Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues musician Jimmy Lee Robinson. Enjoy!

"Saudi Arabia is just an honest version of America. The tyranny is right out in the open, state censorship is straightforward instead of being outsourced to Silicon Valley, the oligarchs and the official government are the same people, they don’t pretend their wars are humanitarian, and they just directly murder journalists they dislike instead of a using fake judicial system to do it."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

The American public wants less war. Can Joe Biden deliver?

Senator Kamala Harris is a “big slasher of funds for our military”, says President Trump. If only. The truth is that Harris, like the person who selected her as his running mate, is a mainstream advocate of globe-spanning US military dominance. Last month she voted against cutting the $740bn annual military budget by a mere 10%, though she said she supported reductions as a goal. This November, US voters, facing an uncontrolled pandemic and economic collapse, will choose between one ticket that insists on spending more on the military than the world’s next 10 countries combined – and another ticket that might, after careful deliberation and under the right circumstances, be willing to outspend just seven or eight.

For the progressive left, this is a disappointing, even dizzying outcome. As of January (that pre-pandemic idyll when all one had to fear was war with Iran), the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination was Senator Bernie Sanders. He promised a reckoning with decades of bipartisan military interventions and led last month’s effort to cut the defense budget. (Full disclosure: I voluntarily advised his presidential campaign on foreign policy.) A Biden-Harris ticket represents a serious setback for those who believe the United States should abandon its quest for global military dominance and invest instead in building communities at home and combatting climate change and infectious disease around the world. ...

This year’s Democratic primaries tested where the party lay. Would the presidential aspirants hype threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, and complain that Trump was too eager to make deals and withdraw from conflicts, as Democratic leaders in Congress have frequently done? To the contrary, the left defined what debate there was. The candidates competed over who would end endless war and combat climate change. On stage, Biden pledged to treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” and stop selling weapons to the kingdom. He has also vowed to “end the forever wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East”, though he currently supports bringing home only the “vast majority” of troops from Afghanistan and advocated drone strikes and special forces raids as vice-president.

Such cop-outs – can you end a war but keep fighting it? – indicate the obvious: the Biden-Harris ticket is not inclined to transform US foreign policy. The campaign’s extensive circle of advisers, drawn extensively from the Obama administration, reinforces the point. Although Democratic foreign policy hands are shifting left along with the rest of the party, it won’t be enough to put the same people back into power and expect them not to make the same mistakes. The administration would benefit from bringing in new voices who understand the bipartisan failure of US grand strategy over decades.

Even so, the coming years may offer more opportunity than defeat. Biden is not the future of the Democratic party, and everyone knows it, including him. Those who seek realism and restraint in military affairs, and peaceful engagement on common challenges, should see his potential administration as an invitation. ... The Biden camp has its own reason to take heed. Trump has exposed, and accelerated, the crisis of American global supremacy. Forged generations ago in the face of totalitarian conquerors, military domination no longer serves the interests of the American people, as they are increasingly aware. Any attempt to restore the status quo simply won’t last, and will leave Trumpian nativism and fearmongering as the only alternative.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Upgraded To Full DNC Speaking Slot After Announcing Support For Iraq War https://t.co/pgXaC8PEux pic.twitter.com/EcSZKN8g7B

— The Onion (@TheOnion) August 18, 2020

Democratic convention opens with appeal to right-wing Republican support

The opening night of the Democratic National Convention featured an appeal to right-wing Republicans to support the Biden-Harris ticket, with Senator Bernie Sanders declaring that it was necessary to unite “yes, with conservatives” to defeat President Trump for reelection. Sanders was given a prominent position in the evening’s proceedings, second only to Michelle Obama. He went beyond even his groveling endorsement of Hillary Clinton in 2016—which has been repeatedly attacked by the Democratic Party establishment as insufficiently enthusiastic. He declared the election of Joe Biden to be the solution to all the social and political evils of modern America and, above all, to the growing threat of authoritarian rule emanating from the Trump White House.

“As long as I am here, I will work with progressives, with moderates, and, yes, with conservatives to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to defeat,” Sanders said. Claiming that the Democratic party had embraced “progressive” ideas such as universal health care and free public education, Sanders declared, “Many of the ideas we fought for that just a few years ago were considered radical are now mainstream.”

This is a ridiculous fraud. Joe Biden was the Senator from Delaware, the corporate tax evasion capital of America. His entire life has been dedicated to the defense of the social interests of Wall Street, consummated by his stint as vice president under an administration that funneled trillions to the banks, declared crooked bankers “too big to jail” while it allowed millions of families to lose their homes. Harris is a vicious ex-prosecutor and California Attorney General who dragged non-violent drug offenders to prison and presided over the nation’s largest prison population. The unofficial slogan of their campaign, bluntly stated in private by Biden to wealthy donors in New York, is “nothing would fundamentally change.”

The first night of the Democratic convention was carefully choreographed by the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party establishment. Sanders spoke only minutes after the appearance of former Ohio Governor John Kasich, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, and three other former Republican politicians, including billionaire CEO Meg Whitman.

Sanders’ own claim that he has pushed Biden and the Democratic Party to the left is nothing more than demagogy aimed at sustaining illusions in this right-wing party. The real policy orientation of a future Biden-Harris administration was signaled by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who in the course of his remarks described America as “a country that wins wars.” There is little doubt that a Biden administration will act on the basis of the anti-Russia and anti-China agitation that the Democratic Party has put forward as the political axis of its “opposition” to Trump.

EU leaders discuss Belarus sanctions, urge Putin to push for dialogue

Libya conflict: Why Egypt might send troops to back Gen Haftar

Imagine the house next door is on fire and there is no fire brigade to call on to avert an imminent disaster about to engulf you and your family. That is how Egypt has viewed Libya since the brutal end of former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his regime in 2011. Libya has no properly functioning state institutions, no unified army or security forces to speak of, and, crucially, no border guards on its side of their porous 1,100km (685-mile) long desert border. Plus the country is awash with weapons.

The fire began to spill over when Libyans failed to agree on a path forward, militias of all kinds proliferated, jihadists resurfaced to pursue their dream of creating an Islamic state in Libya and beyond. ... Post-Gaddafi Libya was quickly caught up in the chasm that has polarised and paralysed politics in nearly the whole of the Middle East and North Africa. ...

Alarmed by reports of Turkey transferring thousands of battle-hardened Syrian mercenaries and jihadists to Tripoli and setting up Turkish bases in western Libya, Cairo felt it had no other option but to respond. In June, after inspecting rows of tanks and rocket launchers and watching an air force display with his top military brass in a base near the border with Libya, Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi made a dramatic announcement.

Striking a pan-Arab chord, he said that given the historical ties between the peoples of Libya and Egypt, Cairo had a legitimate right to intervene to defend the national interests of the two nations against "foreign schemes". There was no explicit reference to Turkey, but everyone understood what he was referring to. ... A few days later, Egypt's parliament rubber-stamped a mandate for the president, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, to deploy troops as he saw fit.

Return to Sender: Amid National Outcry, Trump’s Postmaster General Drops Plans to Gut USPS — For Now

"To avoid even the appearance of me being a bank robber, I will promise not to rob any banks other than the ones I've already robbed." https://t.co/CgBx11Xpg0

— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) August 18, 2020

USPS crisis: postmaster general to suspend all changes until after election

The US postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, has announced he is suspending cost-cutting operational changes until after the November elections, after days of widespread outcry and claims Donald Trump was deliberately slowing down the mail to help his re-election effort. In a statement, DeJoy announced he was suspending the changes to “avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail”.

There have been reports of widespread mail delays across the US in recent weeks. United States Postal Service (USPS) workers and Democrats have blamed recent changes implemented by DeJoy, including cutting overtime and telling workers to leave the mail behind if it was going to delay them on routes.

DeJoy said the changes were needed to stabilize the cash-strapped agency, but many observers questioned why they were being implemented amid a global pandemic and months ahead of an unprecedented election in which the USPS is likely to play a big role in transporting ballots. Trump said last week he opposed additional funding for the USPS because it would make it easier to vote by mail.

In a statement on Tuesday, DeJoy, a major Republican donor without prior USPS experience, said post office hours would not change, mail processing facilities would not close and equipment, including mailboxes, would not be removed. He also said the USPS would continue to approve overtime. The announcement came after days of heavy scrutiny and on the day more than 20 states were set to file a lawsuit challenging the changes. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, also recalled the House of Representatives to Washington, to deal with USPS funding.

Still 'Miles to Go' to Ensure a Safe and Fair Election, Rights Groups Say After DeJoy Announces Suspension of Changes to Mail Operations

Civil rights advocates vowed to continue fighting to thwart any attempt by the Trump administration to sabotage to U.S. Postal Service and the 2020 general election on Tuesday, after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced he would "suspend" changes to post office operations until after the November election.

Following reports that mail sorting machines have been decommissioned at post offices and mail collection boxes have been removed from street corners around the country, DeJoy said the changes would be halted for the time being to "avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail."

The changes have already led to reports of widespread mail delays and fears that millions of people will be disenfranchised in the November general election as many voters—particularly Democrats—plan to vote by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Other advocates focused mainly on what was missing from DeJoy's statement—any assurance that the postmaster general will reverse the changes already made to the postal service.

"DeJoy ordered USPS to remove 671 mail sorting machines by end of September, including 24 in Ohio, 11 in Detroit, 11 in Florida, nine in Wisconsin, eight in Philadelphia and five in Arizona," tweeted "Give Us the Ballot" author Ari Berman. "Will removed mail equipment be restored? DeJoy doesn't say in [the] letter and we need answers."

Nice try. You also need to reverse the damage you’ve already done.
Return the mailboxes you removed.
Return the sorting machines you took out.
Restore the regular hours of post offices you cut short.
Return postal vehicles you took.
The list goes on.#DontMessWithUSPS https://t.co/Wq32xaTR6l

— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) August 18, 2020

Stock Market Hits RECORD HIGH As Mega-Companies Destroy Small Business

Watchdog Calls on Authorities to Drop 'Absurd' Charges Against Journalists Covering Black Lives Matter Protests

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called for authorities to drop charges against members of the news media who were arrested while covering Black Lives Matter protests across the United States.

"It is absurd that law enforcement officials around the country continue to pursue charges against journalists who were doing their jobs at the time they were arrested," Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ program director, said in a statement. "It's high time for authorities to drop this pursuit, which is frivolous and wasteful."

More than 600 attacks against the press during the protests, ongoing since the end of May, have been reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, and many detained journalists were released without charges, according to CPJ.

As of Monday, at least six journalists still faced charges after covering the protests, the tracker showed. The charges against them—lodged by local authorities in Nevada, Minnesota, New York, and Iowa—are misdemeanors with fines up to $1,000, according to the watchdog group.

The call from CPJ comes just weeks after Amnesty International released a report detailing human rights violations by police in the United States against protestors and journalists, and following reports that the Department of Homeland Security compiled "intelligence reports" on American journalists covering BLM protests in Portland, Oregon.

"If a journalist or legal observer is incidentally exposed to crowd control devices after remaining in the area, you will not [be] held liable."

"Incidentally means...while not the target of the crowd control devices, still end up being exposed" https://t.co/vLyuk3ZECo

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) July 30, 2020

Andrea Sahouri, a reporter for the Des Moines Register who has pleaded not guilty to charges of failure to disperse and interference with official acts, demanded that the freedom of the press be protected in a tweet about CPJ's latest call for authorities to drop charges.

"Freedom of the press must be protected, as well as freedom to peacefully protest," Sahouri wrote. "I stand in solidarity with my fellow journalists still facing charges and protestors who have been unlawfully arrested."

St Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters to speak at Republican convention

As the Democratic convention proceeds with calls for an end to racial divides, news of another Republican convention speech by a couple who became infamous for taking a stand outside another grand house may attract further debate.

In a racially charged incident in late June, Patricia and Mark McCloskey, who are white, were pictured outside their mansion in St Louis, pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters heading for the mayor’s house nearby. Mark McCloskey held an assault rifle, Patricia McCloskey a handgun. The couple, both lawyers, said they feared for their own safety and were defending their home. ...

Charged with unlawful use of a weapon, the McCloskeys duly became a cause célèbre on the political right. Trump tweeted support; Mike Parson, the Republican governor of Missouri, called the charge “outrageous”; and senior figures including the Missouri senator Josh Hawley demanded a civil rights investigation.

The prosecutor in the case, Kim Gardner, is the first African American circuit attorney in St Louis. She said she received death threats. “This is a modern-day night ride, and everybody knows it,” Gardner told the Washington Post, referring to Ku Klux Klan tactics of the 19th and early 20th centuries. “And for a president to participate in it … is scary.”

Matt Stoller: DNC Convention Is 'Decency Porn' Devoid Of Policy, Reckoning With Obama's Legacy

Pressed on Corporate PAC Funding, Richie Neal Cites His Generosity to Black and Brown Candidates

During a congressional debate in Massachusetts’s 1st District on Monday night, Rep. Richard Neal defended his acceptance of corporate PAC money by pointing to the money he has spent to support Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ members of Congress. “I will not apologize for the idea that I raised $13 million for Democratic candidates,” Neal said. “I contributed to every single member of the Black Caucus, every single member of the Hispanic Caucus, every member of the Equality Caucus, and I have recruited candidates for Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi, helped them with message discipline, and helped to fund their campaigns.”

Neal is one of the top recipients of corporate cash in Congress, raking in huge sums from private equity and Big Pharma, which his left-wing challenger Alex Morse frequently highlights. In asking about Neal’s corporate funding, the debate moderator pointed to a recent ad by the progressive dark-money group Fight Corporate Monopolies, which accused Neal of working to maintain President Donald Trump’s corporate tax cuts. “Corporate power is corrupting democracy,” the ad says. “And Richie Neal is part of the problem.”

Neal’s response lays bare the argument presented by incumbent Democrats who are reliant on corporate dollars: Our corruption is necessary because it raises lots of money and we use that to elect Black, brown, and queer people and to beat Republicans, who are worse. It’s an honest argument, which is rarely stated so clearly. For voters, the race is between whether that’s good enough for you or whether you want more.

Neal, who has been in Congress for 30 years, is the chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the tax code. Morse, the 31-year-old mayor of Holyoke, is running on a platform that includes Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and defunding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

[Debate video follows. - js]

Massachusetts Dems Call for Pre-Election Probe of State Party's Role in Smear Campaign Against US House Candidate Alex Morse

Following a damaging report that the Massachusetts Democratic Party helped a group of college Democrats launch a campaign to discredit a progressive U.S. House candidate in the Bay State, a group of Democratic Committee members have called for an investigation into the state party's involvement.

"Recent events and revelations regarding an intentional effort to influence the outcome of the Democratic primary in Congressional District 1, by smearing Mayor Alex Morse, have raised concerns that members of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee may have behaved unethically," read a letter signed by more than 50 state committee members.

The letter, which demands an investigation before the September 1 state primary, came after The Intercept reported that members of the UMass Amherst College Democrats conspired to bring down Morse, a progressive challenger to Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and that the state party was involved in the plot to sow doubt about Morse's character. The state party has agreed to an investigation, but not until after the primary.

"This investigation should be conducted by individuals or an organization outside of the MDP to ensure independence and transparency," read the letter. "And, depending on the results of the investigation, we call for the immediate resignation, suspension, or removal of individuals responsible for, or with participation or knowledge of, what appears to be an unprecedented abuse of power."

"We can push them left AFTER the election" is trickle down theory for liberals.

— Kelley Gray (@MadBartender) August 18, 2020

“We Will Make Biden Do It”: Economist Darrick Hamilton on Pushing the Next Admin to the Left

"I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for President of the United States" @AOC #DNC2020 #NotMeus pic.twitter.com/xlyZDaGm6u

— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) August 19, 2020

Low Ratings For DNC Convention!

Sunrise Movement: Dems Must Address Climate Crisis as DNC Drops Pledge to End Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Atlantic ocean plastic more than 10 times previous estimates

More than 10 times as much plastic has been found in the Atlantic ocean than previously estimated to be there, showing the the world’s plastic problem is likely to be much greater than realised.

New measurements of the top 200m of the Atlantic found between 12 and 21 million tonnes of microscopic particles of three of the most common types of plastic, in about 5% of the ocean. That would indicate a concentration in the Atlantic of about 200 million tonnes of these common plastics.

Previous estimates, based on calculations of the amount of mismanaged municipal waste in coastal areas, were that between 17 million and 47 million tonnes of plastic had been released into the Atlantic in total over the 65 years from 1950 to 2015.

Katsiaryna Pabortsava, of the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, and lead author of the study, said: “Our key finding is that there is an awful lot of very, very small microplastic particles in the upper Atlantic ocean, much higher than the previous estimate. The amount of plastic has been massively underestimated.”

California governor declares state of emergency as dozens of wildfires rage

California’s governor has declared a state of emergency as the state battles dozens of wildfires amid a historic heatwave. ...

Fires of varying size are currently burning across the state including in Sonoma, San Mateo, Napa, Butte, Nevada and Monterey counties. Evacuations were in effect or growing in the Napa county wine country north of San Francisco Bay, near Salinas in Monterey county, around Oroville Dam north of Sacramento and near the Nevada state line north of Lake Tahoe.

Several fires had been sparked by lightening strikes during unusual thunderstorms prompted by the extreme heatwave, which has sent temperatures soaring into the triple digits. One of the largest – the SCU Lightning Complex fire, comprised of fires burning in several Bay Area counties – has so far consumed 25,000 acres and remains 0% contained. ...

In southern California, evacuations continued for a week-old fire in the mountains of northern Los Angeles county. Dynamic weather churned up thunderstorms bringing the double threat of more lightning-sparked fires and flash floods.

Also of Interest

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

There Is a Historic Change Taking Place in the Middle East

The cancellation of professor Adolph Reed, Jr.’s speech and the DSA’s promotion of race politics

Saudi Arabia Is Just An Honest America: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

What Will the Real American Resistance Look Like — Chaotic Rebellion or Organized General Strikes?

This Pandemic Brings Out the Worst in Our CEOs

Mortgage Delinquencies Jump by Most Ever. 60-Day Delinquencies Hit Highest Level Ever. Record 16% of FHA Mortgages Delinquent. What a Mess

NYT Urges Biden to Shun His Party’s ‘Left-Leaning Brand’

As a Rising Star, Joe Kennedy Didn’t Want to Help Democrats Beat Republicans

Democracy Now: Dems Formally Nominate Joe Biden for President, as DNC Features Republicans & Sidelines Progressives

Jimmy Dore: Biden LOSING His Lead Over TRUMP! Still Won't Support Medicare-For-All!

Krystal and Saagar: DNC ROLLS OUT Neocons To Beat Election Drum For Biden

Krystal Ball: Why Dems Must Abandon Bill Clinton Once And For All

Krystal and Saagar DEBATE Clinton Advisor Richard Goodstein On Colin Powell Featured Over AOC

Krystal and Saagar REACT: ELIZABETH WARREN Speaks At 'DNC Native American Caucus' Meeting

A Little Night Music

Jimmie Lee Robinson - Twist It Baby

Jimmie Lee Robinson - Angry Lover

Jimmie Lee Robinson - All My Life

Jimmie Lee Robinson - See See Baby

Jimmie Lee Robinson - Remember Me

Jimmie Lee Robinson - Drifting Blues

Jimmie Lee Robinson - Lonely Traveller

Jimmie Lee Robinson - Times is Hard

Jimmy Lee Robinson - Twist It Baby