The Evening Blues - 2-28-20



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Otis Clay

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features soul singer Otis Clay. Enjoy!

Otis Clay - Pouring Water On a Drowning Man

"They fell into this dreadful error of taking the soldier's obedience for the consent of the nation. This trust loses thrones."

-- Victor Hugo


News and Opinion

Shocking and surprising news! OMG, what will be done to repair the damage? I'm sure that Team America will get right on it.

'The OAS Has a Lot to Answer For': New MIT Study Disputes Key Claim That Paved Way for Right-Wing Coup in Bolivia

A new study released by a pair of MIT researchers Thursday reveals that, contrary to claims from the U.S.-backed Organization of American States, there was no fraud in Bolivia's October 20, 2019 elections—an accusation used by the OAS and others as a pretext for supporting the coup in the country that deposed President Evo Morales and replaced him with an unelected right-wing government.

"Good lord," tweeted MSNBC journalist Chris Hayes. "Given the fact the entire Morales government was toppled over accusations of election fraud, the OAS has a lot to answer for."

The Intercept's Jon Schwarz took a similar approach to the findings and the OAS' conclusions.


MIT researchers John Curiel and Jack R. Williams reviewed the OAS report on the election for the Washington Post and found that the "election irregularities" cited by the group were based on "problematic" statistical claims. The OAS report rested its claim on the assumption that these so-called irregularities gave Morales a boost in numbers that raised his results over 10% higher than any other candidate, precluding a runoff election.

The researchers say they requested a response from the OAS about their findings, but received no reply.

Curiel and Williams' study was commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). The group's co-director, Mark Weisbrot, said in a statement that the OAS has a lot of explaining to do after facilitating the coup through faulty information.

"The OAS greatly misled the media and the public about what happened in Bolivia's elections, and helped to foster a great deal of mistrust in the electoral process and the results," said Weisbrot. ...

According to Curiel and Williams, the data used by OAS doesn't line up with the organization's conclusion:

Our results were straightforward. There does not seem to be a statistically significant difference in the margin before and after the halt of the preliminary vote. Instead, it is highly likely that Morales surpassed the 10-percentage-point margin in the first round.

[...]

There is not any statistical evidence of fraud that we can find—the trends in the preliminary count, the lack of any big jump in support for Morales after the halt, and the size of Morales' margin all appear legitimate. All in all, the OAS' statistical analysis and conclusions would appear deeply flawed.

CEPR's Weisbrot declared the researchers' findings troubling and questioned the OAS' credibility.

"This important analysis from MIT election researchers is the latest to show that the OAS' statements were without basis, and that simple arithmetic shows that there is no evidence that fraud or irregularities affected the preliminary results, or the official results - the ones that actually matter," Weisbrot said. "The OAS needs to explain why it made these statements and why anyone should trust it when it comes to elections."


Curiel and Williams also point to the role in the media for uncritically regurgitating OAS claims on face value as the coup against Morales' Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS-IPSP) party was underway.

"The media has largely reported the allegations of fraud as fact," the researchers write. "And many commentators have justified the coup as a response to electoral fraud by MAS-IPSP."

Utah-based progressive activist Tom Taylor called for accountability on the part of the media.

"Our news outlets took what known liars like John Bolton said about Morales at face value," said Taylor. "Zero critical thinking. The journalists were old enough to remember when we were lied into the Iraq War."

"There's no other way to put it," Taylor added. "Our media supported a coup."

Julian Assange's lawyers: US files were leaked for political ends

Julian Assange’s legal team has rejected a suggestion by lawyers for US authorities that his actions were not “political offences”, arguing that the WikiLeaks founder had published classified documents to highlight human rights abuses. On the fourth day of Assange’s extradition hearing in London, before proceedings were adjourned until May, his barrister, Edward Fitzgerald QC, said the motives for publishing confidential information about Guantánamo Bay and the actions of the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan were political. ...

James Lewis QC, a barrister for the US authorities, argued earlier on Thursday that Assange’s actions were not inherently political as they did not have the direct purpose of overthrowing the US government or changing US government policy. “Any bare assertion that WikiLeaks was engaged in a struggle with the US government ... needs to be examined far more,” he told Woolwich crown court.

Fitzgerald responded that Assange didn’t only seek to change US government policy, but that he succeeded. “WikiLeaks didn’t just seek to induce change, it did induce change,” he said, referring to the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. “What other purpose can there be publishing the Apache helicopter strike [video, showing the killing of 12 people] and [US] rules of engagement than to show that the war was being waged in a way that conflicted with fundamental human rights?

“What other point can there be to releasing the Guantánamo Bay files than to induce a government change of policy? And the same for revealing civilian deaths in the Iraq war – [it] was to induce a change in government policy.’’


CrossTalk: Re: Assange

Prosecution in Assange Extradition Hearing: US-UK Treaty Does Not Apply To Wikileaks' Publisher

The prosecution in Julian Assange's extradition hearing in London Wednesday maintained a magistrate court has the authority to flout an international norm enshrined in treaties and approve the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder to the United States.

Arguments on the third day of the hearing focused on the issue of "political offenses" and whether an extradition treaty between the U.S. and the U.K. applies to the case. If it does, the defense believes extradition should be denied because the allegations against Assange involve the publication of state secrets and are "purely political offenses."

Assange is accused of 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act and one count of violating a computer crime law that, as alleged in the indictment, is also an espionage offense. Espionage is widely recognized as an "offense directed against the state itself."

An extradition treaty signed [PDF] by both the U.S. and the U.K. in 2003 contains a section that explicitly applies to political offenses. It states, "Extradition shall not be granted if the offense for which extradition is requested is a political offense."

However, in 2003, the U.K. Parliament passed the Extradition Act and omitted a section on political offenses. The prosecution argues Parliament did not include a right related to political offenses, therefore, Assange cannot invoke the protection to prevent his extradition. ...

Judge Vanessa Baraitser seemed receptive to the prosecution's argument for disregarding the treaty. Before James Lewis, the lead prosecutor, responded to the defense, Baraitser instructed the defense to stop their argument about political offenses and focus on whether the treaty is relevant to proceedings.

To this, defense attorney Edward Fitzgerald told the judge the treaty is the basis of the extradition request. "To have an extradition request, you've got to have a treaty."

The Magna Carta of 1215 banned arbitrary detention and granted defendants rights of habeas corpus. Fitzgerald emphasized that such due process protections have been enshrined for centuries, and in fact, the U.S. Constitution contains them as well. But as the "Don't Extradite Assange Campaign" observed, the judge acted like Parliament overrode the Magna Carta, as the defense outlined why a person should not be subject to arbitrary detention.

Russia and Turkey's Conflict in Syria Escalates Amid New Troop Deaths

Russia and Turkey's conflict over an insurgent-held province of northwestern Syria has witnessed a major escalation in hostilities recently, with new reports of Turkish military casualties incurred by airstrikes. Turkish Hatay province Governor Rahmi Dogan has announced that at least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in airstrikes blamed on the Syrian government against their positions in the country's northwestern province of Idlib. The count has risen steadily since an initial announcement of nine dead and more injured, some critically. ...

Russia has accused Turkey of continuing to provide heavy munitions to its rebel allies and of failing to facilitate the removal of jihadi groups such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former Syrian Al-Qaeda branch that largely controls Idlib. Syrian troops and their allies have for months reclaimed parts of Aleppo and Idlib once under opposition control but have begun to face heavy resistance as Turkey reportedly shored up its own side of the conflict.

"The terrorists are using shoulder-launched U.S.-made missiles with Turkish support to target Syrian and Russian warplanes while the Turkish regime provides support to terrorists with artillery and shoulder-fired missiles in battles on the Saraqib axis," the official Syrian Arab News Agency cited a military source as saying Thursday.

With both sides seemingly on a collision course, a yet unknown number of Turkish troops have died in previous attacks blamed on the Syrian government. Ankara has retaliated, launching in direct strikes on Syrian positions despite condemnation from Moscow.

Nato expresses 'full solidarity' with Turkey over Syria airstrikes

Nato allies will consider strengthening Ankara’s air defences in response to the strike that killed 33 Turkish troops in rebel-held Syria overnight, following an emergency meeting of the military alliance in Brussels on Friday.

Turkey had also called for western countries to establish a no-fly zone after the incident but Nato sources stressed that idea – which could lead to direct conflict with the Russian air force - was not seriously discussed.

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, said that members of the western military alliance expressed their “full solidarity” with Turkey in the aftermath of the attack, which took place in the last rebel-held province of Idlib.

But Stoltenberg offered no immediate promise of assistance to Turkey, saying instead in the immediate aftermath of the meeting that Nato members were “constantly looking into what more they can do to provide further support for Turkey”. ...

Nato had held urgent talks on the crisis on Friday after Turkey requested a rare emergency meeting of Nato members under article 4 of the alliance’s governing treaty, on the grounds that its security was under threat.

Spanish PM opens talks with Catalan separatists

Spain's prime minister opened talks with Catalan separatists on Wednesday to try and defuse a crisis over the region's separatist push that could hold the key to the survival of his minority government. ... Now, the minority government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez relies on Catalan separatist party ERC to pass legislation.

The survival of Sanchez's government could hinge on the fate of the talks, which are aimed at walking back tensions with Catalonian separatists. ...

The Catalans want a green light to hold a binding independence referendum in the wealthy northeastern region. They also want amnesty for nine of their leaders who were jailed or exiled after the failed independence bid. Spain's central government has rejected both requests.

ERC demanded the dialogue in exchange for its continued support for Sanchez's government and as a precondition for possibly backing his 2020 budget. Getting a budget approved for 2020 could guarantee the Socialist premier several years of stability as it will allow him to roll over his existing spending plan. But if the budget is not approved by parliament, fresh elections would have to be held, as happened in 2019 when ERC withdrew its support for Sanchez.

“We Want Democracy!” Mass Protests Continue in Dominican Republic After Local Elections Suspended

UN Human Rights Chief Slams Trump for Attacks on Environment, Refugees, and Children

Michelle Bachelet, the top human rights official for the United Nations, condemned the U.S. government for violations of international law and President Donald Trump's anti-immigration and anti-climate science policies.

At the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet said the administration is endangering the rights of people, particularly children, around the world with its migration restrictions, its detention of immigrants including tens of thousands of children, and its disregard for the international right to seek asylum.

"Reducing the number of people trying to enter the country should not be done in disregard of asylum and migrant protections," Bachelet said. "The situation of children in detention is of particular concern."

The president's signature anti-immigration policies include sending tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to Mexico to await their asylum hearings, resulting in the extortion, assaults, and murders of hundreds of people; the Muslim ban which has barred people from more than a dozen countries from entering the U.S.; and the continued separation of families who cross the southern U.S. border, even after the official policy ended in 2018.

Bachelet's remarks came as Amnesty International released a new report on rights violations throughout North, South, and Central America. In addition to pointing to rampant gun violence as "one of the biggest human rights concerns in the United States" and one that's been made worse by Trump's policies, Amnesty condemned anti-immigration policies in the country. ...

In Geneva, Bachelet also denounced some of Trump's environmental deregulation policies, which he has pushed even as the world's top climate scientists warn that unless human-caused carbon emissions are reduced by nearly half by 2030 and carbon neutrality is achieved by 2050, the world can expect global temperatures to rise by about 3° Celsius by the end of the century, bringing about the most catastrophic potential impacts of climate change. "Weaker fuel emission standards for vehicles, and decreased regulations on the oil and gas industries, could also harm human rights," said Bachelet.

NSA's controversial $100 million phone surveillance programme led to zero arrests

A National Security Agency (NSA) programme that analysed logs of phone calls and text messages made by Americans cost $100m and yielded one investigation and zero arrests from 2015 to 2019.

In that same period it also only twice produced new information that the FBI did not already know, and 13 leads they already had, according to a new study by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), which briefed Congress this week.

The low success rate and high cost support the NSA’s decision to shut off the programme in 2019. Politicians must now decide whether to allow the expiration of the legislation that makes the programme possible. The USA Freedom Act of 2015 expires on March 15.

The Trump administration would like lawmakers to extend the life of the legislation, giving the NSA the option to turn the system back on again in the future.

Coronavirus Spending Bill Could be Used to Cement Spying Powers, Surveillance Critics in Congress Warned

The congressional effort to rein in the government’s surveillance powers before a looming deadline on March 15 could run up against a new opponent: the coronavirus. House Democrats have been working on plans to further amend a provision of the Patriot Act, which as of 2015 provides a way for the government to get American citizens’ phone records from telecom companies. This and other key provisions of the Patriot Act must be reauthorized by March 15, or the surveillance authority lapses. The Democrats’ amended bill would pull the provision’s authorization while allowing and tweaking other other ways the government collects records.

But those negotiations have been thrown off track, with critics of the spying program alarmed by the possibility that congressional leaders may try to use the coronavirus outbreak — and the coinciding legislation to fund a response — as a vehicle to muscle through an unamended extension or reauthorization.

The Trump administration’s request for $2.5 billion to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic is likely to become an unstoppable legislative vehicle — as must-pass legislation that congressional leaders of both parties could use to ram through a reauthorization of the FBI’s call detail records program. Such a move would sidestep the House’s reform effort and instead push through a clean reauthorization of the program.

The Senate, said a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is “threatening to put that clean reauthorization into something like coronavirus funding which would make it impossible to defeat if we don’t come up with a bill here. Pelosi and Schiff will never allow it to expire.”

“I would say it is still chatter at this point. But it is also chatter that could become their Plan A,” a Senate Republican aide, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Intercept.

'This Is a Nightmare': Trump Accused of Weaponizing DOJ With New Task Force Focused on Stripping US Citizenship

Rights advocates expressed outrage and severe concerns after the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday it is creating an official task force devoted to "denaturalization"—the process by which the government strips citizenship from foreign-born Americans, or naturalized citizens.

"Of all the dystopian shit—a department of denaturalization at DOJ might take the biscuit," tweeted activist Joel Braunold. "Means immigrant Americans (such as myself) will always have a threat to displace us if we step out of line."

The Justice Department claimed in its announcement that the motivation for the new unit stems from a desire to strip citizenship from terrorists or sex offenders whose citizenship was "illegally procured" by lying about past crimes.

"When a terrorist or sex offender becomes a U.S. citizen under false pretenses, it is an affront to our system—and it is especially offensive to those who fall victim to these criminals," Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said in a statement.

Officially termed the "The Denaturalization Section," Hunt said the unit "will further the Department's efforts to pursue those who unlawfully obtained citizenship status and ensure that they are held accountable for their fraudulent conduct."

Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.) expressed dismay over the new policy, tweeting that it evoked historical U.S. mistreatments of ethnic minorities. ...

As the New York Times reported, not everyone in the Justice Department is comfortable with the new department:

Some Justice Department immigration lawyers have expressed worries that denaturalizations could be broadly used to strip citizenship, according to two lawyers who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

They cite the fact that the department can pursue denaturalization lawsuits against people who commit fraud, as it did against four people who lied about being related to become U.S. citizens. Fraud can be broadly defined, and include smaller infractions like misstatements on the citizenship application.

David Bier, immigration policy analyst at the Cato Insitute, said on Twitter that he doubts the new unit is even legal.

"Denaturalization is unconstitutional. The Constitution says anyone the government naturalizes is a U.S. citizen and has equal rights as all other citizens," said Bier. "US-born citizens cannot have their citizenship revoked, so neither should naturalized citizens."

"Bottom line is that if you can ever lose your citizenship for any reason, you don't have equal rights and aren't a real citizen," Bier added.

Rebecca Parson, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Washington's 6th District, tweeted that the danger of the task force's formation has frightening historical overtones.

"Stripping citizens of their citizenship is a key trait of authoritarian, genocidal regimes and falls under Stage 3: Discrimination of the 10 Stages of Genocide," said Parson.

Felix Salmon on Bloomberg, Wall Street, and Michael Milken. Plus some WaPo Op-eds | Useful Idiots

'Rich People Have Profited Enough': New Poll Shows Two-Thirds of Americans Support Wealth Tax to Combat Inequality

Support for a wealth tax to combat persistent inequality in the U.S. is growing, according to a new poll released Wednesday by TheHill/HarrisX which found that just over two-thirds of Americans favor a tax on the wealthiest households.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents—including majorities of Democrats and Independents—said there should be a wealth tax on billionaires, as Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have proposed.

A clear majority of Democrats, 85%, backed the proposal, along with 66% of independent voters. Nearly half of Republican respondents—47%—said they would support a wealth tax in the poll, which was conducted between February 23 and 24 among more than 1,000 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3%.


Doctors Without Borders: Cheap Coronavirus Diagnostic Kits Needed in War-Torn Areas & Refugee Camps

Mike Pence ‘not up to task’ of leading US coronavirus response, say experts

As an aspiring congressman, Mike Pence once claimed “smoking doesn’t kill”. As governor of the midwestern state of Indiana, he faced heavy criticism for his handling of the situation when the state experienced the worst HIV crisis in its history. It’s a track record that meant Donald Trump’s appointment of Pence on Wednesday to lead the US response to the coronavirus was met with immediate outrage from health specialists, following days of criticism about the government’s handling of a virus that has spread to almost every continent across the globe.

Those who have witnessed the vice-president make a series of what they see as ill-informed public health decisions throughout his political career say Pence is a dangerous choice, with one epidemiology professor comparing the appointment to “putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department”. ...

When HIV badly hit southern Indiana, health workers found their efforts hampered by a woeful lack of public health staffing. Pence had slashed public health funding after assuming office. An attempt to introduce needle exchange programs, which were seen as key to combatting the HIV crisis, was thwarted by Pence’s resistance to those efforts. In April 2015, the then governor finally allowed a needle exchange program, three months after the outbreak began, but for only 30 days.

Pence had also cut the budget for Planned Parenthood, which ran the nearest testing center to Austin, Indiana, where the outbreak began, exacerbating the crisis.

The now vice-president, an ardent evangelical who regularly introduces himself in speeches as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican – in that order”, has a troubling record on HIV that goes back even further. As a congressman, Pence supported a controversial plank of George W Bush’s global Aids program, which stipulated 33% of funds must be spent on efforts to promote sexual abstinence and strict heterosexual monogamy.


Are These the Final Days of Legal Abortion?

Jay-Z files second lawsuit against 'barbaric' Mississippi prison

Jay-Z has filed a civil lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections on behalf of 152 inmates at a state prison, alleging “barbaric” conditions.

Parchman prison is accused of “abhorrent conditions, abuse and constant violence, inadequate health care and mental health care, and overuse of isolation … the people confined at Parchman live a miserable and hopeless existence confronted daily by imminent risk of substantial harm in violation of their rights under the US Constitution”.

Among the problems detailed by the lawsuit and an accompanying documentary film made by Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation are a lack of staffing that has allowed prisoner violence to flourish, sewage-filled cells, contaminated food and water, and a lack of adequate healthcare. Nine inmates have died at the prison so far in 2020.

The suit calls for the Department of Corrections to eliminate health and safety risks within 90 days.

Judge blocks Trump's "remain in Mexico" policy

Major development in the story of the one of the many cruel strands of the Trump administration’s US-Mexico border policy.

A federal court on Friday upended a central pillar of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, ruling that asylum seekers must be allowed into the United States while their often lengthy cases meander through American immigration courts.

A three-judge panel in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco blocked a policy that has required people applying for asylum at the border to wait in Mexico while their claims for protection are reviewed, a process that often takes months or years, the New York Times’s Caitlin Dickerson reports.

A panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled today in a 2-1 vote to put on hold the policy that furthered Donald Trump’s asylum crackdown, the AP adds.



the horse race



Who Loves Dictators? Bernie or His Rivals?

DNC Superdelegate Promoting Brokered Convention Is a Significant GOP Donor, Health Care Lobbyist

William Owen, a Tennessee-based Democratic National Committee member backing an effort to use so-called superdelegates to select the party’s presidential nominee — potentially subverting the candidate with the most voter support — is a Republican donor and health care lobbyist.

Owen, who runs a lobbying firm called Asset & Equity Corporations, donated to Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and gave $8,500 to a joint fundraising committee designed to benefit Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky in 2019.

“I am a committed Democrat but as a lobbyist, there are times when I need to have access to both sides and the way to get access quite often is to make campaign contributions,” said Owen, in a brief interview with The Intercept. Owen noted that he understood how his GOP donations could open him up for criticism but stressed that he also gives to Democrats. Federal Election Commission records show Owen has donated to Democrats in previous years, but has not donated to his own party’s congressional candidates this cycle. Owen has not given to any presidential candidates this cycle.

Owen, currently registered as lobbyist for Klox Technologies, a medical product company, was quoted in the New York Times today as one of the party insiders considering an effort to block Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s path to the nomination at the DNC convention in Milwaukee this July.

A former member of the Tennessee state legislature, Owen is currently an executive member of the Tennessee Democratic Party and DNC, making him one of the 771 unpledged delegates, also known as superdelegates, who could play a hand in selecting the presidential nomination. Owens is a supporter of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and has pushed to use superdelegates to make Biden the nominee.

Stop Bernie Movement Has "Hell To Pay" - Says NBC Host

"The Public Doesn't Really Decide": MSNBC Guest Under Fire for Saying Voters Won't Choose Dem Nominee

Hours after a New York Times report Thursday quoted Democratic Party elites plotting to deny Sen. Bernie Sanders the party's 2020 presidential nomination if he enters this summer's convention in Milwaukee with only a plurality of delegates, a party operative from South Carolina on MSNBC downplayed the role of the public in selecting the nominee, drawing outrage from Sanders supporters.

Anton J. Gunn, a one-time advisor to former President Barack Obama and a a former South Carolina state representative, made the comments to MSNBC's Craig Melvin Thursday morning.

"The party decides its nominee," said Gunn. "The public doesn't really decide the nominee."

Gunn added that super-delegates, party elites with an outsized influence in the process of selecting a nominee after the first round of voting at the convention, were "very influential in the party."

"So apparently the new line is 'the public doesn't really decide the nominee,'" Sanders speechwriter David Sirota tweeted in response.


Gunn said in 2015 that Sanders "just [sounds] angry" and suggested that the senator would have difficulty in the Palmetto State because Vermont was the farthest place possible from South Carolina voters.

He is also a board member of the group the Democratic Majority for Israel, an AIPAC-affiliated organization that aired multiple attack ads aimed at Sanders in Iowa and Nevada, though he does not disclose that relationship during appearances on MSNBC, as Electronic Intifada's Michael F. Brown pointed out on February 24.

"Gunn ought to explain his connection to the organization and should consider either stepping away from DMFI during the presidential campaign or insist that his affiliation with the group be prominently noted during his television speaking engagements," wrote Brown.

In June 2019, Gunn told journalist Michael Tracey that Sanders "should've never been allowed in the Democratic primary."

"He's never been a Democrat, till it became politically expedient for him to say, I'm a Democrat," said Gunn. "He chose to be an interloper."

Though he is the longest serving independent in Congress, Sanders has always caucused with the Democrats, serves as a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, and is running for president as a Democrat.

As Common Dreams reported, the Times article on super-delegate plots to overrule the party's voters in a brokered convention sparked anger and dismay from Sanders supporters Thursday morning.

"If that's what our party leaders are going to do, you'll see rebellion not just in the presidential race, but in down-ballot races as well," warned Nebraska Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kleeb.

Predictions that such a move could prove disastrous continued across social media throughout the afternoon.

"If Bernie made it to the convention with a plurality of the delegates but not a majority and was denied the nomination, it would rip the party apart, plain and simple," said New York Times columnist Charles Blow.

Krystal and Saagar: The latest excuse to steal the nomination from Bernie

'The Democratic Party Has a Problem': Bloomberg Hires Super Tuesday State Democratic Vice Chairs

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, hired party vice chairs in Texas and California to work on his campaign just before the states prepare to vote in the presidential primaries on March 3—a move that drew charges from progessives of an attempt buy influence from party elites.

"This does seem to fit a longstanding pattern of Bloomberg using his billions to help generate support among political elites," Campaign Legal Center federal reform program director Brendan Fischer told The Intercept.

Intercept reporter Akela Lacy broke the news Friday morning.


"The Democratic Party has a problem," said Jewish Currents writer Joshua Leifer of the reporting.

Texas Democratic Party vice chair Carla Brailey and California State Democratic Party vice chair Alexandra Rooker were hired in December and January, respectively, as senior advisors to the Bloomberg campaign.

According to Lacy's reporting:

Both Brailey and Rooker are superdelegates who will likely vote for the Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s national convention this summer. Hiring the leadership of a state party doesn't appear to break any campaign laws.

The apparent legality of the move—despite what was broadly seen as a clear example of corruption—befuddled observers.

"It boggles my mind that this doesn't seem to break any rules," tweeted Lacy's Intercept colleague Alex Emmons.

Bloomberg's hiring of the two vice chairs also struck observers as problematic because of the possibility of a brokered convention in Milwaukee this July which would allow superdelegates to vote from the second round on, giving the unelected party elites an outsized say in the ultimate nominee.

As Lacy reported:

Rooker is one of two members of Bloomberg's campaign staff who also sits on the Democratic National Committee's rules committee, which recommends rules for the convention, the convention agenda, the convention's permanent officers, amendments to the party's charter, and other resolutions. In November, the month he entered the presidential race, Bloomberg gave $320,000 to the DNC, his first contributions to the committee since 1998. (He was a registered Republican from 2001 to 2007, after which he became an independent. He registered as a Democrat in 2018.) He also donated $10,000 to the Texas Democratic Party, where Brailey has been vice chair since June 2018, as well as $10,000 to the California Democratic Party. Brailey, Rooker, and the Bloomberg campaign did not respond to requests for comment on their hiring.

Rumblings of the possiblity party leaders could deliver the nomination to someone other than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the current frontrunner, if Sanders does not have a clear majority of delegates has sparked outrage from progressives.

Krystal Ball: How the media will weaponize identity politics post South Carolina

Much, much more at the link:

Men Who Live With the Illusion of Danger: Pete Buttigieg and the US Military

#CIAPete has been trending on social media this past month as stories and commentaries have emerged telling and retelling Pete Buttigieg’s role as a naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan, his duties in his assignment in Kabul as a member of the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, and his relationship to CIA colleagues. This would be all rather amusing and just another dust speck of nonsense in the vast universe of inanity that is the US presidential race, if it were not for Buttigieg’s
own use of his time in uniform and in Afghanistan as a cudgel to silence others from both an informed and moral perspective on issues of foreign policy and war.

Buttigieg worked alongside CIA officers in a multi-agency organization in Kabul, hence the hashtag #CIAPete. According to his own autobiography he didn’t spend
much time working on intelligence and fighting the Taliban, but
rather worked as a driver
, chauffeuring other officers during an admitted eight hour work day in Kabul. As someone who did three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I know very few military officers who experienced 8 hour work days in either country, nearly all officers I knew, including myself, worked 12-18 hour days – and there were plenty of times, especially during my second deployment, that 20 hour days were common. That Buttigieg was a driver in Afghanistan is more telling than anything else about Buttigieg’s time in Afghanistan, more so since he speaks so assuredly and confidently of his time in Afghanistan as he runs for president and uses that experience to pronounce himself as personally informed about matters of war and peace. We’ve seen this all very often over the last twenty years in the US: men and women, because they wore matching shirts and pants and took part in murderous and strategically incompetent invasions, occupations and wars, are given a deference that is religious in its severity and authority. As Buttigieg uses this para-clerical status to his advantage, his words and pronouncements are taken as a battle-scarred wisdom that others who have not worn a uniform are not just foolish for questioning, but are heretical. Take, for example, these words from CNN about Buttigieg and his military service:

“His six years as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves, along with a six-month deployment to Afghanistan, makes a gold-plated resume not only shine brighter, but with an air of validation….

It’s a chapter of his life that he invokes at nearly every campaign stop, a piece of his biography that has become nearly as central to his presidential candidacy as his Midwestern roots or his time as mayor. He mentions his credentials to distinguish himself from not only most Democratic rivals, but also President Donald Trump…

“Look, it’s not like I killed (Osama) Bin Laden, right?” Buttigieg said. “I don’t want to overstate what my role was, but it certainly is something that was dangerous.”

A man who has lived the illusion of danger is a dangerous man. Someone who posits that illusion as a fact and as a real occurrence, as Buttigieg does, is one certainly to be wary of. These wars were begun by men and women who have never known danger, but who postulated of going to the dark side and quipped bring em on, and these wars have been sustained by an insipid and specious assuredness of the necessity of war and violence by a generation of politicians, cable news hosts and editorial boards. We are a nation that has killed and ruined millions abroad and we celebrate those killings in a religious ritualization of the military that has infested our schools, stadiums, boardrooms, churches and both political parties. In Buttigieg we now have this personified.

Rising: Who will drop out after Super Tuesday?


Alabama blocked a man from voting because he owed $4

In 2018, with the midterm elections approaching, Alfonzo Tucker Jr was particularly eager to vote. The mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tucker’s hometown, was running for governor, and the year before he had canvassed for Doug Jones, a Democrat running in a closely watched US Senate race.

But Tucker wasn’t able to cast a ballot – state officials refused to even let him register. It wasn’t until weeks later that he learned why he had been deprived of the right to vote.

He owed the state $4.

The US is founded on the promise of democracy and fair representation, but it is also the country where minorities are frequently disenfranchised for political gain. Among the most vulnerable are millions of Americans, disproportionately African Americans, like Tucker, who have been entangled in America’s racially biased criminal justice system, and lose civil liberties like voting as a result.

The barriers facing Americans like Tucker, advocates say, are modern adaptations of poll taxes and other devices which were designed to keep people from the voting booths during the Jim Crow era – when white politicians used the law to curb the civil rights of African Americans. Alabama is one of 30 states that requires people with felony convictions to pay back the financial obligations associated with their sentence before they can vote again. ...

“I read about the challenges during the 60s, 50s, that black people had to overcome just to vote,” Tucker said. “It’s the same thing going on in 2020.”



the evening greens


The Border Patrol Invited the Press to Watch It Blow Up a National Monument

U.S. Army and Border Patrol officials hosted an unusual event in the Sonoran Desert on Wednesday, inviting members of the press to watch as they blew up a portion of a national monument in support of the president’s ongoing effort to wall off the United States from Mexico. Presented as a run-of-the mill construction project, the explosives detonated on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona went off just as the chair of the Tohono O’odham Nation — a Native American tribe with deep historic and cultural ties to the area — offered testimony in Washington, D.C. regarding the Trump administration’s desecration of O’odham lands.

The Intercept was first to report on the use of explosives on Organ Pipe earlier this month, detailing how the blasting was the latest move in a controversial project that threatens to destroy a fragile desert ecosystem. Since then, the construction has come under withering criticism from Democratic lawmakers, as well as environmental and Indigenous rights advocates. In recent days, top officials in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector have gone on a public relations blitz in response, tweeting “fact checks” and making videos to counter the bad press that comes with blasting sacred Native American sites on federally protected public lands.

Wednesday’s event was the most elaborate of those efforts, with journalists invited to a trailer in a dirt lot that has served as a base of operations for the Organ Pipe project. ... Jim Hug, a military explosives expert with the Army Corps of Engineers, led with a safety presentation. ... With the safety presentation complete, a CBP official opened the floor for questions. The assembled reporters learned that Wednesday’s blasts on Organ Pipe were the fifth of their kind, and that other blasting was planned in Douglas, Arizona. Paul Enriquez, CBP’s Acquisitions Real Estate and Environmental Director out of Washington, D.C., said the border wall expansion project was preceded by a “large outreach” to “about a hundred different stakeholders,” including tribal leaders and the Tohono O’odham Nation. As The Intercept reported earlier this month, critics of the agency’s efforts have painted a much different picture, saying that CBP has run roughshod over tribal concerns. ...

In a fact sheet distributed to journalists, CBP reported that “an estimated average of 84,000 gallons of water” are used each day for border wall construction on Organ Pipe. The extensive pumping of a rare desert aquifer to provide that water has been among the chief concerns associated with the project, as it threatens an oasis known as Quitobaquito Springs. The springs have profound spiritual significance for the Hia C-ed O’odham people, who inhabited the area through the late 1950s. In a 1980 report, the National Park Service documented the existence of more than 30 Hia C-ed graves at the springs. In a November letter to Roy Villareal, chief of the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, Tohono O’odham Nation chair Ned Norris Jr. wrote that construction activities on Organ Pipe had already led to the inadvertent discovery of human remains near the springs.

Enriquez told reporters that the springs’ water levels are being monitored carefully. He did not, however, indicate that the project would stop if the agency determined that border wall construction is creating an existential threat to the springs.

Coke and Pepsi sued for creating a plastic pollution ‘nuisance’

Coke, Pepsi, Nestle and other large companies are being sued by a California environmental group for creating a plastic pollution “nuisance” and misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastic. The suit, filed in San Mateo county superior court on Wednesday, argues that companies that sell plastic bottles and bags that end up polluting the ocean should be held accountable for damaging the environment.

Earth Island Institute, which filed the lawsuit, says a significant amount of the eight to 20m tons of plastic entering the Earth’s oceans annually can be traced back to a handful of companies, which rely heavily on single-use plastic packaging.

The suit seeks to require these companies to pay to remediate the harm that plastic pollution has caused to the earth and oceans. It also demands these companies stop advertising products as “recyclable”, when they are, in fact, largely not recycled.

“These companies should bear the responsibility for choking our ecosystem with plastic,” said David Phillips, executive director of Earth Island Institute. “They know very well that this stuff is not being recycled, even though they are telling people on the labels that it is recyclable and making people feel like it’s being taken care of.”

The suit names 10 companies found to be top producers of the plastic collected in beach cleanups in an international audit conducted last year by 72,000 volunteers working with the group Break Free From Plastic. The companies are Coca Cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Clorox, Crystal Geyser, Mars, Danone, Mondelez International, Colgate-Palmolive, and Procter & Gamble.

The U.K.’s Busiest Airport Can’t Build a New Runway Because of Climate Change

Heathrow Airport in London was about to become the world’s busiest airport. But now it won’t, because of climate change concerns.

For the first time, the Paris Agreement, the world’s first comprehensive international climate change pact, was cited as the reason to halt the expansion of a project. Plans were underway to build a third runway at Heathrow, which would’ve allowed about 700 more flights to pass through the airport every year — and would have emitted huge amounts of climate-heating greenhouse gases.

But the British courts on Thursday blocked the expansion and ruled the proposal didn’t adequately take climate change concerns into account.

“For the first time, a court has confirmed that the Paris Agreement temperature goal has a binding effect,” Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, an international public law expert at Leiden University, in the Netherlands, told the Guardian.

The U.K. has pledged to zero out its carbon emissions by 2050. But the judges didn’t rule that any new runway would violate the country’s commitments made under the Paris Agreement; they ruled that the proposal simply ignored the country’s climate goals.


Also of Interest

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

WaPo Backing Limited Impeachment Was Constitutional Disaster

Here's Why WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Is Dangerous for Trump

This Assange “Trial” Is A Self-Contradictory Kafkaesque Nightmare

Facial recognition company says hacker accessed database

Secret US Chemical Warfare Contracts at the UK Porton Down Lab – Dead Monkeys Tell Their Tales, But Live Skripals Can’t

Erdogan vows to risk everything to save Idlib posts as Syria deadline looms

Pentagon’s Own Map of U.S. Bases in Africa Contradicts Its Claim of “Light” Footprint

Virus Spreads Over The Planet As Governments React Too Slowly

Jamie Dimon’s Remarks on Discount Window Add to Market Panic

The Justification For Great Wealth

Target raised wages. Then it cut workers' hours and doubled their workload

House Democrats and Healthcare Experts Explain Why Medicare for All 'Is a Racial Justice Necessity'

GOP Plotting Resolution to Condemn... Teaching Children and Adults to Read

Ahead of South Carolina Primary, Grassroots "I'm a Medicare for All Voter" Campaign Faces Down Big-Dollar Industry Ad Blitz

'You'll See Rebellion': Sanders Supporters Denounce Open Threats by Superdelegates to Steal Nomination

ANDREW YANG responds to MICHAEL BLOOMBERG VP rumors

Is this Bernie's secret weapon in South Carolina?

Paul Steinhauser: Biden's closing attack on Bernie Sanders in South Carolina

Progressive Groups Launch #NeverBloomberg Campaign, Demanding Top Democrats Oppose Former New York Mayor's Run

California Poll Shows Sanders With Double the Support of Closest Rival Just Days Ahead of Super Tuesday

Trump 'Efforts to Serve Corporate Polluters' Dealt Blow as Judge Vacates Oil and Gas Lease Sales on Nearly 1 Million Acres

Biggest cosmic explosion ever detected left huge dent in space


A Little Night Music

The Gospel Songbirds (Matt Haynes, Rev. John Dowdy & Otis Clay on lead vocals) - Help Me To Run This Race

Otis Clay - Baby Jane

Otis Clay - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man

Otis Clay - Love Bone

Otis Clay - Too Many Hands

Otis Clay - Don't Pass Me By

Otis Clay - She's About A Mover

Otis Clay - That Kind Of Lovin'

Otis Clay - I'm Qualified

The Bo-Keys featuring Otis Clay - Got To Get Back


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Azazello's picture

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13 users have voted.

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 links!

i'm really glad to hear that scott warren and the no more deaths activists are off the hook. it's great to hear that even in a deep red state like arizona, trump's fascist barbarism is not acceptable to a jury.

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6 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack
I read that the former Mayor of Baltimore was sentenced today.

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2 users have voted.

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

ggersh's picture

https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

The spice must flow.

A healthy market correction this week, as it was called by some pundits, thankful that the lack of 'market collars' and 'circuit breakers' allowed buyers and sellers to find each other without interference. It's almost romantic sounding.

This was the worst week for stocks since 2008, with the SP 500 and Nasdaq down a little over ten percent.

But it did end on a kind of an upbeat note, as the stock futures recovered today's losses and managed to go into the weekend in the green.

Several factors contributed to this.

First and foremost, the odds of a rate cut in March jumped to 96.3% today from 8.9% a week ago, we hear.

Trumpolini appointed Mike Pence as his 'coronavirus czar.'

Mike promptly and decisively went into action, placing a gag order over all of the Federal health officials, requiring that everything that they say be pre-approved by him. Save the narrative, and manage it, is the first principle of this administration.

Mike then promptly took off for Florida for a fact-finding mission, meeting with the public at a #250,000 a plate fundraising dinner.

I suppose next week he can start sorting out why the CDC's coronavirus test kits are in such short supply for the states, and don't work well anyway.

The team of Kudlow and Mnuchin managed to rally the banks to smack the crap out of gold and silver, running the stops and triggering margin calls from the recently increased margin requirments on the Comx. Since the Banks were struggling with an oversized short position it certain helped out the financial system to boot.

It cannot be stressed enough, there is a two prong effort across the board to manage and control the narrative, while ensuring boatloads of money reach 'the right kinds of people.'

And in a bipartisan good news festival, Joe Biden is expected to crush the opposition (Bernie) in South Carolina this weekend, an all important victory for the forces of the status quo.

In all seriousness, let's remember those who are suffering with this virus around the world, struggling to go about their business while trying to protect their livelihoods and families.

Now is a good time to prepare, if you have not already done so, and to begin engaging in those simple procedures that may help us weather this.

Have a pleasant weekend.

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11 users have voted.

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

snoopydawg's picture

@ggersh

..we're all going to die. Especially with Pence in charge. A gag order? If we had a functioning government I could understand that, but again...Pence. "Smoking doesn't cause cancer" and don't interfere with the AIDS epidemic cuz gawd and religious people think it's gawd's punishment for being gay and doing icky things.

Mulvaney said that the virus is just the democrats trying to take Trump down again. Yes he was serious.

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11 users have voted.

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

ggersh's picture

@snoopydawg back memories, at least he knew what to say???

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/10/26/george-w-bush-hurricane-k...

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6 users have voted.

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

thank goodness for mike pence. surely it is more compassionate for people about to die not to see the train coming.

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7 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

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9 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

you too!

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1 user has voted.

good luck

happy-sad-masks-called_69da22b2d1aa3fe0.jpg
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5 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

i hope that you spend more time laughing than crying. Smile

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2 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

This judge has got to go. She doesn't even bother to hide how the trial has already been decided or her disdain for Julian. That people don't care if the world sees them lying and making fools of themselves, but one day karma will be waiting for them.

The judge is pissed that someone took this photo of Assange. Heh!

IMG_4090.JPG

Just because Americans are too propagandized to see through their leaders lies doesn't mean that Wikileaks released our war crimes so that just maybe it'd wake us the hell up.

Assange’s actions were not inherently political as they did not have the direct purpose of overthrowing the US government or changing US government policy

.

This is what is on trial in Britain. Will they throw it away to appease the American sociopaths or will they stand strong for what they gave the world?

The Magna Carta of 1215 banned arbitrary detention and granted defendants rights of habeas corpus. Fitzgerald emphasized that such due process protections have been enshrined for centuries, and in fact, the U.S. Constitution contains them as well. But as the "Don't Extradite Assange Campaign" observed, the judge acted like Parliament overrode the Magna Carta, as the defense outlined why a person should not be subject to arbitrary detention

.

Lmao...Check out the answers to this tweet

IMG_4091.JPG

Good lord can you imagine what the corona virus will do to people in refugee camps and in our prison system as well as the homeless population? This virus hitting the USA makes the case for single payer health care more than anything Bernie can say. How many people will have to turn to go funeral me to stay alive in a country who's government doesn't care about them? Hopefully this will wake up the centrists that just want to fiddle with the ACA and the folks who say, "keep your government hands off my medical needs."

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9 users have voted.

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

heh, i bet that the judge would be even more pissed if somebody had taken a picture of her. i read somewhere that there are no photos of her online anywhere, nor is there any other information about her - like she's an unperson or a robot, perhaps.

the new hillary podcast - dlc deadender news.

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8 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

Ron Placone predicted that her show will get just a few people to listen to it and the next one will be about how Russia interfered with her podcast.

lol

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4 users have voted.

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

Raggedy Ann's picture

I'm concerned about vaccines. I fear they are trying to put us all on adult vaccines to control us. The vaccines they are developing are harmful to our cells. Anyway, be aware.

Happy Friday ~ I'm exhausted, glad to be home watching Jeopardy and typing this comment, lol.

Enjoy your evening and weekend, everyone! Pleasantry

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8 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

joe shikspack's picture

@Raggedy Ann

have a great weekend, ra!

i think i saw a movie about a government controlling people with vaccines once - some late-night b movie. tragicomedy indeed if reality suddenly takes on the narrative of a 1960's b movie.

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6 users have voted.
Raggedy Ann's picture

@joe shikspack
We need to be alert. Pompeo is dangerous and so is Pence.

up
6 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

snoopydawg's picture

Appeals court ruled that congress has no right to subpoena members of the executive. The court overturned a previous ruling saying that they did. Imagine the WH now doing anything it wants with congress not being able to hold them in check. It's congress fault for not trying for too long. The judge said that they have options like withholding funds, but another one said Trump has the right to take funds from wherever he wants. Put a cork in it. Rules are just for the little people.

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6 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i reckon that when this case eventually winds up before the supremes, given the composition of the court today, it could be game over for the constitution.

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5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

Anti war has an article on how Assange's case has already been settled because of how the SC ruled on the pentagon papers. Since they ruled that way any lawyer that tries to take away freedom of the press is breaking their oath and same with government officials who swore to uphold the constitution.

"Congress shall make no law..."

His lawyer needs to bring this up to the bitch who is playing judge. But hopefully her actions will give them great grounds to appeal her.

up
5 users have voted.

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

snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

Anti war has an article on how Assange's case has already been settled because of how the SC ruled on the pentagon papers. Since they ruled that way any lawyer that tries to take away freedom of the press is breaking their oath and same with government officials who swore to uphold the constitution.

"Congress shall make no law..."

His lawyer needs to bring this up to the bitch who is playing judge. But hopefully her actions will give them great grounds to appeal her.

up
1 user has voted.

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

Unabashed Liberal's picture

last minutes bills (for the month), so that I can attempt to set up what might pass as a budget, using a Quicken program--that we bought 5-6 years ago! Biggrin Have I ever mentioned that I'm the world's worst procrastinator?

Hey, looking forward to hearing the primary results for SC, tomorrow evening. Even if Uncle Joe were to eke out a win, surely he realizes that his campaign is totally doomed.

Did you see the piece about his West LA campaign office--I believe, the only one he has in the entire state of California? Apparently, when volunteers showed up to phone bank, there were not even enough of them to occupy all 7 tables. Will be curious to see how TN and AL go in DP primary--almost for certain that AL will actually back poor ol' Uncle Joe. But, Bernie has a decent chance to take it in TN--quite a feat, since we're not talking a liberal or progressive DP Base, for the most part.

Gotta run Rambo out--supposedly, we're going to get a few snow flurries this evening. She luvs snow and rain, although she's seen very little of the former. The lousier the weather, the better (in her book). Oddball, eh? Wink

Speaking of weather, we've had relatively warm weather both locations this winter season. Mixed feelings, since I like kinda like nippier weather. But, also don't want to have to worry about frozen pipes. And, thankfully, less rain than the past two years (in February)--both of which set records.

Have a nice weekend! Hope your weather's not too inclement.

Mollie

Bye Pleasantry

“This above all: to thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man . . ."
~~William Shakespeare

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

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4 users have voted.

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