The Evening Blues - 9-17-18
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features swamp pop musician King Karl. Enjoy!
King Carl - Everybodys Feelin' Good
"Two days after the Boston marathon bombings, there was a drone strike in Yemen attacking a peaceful village, which killed a target who could very easily have been apprehended. But, of course, it is just easier to terrorise people. The drones are a terrorist weapon; they not only kill targets but also terrorise other people. "
-- Noam Chomsky
News and Opinion
Trump is unshackling America's drones thanks to Obama's weakness
For more than a decade, the worst-kept secret in the world has been the fact that the Central Intelligence Agency owns and operates lethal drones outside of recognized battlefields abroad. Newspapers blare it from their headlines. Legislators discuss it on television. Foreign governments protest it through press releases. And, of course, human beings witness it through the death and destruction foist upon their communities.
Still, according to the US government and the federal courts, the CIA’s operation of drones to hunt and kill terrorism suspects – a campaign that has killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children, in places like Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia – remains an official secret.
Toward the end of the Obama administration, the president moderately circumscribed the agency’s role in executing lethal strikes abroad, in part to increase public transparency. Compared to the US military (which also uses lethal force abroad), the CIA is relatively less accountable to policy makers, members of Congress, and the American public. With a diminished role in targeted killings, it appeared then that the CIA’s official secrecy was becoming less important to the overall drone program. But as critics warned could happen, President Trump quickly lifted many of the late-Obama-era limits while ramping up the government’s use of lethal drones abroad and reportedly putting the CIA back in the drone business. ...
With the help of then–chief counterterrorism advisor (and newly anointed Resistance hero) John Brennan, Obama not only ramped up the use of drones for targeted killings but effectively institutionalized them, channeling what had been mostly ad hoc decisions about who to kill and where into a systematized process, complete with Orwellian nomenclature like “disposition matrix” (ie, “kill list”) and “direct action” procedures. ... After Brennan became CIA Director, according to reports, Obama reportedly shifted at least some authority for carrying out many drone strikes away from the CIA to the military, both to make targeted killing strikes more centralized and accountable internally, and to permit the government to defend strikes that came under scrutiny from foreign allies, the media, and rights organizations.
But all of Obama’s changes were, in one critical way, fundamentally deficient. Because all of them were imposed through executive orders, they would do little to bind his successors. Lo and behold, President Trump promptly loosened the killing rules and exempted certain geographic regions from their coverage. He also quickly gave the CIA renewed authority to conduct strikes against suspected terrorists without the involvement of the Pentagon. Now, he has apparently determined to further reassert CIA control over lethal drones by establishing the agency’s own drone base in Niger, broadening the agency’s lethal reach into Libya and other parts of Africa.
Russia and Turkey to set up Idlib buffer zone to protect civilians
The immediate risk of a humanitarian disaster in the last major Syrian rebel enclave of Idlib appears to have been averted by a joint Russian-Turkish plan to set up a demilitarised zone as a buffer between the Syrian army and the rebels. The plan was agreed on Monday by Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at a bilateral summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The nine- to 12-mile (15-20km) zone running along the borders of the Idlib region will be safe from Syrian and Russian air force attack, and will be in place by 15 October, the two leaders agreed. Heavy weapons including tanks, mortars and artillery will be withdrawn from the zone by 10 October. The plan is designed to prevent a large-scale Russian-Syrian attack on the whole of the Idlib region, a large province bordering Turkey in which more than 3 million civilians reside.
The arrangement leaves the fate of the estimated 10,000 jihadist fighters in the region unanswered. Putin said the militants represented “a threat both to the city of Aleppo and our military facilities in Syria, namely in Tartus and Hmeymim.” Jihadist rebels fighting under the banner of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, (HTS) seen as the Syrian franchise of al-Qaida and listed as terrorists by both Russia and the UN, will be expected to evacuate the zone.
Files show Assange sought Russian visa
Julian Assange had just pulled off one of the biggest scoops in journalistic history, splaying the innards of American diplomacy across the web. But technology firms were cutting ties to his WikiLeaks website, cable news pundits were calling for his head and a Swedish sex crime case was threatening to put him behind bars. Caught in a vise, the silver-haired Australian wrote to the Russian Consulate in London.
“I, Julian Assange, hereby grant full authority to my friend, Israel Shamir, to both drop off and collect my passport, in order to get a visa,” said the letter , which was obtained exclusively by The Associated Press.
The Nov. 30, 2010, missive is part of a much larger trove of WikiLeaks emails, chat logs, financial records, secretly recorded footage and other documents leaked to the AP. The files provide both an intimate look at the radical transparency organization and an early hint of Assange’s budding relationship with Moscow. ...
In a statement posted to Twitter, WikiLeaks said Assange never applied for the visa or authored the letter, naming a former associate of his as the alleged source of the document. WikiLeaks did not return a follow-up email seeking clarification on whether Shamir applied on his behalf, or whether a lawyer or someone else at WikiLeaks might have drafted the letter. The Russian Embassy in London said it doesn’t discuss the personal details of visa applicants.
Government Can Spy on Journalists in the U.S. Using Invasive Foreign Intelligence Process
The U.S. Government can monitor journalists under a foreign intelligence law that allows invasive spying and operates outside the traditional court system, according to newly released documents. Targeting members of the press under the law, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, requires approval from the Justice Department’s highest-ranking officials, the documents show.
In two 2015 memos for the FBI, the attorney general spells out “procedures for processing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications targeting known media entities or known members of the media.” The guidelines say the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, or their delegate must sign off before the bureau can bring an application to the secretive panel of judges who approves monitoring under the 1978 act, which governs intelligence-related wiretapping and other surveillance carried out domestically and against U.S. persons abroad.
The high level of supervision points to the controversy around targeting members of the media at all. Prior to the release of these documents, little was known about the use of FISA court orders against journalists. Previous attention had been focused on the use of National Security Letters against members of the press; the letters are administrative orders with which the FBI can obtain certain phone and financial records without a judge’s oversight. FISA court orders can authorize much more invasive searches and collection, including the content of communications, and do so through hearings conducted in secret and outside the sort of adversarial judicial process that allows journalists and other targets of regular criminal warrants to eventually challenge their validity.
“This is a huge surprise,” said Victoria Baranetsky, general counsel with the Center for Investigative Reporting, previously of Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press. “It makes me wonder, what other rules are out there, and how have these rules been applied? The next step is figuring out how this has been used.” ...
The memos discussing FISA are dated in early 2015, and both are directed at the FBI’s National Security Division. The documents are on the same subject and outline some of the same steps for FISA approvals, but one is unclassified and mostly unredacted, while the other is marked secret and largely redacted. The rules apply to media entities or journalists who are thought to be agents of a foreign government, or, in some cases, are of interest under the broader standard that they possess foreign intelligence information.
Google China Prototype Links Searches to Phone Numbers
Google built a prototype of a censored search engine for China that links users’ searches to their personal phone numbers, thus making it easier for the Chinese government to monitor people’s queries, The Intercept can reveal. The search engine, codenamed Dragonfly, was designed for Android devices, and would remove content deemed sensitive by China’s ruling Communist Party regime, such as information about political dissidents, free speech, democracy, human rights, and peaceful protest.
Previously undisclosed details about the plan, obtained by The Intercept on Friday, show that Google compiled a censorship blacklist that included terms such as “human rights,” “student protest,” and “Nobel Prize” in Mandarin. ...
Sources familiar with the project said that prototypes of the search engine linked the search app on a user’s Android smartphone with their phone number. This means individual people’s searches could be easily tracked – and any user seeking out information banned by the government could potentially be at risk of interrogation or detention if security agencies were to obtain the search records from Google.
Facebook Censors a ThinkProgress Story on Kavanaugh After a Conservative Site Calls it “Fake News”
Hungarian PM vows to continue battle with EU over migrationHungary has said it will resist any EU-wide attempt to strip it of its right to protect its borders and will fight to overturn the pro-migration policies of the centre-right grouping to which it belongs in the European parliament. The prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was isolated last week when a majority of MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) grouping helped form the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to start a sanctions procedure against Hungary for repeatedly breaching EU laws. The procedure could result in fines or a loss of voting rights.
In an address to the Hungarian parliament Orbán claimed that a proposal for a 10,000-strong EU border force, which will be discussed at a summit in Salzburg this week, was an attempt to strip nation states of their right to defend their borders. Orbán’s chief spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs, went further, saying Hungary would resist any EU-wide migration reform that was proposed before European parliament elections in May.
Many EU countries were still determined to meet their labour market needs by allowing hundreds of thousands of people into Europe every year, Kovacs said, adding that “a pro-migration globalist political elite” was trying to shut down options for after the European parliament elections. “We should not decide on EU-wide migration issues at an EU level until after the elections,” he said.
Guatemala court says president must allow return of anti-corruption chief
Guatemala’s constitutional court has ordered President Jimmy Morales to allow the head of a UN-backed anti-corruption commission to return to Guatemala, dealing a blunt rebuke to the leader who has sought in recent weeks to dismantle the body.
The unanimous ruling by the court’s five magistrates marked the second time in as many years that the court has reversed Morales’ efforts to keep commission chief Ivan Velasquez out of Guatemala. Velasquez has pressed a number of high-profile graft investigations, including one that is pending against the president himself.
Trump threatens $200bn import tariffs on China in trade war
Donald Trump has issued China with a renewed threat that he could impose $200bn of import tariffs on Chinese goods arriving in America as part of the escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing.
The US president used a post on Twitter to warn foreign countries they would face higher import tariffs should they fail to agree “fair” trade agreements with the US, in a move likely to be seen as a thinly-veiled threat to China.
He tweeted: “Tariffs have put the US in a very strong bargaining position, with Billions of Dollars, and Jobs, flowing into our Country – and yet cost increases have thus far been almost unnoticeable. If countries will not make fair deals with us, they will be ‘Tariffed!’”
Reports over the weekend suggested White House officials have been put on notice to impose a fresh round of import tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods. More than 1,000 products would be subject to the 10% border tax, which would be designed to make foreign imports more expensive than their domestic equivalents. Trump is expected to announce the introduction of the tariffs from as early as this week amid a deterioration of relations between the US and China, sources told the Reuters news agency.
Verizon Leaves Right-Wing Legislative Group ALEC Over Its Invitation to Anti-Muslim Activist David Horowitz
In recent years, right-wing activist David Horowitz has enjoyed broad influence in the Republican Party. Horowitz is known for his acidic commentary and advocacy, describing all Palestinians as “Nazis,” smearing former President Barack Obama as a secret Muslim, and claiming that the anti-lynching memorial in Alabama is an example of “anti-white racism.”
His extremist brand of politics, however, is finally turning into a liability for his GOP allies. On Wednesday, former Rep. Ron DeSantis, the GOP nominee for governor of Florida, ducked questions from reporters about his regular appearances at Horowitz-organized donor retreats.
Now, Verizon is cutting ties with an influential business alliance, the American Legislative Exchange Council, over the group’s decision to host Horowitz as a featured speaker at the ALEC summit in New Orleans last month.
“Our company has no tolerance for racist, white supremacist or sexist comment or ideals,” Verizon spokesperson Richard Young said in a statement to The Intercept.
The decision is a blow to ALEC, which has counted the telecommunications giant as a major donor for three decades. The relationship between Verizon and ALEC goes back to 1988, when Verizon lobbyist Ronald Scheberle served as the chair of ALEC’s board.
As Blasey Ford Alleges Kavanaugh Assaulted Her, Will Senate Repeat Mistakes Made with Anita Hill?
Trump says Kavanaugh confirmation vote may have to be delayed
Donald Trump on Monday defended his US supreme court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, amid allegations the judge sexually assaulted a woman when they were teenagers in high school – but also added that there might have to be a delay in the confirmation vote.
Kavanaugh has strongly denied the accusation and said on Monday he is willing to talk to the Senate judiciary committee. An attorney for Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said she was also willing to testify. Ford’s allegation, made in the Washington Post on Sunday, plunged Kavanaugh’s nomination into uncertainty days before the committee was due to vote. Republicans are under intensifying pressure to delay the vote; White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Monday Ford “will be heard”. ...
Ford, 51, is a research psychologist at Palo Alto University in northern California. Speaking to the Post, she described an incident she said happened when she and Kavanaugh were in high school in the early 1980s. She alleged that Kavanaugh and a friend – both “stumbling drunk” – corralled her into a bedroom at a party. Kavanaugh then pinned her on a bed, she said, groping her and placing his hand over her mouth. Ford said she was able to escape only when the friend jumped on top of them.
Border Patrol agent shot four women in the head and left them by the side of the road, authorities say
Texas authorities arrested a Border Patrol officer they are calling a “serial killer” Sunday. Juan David Ortiz, 32, confessed to murdering four women since Sept. 3, according to affidavits from the Webb County District Attorney’s office obtained by VICE News. Ortiz is a 10-year veteran of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and worked in intelligence, the Washington Post reported. ...
Ortiz is being charged with four counts of murder, one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of unlawful restraint. He is being held at the Webb County Jail on $2.5 million bond.
Laquan McDonald death: jury shown video of black teen shot 16 times by police officer
Video of the shocking moment when a white police officer shot Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, 16 times was played to a Chicago jury on Monday at the start of a murder trial. Jurors saw the police dashcam footage that captured the final seconds of McDonald’s life as Jason Van Dyke, a Chicago police officer, began shooting within six seconds of stepping out of his squad car.
The special prosecutor Joseph McMahon opened the prosecution’s case by telling the jury that “under very special circumstances” a police officer can legally shoot a person.
“A police officer has the legal right to use force and even deadly force but only when it is necessary. What was necessary that night [of] October 20 2014 was the arrest of Laquan McDonald; but it was not necessary to kill Laquan to do so.”
He told the jury they were in court today and Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder because “not a single shot was necessary or justified”. ...
Van Dyke entered the Leighton criminal court building at about 7.45am before any protesters arrived. He was surrounded by a security detail and one report said he was wearing a bulletproof vest under his suit. Seven protesters arrived at about 8.30am, marching as they chanted: “From the slave catchers and the KKK to the killer cops of today, convict Van Dyke and throw him in jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell.”
Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer to face trial for killing someone on duty in 50 years. The graphic video – released the day Van Dyke was charged – led to months of protests and political upheaval.
Kudlow Confirms Trump and GOP Ready to Gut Safety Net After Midterms
As the GOP plows ahead with another round of budget-exploding tax cuts for the rich just before the crucial 2018 midterms, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser and former television personality Larry Kudlow confirmed on Monday that the White House will push for cuts to life-saving safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security if the GOP retains control of Congress in November.
"We have to be tougher on spending," Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, declared in remarks to the Economic Club of New York.
Asked when Social Security and Medicare will be targeted for "reforms"—which, as one advocacy group noted, is "code for massive cuts"—Kudlow said, "Everyone will look at that—probably next year." ...
In the months since Trump signed into law the GOP's initial $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for the rich, progressives have been warning that the White House and Republicans would attempt to use the resulting deficit explosion as a justification to slash popular programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Kudlow's comments represent the latest admission that this is precisely the GOP's plan of action if they are able to keep control of Congress in November.
N.Y. Progressive Voter Purge Happens Again
'Dumbest Policy in the World': Report Details How Canada's Massive Fossil Fuel Subsidies Undermine Climate Action
"What's the dumbest policy in the world? Public cash for oil and gas!" That's according to Patrick DeRochie, Climate & Energy program manager for the Canadian group Environmental Defence, who wrote Monday about a new report that aims to shed light on the Canadian government's hundreds of millions dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
"Actually, the final figure is likely much higher, but a lack of transparency from the federal government makes many subsidies to climate polluters difficult to quantify," DeRochie added, calling on the Canadian government to disclose just how much it's doling out to polluters.
Public Cash for Oil and Gas (pdf), produced by the #StopFundingFossils coalition — which includes the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Environmental Defence, Climate Action Network, Équiterre, and Oil Change International—emphasizes that Canada's "handouts" of taxpayer money to oil and gas producers "undermine" actions that aim to address the human-caused global climate criss. ...
While the report details hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks, fiscals supports, and direct grants for oil and gas production, it does not include the government's recent—and widely ridiculed—purchase of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline. And although there is "strong potential that there will end up being a large subsidy involved in this purchase," the report points out that "the scale of the subsidy will not be known at least until (and if) a private sector buyer is identified and the terms of sale are released." This likely subsidy, it declares, "is inconsistent with Canada's commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2025."
The report—which notes that "despite some reforms in recent years, Canada is still the largest provider of subsidies to oil and gas production in the G7 per unit of GDP"—was released just ahead of the G7 environmental ministers' meeting the Canadian government is scheduled to host Wednesday through Friday in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
645 am... Hurricane Florence estimated rainfall amounts from Thursday afternoon through Monday morning features a large area of 15 to 20 inches of rain across Wayne, Sampson and portions of Johnston County. #Florence #ncwx pic.twitter.com/UYbLQVhvPO
— NWS Raleigh (@NWSRaleigh) September 17, 2018
'You're about to see a lot of damage': Florence death toll rises as storm moves north
Severe flooding caused by storm Florence could last for days and even weeks, officials warned on Monday, as it continued its path north on the US east coast. At least 23 people have died in North and South Carolina since Friday, including a three month-old baby, as tropical depression Florence moved slowly across the region, dumping rain, swelling rivers and flooding cities.
The US’s highest emergency official warned that other states now stand in the path of Florence. “Not only are you going to see more impact across North Carolina this week … but we’re also anticipating you are about to see a lot of damage going through West Virginia, all the way up to Ohio as the system exits out,” said Brock Long of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In the Carolinas, the National Weather Service continued to warn people the floods were worsening. “The worst is yet to come,” as river levels rise to historic levels, said Zach Taylor, an NWS meteorologist. “The soil is soaked and can’t absorb any more rain so that water has to go somewhere, unfortunately.” ...
Several open-air manure pits at hog farms in North Carolina had failed or were simply swamped, the department of environmental quality secretary, Michael Regan, reported on Monday, and are spilling their muck. ...
Florence was headed through Virginia and toward New England and flash flood watches extended from Maryland through New York and southern New England. The flooding could persist for several weeks in some areas.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Four Reasons Why Interventionism In Syria Is Crazy And Stupid
The US-Led Global War on Terrorism Has Succeeded... In Creating More Global Terrorism
Serial numbers of missile that downed MH17 show it was produced in 1986, owned by Ukraine - Russia
Chris Hedges: The Culture of Hate
How a Ragtag Group of Oregon Locals Took On the Biggest Chemical Companies in World — and Won
Seven endangered species that could (almost) fit in a single train carriage
A Little Night Music
King Karl w/Guitar Gable - Irene
King Karl w/Guitar Gable - This Should Go On Forever
"Chuck" Brown (King Karl) - Hard Times At My Door
King Karl w/Guitar Gable - Walking in the park
Guitar Gable & the Musical Kings - Life Problem
King Karl - I'm Just a Lonely Man
King Karl w/Guitar Gable - No Matter Who
King Karl w/Guitar Gable - Mary Lou
Comments
Life in Communist Poland, circa 1965
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwMGfeNqwyU]
I guess it wouldn't hurt to contribute some music as well. Here's one from Ronnie James Dio in his early years with The Prophets:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7cr-vp0-_I]
Considering where he ended up, this is definitely a far cry from Holy Diver and the like. Then again, he did quite a bit of rockabilly later on before joining up with Ritchie Blackmore to form Rainbow:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7vOgPIXfiU]
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.
evening ac...
heh, that's a pretty cool time capsule in that poland video. interesting that in 1965, despite the "iron curtain," musicians in poland could get fender instruments (made in usa), including a nifty fender jaguar. interesting that after the soviet union made such an effort to purge poland of fascism, it is now back with a vengeance.
thanks for the music vids, i would never have suspected ronnie james dio would have been involved in either of those projects.
Hey js hope you have your waders ready! All kidding aside, this
Florence is something else, eh? Really sickening to think of the pig farms and ash pits polluting the waters people depend on.
Thanks for the news.
Great warm weather 50’s to 80’s here in olde Santa Fe. Up on the Sangre de Cristos we can see the Aspens beginning to turn colors. Back door cold front coming later in the week should cool things some, but back to warm and dry next week.
We have been enjoying riding our new pedal assist folding ebikes seeing lots of beautiful mainly yellow wildflowers blanketing ‘The City Different’ just now. Although we have been here some years it still surprises me to see so many wildflowers in the early fall.
###
Ah, what a country we have here, eh?
There’s gotta be a better way.
Stay safe, all!
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
evening do...
the video footage coming out of north carolina looks pretty bad, and they keep saying that the worst of it is yet to come. i wonder if this time the powers that be in north carolina will recognize that this is going to be a regular occurrence and do something about the practices of duke energy and the hog farm cafo corporations.
the weather here over the weekend was quite pleasant for the most part, it started raining today, at times there were some pretty impressive downpours, but they didn't last too long. it's soggy and humid now, i guess we'll see if it intensifies later. at least it's been pretty cool for the last several days.
i don't think that trump is going to be able to get away with his pay-to-protest scheme. even if he implements it, all it will take is one legal challenge and it will get laughed into oblivion. file this one under, "stirring the pot to please the base."
Whoah! Never heard about that, DO--thanks for
posting the Tweet.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that DT and his cronies could possibly get away with implementing a "protest tax." Especially, after the current debacle that they're tussling with (Kavanaugh's nomination).
Hope you and JB are doing well!
Blue Onyx
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
The truth is out there.
////
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
thanks for the links!
cool stuff. france 24 had a couple of brief excerpts from tammimi's interview up earlier today when i looked, glad they have posted a bigger clip.
Good evening, joe; brief peaks of sunshine this morning, but
raining hard at times all afternoon. Anyways, love King Karl, memories of chords, rhythms and even, oh that's where Chubby Checker got the twist, float in the mind. Really enjoying tonight's music, as you can tell.
Cheers.
d-o's recent tweet on another thread deserves all eyes:
UK mass surveillance ruled unlawful in landmark judgment
13th September 2018
Have a great evening, a little more music:
evening smiley...
glad you're enjoying the music. i really love all of those old swamp pop records, louisiana has certainly produced more than its share of great music for the melting pot.
yep, i read about the echr ruling the other day. it's a great thing, but sadly probably not as great as the headlines might sound. the court found that there were not enough safeguards, oversight and legal process in gchq's implementation of mass surveillance. the court didn't seem to have a problem with mass surveillance itself.
i would call it a mixed victory.
That several nations have been so relentless and cruel
with respect to Assange for publishing truth says so much, none of it good.
Thanks, Joe.
evening henry...
yep, states sure don't like interlopers like assange dragging their skeletons out of the closet to dance for the public. it seems that the empire's media (ap this time) is doing a good job of catapulting the propaganda, mixing dubious facts with pointed speculation. somebody over at spook central is probably all sweaty and pleased about now.
Kudlow and NYC scum only care about
their own bank accounts
https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
evening ggersh...
heh, there are trillions of dollars worth of tasty government securities in the ss trust fund, the wall street pirates have been salivating for decades over that pot o' booty.
truer words were never spoken:
Speaking of trillions, js have seen this?
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/09/15/central-banks-have-gone-ro...
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
In Germany or France, Carlin would risk being called extremist
Figures like Carlin can easily end up being shunned as crackpots and conspiracy theorists, accused of engaging in hate speech and even anti-Semitism.
That’s what seems to have happened to a black comedian in France named Dieudonné M’bala M’bala.
I doubt that,
M'bala M'bala is black, who uses the fact that he is, as a tool to promote himself by being a little extra provocative, which I consider - well - let's say - too easy a method for an artist. Look at his date of birth (1965 - a couple of years after Cameroon became independent), look at the fact that his father was from Cameroon (without any more details of his father's bio, but I believe he was from a region close to where my former husband came from - an area of 'fighters for independence'. That is my guess from the name of the given village of where his father was born - but I can't be sure and can't back this up). His father was absent in his life -(like Obama's father was) - and only imaginations about his father's life exist for M'Bala M'bala. He himself was born in France and raised by his mother and in a white, catholic environment in France. It is that constellation which causes him to use 'race and religion' in an 'over-the-top' manner to provoke attention to him.
I don't think you can compare Carlin to M'bala M'bala. It is not only a question of mocking and with it being critical as a humorous comedian of Isreal or Jews, it is a matter, who does that and where and when they do it.
I consider it quite normal that the general and spontaneous reaction in Germany especially, but France as well, to shreak and shudder, if a comedian doesn't not have a feeling for the sensitivites of a countries audience he plays to.
It is normal imo that Germans fear first to be called racists and anti-semites, and it is normal, imo, that France and the US have other reactions, considering that large parts of the population have anchestors who lived through the Holocaust or through the consequences of the Slave trade.
For sure the sensitivities in France, Germany and the US about racially and religious provocations with regards to Africans and Afro-Americans and Jews are different. I think also a good Comedian should respect those sensitivities. Carlin imo did, I am not so sure M'Bala M'Bala did. But I haven't heard and listened to his performances. So what I am saying here is just my first gut's reaction to what I read about M'Bala M'bala.
I think it's the little things that reveal the most and little things are easily not recognized, understood, forgotten and drowned. But YMMV.
I have the opportunity now to watch quite some talking heads panels in German TV including a lot of documentaries, I wouldn't have seen on US TV. My feeling is that the discussions are more honest, less sensationalized, and more open as their US equivalents, if they even can be considered to be comparable.
I doubt Carlin in todays German media landscape would be shunned or censored.
https://www.euronews.com/
Not being fluent in French, I can’t judge Dieudonné firsthand
https://www.jta.org/2018/09/14/news-opinion/german-festival-disinvites-b...
I do know that sensitivity is fine and necessary — I just get the impression sometimes that today’s Germans are allowing their political and cultural life to be dictated by it, to an unhealthy extent.
I see little kids and teenagers around me and think, well, I really hope they aren’t being taught to hate themselves and to feel it’s not okay to stand up for themselves when being threatened, because of history 3/4 of a century ago.
I can follow your line of thoughts and also agree with
them to a degree. And I am sure you, as a long-time resident of your geographic area, are more intimately aware of your fellow neighbors and children's reaction, than I am. As I mentioned in other comments, I have a blank page in my brain of what is going on in Germany since the eighties and am just learning to fill in the blanks.
I am digging and don't know yet what I will find and how I will end up judging what I eventually will have found. My scepticism and distrust crosses races, geography and religions and somehow I find similar 'evils' everywhere. It makes me want to stop digging.
Your links you dig up for us here are always very 'telling'. Thank you.
I hope the same, but I hope too that they won't, when trying to stand up for themselves, be threatened by the current affairs of their lives, ie not because of their country's history, which for most of the young is book knowledge today, if at all. Of course teachers will try to arouse a moral conscience among the kids, using history's evils. On the other hand to instill and promote a 'noble honor and hero status' for those kids, who do risk to stand up, is again abused by those recruiters of the MIC complex to mislead and cheat and betray the kids, getting them to run into the traps and getting caught in it.
I have not seen in any environment people voicing their opinion and make them and themselves visible (either because they couldn't hide them due to their dna or due to the fact they didn't want to hide their religious affiliation) have not been threatened and discriminated and if it were simply by others for 'not liking them'.
That 'not liking them' is enough for the ones of on the receiving end to be either depressed or angry inside. In the end, the fact that those feelings can't be kept caged inside for evver and erupt in violence eventually, makes it so hard. As Joe said in a comment above, it is up to the people to bring the torches and pitchforks and show 'em why they call it the "third rail of politics." They (those kids) are the ones who have to get the pitchforks. Or when Caitlin Johnstone says in her signature line 'if you want a revolution, be it', it implies that those kids have to be the revolution.
Those kids will come into situation where they would risk their lives and may have to sacrifice it literally to 'stand up for themlselves'.
Who are we to judge them, when they decide to cave in and choose their own survival instead of being shot, massacred, enprisoned etc.?
And one thing is for sure, they would be or will be treated that way. Always been that way. Anywhere you really look. But you can't have open eyes and look in all directions. That's just the way it is. Sadly so, but imo unavoidable.
In any case, if I were a black teenager today in the US, who wants to voice his opinions and stand up for justice and equal rights, and decides to march, I would not want to judge him for not marching, because he risks his life being shot by ... someone. That kid wants to survive in a crazy world and I don't blame him for it.
Just saying.
https://www.euronews.com/
Thing is, if ever the “Right” marchers (mourning murder victims
in places like Chemnitz and Köthen) and the “Left” marchers (and musicians) protesting those “Right” marchers would ever join forces, find common ground, and march together, they would be unstoppable.
Together, they could force real change and overthrow the self-serving elite, the way the people of East Germany did in 1989.
Obviously, that’s why the whole strategy of the political and cultural establishment in Germany now is to maintain the “Right” versus “Left” polarization, so that a combined, united-front “Wir sind das Volk” movement that would threaten their cushy privileged position can never happen again.
The kind of Red-Green Left represented by the Berlin-based “Taz” really doesn’t seem to have much to offer “normal” (cis, hetero, of European stock) people any more, except contempt. On the other hand, if you’re foreign, feminist, LGBTQI+ etc., you can be as self-indulgent and hostile in your public utterings and writings as you want.
https://www.taz.de/Kolumne-Habibitus/!5453932/
https://blogs.taz.de/riotmama/
That, I believe, will never happen ...
Look I think I understand what you are saying, but it's a simple fact that the holocaust was the largest racist evil so far in the more recent history of the world. Therefore those, who are unable to accept criticism of Israel and their policies, will always have the tool at hand to use the holocaust and anti-semitism to silence and shame those, who voice criticism. I can understand that folks are pissed about it, but I doubt that you could ever stop that reaction. Both sides in this use racist arguments. Nothing you can do about it, imo. The fallacies of human nature and our dna.
I am not sure what I want to say other than I can't get exited over the issue. If I would be within a crowd of right-wing demonstrators and left-wing anti-demonstrators, I guess I would try to judge folks on an indiviudal basis and their individual argumentations and actions. To me it's an issue that followed my life on and off and I am just not willing to waste my emotions anymore on it. Shaming me for anything doesn't work that well anymore. But I can't tell you how disappointed and sad I am about what I am seeing and reading and what happens here in Germany. Wether I am 'das Volk' is not their decision but mine. And I won't let them decide over it.
Just saying and nothing for Ungood.
https://www.euronews.com/
Articles the Green-Left Taz.de has run on Jeremy Corbyn
https://www.taz.de/!t5224506/
You’d think Corbyn and the movement of progressive young British backing him would be the German Left’s natural ally.
Yet all the relevant staff at the Taz seem to want to focus on is anti-Semitism and power struggles between Jewish activists and Labour.
Minds and hearts can be so fixated on and paralyzed by Nazi history that they are unable to represent ordinary workers’ interests in the here and now.
true for the last sentence, but what do you think
you could do to undo the fixation and paralyzation?
https://www.euronews.com/
It’s up to the younger generations
As Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young sang, all a person can really do is,
Yep, talk to and hang out with young ’uns, and try to
More specifically, I am role-modelling political involvement
One of the disappointing things is that so many people here in Saxony think the post-1991 system is just as rigged and — if you say out loud what you really think — risky and intolerant of dissent as the old system was.
After all the struggle in East Germany for “free elections” etc., now 35 to 40% don’t even bother to vote.
Most of the people I know here say, “What’s the use, really? They all lie. Regardless of what they say, once they win they do what they please / what Washington and the banks and Brussels tell them to, anyway.”
Seeing me invest time and energy in reading stuff from all sides — or even going to meet-ups and marches of whatever stripe, to see for myself rather relying on what the media say — may, or at least that’s what I hope, make an impression on the kids . . .
. . . whose only role models otherwise would seem to be their “apolitical” parents, who talk about having helped take over the Stasi’s secret jail on Bautzner Street in Dresden on December 5, 1989, saving files from being shredded / evidence from being destroyed . . .
. . . but who seem to have become discouraged — not the least by “political correctness” — from seeing any kind of political engagement as safe and worthwhile since then.
Parent: “I posted on [social media] how I didn’t like seeing [migrant women wearing the niqab in public] and the next thing I knew, my boss called me in at work and said not to do that.”
One guess how that comes across to people in former East Germany.
Goin for SS+Medicare
the bridge to far? The shot that
starts shtf moment? The dream is over
how the nightmare plays out is just
starting to manifest itself, crazy thing
is that their was always enuf to go round
greed and all.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv8GW1GaoIc]
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
[Edit] Thank you, Joe--I knew they'd shoot for a GB!
When Mr M told me about the Reuters piece and CNBC video, I knew I had to post it. We're leaving a day early (tomorrow), so will have to lurk and/or be scare for a bit, but, I'll still following so-called 'entitlement' reform, and will post anything else I see (when we get back).
Anyhoo, here's a short summary of what Kudlow said.
Then he says that regarding 'larger entitlements,'
I have no doubt that what he's saying is what I've been screaming from the roof tops--the Administration will be looking to strike a Grand Bargain with "Pay-Go Nancy," and the fiscal deficit hawk Dems in the next Congress.
After all, it's projected by almost every polling firm that Dems will take back the House this November. Pelosi has already pledged to reinstate "Pay-Go" rules. She backs the No Labels 'bipartisan' Speaker's Project. And, it's been reported that 'Miss Nancy' and McConnell are planning to get together on bipartisan legislation.
What will happen, IMO, is that if Repubs go ahead and pass tax cuts 2.0 in the Lame Duck Session, Democrats will negotiate slashing entitlements in exchange for a big spending transportation bill in 2019, or 2020. More than likely, early 2019--since 2020 is a Presidential election year.
As I said last evening (paraphrased),
Hey, gotta run for a bit. Will swing back and post the Kudlow video clip about small and large 'entitlement' cuts. (Got to switch browsers, in order to post it.)
Everyone have a nice evening, and week!
[Edited: Syntax corrected; added quotes. Oct 16 - Deleted accidental link in sig line.]
Blue Onyx
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche
“At the end of the day, people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
~~Maya Angelou
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
it's almost a certainty that the bipartisans will go after social security if they feel like they have the numbers to advance it. they already know that the media wurlitzer will back them to the hilt with the propaganda needed to manufacture consent.
it's up to the people to bring the torches and pitchforks and show 'em why they call it the "third rail of politics."
Hear, hear!--when you say,
Blue Onyx
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Back with Kudlow (8-1/2 Min) Clip--it's what
he actually said, not what the CD writer said.
[Kudlow says the US has to be tougher on spending/CNBC Television/Sep 17, 2018]
Also, here's a 'dog' Tweet that gave me a chuckle,
I'm actually sorta grateful that [for the next couple weeks] we'll be at a medical center--away from the upcoming fracas/spectacle--aka Congressional hearings.
Since this past January--when so many problems blew up on us--I've found that being away from "news," actually improves my overall frame of mind! Sorta sad, isn't it? 
Have a good one!
Blue Onyx
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Well-intentioned idea: free speech, anonymity = root of all evil
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180912/00230940625/uk-mp-thinks-secr...