The Evening Blues - 4-2-21



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Fenton Robinson

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist Fenton Robinson. Enjoy!

Fenton Robinson - Texas Flood

"What chiefly governs the [U.S.] military budget is the need to spend enormous sums of money in a useless way. The allegedly powerful Pentagon is simply a receptacle for wasteful expenditure, just as a city dump is the receptacle for the refuse of a city."

-- Walter Karp


News and Opinion

America's Military-Industrial Complex Squanders $1.7 Trillion on a Lame Fighter Jet While the President Begs for Infrastructure Cash

A Ferrari is surely a wonderful sports car, but let's be honest: Most of us couldn't afford the day-to-day maintenance, let alone the sticker price, and these beautiful creatures are hard to drive on America's pothole-plagued streets, and a massive pain in the butt to repair when they break down. So you can imagine the raised eyebrows earlier this year when a top U.S. Air Force general compared the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet—decades and hundreds of billions of dollars into a lifetime that will cost taxpayers $1.7 trillion—to that Italian dream machine.

"I want to moderate how much we're using those aircraft," Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff, told Pentagon reporters about the Lockheed Martin-built fighter in February. "You don't drive your Ferrari to work every day, you only drive it on Sundays. This is our high end, we want to make sure we don't use it all for the low-end fight … We don't want to burn up capability now and wish we had it later."

In so many words, Brown was admitting that one of the most expensive weapons systems known to humankind is a failure—to be kept under a heavy tarp in a padlocked garage six days a week. His words riled critics like William Astore, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who today writes frequently about Pentagon waste. That's because the F-35 was sold to the public in the early 1990s not as a luxury item but as a lower-cost, everyday workhorse fighter jet. He said the flaws now deeply embedded in America's military-industrial complex—the Pentagon's demands for the newest gadgets and a defense contractor's skill at upping the ante—"is how you end up with a Ferrari instead of a Camry ... or even an Audi."

The massive swing-and-a-miss that is the F-35—which already has the Pentagon dreaming of a new, new next-gen fighter that might actually be cheaper and easier to use—is just one symptom of a much greater problem: In spending more on war-related costs than the world's next 10 nations combined, the U.S. wastes billions on weapon systems that are ineffective and often not even needed. This dollar drain hasn't let up even as America's highways fill up with those Ferrari-foiling potholes and bridges collapse, while the world's richest nation falls behind on everything from high-speed rail to solar energy to teaching our kids. ...


The Biden administration could find hundreds of billions of dollars to deal with America's more pressing needs at home, as critics like Astore have noted, with simple moves like a) ending its sudden skittishness on carrying out the president's 2020 campaign promise to end the war in Afghanistan as soon as humanly possible and b) trimming the Pentagon's annual budget back down to the roughly $600 billion level it was at before its massive boost under President Trump, who was so eager to please the generals, no questions asked. On the F-35, it's too late to kill the project (for one thing, we've already sold it to our so-called allies like the United Arab Emirates) but we could save hundreds of billions by building fewer.

US, Iran say they'll begin indirect talks on nuclear program

Hopes rise of breakthrough on US return to Iran nuclear deal

A potential breakthrough in the apparently deadlocked efforts to bring the US back into the nuclear deal with Iran is on the horizon after secret diplomatic talks in Frankfurt this week. The joint commission, the body that brings together the existing signatories to the deal, will meet virtually on Friday to discuss the outcome of Monday’s meeting amid growing optimism that unexpected progress has been made. ...

The private discussions have focused on agreeing a framework whereby the US could start to lift sanctions in return for specific and verifiable steps by Iran to come back into full compliance with the deal. ...

Some observers fear Biden does not understand the urgency of making progress ahead of Iran’s June presidential elections, where hardliners opposed to the principle of the deal are likely to triumph in a low-turnout election.

Chomsky Now Agrees With Jimmy Dore On Biden

Dire situation in North Korea drives 'collective exit' of diplomats

Russian diplomats fleeing North Korea have described acute shortages of medicines and other basic goods in the country, indicating a crisis fuelled by one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter posted online on Thursday, employees of the Russian embassy in Pyongyang described a “collective exit” of foreign diplomatic staff that they predicted would “unfortunately not be the last” due to unbearable conditions in the North Korean capital.

“It is possible to understand those leaving the [North] Korean capital. Hardly everyone can stand the unprecedented total restrictions [on individuals], the sharp deficit of essential goods, including medicines, the lack of any possibility to resolve health problems,” members of staff at the Russian embassy wrote. ... All but three foreign aid workers had evacuated the country as of last December, according to reports, and last week the United Nations said it had no international staff members left in the country.

Brazil Diplomat Celso Amorim on Bolsonaro, Lula & Why Biden’s Foreign Policy Is So “Disappointing”

Mexican press freedom dispute erupts as Amlo attacks US and domestic critics

A growing row over press freedom has engulfed Mexico after the country’s nationalist president maligned a routine US human rights report which highlighted his government’s failure to protect journalists – and the behaviour of some officials against media members.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly called Amlo, condemned Mexico’s mention in the state department’s annual human rights report as an unwelcome intervention in Mexican matters. But Amlo also singled out press freedom group Article 19, which was cited as a source, in an outburst reflecting his disdain for civil society groups.

“They’re supported by foreigners. And all the people who are associated with Article 19 belong to the conservative movement, which is against us,” Amlo alleged on Wednesday, once again labeling his supposed opponents “conservative” despite his own conservative leanings on social and economic issues.

“We’re not meddling by opining on human rights violations in the United States. We’re respectful,” said Amlo, referring to his professed foreign policy of non-intervention. “We can’t opine on what happens in another country so why is the US government opining on questions that are purely Mexican matters?”

A government spokesman subsequently tweeted Article 19’s sources of financing, while supporters and pro-government media even accused the group of promoting a coup. “Financed by the US, Article 19 nourishes a coup against Mexico,” blared the front page of La Jornada newspaper on Thursday.

Aung San Suu Kyi and Australian adviser accused of breaking secrets law

Aung San Suu Kyi and her Australian economic adviser are among several people charged with breaking Myanmar’s colonial-era official secrets law, in an escalation of the campaign against the deposed civilian leader by the junta that overthrew her government two months ago.

Her lawyer revealed the fresh accusations as the UN security council was warned that Myanmar was at risk of civil war and an imminent “bloodbath” if military rulers continued to violently repress the protest movement that has emerged since the coup.

Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) have been detained since the coup, and the junta had earlier accused her of several minor offences including illegally importing six handheld radios and breaching coronavirus protocols.

Her chief lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, said Aung San Suu Kyi, three of her deposed cabinet ministers and a detained Australian economist, Sean Turnell, were charged a week ago in a Yangon court under the official secrets law, and he learned of the new charges two days ago. A conviction under the law can carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

David Sirota: Why Is It Always The Corporatists Who Play Hard Ball?

Global Billionaires Have Grown $4 Trillion Wealthier During Pandemic

A new analysis out Thursday morning shows that the world's 2,365 billionaires have seen their collective fortunes grow by $4 trillion during the coronavirus pandemic, a staggering windfall that prompted demands for a global wealth tax aimed at curbing inequality and funding key priorities such as the lagging international vaccination effort.

Conducted by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) on behalf of the Patriotic Millionaires and Millionaires for Humanity, the new report draws on data from several sources to demonstrate that the wealth of the planet's billionaires jumped 54% amid the global Covid-19 crisis and resulting economic collapse.

"Their combined wealth rose from $8.04 trillion to $12.39 trillion between March 18, 2020 and March 18, 2021," the report notes. "At the global level, the wealthiest 20 billionaires have a combined $1.83 trillion in wealth—with an increase of $742 billion, or 68%, over the pandemic year. In comparison, the 2019 GDP of Spain was $1.3 trillion."

Oren Cass REVEALS Truth Behind Wall Street's Claim That They Add Value To US Economy

Rahm Emanuel Headlines Event For Group Fighting $15 Minimum Wage

As disgraced former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel reportedly keeps floating his name for a Biden administration appointment, he is recycling an old Republican plan to let states opt out of a higher minimum wage. Now, he is slated to headline the annual conference of one of the major corporate lobbying groups fighting against congressional Democrats’ $15 minimum wage legislation.

The National Restaurant Association, the lobbying group which led the fight to block a minimum wage increase in the COVID-19 relief bill passed last month, will be hosting Emanuel as a keynote speaker for the group’s virtual conference on April 20, an event entitled: “Seeking Unity: Conversations on How We Can Come Together.” The speaking slot follows Emanuel’s Washington Post op-ed last month arguing that omitting a minimum wage increase from the American Rescue Plan was not a big deal, and asserting that Democrats should work with Republicans on a plan that does not guarantee $15 nationwide. ...

The idea of a minimum wage increase that states can opt out of has been proposed by Republicans in the past. Former President George W. Bush campaigned on the concept more than 20 years ago. “Aides say Bush backs increasing the federal minimum wage but only if states can opt out if they find it would hurt their economies,” the Los Angeles Times wrote in September 2000. ...

Conference agendas show Emanuel is also a regular on the D.C. speaking circuit. The Harry Walker Agency, the speakers bureau that exclusively books Emanuel now, does not disclose his speaking fee, but suggests booking Emanuel in tandem with Karl Rove. An old AAE Speakers bio page for Emanuel, since deleted, listed his fee last year as $50,000-$100,000, according to the American Prospect. If that number is correct, Emanuel would earn at least three times more for one quick speech than a minimum wage worker earns over the course of an entire year.

US fossil-fuel companies took billions in tax breaks – and then laid off thousands

Fossil-fuel companies have received billions of dollars in tax benefits from the US government as part of coronavirus relief measures, only to lay off tens of thousands of their workers during the pandemic, new figures reveal. A group of 77 firms involved in the extraction of oil, gas and coal received $8.2bn under tax-code changes that formed part of a major pandemic stimulus bill passed by Congress last year. Five of these companies also got benefits from the paycheck protection program, totaling more than $30m.

Despite this, almost every one of the fossil-fuel companies laid off workers, with a more than 58,000 people losing their jobs since the onset of the pandemic, or around 16% of the combined workforces.

The largest beneficiary of government assistance has been Marathon Petroleum, which has got $2.1bn in tax benefits. However, in the year to December 2020, the Ohio-based refining company laid off 1,920 workers, or around 9% of its workforce. As a comparative ratio, Marathon has received around $1m for each worker it made redundant, according to BailoutWatch, a nonprofit advocacy group that analyzed Securities and Exchange Commission filings to compile all the data.

Phillips 66, Vistra Corp, National Oilwell Varco and Valero were the next largest beneficiaries of the tax-code changes, with all of them shedding jobs in the past year. In the case of National Oilwell Varco, a Houston-headquartered drilling supply company, 22% of the workforce was fired, despite federal government tax assistance amounting to $591m.

Other major oil and gas companies including Devon Energy and Occidental Petroleum also took in major pandemic tax benefits in the last year while also shedding thousands of workers.

Complaining About Corporate Tax Hike, McConnell Says GOP Will Fight Biden Infrastructure Plan Every Step Of The Way

Objecting specifically to the plan's call for a corporate tax increase, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that no members of his caucus will support President Joe Biden's newly released infrastructure package. ...

"That package that they're putting together now, as much as we would like to address infrastructure, is not going to get support from our side," McConnell told reporters Thursday. "Because I think the last thing the economy needs right now is a big, whopping tax increase."

Vowing to fight Biden's proposal "every step of the way," the Kentucky Republican went on to lament that "but for one seat in Georgia, I would be setting the agenda," referring to Democratic runoff victories in January that wrenched control of the Senate from the GOP.

McConnell's gripe about the corporate tax increases proposed in Biden's plan was echoed by other Republicans on Wednesday as the president outlined his proposal in a speech in Pittsburgh.

Much more at the link:

Last-Minute Trump Rule Would Let Vaccine Makers Hike Prices Unchecked

Pfizer, Moderna, and other coronavirus vaccine makers have said repeatedly that they intend to hike prices on vaccines as early as this year, as the potential need for additional booster shots and future demand could lead to an unprecedented financial windfall.One estimate projects that if Pfizer raised the price of its coronavirus vaccine from $19.50 to $175 per dose, as one Pfizer executive recently suggested, and if every adult American were to take it, the cost would be $44.7 billion — nearly 10 percent of all U.S. drug spending.

But the federal government, which funded crucial biomedical research to develop the patented messenger RNA technology behind the leading Covid-19 vaccines, is on the verge of eliminating a legal mechanism to control the prices of key medical products, including vaccines. Next week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, will wrap up a comment period to modify the rules governing the Bayh-Dole Act, a law that regulates the transfer of federally funded inventions into commercial property. Under the current interpretation of the law, the government may “march in” and suspend the use of patents developed via government-funded inventions if it determines that the products are excessively priced.

The rulemaking is the latest flashpoint in a decades long battle to control drug prices. The drug industry has fought successfully to prevent “march-in” rights in the past; the government has never managed to exercise them. But over the last year, a growing number of Republicans and Democrats, including newly appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera, have called for the use of march-in rights to rein in drug prices.

In the twilight weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, his administration released a NIST rule designed to undercut the Bayh-Dole Act and weaken the government’s authority to march in and seize control of a patent when drugmakers fail to make medicine “available to the public on reasonable terms.” That phrase has long been the law’s most contentious provision. It invokes a term of art that multiple federal courts have ruled relates to pricing and market-related decisions. The legislative history of the Bayh-Dole Act includes arguments that clearly state pricing considerations as a factor in determining “reasonable terms.” The proposed rule, however, tightens the law’s definition to remove price as a factor — a change long demanded by industry.

I await the woke community's awakening to the fact that Barack H. Obama is a monster and a pariah. He is certainly no more worthy of social approval than former slave owners and mass murderers.

Illinois Latinos criticize plan to rename school after 'deporter-in-chief' Obama

Plans to rename an Illinois school after Barack Obama have run into a protest from local members of the Latino community who are angry about the former president’s record on the issue of deportation. Leaders and members of the Waukegan Latino community are pushing back against a local school board’s proposal to rename the city’s Thomas Jefferson middle school, according to WGN Chicago.

Waukegan is a city just north of Chicago with a population that is more than 50% Latino.

The move to change the school’s name stems from the fact that Jefferson was a slave owner, and echoes similar proposals across the country in the wake of a racial reckoning caused by Black Lives Matter protests. Opposition to naming this school after Obama stems from the deportation of 5 million people during his presidency, most of whom were Latino.

“Today, I want to urge the board to drop the names of Barack and Michelle Obama from consideration,” Oscar Arias, a graduate of Waukegan public schools and city resident, told the city’s school board Tuesday night. “Barack Obama’s presidency is filled with hostility against the immigrant community.”

Virginia court rules Charlottesville can take down Confederate statues

Virginia’s highest court ruled on Thursday that the city of Charlottesville can take down two statues of Confederate generals, including one of Robert E Lee that became the focus of a white nationalist rally in 2017 that turned extremely violent and ultimately deadly.

The state supreme court overturned an appeal court decision that had been previously made in favor of a group of residents who sued to block the city from taking down the Lee statue and a nearby monument to fellow general Thomas J “Stonewall” Jackson. Charlottesville’s city council voted to remove both.

White supremacist and neo-Nazi organizers of the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville said they went to the city to defend the statue of Lee. ...

City officials praised the ruling in a statement Thursday and said they plan to redesign the park spaces where the statues are located “in a way that promotes healing and that tells a more complete history of Charlottesville”.

Charlottesville’s mayor, Nikuyah Walker, praised the court ruling and those in the community who had pushed for the statues’ removal “for their steadfastness and perseverance over the past five years. For all of us, who were on the right side of history, Bravo!”

More details at the link:

Chauvin's supervisor says there was no justification to keep knee on George Floyd’s neck

Derek Chauvin’s police supervisor has told his murder trial that there was no justification for the officer to keep his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes.

Sgt David Pleoger, who arrived at the scene shortly after Floyd was taken away by ambulance, said that Chauvin and other officers holding down the 46-year-old Black man should have stopped using force once Floyd stopped resisting.

“When Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers they could have ended their restraint,” he said.

Video recording showed that Chauvin kept pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck even after the detained man pleaded that he could not breathe and then stopped moving. Two other officers were also holding Floyd down. ...

Pleoger is among a number of officers expected to be called as witnesses for the prosecution including the chief of the Minneapolis police department, Medaria Arradondo, who, in a highly unusual move, will give evidence against his own former officer. Arradondo fired Chauvin shortly after Floyd’s death.



the horse race



Will Georgia’s Voting Law Be Repealed as Big Business Joins Critics Opposing “Jim Crow” Suppression?

Krystal and Saagar: Cuomo Got $4 MILLION Book Deal While Covering Up COVID Deaths



the evening greens


Rapid global heating is hurting farm productivity, study finds

The climate crisis is already eating into the output of the world’s agricultural systems, with productivity much lower than it would have been if humans hadn’t rapidly heated the planet, new research has found. Advances in technology, fertilizer use and global trade have allowed food production to keep pace with a booming global population since the 1960s, albeit with gross inequities that still leave millions of people suffering from malnutrition.

But rising temperatures in this time have acted as a handbrake to farming productivity of crops and livestock, according to the new research, published in Nature Climate Change. Productivity has actually slumped by 21% since 1961, compared to if the world hadn’t been subjected to human-induced heating.

With the global population set to rise to more than 9 billion by 2050, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that food production will have to increase by about 70%, with annual crop production increasing by almost one 1bn tonnes and meat production soaring by more than 200m tonnes a year by this point. ...

“The impact already is larger than I thought it would be,” said Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, an economist at Cornell University who led the research. “It was a big surprise to me. The worry I have is that research and development in agriculture takes decades to translate into higher productivity. The projected temperature increase is so fast I don’t know if we are going to keep pace with that.”

While farming has generally become far more efficient in recent decades, it is increasingly menaced by heatwaves that exhaust farm workers and wither certain crops. Extreme weather events and drought can also affect the output of a farm, particularly smaller operations in poorer countries. In 2019, scientists who analyzed the top 10 global crops that provide the majority of our food calories found that climate change is reducing the worldwide production of staples such as rice and wheat. Again, less affluent countries are suffering worst from this situation.

Net gains: how India trawlers’ plastic catch is helping to rebuild roads

For years, plastic caught by fishing communities on the Kollam coast in India’s southern state of Kerala was thrown back into the water, damaging aquatic ecosystems and killing fish. But fishers are spearheading an innovative initiative to clean up the ocean – along with their daily hauls of fish, they pull in and collect the waste that gets enmeshed in their nets. Bottles, ropes, toys, shoes, discarded fishing nets and polythene bags are sorted, washed, shredded, before being recycled into material added to asphalt to help to build local roads.

In 2017, the Keralan government’s harbour engineering department (HED) launched its Suchitwa Sagaram (Clean Sea) initiative, providing nylon bags to the 1,000-odd fishing boats for the crew to collect the rubbish. The plastic is processed onshore and fed into a shredding machine, then sold on to roadbuilders. Nearly 3,000 fishers and boat owners in Kollam are involved in the initiative. Now the programme is expanding to other harbours and with one million people working in the fishing industry in Kerala, of whom 25% are directly involved in fishing, scaling up the project could have a real impact.

Washing and sorting the collected plastic is also providing jobs to a small group of local women in a traditionally male-dominated sector. “Most of the garbage is too mangled to recycle in traditional ways. So we shred it into strips and sell it to local construction companies, who mix it with asphalt to construct roads. This helps us pay the women’s salaries. This road surface is increasingly popular as it makes the roads more resilient to India’s extreme heat,” says VK Lotus, an engineer with the HED.


Also of Interest

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

Thomas Frank: Liberals want to blame rightwing 'misinformation' for our problems. Get real

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/04/twitter-and-youtube-manipulation...

Biden Is Playing an Apocalyptic Game of Chicken With China

"America Is Back" Collides With A Multipolar Reality

Archegos Blowup Calls Attention to Questionable Listing Standards at New York Stock Exchange

Right-Wing State Legislators Make Unprecedented Attack on Trans Kids

Indigenous Youth Take to DC Streets With Demands to #ShutDownDAPL and #StopLine3

The robots are coming to small businesses – and for business owners

Arabian coins found in US may unlock 17th-century pirate mystery

Democracy Now: Oregon Governor Kate Brown Pushes Expanding Vote-by-Mail to Counter GOP Voter Suppression Efforts

Brazil's Bolsonaro says he is not politicizing the military after shakeup


A Little Night Music

Fenton Robinson - Crazy Crazy Loving

Fenton Robinson & The Dukes - Tennessee Woman

Fenton Robinson - From My Heart

Fenton Robinson with The Dukes — Crying Out Loud

Fenton Robinson - I Believe

Fenton Robinson - Blue Monday

Fenton Robinson - Checking On My Woman

Fenton Robinson - Baby Please Don't Go

Fenton Robinson - You Don't Know What Love Is

Fenton Robinson - Little Turch

Fenton Robinson - I´ve Changed



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22 users have voted.

Comments

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8 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

i guess we'll have to wait a while to find out if the driver was sent by trump, qanon or russian hackers.

the gaetz scandal certainly seems to have an interesting plot line, it'll be interesting to see it unwind.

have a great weekend!

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7 users have voted.

Reports of all sorts of troop movements. Western media going along that Russia moving troops on its own soil are acts of aggression. Reminds me of when US officials egged on Georgia to attack Russian troops. Georgians believed that US troops would directly intervene. Never showed up. After a Ukrainian defeat, the US will resupply them with weapon$. And I believe use it as an excuse to shut down Nord Stream 2 even going so far as to board the pipe laying ships. Biden will show the EU/NATO who the real boss is.

BTW, Jens Stoltenberg the NATO Secretary General looks to me like Joseph Goebbels.

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9 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@MrWebster

That’s a frightening incident waiting to happen isn’t it? Obiden is going to push Russia and China as far as he can and then step over the line into full blown war. Biden has continued Trump’s escalation with China sailing our boats close to their waters it’s going to cause an incident. That is if our meddling in Taiwan doesn’t do it first. Closer to midnight than any time since the Cold War. Yippee.

If you’re interested here’s a long article on Biden’s corruption in Ukraine and China. Lots of Obama fellows raised concern about Hunter being involved with Burisma because of his close ties to his dad. That’s one way to put it. Close ties.

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/02/20/escalating-the-new-cold-war-...

I know nothing about the site.

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8 users have voted.

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

@MrWebster has been provoking Russia for quite a while.

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8 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@MrWebster

there certainly seem to be an abundance of well-connected morons who just can't wait to get their war on. i guess we'll find out soon if joe biden is one of them.

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8 users have voted.

say to the USA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xmckWVPRaI&t=1s

They are questioning our attempts to call ourselves the Rulers of the Universe.

About time.

Evening, Joe. Great news summary. In addition to the article you cited on Russia, POTUS and Putin have engaged in tough guy words.

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10 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

from russia, china and iran's perspective i suppose that the good thing is that all they have to do is wait for the empire to destroy itself.

with any luck they will be able to let our economy eat itself and it will do so before the u.s. can launch any major assaults on other countries. it'd be better for the empire to just crumble than go out in a blaze of "glory."

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9 users have voted.

@joe shikspack Joe, and humbly join with other countries, rather than attempting to bully the world.

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2 users have voted.

NYCVG

ggersh's picture

stay safe all and have a great weekend.

Damn Russians! ;-0

The nerve of Russia to be a country near all the american bases

https://www.basenation.us/uploads/5/7/1/7/57170837/9242863.jpg

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8 users have voted.

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

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

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

heh, so many countries seem to locate in the midst of the empires far-flung bases. you gotta wonder why they choose such a location. Smile

have a great weekend!

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7 users have voted.

its arrogant head shoved up our tush
ouch

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7 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

yep, the empire was picking on smaller nations that couldn't really retaliate at a large scale for a long time. now that the empire is picking fights with nations that have the capacity to retaliate with the same nightmare weapons that we have for so long threatened others with, i would expect that the outcomes will be much less palatable.

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10 users have voted.

@joe shikspack rather than the same ones we piss away revenue on, more likely.

Cyber grid damages. EMP.

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3 users have voted.

NYCVG

@QMS as I see it, QMS.

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3 users have voted.

NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

US human rights report which highlighted his government’s failure to protect journalists – and the behaviour of some officials against media members.

Putin said the same thing.

“We can’t opine on what happens in another country so why is the US government opining on questions that are purely Mexican Russia’s matters?”

Proceed by the article that says billionaires added $4 trillion to their pockets.

"Because I think the last thing the economy needs right now is a big, whopping tax increase."

Uh no. Now is the perfect and must do time for that, Mitch. But man this needs a snicker:

that "but for one seat in Georgia, I would be setting the agenda,"

Might have won if you had gotten on board with the Trump relief bill that was much better than the turdish one Biden passed. Hindsight, huh Mitch?

MLB moved the all star game out of Georgia. Boo. Lots of propaganda around what the voting bill even does. The water thing has been blown out of proportion.

lol...as I was writing this, Sam came in for her nightly milkbone. I didn’t see her at 1st and when I did she looked down at the spot then just 'looked' at me. But it’s how she looked.

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8 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

yep, it's funny how the u.s. likes to accuse others of human rights violations when it is one of the worst offenders on the planet.

heh, mitch is probably happier to play opposition games against biden than to have to pretend to support trump.

have a great weekend!

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8 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

Thanks for you and Common Dreams keeping the saga of the Failure 35 alive. It really ought to be on the nightly news, nightly, until the damn thing gets cancelled and the MIC should be told "OK, you wasted 1.7 trillion, now it's time for civil and civilian infrastructure to get its 1.7 trillion before you get any more.

And hey, what a surprise, Wall Street is a parasitic horde who sit and churn the market and speculate without any real investment or value creation occurring. Well by golly Wild Bill, who'd a thunk it? Another story that needs to be widely told but won't.

Thanks for the great tunes.

Be well and have a great weekend.

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12 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

heh, i have an additional plan to reduce military spending. every cent that they can't account for is deducted from their base budget going forward. that should get us a bunch of spare change going forward.

wall street is just a place for untreated gambling addicts to get fleeced by the casino. the laughable idea that they allocate capital to worthy business ventures should be put to rest for good.

have a great weekend!

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9 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

Jimmy Dore is LIVE right now, here, if anybody's interested. The Grayzone will be LIVE here in about an hour.
I thought this was good:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA32Bpc76Mc width:500 height:300]
Have a nice night.

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12 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 on the livestreams and the video.

have a great weekend!

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7 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack
TV weatherman says, "10 degrees above normal".
"Normal" changes over time, of course, and 95 at Easter may be the new normal.
I remember when it snowed here one Easter.

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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.

snoopydawg's picture

@Azazello

It’s going to be close to 80 this weekend and I remember when I drove to SLC at the end of April and grumble about all the dirty snow still hanging around. We got 1 good storm this winter. Maybe 6 inches when I remember storms being recorded in feet. We already had a huge wildfire that threatened homes where there used to be just prairie land. We’re building without limits and we aren’t going to have the water for it for much longer. Those ugly apartment complexes are going up everywhere. Where two homes used to be there are now 12 units with 3-4 apartments in them and they’re built in a residential neighborhood with a school across the street. They aren’t as bad as the ones down town. Nothing but asphalt everywhere around them. But they are above $400,000 so people are still priced out of the market.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

95!

its been pretty raw and windy here the past few days. sunday is supposed to be warmer, in the mid 60's during the afternoon.

have a good one!

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5 users have voted.

@Azazello

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4 users have voted.

@humphrey planes flying until we all fry.

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4 users have voted.

NYCVG

https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/opposing-all-governments-equally-is-su...

The US-centralized empire is waging nonstop wars that have killed millions of human beings just since the turn of this century, and people will still say things like “We’ve really got to do something about Cuba.”

The US-centralized empire is circling the planet with hundreds of military bases, working to destroy any nation which disobeys its dictates and brandishing armageddon weapons at its enemies like a drunken hillbilly with a shotgun, and people are still like “Something must be done about China’s intellectual property theft!”

Among the violent and destructive governments in our world, one towers high above all the others in a league entirely of its own. Add in the malign behavior of its allies, who effectively function as arms of the same single empire on foreign policy, and the gap between it and the next-worst offender grows even greater. And yet, somehow, many people act as though this power structure should not face a unique level of criticism and scrutiny.

A lot of propaganda-addled empire loyalists bleat the terms “whataboutism” and “false equivalency” at anyone who responds to criticisms of nations like Russia or China by pointing out the terrible things the US does and continues to do, implying that America is far better than those other nations and that even bringing them into the same conversation is absurd. And they are correct, it is absurd, but for the exact opposite reason they think: the US is far, far worse.

There is no other power structure that is anywhere near as violent, thuggish and authoritarian as the one that is currently using its military and economic might to murder, starve, bully and cajole the rest of humanity into submission and obedience to its interests. No one else comes anywhere remotely close. Any analysis of international dynamics which fails to place this fact front and center in its understanding is necessarily a flawed, power-serving analysis.

It’s not just the brainwashed human livestock of the mainstream who fail to take this reality into account, but also many self-styled “anarchists” and other ideologues who fancy themselves to be up-punching critics of power. The mantra “I oppose all governments equally” will often see such types enthusiastically supporting the downfall of US-targeted governments like Syria and China, simply because those governments are more authoritarian than they’d like. Because it’s not informed by a reality-based weighting of world power dynamics as they actually exist, their “anti-authoritarianism” sees them supporting the most tyrannical agendas of the most tyrannical power structure on earth.

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

i remember reading that piece, but i can't remember if i posted it. it's certainly worth a read, though.

thanks and have a great weekend!

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5 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

...just make the best you can. That's all that is left.

Around here we're a day late and a dollar short. But it ain't so bad. Just the way of things. As my departed buddy used to say, "it ain't gonna get no better". And sure enough it ain't. Y'all hang on and do the best you can!

thanks for the news and bluz!

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9 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

thanks! you have a good one, too!

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4 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

Hi all, Hey Joe... Great sounds man! Fenton was a great player. Real clean, excellent intonation, and great tone. Love his take on Baby Please Don't Go, he was so creative. His Texas Flood IMHO blows away the unfortunately much more famous modern version. You know, that cover by the dude with 3 initials for a name, in shiny shit on his guitar. I live in Texas so cannot take his name in vain publicly, it is against the law, a felony if I recall correctly.

Great quote on the military at the top... the bastards are psychopaths. I love planes, know them all, built all the models, seen 'em all fly, and could tell this one was gonna suck from the start. Surely lots of actual professionals did too. They did it anyway. They have to get rid of the money to need more. A worthless $100 million dollar jet is nothing compared to those 4 billion dollar littoral boats that don't work, which aren't even in the same orbit as the 14 billion dollar carrier that doesn't work. But we got a deal on a bunch of 'em.

And we got Blinken trying to out Bolton Pompeo! We are so F'd.

thanks for the tunes!

be well all!

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7 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

heh, fenton robinson is proof of my theory that you don't have to play a lot of notes real fast, you just have to play the right ones. Smile

yep, our military equipment is like our health care, we pay too much for it and the outcomes are lousy.

have a great weekend!

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5 users have voted.

Thanks for the reminder why I hate Rahm, Big Oil, and Big Pharma. Oh, and Obama.
And for the great work that you do!

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8 users have voted.

"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, i reckon i'll keep posting those reminders as long as folks have a taste for 'em.

have a great weekend!

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6 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

They keep saying that voting places close at 5 pm just when people are getting off work. But it actually extends hours. They’re also lying about water in line. But they ain’t worried about people having to wait in those long damn lines.

This started when Trump got banned from social media and then lots of companies dropped Trump and now we’re punishing states for their legislation? Where will it end? And who in the administration has that much power to make them do it?

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mlb-punishes-atlanta-moves-all-star-...

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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.

@snoopydawg

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4 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

I see it and see where it leads but I can’t name it. It’s probably just fascism with identity politics added in. But people are cheering for companies or events that should have them scared shitless. Wherever it ends it’s not going to be good.

Did Trump lay the egg for democrats and republicans to fight each other over voting laws? The republicans are doing it state by state and democrats are trying to do it at the federal level. Heh...Utah is making voting easier and we’ve had mail in voting for years. They are also cracking down on cross party voting just before an election.

Trump did lay a hole he’ll of eggs during his 4 years. Wonder how many last minute legislation Biden’s rolled back by now.

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4 users have voted.

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

@snoopydawg https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/546282-trump-calls-for-boyco...

Former President Trump called for a boycott of Major League Baseball after it decided to move its All-Star Game out of Georgia in protest of the state’s new bill signed into law that tightens voting restrictions.

“Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections,” Trump said in a statement released by Save America PAC.

“Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!” he added, referencing other companies that have criticized the new law.

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mimi's picture

I am not sure when and who said it, but it was not more than a day ago.

Someone asked if someone had just a mental health issue and was engaging a singular incident happening or if we all have a mental health issue. It seemed that all have a mental health issue.

So, be cosidered as a proud member of the 99 percent who all have mental health problems.

We all are sick, didn't you know? Just the media and Congress are sane.

Happy to be sick and not sane.

Good Evening, And thanks for the news, that are not new, and the music, that is as old as it is good.

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4 users have voted.