The Evening Blues - 8-7-19
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues guitarist best known as one of James Brown's sidemen Jimmy Nolen. Enjoy!
Jimmy Nolen - The Way You Do
"Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities."
-- Pope Francis
News and Opinion
FBI Agents Are Begging Congress to Finally Do Something About Domestic Terrorism
The FBI Agents Association is fed up with the limitations of federal terrorism laws and wants Congress to do something about it. In a statement released Tuesday, the association’s president Brian O’Hare underscored the threat of domestic terrorism in light of two mass shootings over the weekend — one at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and another outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, that left a combined total of 31 dead. But there’s currently no explicit domestic terrorism statute in the U.S. ...
The gap in federal law means that when self-radicalized Americans target undocumented immigrants shopping at Walmart, Jews gathered at their local synagogue for Saturday prayers, or black worshippers at a Bible study session, their actions are prosecuted as hate crimes, not terrorism. ... Modern counterterrorism infrastructure in the U.S. was built post-9/11 to fight against the threat of foreign terror groups. The 2001 Patriot Act created a legal definition of “domestic terrorism” but that particular crime doesn’t exist under the federal penal code, except in a handful of narrow circumstances. ...
If Congress were to make domestic terrorism a federal crime, prosecutors could go after would-be terrorists with the “material support statute,” which currently criminalizes the act of plotting a terror attack in the name of, for example, white supremacy. Proponents of the idea say that such a law would also establish a moral equivalence between white supremacist terror and terror by groups like Al Qaeda. But others have warned that a domestic terror law could open the door to First Amendment abuses.
Trump uses "NRA talking points" after Texas and Ohio massacres
New York Times changes front-page Trump headline after backlash
The New York Times was forced to change its front-page headline for Tuesday’s newspaper amid an intense backlash over its portrayal of Donald Trump’s statement on the twin mass shootings that left 31 people dead.
The original headline read “TRUMP URGES UNITY VS RACISM”. Many people complained that the wording fed Trump’s claims that those who criticised his persistent anti-immigrant rhetoric – some of which was parroted in the El Paso gunman’s alleged manifesto – were playing politics.
Let this front page serve as a reminder of how white supremacy is aided by - and often relies upon - the cowardice of mainstream institutions. https://t.co/ynjgtT66yI
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 6, 2019
House Democrats Demand Pelosi Bring Them Back to D.C. to Address White Supremacy
Some House Democrats are frustrated members aren’t moving fast enough to address white supremacy and domestic terrorism — and they’re pressuring Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring the House of Representatives back to Washington.
Freshman Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) are circulating a letter calling for both the Senate and the House to come back to Washington and cancel their district-work period in the wake of the massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, to work on domestic terrorism and gun control measures. The El Paso shootings took place in Escobar’s district. ...
As of Tuesday afternoon, 48 members of Congress had signed on, and more might join before it’s sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The current list spans the ideological spectrum of House Democrats, from moderates like Reps. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) to progressives, including three members of “The Squad,” Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)
Pelosi told members on Monday that it was unlikely the full House would come back during its August recess to work on legislation. ... Pelosi strongly suggested on the call that the House wouldn’t come back and that lawmakers should instead focus on blaming the Senate for inaction.
Trump to launch crackdown on violent video games after mass shootings
Video games are partly to blame for mass shootings, Donald Trump has said. Games that "celebrate violence" should be discouraged and made harder to buy, the president suggested. "We must stop the glorification of violence in our society," he said during a speech in the wake of a spate of shootings. "This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace.
"It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this, and it has to begin immediately."
The president did not give any details on what form that crackdown might take or how it would be launched.
White supremacist terror against Mexicans has deep roots
Countries Issue Travel Safety Warnings for United States
While President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have spent the past several years claiming foreign migrants and refugees pose a threat to Americans, a pair of massacres in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio over the weekend has compelled two Latin American countries to warn their own citizens of the travel dangers lurking in the United States.
The foreign ministries of Venezuela and Uruguay issued urgent warnings to people in their countries who may travel to the U.S. following the deaths of 31 people in the two mass shootings. Both countries informed their citizens of the "indiscriminate possession" of guns by the U.S. population and the refusal of the federal government to address the problem.
Travelers from Uruguay were specifically urged to "take precaution amid the growing indiscriminatory violence, specifically hate crimes including racism and discrimination," following the shooting deaths of 22 people in El Paso on Saturday by an accused gunman who reportedly posted an anti-immigrant, white supremacist manifesto online minutes before the attack. The foreign ministry listed several crowded public venues which could pose a threat to travelers: "theme parks, shopping centers, festivals, religious events, gastronomic fairs and any kind of cultural or sporting events." ...
In Detroit on Sunday, the Japanese Consul also alerted Japanese nationals with plans to travel to the U.S. that they "should be aware of the potential for gunfire incidents everywhere in the United States," according to the Los Angeles Times. ...
An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday condemned the United States' "white nationalist terrorism crisis." The Argentinian newspaper Clarín reported "another massacre in the U.S." on Saturday, while the Dutch publication Algemeen Dagblad published a graphic explaining to readers that while the Netherlands is known for having more bicycles than people, the U.S. has more guns than people.
: More bikes than people
: More guns than people.
Telling graphic from Dutch paper @ADnl pic.twitter.com/8ZNpoWdWWI— Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) August 6, 2019
UN warns Italy over law fining migrant rescue ships up to €1 million
Australia Won't Host US Missile Site
Australian officials confirmed Monday that their country will not be used as a base for any planned U.S. mid-range missiles following talks with American officials in Sydney.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at last weekend's meetings that he wanted to deploy intermediate range conventional missiles at various Asia-Pacific sites within months.
The move follows the Trump administration's withdrawal from a Cold War-era arms control treaty with Russia. It also comes in the wake of Chinese military expansion in the Asia-Pacific, and is likely to anger Beijing.
Australian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds said Monday that while the locations for the missile bases were not yet known, Australia would not be one of them. She said Esper made no such request, and no such request was expected from the U.S.
Syrian Rebels Ready to Join Turkish Invasion of Syrian Kurdistan
After years of the US arming and supporting the various Syrian rebels,
they could quickly become a big problem, and a heavily armed enemy, as
the rebel commanders say they are ready to join Turkey’s oft-threatened invasion of Syrian Kurdistan.The US has opposed a Turkish invasion of this area, and has kept American ground troops there to try to deter Turkey. Turkey has made clear they intend to ultimately carry this operation out, however, and they’ll have some 14,000 rebels with them.
Hong Kong’s peace prospects recede amid teargas and smoke
Over the last few weeks, protesters in Hong Kong have taken to spraypainting traffic barriers, bridges, police stations and more with the words: “If we burn, you burn with us.” On Monday, much of the city burned under clouds of teargas, hails of rubber bullets, and fires lit by angry protesters facing off against riot police. Protesters and a group of men brawled on the street, hitting each other with wooden rods and traffic cones. In another neighbourhood, two people were knifed. Three cars rammed through crowds of protesters, injuring one person.
After nine weeks of protests, demonstrators and the local government, backed by Beijing, find themselves in a stalemate where the possibility of a peaceful resolution has become more and more unlikely. ... Protesters, incensed by the police tactics and the government’s continued lack of response, are undeterred by such increasingly harsh measures. Some are adopting more extreme, violent tactics – taunting the police, defacing emblems of China’s sovereignty over Hong Kong, throwing bricks and petrol bombs. Protesters call it the “scorched earth” policy, that in order to compel authorities to pay attention a price must be paid – whether that is in the form of heavy criminal charges, getting repeatedly hit by teargas, or damaged job prospects if the Hong Kong economy suffers from political unrest.
“I don’t think the government is willing to give ground and there’s no indication that the protesters are willing to settle,” said Adam Ni, a China researcher at Macquarie University in Australia. Ni believes the protests will continue to escalate, growing more violent, until another inflection point is reached – probably the death or serious injury of a protester, police officer or bystander. “Without the government giving in to demands of the people on the street, I don’t see that the protests will end peacefully,” he said.
Honduran protesters call for president to resign in wake of drug money accusations
'It will not work': experts question Venezuela sanctions as Bolton touts them
US national security adviser, John Bolton, has insisted Venezuela’s “tired dictator” was at “the end of his rope”, as he opened another front in the White House’s economic blitz on Nicolás Maduro by freezing all Venezuelan government assets in the United States.
Addressing a summit on Venezuela’s crisis in Peru’s capital, Lima, Bolton pronounced Maduro’s “dying regime” doomed – even though a seven-month US-backed campaign has so far failed to topple Hugo Chávez’s authoritarian successor. ...
“The time for dialogue is over. Now is the time for action,” Bolton declared, spurning Norway-sponsored negotiations that have been taking place between representatives of Maduro and his US-backed challenger, Juan Guaidó.
But experts questioned the impact and wisdom of the measures, which Maduro’s administration and its Russian backers branded “economic terrorism”. Some fear the latest sanctions will further aggravate an already dire humanitarian situation which has already forced millions to flee Venezuela, while others believe they will alienate Guaidó’s European backers who believe a negotiated solution is possible.
'If US can’t use force – it makes people suffer’ – Aaron Maté on Venezuela
UK too desperate to secure US trade deal, says Clinton's treasury secretary
The former US treasury secretary Larry Summers has said he does not believe that a “desperate” UK would manage to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with Washington, as Dominic Raab, the new foreign secretary, heads to the US to scope out the potential for such an agreement.
Summers, who was a senior official under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said the UK was in a weak position when it came to negotiating with trade partners.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday: “Britain has no leverage, Britain is desperate … it needs an agreement very soon. When you have a desperate partner, that’s when you strike the hardest bargain.” ...
“Britain has much less to give than Europe as a whole did, therefore less reason for the United States to make concessions,” he said. “You make more concessions dealing with a wealthy man than you do dealing with a poor man.”
'Another Nail in the Coffin' of Democracy and Journalism as US Newspaper Giants Gannett and GateHouse Announce $1.4 Billion Merger
Members of the press and democracy advocates issued grave warnings about the future of journalism in the United States on Monday after the nation's two largest newspaper publishers unveiled plans for a $1.4 billion merger that, if approved, will spawn an "unprecedented" media conglomerate.
GateHouse Media announced Monday that it will purchase Gannett, which owns USA Today and other major American newspapers. While the media giants touted their commitment to "journalistic excellence" in a press release, the merger announcement came with plans for $300 million in annual budget cuts.
"Not good news for journalism," tweeted New York Times reporter Eric Lipton in response to the planned cuts.
Michael Copps, former FCC commissioner and Common Cause special adviser, said in a statement that the cuts mean "we can expect to see more reporter layoffs and consolidated newsrooms."
According to Common Cause, a "combined GateHouse-Gannett entity would own one in every six newspapers in the nation and control over 100 local news operations."
House Democrats Request Kavanaugh's Concealed Bush Admin Records
Progressive activists and groups praised two House Democrats Tuesday for formally requesting that the National Archives and Records Administration release records related to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's service in the George W. Bush White House which were not part of Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation process last year. "This is big," Brian Fallon, executive director of the advocacy group Demand Justice, tweeted Tuesday. In a statement, he added that "this is a critical first step in conducting the real investigation of Brett Kavanaugh that Senate Republicans prevented from happening." ...
Critics slammed then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)—who oversaw the confirmation hearings—for declining to fight for all the records from Kavanaugh's time in Bush administration. Kavanaugh began working in the White House Counsel's Office in 2001, then served as White House staff secretary from 2003 to 2006.
On Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Chairman Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) sent a letter (pdf) to David S. Ferriero, archivist of the United States, requesting the withheld documents from Kavanaugh's years in the Bush White House. ...
"These documents could prove that Kavanaugh lied under oath to the Senate," Fallon noted. "They may also shed light on his true views on issues like Roe v. Wade, and reveal biases that should disqualify him from hearing abortion-related cases in the future."
Galveston Police Are Very Sorry They Led a Black Man Behind Horses with a Rope
Police in Galveston, Texas, have apologized after officers on horseback led a handcuffed black man through the streets by a rope on Saturday. “We understand the negative perception of this action and believe it is most appropriate to cease the use of this technique,” the Galveston Police Department wrote in a Facebook post Monday night after a photo of the incident circulated on social media.
The man, 43-year-old Donald Neely, was arrested for criminal trespassing near a private property in Galveston, where he’d been warned several times. But instead of waiting for a transport vehicle to take him back to an area where other officers were stationed, two white patrol officers on horseback tied a rope to his handcuffs and made him walk behind their horses for about eight blocks. ...
Such transportation methods aren’t unusual for handling something like crowd control. But in Neely’s case, Galveston Police Chief Vernon Hale said “our officers showed poor judgement” and should’ve waited for vehicle transport. He added it won’t happen again.
Trump campaign sues California over law requiring candidates release tax forms
The Trump campaign and the Republican party sued California over a new law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns to run in the state’s primary.
The lawsuits argue the law violates the US constitution by creating an extra requirement to run for president and deprives citizens of the right to vote for their chosen candidates. The constitution puts just three requirements on presidential candidates: that they are natural born citizens, 35 or older and a US resident for at least 14 years.
California’s law is “a naked political attack against the sitting president of the United States”, the state and national Republican parties argued in one of two lawsuits filed in US district court in Sacramento.
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, argued in its suit that Democrats are “on a crusade to obtain the president’s federal tax returns in the hopes of finding something they can use to harm him politically.”
CNN Progressive Apologizes To Centrists For Winning Ideas
No Billionaires for Bernie: Alone Among Democratic Frontrunners, Sanders Gets No Cash From Wealthiest Americans
Not a single billionaire to date has donated to Sen. Bernie Sanders' run for the 2020 Democratic nomination, according to a new analysis, making him unique among primary frontrunners.
"Zero billionaire donors," wrote Splinter's Paul Blest. "None. Nada."
Number of billionaire donors by candidate:
Pete Buttigieg: 23
Cory Booker: 18
Kamala Harris: 17
Michael Bennett: 15
Joe Biden: 13
John Hickenlooper: 11
Beto O’Rourke: 9
Amy Klobuchar: 8
Bernie Sanders: 0— Luke Savage (@LukewSavage) August 6, 2019
"True to his campaign promise to take on the top one percent," Forbes reporter Giacomo Tognini, who broke the story, wrote, "Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has not received any donations from billionaires."
Tognini's reporting is based on FEC data through August 1 which shows South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg in front of the rest of the field with 23 billionaire donors to date. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) comes in second with 18; Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is in third with 17. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), currently polling at around one percent, is fourth with 15 billionaire donors and former Vice President Joe Biden, the polling front runner, wraps the top five with 13.
Democratic Voters Rank Bernie Sanders as 'Most Qualified' 2020 Candidate to Solve US Healthcare Crisis
Democratic primary voters believe Sen. Bernie Sanders is the most qualified 2020 presidential candidate to accurately diagnose and solve America's systemic healthcare crisis. That's according to a Morning Consult/Politico survey released Tuesday, which found that 25 percent of likely Democratic primary voters believe Sanders, a longstanding supporter of Medicare for All, has a better "understanding of the problems with the U.S. healthcare system" than his 2020 rivals.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who last month released a public option plan that would expand Affordable Care Act subsidies, came in second place at 19 percent.
Just six percent of Democratic voters said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has the best understanding of America's healthcare crisis. As Common Dreams reported, Harris's healthcare plan would preserve a major role for private insurance companies, unlike Sanders's Medicare for All legislation.
Democratic voters ranked the Vermont senator as the 2020 White House hopeful who is best equipped to "solve the problems with the existing U.S. healthcare system." The survey was conducted following the second round of Democratic presidential debates, in which progressive support for Medicare for All set the terms of the healthcare discussion and came under attack from right-wing candidates.
Widely used pesticide in US particularly harmful to bees
Agriculture in the United States has become 48 times more toxic to insects over the last 25 years, largely due to a controversial, widely used class of pesticides that are particularly harmful to bees, according to a study published on Tuesday. Neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics, are used on more than 140 different types of crops, from apples to rice. Neonics are most persistent in corn and soybeans as the pesticide is used to coat the seeds of these crops. ...
The new study is the first to quantify the effects of neonics in the US over the span of time since the pesticide was introduced to crops. But researchers have been sounding the alarm about neonics for years, particularly because of growing evidence that the pesticide could be a major contributor to declining bee populations. ...
Researchers used three types of data to conduct the study: the specific amount of pesticides used in the United States, information about the persistence of pesticides in the environment and data on the toxins found in honeybees. They found that, between 1992 and 2014, neonics accounted for 92% of the increase in toxicity. ...
Bees have been dying in alarming numbers across the country. A June 2019 study found that beekeepers had lost 40% of their honeybee colonies over the past year, partly due to the use of pesticides. Bees are an essential part of the agricultural system, as they pollinate three-quarters of all crops.
German Labor Union Urges 2 Million Members to Join Global Climate Strike
Germany's second-largest labor union on Monday urged its two million members to join the youth-led "Fridays for Future" climate strikes scheduled to take place next month in over 150 countries across the globe.
"We can only protect the climate together," tweeted Verdi, a service sector union.
As the Associated Press reported, "Verdi head Frank Bsirske told the WAZ newspaper on Monday he was calling on the union's two million members to take part."
"Whoever can should march and participate," said Bsirske in a tweet. "Anyway, I'll be going."
Organizers of the strikes, which are set to kick off Sept. 20 and continue through Sept. 27, said they expect millions of people to participate around the world.
Water Crisis : 25 % of world's population lives with extreme water stress
Extreme water stress affects a quarter of the world's population, say experts
A quarter of the world’s population across 17 countries are living in regions of extremely high water stress, a measure of the level of competition over water resources, a new report reveals. Experts at the World Resources Institute (WRI) warned that increasing water stress could lead to more “day zeroes” – a term that gained popularity in 2018 as Cape Town in South Africa came dangerously close to running out of water.
Qatar, Israel and Lebanon were ranked as the most water stressed countries in the world, with Badghis in Afghanistan and Gaborone and Jwaneng in Botswana the world’s most water-stressed regions.
The global research organisation compared the water available to the amount withdrawn for homes, industries, irrigation and livestock.
In the 17 countries facing extremely high water stress, agriculture, industry, and municipalities were found to be using up to 80% of available surface and groundwater in an average year. When demand rivals supply, even small dry spells, which are set to increase because of the climate crisis, can produce dire consequences.
Twelve of the 17 high-risk countries were in the Middle East and North Africa.
Why California Went Around the EPA and Made a Deal with Carmakers
Negotiations broke down in the years-long fight between the White House and California over regulating emissions, and now it’s clear why: The EPA rejected California’s compromise deal, Bloomberg reported.
The Trump administration said the deal that California brought to the table, which relaxes Obama-era fuel efficiency standards, wasn’t “a productive alternative” to the EPA’s aggressive rollback, a California clean air board spokesperson told Bloomberg. So California went straight to four major automakers with their deal, and those companies accepted it. ...
After the Trump administration tried to roll back those standards last year, the state pledged to stick with the more stringent rules. But the White House abandoned discussions with the state over emissions standards, just a few weeks after the EPA rejected California’s compromise deal. “Looking back, it seems that they were never interested in negotiations or discussions,” Stanley Young, a spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, told Bloomberg.
That’s when the state dealt directly with four major automakers — Ford, Honda, BMW, and Volkswagen — which all agreed to adopt California’s emissions standards. The new rules, slightly watered down from the standards set during the Obama administration, are still far more strict than those that the EPA has put forward. ... The Trump administration also wants to strip California’s ability to set its own emissions standards, through a rule it’s already proposed and is close to finalizing. California has vowed to block that move through the courts.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Syria, Russia Scrap Idlib Ceasefire, Resume Airstrikes
Saudi Arabia’s ‘strategic plan’ to take Turkey down
China Considers To Protect Its Ships From ... U.S. Piracy
Warmongering Neocon ‘Free Beacon’ Glorifies Hiroshima Bombing
NPR Shreds Ethics Handbook to Normalize Regime Change in Venezuela
U.S. Financial System Rests on 5 Mega Banks; and They Tanked Yesterday
Report Details How Trade Organizations Plow Billions in Unaccountable Cash to Lobby Lawmakers
Tardigrades may have survived spacecraft crashing on moon
A Little Night Music
Monte Easter (Jimmy Nolen vocals and guitar) - Blues In The Evening
Jimmy Nolen - Let's Try Again
Jimmy Nolen & his Band - Slow Freight Back Home
Jimmy Nolen - How Fine Can You Be
Jimmy Nolen - I Can't Stand You No More
Jimmy Nolen - Swingin' Peter Gunn - I
Jimmy Nolen - Movin' On Down The Line
Jimmy Nolen - You've Been Goofing
Jimmy Nolen - Strangest Blues
Jimmy Nolen - Strollin' with Nolen
Comments
Hola, Joe! Thanks to Centaurea for an explanation
of 'what' managed care is. (From another thread last night.) Below is a link to his comment, which can speak for itself.
Of course, the physician payment model--which provides 'incentives' to withhold healthcare, for profit, is also a major part of managed care systems. Same with medical institutions (hospitals, medicare centers, etc.) which will be paid under a global budgeting model, basically, the equivalent of a physician receiving capitation fees in lieu of FFS payment for medical services rendered.
Real pushed this evening, but, soon will try to come up with a bullet point list of features of managed care (MC)--maybe that will help clarify the various Dem proposals versus OM/TM. Until Centaurea addressed the topic, it hadn't crossed my mind that some people may be so young, that they don't even remember what our healthcare system was like before HMOs, PPOs, etc. Today, Original/Traditional Medicare is the closest thing we have to what folks enjoyed in the 50's and 60's.
So, why not amend Title XVIII (of the Social Security Act) to fully subsidize the cost--so that there are no OOP costs to the beneficiary, improve services by having OM cover 'all' prescription drugs, not just infusion drugs like chemotherapy drugs--adding other services deemed necessary/desirable--including LTC, and, open it up to Everyone, beginning at birth for future generations.
Easy peasy!
Hope to swing back by with a KHN Tweet late this evening. Right now, gotta take care of a couple of chores, and even a quick errand, that I've been putting off. Hope the grocery delivery service pans out--I'm finding that I'm already getting behind in taking care of business, due to spending so much time working on retirement.
Oh, 'Kudos' to Uruguay!
The more I hear and read about the place, the more I like it. It may truly be one of the most 'left' countries around, now the the so-called Pink Revolution in SA has sorta taken a backward turn--meaning, right-wingers have taken over several of the previously left governments.
BTW, I will follow-up on the 'rule' that is issued by HHS Secretary Azar--regarding the importation of drugs. I'm hopeful (that it's a serious effort), because HHS did kill a proposed 'reform' which would have raised seniors' Part D RX premiums. (saving taxpayers a few bucks, but, at the expense of seniors) Not exactly a wise thing to do, a year before a major election, eh? No doubt, their motive may be (partly) to co-opt Dems on this issue, going into the 2020 election cycle.
Quite an adventure last night--no electricity for almost 6 hours! A tree fell, downed entire line in large radius of the northern part of town. We have a transformer in our yard, but, it didn't blow. Up to 5:00 a.m., and part of the electrical crew returned to our cul-de-sac a little before 4:00 a.m. At least I got to thank them for taking care of the problem.
Cooler today, due to storm. Hope it's not too bad in your neck-of-the-woods.
Everyone have a nice evening--stay cool!
[Please excuse typos, syntax--stiff fingers, today.]
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
thanks for the info. the details of this whole health care debate are beginning to irritate me. i'm not sure who is less forthcoming about the details (where the devils hide) in their plans, insurance companies or politicians. what part of, "i want you to cover everything and allow me to choose any provider (who, by the way will be required to post a statistical outcomes analysis of their services to the web) i want," don't these people understand?
glad you got cooled off by the big storm system, too. i was driving back home this afternoon when it hit here, torrential rain and hail for about 45 minutes and the temps dropped from the high 80's to the low 70's. still humid, but much more tolerable.
Great job for the Resistance
Both parties overjoyed with bipartisan bill that will approve 300,000 citizens of India to take our high-paying jobs
Damn them!
That is infuriating.
I think I read it here that the people hired to correct the Boeing computer software issues causing the crashes were Tech experts in India, working for $8.25 per hour.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Kambama was cosponsor of the bill
So she's working on being Obama before she's elected president... and no one is talking about it.
I only found this out by following a link to the of Fred Donaldson who posted a link in another essay here. He has some good work on his blog.
evening snoopy...
pretty infuriating news. but then again, we already knew whose side our congressworms are on.
i guess britain is demonstrating how vicious poodles can be. they are a despicable bunch.
Good afternoon, joe; thanks for the news and blues, lots to dig
into ...
Be safe and enjoy the evening.
evening smiley...
i hope all is well, have a great evening!
Tulsi's takedown of Harris in the polls
evening gj...
interesting numbers. i find the polling numbers kind of odd, though. i was looking at the new york times' report the other night about small donor fundraising - and sanders is just killing everybody. it seems kind of odd that he could have such vast numbers of paying supporters across the country and have such low polling indications of support vs. his competitors.
It surely does feel
As if there’s a cosmic thumb resting on the polling scale somewhere, doesn’t it?
evening skod...
perhaps the invisible hand of the free market is renting out its thumb for the elections.
Thanks, Joe and have a great evening, but....
With all due respect to the FBI, what gap? The "self-radicalized" excrement with eyeballs who shot up parishoners in that Charleston church a couple three years ago can be strung up for multiple counts of murder and/or hate crime murder. Inasmuch as he can be either killed only once or imprisoned for life for only one lifetime, does it really matter if he can't be charged with domestic terrorism murder or serial murder? As far as the "material support" statute, what the hell is wrong with our conspiracy statute, our aid and abettor statute and our accessory after the fact statute?
Proponents of the idea say that such a law would also establish a moral equivalence between white supremacist terror and terror by groups like Al Qaeda.
Statutes are necessary to establish moral equivalence now? Who knew? How exactly do statutues establish moral equivalence anyway? By implication, because both statutes would be in the United States criminal code? Wouldn't moral equivalence be established more readily and more clearly if someone just says it's morally equivalent? IOW, this seems like a bullshit, makeweight argument. Beyond that, are domestic terrorism and terrorism by an aggrieved foreigner really morally equivalent? If a Yemeni were to blow up my home, I would not be happy, but I'd understand it better than I would some guy who lives down the street and is disgruntled about some US government policy blowing up my home.
Ding, ding, ding. That was my first concern. My second was alleged "conspiracy" charges.
Beyond that, it's inflammatory. In the US, the word "terrorist" will forever conjure up that horrible morning when planes headed for the Twin Towers and Washington, DC, leaving thousands of innocent people dead, many after they jumped from the twin towers to avoid burning to death. (I saw the Al Jazeera version of the telecast. The version shown in the US "whited out" the falling bodies.)
Yeah, no one likes murder, either. But, over the millennia, we've become sufficiently de-sensitized to control our emotions enough to be able to give someone accused of a "garden variety" murderer a fair trial, should we be jurors. A serial killer, less so. Same for a hate crime killer. But a terrorist? The word alone makes blood boil. I can't prove it, but I suspect that someone charged with terrorism, domestic or foreign, is less likely to receive a fair trial than someone charged with murder. And that, I suspect is the real reason.
Taunting police and defacing emblems of China's sovereignty over Hong Kong are both extreme, violent tactics now? Classed with throwing bombs? In a Guardian article, no less? Who writes and edits crap like that?
eta: Congress wants to be called back to deal with white supremacy? Sure, it bites, but what the hell are they going to do about it? Bloviate until they change hearts and minds? I'd love to see them insist on being called back to pass single payer and raise taxes on the wealthy, but that's just me.
evening henry...
there seem to be a bewildering array of charges on the books already available to prosecutors. i certainly sympathize with people who feel that maybe there needs to be some further deterrent available - except that the deterrence value of the punishments available up to and including the death penalty don't really seem to work. (witness the vast numbers of murders of all kinds that take place in these here you-nited states) further, it seems to me that the domestic terrorism charges being proposed are really just a flavor of hate crime.
this is stupid. we don't add new charges because we want to identify similarities in criminals, we create new charges to reflect a difference in actions, motives and intentions of the perpetrators.
the same sort of people who want to improperly conflate vandalism with terrorism. the idiot journalists who have been covering antifa and similar movements have been catapulting the propaganda that violence against property is the same as violence against people. it's gotten to the point that they can't tell the difference.
Professor self-identified as antifa, hit people with a bike lock
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bicycle+lock+antifa+eric+clanton
Some people who claim the anti-fascist label do commit violence against people as well.
In Germany, Antifa fairly routinely torches right-wingers’ cars or vandalizes their meeting places — “only” violence against property? Good luck preventing the progression to sabotaging cars and torching residences in callous disregard of the danger to human life.
Of course, the argument is that right-wingers dehumanize minorities, so they’ve earned being treated as subhuman themselves, blah blah. And round and round goes the carousel of demonization / dehumanization of political adversaries. Our hate good and justified, their hate bad and bigoted.
yep...
there are always going to be unhinged people in movements, but so far the violence against people by right wingers in the u.s. has a sizable death toll, while antifa/black bloc does not. in general, the philosophy of antifa/black bloc is to be a powerful nuisance to the orderly functioning of capitalism/imperialism/fascism by interrupting their actions, not by killing people.
i personally would not act as they do. i don't really like that sort of thing, but i feel that when people attempt to make a moral equivalence between antifa/black bloc and fascists they are (as things stand) falsely conflating their actions.
“In Berlin, on average, two cars are set on fire every night”
https://www.msn.com/de-ch/nachrichten/other/zwei-brennende-autos-pro-nac...
Got this from my daughter
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
Good on Gloria
Sent this to my wife. She loved it. Sharing it with all of her friends. Appropriate sexual connotations with the male 'members' of the species.
Thanks!
question everything
Talented lady, Gloria Steinem. Only the best for the CIA . . .
https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-gloria-steinem-cia-...
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2017/10/01/did-the-cia-use-gloria-steinem...
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gloria+steinem+cia
heh...
i guess women don't buy guns.
perhaps that's too glib...
i get the point that she's trying to make and i share her desire for there to be an end of mass violence. but, i think that her causal analysis is flawed.
It is glib, but
....women's resentment for being treated like human livestock has grown so large it is about to break the dam holding it back. Activism seems to carry a heap of resentment, that can blur specific issues.
The biology of men has not been weaponized against their personal sovereignty, yet. Women just want to share that experience with them. In time, that day will come for everyone, given the track this nation follows.
evening pluto...
they say that every revolution spawns a new class of oppressed. i wish that we could organize an evolution instead, despite knowing that it is highly unlikely.
The UK is only desperate
because of the national self-harm that is known as no-deal Brexit. The Tories and their supporters have truly jumped the shark.
I lived through '70's Britain (known as the Sick Man of Europe). Joining the EEC gave a fillip, and gradually things improved. The UK trying to go-it-alone again is just mind boggling. "Splendid Isolation" only works with a large empire and fleet.... and things that people actually want to buy.
And Dominic Raab is a twit of epic proportions. I don't suppose his two brain cells ever get any time off.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
evening bollox...
the tories are just trying to create their neoliberal utopia so that they can cut all the regulations that the eu imposes on them and become the corruption capital of the world.
down with the union jack, up with the jolly roger. the golden age of piracy is over, but surely they can start the platinum age of piracy.
British Overseas Territories already among leading tax havens
Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Turks and Caicos Islands . . .
As are nominally sovereign Commonwealth states like St. Kitts and Nevis.
After Brexit, the money-launderers and financial vampires can drop the last paper-thin veil of pretense and just do their thing right in the City of London.
Cynical? Who me?
Did the FBI have foreknowledge of the two shooting events last weekend? Mintpress sure thinks it's very suspicious just after Barr warned of an event that would make it necessary to crack down more on our liberties.
If anyone is interested I posted a link to how many drills were going on at the same time big events like 9/11 and the London subway bombings to name two.
evening snoopy...
it's possible that barr had some foreknowledge, but then again, one didn't need to be a psychic to predict that a mass shooting was going to happen somewhere (there have only been a couple hundred of them so far this year). given the ratcheting up of trump's rhetoric against immigrants, the broad outlines of event that happened to occur in el paso was indeed a predictable outcome.
i mean, sooner or later somebody was going to object loudly to this insanity.
i dunno.
The world’s largest irrigation project: the Great Man-Made River
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River
The “Great Man-Made River” happens to be Number 3 on this list of ten things about Gaddafi they don’t want you to know:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/libya-ten-things-about-gaddafi-they-dont-w...
evening lotlizard...
perhaps western governments found gaddaffi so horrible because, despite being a bit odd, he made them look bad. it couldn't be his brutality, by many measures western major power governments are far more brutal than he was.
So the feebs, who haven't ussed out or
prevented any of these shootings want them to be declared terrorism. They still won't suss out or prevent any of them. Their stoolies and provocateurs are aimed at dopers, blacks, and lefties, as always except that they hae expanded the entrapment and provocateur teams to include some tht target muslim youths. Calling nazi white supremacists terrorists won't make them black, lefty, muslim or hop heads, so the feebs still won't play a role beyond inspecting shell casings.
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 --
evening el...
they are just looking for a good excuse for their inaction. this was the best that they could come up with.
Heading back to Santa fe
Thanks as usual for all the news and blues. Headed back to Santa fe with sister who has never been to Big Bend. So our trip from Austin to Santa fe was via Big Bend was thoroughly enjoyed. Head to New Mexico via hwy 170 that follows the Rio Grande to Presidio before we headed in to check out McDonald's observatory in Fort Davis area. My sister was overwhelmed by much of the scenery in Big Bend and further on and asked "where or why a wall with these mountains.
Many interesting reads tonight including Unabaaveshed notes on retirement. Will be glad for more information as it is posted. Have a good evening all
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
evening jb...
glad to hear that your travels are going well and that your sister is getting to experience an amazing place.
i guess the people that want to put up a wall there are much like the people who want to carve their names into trees and rocks.
Good Evening, I wished I could listen Gerald Horne's
analysis more often. Aaron Maté is just an angel of a journalist to rescue our sanity.
Thank you for your EB. If I just could absorb it all.
Have all a good one, EB-ers.
https://www.euronews.com/live
evening mimi...
gerald horne is frequently featured on segments of "the real news." i agree, he is an interesting, articulate and highly knowledgeable guy.
have a great evening!
running over to the Real News and I stumbled over this
It is an important article imho.
Kramp-Karrenbauer must go. She is dangerous and I am very disappointed in Merkel to have her promoted. Shit.
Will Germany Become the Military Power it Once Was?.
And btw, imho, the EU is anything but united, anything but construct to oppress a lot of nation states. It will never be united. It is all wishful thinking.
https://www.euronews.com/live
D = “strongest military in Europe,” when only UK & F have nukes?
And Turkey has the largest standing army in Europe?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_military_an...
I’m not seeing it.
Germany builds more nuclear-tipped missile capable submarines for Israel than for itself.
Germany, Europe’s strongest military? That’ll be the day!
Totally agree that Kramp-Karrenbauer is dangerous, though.
Mexico’s AMLO: yet another Lefty hope who turned, once in power?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/30/mexico-president-andres-ma...
India’s constitution means zip if ruling party can sweep it away
https://www.stallman.org/archives/2019-may-aug.html#7_August_2019_%28Hin...