The Evening Blues - 2-15-19



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Lonnie Mack

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b guitarist Lonnie Mack. Enjoy!

Lonnie Mack - Memphis

"Most wars present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people."

-- Howard Zinn


News and Opinion

Cuba Warns US Moving Special Forces Closer to Venezuela Under Guise of 'Humanitarian Intervention'

As Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro urges the international community to condemn an ongoing U.S.-backed effort to overthrow him and calls for peaceful negotiations with critics led by self-declared "Interim President" Juan Guaidó, the Cuban government—which supports Maduro—claimed on Thursday that the Trump administration is moving special forces closer to Venezuela "in preparation for a military adventure under the guise of a 'humanitarian intervention.'"

In a lengthy statement denouncing the steps President Donald Trump and his allies have taken to oust Maduro—particularly National Security Advisor John Bolton and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.)—the Cuban government said:

Between February 6 and 10 of 2019, several military transport aircraft have flown to the Rafael Miranda Airport in Puerto Rico, the San Isidro Air Base in the Dominican Republic, and other strategically located Caribbean Islands, most certainly without the knowledge of the governments of those nations. These flights took off from U.S. military facilities where Special Operation Troops and U.S. Marine Corps units operate. These units have been used for covert operations, even against leaders of other countries.

Pointing to a draft resolution that the Trump administration recently introduced at the U.N. Security Council that expresses concern about the humanitarian conditions of Venezuela, Cuba concluded:

[T]he U.S. intends to fabricate a humanitarian pretext in order to launch a military attack on Venezuela and, by resorting to intimidation, pressure, and force, is seeking to introduce into this sovereign nation's territory alleged humanitarian aid... It is obvious that the United States is paving the way to forcibly establish a humanitarian corridor under international supervision, invoke the obligation to protect civilians, and take all necessary steps. It is worth recalling that similar behaviors and pretexts were used to by the U.S. during the prelude to wars it launched against Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya, which resulted in tremendous human losses and caused enormous suffering.

The warnings out of Cuba come after Guaidó vowed on Tuesday that foreign aid—which has already begun arriving along the border with Colombia and Brazil—will enter Venezuela on Feb. 23 in spite of objections from Maduro, who has also characterized offerings of aid as part of a "political war of American empire" and "warmongering in order to take over" Venezuela.

Maduro Reveals Aide's Secret Meetings With U.S. Envoy Abrams

President Nicolas Maduro has invited a U.S. special envoy to Venezuela after revealing in an AP interview that his foreign minister recently held secret meetings with the U.S. official in New York. A senior Venezuelan official said the second of two meetings took place Feb. 11 — four days after the envoy, Elliott Abrams, said the “time for dialogue with Maduro had long passed,” and as the Trump administration publicly backed an effort to unseat the embattled Venezuelan president.

Even while harshly criticizing Donald Trump’s confrontational stance toward his socialist government, Maduro said he holds out hope of meeting the U.S. president soon to resolve a crisis over the U.S.’ recognition of opponent Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s rightful leader.

At turns conciliatory and combative, Maduro said all Venezuela needs to rebound is for Trump to remove his “infected hand” from the country that sits atop the world’s largest petroleum reserves.

PetroCaribe Challenge: The campaign mobilising Haitians against corruption

Iran says the U.S. and Israel are to blame for a suicide attack that killed 27 Revolutionary Guards

President Hassan Rouhani blamed Israel and the U.S. Thursday for a suicide bomb attack that killed 27 members of the Revolutionary Guard in southeastern Iran. The bomber drove a car laden with explosives Wednesday into a bus carrying members of the elite paramilitary force in Sistan and Baluchistan province, a mountainous region along the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A militant Sunni Muslim group called Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), who are seeking greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed the attack. ...

The attack took place on the same day that officials from around the world gathered at a U.S.-sponsored conference in Warsaw billed as a discussion on peace in the Middle East. However, the conference’s unofficial focus was firmly on Iran — a fact highlighted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who posted a tweet threatening war with the Iranian regime.

Mike Pence chides US allies at Warsaw summit on Iran

The US vice-president, Mike Pence, has sharply rebuked Washington’s European allies over their efforts to shield their businesses from US sanctions on Iran, as transatlantic tensions over US foreign policy were laid bare at a conference in Warsaw. A scheme the European Union has set up to facilitate trade with Iran was “an effort to break American sanctions against Iran’s murderous revolutionary regime”, Pence said during a conference on the Middle East organised by the US in the Polish capital.

“It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the US,” he said.

In an unusually blunt and fiery address, Pence called on what he described as “freedom-loving nations” to stand against Iranian “evil”, and went so far as to accuse the regional power of plotting a “new Holocaust”. ...

Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement altogether, making explicit a demand that Trump administration officials had previously only hinted at. European diplomats at the conference rejected Pence’s accusations. “We strongly disagree,” a diplomat from a major European power told Reuters.

Saudi Prince Turki to Israeli TV: Netanyahu deceiving Israel about peace chances

In an unprecedented interview with an Israeli TV station broadcast Wednesday, the former Saudi intelligence chief and ex-ambassador to the US and UK accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deceiving the Israeli public by claiming that Israeli ties with the wider Arab world can be warmed without the Palestinian issue being solved.

“Israeli public opinion should not be deceived into believing that the Palestinian issue is a dead issue,” Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud told Israel’s Channel 13 news in a lengthy interview in London. “From the Israeli point of view, Mr. Netanyahu would like us to have a relationship, and then we can fix the Palestinian issue. From the Saudi point of view, it’s the other way around.”

Asked by interviewer Barak Ravid whether that meant Netanyahu was “deceiving the Israeli public” by claiming to be able to “promote relations with the Arab world regardless of the Palestinians,” Prince Turki replied: “Absolutely. Absolutely.” ...

Ravid said Prince Turki had met with the Saudi king in the days before the interview, and that the prince was plainly conveying a message that Riyadh wants heard in Israel.

Facebook may face multibillion-dollar US fine over privacy lapses

The US government and Facebook are negotiating a settlement over the company’s privacy lapses that could require the online social network to pay a multibillion-dollar fine, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. ...

The FTC has been investigating revelations that Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million of its users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The inquiry has focused on whether the sharing of data with Cambridge Analytica and other privacy disputes violated a 2011 agreement with the FTC to safeguard users’ privacy.

An eventual settlement may also mandate changes in how Facebook does business.

Theresa May defeated on Brexit again as ERG Tories abstain

Theresa May has suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of hardline Eurosceptics, plunging her hopes of uniting the Conservatives around a renegotiated Brexit deal into chaos. The prime minister failed to win support for her EU strategy after the European Research Group (ERG), led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, abstained on a government motion because it appeared to rule out a no-deal Brexit. ...

The prime minister was not present for the House of Commons defeat, by 303 votes to 258, in which she again lost control of her party in the crucial final weeks before Britain is due to leave the EU on 29 March. ...

In Brussels, diplomats said the result confirmed that the prime minister was incapable of commanding the support of her party on key votes, and that she needed to work cross-party. “No one can take any good from this,” said one diplomat.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, demanded that May come to the House of Commons to explain her Brexit plan in the absence of parliamentary support for her approach. “Tonight’s vote shows there is no majority for the prime minister’s course of action in dealing with Brexit,” he said. “Yet again her government has been defeated. The government cannot keen on ignoring parliament or ploughing on towards 29 March without a coherent plan.”

‘Yellow vest leader’ Drouet facing charges for organizing rallies

Amazon made an $11.2bn profit in 2018 but paid no federal tax

Amazon has had a bad week but there is some comfort for the tech titan – it will not pay a single cent in income tax on the $11.2bn of profits it made last year. ... [T]he Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) published a report showing Amazon is not paying a single cent in taxes for the second year in a row.

In 2018, Amazon nearly doubled its profits, from $5.6bn to $11.2bn. But far from paying the statutory 21% income tax rate, it reported a $129m federal income tax rebate for the year – a tax rate of -1%.

“The fine print of Amazon’s income tax disclosure shows that this achievement is partly due to various unspecified ‘tax credits’ as well as a tax break for executive stock options,” according to ITEP.

Texts Show Police and Far-Right Extremist Collusion: Oregon Official

A member of Portland’s city council said Thursday a newspaper’s report that the commander for the police rapid response team exchanged friendly text messages with a leader of far-right protests that have rocked the city confirms collusion exists between some police and right-wing extremists.

“I am not shocked, and I am not surprised at today’s reporting of Lt. Jeff Niiya’s collaboration with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson over text to provide aid and support for their hate marches,” Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty said in a statement.

Willamette Week obtained text messages through a public records request between Niiya and Gibson. The texts purportedly show Niiya had a friendly rapport with Gibson, frequently discussing Gibson’s plans to demonstrate. In one text reported by the newspaper, Niiya tells Gibson that he doesn’t see a need to arrest his assistant, Tusitala Toese, who often brawls with antifascist protesters, even if he has a warrant, unless Toese commits a new crime.

Sweet Jesus. Now "sleeping while black" is a crime punishable by death in California.

'Executed by firing squad': video shows police firing a dozen shots at man

Video footage of police killing a 20-year-old California man in his car shows a group of officers firing more than a dozen shots at him, prompting his family to say he was “executed by a firing squad”.

Blurry cellphone footage of six officers shooting Willie McCoy, an aspiring rapper who had been sleeping in his car outside a Taco Bell, also revealed that multiple police officers shouted commands at the young man after hitting him with a barrage of bullets.

“This was a cruel death by a firing squad,” David Harrison, McCoy’s cousin, told the Guardian on Thursday. “He was executed. They shot him so many times.”

The video, filmed by a witness from a distance and published on YouTube, captured audio of what sounds like between a dozen and 20 shots within several seconds. After the bullets stopped, multiple officers screamed: “Let me see your hands! Put your hands up!”

Ian Welsh makes an excellent point:

Republic’s End: Trump’s National Emergency

So, apparently Trump has said he will declare a national emergency to build his wall. I’m going to make one point about this. If you have an abusable law or power it will eventually be abused.

Wikipedia notes that:

Congress has delegated at least 136 distinct statutory emergency powers to the President upon the declaration of an emergency. Only 13 require a declaration from Congress; the remainder are invoked by an executive declaration with no Congressional input.

If you set up a law that allows someone to act as a dictator, someone will.

Public Citizen: Trump’s National Emergency Declaration Paves Way for Sweeping Authoritarianism

Immigrant Activists: Democrats Are Capitulating to Trump by Approving Border, DHS Funding

Worth a full read:

Democrats want a 'smart wall'. That's Trump's wall by another name

A government shutdown deal seems to have been reached. Details are scant, and it’s still unclear whether the president will sign the deal, but the rough outline is there: more detention beds, more fencing, and more funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Democrats, in other words, are conceding to Trump’s calls for increased border security. Importantly, their increased funding for DHS includes miscellaneous “technology” spending, which, given past statements, is likely to include drones, artificial intelligence, and unspecified “cutting-edge technology”. ...

We should be extremely cautious about increasing funding for a “smart wall”. Such a wall will amass profits for military companies like Raytheon, tech firms like Amazon, and private prison makers like Geo Group, but do nothing to solve the humanitarian crisis at our southern border. It will also likely lead to civil rights violations writ large – not just for migrants, but for the two-thirds of the American population who live within 100 miles of the border around the US as a whole. Eventually, surveillance technology perfected at the border could be repurposed against us all, as is often the case when new tech is rolled out first against the most vulnerable populations. ...

A wall made of drones and cameras would be just as wrong as one made of concrete. The real emergency along the southern border is comprised of the abhorrent conditions that migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are forced to suffer. The answer cannot be to violate human and civil rights and line corporate coffers.

Trump will declare a state of emergency to fund border wall, McConnell says

President Donald Trump will sign the budget deal that Congress is expected to send him later Thursday, but he’ll also declare a state of emergency at the southern border so he can fund his long-promised wall, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

The Senate is expected to overwhelmingly pass the bill, which contains $1.37 billion in funding for 55 miles of border fence, far short of the president’s requested $5.7 billion for the wall — which he'd long insisted Mexico would pay for.

Pod Save America Gaslights About Medicare For All

Jayapal Says Medicare for All Bill Coming in Two Weeks as Expert Calls Plan 'Astonishingly Strong'

In just two weeks, what is being heralded as an "astonishingly strong" plan to create a Medicare for All system in the United States will be introduced in the U.S. House. With energized grassroots activists, more than 90 congressional co-sponsors, and public opinion all firmly on her side, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) announced on Wednesday that she plans to introduce her 150-page Medicare for All bill the week after next. ...

Speaking to the Washington Post, Jayapal said she expects to introduce her bill with at least 100 original co-sponsors. ...

In an analysis of Jayapal's legislation and the broader fight for Medicare for All in Splinter on Thursday, single-payer proponent and health policy expert Tim Faust offered strong praise for the Medicare for All Act after reading an overview of the bill. Noting that he is "generally inclined to distrust the policy gestures of elected officials," Faust wrote that—while not perfect—Jayapal's bill "appears to meet all of the criteria for a proper single-payer plan."

"It includes long-term care with a preference toward home health. It sets guidelines for care but lets doctors overrule them. It is, by all accounts, the first actual robust single-payer bill of the post-[Affordable Care Act] era," he argued. "If you are looking for a bill to call 'Medicare for All,' this is the one. It must not be permitted to be weakened."

While Jayapal's bill will be released as nurses and other grassroots activists mobilize in support of Medicare for All across the nation, it will also come as a number of her Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate are pushing ahead with Medicare buy-in plans and other half-measures, which single-payer supporters say would leave the fundamental cruelty and wastefulness of the current for-profit system intact.



the evening greens


Federal Court Throws Out Pipeline Company Lawsuit Against DAPL Water Protectors

In a "landmark" ruling on Thursday, a federal court in North Dakota tossed out a "baseless" case against Greenpeace and other environmental and Indigenous activists who organized protests against the deeply controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which drew thousands of people to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 2016.


District Judge Billy Roy Wilson dismissed (pdf) all claims against all defendants in a lawsuit brought by fossil fuel giant Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), which sought to hold the water protectors liable under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act for millions of dollars in alleged damages.

"Donating to people whose cause you support does not create a RICO enterprise," Wilson wrote in his opinion. "Posting articles written by people with similar beliefs does not create a RICO enterprise."

While the protests against DAPL, which were met with a militarized response from law enforcement, were ultimately unsuccessful—and the now-operational pipeline already boasts an alarming track record of oil spills—the activists and their attorneys welcomed the win in court on Friday, noting that Wilson's ruling aligns with that of a similar case that was dismissed in 2017. ...

Defense attorneys called the case a "textbook example" of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP). "The goal of a SLAPP is not to win, but to burden the defendants with costly and time-intensive litigation procedures, while creating a chilling effect that discourages others from speaking out on issues of public concern," EarthRights International explained in a statement on Friday. "The judge's swift dismissal suggests that the federal judiciary may be losing patience with these abusive tactics."

Monsanto Weedkiller 'raises risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma by 41%'

A broad new scientific analysis of the cancer-causing potential of glyphosate herbicides, the most widely used weedkilling products in the world, has found that people with high exposures to the popular pesticides have a 41% increased risk of developing a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ...

The findings by five US scientists contradict the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) assurances of safety over the weed killer and come as regulators in several countries consider limiting the use of glyphosate-based products in farming.

[T]he new analysis could potentially complicate Monsanto’s defense of its top-selling herbicide. Three of the study authors were tapped by the EPA as board members for a 2016 scientific advisory panel on glyphosate. The new paper was published by the journal Mutation Research /Reviews in Mutation Research, whose editor in chief is EPA scientist David DeMarini.

The study’s authors say their meta-analysis is distinctive from previous assessments. “This paper makes a stronger case than previous meta-analyses that there is evidence of an increased risk of NHL due to glyphosate exposure,” said co-author Lianne Sheppard, a professor in the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences department at the University of Washington. “From a population health point of view there are some real concerns.”


Also of Interest

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

The Most Dangerous Weapon Ever Rolls Off the Nuclear Assembly Line

Haiti’s Unfolding Revolution Is Directly Linked to Venezuela’s

Venezuela - Media Find Trump's Coup Plan Does Not Work

In Venezuela, White Supremacy Is a Key Driver of the Coup

Amazon’s Home Surveillance Chief Declared War on “Dirtbag Criminals” as Company Got Closer to Police

Share Buybacks Have Created a Dangerous Bubble in Wall Street Bank Stocks

French media in crisis as they face their own #MeToo moment

Colin Kaepernick reaches settlement with NFL over kneeling protest fallout

California: driving rain floods streets as mudslide forces evacuations

Where did all those 90s rollerblades end up? Nairobi


A Little Night Music

Stevie Ray Vaughan with Lonnie Mack - Wham

Lonnie Mack - Why

Lonnie Mack - Oreo Cookie Blues

Lonnie Mack - Save Your Money

Lonnie Mack - Satisfy Susie

Lonnie Mack - Farther On Up The Road

Lonnie Mack - Camp Washington Chili

Lonnie Mack - Cincinnati Jail

Lonnie Mack - Suzie Q


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Raggedy Ann's picture

Trying to get a word in, this evening, before I go back up and listen to some of the vids.

We are living in disturbing times.

Well, I'm happy to know I'm a Rooskie-bot! So happy JtC finally acknowledged it by putting our leader, Vlad, on the up-vote button. I knew I was hangin' with the best bots around!

Have a beautiful evening and weekend, everyone! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

joe shikspack's picture

@Raggedy Ann

Well, I'm happy to know I'm a Rooskie-bot! So happy JtC finally acknowledged it by putting our leader, Vlad, on the up-vote button. I knew I was hangin' with the best bots around!

thanks for reminding me that i need to go out and stock up on hammers and sickles. Smile

soon we shall implement the dictatorship of the proletariat!

have a good one!

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mimi's picture

I can't take it any longer.

You good people are all in my prayers.
Good Night.

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

there is no golden age for the usa to revert to, at least if you examine its history fairly closely.

i guess we peaked in the early 1970's.

thanks for the prayers; i've never been certain that they are effective, but they are comforting nonetheless.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack
but they pop up on their own.
Will you ever write your autobiography? I want to knnow how you became what you are. Can't understand how you have a song in your mind that always fits. And how did you all meet your friends, who seem to follow in your footsteps.

Hope all is well in your part of the woods. I looked for a song related to woods, but can't say that they tell me much.
[video:https://youtu.be/c3Xlmh0lvK0]
I am already ahead of you. Good Morning. The sky is blue, that's something at least. Smile

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

heh, i'm not sure that i could find a hook on which to hang an autobiography that would make it more interesting than an autobiography of anybody other guy.

Can't understand how you have a song in your mind that always fits.

well, it's all in what you pay attention to over the course of time, isn't it?

an actor, for instance, might be able to always have a bit from shakespeare that perfectly fits any situation.

i have been involved in music in one way or another for virtually the entirety of my life.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack
apologies for chatting slightly stupid stuff, looks like I am falling apart.

Have a good weekend.

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Lookout's picture

No wonder the world unravels.

George Galloway had a great rant about Venezuela ...a little long at 23 min but righteous.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsci1IJpG5M]

Starting a new Vietnam...Are we back in the USSR?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS5_EQgbuLc]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Azazello's picture

@Lookout
well worth the time. Thanks for posting it.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

thanks for galloway's fulminations, he's right on target.

have a good one!

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Shahryar's picture

thanks for reminding me. I can play about half of it and I should get back to it and learn the rest. It does get complicated!

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joe shikspack's picture

@Shahryar

it's a great tune and a worthy challenge. have a great evening!

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detroitmechworks's picture

They Invariably side with whoever is wearing the most expensive shoes.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Shahryar's picture

@detroitmechworks

that the wingnuts had set up in one of the downtown parking garages. The cops came along and made them pack up and leave. If it had been antifa with those weapons I do believe the outcome would have been different.

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joe shikspack's picture

@detroitmechworks

police forces all over the country have rather disappointing histories of connections with right-wing groups and repression of left-wing groups. it's disgusting but hardly surprising.

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Like Those at Guantánamo

The World Medical Association, an international medical ethics organization, asserted that force-feeding is “unjustifiable.” Organizations ranging from the ACLU to Human Rights Watch condemn the practice as “inherently cruel, inhuman, and degrading.”

Another federal judge in a 2009 followed a Supreme Court ruling deciding that courts have no jurisdiction over Guantánamo – a camp physically located in Cuba but governed by the United States.

Similarly, federal courts have limited power to intervene on behalf of the ICE detainees because immigrant detention is not considered punishment and thus not protected by due process rights. In Wong Wing v. United States(1896), the Supreme Court ruled that “the Constitution does not apply to the conditions of immigrant detention.”

whiskey tango foxtrot
This is not considered punishment:

Force-feeding involves tying a detainee to a bed, inserting a feeding tube down the nose and esophagus and pumping liquid nutrition into the stomach. ICE detainees have reported rectal bleeding and vomiting as a consequence of being force-fed.

situation normal all fucked up

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@eyo
Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.

To adapt to insanity is itself, insane.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

joe shikspack's picture

@eyo

yep. this is who our government is.

my congressworm cannot be bothered to stand up on his hind legs and do something more than give lip service to reform.

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divineorder's picture

Thanks for the news!

How are tricks at the casa shikspak? Have read how freezing it has been for many in El Norte but I swear it feels a little bit less stifling hot this year down here near the equator. Still getting the sweat streaming sunscreen in my eyes though. Trying to take photos in the manglar from a kayak my damn often glasses fog up. Oh well, as they say here, 'Pura Vida!'
...

Lawd I miss the days when I was happy to donate:

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

joe shikspack's picture

@divineorder

things are going well at chez shikspack. it was surprisingly warm today, we made it up to 60 degrees. tonight, well, down into the upper 20's. we're supposed to get snow and ice on and off for the coming week according to the weatherman.

heh, i hate it when lenses fog up. i remember some years ago i was in a butterfly house and my camera was still cold from the outside. as soon as i flipped off the lens cap, water condensed on the lens and it was quite a while before i could get a decent photo. i had to just enjoy myself and take pictures with my mind.

thanks for the npr article! for some years now, every time i turn on the npr news i wind up growling at the radio for the shameful bias of their newscast.

i hope that you and jb are having a great time, take care and have a great weekend!

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snoopydawg's picture

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh, jesus just left chicago bound for new orleans. apparently he has an appointment with destiny in some idiot state senator's office in cheyenne. oh well, takin' care of business is his name.

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Azazello's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zeNK6Caa8c&t=1188s width:500 height:300]
I've never been a huge Clapton fan, but he did OK with this one:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78gR3Dlj7l0 width:500 height:300]

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the lee camp vid.

heh, i've never thought that clapton was as talented as his reputation (let's face it, god is a pretty tough standard to attain to) and perhaps that sort of ridiculous adulation has put me off a bit over the years. on the other hand, he's a solid, talented musician and various things that he's done have tickled my ear over the years. like this hendrix cover which came to my attention when guitar player magazine included it as one of those floppy plastic insert records in one of its issues:

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mimi's picture

I think he had an attack of logorrhea, a pathological inability to stop talking.

President Trump on Border Security and Government Funding

Is there medication to cure that condition?

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

there's an over the counter candy-flavored remedy. i think they call them impeachmints. shuts the guy up and gives him more pleasant breath. Smile

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dystopian's picture

Great Lonnie Mack JS! One of the original guitar slingers. Great tone from that Flying V. He was soooo fast sneakin' extra notes in it was amazing. That Carnegie performance with Albert Collins and Roy Buchanan is a great Further on up the Road too.

Great to see that ridiculous (Rick Perry involved) ETP RICO DAPL lawsuit thrown out. Idiots!

If all hell breaks loose in Haiti, can we parachute the Clintons in to fix it?

Thanks for the blues all week JS! Have a great weekend!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

@dystopian
consequential for me, I saw Lonnie Mack during his comeback tour, which happened because Stevie Ray Vaughn brought him back into the public eye. Summer of '85.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

dystopian's picture

@UntimelyRippd WOW amazing story! I never saw him. He had that weird freakout right at the start of an earlier comeback tour and that was it for record label support for him. Some said he was scared of the success. But man he could play. Showing someone you know good music can go a long way...

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

i really like the stuff that mack recorded in the early 60's. he not only was a great guitarist but he had a really good voice. his later recordings were good vocally, but not quite as good as when he was young (imo).

heh, the clintons should be sent in only if it is to be part of a truth and reconciliation process and the proceeds of their foundation are confiscated to be applied to mitigating some of the damage that they are responsible for there.

have a good one!

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dystopian's picture

@joe shikspack That original first Wham! just blew me away as a child, it was up there with Apache and Runaway. Something about it grabbed me. He must have wore out some Bigsbys. And yeah right, great voice early on, but which did deteriorate a bit with age.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

When we have an economic meltdown its not an emergency, but we've had large numbers of emergencies. Uh, huh. Everybody to get off from street.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

what's another emergency?

Trump's wall would be the 32nd active national emergency

[T]he US has been in a perpetual state of declared national emergency for four decades, and the country is currently under 31 concurrent states of emergency about a spectrum of international issues around the globe, according to a CNN review of documents from the Congressional Research Service and the Federal Register.

[full list of all active us national emergencies at link. - js]

have a great weekend!

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And the guy that was voted for the most favorite boy died recently, and I was the attorney hired to sort out estate matters. Both he and I loved that Lonnie Mack tune.
I prepared his will and his estate. He and I shared the yearbook picture of us, and we both love Lonnie Mack.
RIP, Jerry.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

wow, you were already a success by fourth grade. Smile

thanks for sharing your memories. i find it interesting that for so many folks of my generation some of our most vivid and cherished memories are linked to music. it was a real force in a lot of our lives.

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