The Evening Blues - 3-16-21



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Barbeque Bob

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Piedmont blues musician Barbeque Bob. Enjoy!

Barbecue Bob Hicks - Motherless Chile Blues

"Capitalism is working great if you ignore how it’s about to destroy our ecosystem and kill everything."

-- Caitlin Johnstone


News and Opinion

Worth a click:

America’s Deadly Obsession With Reopening

Last night, on the 50th day of his presidency and the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic, President Biden addressed the nation and announced, “America is coming back.” Among the first steps of that return will be ensuring that nearly all schools return to normal in the next two months. Thanks to $125 billion in the new $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill dedicated to the effort and an aggressive vaccination push for teachers and staff, Biden declared “the number-one priority of my new secretary of education” will be “opening the majority of K-through 8-schools in my first 100 days in office.” ...

The country’s approach to the pandemic has been one of suppression over elimination, of acceptable losses and acceptable spread. While other countries have been able to better control the spread of the virus through ambitious zero-COVID strategies, the United States has never once seriously considered far-reaching responses like a national lockdown or a universal basic income that would allow people to shelter in place. For both Donald Trump and now Biden, the political risks of such moves were too great, despite the arguments of scientific experts, the pleas of many of those on the front lines.

The result is a year of devastation that could have been smaller, thousands of deaths that could have likely been avoided.

While COVID infections have leveled off after weeks of decline, about 528,000 Americans have died from the virus since it reached the U.S. last March and there is no complete end in sight. Some experts are now suggesting that COVID may become endemic, meaning it would become a permanent part of life, like the flu. The combination of uncontrolled spread and sluggish vaccine rollout is enabling mutations and creating new variants of the virus — some of which have shown some signs of vaccine resistance, including one strain identified in California. There is concern among some in the medical community that eventually our current vaccines could be rendered ineffective.

Complicating matters, the long-term effects of the virus in adults and children remain uncertain, but very real. Even asymptomatic cases can leave lasting lung damage. A recent study by the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics found that 13 percent of children 10 and younger reported at least one symptom five weeks after confirmed infection. None of that has stopped the relentless push to reopen the country  — even though the earliest projected date for the U.S. to have enough vaccines for every American is still two months away.


Iran warns election delays could slow nuclear deal moves

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday urged the United States to quickly rejoin the international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, warning that the Islamic Republic’s upcoming elections could stymie progress in any talks. ... Zarif said that as Iran’s June elections approach, the United States will find itself dealing with a government unable to make progress in the nuclear talks.

“A lame duck government will not be able to do anything serious. And then we will have a waiting period of almost six months. We will not have a government before September,” Zarif said at an online conference with the European Policy Centre think-tank in Brussels.

“A lot of things can happen between now and September. So, it is advisable for the United States to move fast,” Zarif said.

Going into the presidential election, the Iranian public is disenchanted with President Hassan Rouhani and his allies who struck the nuclear accord. Rouhani, a cleric who is a relative moderate in Iran’s theocratic government, is term limited from running again. ...

“We are ready to go back immediately, after the United States goes back to implementation of the deal. That’s as simple as that,” Zarif said. He rejected renegotiating any parts of the deal, or adjusting the “time-frame” under which Tehran should take certain steps. “We don’t see any reason for talks; we can go immediately to implementation and then have talks,” Zarif said, adding that he has seen no new proposals from the U.S. yet. “Up until now, this administration has done nothing different from the Trump administration.”

Saagar Enjeti: Pentagon CAUGHT Hiding 1000 EXTRA Troops In Afghanistan As War Lobby Ramps Up

As Saudis Suck Up Weapons, US Accounts for Over 1/3 of All Global Arms Sales

A new analysis of global weapons sales published Monday revealed that the United States now accounts for well over a third of all arms exports worldwide over the last half decade and nearly half of these weapons of war were sold to nations in the Middle East—a region beset by war and conflicts unleashed and exacerbated by American foreign policy.

According to the new data on global arms transfers compiled and analyzed by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a decrease in arms sales between 2016 and 2020 by Russia and China—the second and fifth exporters overall, respectively—was offset by increasing sales made by the other top five weapons exporters: U.S., France, and Germany. And while the sales remained steady compared to the 2011–2015 period, the report shows that the past decade still saw the highest levels of weapons sales worldwide since the height of the Cold War in the 1980s.

According to SIPRI's analysis:

The United States remains the largest arms exporter, increasing its global share of arms exports from 32 to 37 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20. The USA supplied major arms to 96 states in 2016–20, far more than any other supplier. Almost half (47 per cent) of US arms transfers went to the Middle East. Saudi Arabia alone accounted for 24 per cent of total US arms exports. The 15 per cent increase in US arms exports between 2011–15 and 2016–20 further widened the gap between the USA and second largest arms exporter Russia.

While international arms sales plateaued from 2016–2020 compared to the previous five-year period, the import of weapons increased sharply in the Middle East region—especially in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest importer of weapons overall, as well as in Qatar and Egypt—all major customers of U.S. manufacturers.

"Middle Eastern states imported 25 per cent more major arms in 2016–20 than they did in 2011–15," SIPRI noted, the largest increase of any regional bloc. "This reflected regional strategic competition among several states in the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia—the world's largest arms importer—increased its arms imports by 61 percent and Qatar by 361 percent." For its part, Egypt's import of weapons increased by 136 percent over the past five years.

Vijay Prashad Warns Biden Is “Doubling Down” on Trump’s Anti-China Cold War Policy

Myanmar army imposes martial law in two cities as more protesters killed

The military junta in Myanmar has put six townships in Yangon and parts of Mandalay under martial law, as six more protesters were shot dead across the country after the bloodiest weekend since its coup last month.

A column of military trucks was seen trundling towards the Yangon suburb of Hlaing Thayar, where photos from the scene showed the charred remains of barricades. On Sunday, security forces killed at least 37 people and wounded dozens more after Chinese-owned factories in the township were deliberately set alight.

On Sunday night the military imposed direct army rule on the poor working-class industrial area and another township. On Monday, four more districts in the country’s biggest city as well as parts of Mandalay were put under martial law. Protesters can now be tried in military courts, with gatherings restricted.

According to witnesses and local media, security forces used live rounds again on Monday against supporters of the detained democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Demonstrators marched in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second city, and in the central towns of Myingyan and Aunglan, where police opened fire. “One girl got shot in the head and a boy got shot in the face,” an 18-year-old protester in Myingyan told Reuters by phone. “I’m now hiding.”

Myanmar Now, a news agency, said three people were killed in Myingyan and two in Aunglan. A journalist in Mandalay said one person was shot dead there after a large protest had passed off peacefully. At least 150 people have died since the coup on 1 February, with about 2,200 arrested.

Bolivia’s Jeanine Anez ordered to four months pre-trial detention

A judge ordered Bolivia’s former interim President Jeanine Anez to four months of preventative detention for her role in the ouster of Bolivian leader Evo Morales in 2019. ... During a virtual court hearing due to the coronavirus pandemic, local media reported that judge Regina Santa Cruz on Sunday night backed prosecutors’ charges against Anez and ordered that she be placed in four months’ of detention and be sent to a women’s prison in the Bolivian city of La Paz.

Former Minister of Justice Alvaro Coimbra and former Minister of Energy Rodrigo Guzman were also charged and sent to pre-trial detention. ...

Bolivia’s Minister of Justice and Institutional Transparency, Ivan Lima, during an interview with local media on Sunday night said additional charges will be made against Anez and members of her cabinet for corruption and human rights violations. Lima said that his ministry would request up to 30 years in prison for Anez. ...

Anez’s arrest has garnered international concern. Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a statement on Sunday called on the importance of “upholding due process” and ensuring “full transparency in all legal proceedings”.

The United States embassy in a tweet urged the upholding of “all civil rights and due process guarantees” and the European Union issued a statement calling on different sides of the government to deal with the events “within the framework of a transparent judicial process and without political pressure, with full respect for the independence of the powers”. The Catholic church called for the “immediate release of the detainees”.

Spooks before regular citizens.

CIA Headquarters Got Vaccinated in Early January, Rankling Intelligence Officers Abroad

In early January, as much of the country awaited the Covid-19 vaccine, personnel at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, had already begun receiving their shots, according to three former CIA officials with knowledge of the matter.

Yet the agency has lagged in getting vaccines to overseas personnel, according to former officials. The former officials, many of whom continue to engage in similar work and lacked authorization to speak publicly, were granted anonymity in order to speak freely. While it’s understandable that getting vaccines to war-torn or otherwise impoverished countries, which may currently lack the infrastructure for vaccine distribution, might be difficult, former officials say that the problem has affected field officers in Western Europe.

The failure to vaccinate field officers flies in the face of the agency’s long-standing commitment to prioritizing field officers’ missions and safety; officers still have to go out into crowds to meet with people, even in countries with high rates of Covid-19, former officials explained. “The field is so mad. … Even people who barely go into the office [at HQ] are vaxxed,” one former official told me. “At CIA, they tell you the field comes first.” ...

In an ironic twist, CIA personnel in Europe who have grown cynical about Washington’s response are holding out hope that they might receive Russia’s “Sputnik V” vaccine, which some European Union member states have acquired via the black market.

Wendell Potter: Koch Network ACTIVATES To Destroy Public Option

Covid cases fall over 80% among US nursing home staff and residents

Joan Phillips, a certified nursing assistant in a Florida nursing home, loved her job but dreaded the danger of going to work in the pandemic. When vaccines became available in December, she jumped at the chance to get one.

Months later, it appears that danger has faded. After the rollout of Covid vaccines, the number of new Covid cases among nursing home staff fell 83% – from 28,802 for the week ending 20 December to 4,764 for the week ending 14 February, data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows.

New Covid-19 infections among nursing home residents fell even more steeply, by 89%, in that period, compared with 58% in the general public, CMS and Johns Hopkins University data show.

These numbers suggest that “the vaccine appears to be having a dramatic effect on reducing cases, which is extremely encouraging,” said Beth Martino, spokesperson for the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, an industry group.

Deb Haaland becomes first Native American cabinet secretary

Deb Haaland confirmed as first Indigenous US cabinet secretary

Deb Haaland has been confirmed as the secretary of the interior, making her the first Indigenous cabinet secretary in US history.

The 60-year-old from New Mexico will be responsible for the country’s land, seas and natural resources, as well as overseeing tribal affairs.

The US Senate confirmed the Democrat on Monday by a vote of 51-40, after she secured the support of Republican senators including Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan and Susan Collins. ...

She will lead about 70,000 staff who oversee one-fifth of all the land in the US and 1.7bn acres of coastlines, as well as managing national parks, wildlife refuges and natural resources such as gas, oil and water.

According to the 2010 census, 5.2 million people or about 2% of the US population identifies as American Indian or Alaskan Native – descendants of those who survived US government policies to kill, remove or assimilate indigenous peoples.

Immigrant Advocate: Unaccompanied Minors Are Not a “Border Crisis” But a Humanitarian Crisis

Chauvin lawyer seeks trial delay in wake of $27m George Floyd family settlement

The defense attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with George Floyd’s murder, on Monday asked the judge to delay the trial now under way, saying the announcement by the city of a record $27m settlement for Floyd’s family could make a fair trial impossible.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson also raised the possibility of renewing his previously unsuccessful motion to move Chauvin’s trial to another city.

The settlement announced by the city of Minneapolis last Friday and the criminal trial of Chauvin are ostensibly completely unconnected. But the timing of the payout, coming while the trial is still going through jury selection, was surprising to some. On Monday, Nelson said: “I am gravely concerned with the news that broke on Friday.” He said thought it “has incredible potential to taint the jury pool”.

There was tension in the Hennepin county court in downtown Minneapolis on Monday, where the building is surrounded by barriers and guards in what some observers see as an aggressive gesture of fortification, the court room itself is severely restricted because of the pandemic.

FBI arrests two men for 'bear spray' assault on Capitol officer who later died

Two men have been arrested and charged with assaulting Brian Sicknick, the police officer who died after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on 6 January in support of the former president’s attempt to overturn election defeat by Joe Biden.

Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania and George Pierre Tanios, 39, from West Virginia, were arrested by the FBI on Sunday and expected to appear in federal court on Monday.

They were charged with assaulting Sicknick with a “toxic spray”, thought to be bear spray, which Khater was allegedly seen discharging into the officer’s face in footage of the riot. It is not yet known if it caused Sicknick’s death.



the horse race



NY State Senator Alessandra Biaggi Says Cuomo Has Abused His Power for Years & Must Resign

Krystal and Saagar: WAPO Issues MASSIVE Correction On Trump Election Fraud Story



the evening greens


US Probe Underway Over Euphemistic 'Clean Coal' That Actually Increased Pollution

Following the emergence of evidence that power plants using a chemically treated coal—purportedly designed to reduce smog—generated more smokestack pollution not less, the Government Accountability Office has reportedly launched a congressional probe of the "refined coal" tax credit program that yields at least $1 billion per year for U.S. corporations.

With the multibillion-dollar fossil fuel subsidy set to expire at the end of 2021, the outcome of the GAO investigation could influence whether federal lawmakers vote to renew it, Reuters reported Monday.

According to Reuters, Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) called for the probe in 2019 after the news outlet's December 2018 reporting "revealed that many power plants burning the fuel, which supporters call 'clean coal,' pumped out more pollution than previously."

A subsequent analysis conducted by the nonprofit group Resources for the Future showed that "power plants using refined coal were not cutting mercury, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide pollution to levels required by the tax credit program."

As Reuters reported Monday:

Over the past decade, a who's who of American companies have reaped at least several billion dollars in benefits from investing in refined coal operations.

Just last year, some 150 million tons of refined coal was burned in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Producers get a tax credit of $7.30 for each ton burned.

Beneficiaries include global insurance brokerage Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, Detroit utility DTE Energy Co, Boston-based Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co Inc, pharmaceutical giant Mylan NV and Waste Management Inc, according to disclosures reviewed by Reuters.

The Internal Revenue Service, which oversees the tax credit program, allows the companies to qualify by testing relatively small amounts of refined coal in a laboratory once a year, in lieu of real-world emissions measurements at power plants, the Reuters Special Report found.

Many wealthy beneficiaries of the "clean coal" boondoggle are hoping that Congress will vote to extend the tax credit.

Doug Howell, the chief financial officer of Arthur J. Gallagher, is one of them. His insurance firm, as Reuters noted, "has stockpiled about $1.5 billion in tax credits from investing in refined coal activities. Of that amount, about $1 billion remain to be used in future years to offset federal tax liabilities, according to the company’s financial reports."

"We hope that there are some proposed legislative changes that would—that possibly could make the extension happen," he told a conference call with analysts and investors in late January.


Also of Interest

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

War Erupts Inside the Atlantic Council Over Article Questioning Washington’s Hostile Approach to Moscow

The Dark Money “Ring” of Charles Koch and Leonard Leo Gets an Airing Before the U.S. Senate – Followed by a Mainstream Media News Blackout

Brazil’s Lula Launches Comeback — as the Judge Who Locked Him Up Falls From Grace

Erdogan Calls on West to Throw Full Support Behind Turkey in Syria

Egypt offers military support to Sahel nations in bid to counter Turkish influence

U.S. And Its Five Eye Partners Use 'Persuasion', Sabotage And Disinformation To Gain Vaccine Supremacy

Neoliberalism Was Born in Chile & Will Die in Chile

Caitlin Johnstone: War Is A Rich Man’s Game: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Study Finds Redlined Areas Face Greater Flood Risk From Climate Crisis

The race to zero: can America reach net-zero emissions by 2050?

Restoring The Right to Fight Climate Change

Neanderthals helped create early human art, researcher says

Keiser Report | Fed Gets Its Wish

Krystal Ball: GOP’s HILARIOUSLY BAD Attacks On Biden Fail Miserably

Ryan Grim DISMANTLES Media Smears Of Tara Reade

Krystal and Saagar: Pfizer Execs Explore How To Profit Off Future Vaccines

Krystal and Saagar: How Much Longer Will Biden COVER For Cuomo Amid Scandal?

Rising: Did Biden JUST Open Door To Filibuster Reform?

Rising: GOP Has NOTHING To Counter Biden’s ‘Shots In Arms, Money In Pockets’


A Little Night Music

Barbecue Bob - Going Up The Country

Barbecue Bob - Yo Yo Blues

Barbecue Bob - Barbecue Blues

Barbeque Bob - It's Just Too Bad

Barbecue Bob - We Sure Got Hard Times

Barbecue Bob - Black Skunk Blues

Barbecue Bob - Mississippi Heavy Water Blues

Barbecue Bob - Chocolate To The Bone

Barbecue Bob - Twistin' Your Stuff


Share
up
13 users have voted.

Comments

up
13 users have voted.

@humphrey or snark to me.
Or maybe Caitlin is reacting as I did when I heard this news: "Oh, no!! Not this bullshit again."

The Media will cover anything but the genuine needs of the American people.

up
9 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

heh, i guess that it's great that some people can find a difference worth getting worked up over between the two offerings of the corporate party.

up
6 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

Jimmy has Max K. on right now, LIVE.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXK23Pvpakw width:500 height:300]

up
4 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

thanks for the heads-up!

up
3 users have voted.
mimi's picture

Good Evening Joe and EB-ers, thank you for the EB.

Do Native Hawaiians care about Deb Haaland overseeing their land and coastlines?

From: this article: here:

She will lead about 70,000 staff who oversee one-fifth of all the land in the US and 1.7bn acres of coastlines, as well as managing national parks, wildlife refuges and natural resources such as gas, oil and water.

According to the 2010 census, 5.2 million people or about 2% of the US population identifies as American Indian or Alaskan Native – descendants of those who survived US government policies to kill, remove or assimilate indigenous peoples.

Are the Native Hawaiians included in the 2% of the US population, who identify as American Indians or Alaskan NativesP

(BTW why are there two categories of American Indians or Native Americans - are there differences in those groups or is it just semantics)?

up
7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@mimi

up
8 users have voted.

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

Pricknick's picture

@snoopydawg
Anybody would be hard pressed to give a better answer.
Well done!

up
4 users have voted.

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

as long as hawaii is still considered part of the u.s., then its public lands would be part of haaland's purview.

i believe that native hawaiians are considered pacific islanders or native polynesians. what the u.s. government considers them is still not settled.

up
6 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@joe shikspack
those US settlers are a bit slow to settle settling affairs they have over those besettled people.

snark is not my thing, it doesn't translate well.

I get my morning coffee now to unsettle myself out of my bed. Good Morning.

up
3 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

All those countries funding it and then all the different agencies inside of it working on different agendas and who’s watching the watchers? Those tangles go out into gawd only knows where to do what to whom and who is keeping score? Yeah voting is just a distraction while the players behind the scenes change positions. Wish I remembered where I got my sigline.

Ha!

How the mighty have fallen.

I bet it’s written by David Corncracker. He got in on Russia Gate at the very beginning and rode into book sales. Nice gig job if you don’t mind losing all you stood for and lied to people.

up
11 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, the atlantic council is just one of a constellation of organizations of scribblers that the wealthy of the world throw money at to build support for whatever it is that they want - which is usually not what the non-wealthy people of the world want. they are merely a tentacle of a much larger squid.

i don't know what happened to mother jones, but out of respect for the dead they ought to stop demeaning her name.

up
8 users have voted.
lotlizard's picture

@joe shikspack  
(Background: Every political party that makes it into the German parliament is entitled to a certain amount of public funding. Part of this perk is money for maintaining an affiliated think tank, which in the Greens’ case is a foundation named after Heinrich Böll.)

https://us.boell.org/
https://boell.de/en/

The Böll Foundation now appears to have already slipped into the U.S. deep-state orbit including links to the Atlantic Council — with predictable results…

https://globalgreen.news/german-green-party-deplore-the-appeal-to-renew-...

https://www.boell.de/en/2020/07/30/transatlantic-relationship-call-next-...

https://us.boell.org/en/person/alessia-melcangi
https://www.boell.de/en/person/rachel-rizzo

https://ecfr.eu/event/exposing_russian_disinformation_in_the_21st_century/

up
3 users have voted.

up
7 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

Another wet one here. Rained yesterday, last night, and today. Ended up with 3.75". Tomorrow is the possible tornado storms. We'll see what we see.

What to say about the dysfunctional system? Capitalism run awry?

Medical advice from big pharma, foreign policy from arms manufacturers, environmental advice from big fuel, and hospitalization from insurance companies. Last time I caught a MSM news show ads were all from those interests.

Glad we can hide in the holler. Spring continues its show and the rain is greening our world. Mowing is around the corner. On we go.

All the best. Thanks for the news and blues!

up
6 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

it was cold and wet here today, but probably not wet enough. we could use a bit more rain. it's supposed to get back up into the low 50's tomorrow during the day, which sounds great.

not much to say about the dysfunctional corporate governance. we are all walking profit centers.

have a great evening!

up
4 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Did I see it on rising?

Thread on how Obama knew that Biden wasn’t there and neither was his campaign going up against Trump, but they pushed Bernie out anyway. Not just Bernie, but Pete Liz and Amy. It’s from the book lucky.

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.

@snoopydawg But the other names mentioned were part of obama's push to backstab bernie.

up
5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

Pete was beating Biden at the point he dropped out. Liz did stay in to screw Bernie, but also that Biden would win. My take anyway.

up
7 users have voted.

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

@snoopydawg Kieth Ellison was the favorite to win until obama started to pull some strings to change that.

BTW mayo pete also ran in that contest and now he is in the cabinet.

up
9 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

Yeah little Pete is been groomed to take some position in order to one day be president. He’s bringing in racist things to transportation after he helped throw blacks out of their homes so he could tear them down.

up
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 That thing that we all saw happening even though the Dems and the Media and the vote blue no matter whos all told us we were crazy? Turns out it was in fact happening. Just like in 2016...and just like it will happen in 2024 if Bernie is up to another run or the so called progressives can get their shit together to field someone.

up
5 users have voted.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

snoopydawg's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

anything for any reason unless they have years of action backing it up. Been burned too many times. Bernie is doing some bill on rich people who make tons of money. They might have to pay higher taxes. Bfd when the minimum wage is only 4 bucks higher than when I first started working almost a 1/2 century ago. $4 f’cking dollars!

Here’s a thought. For every person on the safety net tax Walmart and Amazon the full amount that government gives them. If he gets that done... but he won’t bring it up now that there’s a chance of a vote. He’s a coward.

up
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

This time it was a trifecta with all of our enemies attacking our election. Russia , China and Iran are all named in the unauthorized report about election interference and I thought that would give the game away. Not so much. As for names, who needs them?

The report does not mention the names of those prominent individuals close to Trump who were used by “proxies linked to Russian intelligence” to spread disinformation against Joe Biden.

People will just supply them.

Well, Giuliani, Johnson, Trump Jr., perhaps the others such as Gosar, Biggs, Hawley, Cruz, etc. All the LIARS known for spreading misinformation about the Big Lie after the election.

up
5 users have voted.

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

up
5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Great news. But Biden is still sanctioning people at the icc that Trump put on them. I don’t think he’s done anything different than Trump and Dayen reports that democrats are letting his last minute regulations stand including the ones on workers. Republicans rolled back most of Obama’s that he did just as he walked out the door and to look more progressive. None took place. Trump’s will.

ETA another article on it

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/12/the-icc-and-israels-charge-of-an...

up
8 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

7B05F5F2-310A-4C67-A48F-151E23CD7A66.jpeg

But Russia huh?

up
8 users have voted.

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

Not a a coincidence.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/543546-cuomo-allies-circulated-...

Allies to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) reportedly attempted to get former staff members to sign onto a letter seeking to undercut Lindsey Boylan days after she became the first woman to come forward with sexual harassment allegations against the governor.

The New York Times, citing three people with direct knowledge of the events, reported that allies of Cuomo attempted to have former aides to the governor sign their names onto the letter and distribute it widely after Boylan first tweeted about her allegations in December.

The letter, which was not released publicly but reviewed by the Times, reportedly argued that Boylan’s accusations were not credible and that they were politically motivated.

Multiple drafts were reportedly created, and the letter also included personnel complaints filed against Boylan and attempted to connect the former aide to supporters of former President Trump, according to the Times.

“Weaponizing a claim of sexual harassment for personal political gain or to achieve notoriety cannot be tolerated,” the letter reportedly stated. “False claims demean the veracity of credible claims.”

up
9 users have voted.

up
7 users have voted.