The Evening Blues - 6-9-20
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Johnny Copeland. Enjoy!
Johnny Copeland - Devil's Hand
“The President in particular is very much a figurehead — he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it.”
-- Douglas Adams
News and Opinion
Glenn Greenwald has an excellent piece detailing the government-media cooperation in the destruction of another democracy by coup in Bolivia. It's worth a full read.
The NYT Admits Key Falsehoods That Drove Last Year’s Coup in Bolivia: Falsehoods Peddled by the U.S., its Media, and the NYT
In November, 2019, Bolivia’s three-term left-wing President, Evo Morales, was forced by the country’s military and police forces to flee to Mexico after Morales, the prior month, had been officially certified as the winner of his fourth consecutive presidential election. It was unsurprising that Morales won. As the Associated Press noted in 2014, his governance was successful by almost every key metric, and he was thus “widely popular at home for a pragmatic economic stewardship that spread Bolivia’s natural gas and mineral wealth among the masses.” While Morales’ popularity had marginally waned since his 2014 landslide victory, he was still the most popular politician in the country. On the night of the October 21, 2019, vote, Bolivia’s election board certified that Morales’ margin of victory against the second-place candidate exceeded the ten percent threshold required under Bolivian law to avoid a run-off, thus earning him a fourth term. But allegations of election fraud were quickly voiced by Morales’ right-wing opponents, leading to his expulsion from the country on November 11. ...
The central tool used by both the Bolivian Right and their U.S. government allies to justify the invalidation of Morales’ 10-point election victory were two election audits by the regional group Organization of American States — one a preliminary report issued on November 10, the day before Moraels was forced from the country, and then its final report issued the next month — which asserted widespread, deliberate election fraud. ...
But on Sunday, the New York Times published an article strongly suggesting that it was the OAS audit, not the Bolivian election, that was “marred by grave irregularities,” making it “impossible to guarantee the integrity of the data and certify the accuracy of the” OAS’ claims. The paper of record summarized its reporting this way: “A close look at Bolivian election data suggests an initial analysis by the OAS that raised questions of vote-rigging — and helped force out a president — was flawed.” To cast serious doubt on the integrity of these critical OAS reports, the Times’ relies upon a new independent study from three scholars at U.S. universities which — in the words of the NYT — examined “data obtained by the New York Times from the Bolivian electoral authorities.” That study, said the NYT, “has found that the Organization of American States’ statistical analysis was itself flawed.” ...
It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of the OAS accusations in driving Morales from his own country and, with no democratic mandate, shifting power in lithium-rich Bolivia to the white, Christian, U.S.-subservient Right. While critics had also accused Morales of improperly seeking a fourth term despite constitutional term limits, Bolivia’s duly constituted court had invalidated those term limits (much the way that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg induced the City Council to overturn a term limit referendum so he could seek a third term), leaving anti-Morales outside agitators, such as the OAS and U.S. officials, to rely instead on claims of election fraud. ...
All along, there was ample reason to seriously doubt, if not outright reject, the OAS accusations of election irregularities and voter fraud. As CEPR’s Jake Johnston said today in response to the New York Times article:
For those paying close attention to the 2019 election, there was never any doubt that the OAS’ claims of fraud were bogus. Just days after the election, a high-level official inside the OAS privately acknowledged to me that there had been no “inexplicable” change in the trend, yet the organization continued to repeat its false assertions for many months with little to no pushback or accountability.
Yet those reasons for doubting the OAS accusations were barely ever even mentioned, let alone vested with credibility, by the U.S. media or its leading foreign policy commentators. Instead, as the MIT scholars wrote in the Washington Post, “the media largely reported the allegations of fraud as fact.” That’s because whenever it comes to changing a foreign country’s government that is disliked by the U.S., the U.S. media reflexively sides with the U.S. State Department and ceases to report and instead engages in pro-government propaganda.
Krystal Ball explains what #DefundthePolice REALLY means
An article worth passing on to more mainstream folks. This is aimed at people who are invested in the fraudulent U.S. electoral system who will, in all likelihood, elect one of the two evils. These folks need to be prepared to oppose whichever evil they elect, not assume that the lesser evil will be okay and tune out:
A Joe Biden Presidency Will Require Mass Protests, Too
Let’s look at what Biden plans to do in response to the past week’s orgy of police violence. In Tuesday’s speech, Biden singled out a plan to create a national police oversight commission, and specifically pointed to the concept of community policing, to “comprehensive” reviews of officers’ hiring and training, and to swift, severe punishment for bad cops.
If this feels underwhelming, rest assured that it is. To get a sense of just how unserious Biden’s proposal is, consider that the Minneapolis Police Department, responsible for setting off this week of unprecedented unrest, implemented precisely these kinds of Obama-era measures. The protests and rioting we’re seeing is a real-world case study in the limits of such reforms, to the point that Minneapolis Public Schools have now ended their contract with the local police department and a veto-proof majority of the city’s council just vowed to disband it altogether. As usual, in an era demanding radical solutions, Biden is left playing catch-up.
The same goes for the issue of police militarization, for which Biden holds no small amount of responsibility. Biden’s criminal justice platform promises only to “establish a panel to scrutinize what equipment is used by law enforcement,” which can’t even be called a half-measure. ... But it’s actually much worse than this, because other proposals Biden has floated would not just do nothing, but would make the problem even worse.
Perhaps most alarming is Biden’s promise, outlined in his plan for “the Jewish community,” to “work for a domestic terrorism law that respects free speech and civil liberties, while making the same commitment to root out domestic terrorism as we have to stopping international terrorism.” If you’ve watched the events of the past week, this idea should chill you to the bone. As with any legislation, the devil will be in the details. But given the way in which anti-terrorism measures that were launched in panic after September 11 were quickly turned on political dissidents, drug dealers, and even ordinary, law-abiding Muslims, you don’t need a final drafted bill to predict such a law won’t be limited to white supremacist and other hate groups for long - particularly when the people enforcing it will be the same ones we’re now watching attack protesters, journalists, and bystanders without a care in the world.
And just as hate speech has been used around the world to crack down on everything from anti-capitalist websites and opponents of Israeli apartheid to critics of police violence, it’s all but assured that the Blue Lives Matter crowd would use a domestic terrorism law against those who they view as hate groups — groups like the ones the FBI has designated “black identity extremists.” This isn’t theoretical. Just this week, there was widespread alarm at Trump’s vow to declare “antifa” a terrorist organization, leading various right-wingers to publicly fantasize about hunting down its adherents — or, more accurately, anyone they decide is an adherent — and throwing them into Guantanamo Bay. As many have pointed out, these threats are largely toothless because the United States has no specific domestic terrorism law — at least not until Joe Biden enters the Oval Office. ...
There are important distinctions between Biden and Trump, of course, as the president’s unhinged response to the latest unrest has shown. But those distinctions aren’t nearly as large as they should be. The shocking state violence we’ve been witnessing has, after all, been mostly the work of Democrat-led governments. And Joe Biden is a man who, at least twice before, has suggested deploying troops for law-enforcement purposes in times of national panic. The most dangerous thing liberal voters could do is vote in November and then simply check out. Like his predecessors, a President Biden will be inclined to do both nothing, and something terrible. If you want him to do the opposite, be prepared to resist him like you’re resisting Trump.
The Democratic Party Exists To Co-Opt And Kill Authentic Change Movements
ESTRAGON: Well, shall we go?
VLADIMIR: Yes, let’s go.
[They do not move.]
Curtain.
So ends both acts of the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot. One of the two main characters suggest leaving, the other agrees, followed by the stage direction that both remain motionless until curtain.
This is also the entire role of the Democratic Party. To enthusiastically agree with American support for movements calling for real changes which benefit ordinary people, while making no actual moves to provide no such changes. The actors read the lines, but remain motionless.
Barack Obama made a whole political career out of this. People elected him because he promised hope and change, then for eight years whenever hopeful people demanded changes he’d say “Yes, we all need to get together and have a conversation about that”, express sympathy and give a moving speech, and then nothing would happen. The actors remain motionless, and Godot never comes.
Democratic Party leaders are currently under fire for staging a ridiculous performative display of sympathy for George Floyd by kneeling for eight minutes while wearing Kente cloth, a traditional African textile. The streets of America are filled with protesters demanding a total overhaul of the nation’s entire approach to policing. The Democratic Party’s response is to put on a children’s play using black culture as a prop, and advance a toothless reform bill whose approach we’ve already established is worthless which will actually increase funding to police departments.
Meanwhile it’s blue states with Democratic governors and cities with Democratic mayors where the bulk of the police brutality people are objecting to is occurring. The Democrats are going out of their way to spin police brutality as the result of Trump’s presidency, but facts in evidence say America’s violent and increasingly militarized police force would be a problem if every seat in every office in America were blue.
I don’t know what will happen with these protests. I don’t know if the demonstrators will get anything like the changes they are pushing for, or if their movement will be stopped in its tracks. What I do know is that if it is stopped, it will be because of Democrats and their allies.
Bloodthirsty Senator Tom Cotton recently took a break from torturing small animals in his basement to write an incendiary op-ed for The New York Times explaining to the American public why using the military to quash these protests is something that they should want. We later learned that The New York Times op-ed team had actually come up with the idea and pitched it to the senator, not the other way around, and that it was the Times itself which came up with the inflammatory headline “Send In the Troops”.
The op-ed understandably received severe public backlash which resulted in a senior staff member’s resignation. But if these protests end it won’t be because tyrants in the Republican Party like Donald Trump and Tom Cotton succeeded in making the case for beating them into silence with the US military. It will be because liberal manipulators succeeded in co-opting and stagnating its momentum.
Watch them. Watch Democrats and their allied media and corporate institutions try to sell the public a bunch of words and a smattering of feeble, impotent legislation to mollify the masses, without ever giving the people the real changes that they actually need. It remains to be seen if they will succeed in doing this, but they are already working on it. That is their whole entire purpose.
It is true that there’s a difference between Democrats and Republicans, in the same sense that there’s a difference between the jab and the cross in boxing. The jab is often used to keep an opponent at bay and set up the more damaging cross, but they’re both wielded by the same boxer, and they’re both punching you in the face.
Don’t let them disguise that jab as anything other than what it is. Don’t let them keep you at bay with a bunch of impotent performances and word magic. If they have it their way they’ll keep that jab in your face all night until the knockout punch leaves you staring up at the arena lights like it always does, wondering what the hell happened and why Godot never came.
Hill Democrats quash liberal push to ‘defund the police’
“Defund the police” has become the latest battle cry of liberals protesting George Floyd's death in demonstrations across the country. But it won’t be echoed by lawmakers in the halls of Congress.
Top Democrats are carefully — but forcefully — speaking out against growing calls from activists to defund police departments, an idea backed by prominent progressives to dismantle the system that has perpetuated the type of brutality seen in Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
“I think it can be used as a distraction and that’s my concern,” Rep. Karen Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told reporters on Monday. “I think the intent behind it is something that I support — the idea that communities need investments.”
With the GOP eagerly drawing up its attack ads, senior Democrats are hoping to stifle momentum for the idea before it overshadows their broader reform effort. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are instead pressing ahead with a sweeping bill to crack down on use of excessive force, bolster transparency and ban certain practices, like chokeholds, while leaving questions of funding or structure to local leaders. Already, nine Minneapolis City Council members vowed to dismantle the city’s police department. ...
“You can’t defund the police, that’s stupid, it’s crazy and anyone who talks about that is nuts,” said moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “You have to have the police.” ...
In some ways, it’s the story of Pelosi’s second tenure as speaker — forced to balance the demands of an aggressive left flank without alienating the moderate voters who delivered Democrats the House. Schumer, who is suddenly within arm’s reach of a Democratic majority, faces a similar dilemma for Senate candidates in largely purple states.
Stay in the streets. It’s working https://t.co/XoDiQ0dLJK
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 8, 2020
US policing is 'a structure built on systemic racism'
Derek Chauvin's Bail Was Just Set at $1.25 Million
The ex-Minneapolis cop who was charged with murdering George Floyd will have to post $1.25 million bail if he wants to be released anytime soon.
Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the police department before his firing two weeks ago, made his first virtual court appearance Monday, via video feed from Minnesota’s maximum-security prison in Oak Park Heights, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The 44-year-old did not enter a plea on the charges, which include second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter. ...
Prosecutors argued successfully before Circuit Court Judge Jeannice Reding that Chauvin’s bail should be set at $1.25 million without conditions, or $1 million with conditions including surrendering his weapons, making all court appearances, not leaving the state, not working in law enforcement or security, and zero contact with Floyd’s family. His attorney did not object to the bail conditions.
It’s not yet clear if Chauvin intends to make bail. He’ll next appear in court on June 29.
Ramsey Orta, Man Who Filmed Eric Garner’s Arrest, Has Been Released From Prison
Ramsey Orta — who shot video of Eric Garner’s 2014 arrest that lead to death by police chokehold — was released from prison on May 28th. Orta’s fiancée, Deja Richardson, confirmed the news to Rolling Stone via email; a Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokesperson also confirmed his release. His prison sentence is officially over on July 11th; after that, Orta will remain under court supervision until January 2022. ...
Orta was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for possession of a weapon as well as drug charges, according to the New York Daily News. In July of 2014, Orta, then 22, recorded cops as they approached Garner near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and accused him of selling loose cigarettes. One officer, Daniel Pantaleo, put his arm around Garner’s neck and pulled him to the ground. Garner repeatedly told officers that he couldn’t breathe and died soon after the altercation. The video that Orta shot set off a wave of protests and inquiries into police practices. “I Can’t Breathe” became a phrase history has not forgotten. Pantaleo was fired in August of 2019 without pension, according to CNN, after being found guilty at a disciplinary trial for using a chokehold on Garner. ...
Orta has claimed in the past that he has been a target for correctional officers due to filming Garner’s death; he reportedly filed a lawsuit in 2015 claiming that rat poison was put in his food during his time at Rikers Island.
It's so beautiful to remember, periodically, that the American people are hungry to express creativity and to march for justice https://t.co/oGdXAzAsn9
— Dr. Steven W. Thrasher (@thrasherxy) June 7, 2020
Decrying 'Unacceptable' Brutality, UK Lawmakers Join Half a Million Britons in Calling to Halt Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets Exports to US
More than 600,000 Britons by Monday had signed a petition demanding a suspension of tear gas, riot gear, and rubber bullet exports to the U.S., calling on the British government to avoid complicity in "a continuous breach of human rights" as protests across America against police brutality and racism continue to be met with violence from law enforcement.
The petition at Change.org amassed the signatures in less than a week, with the goal of reaching one million supporters.
"By continuing the sale of these items, the U.K. is choosing profit over human rights and is unacceptable," the petition reads.
More than 160 members of Parliament sent a letter to International Trade Secretary Liz Truss last week making the same demand, with Labour MP Dawn Butler, who organized the effort, warning that British exports "could be misused" by U.S. officials.
"The brutality now aimed towards protesters and reporters across the country is unacceptable," the letter reads.
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn added on social media that the U.K. "should not be helping Donald Trump repress his own people."
We must stop teargas and rubber bullet exports to the US.
We should not be helping Donald Trump repress his own people.https://t.co/u2SqgDo6NB
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 8, 2020
The letter was signed by the MPs after U.S. Attorney General William Barr reportedly personally ordered the tear-gassing of protesters near the White House last week, to clear the way for Trump to walk to a nearby church for a photo op.
In the two weeks since protests erupted over the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other black Americans killed by police, law enforcement officers have been filmed pepper spraying and beating protesters, shooting protesters and journalists with rubber or "less lethal" bullets, and tear-gassing crowds.
"The U.K. will urgently need to investigate to ascertain whether any of those used were supplied by the U.K.," the MPs wrote to Truss. "Therefore, we call on the U.K. government to immediately suspend all export licenses to the U.S. of all riot-related items. Let us heed the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.—an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
The petition points out that the U.K.'s own criteria for exporting military equipment stipulates that the supplies must not be sent abroad if there is a "clear risk that items might be used for internal repression."
Amnesty International agreed that the U.K. must halt its equipment exports to the U.S. until it can confirm its supplies are not being used against Americans exercising their right to protest.
'Google the Geneva Conventions,' Kshama Sawant Tells Seattle Mayor After Police Use Tear Gas on Protesters Despite Ban
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan's Friday promise that law enforcement would stop deploying tear gas against protesters for 30 days didn't even last the weekend as police flooded city streets with the chemical weapon Sunday in an attack on peaceful protesters demonstrating against police brutality.
"This is a wild abuse of power," tweeted progressive group MoveOn. ...
Seattle police have completely covered the street with gas pic.twitter.com/9J9aSY81D1
— jordan (@JordanUhl) June 8, 2020
Seattle police have continually escalated conflict with demonstrators even as other departments around the country have pulled back on their violence and attacks on peaceful protesters.
On Monday, council member Kshama Sawant demanded Durkan "Google the Geneva Conventions to know what tear gas is all about," citing the international protocols' ban on using the chemical on civilians. Sawant, who was among those gassed and attacked by police on Sunday night, is calling on Durkan to resign.
Just got maced and gassed with hundreds others by Seattle police on 11th & Pine. With no provocation. All the movement was demanding was: Let us march!
Shameful violence under Mayor Durkan. And the 30-day tear gas pause is totally meaningless.
Durkan Must Go. #DefundPolice pic.twitter.com/GNtvtjuMAU
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) June 8, 2020
Council member Lisa Herbold added that Durkan's order included language allowing Police Chief Carmen Best to override the ban, rendering it effectively powerless.
Absurdity is the state assigning you The Grapes of Wrath at 16 and tear gassing you at 26 for understanding it.
— Aren R. LeBrun thinks ACAB (@proustmalone) June 8, 2020
US has officially entered first recession since 2009
The United States is officially in a recession, ending the longest economic expansion in US history, the committee that calls downturns announced on Monday.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said that economic growth in the US peaked in February and has since entered its first downturn since 2007 to 2009.
The end of the record-setting streak of 128 months of growth came shortly before the coronavirus pandemic hit the US but after the virus had all but halted economic activity in China and other countries.
While economists often define a recession as two consecutive quarters of contraction, the NBER uses a range of factors, including domestic production and employment, to determine whether or not a recession has begun.
Amid Protests & Pandemic, 200+ Unhoused People Sheltering in Minneapolis Hotel Now Face Eviction
US coronavirus deaths near 110,000 as local economies continue to reopen
The number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in America has reached 109,497, with confirmed cases in this country now totaling 1,909,077, according to Johns Hopkins University data. New deaths have been curving downward in the US, but Covid-19 continues to spread across the country, with thousands of confirmed diagnoses daily.
The increase comes as officials – grappling with a 13.3% unemployment rate – take more steps to reopen local economies. Meanwhile, social-distancing guidelines have been increasingly challenged by nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd, prompting concerns that cases could soon surge. ...
Public health officials have voiced concern that demonstrators and police at anti-police brutality protests could spur Covid-19’s spread. Social distancing is virtually impossible at heavily attended protests and shouting could spread droplets containing COVID-19. The sheer number of attendees renders contact tracing virtually impossible. Heavily criticized police techniques, such as using teargas and pepper spray on protesters, intensify this risk The substances cause coughing and oil-based pepper spray prompts mucus, saliva, and tears to leave the nose, mouth, and eyes.
Klan leader charged over driving car into Black Lives Matter protesters
A self-described Ku Klux Klan leader has been charged with assault after driving his car into a group of Black Lives Matter protesters in Virginia. Harry Rogers, who told officers he was president of the Virginia Ku Klux Klan, has been charged with malicious wounding, assault and battery, and destruction of property after the incident in Henrico county, on the outskirts of Richmond. ...
According to Richmond’s WTVR news channel, police said Rogers had “revved [the] engine” of his pickup truck before driving through a crowd of protesters. One person was treated at the scene. No one was seriously hurt.
“The accused, by his own admission and by a cursory glance at social media, is an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology,” the Henrico county commonwealth’s attorney, Shannon Taylor, said in a statement. “We are investigating whether hate crimes charges are appropriate.”
Krystal and Saagar: Pelosi's CRINGEWORTHY kneeling display as Biden rules out defund the police
Democrats' Police Reform Bill Would Ban Choke Holds But Won't Defund Cops
Congressional Democrats unveiled a sweeping police reform package on Monday, seeking to end police brutality against Black people. But while the bill includes a bevy of major reforms, it doesn’t go as far some Black Lives Matter activists would like to see.
The bill would make substantial reforms to federal law enforcement regulations. It would require body and dashboard cameras, ban choke holds, end no-knock warrants in drug cases, make lynching a federal hate crime, curtail the federal government’s support in giving military-grade tools to police departments, and make it easier to pursue criminal and civil penalties against police misconduct.
But the bill doesn’t push to defund or disband police departments, a core push from some Black Lives Matter groups that has begun to gain traction in some cities amid widespread protests following the police killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a number of other prominent Democrats presaged the bill’s introduction by kneeling for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — a lengthy moment of silence marking the same amount of time a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck as he slowly died.
LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE. The Radical Left Democrats have gone Crazy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2020
Democrats from Biden on down will have to navigate the challenge of hearing and responding to their base, while avoiding alienating the more moderate, suburban white voters they need to win in 2020. Biden supports police reform — but he has made clear he doesn’t support defunding or abolishing police departments.
This is the same picture pic.twitter.com/8vKxy1SrP1
— actually feckless (@fecklesswizard) June 8, 2020
Trump and Republicans use calls to 'defund the police' to attack Democrats
Donald Trump is “appalled” by calls to “defund the police”. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, called the suggestion “outlandish”. And the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, promised police officers: “Republicans will never turn our backs on you”, in a major Republican pushback against such radical changes.
Calls to reform, defund and abolish the police have been embraced by protesters and activists amid a national upheaval in response to the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, both of whom were African American. But Trump and his Republican allies are seizing on the movement, weaponizing the rallying cry in order to attack Democrats and the party’s nominee, Joe Biden. ...
The effort to turn the national debate over racism and policing so that it works against Democrats comes as Trump continues to fall behind Biden in key battleground states, according to several recent polls, amid his incendiary response to the mass protests against police brutality and his widely criticized handling of the coronavirus pandemic. ...
“We won’t be defunding our police,” Trump said at a roundtable with law enforcement officials at the White House on Monday. “There won’t be dismantling of our police. There’s not going to be any disbanding of our police.” He conceded that the nation had witnessed “some horrible things” at the hands of police officers, but suggested that “99%” of them are “great, great people” who have “done jobs that are record setting”.
One of the reasons right wingers concoct conspiracies about "antifa" or Black Lives Matter protesters being secretly backed by George Soros or whatever is because they can't fathom having genuinely popular movements of their own that aren't astroturfed by oil billionaires
— findom earle (@coherentstates) June 8, 2020
RIP:
Singer Bonnie Pointer, of The Pointer Sisters, dies aged 69
Singer Bonnie Pointer, best known as a member of the Grammy-winning group The Pointer Sisters, has died at the age of 69, a representative has said. She died on Monday, according to her sister and fellow singer, Anita. No cause of death was revealed. ...
During Bonnie’s time as part of The Pointer Sisters, they scored a hit with Yes We Can Can in 1973 and Fairytale in 1974, which also co-wrote. The latter song went on to win a Grammy.
After she left the group in 1977, Bonnie signed with Motown and proceeded to have a successful solo career with three albums and the hit Heaven Must Have Sent You. In the years since, she returned to perform with the remaining members of the group and returned with a solo album in 2011. She also played herself in the 2010 film Road to Nowhere.
Ryan Grim: Is Jamaal Bowman the next AOC, Will Pro-Trump Democrat fall to progressive challenger?
'More masks than jellyfish': coronavirus waste ends up in ocean
Conservationists have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could spark a surge in ocean pollution – adding to a glut of plastic waste that already threatens marine life – after finding disposable masks floating like jellyfish and waterlogged latex gloves scattered across seabeds. The French non-profit Opération Mer Propre, whose activities include regularly picking up litter along the Côte d’Azur, began sounding the alarm late last month.
Divers had found what Joffrey Peltier of the organisation described as “Covid waste” – dozens of gloves, masks and bottles of hand sanitiser beneath the waves of the Mediterranean, mixed in with the usual litter of disposable cups and aluminium cans.
The quantities of masks and gloves found were far from enormous, said Peltier. But he worried that the discovery hinted at a new kind of pollution, one set to become ubiquitous after millions around the world turned to single-use plastics to combat the coronavirus. “It’s the promise of pollution to come if nothing is done,” said Peltier.
In France alone, authorities have ordered two billion disposable masks, said Laurent Lombard of Opération Mer Propre. “Knowing that … soon we’ll run the risk of having more masks than jellyfish in the Mediterranean,” he wrote on social media alongside video of a dive showing algae-entangled masks and soiled gloves in the sea near Antibes.
‘Rolling emergency’ of locust swarms decimating Africa, Asia and Middle East
Locust swarms threaten a “rolling emergency” that could endanger harvests and food security across parts of Africa and Asia for the rest of the year, experts warn. An initial infestation of locusts in December was expected to die out during the current dry season. But unseasonal rains have allowed several generations of locust to breed, resulting in new swarms forming. ...
Desert locusts, which live in areas between west Africa and India, cause the most devastation and like to breed in moist conditions. These locusts live for three months. Eggs hatch two weeks after they have been laid, and hoppers become adults after about six weeks. Adult locusts can eat their body weight every day, and fly up to 150km a day in search of new supplies.
Kenya is experiencing its worst infestation for 70 years, with pastoralists complaining that the vegetation on which their livestock feeds is being wiped out. Ethiopia and Somalia have not seen an outbreak this bad for 25 years. Swarms have also been destroying crops in Uganda, India and Pakistan.
Fears that millions of people could be forced into hunger prompted mass control operations earlier in the year, which have had an impact in Kenya and southern Ethiopia. But experts fear rains and insecurity in Somalia and South Sudan could undermine efforts in the east and Horn of Africa.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
The Failed American Experiment
What the George Floyd protests have achieved in just two weeks
Here Are All the Major Police Reforms Cities Have Announced So Far
Yes, American police act like occupying armies. They literally studied their tactics
Amid Protests, Phoenix Police Swept Up Immigrants on Mistaken Charges. Now They Face Deportation.
Four Numbers that Show America's Disdain for Its Most Vulnerable People
The Story Behind Bill Barr’s Unmarked Federal Agents
Israel lobby sees Black Lives Matter as major strategic threat
Jimmy Dore: Twitter Deletes Antifa Account Run By White Supremacists
Krystal and Saagar: Millennials are getting CRUSHED by crisis, it will lead to radicalism
A Little Night Music
Johnny Copeland - It's Me
Johnny Copeland - Claim Jumper
Johnny Copeland - Old Man Blues
Johnny Copeland - I Got To Go Home
Johnny Copeland - Slow Walk You Down
Johnny Copeland - Hurt, Hurt, Hurt
Johnny Copeland - Down On Bending Knees
Johnny Copeland - Texas Party
Johnny Copeland - Every Dog's Got His Day
Johnny Copeland - Everybody Wants A Piece Of Me
Johnny Copeland - Flying High
Comments
About the Bolvia coup.
More a side note about the American left I suppose, or what is supposed to be Leftists. When I was driving to work, I would put on the local radical, anti-establishment community sponsored radio channel. The talk show had on a Bolvian woman who supported coup. WTF??? Also, on this same radio station was a guy with a show on mass media propaganda who was full of the Russiagate kool-aid being very aggressive toward callers who disagreed. And then a popular talk show call in show where the main host was absolutely 100% into Russiagate, and worshipped Obama. It was like tunining into bingo fund raiser for democrats. Up to this point at least, I think the station tried to avoid being co-opted by democrats and focused on radical voices. I have not listened for awhile, but maybe they came to their senses. But man, the age of Trump has many liberals and leftists losing their minds.
evening mr w...
yep, it's sad when allegedly left media outlets turn out to be more milque-toast than one would hope. the derangement is usually worst at the peak of election cycles, though the russiagate engagement outlasted previous derangements and may not be over yet.
Nov 2008 they jumped into the 'big muddy'
of Presidential personality cults -- and the big fools said to push on. Their belief in Obama as the pinnacle of a great POTUS is unshakeable by facts and reality. Thus, they can't fathom how Obama could beget Trump.
I suppose its always been somewhat like that in US political history. Their guy wins and therefore, is idolized. And yet, in the past that didn't extend beyond his term in office when the gloss faded, except for Washington, Lincoln and FDR because of the important major changes/policies they managed to institute. There was a major shift with Reagan; his fan base went way beyond his term and life. The Obamacrats remind me of the Reaganauts. Only dumber because the Reaganauts didn't spend years doing nothing other than pissing and moaning about Perot.
Good evening!
I hope everyone is keeping as well as possible during these plague-filled times. Thanks for the music, joeshikspack!
evening m. le frog...
good to see you! i can't speak for everybody, but i am so far surviving the plague pretty well, thanks.
i hope that you are similarly warm and happy.
Excellent piece, Joe. Pretty much sums it up
for me,
[My italics for emphasis.]
By the way, if you read the PDF version of the referenced letter, with signatures, you'll see that many of the signatories are 'community stakeholders.' Meaning, partisan/political activists and/or community organizers. So far, I haven't seen a single headline that reflected this--IOW, they reference only public health officials.
From now on, will check out every word I hear uttered by these folks. And, challenge them, if it appears to be politically motivated. (on Twitter)
BTW, like the author, I'm not arguing that the Floyd death isn't a far more righteous cause. (than the lockdown protests in MI, etc.) Hands down, it is.
Only that when it comes to science/fact-based public health advice/guidelines--you can't have it both ways. It's either dangerous/risky to be in crowds where social distancing protocol/precautions cannot be applied judiciously--or, it's not. Period. End of story.
BTW, I first heard of this abrupt reversal, Sunday afternoon (on CNN). But, it wasn't until yesterday that I even realized that this is an organized effort. That figures. Heh, if 'O' can hold a conference call with 3,000 participants, stands to reason that he can pretty easily dredge up almost 1300 partisans to pull this off. Meaning, to become science-deniers. Talk about gaslighting--phew!
Hope to screenshot a couple more charts/graphs to share.
Everyone have a nice evening.
Mollie
“Revolution is not a one time event.”
~~Audre Lorde
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
I think that Elder Lives Matter.
I have been told that caring about them is "racist".
About 40,000 elderly people in places like nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been lost to the epidemic. Almost all of them could have been protected. A few elderly people are also being lost in jails and prisons, and they are also people. I feel that they matter, too. The protesters who have been arrested will be sharing the virus in the jails. Eventually almost everyone will go home to become vectors of the virus in their neighborhoods.
There are about 1.5 million older people living in congregate situations. They face the greatest risk from the epidemic. More infection in the community increases their danger. The numbers confirmed cases are already starting to climb although a lot of that is from the re-opening.
Until a few weeks ago I expected Trump to plummet in the polls once the death rates started going up again. I hoped it would be possible to get ordinary folks some financial help and more availability of healthcare. Now the conversation is about protests rather than the evictions that are already happening in many places. Protests are cheaper for the PTB.
Trump had declared victory over the virus. That was obviously garbage, but his followers and a lot of other people were happy to believe him. Now he can blame all the new deaths on the protesters. Then we can all have an argument about whether the new infections are due to the use of tear gas of if the protesters are entirely to blame. Meanwhile nobody is talking about a temporary UBI or even temporary Medicare for All.
Heh, ST--share your frustration, and, many
of your views.
If anything, I came to blogging as a advocate for seniors. IOW, I began blogging right after I realize what 'O' and the Dems were going to try to do to our so-called entitlement programs. (talking about their attempts to slash entitlements via a "Grand Bargain")
Regarding your comments,
No argument with those sentiments (from me).
And,
Yeah, I know. Waded into that topic (of the ongoing protests) a couple times, based mostly upon the perspective of being the daughter of a 60's era civil rights protestor/activist in Alabama. For the most part, I've decided to 'retire' from that conversation. That's because, for me, whether or not the use of violence is acceptable was never the most pressing issue, in regards to racial injustice/eliminating police brutality. IOW, agree with you that the PtB would probably be quite pleased to see a "violence vs anti-violence or nonviolence" discussion divide the Dem Party/progressive community.
And,
I agree that, now, DT will clearly have more room to place the blame of future surges of COVID, on protestors.
And,
Dr Fauci issued a warning regarding this, this past Friday (in a radio interview) when he said,
And, that's been partly facilitated by the partisan stance that over 1200 public health experts, and political activists, recently took. In their letter, they did nothing short of an about-face, regarding their professional stances and/or recommendations on social distancing--calling their own impartiality and credibility into question.
BTW, LA County just issued a self-quarantine request to protestors (on Twitter). A good move, IMO.
Lastly, when you say,
While I mostly spend my time advocating for issues which most directly affect seniors, I'm always happy to put my two cents in regarding any, and all, social insurance programs.
Honestly, I had hoped that after the Dem Party primary ended--think it did the other day, since Biden has now garnered enough delegates to seal the nomination--entitlements, etc., would become a major focus, here.
Heh, maybe it still will.
(This was written hurriedly, since Mr M is ready to eat.
So, may be back to make corrections. Sorry!)
Stay safe.
Mollie
“Revolution is not a one time event.”
~~Audre Lorde
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
yep, it is a pretty fraught question at the moment. i think that any reasonable person should recognize that mass protests in the current pandemic are not optimal from a public health viewpoint.
it is also reasonable to view the "blue plague" which continues unabated in this time of pandemic as part of a particularly horrible public health malady (other symptoms of the capitalism epidemic include mass poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, etc.) which can only be mitigated by the application of mass public protest.
i guess the way i feel about it is that rationally, it is not a great idea to arrange mass public protests. on the other hand, morally, it may arguably be the correct thing to do.
Joe, thanks for your reply--always
thoughtful and well-reasoned.
Might have another thought,or two, about the piece (from the Guardian) tomorrow evening. Right now, I've got Mr M harkening me to eat--it's after 9:30 pm, here, so, gotta cut out.
Just to clarify, I'm definitely not trying to imply that I believe that all the protests should be called off. In the end, it will be a matter of conscience for each and every participant.
Probably, for me, until there's a vaccine, or cure, I'd have to opt to participate in non-in person activism. But, to each, his own.
I do hope that protesters will take the 14-day self-quarantine advice. Think what mental and emotional adverse effects it could have on any of them, if their participation were to lead to a death among their own family or friends. Or, for that matter, that of a stranger, if it's revealed to them through contact tracing.
Have a good rest of your evening!
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
More sweet Blues thanks Joe!
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160320/NEWS07/160319758/how-ch...
One solution to police brutality, make the pigs and the pol's pay these settlements from their salary, their wealth, then maybe they might reign in the terror.
Well worth the listen, Lightfoot is Rahm the II
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/youre-100-full-hit-fk-you-chicago-al...
https://twitter.com/DowdEdward/status/1270390633602011137?ref_src=twsrc%...
0
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
evening ggersh...
wow, chicago is a screwed up place. and the petulant children in charge of it appear unlikely to fix it anytime soon.
Good evening Joe. Thanks. I'm just going to crawl back onto
the wheel for another orbit here and see what tomorrow brings.
Be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening el...
heh, it seems like a good night to go out for a spin.
have a good one!
hell of a buffer this site has
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 --
its amazing how many copies of something it can stash
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 --
(No subject) (or predicate)
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 --
(No subject) Nihilism achieved
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Evening everybody ...
David Sirota at Jacobin: There’s No Way Around It: Spending on Police in the US Is out of Control
Starting in 1977 ?
It's almost as if they knew that Neoliberalism was going to require some repression.
'Stop treating us like animals' – NY Police Union Head has something to say
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02fdxn9Ql4k width:400 height:240]
Pepe Escobar at Asia Times: A Pipelineistan fable for our times
Have a nice night.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
thanks for the articles. it's good of pepe to chronicle the decline of the u.s. empire for us.
oh my, it looks like cop feefees are hurt because people don't like their brutality. i suppose an officer friendly charm offensive is unlikely.
Thanks for the earworm, joe.
Tonight's featured album will be Dylan's New Morning.
You post an article that mentions locusts, I hear Day of the Locusts in my head, then Went to See the Gypsy. Might as well play the whole album.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
you're welcome...
heh, perhaps after the pandemic is over i can go into the earworm business.
I emailed Pepe Escobar
...a page from TOP I was shown today because it's something he would want to see for himself. He has speculated that distorted thinking and fantastical narratives concentrate and mutate in exclusive cul-de-sacs (like the Ebola or Corona virus) only to emerge with alternative histories so implausible and menacing that they can shock and overwhelm the evidence-based reality of a society.
I would think that a mendacious media cohort would be necessary to pull that off successfully.
Thanks for the news, as always.
evening pluto...
i'm sure that pepe was either horrified or amused, or perhaps both. orange state is an oxygen-deprived environment.
good to see you!
Awwww, da poor popo is haz a Brittany moment. Stop
picking on Brittany! ...... ya'll
be well and haz a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Evening....it’s been a busy day on the Twit
Lmao
Well duh
Think Biden will end the war on drugs?
Not even lip service to throw to the masses. Nothing democrats pass in the house will get past McConnell and yet...
Republicans are very bad.
The cops are very angry that we are calling them on their brutality. The second tweet is brilliant isn’t it?
As Caitlin says, the media controls the narrative.
The country seems like it’s waiting for the match that will light the powder keg and blow it sky high. Throwing homeless people out of temporary quarters, millions getting thrown out of their apartments and homes, more crackdowns by cops and federal agencies to everything else that is waiting in the wings to happen.
A side note my 'dad' died yesterday. I’m still processing this event. I have decided that I’m not only an orphan, but an only child too. Still processing this too.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
evening snoopy...
i'm so sorry to hear about your loss, my condolences.
thanks for the best police chase video i've seen in ages.
biden end the war on drugs? feh! as he told us, nothing will fundamentally change.
somebody ought to tell the police that when you juxtapose their anguish at being "treated like animals" with the hundreds of videos in the past week or so of brutal police riots, they don't exactly cut a sympathetic figure.
My condolences, Snoopy
I hope that you are doing okay. I know the feeling that you describe very well. Please feel free to PM me any time.
Sorry to hear it Snoopy. You have my sympathy.
be well and have a good one.
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 --
Sorry about your dad. 2020 isn’t getting any
better, is it.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
My condolences, as well, SD. My Father
was the person that I most admired and looked up to--so, it was particularly difficult for me when he passed away. (and, I was pretty young--just 27)
Of course, at any age, losing a parent is tremendously difficult. FWIW, sending beau coup positive karma your way. The way I coped, was by sharing my feelings of hurt and sadness with others. Hope you'll do the same.
Take good care.
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Thank you all for this
Yeah this year has been weird enough already and now this emotional baggage on top of it. I read that each death reopens the grief from previous ones and at this age that is a lot of them. I was having a hard enough time dealing with Abby’s which wasn’t that long ago.
But of course little Charlie has been a great friend and comfort. lol...yesterday I was cleaning up twigs in my backyard and I left the gate open after bringing in my garbage can. She went out it, walked a few feet away, saw me and then went inside the garage to the door to the back and whined for me to open it. I went to the gate and called her so she could come back through it, but no she just whined louder. I finally went out so she could see me and come through it and you’d think I had been gone for hours not minutes. Maybe you had to be there, but I cracked up. Fur faces...what would we do without them.
I love this picture.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Beautiful.
Be well, snoopydawg. Bless your heart. Please take care.
Thanks, Linda
I’m still traveling in the twilight zone. It’s having a hard time sinking in but I’m going to the house tomorrow and I think that will help.
Good to see you here.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Thanks, Joe
Like I said I am still working my way through how this is affecting me. Good thing I have a cousin who is a social worker who is on standby and she knows the history between us.
I don’t remember seeing 2 people running that slowly but the ending was brilliant.
The Pig who is ranting about how his fellow Pigs are being treated can’t be that clueless can he? Has he not watched any of the videos that prove our point? Hey remember when cops in NYC took a holiday from being cops and then the crime rate went down? If they are thinking of retiring I’m all for it.
This article goes well with the one on BlackRock. Over 1,300 CEOs conveniently quit just before the economy went south. And they dumped their stocks just before they took a dive. I’m sure that someone will be looking into this. Right? Did BlackRock write the bill for congress to just pass? Heh.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/why-did-hundreds-of-ceos-resign-just-befor...
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
glad to hear...
that you have caring people to help you work through things. i hope that comfort comes soon.
I just recieved an e-mail with the following headline/title
Lot's of people don't. The sad thing is that he doesn't have any old ones either.
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 --
Trump not have any idea? I dunno. He did have
that inspiration about drinking bleach. He has ideas. They’re all bad.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Hey, joe!
Thanks so much for your efforts! The Love of My Life had to return home today, and I am already getting calls and accusations from friends and family that I just wasn't nice enough to keep him here longer.
Sigh...
Always my fault...
The USA is going to hell, people still blame Trump or Obama, and my home is suddenly suddenly as lifeless as a damn coffin, but I take heart that you find some fight back 'tude to display, that you display some correct thinking, that no matter how awful things are, there are slivers of that fine fight for the right thing, and music to accompany that fine fight.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
evening otc...
sorry to hear that your time with "tloyl" was so short. i hope that everything will work out fine and to your mutual liking.
going to hell? haven't we been here for a while?
have a great evening!
DCOTN
Ooo, I like “Caucasian99.”
Seems like the truth is still forbidden on DK.
I don’t see what the diarist got wrong.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Being targeted by D’Kool Kidz did & does clarify a lot of things
It’s like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers — people who used to be your friends now just point at you and go REEEEEEEE …