The Evening Blues - 2-5-21



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Luther Allison

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist Luther Allison. Enjoy!

Luther Allison - It's Been a Long Time

"The new America, instead, is fast becoming a vast ghetto in which all of us, conservatives and progressives, are being bled dry by a relatively tiny oligarchy of extremely clever financial criminals and their castrato henchmen in government, whose job is to be good actors on TV and put on a good show."

-- Matt Taibbi


News and Opinion

Freedom Rider: The Never Ending COVID Crisis

It was in early 2020 that the word COVID-19 entered the lexicon. In the past year more than 440,000 people in the United States have died from this disease. The impact of shutdowns meant to end the spread of disease have cost millions of people their jobs, and businesses large and small no longer exist at all. COVID-19 has proven that the political system is devoted to the interests of the billionaire class and is therefore incapable of acting in the interests of the people. ...

Donald Trump was blamed for the poor response in 2020 but it is clear that Americans are in trouble regardless of who occupies the White House because profits determine the response to a health care crisis. Joe Biden declared that there is nothing he can do about the disease trajectory and blithely stated that an additional 200,000 deaths are inevitable. His pre-inaugural promise of a $2,000 stimulus payment is now null and void. The sum of $1,400 is now on the table and no one will see that amount until March or April.

The failed state continues failing the people. It cannot do otherwise. The government does the bidding of the billionaire donor class, just as it did before COVID-19 struck. That evil alliance is the cause of all our troubles. None of the stimulus plans are adequate because they aren’t meant to be. Extra unemployment payments allocated in the first stimulus ended in July because the duopoly want workers back on the job more than they want anything else. Providing help to suffering people in need is the opposite of what the austerity regime demands. Trump will be the fall guy for as long as Biden and the Democrats need him to be. He is a very convenient scapegoat after all. Even as the system fails to provide enough testing or vaccines or new treatments, we are already propagandized into believing that Biden can’t be expected to undo the mess that Trump created.

But one need only look beyond U.S. borders to see that capitalism is the issue. China was the first country where the disease appeared but care for that country’s citizens produced a death toll of less than 5,000. A new outbreak there of 100 cases provoked the same response of new hospitals, housing for the infected, and a robust testing protocol. Cuba, beset by crushing U.S. sanctions for 60 years, is producing its own treatments and vaccines and has also experienced a small number of deaths. All of the ills and contradictions of life in the United States have been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis continues because this system has not changed. Variants will emerge, the government will pay big pharma to produce more vaccines, and the cycle will continue. The only question is when popular anger will be directed where it belongs, on both sides of the political aisle and in corporate offices. COVID-19 will continue its wreckage until that day comes.

"A Moral Catastrophe": Africa CDC Head Says Lack of Vaccines for the Continent Will Imperil World

US Admiral Warns Nuclear War With Russia, China Is a ‘Real Possibility’

The head of US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) warned that a nuclear war with Russia or China is a “real possibility” and is calling for a change in US policy that reflects this threat.

“There is a real possibility that a regional crisis with Russia or China could escalate quickly to a conflict involving nuclear weapons, if they perceived a conventional loss would threaten the regime or state,” Vice Adm. Charles Richard wrote in the February edition of the US Naval Institute’s monthly magazine. ...

Since STRATCOM is the command post that oversees Washington’s nuclear arsenal, its commanders are always overplaying the risk of nuclear war and asking for more money to modernize the stockpile. But with the US prioritizing so-called “great power competition” with China and Russia and an increased US military presence in places like the South China Sea, the Arctic, and the Black Sea, the threat of nuclear war is rising.

Yemen: Biden to End U.S. Offensive Support for Saudi-Led Assault, But Will the War Actually End?

In Dramatic Policy Shift, Biden Withdraws U.S. Support for Saudi “Offensive Operations” in Yemen

In his first major foreign policy address, President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he would end American support for Saudi and United Arab Emirates-led “offensive operations” in Yemen, echoing a promise he made on the campaign trail in 2019. Speaking at the State Department, Biden told diplomats that he would prioritize diplomatic solutions to the conflict and appointed, as a special envoy, one of the department’s top Middle East experts. He also announced support for a cease-fire and an effort to restart long-stalled peace talks.

“This war has to end,” Biden said. “And to underscore our commitment, we are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.”

The move signaled a dramatic shift in U.S. support for Saudi Arabia, a move that has long been urged by progressive activists. Under President Donald Trump, Congress passed resolutions blocking certain arms sales and directing the U.S. to end its role in the hostilities, but Trump vetoed them. ...

The Biden administration had previously placed a temporary freeze on billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as saying that it would review the transfer of advanced military hardware, including air-ground munitions, that the Trump administration sought to advance over the objections of Congress. ...

The Biden administration has not yet announced operational details of the move or clarified what they meant by “offensive operations.” In his address, Biden said that the U.S. would continue to help defend Saudi Arabia from drone and missile attacks, some of which have come from Yemen and have led the Saudis to claim that they are pursuing the war in self-defense.

Biden Breaks Deal To Withdraw Troops

Peaceful protests grow in Myanmar after military coup despite junta stepping up arrests

Myanmar coup: army blocks Facebook access as civil disobedience grows

Myanmar’s army has ordered internet service providers to block access to Facebook as it attempts to stamp out signs of dissent, days after it ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Facebook, one of the most popular means of communication in Myanmar, has been used to coordinate a civil disobedience campaign that saw health workers at dozens of hospitals walk out of their jobs on Wednesday to protest against the army’s actions. It has also been used to share plans for evening protests, where residents have taken to their balconies to bang pots and pans, a symbolic act to drive away evil.

The ministry of communications and information said Facebook, used by half of Myanmar’s 53 million people, would be blocked until Sunday, adding that people were “troubling the country’s stability” by using the network to spread “fake news and misinformation”.

Facebook confirmed that it was aware of the disruption, while NetBlocks, which monitors internet outages around the world, said service providers in Myanmar were also blocking or restricting access to Instagram and WhatsApp, which are both owned by Facebook.

Reuters reported that the attempts to block Facebook had had mixed success, however, and that some people were still able to access the sites. Demand for virtual private networks surged by 4,300%, according to Top10VPN.com, as people sought to circumvent the ban. The military later announced it would also block VPN servers.

CODEPINK's Medea Benjamin: How MASSIVE Military Budgets Leave Us Vulnerable To Crises

Johnson & Johnson asks FDA to approve world’s first single-dose Covid vaccine

Johnson & Johnson has asked US regulators to approve the world’s first single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, an easier-to-use option that could boost scarce supplies.

The drugmaker’s application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) follows its 29 January report in which it said the vaccine had a 66% rate of preventing infections in its large global trial.

J&J’s single-shot vaccine could increase supply and simplify the US immunization campaign, amid concerns of fresh surges due to the more contagious UK coronavirus variant and the potential of lower vaccine efficacy against the variant that first emerged in South Africa. ...

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which are now being distributed in the US, are administered as two doses, and the Pfizer vaccine must be stored in ultra-cold storage. However, the J&J vaccine can be given in a single dose and stored in regular refrigerators, meaning it will be easier to distribute, especially in rural areas.

The company’s chief scientific officer, Paul Stoffels, said last month J&J was on track to roll out the vaccine in March.

Indigenous Americans dying from Covid at twice the rate of white Americans

Covid is killing Native Americans at a faster rate than any other community in the United States, shocking new figures reveal. American Indians and Alaskan Natives are dying at almost twice the rate of white Americans, according to analysis by APM Research Lab shared exclusively with the Guardian.

Nationwide one in every 475 Native Americans has died from Covid since the start of the pandemic, compared with one in every 825 white Americans and one in every 645 Black Americans. Native Americans have suffered 211 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 121 white Americans per 100,000.

The true death toll is undoubtedly significantly higher as multiple states and cities provide patchy or no data on Native Americans lost to Covid. Of those that do, communities in Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas have been the hardest hit. ...

Last month was the deadliest so far in the US, with 958 recorded Native deaths – a 35% increase since December, a bigger rise than for any other group. For white Americans, deaths rose by 10% over the same period.

“Not only do Native people have the highest rate of Covid deaths, the rate is accelerating and the disparities with other groups are widening. This latest data is terrible in every way for indigenous Americans,” said Andi Egbert, senior analyst at APM Research Lab.


David Sirota: WAPO Fact Check CLAIMS Bernie Wrong, Trump Tax Cuts Didn’t Benefit Rich

'Politically It's Suicidal': Frustration Grows as Biden Entertains Narrower Eligibility for $1,400 Checks

A growing chorus of progressive lawmakers, advocacy groups, political commentators, and policy experts is forcefully pushing back against an effort by Senate Democrats to significantly narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 direct payments, a move that could deny financial relief to struggling families who received both of the stimulus checks approved during Trump's presidency.

Ignoring warnings that excluding millions of people from the full $1,400 would be politically disastrous—as well as morally unacceptable and economically foolish—President Joe Biden said this week that he would be "OK with" lowering the annual income cutoff for the checks. Biden discussed limiting eligibility for the payments with Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) at the White House on Wednesday.

With Biden's go-ahead, Senate Democrats are currently considering a plan under which—according to the Washington Post—only individuals earning $50,000 a year or less, heads of household earning $75,000 or less, and married couples earning a combined $100,000 or less would be eligible for full payments. Eligible parents would also receive $1,400 per child under the plan, which has not been finalized.

"Let's be really, really clear. Doing this will cost Democrats control of the Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024," Robert Cruickshank, campaign director at advocacy group Demand Progress, said of the push for stricter targeting. "There is nobody out there in America aside from a few wonks who want to limit these checks. It is a colossally bad idea."

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was among those who cautioned that further restricting eligibility for the new round of payments could disqualify people who benefited from previous checks, which went in full to individuals earning up to $75,000 a year, heads of household earning up to $112,500, and married couples earning up to $150,000.

"I understand the desire to ensure those most in need receive checks," Wyden told the Post's Jeff Stein, "but families who received the first two checks will be counting on a third check to pay the bills."

In an episode of his podcast released Thursday, Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project, similarly warned that there could be "a big chunk of people who got the first Trump check, who got the second Trump check, and then they're like, 'Alright guys, a third check's going out.' And then they don't get it because they had an income that was... low enough to qualify for the Trump checks but not low enough to qualify for the Biden checks."

"It seems like it's going to be a disaster," said Bruenig.

More damning details at the link:

US Catholic dioceses received $3bn in government aid while sitting on billions

When the coronavirus forced churches to close their doors and give up Sunday collections, the Roman Catholic diocese of Charlotte turned to the federal government’s signature small business relief program for more than $8m. The diocese’s headquarters, churches and schools landed the help even though they had roughly $100m of their own cash and short-term investments available last spring, financial records show. ...

As the pandemic began to unfold, scores of Catholic dioceses across the US received aid through the Paycheck Protection Program while sitting on well over $10bn in cash, short-term investments or other available funds, an Associated Press investigation has found. Despite the economic downturn, these assets have grown in many dioceses. Yet even with that financial safety net, the 112 dioceses that shared their financial statements, along with the churches and schools they oversee, collected at least $1.5bn in taxpayer-backed aid.

A majority of these dioceses reported enough money on hand to cover at least six months of operating expenses.

The financial resources of several dioceses rivaled or exceeded those available to publicly traded companies like Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, whose early participation in the program triggered outrage. ...

Overall, the nation’s nearly 200 dioceses, where bishops and cardinals govern, and other Catholic institutions received at least $3bn. That makes the Roman Catholic church perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the paycheck program, according to AP’s analysis of data the US Small Business Administration released following a public-records lawsuit by news organizations.

House votes to remove Republican extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene from committee roles

The US House of Representatives has voted to strip the extremist Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia from the committees she was assigned to, in a stark rebuke of her incendiary and racist statements. Greene has been a stated supporter of the QAnon myth, for years pushing unfounded conspiracy theories and lies that included racist and antisemitic tropes.

The vote split largely along party lines, with 230 voting in favor and 199 voting against. Just eleven Republicans, including Adam Kinzinger and Brian Fitzpatrick, joined with Democrats to strip Greene of her positions on the House budget and education and labor committees.

Just before the vote, House majority leader Steny Hoyer, the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the chamber, delivered an impassioned speech against Greene’s hostile behavior towards other lawmakers. He displayed a poster of an image that Greene had posted on Facebook that showed her holding an AR-15 with the set of the progressive lawmakers in Congress known as “the Squad” in the background. The poster read “Squad’s worst nightmare”.

“The squad’s worst enemy. AR-15 in hand,” Hoyer said as he pointed to the text on the poster, an apparent threat to the Democrat congresswomen, who include Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. “I have never, ever seen that before.” A day earlier, the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, the top congressional Republican, had declined to take action against Greene, despite wider pressure from members of Congress to push some kind of punitive measure for uncovered past statements and social media posts. ...

In a private meeting with her colleagues on Wednesday night, Greene received a standing ovation for apologizing for her association with QAnon. Greene addressed her past statements under the threat of losing a significant proportion of her legislative power. She stressed that she now believed “school shootings are absolutely real”, that they should be taken seriously, and that “9/11 absolutely happened”.

Establishment Wants Us To Dehumanize Each Other

Ohio ex-police officer charged with murder of Andre Hill

A white Ohio police officer has been charged with murder in the latest fallout following the December shooting death of 47-year-old Andre Hill, a Black man, the state’s attorney general said. Former Columbus police officer Adam Coy was indicted on a murder charge by a Franklin county grand jury following an investigation by the Ohio attorney general’s office.

The charges faced by Coy, a 19-year veteran of the force, also include failure to use his body camera and failure to tell the other officer at the scene that he believed Hill presented a danger. Coy will plead not guilty to the charges, his attorney, Mark Collins, said Wednesday night.

Coy and another officer had responded to a neighbor’s non-emergency call after 1am on 22 December about a car in front of his house in the city’s north-west side that had been running, then shut off, then turned back on, according to a copy of the call released in December. Police bodycam footage showed Hill emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he was fatally shot by Coy.

There is no audio because Coy hadn’t activated the body camera; an automatic “look back” feature captured the shooting without audio. In the moments after Hill was fatally shot, additional bodycam footage shows two other Columbus officers rolled Hill over and put handcuffs on him before leaving him alone again. ...

Coy had a long history of complaints from citizens. He was fired on 28 December for failing to activate his body camera before the confrontation and for not providing medical aid to Hill.

Ice cancels deportation flight to Africa after claims of brutality

US immigration and customs enforcement (Ice) canceled a deportation flight to west Africa because of allegations of brutality by Ice agents in the treatment of the deportees, the agency has said in a statement. The statement emailed to the Guardian and the cancellation of the deportation flight, so that would-be deportees can be interviewed as witnesses, marks a dramatic change in tone by the agency, which has hitherto deflected and denied earlier allegations of human rights abuses.

The change suggests that the newly confirmed secretary for homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, may have begun to exert control over what some critics have described as a “rogue agency”.

A plane carrying Cameroonian, Angolan and Congolese asylum seekers was due to take off from Alexandria, Louisiana, at 3pm on Wednesday but was canceled with minutes to spare. Two days before the flight, a coalition of immigration advocacy groups published affidavits by Cameroonian detainees saying they had been assaulted by Ice officers and forced to put their fingerprints on documents authorising their own deportation to a country where they believed they risked prison, torture or extrajudicial killing.

There have been multiple reports that Cameroonians deported by the Trump administration in October and November have been jailed, tortured or disappeared by a government fighting a brutal counter-insurgency against anglophone separatists in the west and south of the country.

What the Far-Right Fascination With Pinochet’s Death Squads Should Tell Us

Among the panoply of bizarre memes that far-right extremists flash at Trump rallies and share obsessively online, one of the more disturbing for its frightening historical reference is that of the “Hoppean Snake.” The image typically consists of a coiled serpent sporting the officer’s cap of notorious Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet. In the background fly childlike depictions of helicopters from which stick figures are jettisoned to their death, crying “Aaaahhh” in a barely legible scrawl. In one of its many variants, the snake-as-Pinochet proclaims with a sardonic smirk, “I’m evil for throwing people out of helicopters? False. Commies aren’t people.” It’s unclear why Pinochet is depicted as a snake, though it may be inspired by the recalcitrant snake on the Gadsden flag that warns “Don’t Tread on Me.”

Far from being a joking homage to Pinochet — putschist, tyrant, torturer, mass murderer, puppet of the CIA, and hater of all things socialist, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 — the fetishized totem of the Hoppean Snake has dire significance for U.S. paramilitaries. When Boogaloo Bois, Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, armed Trumpists, and the like wear T-shirts that offer “free helicopter rides,” they are referencing a program of extermination.

Following Pinochet’s 1973 coup d’état, which ended the short-lived and turbulent administration of Chile’s democratically elected president Salvador Allende, an avowed Marxist, thousands of Allende’s supporters were killed, tens of thousands of perceived enemies of the putschist regime were tortured, and thousands of others were disappeared, often after being flown in a military helicopter and toppled from the sky. Sometimes this free helicopter ride included splitting open the guts of kidnapped victims while they were still alive so that their bodies wouldn’t float when dumped in the sea.

“The Hoppean Snake is utilizing Cold War-era anti-communist imagery of a once-hidden history of right-wing brutality and terror that utilized U.S. military hardware,” said Portland-based investigative photojournalist Jeff Schwilk, who has documented the iconography of the alt-right since 2016. “Pinochet specifically hearkens to the heyday of U.S.-backed death squads in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, from the Phoenix Program in Vietnam to Suharto in Indonesia to the Contras in Nicaragua. It is a direct threat of the intention of deadly mass violence and future death squads targeting the left in the United States and anyone else deemed an enemy. It reveals the true nature of this ideology.”



the horse race



Corporate News Ratings PLUMMET Post-Trump

Donald Trump will refuse to testify at Senate impeachment trial, lawyers say

Donald Trump’s legal team has said the former president will not voluntarily testify under oath at his impeachment trial in the Senate next week, where he faces the charge from House Democrats that he incited the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.

The lead House impeachment manager, Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, wrote to Trump asking him to testify under oath before or during the trial, challenging the former president to explain why he and his lawyers have disputed key factual allegations at the center of their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol.

“You denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment. You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue,” Raskin wrote in a letter made public on Thursday.

He went on to say that if Trump refused to do so, an adverse inference would be made from his reluctance.

Hours after the letter was released, the Trump adviser Jason Miller said that the former president “will not testify” in what he described as an “unconstitutional proceeding”. Trump’s lawyers dismissed the request as a “public relations stunt”.

We Can't Just "Move On": AOC & Rashida Tlaib Demand Accountability for Deadly Capitol Attack

Voting company sues Fox and Trump lawyers for $2.7bn over false claims of election fraud

A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its top hosts and two former lawyers for Donald Trump – Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell – for $2.7bn. The lawsuit charges that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the US presidential election, which was in fact fairly won by Joe Biden. The 285-page complaint filed on Thursday in New York state court by Florida-based Smartmatic USA is one of the largest libel suits ever undertaken. ...

Unlike Dominion, whose technology was used in 24 states, Smartmatic’s participation in the 2020 election was restricted to Los Angeles county, which votes heavily Democratic. Smartmatic’s limited role notwithstanding, Fox aired at least 13 reports falsely stating or implying the company had stolen the 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuela’s socialist government, according to the complaint.

This alleged “disinformation campaign” continued even after the then attorney general, William Barr, said the Department of Justice could find no evidence of widespread voter fraud. For instance, a 10 December segment by Lou Dobbs accused Smartmatic and its CEO, Antonio Mugica, of working to flip votes through a non-existent backdoor in its voting software to carry out a “massive cyber Pearl Harbor”, the complaint alleged. ...

The complaint alleges that the Fox hosts Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro also directly benefitted from their involvement in the conspiracy. The lawsuit alleges that Fox went along with the “well-orchestrated dance” due to pressure from newcomer outlets such as Newsmax and One America News, which were stealing away conservative, pro-Trump viewers.



the evening greens


Brazil’s Vale signs $7-billion settlement over deadly 2019 dam collapse in Brumadinho

Brazil mining giant agrees to pay $7bn for collapse that killed 272 people

The Brazilian mining giant Vale has agreed to pay $7bn compensation for a deadly dam collapse that killed 272 people. The Brumadinho disaster, on 25 January 2019, is considered one of worst environmental tragedies in Brazilian history.

At just after noon that day the tailing dam’s sudden collapse caused a toxic torrent of mining waste to sweep across a rural pocket of Minas Gerais state at speeds of up to 80km/h, swallowing everything in its path. Many of the dead were Vale employees and 11 victims were never found.

On Thursday, just over two years later, Minas Gerais’s governor, Romeu Zema, announced Vale had agreed to pay the state R$37.68bn (£5bn/$7bn) in what he claimed was “Latin America’s biggest reparation package”.

“We did it!” Zema tweeted, adding that the multibillion-dollar settlement would not affect criminal or civil claims relating to the collapse’s human and environmental cost.

Cacophony of human noise is hurting all marine life, scientists warn

A natural ocean soundscape is fundamental to healthy marine life but is being drowned out by an increasingly loud cacophony of noise from human activities, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the issue.

The damage caused by noise is as harmful as overfishing, pollution and the climate crisis, the scientists said, but is being dangerously overlooked. The good news, they said, is that noise can be stopped instantly and does not have lingering effects, as the other problems do.

Marine animals can hear over much greater distances than they can see or smell, making sound crucial to many aspects of life. From whales to shellfish, sealife uses sound to catch prey, navigate, defend territory and attract mates, as well as find homes and warn of attack. Noise pollution increases the risk of death and in extreme cases, such as explosions, kills directly.

Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning are also making the oceans more acidic, meaning the water carries sound further, leading to an even noisier ocean, the researchers said. But the movement of marine mammals and sharks into previously noisy areas when the Covid-19 pandemic slashed ocean traffic showed that marine life could recover rapidly from noise pollution, they said. ...

The review, published in the journal Science, analysed more than 500 studies that assessed the effects of noise on sea life. About 90% of the studies found significant harm to marine mammals, such as whales, seals and dolphins, and 80% found impacts on fish and invertebrates. “Sound is a fundamental component of ecosystems, [and noise] impacts are pervasive, affecting animals at all levels,” the analysis concluded.


Also of Interest

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

Warning: If Your Business Depends on a Platform, You Don’t Have a Business

At last, the regime that enabled Amazon's monopoly power is crumbling

Warnings of Growing 'Surveillance Empire' as AI Van Cameras Give Amazon 'Roaming Eyes in Every Neighborhood'

Caitlin Johnstone: You’re Not A Radical, You’re Just Sane

Curiouser and Curiouser: The Proud Boys’ Leader as a ‘Prolific’ Law Enforcement Confidential Source

“Anatomy of Impunity”: Former DHS Supervisors Say Border Killing Cover-Up Was Part of a Pattern

Falsely Imprisoned Guantanamo Inmate Appeals to Biden For Release

Palestinian cave-dwellers worry over Israeli settler incursions

Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate crisis have – predictably – provoked GOP backlash

Top Democrats in Congress Call On Biden—'With the Stroke of a Pen'—to Cancel Up to $50,000 in Student Debt

Lies, Damn Lies, And Fact Checking

Citadel Is Paying for Order Flow from Nine OnLine Brokerage Firms – Not Just Robinhood

Archaeologists unearth bronze age graves at Stonehenge tunnel site

Chris Hedges slams Biden's new spokeswoman

Professor Richard Wolff: GameStop Reveals The Core Rot Of US Financial System

Saagar Enjeti: Media Corruption Exposed In Biden’s White House Press Briefings

DERANGED Op-Ed Calls Bernie PRIVILEGED For Wearing A Coat


A Little Night Music

Luther Allison - Luther's Blues'

Luther Allison - Living in the house of the blues

Luther Allison - The Dock of The Bay

Luther Allison - Thrill is Gone

Luther Allison - Easy Baby

Luther Allison - My Luck Don't Ever Change

Luther Allison & Jimmy Dawkins - Bloomington Closer

Luther Allison - Going Down

Luther Allison - Driving Wheel

Otis Rush-Luther Allison-Eric Clapton Live!


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Comments

snoopydawg's picture

Marj Green asked a cnn reporter if she regretted her comments on Russia Gate yet. lol.

Sure wish the house had called some witnesses so we could see how involved people were. It really makes no sense to have the trial so soon because cases are at the beginning and I’m thinking a few trials should happen first and see more evidence. Lots of people are saying that Trump should be forced to testify. Kinda goes up against one’s 5th amendment right not to incriminate oneself. But laws are so passé anymore.

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12 users have voted.

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

@snoopydawg Booooooo........

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3 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

we knew that it was coming. we were warned:

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6 users have voted.

up top sums it up very well.

Here's how I feel about Bernie's first week at Budget Committee Chairman:

The Troggs---[Wild Thing](The Troggs https://youtu.be/gSWInYFVksg)

[Wild Thing](https://youtu.be/gSWInYFVksg)

One of these attempts should work.
Good weekend, Joe and everybody here.

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6 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

i have mixed feelings about bernie's performance this far.

Biden casts doubt on $15 minimum wage hike in Covid relief package

President Joe Biden expressed doubt that his push to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour would be included in a final coronavirus relief package. ...

Biden’s coronavirus relief plan included a provision that raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, has been leading the charge to move it forward in the Senate through the so-called reconciliation process, which essentially allows Democrats to pass a broader coronavirus relief package without GOP support. ...

Now that the Senate passed a budget resolution early Friday, it can begin to consider whether the $15 minimum wage qualifies for reconciliation. But even if the parliamentarian approved the measure, it could run into resistance from Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), who opposes raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

During Thursday’s “vote-a-rama” leading up to the final vote on the budget resolution, the Senate approved by voice vote an amendment from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) that would ban a $15 minimum wage hike during the pandemic.

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8 users have voted.

@joe shikspack you might.

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2 users have voted.

NYCVG

Wicked good blues. Got that funky groove thang working.

Thanks Joe!

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6 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

glad you liked it. have a great weekend!

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4 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

Just

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNFzfwLM72c]

What a country we've become

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/05/roaming-charges-xenophobia-with-...

+ Alabama plans to execute Willie B. Smith III — a brain-damaged Black man suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (related to childhood trauma)–on February 11th, even though Smith “hasn’t had an in-person visit with any lawyer or been assessed by any expert witness needed to properly support his clemency petition since last March.”

+ 1,389: the number of people Virginia has put to death since 1608. Hopefully, that grim toll ends today.

+ Milwaukee cops left a 4-year-old girl in a freezing car overnight after arresting her mother, then charged the mom with child neglect….

+ The US now incarcerates Black people at 6 times the maximum rate of apartheid-era South Africa.

+ At least half of the people shot by Vancouver (WA) police in the last decade suffered from mental health issues….

+ When your protocols allow you to slam a 9-year-old girl’s face in the snow and pepper spray her in the back of your police car, there’s something seriously wrong with your protocols…“The head of Rochester’s police union says protocols were not broken by the officers during the incident in question.”

+ At one point, a cop said, “You’re acting like a child.” The 9-year-old girl replied, “I am a child!”

Stay safe, have a great weekend everyone!

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12 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

@ggersh U.S death toll fro Covid-19 yesterday was 5,116.

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8 users have voted.

NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

@NYCVG

Joe Biden....

Biden is continuing with most of the things that Trump did and everyone gave him crap for. lol...the media is trying to pretend that we don’t see their hypocrisy on the way they cover both presidents. I’m hearing people say that they are much calmer now that Trump is gone and I want to say, "well no shit Sherlock. The media isn’t hyping things up and scaring people with their interpretations of what Trump said. But we all saw the immediate change after Biden became president didn’t we? So much saccharine. Yuck.

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14 users have voted.

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

@snoopydawg but many things will.

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4 users have voted.

NYCVG

ggersh's picture

@NYCVG Was this guy right?

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8 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

@ggersh let's see how it goes.

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4 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

we are certainly circling the drain...

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3 users have voted.

The Secret Bipartisan Campaign - "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election." Confirms my observation that 2020 election was more honest and fair than prior recent elections.

It only delves into the post-election Trump shenanigans in MI, but only what could be seen and not any disclosures from Trump insiders. Wonder what the Trump campaign calculation was; same as 2016, all the "red states" plus one?" They got three, but could they get even one of those in 2020 AND hold all the "red states?" Suspect the Trump team was as dumbstruck that they lost all three plus two more plus NE-2 as the Clinton team was in 2016 when they lost three. Except for few states/districts, the 2020 swing margin was against Trump. The swings that favored Trump were mostly small and didn't change electoral college counts.

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4 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@Marie

C3A2E491-9E3D-4484-BE8D-79E4F9F07185.jpeg

They weren’t rigging the election, they were fortifying it. The takes I’ve seen on it is people believe that democrats did futz with the election in some way. And who was in the secret cabal and what rules were changed? The one that allowed Bloomberg to be in the debates even when he didn’t qualify? Or was it when he bought the dnc debt and that allowed them to change the rules so he could. I wonder what else that secret cabal did that needs to be talked about? And who will do the talking and when... so many questions.

Did you run across any of that while reading it? I tried but didn’t finish.

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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.

Shahryar's picture

@snoopydawg

The takes I’ve seen on it is people believe that democrats did futz with the election in some way.

I believe there's as much evidence for futzing as there is/was for "Russia!". That is, zero. Just a lot of talk.

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8 users have voted.

@snoopydawg
It wasn't partisan. Didn't include Democratic or Republican Party players/activists. Nothing sinister about it and they chose to go public once the project was complete. The project shouldn't be necessary in a so-called democracy, but it's heartening to see that some people opposed voter suppression/disenfranchisement, election rigging, and theft enough to do something constructive and effective about it. The only reason for keeping this secret during the election and post-election were very real concerns.

We know that team Trump and GOP elected officials tried to suppress the vote in PA before the election and did anything it could to change the outcome after the election. We also know that Trump bullied and attempted to bribe officials in various states. That may be okay with you (because ???), but not me. (and we may only know the tip of the iceberg on this -- Trump would have done anything within his grasp to stay in power)

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@Marie

We also know that Trump bullied and attempted to bribe officials in various states. That may be okay with you (because ???), but not me. (and we may only know the tip of the iceberg on this -- Trump would have done anything within his grasp to stay in power)

If I’ve given anyone the impression that I believe Trump and that the election was stolen I do not. Do I think it was on the up and up? Nope I don’t. Republicans have gerrymandered districts so that they can continue to be in power. Then you have the democrats running silly people with no real agendas except for once in congress they will toe the party line. Then you have Israel’s fingers in almost every member of congress and then add in the dark money and super PACs and what not and last we have DHS, Microsoft and other nefarious organizations overseeing our elections. Remember after Obama accused Russia of interfering in the election they decided that it was a security issue and DHS should be involved. Whitney Webb has written about how Israel is also involved with them.

This should give you a good idea why I don’t vote anymore. Last time I voted on local issues the legislature gutted 2 of the bills and made them pretty much useless.

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5 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

@Marie

thanks for the link!

does it discuss the primaries or just the general?

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3 users have voted.

@joe shikspack
The program wasn't organized early enough to operate during the primaries. Except in places such as NYC, primary voter suppression/disenfranchisement is less prevalent because far fewer eligible voters participate. (It's a reason why Sanders did so much better in open primary and caucus states.)

Going forward, various elements of the program are most definitely needed for primary elections.

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4 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@Marie

i'll try to read it this weekend. time doesn't like my browser and it freezes, so i'll have to dig out my old laptop that i run without much in the way of script blocking and security settings to read it.

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4 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

They’ve gotten most of the power already so let’s close the gap. Besides what could go wrong?

This has been all over my timeline today. People aren’t happy.

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12 users have voted.

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

Shahryar's picture

@snoopydawg

It makes me think there are crooks involved.

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6 users have voted.

@snoopydawg
Company town. Common in coal mining. An example Lynch, KY Residents very much liked living in Lynch during its heyday.

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5 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

some years ago i visited a couple of abandoned coal mine company town sites in west virginia. perhaps the tech companies (or more importantly, the poor folks who take up residence there) would like to see what's in store for them.

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6 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

BAR sure has it right...

But one need only look beyond U.S. borders to see that capitalism is the issue. China was the first country where the disease appeared but care for that country’s citizens produced a death toll of less than 5,000. A new outbreak there of 100 cases provoked the same response of new hospitals, housing for the infected, and a robust testing protocol. Cuba, beset by crushing U.S. sanctions for 60 years, is producing its own treatments and vaccines and has also experienced a small number of deaths. All of the ills and contradictions of life in the United States have been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis continues because this system has not changed.

A sunny day here...got to about 50F, so no complains. Really cold weather looms in the long term according to the voodoo weather forecast.

Thanks for the music and news and have a good one, one and all.

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11 users have voted.

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

@Lookout @Lookout
It was light then. Bitterly cold an hour ago when Amazon delivered the coffee K-cups.
Humidity 16% in the house. I put the thermostat up two more degrees. Set at 79 now. Still feels chilly on the first floor. It's going to dive to -11 Wind is at 30mph. I feel really sorry for the poor wild rabbits outside and whatever birds haven't had the good sense to fly to Mexico. Thirteen line ground squirrels should be in their burrows a yard down, taking one breath per minute and body temperature just above freezing. Nature's adaptations are marvelous.

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9 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

yep, it's pretty obvious that there is more profit to be made in letting hundreds of thousands of people die than in responding to the pandemic and effectively ending it.

it was pretty warm here today, too. a lot of snow and ice melted off, though there's plenty left. it's a balmy 36 degrees here now, but it's headed for the low teens by sunday night.

have a great weekend!

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8 users have voted.

@joe shikspack
in letting large numbers of people get very ill and 467,000+ die than stomping on it at the beginning. The choice was 1) pay now or 2) gamble that there won't be a bill later. In every aspect of our lives, we've become a gambler nation.

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5 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@Marie

well, one of the supposed selling points of capitalism is that it allocates resources effectively and rationally. it's a core belief of capitalists and libertarian types.

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6 users have voted.

@joe shikspack
Isn't the modern defense of capitalism: better, faster, and cheaper?

"The Long Now" -- conceptually fascinates me. Think for today and hundreds of years down the road. A nice story about a chapel in Oxford or Cambridge built 500+ years ago. A few decades ago engineers were called in because the 40'+ oak center beam was cracking and beginning to give way. In an attempt to figure out a solution (lumber yards don't can't stock such a center beam replacement), one of the engineers wandered around the grounds and came upon a huge oak tree. They figured out that the original builder had planted it on the grounds that had been cleared for the chapel. Perfect age and size for the center beam replacement.

I related that builder story to the CEO of a major west coast general contractor. Instead of taking inspiration from he said, we prefer to build for twenty years and after that get the contract to tear it down and build another one.

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10 users have voted.

@Marie
about an engineering office that had a sign:

GOOD FAST CHEAP pick any two

That's usually the way it goes. Rather, that's the most you can get. sometimes (certain defense contracts come to mind) you don't get any of them.

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6 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness
Good, fast, or cheap in my experience.

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3 users have voted.

@Marie @Marie
Fast and Cheap but it won't be any good.

You can have Fast and Good but it sure won't be Cheap! Think Manhattan project or any WWII crash project.

You can have Good and Cheap but it won't be fast. Think of projects done in idle time using the cheapest tools that are still good instead of the latest and greatest.

Off-topic: You are entirely correct about the shorting of 140% of Gamestop stock. The 110% was either faulty memory of an early report before all the figures were in. Still, my point was that anything over 100% MUST break SEC rules since they say you must be able to deliver the stock you shorted by either owning it or having borrowed it, usually from the broker in a margin account. Interestingly, ALL Robinhood accounts are margin accounts. Maybe faulty software. Maybe. Computers are rather good at integer arithmetic. If I read correctly that also means no SIPC protection if the broker goes under, And there was some big bank connection to Robinhood.

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2 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness
where good and cheap are achievable but as a general proposition, either good or cheap fall short.

I understood your comment about short sales in excess of the issued common stock. 110% vs 140% just indicates that the naked shorts were beyond excessive. Factor in that not all common stock is available to be shorted, some is restricted, and therefore, anything even close to 100% is a huge red flag. btw, those that own stock don't short it. They can lend or sell. Technically, naked shorts are counterfeit stock. Non-financial corporate stockholders should be irate that the market can be flooded with counterfeit stock.

We'll never know how many naked shorts existed on a daily basis because much of that remains within the brokers' computers and isn't reported and some of it gets reported as sales instead of short sales. (iirc Citadel or Melvin Capital was fined for this in the past.) What does end up at the getting reported to the SEC are "Fails-to-Deliver," (the short seller fails to deliver the stock to the buyer within the allotted time-frame, technically three days but the major brokers have ways of extending that to 21 days). These Fails can be seen as the tip of the fraudulent stock iceberg. As the Robinhood Gamestop buyers were so late to the party, it's plausible that they were buying short sells (counterfeit stock).

The SEC generally looks the other way in these instances. Preferring to let the brokers clean up the mess. What I suspect they do is bury it and wait for the next federal bailout when they can erase the debt.

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3 users have voted.

@Marie
A field I worked in for some twenty five years. Before reverting to blue collar work.

where good and cheap are achievable but as a general proposition, either good or cheap fall short.

Sounds like product sales.

I understood your comment about short sales in excess of the issued common stock.

Umm. That was in the nature of an olive branch.

The SEC generally looks the other way in these instances. Preferring to let the brokers clean up the mess. What I suspect they do is bury it and wait for the next federal bailout when they can erase the debt.

I read something the other day about the previous crash and GS being fined $250,000 for violations that made them tens of millions. Slap on the wrist? It was more like a pat on the head.

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3 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness
as the chief regulators up until 2009 were on their way back to Wall St and the incoming chief regulators were participants in the frauds.

This is all the culmination of the "Reagan Revolution." Formally Democratic politicians, the party, and its staunchest supporters deny that they carried it out almost as much as Republican politicians, the party, etc. And Republicans that think they're voting for abortion bans, tough on crime, and no gun control haven't a clue as to why their income keeps shrinking and they lose their houses, etc., and non-Republicans that have a clue don't have the words that such Republicans could hear and worse, even if they had the words, public communications have been so diced and sliced that such Republicans would never tune in to hear them.

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2 users have voted.

@Marie @Marie
How to Build a Skyline at Human Scale

...
This attitude to the skyline is one of the most important reasons for the charm of the old cities of Europe and the Middle East. ...
...
The pitched roof, like the window, was one of those great discoveries that any child could have made, but which, like the window, required a vast amount of research before architects could dispense with it. This research has enabled architects to design sealed buildings whose windows cannot be opened, which require constant heating and cooling, and which generally fall apart at the joints and leak from the roof—all positive attributes that necessitate demolition and rebuilding every 20 or 30 years.

Pitched roofs and windows, by contrast, produce buildings that last forever, and which can be constructed without the advice of an architect, as at Ghent: They are a disaster for the profession and it is no wonder that every effort is being made to forget how to construct them.
...

Twenty years - just what general contractors prefer.

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3 users have voted.

@joe shikspack
based on false premises.

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3 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

joe shikspack's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

in the course of my life, i have found that most articles of faith do not stand up to scrutiny. i struggle to think of one that does, but none come to mind.

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6 users have voted.

@joe shikspack

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1 user has voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

lotlizard's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness  
Remember the LIBOR rigging scandal? No? The London interbank prime lending rate, which trillions of dollars worth of contracts worldwide used as a peg to set variable interest rates, was assumed to be efficiently set by free-market price discovery as self-interested rational actors compete, blah blah — the usual economist spin-the-prayer-wheel shpiel.

Turned out the agents for the various London banks were, surprise, surprise, caught co-ordinating their bids to obtain certain desired interest rate fluctuations from day to day. So did we hear about Liborgate or Marketgate or Interestgate? Did we get four years’ worth of rants and reports about (the City of) London, London, London or bankers, bankers, bankers ripping off the whole world, which, unlike Russiagate, is a narrative with an actual factual basis?

https://www.qwant.com/?q=libor%20prime%20rate%20fixing%20scandal&t=web

Price discovery is a myth. In the real world, anytime what appears to be a “free market” has a limited number of actors with outsized influence, those actors collude.

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8 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

Great sounds man! Love that Chicago sound. Luther Allison was awesome. That Eddie Kirkland was great too. Awesome sauce.

The U.S. Navy doesn't care how many whales it drives onto the land to die, you could never convince them it was anything they did. But do you have some more of those $14 BILLION dollar aircraft carriers that don't work? They use seabird nesting islands for target practice.

When I was running ocean bird tours, part of which was for whale observations when the opportunity presented itself, I was astounded at the difference in the whales behavioir allowing close approach, or would even approach us, when the sound was the chugging of water through turbo jets, instead of prop whine. This is without the super sonic acoustic experiments the Navy does, just prop whine versus water jets.

Be well, have a good one!

A good one for all!

Play it safe!

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11 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

yep, both allison and kirkland were capable of belting out some serious gut-bucket blues. i;m fond of both of them.

yeah, our military is more than willing to destroy the planet to make sure that those russkies don't get a step ahead of them. what a bunch of jackasses. too bad we have to share a planet universe with them.

have a great weekend!

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6 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

love it. All the rest, well, it's all the rest.

be well and have a good one. Have a wonderful weekend too.

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2 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

enjoy the tunes, have a great weekend!

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1 user has voted.

Any time a cop is charged with killing an unarmed person, I celebrate! Great news!
Stonehenge. The pounding of feet, the mere weight of tourists is causing Macchu Piccu to plan cordoning off over half of the site to tourists. It is like an earthquake.
Stonehenge will suffer from the rumble and vibrations of vehicles. Dammit and hell no! on that tunnel.
Just as I leave for 4 day getaway next weekend, here comes the freeze, and possibility of light snowfall. Oh, well, I will pack some thermal underwear. The cabin should be pretty snug and warm.
Thanks for all you do, joe.

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6 users have voted.

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

@on the cusp
spend the night in the small lodging at Machu Picchu and enter the site before dawn with the Peruvian archeologist team. Each morning around 10 am the train from Cusco delivered a horde of tourists. I could feel the place roll itself up like a Bedouin carpet. It was palpable, as if the place was trying to protect itself.

There is so much we don’t understand.

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5 users have voted.

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@ovals49 The first trip there, our guide was an archeologist. He said the mountain being the face of Father God was a complex as big as Machu Picchu. There is just no money, infrastructure, or strong will to excavate it.
If I were rich, all would be revealed.

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5 users have voted.

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