The Evening Blues - 2-17-21



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Johnny Dodds

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features New Orleans clarinetist Johnny Dodds. Enjoy!

Johnny Dodds & New Orleans Wanderers - Perdido Street Blues

"Better to starve fighting than to starve working."

-- slogan of the "Bread and Roses" strike of 1912


News and Opinion

US workers go on strike in 15 cities to demand $15-an-hour minimum wage

Workers at fast-food restaurant chains in 15 cities around the US went on strike on Tuesday demanding a raise in their minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The workers at McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s, joined by home care and nursing home workers, took action as the Biden administration is attempting to push through an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7.25, in what would be the first increase in since 2009.

Strikes occurred in Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago; Flint and Detroit, Michigan; Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina; Houston; Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, Florida; St. Louis; Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose, California; and Milwaukee. ...

Based on a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution, 47% of essential workers are in occupations where the median wage is currently less than $15 an hour. Gradually raising it to $15 an hour would increase pay for 32 million workers in the US, including 59% of workers with a total family income below the poverty line. With the federal minimum wage increase, 31% of Black workers and 26% of Latino workers in the US would receive a raise.

"Work Won't Love You Back": Sarah Jaffe on Toxic U.S. Work Culture & the Fight Against Inequality

'Sounds Like a Passing Grade': CBO Says $15 Wage Would Have Bigger Budget Impact Than GOP Tax Cut Provisions

The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would have a significantly broader budgetary impact than two provisions of the 2017 Republican tax cut legislation that passed through reconciliation, a finding that provides another boost to Sen. Bernie Sanders' effort to include the pay increase in the Senate coronavirus relief package.

In response to a request by Sanders—the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee—for a comparison of the budgetary effect of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 with that of the GOP tax bill's zeroing out of Obamacare's individual mandate penalty and the measure's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling provision, the CBO found that the $15 minimum wage legislation would have a more sweeping impact.

"The analysis of the Raise the Wage Act encompasses a much broader range of behavioral effects than that of the 2017 tax act, and the increased minimum wage would in turn affect a broader range of budget functions than CBO estimated that the change in the mandate penalty would," the budget office noted in a letter (pdf) to Sanders. "Increasing the minimum wage would affect more budget functions than CBO estimated that the ANWR provisions would."

Under the Senate's so-called Byrd Rule, each provision of a reconciliation bill must have a direct—not "merely incidental"—impact on the federal spending and revenue. The CBO's latest analysis—which comes a week after the budget office found the wage hike would add $54 billion to the deficit over ten years—was viewed as additional confirmation that the wage increase should qualify under reconciliation.

"Sounds like a passing grade to me, folks," said Elizabeth Pancotti, policy director at Employ America, in response to the CBO analysis.

Warren Gunnels, Sanders' staff director, also welcomed the CBO's new findings in a tweet late Monday.

"Raising the minimum wage to $15 would have a much bigger impact on the federal budget than oil drilling in the Arctic and the repeal of individual mandate penalties," Gunnels noted. "Both of those provisions were deemed permissible under reconciliation. Let's go."

'I'm Speaking to You, Senator Manchin': West Virginians Blast Democrat for Opposing $15 Minimum Wage

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is under sustained fire—including from low-paid workers in his own state—for his resistance to a provision in the Senate's coronavirus rescue package that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

"I'm speaking to you, Senator Manchin," Jean Evansmore of the West Virginia Poor People's Campaign said at an online event Monday. "You know that in West Virginia the minimum wage needs to be $23 in order for people to live, not wonder where their next meal is coming from."

"Enough's enough," added Pam Garrison, also with the West Virginia Poor People's Campaign. "When will you give us a living wage?"

Evansmore and Garrison's comments came during an online Moral Monday event organized by the campaign. The event highlighted voices of those impacted by low wages and the campaign's suite of policy priorities for the White House and new Congress, including lifting the minimum wage to $15—a change they group frames as a way to "lift from the bottom and take seriously the costs of inequality."

Manchin and fellow Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have publicly announced their opposition to the popular wage hike proposal.

The bill in question, the House-passed Raise the Wage Act, would incrementally raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2025.

West Virginia's minimum wage is currently $8.75 an hour, and while that's higher than the federal wage floor, it's far below the $24 an hour the wage would be now if it kept pace with productivity growth, and well below the $28.70 an hour rate MIT estimates to be a "living wage" for an adult with one child working full time.

Amid the progressive push for better wages, the Poor People’s Campaign said Monday that Manchin requested a meeting with the campaign—a meeting the anti-poverty group said was agreeable dependent upon the inclusion of "a diverse group of low-wage workers and moral leaders from the West Virginia Poor People's Campaign."

"David vs. Goliath": Warehouse Workers in Alabama Fight Amazon for the Right to Unionize

Is Biden Ignoring Science On School Re-Opening?

Biden vows to make 600m vaccine doses available by end of July

Joe Biden laid out his plans for fighting the next stage of the coronavirus pandemic in a primetime town hall on Tuesday, pledging to make 600m doses of the Covid-19 vaccine available by the end of July, saying teachers should be moved “up the hierarchy” of the vaccine queue, and predicting most elementary schools would reopen by the end of his first 100 days in office. ... The event began with the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who hosted the event, asking when ordinary Americans could expect to receive the vaccine, to which Biden replied: “By the end of July we will have 600m doses, enough to vaccinate every single American.”

“Do you mean they will be available, or that people will have been able to actually get them?” Cooper asked, briefly referencing Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, who had said earlier in the day that it may “take until June, July and August to finally get everyone vaccinated”. Biden said he meant they would “be available” by the end of July.

Asked later by Cooper when life would “get back to normal”, Biden offered a tentative but hopeful assessment. “By next Christmas, we’ll be in a very different circumstance, God willing, than we are today.” He said a year from now there would be significantly fewer people needing to socially distance and wear masks, but he added that experts advised him not to try to make predictions with certainty: “I don’t want to overpromise.” ...

The town hall came as Biden is working to get a $1.9tn coronavirus aid package through Congress. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the measure next week.

Teacher Unions: We Want to Reopen Schools as Well, But We Need Vaccines & Resources to Do It Safely

Israel blocked Covid vaccines from entering Gaza, say Palestinians

Palestinian officials have accused Israel of preventing a vital first shipment of 2,000 coronavirus vaccines intended for frontline health workers from entering the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority said a planned transfer of Russian Sputnik V vaccine doses to the coastal enclave, which is geographically disconnected from the West Bank where the authority is headquartered, was blocked on Monday at an Israeli checkpoint.

“[T]he occupation authorities prevented their entry,” the authority’s health minister, Mai al-Kaila, said in a statement. “These doses were intended for medical staff working in intensive care rooms designated for Covid-19 patients, and for staff working in emergency departments.”

An Israeli security source told the Guardian the authority had previously made a request to the national security council, a body that belongs to the Israeli prime minister’s office, to send vaccines to Gaza, but that it had not made a decision.

The source said representatives from the authority had turned up at a West Bank crossing south of Ramallah with the vaccines on Monday but were not allowed to pass as the “request is still being processed”.

'Is Our Blood Worth Less?' Afghan Anguish After European Court Sides With Germany Over Airstrike That Killed 90 Civilians

Afghans and human rights advocates around the world expressed deep disappointment Tuesday after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of Germany in a case brought by victims of a 2009 NATO airstrike that killed as many as 90 civilians.

The New York Times reports a 17-judge panel of the ECHR ruled unanimously that the German government adequately investigated a September 3, 2009 airstrike in Afghanistan's Kunduz province that targeted two fuel tankers stolen by Taliban fighters. Believing the militants might use the trucks as a mobile bombs, Col. Georg Klein, the German commanding officer of a nearby NATO base, ordered U.S. warplanes to destroy the vehicles.

According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, prosecutors said Klein made several calls to an informant to ensure there were no civilians present before the strike. However, scores of Afghan civilians including children flocked to the trucks—which were stuck on a sandbank in the Kunduz River—to siphon off fuel at the Taliban's invitation.

A German military investigation later found that as many as 90 civilians died in the massive explosion caused by the strike. The probe concluded that no charges should be brought against Klein. ...

The court also found there was "no violation" of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, that it "had no reason to doubt" Germany's assertion that it thoroughly investigated the airstrike as required under the charter, and that Klein had "not acted with the intent to cause excessive civilian casualties."

The court's findings gave no comfort to plaintiff Abdul Hanan, a farmer whose sons Abdul Bayan and Nesarullah—ages 12 and eight, respectively—were killed in the strike.

"They martyred a hundred people, they bombed us unjustly, so how can they come to this unjust decision?" Hanan told the Times after the ECHR ruling. "Is our blood worth less than the blood of a German?"

"I wanted the court to provide justice, to have mercy on us," Hanan added.

In the aftermath of the mass killing, Germany offered $5,000 payments to families of civilians who died or were seriously injured in the strike. Hanan sought additional damages, as well as an admission by German officials that they failed to protect civilians. The German government argued that it was not legally responsible for the deaths since the airstrike was executed on behalf of the United Nations.

A highly irregular procedure from the sound of it, one wonders whether Aung San Suu Kyi's prosecution will meet the same high standards of injustice that Julian Assange's has.

Aung San Suu Kyi trial in Myanmar begins in secret amid warning of fresh protests

The trial in Myanmar of Aung San Suu Kyi appears to have secretly begun a day early, without the knowledge or presence of her lawyer, shortly after the military regime filed a new charge against the deposed leader. The UN’s special rapporteur Tom Andrews said he understood a “secretive trial” had already started and that a combination of expected mass protests on Wednesday and reports of large troop movements meant the military “could be on the precipice of … committing even greater crimes against the people of Myanmar”.

Judge Nan Aye Mya Thiri said outside court in Naypyitaw that police decided to bring the case against Aung San Suu Kyi and the ousted president Win Myint on Tuesday despite the pair being remanded until Wednesday, Myanmar Now reported. They appeared in court via video link and appeared to be in good health, the judge added.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, who has been barred from seeing either of them since their detention during the coup more than two weeks ago told reporters that he only arrived after an unexpected videoconference the judge said had been held with the ousted leader. He said he had been told the trial could last for six months to a year, according to the New York Times.

Aung San Suu Kyi has already been charged with importing walkie talkies, but now faces a second charge of violating a national disaster law by breaching Covid regulations during last year’s election. Win Myint already faces the same charge.

Angry protests as Spanish riot police arrest rapper at centre of free-speech debate

Riot police entered a university in the north-eastern Spanish city of Lleida on Tuesday to arrest a rapper who had barricaded himself inside the building to avoid serving a prison sentence for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty and the police in his lyrics and on social media.

The arrest of Pablo Rivadulla, known as Pablo Hasél, triggered angry protests and clashes with police in several Spanish cities on Tuesday night, including Lleida, Barcelona, Girona and Valencia. Rubbish bins were set on fire and a young woman in Barcelona was reported to have suffered an eye injury after police shot foam rounds into the crowd. ...

In 2018, Hasél was given a two-year jail sentence and a fine of almost €30,000 (£26,000) after Spain’s highest criminal court ruled that his lyrics and comments went beyond the limits of free speech and were instead expressions of “hatred and attacks on honour”.

The court noted that Hasél had referred to the former Spanish king Juan Carlos as a “drunken tyrant” and a “mafia capo”, praised Eta and other terrorist groups, called the national police “murderers” and accused the Guardia Civil of torturing and murdering migrants.

The sentence was reduced on appeal to nine months, and Hasél was ordered to report to prison at the end of January. But on Monday, the rapper sought refuge in the university, saying he wanted “to make things as difficult as possible for the police” and to highlight “a hugely serious attack” on freedom.

Briahna Joy Gray DISMANTLES Bad Faith Student Debt Arguments

Democrats urge Biden to fire USPS chief Trump ally who decimated mail service

Even in a drama-filled election unlike any other, the postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, and his assault on the postal service stood out. After Trump appointed the businessman to run the agency, DeJoy largely failed in his mission to help the former president discourage voters from casting ballots by mail, but evidence suggests his policies and the pandemic have decimated the postal service. Now many, including Democratic lawmakers, are calling on Biden to act swiftly to remove him and the Trump-majority UnitedStates Postal Service board of governors. ...

Representative Tim Ryan, who in January sent a letter to Biden calling on him to “clean house”, stressed that late bill payments, late checks and delayed medication deliveries cause problems for many Americans and underscored the urgency. Though DeJoy has refused to release 2021 on-time delivery data, December numbers made public in lawsuits shows that only about 40% of first class mail was arriving on time – down from about 92% the year before.

Those who spoke with the Guardian agreed that the delays affect Americans’ daily lives more than sub-cabinet appointments at a federal agency like the Department of Commerce. “We’ve got to hit the reset button because there’s no confidence in DeJoy and the board of governors who obviously have lost all control, and that’s inflicting pain on working-class people in places like Ohio,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the Biden administration didn’t respond to his letter, and he suspects that it may fear that immediate action would “create a lot of chaos”.

LAPD Sought Ring Home Security Video Related to Black Lives Matter Protests

Emails obtained from the Los Angeles Police Department show that the department sought protest-related footage from Amazon’s Ring home camera systems in the wake of George Floyd’s killing last year, lending credence to years of warnings that pervasive private surveillance networks will enable questionable police practices.

On July 16, 2020, the footage was sought by a detective assigned to an LAPD task force dedicated to investigating “significant crimes committed during the protests and demonstrations,” according to emails obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation via public records request and shared with The Intercept. It’s unclear if the police request, relayed to customers through Amazon’s Ring subsidiary, was directed to a single camera owner or many; contemporaneous emails released by the department show that Ring’s in-house law enforcement liaisons were helping officers use an interface that would allow them to send bulk video requests to specific neighborhoods or broader geographic areas.

“The LAPD ‘Safe L.A. Task Force’ is asking for your help,” reads the message, from detective Gerry Chamberlain. “During recent protests, individuals were injured & property was looted, damaged, and destroyed. In an effort to identify those responsible, we are asking you to submit copies of any video(s) you may have for [redacted].” The request appears to have made no mention of what exactly the LAPD was pursuing; no crime, proven or alleged, is described in the unredacted portion of the request, only that the police wanted footage of an unspecified “incident” related to a protest. The redacted portion of the request does not appear to contain any substantive further description.

The records obtained by the EFF show that LAPD detectives sent video requests to Ring owners on several other occasions coinciding with large street protests in Los Angeles, but the details of those messages were fully redacted, making it impossible to determine what exactly police were after.

In October, the Los Angeles Times cited LAPD data showing that the “vast majority” of the city’s Black Lives Matter rallies, part of a national wave of outraged mobilization following the police killing of Floyd, were peaceful, with only “between 6% and 7%” of protests resulting in any violence, including violence perpetrated by the LAPD itself. It’s unclear what data, if any, was turned over to the task force as a result of the protest related Ring request, but the EFF says that it believes the message is the first evidence of police using Ring’s increasingly ubiquitous camera network to surveil last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests.



the horse race



Biden Will Shut Down Left Voices w/Chris Hedges

Trump and Giuliani sued by Democratic congressman over Capitol riot

Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, the former president’s personal lawyer, have been accused of conspiring to incite the violent riot at the US Capitol, in a legal action filed under a historic law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. The lawsuit was brought on Tuesday by the Democratic congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and the eminent civil rights organisation the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). ...

The suit alleges that Trump, Giuliani and the extremist groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers conspired to incite the attack on the Capitol with the goal of preventing Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election. It argues that they therefore violated a law often referred to as the Ku Klux Klan Act, passed in 1871 in response to Klan violence and intimidation preventing members of Congress in the Reconstruction south from carrying out their constitutional duties. The NAACP, founded in 1909, says the statute was designed to protect against conspiracies. ...

Filed on Tuesday in federal district court in Washington, the suit charts an expansive effort by Trump and Giuliani to undermine the election result despite state officials and courts rejecting their false allegations of fraud. The two men portrayed the election as stolen while Trump “endorsed rather than discouraged” threats of violence from his supporters leading up to the attack on the Capitol, the suit says.

“The carefully orchestrated series of events that unfolded at the Save America rally and the storming of the Capitol was no accident or coincidence,” it continues. “It was the intended and foreseeable culmination of a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process required to confirm the tally of votes cast in the Electoral College.”

Presidents are typically shielded from the courts for actions carried out in office but this one focuses on Trump in his personal rather than official capacity. Seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, it alleges that none of the conduct at issue is related to Trump’s responsibilities as president.

America Needs Third Parties w/Professor Richard Wolff


Will Americans RISE UP? w/Chris Hedges



the evening greens


Looky, the U.S. government works for Monsanto. See article for more, damning details:

Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban

Internal government emails reveal Monsanto owner Bayer AG and industry lobbyist CropLife America have been working closely with US officials to pressure Mexico into abandoning its intended ban on glyphosate, a pesticide linked to cancer that is the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkillers.

The moves to protect glyphosate shipments to Mexico have played out over the last 18 months, a period in which Bayer was negotiating an $11bn settlement of legal claims brought by people in the US who say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma due to exposure to the company’s glyphosate-based products.

The pressure on Mexico is similar to actions Bayer and chemical industry lobbyists took to kill a glyphosate ban planned by Thailand in 2019. Thailand officials had also cited concerns for public health in seeking to ban the weedkiller, but reversed course after US threats about trade disruption.

So far the collaborative campaign to get the Mexican government to reverse its policy does not appear to be working.

The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has given farmers until 2024 to stop using glyphosate. On 31 December, the country published a “final decree” calling not only for the end of the use of glyphosate but also a phase-out of the planting and consumption of genetically engineered corn, which farmers often spray with glyphosate, a practice that often leaves residues of the pesticide in finished food products.

Deb Haaland Faces GOP Backlash Over Role in Pipeline Protests

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas on Monday highlighted a Wall Street Journal story on Deb Haaland—President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior—with a tweet accurately stating: "Interior secretary nominee has joined pipeline protests and opposed fracking."

While Cornyn intended the message to be a criticism of Haaland—who, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first-ever Native American cabinet secretary—progressives said the New Mexico congresswoman's steadfast opposition to fracking and destructive fossil fuel infrastructure projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline are precisely what make her the most qualified candidate for a role tasked with protecting federal lands and overseeing the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"Thank God," Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) said in response to Cornyn's tweet. "Confirm her immediately."

Climate scientist Michael Mann tweeted at the Texas Republican, "You make a compelling argument for approving the nominee, senator."

As the Journal reported, Haaland in recent years "has joined with pipeline protesters, supported the Green New Deal, and opposed fracking on public lands. For a cabinet post that oversees the government's longstanding, multibillion-dollar partnership with drillers on federal lands, Ms. Haaland's environmental politics are in contrast to those of her predecessors." If confirmed, Haaland would succeed former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt.

The Journal goes on to quote from a 2017 Medium post in which Haaland, then a congressional candidate, wrote, "Fracking is a danger to the air we breathe and water we drink."

"The auctioning off of our land for fracking and drilling serves only to drive profits to the few," Haaland continued. "We must not destroy protected Native ancestral lands and important cultural and heritage sites for the sake of a relatively short-term oil and gas fix, especially when it results in the degradation of sacred sites, land, water, and air."

Deep freeze in Texas: Millions without power, 21 dead in historic snowstorms


Also of Interest

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

Glenn Greenwald: The False and Exaggerated Claims Still Being Spread About the Capitol Riot

Krystal Ball: Pelosi’s 9/11 Style Commission Is A DANGEROUS Power Grab

Prosecutors announce new charges against Proud Boys in connection with January 6 assault on US Capitol

John Brown, Violent Crusader, Blazed Lincoln’s Moral Path

U.S. Focus On Narratives Will Let It Collide With Reality

'A Failed State': Power Outages Amid Freezing Weather in Texas Threaten Lives and Covid Vaccines

The Taliban Could Launch Major Offensive Against US if Biden Stays in Afghanistan

Weapons biz bankrolls experts pushing to extend Afghan War

Israel Will Not Engage With US on Iran if Nuclear Deal Is Revived

Ignoring Repression and Dirty Tricks in Coverage of Ecuador’s Election

'Step Off, United States': Progressive International Voices Solidarity With Haitians Rising Up Against Dictatorship

Rep. Ro Khanna Agrees to Public Conversation With UAE Ambassador if Detained Journalist Is Released

Caitlin Johnstone: The Empire Attacks BDS For The Same Reason Nixon Started The Drug War

The life-altering effects heat is having on American children

Rising: Is Wind Power REALLY To Blame For Texas Power Failures?

Krystal and Saagar: Cotton, Romney Propose RAISING Minimum Wage, Breaking GOP Orthodoxy

PA Lt. Gov John Fetterman: ‘I Would Die On That Hill’ For $15 Minimum Wage In COVID Relief Bill


A Little Night Music

Johnny Dodds Washboard Band - Bull Fiddle Blues and or Bucktown Stomp

Johnny Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers - Wild Man Blues

Johnny Dodds - Come on and Stomp, Stomp, Stomp

Johnny Dodds - After You've Gone

Johnny Dodds Hot Six - Goober Dance

Johnny Dodds w/New Orleans Bootblacks - Flat Foot

Johnny Dodds Orchestra - When Erastus plays his old kazoo

Johnny Dodds & Blind Blake - South Bound Rag

Johnny Dodds - Pencil Papa

New Orleans Wanderers - Too Tight

Johnny Dodds and his Beale Street Washboard Band - Piggly Wiggly


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17 users have voted.

Comments

snoopydawg's picture

Dear US media, we don't need Russia to attack our power grid, we're perfectly capable of tanking it ourselves...just look at Texas

Strangely missing from this latest descent into American madness is the global arch-villain, Russia. That is a rather surprising omission considering that the American people have been conditioned to believe that if they find themselves without heat in the dead of winter the most likely culprit is not an aging and dilapidated energy grid, or even an unpaid heating bill, but rather a ruthless gang of Russian hackers, most likely in the employ of Vladimir Putin.

By way of example, back in 2016, at the very same time that Barack Obama had just expelled 35 Russian diplomats for “undermining our election processes and institutions,” the Washington Post ran a sensational story entitled, ‘Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say’.

No less of a governmental authority than Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (D) was quoted in the article as saying: “Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world’s leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality-of-life, economy, health, and safety…”

The sun is out, wind is down so I am heading out to play...

up
12 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 can't find the quote now, but there's a famous quote that goes something like, "never shoot a man who is already in the act of committing suicide."

i'm sure that the russkies are grateful to our neoliberals for destroying our country.

up
6 users have voted.

And stop strangulating the USPS with pension rules.
We need the postal service. It could do many things better
if not tethered by legislators.

Love the clarinet JS.
Thanks!

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12 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

heh, it's kind of sad that there are no american institutions that are reliable enough to be allowed to operate critical infrastructure in either the public or private sector.

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5 users have voted.

Greetings to everyone tonight. We have electricity here at my sister-in-laws for the first time in 48 hours. We have been lucky here at this house because did have a kitchen gas stove, running water and flushing toilets. This morning we all took hot shower because not out of the woods yet. Now under “boil water’” notice for water and the pressure is dropping.

The situation here in Texas is so very sad to see and hopefully more people will understand some of the failures of privatization, deregulation and pure old stupidity.

Thanks for the news and blues. Two days without the use of my computer made reading the news a real treat today.

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14 users have voted.

Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

@jakkalbessie

Several members are in the vicinity.
Hope y'all survive this blast.

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7 users have voted.

@QMS Hope we do! Talked to other family members here in Texas and rolling blackouts, no water, no electricity and happening all over. Our water pressure has dropped and we are under “boil water” but still have electricity for now. Thankful for all my years camping in Africa with no electricity, having to purify water and limited food supply has done me well during this time. Makes what is happening right now more tolerable. Hope some good will come out of this in how Texas “does things”

up
9 users have voted.

Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

joe shikspack's picture

@jakkalbessie

i'm glad to hear that you are doing ok. i hope that your utilities hold out and your weather returns to more normal patterns so texas can get it together.

with any luck, your fellow texans will soon be ready to elect a government that will do better by them.

take care!

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5 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

Good evening everyone,
So, Time magazine has this feature, TIME100 next 2021. It's 100 most influential people for 2021 or something like that.
One of these is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya of Belarus. Check it out, her profile is actually written by Juan Guaidó. You can't make this shit up.
NATO doesn't want to leave Afghanistan.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3bUg8wsgVE width:400 height:240]
Most important thing I read today: Who Are the Ultimate War Profiteers? U.S. Air Force Veteran Removes the Veil
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoBt2G5BUws width:400 height:240]

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9 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

heh, who knew juan guaido could write a paragraph?

20 years and nato is just getting started? perhaps europe wants to revisit its greatest hits and reprise the hundred years war?

thanks for the articles and videos!

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6 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

I'm glad to be hearing from all the Texans that they are surviving this global warming event. I only wish that all Texans survive the deregulating of their power grid for profits, y'all know the neolib version of capitalism. Maybe this wakes you Texans up to what happens to all them Yanks who go thru all the same shit daily.

Our government cough cough seems to have going after the plebes down to a science. Caitlin nails it.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/02/17/the-empire-attacks-bds-for-the-s...

At the time, I was writing a book about the politics of drug prohibition. I started to ask Ehrlichman a series of earnest, wonky questions that he impatiently waved away. “You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

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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

@ggersh @ggersh a "democrat" State.

It is a Repub State.

This is what capitalism----late stage capitalism looks like

In case you haven't heard, a large part of SouthWest Texas, including El Paso, has Public Utilities. They are doing just fine. Their heat and water and electric are working.

Freedumb, you all. It's what's for dinner for the dumb (R) voters in the tragic state of Texas.

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9 users have voted.

NYCVG

@NYCVG @NYCVG https://twitter.com/HoustonChron/status/1362060722243575809?https://t.co...

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4 users have voted.

NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

@NYCVG

it keeps republicans in power across the country. Well democrats keep republicans in power too, but not out loud.

Your tweet.

Not just Perry. Many Utahns feel that the less regulation the better. They think that they are there just to keep companies from making more money and not that they are there to keep us safe from those damn companies that don’t care about us. As long as someone takes their place when they die and their profits keep rising. This has been made crystal clear since Covid hit and congress rushed to bail them out. Again and again. How many have the airlines received? 3? 4? Banks have been being bailed out since September 2019. We got $1,800 for the year. From Donald Trump. Go figure.

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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.

@NYCVG
(Trump only got 31.6% there). However, El Paso Electric is a private company (purchased by JP Morgan in 2020). Differs from other parts of TX in that it's a monopoly provider. That's fine providing there is a strong and competent public regulatory agency. Tend to doubt that condition exists there which may have been a reason why it was attractive the JPMorgan.

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5 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

i think that the texans are just on the bleeding edge of climate crisis survival. there's probably more stuff coming that nobody, not even blue states are really prepared for.

what texas is demonstrating is that we will have to survive the coming events in spite of our governments, rather than with any serious help from them.

have a great evening!

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Thread

Social media started taking their gloves off during the end of Trump’s tenure, but since Biden they have taken them all the way off and have put on weighted boxing gloves and are going to town.

Biden sure looked mean and tuff standing there with his arms crossed and glaring at the woman asking the question. He made jokes during her talking too. GD ass.

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9 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh, australia might be better off if people have to get off of facebook to get their news. i'm interested to see how this one works out.

i guess biden doesn't much enjoy being pushed by the public to do something that his friends, the banksters, don't like.

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6 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

I was reading your reply and it reminded me of what Matt Stoller wrote about Google and I went looking for the link to it. lol..doh! Okay I’ll fess up. This weekend the power went out. Sat or Sun, but I think it was Sat cuz I burned a pizza on Friday. Anywho I got more pizza and cooked it that night. Umm..the pizza is smelling goo....oh dammit didn’t I hear the timer again? Nope I never set it or I did and it wasn’t plugged in, but anyway I burned another one. This one was much worse....I’m not sure why my mind is distracted, but I sure hope it works itself out soon. Sheesh it’s getting expensive to buy pizza.

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6 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

this evening i baked a nice, big chunk of salmon, most of which turned out well, but the tail being considerably thinner than the rest of the fish was more than a bit on the dry side.

fortunately the dog loved it mixed in with her dry food. Smile

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3 users have voted.
lotlizard's picture

@joe shikspack  
D-word privileges … something something … triggers … sensitivity … (waves hands around)

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I'm hoping to stop back by and read a bit later. (If my power stays on.) I didn't know about the strikes in 15 cities for 15. Good.

Here's another article about our fine power grid in TX. Let's hear it for our freedom from regulations.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/17/he-lying-people-are-dying-c...

"Texas is a gas state," Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Tribune. "Gas is failing in the most spectacular fashion right now."

But that hasn't stopped Texas Republicans like Abbott and Rep. Dan Crenshaw from attempting to blame frozen wind turbines for outages that could continue for days, endangering lives and coronavirus vaccines.

In response to Abbott's "Hannity" interview, Texas voting rights advocate Charlie Bonner tweeted, "He is lying. People are dying, and he is on Fox News lying to you. We are living in fear and Greg Abbott is playing politics with our lives."

"Greg Abbott doesn't care if you live or die tonight so take care of each other, my friends," Bonner added. "We're living in a failed state."

Castro sent a similar message Tuesday afternoon, writing that "Governor Abbott failed to prepare for this storm, was too slow to respond, and now blames everyone but himself for this mess."

"He neglected the state's antiquated and deregulated electrical grid," said Castro. "Now 4.4 million Texans have no power in freezing conditions."

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10 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@randtntx

Hopefully tomorrow will see the sun and then things start getting better. However I just read how developers in Texas cut lots of corners when they build houses there and lots of them didn’t put any insulation in between the house and the water pipes inside. One guy said that there are tens of thousands of homes built like that and once the temps warm the pipes will be gushing water everywhere. Lots of homes will be ruined and few insurances will pay. Very sad.

Here is another article that goes with yours.

https://www.power-grid.com/blogs/has-privatization-failed-texas-utility-...

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6 users have voted.

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

@snoopydawg . Interesting about the cutting of the corners. I knew that a certain home building company was famous for its sub-par homes but I didn't know about the specifics. No insulation for pipes in the house, great.

Thanks for the article link, looks good, I will read it.
Take care and stay warm as well.

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3 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@randtntx

i wonder if all of the conservotwits babbling about how green energy is to blame for all of their problems are going to face a comeuppance from the public. it seems hard to imagine that most people won't see right through an excuse stretched so thin.

stay warm and i hope that your electricity stays on. take care and good luck!

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5 users have voted.

@joe shikspack . Plus one of our TX congress critters was just caught in Cancun. One by the name of Cruze, a good democrat last I heard, although he may have switched parties since I last checked. Either way, it obviously makes no difference.
Our good old Senior Henry B. Gonzalez would have at least stayed here and (I like to think) helped us out.
Thanks JS, not warm but OK.

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2 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@randtntx

Cruz is a Republican. And a very obnoxious one at that. Yes he was caught going off to sunshine, but he only did it for his kids. Well except that his wife said that it was an unplanned trip. Oops.

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2 users have voted.

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

snoopydawg's picture

I love learning about ancient Egypt.

Damn Russia. They even interfered with King Tut. They put dolls in his burying chamber.

I’m thoroughly surprised that no one at DK has asked if Putin had anything to do with the power outages in Texas because they still mention him a lot still. Heh a front pager wrote that Biden screwed up bigly. Guess who came out of the woodwork? Best line:

"Congress will never go for canceling student loans so this is just click bait for the anti dems!"

He was asked if he bothered reading first before he commented because congress isn’t doing it, Biden is or would if he wanted to stimulate the economy in the simplest way. How anyone can defend against it is mind boggling. Thou shalt not criticize the democrats. Or Obiden. Nea

Interesting article on Tom Paine.

But one needs to be remembered: life belongs to the living, and allowing the dead to impose laws on the living is a pernicious error.

@jakkalbessie

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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 enjoy reading about archaeological finds as well (which you might have guessed from my occasional inclusions in the blog posts of interest). i had one archaeology class in college and i really enjoyed it. i was warned, however, that a soc/anth degree was the fast track to poverty. oh, well. Smile

thanks for the tweet!

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4 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

Did you see where he talked about Russian dolls in the chamber? I just think it’s funny because everything now days has blaming Russia in it so why not a grave chamber?

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3 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 saw that. he described the chamber as set up like russian nesting dolls. more of a construction detail than what russia is usually accused of, i.e. destruction details. Smile

have a good one!

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3 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

The dolls were placed there for nefarious reasons. You know that. Russia never does anything good in the world.

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

enhydra lutris's picture

all of its known members and supporters or whatever as to whether or not to go ahead and support the workers strike against Amazon, had a very nize statement of support and all that already written up. I can't imagine that their rank and file would say no, so be on the lookout for something public from them.

Of course Israel blocked vaccines from getting to Gaza, they're obviously dual use property capable of being used as weapons. Just another bit of evidence that their blockade is an act of war against a civilian population, collective punishment, and attempted genocide and not remotely a simple safety measure. Which reminds me that bthe Arkansas anti-BDS law has been struck down by Federal courts. That brings it up to, iirc, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas and Arizona.

be well and have a good one

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5 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

i'm glad to see that the people's party is making noises about being useful. what sort of support do they plan to offer the amazon strikers? something more than warm words of encouragement?

heh, you know, those crafty palestinians could tip rockets with syringes making them much more dangerous.

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3 users have voted.

The reason why my light bill will be increased is capitalism. The reason why the water from my faucet at the office must be boiled before drinking is capitalism. I have no water at my home, due to frozen pipes, is capitalism.
No matter the chatter about local activism, please remember Rick Perry was a party switcher. Not sure, but Lt. Gov. is also.
Follow the money.
Chant now: Deregulation, Good! Trickle down, Good! Die if you aren't hard working worthy, Good!

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7 users have voted.

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

Azazello's picture

@on the cusp
Tough-guy Texas mayor tells residents 'fend for themselves' and resigns

No one owes you are (sic) your family anything; nor is it the local government’s responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim it’s your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING! I’m sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don’t have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe. If you have no water you deal without and think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family. If you are sitting at home in the cold because you have no power and are sitting there waiting for someone to come rescue you because your (sic) lazy is direct result of your raising! Only the strong will survive and the weak will parish (sic). Folks God has given us the tools to support ourselves in times like this. This is sadly a product of socialist government where they feed people to believe that the FEW will work and others will become dependent for handouts. Am I sorry that you have been dealing without electricity and water; yes! But I’ll be damned if I’m going to provide for anyone that is capable of doing it themselves! We have lost sight of those in need and those that take advantage of the system and meshed them in to one group!! Bottom line quit crying and looking for a handout! Get off your ass and take care of your own family!

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6 users have voted.

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

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Azazello

Guess there's a limit to how much Randroid bile cloaked in "conservative Xtian" rhetoric even his own city would put up with.

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6 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven
posting his screed. OTOH, his teacher wife was fired for defending his screed.

In other news -- yesterday Sen Ted Cruz and family fled from Houston to Cancun.

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3 users have voted.

@TheOtherMaven , there is no limit.

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3 users have voted.

@Azazello . Unfortunately that is not atypical. Funny though, in a sick way.

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3 users have voted.

@Azazello a few minutes ago.
Typical.
Our local mayor took office as a Democrat, then she switched to Republican while in office. She owns a drive in eatery, similar to a Dairy Queen. No drive in restaurant has been able to get a building permit in the city for the past 20 years because she rejects them.
She gives all no-bid contracts to one company for all city water construction and repair. The company is owned by the city secretary's husband.
I could go on about local politics. It starts here, goes to D.C.

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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

snoopydawg's picture

@on the cusp

Or start your own company and bid against them. lol....dreams of you being rich and being able to do that just because.

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2 users have voted.

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