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This evening's music features delta blues harmonica player Frank Frost. Enjoy!

“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi

News and Opinion

This is a piece worth reading in full:

Why we’re blind to the system destroying us

It is more difficult to see the corrupt power of large institutions, aside occasionally from the corruption of senior figures within those institutions, such as a Robert Maxwell or a Richard Nixon. But it is all but impossible to appreciate the corrupt nature of the entire system. And the reason is right there in those aphorisms: absolute power depends on absolute control over knowledge, which in turn necessitates absolute corruption. If that were not the case, we wouldn’t be dealing with serious power – as should be obvious, if we pause to think about it. Real power in our societies derives from that which is necessarily hard to see – structures, ideology and narratives – not individuals. ...

The current neoliberal elite who effectively rule the planet have reached as close to absolute power as any elite in human history. And because they have near-absolute power, they have a near-absolute control of the official narratives about our societies and our “enemies”, those who stand in their way to global domination. ... If this sounds like hyperbole, let’s stand back from our particular ideological system – neoliberalism – and consider earlier ideological systems in the hope that they offer some perspective. ...

Before neoliberalism there were other systems of rule. There was, for example, feudalism that appropriated a communal resource – land – exclusively for an aristocracy. It exploited the masses by forcing them to toil on the land for a pittance to generate the wealth that supported castles, a clergy, manor houses, art collections and armies. For several centuries the power of this tiny elite went largely unquestioned. But then a class of entrepreneurs emerged, challenging the landed artistocracy with a new means of industrialised production. They built factories and took advantage of scales of economy that slightly widened the circle of privilege, creating a middle class. That elite, and the middle-class that enjoyed crumbs from their master’s table, lived off the exploitation of children in work houses and the labour of a new urban poor in slum housing.

These eras were systematically corrupt, enabling the elites of those times to extend and entrench their power. Each elite produced justifications to placate the masses who were being exploited, to brainwash them into believing the system existed as part of a natural order or even for their benefit. The aristocracy relied on a divine right of kings, the capitalist class on the guiding hand of the free market and bogus claims of equality of opportunity. In another hundred years, if we still exist as a species, our system will look no less corrupt – probably more so – than its predecessors. ...

Just as a feudal elite was driven not by ethics but by the pursuit of power and wealth through the control of land; just as early capitalists were driven not by ethics but by the pursuit of power and wealth through the control of mechanisation; so neoliberalism is driven not by ethics but the pursuit of power and wealth through the control of the planet. The only truth we can know is that the western power-elite is determined to finish the task of making its power fully global, expanding it from near-absolute to absolute. It cares nothing for you or your grand-children. It is a cold-calculating system, not a friend or neighbour. It lives for the instant gratification of wealth accumulation, not concern about the planet’s fate tomorrow. And because of that it is structurally bound to undermine or discredit anyone, any group, any state that stands in the way of achieving its absolute dominion.

Keiser Report: Stealing productivity

Pompeo is “playing Trump’s game of smoke and mirrors” on North Korean denuclearization, experts say

Mike Pompeo is projecting North Korea will complete a process of “rapid denuclearization” by January 2021 — but experts believe this timeline is “wishful thinking” and that the secretary of state is “playing Trump’s game of smoke and mirrors.”

Pompeo released a statement Wednesday congratulating Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae In on “the successful outcome of their summit meeting in Pyongyang” this week. At the summit Kim announced he’d agree to allow independent inspectors to verify the destruction of a missile test site at Tongchang-ri — a site the regime has been destroying since at least July.

Kim also agreed to destroy an unspecified facility at Yongbyon where it has a number of reactors, but only if the U.S. “take corresponding measures” as agreed in the declaration Trump signed with Kim at their June summit in Singapore. These efforts are seen as a sign that Kim wanted to kickstart stalled negotiations with the U.S. and in response Pompeo said the White House was now “prepared to engage immediately in negotiations to transform U.S.-DPRK relations.”

Pompeo has invited North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to a meeting in New York next week during the U.N. General Assembly. “This will mark the beginning of negotiations to transform U.S.-DPRK relations through the process of rapid denuclearization of North Korea, to be completed by January 2021, as committed by Chairman Kim,” Pompeo said.

However, experts told VICE News that because of the lack of information about North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and the fact Kim has made similar commitments in the past, Pompeo’s prediction is “very unrealistic” and that the process would take a decade at least.

'No accident' Brett Kavanaugh's female law clerks 'looked like models', Yale professor told students

A top professor at Yale Law School who strongly endorsed supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a “mentor to women” privately told a group of law students last year that it was “not an accident” that Kavanaugh’s female law clerks all “looked like models” and would provide advice to students about their physical appearance if they wanted to work for him, the Guardian has learned. Amy Chua, a Yale professor who wrote a bestselling book on parenting called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, was known for instructing female law students who were preparing for interviews with Kavanaugh on ways they could dress to exude a “model-like” femininity to help them win a post in Kavanaugh’s chambers, according to sources. ...

Yale provided Kavanaugh with many of the judge’s clerks over the years, and Chua played an outsized role in vetting the clerks who worked for him. But the process made some students deeply uncomfortable. One source said that in at least one case, a law student was so put off by Chua’s advice about how she needed to look, and its implications, that she decided not to pursue a clerkship with Kavanaugh, a powerful member of the judiciary who had a formal role in vetting clerks who served in the US supreme court. In one case, Jed Rubenfeld, also an influential professor at Yale and who is married to Chua, told a prospective clerk that Kavanaugh liked a certain “look”.

“He told me, ‘You should know that Judge Kavanaugh hires women with a certain look,’” one woman told the Guardian. “He did not say what the look was and I did not ask.” Sources who spoke to the Guardian about their experiences with Chua and Rubenfeld would only speak under the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution and damage to their future careers. Chua advised the same student Rubenfeld spoke to that she ought to dress in an “outgoing” way for her interview with Kavanaugh, and that the student should send Chua pictures of herself in different outfits before going to interview. The student did not send the photos.

There is no allegation that the female students who worked for Kavanaugh were chosen because of their physical appearance or that they were not qualified. However, the remarks from Chua and Rubenfeld raise questions about why the couple believed it was important to emphasize the students’ physical appearance when discussing jobs with Kavanaugh. The couple were not known to do that in connection with other judges, sources said.

Blasey Ford Lawyers: Kavanaugh’s Background Check Must Include FBI Probe into Attempted Rape Claims

Republicans are saying Monday is the last day they’ll deal wth Kavanaugh assault allegations

The sexual assault allegations suffocating Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process have an expiration date, as Republicans see it. Either his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, testifies on or by Monday — just a week after she stepped forward publicly — or the Senate Judiciary Committee moves forward, without hearing from her directly, with the votes that could put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.

Ford’s lawyers and Democrats say the speed at which the senators are considering the allegations is reckless, especially as it took her decades to feel safe coming forward, and that there should be a federal investigation into Kavanaugh’s actions. Republicans say this is all suspiciously last-minute and that it’s not fair to stall Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote. Committee investigators are supposedly looking into the matter, so there’s no need for the FBI to investigate, chairman Chuck Grassley said Wednesday. (Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegations against him.) ...

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Ford’s lawyers Wednesday that the panel has offered Ford plenty of ways to tell her story: testifying in a private, closed session, or in a public hearing before the committee. Grassley also wrote that he’s been unable to schedule a call with Ford and her attorneys despite repeated attempts.

Republicans on the committee also want to see Ford’s full, original allegations, delivered by letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, weeks ago.

Maryland Prosecutor on Kavanaugh Allegations: “When There’s Something the Police Have Brought to us, We’ll Address it”

When she was 15 years old, Christine Blasey Ford was sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh, now President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, she has told the Washington Post. He pinned her on a bed and covered her mouth when she tried to scream. Ford has followed the lead of Senate Democrats and wants the FBI to launch an investigation into her alleged assault before she appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about her experience, but unless the president requests the investigation, the federal law enforcement agency will not do so. ...

But the FBI isn’t the only law enforcement that could launch an investigation. In Maryland, there is no statute of limitations for rape or sexual assault charges, and the alleged incident took place in Montgomery County, a suburban county outside of Washington D.C. ...

Ramon Korionoff, the Public Affairs Officer for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office told the Intercept that “at this point we’re refraining from commenting, we don’t want to confirm or deny if there’s an investigation.” He added that “we’re just awaiting an investigation if the police have something, when there’s something the police have brought to us, we’ll address it at that time.” Officer Rick Goodale, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Police Department told The Intercept that since “nobody has come forward to report any allegation or incident” they can’t start an investigation. “We can’t have an investigation without a victim,” he added.

Right-Wing Network Spent Millions to Portray Questions for Kavanaugh on Abortion as “Anti-Religious”

Ex-Chicago police commander linked to torture of more than 100 suspects dies

Former Chicago police commander Jon Burge, who was accused of torturing suspects in his South Side police district but was never prosecuted for the alleged crimes, has died, a Florida funeral home confirmed Wednesday. He was 70. Burge led a “midnight crew” of rogue detectives accused of torturing more than 100 suspects, mostly black men, from 1972 to 1991, in order to secure confessions. His alleged victims were shocked with cattle prods, smothered with typewriter covers and had guns shoved in their mouths.

Burge was fired in 1993 and sentenced to prison in 2011 for lying in a civil case about his actions. It was too late to charge him criminally on the torture charges.

Sarah Zipperer of Zipperer’s Funeral Home in Ruskin, Florida, on Wednesday would confirm only that the business was handling his remains. She refused to give the cause or date of his death, citing the wishes of his family.

In 2015, the city of Chicago agreed to pay $5.5m in reparations to 57 Burge victims. G Flint Taylor, a civil rights attorney and lawyer for some of the men, estimates the price tag for all Burge-related cases is about $132m.

For soybean farmers, a likely banner harvest with nowhere to sell

As the U.S. trade war with China rages, farmers in Minnesota and North Dakota are anticipating a strong soybean harvest, leaving them scrambling for ways to deal with excess, unsold beans. Most years, farmers sell soybeans soon — and sometimes immediately — after harvest. In 2016, Minnesota exported $2.1 billion of soybeans. China was the biggest buyer. But a trade war means that, at least for now, China isn't buying U.S. soybeans. And many farmers are scrambling to find ways to store the soybean crop they can't sell. ...

Farmers aren't typically equipped to store soybeans long-term — in part because they are often so quick to move from market to harvest. Ken Hellevang, an agricultural engineer from the North Dakota State University Extension program, said he has already heard from farmers who have questions about storing soybeans, which are more challenging to store than other crops, like corn.

Soybeans are a temperamental crop: To store them well, farmers need to harvest when the beans are at a low moisture level. But if the beans are too dry, they'll crack in the harvesting process, and their quality will go down. If there's to much moisture, the beans are more likely to mold in storage without a good ventilation system. And soybeans are a higher-maintenance crop than corn, which farmers and grain elevators often pile on the ground or store in huge white plastic bags after harvest. But piling soybeans would degrade the oil in their seeds, which is a crucial part of their value.

"That oil quality is very dependent on the temperature of the storage. So we need to be cooling the soybeans in storage," Hellevant said. "Every ten degrees we reduce the temperature, we double the storage life." That means farmers will have to regulate the temperature where the beans are being stored with fans that blow air through the grain, lowering the temperature.

As the harvest looms, farmers are left to decide: Spend the money on bins to store soybeans, or hope the trade war ends and markets turn around?

Retirement Is In Peril For Most Working Class Americans, Warns New Report

Retirement is in peril for most working-class Americans cautions a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security, a Washington think tank. “The American dream of a modest retirement after a lifetime of work now is a middle-class nightmare,” warns the study’s author, NIRS Executive Director Diane Oakley.

The report contends nearly four out of five working Americans are falling short of conservative retirement savings targets. Roughly the same number have less than one year’s income saved in retirement accounts, according to the study. That “less than one year” is actually nothing for close to three out of five workers. ...

Oakley says causes of the retirement savings shortfalls include fewer workers having stable and secure pensions and the replacement of workplace pensions with 401(k)-style defined contribution accounts which provide less savings and protection.

The report claims total retirement savings are still suffering from aftershocks of the Recession. “The economic downturn triggered a decline in total contributions to defined contribution retirement accounts as many employers stopped matching employee contributions for a time pushing total contributions below 2008 levels,” the report explains.

In the alert, NIRS says while the typical American needs 85 percent of their working income to maintain their standard of living in retirement, Social Security provides only 35 percent. “This leaves a retirement income gap equal to 50 percent of pre-retirement earnings that must be filled through other means,” the study points out.

'Treating protest as terrorism': US plans crackdown on Keystone XL activists

Angeline Cheek is preparing for disaster. The indigenous organizer from the Fort Peck reservation in Montana fears that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline could break and spill, destroy her tribe’s water, and desecrate sacred Native American sites. But environmental catastrophe is not the most immediate threat. The government has characterized pipeline opponents like her as “extremists” and violent criminals and warned of potential “terrorism”, according to recently released records.

The documents suggested that police were organizing to launch an aggressive response to possible Keystone protests, echoing the actions against the Standing Rock movement in North Dakota. There, officers engaged in intense surveillance and faced widespread accusations of excessive force and brutality.

“We have to stay one step ahead at all times,” said Cheek, a Hunkpapa and Oglala Lakota activist and teacher. “History is repeating itself.”

The proposed TransCanada project would carry a daily load of 830,000 barrels of oil over 1,204 miles – from Alberta, Canada to Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, linking to the existing Keystone pipeline and Texas refineries. The path of the project, which was revived by Donald Trump last year, would cross dozens of rivers and streams and run near a number of Native American reservations, sparking legal challenges and a judge’s recent order for a full environmental review. If the pipeline gets final approvals and construction advances in the coming months, some are anticipating massive demonstrations similar to the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline (Dapl). That conflict galvanized a global movement, but also led to FBI monitoring and the prolonged prosecution of hundreds of activists.

Documents obtained by the ACLU of Montana and reviewed by the Guardian have renewed concerns from civil rights advocates about the government’s treatment of indigenous activists known as water protectors. Notably, one record revealed that authorities hosted a recent “anti-terrorism” training session in Montana. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency also organized a “field force operations” training to teach “mass-arrest procedures”, “riot-control formations” and other “crowd-control methods”. A US justice department intelligence specialist told the Guardian the terrorism training was an annual presentation not specific to Keystone. But the ACLU noted that its records request was specifically about the pipeline protests, suggesting that authorities considered the session relevant to Keystone preparation.

State AGs File Suit After Interior Dept Guts Methane Rules for Public Lands

After the Interior Department on Tuesday gutted Obama-era regulations requiring fossil fuel companies to curb methane emissions and take certain safety precautions to prevent leaks on public lands, a pair of state attorneys general filed suit and protesters gathered outside the department's Washington, D.C. headquarters to demand the ouster of Secretary Ryan Zinke. ...

Ryan Zinke has wasted tax dollars on private jets, has entered into a shady deal with an oil exec and is dead set on handing our public lands over to corporate polluters. It's time to clean out the corruption at @Interior!#PublicLandsDay #FireZinke pic.twitter.com/S5TWJN1cR2

— Friends of the Earth (@foe_us) September 19, 2018

In response, two state attorneys general—Xavier Becerra of California and Hector Balderas of New Mexico—and the California Air Resources Board filed a lawsuit (pdf) in federal court Tuesday. The suit charges that Zinke and the department "acted arbitrarily, capriciously, contrary to law, abused their discretion, and failed to follow the procedure required by law" when repealing and replacing the Obama-era rule.

"With this attempt to axe the Waste Prevention Rule, the Trump administration risks the air our children breathe and at taxpayers' expense," Becerra said in a statement. "We've sued the administration before over the illegal delay and suspension of this rule and will continue doing everything in our power to hold them accountable for the sake of our people and planet."

Zinke, meanwhile, continued to stoke his cozy relationship with polluters on Tuesday. Speaking at the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association fall meeting, the secretary said the government should work for the fossil fuel industry, according to a tweet from the trade group.

Stupidity is a force greater than any hurricane:

'It's hyped up': climate change skeptics in the path of Hurricane Florence

Scientists warn that human-induced climate change is responsible for an increase in the number and severity of storms – such as Hurricane Florence, which has engulfed the Carolinas in the last week. But many who weathered the tempest, deep in Trump country, don’t believe global warming fueled it and don’t think humans are the problem – or the solution. ...

[B]ased on the evidence in North Carolina on Wednesday, the random man and woman in the street is still not convinced about the science – even those who have faced two major storms in two years. “We live on the coast. It’s cyclical,” said Bob Slattery. “We may get two or three in a year, then go four or five years with nothing,” he added. Slattery, 74, and his wife Gerda, 73, were sitting in the pretty downtown area of Fayetteville on Wednesday. The couple live six miles south-west of Fayetteville and weren’t hit too badly by the storm, but much of the city was, as the Cape Fear river reached record flood levels, spilling over its banks into neighborhoods and roads.

“There’s a group of people that want to control things, and they’re using climate change to control things, and they want to put a tax on things,” Bob Slattery said. There is scant evidence for a shady group using the concept of climate change to control and tax society – but it appears there is wider support for the theory in these parts. “That’s our opinion,” Gerda Slattery said. “And many other people I speak to think that, too,” Bob Slattery said.

Despite the proximity of the storms, and expert views, some believe the science is overblown and it’s no more than natural global rhythms. “It comes down to cyclical climate change,” said Matthew Coe. “I don’t think we play as big a factor in climate change as people say we do – when you think of the fact that the sea level rises naturally anyways.” ... “Mother Nature is its own entity,” he said. “Whatever happens, it’ll fix itself eventually.” He pointed out that there had been fluctuations in the Earth’s temperature before, and predicted there could be another “ice age” which would correct the current trajectory of the climate. “I think everything is hyped up a bit,” he said. In his opinion, there are “scientists on both sides” of the climate change argument.

Coe and the Slatterys are far from alone in their beliefs: a 2016 Pew Research Center study found that 51% of Americans do not believe global climate change is due to human activity.

Another fine illustration of our two story outhouse, er "two-tiered" society:

Private firefighters and five-star hotels: how the rich sit out wildfires

With record-breaking wildfires carving up the American west this summer, firefighters have become the rarest of civil servants: the kind almost universally lauded as heroes. Reinforcements dropped into California’s firefight from as far away as Australia and American Samoa to bolster strained state and federal crews, reaching a high point of 14,000 firefighters on the ground. Yet other crews have pulled into the fires’ path with a less grandiose purpose: to save only select addresses. These are the private firefighters of the rich or otherwise well-insured: private crews hired by insurance companies to minimize damages and keep policyholders’ homes from going up in smoke. ...

This year’s wildfire season has produced the largest burn in California’s history and, in the northern part of the state, an awe-inspiring “firenado”. As scientists say that “megafires” are the new normal, climate change capitalism is finding an increasing number of customers. This echoes a global trend: cottage industries have sprung up to serve those who can afford to be a bit more protected and comfortable while the weather grows more cataclysmic. The uber-wealthy have bought estates in New Zealand (to the point that the country is in the midst of passing legislation to stymie foreign buyers) and luxe underground bunkers in Kansas and elsewhere to escape civic or natural collapse.

In western states, the wildfire-evacuated masses have huddled in Best Westerns or on gymnasium floors and are often locked in insurance-claim limbo, while the affluent check into five-star luxury hotels – usually reimbursable by their insurance – confident that their homes are being looked after.

Also of Interest

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

Hold the Front Page: The Reporters are Missing

Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not.

If Kavanaugh's accuser is lying, why is she the one asking for a thorough investigation?

“Kick Ass, Ask Questions Later”: A Border Patrol Whistleblower Speaks Out About Culture of Abuse Against Migrants

Build walls on seafloor to stop glaciers melting, scientists say

Restaurant tries marijuana for lobsters to take the edge off being boiled

A Little Night Music

Frank Frost - My Back Scratcher

Frank Frost - Ride With Your Daddy Tonight

Frank Frost - Jelly Roll King

Frank Frost - Crawl Back

Frank Frost - Janie On My Mind

Frank Frost - Everything's Alright

Frank Frost - Feel Good Babe

The Jelly Roll Kings - Frank Frost Blues