The Evening Blues - 2-10-21



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Henry "Son" Sims

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features early delta blues fiddler Henry "Son" Sims. Enjoy!

Son Sims Four - Joe Turner Blues

“The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread.
When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!"

When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.”

-- Bertolt Brecht


News and Opinion

Intellectual Property Cause of Covid Death, Genocide

Refusal to temporarily suspend several World Trade Organization (WTO) intellectual property provisions to enable much faster and broader progress in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic should be grounds for International Criminal Court prosecution for genocide. Making life-saving vaccines, medicines and equipment available, freely or affordably, has been crucial for containing the spread of many infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, polio and smallpox. ...

However, cross-border enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is relatively recent. The 1994 WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) greatly strengthened and extended intellectual property transnationally. IPRs have effectively denied access to patented formulas and processes except to the highest bidders. Recognising the extent of the pandemic threat, vaccine developers expect to be very profitable, thanks to national and transnational intellectual property laws. Thus, IP has distorted research priorities and discouraged cooperation and knowledge sharing, so essential to progress.

As COVID-19 infections and deaths continue to rise alarmingly, rich countries are falling out among themselves, fighting for access to vaccine supplies, as IP profits take precedence over lives and livelihoods.


Krystal Ball: NO ONE Should Vote For Neera Tanden, Hillary's Corrupt Hatchet Woman

Progressives Secure $15 Wage in House Covid Bill, Jayapal Says 'Democrats Have to Fight' to Make It Law

After the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Monday secured inclusion of $15 federal minimum wage legislation in the House version of the coronavirus relief package that lawmakers are ironing out in committees, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington implored her Democratic colleagues to do all they can to ensure the long-overdue pay raise for millions of workers remains in the final bill and becomes law.

"Democrats have to fight. We have to fight with everything we've got for these progressive, bold ideas that are gonna bring relief to people," Jayapal, chair of the nearly 100-member CPC, said in an interview on MSNBC late Monday, referring to both the $15 minimum wage bill and the House measure's proposed eligibility framework for $1,400 direct payments.

While Senate Democrats are currently discussing lowering the annual income cutoff for the relief checks, the House Democratic leadership unveiled legislation (pdf) Monday that would send full $1,400 payments to individuals earning up to $75,000 per year and married couples earning up to $150,000 per year, with the payments gradually phasing out thereafter—an eligibility structure similar to the one used for the previous two rounds of checks.

"We should not be cutting thresholds to $50,000 and 100,000," Jayapal said, alluding to the narrower eligibility proposal that top Senate Democrats are considering. "That makes no political sense... but it also makes no policy sense."

The Washington Democrat argued that weakening the coronavirus relief package in a bid for bipartisan support would be deeply misguided, declaring, "We shouldn't care whether Republicans are gonna vote for this or not."

"The vast majority of the American people support this package, Republicans and Democrats," said Jayapal. "So if we want to talk about unifying proposals, a big bold stimulus package that raises the wage and gets checks out to people, puts money in people's pockets, deals with all of the issues that small businesses and families are facing—that is the unifying proposal and Republicans, if they don't want to go along with it, that's up to them."

David Dayen: Media’s Scheme To BAMBOOZLE People Into Thinking Stimulus Checks Ineffective

Democrats propose leaving out high earners from stimulus checks and trimming jobless benefits

In the first stimulus drafts for budget reconciliation, senior House Democrats proposed scaling down unemployment benefits and stimulus checks from the president’s initial $1.9 trillion relief proposal, but they did not cut income thresholds for the direct payments as sharply as Republicans previously suggested.

“Our nation is struggling, the virus is still not contained, and the American people are counting on Congress to meet this moment with bold, immediate action,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) said in a statement on Monday. “Later this week, the Ways and Means Committee will take a crucial step to confront this challenge and show the country that help is on the way.”

Despite pressure from Republicans, Democrats haven’t reduced the amount of the $1,400 stimulus checks nor lowered the $75,000-per-individual and $150,000-per-couple income thresholds. But individuals who make more than $100,000 and joint filers who earn $200,000 would not be eligible for the payments under the current proposal. That’s because Democrats did adjust how quickly the payments would phase out. ...

Under Biden’s plan, the extra weekly amount in unemployment benefits would be increased to $400 a week, up from the current $300. Those benefits along with two key unemployment programs would be extended through September. But the Ways and Means Committee would only extend those through the end of August.

The committee also would expand on Biden’s increase of the Child Tax Credit. The president proposed increasing the tax credit to $3,600 for children under six and $3,000 payment for children aged six to 17 for eligible taxpayers. The committee put forth a provision that allows American families to receive monthly payments for the credit for one year beginning in July.


California soon to pass New York as US state with most Covid deaths

California is set to surpass New York as the US state with the most coronavirus deaths, a grim reminder of the pandemic’s toll even as the vaccine rollout and a dramatic drop in new cases offer hope that life will eventually return to normal.

Fatalities from Covid-19 reached 44,494 on Tuesday in California, the most populous US state. In New York, which was particularly hard hit in the pandemic’s early days, the total death toll stood at 44,969 on Tuesday.

California began the pandemic as a leader in containing the virus, but emerged this winter as the among the nation’s hardest-hit states. It took the Golden state six months to record its first 10,000 deaths, but in barely a month, from December to January, the total soared from 20,000 to 30,000. The state is now averaging 450 deaths a day.

Los Angeles county, the most populous county in the country, has become the hardest hit in the state, with public health officials estimating that one in three Los Angeles residents have been infected with the virus at some point. Almost 41% of California’s Covid-19 fatalities have come from Los Angeles county, which makes up a quarter of the state’s population.

Historians Say “Decades of Medical Racism” Led to Unequal COVID Impact on Black & Latinx People

House Democrats Ask DeJoy to Answer For Spike in Coronavirus Infections and Deaths Among Postal Workers

Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Gerald Connolly on Tuesday sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to ask for a briefing on whether the United States Postal Service is effectively mitigating the spread of Covid-19 throughout its workforce and to urge DeJoy take steps to better prevent, treat, and report on employee infections and deaths.

"We are writing to request a briefing about alarmingly high numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths suffered by postal workers during this pandemic," said Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, in their letter (pdf) to DeJoy.

"We also request," the lawmakers continued, "that you take proactive steps to provide greater transparency and more effective mitigation of the health risks faced by the postal workforce."

The letter follows recent reporting by the Washington Post documenting a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths among postal workers. According to the newspaper, "More than 16,000 employees are under quarantine this week after testing positive for the coronavirus or coming in contact with someone who had."

"For every employee infected, roughly three are forced to isolate," national officials from the American Postal Workers Union told the Post. "The ratio jumps in local post offices... because heating and air conditioning units in smaller facilities tend to recycle air rather than heat or cool air pumped from outside the building."

In a letter (pdf) sent to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on December 23, 2020, DeJoy requested that postal workers be prioritized in the vaccination process, acknowledging that the USPS had "lost 119 of  our colleagues to Covid-19 and more than 14,000 employees have contracted Covid-19 nationwide."

In his December letter to Whitmer, DeJoy claimed that the USPS "continues to take all appropriate measures to protect the health and safety of our customers, and of our employees while they are performing their critical jobs in a manner consistent with the advice of medical and public health professionals."

A report (pdf) released on November 20, 2020 by the Postal Service Office of Inspector General, however, "identified three areas where the USPS can better protect its employees: (1) face covering policy, (2) contact tracing program, and (3) employee health screening."

More specifically, the inspector general found that DeJoy: failed to enforce proper mask wearing practices at postal facilities; failed to implement an effective contact tracing program, in part by refusing to address a 21% vacancy rate in USPS nursing staff positions nationwide; and failed to implement an effective temperature screening program.

Bernie's Pro-War Advisor Joins Biden Administration

Caitlin Johnstone: Biden Continues Trump’s War On The Press

Just one day after a coalition of prominent civil rights groups made headlines with a letter urging the Biden administration to drop efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States on espionage charges, the Biden administration has announced its intention to continue those efforts.

“Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi on Tuesday said the U.S. government will continue to challenge a British judge’s ruling last month that Assange should not be extradited to the United States because of the risk he would commit suicide,” Reuters reports.

“We continue to seek his extradition,” Raimondi said.


Assange’s arrest and subsequent charges under the Espionage Act in 2019 for what amount to standard journalistic practices which exposed US war crimes marked both a dramatic escalation in the US empire’s war on critical national security journalism and a sharp divergence from the Obama administration’s decision not to pursue such charges in this case. Biden is not just upholding Trump’s assault on press freedoms (far and away the single most egregious attack on journalism in the 45th president’s entire four years in office), he is rejecting the Obama administration’s decision not to charge Assange due to concerns that it would erode the First Amendment.

As The Washington Post reported during Barack Obama’s second term in 2013:

“The Justice Department has all but concluded it will not bring charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing classified documents because government lawyers said they could not do so without also prosecuting U.S. news organizations and journalists, according to U.S. officials.”

“The problem the department has always had in investigating Julian Assange is there is no way to prosecute him for publishing information without the same theory being applied to journalists,” said former Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “And if you are not going to prosecute journalists for publishing classified information, which the department is not, then there is no way to prosecute Assange.”

Nothing about this has changed. The Trump administration did not have access to any evidence that the Obama administration did not also have in 2013, it just chose to squint at the law from a different angle and legally interpret Assange’s journalistic activities as a violation of the Espionage Act. There is nothing whatsoever preventing other journalists around the world from facing the same fate under similarly dubious legal interpretations. The US Department of Justice is not going to be using other people’s personal definitions of what constitutes legitimate journalistic activity going forward, it’s going to be using its own.

Biden’s divergence from the Obama administration’s less authoritarian position on the matter should not come as much of a surprise, since he took an absurdly hard line against WikiLeaks after the first publications of the earth-shattering Manning leaks in 2010.

“I would argue it is closer to being a hi-tech terrorist than the Pentagon papers,” Biden said of Assange at the time. “But, look, this guy has done things that have damaged and put in jeopardy the lives and occupations of people in other parts of the world.”

It should also come as no surprise because, all things considered, this administration has not been much different from the previous one in terms of actual policy. The policy of regime change interventionism in Venezuela is the same. The policy of hawkishness toward China is the same. The policy of starvation sanctions against Iran is effectively the same. In a recent CNN interview Secretary of State Tony Blinken could not speak highly enough of Trump’s more incendiary foreign policy decisions like moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing the illegally occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

There are far, far more similarities between the Trump administration and the Biden administration than there are differences. As is consistently the case with US presidents, the narratives are different, the campaign platforms are different, the political parties are different, but the actual policies and behaviors remain more or less the same. ...

Through WikiLeaks Julian Assange has revealed a lot of damning information about the most powerful entities on our planet, but by far the most damning revelation he provided was not a WikiLeaks release at all: it was the revelation that “free democracies” like the US and the UK will openly imprison and torture a journalist for telling the truth. This has been seen, and it cannot be unseen. We owe him a great debt for bringing such facts into the light. The least we can do is try to get him out of there now.


Worth a full read:

How the Catalonia Question Caused Blushes for Brussels in Moscow

During a visit last week to Moscow Josep Borrell, the EU Minister for Foreign Affairs, received a lesson on the dangers of throwing stones in glass houses. The ostensible purpose behind the visit was to get EU-Russia relations back on track, after years of ratcheting tensions. Borrell also hoped to exert diplomatic pressure on Moscow over the recent imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. It was Borrell’s first visit to Moscow and the first of any EU diplomat since 2017. And by all measures it was a resounding failure, and in part due to recent events in Catalonia. ...

Borrell’s big mistake was to go all the way to Moscow to lambaste the Putin government for its rough treatment of Navalny, which he could have done from the comfort of his own office in Brussels. ... Borrell called for Navalny’s release and an investigation into his poisoning, neither of which went down well with his hosts. Nor did his allusions to the rule of law, international human rights and respect for the sovereignty of other nations.

The Russian Federation’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded by lashing Brussels for its own failings. He called the EU “unreliable” and accused Germany and France of arrogance in their dealings with Russia. Then, he delivered the coup de grace. He accused Brussels of double standards over Spain’s imprisonment of Catalan separatists. And Borrell’s glass house began to shatter. ... Spain’s Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, added insult to injury by asserting, apparently with a straight face, that “in Spain there are no political prisoners, there are imprisoned politicians “. This invited a stinging riposte from Maria Zakhàrova, the director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation:

“I now have a new democratic idol, this time a woman: Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain Arancha González Laya. Commenting on Sergei Lavrov’s words about the situation surrounding Catalan separatists, she literally said the following: ‘in Spain there are no political prisoners, there are imprisoned politicians.’

Nine politicians and activists, including former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, are currently in jail. They are serving sentences of between nine to 13 years. As Laya pointed out, with a touch of pride, they are in better conditions than Navalni, having been granted the lowest prison category. But they are still in prison. Catalonia’s last three elected presidents — Artur Mas, Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra — have all been banned from holding public office, either during their tenure or just after their time as presidents. Puigdemont, who organized the self-determination referendum of 2017, is in self-imposed exile, together with a number of his ministerial colleagues. ...

It’s not just Madrid whose reputation has suffered as a consequence. The fact that Brussels appointed Borrell as its chief diplomat despite the central role he played in Spain’s post-referendum crackdown on Catalonia means that every time the EU wants to send a message on human rights, it risks facing ridicule. Borrell’s appointment was also controversial given his conviction, in 2018, of insider trading. The resulting scandal triggered calls for his resignation as Spain’s then-Foreign Minister. But he resisted those calls and in 2020 was bumped up to the EU Commission.

Trita Parsi: Is Biden Missing His Chance To Re-Enter Iran Deal?

Myanmar protests: woman shot in head as police response escalates

Police in Myanmar have responded with increasing violence to protests against last week’s military coup, using water cannons, rubber bullets and live ammunition in a crackdown that left a woman in a critical condition on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of people marched in towns and cities across the country in defiance of a ban on gatherings in some areas to voice their opposition to the military takeover of the government.

The police response the past three days had been mostly limited to using water cannons to disperse crowds, but escalated on Tuesday to include rubber bullets and live rounds mostly fired into the air as warning shots.

Four people were taken to hospital in the capital Naypyidaw with what doctors initially said they believed were wounds caused by rubber bullets. One of them, a young woman, was struck in the head while wearing a motorcycle helmet and suddenly collapsed to the ground, video footage showed.

The round was still lodged in her body and the wound was likely to be fatal, a doctor in the city told Reuters. “She hasn’t passed away yet, she’s in the emergency unit, but it’s 100% certain the injury is fatal,” said the doctor, who added that senior colleagues involved in her treatment had assigned him to speak to the media. “According to the X-ray, it’s a live bullet.”

Squawking bird blows the whistle on fake video trying to tilt Ecuador election

An attempt to influence the Ecuadorian elections with a fake video purportedly showing leftwing guerrillas endorsing one of the candidates was thwarted by a ground-dwelling bird and a keen-eared ornithologist. In the video, shared on social media before the election’s first round on Sunday, three masked and armed men stood before the red and black flag of the ELN – Colombia’s largest remaining guerrilla force – and expressed their support for the leftist candidate Andrés Arauz.

A caption at the foot of the screen described the setting as the “Colombian jungle”, but a shrill whistle from somewhere in the shrub gave the game away.

“I recognised the whistle instantly and I knew that the video could not have been filmed in Colombia,” said Manuel Sánchez, an ornithologist and bird guide. He had identified the avian whistleblower as a pale-browed tinamou – which is not native to Colombia. ...

Spelling mistakes, strange accents and unlikely weaponry further undermined the authenticity of the video, which emerged after the Colombian weekly magazine Semana claimed it had uncovered documents showing ELN support for Arauz. The ELN denies the claim and disavowed the video.

Robinhood sued by family of stock trader who killed himself

The family of a 20-year-old stock trader who killed himself have sued the broker Robinhood for his death, citing its “misleading communications” that caused their son to panic over what he wrongly believed were huge market losses.

Robinhood notified Alex Kearns in June of what he thought was a $730,000 loss on a trade, and when he was unable to communicate with anyone at the company, the college student was thrown into a highly distressed mental state, the lawsuit stated.

As a result, fearing his family would have to repay the huge loss, he killed himself, according to the lawsuit, filed in California state court. ...

Kearns apparently believed an options trade placed through Robinhood had led to a $730,000 loss, far beyond the possible loss of about $10,000 that he had expected, according to the lawsuit. In reality, the loss was covered by other options in Kearns’s account, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages, comes amid growing scrutiny of Robinhood’s commission-free trading.



the horse race



Establishment's Secret Project To Control 2020 Election & Censor Critics Revealed

Trump impeachment: Senate votes to proceed with trial

A divided US Senate voted to proceed with the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump after an emotional opening day in which the prosecution argued that the former president was singularly responsible for inciting the deadly assault on the US Capitol while the defense warned that the proceedings would further cleave a divided nation.

After nearly four hours of debate in the same chamber that was invaded by pro-Trump rioters on 6 January, the senators, now seated as jurors and sworn to deliver “impartial justice”, voted 56 to 44 on the question of whether there was a constitutional basis for putting an impeached former president on trial. Six Republicans joined all Democrats in an early victory for the prosecution that undermined one of the central pillars of Trump’s defense. ...

Republicans’ near-uniform opposition to holding a trial strongly suggested that there were not enough votes in the chamber to convict the de-platformed, one-term president even after he brazenly sought to overturn his election defeat with baseless claims of a stolen election. At least 17 Republicans would have to join all Democrats to find Trump guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. A conviction would allow the Senate to disqualify him from ever again holding office.

“This Cannot Be the Future of America”: Rep. Jamie Raskin Gives Moving Account of Capitol Attack

'He just rambled': Republicans unimpressed by Trump's impeachment lawyers

The performance of Donald Trump’s legal team on the first day of his second impeachment trial has drawn sharp criticism from Republican senators and other onlookers, many of whom appeared unimpressed by the at times rambling and incoherent opening statements.

Two members of the former president’s legal team, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, sought on Tuesday to persuade the Senate to dismiss the trial on constitutional grounds. Castor’s performance in particular drew criticism as waffling and lacking in focus.

Several Republican senators said they didn’t understand the lawyers’ arguments. The Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, who voted with Democrats to move forward with the trial, said Trump’s team did a “terrible job” and was “disorganized”, “random” and “did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand”.

Cassidy was not the only Republican who was displeased with Trump’s defense team. Susan Collins, a Republican senator of Maine, said she was “perplexed” by Castor, who is Trump’s lead lawyer, saying he “did not seem to make any arguments at all, which was an unusual approach to take”.

“The president’s lawyer just rambled on and on,” said Senator John Cornyn, a Republican of Texas. “I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments, and that was not one of the finest I’ve seen.”



the evening greens


Deadly air pollution: Fossil fuel pollution causes one in five premature deaths

'Invisible killer': fossil fuels caused 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, research finds

Air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil was responsible for 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, a staggering one in five of all people who died that year, new research has found.

Countries with the most prodigious consumption of fossil fuels to power factories, homes and vehicles are suffering the highest death tolls, with the study finding more than one in 10 deaths in both the US and Europe were caused by the resulting pollution, along with nearly a third of deaths in eastern Asia, which includes China. Death rates in South America and Africa were significantly lower.

The enormous death toll is higher than previous estimates and surprised even the study’s researchers. “We were initially very hesitant when we obtained the results because they are astounding, but we are discovering more and more about the impact of this pollution,” said Eloise Marais, a geographer at University College London and a study co-author. “It’s pervasive. The more we look for impacts, the more we find.”

The 8.7m deaths in 2018 represent a “key contributor to the global burden of mortality and disease”, states the study, which is the result of collaboration between scientists at Harvard University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London. The death toll exceeds the combined total of people who die globally each year from smoking tobacco plus those who die of malaria.

Scientists have established links between pervasive air pollution from burning fossil fuels and cases of heart disease, respiratory ailments and even the loss of eyesight. Without fossil fuel emissions, the average life expectancy of the world’s population would increase by more than a year, while global economic and health costs would fall by about $2.9tn.

Biden's new conservation corps stirs hopes of nature-focused hiring spree

Nearly a century ago, the US faced unemployment at 25% and environmental woes such as flooding along major rivers and extensive deforestation. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to tackle these emergencies simultaneously by creating the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of his New Deal. ... Now, as the ongoing pandemic has wrought the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, Roosevelt’s public jobs programs are back in the spotlight. As part his recent climate policy spree, Biden announced the establishment of a “Civilian Climate Corps Initiative” that could harness the energy of the very generation that must face – and solve – the climate crisis by putting them to work in well-paying conservation jobs.

After Biden’s omnibus executive order, the heads of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture and other departments have 90 days to present their plan to “mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers”, a step toward fulfilling Biden’s promise to get the US on track to conserve 30% of lands and oceans by 2030. ...

Far beyond just planting trees, a new conservation corps could pour money into tackling a bevy of other environmental problems, too. According to Biden’s website, projects will include working to mitigate wildfire risks, protect watershed health, and improve outdoor recreation access. Mary Ellen Sprenkel, head of the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps, thinks the effort could also include more activities at the community level, like urban agriculture projects and work retrofitting buildings to be more energy-efficient. And as Sprenkel pointed out, the federal government owns and manages thousands of buildings that need help to become more energy-efficient. The buildings “could even become sources of renewable energy generation with solar or wind power installations”, she added.

“We could potentially be talking about millions of participants, at least hundreds of thousands to begin,” said the National Wildlife Federation president and CEO, Collin O’Mara. “When we’re thinking about restoring natural systems and helping communities become more resilient, there’s almost infinite amounts of work to be done. Really, the only constraint is going to be the amount of appropriation by the Congress.”

Celebrities call on Biden and Harris to shut down Dakota Access pipeline

A coalition of prominent celebrities, indigenous leaders and environmental groups have written to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris urging them to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) which is operating without a legal permit.

Actors, musicians and athletes including Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Cher, Cyndi Lauper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Aaron Rodgers, Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix and Orlando Bloom are calling on the White House to close down the oil pipeline which poses serious environmental risks to tribal lands, water and wildlife, as well as indigenous cultural and religious practices.

The letter comes on the eve of a key court hearing which could lead to DAPL’s oil operations being suspended while the US army corps of engineers conducts a robust environmental impact review ordered by the court last year.

The president also faces pressure from a group of Lakota Native American youth who are today taking part in a 93-mile relay run across the Standing Rock Sioux Nation to the Cannonball River, the site of the #NoDAPL resistance camps in 2016.


Also of Interest

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

The Beltway Media Is Manufacturing Consent

Facebook hires ex-NATO press officer and social media censor Ben Nimmo as intel strategist

John Kiriakou: A Terrible Take on the Capitol Storming

These wealthy vaccine cheats prove we were never all in this together

Retail Traders Are the New Lab Rats in High Frequency Trading Schemes

Corporate Concentration in the US Food System Makes Food More Expensive and Less Accessible

Study Finds Climate Crisis Driving Great White Sharks Into Colder Waters, With Devastating Effect on Wildlife

'It took a long time to get here': behind the National Museum of African American Music

Texas lawyer, trapped by cat filter on Zoom call, informs judge he is not a cat

Rennie Davis, 1940-2021

Mary Wilson, co-founder of the Supremes, dies aged 76

Briahna Joy Gray: DEBUNKING Corporate Myths About $15 Minimum Wage

Krystal and Saagar: Robinhood Joins Wall Street In LOBBYING Bill Targeting Its Business Model

Krystal and Saagar: GOP Senators, Newsmax AGHAST At Trump’s Impeachment Defense


A Little Night Music

Son Sims Four (Muddy Waters gtr & vcl) - Ramblin Kid Blues

Henry Sims - Tell Me Man Blues

Son Sims Four (Muddy Waters gtr & vcl) - Rosalie

Charley Patton & Henry Sims - Come Back Corrina

Son Sims Four - Pearly May Blues

Charley Patton + Henry Sims - Be True, Be True Blues

Muddy Waters + Son Sims - Burr Clover Blues

Charley Patton + Henry Sims - Elder Greene Blues

Charley Patton + Henry Sims - Farrell Blues


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20 users have voted.

Comments

mimi's picture

to more I have no strength today. Thanks as always for the greatest of great EBs.

Stay healthy. And warm. And well fed. And happy. Ignore all politics is my motto. Who needs more headaches? Not me.

Good night.

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8 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

have a great evening!

it's snowing again here and is supposed to snow on and off for the rest of the week, but i am warm and toasty, so it's all good. Smile

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5 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

since donnie the dumb is no longer in power
how is 2021 any better than 2020?

I often wonder how this period of time will be written in the history books

C19 rages on
no survival checks
censorship of everything anti jomentia/establishment
money for stock markit/ nothing for the people
25k troops guarding DC
Iran sanctions still on until Iran capitulates to meriKa leaving JCPOA
Russia, Russia, Russia
Assange still jailed
Unicorns live in meriKan stock markits
Etc.etc.etc.

up
13 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

i guess "nothing will fundamentally change" is a prophecy for the ages, eh?

I often wonder how this period of time will be written in the history books

i guess the ruling class presumes that their sort will be able to oversee the recording of history and it will be censored to favor them as they censor the present information flow.

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

I think it’s on RT where I read about how the elite thought they were protected from the 1918 flu because mostly poor people were the ones getting it and dying from it. It took until rich people’s kids started getting sick and dying too for them to see that we’re all in this together and started treating the lower classes.

If drug companies don’t help eradicate Covid in poor countries then its going to stick around longer and possibly get more deadly. Besides as the guy up top said, it’s genocide. Lots more people saying that these days.

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9 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i suspect that pharma will not be riding to the rescue. if there is a rescue it will probably come from russia or china scaling up production of their vaccines and broadly distributing them around the world without concern for profit. this is also why russia and china are our adversaries.

the dark overlords want to end the game and the people are not dying fast enough.

here's an intro to an article that i wrote years ago that puts things in context:

A Dispatch From The Committee To End The Future

Greetings fellow inhabitants of Earth.  We, the Committee to End the Future, a purposely shadowy global organization of extremely wealthy and powerful people wish to thank you for your cooperation in completing the final round of our "Great Game."

For centuries we have played a series of rounds of the "Great Game," accumulating resources by dominating governmental and economic structures, subjecting citizens of the various countries of Earth to a variety of schemes to divert the products and value of their labors to our use and to pauperize those not of our sort.

To cut to the chase, though, the reason for this communication is to warn our fellow inhabitants away from a very dangerous movement that could potentially disrupt our game and cause something of an annoying reset just as we are getting close to declaring a winner.  We have discovered to our dismay that a small but noisy group of citizen activists wish to rein in the emission of carbon and methane which are essential to both our economy and completion of the Game.

If these noisy, misguided activists are successful, we shall have to write off many Trillions of dollars worth of energy assets that are important as game pieces as well as means of game completion.

We hope that we can count on you, our fellow inhabitants to continue your demand for carbon and methane emitting energy sources which are essential, let us not forget, to your personal comfort and ease of living.  No matter what these activists say or do, please continue to ignore them.  Continue to listen to the politicians that we support and their long-term, incremental plans that will bring down carbon emissions so gradually that you will never notice it.

We are now very close to the end of the Game.  No game is complete without an end state.  In short, we need to know who the winners are.  At the end of this round of the Great Game we shall finally know, and in the tradition of the Egyptian Pharoahs that buried their fellow players alive at the end of their games, so shall we.  We believe that our fellow inhabitants will enjoy a final rest from the great toils required of all those who play the Game.

Thank you for your cooperation!

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Azazello's picture

This just came up today, Aaron Maté interviews a couple of Russian leftists about Navalny.
It's an hour long but worth watching if you're interested in Russian politics.
For Russian leftists, Western favorite Navalny represents same corrupt elitism
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJX9pmr1I3E width:500 height:300]
Here's a short vid from Kim Iversen:
Dems Warn Putin Will Soon Get An American Puppet In Office
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kfzy3ZIqqs width:500 height:300]
There's a video embedded in this story. I haven't watched it yet but the title sounds interesting. From Brasil Wire:
Bolsonaro’s Neoliberal Disaster: An Interview With Esther Dweck
Later

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

snoopydawg's picture

@Azazello

Didn’t democrats decide that Putin already put one of his assets in the White House? Or are we doing Russia Gate 3.0 next election? Dammit. See below.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the vids, i'll try to get around to the navalni video later on when i have some time.

i guess that the dems are going to continue with the russia, russia, russia playbook. i guess, why wouldn't they? it's such a compelling narrative. @@

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snoopydawg's picture

Thread:

Dammit. I’m betting that those bases are never completed. Russia sure as hell wouldn’t be allowed to build naval bases in Mexico. This is just nuts.

Relations between Russia and the West are in choppy waters, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who says the Black Sea is the new battleground in the US-led bloc’s fight for influence and control in the region.
At a joint press conference with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denis Shmigal on Tuesday, Stoltenberg said that “we have seen a significant Russian buildup in the Black Sea, not least with the illegal annexation of Crimea, and also with more naval presence in the year.”

However, in the same breath, he pointed out that “NATO has increased its military presence in the Black Sea region, because we recognize the great strategic importance of this region for all NATO allies but also of course for our close partner, Ukraine.”

That Aaron be smart

I’m waiting for republicans to decide to quit giving democrats cover on Russia Gate and spill the bea....oh wait they have done that, but the democrats did too good a job and got people really hooked.

I read Greenwald's Mueller after action report and he showed that Mueller looked at every allegation and then some and could not find any connections to Russia at all. It’s right there in his report that Russia Gaters read with a fine tooth comb and still missed what he said. Go figure.

This is a must watch. Kennedy grilled Neera over her tweets and asked her if she meant them at the time. "You called senator Sanders everything but a slut." She finally did say yes she meant them, but wouldn’t stopped blaming everyone else on social media. See Kennedy's final remarks.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

yeah, not surprising i suppose that a journalist would be fired for being critical of israel. it is the third rail of "journalism" these days and there are no honest mainstream media outlets anymore.

heh, i have a mental image of the black sea in a few years. i see it as so crowded with warships, that everytime somebody wants to move a ship in or out of the pond, they will have to have an international conference to arrange the ship choreography.

that clip of kennedy grilling tanden was excellent. i think that i probably need to watch the whole hearing this weekend.

i also saw a clip of sanders asking tanden to comment on her nasty tweets and the clip of her response belongs in the dictionary next to the entry for disingenuous.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

or did they just start warmongering immediately? I like to imagine what life could be like if Clinton hadn’t turned our attention to the Middle East after the Soviet Union collapsed. I know it wasn’t his decision but it happened during his tenure so he gets the blame.

From a plane. Think how much closer they can get if they use drones instead. This is what a California drone maker wants to do. He couldn’t do it before because the FAA rules didn’t allow it. However the good guys at the FAA are working with him and other drone companies to fix the rules so that they can. Police helicopters will be a thing of the past in 5 years. But they can only be used for traffic. For now. But as California goes and all that.

One thing Robinson disclosed is a rule in congress exposed this doozy:

611B092C-4FF7-4633-879D-FBE8D094B72A.jpeg

If that’s true I think people should know it. And I’d love to know what other things Israel has commitments from us and how much they cost us. And at what expense to us.

And if Assange is found guilty then Robinson could be in danger of being arrested by our government and brought here and charged for whatever they want to charge him with. Good gawd how can the anti Assange people not see that? What if Rachel flips her mind one day and starts telling the truth about Russia Gate? Democrats wouldn’t stand for that so she might be charged too if this pipe dream ever happens.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

what do you think that nato is supposed to be?

it seems to me that its creation in the aftermath of wwii, was either a declaration of warlike intent, an admission of the inability of the western world to engage in successful diplomacy or, worse, a declaration that western powers deeply feared that their internal populations were susceptible to persuasion that their elites were acting badly and needed to be supplanted by worker struggles.

edit: i believe that the robinson tweet was meant as a joke. there is no such rule.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

I hadn’t read it yet.

Well believe it or not I was taught that NATO was created to keep Russia in check. And I have never thought of going back through my history of things I learned way back then, but I guess I need to. But where to start? And I’m trying not to be so cynical. But it’s so hard! Today cnn says that some explosives from the largest marine base are missing, but they aren’t sure of what type are.

My 1st thought was okay what is the PTB planning now? Then it was is this supposed to be related to white supremists being strewn all through the military? Btw have we gotten a reason why there are still troops in Washington and especially because we’re told that there are no specific threats at this time. How come the media isn’t asking about that? Or any of the folks at DK? Hmmm..

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

Well believe it or not I was taught that NATO was created to keep Russia in check.

sure, that's what we were all taught. it might even have the advantage of being partially true. my sense of things is that it is not the full truth. but, then again, your mileage may vary.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

And how many other things were we taught and have believed our whole lives? Like what was behind all the wars we’ve fought or engineered? What was the real reason for the civil war? Since it wasn’t slavery or state’s rights.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

school is a medium. (neither rare nor well done, just like teevee)

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

disingenuous On who’s part? Good for both Bernie and Hawley to go after sneera for the gobs of money she took at CAP. I’m glad that she finally apologized for being so bitchy to everyone who disagreed with her, but I don’t think she could buy 'sincere' if she had enough money. Makes me wonder what Biden has up his sleeve that needs her in that position? Shudder...

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

well, i had tanden in mind. her answer was completely flippant and disingenuous - terse and intended to foreclose further discussion.

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enhydra lutris's picture

of him and the young Mr. Morganfield on Farrell Blues. whooo.

Krystal was really great on Neera Tanden and, of course,the high level of corruption throughout DC.

be well and have a good one

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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

thanks!

i wonder if krystal will have anything even more enlightening tomorrow about tanden after having a chance to go over the hearing video. i hope so.

have a great evening!

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4 users have voted.

as always, much appreciated.
Brecht set quite the tone, he didn't sugar-coat things or let humanity off the hook.

This column from Ian Welsh shows in graph form what I read in a few other places about the new Covid variants. https://www.ianwelsh.net
It shows that in approximately 4-8 weeks, this variant, if it becomes dominant, will hit us hard. Once again, making the case that we should contain the virus with lockdowns and financial support until the vaccine is widely distributed.

Good report about air pollution and its effects. It seems we should all know that by now but at least we have another report for show and tell.

Thanks to all for all the tanden reviews. Sheesh, the look on Krystal's face in the clip above says it all.

I enjoyed the cat filter story about the Texas lawyer and Zoom. "I'm not a cat"!

Have a good one, take care.

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joe shikspack's picture

@randtntx

heh, i hope that the brecht quote juxtaposed well with the top story in particular.

yeah, i have the sinking feeling that we are about to get pasted by a much more deadly variant and the people that have developed a sense of complacency are going to be quite shocked.

heh, i liked the cat filter story too. i always told my colleagues at work that they shouldn't let their kids play with their work laptops, because sooner or later unexpected things would happen.

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5 users have voted.

@joe shikspack patents and Covid Joe, at least imo.
It also goes along with this editiorial in the Brittish Medical Journal (aka BMJ):
Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant
Here's the first half of the first paragraph:

After two million deaths, we must have redress for mishandling the pandemic

Murder is an emotive word. In law, it requires premeditation. Death must be deemed to be unlawful. How could “murder” apply to failures of a pandemic response? Perhaps it can’t, and never will, but it is worth considering. When politicians and experts say that they are willing to allow tens of thousands of premature deaths for the sake of population immunity or in the hope of propping up the economy, is that not premeditated and reckless indifference to human life?

Thanks as always.

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joe shikspack's picture

@peachcreek

heh, it was either the brecht quote or perhaps something by arendt about the banality of evil.

that bmj piece was excellent and really grabbed me when i read it.

have a great evening!

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snoopydawg's picture

@randtntx

It’s even more funnier that way. One thing people overlooked was the sign stating that you can’t share the videos. And the guy in the top corner..his look when the cat said, "I’m not a cat"

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kept his composure. how cool!
Caitlin's featured article came to me yesterday.
This morning, I got an email from the local D party. I am on their email list. It was about getting rural voters to understand and vote for Ds.
I sent her the Caitlin email, told her these ar good reasons my country bumpkins don't vote D.
Instead of being irritated, she thanked me, said she would spread it to everyone.
That's one good thing, huh?
I started packing for the glamping trip to the cabin this weekend. I also made a must do list and handed it to TLOML. Thanks for the ebs!

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

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

heh, goodness only knows what might happen if texas democrat leaders started reading caitlin's work.

let me know how it works out.

good luck on your glamping trip. i'll be home keeping warm as the snow piles up.

take care!

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5 users have voted.

@joe shikspack and more left than the party proper. She is so party party party, she just doesn't hear criticisms of the party's rightward shift. I thought she might be offended a little, but actually asked me if it was ok if she spread it around.
We could be freezing here over the weekend, or freezing at the cabin.
The cabin has a view. Freezing is freezing.
I might get to drive a couple of hours in snow when we come home Monday. Woo Hoo! Let's see if that Tundra holds the road!

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

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

you would hope that something named "tundra" would be good in the snow. Smile

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snoopydawg's picture

New Orleans can’t have Mardi Gras this year cuz of Covid so they are decorating their houses and people once again amaze me by their brilliance.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2021/feb/08/new-orleans-hous...

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lotlizard's picture

Here it is on NOS Jeugdjournaal, the Dutch news show for kids:

https://jeugdjournaal.nl/artikel/2368058-oeps-per-ongeluk-kattenfilter-i...

Just having to look at Michelle Obama turns my stomach now. That I ever let myself be bamboozled by these people… “So cool because he’s ‘from Hawai‘i’…” — my sweet ‘okole.

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