The Evening Blues - 5-8-17



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Little Esther

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b singer Little Esther. Enjoy!

Little Esther - T'Aint Whatcha Say It's Whatcha Do

"American exceptionalism? Exceptional at what? Waging wars against innocent people for fake reasons?"

-- Gerald Celente


News and Opinion

Will Democrats Unite to Block Trump’s Torturer, Gina Haspel, as CIA Chief? If Not, What Do They #Resist

The confirmation hearing for Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel, will begin in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. Haspel’s nomination has become controversial because of her supervision of a CIA black site in Thailand, where detainees were tortured (with heinous methods that extended far beyond “mere” waterboarding), as well as her central role in destroying videotapes of the interrogation sessions at which torture was employed. Two GOP Senators appear unlikely to vote for Haspel: John McCain, whose illness prevents him from attending, and Rand Paul, who has vowed to oppose Haspel (though few things have proven less reliable than Rand Paul’s promises to act on his supposed principles). That means that Democrats have the power to block a torturer and evidence-destroyer from becoming Trump’s CIA Director — if they remain united in their opposition.

Will they do so? It is difficult to be optimistic, to put that mildly. The history of Democrats throughout the War on Terror is to ensure that just enough members of their caucus join with the GOP majority to ensure passage of even the most extremist pieces of legislation or nominees justified in the name of terrorism or national security. The ruse Democrats typically use to accomplish these dirty deeds is quite ingenious: the defectors change so that no one member bears the blame for enabling right-wing measures, while the party itself is able to claim that a majority opposed the extremism. In 2010 – as the Bush-era tactic of Democratic defections to the GOP continued under Obama – I referred to this tactic as “Villain Rotation.” ...

Despite her role in the CIA torture program – or perhaps because of it – Haspel has been showered with praise, and her confirmation urged, by a bipartisan cast of intelligence officials that includes: Obama’s two CIA Directors (John Brennan and Leon Panetta), Obama’s Director of National Intelligence (James Clapper), Panetta’s former Chief of Staff at the CIA and current MSNBC star Jeremy Bash, and a bevy of Bush-era CIA and military officials who have rehabilitated their reputation among liberals in the Trump era (led by Bush’s CIA and NSA chief Gen. Michael Hayden). It is not difficult to understand why these Democratic national security officials – despite effectively re-branding themselves as #Resistance icons – are so supportive of Trump’s choice of a torturer to lead the CIA. Part of it is ideological and group loyalty: unlike Trump, Haspel is one them, a member in good standing of the intelligence and military world in which they have spent so much of their lives. Part of what motivates their support is standard tribalistic rank-closing: yes, she is a torturer, but she’s one of our torturers. ...

Haspel was not some rogue torturer. It is absolutely true that she was implementing CIA policy as decreed by George Bush, Dick Cheney and the Justice Department. Like most CIA officials involved in torture, not only was Haspel protected from punishment for that, but she was repeatedly promoted. That’s because torturing helpless detainees is regarded by the CIA as a noble and patriotic act. That’s why it was so predictably disastrous when Barack Obama elevated to the highest national security positions CIA officials such as John Brennan who had supported and advocated for major parts of the CIA’s torture and rendition program, and why it was even worse when Obama devoted himself to shielding all torturers from all forms of criminal and even civil penalty for their war crimes (even in the face of a treaty, signed by Ronald Reagan, requiring all signatory states to prosecute, not immunize, their torturers no matter their excuse for using it).

Indeed, as CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski pointed out today, a central prong of the GOP’s pro-Haspel messaging is “all the support Brennan got for CIA director from Democrats opposing her.” And that is, as he says, a “fair point”: after all, how can Democratic Senators posture now as vehement opponents of empowering torturers when they cheered Obama for naming the torture-and-rendition advocate Brennan as CIA Director, voted for his confirmation, and have now turned Brennan into a beloved #Resistance hero whose every Twitter utterance instantly goes viral? ... This is American Exceptionalism in its purest, and ugliest, expression: war criminals which lead African nations or enemies of the U.S. are sent to the Hague to be prosecuted, while American war criminals are rewarded, empowered, and praised.

Trump tweets glowing reference for CIA nominee Gina Haspel who’s linked to torture

Donald Trump broke his uncharacteristic weekend Twitter silence Monday when he posted a glowing job recommendation for a woman linked to the use of torture at CIA black sites.

Gina Haspel, Trump’s nominee to replace Mike Pompeo as head of the CIA, reportedly tried to withdraw her candidacy last week over fears that her ties to the CIA's interrogation program during the Bush administration would endanger her confirmation. Although the CIA, citing classified information, won’t comment, Haspell faces allegations of involvement in waterboarding — which Trump has said “works” — and the destruction of video tapes to cover up other instances of torture.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and the administration’s Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short, however, talked Haspel into keeping her hat in the ring, the Washington Post reported.


Haspel is scheduled to appear before the Senate for her confirmation hearing Wednesday; her nomination could be threatened if she loses just two Republicans, who hold a slim majority in the chamber, 51 seats.

CIA Torturer Gina Haspel May Testify Wednesday for First Time in Public About Her Role at Black Site

An Israeli official just threatened to assassinate Bashar Assad

An Israeli cabinet minister threatened Monday to destroy the Syrian regime and even assassinate leader Bashar Assad should Iran launch strikes against the Jewish state from within Syria.

“If Assad allows Iran to turn Syria into a military vanguard against us, to attack us from Syrian territory, he should know that would be the end of him, the end of his regime,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told the Ynet news site.

Besides troops from Russia, Assad’s regime has been buttressed in recent years by soldiers from Iran and militiamen from Lebanon's Hezbollah, sparking fears in Tel Aviv that Israel’s northern border has become increasingly vulnerable to those actors within the civil war.

Over the weekend, Israeli media published stories warning that Tehran is planning a missile strike against Israeli military bases from within Syria using Syrian Shiite forces and Hezbollah specialists.

“Whoever is interested in Assad’s survival should do the honor of telling Assad to prevent attacks on Israel,” Steinitz said, reacting to the reports — a warning likely directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad’s key backer whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Wednesday in Moscow.

Iran Deal: 'Tune in to find out' what we already knew

Trump’s Iran decision is another huge blow to America’s relationship with Europe

To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, an agreement he has repeatedly lambasted as “an embarrassment” to his country and the “worst deal ever.” ... “America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail,” Trump said. “We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction, and we will not allow a regime that chants ‘Death to America’ to gain access to the most deadly weapons on earth.” ...

Although widely anticipated, Trump’s decision will have seismic implications. Before his announcement, European leaders warned that scrapping the deal would reignite a global crisis over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions, set off a possible nuclear arms race in the region, and pave the way to greater confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. As a result of Tuesday’s announcement, these fears may now become reality, analysts told VICE News.

But just as devastating, analysts said, could be its impact on the future of trans-Atlantic relationship. By spurning the concerted, top-level pleas of European allies who were also signatories to the deal — France, Germany, and Britain — Trump may have sounded the death-knell for future European efforts at cooperation with his administration on the global stage. Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that Washington’s split with Europe on the Iran nuclear deal was the greatest trans-Atlantic rift since the invasion of Iraq 15 years ago. ...

Trump’s withdrawal from the landmark agreement instead gives a green light to regional allies — most notably Israel and Saudi Arabia — to pursue greater confrontation with Iran, a posture that was already reflected in the rising Israeli aggression towards Iranian forces in Syria and political maneuvering by the Kingdom in Lebanon.

Rouhani: "this is a psychological war"

Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, speaking shortly after Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the landmark nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions at its highest level, said he believed the agreement could still survive if other negotiating partners defied Trump. But the Iranian president warned that he has instructed the country’s atomic energy agency to prepare to restart enrichment of uranium at an industrial level in a few weeks time should the deal collapses completely.

“This is a psychological war, we won’t allow Trump to win... I’m happy that the pesky being has left the Barjam,” he said referring to Persian acronym for JCPOA or the nuclear deal.

“Tonight we witnessed a new historic experience... for 40 years we’ve said and repeated that Iran always abides by its commitments, and the US never complies, our 40-year history shows us Americans have been aggressive towards great people of Iran and our region .. from the [1953] coup against the legitimate government of [Mohammad] Mosaddegh Mosadeq government and their meddling in the affairs of the last regime, support for Saddam [Hussein during Iran-Iraq war] and downing or our passenger plane by a US vessel and their actions in Afghanistan, in Yemen,” he said. ...

Rouhani said the International Atomic Energy Agency (the IAEA) has verified that Tehran has abide by its obligations under the deal. “This is not an agreement between Iran and the US... for US to announce it’s pulling out, it’s a multilateral agreement, endorsed by the UN security council resolution 2231, Americans officially announcement today showed that their disregard for international commitments... We saw that in their disregard for Paris agreement. ... Our people saw that the only regime that supports Trump is the illegitimate Zionist regime, the same regime that killed our nuclear scientists”

Kim says denuclearization “achievable” in second secret meeting with Xi

Following last month’s high-profile summit in South Korea, Kim traveled to China Monday for his second meeting with President Xi Jinping, having first met the Chinese leader at a top secret sit-down in Beijing in March. ...

“As long as relevant parties eliminate the hostile policy and security threats against North Korea, North Korea does not need to have nuclear weapons, and denuclearization is achievable,” Kim told Xi, the Chinese Xinhua news agency reported.


Kim added that he wanted to “build mutual trust” with the U.S., adding it would take “phased and synchronous measures in a responsible manner” to achieve denuclearization. ...

Reports emerged from South Korea in recent days that Trump will meet with Kim in Singapore in the middle of June, soon after the G7 meeting in Canada. An exact date for the summit could be announced on May 22 when Moon visits Trump at the White House.

Colombian army killed thousands more civilians than reported, study claims

Gloria Astrid Martínez last saw her son on the morning of 8 February 2008. After breakfast, Daniel, 21, left their home in Soacha, a downtrodden suburb of Colombia’s capital, to start a new job working on wealthy countryside estates. “He told me he found a job that would pay so much I wouldn’t have to work any more,” recalled Martínez. “It sounded too good to be true, but he insisted, so he left.”

Eight months later, Daniel’s body was found clothed in jungle fatigues in a mass grave near the Venezuelan border. Soldiers from the Colombian army had lured Daniel with the promise of work to the city of Ocaña, 414 miles from Bogotá, where they murdered him and declared him a rebel fighter in order to boost their statistics in the war against leftist insurgents. The inflated figures, dubbed “false positives”, were used to justify US aid military packages while the officers who carried out the executions were rewarded with promotions and time off.

When news of the killings first broke 2008, the scandal engulfed the Colombian military: dozens of senior officers were fired, and many rank-and-file soldiers went to prison. But a new study co-authored by a former police colonel alleges that the practice was far more widespread than previously reported: according to authors Omar Rojas Bolaños and Fabian Leonardo Benavides, approximately 10,000 civilians were executed by the army between 2002 and 2010 – more than three times the number tallied by human rights groups.

In their book Extrajudicial Executions in Colombia, 2002-2010 – Blind Obedience in Fictitious Battlefields, the authors describe how Colombia’s army systematically killed civilians to boost their body counts.

Marxist Economic Theory Easily Explained w/Richard Wolff

Airbnb: police helicopter targets black guests after neighbor fears burglars

Police in California sent a helicopter and a squad of cars to detain a group of black friends leaving an Airbnb after a neighbor called 911 and reported them as possible burglars. The incident, which went viral after one of the detained women posted footage of the encounter, is the latest in a string of high-profile cases of Americans calling law enforcement on people of color engaged in lawful everyday activities.

Three friends were leaving an Airbnb rental on the afternoon of 30 April in Rialto, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, when, they said, a group of police cars quickly surrounded them and told them to put their hands up. “They informed us that there was also a helicopter tracking us. They locked down the neighborhood and had us standing in the street,” Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, a film-maker, wrote on Facebook, where she also published videos and photos of the police. “At first we joked about the misunderstanding,” she said, but added that “it escalated almost instantly”.

The Rialto police lieutenant Dean Hardin told the Guardian that a neighbor, whom he described as an elderly white woman, called police because she “didn’t recognize the vehicle or the people” and saw them loading a car with suitcases. The department responded to a potential “in-progress residential burglary”, dispatching six cars and a helicopter, he said. Police said in a statement that officers “immediately established a perimeter while the people drove away. During the course of the 22-minute encounter, police officers determined the people were Airbnb renters and were at the residence as guests.”

Fyffe-Marshall said the situation got worse when a sergeant arrived and said he had never heard of Airbnb, the home-sharing company. Hardin said other officers were aware of Airbnb and cleared up the confusion and said the department cancelled the helicopter before it arrived. Though officers detained the group, police did not use restraints and “allowed them to exit their vehicle”, police said.

“I’m still trying to fully digest the what, why and how of this,” wrote Donisha Prendergast, another woman in the car who is also a film-maker and a granddaughter of the singer-songwriter Bob Marley. “I also am deeply meditating on the why not. Why this should not have happened. Why they should not have reacted with such unnecessary force … Why this is not a simple misunderstanding. Why this neighbour who was so fearful without any justified reason, should not have the power to potentially destroy another life because of the color of her skin.”

Eric Schneiderman Resigns as New York Attorney General Amid Assault Claims by 4 Women

Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York State attorney general who rose to prominence as an antagonist of the Trump administration, abruptly resigned on Monday night hours after The New Yorker reported that four women had accused him of physically assaulting them.

“It’s been my great honor and privilege to serve as attorney general for the people of the State of New York,” Mr. Schneiderman said in a statement. “In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me.

“While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.”

His resignation represented a stunning fall for a politician who had also assumed a prominent role in the #MeToo movement.

Two of the women who spoke to the magazine, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, said they had been choked and hit repeatedly by Mr. Schneiderman. Both said they had sought medical treatment. Another woman, a lawyer, said she was slapped violently across the face. A fourth woman said she had similar experiences.

All the women in the article, who had been romantically involved with Mr. Schneiderman, said the violence was not consensual.

Schneiderman could be brought down by his own Strangulation Prevention Act

When former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman fought to pass laws that made strangulation a crime for the first time in the state, he paved the way for his own potential criminal charges.

Multiple women said in an article published Monday by The New Yorker that Schneiderman, 63, had hit, slapped, and choked them. Within hours of the article coming out, Schneiderman resigned, although he said the behavior was part of consensual role-play. It’s unclear whether the AG (since 2010) made any of these women unconscious when he allegedly choked them, but even having “an intent to impede breathing” could land him with a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a year in prison under the very laws he championed in 2010, legal and domestic violence experts told VICE News.

“Everything that he’s done is punishable by mandatory jail time — not possible, mandatory,” Jeffrey Lichtman, a lawyer for 27 years with expertise in domestic violence in New York State, told VICE News. “I’m appalled at the hypocrisy of Eric Schneiderman.”

How Customs and Border Protection Illegally Tried to Unmask a Rogue Twitter Account

When the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to unmask an irksome Twitter account imploded last year, few within the agency were surprised, according to newly released records. “Why would we do this?” one official asked in early April 2017 after Twitter filed a complaint in federal court, according to the heavily redacted emails. The short-lived investigation into @ALT_USCIS, an anonymous account that claims it’s run by a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employee, sparked an uproar over First Amendment encroachments and potential abuses of power last year, including from members of Congress.

The new documents, released last week by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press after it sued the DHS and Customs and Border Protection, reveal a partial timeline of the abortive investigation. But more importantly, the emails show how a seemingly unsupervised CBP agent improperly attempted to force Twitter to produce records on a particular user without a court order — completely disregarding whether the summons was legal.



the horse race



Congress is freaking out over Facebook’s Algorithm Changes

Republicans and Democrats in Congress and their staff are frustrated that constituents aren't seeing their posts following the social media company’s algorithm changes over the last several months.

“Our numbers just dove,” Josh Miller-Lewis, the communications director for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, told VICE News in describing how the the Senator’s page (with its 7.4 million likes) is getting less shares, reactions, and video views. “They made a decision to prioritize individual Facebook profiles over pages but that also reduces politicians’ ability to communicate with their constituents which is a role Facebook sees itself fulfilling.”

Facebook has launched a variety of tools to facilitate more conversation between politicians and their constituents such as Town Hall, Constituents Badges, and District Insights. But congressional offices say that those tools don’t make up for the decline they have seen because of the recent algorithm changes. In conversations with ten offices in the House and Senate and across the political spectrum, staffers used words like “flatlining,” “plummeting,” and “crashing,” to describe their Facebook engagement numbers in recent months.

A NewsWhip analysis confirms that engagement has declined sharply for a variety of congressional pages over the past several months. “We updated News Feed to help people meaningfully connect with friends and family first,” a Facebook spokesperson explained VICE News. “As News Feed prioritizes posts from friends, it means public pages of all types are more likely to experience declines.”

At the center of the controversy is whether Facebook should treat politicians and government pages any differently than they do others. Unlike businesses and media companies who can offset declines in engagement by paying Facebook for advertising, Senate rules prohibit offices from spending taxpayer money on buying advertisements and House offices must take it out of a small discretionary budget for the office which often means just a few thousand dollars a year for online advertising. ... Members of Congress can still advertise on their campaign pages as well using donations but the algorithm changes mean that they must now spend a lot more money to build an audience that can compete with the likes of Sanders or Trump who were able to grow their audiences more organically before the recent shifts.



the evening greens


Weedkiller products more toxic than their active ingredient, tests show

US government researchers have uncovered evidence that some popular weedkilling products, like Monsanto’s widely-used Roundup, are potentially more toxic to human cells than their active ingredient is by itself. These “formulated” weedkillers are commonly used in agriculture, leaving residues in food and water, as well as public spaces such as golf courses, parks and children’s playgrounds.

The tests are part of the US National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) first-ever examination of herbicide formulations made with the active ingredient glyphosate, but that also include other chemicals. While regulators have previously required extensive testing of glyphosate in isolation, government scientists have not fully examined the toxicity of the more complex products sold to consumers, farmers and others.

Monsanto introduced its glyphosate-based Roundup brand in 1974. But it is only now, after more than 40 years of widespread use, that the government is investigating the toxicity of “glyphosate-based herbicides” on human cells.

The NTP tests were requested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2015 classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. The IARC also highlighted concerns about formulations which combine glyphosate with other ingredients to enhance weed killing effectiveness. Monsanto and rivals sell hundreds of these products around the world in a market valued at roughly $9bn.

Mike DeVito, acting chief of the National Toxicology Program Laboratory, told the Guardian the agency’s work is ongoing but its early findings are clear on one key point. “We see the formulations are much more toxic. The formulations were killing the cells. The glyphosate really didn’t do it,” DeVito said. A summary of the NTP work stated that glyphosate formulations decreased human cell “viability”, disrupting cell membranes. Cell viability was “significantly altered” by the formulations, it stated.


'Our land is our home': Canadians build tiny homes in bid to thwart pipeline

In the heart of the Canadian province of British Columbia, dozens of activists have been gathering to saw lumber, raise walls and install windows. By the time their work is done, 10 tiny homes will have been built – all in the name of thwarting a pipeline. Launched by a group called the Tiny House Warriors, the plan is to strategically deploy the homes to block the the expansion of the a pipeline running from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast.

Launched by a group called the Tiny House Warriors, the plan is to strategically deploy the homes to block the the expansion of the a pipeline running from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast. “Our land is our home,” said Kanahus Manuel, who helped to launch Tiny House Warriors last year. “We’re putting tiny houses out there to scream that message to the world: pushing a pipeline through is tearing through our home.”

Efforts to stop the pipeline expansion have heated up in recent weeks, and thousands of people have joined indigenous-led protests in British Columbia. The project, which still needs to obtain numerous local permits and approvals, has pitted the provincial governments in Alberta and British Columbia against each other. The pipeline would nearly triple the flow of the province’s landlocked bitumen to the west coast, but British Columbia fears the dramatic increase to oil tanker traffic in the Pacific could have an impact on its multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

In Secwepemc territory, which stretches across a wide swath of south-central British Columbia, the battle against the pipeline rings personal. “We feel like it’s a matter of life and death,” said Manuel. “We’ve depended on this land for tens of thousands of years. That’s the risk that we’re facing with the pipeline. And the uncertainty is whether our kids are going to be able to drink this water in 50 years.” Last year a Secwepemc assembly declared its opposition to the pipeline, even though three of the territory’s bands have signed agreements allowing the pipeline access. Among those supporting the project is Simpcw First Nation, who say they hold the title to one-third of the land that the pipeline aims to traverse.

Simpcw leaders said the decision to grant access came after the community carried out their own environmental assessment review and negotiated an agreement that was approved by 78% of voters in a referendum. “If the project does not go ahead, we will lose out on opportunities that we have been working hard at obtaining in the last year or so,” Simpcw councillor Don Matthew said in a statement. But those behind Tiny House Warriors point out that 17 bands call Secwepemc territory home. “No one person could sign over land that’s going to impact our collective right and title to our territory,” said Manuel.

The territory is unceded, meaning no treaties were ever signed between Canada and the Secwepemc.

Top Republican Plans to Use Fossil Fuels to Make Puerto Rico “the Energy Hub of the Entire Caribbean”

Puerto Rico could become “the energy hub of the entire Caribbean area” under a vision laid out by Rob Bishop, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who visited the island. Bishop is not thinking of wind or solar. In a press conference held in San Juan on Friday, with Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón — a nonvoting representative to the U.S. House — Bishop, R-Utah, said he had been consulting with oil and gas companies in Washington about how to bring more natural gas to the island.

“Puerto Rico could be a headquarters for the entire Caribbean area,” Bishop said in response to a question from The Intercept. “That could be a source of energy not just for Puerto Rico, but it could be a source of export for that kind of energy to other places as well. As I look at the future, I envision Puerto Rico as being kind of like the energy hub of the entire Caribbean area. … To do that, you would have to get a lot of people involved, and the private sector has a role in trying to push that forward.” ...

Bishop laid out some specific changes he would like to see to the energy landscape in Puerto Rico. “I would love to see more natural gas ports. They could be either stationary or terminals that float, as we have in other areas of the world,” he said, noting that there “has to be some infrastructure built before that. You just can’t put the ports in there. … There has to be infrastructure to integrate that within the bill.” He did not elaborate on whether he was referring to a specific piece of legislation. He may well have been referring to a bill written by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, to privatize PREPA by, among other things, switching it from a public to private monopoly and green-lighting new natural gas infrastructure.

As Caribbean Business has reported, the bill syncs neatly with a rumored bid from a consortium comprised of Shell North America LNG, Kindle Energy, and ITC Holdings to acquire PREPA assets with $4 billion in private capital.


Also of Interest

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

The Woman Standing in the Way of the Privatization of Thousands of Jobs in Tennessee Was Just Fired


A Little Night Music

Little Esther - If its News To You

Little Esther - Cherry Wine

Little Esther & The Robins - Lovers Lane Boogie

Little Esther - Wild Child

Little Esther & Little Willie - Last Laugh Blues

Little Esther - I'm A Bad, Bad Girl

Little Esther & Little Willie - Turn the Lamps Down Low

Jeanie Barnes (aka Little Esther) - Can't Get You Off My Mind

Esther Phillips - The Double Crossing Blues

Little Esther Phillips & the Dominoes - The Deacon Moves In

Little Esther - Hollerin' and Screamin'

Little Esther Phillips - Mojo Hannah


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JekyllnHyde's picture

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A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

joe shikspack's picture

@JekyllnHyde

heh, perhaps they ought to look into using some "miracle grow." Smile

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GreatLakeSailor's picture

@JekyllnHyde

I so appreciate your graphic posts. Luv luv luv. Yahoo Yahoo Yahoo Yahoo

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Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.

@BrunoLatourAIME
Following Following @BrunoLatourAIME

Roger Cohen in the NYT today should win the prize for best maxim summarising the time: « History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as tweet. ».

7:40 AM - 13 Apr 2018

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What don't I get?

Why do I seem to think that all the dems have to do is to take up issues and they could win it all.

Don't they see that the constitution, rule of law, environment, etc. are under great harm and playing the game of less bad won't win the landslide needed to restore something like what we used to have

But nostalgia is no longer going to work for long because the Anthropocene is rapidly getting worse

The billionaires have to act quickly to get all they can from the shock doctrine before more disasters happen

Trump played the Iran issue for a month. As your video above pointed out, he is a master at the media.

There is nothing in what I said that is surprising to anyone here, but I am way outside the norm in the US

Hold onto your tweets and kiss ass good bye

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joe shikspack's picture

@DonMidwest

What don't I get?

heh, well, if you expect the democrats to do anything for the 99%, you're certainly not getting the joke.

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I went to WA Post during the early part of the Iraq war to read Dan's blog. Most active blog there and he was fired. Done various things since that.

I have not read this article but the title is enough.

I had some hope that this atty general would bring about real change

And, ... check out the title

Eric Schneiderman Has Always Been A Con Man The man liberals loved was a myth.

gigantic paradox

we say freedom is out highest value, but that depends on politicians, who are scum

this is why Bernie stands out. He has been consistently about issues for 40 years. He is not perfect but he is ahead of most of the others and politics is more important than ever now because some novel ways are needed to address global issues through global politics

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smiley7's picture

@DonMidwest
has done in past when gathering intelligence; and Bernie stands tall, especially tall in most any political comparison.

Have you seen the latest, $500 grand to Cohen from a Russian oligarch? Phew!

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joe shikspack's picture

@DonMidwest

perhaps, schneiderman, like obama is a perfect democrat.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVIO1ScVLdA]

A total PR move, of course.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

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joe shikspack's picture

@The Aspie Corner

what's a little ecumenical meaningless symbolism between friends?

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smiley7's picture

you. Hugs to all!

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joe shikspack's picture

@smiley7

thanks! it's good to be reminded that there are still wonderful things that happen in the midst of everything else.

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Trump can really hurt them with Russian sanctions. The sanctions are not just against Russia directly but anybody country, company, etc. that aids them in big areas. For example, Nord Stream 2.

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@MrWebster they are neighbors of the middle east

and they (should) know more about it because they were colonies in the past

and further destabilization will lead to more immigration

and the US has lied to get into wars in the past and they can see it again

and they have to live with the results for years, decades, or more

and Israel is more and more of an outcast

and Trump is off the scale

and the soft power and the moral high ground of the US is gone

and they are looking at a changed climate

and neo liberalism has collapsed

and billionaires came out of the closet in the last few years and they could be at risk for their lives in the future. They screwed things up

and they saw what happened in the UK with the Brexit vote

so, it won't be a surprise if they stand up to a bully and a failed foreign policy

****
a couple of days ago I saw an article that the Iraq war was for oil. Sure we know that, but the writer spent 70 months in Iraq and thought he was helping things out. Since then he has read widely and one of the main things I learned was there was a pipeline to Israel that was shut down in 1948 as Israel moved 700,000 Palestinians out of their territory and their expansion has continued. It was promised to Israel which would be helpful to their economy. Iraq found out about and bombed the pipeline so no oil went there.

and maybe EU will object to the genocide in Gaza and Yemen and try to wind down the proxy war in Syria and not want to start a war with Iran

but, with John Bolton in power, and with a war going on it helps a president win re election, ....

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joe shikspack's picture

@MrWebster

if things go as they ordinarily do, yes, the eu will cave after some infighting amongst themselves. on the other hand, there is a growing list of things that the eu is very dissatisfied about that make this as good as any issue to get their backs up about.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack
... the US ambassador to Germany. One day on the job and off he goes:

What a nice introduction for the new US embassador to Germany we got there. Yes, master, we will surely immediately shut down all operations in Iran and leave the playing field to you.

Too good timing to be true. Well. No comment.

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snoopydawg's picture

IMG_2079.JPG

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

if i were a gambling man, i would bet good money that democrats will help the torturer get installed in the top position at the cia.

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Azazello's picture

Evening all ...
In addition to the four part interview with Richard Wolff posted above, Jimmy D has just dropped a three part, so far, interview with Peter Joseph.
Part 1, 16 min.
Part 2, 15 min.
Part 3, 18 min.
Looks like I'll be watching the box all evening.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the links! it seems like jimmy is concentrating on getting some longer form interviews into his mix of content. i really enjoyed his discussion with glenn greenwald a little while ago.

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Bollox Ref's picture

Gina Haspel should be in Spandau Prison... preferably the Rudolf Hess Suite.

(And the 'reputation' of the US continues to sink......)

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

joe shikspack's picture

@Bollox Ref

Gina Haspel should be in Spandau Prison

and if america was a decent and just nation, she would have a lot of company.

reputation? well, i'm sure that there is broad agreement in the world that the u.s. is an exceptional nation.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack
in a wide range of directions.


slide5.png

It's as clear as the "Children of Bullerbü's counting-out rhyme" before they play hide and seek.

Ele mele ming mang,
ping pang,
ose pose, acka deia,
eia weia - weg!

German version:

ele mele muh
und raus bist du

Na ja, Trump nation might be "raus" or "weg". Yet they are part of the game and without them you can't play.

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enhydra lutris's picture

know if I've heard that one with the Robins before.

As to the Papal bullshit, remember that the Hegira was in 622, so there is no need for the Saudis to be any more liberal than the Church of Rome was in 1396. It was still brutal, nasty, bloody, and spreading the word by the sword well past that date, so they are simply making allowances for the late start that the Saudis got. Given how seriously uncivilized the church has been until quite recently, it makes sense for them to form a bond and/or even a partnership with their seeming moral co-equals.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

the records little esther did with the robins don't seem to be among the cuts that got re-released on the albums in my collection. they may be pretty rare.

i dunno, i sorta think the saudis and the church deserve each other these days. neither of them seems to want to address their bad behavior.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@joe shikspack

i dunno, i sorta think the saudis and the church deserve each other these days. neither of them seems to want to address their bad behavior.

That's pretty much the gist of it.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --