The Evening Blues - 5-25-21



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Victoria Spivey

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues singer Victoria Spivey. Enjoy!

Victoria Spivey - Black Snake Blues

"The United States is not actually against terrorism per se, only those terrorists who are not allies of the empire."

-- William Blum


News and Opinion

Over 500 Democratic staffers urge Joe Biden to ‘hold Israel accountable’

More than 500 Democratic party staffers and alumni ofJoe Biden’s 2020 campaign have signed an open letter calling for the US president to do more to protect Palestinians and hold Israel accountable for its actions in and over Gaza, where a ceasefire currently holds.

The move comes amid a deepening split in Democratic ranks, between some vocal members of its progressive wing – such as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez – and more centrist figures including Biden who have taken a consistently pro-Israel stance.

Biden has come under increasing pressure to take a firmer stance against Israel after the recent conflict in which more than 230 Palestinians were killed and dozens of buildings leveled in Gaza, while 12 Israelis died from rockets fired by Hamas. The letter will add to that push and also reflects a more subtle turning point in broader US public opinion, which has become more critical of Israel.

The signatories write that they “commend [Biden’s] efforts to broker a ceasefire. Yet, we also cannot unsee the horrific violence that unfolded in recent weeks in Israel/Palestine, and we implore you to continue using the power of your office to hold Israel accountable for its actions and lay the groundwork for justice and lasting peace.” The letter adds: “The very same values that motivated us to work countless hours to elect you demand that we speak out … we remain horrified by the images of Palestinian civilians in Gaza killed or made homeless by Israeli airstrikes.”

Jewish and Arab Americans were among signatories to the open letter to Biden. Among its demands, it says the Biden administration must “investigate whether Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza violates the Leahy Law, prohibiting US military aid from funding foreign military units implicated in the commission of gross violations of human rights”.

Except for Palestine

Israel to carry out more mass arrests of Palestinians in pursuit of ethnic cleansing

On Sunday night, Israel’s police force announced a programme of mass arrests of Israel’s Palestinian citizens for participating in recent demonstrations opposing the bombing of Gaza and evictions in East Jerusalem, as well as against Israeli security forces’ raids on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Codenamed “Operation law and order,” its purpose is to intimidate and penalise the Palestinians who took to the streets over the last two weeks. The police reported that they had already arrested around 1,550 Palestinians since May 9 and they intend to “prosecute” many more.

It comes just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Israel’s Palestinian citizens protesting decades of state-sponsored discrimination as “terrorists.” He pledged that “Anyone who acts like a terrorist will be handled like one,” adding, “Arab law-breakers are attacking Jews, burning synagogues and Jewish homes.” He naturally all but ignored the far greater violence perpetrated by the police and armed Jewish vigilantes to terrorise and force the Palestinians, who constitute 20 percent of Israel’s population, from their homes.

Police Minister Amir Ohana went further. Expressing outrage when the police arrested Jews suspected of murdering a Palestinian in the city of Lod, he and other senior politicians forced the police to release them and called for Jewish Israelis to act as a “force multiplier” for the police. The police said that thousands of security forces from “all units”, including border guards and reserve brigades, would be deployed to carry out raids in the towns and cities with a large Palestinian population. They will search homes and carry out “investigations” with a view to pressing charges and imposing prison sentences. It is expected that more than 500 Palestinian homes will be raided in the coming days.

The provocative announcement made no mention of arresting the armed Jewish settlers that attacked Palestinians, their cars and homes, and whose shocking violence was captured in videos and pictures shared widely on social media. So far, 140 indictments have been brought against 230 people, all but a handful of whom are Palestinians, including minors, on charges of assaulting police officers, demonstrating, throwing stones and arson. Very few charges relate to the acts of violence against the Palestinians.

The methods long used to terrorise the Palestinians in the occupied territories are now to be used against Israel’s own citizens. This flows inexorably from Israel’s 2018 Jewish supremacist nation state law that sanctions apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

I Will Not Yield My Values: Fired AP Journalist Emily Wilder Speaks Out After Right-Wing Smears

AP, in Leaked Memos, Doing Damage Control With Staff: “You Will Have a Voice”

The Associated Press sent a memo to the news agency’s editorial staff this weekend about its controversial decision to fire a young staff reporter, Emily Wilder, following a conservative campaign to have her removed over her college activism regarding Israel-Palestine. The memo, obtained by The Intercept, assured staffers that “we hear you” and “you will have a voice,” then goes on to stand by the decision. “We did not make it lightly,” the memo notes. Signed by 10 senior executives, one signature is conspicuously absent: AP’s Executive Editor Sally Buzbee.

On Monday, Buzbee insisted to NPR that she had no involvement in the decision, saying that she had already handed over day-to-day operations after accepting a new job at the Washington Post. Buzbee’s first day as the Post’s executive editor will be June 1. Two AP staffers, who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity to avoid professional reprisal, said that Buzbee’s distancing from the issue reflects how controversial the firing is — both within the news agency and beyond. ... “Sally doesn’t want the controversy directly attached to her name,” one of the AP staffers speculated. ...

The firing has become a major controversy within the news agency. On Monday, over 100 AP staffers publicly condemned the firing in an open letter, saying that the organization was bowing to a “smear campaign.” In response to the letter, AP said, “The Associated Press looks forward to continuing the conversation with staff about AP’s social media policy.” ... One AP staffer told me that while there’s a “spectrum” of opinion on whether Wilder violated any rules, “all concur that firing blew up in management’s face.”

Wilder issued a statement on Saturday saying, “I am one victim to the asymmetrical enforcement of rules around objectivity and social media that has censored so many journalists — particularly Palestinian journalists and other journalists of color — before me.” In an interview, Wilder said she remains frustrated with the challenge of defending herself against violations that AP says took place but refuses to specify. “What’s most unfair is that they refused to explain what tweet was problematic or exactly what policy I violated,” Wilder told me. “I’m not sure how I am supposed to understand, learn, or defend myself if they can’t tell me what I did wrong.”


Advocates Hail Ruling Striking Down 'Unconstitutional' Georgia Anti-BDS Law

Free speech and Palestinian rights advocates on Monday hailed a ruling by a federal judge declaring the unconstitutionality of a Georgia law prohibiting the state from doing business with anyone advocating a boycott of Israel.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Cohen's 29-page ruling (pdf) addresses a 2016 Georgia law stipulating that "the state shall not enter into a contract with an individual or company... unless the contract includes a written certification that such individual or company is not currently engaged in, and agrees for the duration of the contract not to engage in, a boycott of Israel."

After plaintiff Abby Martin—an award-winning U.S. journalist and filmmaker critical of Israeli crimes against Palestinians—refused to sign the pro-Israel oath, a planned paid speaking engagement at Georgia Southern University was canceled.

Announcing her lawsuit—in which she was represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF)—Martin declared in February 2020, "I will not forfeit my constitutional rights by signing this pledge."

Cohen's ruling states that Georgia's law "prohibits inherently expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment, burdens Martin's right to free speech, and is not narrowly tailored to further a substantial state interest."

"The requirement... that parties seeking to contract with the state of Georgia sign a certification that they are not engaged in a boycott of Israel is also unconstitutional compelled speech," Cohen wrote, citing as precedent the U.S. Supreme Court's 1982 NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Company ruling, a landmark decision protecting the right to boycott. 

Cohen also cited Baird v. State Bar of Arizona, a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of a law school graduate who refused to disclose whether she had ever been a member of the Communist Party or any organization advocating the forceful overthrow of the United States government.

"Even assuming that Georgia's interest in furthering foreign policy goals regarding relations with Israel is a substantial state interest, defendants fail to explain how Martin's advocacy of a boycott of Israel has any bearing on Georgia's ability to advance foreign policy goals with Israel," Cohen wrote.

Israel will act to counter Iranian nuclear threat without US - Netanyahu

Israel may act on its own to counter the Iranian nuclear threat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday night, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the region.

Blinken's Tuesday visit to Israel comes just before a fifth round of indirect negotiations between the US and Iran to return to the 2015 Iran deal on Thursday. ...

Netanyahu had warned multiple times last month, following the attack on Iran's Natanz nuclear plant, that Israel would defend itself against Iranian threats. He stressed that Jerusalem would work to combat Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Reports at the time claimed that the Mossad was behind the attack at the Natanz nuclear plant in Iran. ...

Tensions have been rising between Israel and Iran amid a number of attacks on Iranian and Israeli maritime vessels, with recent reports claiming that Israel has hit dozens of Iranian ships in recent years.

Bezos' bloodthirsty bastards are at it again:


Dems Reintroduce SANE Act to Slash $73 Billion From 'Insane' Spending on Nuclear Arsenal

Legislation reintroduced in the House and Senate on Monday would slash spending on the United States' nuclear arsenal and "restore budget sanity."

Entitled the SANE Act, or Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act, the bill from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) came the same day the Congressional Budget Office released a report projecting the costs of the nation's nuclear forces over the next 10 years to be $634 billion.

The pair of Democrats said their proposal would deliver at least $73 billion in savings over the next decade while simultaneously creating greater global security.

According to Markey, President Joe Biden can move in the right direction "by stopping production of unnecessary nuclear weapons acquisition programs." Deterrence of adversaries is still possible "without making an insane investment in nuclear weapons overkill, including capabilities that may invite rather than prevent a nuclear exchange."

Markey put the legislation in the context of actions taken by former President Donald Trump, who moved to ditch major arms control treaties and even pushed other nations to depart from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). ...

The SANE Act would, among other cost-saving measures, prohibit space-based missile defense, prevent funding for a nuclear processing facility, slash the existing intercontinental ballistic missile fleet from over 400 to 150, and cut the number of deployed strategic warheads down from approximately 1,500 to 1,000.

Putin and Biden to meet in Geneva on 16th of June

EU imposes new economic sanctions on Belarus over ‘hijacked’ flight

EU leaders triggered new economic sanctions against Belarus and punitive measures against its national airline as a dissident taken from a “hijacked” Ryanair flight was paraded on the country’s television news apparently confessing to crimes against the state. In a summit communique swiftly agreed in Brussels on Monday night, the EU’s 27 heads of state and government condemned the forced landing of flight FR4978 in Minsk and called for the immediate release of opposition blogger Roman Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.

The statement came shortly after the release of a video in which Protasevich denied reports that he had suffered health problems since his arrest in the Belarusian capital and said that he was confessing to inciting mass riots, a charge that carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. The video, which appeared to have been filmed by police, was Protasevich’s first appearance since his arrest. Protasevich, who was dressed in a black hoodie and seated next to a pack of cigarettes, said: “I can declare that I have no problems with my health, either with my heart or with any other organs. [Police] officers are treating me absolutely correctly and according to the law. I’m currently continuing to cooperate with the investigation and am giving a confession to the organisation of mass arrests in the city of Minsk.” ...

Late on Monday, Joe Biden condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the operation to arrest Protasevich, calling it “a direct affront to international norms” and called for his release. He welcomed EU sanctions, adding that his team was assessing “appropriate options”.

Under the measures agreed by the EU leaders, a raft of economic sanctions will be applied against those involved in the arrests adding to those imposed months earlier on nearly 60 Belarusian officials, including president Alexander Lukashenko and his son Victor, relating to the crackdown on peaceful protests against last August’s allegedly rigged presidential election result. ... The EU’s heads of state and government also called on EU carriers to avoid Belarusian airspace and agreed “to adopt the necessary measures to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports” in a major blow to the country’s national airline. European flights over the country’s airspace have already been suspended.

Glenn Greenwald EXPOSES U.S. Hypocrisy On Belarus Plane Incident

New Zealand’s foreign minister warns China ‘storm’ could be coming

New Zealand could find itself at the heart of a “storm” of anger from China, foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has warned, saying exporters needed to diversify to ensure they could survive deteriorating relations with Beijing. Mahuta’s comments come as the New Zealand government faces increasing pressure to take a firmer stance on human rights violations and crackdowns by China, putting the spotlight on the potential repercussions for countries who provoke Beijing’s ire.

Neighbouring Australia is in a deepening trade war with China, which Mahuta likened to being at the centre of a storm – one which could easily engulf New Zealand. “We cannot ignore, obviously, what’s happening in Australia with their relationship with China. And if they are close to an eye of the storm or in the eye of the storm, we’ve got to legitimately ask ourselves – it may only be a matter of time before the storm gets closer to us,” she told the Guardian.

It was one of the minister’s more frank discussions of the vulnerability of New Zealand’s trade dependency on China – and a clear directive to local exporters that they should be seeking to redistribute some of those eggs to baskets elsewhere. “The signal I’m sending to exporters is that they need to think about diversification in this context – Covid-19, broadening relationships across our region, and the buffering aspects of if something significant happened with China. Would they be able to withstand the impact?” she asked. China accounts for more than $33bn of New Zealand’s total trade, and nearly 30% of exports.

NBC News Smears YouTubers For Competing With Them

Progressives seem to do a lot of "fuming" but very little leveraging.

Democrats 'Must Be Trying to Lose': Progressives Fume After Report Says Biden Budget Excludes Key Promises

Progressives are fuming in response to reports that President Joe Biden's forthcoming official budget proposal will not include a public option, drug pricing reform, student debt cancellation, or an estate tax increase.

Fulfilling these campaign pledges is necessary to improve the lives of working people in the United States, left-leaning critics say, while reneging on them imperils the future electoral success of the Democratic Party by depressing turnout among spurned constituencies and increasing the probability of Republican victories in the 2022 congressional midterms and beyond.

As a candidate, Biden said he would: enact a public option to create a government-run alternative to private insurance plans; reduce the sky-high and life-threatening prices of prescription drugs; cancel up to $10,000 of student loan debt per federal borrower; and raise the estate tax, which affects only the wealthiest 0.2% of U.S. households.

When Biden unveils his official budget proposal on Friday, however, none of those initiatives—which were already considered inadequate by progressives demanding Medicare for All, at least $50,000 of student debt relief, and substantially higher taxes on the super-rich—will be included, according to the Washington Post, which spoke with four unnamed individuals briefed on the matter.

Observers slammed the Biden administration for its about-face, warning that the White House's refusal to follow through on its promises will be the reason why "Democrats get routed in the midterms in 2022."


"Our budget reflects our priorities," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in response to the Post's reporting. "Fixing the broken healthcare system has to be a priority. Ending the student debt crisis has to be a priority, too. We need to keep our promises and deliver."

The Biden administration, for its part, defended its decision to backtrack on campaign pledges. The White House's argument is that the budget should "focus on advancing" the public investments proposed in Biden's $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, both of which seek to upgrade the nation's physical and social infrastructure and raise revenue through modest tax hikes on wealthy individuals and corporations.

"The budget won't propose other new initiatives but will put together the full picture of how these proposals would advance economic growth and shared prosperity while also putting our country on a sound fiscal course," said Rob Friedlander, spokesperson for the White House budget office.

According to the Post, "the White House jettisoned months of planning from agency staff" because they feared "their initial plan could fuel criticisms that the administration is pushing new spending programs too aggressively."

Instead of using his budget proposal to push for a public option or endorse progressives' calls to expand and improve Medicare by lowering the eligibility age from 65 to 55; including dental, vision, and hearing aid benefits; and allowing the federal program to negotiate directly with Big Pharma to slash drug prices, Biden will ask Congress to implement policies to reduce the costs of prescription medications and increase health coverage. ...

Jacobin's Branko Marcetic, author of Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden, asked: "If the aim is to avoid a midterm massacre, why would you do this?"

"The aim should be to get all the constituencies that brought you to power to stay energized, but young people aren't going to turn out at the 2020 numbers without a raging pandemic and Trump on ballot," he said. ...

Elsewhere, Marcetic expressed awe that Biden has been able to succeed "in pursuing his 'nothing will fundamentally change' vow while getting a nonstop stream of rapturous comparisons" to former presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson, who oversaw the implementation of far-reaching New Deal and Great Society programs, respectively.

Krystal Ball: Is Biden’s Washington “Wisdom” DESTROYING His Presidency?


Legal Scholars Detail Why DC Statehood Is Absolutely Constitutional

Dozens of legal scholars have come together for a new letter to congressional leaders detailing why "there is no constitutional barrier" to D.C. statehood legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month and federal lawmakers should not avoid establishing a 51st state "because of meritless threats of litigation."

"As scholars of the United States Constitution, we write to correct claims that the D.C. Admission Act is vulnerable to a constitutional challenge in the courts," says the letter (pdf), first reported on Monday by NBC News and addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

It is legal to allow the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth—the name proposed by House-approved H.R. 51, in honor of abolitionist Frederick Douglass—to enter the union through a congressional joint resolution, "just like the 37 other states that have been admitted since the Constitution was adopted," the letter continues.

"Furthermore, Congress's exercise of its express constitutional authority to decide to admit a new state is a classic political question, which courts are highly unlikely to interfere with, let alone attempt to bar," the letter notes.

H.R. 51 and its companion measure S. 51 would allow for a joint resolution declaring the admittance of a state made up of much of the territory now considered the District of Columbia—limiting the capital to two miles that include the National Mall, monuments, and federal buildings such as the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court, and White House.

"In sum, none of the critics' constitutional objections to the D.C. Admission Act are meritorious; and the contention that a constitutional amendment is required to admit the commonwealth into the union is incorrect," they write. "The D.C. Admission Act calls for a proper exercise of Congress' express authority under the Constitution to admit new states."

The letter, dated May 22, is signed by 39 scholars including Jessica Bullman-Pozen of Columbia University; Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California, Berkeley; Caroline Fredrickson of Georgetown University; Trevor Potter of the Campaign Legal Center; and Laurence Tribe of Harvard University.

Other signatories include law professors from American University, Cornell University, Duke University, George Washington University, Georgia State University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, and University of Virginia.

US Supreme Court declines to hear ‘qualified immunity’ case

The United States Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a case over whether to make it easier to hold municipalities liable for civil rights violations committed by their police, rejecting an appeal involving a man fatally shot by an officer in Ohio. The justices turned away the appeal filed by the mother of a 23-year-old man named Luke Stewart of a lower court ruling that threw out her claims made under federal law in a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Euclid and an officer involved in the 2017 incident.

Matthew Rhodes, the officer who shot Stewart in the chest and neck at close range, avoided liability for those claims through a legal defence called qualified immunity, even though the lower court determined that a jury might find that he unlawfully used excessive force.

The lawsuit filed by Mary Stewart accused Rhodes and another officer of using excessive force in violation of the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. The suit also accused Euclid police of a pattern of unconstitutional practices, particularly against Black people. Her son was Black. The officers are white.

Qualified immunity protects police officers and other types of government officials from civil litigation in certain circumstances, allowing lawsuits only when an individual’s “clearly established” statutory or constitutional rights have been violated. Recent investigations have shown, how under the guidance of the Supreme Court, lower federal courts are increasingly granting qualified immunity to police accused of excessive force even when they have determined the officers acted illegally.



the horse race



Beto O’Rourke considering run for Texas governor

Three years after becoming the Democrats’ breakout star in Texas and a year after a short-lived presidential run, Beto O’Rourke is weighing a campaign for governor. But amid considerable noise about the intentions of the actor Matthew McConaughey, whose political affiliations are unknown but whose ambitions are coming into focus, O’Rourke is staying quiet. The former congressman says he hasn’t ruled out anything, but isn’t saying much else.

Texas Democrats are itching for an answer. “Impatience is not the word for it,” the party chairman, Gilberto Hinojosa, said. “But anxious is.”

A top aide to O’Rourke said the 48-year-old had not ruled out challenging the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, in 2022 – but has taken no formal steps. If O’Rourke jumped in, it would be his third straight election cycle, following his narrow loss for US Senate against Ted Cruz in 2018 and the failed White House run.

A comeback could be complicated by liberal positions taken while seeking the presidency but no other Democrat would enter the governor’s race with the same ability to quickly raise massive campaign funds.



the evening greens



Advocates Applaud State AGs' Call for Review of Proposed 'Cancer Alley' Petrochemical Plant

Citing the imperative to "protect the residents and natural resources of St. James Parish and to prevent public health and environmental harms across our jurisdictions," attorneys general from four states and the District of Columbia on Monday sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking it to thoroughly evaluate the adverse impacts of Formosa Plastics' massive proposed petrochemical complex in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley."

The Center for Biological Diversity, Healthy Gulf, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and RISE St. James last year sued the Trump administration over a federal permit for the proposed project—which could cost up to $12 billion—prompting the Army Corps of Engineers to suspend that permit pending a broader environmental review.

"The corps must reevaluate the environmental justice implications of issuing the permit, including the plastics complex's disproportionate impacts on low-income African-American communities in St. James Parish that are already overburdened by pollution from existing refineries and petrochemical facilities," states the letter (pdf)—which was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and signed by William Tong, Karl Racine, Maura Healey, and Gurbir Grewal—her counterparts in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, respectively. 

"We also request that you reevaluate the plastics complex's greenhouse gas emissions and contribution to the global climate crisis, as well as its impacts on migratory birds and other species resulting from the destruction of forested wetlands and degradation of water quality," the five attorneys general wrote. "By reevaluating these environmental and public health impacts, the corps will comply with applicable law and prevent harm to our residents and natural resources."

"Such comprehensive analysis furthers the Biden administration's important environmental justice policies, which direct federal agencies to address the disproportionate health, environmental, and climate impacts of agency programs and decision-making on disadvantaged communities," the letter states.

St. James Parish residents—nearly half of whom are Black—and environmental advocates strongly oppose the proposed plant, which they say will release carcinogenic chemicals and, according to one environmental watchdog, spew 13.6 million tons of planet-heating emissions into the atmosphere each year. 

Formosa Plastics has also faced intense criticism for failing to follow through on a promise to alter the plant's layout to lessen the exposure of nearby residents and schoolchildren to toxins, and for its failure to notify the community of the discovery of a burial ground for enslaved Black people.

St. James Parish is located amid an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge commonly called Cancer Alley due to its nearly 150 oil refineries and plastics and chemical plants.

According to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the cancer risk in predominantly Black areas of St. James Parish is significantly higher than in majority white areas. The EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators database reported an 800% cancer hazard increase due to petrochemical facilities in the parish between 2007 and 2018.

Local and national advocacy groups praised the action by the attorneys general.

"I'm grateful that these attorneys general understand the threat Formosa Plastics poses to us and are demanding action," Sharon Lavigne, founder of RISE St. James, said in a statement. "The Army Corps needs to listen and do a proper analysis of a project that would endanger our lives."

"I believe that if there's an honest assessment of the environmental racism behind this project's approval then it will never be permitted," added Lavigne. "We must stop Formosa Plastics."


Also of Interest

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

Pilots bombed Palestinian buildings to 'vent frustration', says report

Abandoned by governments, Palestinians rely on the kindness of strangers

As Anger Toward Belarus Mounts, Recall the 2013 Forced Landing of Bolivia's Plane to Find Snowden

Lukashenko's Revenge (Served Cold)

The stifling of protest around the world paves the road for authoritarian rule

How American Journalism Became a Mouthpiece of the Deep State

Can Black Lives Matter LA dismantle the powerful police unions?

Was the fiddler framed? How Nero may have been a good guy after all

Finkelstein: Gaza assault a disaster for Israel, while Palestine solidarity is revived

Scottish election reignites independence movement

Keiser Report | Dumb Money is the New Smart Money

Ryan Grim REVEALS Custom Senate Bailout For Jeff Bezos

Rising: DeSantis Bill FINES Big Tech For Deplatforming Politicians

Krystal and Saagar: Vaccine CLASS Divide Shows The Failure Of Public Establishment


A Little Night Music

Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson - Dope Head Blues

Lonnie Johnson & Victoria Spivey - Long Time Blues

Victoria Spivey - Don't Trust Nobody Blues

Victoria Spivey - Going Blues

Victoria Spivey - How Do They Do It That Way?

Victoria Spivey with Lonnie Johnson - Jet

Victoria Spivey with Sonny Boy Williamson - Black Snake Swinger

Victoria Spivey and Roosevelt Sykes - Thirteen Hours

Victoria Spivey & Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Organ Grinder Blues

Victoria Spivey - Good Cabbage


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Comments

Man, I was really hungry and decide to order some KFC chicken wings. What am I crazy. They have no available wings. A sign. Gonna make my own Kosher pickles. I discovered that Kosher pickles are not kosher as prescribe by religious guidelines for preparing food. No, just describing the way European Jewish picklers made their pickles which involved using dill and garlic and other ingredients.

Thanks for postings. I am getting to point where just reading headlines and a few lines is enough to figure out the BS.

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12 users have voted.

@MrWebster @MrWebster Mr. Webster.

So here are my responses to some of tonight's highlighted "news" stories:

First-- Please tell me where this insane idea that Iran's nuclear ambition 1) exists, 2) How is it the USA/Israel get a say on who does and does not get to have nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan have nuclear capability. If this was a huge fuss as it happened, I do not remember it. The continuous drumbeat to war in the (apparently) joint state of USA/Israel is what is illegitimate and based on an entitlement they are absolutely not entitled to and will someday have revealed as the sham it is.

The story that would be News is where the government of the USA questions why we have 11-12 nuclear submarines in a world where other nations have one. And all the surplus planes, tanks etcetera that are not going to matter in the next war.

I was hopeful when I opened the item about Scotland but lasted 2 minutes when I saw that this was a debate between a Scot who stands for Independence and a "Unionist" Scot who, at this late date, is still trying to hold on to the Disappeared British Empire. Sorry, guy, that Britania has long since sunk beneath the waves. Disappeared beneath the sands. Fractured Dylan, again and yes the birthday has passed.

Joe, as usual, loved your opening quote. It seems to match our collective current mindset every day. And even though the news is polluted propaganda, the nightly collection you provide is invaluable and well worth reading, long after we have figured out what is happening in this increasingly tightening authoritarian make believe democracy.

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14 users have voted.

NYCVG

@NYCVG @NYCVG @NYCVG

The Not a New Yorker was the first charge against Andrew Yang.

Here is Eric Adams on how he is the "real New Yorker."

Eric Adams owns a house in New Jersey where he and his partner and kids live and kids go to school. Eric also rents an apartment in Brooklyn. Does Real New Yorker refer to his skin tone? Black is NY, Asian is foreign. WTF

Not to mention that Ray McQuire comes from Ohio and has a vacation home upstate and Maya Wiley comes from DC. All 3 Black candidate have less claim to NYC than Andrew does.

It is the second bit I intended to direct attention to. Sally Goldenberg is the Politico bureau chief and usually jumps on the anti Andrew bandwagon. This complete ugly Lie from Eric Adams finally got her attention.

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NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

heh:

Please tell me where this insane idea that Iran's nuclear ambition 1) exists, 2) How is it the USA/Israel get a say on who does and does not get to have nuclear weapons.

1) the israelis have a magic book.

2) nobody gives you power. you just take it. then, following the idea that diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you find a big enough rock, you attempt to justify your power by explaining how you only use it for good (see the words "exceptional" and "indispensable" and perhaps "shining city on a hill"). then when you have a big enough rock, you tell people to shut up and deal with it.

the empire is pretty comfortable with the size of its rockpile.

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joe shikspack's picture

@MrWebster

good to see you. wow, i haven't had the colonel's chicken in a long, long time. i had a friend in college who worked at a kfc and she'd come home just covered in grease from head to toe. but the nights that she worked the late shift, she brought home buckets of chicken that were left over to a bunch of hungry hippies. it sure beat generic mac & cheese.

have a great evening and enjoy the refuge of your homemade pickles!

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12 users have voted.

@joe shikspack Back in the day, an ex worked at McDonalds. Same thing. Came home covered in grease and also wicked burns on her arms (who said those places were safe). At the end of the last shift, the staff would over cook burgers so as to take them home. The typical policy was that McDonalds would trash burgers after a certain time interval to keep them hot and fresh. Many of family member of the staff probably had their best meal of the day from those burgers, fries, etc.

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8 users have voted.

Georgia anti-BDS ruling.
and
Holding the line on Formosa Plastics
and
SANE legislation - limit nuclear expansion
and
"staffers" urging the Bidden admin to stop Palestine destruction

fingers crossed any of this comes to pass

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12 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

yep, i was quite pleased to see that abby martin had prevailed in her lawsuit against georgia. it's nice to see that there are some pieces of the constitution that can stand up against a frontal assault by the israelis and their allies.

i hope that the other stuff in the works holds up, i guess we'll see.

have a great evening!

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11 users have voted.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/555388...

The U.S. State Department has denounced Syria's presidential election on Tuesday as neither "free nor fair" one day before voters are set to head to the polls across the beleaguered nation.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, , in concert with foreign ministers of the U.K., Italy, Germany and France, said in a statement that Wednesday's Syrian elections were deemed "fraudulent" because they were being held outside of UN supervision.

"We denounce the Assad regime’s decision to hold an election outside of the framework described in UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and we support the voices of all Syrians, including civil society organizations and the Syrian opposition, who have condemned the electoral process as illegitimate," the statement continued.

The remarks come as Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is standing for reelection in tomorrow's contest against two challengers including Mahmoud Ahmed Merei, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights. Assad's government has been roundly denounced over the past half decade amid its suppression of demonstrators and rebel forces during the Syrian Civil War.

They are pissed that despite arming ISIS their coup attempts failed.

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9 users have voted.
TheOtherMaven's picture

@humphrey

The UN does not, cannot supervise US elections, not just because the US will not allow it, but because the so-called "system" is too utterly chaotic for any meaningful supervision.

And yet the US presumes to tell other nations how to run their elections?

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16 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven And select their leaders

And decide who gets which weapons

All the while braying about Our Democracy.

Stupefying when you think about this.

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10 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

i wonder who has the sour grapes concession in deecee. they must be rich as croesus.

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7 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

Here's another good one from The American Conservative,
Andrew Bacevich - Trump Voters After Trump
Ivermectin - “I Don’t Know of a Bigger Story in the World” Right Now Than Ivermectin
UFOs - UFOs Aren't Real
The drought in AZ is so bad that even cactus are dying of thirst.
We've been walking in the desert of late and there's a really spectacular saguaro bloom happening right now.
Unfortunately, it may be a sign of stress: Unprecedented saguaro 'side blooms' could be a bad sign

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14 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 articles!

i liked bacevich's piece, while we would probably disagree about the sort of changes that would be best, i think that his diagnosis of what many of the problems are is pretty good.

i'm not entirely sure what to make of the ivermectin debate, but i'm glad that it is being used and appears to be having a positive, life-saving effect around the world.

so sorry to hear about the drought in your neck of the woods. i hope that some rain comes along to help out.

have a great evening!

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5 users have voted.

@Azazello

This is one of the most powerful pieces on the story of the willful suppression of an existing, safe, low cost, readily available drug that has repeatedly demonstrated remarkable efficacy in combating COVID-19, protection that rivals that of expensive mRNA vaccines. These are the same vaccines that have been granted Emergency Use Authorization and total liability waivers, experimental treatments that have bypassed long term study.

Ironically, the NIH is resisting the approval of Ivermectin, a drug with over a decade and billions of of real world doses and a remarkable safety profile as well as dozens of reputable studies, in favor of very expensive, and very profitable, experimental vaccines.

This failure of the WHO and NIH to include Ivermectin in its recommended treatment protocols is nothing short of a travesty.

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10 users have voted.

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

So what does he do?

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/555374-biden-replacing-four-...

President Biden is replacing four members of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts that were appointed by former President Trump.

Among the new appointees the White House announced Tuesday is Peter Cook, a principal at HGA Architects who’s work includes the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Also chosen is Bill Tsein, a partner at Tod Williams Billie Architects. The firm has been selected as the lead design team for former President Obama’s presidential library.

Biden has also selected Hazel Ruth Edwards, who is the chair of the Department of Architecture at Howard University’s College of Engineering and Architecture.

The president has also selected Justin Garrett Moore, who is the Inaugural Program Officer for the Humanities in Place Program at the Andrew Mellon Foundation. He was previously the executive director of the City of New York’ Public Design Commission.

The new members will not require Senate confirmation.

Yet dejoy is still running the sinking ship.

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13 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

maybe they put out a grant for some architecture firm to make a set of scale drawings of a working postal system.

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7 users have voted.

@joe shikspack

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5 users have voted.

NYCVG

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14 users have voted.

And the US death penalty. And judges who are elected, getting donors, and those donors are of public record.
And where I love, want to go, is Columbia, until now, as the US makes it a Nazi state. They worked on doing that for a long time, may just murder all the protesters, accomplish their narco government mission.
The Supreme Court sucks.
I got the craziest ruling evah from a judge today, although it was not on paper bed for my client. She got a win, but should have gotten a HUGE win, if rules, statutes, and codes were followed.
On the bright side, .....shit, today, none!
Be well, joe!

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9 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

yeah, as i understand it (and i could be wrong) "qualified immunity" was invented by activist judges, rather than by the writers of the constitution or legislators.

it's long past time that the legislative branch stepped up to the plate and fixed this shit.

heh, i have thought from time to time over the years of moving to a latin/south american country, but i always come to the conclusion that it's not worth it due to the instability (shorthand for a complex of nasty stuff) that the u.s. imposes south of the border.

well congrats on the win. i hope that when the ruling drops on paper the pot gets sweetened for your client.

have a great evening!

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4 users have voted.

@joe shikspack I want to send the link/article about the judge I appeared before today, and he handles about 75% of my cases.

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4 users have voted.

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

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5 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

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3 users have voted.

Progressives seem to do a lot of "fuming" but very little leveraging.

Fuming, calling on, sternly worded letters, asking, etc. What does any of it amount to other than theater? It's absurd that these so called progressives in office pretend they are as powerless as I am to change things. I just ignore anything that doesn't have action associated with it as it's nothing more than an attempt to look like they're doing something when they aren't.

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6 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

tedious, indeed. but not unexpected anymore.

i like jimmy dore's construction for them, "performative radicalism."

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1 user has voted.