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This evening's music features Chicago blues singer Andrew Odom. Enjoy!

"The mendacity of the press can be divided into two groups: the yellow press lies every day without hesitating. But others, like the Times, Speak the truth on all inconsequential occasions, so they can deceive the public with the requisite authority when it becomes necessary."

-- Émile Zola

News and Opinion

The CIA Democrats vs. Julian Assange

The lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), naming WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange as co-conspirators with Russia and the Trump campaign in a criminal effort to steal the 2016 US presidential election, is a frontal assault on democratic rights. It tramples on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which establishes freedom of the press and freedom of speech as fundamental rights.

Neither the Democratic Party lawsuit nor the media commentaries on it acknowledge that WikiLeaks is engaged in journalism, not espionage; that its work consists of publishing material supplied to it by whistleblowers seeking to expose the crimes of governments, giant corporations and other powerful organizations; and that this courageous campaign of exposure has made both the website and its founder and publisher the targets of state repression all over the world. ...

The Democratic National Committee on Friday filed a 66-page complaint that reeks of McCarthyism, with overtones of the Wisconsin senator’s demagogy about “a conspiracy so vast” when he was spearheading the anticommunist witch hunts more than 70 years ago. After detailing a long list of supposed conspirators, ranging from the Russian government and its military intelligence agency GRU to the Trump campaign and Julian Assange, the complaint declares: “The conspiracy constituted an act of previously unimaginable treachery: the campaign of the presidential nominee of a major party in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the Presidency.”

Such language has had no place in official American public life since the right-wing political gangster McCarthy left the scene in the late 1950s. Ultra-right groups like the John Birch Society kept alive such smear tactics in ensuing decades, but they were relegated to the fringes of the political system. Now the Democratic Party has sought to revive these methods as the central focus of its bid for power in the 2018 elections.

No End in Sight for US-Backed Yemen War as Airstrike Kills At Least 20, Including Bride, at Wedding

Syria: western nations seek to bypass Russian veto at UN

Western nations want to end the months-long paralysis at the United Nations over Syria by referring the issue of chemical weapons use to the entire UN general assembly, where Russia’s security council veto would not apply. The idea is to draw on a rarely used route first established in the cold war to transfer responsibility for aspects of the crisis to the 193-member general assembly.

Russia has used its security council veto powers 11 times to block action targeting its ally Syria. A UN mechanism to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons use came to an end in November after Russia vetoed a resolution to extend its mandate, complaining that the mechanism was prejudiced against the Syrian government.

Ian Martin, a former UN official and Amnesty International chief, said: “The Russian veto need not be the end of efforts for collective action by the UN. The responsibility of asserting accountability for the use of chemical weapons, and for bringing an end to the horrors of the Syrian conflict, rests with the world community as a whole.”

The proposal is known to have support among western officials.

Scarier than Bolton? Think Nikki for President

In the Trumpean world of all-the-time-stupid, there is, however, one individual who stands out for her complete inability to perceive anything beyond threats of unrelenting violence combined with adherence to policies that have already proven to be catastrophic. That person is our own Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who surfaced in the news lately after she unilaterally and evidently prematurely announced sanctions on Russia. When the White House suggested that she might have been “confused” she responded that “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.” This ignited a firestorm among the Trump haters, lauding Haley as a strong and self-confident woman for standing up to the White House male bullies while also suggesting that the hapless Administration had not bothered to inform one of its senior diplomats of a policy change. It also produced a flurry of Haley for higher office tweets based on what was described as her “brilliant riposte” to the president.

One over-the-top bit of effusion from a former Haley aide even suggested that her “deft rebuttal” emphasizes her qualities, enthusing that “What distinguishes her from the star-struck sycophants in the White House is that she understands the intersection of strong leadership and public service, where great things happen” and placing her on what is being promoted as the short list of future presidential candidates.

For sure, neocon barking dog Bill Kristol has for years been promoting Haley for president, a sign that something is up as he was previously the one who “discovered” Sarah Palin. Indeed, the similarities between the two women are readily observable. Neither is very cerebral or much given to make any attempt to understand an adversary’s point of view; both are reflexively aggressive and dismissive when dealing with foreigners and domestic critics; both are passionately anti-Russian and pro-Israeli. And Kristol is not alone in his advocacy. Haley regularly receives praise from Senators like South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and from the Murdoch media as well as in the opinion pages of National Review and The Weekly Standard.

The greater problem right now is that Nikki Haley is America’s face to the international community, even more than the Secretary of State. She has used her bully pulpit to do just that, i.e. bully, and she is ugly America personified, having apparently decided that something called American Exceptionalism gives her license to say and do whatever she wants at the United Nations. In her mind, the United States can do what it wants globally because it has a God-given right to do so, a viewpoint that doesn’t go down well with many countries that believe that they have a legal and moral right to be left alone and remain exempt from America’s all too frequent military interventions. ...

Haley, who had no foreign policy experience of any kind prior to assuming office, relies on a gaggle of neoconservative foreign-policy “experts” to help shape her public utterances, which are often not cleared with the State Department, where she is at least nominally employed. Her speechwriter is Jessica Gavora, who is the wife of the leading neoconservative journalist Jonah Goldberg. Unfortunately, being a neocon mouthpiece makes her particularly dangerous as she is holding a position where she can do bad things. ... So, Nikki Haley very much comes across as the neoconservatives’ dream ambassador to the United Nations–full of aggression, a staunch supporter of Israel, and assertive of Washington’s preemptive right to set standards for the rest of the world. And there is every reason to believe that she would nurture the same views if she were to become the neocon dream president. Bearing the flag for American Exceptionalism does not necessarily make her very good for the rest of us, who will have to bear the burdens and risks implicit in her imperial hubris, but, as the neoconservatives never feel compelled to admit that they were wrong, one suspects that Haley’s assertion that she does not do confusion is only the beginning if she succeeds in her apparent quest for the highest office in the land. Worse than John Bolton? Absolutely.

Video showing IDF soldiers cheering after shooting a Palestinian protester sparks outrage

Snipers ordered to shoot children, Israeli general confirms

An Israeli general has confirmed that when snipers stationed along Israel’s boundary with Gaza shoot at children, they are doing so deliberately, under clear and specific orders.

In a radio interview, Brigadier-General (Reserve) Zvika Fogel describes how a sniper identifies the “small body” of a child and is given authorization to shoot. Fogel’s statements could be used as evidence of intent if Israeli leaders are ever tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. ... On Saturday, Brigadier-General Fogel was interviewed by Ron Nesiel on the Israeli public radio network Kan. Fogel is the former chief of staff of the Israeli army’s “southern command,” which includes the occupied Gaza Strip. ... The host Ron Nesiel asks Fogel if the Israeli army should “rethink its use of snipers,” and suggests that someone giving orders “lowered the bar for using live fire.”

Fogel adamantly defends the policy, stating: “At the tactical level, any person who gets close to the fence, anyone who could be a future threat to the border of the State of Israel and its residents, should bear a price for that violation.” He adds: “If this child or anyone else gets close to the fence in order to hide an explosive device or check if there are any dead zones there or to cut the fence so someone could infiltrate the territory of the State of Israel to kill us …” “Then his punishment is death?” Nesiel interjects. “His punishment is death,” the general responds. “As far as I’m concerned then yes, if you can only shoot him to stop him, in the leg or arm – great. But if it’s more than that then, yes, you want to check with me whose blood is thicker, ours or theirs.” Fogel then describes the careful process by which targets – including children – are identified and shot:

“I know how these orders are given. I know how a sniper does the shooting. I know how many authorizations he needs before he receives an authorization to open fire. It is not the whim of one or the other sniper who identifies the small body of a child now and decides he’ll shoot. Someone marks the target for him very well and tells him exactly why one has to shoot and what the threat is from that individual. And to my great sorrow, sometimes when you shoot at a small body and you intended to hit his arm or shoulder, it goes even higher.” For “it goes even higher,” Fogel uses a Hebrew idiom also meaning “it costs even more.”

In this chilling statement, in which a general talks about snipers targeting the “small body of a child,” Fogel makes crystal clear that this policy is premeditated and deliberate. While presenting unarmed Palestinian children as dangerous terrorists worthy of death, Fogel describes the snipers killing them in cold blood as the innocent, vulnerable parties who deserve protection. “We have soldiers there, our children, who were sent out and receive very accurate instructions about whom to shoot to protect us. Let’s back them up,” he says.

Fogel’s statements are no aberration but represent Israeli policy. ... Two weeks ago, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court issued an unprecedented warning that Israeli leaders may face trial for the killings of unarmed Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip. Potential defendants would be giving any prosecutor a gift with such open admissions that killing unarmed people in an occupied territory who pose no objective threat is their policy and intent. The question remains whether anything will finally pierce the shield of impunity that Israel has enjoyed for 70 years.

Kinda makes you wonder what sort of new armaments the Israelis are experimenting with on Palestinians as unwilling test subjects now.

Palestine: MSF teams in Gaza observe unusually severe and devastating gunshot injuries

Since 1 April, MSF teams in Gaza, Palestine, have provided post-operative care to more than 500 people injured by gunshots during the March of Return demonstrations. The number of patients treated in our clinics over the last three weeks is more than the number we treated throughout all of 2014, when Israel’s military Operation Protective Edge was launched over the Gaza strip. MSF medical staff report receiving patients with devastating injuries of an unusual severity, which are extremely complex to treat. The injuries sustained by patients will leave most with serious, long-term physical disabilities.

Medical teams in Gaza's hospitals prepare to face a possible new influx of wounded this Friday in the latest of the March of Return demonstrations. MSF surgeons in Gaza report devastating gunshot wounds among hundreds of people injured during the protests over recent weeks. The huge majority of patients – mainly young men, but also some women and children – have unusually severe wounds to the lower extremities. MSF medical teams note the injuries include an extreme level of destruction to bones and soft tissue, and large exit wounds that can be the size of a fist.

“Half of the more than 500 patients we have admitted in our clinics have injuries where the bullet has literally destroyed tissue after having pulverized the bone”, said Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, Head of Mission of MSF in Palestine. “These patients will need to have very complex surgical operations and most of them will have disabilities for life.”

Managing these injuries is very difficult. Apart from regular nursing care, patients will often need additional surgery, and undergo a very long process of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. A lot of patients will keep functional deficiencies for the rest of their life. Some patients may yet need amputation if not provided with sufficient care in Gaza and if they don’t manage to get the necessary authorisation to be treated outside of the strip.

How the Massacre in Gaza became an Opportunity to Sell Israeli Weapons

Here's the intro to an interview with an eyewitness to the Israeli Defense Force's cold-blooded murder of unarmed Palestinians. The interview is worth a read.

Israelis Continue to Open Fire on Gaza Protestors

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), the Palestinian death toll since March 30, 2018 “has risen to 33, including 4 children and 1 photojournalist, and the number of those wounded has risen to 2,436, including 410 children, 66 women, 22 journalists and 9 paramedics.”

There have been no Israeli casualties.

According to PCHR, on Friday, April 20th, Israeli snipers “killed 4 Palestinian civilians, including a child, and wounded 274 others, including 41 children, 6 women and 1 journalist, in addition to hundreds suffering tear gas inhalation, including PCHR’s fieldworkers who were documenting the Israeli forces’ suppression of the entirely peaceful demonstrations near the border fence with Israel, east of the Gaza Strip.”

PCHR maintains that “for the fourth week in a row and upon a decision by the Israeli highest military and political echelons, the Israeli forces used lethal force against the peaceful protesters, who did not pose any threat to the soldiers’ life.” There is a cell phone camera recording now being widely distributed that appears to show Israeli snipers and soldiers cheering as they gun down unarmed Palestinians fleeing in the distance.

On April 17th, I spoke with Gaza-based Palestinian Journalist Wafa Al-Udaini who has been an eyewitness to all the Gaza protests in the ongoing anti-occupation, Right to Return protests since late March. Al-Udaini’s friend and colleague, Yaser Murtaja, a photojournalist and camera person for a Gaza-based media production company was shot on April 6th by Israeli sharp-shooters and died the next day of his wounds.

Macron pitches new Iran deal to sweeten existing agreement for Trump

Emmanuel Macron has proposed negotiations on a “new deal” aimed at curbing Iran’s military power and regional activities, to exist alongside a three year-old agreement that restricts the country’s nuclear programme. Amid the pageantry of a state visit laced with some characteristically undiplomatic touches from Donald Trump, the French president offered the idea of a new deal at a joint White House press conference with Donald Trump as a way of salvaging the 2015 agreement, which Trump has threatened to leave.

The offer seemed calculated to appease the US president’s discontent with the current agreement, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA) by proposing a broader initiative to tackle other elements of Iran’s challenge in the region, particularly its ballistic missile programme, and its military role in Syria.

“I always said we should not tear apart the JCPOA and have nothing else,” Macron said. “This would not be a good solution.” But it was unclear if Trump has agreed.

Rouhani just reminded Trump Iran can also pull out of international deals

Donald Trump would face “severe consequences” if he scrapped the international nuclear agreement with Iran, President Hassan Rouhani warned Tuesday. “I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will react firmly,” Rouhani said in a speech in Tabriz, amid growing fears Trump will pull the U.S. from the 2015 deal. ...

One retaliatory move, according to Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, would be to withdraw Iran from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — a pact signed in 1970 to stop the spread of nuclear weapons technology.

Trump recently warned that unless the other signatories to the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran – Russia, China, Germany, Britain, and France – address what he calls “terrible flaws” in the deal by May 12, he will reinstate U.S. sanctions against Tehran, a likely death knell for the agreement.

Iran has said it will escalate its nuclear activities if the deal falls apart, and Shamkhani said Tuesday that Tehran would consider any move by the U.S. to pull out of or modify the agreement as a “collapse” of the deal.

Taiwan is prepping for a full military invasion by China

Taiwan will stage a mock military invasion by China, the country’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, as tensions rise over Beijing’s increasingly strident claims over the island. “Simply put, the main goal of the drills is to make any Chinese communist military mission to invade Taiwan fail,” Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi told reporters. ...

The status of Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy, is one of the thorniest issues for Beijing, which views the island as part of China’s territory. Relations between Beijing and Taipei have grown more strained since President Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party took office in 2016. Tsai does not accept Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of “one China,” but has said she intends to maintain the status quo.

That hasn’t alleviated Beijing’s anxieties about a formal push for independence, and China’s military has increasingly flexed its muscles in the waters surrounding Taiwan; last week it held live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait, a move that Taipei slammed as the “cheapest way of verbal intimidation and sabre-rattling.”

Corker-Kaine Bill Claims to Limit President's War Powers, but Actually Expands Them

Thanks to Rand Paul's "Cowardly Flip-Flop," Senate Committee Approves Warmonger Pompeo

After Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) decided to support President Donald Trump's Secretary of State pick Mike Pompeo at the last minute in a "cowardly flip-flop," the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday voted along party lines to advance Pompeo to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.

"In voting to recommend Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted against diplomacy today, and for a foreign policy even more inclined towards war,"  Paul Kawika Martin, senior director for policy and political affairs at Peace Action said in a statement following the vote. "Pompeo's record of warmongering, climate denial, and Islamophobia speaks for itself."

In the days leading up to Monday's vote, Pompeo was widely expected to advance to the full Senate without a favorable recommendation from the Foreign Relations Committee. But Paul's sudden reversal after repeated vows to oppose Pompeo gave Republicans on the committee just enough votes for approval, even in the face of united Democratic opposition.

The process did hit a slight snag as senators prepared for the final vote on Monday, however, as Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) was absent, requiring him to vote "yes" by proxy. Under Senate rules, a committee member who is not present cannot cast the decisive vote.

While Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) suggested holding off on the final vote until later Monday night when Isakson could attend, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)—who initially voted "no"—decided to change his vote to "present," allowing Pompeo's nomination to promptly sail through with the committee's stamp of approval.

Fulfilling 'Feedback Loop' Fears, New Study Shows Melting Ice Could Spell Disaster Faster Than Previously Thought

Bolstering concerns that so-called "feedback loops" should be considered a legitimate and serious concern, a new study shows that a worrying hypothesis put out just three years ago about the impacts of melting Antarctic ice may already have started coming true.

In a paper published in Science Advances, researchers at the University of Tasmania and other institutions found that the melting of Antarctica's glaciers has begun to trigger a "feedback loop" in which that melting's effects on the oceans cause even more ice sheets to deteriorate, and so on.

Chris Mooney of the Washington Post described the feedback loop phenomenon as "one of the most worrisome predictions about climate change" in an article about the findings.

"What we found is not only a modeling study but is something that we observed in the real ocean," Alessandro Silvano, one of the researchers, told the Post. "Our study shows for the first time actual evidence of this mechanism. Our study shows that it is already happening."

State Appeals Court Rules Valve Turners Can Proceed With Necessity Defense for Pipeline Protest

In a victory for activists who shut down a tar sands pipeline as part of a multi-state protest in 2016, a Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the "valve turners" can present a defense that their action was necessary because of the threat that fossil fuel production poses to the planet.

On Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 decision (pdf) upholding a district judge's October ruling that Annette Klapstein, Emily Nesbitt Johnston, Steven Liptay, and Benjamin Joldersma can present a "necessity defense" for participating in the #ShutItDown action, which temporarily disabled all tar sands pipelines crossing the U.S.-Canada border.

State prosecuters had challenged last year's ruling, claiming that such a defense would jeopardize the likelihood of a successful prosecution and "unnecessarily confuse the jury." Monday's decision means that those charged can call expert witnesses to exlain to jurors how tar sands crude is harming the planet.

It is unclear if the prosecution will appeal the decision to the state's Supreme Court. 

"If we get to present a necessity defense trial, and the jury has to grapple with full knowledge of our shared reality, the jig is up for the fossil fuel industry, and the end of their devastating business model comes into much clearer view," said Johnston, who faces felony charges for shutting down the pipeline.

Also of Interest

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

MSNBC’s Joy Reid Claims Her Website Was Hacked and Bigoted Anti-LGBT Content Added, a Bizarre Story Liberal Outlets Ignore

Palantir Knows Everything
About You

James Comey’s Memos Reveal the Reasons Donald Trump Wants to Find Leakers and Put Reporters in Jail

A Little Night Music

Andrew "Voice" Odom - The World's In Trouble

Andrew Big Voice Odom - Woke Up This Morning

Andrew Odom - I Don't Know

Andrew Big Voice Odom - Going To California

Andrew Big Voice Odom - You Don't Have To Go

Andrew Big Voice Odom - All For Business

Andrew "Voice" Odom - Take Me Back To East St. Louis

Andrew "Voice" Odom & Earl Hooker - Come To Me Right Away, Baby