The Evening Blues - 11-6-19



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Pee Wee Crayton

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features West Coast blues guitarist Pee Wee Crayton. Enjoy!

Pee Wee Crayton - The Telephone Is Ringing

"With unfailing consistency, U.S. intervention has been on the side of the rich and powerful of various nations at the expense of the poor and needy. Rather than strengthening democracies, U.S. leaders have overthrown numerous democratically elected governments or other populist regimes in dozens of countries ... whenever these nations give evidence of putting the interests of their people ahead of the interests of multinational corporate interests."

-- Michael Parenti


News and Opinion

‘The Test of a Country Is Not the Number of its Millionaires’

At the edge of hope lies the gunfire from what Frantz Fanon called “the old granite block upon which the nation rests.” At the moment of protest, when the gunfire starts, clarity arrives. One should not be naïve about the character of the elite, whose smiles camouflage the instructions given through clenched teeth to the henchmen, their “simple men” ready to kill the “simple people.” At its best, the “granite block” shrugs, shuffles its cabinet, offers modest reforms; at its worst, its soldiers — their faces covered to prevent the tears from showing — fire at their family members.

Far away, in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Washington, D.C., the elites sniff, they brush the dandruff from their shoulders. “We are not like them,” they say of the elites in Santiago and Baghdad, although everyone knows that they are identical, for they had not long ago sent out their robocops to humiliate the yellow vests and Occupy Wall Street.

Decades ago, the Chilean-Argentinian writer Ariel Dorfman sat in a metro in Paris reading Heinrich Böll’s “The Clown” (1963). “Must be a sad profession,” said a man sitting across from Dorfman, referring to the clown. Both Dorfman and the man recognized that the other was sad. The man said he was from Brazil. They embraced each other for their common predicament – their countries under dictatorship. “I am sad,”, said the man, “because I want us to win, but in my heart, I don’t think we will.” The man spoke of the hard crust of reality, the sense that the elites are entrenched in their granite block, unwilling to let humanity shatter it and release the best of human ethics. That is what both men understood, although both wanted to win. It is the desire to win that drove more than a million people into the streets of Santiago, Chile, and it was these millions that sang Victor Jara’s song, “El Derecho de Vivir en Paz” (“The Right to Live in Peace”), which Jara sang for Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese in 1971. Two years later, the dictatorship in Chile arrested and brutally killed Jara. ...

On Dec. 22, 1916, M. K. Gandhi gave a lecture at the Muir Central College Economic Society in Allahabad (India). Here, Gandhi offered a simple measure for civilization – “the test of orderliness in a country,” he said, “is not the number of millionaires it owns, but the absence of starvation amongst its masses.” ...

Chile has the highest inequality rate amongst the countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Its billionaires scatter money into the pockets of all the major political parties, generating the view that democracy is about raising money from the major capitalist blocs rather than about raising the aspirations of the people into policy. The Angelinis, Paulmanns, Cuetos, Solaris, and Luksics might support different political factions, but at the end of the day – whoever wins – these billionaires and their conglomerates are the ones that set the policy and benefit from it. That is why over a million people came onto the streets to sing Victor Jara. They want the right to live in peace, the right to control their lives.

Gandhi’s standard is not only about the number of ultra-rich, but also about those who struggle each day with hunger. A few months ago, the World Health Organisation released a report on hunger which showed that at least 821 million people go to bed at night hungry. This is a ghastly number. But this is not enough. Studies by the UN agencies find that an estimated 2 billion people – 1-in-4 people – are moderately to severely food insecure, which means that they “do not have regular access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food.” So, there we are. According to Gandhi’s simple formula, the world fails its test. ...

Every few years, the people of the planet rise up and announce that the Global Intifada has begun. A few months later, their hopes are crushed, and the formula remains the same – more billionaires, more hungry people.

Media Conceal Chile’s State Criminality, Delegitimize Bolivian Democracy

Chile’s anti-neoliberal rebellion is entering its third week, and the brutal crackdown continues. Hard-right President Sebastian Piñera and his generals have effectively decreed the country’s oligarch-dominated democracy out of existence by sending soldiers into the streets to kill, maim and torture their own people. And, for the most part, the Western corporate media blackout persists unabated. October 25’s historic 1.2 million–person march in Santiago—the largest since the end of the dictatorship—has forced some outlets to begin to acknowledge state violence. But corporate journalists continue to largely overlook the Piñera government’s mounting atrocities. ... This media bias in favor of Piñera’s hardline neoliberal administration must also be juxtaposed with the unfolding coverage of anti-government protests in Bolivia. In yet another case of self-serving hypocrisy, US corporate media have moved to revoke left-wing President Evo Morales’ democratic credentials after his recent re-election.

By October 21, the news had broken in the Chilean press that Ecuadorian national Romario Veloz, 26, had been shot dead by state security forces while taking part in a protest in northern Chile the previous evening. Over half a dozen people had already been killed since the protests began on October 16, and at least 1,420 detained at the time, according to Chile’s National Human Rights Institute (known in Spanish as INDH). Graphic videos of abhorrent state repression were already circulating widely on social media. One might expect such glaring atrocities to spark attention from supposedly reputable international news outlets like the New York Times. It hasn’t. A Times article published on October 21, headlined “What You Need to Know About the Unrest in Chile,” made no mention whatsoever of the mounting allegations of egregious human rights violations. ...

Meanwhile, the US State Department, which has refrained from making any statement on the brutal crackdown in Chile, was quick to weigh in, accusing the electoral tribunal of attempting to “subvert Bolivia’s democracy.” Like clockwork, the Western media began pumping out headlines casting the elections as illegitimate. “Bolivia Polls: Morales Claims Victory Amid Fraud Claims,” reported the BBC (10/24/19), while CNN (10/23/19) wrote, “Tensions Boil Over in Bolivia as Protesters Claim Presidential Election Was Rigged.” “Shadow Hangs Over Bolivian Elections as Morales Scores First-Round Win,” announced Reuters (10/24/19).

Unlike in Chile, where mass demonstrations against military rule have been portrayed as irrationally “violent” (Financial Times, 10/28/19; CBC, 10/25/19; NPR, 10/22/19), Bolivia’s right-wing protests are presented as justifiable “anger” (CBS, 10/25/19; BBC, 10/22/19; New York Times, 10/25/19) at an “authoritarian” government (Reuters, 10/27/19, Miami Herald, 10/25/19, Washington Post, 10/22/19). ...

The scale and staying power of Chile’s anti-neoliberal rebellion has nevertheless forced some corporate outlets to make amendments to their narrative portraying the Piñera government as “inept” or “incompetent” (FAIR.org, 10/23/19) rather than illegitimate or criminal. Bloomberg (10/30/19) and the Guardian (10/27/19) were among the few to report on the 160 people who have suffered eye injuries, including at least 26 blinded in one eye, due to authorities firing of 9-millimeter rubber-coated lead bullets at demonstrators’ heads. Similarly, Bloomberg (10/30/19) and AP (published in Time, 10/29/19) were rare outlets that referred to the savage repression as a “crackdown.” Bloomberg (10/30/19) went as far as to compare the mass protests to the “1988 plebiscite that ended the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.” ...

AP joins the vast majority of Western media in ignoring the INDH’s appalling statistics concerning the widespread criminality of Chilean state security forces. According to the body, as of November 4, 1,659 people have been hospitalized for injuries, including 40 shot with live ammunition, 473 wounded by buckshot and 305 by unidentified firearms. The INDH has filed 181 lawsuits against state bodies so far, among them 133 for torture and 19 for sexual violence, including two cases of alleged rape.

For the most part, the op-ed pages of major Western newspapers continue to ignore or whitewash the crimes of the Piñera government. ... The coverage of Chile’s uprising proves once again that criminality on the part of Western states and their clients is perfectly palatable to corporate journalists whose atrocity, Michael Parenti observes, is always “against the truth.”

Conquistadors tumble as indigenous Chileans tear down statues

As peaceful protesters and rioters alike have thronged the streets of the Chilean capital of Santiago to protest against inequality and state repression, a string of no less symbolic blows has also been struck 650km (400 miles) to the south. In the urban centre of Temuco, hooded demonstrators lassoed a statue of a 16th-century Spanish conquistador last week and yanked it to the ground.

Cheering bystanders – many wearing the traditional ponchos and headbands of the indigenous Mapuche people – stamped on the bronze effigy of Pedro de Valdivia and hammered it with wooden staffs. In the city of Concepción – which Valdivia found in 1550 – a crowd toppled another bust of the Spanish coloniser, impaled it on a spike, and barbecued it at the feet of a statue of his historical nemesis, the Mapuche chieftain Lautaro.

In the nearby town of Collipulli, a bronze of General Cornelio Saavedra – notorious for leading the bloody 19th-century “pacification” of the Mapuche heartland – suffered a similar fate. Most dramatically of all, a statue in Temuco of the Chilean founding father Diego Portales (1793-1837) was decapitated, and his head hung from the arm of a statue of the Mapuche warrior Caupolicán – now also holding the Mapuche flag, or Wenufoye. ...

These are actions of a very potent symbolism, in rejecting an official version that has falsified and grossly airbrushed our history,” said Pedro Cayuqueo, a Mapuche writer and historian. “There’s something far deeper going on.” The toppling of statues also reflects deep modern-day grievances felt by the Mapuche, who were absorbed into the Chilean state at gunpoint 150 years ago. ...

Mapuche activist groups – who marched together in Temuco last week – are hoping that near-unanimous support for rewriting Chile’s Pinochet-era constitution will provide a window of opportunity. Chief among their objectives is for Chile to become a “plurinational state” like neighbouring Bolivia, granting native peoples greater political autonomy, and their languages and customs official status.

Trump OKs wider Syria oil mission, raising legal questions

President Donald Trump has approved an expanded military mission to secure an expanse of oil fields across eastern Syria, raising a number of difficult legal questions about whether U.S. troops can launch strikes against Syrian, Russian or other forces if they threaten the oil, U.S. officials said.

The decision, coming after a meeting Friday between Trump and his defense leaders, locks hundreds of U.S. troops into a more complicated presence in Syria, despite the president’s vow to get America out of the war. Under the new plan, troops would protect a large swath of land controlled by Syrian Kurdish fighters that stretches nearly 90 miles (150 kilometers) from Deir el-Zour to al-Hassakeh, but its exact size is still being determined. ...

Trump’s decision hands commanders a victory in their push to remain in the country to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group, counter Iran and partner with the Kurds, who battled IS alongside the U.S. for several years. But it also forces lawyers in the Pentagon to craft orders for the troops that could see them firing on Syrian government or Russian fighters trying to take back oil facilities that sit within the sovereign nation of Syria. ...

According to officials, lawyers are trying to hammer out details of the military order, which would make clear how far troops will be able to go to keep the oil in the Kurds’ control.

The legal authority for U.S. troops going into Syria to fight Islamic State militants was based on the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force that said U.S. troops can use all necessary force against those involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on America and to prevent any future acts of international terrorism. So, legal experts say the U.S. may have grounds to use the AUMF to prevent the oil from falling into IS hands.

But protecting the oil from Syria government forces or other entities may be harder to defend.

“The U.S. is not at war with either Syria or Turkey, making the use of the AUMF a stretch,” said Stephen Vladeck, a national security law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Yemen govt, southern separatists sign power-sharing deal

Yemen government signs power-sharing deal with separatists

Yemen’s UN-recognised government has signed a Saudi Arabian-brokered power sharing agreement with separatists in the south of the country after months of fighting in the area. The deal aims to create a new, cohesive government capable of challenging the Iranian-backed Houthi forces that control the capital, Sana’a, and the north.

The clashes between separatists and government forces – who for years fought on the same side against the Houthis – had raised fears that the country could break apart entirely. It also exposed a rift between normal Gulf allies, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

In August, the separatists took control of Aden, which has served as the beleaguered government’s base since it was ousted from Sana’a by Houthi rebels in 2014.

The agreement, formally sealed at a signing ceremonyin Riyadh on Tuesday, is short on specifics but is expected to share out ministries equally between the UN-backed government led by Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the backers of the president of the Southern Transitional Council, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi. ... Elements of the deal include the return of the UN-backed government to Aden within seven days to reactivate state institutions. The separatists also agreed to disband their militias, which would be integrated into Hadi’s forces within three months.

The German Branch of a U.S. Neo-Nazi Group Has a 'Kill List' of Left-Wing Politicians

Last year, a German offshoot of the U.S. neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division announced its existence to the world with a chilling video declaring “National Socialism is alive.” Now, it’s issuing death threats to left-wing German politicians. Two lawmakers from Germany’s Green Party have revealed they have received death threats from the group, warning that they were the first and second names on the group’s kill list.

“At the moment, we are planning how and when we will execute you. At the next public rally? Or will we get you in front of your home?” read the email to 53-year-old Cem Ozdemir, a veteran politician of Turkish descent, who co-chaired the Greens for a decade before stepping aside last year. Fellow Green MP Claudia Roth received an email the same day — Oct. 27 — warning that she was second on the list.

The messages, which have been passed to police, are just the latest far-right death threats to stir concern in Germany, amid a climate of rising right-wing extremism. Germany’s government condemned the threats Monday, vowing to crack down on the perpetrators. ...

The threats are believed to have emanated from the German branch of the U.S. neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, whose name means "Nuclear Weapons Division.” The violent and misanthropic group, which emerged from the now defunct neo-Nazi online forum Iron March, is “organized as a series of terror cells that work toward civilizational collapse,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

'What Fascism Looks Like': Israeli High Court Upholds Expulsion of Human Rights Watch Director Omar Shakir Over Alleged BDS Support

The Israeli Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the deportation and permanent expulsion of Omar Shakir, the Human Rights Watch representative in Israel and Palestine, over Shakir's alleged support of the Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions movement, a move that drew criticism from peace advocates and progressives around the world.

"This is what fascism looks like," tweeted Palestinian rights advocate Diana Buttu.

The court gave Shakir 20 days to leave the country.

As Common Dreams reported, Interior Minister Arye Dery decided in April to expel Shakir, a U.S. citizen, from Israel over Shakir's alleged support of the BDS movement.

The high court on Tuesday ruled that decision was legal due to a controversial 2017 Israeli law banning proponents of the boycott movement from entering or remaining in Israel. Dery said the ruling affirms his position that "anyone who works against the state should know that we will not allow him to live or work here."

Shakir's attorney Michael Sfard told Haaretz that the ruling made clear Israel is joining what he described as other repressive regimes in barring those who would expose misbehavior from their countries. "Today, the State of Israel joined the list of countries like Syria, Iran, and North Korea, which have expelled Human Rights Watch representatives in an attempt to silence criticism of human rights violations taking place within their borders," said Sfard.

But, according to The New York Times, Human Rights Watch believes Shakir was expelled for his work against Israeli settlements in the West Bank rather than any advocacy in favor of BDS:

Human Rights Watch says neither it nor Shakir has called for an outright boycott of Israel and says that Shakir, who is a U.S. citizen, is being targeted for the rights group's opposition to Israel's West Bank Jewish settlements and its calls for companies to stop working with the settlements.


About 3 Billion Social Media Users Are Being Spied On by Their Governments

Dozens of governments around the world are weaponizing social media to subvert democratic elections and spy on their own citizens, a new report reveals. The latest edition of Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net report shows that rather than acting as a vector for more transparency and open elections, the internet is being used to undermine the democratic process.

“Governments and populist movements are using social media to manipulate elections on a grand scale, and governments are using technology to monitor their own citizens on an unprecedented scale,” Mike Abramowitz, president of Freedom House, told reporters Monday. ... Today, almost 3 billion people are under surveillance by governments and law enforcement, in part because monitoring technology is getting more advanced and more affordable, the report finds.

"Governments are using social media to collect and analyze vast amounts of personal data on entire populations,” Abramowitz said. “Many employ artificial intelligence to identify potential threats and silence opposition. As this monitoring technology has become less expensive, a growing number of law enforcement agencies are using mass surveillance with little oversight or accountability.” ...

In the U.S., internet freedom declined for the third year in a row thanks to the increased surveillance of social media by law enforcement, and immigration officials’ monitoring of people crossing the southern border. Documents published earlier this year revealed that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was monitoring the social media use of participants in anti-Trump protests in New York City during the summer of 2018.

"Agents of the Department of Homeland Security have used social media monitoring tools to scrutinize Americans’ constitutionally-protected activities not only when crossing the Mexico border but also in the context of peaceful protests on the administration's policies on immigration and other topics,” Adrian Shahbaz, one of the report’s authors, told reporters.

'Bait-and-switch scam': AT&T fined $60m over data throttling allegations

AT&T, the world’s largest telecommunications company, will pay $60m to resolve US allegations it misled millions of smartphone customers by charging them for “unlimited” data plans but reducing data speeds if they used too much, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Wednesday.

The FTC commissioner, Rohit Chopra, called AT&T’s actions a “massive fraud”. “AT&T’s bait-and-switch scam is a good window into the many harms that result from dominant companies operating without the discipline of meaningful competition,” Chopra said in a statement.

As part of the settlement of the 2014 complaint, AT&T is also prohibited from making any representation about the speed or amount of its mobile data, without also disclosing any material restrictions on the data. ...

The $60m represents a small sum for AT&T, which had revenues of over $170bn last year. It will be deposited into a fund to provide partial refunds to both current and former customers who had signed up for unlimited plans prior to 2011 but had their data speeds reduced, or “throttled” by AT&T when their usage went past a certain threshold.

Florida county refuses to pay for New York Times in libraries: 'It's fake news'

A local government in Florida has blocked its library system from getting a digital subscription to the New York Times, dismissing the newspaper as “fake news” and as a challenge to US president Donald Trump. At a meeting in Citrus county, a coastal area west of Orlando, several of the city’s five commissioners laughed as they explained why they did not want to approve the library’s request.

“Fake news, I agree with President Trump,” commissioner Scott Carnahan said. “I don’t want the New York Times in this county. I don’t agree with it, I don’t like ‘em, it’s fake news and I’m voting no. They can take that money and do something else with it ... I support Donald Trump.”

The library requested $2,700 to pay for digital access to the New York Times for the 70,000 library-card holders in Citrus county. The library already pays for a print-edition of the New York Times, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian gas company sought help from Obama admin – memos

Trump's EU envoy admits Ukraine quid pro quo in updated testimony

An ally of Donald Trump has changed his impeachment inquiry testimony to confirm that the US president offered Ukraine a quid pro quo to investigate a political rival.

Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, said he had told a senior official in Ukraine that nearly $400m in military aid would probably be withheld until the country announced an investigation into corruption, including allegations concerning a gas company with ties to the former vice-president Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

The dramatic revision to Sondland’s account was revealed in a four-page transcript of sworn testimony made public on Tuesday.

“I now do recall a conversation on September 1, 2019, in Warsaw with” Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Sondland said in his updated evidence. “I said that resumption of the US aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anticorruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”

The altered testimony raised eyebrows in Washington. Matthew Miller, a former director of the office of public affairs at the justice department, tweeted: “Helluva thing for Sondland to have forgotten in his first appearance.” Democrats, who have made the quid pro quo offer central to their push for impeachment, seized on the revelations.

New Study Shows Why Trump Plan to Gut Food Stamps 'Will Literally Result in More People Dying'

A new study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs found that people are less likely to die prematurely if they receive federal nutrition assistance, shedding light on the potentially deadly consequences of President Donald Trump's proposal to strip food stamps from millions of low-income Americans.

Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the research found, "led to a population-wide reduction of 1-2 percentage points in mortality from all causes and a reduction in specific causes of death among people ages 40–64."

As HuffPost reported, when "looking specifically at deaths of despair—from drug overdoses, alcohol poisoning and suicide—the researchers found that SNAP benefits cut the mortality rate in half, from 1.64% to 0.81%, for people ages 40 to 64."

Rachel West, an economic policy adviser to the House Committee on Education and Labor, said the study confirms the effectiveness of federal food assistance and demonstrates that "cutting SNAP, like Trump is trying to do, will literally result in more people dying before age 65." ...

The study came just days after the end of the public comment period for the Trump administration's proposal to end automatic food stamp eligibility for those receiving other forms of federal and state assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in July the move would eliminate food stamps benefits for more than three million people.

Homelessness a 'Symptom of Greed' by the Rich, Says Bernie Sanders, Not a Crime by the Poor

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday condemned a proposed ordinance in Las Vegas, Nevada that would effectively criminalize homelessness in the city by making it illegal for people to sleep on sidewalks and in other public areas.

"Homelessness isn't a crime, it's a symptom of the greed that is destroying housing in America," Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said in a statement.

The Las Vegas City Council is set to begin debating the ordinance on Wednesday amid widespread opposition from affordable housing advocates and civil liberties groups. The Sanders campaign said it plans to use its massive email list to drive turn-out to a rally outside Las Vegas City Hall as city councilmembers discuss the measure.

"We are in the middle of a national housing crisis, with Nevada having the greatest shortage of affordable housing for the lowest income earners, while the wealthiest have it all," said Sanders. "That has got to change. When we are in the White House, we will stop the criminalization of homelessness and spend nearly $32 billion over five years to end homelessness once and for all."

NBC News reported that the ordinance, drafted in September, would "make it a misdemeanor to rest, sleep, or 'lodge' in Las Vegas' downtown district and other residential areas if shelter beds are available. Those found in violation could be fined up to $1,000 or jailed for up to six months."



the horse race



Sanders' 2020 Nat'l Press Sec.: AOC Endorsement & taking on the establishment

Biden Accuses Warren of 'Elitism' While Wooing Rich Donors at Big-Money Fundraiser

At a big-money fundraiser Tuesday night hosted by wealthy real estate moguls and a health insurance executive, former Vice President Joe Biden attacked fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren as a "condescending" elitist.

Biden's comments, which were echoed in a Medium post he published late Tuesday, came after Warren said the former vice president is "running in the wrong presidential primary" in response to his attacks on her Medicare for All proposal.

"One of the things that people want to make sure we can do is you gotta elect somebody who can... actually get things done," Biden told rich donors gathered in Pittsburgh. The former vice president also hit Warren for becoming a Democrat "only fairly recently in the mid-'90s."

According to an invitation to the event obtained last month by The Intercept, attendees wishing to "sponsor" the fundraiser were asked to give Biden $2,800, the maximum individual campaign contribution allowed by law. ...

As of this writing, the Warren campaign had not yet responded to Biden's remarks, which came as the former vice president is slipping in early-state polls and lagging behind Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg in fundraising.

Zaid Jilani: Warren chauvinistic approach is why she'll lose to Trump

Scott Walker admits Bernie Sanders is biggest threat to Trump in Wisconsin

'This Is the Roadmap': Running on Green New Deal, Virginia Democrats Take Full Control of State Government for First Time in Decades

The Virginia Democratic Party took full control of the state government for the first time in nearly three decades Tuesday night by winning majorities in both chambers of the legislature, a massive shift progressives celebrated as a testament to the electoral power of bold policy proposals like the Green New Deal.

Democratic candidates—including Green New Deal backers Joshua Cole, Ghazala Hashmi, and Dan Helmer—flipped at least five Republican seats in the House of Delegates and at least two in the state Senate, overcoming the GOP's thin majorities. Additionally, Green New Deal champions like democratic socialist Del. Lee Carter, Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, and Del. Elizabeth Guzman won reelection.

In a statement, the youth-led Sunrise Movement noted that Virginia Democrats' historic victory comes just months after the state's Democratic Party unanimously endorsed a Green New Deal for Virginia.

"Tonight showed that running on the Green New Deal is a key part of how Democrats can win elections," said Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement. "The polls and election results tell a clear story: the Green New Deal is a winning issue."

"When Nancy Pelosi and corporate Democrats try to argue otherwise," Prakash said, "it's nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to shut down progressive policies and protect the interests of corporate donors."

Dems Win Big on Election Day, Flipping Virginia Legislature & Ousting Trump-Backed Kentucky Governor

As 'Working Class Revolt' Topples Kentucky's Trump-Backed Governor, a Warning to McConnell: 'You're Next'

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andy Beshear declared victory Tuesday night in his closely watched contest with Kentucky's Trump-backed Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, whose vicious attacks on teachers, anti-union policies, and aggressive efforts to gut Medicaid helped spark what one commentator described as a "working class revolt" that led to his defeat.

"Beshear won by running up the margins in the suburbs and urban areas, but there aren't enough of those in Kentucky to get you over the finish line on their own," HillTV's Krystal Ball, who has lived in Kentucky, wrote in her newsletter Tuesday night. "No, it was coal country that came through and gave Beshear the numbers he needed to pull off the upset."

"The eastern part of the state is culturally conservative," wrote Ball, "but also extremely populist, and they were not having it with Bevin's attacks on workers."

Bevin, who has thus far refused to concede the race, attempted to gin up conservative voters' fears by framing the election as a battle against what he called the "hateful class warfare and communist ideology" of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who campaigned for Beshear.

"Kentucky voters... Which side are you on?" Bevin asked in an August video. "Do you support socialism or do you still believe that America is the greatest nation on earth?"

Kentuckians were apparently unpersuaded by Bevin's hysterical redbaiting, which Beshear overcame with a campaign focused on healthcare, decent-paying jobs, and support for public education. Beshear also benefited from strong get-out-the-vote operations by Working America—the political arm of the AFL-CIO—and the Poor People's Campaign.

Krystal Ball: The real lesson for Dems after win in Kentucky

Secret Gerrymandering Files Can Now Be Made Public, Court Rules

Eight years ago, when Thomas Hofeller addressed state legislators from across the country in the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., he cautioned elected officials working on redistricting to “make sure your computer is in a private location” and warned them not to “walk away from it and leave your work exposed.” ...

Hofeller, a veteran Republican mapmaker, failed to heed his own advice. After his death in 2018, his daughter, Stephanie, discovered backups of over 70,000 of his files. She notified Common Cause, a watchdog organization that works on voting rights, that she had the files, and Common Cause then subpoenaed her to provide them. After a handful were made public — including files that led to the removal of Trump’s citizenship question on the 2020 census — Geographic Strategies, a consulting firm co-founded by Hofeller, sued to keep more of the files from entering the public sphere.

The decision Monday by a North Carolina state court — removing a protective shield from tens of thousands of files belonging to Hofeller, likely making public details of his work on maps as well as litigation in states including Texas, Missouri, Arizona, Virginia, and North Carolina, among others — seemed inconceivable.

Hofeller, who spent parts of five decades remaking America from the shadows, always a step ahead of Democrats in understanding how redistricting, census data, and new technology could create new advantages for his side, will now stand unmasked. Many of Hofeller’s emails, his draft maps, and the algorithms that bedeviled Democrats for years appear poised to enter the public domain for the first time. Most importantly, they’ll be available to lawyers working to correct unconstitutional gerrymanders or litigating other efforts Hofeller worked on, whether from the 2010 cycle or beyond.

“Now the truth can come out about all of Hofeller’s shocking efforts to rig elections in almost every state,” said a statement from Common Cause on Monday. Still, that could take a while. The organization, which had subpoenaed the files from Hofeller’s daughter, did not indicate a timetable for the release. Lawyers will need to vet tens of thousands of documents; this means weeks or months, not days.



the evening greens


Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’

The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists.

“We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency,” it states. “To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live. [This] entails major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems.”

There is no time to lose, the scientists say: “The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity.”

The statement is published in the journal BioScience on the 40th anniversary of the first world climate conference, which was held in Geneva in 1979. The statement was a collaboration of dozens of scientists and endorsed by further 11,000 from 153 nations. The scientists say the urgent changes needed include ending population growth, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, halting forest destruction and slashing meat eating.

The Keystone Oil Spill No One's Talking About Will Be Nearly Impossible to Clean Up

When the Keystone Pipeline burst last week, half of an Olympic-sized swimming pool’s worth of a particularly dirty fossil fuel spilled into wetlands in North Dakota. And the thick liquid, known as tar sands oil, will be nearly impossible to clean up.

The spill realized some of the biggest fears of the pipeline project, which was approved in 2006 — despite opposition from farmers, indigenous groups, and environmental organizations — and started pumping oil back in 2010. The Keystone Pipeline carries oily sludge from the enormous tar sands fields in Alberta, Canada, across more than 2,000 miles of pristine wetlands in the Dakotas, through Nebraska to Patoka, Illinois.

The company, TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, projected that the pipeline would spill just 11 times over the course of 50 years, or about once every seven years. Since it started pumping, it’s already spilled four times. ...

“Once bitumen sinks to the bottom of a lake or wetland, it is much more problematic to clean up than conventional oil, which floats nicely and can be skimmed off the surface,” Diane Orihel, a professor in aquatic ecotoxicology at Queen’s University, told VICE News.

The wetlands in the Dakotas, fertile breeding grounds for migratory birds like Canada geese and the American bittern, have already been widely drained out for agriculture. They once covered about 10% of the state; half were wiped out over the course of the 20th century to create more farmland. Only about 2.7 million acres of wetlands remain. When tar-sands oil leaches into wetlands, they’re just about impossible to restore entirely. ... Cleaning up the wetlands could involved digging them up to get at the bitumen that’s sunk in. But that risks damaging the wetland in the process of trying to save it.

Study Shows Pension Funds' Refusal to Divest From Fossil Fuels Cost Retired Teachers, Firefighters, and Public Workers $19 Billion

Amid global demands for immediate and bold climate action, a new economic analysis released Tuesday reveals that the pensions of working-class people are paying the price for continued investments in the same fossil fuel companies that are ruining the planet. Toronto-based firm Corporate Knights revealed in a new study that three major state pension funds in California and Colorado lost over $19 billion collectively as a result of investments in fossil fuel industries over ten years.

CalSTRS and CalPERS, which represent nearly three million retired teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees, lost out on more than $17 billion over a decade. Those losses came as the pension funds invested people's retirement savings in extractive industries, which are losing jobs and stock value as the renewable energy sector has added jobs in recent years. The funds' members lost an average of $5,572 and $6,072 per person, respectively.

Colorado's pension fund for state retirees would have gained an additional $1.7 billion in value if it hadn't invested in fossil fuels, Corporate Knights reported, translating to a loss of nearly $3,000 per member. ...

On Wednesday, retired teachers in California plan to attend a CalSTRS meeting to demand answers about why the fund invested their retirement savings in fossil fuels.

Dumped fishing gear is biggest plastic polluter in ocean, finds report

Lost and abandoned fishing gear which is deadly to marine life makes up the majority of large plastic pollution in the oceans, according to a report by Greenpeace. More than 640,000 tonnes of nets, lines, pots and traps used in commercial fishing are dumped and discarded in the sea every year, the same weight as 55,000 double-decker buses.

The report, which draws on the most up-to-date research on “ghost gear” polluting the oceans, calls for international action to stop the plastic pollution, which is deadly for marine wildlife. ...

The report said abandoned fishing gear was particularly deadly. “Nets and lines can pose a threat to wildlife for years or decades, ensnaring everything from small fish and crustaceans to endangered turtles, seabirds and even whales,” it said. “Spreading throughout the ocean on tides and currents, lost and discarded fishing gear is now drifting to Arctic coastlines, washing up on remote Pacific islands, entangled on coral reefs and littering the deep seafloor.”

Ghost gear is estimated to make up 10% of ocean plastic pollution but forms the majority of large plastic littering the waters. One study found that as much as 70% (by weight) of macroplastics (in excess of 20cm) found floating on the surface of the ocean was fishing related. A recent study of the “great Pacific garbage patch”, an area of plastic accumulation in the north Pacific, estimated that it contained 42,000 tonnes of megaplastics, of which 86% was fishing nets.

Trump team seeks to ‘modernize' national parks, with wifi and Amazon deliveries

A team of Trump administration advisers – consisting mostly of appointees from the private industry – are urging “modernization” of national park campgrounds, with a vision of food trucks, wifi and even Amazon deliveries.

“Our recommendations would allow people to opt for additional costs if they want, for example, Amazon deliveries at a particular campsite,” Derrick Crandall, vice-chairman of the Made in America Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee, told the Los Angeles Times. “We want to let Americans make their own decisions in the marketplace.” The committee published its recommendations in a letter to the Interior Department last month. ...

The White House wants to reduce spending on the National Park Service by 15%, or $481m, even as the service has said it is facing a more than $11bn maintenance backlog.

The committee said there is “broad consensus” that the campground system operated by federal employees has “inadequate and outmoded visitor infrastructure” and needs more funding. “Overall capacity has not kept up with growth and changes in camping demand, and the infrastructure that does exist, with few exceptions, fails to meet expectations of the contemporary camping market,” the group said, calling US national campgrounds an “underperforming asset”.


Also of Interest

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

The Persistent Influence of Trump’s “Shadow Adviser” Erik Prince

US congressional panel plots next phase of the dirty war on Syria: Occupy oil fields and block reconstruction

Propaganda Narratives Are Custom-Made For Each Ideological Echo Chamber

Is the Run on the Dollar Due to Panic or Greed?

The Fed’s Wall Street Bailout May Go into Overdrive in December

France to set migrant worker quotas in bid to appeal to rightwing voters

A Timeline Of Joe Biden's Intervention Against The Prosecutor General Of Ukraine

Washington Democrats Recruited Colorado’s John Hickenlooper for Senate Nomination Despite Looming Ethics Investigation

Los Angeles City Council Approves Resolution in Favor of Medicare for All

Patriot Prayer leader and Washington officers face civil rights lawsuit over violent incident


A Little Night Music

Pee Wee Crayton - You Know, Yeah

Pee Wee Crayton - Austin Boogie

Pee Wee Crayton - My Kind Of Woman

Pee Wee Crayton - Poppa Stoppa

Pee Wee Crayton - I Must Go On

Pee Wee Crayton - Do Unto Others

Pee Wee Crayton - Texas Hop

Pee Wee Crayton - I've Found Peace Of Mind

Joe Turner (w. Pee Wee Crayton & Sonny Stitt) - Lucille

Pee Wee Crayton - Pee Wee's Texas Boogie


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Bottom line BS. Who believes this crap anymore?
If a mountain does not make money for the fed
then sell it to the Saudi's.

Thanks Joe

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joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

heh, these jagoffs are a little off on the concept underlying national parks. they seem to think that the parks, like everything else is supposed to generate profit in order to justify its existence. frankly, the national parks and their conservation of a part of the natural world are supposed to be the thing that goes some way towards justifying allowing the other economic activities that are destructive of the nature in other locales. i guess it's an overton window thing.

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snoopydawg's picture

Under shroud of secrecy US weapons arrive in Yemen despite Congressional outrage

Following the initial reporting the Pentagon said it had launched its own investigation, in conjunction with the State Department, into the unauthorized transfer of US weapons in Yemen, which a Pentagon spokesperson says remains "ongoing."

US lawmakers, citing CNN's investigations, have since moved to ban weapons sales to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, passing the War Powers Resolution against a sitting President for the first time in a bid to end US military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, and also tried to sanction the Saudis for the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The War Powers Resolution was approved by the House and Senate but was vetoed by Trump in April.

Trump vetoed the bill and of course congress couldn't bother trying to override it. Lots of the countries that have declared Never Again are also supplying weapons to the Saudis to keep this heinous genocidal action going.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

yep, that sweet, sweet saudi cash money makes all the difference between war crimes and looking away.

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Azazello's picture

Tucson election report: Regina Romero becomes first Latina to serve as Tucson's mayor

Tucson voters have elected their first Latina to serve as mayor.
Three-term Councilwoman Regina Romero, who takes office next month, is the first woman to hold the city’s top elected job and will be the second Hispanic to be elected mayor of Tucson since the Gadsden Purchase. She will succeed Mayor Jonathan Rothschild as the city’s leader.

Couple good vids:
CrossTalk: Deep state rising
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQW5wd1eN5E width:500 height:300]
Obama Shames Voters For Criticizing Corrupt Politicians
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKz57X3SQIs width:500 height:300]

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

snoopydawg's picture

@Azazello

until Obama became president.

If Progressives Don’t Wake Up to How Awful Obama Was, Their Movement Will Fail

Could you ask for a more perfect bookend to Obama’s blood-soaked neocon abortion of a presidency than his receiving $400,000 to give a speech at a health care conference organized by a Wall Street firm?

My God I hate every single thing about every single part of this. Let me type that out again in segments, so we can all really feel into it:
Four hundred thousand dollars. For a former President of the United States. To give a speech. At a healthcare conference. Organized by a Wall Street firm.

Anyone who’s familiar with my work knows that I harbor markedly less affection for Hillary Clinton than I do for malaria-infected mosquitoes, but I still find it annoying how clued-in people on the anti-establishment left are to how horrible she is while still maintaining a degree of sympathy for Obama.

"Obama next speech will be to Citibank. He plans on thanking them for the best administration money can buy."
..

A few of the kids say that we let Obama and the democrats down for not showing up to vote for them. It's our fault that we have Trump when we should have held our noses and voted for Herheinous. But then those mean republicans wouldn't let Obama play president. Bull!

Those gawd damn verb activists... yeah that's the problem I have with Obama who wasted 8 years that most of us will never recover from.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

glad to hear that your candidate won.

thanks for the vids, jimmy seems to be spot on again.

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ggersh's picture

is just one big fucking lie

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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

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

heh, has been since federalist 10 was worked out.

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Lookout's picture

A lovely pleasant day here in the NE corner of AL. The yellows of the hickory leaves cast their golden light through the house all day. Other times of the year we have the thunk, donk, donk, donk of the nuts hitting and rolling off the roof. All things in their time, I guess. At least I like flowing in the stream of the seasons and time.

Here's hoping your seasonal change is pleasant and fulfilling. Thanks for the news and music Joe!

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

we are slowly having a turn of the seasons here. some of the leaves have turned, but we're still a little bit away from the full blaze of fall. the weather has been quite nice for the past couple of weeks and i wouldn't complain if it stayed this way for a little while. Smile

have a great evening!

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Bollox Ref's picture

can deliver and pitch your tent for you, as you 'get away from it all'.

Truly, the End Times.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref @Bollox Ref
old codgers. Think of the future for the children, growing up in this.

Dystopian near future post apocalyptic non-fiction.

On sale in a book store near you.

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Bollox Ref's picture

@QMS

close in 2032? I think I saw it on Montag Surround News with exxtra Stereo.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref
on amazon.prime
free shitting and handling

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Bollox Ref's picture

@QMS

How would dystopian fiction work in a dystopia? Wouldn't that just be reporting the news?

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref

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

@Bollox Ref

tune into cnnfauxnbc/dystopia and see it in real time!

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@Bollox Ref but incinerated, not to worry though, all the millions of de-homed people have memorized the content.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Bollox Ref

you aren't thinking big enough. imagine the sort of profits the parks could rake in if they installed golf courses and roller coasters in the national parks. why, think of what disney could do for yosemite.

you and your kids will never have to be bored looking at some big rocks, oversized trees or waterfalls again. nature is just a place without a giant movie screen and 3d glasses.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

his candidacy for Senator (AL)--tomorrow. Now, that's going to be an interesting race, since DT is almost for sure going to go after him. Viciously.

Thanks for tonight's EB, Joe. Things are really hectic, right now. But, in a good way. Got a good bit to catch up on with you Guys. But, will wait until late Friday, so I can give update on the Pup. (She's been with trainers, and, fingers crossed, will be a full-fledged Therapy Dog by late this month.) Friday is the first time we'll get to see her, since visits are quite restricted during the course. Can't wait! Biggrin

Oh, saw several of the pieces you've posted about Warren's 'pay for.' I'm not sure why some folks are upset about levying business with taxes (which are supposed a few percent less than those imposed by the ACA). Saw a few folks freaking out, as though they thought that workers/employees also paid the so-called 'head tax.' Which, from what I've found, is not the case. (IOW, unlike our current FICA tax which splits the Medicare portion between employee and employer, the 'head tax' is only imposed on the employer. Also, Warren has expanded the definition of employee to include independent contractors. (according to David Dayen)

Anyhoo, as much as Warren's voice and persona are irritants (to me), I'll give her credit for showing some transparency. After all, acording to the John Harwood interview, Sanders still refuses to do more than give a list of 'proposals' for how UMFA 'could be' payed for.

Personally, I'd like to know the details. We don't buy a car or home, without knowing how much it costs, for cryin' out loud. The costs of health care--premiums or taxes--can carry a relatively hefty price tag, if you're talking several decades. (Mr M's and my Mother both lived to be very, very old.) So, yeah, we'd kinda like to know what price tag they're talking. For all the faults of the current Medicare system, we know to the last red cent, monthly, therefore, annually, what our healthcare costs will be. (Only wild card--Part D drugs.) And, even then, we know at the beginning of each year, we our costs will be, unless prescriptions are added later.

Of course, I don't really expect MFA/UMFA will pass any time soon. And, not just because of what Pelosi said the other day.

Apparently, Rep Neal (MA) has just tasked the insurance industry with a re-write of Medigap plans. He's current Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, so, he's totally in the know as to what the Party plans to do. More on this when I'm not pushed. His initiative would near destroy the Medigap market as we know it. (that's according to the insurance industry, not just my opinion)

Thankfully, I found a letter (online) several days ago, where they told Neal's Committee just that. Phew! (Of course, I don't believe Neal is that stupid. I'm convinced that he's wanting the change so that more people will be forced into Medicare Advantage.) At any rate, the insurance commission lobby told him that what he was proposing would likely double, or triple Medigap premiums. Phew!

Gotta run, and pack for road trip. We're trying to jam in several short trips while the Pup's not home. She suffers from motion sickness, and has to take an expensive med every time she's in a vehicle--even to go to town, much less, on a road trip. (Thankfully, her insurance policy will soon be picking up 90% of the cost of treatment, for however long she has a problem and/or has to take them. Thank goodness we insured her early! Smile )

Weather's been mild, and quite nice this week. (Rain coming in, soon, though.)

Hey, Everyone have a nice evening!

Bye Pleasantry

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

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
~~Cicero

The obstacle is the path.
~~Zen Proverb

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

heh, ol' beauregard is tossing his hat in the ring, eh? that should be amusing, i guess. my condolences to the citizens of alabama.

i think that warren's pay for plan may be crafted to be more acceptable to centrist jagoffs than sanders' plan. it appears to me that sanders' pay for plan is more concerned with employers not being able to pass on the costs of the plan to workers than warren's plan.

the other thing is while you note that warren's plan is more detailed, i think that sanders' lack of detail in the pay fors is not particularly disturbing to me. neither plans pay fors will go through the congressional sausage machine and come out exactly as advertized, so to some extent, there's no point in working things out to a high level of precision.

sanders, i think, recognizes that his mfa plan, like all of his (and warren's) plans are pretty much doa in a centrist congress, which even if he and aoc get busy in the primaries probably cannot fully overcome.

where sanders has it all over warren, in my view, is that he is up front that he is organizing people to make demands and punish the centrist morons that are an obstacle to progress. i cannot feature warren calling out the people to hold the centrists feet to the fire, i can certainly imagine sanders going to west virginia and whipping up the people to dump joe manchin.

anyway, ymmv.

have a good one!

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@joe shikspack @joe shikspack Gotta share this. My judge likes to name parents Joint Managing Conservators, even when one pays child support, and doesn't have equal time with the child.
So, I presented an agreement naming my guy Sole Managing Conservator, which gives him superior rights to make education and medical decisions.
Knowing the judge,I wanted to put on some evidence to give the judge confidence in the agreement.
Testimony was the baby had lived with the Dad all but 2 weeks. And did that 2 weeks give him reason and concern about the safety of his 4 yr old son? And my client went all crying, I was trying to tell him it was ok, telling him everything is ok, then hugging him, telling him his son is safe, will always be safe. Pretty much the whole courtroom was blinking back tears.
Well, me, too.
Judge blew his nose, signed the order, and the kid, 4 years old, is with crying dad, and is in very capable hands.
Great day. Keeps me working.
I have met the child. He is out of this world handsome and smart and fun. My office staff got to interact with him for an hour. We just let the phones ring. We just wanted time with this remarkable kid.
Celebration time, come on!

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

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

thanks! and congratulations on your win! in the courts here, that would be a very unusual outcome and i would imagine that it took significant skill to support. i hope everything works out great for the child and your client.

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@joe shikspack I am the first attorney to have won custody of a child for a black man in the history of this county.
The first two children that were raised by their father were both Valedictorians of their high school graduating class. One is a preacher, the other is a deacon.
The judge who reluctantly did that and worried about it, is now crowing about it.
Now, it is normal.
20 years ago, not even on the radar. I told my client back then to just turn me loose, let me just TRY. Nobody even attempted to do it back then.
The judge way back when and I are friends, and I keep him updated to this day on all things black guys raising great black kids, due to that single ruling.
He was thrilled at their scholastic success. He thought he had goofed.
He did not.
I saw my client of yore a few days ago, and he is absolutely my heart. Always hugs, always talk about kids and now, grandkids, and everything went so well, it all worked, and he never, ever argues with me, lets me TRY.

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

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@joe shikspack

some reason, still don't get the rationale about "passing on costs"--employers do what they do, when they want to do it. IMO, it would be more likely for centrist lawmakers to prefer to see individuals, rather than businesses, pay more taxes--for healthcare, or anything. To me, it's been surprising that the one proposal that Bernie has acknowledged that he supports, is the implementation of the income tax on individuals (or, the middle class, as they say). IOW, the way it's shaken out, seems sorta bassackwards (to me). Biggrin

(Now, if there was solid proof that not taxing employers would shield employees from adverse actions from employers, I might buy that theory. But, that I can see, there is none.)

On this point, I have to somewhat disagree,

i think that sanders' lack of detail in the pay fors is not particularly disturbing to me. neither plans pay fors will go through the congressional sausage machine and come out exactly as advertized, so to some extent, there's no point in working things out to a high level of precision.

And, the reason I say that is because it's almost impossible to hold anyone accountable--lawmakers, especially--if they're allowed to use weasel words, or just flat-out refuse to answer policy questions, but fail to do what they promising.

Having said that, I definitely agree with the point that no one, including Bernie, could possibly know for certain what would come out of Committee as a final product.

Still, look at how Dems deceived their Base, and the American People, about the ACA. Partly, because of that, I figure that if answers are demanded of lawmakers, it at least gives others an opportunity to question and/or dispute, or disprove, misleading or flat-out deceptive notions, misinformation, and disinformation. That's very important, IMO.

I sorta figure that (perhaps) some of the way folks need to see various details (or not) regarding the UMFA/MFA proposals, may depend upon how they're situated (healthcare coverage wise). IOW, those with sufficient coverage--that they're pretty content with--might be a tad more concerned about drastic change, than someone else would be, who has coverage they despise. (Guess Mr M and I would pretty much fit into the former category. Smile )

Anyhoo, totally agree that most Dem lawmakers figure that UMFA/MFA doesn't have a snowball's chance to pass. Basically, the entire exercise comes off more and more as a bit of a GOTV gimmick (to me). I feel that way, partly, because of what Rep Neal's doing in the House Ways and Means Committee, not to mention what Pelosi says every time the topic comes up. Phew!

Hey, have a good one.

Mollie

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joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

still don't get the rationale about "passing on costs"--employers do what they do, when they want to do it.

this is where i get that from:

In an interview with ABC News, Sanders warned Warren's proposed head tax—which she terms an "employer Medicare contribution"—could harm workers' wages and suppress job growth.

"I think that that would probably have a very negative impact on creating those jobs, or providing wages, increased wages and benefits for those workers," Sanders said. "So I think we have a better way, which is a 7.5% payroll tax, which is far more I think progressive, because it'll not impact employers of low-wage workers but hit significantly employers of upper-income people."

so, i think that what you tax is important and has particular effects.

if you tax employees (a head tax as warren proposes) an employer has an incentive to hire as few employees as possible. (this has many negative effects ranging from suppressing the job market to incentivizing employers to pressure workers to work overtime or unusual schedules to accommodate production or business flow) employers, if allowed, will also look to find loopholes in the law to hire workers, but have them not meet the technical definition of worker (independent contractors, suppressed hours). so, a head tax is arguably easier for an employer to evade, whereas a payroll tax charges every dollar spent on labor the same making it much harder to avoid.

bottom line, though, the head tax falls most heavily on people at the bottom of the income distribution. from the same article:

On Friday, Matt Bruenig of the left-wing People's Policy Project think tank similarly argued that a payroll tax would be significantly more progressive than Warren's proposed head tax.

"Under the 8 percent employer-side payroll tax, the employer taxes paid for a worker earning $15,000 per year is $1,200, while the employer taxes paid for a worker earning $200,000 per year is $16,000," Bruenig wrote. "Under the $9,500 employer-side head tax, the employer taxes paid is $9,500 for both workers."

fica, for example, requires employers and employees to split the cost of contributions - and presumably that is what sanders has in mind when he says the 7.5% payroll tax will be paid by employers. now, you can argue that employers will pass on any costs of healthcare to labor through diminished wages, and that's a valid argument. which is why it seems to me that sanders plan being more progressive at least passes fewer costs on to workers than warren's would.

as i said before, ymmv.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@joe shikspack

points well-taken.

There's one point that Bruenig made that was contradicted by David Dayen. Dayen says that Warren greatly expands the definition of Independent Contractor, so that the head tax does encompass that category of worker. (IOW, employers don't escape paying it on/for them.)

Personally, dunno. But, that's what Dayen wrote (as I understood him). And, because I know David (so to speak) better than the author you quote, frankly, I trusted him to be correct on that issue. And, because I thought Bruenig got that wrong, I sorta didn't put quite as much stock in what he said (in his other points), as I might have, otherwise. My bad, I suppose.

Anyhoo, I'll accept that you're in the know. Smile We've been so busy lately, I've had to depend upon reading various articles about Warren's so-called 'pay fors'--instead of her actual proposal. IOW, except for her website, I haven't seen anything detailed on what she proposed, except what's been written by others.

Of course, my bailiwick, and what I mostly concentrate on is a narrow aspect of the UMFA/MFA issue--which is, "How would TM/OM beneficiaries be affected by the transition to UMFA/MFA?"

Hey, what I do know is--we're quite happy that we don't have to pay payroll taxes (FICA) anymore!

Biggrin

Seriously, I will reread what you've posted, and try to absorb/understand it better, tomorrow. So, again, thanks.

Gotta run--got a very long day, tomorrow.

Mollie

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dystopian's picture

That Pee Wee Crayton was a great guitar player... great singing too. His playing was awesome for the time, way ahead of his... as witnessed and enshrined by John Lennon for that classic Revolution intro (from Do Unto Others). It was Pee Wee in 1954. Rad man. You can hear Pee Wee's style in a lot of the good 60's players, and singers.

Maybe people that need access to food trucks, wi-fi, and amazon deliveries should just steer clear of national parks? I can just imagine a Saturday at Yosemite with a hundred deliveries racing around campground loops, what a great outdoor experience. Yeah that's the ticket. The city is far better suited for those requiring such. If you can't pack your shit or unplug for a couple days, perhaps bugger off the National Parks?

There is a large area of the upper midwest into Canada that is called the 'prairie potholes' region. This is the waterfowl factory of North America. Every low spot and depression in the rolling terrain is a wetland. Covered in breeding ducks. It is a beautiful spectacular habitat, full of wildlife. I loved it there in August, but don't think I'd do a winter, neither do the ducks.

Who could have known an oil pipeline would leak and have a spill? /s

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

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

heh, pee wee crayton is one of those musicians that i listen to and wonder, why is this guy not a household name?

i'm sure that swarms of amazon drones flying in and out of national parks won't disturb anything. commerce uber alles!

i've been through the potholes region in the dakotas a bunch of times and thought that it was really quite spectacular and just teeming with wildlife. i'd consider living there if i could deal with the winters.

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clip was good. But he really is rubbing salt into the wound. I was too involved in all of that and can castigate myself for being dumb dumb dumb. x2
I have to say again as painful as it is , S. Palin was right...hows that hope and change thing coming. Well, I guess that just goes to show, I should really be paying more attention to Fox News.

Thanks for the roundup Joe, I have been trying to keep up with you these past several weeks but just can't do it. The effort though is always worth it and I will just keep running along behind. TY.

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joe shikspack's picture

@randtntx

i guess we're going to be seeing more of obama for the next year since there's an election coming up. it's disappointing to see war criminals walking around in public like that.

sorry about the density and length of the eb's lately, there's just an awful lot going on that i want to pay attention to.

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@joe shikspack I'll be able to handle that very well. Publicly lauded war criminals that just won't go away are really hard on my digestive system. I don't know what to do. I may just have to watch game shows all the time and avoid the news entirely. I can tell, this next year is going to be rough.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@randtntx

When you don't watch the news. I gave up my TV years ago before online steaming was available. Now I have Netflix and Amazon Prime but gave up Facebook and Twitter. I sleep a lot better.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Anja Geitz's picture

on how to be a lousy politician?

Good piece from Rising on Warren vs. Bernie. Thanks Joe.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier