The Evening Blues - 12-16-19



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Slim Harpo

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Louisiana swamp bluesman Slim Harpo. Enjoy!

Slim Harpo - You'll Be Sorry One Day

“For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked.”

-- Marcus Tullius Cicero


News and Opinion

There's more reporting at the link.

Julian Assange denied access to lawyers and vital evidence in US extradition case

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared via videolink at Westminster Magistrates Court in London yesterday for a brief administrative hearing. The half-hour proceedings confirm that the fundamental legal rights of the world-famous investigative journalist are being trampled in what amounts to an extraordinary rendition. ... He was in a visibly worse state than at his last court appearance, appearing fidgety, tired and downcast. Witnesses in the public gallery agreed his health seemed to have deteriorated further. Naomi Colvin from Bridges for Freedom later tweeted that Assange was, “Visibly depressed, slumped shoulders. He had his arms crossed with hands inside his sleeves throughout.”

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser began the hearing by referring to complaints by Assange’s defence lawyer Gareth Peirce that her client’s access to legal counsel is inadequate. Baraitser claimed she had “no desire to stand in the way of any lawyer having proper access to their client. It is clearly in the interest of justice that they do so.”

Her subsequent actions proved this to be a barefaced lie.

Baraitser stated, “What I can do and say is to state in open court that it would be helpful to this extradition process that Mr. Assange’s lawyers have access to their client.” However, she then insisted, as she has done in the past, that she has “no jurisdiction over the prison system” and could exercise “no influence” over the decisions of Belmarsh prison’s governor regarding visiting rights for Assange’s lawyers. Peirce countered with legal precedent. She noted that a judge presiding over the recent case of another defendant at Belmarsh had requested the governor provide the defendant a legal visit. As Peirce explained, facilities are available in Belmarsh’s healthcare wing for additional legal visits. The “deficiency of what ought to be available” was a result of the governor’s prioritising different uses of that space. Baraitser was unmoved. She repeated that she had “made a clear statement in open court” that it would be “helpful” for Assange to have sufficient contact with his lawyers: “At this stage that’s all I’m going to do.”

Peirce moved on to the practical impossibilities of carrying out Assange’s defence under these conditions. She explained the defence team had prepared a “summary of issues” which they intended to raise in future proceedings, including some 20-25 witnesses and extensive footnotes in reference to other evidence. The deadline for the submission of evidence is December 18, and the next case management hearing scheduled for December 19. However, Peirce explained she has not yet been able to discuss the document or underlying evidence with Assange. The next available date for such a meeting at Belmarsh was December 18, with prison authorities giving him less than a day to review the details.

Astoundingly, Baraitser asked, “Do you agree that it is perhaps less important that that information is gone through in detail with your client?”

Peirce replied that the document was “incredibly detailed... essential and integral... some of it is recently acquired evidence, some of it is subject to months of investigation not always in this country, of which [Assange] is unaware because of the blockage in visits.”

“Despite our best efforts, Mr. Assange has not been given what he must be given, and we are doing our utmost to cut through this.”

Baraitser replied that she was “hopeful” that they could “serve at least some of the evidence” and conclude their discussions on December 18.

Turkey could close Incirlik air base in face of U.S. threats - Erdogan

Turkey could shut down its Incirlik air base, which hosts U.S. nuclear warheads, in response to threats of U.S. sanctions and a separate U.S. Senate resolution that recognised mass killings of Armenians a century ago as genocide, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. ...

Turkey can also close down the Kurecik radar base if necessary, he added. “If they are threatening us with the implementation of these sanctions, of course we will be retaliating,” he said. ... Erdogan suggested on Sunday that Turkey could also respond with parliamentary resolutions recognising the killings of indigenous Americans in past centuries as genocide.

Turkey renews military pledge to Libya as threat of Mediterranean war grows

The threat of a military clash in the Mediterranean has drawn nearer following talks in which Turkey has underlined its willingness to send troops to Libya to defend the country’s UN-recognised government. Such a move would risk a direct military confrontation with General Khalifa Haftar, the eastern Libyan military warlord who is thought to be planning a decisive assault on the government of national accord in Tripoli, or GNA. Either the UAE or Egypt, which are supporting Haftar’s forces, might also become involved.

Turkey, already at loggerheads with the US Congress and EU on multiple fronts, last week signed a military co-operation agreement with GNA that enables it to request troops from Turkey. The agreement, sent to the Turkish parliament on Saturday, provides for a so-called quick reaction force for police and military in Libya, as well as enhanced cooperation on intelligence and defence.

Turkish support for the GNA government led by Fayez al Serraj has until now been limited to drones and armaments, and it would be a major escalation to send ground troops to defend Tripoli. ... As part of a binding together of Turkey and the Tripoli government, the two sides have also drawn up a memorandum of understanding to carve out drilling rights in the Mediterranean that has infuriated the European Union, and in particular Greece. Athens says the exclusive economic zone agreement in effect blocks Greece from drilling around Crete and is illegal.

Ankara’s actions risk an anti-Turkish coalition forming comprising Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Italy. These countries came together under the umbrella of the eastern Mediterranean gas forum – an outwardly energy-related but ultimately military partnership from which Turkey was excluded. The natural gas reserves in the region are estimated to be around 122 trillion cubic meters in total.

Argentina's 'dirty war': France approves extradition of suspected torturer

France will extradite Argentinian Mario Sandoval to Buenos Aires late on Sunday to face trial over the torture and disappearance of a student during the country’s “dirty war”, airport and legal sources said. The 66-year-old former police officer was arrested on Wednesday at his home near Paris, after French authorities gave the final go-ahead for his extradition, ending an eight-year legal battle.

He will be sent back under escort aboard an Air France flight from Paris to Buenos Aires, the sources said. Sandoval has been living in France since 1985 and obtained French citizenship with few aware of his full identity.

Argentina suspects that Sandoval took part in more than 500 cases of kidnappings, torture and murder at a time when some 30,000 were “disappeared” during the 1976-83 military dictatorship. But the extradition concerns only the alleged kidnapping in October 1976 of Hernan Abriata, an architecture student whose body has never been found.

Argentinian authorities say investigators have several witness accounts linking Sandoval – known there as the “butcher” of the dictatorship – to Abriata’s killing.

Max Blumenthal on The War On Democracy in Bolivia the UK and DC

Bolivia's interim leader says arrest warrant to be issued against Morales

Bolivia will issue an arrest warrant in the coming days against former leftist President Evo Morales, accusing him of sedition, interim Bolivian President Jeanine Anez said on Saturday.

Morales is in Argentina, granted refugee status this week just days after the inauguration of new President Alberto Fernandez. Peronist Fernandez succeeded outgoing conservative Argentine leader Mauricio Macri, who lost his bid for re-election in October. ...

"He can return whenever he wants. He left because he wanted to," Anez told reporters. "The arrest warrant will be issued in the next few days, because we have already brought the charges."

Democrats CAVE To Trump On Defense Budget

Ukraine: Can We Get That Meeting With Trump or Is Now a Bad Time?

Days after President Trump tweeted out a picture of himself enjoying a “very good” Oval Office meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top diplomat, a Ukrainian official told a roomful of D.C. journalists that his own president is still hoping for his own meeting at the White House.

But there’s no date yet. And that’s despite the fact that Trump’s literally about to get impeached in part for withholding just such a meeting this past summer, while allegedly trying to trade it for an announcement of investigations into the Bidens.

For Ukraine, the stakes are a lot higher than just some quality time in the White House with Trump. The continued effort to score an Oval Office meeting despite all the political turmoil shows just how vital the gesture remains for Ukraine's fledgling president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to demonstrate U.S. support for his country’s bloody conflict with Russia-backed separatists, in which 14,000 people have died since 2015.

Festival in Ukraine This Weekend Is the Neo-Nazi Networking Event of the Year

Hundreds of far-right extremists will converge on Ukraine’s capital this weekend for a “militant black metal” music festival that experts say has become a networking hub in the international neo-Nazi scene. Asgardsrei, which will be held Saturday and Sunday in Kyiv’s Bingo Club, bills itself online as a black metal festival that has “grown into the largest (and certainly the most radical)” in the region. ...

Far-right experts say the festival, now in its fifth year in Kyiv, has become an important networking hub for the transnational white supremacy movement. The festival was organized by individuals linked to Ukraine’s powerful far-right Azov movement, the ultranationalist group that played a major role in the revolution and the war against Russian-backed separatists in the east. It also includes a mixed-martial arts “fight night” by an Azov-affiliated fight club on Friday night.

The festival has previously drawn extremists from groups including the U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division, Germany’s The Third Path party, and Italy’s neofascist CasaPound. “It’s established itself as the major festival of the national Socialist black metal scene,” said Thorsten Hindrichs, a musicologist at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz who specializes in far-right music subcultures. ...

Hindrichs said Kyiv had become a “safe space” where events like Asgardsrei could take place without disruption from authorities or protesters. He said the festival’s growing importance on the international far-right scene meant it warranted closer attention from Western security services to monitor the contacts their extremists were potentially making in Kyiv. “There’s horrifying things going on there,” he said. “It would be a good idea to try to stop people attending.” ...

Researchers said the event highlighted the way Ukraine, through the influence of Azov and affiliated far-right movements, has emerged as a global hub for right-wing extremists since the outbreak of war. In recent years, events like Asgardsrei have drawn foreign radicals to Ukraine to network with Azov-affiliated extremists, where they have documented their presence at far-right subcultural events like concerts and MMA tournaments on social media.

Tensions high as France enters 12th day of pension-reform strikes

Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland 'cannot be imprisoned in the UK'

Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that Scotland cannot be “imprisoned in the UK against its will” and warned that Boris Johnson’s continued refusal to grant her the powers to hold a second referendum can only increase support for Scottish independence.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, the SNP leader and Scotland’s first minster said: “It really is such a subversion of democracy that you’re talking to the leader of the party that overwhelmingly won the election [in Scotland], and I’m under pressure to say what I’m doing because the mandate that I won is not going to be honoured by the party that got roundly defeated in Scotland. It is just such perversion and subversion of democracy that it will not hold.”

She told Marr that Scottish voters had “rejected the Tories, said no to Brexit and made clear we want our future in our own hands”, adding: “I don’t presume everyone who voted SNP on Thursday is yet prepared to back independence, but it’s not for me to decide that question, it’s not for Boris Johnson to decide, it’s for the people of Scotland.”

In Scotland, the SNP increased its share of the vote to 45%, winning a greater proportion of the votes there than the Tories did across the UK, and also increased its number of MPs at Westminster to 47. In contrast, the Tories – whose campaign in Scotland was focused on opposition to a second independence referendum – lost more than half their Scottish MPs, dropping from 13 to six.

Accusing the Tories of “raging against the reality” of the markedly different election result in Scotland, Sturgeon said: “The risk for the Conservatives here is that the more they try to block the will of the Scottish people, the more utter contempt they show for Scottish democracy, the more they are going to increase support for independence.”

George Galloway | Another 5 years of majority Tory govt led by BoJo not going to be nice to look at

Boris Johnson threatens BBC

Downing Street is threatening the future of the BBC by insisting it is seriously considering decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee, while boycotting Radio 4’s Today programme over the broadcaster’s supposed anti-Tory bias. No 10 pulled ministers from Saturday’s edition of the Today programme and sources said it intended to “withdraw engagement” from the show in future.

The row is seen as an ominous sign of Boris Johnson’s willingness to bypass independent scrutiny and follows criticism of the BBC’s election coverage from both left and right.

No 10 pointed to Andrew Neil’s on-air monologue in which he lambasted Johnson for his refusal to be interviewed, and the BBC’s “extensive coverage” of a four-year-old boy with suspected pneumonia forced to sleep on a hospital floor – as supposed evidence of anti-Tory, pro-remain bias at the corporation.

Meanwhile, Labour backers have raised concerns about the BBC’s coverage, from the editing out of laughter aimed at Johnson in a news bulletin to leading reporters uncritically repeating Conservative sources, and the prime minister escaping scrutiny after dodging the one-on-one interview with Neil. ...

During the election campaign, Johnson threatened to take the BBC’s licence fee away as he called into question its status as a publicly funded broadcaster. The prime minister suggested the licence fee, which is guaranteed to continue until at least 2027, was a general tax that could no longer be justified when other media organisations had found other ways of funding themselves. Any changes to the BBC’s funding model would require parliament to pass fresh legislation. Abolition would be hard, but a bigger risk for the BBC is the negotiations with the government over the cost of the licence fee between 2022 and 2027.

Ralph Nader on Impeachment: Democrats Should Go After Trump’s Full Corruption, Not Just Ukraine

Mitch McConnell Just Told Fox News Exactly How Impeaching Trump Is Going to End

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell already knows how this whole impeachment thing is going to go down - it'll end exactly how President Donald Trump wants it to end.

Speaking on Fox News to host Sean Hannity, the Kentucky senator straight-up said on Thursday that he’d take his cues from Trump’s lawyers if and when the Senate has an impeachment trial.

“Everything I do during [the impeachment process], I’m coordinating with White House counsel,” McConnell said on Fox. “There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position, as to how to handle this.”


The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Trump on Friday morning, which means it will soon go to a vote before the entire House. Once the articles of impeachment get through the house, it’ll go before the Senate, which much have a trial. But that doesn’t necessarily mean McConnell has to take the trial seriously.

IG report exposes FBI, Congressional, and media deceit in Russia probe

Heh, Comey says it's hard to get a FISA warrant from the rubber-stamp FISA court. Quite a whopper.

Trump threatens Comey with 'years in jail' over FBI Russia report

James Comey, the former director of the FBI who has become a prime nemesis of Donald Trump, admitted on Sunday to being responsible for “real sloppiness” over the handling of surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser. He also fiercely defended himself and the bureau against any suggestion of political bias, prompting a new threat, of “years in jail”, from Trump.

Comey, who was fired by Trump as America’s top law enforcement official in May 2017, came under intense questioning on Fox News Sunday, sparring with anchor Chris Wallace over the findings of the inspector general’s report into the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Comey seized on one of Michael Horowitz’s main conclusions, that there was no evidence of political bias in the investigation, to launch an impassioned critique of how he and his FBI colleagues had been treated by Trump.

“The FBI was accused of treason, of illegal spying, of tapping Mr Trump’s wires illegally, of opening an investigation without justification, of being a criminal conspiracy to unseat a president. All that was nonsense.” ...

The president followed up by attacking Comey himself, in loose and intemperate terms. “So now Comey’s admitting he was wrong,” he tweeted. “Wow, but he’s only doing so because he got caught red handed. He was actually caught a long time ago. So what are the consequences for his unlawful conduct. Could it be years in jail? Where are the apologies to me and others, Jim?”

Even before Trump’s intemperate intervention, Comey did not get an easy ride. Under persistent questioning by Wallace, he was forced to admit he presided over serious mistakes in the course of applying for permission to place former Trump adviser Carter Page under surveillance.

Asked to explain the contrast between the report’s criticism of serious problems in the Fisa process and his earlier defense of the FBI’s actions as “thoughtful and appropriate”, Comey replied that Horowitz “was right, I was wrong”.

“I was overconfident in the procedures that the FBI had built over 20 years. I thought they were robust enough. It’s incredibly hard to get a Fisa and he was right there was real sloppiness. It was not acceptable.”

Comey embarrasses himself when confronted with IG report

Keiser Report: A Rolling Loan Gathers No Loss

Explosive Report Details ICE Negligence in Medical Care for Detained Children Resulted in Deaths, Preventable Surgeries

Reporting from Buzzfeed News Thursday evening exposed how President Donald Trump's immigration policies led to four deaths and preventable surgeries for children held in the administration's detention regime, including one eight-year-old boy whose forehead was partially removed. ...

Reporter Hamed Aleaziz broke the story, based on an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblower report he obtained about conditions for immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The report is here (pdf).


In a call to action, immigrant youth organization United We Dream noted there's blame to go around for the treatment of migrants by the federal government.

"While horrific torture like this occurs inside immigration concentration camps, Democrats and Republicans are moving forward on funding the Trump's white supremacist agenda," said United We Dream.

Minnesota Woman Sues 2 Pharmacies for Denying Her Morning-After Pills

Andrea Anderson - a 39-year-old mother of five who lives in the rural town of McGregor about 100 miles north of Minneapolis - knew she didn’t want more children after a mishap with a condom, her typical form of contraception. “The next morning, I got up and said, ‘We can’t roll the dice,’” she told KSTP in a story published Tuesday.

Anderson said her doctor then prescribed Ella, a prescription-only morning-after pill that’s effective for up to five days after unprotected sex. The prescription was sent to her local pharmacy, Thrifty White Pharmacy.

In the lawsuit filed this week in Aitkin County, Minnesota, Anderson alleged the pharmacist there, a man named George Badeaux, refused to fill her prescription based on his “beliefs” and warned her against trying to get it filled at another nearby pharmacy. Anderson said she then drove to a CVS some 20 miles away from her home, which also declined the prescription, and allegedly told her a Walgreens some 50 miles away didn’t have the pill. But then, Anderson says, she called the Walgreens herself and found out the pill was available there. She drove through a treacherous snowstorm to fill the prescription. ...

The suit argues that although pharmacists in Minnesota are allowed to deny patients seeking an emergency-contraception prescription because of religious or personal objections, they must counsel the patient on another place to get the drug, according to the Washington Post.



the horse race



Super Tuesday poll shows shaky support for Biden

Democrats beware – the UK election was actually a terrible night for centrists

Not long after exit poll results came in, pundits across the pond started making bold claims: if Corbyn – what with his leftwing manifesto and socialist politics – could lose so badly against Johnson, surely this spells doom for any allied efforts in the United States, namely the primary candidacies of Bernie Sanders and (to a lesser extent) Elizabeth Warren. Hand either of them the Democratic party’s nomination, they warn, and deliver the country to Trump for another four disastrous years. This is, to borrow a phrase from our comrades in the UK, bollocks.

There’s plenty of reflection to be done in the coming weeks, months and probably years about why Labour failed to get a victory or even a hung parliament this election – much of it unflattering of Labour and with plenty of lessons for the electoral left stateside.

But what all the finger-wagging about Corbyn and Sanders ignores is that the kind of tepid politics these pundits espouse had an awful night too. The centrist Liberal Democrats – who campaigned harder against Jeremy Corbyn than Boris Johnson – failed to deliver a surge in seats. Its leader, Jo Swinson, lost her own seat after her performance in the general election devolved rapidly. The Lib Dems presented themselves similarly to establishment Democrats across the pond: a respectable third way between the Conservatives and Labour, and effectively a single-issue party committed to staying in the EU by any means necessary. Last spring Nancy Pelosi met with members of Change UK, a collection of Labour MPs who quit the party over opposition to its leftward shift. Two of the three MPs she met with lost their seats last night. The other spent this election season urging marginals – think swing districts, in US-speak – to vote for Johnson.

Let’s also not forget these politicians’ and pundits’ recent record in the US. Democrats lost over 1,000 seats under Obama and handed a rash of state legislatures over to Republican trifectas, neglecting the kind of decentralized, grassroots organizing that fueled his campaign to victory. They lost miserably in 2016 mounting a wildly unpopular candidate committed to maintaining the status quo. And none of them have faced any consequences, continuing to lead the party into what may well be an abyss. Their counterparts elsewhere are losing ground to the far right, or ceding on points like migration. The left may have lost, but the center is hollowing out.

As they were in 2017, Labour’s policies remain highly popular across party affiliation. Six in 10 people support Labour’s policy of free broadband for all, and 64% support renationalizing the country’s railways. A full 56% back a total decarbonization of the UK economy by 2030 and 63% support a Green New Deal to do so, and making considerable public investments in jobs and infrastructure. Similar figures hold in the US, where Sanders enjoys wildly higher favorability ratings than Corbyn. These kinds of policies helped Corbyn to mobilize tens of thousands volunteers to canvass around the country and bring millions into the work of politics, energy (and votes) not likely to disappear any time soon.

This UK election was ultimately an election about Brexit, and Brexit won. There’s no clean analogue to that in the US.


Biden Parrots 'Profoundly Silly' Narrative That Lesson From UK Elections Is Democrats Should Not Go 'So, So Far Left'

Former Vice President Joe Biden Thursday night told a gathering of rich donors that the Labour Party's crushing defeat in the U.K. general election represents a warning sign that Democrats should not nominate a left-wing candidate in 2020, a narrative progressives immediately condemned as highly misleading and pernicious.

"Look what happens when the Labour Party moves so, so far to the left," Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, told donors at a fundraiser in San Francisco Thursday. "It comes up with ideas that are not able to be contained within a rational basis quickly."

"You're also going to see people saying, 'My God, [U.K. Prime Minister] Boris Johnson, who is kind of a physical and emotional clone of the president, is able to win," the former vice president said, according to pool reports. ...

Progressives and other critics were quick to push back against efforts to use Corbyn's loss as a cudgel against Sanders and Warren, noting that unique political dynamics in the U.K.—particularly polarization over Brexit and Corbyn's deep unpopularity—make such comparisons absurd and dishonest. ...

Commentators were quick to note that, unlike Corbyn against Johnson, Sanders has polled favorably against Trump in hypothetical general election match-ups.

"Comparisons to the U.K. are inevitable but lazy," said Adam Jentleson, public affairs director at advocacy group Democracy Forward. "If you're gonna do it, you have to grapple with the fact that Corbyn was deeply unpopular whereas Biden, Bernie, and Warren all rank about the same on fav[orability]."

Angus Johnston, professor at the City University of New York, also pointed out that Sanders' overall favorability rating among the U.S. electorate is far higher than Corbyn's in the U.K.

Krystal Ball: The secret to ending Joe Biden

The Search for a Pete Buttigieg Fundraiser

Ilhan Omar Joins Sanders in Drawing 1,300 People to Largest New Hampshire Rally of 2020 Primary So Far

Sen. Bernie Sanders held his largest rally yet in the key state of New Hampshire on Friday night, joined by Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has faced racist attacks since taking office earlier this year but who received a warm welcome from the crowd of more than 1,300 people.

The rally was reportedly the largest of any Democratic primary candidate in the state so far, according to the campaign; last month, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg reported that he drew "about 1,300" to a rally in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

"The political revolution is strong in New Hampshire," said Sanders campaign New Hampshire state director Shannon Jackson. "We are seeing incredible enthusiasm from voters across the state. Sanders and Omar represent a vision for the future of economic, racial, environmental, and social justice, and the voters of New Hampshire are on board. The multiethnic working class coalition we are building was on display today and will ultimately lead us to victory on February 11th."

Omar's appearance with Sanders came hours after a Washington Examiner op-ed claimed the Vermont senator is running "the most anti-Semitic [campaign] in decades" despite the fact that Sanders' fathers' family members were killed in the Holocaust. Omar, one of the first Muslim women to be elected to Congress and, like Sanders, a vocal critic of Israel's violations of Palestinians' human rights, was named as an example of the senator's allyship with so-called anti-Semites.

The editorial raised alarm among progressives concerned that anti-Sanders groups could level the same attacks that weakened outgoing British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in Thursday's general election—but the New Hampshire crowd showed enthusiasm for Omar's appearance.


Michael Brooks: NYT smears Cenk Uygur

Wisconsin judge's ruling could purge 200,000 from voter rolls

A Wisconsin judge’s order to boot more than 200,000 people from voter rolls in the battleground state spurred condemnation from Democrats, amid claims of voter suppression.

If the decision stands, it could have an impact on the 2020 presidential election. In 2016, Donald Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes. Subsequent contests have also returned tight margins.

“I won the race for governor by less than 30,000 votes,” tweeted Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat who beat the former Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walker last year. “This move pushed by Republicans to remove 200,000 Wisconsinites from the voter rolls is just another attempt at overriding the will of the people and stifling the democratic process.

In October, the Wisconsin Elections Commission mailed a letter to 234,000 voters who it thought might have moved, requesting that they update registration information. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (Will), a conservative group, then filed suit. The lawsuit said the voters contacted should have 30 days to confirm their addresses. If they did not do so, Will said, their registration status should be changed from “eligible” to “ineligible”.

Will asked county circuit judge Paul Malloy to grant an injunction that would require election authorities to purge the rolls. In his ruling on Friday, Malloy identified a legal obligation to strip the rolls in 30 days. “I don’t want to see someone deactivated but I don’t write the law,” said Malloy, who was appointed in 2002 by the then Republican governor, Scott McCallum, and has since been re-elected. “There’s no basis for saying 12 to 24 months is a good time frame. It’s not that difficult to do it sooner … If you don’t like [it], you have to go back to the legislature.”

Warren, Biden and other Democrats threaten to boycott debate amid labor feud

All the Democratic presidential candidates slated to participate in next week’s debate have threatened to skip the event if an ongoing labor dispute forces them to cross picket lines on the university campus where the debate will be hosted.

A labor union says it will picket as Loyola Marymount University hosts Thursday’s sixth Democratic debate, and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders responded by tweeting they would not participate if that meant crossing it. Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang followed suit.

“The DNC should find a solution that lives up to our party’s commitment to fight for working people. I will not cross the union’s picket line even if it means missing the debate,” Warren tweeted.

Sanders tweeted: “I will not be crossing their picket line.” Biden tweeted: “We’ve got to stand together with @UNITEHERE11 for affordable health care and fair wages. A job is about more than just a paycheck. It’s about dignity.” The other candidates used Twitter to post similar sentiments.



the evening greens


How the Fossil Fuel Industry Is Attempting to Buy the Global Youth Climate Movement

The same day that 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg gave a stirring speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in September, in which she criticized delegates for “stealing my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” the architects of the climate crisis welcomed select youth participants from the summit to dine. CEOs from fossil fuel corporations including BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Norway’s Equinor were attending the annual gathering of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative in New York, which includes industry leaders who claim to be committed to taking “practical” action on climate change. On the agenda for lunch was to “explore options for long-term engagement” with young people the industry could trust. Student Energy, a nonprofit based in Alberta, near Canada’s tar sands region, helped organize the event, which included time for students to grill the CEOs about their inaction on climate change.

Tension in the room was high, Student Energy’s executive director, 30-year-old Meredith Adler, told The Intercept. “The whole discussion started off with one of our participants talking about why youth don’t trust oil and gas companies,” she said. But by the end of the meeting, Adler tweeted that she was “very impressed” with OGCI. “I don’t feel they had all the answers or strong enough answers but they are really listening,” she wrote.

The students’ questions may have been tough, but the event was great PR for the fossil fuel industry. Gone are the days when CEOs openly questioned the existence of climate change. Today, industry leaders are feigning a sense of climate urgency while pushing forward proposals for climate action that will allow companies to keep harvesting carbon-emitting products well into the future. Subjecting themselves to a cohort of skeptical students was an opportunity for oil and gas executives to boost their credibility in an era when many young activists will only engage with them with picket signs. Young activists say they’re seeing more of this “youth-washing” as the global youth climate movement gains momentum, including at the U.N. annual climate conference, known as COP 25, which is wrapping up in Madrid this week. With “youth” becoming synonymous with climate action, corporations and politicians are increasingly using young people to portray themselves as climate serious. ...

Although Student Energy’s leaders often echo the talking points of activists like Thunberg, the group’s membership — a network it claims includes 40,000 young people — is largely made up of people who want to work in the energy industry. Student Energy is among the youth groups granted observer status at COP 25, meaning that its members can gain access to negotiation spaces, speak with the negotiating parties, and participate in events. Its presence at the U.N.’s international climate talks is only expected to grow. Student Energy’s 2018 report noted that the group had seen a 73 percent increase in active chapters. Next year, the oil and gas major BP has pledged to send 50 Student Energy delegates to COP26. The funding would double the size of the group’s usual delegation, according to a BP press release. In a conference space that serves as a battleground of ideas about how to address the climate crisis, BP apparently sees Student Energy’s presence as beneficial to the corporation.


'We Are Furious': As COP 25 Draws to Close, Green Campaigners Fume as Rich Nations Move to Gut Paris Agreement

With just hours left in the COP 25 climate conference taking place in Madrid, Spain, international climate campaigners said Friday they are "furious" over rich countries' refusal to adequately commit to addressing the urgency of and pay for their role in fueling the climate crisis.

"Just as we thought the slow pace and weak ambition shown at the climate talks couldn't get worse, along comes COP 25," said Sara Shaw, Climate Justice and Energy Program coordinator for Friends of the Earth International (FOEI). She also criticized "the advance of dodgy carbon trading that will only exacerbate the climate crisis and harm Southern communities."

As crunch time hits, hammering out a deal on controversial carbon markets is proving to be sticking point. ...

The climate campaigners' comments came on the final day of a conference that saw activists including Fridays for Future youth stage protests within the event hall demanding climate justice. The activists were kicked out of the conference, in their view, had their voices suppressed over those of corporate polluters.

Speaking about the unrest at the conference, Nnimmo Bassey of Health of Mother Earth Foundation told Democracy Now! Wednesday that "the protesters here are saying that the trajectory on which the COP negotiation is moving, which is towards market mechanisms rather than real climate action, is the wrong direction and that this cannot be accepted."

"We're seeing a situation where the rich, polluting countries are not ready to fund climate adaptation and mitigation to pay for loss and damage," said Bassey.

Some countries, though, have made good pledges, as Jake Schmidt, Brendan Guy, and Han Chen wrote at NRDC's expert blog Thursday. "The 80 countries that have committed to put forward stronger steps to curb climate change here at COP25 in Madrid are impressive."

But the 80 countries represent only about 10% of global emissions. The 20 major emitters that account for approximately 80% of global emissions have stood nearly mute in Madrid. They've dithered over side issues and done absolutely nothing about the 800-pound gorilla in the room—the continually rising global emissions of greenhouse gases hurtling us toward catastrophe. The eyes of the world are squarely on them.

It's no secret who those major emissions produers are.

"The United States," which last month began withdrawing from the Paris agreement, "is not a good actor here," Greenpeace International executive director Jennifer Morgan told CNN, adding that Saudi Arabia and Brazil are also thwarting progress. DeSmog blog also reported Friday that "almost a third of Saudi Arabia's representatives attending the Madrid meeting, known as COP25, are associated with the oil and gas industry."

"I think that the climate politics are quite dark," Morgan continued. "You have the oil majors working with the Trump administration, with others, to try and slow things down here. And you have others that just aren't prioritizing it." That means "the role of countries or units like the European Union becomes even more important, but... it's like they're tired and they're not rising above the daily kind of issues and there's no time for that."

FOEI's Shaw, in her statement, suggested such inaction and active thwarting of progress was sabotaging the prospect of global temperature rise to below the threshold agreed to in the Paris climate accord.

"Here, we have witnessed the gutting of the already weak Paris Agreement" as well as "a refusal by developed countries to pay up for loss and damage finance, while they try to introduce language that would remove their liability for the impacts their emissions have caused," she said.

"We are furious that while so many are already suffering the impacts of climate change, corporations and rich country governments are working to destroy any hope of keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees," said Shaw. "And when we stood up in peaceful protest at COP 25, we were aggressively suppressed."


COP25 Was a Failure, But Activists’ Collective Organizing at the Talks Was Unprecedented


Also of Interest

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

The Story of the UK General Election is not Brexit, it’s the Coming Breakup of Britain

The Most Unpopular Government in UK Political History

WikiLeaks: OPCW-DOUMA - Release Part 3

Deluge Of New Leaks Further Shreds The Establishment Syria Narrative

Getting Away With Murder: ‘Clash’ as Media Euphemism for ‘Massacre’

While Evo’s MAS party regroups, Bolivia’s coup leaders are eating each other alive

Why Elliott Abrams is Smurf villain Gargamel

The Wax and Wane of J Street’s Influence Over U.S.-Israel Policy

Trump/Netanyahu: Israel, America and the rise of authoritarianism-lite

“Anyone to my left is an antisemite”

US Says They ‘Had To’ Bomb Afghanistan Hospital to Get Taliban

For WaPo’s Centrist Sources, Progressive Politics Are ‘Purity Tests’

Trump-Friendly California Democrat Is Facing His First Serious Primary Challenger

America’s Two-Headed One Party System

California Governor Newsom Nixes PG&E Bankruptcy Plan

The historical case for abolishing billionaires

“Who's Afraid of Bernie Sanders?” with Krystal Ball, Matt Karp, and Michael Brooks

Rising: NEA President: Which candidate stood out at the 2020 Education Forum

Rising: Is Bloomberg buying the race? DCCC backed candidate becomes Republican

Useful Idiots: Cenk Uygur on The Young Turks, His Campaign, and Media Coverage of Progressives

Jummy Dore: Bernie “Un-Endorses” Cenk Uygur Over Smears

Small-town Alaskan newspaper seeks new owner. Price: $0


A Little Night Music

Slim Harpo - I'm Your Bread Maker, Baby

Slim Harpo - I'm Gonna Keep What I've Got

Slim Harpo - I Love The Life I'm Living

Slim Harpo - Strange Love

Slim Harpo - Harpo's Blues

Slim Harpo - I Got Love If You Want It

Slim Harpo - I'm a King Bee

Slim Harpo - Mohair Sam

Slim Harpo - Buzzin'

Slim Harpo - Shake Your Hips


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Comments

ggersh's picture

McConnell a tRumpolini stooge, how'd that happen....
rhetorical

the rightwing bullies just keep on bullying and
their ain't no one to stop them.

We're fucked, I just don't see any hope.....sigh

http://thegreatrecession.info/blog/no-deal-trade-deal/

I cannot even imagine how anyone thought the US/China Trade War — or, as I call it, the Trump Trade War — was ever coming together. It could not possibly have “fallen out of place,” [as one article claimed] because it has never for one second been in place. It has been astounding to watch how people can month-after-month for over a year continue to chase the belief that the Trump Trade War is starting to fall into place (let alone “has fallen into place”)

… NO progress has been made at any point along the line! So, again, why would anyone think that is going to happen? There has not been one single PERMANENT thing Trump has asked for from China that has been agreed to that we know of. All we have seen are piecemeal temporary measures agreed to that have been poorly followed through. There has never been any reason to believe Trump when he has said a deal was imminent — not any reason based in hard facts.…

The Chinese trade hope is a mirage. We are on the far side of the Gobi Desert from any prospect of “the pieces of the economy falling together.”

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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

who could have imagined that the republicans would band together to deny the democrats a win? unprecedented!

heh, i guess that it's best that trump wants to fight the chinese with idiotic twitter posts rather than heavy weapons.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

La Paz, Bolivia – Just one month after ruling elites and right-wing politicians seized power in Bolivia with a military coup, the fragile unity they briefly enjoyed has erupted into a bitter public feud.

Local analysts had predicted that coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho and businessman Marco Pumari could unite the right from the country’s east and west, both indigenous and white or mestizo. They were seen as an insurmountable dream team.

That alliance now lies smoldering, with the two presidential frontrunners openly airing their dirty laundry amid a vicious power struggle.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

joe shikspack's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger

heh, i wonder if bolivia will be a u.s. "diplomacy" failure like venezuela because the u.s. can't pick out a competent dictator.

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Shahryar's picture

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/top-democratic-candidates...

In a letter obtained by NBC News, they asked the DNC to use the previous criteria of meeting either the grassroots donor or minimum polling threshold, rather than both.

I was wondering how Bloomberg was gonna get into the debates since he won't qualify by number of donors. And now I know.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Shahryar

i read somewhere (and i think i posted the article in an eb) that according to tombama perez the current debate rules are only valid through the december debate. in the article he was quoted as saying that he was open to considering changes that would allow bloomberg to debate.

i guess that i don't care if the democrat elites can't bring themselves to deny a billionaire a crack at their nomination. bloomberg isn't going to take votes away from anybody i care about and he'll make a marvelous punching bag for progressives.

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Lookout's picture

I ain't much of a Cenk fan, but like Jimmy I tend to pull for the underdog...
they are a little too long....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ_GR38HcPs (36 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyCm75HIC78 (49 min)

Great interview with Aaron and Matt... loved the montage at the beginning.

Thanks for another excellent eb! Lots going on around the world.

EDIT to add:
Glenn G. interviews Evo Morales...
https://theintercept.com/2019/12/16/evo-morales-interview-glenn-greenwald/

And one more addition...(6 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAisZP6Thf0]

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

thanks for the morales interview, i've been hoping that we'd hear from morales directly.

the outlaw video is excellent - thanks!

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Azazello's picture

I thought this was interesting, Richard Wolff with R.J.Eskow.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufPIrGbjhQg width:500 height:300]
Later

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

CB's picture

@Azazello
Trumpinomics and the complicity between the Dems and Repubs who work in tandem with the corporate interests. Highly recommend.

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Azazello's picture

@CB
This is the question Wolff raises.
The neoliberal "rules-based international order" is breaking down.
Nationalism is on the rise, trade relations are breaking down.
Is this the prelude to a second Great War ?

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the video. i always enjoy wolff's take on things.

heh, for the u.s., everything is a prelude to war. it is what we do. every day that we are not opening another outlet for military profits is a day lost to the u.s. model of economics and world domination.

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CB's picture

@Azazello
and the west knows it. The US should have peeled Russia away from China when they had the chance during the Bush and Obama years. It's too late now. These two countries now do air, naval and army military exercises with 100,000's troops involved. They also share high tech missile and naval expertise. And, with the Power of Siberia pipeline in operation they are effectively joined at the hip. They cannot be separated.

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there is but one essential justice which cements society

probably never will
which may be ok
in the long run

[video:https://youtu.be/mxVo5mjK4eg]

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joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

apparently, the powers that be believe that they have come up with an alternative to cement.

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CB's picture

Deluge Of New Leaks Further Shreds The Establishment Syria Narrative
Caitlin Johnstone Dec 15

WikiLeaks has published multiple documents providing further details on the coverup within the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) of its own investigators’ findings which contradicted the official story we were all given about an alleged chlorine gas attack in Douma, Syria last year. The alleged chemical weapons incident was blamed on the Syrian government by the US and its allies, who launched airstrikes against Syria several days later. Subsequent evidence indicating that there was insufficient reason to conclude the chlorine gas attack ever happened was repressed by the OPCW, reportedly at the urging of US government officials.

The new publications by WikiLeaks add new detail to this still-unfolding scandal, providing more evidence to further invalidate attempts by establishment Syria narrative managers to spin it all as an empty conspiracy theory. The OPCW has no business hiding any information from the public which casts doubt on the official narrative about an incident which was used to justify an act of war on a sovereign nation.
...

Max Blumenthal, Ben Norton and Rania Khalek were against Syria before they were for it.

Max Blumenthal Says He Is A "Cynical Salesperson Posing As Journalist". He Is Right.
...
In July 2017 we took on three "cynical salespersons" in the 'progressive' media who took part in a "disinformation campaign aimed at convincing Americans to support decapitating another Middle Eastern government and let Al Qaeda and co. fill the void." Those three "cynical salespeople" were then and still are "posing as journalists".

Five years after the war on Syria began those three "cynical salespersons", who had consistently propagandized for more war on Syria, turned around and started to write in favor of the Syrian government side while either forgetting to mention or even hiding their earlier position.

From our 2017 piece Syria - The Alternet Grayzone Of Smug Turncoats - Blumenthal, Norton, Khalek:
...

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@CB

Who pays these cynical salesmen?
Who stands to gain by sowing discord?
Comes down to (on a personal level)
are you buying it?

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CB's picture

@QMS
but a lot has been scrubbed. Here's from a quick search.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD-OeMDh714]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyUP1TYyK2M]

You may want to read the following in full. I just grabbed a bit. BTW, Max has scrubbed this from his website.

The right to resist is universal: A farewell to Al Akhbar and Assad’s apologists
By Max Blumenthal 6.20.12
...
Besides exploiting the Palestinian cause, the Assad apologists have eagerly played the Al Qaeda card to stoke fears of an Islamic takeover of Syria. Back in 2003, Assad accused the US of deliberately overestimating the strength of Al Qaeda in order to justify its so-called war on terror. “I cannot believe that bin Laden is the person able to outmanoeuvre the entire world,” Assad said at the time. He asked, “Is there really an entity called Al Qaeda? It was in Afghanistan, but is it there anymore?” But now, in a transparent bid for sympathy from the outside world, Assad insists that the Syrian armed opposition is controlled almost entirely by Al Qaeda-like jihadists who have come from abroad to place the country under Islamic control. In his address to the Syrian People’s Assembly on June 3, the dictator tried to hammer the theme home by using the term “terrorists” or “terrorism” a whopping 43 times. That is a full ten times more than George W. Bush during his speech to Congress in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

Echoing Assad, Ghorayeb has referred to the Syrian army’s pornographically violent crackdowns on what by all accounts is still a mostly homegrown resistance as “the regime’s war against the foreign sponsored terrorists and insurrectionists,” calling for “a security solution to root [them] out.” At the Al Akhbar’s Arabic site, Jean Aziz predicted a complete Salafi takeover of Syria if Assad falls. Meanwhile, Ibrahim al Amin claimed that the Syrian opposition “cop[ied] the modus operandi which was devised by the leadership of al-Qaeda,” then uncritically quoted an unnamed regime source who insisted that “a hardline majority of the armed groups have come to be led by non-Syrians.” Similarly, Narwani assertedthat a shadowy 5000-man ultra-Islamist militia has been operating inside the city of Homs with “plans to declare an Islamic Caliphate in Syria” — Creeping Shariah! She based her remarkable assertion on a single conversation with an anonymous journalist.

In joining the Assad regime’s campaign to delegitimize the Syrian opposition by casting it as a bunch of irrational jihadis (ironically, they seem to have little problem with Hezbollah’s core Islamist values), Assad’s apologists have unwittingly adopted the “war on terror” lexicon introduced by George W. Bush, Ariel Sharon, and the neocon cabal after 9-11. Not only have they invoked the scary specter of The Terrorists (gasp!) to justify morally indefensible acts of violent repression, like pro-Israel hasbarists, they have resorted to rhetorical sophistry to dismiss the regime’s atrocities as necessary evils, unfortunate accidents (what al-Amin called “mistakes”), or fabrications of the regime’s opponents (see Ghorayeb on “unsubstantiated allegations of war crimes.”) I wonder, as I do with Zionist fanatics, if there is any limit to the carnage Assad’s apologists will tolerate in the name of the greater cause.
...

You can judge for yourself.

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snoopydawg's picture

@CB

It was started under false pretenses. Now there is a surprise huh? The severe drought was just the pretext for Obama to set it up. Assad was blamed for our gassing his people with help from our Saudi friends.

I also just read a damning summary of Hillary's murderous tenure as Secretary of State. My gawd the day she shuffles off this mortal coil the world will rejoice! Hallelujah we will sing.

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CB's picture

@snoopydawg
I had posted a number of comments about the 2008 drought (Assad had turned down an IMF loan at the time because the terms were too onerous for the poor people and country plus the UN only gave about $4 million of the $20 million required) as a causative factor in the Syrian war in DKos in the spring of 2011. I also posted reports from fired Al Jazeera reporters about hundreds of jihadis sneaking into Syria with weapons from Libya. I sure wish I would have saved my posts there.

Sputnik also reported on this:

How the 2008 Syrian Drought Fit US Geopolitical Plans in Middle East
18:34 10.11.2015
...
"The Obama Administration itself was taking advantage of not only the 'Arab Spring' protests throughout much of the Arab world, but, specifically, of an ongoing economic catastrophe in Syria that had started five years before the anti-Assad demonstrations did: an extended drought," the historian narrated in his article for Strategic Culture Foundation.
...
"Unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to Iskenderum on the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi's arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers, a skill they acquired confronting Gaddafi's army," former CIA intelligence analyst Philip Giraldi reported in December 2011.
...

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lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
Hillary Clinton’s six foreign policy catastrophes

I also just read a damning summary of Hillary's murderous tenure as Secretary of State.

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CB's picture

@lotlizard
the illegal regime changes Clinton was directly responsible for.

We will never get direct evidence of Hillary's machinations in destroying these countries during her term as SoS because she has destroyed all incriminating evidence from her email server. She said she deleted the 30,000 emails because they were personal (discussing yoga routines, food recipes and wedding plans with Chelsea). That works out to 21 per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. I wonder when she had time to do her job

What was the death count she was responsible for during this period? Directly and indirectly the count would be close to 1,000,000 deaths plus at least 30 million displaced? We are counting men, women AND children here! I wonder how she can sleep at night.

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snoopydawg's picture

@lotlizard

thanks for posting it. I read the DK diary but looks like the critical comments were removed. Lots of iffy stuff happening there. Especially the flood of new users and the new users that joined back in 03=06 with just 4 comments and all of them from this year. Funny huh? But it's the flood of anti Russia new users that gets me wondering.

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joe shikspack's picture

@CB

caitlin's article looks excellent and quite a deep dive, i got part way through it last night and may have to wait for the weekend to get all the way through.

the moa article seems to be a statement in excess of the evidence presented. it is possible that the three writers he calls out have evolved over time, though i don't remember reading anything from them that seemed like cheerleading for al qaeda as he asserts.

when he makes an evidence-free assertion that his not-well-supported case that their position has changed is based upon monetary incentives from unknown and unnamed sources, it seems to cross the line from speculation to smear in my view.

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CB's picture

@joe shikspack
They just denied that jihadis were a major part of the Syrian conflict or were responsible for any of the atrocities happening. They all said Assad was the "butcher" responsible for ALL the killing and bombing going on in the country.

I tried to find the mea culpa from Rania Khalek but failed. In this interview she said that she believed the lies and propaganda about Assad because all the mainstream media was saying it so it must be true.

These three have been hard at work scrubbing their previous reports and twitters after they switched sides.

No excuse as far as I'm concerned. There were dozens of reports about 100's of jihadis infiltrating Syria with tons of weapons at the very beginning of the conflict. I reported extensively on this at the time in DKos to no avail. I had done the same for the Libyan conflict. Eventually, telling the truth about Russiagate got me BOJO'd which I didn't mind. DKos had turned into a full on stinking cesspit by then. It hasn't recovered.

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snoopydawg's picture

@CB

change of heart then he'd interview his dad. I think that is an excellent point. Another said that he might have changed only because of the situation in Syria and will change back in the future after people think he's anti establishment. Interesting points.

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joe shikspack's picture

@CB

i went back and checked the article said "cheer on" rather than "cheerlead," sorry.

From March 2011 to mid 2016 Max Blumenthal and his sidekicks Ben Norton and Raina Khalek were rabidly 'pro-rebel'. After five long years of cheering on Al Qaeda and consorts, who were all along killing Syrian people left and right, they turned their coats and started to write in favor of the Syrian government side of the war.

i concede that there is a difference between "cheer on" and "cheerlead," i'm not sure if it's a terribly important distinction, but there it is.

i haven't dug into this, but if as you assert that blumenthal, norton and khalek made a dramatic 180 degree turnabout in their advocacy and then dissappeared the evidence of their previous position, that is indeed disturbing without some sort of explanation from a bunch of journalists.

on the other hand, i feel that my point still stands that b's evidence-free assertion that these three journalists were "bought" by persons unknown and unnamed is not so much a speculation as a smear.

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CB's picture

@joe shikspack
as jihadis. In their minds, these "rebels" were ordinary Syrians trying to overthrow a "brutal dictator" so they were cheering for them. They all fell for the propaganda that was being pushed by ALL the FUKUS MSM in the west and joined the bandwagon.

No fucking excuse for that. If a dozen or so of us at DKos figured out what was going on in Syria almost from the very beginning of the conflict, these three also could have. But, many people were afraid to go against the massive and highly organized propaganda pushed by the media. Don't forget that the entire media machine had been 100% co-opted since the Iraq War.

No money involved. Just selective blindness brought about by a lack of courage to look deeper. Two years in and the facts of the case were impossible to not see so they switched.

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snoopydawg's picture

If people get to use Corbyn's loss as a beware about Bernie's because he was too far on the left do we then get to use Hillary's loss to Trump the same way because she was a centrist and too far to the right?

Yep we do.

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@snoopydawg

may rather be a bit more straight forward
so the hypnotists can reach a larger audience
in a shorter time frame
directly confusing many
sensible reactions
idea marketing is simple

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh:

do we then get to use Hillary's loss to Trump the same way because she was a centrist and too far to the right?

of course we do. unfortunately, we will be drowned out by the droning media wurlitzer playing the other tune you mentioned.

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GreatLakeSailor's picture

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Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.

joe shikspack's picture

@GreatLakeSailor

i'm glad that palast has had a victory, but the sneaky little weasels that suppress votes always have another trick up their sleeves.

the price of fair elections (which we don't have yet) is eternal activism.

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I am keeping my fingers crossed reg Bolivia. Let the ruling junta continue to express their feelings "authentically".

Nice to know it's going good for our Nazi buddies in Ukraine and they are going to have a carnival of sorts. Or not.
Yasha Levine is always good, tracking down the real anti-semities/Nazis. He flagged this reg Marie Yovanovitch (he briefly unlocked his subscriber-only post after her testimony. It is now locked).

https://yasha.substack.com/p/salute-the-diplomat

Yes, she’s a career diplomat. Yes, she’s sharp and committed. Yes, she genuinely seems to be good at her job and appears to have done her best to carry out America’s foreign policy. And that’s exactly the problem: our country’s foreign policy has been a total, shameful clusterfuck — and that’s especially true in Ukraine, where she served as ambassador from 2016 to 2019.

Being a hero in this case would be going against these policies — not slavishly carrying them out while doing Ukrainian “Sieg Heil” salutes. Yes, Sieg Heil salutes.

Only recently learnt about the Ukrainian & Polish nationalists who covered up their own anti-semitism/Nazi collaboration thru anti-communism("Judeo Bolshevism" myth etc). Some of them migrated to US and they/their offsprings contribute(d) to our foreign policy dept. Jimmy Carter's National security advisor and founder of Mujahideen network Zbigniew Brzezinski(Polish) is a prominent example. Someone mentioned on Twitter that Adam Schiff('s family) is from the Baltic States and that explains his pathological hatred of Ruskies. I mean, not painting with a broad brush but there are people from Baltic States who are like those Nationalists mentioned above.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Funkygal

the u.s. has a long history of accommodating former nazis, fascists and now new generations of neo-nazis in the name of anti-communism or, hell, just for convenience.

they don't like to talk about it much and their compliant media lapdogs keep it pretty quiet.

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snoopydawg's picture

The embassy protectors had permission from Venezuela to be in it, but they won't be allowed to tell the jury that. Should be grounds for appeal, but it won't help if the government is running the show all the way up. What more evidence do the people who still think this is the home of the free need to see it ain't? More info in the article.

Gawd I wish I had enough money to leave this banana republic, but as Shar said, what country is safe from being taken over by the USA?

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CB's picture

@snoopydawg

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

perhaps they ought to ask the judge to refer to them as a "gang" some more and make as many other pejorative statements as he can think of to make the appeals process smoother.

they might get some contempt citations, but it might be worth it.

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snoopydawg's picture

Trump gets reelected. This doesn't really tell you anything new but sure makes the case for why he needs to be impeached. The democrats are complicit in the ongoing ecocide of the planet. How people can't see through their corruption is mind boggling ain't it?

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WoodsDweller's picture

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

joe shikspack's picture

@WoodsDweller

heh, i remember the good old days when lefties heads were grafted onto russian, chinese and cuban military bodies and republicans heads got grafted onto nazi bodies.

i guess there really has been a political realignment of the parties.

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lotlizard's picture

@joe shikspack  
is like using “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as an argument without caring that it’s a forgery.

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Situational Lefty's picture

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/12/16/ralph_nader_trump_impeachment_tr...

If Nancy Pelosi wants to remove Donald Trump, she went on a very narrow base.

But just think of all the other impeachable offenses, some of them, per se, that are “kitchen table” offenses. He has destroyed, shredded, disabled the lifesaving injury prevention and disease reduction programs of the federal government — Environment Protection Agency, the OSHA protecting worker safety, the Product Safety Commission. He’s basically closed down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, protection from Wall Street and other financial crimes against ordinary people, consumers, investors, small savers. That is a critical impeachable offense, according to the Framers of our Constitution, the defiant refusal to faithfully execute the laws. She didn’t go with that. The enrichment of his family, with foreign governments using his hotels — the so-called Emoluments Clause, slam dunk, per se, she didn’t go with that. The seizure of the power of the purse, the appropriations power of the Congress, exclusively reserved to the Congress by the Constitution, she didn’t go with that. He took $3.7 billion from the Defense Department to build the wall. That’s a clear impeachable offense.

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"The enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." Yossarian

joe shikspack's picture

@Situational Lefty

heh, it's pretty clear that pelosi and her minions decided on a very narrow set of charges so as not to venture into areas where their own actions and behavior might be cast comparatively.

the obvious lesson is that if you want honest government, it will require a virtual total purge and replacement of both the elected and unelected bureaucracy.

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