The Evening Blues - 11-1-21



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Tracy Nelson

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues singer Tracy Nelson. Enjoy!

Mother Earth - Mother Earth

Accountability is the essence of democracy. If people do not know what their government is doing, they cannot be truly self-governing. The national security state assumes the government secrets are too important to be shared, that only those in the know can see classified information, that only the president has all the facts, that we must simply trust that our rulers of acting in our interest.

-- Garry Wills


News and Opinion

“Stain on the Moral Fiber of America”: Military Jurors Decry Majid Khan’s Torture at CIA Black Sites

In first, Guantanamo detainee details CIA torture in court

A detainee held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre has offered the first public account in a United States court of torture at a CIA clandestine facility during Washington’s decades-long so-called “war on terror”. Majid Khan, a former resident of a Baltimore suburb, detailed being waterboarded, physically and sexually abused, and suffering other forms of torment at a CIA “black site”, used by the US in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Thursday’s testimony from Khan, which came during a war crimes tribunal sentencing hearing at the US base in Cuba, represents the first time a former “black site” detainee has publicly described abuses committed as part of the US spy agency’s so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques”, according to the New York Times. ...

While some of Khan’s treatment had previously been detailed in a 2014 US Senate Intelligence Committee report – which accused the CIA of going far beyond its legal boundaries as it sought to extract information about al-Qaeda – public personal accounts from high-level detainees have been virtually non-existent. ...

Rights monitors have continued to call for accountability for the abuses committed at the secret sites, with UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, saying in 2017 the conduct was in “clear violation of the Convention against Torture and is sending a dangerous message of complacency and impunity to officials in the US and around the world.” ...

Khan, reading from a 39-page statement, spoke on the first day in what is expected to be a two-day hearing. He pleaded guilty in February 2012 to charges that include conspiracy, murder and providing material support to “terrorism”. A panel of military officers selected by a Pentagon legal official – known as a convening authority – is set to sentence Khan to between 25 and 40 years in prison. However, he will serve far less because of his extensive cooperation with US authorities, including in the case against the five men currently being held at Guantanamo who are charged with planning and providing logistical support for the 9/11 attacks.

Under the plea deal, which the jurors were not told about, Khan’s sentence by the jury will be reduced to no more than 11 years by the convening authority, and he will get credit for his time in custody since his February 2012 guilty plea.

Inspector general for Afghanistan war pressured by State, DOD to redact reports

The inspector general charged with reviewing U.S. involvement in Afghanistan said Friday that he has faced recent pressure from the State Department to redact some of their reports while noting the Pentagon classified much of its work detailing the failings of the country’s own military forces. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John Sopko, referenced numerous attempts to “impede” his work, adding that “U.S. agencies have not made honest reporting easy for SIGAR.”

Sopko’s comments, published on SIGAR's website, came at the Military Reporters & Editors Association annual conference, where the inspector general details multiple efforts by State to get SIGAR to redact information from its reports, including removing all mentions of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

“Shortly after the fall of Kabul, the State Department wrote to me and other oversight agencies requesting to ‘temporarily suspend access’ to all ‘audit, inspection, and financial audit … reports’ on our website because the Department was afraid that information included in those reports could put Afghan allies at risk,” Sopko said.

“But despite repeated requests, State was never able to describe any specific threats to individuals that were supposedly contained in our reports, nor did State ever explain how removing our reports now could possibly protect anyone since many were years old and already extensively disseminated worldwide. Nevertheless, with great reservation, I acceded to State’s initial request because it was made at the height of the emergency evacuation from Afghanistan.”

After Sopko complied, State returned with another request, this time passing along a spreadsheet listing some 2,400 items it wanted redacted — something SIGAR reviewed and “found all but four to be without merit.”

US would only quit Iran nuclear deal if Tehran were to renege, Biden pledges

Joe Biden has given a pledge that if the US returns to the Iran nuclear agreement, it will only subsequently leave if Tehran clearly breaks the terms of the deal.

The US president made the commitment, which addresses one of Iran’s key negotiating demands, in a joint statement issued with Germany, France and the UK. The statement followed a meeting on the margins of the G20 in Rome attended by Biden, Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Boris Johnson.

The key paragraph of a lengthy statement read: “We welcome President Biden’s clearly demonstrated commitment to return the US to full compliance with the JCPOA [joint comprehensive plan of action] and to stay in full compliance, so long as Iran does the same.” ...

Throughout the talks Iran has been seeking an undertaking, ideally legally underpinned, that if Iran returns to the deal, future US administrations will not repeat the walkout of the previous president, Donald Trump, which was accompanied by the imposition of tighter economic sanctions on Iran’s financial institutions and political bodies.

Biden is hamstrung in the value of the guarantees he can give to Iran because the nuclear deal is not a signed treaty endorsed by the US Senate, and he cannot bind the hands of future US administrations.

Cucked Progressives Already Caved On Spending Bills

The Outer Limits Of Corporate Politics

Democratic Party leaders on Thursday united around a plan to halve their economic agenda, which had already been nearly halved a few months ago. The full loaf is really a quarter loaf, but at this point, it’s actually less than that, because they also slashed promised regulatory and tax provisions that might have reduced medicine prices, provided workers some paid leave, and made billionaires start paying taxes. In the coming days, we will learn more of the granular details in the 1,600-plus page bill — but the overall agreement amid a flood of industry campaign cash is an illuminating moment: It reveals the outer limits of possibility for corporate politics, and the human costs of those politics.

In general, the reason the Democratic Party always sounds so helplessly incoherent is because its lawmakers are trying to simultaneously appease their corporate donors and look like they are fulfilling their public promises to fix problems created by those corporate donors. In most cases, this is impossible. You cannot protect pharmaceutical and fossil fuel industry donors and also reduce the price of medicine and solve the climate crisis. If you try to pretend you can do both, the donors always eventually win out. So you end up talking in circles, complaining accurately about the problems while doing nothing to solve them, and then portraying marginal victories as huge wins to voters who must wonder why their lives aren’t improving.

The so-called Build Back Better legislation embodies this conundrum. There are laudable provisions in the framework released by the White House, such as an expansion of Medicaid, universal pre-K, subsidized child care, the extension of the child tax credit, tougher penalties for employers who violate labor laws, and spending on clean energy programs. These are significant steps beyond the incrementalism and corporatism of the Obama presidency.

However, the deal also seems designed to honor the one campaign promise that President Joe Biden appears most intent on fulfilling: the pledge to his donors that “nothing would fundamentally change” in our economy when he is president. Ultimately, Democrats’ reconciliation bill was stripped of most provisions to alter the structure of the economy to try to make it more fair, and less ecocidal. ...

As the bill is reviewed, we will inevitably learn of some genuinely grotesque giveaways added into the package — we can already see how its authors transformed a much-needed methane fee into a fossil fuel subsidy and slipped in a bailout for profitable microchip corporations that have offshored jobs and put their profits into stock buybacks that enrich executives. There’s also a good chance that while Democrats plead poverty on funding other programs to help low-income families, they will also move to make sure wealthy homeowners in affluent coastal congressional districts get wildly regressive new tax breaks they don’t need, and then claim the giveaway is really all about helping the middle class (it’s not). After weeks of inexplicably refusing to make clear demands about what they wanted in the reconciliation bill, the Congressional Progressive Caucus promptly surrendered Thursday (with only a performative process objection) — and they capitulated even though it’s not clear their party leaders are completely finished shredding the bill. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, the monsters who have rampaged through Washington and helped their donors whittle the bill down this far, haven’t actually endorsed the deal yet — so there may be still more pounds of flesh.

NBC Forced To Admit 71% DISAPPROVE Of Country Under Biden

Joe Biden dismisses bad polling and says domestic agenda set to pass

Joe Biden sought to brush off concerns about bad polling on Sunday, telling reporters he expected Democrats to overcome internal differences and pass both his domestic spending plan and a bipartisan infrastructure deal in the week to come.

Earlier, an NBC News poll found that 54% of US adults disapproved of Biden’s performance, down six points since August, a period in which the president’s domestic agenda has stalled amid intra-party division.

Biden spoke to reporters in Rome at the end of the G20, before traveling to Glasgow for the Cop26 climate summit. ... “… I believe we will pass my Build Back Better plan. I believe we will pass the infrastructure bill. Combined, they have $900bn in dealing with climate resilience, the largest investment in the history of the world that’s ever occurred. And it’s going to pass in my view, but we’ll see. We’ll see.” ...

Discussions continued throughout the weekend. Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Senate budget committee, told CNN’s State of the Union: “I can tell you, we are working right now. I spent all of yesterday on the telephone … as soon as I leave the studio, I’m going to be going back home to get on the phone.”

Sanders said he was optimistic and added: “This is not easy stuff, but what we are trying to do is put together the most consequential piece of legislation in the modern history of this country, which will transform the role of government in protecting the needs of working families.” Sanders said he was fighting for action on prescription drugs costs to be included in the spending bill, an issue on which he and Sinema are in very evident opposition.

Pete Buttigieg CALLED Out LIVE For Paid Leave Hypocrisy

Keeping Fighting Like Hell: Nina Turner on What Bernie Sanders and Progressives Should Do Next

Staunch progressive Nina Turner has some dire warnings about the current political moment coupled with applause for what her allies both in and outside of Congress have been able to accomplish since they helped elect President Joe Biden last year.

But first, a little context.

Sen. Bernie Sanders made very public and repeated arguments this week about why it was crucial to include both Medicare expansion and policies to lower prescription drug prices in the Democratic Party's sweeping "Build Back Better Act." Still, with those provisions largely slashed from the framework unveiled by Biden, the question this weekend is whether there's anything the U.S. Senator from Vermont and other progressives in Congress can or will do to get those critical provisions added back before a final deal is made or votes are cast.

While the Congressional Progressive Caucus, led by chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), blocked a rush to vote on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (BIB) for a second time on Thursday, the question is whether there is actual agreement among all 50 members of the Democratic caucus in the U.S. Senate to pass the Build Back Better reconciliation bill. While Jayapal has said her members in the House have embraced the framework "in principle," she also made clear they would be thrilled to see key priorities taken out at the insistence of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kysrtsen Sinema (D-Ariz.) put back.

With Biden hoping for swift agreement while he attends the G20 summit in Rome and subsequent UN climate conference in Glasgow, a lingering question on the domestic front is whether Sanders is willing to flex his political muscle—or make it part of his lasting legacy—to draw a deep, red line on the ground to prevent a victory for the Big Pharma lobby that fought so hard against drug pricing and the Medicare expansion.

As Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, told The Hill earlier this week, "Everybody has been concerned about whether or not Manchin and Sinema would support this. The question now is whether Bernie Sanders will support it."

"I think it will be a very bitter drink if it goes down at all," added Baker, who referenced "certain red lines that have been crossed" in the eyes of Sanders.

In a tweet Friday that suggested he was still unhappy about the exclusion of drug price reform from the package—but offering no indication of what course of action he might take next—Sanders said: "A life-saving prescription drug does not mean anything if you cannot afford to buy it." He subsequently tweeted:

Winnie Wong, a former adviser to Sanders during the 2020 campaign, told Common Dreams that Sanders should not sit back but instead take a stand to mobilize his supporters and leverage the overwhelming popularity of lower drug prices and the expansion of Medicare to include not only hearing aids, but also eye and dental coverage.

"Bernie should seize the moment to rally his still sizable but very disgruntled base of supporters to spring into well-organized action in support of Medicare expansion and fair drug pricing," said Wong. In her mind, such a push would have to come directly from Sanders "giving directives from the inside to the outside," but in coordination with outside allies and other progressives in Congress.

She said such a push—especially at this hour—"will take a diversity of tactics" to be successful, something she said Sanders certainly understands. Democratic leadership "continue to betray his confidence," said Wong, "and by extension millions of poor people in this country."

While it certainly wouldn't sit well with the Biden White House or Democratic leadership, Wong said Sanders "owes them nothing."

Meanwhile, in a lengthy phone interview with Common Dreams on Friday evening, former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, the national co-chair of Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign who lost a close battle for an open seat for the U.S. House earlier this year in Ohio, offered her thoughts on the current political moment, including what Sanders might do next and why progressives both inside and outside of Congress are doing exactly the right thing by "holding the line" against the corporate Democrats in their ranks.

"It's refreshing to see the progressives holding so strong," she said. "And Senator Sanders has definitely played a role in that and no doubt that [Jayapal] has certainly set a certain tone for the progressives, and they are by and large adhering to that and not necessarily inclined to accept the crumbs that are coming from the master's table. And when I say 'the masters,' I mean the corporate interest that guide every move of Manchin, Sinema, and others."

According to Turner, the dynamic in the Senate is clear, if not troubling. When it comes to what Sanders, or any other small group of more progressive senators, should do to move Manchin and Sinema closer to the party consensus, she argues there's more to it than is often reported in the corporate or mainstream press.

"If you've got 48 Senators all in agreement," she said, "and then we got Vice President Kamala Harris who can break a tie, and then you have two holdouts—then why aren't all 48 of them bringing the muscle on their two colleagues?"

The absence of that pressure, whether in public or behind closed doors, said Turner, "leads me to suspect that some of those folks are hiding behind Manchin and Sinema."

In Turner's mind, "the Democrats are going to have to deliver, and the progressives understand that. The progressives are doing more to save the Democratic Party than the corporate Democrats are, meaning that in 2022 something material has got to change for those voters that we went and got in Georgia; those voters that we went and got all over this country to make President Biden President Biden. Those people are going to want to see something that changes their lives."

Turner warned that even if significant policies are achieved and passed in the Build Back Better Act, there's a danger if the implementation is not swift enough or those policies are not strong enough to be truly or immediately felt by working-class people and low-income families.

She believes Democrats must be asking themselves how the implementation of this legislation will "move the needle materially for people in this country" and that simply talking about "the many beautiful things that are still left in the bill" may not be enough to make up for what Manchin, Sinema, and others were able to force out.

"Progressives need to continue to hold the line both in the House and in the Senate," said Turner. And, she said, they should make some demands.

"One type of demand that they can make, is to do a straight-up deal with the president, which is 'We want these things by executive order, and we want them right now.' One demand would be canceling the $1.9 trillion worth of student debt."

Another example, she said, is for progressives to demand that Biden use his executive power "in a deeper way" to fight for voting rights.

"You have black organizations nationwide," Turner said, "protesting and marching and begging—begging—a Democratically-controlled Congress and a Democratic presidency to something substantial on voting rights—what the hell does that look like?"

The optics and reality of black voters getting themselves arrested while protesting for their right to vote "in the 21st century" while Democrats are in power, she added, is a "lunacy" that cannot be ignored. "And you expect these same people to go back into the black community—in particular, not just exclusively—and put these Democrats back in office? Why would we do that?"

"I think progressives can push Biden to be bolder than he ordinarily would be—and they have already. So I want to commend progressives for all that they have already done, but there is more to be done," she said. "And if Manchin and Sinema can push their will on the entire U.S. Senate and president, then the progressives almost 100-strong should damn sure be able to push their will too. They should not move. They got to hold. It's too much at stake."

While Democrat leaders like House Speaker Pelosi and Democratic leaders have said they want to focus on what's "in" the bill and not what's been taken out, Turner said that is not a game progressives should play.

"They need to blast the hell out of it for leaving out certain things, like paid family leave and 2-year community college, and the climate," Turner said. "Certainly, in my elected experience, I've had to vote for things that I didn't want to vote for, but they have a soapbox, and they can get up there and blast it and name what their agenda is just to remind people that they are going to keep fighting."

"Hell no," Turner said on keeping quiet about what the corporate interests have managed to strong-arm out of the legislation thus far. "They are duly elected. And somebody has to stand up for the people. The president is not their boss. And the leaders of both chambers are not anybody's bosses. Now you might give your colleagues some deference, but what do the progressives look like not talking about what's not in the bill, because that is our hallmark. That is what separates the progressives from the corporatists is us being able to stand up and fight and go the extra mile."

"Progressives have to tell the truth," said Turner. "Because if they don't, progressives are going to risk looking like hypocrites and being just like the rest of those Democrats in there. We can't afford it. So I think they should tell the American people and tell the progressive base how hard they fought, what's not in the bill, why they are upset about it, and that they are going to fight—and, by the way, this is what we got."

However, argues Turner, progressive lawmakers have to get something. "If they just give their votes and they get nothing, it's going to impact the progressive movement. Because if you're a progressive out there every day and see that two people can totally dominate the entire Congress and the presidency, and you got a hundred progressives that can't get anything? No. That's not going to work politically for progressives."

If that happens, warns Turner, "the Democratic Party's going to lose, and the progressive movement will lose if progressives don't hold the line."

Killed in seconds: why did the FBI shoot Jonathan Cortez in an Oakland corner store?

Jonathan Cortez was buying a packet of beef jerky, a bottle of Gatorade and a Snickers bar at his local corner store in Oakland, California, when an FBI agent stormed in, gun drawn. Seconds later, the officer opened fire, fatally shooting the 31-year-old. ...

Federal authorities said Cortez was killed as officers were serving warrants for his arrest, and local officials have claimed Cortez was armed. But, Cortez’s relatives say, it remains unclear how a trip to the store for snacks turned deadly in an instant. Why were federal agents involved in serving local warrants? Why did the officer run in with his gun drawn? And what exactly happened in those few seconds?

Cortez’s friends and relatives have demanded that the agent involved be named, fired and arrested, and that police release the security footage they seized from the store during the investigation. They’ve decried the response of local and federal police, which the family says has included harassment, during the investigation.

Meanwhile, community activists have warned the shooting highlights the dangers of federal officers operating in Oakland’s communities of color. “How can this happen?” said Jackie Nguyen, Cortez’s 33-year-old girlfriend, who has known him since childhood and lives above the store. “He spent seven dollars and he lost his life.”



the horse race



How Democrats' FAILURES Undermine Democracy

Obama Blames Voters for Dems Failing Them AGAIN



the evening greens


We’re in uncharted territory for the world’s climate, UN says

The climate crisis has driven the planet into “uncharted territory”, with far-reaching repercussions for today’s and future generations, according to the UN World Meteorological Organization. It said the Cop26 summit was a “make-or-break opportunity to put us back on track”.

The WMO’s State of the Global Climate report shows that the last seven years have been the hottest seven years on record, and that accelerating sea level rise hit new heights in 2021. It also sets out the heatwaves, wildfires, droughts and floods that have wreaked havoc across the planet this year and is intended to inform Cop26 negotiations.

“The report shows our planet is changing before our eyes,” said the UN secretary general, António Guterres. “From the ocean depths to mountain tops, from melting glaciers to relentless extreme weather events, communities and ecosystems around the globe are being devastated. Cop26 must be a turning point for people and planet. ...

On Monday, 120 global leaders will arrive at Cop26 in Glasgow after a battery of reports were released that spell out the grave danger the world is in. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report was a “code red” warning, according to Guterres, and found that global heating was unequivocally caused by human activities and affected every part of the planet.

UN reports have also found that the action plans of the world’s nations so far leave the planet facing a catastrophic 2.7C of heating. Emissions are on track to be 16% higher in 2030 rather than 45% lower, which is the cut that science shows is required to keep below 1.5C and avoid the worst consequences. Planned production by the world’s governments of fossil fuels, the key cause of the climate emergency, “vastly exceeds” the limit for 1.5C.

Rich Countries Bring “Tough Talk on Climate” to COP26 No New Plans or Money to Curb Global Emissions

G20 pledge to take climate action criticised for ‘lacking ambition’

World leaders meeting at the G20 summit in Rome have agreed that countries must take meaningful action to keep the world from warming by no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, but are facing criticism for offering few concrete commitments in order to reach the target.

Sunday’s final communique did not include a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The G20 leaders instead agreed to wording that underlines the importance of reaching net zero by or around the middle of the century, phrasing that meets the positions of China and Saudi Arabia.

Greenpeace condemned the statement as weak and “lacking ambition and vision”, and said G20 leaders had “failed to meet the moment” before the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow.

'The Supreme Court Could Destroy the Planet': Review of EPA Power Triggers Alarm

As U.S. President Joe Biden prepares for a consequential United Nations climate summit in Scotland, the Supreme Court on Friday provoked widespread alarm by agreeing to review the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to limit planet-heating pollution.

"The Supreme Court could destroy the planet. Pass it on," tweeted Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) in response to the decision.

Republican-led states and coal companies asked the justices to weigh in after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in January struck down the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule issued under former President Donald Trump.

The day before Biden took office, a divided three-judge panel said that the Trump-era rule—intended to replace former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, which never took effect—"hinged on a fundamental misconstruction" of a key section of the Clean Air Act that resulted from a "tortured series of misreadings" of the law.

The justices will now consider whether that section of the Clean Air Act "clearly authorizes EPA to decide such matters of vast economic and political significance as whether and how to restructure the nation's energy system."

Though there was some initial confusion about the forthcoming review due to a typo in Friday's order that was later corrected, climate action advocates and legal experts frantically issued warnings about how a ruling from the high court's right-wing supermajority may impede the Biden administration's efforts to combat the climate emergency.

"This is the equivalent of an earthquake around the country for those who care deeply about the climate issue," Harvard University law professor Richard J. Lazarus told The New York Times. The court's decision threatens "to sharply cut back, if not eliminate altogether, the new administration's ability to use the Clean Air Act to significantly limit greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's power plant[s]." ...

Although the Biden administration is still working on ways to cut emissions that don't rely on the section of the Clean Air Act in question, HuffPost's Alexander Kaufman explained how an unfavorable ruling from the Supreme Court could cause problems, given current conditions in Congress:

"It's only this one statute of the Clean Air Act, which is one of many tools the administration has," Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia Law School's Sabin Center on Climate Change Law, told HuffPost. "I don't think it's a problem for most of the measures the administration might want. But there's this one particular tool that might be in trouble."

The court could, however, seek to "take this as an opportunity to rule more broadly about the ability of Congress to delegate decisions to agencies," by going after the non-delegation doctrine, and might "say Congress is going to have to give EPA authority over such an important area and be more clear and explicit."

That would likely constitute a victory for the plaintiffs. With a 50-50 split in the Senate, Democrats need to vote in lockstep to pass a bill, giving unique power to lone senators like Manchin, whose opposition to climate regulations and personal family fortune tied up in a coal business have made him a magnet for fossil fuel industry donations throughout the past year. He'd be unlikely to vote for legislation granting the EPA new powers to regulate greenhouse gases. And Republicans are favored to win back at least one chamber of Congress in next year's midterm election.

This "is the most significant climate case to reach the Supreme Court since 2007, when the justices ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that greenhouse gases could be regulated as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act," noted E&E News.

As the petitioners, including 19 states led by West Virginia, celebrated the court's announcement, campaigners such as David Doniger, senior strategic director at the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate & Clean Energy program, vowed that "we will vigorously defend EPA's authority to curb power plants' huge contribution to the climate crisis."

EPA Administrator Michael Regan, meanwhile, signaled in a pair of tweets that the Biden administration will keep up its work to address climate-wrecking pollution.

The federal agency, Regan vowed, "will continue to advance new standards to ensure that all Americans are protected from the power plant pollution that harms public health and our economy."


Also of Interest

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

From Press Freedom To Prison Systems, Everything Assange Touches Gets Illuminated

‘I Was Raped By The CIA Medics,’ Says Black-Site Survivor

Billionaires Are Not Morally Qualified To Shape Human Civilization

Cuban exile told sons he trained Oswald, JFK’s accused assassin, at a secret CIA camp

The "Let's Go, Brandon!" Freakout Goes Next-Level

The people Kyle Rittenhouse shot can’t be called ‘victims’, a judge says. Surprised?

Biden BLOCKS Release Of JFK Assassination Files

How US-imposed austerity and privatization schemes are crushing Puerto Rico

Ryan Grim: Inside The Corporate TAKEOVER Of Medicare Prescription Drug Pricing

Kim Iversen: Half Of America Labeled As Domestic TERRORISTS, Where Does This Lead?


A Little Night Music

Tracy Nelson - I Know It's A Sin

Tracy Nelson - Sweet Soul Music

Mother Earth (Tracy Nelson) - Down So Low

Tracy Nelson - Homemade Songs

Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas & Tracy Nelson - Sing It

Tracy Nelson & Willie Nelson - After the Fire Is Gone

Tracy Nelson - Ramblin´ Man

Tracy Nelson - Victim of the Blues

Tracy Nelson - That´s All Right

Tracy Nelson - Wait, Wait, Wait

Tracy Nelson - Stranger In My Own Home Town


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Comments

The progressives could gain the upper hand simply by saying that we will gladly pass the infrastructure bill only after the Senate passes the shitty Build Back Better bill.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/579443-manchin-demands-infrastructur...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday demanded that the House immediately take up the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill while making it clear he's not yet ready to support a separate social and climate spending bill.

Manchin, who called a press conference at the Capitol on Monday, railed against House progressives, accusing them of holding the infrastructure bill "hostage" while warning the tactics won't force him to commit to the separate $1.75 trillion spending bill before he is ready.

"The political games have to stop," Manchin said. "Holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconciliation bill."

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

heh, i think that if the progressives really want something, they are going to have to kill both bills and go on a scorched earth campaign against president manchinema.

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joe shikspack's picture

@gjohnsit

yep, karl comes in handy now and then to explain stuff.

good to hear that john deere's management is starting to come to its senses.

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6 users have voted.

Sing It one more time like that!
Marcia can damn well pound them ivories.
Thanks Joe

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7 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

yep, there's lots of talent in that triumvirate and tracy and irma's voices really work well together.

have a great evening!

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5 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

Just asking for a friend

https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

"The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy."

William Hazlitt

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10 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, tell your friend that there's really no reason to. the party is incorrigible and it corrupts anybody that is elected to office under their banner.

have a great evening!

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Azazello's picture

@humphrey
Mint Press News reports that regime-change in Cuba is scheduled for Nov.15.
Mark you calendars.
Also at MPN, US Writes Belarus into Its Familiar Regime-Change Script.
No news on when that one is supposed to happen.
Lee camp discusses:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvx6YyupR4Y width:500 height:300]
Damn, the NED has sure been busy since Bido took office.

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10 users have voted.

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

@Azazello You are correct about Belarus. I could have included Lebanon, Bolivia, Yemen amongst others. The list is endless.

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12 users have voted.

@humphrey

makes me feel totally powerless.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Lookout's picture

After all it is the day of the dead.

Later, later you mad fool!

Glad I'm toward the end of my ride instead of just starting.

At least it was sunny here. Always seems to improve my disposition.

thanks for the news and bluez!
Keep on the sunny side...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz6fMGpe37k]

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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

heh, the question is are we living?

it was sunny and pleasant here today, too. i could get used to this. Smile

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6 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

It’s not the democrats fault for not passing their agendas again. Nope it falls on republicans and the current rotating villains who are to blame.

With their help, this narrative has emerged that, somehow, the shit the entire Republican party and these two assholes are putting the country through is "The Democrats'" fault. Voters should, therefore, punish "The Democrats" whenever they see them on a ballot. Voters should believe that "The Democrats" can't get anything done.
This is ridiculous.
Be honest and be accurate, please. This is not "The Democrats". It's 100% of Republicans plus two despicable pieces of shit who were elected by fewer people, total, than live within two hours of my front door. That is broken fucking government, folks. It's not "The Democrats" who are responsible for all of this suffering and inaction. And it's CERTAINLY not President Biden's fault. It’s all the Republicans, Citizen’s United, voter suppression, gerrymandering, and these two fucking assholes.

Who do voters think is in charge of government? It’s not republicans is it?

Typical:

So what would you prefer — getting literally nothing done, or having to settle for a lot less of everything you wanted?

Yay for incrementalism. Maybe in a hundred years those crumbs will make a cupcake. VBNMW…yeah good luck with that.

We just have to vote more democrats in so they can do what they promised they’d do. It’s also the media’s fault.

This has turned into exposing the hypocrites.

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I’ve seen 10 people who told Trump to fck off lecturing people about the Brandon thing.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

of course it's not the democrats fault. it's never the democrats fault. it's always those darned republicans and a couple of rotating democrat villains.

there is only one thing that democrats and shitlibs excel at - making excuses. they are the most incredible excuse makers ever.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

Thank you sir can I have another one? The Obama takedown by Jimmy was excellent.

This is making the rounds. A trucker explains why the supply chain is fck’d up. One thing that happened in California was they removed trucks made before 2011 from the roads. Expect more delays and empty shelves in stores for some time.

im-a-twenty-year-truck-driver-i-will-tell-you-why-america-s-shipping-crisis-will-not-end-

https://medium.com/@ryan79z28/im-a-twenty-year-truck-driver-i-will-tell-you-why-america-s-shipping-crisis-will-not-end-bbe0ebac6a9
Link broken

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

The US forgot to build an infrastructure for the 21st century.

The white people spent all the money killing brown people around the world..

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

Buck Fuller's word. The military got an extra $79 billion on top of the extra $139 billion from last year. That amount is now for every year going forward. 20 years of war in Afghanistan was a couple trillion that should have been spent here addressing homelessness and infrastructure. Imagine us having high speed trains like China has and roads that don’t beat our cars to death.

Dworkin is just one more person who’s brain democrats broke during Trump and Russia Russia…but I think it was a prelude to the Covid epidemic thing. Lots of people gave up their critical thinking skills and now are merrily going along with the agenda. I just imagine Trump doing the things Biden is doing and thinking how people would never allow it. It was like Clinton’s assault on the poor and working class that Bush could only dream of passing. Biden and Harris both said they wouldn’t take a Trump vaccine just like the people who are upset about let’s go Brandon. Pure hypocrisy and hypocrites.

Yep Kissinger still being alive and having his input on policy while Assange is stuck in prison is a cosmic joke. I’m not laughing.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

I just imagine Trump doing the things Biden is doing and thinking how people would never allow it. It was like Clinton’s assault on the poor and working class that Bush could only dream of passing.

.
A political party that acts as the Loyal Opposition

Instead of a Good Cop / Bad Cop duopoly.

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i enjoyed listening to jimmy give obama what for. too bad obama will never be strapped to a chair and forced to listen to it.

here's a straight link for that trucker's post. it was an interesting read.

I’m A Twenty Year Truck Driver, I Will Tell You Why America’s “Shipping Crisis” Will Not End

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

Scott Dworkin is one of those people who clearly suffered a brain injury as a result of the 2016 media propaganda.

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Pluto's Republic's picture

It's too bad Colin Powell died before he was executed.

But Tony Blair and George Bush are still alive, so there is still some hope.

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

keep a good thought. henry kissinger is still above room temperature, too. just sayin' Smile

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@joe shikspack

Have been stinking up the United States for years and years.

The State Department cockroaches, and their offsite, think-tank, place holders, are the sociopaths that have been running the Federal War Department since the 1930s. The CFR — that cockroach incubator — really knows how to pick them. Kamala Harris was their candidate. So, better get used to her stink, too.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato