The Evening Blues - 3-18-19



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Roy Gaines

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Texas blues guitarist and singer Roy Gaines. Enjoy!

Roy Gaines - Every day I have the Blues

“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

-- Noam Chomsky


News and Opinion

'Blatant Effort to Intimidate and Retaliate': Pompeo Imposes Visa Ban on ICC Staff Probing US War Crimes

Human rights defenders expressed outrage on Friday after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed that the Trump administration is revoking or denying visas for any International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel who try to investigate or prosecute U.S. officials or key allies for potential war crimes. The move, Pompeo confirmed to reporters Friday morning, is a direct response to ongoing efforts by the ICC to probe allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity tied to the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program, was among those who spoke out against the decision. The ACLU currently represents Khaled El Masri, Suleiman Salim, and Mohamed Ben Soud, who were all detained and tortured in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2008.

"This is an unprecedented attempt to skirt international accountability for well-documented war crimes that haunt our clients to this day," Dakwar said. "It reeks of the very totalitarian practices that are characteristic of the worst human rights abusers, and is a blatant effort to intimidate and retaliate against judges, prosecutors, and advocates seeking justice for victims of serious human rights abuses."

Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, called it "an outrageous effort to bully the court and deter scrutiny of U.S. conduct." He encouraged ICC member countries to "publicly make clear that they will remain undaunted in their support for the ICC and will not tolerate U.S. obstruction." ...

Pompeo's announcement came after John Bolton, President Donald Trump's national security adviser and a longtime critic of the ICC, threatened to impose sanctions on court officials in September if they continued to pursue an investigation of potential crimes by U.S. civilians or military personnel in Afghanistan. Echoing Bolton's broader denunciations of the ICC last year, Pompeo on Friday highlighted that the United States—under both Democratic and Republican presidents—has refused to join the court for more than two decades "because of its broad, unaccountable prosecutorial powers and the threat it poses to American national sovereignty."

Trump administration ignoring human rights monitors, ACLU tells UN

The Trump administration is coming under fire for its refusal to engage with international human rights monitors over potential violations inside the US, from police brutality and executions to the abuse of migrant children at the border. Protests have poured in from organisations objecting to the government’s virtual boycott of established systems designed to protect human rights, after the US withdrew from the United Nations human rights council last year. Washington is accused of rebuffing official complaints from monitors, undermining human rights bodies and threatening officials with prosecution should they set foot on US soil.

The latest condemnation has come from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has delivered a scathing appraisal to the human rights council (HRC) in Geneva. The ACLU charged that over the past year “the Trump administration has escalated its hostility towards human rights bodies including the apparent severing of relationships with independent experts appointed to monitor and report on human rights violations”. ... In January, the Guardian revealed that the US government had ceased to cooperate with tried and tested international procedures, in a move which threatened the nation’s standing as a beacon of good practice on the world stage. At that point, the state department had failed to respond to 13 complaints by UN monitors raising fundamental questions about America’s commitment to international law.

The number of unanswered requests from the UN’s so-called “special rapporteurs” has risen to 22. The last such demand that received a reply from any Trump official was in May last year.

Saudi crown prince allegedly stripped of some authority

The heir to the Saudi throne has not attended a series of high-profile ministerial and diplomatic meetings in Saudi Arabia over the last fortnight and is alleged to have been stripped of some of his financial and economic authority, the Guardian has been told. The move to restrict, if only temporarily, the responsibilities of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is understood to have been revealed to a group of senior ministers earlier last week by his father, King Salman. The king is said to have asked Bin Salman to be at this cabinet meeting, but he failed to attend.

While the move has not been declared publicly, the Guardian has been told that one of the king’s trusted advisers, Musaed al-Aiban, who was educated at Harvard and recently named as national security adviser, will informally oversee investment decisions on the king’s behalf.

The relationship between the king and his son has been under scrutiny since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which was alleged to have been ordered by Prince Mohammed and provoked international condemnation of the crown prince. This has been denied by the Saudi government. Experts on the Middle East are divided over whether the murder, and concern over the kingdom’s role in the conflict in Yemen, have led to tension at the heart of the notoriously secretive royal court.

But while most observers expect Prince Mohammed to accede to the throne, there are some signs that the king is seeking to rein in his controversial son at a time when Saudi Arabia is under the spotlight.

Guantánamo Bay “Forever” Prisoner Speaks Out — to Praise Congress, Lindsey Graham, and Thomas Friedman

For the past 17 years of his imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay, Ghassan al-Sharbi was a mystery to the American public. A prisoner at the notorious prison since his capture in 2002, al-Sharbi has never sought to speak publicly, unlike many other detainees held at the prison. He even refused legal counsel. But now, the Saudi national, known as one of the most defiant prisoners held at Guantánamo, has been moved to speak out for the first time — in order to praise the U.S. Congress, Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and even New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

“My faith in many US politicians and media outlets has recently risen dramatically, because of their courageous stand against the Saudi royals,” al-Sharbi conveyed in letters and communications submitted through normal processes at the prison, and provided exclusively to The Intercept. “The Saudi royal family overtly fights terrorism to please the West, while covertly supporting it to please the clerics and others. They also do this so that they are always desperately needed by the United States and the West.” ... Al-Sharbi’s decision to speak out is itself a product of growing turbulence in the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia in recent years. The killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led war in Yemen have fed a growing public backlash toward the Saudi royal family. Al-Sharbi, held in an isolated U.S. prison in the Caribbean, took notice of the changes.

Graham and Friedman were among the public figures who have previously backed Saudi Arabia but have since changed their tune — particularly with regard to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “I’m not blindly optimistic that the change of position by the likes of Senator Lindsay Graham and Thomas Friedman regarding the Saudi royals is not merely pragmatic flip-flopping. I hope that it is a truly ethical correction on their parts,” al-Sharbi stated. ... Now age 44 al-Sharbi was captured in a 2002 raid by Pakistani forces. In June of that year, he was transferred to Guantánamo Bay, where he has remained ever since. Al-Sharbi’s statements speak less to his own case than to the broader geopolitical changes that have occurred since his detention, particularly the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. ...

In his recent remarks, al-Sharbi cited the alleged inconsistency in both the Saudi and U.S. position in dealing with militant groups. He said, “The flip-flopping, the constant branding, marketing, and re-branding of ‘freedom fighters,’ ‘extremists,’ or ‘terrorists’ at certain times, certain locations, and against certain enemies, as it suits political needs is confusing.”

Interesting, possibly amusing and worth a click:

CIA Blames Its Proxy For Its Raid On North Korea's Embassy In Spain

The CIA is the main suspect in the military style raid on the North Korean embassy in Madrid. It now launched a somewhat hapless effort to deflect from it. The Spanish report in which Spanish government sources accuse the CIA said:

At least two of the 10 assailants who broke into the embassy and interrogated diplomatic staff have been identified and have connections to the US intelligence agency. The CIA has denied any involvement but government sources say their response was “unconvincing.”

That the CIA is the main suspect in the assault was reported on Wednesday in the Spanish mainstream paper El Pais. The paper made the extra effort to publish an abbreviated English language version. It was widely picked up by other international outlets. Some of the assailants were Asian and spoke Korean language. They were probably from the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS), a subsidiary of the CIA know for its extremely hawkish politics. It often rigs elections in South Korea in support of hawkish conservatives candidates.

Attacking a foreign embassy in a third country is far out of bounce of international law and diplomatic decency. After the El Pais report something had to be done to direct the attention away from the CIA and to find some other culprit. A story was thought up and pushed to the favorite CIA outlet, the Washington Post. It wasn't the CIA which did it, writes the Post's national security reporter, it was a CIA controlled 'regime change' organization.

A shadowy group trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un raided a North Korean embassy in broad daylight">A shadowy group trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un raided a North Korean embassy in broad daylight

In broad daylight, masked assailants infiltrated North Korea’s embassy in Madrid, restrained the staff with rope, stole computers and mobile phones, and fled the scene in two luxury vehicles.

The group behind the late February operation is known as Cheollima Civil Defense, a secretive dissident organization committed to overthrowing the Kim dynasty, people familiar with the planning and execution of the mission told The Washington Post. ...

People familiar with the incident say the group did not act in coordination with any governments. U.S. intelligence agencies would have been especially reluctant to do so given the sensitive timing and brazen nature of the mission. But the raid represents the most ambitious operation to date for an obscure organization that seeks to undermine the North Korean regime and encourage mass defections, they say.

The CIA agents, led by torture queen Gina Haspel, are snowflakes who would never break the law or cause some international outrage.

Macron meets with top officials after Yellow Vest weekend violence

'Same rhetoric': Bolsonaro's US visit to showcase populist alliance with Trump

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro will meet Donald Trump on Tuesday on his first foreign trip since taking office – a visit he hope will showcase the alignment between the rightwing, populist leaders of the two biggest economies in the Americas. Bolsonaro’s spokesman said the visit showed “the priority the government gives to building a solid partnership with the United States of America”, while Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, called the trip a “historic opportunity” (although the effect was somewhat undermined by a tweet in which he called the Brazilian president “Bolonsaro”).

As well as trade talks, the presidents will sign a technology deal to open up an underused Brazilian satellite base. Brazil will probably be given “major non-Nato ally” status, which could help it buy cheaper military equipment. “President Bolsonaro brings a real energy to the relationship, he’s determined to make progress,” Bolton told TV Globo. “We’re really very excited about being able to partner on a number of issues internationally.” The crisis in Venezuela is a priority, he said. ...

But diplomats caution that traditionally neutral Brazil may shoot itself in the foot by getting too close to Trump as he wages a trade war against China – Brazil’s biggest commercial partner. “This won’t further any national interest,” said Rubens Ricupero, a former Brazilian ambassador to Washington and Rome. “Today’s international American agenda has nothing to do with Brazil.”

Adding to such concerns was the presence of Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon, seated beside Bolsonaro at a conservative, “opinion formers” dinner on Sunday night. Bannon recently named Bolsonaro’s congressman son Eduardo, also in Washington, the South American representative for his international far-right network, the Movement. ... Wendy Schiller, chair of political science at Brown University, said the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and Bolton “far outweigh any influence Bannon may try to wield.”

“Bolsonaro has purposely been emulating Trump,” said Monica de Bolle, director of the Latin American programme at John Hopkins University. “The rhetoric is the same.”

As Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro Prepares to Meet Donald Trump, His Family’s Close Ties to Notorious Paramilitary Gangs Draw Scrutiny and Outrage

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is in Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. While the trip officially is focused on the joint efforts of the U.S. and Brazil to change the government of Venezuela, it is being billed by the Bolsonaro government as a “restart” of his presidency and image after multiple, serious scandals crippled the first three months of his presidency.

But when it comes to recreating his image, the timing of this trip could hardly be worse. Key news events of the last several weeks — including the arrests of two former Rio de Janeiro police officers for the March 2018 assassination of Rio City Council Councilor Marielle Franco — have highlighted the most damaging and, to many, most terrifying revelations about Bolsonaro and his three politician sons: their extensive, direct, multilayered, and deeply personal ties to the paramilitary gangs and militias responsible for Brazil’s most horrific violence.

Wasserman Schultz Proves She’s A Sociopath - Lies About Venezuela

Verizon. Pfizer. Bank of America. U.S. Corporations Are Funding Israeli Settlements

The corporate foundations of Verizon, Pfizer, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, American Express and JPMorgan Chase have collectively given over $25,000 to U.S. nonprofits that send money to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to tax records from 2001 to 2016 reviewed by In These Times.

A large network of U.S. nonprofits raises millions of dollars annually to send to Israeli settlements, which are built on Palestinian land and are considered illegal under international law. Some Israeli settlers violently harass Palestinians and burn down their crops. Israeli settlers have also killed Palestinians. Tax records reviewed by In These Times show that Israeli settlements have a surprising source of funds: the foundations of some of the most well-known U.S. corporations.

In addition, the corporate foundations of Verizon, Pfizer, Deutsche Bank, American Express and JPMorgan Chase have collectively given over $48,000 to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a U.S. nonprofit that sends millions of dollars to Israel’s military to support various enrichment activities—like education programs and recreational and cultural centers at army bases for soldiers.

Most of these funds come from corporate donations that match the donations of individual employees, though for some donations—all of Verizon’s and JP Morgan Chase’s in 2005, 2015 and 2016—it is not specified if the payments are matching grants. The corporate foundations encourage employee donations to nonprofits by promising that the companies will match donations to the nonprofits of their choice, doubling the total amount of money that go to those nonprofits.

New Zealand moves to tighten gun laws as Australian police probe links to shooting

New Zealand will have new gun control laws within 10 days of the Christchurch mosque attacks

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday that New Zealand will reform its gun laws within 10 days following the mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques on Friday. ... The shooting exposed weaknesses in New Zealand’s gun laws, Ardern said at a press conference in Wellington Monday after a Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet agreed “in principle” to change gun control laws, she added. “This ultimately means that within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism, we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,” Ardern said.

There was an expectation that the PM would announce a ban on semi-automatic rifles — the type used by the suspect. Yet despite saying her cabinet was “completely unified” on the changes, Ardern gave no concrete proposals, instead saying officials would take the rest of the week to work out how best to change the law. “These aren’t simple areas of law. So that’s simply what we’ll be taking the time to get right,” she said.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, the leader of the NZ First party, had previously blocked efforts at gun reform. However, speaking alongside Ardern Peters said he was fully behind her move. “Our world changed forever and so will some of our laws,” he said.

State-Sponsored Islamophobia & Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Embolden Right-Wing Terrorists

May in make-or-break bid to gain DUP support for her Brexit deal

Theresa May will embark on a final desperate scramble to win the Democratic Unionist party’s backing for her Brexit deal on Monday, in the hope that it could unlock parliament’s support at the third time of asking.

With several prominent Brexiters, including the former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, now willing to switch their vote and support the deal, government sources said they hoped DUP backing could create “a sense of momentum”.

But with negotiations ongoing, ministers insisted on Sunday there would not be a third meaningful vote this week, before a crucial summit in Brussels, unless May believed she could win it.

Report Card Shows Majority of Senate Democrats Aiding Trump's Right-Wing Court Takeover

As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) continues to ram through President Donald Trump's extreme and unqualified judicial nominees at a record pace, a report card released on Friday slammed Senate Democrats for aiding the right-wing takeover of America's courts.

According to Demand Justice, a progressive advocacy group that focuses on the federal judiciary, a majority of Senate Democrats voted to confirm Trump's judges 60 percent of the time or more in 2017 and 2018. ...

"Senators can condemn Trump until they're blue in the face, but actions speak louder than words, and when it comes to judges, too many Democrats vote too often with Trump," Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, said in a statement. "A disappointing number of Democrats have buried their heads in the sand and helped Trump and Mitch McConnell to pack the courts with judges representing the far-right fringe of the country."

Due to their frequent votes to advance and confirm Trump's nominees, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Tom Carper (Del.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Michael Bennet (Colo.) all received F grades from Demand Justice.

'The Case Is Finally Over': Charges Dropped Against All Remaining J20 Defendants

Charges against the remaining J20 protesters with no plea deals who were awaiting trial were dropped Friday with prejudice—meaning proscecutors can't try them again for the 2017 protest.

Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters were arrested on Jan. 20, 2017, for protesting the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The prosecution of the group—using felony charges against protesters and journalists—has been criticized by rights groups and failed miserably in court. Friday's ruling by D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Morin, which ordered the charges dropped with prejudice, shuts the door completely on the case.

In a brief interview with Common Dreams, former J20 defendant Dylan Petrohilos said that the dismissal affected every defendant save those whose cases had already gone to trial and those who took plea deals.

"If you did not take a plea, your charges cannot come back," said Petrohilos. "Which shows the strength of collective defense." ...

In an interview with Common Dreams, Sam Menefee-Libey, member of the DC Legal Posse, said that the group welcomed the decision but there's still work to be done. "We're glad the court came to their senses," said Menefee-Libey. "We will keep pushing for accountability for both the Metropolitan Police Department and the US Attorney's office."

Dick Dale, godfather of surf guitar, dies aged 81

The guitarist Dick Dale, the pioneer of surf rock known for his 1962 hit Misirlou, has died age 81. He died on Saturday night, Dale’s live bassist, Sam Bolle, confirmed to the Guardian.

Born Richard Anthony Monsour in May 1937, Dale developed his distinctive sound by adding to instrumental rock influences from his Middle Eastern heritage, along with a “wet” reverb sound and his rapid alternative picking style. In 2011, he told the Miami New Times that the hectic drumming of Gene Krupa, along with the “screams” of wild animals and the sound and sensation of being in the ocean inspired his sound.

His fifth single, 1961’s Let’s Go Trippin’, is considered the first surf rock instrumental and has been credited with launching the early 1960s craze. The Beach Boys’ “vocal” surf pioneered the sound’s second wave. ... After retiring from music in the 1970s, Dale returned to playing in the 80s. In 1995, he found a new patron in John Peel, who discovered the guitarist playing at the Garage in London. ...

In 2015, Dale gave an interview to the Pittsburgh City Paper in which he said: “I can’t stop touring because I will die. Physically and literally, I will die.” He told Billboard magazine that he had health insurance, covering bills for diabetes, post-cancer treatment and other debilitating conditions, but that insurers refused to cover the replenishment of supplies he required to keep his stoma free from infection.



the horse race



Tulsi Gabbard Stump Speech at University of San Francisco

Pete Buttigieg to Fox: 'Ideological spectrum has never been less relevant'

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is exploring a White House run, gave an interview to Fox News Sunday, a potentially ideologically incongruous step for a 37-year-old Democrat who likes to joke he appeals to “white Episcopalian gay veteran” voters. “I think everyone wants to fit you on an ideological spectrum which I think has never been less relevant,” he said, when asked about the ideological sweep of the Democratic field, from centrists like Beto O’Rourke to leftwing progressives such as Bernie Sanders.

“More and more people want to know what your ideas are and whether they make any sense.”

Buttigieg said he had succeeded as mayor of South Bend, where he has been in office since 2012, by governing in accordance with progressive values but earning support from Republicans and independents through not “trying to manage exactly where I was on the left-right spectrum but by trying to do the right thing”.

“I view myself as a progressive but these labels are becoming less and less useful,” he said. ...

Asked to identify his core policy ideas, he said his candidacy would be about generational change and would focus on “liberty, democracy and security”. He also said the Green New Deal, as championed by progressives in the Democratic party and ridiculed and attacked on the right, was more of a goal than plan. “It’s a handful of pages laying out a goal for us to cut carbon emissions before they destroy our economy and any prospect for people in my generation to do well,” he said. “If we don’t act aggressively and immediately on climate its not going to be a pretty picture.”

Beto O’Rourke tops the field in first-day fund-raising, but he’s being vague about it

Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke raised $6.1 million in his campaign’s first day, according to his campaign, outpacing all of his Democrat rivals with a possibly record-breaking haul. He won’t, however, disclose how many individual donors contributed or what their average donation was.

It shows that the 46-year-old Texan still has remarkable fundraising ability, which he showcased in the failed Senate bid against Ted Cruz last November that made him a national figure. Before O’Rourke, Sen. Bernie Sanders secured the biggest first-day haul among Democrats with $5.9 million, tapping into a loyal group of supporters from 2016.

O’Rourke initially declined to release his first-day fundraising numbers, and his reluctance to share specifics about the donations has invited skepticism from his critics, who say the eye-popping numbers may be due to a reliance on big-pocketed Democratic donors and donor bundlers, who have previously indicated an interest in O’Rourke.

Heh, I bet I can guess which industry was one of Beetlejuice's big first-day donors ...

'Illuminating Exchange on Health Care' Reveals Beto Doesn't Think Insurance Industry Motivated by Greed

Beto O'Rourke is attracting criticism from Medicare for All proponents after the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said he doesn't believe the existence of the for-profit insurance industry is a "function of greed" during a campaign stop in Iowa over the weekend.

O'Rourke, the former Texas Congressman who lost a narrow Senate election to Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) last November, made the remark in Independence, Iowa, during a barnstorming tour of the first in-the-nation caucus state. O'Rourke jumped into the crowded Democratic primary for president last Thursday, raising a record $6.1 million in his first 24 hours.


Medicare For All, the universal health care program proposed by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is a major issue on the campaign trail this year. Despite the policy's broad popularity, however, conservative Democrats have been hesitant to endorse universal health care. Instead, O'Rourke has promoted "Medicare for America," presenting Medicare as a public option that Americans have the option of buying into—allowing people to keep their employer insurance if they so choose. "It complements what already exists with the need that we have for millions of Americans who do not have insurance and ensures that each of them can enroll in Medicare," O'Rourke said Saturday in Independence. "It then suggests additional investments in that program so it becomes the program of choice and people who have private insurance migrate over to the Medicare system."

That answer wasn't satisfactory to an audience member who originally asked O'Rourke for more concrete policy ideas.

"So the greed has to stay in the insurance industry in your opinion?" asked the man.

"I don't see it as a function of greed," said O'Rourke.

Amy Klobuchar Blames Russia For Her Personality



the evening greens


Heh, well this is something of a surprise, The Guardian posted this, which seems a bit past their pretty tepid political wheelhouse:

Ending climate change requires the end of capitalism. Have we got the stomach for it?

Today’s children, as they become more politically aware, will be much more radical than their parents, simply because there will be no other choice for them. This emergent radicalism is already taking people by surprise. The Green New Deal (GND), a term presently most associated with 29-year-old US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has provoked a wildly unhinged backlash from the “pro free market” wing, who argue that it’s a Trojan horse, nothing more than an attempt to piggyback Marxism onto the back of climate legislation. The criticism feels ridiculous. Partly because the GND is far from truly radical and already represents a compromise solution, but mainly because the radical economics isn’t a hidden clause, but a headline feature. Climate change is the result of our current economic and industrial system. GND-style proposals marry sweeping environmental policy changes with broader socialist reforms because the level of disruption required to keep us at a temperature anywhere below “absolutely catastrophic” is fundamentally, on a deep structural level, incompatible with the status quo. ...

We will simply have to throw the kitchen sink at this. Policy tweaks such as a carbon tax won’t do it. We need to fundamentally re-evaluate our relationship to ownership, work and capital. The impact of a dramatic reconfiguration of the industrial economy require similarly large changes to the welfare state. Basic incomes, large-scale public works programmes, everything has to be on the table to ensure that the oncoming system shocks do not leave vast swathes of the global population starving and destitute. Perhaps even more fundamentally, we cannot continue to treat the welfare system as a tool for disciplining the supposedly idle underclasses. Our system must be reformed with a more humane view of worklessness, poverty and migration than we have now. Unfortunately for our children, the people they have to convince of all this are the people who have done very well out of this system, and are powerfully incentivised to deny that it is all that bad. Already, Joke Schauvliege, a Belgian environment minister, has been forced to resign after falsely claiming that she had been told by Belgian state security services that “ghosts” behind the scenes were behind demonstrations in Belgium.

This conspiracism of the elite, these claims that genuine mass movement can’t possibly really exist and must be in some way being guided by agents provocateurs, is just one of the ways in which those currently running things have resorted to a kind of political gaslighting in an attempt to maintain their grip on power. Gaslighting is a term I don’t use lightly, because it describes a genuine form of emotional abuse, where an abuser will deny reality in an attempt to get their victim to literally doubt their own sanity, and this should not be diluted by overuse. Yet I struggle to think of another word that adequately sums up the way in which “sensible” adults are doubling down on their tactic of manufacturing a political reality which bears no relationship to the world we see around us. It’s the Marxism of Groucho rather than Karl: “Who are you going to believe? The serious political professionals or your own lying eyes?”

A Global Strike for Climate Change: 1.4 Million Students Walk Out of Class Demanding Action

In Era of Aging Reactors, Nuclear Industry's Push for Deregulation Sparks Warning of 'Collision Course' With Disaster

Independent watchdogs are raising alarm about the nuclear power industry's ongoing efforts to convince federal regulators to scale back safety inspections and limit what "lower-level" issues are reported to the public. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)—an agency dominated by President Donald Trump's appointees—is currently reviewing its enforcement policies and is set to put forth recommendations for updating the nationwide rules in June. As part of that process, it sought input from plant operators and industry groups.

In September, one of those groups, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), outlined the industry's wish list in a letter (pdf). Requests include shifting to more "self-assessments," cutting back on public disclosures for problems at plants, and reducing the "burden of radiation-protection and emergency-preparedness inspections."

As The Associated Press reported:

The Trump NRC appointees and industry representatives say changes in oversight are warranted to reflect the industry's overall improved safety records and its financial difficulties, as the operating costs of the country's aging nuclear plants increase and affordable natural gas and solar and wind power gain in the energy market.

But the prospect of the Trump administration's regulation-cutting mission reaching the NRC alarms some independent industry watchdogs, who say the words "nuclear safety" and "deregulation" don't go together.

"For an industry that is increasingly under financial decline," Paul Gunter of the anti-nuclear group Beyond Nuclear told AP, "to take regulatory authority away from the NRC puts us on a collision course... with a nuclear accident."

Dead whale washed up in Philippines had 40kg of plastic bags in its stomach

A young whale that washed up in the Philippines died from “gastric shock” after ingesting 40kg of plastic bags. Marine biologists and volunteers from the D’Bone Collector Museum in Davao City, in the Philippine island of Mindanao, were shocked to discover the brutal cause of death for the young Cuvier’s beaked whale, which washed ashore on Saturday.

In a damning statement on their Facebook page, the museum said they uncovered “40 kilos of plastic bags, including 16 rice sacks. 4 banana plantation style bags and multiple shopping bags” in the whale’s stomach after conducting an autopsy.

Images from the autopsy showed endless piles of rubbish being extracted from the inside of the animal, which was said to have died from “gastric shock” after ingesting all the plastic. The D’ Bone Collector Museum biologists who conducted the autopsy said it was “the most plastic we have ever seen in a whale”.

“It’s disgusting,” they added. “Action must be taken by the government against those who continue to treat the waterways and ocean as dumpsters.”

Nebraska floods leave towns submerged and at least one dead

Authorities were using boats and large vehicles on Saturday to rescue and evacuate residents in parts of the US midwest where rainwater and snowmelt has poured over frozen ground, overwhelming creeks and rivers. At least one person was dead.

In eastern Nebraska, rescue efforts were hampered by reports of levee breaches and washouts of bridges and roads, including part of Nebraska Highway 92, leading in and out of south-west Omaha. Authorities confirmed that a bridge on that highway that crosses the Elkhorn river had been washed out.

In Freemont, west of Omaha, the Dodge County sheriff’s office issued a mandatory evacuation order for some residents after floodwaters broke a levee along the Platte river. And in Mills county, Iowa, authorities ordered people in some rural areas to evacuate after the Missouri river overtopped levees.

The flooding followed days of snow and rain, record-setting in some places, that swept through the west and midwest. The deluge pushed some waterways to record levels in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. The flooding was the worst in nearly a decade in places. ...

Further east, the Mississippi river saw moderate flooding in Illinois from Rock Island south to Gladstone. Meteorologist Brian Pierce with the National Weather Service’s Quad Cities office in Davenport, Iowa, said flooding on the Mississippi could get worse a few weeks as more snow melts in Minnesota and Wisconsin. “What we’re having now is the dress rehearsal for the main event that’s going to happen in early April,” he said.


Also of Interest

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

Don’t Just Condemn the New Zealand Attacks — Politicians and Pundits Must Stop Their Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

Ilhan Omar: We Must Apply Our Universal Values to All Nations. Only Then Will We Achieve Peace.

Misguided Spying and the New Zealand Massacre

Censorship at the Center of Christchurch Attack

Nebraska: historic flooding devastates parts of state – in pictures

The Rights of Wild Rice

Meteor blast over Bering Sea was 10 times size of Hiroshima


A Little Night Music

Roy Gaines - Jump In My Cadillac

Roy Gaines - Worried ´Bout You Baby

Roy Gaines - Alabama Sue

Roy Gaines - Black Gal (In The Pines)

Roy Gaines - De Dat De Dum Dum

Roy Gaines - You're Right, I'm Left

Roy Gaines - Night Beat

Roy Gaines - Loud Mouth Lucy

Roy Gaines - Right Now Baby

Roy Gaines - Too Many Miles Between Us

Roy Gaines - Let's Have A Natural Ball

Roy Gaines - Okie Doke Stomp


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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

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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

@gjohnsit

heh, beetlejuice is "running a fundamentally dishonest campaign?" whoooo could have imagined...

and he doesn't want to name his corporate sponsors? what a shock.

the more i see of beetlejuice the more i dislike him. and this is just the start of the campaign. yeesh.

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the daily news.

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joe shikspack's picture

@HenryAWallace

the daily news doesn't bother me all that much. when it builds up to some sort of crescendo of stupid is when it gets to me.

hope that you're doing well and enjoying the music.

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snoopydawg's picture

more Justices on the federal courts to fight against Trump and McConnell putting so many right wing ones on them. I read this on ToP and laughed because not one person wrote how Schumer and plenty of democrats have been helping McConnell do that. Boehner and McConnell blocked Obama's picks for the courts just like Garland wasn't given a vote and what did the democrats do about it? Nada. It's almost like they want the courts to swing right and knock down lots of things democrats have put into play over the decades. Almost right?

Read on Twitter that Beta donated over $4.6 million that was left over from his senate campaign back to his campaign for president. Remove that number and it's closer to $2 million he got the first day. But I'm glad that people are happy that it takes millions and millions to run for offices. Yay! Never mind that people are starving and homeless.

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

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

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

@snoopydawg
this transfer from the TX dems actually happened.

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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.

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh, packing the scotus, now where have i heard of that before?

i suspect that if the democrats tried it, they'd just screw it up and wind up with another bunch of conservotwits on the court.

i guess we'll find out where beto's boatload of cash came from in the next fec reporting period. i'm guessing that those reports will be scrutinized closely and reported widely.

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OzoneTom's picture

@joe shikspack

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So up to now, Putin/Russians have been responsible for the social ills that plague us and the Europeans. Brexit, inciting BLM...you name it. But now, Putin is the proximate cause of the personality disorder effecting Amy Klobuchar.

There will be no end to this shit. Only thing is to enjoy the humor of the insane asylum.

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joe shikspack's picture

@MrWebster

reminds me a lot of this:

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mimi's picture

and not afraid of the stars generals wear on their shoulders. I don't have to", she says. I can only applaud.

Thanks for the video of her stump speech at the University of San Francisco.

She gives me some purpose to come back to the US and support her campaign. Just lost a long comment. Can't rewrite it.

She would be the first Coomander in Chief, who is clearly anti-war, pro peace and for the people. The American people deserve her. You can forget about the rest of the gang who try to run.

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

so far, i like what i am hearing from tulsi. she sounds pretty good for a democrat. of course, i have heard pleasant things from democrats before.

She would be the first Coomander in Chief, who is clearly anti-war, pro peace and for the people.

while i like the broad outlines of her program, i want to hear a far more detailed explication of her plans. for instance, just how much will she cut the military budget? does her desire to cut the military also extend to the covert community? will she end the (immoral if not illegal) surveillance of the american people by the nsa and cooperating intelligence services and corporations? etc.

there are an enormous number of things that i am deeply curious about.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack @joe shikspack
understand all the details from overseas for a foreigner, who is not into your local details. Right now I am in a hole and am busy to dig myself out of it, instead of sinking deeper.

I count on you guys to 'keep her feet to the fire'. She just helps me to not lose all my hope, so to speak. Aloha.

PS I wished she were not affiliated with the Democratic Party and the same is true for Sanders. And it looks like that Sanders is not likely to make that kind of move.

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white_reindeer_300.jpg
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joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

heh, glad to see that your antennae are working. Smile

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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

i guess they spend their spare time spitting into the wind. perhaps they missed jim croce in bulgaria. Smile

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enhydra lutris's picture

@snoopydawg

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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 --

enhydra lutris's picture

running mate from Montana to create a Beto-Tester ticket.

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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

heh, good one!

have a great evening!

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janis b's picture

from interesting perspectives on The Panel of NZ National Radio today, including that of historian Anne Salmond.

It's quite revealing and thoughtful if you have the time. I hope as a country we address these issues in a fresh, productive, and life-affirming way.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/2018687291/the-panel-with-bernard-hickey-and-tayyaba-khan-part-1

https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/2018687295/the-panel-with-bernard-hickey-and-tayyaba-khan-part-2

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mimi's picture

@janis b @janis b
part one of the panel

part two of the panel

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janis b's picture

@mimi

which was unusual. But I'm glad you saw the link.

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janis b's picture

@janis b

http://werewolf.co.nz/2019/03/gordon-campbell-on-why-the-government-shou...

https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/03/19/on-the-trial-on-the-failure-of-our...

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