits.

On Monday morning, defense lawyers said that the restrictions have kept them from conducting investigations into the facts of the government’s case -- introducing a conflict between what the government has asked, and their obligations as lawyers. ...

Lawyers for Ammar al Baluchi, who is accused of financing the 9/11 hijackers, have said the restrictions will stop them from introducing exculpatory information about their defendant. During a briefing for media on Sunday, Baluchi’s lead attorney, Jay Connell, said that on five occasions this year he has told members of the team to hold off on pursuing leads, and he will likely cancel an upcoming trip of his own related to the investigation. “This investigation prohibition is killing us,” Connell said Sunday.

The commission Judge, Army Col. James Pohl, said Monday that he would not rule on these restrictions until he’s heard more discussion later this week.

North Korea 'very willing' to hold talks with US

As the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang came to a close on Sunday, there were murmurings of intent to bring the two Koreas closer together once the games were over. The colorful closing ceremony saw a US delegation that included US President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka (photo), seated only a few spots from senior North Korean General Kim Yong Chol, who has been accused of masterminding attacks on the South Korean military.

Meanwhile, South Korea's presidential Blue House announced news that Chol's delegation had said North Korea was "very willing" to hold talks with the US.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the remarks came in a meeting between Chol and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in which it was pointed out that the North should seek to improve relations with Washington as well as Seoul. "President Moon pointed out that US-North Korea dialogue must be held at an early date for an improvement in the South-North Korea relationship and the fundamental resolution of Korean Peninsula issues," Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said of the meeting.

On Monday, during a meeting in Seoul with Liu Yandong, a Chinese envoy to the closing ceremony, Moon urged the US and North Korea to both make concessions to enable talks to take place. "There is a need for the United States to lower the threshold for talks with North Korea, and North Korea should show it is willing to denuclearize. It is important the United States and North Korea sit down together quickly," he said, according to a statement from his office.

White House stresses denuclearization amid reports of North Korea’s openness to talks

The White House said Sunday that any diplomatic talks with North Korea must include a focus on Kim Jong Un’s government abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

“The United States, our Olympic Host the Republic of Korea, and the international community broadly agree that denuclearization must be the result of any dialogue with North Korea,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Sanders's comments come after reports that South Korea said North Korea is receptive to taking part in discussions with the United States.

Will Sanctions Against North Korea Really Work?

Syria: Putin orders five-hour daily ceasefires in eastern Ghouta

Vladimir Putin has ordered a daily five-hour “humanitarian pause” in the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, effectively replacing a United Nations security council resolution that had demanded a month-long ceasefire in the embattled region.

The Russian president’s move, which was announced by his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, highlighted in stark terms Russia’s primacy in Syrian affairs and the UN’s failure to impose an end to the fighting in the area bordering Damascus. ...

Shoigu said a ceasefire would begin on Tuesday in the Damascus suburb and would take place from 9am until 2pm daily, according to a transcript of his remarks published by the Russian news agency Interfax. Russia, a key ally of the Syrian regime, would also help create an evacuation route for civilians in the area, he added.

After Afrin, Syrian government forces may enter Manbij

Forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad will enter the city of Manbij in the coming days, following an agreement with the Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an anonymous Kurdish official told Russian news site Sputnik on Saturday.

The news comes following developments last week that saw pro-government Syrian forces enter Afrin to help Kurdish forces there resist a Turkish invasion that began over a month ago.

Damascus has expressed opposition to the Turkish operation, saying it violates Syrian sovereignty.

Israeli navy kills Palestinian after boat breaches sailing limit, military says

A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip died on Sunday after the Israeli navy fired on the boat he and two others were sailing in, a military spokeswoman said.

The navy opened fire after the boat ignored warnings and strayed from a permitted fishing area in the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel, the spokeswoman said. One of the men in the boat was seriously wounded and later died.

But the Gaza fishermen’s union said the boat was targeted as it was making its way back to Gaza, and Nizar Ayyash, the secretary of the Gaza fishermen’s syndicate, said in a statement that the men did not violate the maritime limit.

The union and his family named the dead man as 18-year-old Ismail Saleh Abu Reyala. Fishermen called an immediate two-day strike.

In Pre-Dawn Raid, Israel Arrests Badly Wounded Cousin of Ahed Tamimi, Jailed Protest Icon

Early Monday morning, Israeli forces detained a teenage Palestinian boy who has been missing part of his skull since December, when he was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier during a protest against the occupation of his West Bank village. The boy, Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was one of 10 Palestinian residents of the village of Nabi Saleh arrested in a pre-dawn raid. Tamimi’s 17-year-old cousin, Ahed, has been in an Israeli military prison since December, when she was filmed slapping an Israeli soldier outside her family home about an hour after Mohammed was shot.

Mohammed was arrested in the middle of the night, and taken away for interrogation, despite the fact that his medical condition has been widely reported on in the Israeli press, and his head remains badly deformed. ... According to Bassem Tamimi, his cousin Ahed’s father and the organizer of Nabi Saleh’s weekly demonstrations against the occupation, Mohammed’s health remains fragile as he waits for cranial reconstruction surgery scheduled for next week.

Following a wave of criticism from Israeli rights activists, Mohammed was released on Monday afternoon, according to Gaby Lasky, an Israeli lawyer who is defending his cousin Ahed.

China politics: Is Xi Jinping the new Mao?

China paves the way for President Xi Jinping to rule for life

China’s Communist Party has announced plans to change the constitution to end the two-term limit for its leader, paving the way for President Xi Jinping to remain in power for the rest of his life.

The move is the culmination of years of effort on Xi’s part to consolidate power in his own hands, signaling a return to strongman rule aimed at restoring China to what he sees as its rightful place as a global power.

The proposed change to the State Constitution, scrapping the 10-year limit (two five-year terms) for the president and vice president, was approved at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in January, but details were only made public on Sunday. ...

The proposals are still just that, but they will be enshrined in the constitution when they are ratified by the National People's Congress, which will convene next week.

Spain’s King Felipe got a frosty reception from Catalan separatists in Barcelona

Spain’s King Felipe arrived in Catalonia’s capital for the first time since October’s illegal independence referendum, and separatists gave him a hostile reception.

Supporters of Catalan independence took to the streets and balconies of Barcelona on Sunday to chant anti-monarchist slogans and bang pots in a symbol of rebellion toward direct rule from Madrid. Spain’s central government had suspended Catalonia’s autonomy in the wake of last year’s unsuccessful push for independence for the region.

Ada Colau, Barcelona’s left-wing mayor, and Roger Torrent, the speaker of the Catalan regional parliament, boycotted an official reception for the king. Meanwhile, protesters gathered outside and formed a symbolic yellow ribbon around the building to highlight the detention of pro-independence leaders. In the wake of the independence referendum, which proceeded despite having been ruled illegal by a Spanish court, a number of Catalan lawmakers were detained and charged with treason.

Bulletproof Blankets For Kids! Capitalism’s Answer To Guns

The Supreme Court just forced Trump to protect Dreamers

The Supreme Court of the United States just offered a win to so-called “Dreamers” when the justices decided Monday not to hear an appeal from the Trump administration about ending the program that protects them.

The court’s decision keeps the Obama-era program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, in place for now and allows undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to continue to apply for work permits and protections from deportation. There's an estimated 800,000 young Dreamers in the U.S., many of whom have been here for more than 10 years and have few ties to their parents' native country. ...

The Supreme Court’s decision sends the case back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will consider whether a federal judge’s injunction to keep the program in place while Trump’s repeal of the program is tested in court is legal. ...

The favorable ruling for the Dreamers comes as Congress has so far failed to produce a DACA bill of their own, despite months of negotiations. A bipartisan group of senators proposed a legislative fix in January that would keep DACA in place while ending the visa lottery system, a top priority for the Trump administration. But Trump shut that idea down at the infamous meeting where he derided immigration from “shithole” countries. Far-right forces in Congress and the White House have vowed not to get behind any immigration bill that doesn’t slash legal immigration.

Koch Document Reveals Laundry List of Policy Victories Extracted from the Trump Administration

In the backdrop of a chaotic first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the conservative Koch brothers have won victory after victory in their bid to reshape American government to their interests. Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements extracted from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress.

The donors have pumped campaign contributions not only to GOP lawmakers, but also to an array of third-party organizations that have pressured officials to act swiftly to roll back limits on pollution, approve new pipeline projects, and extend the largest set of upper-income tax breaks in generations.

“This year, thanks in part to research and outreach efforts across institutions, we have seen progress on many regulatory priorities this Network has championed for years,” the memo notes. The document highlights environmental issues that the Koch brothers have long worked to undo, such as the EPA Clean Power Plan, which is currently under the process of being formally repealed, and Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, among their major accomplishments. The memo also highlighted administration efforts to walk back planned rules to strengthen the estate tax in a list of 13 regulatory decisions favored by the network.

Billionaire Koch Brothers Have Extracted “Laundry List” of Victories from Trump Admin

The Right is Trying to Take Down Public Sector Unions. It May Bring Much More Down With It.

On Monday the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31 – a case experts have long predicted could strike a mortal blow to public sector unions. The plaintiff, an Illinois state worker named Mark Janus, has argued that he has a First Amendment right to avoid paying anything to a union that bargains on his behalf. With the current ideological leanings of the court, the plaintiff — and the conservative groups backing his lawsuit — face strong odds of victory.

But while most of the media has focused on the fact that the Janus case stands to decimate union coffers – and by extension, Democratic Party coffers – some labor activists and legal scholars have begun sounding the alarm on what they say would be the unintended consequences of the suit. [...] If Mark Janus doesn’t have to pay his agency fees because collective bargaining is speech he disagrees with, then collective bargaining is speech. And it can’t be restricted. Indeed, when some of the lazier advocates of Janus lay out the case, they accidentally argue on behalf of  unions’ right to free speech. “Because government is both employer and policymaker, collect­ive bargaining by the union is inherently political advocacy and indistinguishable from lobbying,” wrote George Will on Sunday, directly implicating the First Amendment.

For more than 40 years, the Supreme Court has held that there’s a constitutional difference between a union’s political activities and its collective bargaining work. Compelling workers to fund the former would infringe on their freedom of speech, the court ruled in the 1977. But under current law, collective bargaining is different. Imposing conditions, such as requiring mandatory dues, or limiting the scope of their negotiations to wages and benefits, is fair game. If the Janus plaintiffs win their case, this critical distinction would be dismantled. (A decision is expected by June, when the court’s term ends.) A union’s bargaining and political lobbying would be treated the same — as protected free speech. In other words, the court would actually be elevating the free speech standards of bargaining. That, in turn, could bring with it new legal protections. ...

Nearly all states impose some form of restriction on collective bargaining, limiting who can bargain and what workers can bargain over. If the Janus plaintiffs win in court, the theory goes, then workers could start bringing First Amendment challenges to limitations on their bargaining rights, like the restrictions Walker, the Wisconsin governor, passed in 2011.

The Dishonest & Maddening Debate Over Treason w/ Glenn Greenwald

California Democrats Deny Dianne Feinstein Their Endorsement for Senate

Despite over a quarter-century representing California in the Senate, Dianne Feinstein in a humiliating setback was denied the endorsement of the California Democratic Party on Saturday, signaling a shift away from moderates at the highest levels of the state political infrastructure.

State Sen. Kevin De León, offering the strongest challenge to Feinstein since her election, garnered 54 percent of the vote of nearly 3,000 delegates gathered here at the state convention, compared to just 37 percent for Feinstein. The state party endorsement gives candidates coveted placement on state party mailers and can raise the profile of candidates who may have a deficit in fundraising. It’s not like Feinstein has a need to raise her profile in the state, and has plenty of money to get her message out. But denying the party endorsement to a sitting U.S. Senator is a remarkable turn of events for a lawmaker who has been a fixture in California politics going back to her days as a San Francisco board supervisor, where she was first elected in the late 1960s.

Had De León hit 60 percent, he would have won the endorsement outright. As it is, neither can claim it.

In the most recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California, taken in early February, Feinstein held a 46-17 lead over De León, with about one-third of likely voters undecided. De León is expected to land in the top two with Feinstein and move to the general election in November, although Justice Democrats-endorsed activist Alison Hartson has earned the most small-dollar donations in the race, even more than Feinstein. Hartson was not on the Senate endorsement ballot, though another challenger, attorney Pat Harris, was.

California Democrats Stand Behind Palestinian-Descended Candidate Despite Israeli Press Coverage of Ancestor’s Terror Links

Ammar Campa-Najjar, a candidate for office in California’s 50th Congressional District, won an overwhelming endorsement on Sunday from the California Democratic Party, which brushed aside a potentially inflammatory report in the Israeli press about his paternal grandfather, who was a mastermind of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Campa-Najjar is running a progressive, grassroots campaign that relies on small donors and an army of volunteers. He had earlier won what’s called a pre-endorsement, which requires at least 70 percent of the local delegates to win. He won the statewide endorsement easily, pulling 97 percent, despite the presence of a well-funded challenger, veteran Josh Butner, who has the backing of the New Democratic Coalition, the pro-Wall Street wing of the party. ...

Last Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz ran an article titled, “Grandson of Munich Massacre Terrorist is Running for Office — Sounding a Peaceful Tone on Israel.” Campa-Najjar’s paternal grandfather, Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar, was a senior member of Black September, a Palestinian terror organization that carried out several attacks against Israelis in the 1970s, including the massacre of 11 athletes at the Munich Olympics. Israeli commandos assassinated al-Najjar and his wife in 1973, 16 years before Campa-Najjar was born. In the days following the Haaretz report, the news of Campa-Najjar’s lineage was picked up by the local press, including the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Times of San Diego, and East County Magazine. The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post also joined in the coverage.

The 28-year-old candidate, who was born in Southern California to a Palestinian father and Mexican mother, responded to Haaretz last week by condemning his grandfather’s actions. “As an American citizen living in the 21st century, I will never be able to understand or condone the actions and motivations of my grandfather,” he said.

Teen Confronts DCCC-Endorsed Candidate Over His 100 Percent NRA Rating

At a nationally televised town hall on Wednesday, a high school student from Parkland, Florida — who survived a deadly shooting on Valentine’s Day — challenged Sen. Marco Rubio, R.-Fla., over his donations from the National Rifle Association. The same night in New Jersey, a similar confrontation took place. After a public forum, 17-year-old Emily McGrath went toe-to-toe with a state senator and House candidate over his own contributions from the controversial gun lobbyist.

The difference? That politician is a Democrat who just received the blessing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Emily McGrath, 17, and Donna Challender of Tuckerton confront State Sen. Jeff Van Drew - a Democratic candidate for #nj02 congressional seat- on his pro-gun record and with evidence he took $1,000 from NRA in 2011. pic.twitter.com/L89zq8vBIZ

— Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg) February 22, 2018

“Senator, you lied,” McGrath said after a debate for Democratic candidates in Northfield, New Jersey, citing evidence that Jeff Van Drew had accepted donations from the NRA in previous election cycles. The video was posted to Twitter by Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Amy S. Rosenberg. Earlier in the evening, McGrath noted on camera, Van Drew had said he had “never” accepted funds from the NRA when he spoke to her AP government class the day before. Another local woman, Donna Challender, told Van Drew that, “I don’t have any faith that you will ever vote for universal checks … you’re 100 percent NRA.”

Indeed, as of 2017, Van Drew enjoyed a 100 percent rating from the NRA for his position on gun rights, having routinely pushed forward efforts to loosen gun laws, and fought against efforts to tighten restrictions. He has yet to make a public statement about the Parkland massacre.

'See the facts': top Democrat defends Russia memo as Trump fumes

The author of a newly released Democratic memo on investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election defended his work on Sunday, after being attacked by Donald Trump.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted that the memo was “a total political and legal BUST”. He also tweeted personal abuse of California congressman Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, who he told Fox News was “a bad guy” responsible for leaks that were “probably illegal”.

Referring to an infamous Trump remark about Mexican immigrants, Schiff told CNN’s State of the Union he was “proud to be one of the bad hombres, I guess”.

Trump’s anger about leaks, Schiff said, was likely based on his discussion of Donald Trump Jr’s appearance before the House intelligence committee in December. The president’s son claimed attorney-client privilege to avoid discussing the drafting of a misleading statement about a meeting with Russians offering “dirt” on Hillary Clinton at Trump Tower in June 2016.

Attorney-client privilege did not apply, Schiff said, adding that his discussion of Trump Jr’s appearance was “not a leak, it’s a fact”.

Dozens of public lands advocates say Trump administration 'shut them out'

The Trump administration has angered ranchers, hunters, fishermen and conservationists across the US who complain they are being shut out of a federal advisory process designed to steer the management of cherished public lands. Many of the dozens of public advisory boards have been stonewalled by the department of interior since the president put Ryan Zinke at the helm of the agency.

In a letter sent Thursday to Zinke, 23 members of public-lands advisory groups in Colorado said they were “dismayed” and felt “disenfranchised” by their “inability to perform in our official role”, and that some had not met in over a year. Panels in other states have faced similar difficulties. The letter follows the January resignation of 10 of the 12 members of the National Park System advisory board, who complained that Zinke had declined to meet with them. Zinke announced last year that he was reviewing the status of over 200 advisory bodies intended to solicit outside input, but some of their members say the effect has been to eliminate local comment on issues of national importance.

“The latest I’ve heard is that people’s terms are beginning to expire – I think mine’s expired, too – and nobody is of course reappointing them, and things are just dying,” said Cal Cumin, a land-planning consultant on a board in eastern Montana. “We have no word out of Washington; they seem to be stymied in Washington in terms of getting stuff done,” said John Hiatt, a Nevada conservationist who said the terms of six people on his panel, out of 15, had expired.

There are 38 such panels in the western US, known as resource advisory councils and comprised of environmentalists, foresters, archaeologists, wild-horse experts, ranchers, politicians and others. They provide advice to a division of interior department, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), on issues such as national monuments and endangered species.

Some boards, for instance in Utah, are operating. In other places, frustration with the delays has peaked. Two members of a board in Colorado have resigned, Colorado Politics reported last week. “It didn’t make sense to sit on an advisory committee whose advice wasn’t going to be asked for,” George Newman, a local county commissioner, told the publication. “The administration is one sided; that side is to do whatever they can do to deregulate for the benefit of the oil and gas industry at the sacrifice of longterm environmental needs.”

Six Months After Harvey, Environmental Justice & Climate Change Absent from Houston’s Recovery Plans

Antarctica's king penguins 'could disappear' by the end of the century

Rising temperatures and overfishing in the pristine waters around the Antarctic could see king penguin populations pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century, according to a new study.

The report, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that as global warming transforms the environment in the world’s last great wilderness 70% of king penguins could either disappear or be forced to find new breeding grounds. ...

The findings come amid growing concern over the future of the Antarctic. Earlier this month a separate study found that a combination of climate change and industrial fishing is threatening the krill population in Antarctic waters, with a potentially disastrous impact on whales, seals and penguins.

But today’s report is the starkest warning yet of the potentially devastating impact of climate change and human exploitation on the Antarctic’s delicate eco-systems.

Also of Interest

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

Even As a Student Movement Rises, Gun Manufacturers Are Targeting Young People

The Democratic party is now publicly attacking progressive candidates

Blowback: How the Bombing of Libya in 2011 Led to Terror in Britain

Iona Craig Won a Polk Award for Her Investigation of a SEAL Team Raid That Killed Women and Children in Yemen. Here’s How She Did It.

The Return Of Ben Swann May Be The Most Interesting Thing Happening In Alternative Media Right Now

A Little Night Music

Little Willie John - Spasms

Little Willie John - Fever

Little Willie John - Heartbreak (It’s Hurtin’ Me)

John, Little Willie - There's A Difference

Little Willie John - A Little Bit Of Loving

Little Willie John - All Around The World

Little Willie John - My Nerves

Little Willie John - Mister Glenn

Little Willie John - Do Something For Me

Little Willie John - Don't Play With Love

Little Willie John - No Regrets

Little Willie John - Leave My Kitten Alone