The Evening Blues - 4-11-19
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues shouter Jimmy Rushing. Enjoy!
Jimmy Rushing - Going To Chicago
"Instead of discussion and argument, brute force rises up to the rescue of discomfited error, and crushes truth and right into the dust. 'Might makes right,' and hoary folly totters on in her mad career escorted by armies and navies."
-- Adin Ballou
News and Opinion
Julian Assange of WikiLeaks Arrested in London; Faces U.S. Charge Related to Chelsea Manning Leaks
Julian Assange Arrested in London After Ecuador Withdraws Asylum; U.S. Requests Extradition
Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, was arrested on Thursday inside Ecuador’s Embassy in London, where he had lived since 2012 under diplomatic protection. London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement its officers were “invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum.”
From #Assange: The US warrant was issued in December 2017 and is for conspiracy with Chelsea Manning @xychelsea in early 2010.
— Jen Robinson (@suigenerisjen) April 11, 2019
A subsequent police statement confirmed that Assange was “further arrested on behalf of the United States authorities, at 10:53 hrs after his arrival at a central London police station. This is an extradition warrant under Section 73 of the Extradition Act.”
Assange, 47, was then taken from a central London police station to Westminster Magistrates’ Court. The force explained that it acted initially on a warrant issued by that court after Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012, violating bail conditions by not attending a hearing on his attempt to resist extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning on sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him by two women. ...
The judge later found Assange guilty of failing to surrender and scheduled a court appearance for May 2 on the U.S. extradition request.
He says Julian Assange’s behaviour is “the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest”
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) April 11, 2019
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, charged in computer hacking conspiracy. Click here for copy of the indictment: https://t.co/9JItxR6VRX
— U.S. Attorney EDVA (@EDVAnews) April 11, 2019
Julian Assange's lawyer calls his arrest "completely illegal"
Spanish Police Probe Extortion Scheme Involving Surveillance on Assange
A Spanish judge is investigating an alleged extortion scheme in which suspects in Madrid offered video and audio surveillance to the editor of WikiLeaks in exchange for €3 million, WikiLeaks said on Wednesday. The surveillance was taken over the past year inside the Ecuador embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has legally been granted political asylum since 2012, said Kristinn Hrafnsson, the WikiLeaks editor, at a press conference in the British capital. Included in the “trove” of material was a copy of a legal document regarding Assange’s defense strategy that was briefly left behind in a conference room in the embassy, Hrafnsson said.
“It is a grave and serious concern when legal meetings are being spied upon and legal documents are stolen,” he said. “That is something that not even prisoners have to endure.” Assange was also filmed being examined by his doctor in the embassy, Hrafnsson said. “Nobody expected that this was recorded and stored and found its way to some dubious individuals in Spain,” he said.
Jennifer Robinson, Assange’s lawyer, called it a breach of attorney-client privilege. “The documents you have seen [presented at the press conference] demonstrates just how much surveillance he has been under and it is a breach of confidence for us, his lawyers, and his doctors to provide medical care in the embassy,” Robinson said. “This is a severe breach of attorney-client privilege and fundamentally undermines our ability to defend and provide defense to Julian Assange.”
Hrafnsson communicated with the alleged extortioners and was given samples of what they possessed, the WikiLeaks editor said. He then traveled to Spain and secretly videotaped a meeting with “four individuals” in which Hrafnsson learned the extent of the material that they possessed. They told them him that €3 million was “a good deal” as they had had offers of €9 million for the material. Hrafnsson then went to the Spanish police who opened an investigation. He said he knew the identity of one of the four who had a prior conviction on similar charges and was seen as the “ringleader.” ...
“Extortion is a serious matter,” Hrafnsson said, “but of greater concern to me is that this is material gathered by spying by the government of Lenin Moreno and officials who work on his behalf against an individual who was granted diplomatic protection by the Ecuadorian government.” In an apparent reference to Moreno, Hrafnsson said: “We know from reports that this is the work of one person to service the interests of the United States government who want to indict and imprison a publisher for the crime of publishing truthful material.” Robinson said WikiLeaks would file a “fresh complaint” to the UN special rapporteur on privacy rights, who has said he will visit Assange on April 25. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer will also visit Assange that day, WikiLeaks said.
Glenn Greenwald calls Julian Assange’s arrest "a grave threat to press freedoms"
Ending U.S. involvement in Yemen’s civil war is bringing Trump allies and progressives together
President Trump promised to veto a resolution ending U.S. involvement in the brutal Yemen civil war even before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent it to his desk. But a diverse group of lawmakers — including some of the president's strongest allies — think they can convince him to put down the veto pen and sign it into law.
They just have to get a meeting first. ...
“I think there is a part of the president who thinks we’ve been at war too long and in too many places — he’s talked about bringing troops home from Syria, he’s talked about bringing troops home from Afghanistan,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who signed the letter along with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). “They have already disengaged a little bit. They are no longer refueling, so I think we’ve already had an impact, but we’re hoping to have more.” ...
But their Democratic partners aren’t nearly as optimistic as they are.
“I think if we get to the president, we can convince him. The question is whether all of his advisers are going to block it,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), before joining Pelosi for the War Powers Act signing ceremony at the Capitol. “I can’t convince [National Security Advisor John] Bolton. Bolton’s been wrong on every single foreign policy issue for the last 30 years – he’s like the perpetual ghost who haunts American foreign policy.”
Iraq seeks multibillion dollar fee to receive Isis prisoners
Baghdad and Washington are in talks to transfer and place on trial tens of thousands of suspected Isis fighters and their families from detention centres in Syria to prison camps in Iraq, with Iraqi officials seeking a multibillion dollar fee to receive remnants of the terror group captured over five years of war.
Discussions about what to do with Isis members, among them thousands of foreign men, women and children, have been pushed intensively by US officials, who have also lobbied coalition partners to remove their citizens from two cramped detention centres in Syria’s north-east, which one former senior US official described as a “volcano”.
Baghdad has asked for a $10bn (£7.6bn) fee up front, then $1bn per annum to receive the detainees, senior western officials have told the Guardian. The size of the mooted price tag has led some in Washington and London to view it as a rebuff of a US plan, rather than a willingness to take a stake in a politically sensitive and dangerous operation, just as a war-weary Iraq had begun to recover.
Other Iraqi pre-conditions include no access for humanitarian workers to any facilities on Iraqi soil, or objection to the death penalty. Neither is likely to fly with Britain or France, which remain opposed to sending its citizens to countries that carry out executions.
The US state department did not respond to a request for comment. Current and former US officials have said the administration wants to do everything possible to guarantee the security of its Kurdish allies, and to remove the burden of holding the Isis fighters, all while withdrawing US troops from northern Syria. A significant break-out by Isis detainees would undermine the justification for the withdrawal, which the US president, Donald Trump, has insisted must take place.
Fewer Americans want to serve in the military. Cue Pentagon panic
Donald Trump’s three-quarters-of-a-trillion-dollar defense budget request submitted to Congress last month contains a dirty secret, one that should make us all think twice about perpetual war and public support for it.
The youth of America don’t want to serve in the military any more.
The situation has become so dire that just to maintain America’s ground forces – the army and Marine Corps – the two services are resorting to unprecedented pay raises, bonuses and socialist trappings. ... Official military polling shows that fewer and fewer young Americans consider the military as a career or as a transitional step – only some 12.5% – the lowest number in a decade.
In order to attract a sufficient number of those who are able to serve, the Pentagon spends $1.6bn on recruiting. And this year, the army is offering new recruits bonuses of up to $40,000, as well as incentives that include student loan repayments. Those bonuses have been markedly increasing. In 2013, the army spent $121m on sign-up bonuses, a number that more than doubled to $290m in 2017. The final numbers aren’t in for 2018, but the estimate is that the number will be closer to $600m, doubling the bonuses again in a single year. ...
These sweeteners are all required even though nearly three-fifths of service members and their families have at least two other immediate family members who serve or have served in the military, according to a survey by Blue Star Families, a non-profit founded by military spouses in 2009. But even that pool of “legacy” recruits is dwindling. The 2017 Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey shows that a growing number of military families are no longer willing to recommend that their children join the service.
Wow, India has figured out something important that has utterly eluded the morons that run U.S. elections - a verifiable paper trail.
India election 2019: nearly a billion people begin marathon vote to decide Modi's fate
The world’s largest-ever election has started in India, with voters in more than 20 states casting their ballots in the first phase of the country’s marathon six-week polls.
The contest in the vast country of 1.3 billion people is dominated by local issues but also viewed as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a staunch Hindu nationalist who rode a wave of popularity five years ago to become the first leader of a majority government in decades.
Polls are now open in more than 90 seats, about a sixth of the total in the Indian parliament’s lower house, with six more voting days to be held before the results are announced on 23 May. ...
India’s phased election process allows federal security personnel to be shuttled around the country to secure the integrity of a contest involving up to 900 million eligible voters, more than the next five largest democracies combined.
Voters will make their choice using machines that display a paper record of their selection that is then stored in an attached locked box. Their fingers are marked with indelible ink to prevent anyone voting twice. Symbols and pictures are displayed next to candidate’s names to aid the country’s estimated 266 million illiterate citizens.
Brex-what? Episode 6: Help! What is a customs union?
Theresa May agrees to October Brexit as Donald Tusk warns UK 'don't waste this time'
Britain will remain as a member state of the EU until 31 October, with the option to leave earlier if Theresa May can secure Commons support for the Brexit deal, after a Franco-German carve-up of the UK’s future. A marathon six-hour debate among the EU leaders concluded with the prime minister being offered a longer extension than she had sought but providing a new autumn no deal cliff-edge to focus minds in Westminster.
“This extension is as flexible as I expected and a little bit shorter than I expected but it is still enough to find the best possible solution”, the European council president, Donald Tusk, told a media conference that began after 2am local time. He said of the extra six months of EU membership. “Please do not waste this time”. The EU would also hold a symbolic June summit to review the UK’s behaviour as a member state following an outspoken intervention by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, about the need to avoid a “rogue” Britain undermining the European project.
Speaking afterwards, Theresa May repeatedly ducked questions about her future as prime minister, after having previously said she would not accept an extension beyond 30 June. ... May also once again blamed MPs for being the cause of public frustration over the failure to implement Brexit. ...
The compromise autumn date was carved out after the EU’s Franco-German engine found itself divided over how to deal with Britain’s political crisis. A senior EU source described it as “26 to one”. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, had clashed with Macron, both over Berlin’s insistence that May’s government can be trusted, and that a no-deal scenario should not be risked by offering up only a short delay such as one ending on 30 June, as requested by the British prime minister.
Republicans falsely claim Ilhan Omar denied 9/11 attackers were terrorists
A Republican congressman has spread false allegations that the US representative Ilhan Omar denied the September 11 hijackers were terrorists, as part of a new wave of abuse directed at her by some conservatives. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas shared a tweet falsely reporting that Omar had said she “does not consider [September 11] a terrorist attack on the USA by terrorists”, while accusing the Minnesota congresswoman of playing down the attack.
Crenshaw was responding to a short video clip of a speech given by Omar in California last month, when she complained that all Muslims suffered the consequences of the actions by a small group of them on 11 September 2001, when al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four passenger jets and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building outside Washington, while one crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Crenshaw was joined by Ronna McDaniel, the Republican party chairwoman, who claimed Omar had shown she was “anti-American”, and the Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, who questioned Omar’s loyalty to the US during a broadcast on Wednesday morning.
Omar described the attacks against her as “dangerous incitement” and urged colleagues to condemn them. She said: “My love and commitment to our country and that of my colleagues should never be in question. We are ALL Americans!”
Amid Wave of Anti-Choice Laws, Texas GOP Holds Public Hearing on Putting Women to Death for Obtaining Abortions
A Texas state House committee on Monday night devoted several hours to discussing potentially subjecting women to the death penalty if they obtain abortions.
Apparently seeking to capitalize on a political moment in which states have passed some of the most restrictive anti-choice laws in the country since Roe vs. Wade passed in 1973, the state House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing that stretched into the early morning hours on House Bill 896. The proposed legislation would criminalize abortion in the state without exception and would classify the medical procedure as a homicide—making it possible for women who get abortion care to be executed by the state.
Republican state Rep. Tony Tinderholt introduced the bill, saying it would make women more "personally responsible."
The proposal includes a specific attack on Roe vs. Wade, noting that state officials would be required to treat abortion as a crime "regardless of any contrary federal law, executive order, or court decision."
With opposition even from the anti-choice group Texans for Life and with the committee reportedly reluctant to send the bill to the full House, H.B. 896 is currently unlikely to become law in Texas. But women's rights advocates expressed shock and outrage that the bill was given the state's first-ever public hearing on a proposal to classify women as criminals for obtaining abortions.
Steve Mnuchin: Treasury will not comply with deadline to release Trump's tax returns
The US Treasury Department will not comply with a deadline set by Democratic legislators to hand over Donald Trump’s tax returns, the secretary of the treasury Steve Mnuchin announced.
“The committee requests the materials by April 10, but the treasury department will not complete its review of your request by that date,” Mnuchin wrote in a letter to Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal.
In his letter, Mnuchin cited concerns over “an abuse of authority” and wrote that the law cited in Neal’s request could not be used “for purposes of embarrassing or attacking political figures of another party”.
Emphasizing the political weight of the request, he added that the department is seeking counsel from the department of justice “to ensure that our response is fully consistent with the law and the Constitution”.
California moves closer to passing country's strictest law on police shootings
California lawmakers have advanced legislation that would be the strictest measure in the US limiting when police can use deadly force. The bill would allow officers to use lethal force only when there is no reasonable alternative. Supporters say the measure would save lives by pushing offers to use de-escalation tactics, which could curb unnecessary killings that disproportionately affect black Americans. ...
The Democratic assemblywoman Shirley Weber of San Diego said: “It’s time to make clear that the sanctity of human life is policing’s highest priority,” adding later that her proposal “is designed to change the culture of policing in California”. California police kill people at a rate 37% higher than the national average per capita, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which supports the legislation. Police in the state killed 172 people in 2017, more than two-thirds of whom were people of color.
Police in Kern county, California, killed more people per capita than in any other American county in 2015, a Guardian investigation found.
Weber’s measure got party-line support. But it faces a tough fight in the full assembly. ...
The two Republicans on Tuesday’s panel opposed the measure they said could make officers hesitate for a fatal second if they have to consider alternatives to lethal force. Law enforcement groups are supporting a radically different legislative plan to curb deadly shootings, which would require that every department have policies on when officers should use de-escalation tactics and other alternatives to deadly force.
Bernie’s latest Medicare for All bill has a key difference from his last one
Sen. Bernie Sanders (along with a handful of other 2020 Democrats) introduced a new Medicare for All bill Wednesday morning that has a key difference from his last single-payer bill.
The 2019 bill would ensure that Medicare for All includes benefits for at-home long-term care for people with chronic illnesses or disabilities. It’s a significant expansion of previous Medicare for All efforts, which have been pushed in Congress for decades. Medicare, as it exists, does not cover long-term care, which includes nursing homes and home-based assisted living. Sanders’ plan doesn’t come with a price tag, although the inclusion of long-term care will likely raise the cost for single-payer healthcare, which could reach as high as $30 trillion over a decade, although that’s contested. ...
Sanders’ bill also maintains its four-year timeline for implementing Medicare for All, unlike a separate, more aggressive Medicare for All bill introduced in the House by Rep. Pramila Jayapal in February, which called for a 2-year implementation. ... Sanders’ 2019, however, bill will still functionally eliminate the private insurance industry by outlawing private insurers from offering coverage already provided in the sweeping legislation.
Breaking: Tulsi Makes Debate Stage!
Fiscally-conservative Democrats have declared war on the Green New Deal
Utah representative Ben McAdams, a Democrat, warned ominously this week that a “day of reckoning is coming”. It’s the kind of sober language typically used to describe a climate crisis which – if we continue on with business as usual – could end human civilization as we know it. McAdams, though, was describing a decidedly less grave threat, if it can be considered a threat at all: the federal deficit. He and 26 other members of the so-called Blue Dog Coalition – centrist and fiscally-conservative Democrats – are pushing for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the federal government from running a deficit if there isn’t a war or recession happening. Social security and Medicare would be spared from the brutal spending cuts the amendment would bring about ... but that’s it.
At a time when scientists are calling for governments to adopt a “wartime footing” to address the existential threat of climate change, the proposal isn’t just a stupid play into Republican hands. It’s climate denial.
McAdams’ proposal emerged after a lengthy fight between those so-called moderate Democrats and the 90 member Congressional Progressive Caucus over a proposed budget measure, which House Democratic leadership moved to cancel a vote on Tuesday afternoon amidst rising tensions. Progressive wanted more domestic spending and less for our already bloated military. Moderates – radically – want to curb spending overall.
And for what? There’s nothing inherently dangerous about a growing deficit; vigilante bondholders are not going to come knocking on America’s door threatening our sovereignty. And a country that issues debt in its own currency like the US is never going to face the kind of sadistic punishment the Troika visited upon Greece several years back. Deficits do matter, of course. But what’s important isn’t their dollar value. It’s whether the things that public money is pouring into are actually putting the economy on a stronger footing. ...
Centrist Democrats, meanwhile, paint themselves as the fiscally responsible wing of their party out to curb waste on both sides of the aisle. Yet what’s so responsible about kneecapping the government’s ability to avert $32bn worth of infrastructure damage, $118bn from sea level rise and $141bn in costs due to heat related illness, according to the National Climate Assessment? If there were some foreign invader threatening to inflict this much damage on the US, neither conservative Democrats nor Republicans would bat an eye before throwing as many resources as possible toward fighting them off. Because the threat is posed by climate change – and these politicians’ fossil fuel executive donors – their response has ranged instead from indifference to outright denial. They may not all quibble with the scientific consensus on global warming, but they’re doing everything they can to sabotage reasonable responses to it.
Vehicle pollution 'results in 4m child asthma cases a year'
Four million children develop asthma every year as a result of air pollution from cars and trucks, equivalent to 11,000 new cases a day, a landmark study has found.
Most of the new cases occur in places where pollution levels are already below the World Health Organization limit, suggesting toxic air is even more harmful than thought.
The damage to children’s health is not limited to China and India, where pollution levels are particularly high. In UK and Australian cities, the researchers blame traffic pollution for three-quarters of all new childhood asthma cases.
Canada has the third highest rate of new traffic-related asthma cases among the 194 nations analysed, while Los Angeles and New York City are in the top 10 worst cities out of the 125 assessed. Children are especially vulnerable to toxic air and exposure is also known to leave them with stunted lungs.
The research, published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, is the first global assessment of the impact of traffic fumes on childhood asthma based on high-resolution pollution data.
Instagrammers are killing this field of poppies
"Yet Another Handout to the Dirty Fossil Fuel Industry"
Donald Trump's war on the environment will continue Wednesday as the president aims to make it easier to build pipelines—angering environmental groups.
An executive order designed to loosen regulations around pipeline construction and ensure the country continues to rely on fossil fuels for its energy needs is expected to be announced by the president during a visit to Texas Wednesday.
The order will allow Trump—and any of his successors—to be the decider on pipeline project approvals, currently the responsibility of the secretary of state due to the cross-border nature of the infrastructure.
Trump is also expected to announce an executive order streamlining the permitting process for infrastructure projects, a thorn in the side of energy giants that are frequently stymied by state resistance.
"So much for the virtues of federalism," said Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell.
hat tip studentofearth:
FL Senate gives right to grow veggies in the front yard a green thumbs up
The Florida Senate Thursday affirmed the right of green thumbs statewide to grow vegetable gardens in their front yards. ... Sen. Rob Bradley’s SB 82 prohibits a county or municipality from regulating vegetable gardens on residential properties, voiding any current regulations regarding the produce patches. ...
Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican, filed a similar bill that passed during last year’s session, but the clock ran out and a House version was never filed. Lucky for garden enthusiasts, Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff, R-DeLand, has filed the House version (HB 145), which is identical in language. Her bill has passed through two of its committee stops, and has yet to be scheduled for a third.
The vegetable garden proposal is rooted in a legal dispute about an ordinance in Miami Shores that banned the gardens from being planted in front yards. Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll, who ate from their vegetable garden for 17 years, sued the village. In November 2017, an appeals court upheld a ruling that the couple does not have a constitutional right to grow vegetables in their front yard. They appealed the ruling to the Florida Supreme Court, which declined to grant review.
Ricketts and Carroll faced $50 in daily fines after the village amended its ordinance in 2013. They had to dig up their garden – which can’t grow in their backyard because of a lack of sun. ...
The bill only preempts local government rules, not rules or gardening restrictions set by homeowners associations or other groups.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Inside the webchats the US hopes will get Assange behind bars
Neoliberalism promised freedom – instead it delivers stifling control
'How Will You Pay for It?' Bernie Sanders Tackles Key Question on Medicare for All
The song remains the same, despite the failure to launch:
Pence says US wants Maduro out and ‘all options’ on table
America's Coup Efforts in Venezuela Enter Frightening New Phase
John Bolton Took Money From Banks Tied To Cartels, Terrorists, Iran
Trying To Change The System From Within Is Like Trying To Dry Your Hair With Rain
300+ Groups to Congress: #GreenNewDeal 'Must Transform Our Food System and Revitalize Rural America'
Julián Castro Got Off Easy for Ethics Trouble in the Last Presidential Campaign
New species of ancient human discovered in Philippines cave
A Little Night Music
Jimmy Rushing - Good Morning Blues
Jimmy Rushing w/Count Basie - I Left My Baby
Jimmy Rushing w Dizzie Gillespie Quintet - Blues After Dark
Jimmy Rushing - I Want A LIttle Girl
Jimmy Rushing w/Count Basie - Take Me Back Baby
Dave Brubeck And Jimmy Rushing - Evenin'
Jimmy Rushing - Mr. Five by Five
Jimmy Rushing - Everyday I Have the Blues
Jimmy Rushing - Clothes Pin Blues
Jimmy Rushing and Billy Taylor - Boogie Woogie
Comments
Of course Julian Castro gets away with it
Accountability doesn't apply to Clinton surrogates. And as usual, we can count on Barack Obama for a disappointing (although not surprising) reaction.
I weep for Assange, but am utterly devastated about
the First Amendment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._United_States
And for civilization: The UK should itself have given him asylum, instead of guarding the embassy 24/7 for years lest he step out of it without being arrested by our accomplice nation.
BTW, just how many men does it take to manhandle one thin man who has barely been in the sun in years?
And, I know you, my friends, all remember that this was not a Trump administration initiative.
The alleged Constitutional lawyer (actually, lecturer on civil rights) I was once so relieved to have succeed Bush, who seemed to flaunt the Constitution, promised the most transparent administration ever, but delivered the least transparent administration ever. Additionally, his administration was repeatedly antagonistic to the First Amendment, from wiretapping reporters to learn their sources to attempting to define, through quisling Feinstein, "publisher" to include mainstream sources. (If you want to make me guffaw, claim that was Holder, head of the allegedly independent D of J and Difi acting alone, not Obama.) The D of J itself concluded that
p rosecutionpersecution posed a grave threat to the First Amendment--a vast understatement--but they did it anyway.https://theintercept.com/2018/11/16/as-the-obama-doj-concluded-prosecuti...
https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Obama-Feinstein-oppose-prosecutio...
And, yes, Trump, Sessions and Barr continued the wrong begun against Asange by Obama and Holder. Then again, Trump did not claim to be a Constitutional expert.
I can't find it online quickly now, but it was publicized at the time: Short after taking office, Obama put a chart of government up with the Constitution of the United States at the very top. The President during whose administration, prisoners at Gitmo continued to be held after the US itself found them innocent, the administration that force fed Gitmo prisoners. The adminis---
Ah, why bother.
It's beyond words, HenryAWallace
I couldn't watch the arrest video. I'm grieving because of this news. Thinking about the scope of repercussions that Julian Assange is facing makes my pulse race. Even though I knew intellectually that this day would come, emotionally I'm in shock and feeling crushed. Shame on so many.
I made myself watch it.
And I won't forget it.
I've seen enough lies over the years to know that you must always remember the first day. You must always remember how you felt that day. Because if you don't, TPTB will make you doubt your memory.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
evening le frog...
accountability is only for the "little people," as leona helmsley called us.
her statement of that plain fact caused something of a minor uproar of consternation back then, but now, the "queen of mean's" class don't give a damn who knows.
I love this man.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Tulsi said that the arrest of Assange was a warning to
journalists everywhere. Something like that. It's a good first step IMO, but I'm hoping that she goes farther. So far Bernie hasn't made any statements on it and the longer he goes without saying anything the worse it's going to look.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
evening snoopy...
it'll be interesting to see how many of our political class stand up for the first amendment. my bet is not too many, but i'd love to be wrong.
Still waiting for Bernie.
Several Berners are starting to comment on the fact that Bernie is crickets on Assange. It isn't going over well.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I'm sure Bernie is considering his response very carefully
Assange poses a political minefield.
The Hillarittes et al are just waiting to jump all over Bernie for supporting Assange's doxxing of Turkish women even if that's not what the arrest was about:
See: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wikileaks-erdogan-emails_b_11158792
Don't forget, too, that if Bernie miraculously wins the nomination, he'll have to also get the support of Hillary supporters who are rather fanatically anti-Assange for other reasons we know all too well.
Politics. It's ugly.
I think she did go further ...
listen in at this CNN interview.
This CNN interview was embedded in Mark from Queens comment
I have difficulties to embed it here. But I do think Gabbard went further than only relating this to the dangers of for the freedom of speech for journalists.
https://www.euronews.com/live
evening dk...
yep, he's right about more things than most politicians. i hope he starts getting real traction.
Here's Tulsi's tweet
It's a good start, but I hope she takes it further than that.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Good evening Joe a dark day in the countries history
https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Assange did not even dissent! This vendetta resulted from
wikileaks' publication, without more, of data stolen by Chelsea Manning--and Obama commuted her sentence!
Justice Black, writing for the majority of the Supreme Court of the United States New York Times Co. v. United States, decided in 1971.
opinion online at https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17571244799664973711&q=Unit...
In the interests of accuracy and full disclosure, I point out that the government sought to prevent the New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers, which Daniel Ellsberg had stolen, because the material was classified. (Whether it should have been classified is another issue, but, IMO, no, it should not have been.) IOW, the government was seeking a prior restraint, as the colonial government had sought against Peter Zenger, Zenger's case having been a direct influence on the First Amendment.
Of course, attributing the First Amendment to the Framers is generous. It was not in the document that the Framers circulated to the colonies/states for ratification. However, the people, referred to by the Framers disdainfully during the Constitutional Convention, and the various legislatures ratified the document circulated by the Framers, but demanded addition of the Bill of Rights ASAP. And the Bill of Rights was ratified six months later. I rather imagine that the Framers were mindful that the same people who were demanding a Bill of Rights, not unlike that nominally granted by King John to English barons in 1250 C.E. had just overthrown a government that didn't think it needed to take their complaints seriously.
I have little doubt that, had the people of the US demanded a Bill of Rights been today, Congress not only would have ignored them, but many would be imprisoned for terrorism, if not treason.
Grrrrr.
BTW, in light of dkmich's post, I add that this was the case involving the Pentagon Papers, which the government did not want the NYT (or anyone) to publish--the Pentagon Papers that Mike Gravel read into the Congressional Record, resulting in this case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravel_v._United_States
evening ggersh...
indeed it is a dark day. tyrants came after the first amendment and the fourth estate refused to even bleat out the mildest of protest.
it's just a damned piece of paper.
So the corporate news
entities that published some of Assange's work are free as birds and not smeared by UK judges, other corporate news outlets, or other various Riff-raff? Hmm, funny that.
Chris Hedges lays it out as he does so well: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-martyrdom-of-julian-assange/
evening randtntx...
tyrants have no need to attack a self-subjugating press that will also very soon, to a degree much greater than in the past be a self-censoring press, too.
it is only needed to hunt down and subjugate the occasional rebellious outlier who has some strange fascination for truth.
Funny thing, those military "Legacies?"
We haven't stopped imparting the discipline and training. We haven't stopped inspiring a love of country and hatred of war. We just understand that if we send our kids to the military, they will be changed exactly the way we were. And we no longer LIKE that.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmfldx6ToYU]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
evening dmw...
yep, my dad and all his brothers went to fight in wwii. when my brother was appalled at what the government was doing in vietnam and did not wish to accept uncle's generous invitation, my dad and he had many discussions about it. it took awhile, but my dad came to realize that the war was not as advertised. if he were alive today, i am pretty sure that he wouldn't want his grandkids to have anything to do with the current crop of wars.
I never frigging sent my kid into the military
(edited my comment to a little less vulgar wording, hopefull)
some f**ling recruiter used his gullibility and convinced him that this would be only solution to his problem not knowing how to pay for college.
And I was so desperate that I didn't resist my son's decision to sign up, because it was the first he actually made on his own. (if you can say it that way, after all the persuasional bribery by the recruiter, it wasn't really his own)
Never again.
PS: Don't forget, I am German, and being against military deployments was ingrained in my upbringing, as Uncle Sam and other wwII allies made sure anyhow, that we Germans could not fight again. So, whatever.
I could bite myself in my non-existing tail for doubting my own feelings. You said it right when you said one should always listen to your first feelings, because the powers there in the MIC and NSA and Co. make you doubt your own feelings.Psy-op. Apparently that is what happened with me. oh shit.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Thinking about how LONG a person has to be conditioned
to be able to fight and kill others... it's scary how much effort the MIC and TPTB are willing to put towards it. The glorification of the military, violence and the constant drumbeat that once you blow up the enemy's base the war is OVER.
Anybody who's ever disturbed a wasp nest knows that isn't true. Of course, the people making the decisions seem to never have learned that lesson. Probably because they bribed some other dumb kid to do it for them when they were young.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Good evening, joe and bluzerz!
So much is going down. They’ve come for Assange. We hoped they would, we knew they would. If they’re successful, who will be next?
They’re coming for the wimmens. Gonna criminalize you. First we’ll get you on abortion...
They’re coming for the kids. Enticing them with $40,000 signing bonuses, they go buy that car for cash that they only get to enjoy driving it home. Then they’re off to war and, perhaps, death, but certainly PTSD that will impact everyone, eventually.
Parents, don’t let your children grow up to be soldiers.
The wind is horrific here. Second day. Temperature was 82 on Tuesday. It’s 48 here, but the wind chill is biting.
Have a warm evening, everyone!
"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
evening ra...
eventually the tyrants will figure out a way to get their cannon fodder cheaper. they always do.
it has been warming up here, too. we got up to the high 70's a few days ago and it's been very springlike since then. i haven't heard the furnace come on in a while. yay!
have a good evening!
"We hoped they would" ...come for Assange?
I don't understand this sentence. Who is we here?
I never hoped they would come for Assange.
Confused.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Correction fluid
I probably shouldn't speak for RA, but in this case I will ... as I read fluent typo-ese. Anyway, pretty sure RA meant to say, "We hoped they wouldn't, we knew they would."
Everybody's been pretty upset today; easy to miss a typo.
thank you, I often have difficulties
to understand, be it language wise or lingo wise or snarky wise or even as you just showed me typo-wise.
I apprediate your hint and apologize to Raggedy Ann for missing that sort of explanation.
https://www.euronews.com/live
This is what the assholes who are cheering Julian's arrest
are missing.
The way that they framed the reason for his arrest is how they think they can get around it being a first amendment issue. People see right through this and knows damn well why he was.
Love the way the article on the BBA ends. If another country threatened us like climate change is there would be plenty of money for that.. .
I'm not surprised that Adams is republican lite. This is the only way a democrat could get elected in Utah
.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
evening snoopy...
yep, there's endless money to kill people, but saving citizens lives has to be weighed in a cost-benefit calculation. hey, we are living in libertopia after all!
Assange's arrest puts paid to the notion
that western governments treasure a free press, an issue they regularly berate others with.
Power and lies. Same as it's ever been.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
evening bollox...
this is not my beautiful freedom. same as it ever was.
Says 500K per year Greenwald
who just lied about Snowden's stash and works for a crooked billionaire. I'd say he's a hypocrite of the first order.
(not trying to offend anyone here and no one needs to reply to this, just a place to make a comment).
evening al...
i'd say the guy with the middle-management salary writes a bunch of things that i find compelling. i am not pleased with what has happened with the snowden documents. i'd be quite interested to know more from the horse's mouth about why the project has been discontinued. on the other hand, as i understand it there are a number of people who have most of that stash who do not work for the same crooked billionaire that greenwald does who have also failed to do much with them.
oh well. have a great evening.
Like I said,
not trying to offend anyone, just making a comment in an open essay.
not a problem...
i am not offended in the least. i like you. i don't care if we disagree on some things.
How about a jazz funk revolution.
You the man joe.
[video:https://youtu.be/wri1fwwMAqQ]
works for me, al...
Called Greenwald out on Reddit and got cheesed
They don't like being reminded that he's a double-dyed hypocrite who is now crying crocodile tears into his beer about the man he helped slime and smear.
(And this was on WayoftheBern, not any of the pro-Establishment subreddits!) :O
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Two things to be careful of criticizing when political
blogging, depending on the blog, favored politicians and journalists or TV personalities (like Maddow). Many people take it personal.
And as far as WayoftheBern, to me anything democratic party is pro-establishment, that includes Bernie Sanders.
From the timeline article
The thing is that Assange won't get to plead that defense since he will be charged under the espionage act which does not allow one. This is a trial in name only. Ask those who survived being charged under it. This has no place in a free country, but then...
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
The ad hominem fallacy:
Rejecting an argument, not on its own merits, but due to perceived flaws (whether of character or of intellect or of sanity) in the person propounding the argument.
Note that it is a fallacy: That in Western European culture it has been understood, for at least 2500 years, to be epistemologically wrong, the undertaking of knaves and fools. If one indulges in ad hominem argument in serious discourse, one is making a fool of oneself, and directly insulting one's collocutor (regardless of whether the collocutor is the object of the ad hominem).
Just thought I'd mention it.
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.
evening ur...
did i miss something?
have a great evening!
i report
you decide.
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.
Tulsi Gabbard on CNN:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wroVuMHhgK0 width:500 height:300]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
a mostly good appearance. i'm not sure that giving the government's hacking allegations any credence without solid evidence is a good idea. saying that the allegations should be worked out in court seems to me to give too much to the government.
Sometimes the truth comes out in court.
Maybe we'll find out how Wikileaks got the DNC emails.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Thanks, Azazello! Heard this interview while
I was trying to get my 'tax stuff' in order. Thought it was pretty decent. Checked Bernie's Twitter feed, and, didn't see anything. Figure the Fox Town Hall hosts will surely ask him about Assange--hope so.
I'll post the CNN transcript for the interview, next week. (It'll have to wait, since I'll be tied up with taxes for the next several days.)
Mollie
I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Jimmy Rushing really had a
Jimmy Rushing really had a great voice, great technique and nuance in his vocalise.
Sad day in history for what has happened with Assange. Does this mean Russia can issue an extradition warrant for Rachel Maddow, and the rest of the US MSM?
Were truer words than these ever spoken?: "Bolton’s been wrong on every single foreign policy issue for the last 30 years – he’s like the perpetual ghost who haunts American foreign policy.”
Hey maybe if we didn't have wars and bases in 200 places around the world, the pentagon would not need so many warm bodies? Math is not my strongest suit, but at a glance... I don't know how many people they signed up for $600 million (!?!?!?!) in ONE year, but it could not have been 10 million. How much is each guy getting? I don't mind getting up early, I'm a birder. So where do you sign up?
Wow, a verifiable voting paper trail in India. So advanced, so unlike the USA.
Texas pro-lifers will kill you for abortion. That is how pro-life they really are. And like most good conservative Republicans once you leave the fetus stage they could not give less of a shat. Until you are old enough to go fight a war for them.
They just love them poppie fields, to death. Too many people.
Nice to see FL at least might agree one can legally grow a tomato bush in their yard. We are advancing at light speed now.
That last tune Boogie Woogie with Billy Taylor was awesome, so was that Dizzie Gillespie.
Thanks!
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
evening dystopian...
oh, if only...
i believe that they are listed in the yellow pages under "bloodsucking leeches."
they say their god don't like killin' but i ain't seen no evidence o that, and a lot of anecdotes to the contrary.
ew! those unsightly tomahtoes are going to destroy ahr neighborhood.
poor dears.
Hola, Joe & Gang! Will have to address
the Medigap reform early next week, 'cause it was just earlier today that I started working on taxes--and, I'm only talking about "organizing" the financial records/material that I'll have to work off. Hate to admit it, but, I almost forgot about doing them. (That's what I get for buying the tax program early, I guess. And, getting old.
)
Found the 'white paper' on financing the 2017 Medicare For All Act (Bernie's). Next week I'll link to it, and to the one he submitted with his 2019 Bill. Looks like they failed to take into account that tax law has changed, since both the 2017 and the 2019 show a Deduction of $29,000, in both illustrations.
(think the standard deduction has dropped about $5,000, but, I'll need to double check that--except for aged/elderly and blind or disabled folks, don't think there are any personal exemptions, allowed)
Anyhoo, I'll furnish those links, when I go on my Medigap rant next week.
Hey, gotta run the Pup out, before I get back to sorting receipts, etc. Today was the warmest day this season, which was odd, since I've seen weather reports about severe cold and/or snow in several states. Guess that's why rain's coming in for a couple days.
Thanks for tonight's News & Blues, Joe. If I'm able to get a good bit behind me (on taxes) by early tomorrow evening, I'll see you Guys tomorrow. If not, see you early next week.
Everyone have a nice evening!
Mollie
I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
yep, i'm stuck in taxland, too. yuk.
best of luck to you. have a good walk, give the pup a few scritches for me!
Not just another day
While I don't often get to the EB early enough to post in a timely fashion, I try to read it all and the associated comments. The music is always a plus. But, today I'm so depressed over the atrocities being committed against Assange and the utter failure of the media's duty to report the truth that I just couldn't listen.
Sorry.
I'm grateful you're here putting in the work, Joe. I don't know how you do it ... especially today.
afternoon traveller...
yeah, somedays reading the news is a tough slog and draining on the emotions. the arrest of assange and the presentation of an extradition demand from the u.s. government is making me wonder if there's any scotch left under the sink.
I liked your musical offerings and the
article about the front yard gardening made my day. My son told me about this crazy law and got upset about a long time ago. So, it's on the way to him. May be it makes him smile. Aside from that he has a side yard garden on a big lot with permission of a kind landlord. There is always a way if you want one ...
FL Senate gives right to grow veggies in the front yard a green thumbs up
https://www.euronews.com/live
afternoon mimi...
glad that you found something cheerful in the news today.
have a great evening!
I had to find some news that cheered me up ...
and in case you really need the scotch under the sink to be refilled, I would be willing to fed ex you some, though that is completely against my principles.
We need you to stay sober and emotionally healthy. And you should know how important your work is to all of us.
Tomorrow is another day.
https://www.euronews.com/live