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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features The King of the Blues, B.B. King. Enjoy!

^{BB King - Why I Sing The Blues}

“If we are to violate the Constitution, will the people submit to our unauthorized acts? Sir, they ought not to submit; they would deserve the chains that these measures are forging for them. The country will swarm with informers, spies, delators and all the odious reptile tribe that breed in the sunshine of a despotic power ... [T]he hours of the most unsuspected confidence, the intimacies of friendship, or the recesses of domestic retirement afford no security. The companion whom you most trust, the friend in whom you must confide, the domestic who waits in your chamber, all are tempted to betray your imprudent or unguarded follie; to misrepresent your words; to convey them, distorted by calumny, to the secret tribunal where jealousy presides — where fear officiates as accuser and suspicion is the only evidence that is heard ... Do not let us be told, Sir, that we excite a fervour against foreign aggression only to establish a tyranny at home; that [...] we are absurd enough to call ourselves ‘free and enlightened’ while we advocate principles that would have disgraced the age of Gothic barbarity and establish a code compared to which the ordeal is wise and the trial by battle is merciful and just."

-- Edward Livingston

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News and Opinion

The U.S. Government Is Still Fighting to Bury the Senate Torture Report

Government lawyers on Thursday continued their fight to bury the Senate Torture Report, arguing before the D.C. District Court of Appeals that the 6,700-page text could not be released on procedural grounds.

When the 500-page executive summary of the report was released more than a year ago, it prompted international outcry and renewed calls for prosecution. The summary describes not only the CIA’s rape and torture of detainees, but also how the agency consistently misrepresented the brutality and effectiveness of the torture program.

But many of the most graphic details are in Volume III of the full report. ...

The ACLU filed for the release of the full report under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Thursday’s hearing centered on the question of whether the report is an “agency record,” and thus subject to FOIA. Alternatively, if the report is a “congressional record,” its disclosure cannot be requested under the statute.

[For further play-by-play coverage, see this article, too: Judges Consider Release of Full CIA Torture Report - js]

When will the US government stop persecuting whistleblowers?

The US government is heavily invested in an internal surveillance program that is unsustainable, ineffective, morally reprehensible, inherently dangerous and ultimately counterproductive.

In the months following the US government’s initial charges against me over the release of government records in 2010, the current administration formed the National Insider Threat Task Force under the authority of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several other US government agencies.

The mission of this taskforce is breathtakingly broad. It aims at deterring threats to national security by anyone “who misuses or betrays, wittingly or unwittingly, his or her authorized access to any US Government resource”. Unfortunately, the methods it outlines amount to thousands of government personnel being effectively under total surveillance.

Chelsea Manning: government anti-leak program a 'blank check for surveillance'

‘Insider Threat’ program, based largely on Manning’s WikiLeaks disclosures, targets government employees for ‘continuous evaulation’ using a variety of subjective labels

Thousands of US government employees under permanent surveillance are being investigated for signs of “greed”, “ego”, money worries, disgruntlement or other flaws in the hope of intercepting the next big official leak, according to a document obtained by Chelsea Manning.

[Chelsea Manning], who is serving 35 years in military prison as the source of the 2010 WikiLeaks disclosure of secret state documents, requested her own intelligence file under freedom of information laws.

The file was compiled under the “Insider Threat” program that was set up by President Obama in the wake of Manning’s disclosures. The file shows that officials have been using Manning’s story as a case study from which they have built a profile of the modern official leaker in the hope of catching future disclosures before they happen.

At the start of the 31-page file, government officials list the eight characteristics that agents should look for in employees as telltale signs that they might be tempted to reveal state secrets. The character traits are called “Insider Threat motives”.

Those surveillance categories are themselves extracted from an analysis of Chelsea Manning’s story.

[The motives listed are:

• Greed or financial difficulties
• Disgruntled or wants revenge
• Ideology
• Divided loyalties
• Vulnerable to blackmail
• Ego/Self-Image
• Ingratiation
• Family/personal issues

- js]

In an opinion article in the Guardian, Manning said that the use of subjective labels in her file such as “greed”, “disgruntlement” and “ideology” meant that virtually every government employee could be targeted under the Insider Threat program. “The broad sweep of the program means officials have been given a blank check for surveillance.”

Redaction error reveals FBI did target Lavabit to spy on Edward Snowden

A redaction oversight by the US government has finally confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s targeting of secure email service Lavabit was used specifically to spy on Edward Snowden.

Ladar Levison creator of the email service, which was founded on a basis of private communications secured by encryption and had 410,000 users, was served a sealed order in 2013 forcing him to aid the FBI in its surveillance of Snowden. ...

After 38 days of legal fighting, a court appearance, subpoena, appeals and being found in contempt of court, Levison abruptly shuttered Lavabit citing government interference and stating that he would not become “complicit in crimes against the American people” ...

Documents obtained from the federal court were published by transparency organisation Cryptome, as noted by Wired’s Kim Zetter, revealing that “Ed_Snowden@lavabit.com” was the intended target of the action against Lavabit.

Egypt's Sisi tells West to keep out of Libya

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has warned Western powers Libya could spiral out of control if they try to intervene militarily in the conflict-wracked North African state.

Speaking in a rare interview, the military-backed ruler of one of the region's biggest powers said the West and its allies should instead concentrate on strengthening the army of Libya's internationally recognised government and let it do the job of stabilising the country.

The army is commanded by Khalif Haftar, an officially retired general who spent 20 years in exile in the United States and has been described as a potential 'Libyan Sisi' because of his fierce opposition to Islamist groups.

"If we provide arms and support to the national Libyan army it can do the job better than anyone else, better than any outside intervention which would risk dragging us into a situation that risks getting out of hand and triggering uncontrollable developments," Sisi told Italy's La Repubblica in an interview published Thursday.

Saudis Say They Will Soon Scale Back Yemen War

Saudi Arabia’s military spokesman today announced their intention to scale back military operations against Yemen at some point in the future. They suggested this would happen soon, but that airstrikes against Yemen would continue.

The announcement comes as UN officials took the Saudi military to task for a series of Tuesday airstrikes against a Yemeni marketplace, killing at least 119 civilians. ... The US, of course, has participated in the Saudi war, both refueling Saudi warplanes during airstrikes and participating in the naval blockade.

Ramadi, from Iraq's third city to a ghost town

EU strikes deal with Turkey to send back refugees

The EU has struck a deal with Turkey that would mean all refugees and migrants arriving in Europe from Sunday being sent back across the Aegean Sea. ...

The agreement means that all refugees and migrants arriving in Greece from Sunday can expect to be returned to Turkey. The accord, which is expected to be formally signed off later on Friday, represents a climbdown by Turkey, which had been pushing to restart EU membership talks in five areas.

In return for taking back refugees, Turkey can expect “re-energised” talks on its EU membership, with the promise of negotiations on one policy area to be opened before July. The EU has also agreed to speed up the disbursement of €3bn (£2.3bn) intended to help Syrian refugees in Turkey, with new projects to be agreed this week.

Turkey has promised that all returned people will be treated in line with international law, including guarantees that they will not be returned to the countries they have fled from.

#StopAcuerdo: No al comercio con personas refugiadas https://t.co/QB6BNV5oKB #StopTheDeal pic.twitter.com/1QbHYgMVrC

— Amnistía España (@amnistiaespana) March 16, 2016

Critics Condemn EU-Turkey Deal That Turned Refugees into Bargaining Chips

As European Union ministers in Brussels on Friday accepted a controversial plan described as a direct assault on the "very principle of international protection for those fleeing war and persecution," advocates for refugees and human rights condemned not only the deal's specifics but the deplorable deterioration of values it represents. ...

The paraphrased argument of critics, according to the Washington Post, is that the current deal under consideration in Brussels amounts to an "immoral and potentially illegal solution that would corral refugees in Turkey, a nation plunging deeper into instability and violence."

Amnesty International—which has been staging a running protest in Brussels throughout the week under the banner "Don't Trade Refugees"—demanded governments reject the proposed deal outright and said that Turkey cannot be viewed as a "safe" country for refugees given the current situation of those already there, the increasing concerns about the Turkish government's human rights record, and the ever-increasing descent into authoritarianism by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

"The breach of the right to seek asylum is not mitigated by the fiction that Turkey is a 'safe' country for refugees," wrote members of Amnesty's leadership in a statement on Thursday. "Turkey has granted 'temporary protection' to more than two million Syrians, but it still refuses effective protection in practice to non-Europeans including Afghans, Iraqis and others applying for it. Turkey has also repeatedly pushed Syrians back into the war zone and closed borders to others seeking to flee."

Making matters worse, the statement continued, "Turkey’s president and government have embarked on an intense crackdown on human rights. The breakdown of the Kurdish peace process and extended security operations in the south east, along with nationwide repression of critics, political opposition and media perceived as hostile to the government, may soon add Turkish nationals to the refugee flows."

North Korea missile launch: Pyongyang defiant as ever as ally China calls for calm

North Korea Just Fired Another Couple of Missiles at Nothing in Particular

North Korea's annual March madness saw its latest blast of firepower in the early hours of Friday morning, when Kim Jong-un's forces launched a ballistic missile that flew into the sea off its eastern coast, as the isolated state stepped up its defiance of tough new sanctions.

Then it fired another.

After the first launch, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the missile was likely a medium-range Rodong-missile. It would mark North Korea's first test of a medium-range missile capable of reaching Japan since 2014.

The first missile was launched from north of Pyongyang, the capital, flying across the peninsula and into the sea, the South's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The second projectile launched soon after the first and from the same region. It disappeared from radar at an altitude of about 17 km, the South's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Further analysis was needed to determine the nature of the second projectile, it said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the second projectile might have disintegrated mid-air.

Speaking of weapons of mass destruction:

Latest Leak Confirms TTIP a 'Serious Threat to Democracy as We Know It'

EU member states and the European Parliament will be "sidelined" in favor of big business and U.S. interests should the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) go through, according to a leaked document revealed Friday.

The leak, of the corporate-friendly trade deal's draft chapter on "regulatory cooperation" between the EU and U.S., was made public by The Independent and Brussels-based campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).

It exposes "a labyrinth of procedures that could tie up any EU proposals that go against U.S. interests," as The Independent put it, as well as "the extent to which major corporations and industry groups will be able to influence the development of regulatory cooperation."

As Kenneth Haar, researcher for CEO, explained:

Lengthy procedures, including vetting by business for possible economic impacts, are thus envisaged for new regulations. Such measures have already been used informally to weaken EU ambition on financial sector supervision in the years leading up to the 2008 collapse, to offer a free pass to US companies on personal data protection, and to delay or water down EU proposals on animal testing and aviation emissions.

This leaked document from the negotiations confirms fears that the Commission will be obliged to consult with US authorities before adopting new legislative proposals while EU Member States and the European Parliament are sidelined. The leak also offers a glimpse at the proposed bureaucratic labyrinth of impact assessments, dialogues, consultations and reviews that could tie up any proposals that go against US business interests.

In short, he said, "this document shows how TTIP's regulatory cooperation will facilitate big business influence—and U.S. influence—on lawmaking before a proposal is even presented to parliaments."

Rancher Cliven Bundy denied bail over infamous 2014 government standoff

Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who led an infamous standoff with the federal government in 2014, was denied bail in federal court and will remain behind bars as he awaits trial on charges that he threatened, assaulted and conspired against law enforcement.

US judge Carl Hoffman Jr ruled at a hearing in Las Vegas on Thursday that Bundy, 69, would pose a danger to the public if he was released, according to Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office. ...

He avoided charges for nearly two years but was taken into custody when he attempted to travel to Oregon, where his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy led a similar standoff with an armed occupation at a wildlife refuge.

NYPD Arrests Bill de Blasio Adviser for Filming Arrest of Homeless Man

Detroit Public Schools May Close After April 8 Due To Lack Of Funds

Detroit Public Schools have been in an uncomfortable financial situation for a few years now. Teachers have had to take pay cuts in various forms and DPS is in hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

The current financial strain may get even more serious in less than a month when it could potentially run out of funds and leave up to 46,000 kids without schools, according to FOX2 Detroit.

Merrick Garland and Judicial Restraint: How A 'Moderate' Judge is A Gift to Republicans

Black Leaders, Progressives Not Thrilled with Obama's SCOTUS Pick

Many in the civil rights community were not exactly ecstatic with President Obama's selection of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. ...

National Organization of Women President Terry O'Neill fired off a press release shortly before the President presented Garland to reporters and members of Congress in the Rose Garden.

"It's unfortunate that President Obama felt it was necessary to appoint a nominee to the Supreme Court whose record on issues pertaining to women's rights is more or less a blank slate. Equally unfortunate is that we have to continue to wait for the first African American woman to be named," O'Neill said in the statement adding hotly that, "the highest court in the nation was a cipher—a real nowhere man." ...

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) was focused on Garland's qualifications and obstruction by the Senate but was also quick to point out that there needed to be an African-American appointed to the Supreme Court.

"We simply do not have the African American point of view on the bench and we need that. I am also disturbed about the packing of the court with Harvard-trained lawyers," Johnson added.

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Hillary Clinton’s Indefensible Stance on the Death Penalty

Clinton has been honing [her response to the death penalty issue] since at least November, when she tempered her long-held support for the death penalty at a Democratic forum by saying it should be reserved for “really heinous crimes,” mostly at the federal level. There, too, she criticized the states — “predominantly but not exclusively in the South” — for hastily seeking death sentences. ... Clinton struck the same note at a Democratic debate last month, telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, “I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing” the death penalty. “I have much more confidence in the federal system,” she said.

“If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court,” Clinton added, confusingly, “that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome.”

If it’s hard to imagine how the Court might strike down the death penalty for states but not the federal government, this is just one problem with Clinton’s hedging on capital punishment. It is emblematic of Clinton as a politician that she has managed to stake out a position that lets her have it both ways while costing her absolutely nothing: vague semi-opposition to the death penalty at the state level (for which she would bear no direct responsibility as president), paired with confident support for executions at the federal level — the only realm in which opposing the death penalty could have any practical impact.

Apart from being slippery and convoluted, Clinton’s stance also happens to rest on a view of the death penalty that is both outdated and misleading. Worse, she has decided to perpetuate the insidious notion that the death penalty can be reserved for the “worst of the worst” — a myth that has been debunked again and again.

Bernie Sanders says calls for him to drop out of Democratic race are 'absurd'

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, responding to reports President Barack Obama called on Democrats to rally around Hillary Clinton as the likely nominee, said on Thursday it was “absurd” to suggest he drop out of the race.

Sanders, a Vermont senator and democratic socialist, while saying he did not want to comment directly on Obama’s reported remarks, pushed back on the idea that his campaign had run its course and he should throw in the towel.

“The bottom line is that when only half of the American people have participated in the political process … I think it is absurd for anybody to suggest that those people not have a right to cast a vote,” Sanders told MSNBC in an interview.

An interesting read, here's a snippet, click the link for more.

Sanders Needs to Run as an Independent in November

It is clear that, as of now, Sanders is still fighting to win and has stepped up his attacks on Clinton since Super Tuesday. Millions of people in states that have not yet voted in the primaries are waiting their turn to support Sanders’ stand against the billionaire class and we wholeheartedly identify with that.

But it is is also time to look soberly at the situation and draw lessons from the experience so far and prepare the way to break from the Democratic Party. Sanders should declare his intention to take the political revolution all the way to the general election in November, as an independent if necessary. Sanders’ supporters need a debate on how to make sure we do not end up imprisoned by the constraints of the Wall Street dominated Democratic Party.

Before Sanders officially launched his campaign last year, Socialist Alternative called on him to run as an independent candidate. While Bernie believed he could have more impact in the Democratic primaries, we made the case that the Democratic Party is hostile territory for a pro-worker, anti-corporate campaign. The obstacles include the undemocratic methods and structures the Democratic leadership imposes on the primary process, the power of Wall Street money, and the establishment media, as well as the more conservative character of the small minority of primary voters. This means it is far harder for Sanders to take over the Democratic Party than it would be to begin building a new political party. ...

Sanders should not allow the political revolution to die at the July Democratic Convention. Millions have been inspired by his call for a $15 minimum wage, free college, and Medicare for All. That energy must be used to continue to build the movement until November and beyond. No challenge to the billionaire class will ever be successful that begins and ends in a presidential primary. ...

Bernie should call for a national conference of his supporters and those on the left to launch a discussion and begin making plans to run independent candidates on a pro-worker, anti-corporate platform. This conference could begin the process of building a party of the 99% in the United States.

The Economist rates Trump presidency among its top 10 global risks

A Donald Trump presidency poses a top-10 risk event that could disrupt the world economy, lead to political chaos in the U.S. and heighten security risks for the United States, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Electing Trump could also start a trade war, hurt trade with Mexico and be a godsend to terrorist recruiters in the Middle East, according to the latest EIU forecasts.

The well-respected global economic and geopolitical analysis firm put a possible Trump presidency in its top 10 global risks this month, released Wednesday. Other risks include a sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy, a fracture of the Eurozone, and Britain's possible departure from the European Union.

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Invasion of the American lobsters: Sweden asks EU for help

Sweden has asked the European Union for help to stop an invasion of American lobsters, saying they could wipe out their European cousins with deadly diseases.

The Swedish environment ministry said more than 30 American lobsters have been found along Sweden’s west coast in recent years.

It said the American lobster, also known as the Maine lobster, “can carry diseases and parasites that could spread to the European lobster and result in extremely high mortality”

Reservoirs are getting a big boost from 'Miracle March' — but the drought isn't over yet

A series of storms during this "Miracle March" has caused Folsom and two of its neighbors, Lake Oroville and Shasta Lake, to swell. The massive reservoirs are at above-average levels for the first time since the spring of 2013.

But experts say subsequent reports of the drought's demise have been exaggerated. With the state's most-telling snowpack measurement less than two weeks away, California can boast little more than an average year of rain and snow.

This month's rains have bumped the 154 reservoirs tracked by the state up from about 17 million acre-feet of stored water at the end of February to about 21.5 million acre-feet now, said state hydrologist Maurice Roos. That puts California at about 81% of the end-of-March-average, he said.

The water content in the state's snowpack is also important because when the snow melts, the water runs off into the reservoirs. The snowpack on Thursday stood at 92% of normal and is expected to still be slightly below average when surveyors perform their March 30 measurement.

A few weeks or even months of rain also cannot undo years of groundwater depletion in the San Joaquin Valley, where desperate locals have drilled deeper and deeper wells.

Dimock Water Contamination Verdict Prompts Calls for Federal Action on Fracking

Last week, in a historic verdict, a Pennsylvania jury awarded $4.24 million to two families in Dimock, PA who sued a shale gas driller, Cabot Oil and Gas Corp., over negligent drilling that contaminated their drinking water supplies. ...

For years, Cabot Oil and Gas has maintained that the problems with the water were simply cosmetic or aesthetic, and that even if the water was not good, their operations in the area had nothing to do with it.

The federal jury's verdict last Thursday represents a legal conclusion that the water was in fact contaminated because of the negligence of the drilling company — no small matter for those who spent years living in a deeply fractured community where emotions over the shale rush have run high and pitted neighbor against neighbor.

The verdict also has broader ramifications for the national debate over shale drilling and water contamination.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently reviewing the risks to American drinking water supplies from unconventional oil and gas drilling and fracking. And while the Ely v. Cabot case did not center directly on hydraulic fracturing, the wells surrounding the Ely property suspected of causing the contamination were mostly fracked shale gas wells.

“This jury trial reflects that drilling and fracking caused groundwater contamination, and this is only the beginning,” actor Mark Ruffalo said in a statement on behalf of Americans Against Fracking. “It is also time for President Obama to let the US Environmental Protection Agency do its job and investigate thousands of complaints across the country of drilling and fracking polluting drinking water supplies and harming the American people.”

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Also of Interest

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

United Technologies: Boss Gets $192 Million, 110-Foot Yacht as 2100 Jobs Move to Mexico at $3 an Hour

Five Big Unanswered Questions About NSA’s Worldwide Spying

How Propaganda Feeds War on Syria

The Ever-Curiouser MH-17 Case

Think Again Hillary Democrats: 10 Reasons Why She Could Lose this Fall

Candidates, Is America Exceptional, or Only Great?

Cruz Hires Neocon Loons, Gaffney, Ledeen, Abrams

Moodys: Public Pension Underfunding to Worsen as Returns Lag

IRS Auditing of Big Corporations Plummets - Potential Annual Revenue Loss $15 Billion

A man’s discovery of bones under his pub could forever change what we know about the Irish

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A Little Night Music

BB King - Woke Up This Morning

B.B.King - Nobody Loves Me But My Mother

B.B.King - Never Make Your Move To Soon

Ray Charles & B.B. King - Sinners Prayer

B.B. King - How Blue Can You Get

B.B.King w/Koko Taylor - Something You Got

B.B King - Hummingbird

B.B.King Live in Bonn 1994

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