The Evening Blues - 2-7-22



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Floyd Dixon

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues piano player Floyd Dixon. Enjoy!

Floyd Dixon - Hey Bartender

“If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.”

-- Napoleon Bonaparte


News and Opinion

Worth a full read:

What a US Trap for Russia in Ukraine Might Look Like

United States plans to weaken Russia by imposing punishing sanctions and bringing world condemnation on Moscow depend on Washington’s hysteria about a Russian invasion of Ukraine actually coming true. At his press conference on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin said:

“I still believe the United States is not that concerned about Ukraine’s security, though they may think about it on the sidelines. Its main goal is to contain Russia’s development. This is the whole point. In this sense, Ukraine is simply a tool to reach this goal. This can be done in different ways: by drawing us into some armed conflict, or compelling its allies in Europe to impose tough sanctions on us like the US is talking about today.”

At the U.N. Security Council on Monday, Russia’s U.N. envoy Vassily Nebenzia said: “Our Western colleagues say that de-escalation is needed, but they are the first to build up tension, enhance rhetoric and escalate the situation. Talks about an imminent war are provocative per se. It might seem you call for it, want it and wait for it to come, as if you wanted your allegations to come true.” ...

Without an invasion the U.S. seems lost. No sanctions, no world opprobrium, no weakening of Russia. If the U.S. is trying to lure Russia into a trap in Ukraine, what might it look like? ...

Joe Biden has said a Russian invasion will come in February, when the ground freezes. But it could also be the time for a Kiev offensive to recover the two Donbass provinces. NATO nations are pouring weapons into Ukraine supposedly to defend it against the “invasion.” But the weapons transfers could instead be preparation for an offensive, on orders from Washington. Since the 2014 U.S.-backed coup the U.S. essentially runs the country and all Ukrainian leaders, including Zelensky, serve at the pleasure of the U.S. president.

The ground will also be frozen for Kiev’s forces in February, which was the month of the 2014 coup, while Putin was in Sochi for the Winter Olympics. He is now in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, away from the command center in Moscow. (The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was also the time Georgia instigated its war with Russia against its renegade provinces at the behest of the United States.) ...

It is an invasion the U.S. absolutely needs to implement its plans to weaken Russia (and ultimately to replace Putin with a pliable leader in the mold of Boris Yeltsin.) As Moscow has never openly threatened such an invasion, the U.S. appears to be devising ways to get it.

Reporter DESTROYS Biden State Dept's Ukraine Propaganda

Huff, puff ... If these guys keep hyperventilating they are going to pass out.

Russia has enough troops ready to take Kyiv, says former Ukraine defence chief

Russia has enough troops in place to seize Kyiv or another Ukrainian city but not yet sufficient numbers for a full takeover and occupation of the country, Ukraine’s former defence minister has said, as Washington warned that an invasion could take place at any time.

Andriy Zagorodnyuk said in an interview with the Guardian that the situation looked “pretty dire”. “Russia could now seize any city in Ukraine. But we still don’t see the 200,000 troops needed for a full-scale invasion,” he said.

His comments follow ominous briefings by the Biden administration about the Kremlin’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border. The White House believes Moscow has assembled at least 70% of the firepower it needs to give Vladimir Putin the option of a major military operation by mid-February.

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday that an invasion could take place at any time. “It could happen as soon as tomorrow or it could take some weeks yet,” he told NBC. “We’re in the window where something could happen. We believe the Russians have put in place the capabilities to mount a significant operation.” ...

The Kremlin rubbished Washington’s latest briefing as “fake”. Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said it was “another masterpiece of US propaganda war”. “Unnamed officials, undisclosed sources, no evidence,” he tweeted, alongside the hashtag #KeepCalmAndBlameRussia.

Macron tells Putin he hopes talks can 'start de-escalation' on Ukraine

Germany prepares to beef up Lithuania force to show solidarity in Ukraine crisis

Germany is preparing to send reinforcements to its battle group in Lithuania as the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, headed to Washington to reassure Nato allies his country can be relied upon over the Ukraine crisis.

Tentative planning for a further deployment of German military force follows weeks of criticism of Berlin’s approach to Russia’s mobilisation of 145,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.

The German government has refused to act on Kyiv’s calls for arms and has been vague over the future of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany in the event of an incursion over the Ukrainian border.

But in an interview with the Funke media group, Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, emphasised her government’s continuing military commitment on Nato’s eastern flank.

“We [Germany] are already making a very important contribution in Lithuania, where we are the only country in the European Union to have a battle group,” she said. “As a matter of principle, additional troops are available as reinforcement, and we are in talks with Lithuania at the moment to find out what exactly would make sense in this regard … Everyone in Nato can rely on us.”

The Specious Reasoning Behind Claims That The US Thwarted An Invasion Of Ukraine

Back in November The Military Times published a Ukrainian intelligence claim, which was picked up and repeated by numerous other mainstream publications, alleging that Russia was going to invade Ukraine by the end of January.

Then in late January when the calendar debunked the Military Times incendiary headline “Russia preparing to attack Ukraine by late January”, that same outlet ran a much less viral story with the headline “Russia not yet ready for full-scale attack says Ukraine“.

Now here in early February, the Murdoch press has put out a spin piece of a sort we’re likely to see more of in coming days claiming that Russia has not invaded because the US and its allies have “ruined” Moscow’s plans by telling everyone the invasion is coming. In an article titled “Ukraine-Russia tensions: Moscow’s plans ‘ruined’ after US and Britain call out possible invasion“, Ukraine’s defense minister Hanna Maliar tells Sky News that Putin has not yet invaded because his murderous plot was thwarted by a plucky band of imperial states who would not be prevented from speaking their truth.

“It’s important to understand that when we or our western partners name the date of the possible invasion, we are ruining their plans,” Maliar told Sky News. “And the dates that were already told in public – it’s ruined plans, nothing will happen in these days. But the danger still exists.”

In the same piece Ukraine’s information minister Oleksandr Tkachenko was asked if he believed Russia would already have invaded if not for all the western talk of an imminent attack, to which he replied, “As a typical robber, if he does not see defence or at least does not see talking, he will act.”

At no time in the article is any consideration given to the possibility of a far simpler explanation for the missing Russian invasion: that Russia never intended to invade. That possibility is just skimmed right over in favor of the seemingly far less likely scenario that the Russian government thought it could orchestrate a massive invasion without anybody saying anything about it and was forced to abandon its plans in disappointment when that nonsensical gamble failed to pay off.

And now we’ve already got western media publishing other Ukrainian military claims that the real invasion will be coming on February 20th.

“February 20 is noted as a potential start date for the invasion: that is when the Winter Olympics ends in Beijing, and President Putin, 69, eager to woo the Chinese, may not wish to tarnish the event,” The Times wrote in late January.

As February 20th comes and goes without an invasion and predictions of false flag operations and Kremlin-backed coups fail to pan out, we will likely be seeing more such spin jobs from the western media claiming that those things did not happen because of measures that were taken by the US and its allies to prevent it. It may be used to score political points by claiming Biden “prevented” a Ukraine invasion with his willingness to stand up to Putin by pouring weapons into Ukraine and sending troops to Eastern Europe.

These claims will be built entirely on specious reasoning.

The fallacious nature of the narrative that western powers are thwarting diabolical plots from the Kremlin with their cold war aggressions is best illustrated in this short clip from The Simpsons in which Homer believes that bears are being kept out of a generally bear-free neighborhood by the newly invented “bear patrol”.

“Ah, not a bear in sight! The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm,” says Homer.

“That’s specious reasoning, Dad,” Lisa replies, picking up a stone from the ground. “By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.”

“Oh, how does it work?” asks her father.

“It doesn’t work,” says Lisa. “It’s just a stupid rock. But I don’t see any tigers around, do you?”

At which point Homer offers to buy Lisa’s rock from her, because he’s a fuckin’ idiot.

The logical fallacy that has afflicted both Homer Simpson and those who claim the US power alliance is preventing a Russian invasion of Ukraine is known as cum hoc ergo propter hoc (“with this, therefore because of this”), which is the fallacy that correlation implies causation. It’s when someone puts forward the claim that because two things happened concurrently (or failed to happen as in the examples we’re looking at here), one must have caused the other. Homer’s bear patrol kept the bears away. Lisa’s anti-tiger rock kept the tigers away. The west’s shrieking about an imminent Russian invasion kept the Russian invaders away.

Alternatively, it’s possible that there were no bears or tigers threatening the streets of Springfield, and that there was no Russian invasion threatening Ukraine. That this was all a narrative used to ramp up cold war escalations, move some expensive military inventory, manufacture the global consensus that Putin is a Hitler-like menace who must be aggressively checked at all times by all nations, or potentially heaven forbid to lay the groundwork for aggressions from US/Ukraine/NATO powers.

However this thing unfolds, it’s a safe bet that the rhetoric won’t be getting any more logically sound any time soon. So keep that Simpson’s clip handy.

Is Biden LYING About US-ISIS Raid In Syria?

A 'Welcome Move': Biden Restores Sanctions Waiver Targeting Iran

Supporters of the Iran nuclear deal welcomed news Friday that the Biden administration restored sanctions waivers seen as key to a mutual return to the agreement.

"This is excellent news for diplomacy!" tweeted the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The waivers, the group added, "will help facilitate negotiations to bring us back into the Iran nuclear deal, which will reduce the threat of war with Iran, and reduce civilian harm from sanctions."

With Iran hawk Mike Pompeo then leading the State Department, the Trump administration rescinded the waivers allowing for international cooperation on Iran's nuclear sites in 2020. That followed its 2018 move to pull the U.S. out of the Obama-era deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

According to Agence France-Presse, the waivers allow "other countries and companies to participate in Iran's civilian nuclear program without triggering U.S. sanctions on them, in the name of promoting safety and non-proliferation."

The State Department has notified Congress of the waivers.

"We are issuing the waiver now for a simple reason," said a senior State Department official to CNN. "It will enable some of our international partners to have more detailed technical discussions to enable cooperation that we view as being in our non-proliferation interests."

The official called such discussions "necessary in the final weeks of JCPOA talks" and said "the waiver itself would be essential to ensuring Iran's swift compliance with its nuclear commitments."

"If talks do not result in a return to the nuclear agreement," the official said, "such technical discussions could still contribute to achieving our non-proliferation goals."

Anti-war group CodePink said the development marked "a step in the right direction" but added: "If only it hadn't taken Biden a year to do so..."

In a Friday tweet, State Department spokesperson Ned Price defended the decision from critics, saying that the U.S. "did NOT provide sanctions relief for Iran and WILL NOT until/unless Tehran returns to its commitments under the JCPOA. We did precisely what the last administration did: permit our international partners to address growing nuclear nonproliferation and safety risks in Iran."

National Iranian American Council (NIAC) senior research fellow Assal Rad drew attention to the ongoing U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran.

"As people who pushed Trump's failed policy start yelling that this is a 'concession' to Iran, remember the sanctions crushing its economy are still in place," she tweeted. "These waivers let other countries work on Iran's civilian nuclear program, a step that helps bring it back to compliance."

NIAC policy director Ryan Costello responded to the development in a statement in which he also drew attention to the continued sanctions.

"Trump never should have revoked these waivers in the first place, which are in the U.S. interest and benefit nonproliferation efforts," said Costello. He called Biden's move to restore them "a positive sign and welcome move" as it's "in the interest of the United States, as well as the global community, and supports important nonproliferation goals."

"The Biden administration is right that these waivers will not entail financial relief to Iran, though there remains a strong case for up front humanitarian relief as it is the people of Iran who have suffered the most under U.S. sanctions," Costello added. "Hopefully this is a step to a full restoration of the JCPOA and relief for the people of Iran."

Iran, meanwhile, has called the Biden move "not sufficient," with its foregin ministry saying that "good will, in our viewpoint, means that something tangible happens on the ground."

Final talks in Vienna on tryng to revive the nuclear deal could take place next week.

Biden Withdrawing Student Debt Appeal After Outcry

The Biden administration is abruptly withdrawing its attempt to block a major court ruling that could protect student borrowers, according to a new statement provided to The Daily Poster. The announcement comes 48 hours after The Daily Poster broke the news that the administration had moved to appeal the ruling, which could help the poorest borrowers who are being bankrupted by education debt.

“This January 28 notice of appeal will soon be withdrawn,” a Department of Education spokesman said in the statement. “The Department of Education has indicated publicly that it is reviewing current bankruptcy policies, a process which remains ongoing. While the student loan payment pause remains in effect, any borrower in an adversary bankruptcy proceeding can request and receive a stay on their proceedings.” Following the statement to The Daily Poster, Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal tweeted Friday morning: “We will withdraw the appeal in the Wolfson bankruptcy case & review how we handle future claims.”

Joe Manchin Gives New Reason for Why He Torpedoed BBB

As progressive activists continue to push for the stalled social and climate spending package, Sen. Joe Manchin claimed Sunday that his biggest opposition to his party's Build Back Better legislation was that it didn't go through committee.

Manchin's (D-W.Va.) remark came in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" in which he endorsed Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and brushed off the idea that he wouldn't get the backing of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) if he faced a primary challenge. 

Murkowski, who joined Manchin for the interview, also endorsed the right-wing West Virginia Democrat in his Senate reelection bid.

As CNN's Manu Raju noted, the objection to BBB Manchin cited is despite the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which he and Murkowski helped craft, having bypassed committee in the Senate and going straight to the floor.

"The Build Back Better Better as has been presented," said Manchin, "that bill will no longer exist."

"My biggest concern and my biggest opposition—it did not go through the process," he said. "It should have gone through the committee."

"These are major changes. It's going to change society as we know it," said Manchin. "There should be a hearing, there should be a markup, then you're going to have a better product."

Manchin has previously called the House-passed BBB "dead."

Just after his December announcement on Fox News that he wouldn't support the legislation, a billionaire GOP megadonor and his wife each gave the maximum possible $5,000 to Manchin's political action committee, as CNBC first reported.

Directing their ire on both Schumer and Manchin over the Senate's failure to pass BBB, as well as key voting rights protections, activists with the Poor People's Campaign last week told the senators that "it is time to publicly answer: which side are you on?"

"It is time to go back, overcome the regressive filibuster, and pass the full $3 trillion Build Back Better Agenda (not reduced down to $1.7 trillion or what is being compromised now)," the group wrote.

In a message specifically directed to Manchin, they added: "We are suffering because the Senate could find trillions in less than two years for corporations, but can't protect voting rights and invest a few trillion over 10 years in the people."

Senators Have Re-Introduced the Highly Unpopular EARN IT Bill That Would Scan All Online Messages

People don’t want outsiders reading their private messages—not their physical mail, not their texts, not their DMs, nothing. It’s a clear and obvious point, but one place it doesn’t seem to have reached is the U.S. Senate.

A group of lawmakers led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have re-introduced the EARN IT Act, an incredibly unpopular bill from 2020 that was dropped in the face of overwhelming opposition. Let’s be clear: the new EARN IT Act would pave the way for a massive new surveillance system, run by private companies, that would roll back some of the most important privacy and security features in technology used by people around the globe. It’s a framework for private actors to scan every message sent online and report violations to law enforcement. And it might not stop there. The EARN IT Act could ensure that anything hosted online—backups, websites, cloud photos, and more—is scanned.

The bill empowers every U.S. state or territory to create sweeping new Internet regulations, by stripping away the critical legal protections for websites and apps that currently prevent such a free-for-all—specifically, Section 230. The states will be allowed to pass whatever type of law they want to hold private companies liable, as long as they somehow relate their new rules to online child abuse.

The goal is to get states to pass laws that will punish companies when they deploy end-to-end encryption, or offer other encrypted services. This includes messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal, and iMessage, as well as web hosts like Amazon Web Services. We know that EARN IT aims to spread the use of tools to scan against law enforcement databases because the bill’s sponsors have said so. In a “Myths and Facts” document distributed by the bill’s proponents, it even names the government-approved software that they could mandate (PhotoDNA, a Microsoft program with an API that reports directly to law enforcement databases).

The document also attacks Amazon for not scanning enough of its content. Since Amazon is the home of Amazon Web Services, host of a huge number of websites, that implies the bill’s aim is to ensure that anything hosted online gets scanned.

MN Police Kill Sleeping 22-Year-Old Amir Locke Serving No-Knock Warrant, Mayor Frey SUSPENDS Policy

Amir Locke shooting: hundreds protest in Minneapolis after police killing of Black man

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of downtown Minneapolis on Saturday demanding justice in the fatal police shooting of a young Black man, Amir Locke, during a “no-knock” raid on an apartment earlier this week. The boisterous but peaceful crowd, chanting Locke’s name and the slogan “no justice, no peace”, rallied at Government Plaza in Minnesota’s largest city three days after Locke, 22, was shot on his couch by police.

The day after the killing, police released video footage from the raid, which showed Locke was holding a gun as he twisted beneath a blanket on his sofa after being roused by officers moments before he was slain.

Police have said the officers were exercising a “no-knock” search warrant, which authorizes police to enter private property without first alerting occupants or announcing their presence. The warrant was issued in relation to a homicide investigation led by detectives from the neighboring Saint Paul Police Department. Locke was not named in the warrant, and Minneapolis police have acknowledged it was unclear how or whether he was connected to that investigation.

On Thursday, interim Minneapolis police chief Amelia Huffman told a news conference the county attorney’s office was reviewing the shooting, and that video from the incident appeared to show Locke’s gun pointed toward officers when they opened fire. Activists at the protest said Locke had a right to possess a weapon in his own home and was never given the chance to disarm himself in the chaotic moments as police stormed into his apartment without warning. ...

Lawyers for Locke’s family said he had no criminal history and legally possessed a firearm at the time of his death.

Ryan Grim: NRA's OUTRAGEOUS But Typical Silence On Police Killing Of Licensed Gun-Owner Amir Locke

RIP:

Syl Johnson, much-sampled blues, funk and soul singer, dies aged 85

Syl Johnson, the blues, funk and soul singer whose work was much sampled in US hip-hop, has died aged 85. No cause of death was announced by his family, who said of Johnson: “He lived his life as a singer, musician and entrepreneur who loved black music … A fiery, fierce, fighter, always standing for the pursuit of justice as it related to his music and sound, he will truly be missed by all who crossed his path.”

Born in Mississippi in 1936, Johnson was raised in Chicago where he remained throughout his life. He released his first solo material in 1959, and wrote genre-straddling work that led him to describe himself as “a jack-of-all-trades. More soul than Marvin [Gaye], more funk than James [Brown]”.

He had his biggest hit in 1975 with Take Me To the River, the song by labelmate Al Green that would also be recorded by Talking Heads. It reached No 7 in the US R&B chart and crossed over into the Top 50 of the pop chart.

Perhaps his most famous song, though, is Different Strokes, sampled by dozens of hip-hop artists: its catchy brass line was used by the Wu-Tang Clan while Kanye West and Jay-Z used Johnson’s energetic exclamations on their track The Joy. It also appears on classics such as De La Soul’s The Magic Number, Public Enemy’s Fight the Power and Eric B & Rakim’s I Know You Got Soul. Another key Johnson track was Is It Because I’m Black?, a slow, disconsolate ballad that is among the most affecting of the civil rights era.



the horse race



Trump’s election advisers were like ‘snake oil salesmen’, ex-Pence aide says

Mike Pence’s former chief of staff Marc Short joined several senior Republicans in rallying to defend the former vice-president on Sunday in his escalating feud with Donald Trump over the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

Some of Trump’s advisers on the 2020 election were like “snake oil salesmen”, Short said on Sunday.

Pence angered the former president this week by rejecting Trump’s false claim that he had the power to overturn Joe Biden’s victory by refusing to accept results from seven contested states.

At a conference hosted by the conservative Federalist Society in Florida on Friday, Pence delivered his strongest rebuke to date of Trump’s election lies, declaring that it was “un-American” to believe that any one person had the right to choose the president.

On Sunday, Short, and Republican senators John Barrasso, Lisa Murkowski and Marco Rubio, were among senior party figures who backed Pence’s position, adding their voices to a backlash by other prominent Republican figures apparently growing weary of Trump’s continued obsession with his election defeat and subversion of democracy.



the evening greens


A third of Americans are already facing above-average warming

More than a third of the American population is currently experiencing rapid, above-average rates of temperature increase, with 499 counties already breaching 1.5C (2.7F) of heating, a Guardian review of climate data shows.

The US as a whole has heated up over the past century due to the release of planet-warming gases from burning fossil fuels, and swathes of the US west, northeast and upper midwest – representing more than 124.6 million people – have recorded soaring increases since federal government temperature records began in 1895.

Though the climate crisis is convulsing the US, it is doing so unevenly. Hotspots of extreme warming have emerged in many of America’s largest cities, and places as diverse as California’s balmy coast to the previously frigid northern reaches of Minnesota, while other places, particularly in the south, have barely seen their temperatures budge.

Ventura county in California has heated up more than any other county in the contiguous US, according to the Noaa data, experiencing a 2.6C (4.75F) increase in total warming in the period from 1895 to 2021. Meanwhile, counties that include many of America’s largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Fransisco and Boston, have all seen their average temperatures rise far beyond the national average, which stands at around a 1C (1.8F) increase on pre-industrial times.

Americans exposed to toxic BPA at levels far above what EU considers safe

A comprehensive review of recent studies into a chemical often used in plastics and resins has revealed that the average American is exposed to levels of the dangerous compound that are 5,000 times higher than what the European Union now considers safe.

The main exposure route for bisphenol-A (BPA) is via plastic and metal food packaging, and that has prompted a call for strong new limits on its use.

In a petition sent last week to the US Food and Drug Administration, consumer advocates and food safety scientists led by the Environmental Defense Fund warned that the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) December review clearly shows that BPA exposure levels in the US represent a “high health risk” for Americans of all ages. ...

The chemical mimics estrogen and is linked to a range of serious health problems, including cancer, immunotoxicity, neurological toxicity, mammary gland disease, behavioral changes and decreased sperm counts, among others.

Male and female brains in mammals are physically different, and Maffini noted a study that found BPA exposure altered male brains to look more like female brains. EFSA’s research pointed to evidence suggesting harm from BPA exposure can occur at levels 100,000 times lower than previously thought, and scientists have found immune system disruptions occur at particularly low levels.

Texas butterfly sanctuary forced to close after far-right threats

In Mission, Texas, on the border between the US and Mexico, sits the National Butterfly Center. A 100-acre nature preserve once exclusively dedicated to the conservation of plants and wildlife, it has now been thrust into the national spotlight and become a focal point of divisions over the country’s immigration policy. This week, the butterfly center was forced to close its doors indefinitely amid ongoing threats from far-right conspiracists and QAnon followers who falsely claim it is a haven for human-trafficking and illegal migration.

“They’re not conspiracies, they’re just outright lies,” Marianna Treviño-Wright, the executive director of the National Butterfly Center, told the Guardian. ...

The butterfly center first attracted the attention of the far right in 2017. Treviño-Wright and the NABA made headlines for suing the organizations behind the construction of a section of Donald Trump’s border wall after they sought to build straight through the butterfly preserve. Those groups included We Build the Wall, led by Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and founder Brian Kolfage, which is now facing corruption and fraud charges.

Conspiracy theories about the butterfly center snowballed after Kolfage posted a series of tweets, claiming it was run by “left wing thugs with a sham butterfly agenda” and asserting without evidence that “rampant sex trade” was taking place on the property. Treviño-Wright said an increase in online and in-person harassment soon followed.

A court date for the case about the section of border wall on the center’s property has not been set yet. ... Treviño-Wright said the construction of sections of the border wall, and the subsequent vitriol that came from QAnon followers and Trump supporters, had a profound effect on the butterfly center and its staff. “When you’re targeted by laws that are designed to be destructive, it’s very difficult to continue operations as normal. So it’s been disruptive. It’s been destructive. And it’s made it very difficult for us to focus on our mission, which is environmental conservation and education.”


Also of Interest

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

Kiev denies war plans against Russia as conflicts within the Ukrainian ruling class escalate

Canada Support Ukraine's Self-determination And Independence ... As Long As It Does As Canada Says

Is Congress Willing to Fix Biden's Failed Yemen Policy?

Nigeria Is Planning A False Flag In Switzerland: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

The Great Russian Chinese Fireworks Of Beijing

Amnesty rebuffs Congress, urges US to pressure Israel over 'apartheid policies'

Facebook’s Fall of 26.39 Percent Yesterday Delivered Billions in Losses to 401(k)s and Public Pension Plans

Why Smedley Butler left the imperialist front despising ‘Gangsters of Capitalism’

Art Spiegelman on Maus and free speech: ‘Who’s the snowflake now?’

Krystal Ball: Inside End Game of Rogan SMEAR Campaign

Matt Stoller: EXPOSING The Amazon Prime Scam


A Little Night Music

Floyd Dixon - Hole In The Wall

Floyd Dixon - Tired, Broke And Busted

Floyd Dixon - Telephone Blues

Floyd Dixon - Roll Baby Roll

Floyd Dixon - Moonshine

Floyd Dixon - Doin' The Town

Floyd Dixon - Too Much Jelly Roll

Floyd Dixon - Mississippi Blues

Floyd Dixon - Rockin' At Home


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Comments

Macron is going to get Russia to de-escalate?
That's funny.

Thanks Joe.

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9 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

macron often seems to have delusions of adequacy. perhaps if he could get the u.s. to deescalate he might have a shot at getting russia's attention.

have a great evening!

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5 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

The EFF is running a campaign to try to stop the EARN IT bill with a pretty much "click to send" canned anti-earn it message one can send to ones senator. In my case Padilla said his team received it and he will reply to the content as soon as he has a chance to read it. Seemingly nobody bothered to reanimate DiFi who is already on record for not giving a shit what her constituents think anyway.

Here's a link to my post on it https://caucus99percent.com/content/save-encryption-stop-earn-it-act

be well and have a good one

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11 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'm surprised that difi isn't a co-sponsor. maybe she can't stay awake long enough to sign on.

thanks for the essay/link!

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4 users have voted.

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8 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

heh, must be a great story to keep selling papers continuously since 2014. Smile

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3 users have voted.

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13 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@humphrey
will stay the course.

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10 users have voted.
mimi's picture

is funny. Scholz must use the casual "Du" with Biden. That would be completely impossible in German. Oh well, never heard so much of "We are all pulling in the same direction". Be careful guys, you could all fall on your butts in the same direction as well.

Now at least is was somewhat funny to listen to it (for me)

I won't cause troubles. So no comment.

Good Evening, Joe, thanks for the EB, I hope you are warm and toasty in your home and all in your family are well.

Good Night.

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8 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

glad to hear that the comedy team of biden and scholz are getting along. Smile

it's supposed to warm up a bit here this week, maybe even hitting 50 degrees a couple of days. sounds good to me.

i hope that you're warm and toasty, too. have a good one!

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5 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

From the Daily Mail - AOC goes all Marxist, rails against capitalist "system"
Obama not happy in Hawai'i, not feeling the Aloha
I've got to agree with Caitlin here:

That saying “They got you fighting a culture war to stop you fighting a class war” is something you’ve got to take seriously. You can’t just dismiss it. Because if it’s at all true, even somewhat, then discourse on today’s left is completely fucked and ultimately power-serving.
Certainly you can’t reduce everything to class. Racial and sexual power dynamics are of course very real. The problem would be if those in power kept everyone focused on culture war dynamics instead of class, and kept the discourse from threatening real power. Is that happening? Is it happening at all? To any extent? Because to any extent that it is happening, power is being served and our own interests are being undermined.
You can’t just leave this question unanswered and unaddressed. It needs to be sincerely grappled with.

That's why I ain't whoke. Whoke is white, whoke is corporate, whoke is a tool of the oligarchy.
Kim Iversen: Jen Psaki Says Long Standing American Value Is War With Russia.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDW9qs39Lgw width:500 height:300]
Bido calls Jimmy Dore
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaDcZxHUf-Q width:500 height:300]

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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.

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the links and the vids!

i suppose that in principle i agree with aoc. i wonder what a lily-livered, whining coward like her, who is just tacking left because there's an election coming might actually do to reorganize the economy, though.

i bet obama's going to be even more pissed off when sea level rise swamps his sea wall.

i thought kim iverson's piece was excellent, thanks!

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Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack
but you know my objection to all this talk about "systems".
If you think we have a system and that it's a bad system and that there is different, better system that we can somehow change to, then you might be ignoring things we can do right now.
Call it incrementalism if you want but how 'bout we just undo neoliberalism ?
How 'bout anti-trust enforcement, a living wage, decent healthcare ?

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5 users have voted.

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

Thank you for the round-up.

Krystal and Saagar applauded the roasting of that dead eyed turd Ned Price. Good for Mike Leigh. (sp?)

Covid has diminished as a newsgetting thing to distract the public with.

So has Russia.

What next? It hardly bears thinking about.

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6 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

the ap journo on the state department/diplomacy beat is matt lee.

heh, i guess if covid and russia fail as distractions, we're back to the kardashians again. Smile

have a great evening!

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4 users have voted.

@joe shikspack

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snoopydawg's picture

Separately, the bill creates a 19-person federal commission, dominated by law enforcement agencies, which will lay out voluntary “best practices” for attacking the problem of online child abuse.

The country and some very powerful men and women knew what Jeffrey Epstein was doing to women and children for decades and yet when the chances came to punish him those same people and intelligence agencies stepped in to prevent him from being punished at the fullest extent of the law. Then when he was released from his cushy prison sentence they all welcomed him back with open arms. So congress don’t tell me that you give a rat's ass about online child abuse. Look at what Anthony Weiner got away with for so long. Then there are the Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and so many others that got away with their misdeeds for decades too. Bah I hate hypocrites.

How about having to submit to facial ID if you want to file your taxes online? I think people should just send them in by mail. Well until congress makes rules against it.

The racket he denounced was one that benefited a very few at the expense of the many. The racket is bigger and more destructive than ever.

It’s interesting how we applaud Butler for writing War is a Racket, but shy away from the things he did before he wrote it.

In order to find a way to stop the endless wars for good, we need to remember and learn from the brutal history of America’s empire-building.

Amen. Now if we can find a way so that more people understand that. Thanks for posting this.

Squeak….

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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

@snoopydawg

what's behind the earn-it legislation has little or nothing to do with online child abuse and everything to do with allowing big brother to poke his nose into everybody's business as a persistent presence. they're not so much being hypocrites as they are being fascist assholes.

yeah, i am glad that someone is focusing on butler's career prior to writing war is a racket. while he may have had an attack of conscience later in life, the racket that he identified has only been amplified as time has moved forward.

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4 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

that's a great sign

https://multipolarista.com/2022/02/06/imf-debt-argentina-russia-china-be...

Trapped in IMF debt, Argentina turns to Russia and joins China’s Belt & Road

Argentina is trapped in $44 billion of IMF odious debt taken on by corrupt right-wing regimes. Seeking alternatives to US hegemony, President Alberto Fernández traveled to Russia and China, forming an alliance with the Eurasian powers, joining the Belt and Road Initiative.

Thanks for the EB's Joe!

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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

imagine that, countries in the u.s. "front yard" don't appreciate being exploited. i wonder how long it will take for the coup to happen.

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snoopydawg's picture

I saw a tweet yesterday where Biden kept saying the N word in congress. Never did like the man.

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7 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i'm sure that strom thurmond's little buddy would never have a racist thought.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

It’s just amazing how shitlibs ignore the things Biden is doing and saying. Did ya hear he’s going to let robot dawgs patrol the border? Yeah that’s going to go well. Silence from the shitlibs so far. Quell surprise.

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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.

Hi joe and all. I didn't sleep much, waiting for real estate inspection date and time. Waiting for the appointment... been waiting since last Sunday. Will be waiting after the appointment too, but I hope not for long. "The waiting is the hardest part"

If I had no cannabis to calm my edgy nerves, I would be up for days and stark raving. Instead I am semi-rested plain raving, no stark which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

I read bignewsnetwork for news about Mexico, perhaps this has already been reported. copy that

https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/272273149/mississippi-becomes-37th-us-state-to-legalize-medical-marijuana

"hundreds of millions of fewer joints on the streets"

Heh. Never leave a joint on the street, that's RIGHT. How did I get to be over here on this "side of the aisle"?

Announcing enactment of the bill, Reeves, a first-term Republican, said the final version passed last week by the Republican-controlled legislature aimed to curb recreational marijuana use by allowing patients to obtain no more than 3 ounces of cannabis per month, or 3.5 grams a day.

omg After all these years, I still can't achieve that level of consumption. Maybe it's bunk. shrug

Yesterday I saw the biggest doobie evah, it was Cheech & Chong size. I was standing downstairs soaking up sun in my doorway when a young guy with a black dog came trucking by smoking the fatty. His dog was off leash so danced around in the dirt patch, and his young guy hollered "Hey! Get over here", at same time noticed me standing there grinning like a fool. So of course he offered me a puff! I declined 'cause Omicron is not dead yet, I can't risk sharing. LOL omg I will miss this place and these little episodes of joy. oh well Time marches on.

Peace and Love

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janis b's picture

@eyo

I wish I could share one of those doobies with you. One would last us a long time.

I hope you have many more moments in the sun in your same doorway.

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5 users have voted.