The Evening Blues - 6-20-22



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Jmmy McGriff

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features jazz and blues organist Jmmy McGriff. Enjoy!

Jimmy McGriff & Hank Crawford Quartet - Everyday I Have The Blues

"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you."

-- Oscar Wilde


News and Opinion

Australia won’t conduct ‘megaphone diplomacy’ on Julian Assange amid calls to intervene

The Albanese government insists it will not conduct “diplomacy by megaphone” as it faces calls to do more to prevent the extradition of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US. On Saturday, the British home secretary, Priti Patel, approved the extradition of Assange to the US, where he is charged with breaching the US Espionage Act and faces up to 175 years in jail if convicted. He has 14 days to appeal the decision.

Supporters of the Australian citizen, including on Labor’s backbench, have urged the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to do more to pressure the United States to drop the case, which has been running since 2010, when WikiLeaks published a trove of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars along with diplomatic cables.

The minister for employment and workplace relations, Tony Burke, said the government’s view was that the case had gone on too long and that conversations were happening. “We’re not going to conduct diplomacy by megaphone. This case has gone on for far too long. We said that in opposition, we’ve repeated that in government,” Burke told Sky News on Sunday.

“The issue needs to be brought to a close. Australia is not a party to the prosecution that’s happening here [and] each country has its own legal system. The days of diplomacy being conducted and conversations with government being conducted by megaphone, text messages being exposed – that was the way the previous government behaved. We’ve been building constructive relationships again with our allies and they’re conversations that happen government to government.”

Assange Is Doing His Most Important Work Yet

British Home Secretary Priti Patel has authorized the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to be tried under the Espionage Act in a case which seeks to set a legal precedent for the prosecution of any publisher or journalist, anywhere in the world, who reports inconvenient truths about the US empire.

Assange’s legal team will appeal the decision, reportedly with arguments that will include the fact that the CIA spied on him and plotted his assassination.

“It will likely be a few days before the (14-day appeal) deadline and the appeal will include new information that we weren’t able to bring before the courts previously. Information on how Julian lawyers were spied on, and how there were plots to kidnap and kill Julian from within the CIA,” Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton told Reuters on Friday.

And thank goodness. Assange’s willingness to resist Washington’s extradition attempts benefit us all, from his taking political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 until British police forcibly dragged him out in 2019, to his fighting US prosecutors in the courtroom tooth and claw during his incarceration in Belmarsh Prison.

Assange’s fight against US extradition benefits us not just because the empire’s war against truth harms our entire species and not just because he cannot receive a fair trial under the Espionage Act, but because his refusal to bow down and submit forces the empire to overextend itself into the light and show us all what it’s really made of.

Washington, London and Canberra are colluding to imprison a journalist for telling the truth: the first with its active extradition attempts, the second with its loyal facilitation of those attempts, and the third with its silent complicity in allowing an Australian journalist to be locked up and persecuted for engaging in the practice of journalism. By refusing to lie down and forcing them to come after him, Assange has exposed some harsh realities of which the public has largely been kept unaware.

The fact that London and Canberra are complying so obsequiously with Washington’s agendas, even while their own mainstream media outlets decry the extradition and even while all major human rights and press freedom watchdog groups in the western world say Assange must go free, shows that these are not separate sovereign nations but member states of a single globe-spanning empire centralized around the US government. Because Assange stood his ground and fought them, more attention is being brought to this reality.

By standing his ground and fighting them, Assange has also exposed the lie that the so-called free democracies of the western world support the free press and defend human rights. The US, UK and Australia are colluding to extradite a journalist for exposing the truth even as they claim to oppose tyranny and autocracy, even as they claim to support world press freedoms, and even as they loudly decry the dangers of government-sponsored disinformation.

Because Assange stood his ground and fought them, it will always reek of hypocrisy when US presidents like Joe Biden say things like, “The free press is not the enemy of the people — far from it. At your best, you’re guardians of the truth.”

Because Assange stood his ground and fought them, people will always know British prime ministers like Boris Johnson are lying when they say things like, “Media organisations should feel free to bring important facts into the public domain.”

Because Assange stood his ground and fought them, more of us will understand that they are being deceived and manipulated when Australian prime ministers like Anthony Albanese say things like “We need to protect press freedom in law and ensure every Australian can have their voice heard,” and “Don’t prosecute journalists for just doing their jobs.”

Because Assange stood his ground and fought them, US secretaries of state like Antony Blinken will have a much harder time selling their schtick when they say things like “On World Press Freedom Day, the United States continues to advocate for press freedom, the safety of journalists worldwide, and access to information on and offline. A free and independent press ensures the public has access to information. Knowledge is power.”

Because Assange stood his ground and fought them, UK home secretaries like Priti Patel will be seen for the frauds they are when they say things like “The safety of journalists is fundamental to our democracy.”

Extraditing a foreign journalist for exposing your war crimes is as tyrannical an agenda as you could possibly come up with. The US, UK and Australia colluding toward this end shows us that these are member states of a single empire whose only values are domination and control, and that all its posturing about human rights is pure facade. Assange keeps exposing the true face of power.

There is in fact a strong argument to be made that even all these years after the 2010 leaks for which he is currently being prosecuted, Assange is doing his most important work yet. As important as his WikiLeaks publications were and are, none of them exposed the depravity of the empire as much as forcing them to look us in the eye and tell us they’ll extradite a journalist for telling the truth.

Assange accomplished this by planting his feet and saying “No,” even when every other possible option would have been easier and more pleasant. Even when it was hard. Even when it was terrifying. Even when it meant being locked away, silenced, smeared, hated, unable to fight back against his detractors, unable to live a normal life, unable to hold his children, unable even to feel sunlight on his face.

His very life casts light on all the areas where it is most sorely needed. We all owe this man a tremendous debt. The least we can do is try our best to get him free.

MTG, Ilhan Omar SPEAK OUT For Julian Assange

Stella Assange: ‘We Are Going to Fight This’

Julian Assange’s wife and one of his lawyers on Friday vowed to fight the decision of British Home Secretary Priti Patel to sign an extradition order earlier in the day sending imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to the United States to face trial on espionage and computer intrusion charges.

“This is the outcome that we have been concerned about for the last decade,” Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson told a London press conference. “This decision is a grave threat to freedom of speech, not just for Julian, but for every journalist, editor and media worker.”

She said he faced up to 175 years in a U.S. prison for publishing material for which he has won numerous press awards as well as a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. “This should shock everyone,” she said.

“We are not at the end of the road, we are going to fight this,” Stella Assange, the publisher’s wife, told the press conference. “We are going to spend every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served.” ...

Assange has been held in London’s maximum security Belmarsh Prison since his arrest in April 2019. He has been charged under the Espionage Act for publishing truthful information about U.S. government conduct. Stella Assange said the appeal going to the High Court “is setting legal precedent about the scope of press freedom in this country.”

YouTube Censoring Voices Supporting Julian Assange

Russia-Ukraine war could last for years, say western leaders

Western leaders have said the war in Ukraine could last for years and will require long-term military support as Russia brought forward reserve forces in an apparent attempt to capture the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk.

“We must prepare for the fact that it could take years,” Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild on Sunday. “We must not let up in supporting Ukraine.”

The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, echoed Stoltenberg’s comments. “I am afraid that we need to steel ourselves for a long war,” he said, adding that it was necessary “to enlist time on Ukraine’s side”.

It came as the new head of the British army said British troops must prepare “to fight in Europe once again”. “There is now a burning imperative to forge an army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle,” Gen Sir Patrick Sanders said, writing to his charges about the challenges they face.

The statements suggest the west believes Ukraine cannot achieve a rapid military breakthrough despite the anticipated arrival of fresh Nato-standard arms, while officials in the country have continued to call for rapid help.

Parts of Biden White House see Ukraine as disaster, other parts want escalation

This is an interview with Chomsky, here's a small segment of it:

Diplomacy Ruled Out in Ukraine War

Barsamian: In the media, and among the political class in the United States, and probably in Europe, there's much moral outrage about Russian barbarity, war crimes, and atrocities. No doubt they are occurring as they do in every war. Don't you find that moral outrage a bit selective though?

Chomsky: The moral outrage is quite in place. There should be moral outrage. But you go to the Global South, they just can't believe what they're seeing. They condemn the war, of course. It's a deplorable crime of aggression. Then they look at the West and say: What are you guys talking about? This is what you do to us all the time.

It's kind of astonishing to see the difference in commentary. So, you read the New York Times and their big thinker, Thomas Friedman. He wrote a column a couple of weeks ago in which he just threw up his hands in despair. He said: What can we do? How can we live in a world that has a war criminal? We've never experienced this since Hitler. There's a war criminal in Russia. We're at a loss as to how to act. We've never imagined the idea that there could be a war criminal anywhere.

When people in the Global South hear this, they don't know whether to crack up in laughter or ridicule. We have war criminals walking all over Washington. Actually, we know how to deal with our war criminals. In fact, it happened on the twentieth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. Remember, this was an entirely unprovoked invasion, strongly opposed by world opinion. There was an interview with the perpetrator, George W. Bush, who then went on to invade Iraq, a major war criminal, in the style section of the Washington Post—an interview with, as they described it, this lovable goofy grandpa who was playing with his grandchildren, making jokes, showing off the portraits he painted of famous people he'd met. Just a beautiful, friendly environment.

So, we know how to deal with war criminals. Thomas Friedman is wrong. We deal with them very well.

Or take probably the major war criminal of the modern period, Henry Kissinger. We deal with him not only politely, but with great admiration. This is the man after all who transmitted the order to the Air Force, saying that there should be massive bombing of Cambodia—"anything that flies on anything that moves" was his phrase. I don't know of a comparable example in the archival record of a call for mass genocide. And it was implemented with very intensive bombing of Cambodia. We don't know much about it because we don't investigate our own crimes. But Taylor Owen and Ben Kiernan, serious historians of Cambodia, have described it. Then there's our role in overthrowing Salvador Allende's government in Chile and instituting a vicious dictatorship there, and on and on. So, we do know how to deal with our war criminals.

Still, Thomas Friedman can't imagine that there's anything like Ukraine. Nor was there any commentary on what he wrote, which means it was regarded as quite reasonable. You can hardly use the word selectivity. It's beyond astonishing. So, yes, the moral outrage is perfectly in place. It's good that Americans are finally beginning to show some outrage about major war crimes committed by someone else.

EU foreign ministers to discuss how to free grain stuck in Ukraine

European Union foreign ministers will discuss ways to free millions of tonnes of grain stuck in Ukraine due to Russia’s Black Sea port blockade at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

Ukraine is one of the top wheat suppliers globally, but its grain shipments have stalled and more than 20m tonnes have been trapped in silos since Russia’s invaded the country and blocked its ports.

The EU supports efforts by the United Nations to broker a deal to resume Ukraine’s sea exports in return for facilitating Russian food and fertiliser exports, but that would need Moscow’s green light.

Krystal Ball: Populist Revolt ROCKS Colombia, France, Ecuador

Former guerrilla Gustavo Petro wins Colombian election to become first leftist president

Colombia has elected a former guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro as president, making him the South American country’s first leftist head of state. Petro beat Rodolfo Hernández, a gaff-prone former mayor of Bucaramanga and business mogul, with 50.47% of the vote in a runoff election on Sunday and will take office in July amid a host of challenges, not least of which is the deepening discontent over inequality and rising costs of living. Hernández had 47.27%, with almost all ballots counted, according to results released by election authorities.

Petro’s election marks a tidal shift for Colombia, a country that has never before had a leftist president, and follows similar victories for the left in Peru, Chile and Honduras. ...

On the agenda for the new leader will be the country’s faltering peace process with the leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), which was signed in 2016 and formally ended five decades of civil war that killed more than 260,000 people and displaced more than 7 million. The outgoing government of Iván Duque has been accused of slow-walking the accord’s implementation in order to undermine it.

Another headache for Petro will be neighbouring Venezuela, which has been mired in social, political and economic crisis for years. Petro has advocated for a reopening of ties with Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, bucking the Duque government’s policy of isolation.

Petro has also pledged to wean the country off its dependence on fossil fuels, worrying investors.

Ecuador's Indigenous Revolt Against Neoliberal President

Macron’s centrist grouping to lose absolute majority in parliament, say projected results

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping has lost its absolute majority in parliament, amid gains by a new left alliance and a historic surge by the far right, according to projected results in Sunday’s election.

After five years of undisputed control of parliament, the recently re-elected Macron, known for his top-down approach to power, now enters his second term facing uncertainty over how he will deliver domestic policies, such as raising the retirement age and overhauling state benefits. His centrists will need to strike compromises and expand alliances in parliament to be able to push forward his proposals to cut taxes and shake up the welfare system.

Macron’s Ensemble (Together) remains the biggest grouping in parliament, but suffered significant losses in what the media called a “crushing defeat” and an “earthquake”. Political analysts deemed the results a “severe failure” for Macron’s centrist alliance, which missed the absolute majority by a large margin, in contrast to its landslide win five years ago.

Projections by Ipsos pollsters, based on partial results, showed that Macron’s centrists would win about 234 seats – much less than the 289 required for an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

A historic alliance of parties on the left, led by the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party with the Socialists and the Greens, seemed poised to become the largest opposition group, with about 141 seats. But the most striking result of the night came for Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally party, which was forecast to increase its seats from eight in 2017 to about 90 – a historic high for a party that in the past has struggled to make gains in the first-past-the-post parliamentary voting system.

Biden PROMISES Recession 'Not Inevitable', Consumers Say Otherwise

Yellen says US recession not ‘inevitable’ but expects ‘economy to slow’

Joe Biden’s treasury secretary Janet Yellen says she expects “the economy to slow” but continued insisting that a full-blown recession is not “at all inevitable”.

Yellen’s remarks on Sunday came days after the US central bank moved to sharply raise interest rates in an effort to contain soaring inflation.

She told ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulous that her financial outlook results from how the economy has “been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered and we have reached full employment”.

“It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable,” Yellen added.

Pressed on the issue of inflation, which polls indicate is a top priority for US voters as the midterm elections in November approach, Yellen said inflation causes are global, not local, and those factors are unlikely to diminish immediately.

Krystal DESTROYS Inflation Talking Points On Bill Maher

Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve cordially invite you to develop a new and close-up experience of what the underside of a bus looks like ...

The Federal Reserve says its remedies for inflation ‘will cause pain’, but to whom?

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell recently made it clear that the Federal Reserve’s remedies to combat runaway inflation “will cause some pain”. Powell’s words of caution – references to the unemployment and scarcity that will follow increased interest rates – were echoed elsewhere by prominent economists. Some used Powell’s same euphemism: there will be pain.

While the narratives from Powell and others imply that our shared short-term sacrifice will produce shared long-term gains, their careful framing is intended to mask a deeply unpleasant reality: neither the sacrifice nor the gains are shared. Easing inflation will disproportionately harm working-class people, and these same people will reap none of the benefits down the road.

The Fed’s recipe to bring prices under control will increase the cost of borrowing money, which is good news for creditors, while heavily indebted households that rely on loans for their daily survival will face higher bills. The cost of borrowing will also increase government expenses for public works and social services, forcing states to further cut their budget, hurting the most precarious parts of society that rely most on these services. Most importantly, as Powell himself has acknowledged, lowering incentives for businesses to invest will produce unemployment.

What Powell does not say is that the “pain” for working-class Americans is not an accident or even an unintended consequence. As economists well know, the very possibility of tackling inflation rests on relieving the upward pressure on prices by diminishing consumer demand. To do so, the Fed will curtail the purchasing power of most citizens – especially those who have the least.

This is not yet the whole story. The implicit message of Powell and fellow economic experts is that workers have had it too good in the post-pandemic recovery. ... [F]or the first time in decades, workers have gained the upper hand in the labor market and companies have been forced to raise wages to keep their employees and attract new staff. Wages and salaries in private industry increased 5% over the 12-month period ending in March, beating a 3% increase during the same period a year before. After decades of stagnation and even reduced pay, the trend has reversed. ... To economists, this sudden inversion of power constitutes a “disorder” in the social relations of production, as rising nominal wages intensify inflationary pressures.

'Poverty Is Violence!' Thousands of Demonstrators in DC Demand Economic Justice

Led by the Poor People's Campaign, advocacy groups and low-income individuals gathered in Washington, D.C. on Saturday to demand that policymakers "fight poverty, not the poor."

"We are the 140 million poor and low-wealth people, standing together to declare we won't be silent anymore," said Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the campaign. "Poverty is a policy choice and we will hold our leaders accountable."

Fellow campaign co-chair Bishop William Barber echoed that message in a speech at the Mass Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington, which drew thousands to the nation's capital.

Barber declared that as long as essential workers are treated like they are "expendable" during a public health crisis, as long as federal lawmakers block pandemic relief for families, "as long as we have the stealing of native lands and unjust immigration," and as long as millions of people nationwide face hunger and homelessness, "we won't be silent anymore."

"Let us be clear: We are not simply here for a day," explained Barber, who also highlighted voter suppression efforts and the United States' significant military spending. "This assembly is to declare the full commitment of a fusion coalition."

"Now is the time for a Third Reconstruction. We are the rejected—who've been rejected by the politics of trickle-down economics and rejected by neoliberalism," he continued, sharing the history of the first two reconstructions.

"This is a movement—until children are protected; until sick folk are healed; until low-wage workers are paid; until immigrants are treated fairly; until affordable housing is provided; until the atmosphere, the land, and the water are protected; until saving the world, and diplomacy, and living in peace is more important than blowing up the world," he added, "we won't be silent anymore."

FIRST Apple Store Unionizes As Retail Wave Spreads

Apple workers in Maryland vote to join union, a first for the tech giant in US

Apple Store workers in Maryland have voted to join a union, becoming the tech giant’s first retail employees to join a labour-force movement as part of a wider trend across US retail, service and tech industries.

Workers voted to unionise on a nearly two-to-one margin and the result, announced on Saturday by the National Labor Relations Board, provides a foothold for a budding movement among Apple retail employees who want a greater voice over wages and policies pertaining to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Employees of more than two dozen of Apple’s 270 US stores have expressed interest in unionizing in recent months, union leaders say.

More than 100 workers in Towson, near Baltimore, voted 65-33 to join the union, known as the Apple Coalition of Organized Retail Employees – AppleCore – that will be part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), an industrial trade union that represents more than 300,000 employees.

Harvard's Deep Ties to Slavery: Report Shows It Profited, Then Tried to Erase History of Complicity



the horse race



Eric Adams' POLICE STATE Is The Future Democrats Want, But Their Voters DON'T: Olayemi Olurin



the evening greens


US must re-examine risks of glyphosate, key Roundup weedkiller ingredient

The US Environmental Protection Agency has been ordered to take a fresh look at whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup weedkiller, poses unreasonable risks to humans and the environment.

In a 3-0 decision on Friday, the ninth US circuit court of appeals agreed with several environmental, farmworker and food-safety advocacy groups that the EPA did not adequately consider whether glyphosate causes cancer and threatens endangered species. The litigation began after the EPA reauthorized the use of glyphosate in January 2020.

Groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Food Safety and the Rural Coalition, which represents farmworkers, faulted the agency for rubber-stamping glyphosate despite its alleged harms to agriculture, farmers exposed during spraying, and wildlife such as the Monarch butterfly.

Circuit Judge Michelle Friedland wrote for the Pasadena, California-based appeals court that the EPA did not properly justify its findings that glyphosate did not threaten human health and was unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans. She also faulted aspects of the agency’s approval process.

Burning planet: why are the world’s heatwaves getting more intense?

A heatwave struck India and Pakistan in March, bringing the highest temperatures in that month since records began 122 years ago. Scorching weather has continued across the subcontinent, wreaking disaster for millions. Spring was more like midsummer in the US, with soaring temperatures across the country in May. Spain saw the mercury hit 40C in early June as a heatwave swept across Europe, hitting the UK last week.

Scientists have been able quickly to prove that these record-breaking temperatures are no natural occurrence. A study published last month showed that the south Asian heatwave was made 30 times more likely to happen by human influence on the climate.

Vikki Thompson, climate scientist at the University of Bristol’s Cabot Institute, explained: “Climate change is making heatwaves hotter and last longer around the world. Scientists have shown that many specific heatwaves are more intense because of human-induced climate change. The climate change signal is even detectable in the number of deaths attributed to heatwaves.”

Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, said heatwaves in Europe alone had increased in frequency by a factor of 100 or more, caused by human actions in pouring greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. “Climate change is a real game changer when it comes to heatwaves: they have increased in frequency, intensity and duration across the world,” she said. ...

Only drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will prevent climate chaos. The current heatwaves are happening as the earth has warmed by about 1.2C above pre-industrial levels – nations agreed, at the Cop26 UN climate summit last November, to try not to let them rise by more than 1.5C. Beyond that, the changes to the climate will be too great to overcome with shady trees or white roofs, and at 2C an estimated 1 billion people will suffer extreme heat. “We cannot adapt our way out of the climate crisis,” Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy, told the Observer. “If we continue with business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions, there is no adaptation that is possible. You just can’t.”


Also of Interest

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

The UK's Decision to Extradite Assange Shows Why The US/UK's Freedom Lectures Are a Farce

Global condemnations of Assange extradition order as Australian government refuses to defend persecuted journalist

'Sad Day for Western Democracy': Chomsky, Ellsberg, Others Denounce Assange Extradition

Revealed: Australia’s Secret Propaganda Unit

Stiglitz: The US Could Lose the New Cold War With China and Russia

Report: Russia Warned US Ahead of Strikes Against Fighters at Al-Tanf Base in Syria

Report: US MQ-1C Gray Eagle Drone Sale to Ukraine Has Been Paused

Ukraine - The West's Response As It Meets With Reality

Michael Hudson Talks About Almost Everything with Jonathan Brown

Pfizer reportedly sponsored Miami yacht party for failed Colombian presidential contender Rodolfo Hernández

Peter Zeihan SOUNDS OFF On Inflation, Globalization Future

GAS TAX Holiday? Biden Admin Floats Idea As Majority Believe Economy Is ALREADY Collapsing


A Little Night Music

Jimmy McGriff - The Bird Wave

Jimmy McGriff - The Worm

Jimmy McGriff - Kiko

Jimmy McGriff - All About My Girl

Jimmy McGriff - C Jam Blues

Jimmy McGriff - Boston Bust Out

Jimmy McGriff - Turn Blue

Jimmy McGriff - Keep Loose

I’ve Got A Woman

Jimmy Smith & Jimmy McGriff - Honky Tonk


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Comments

ggersh's picture

are upon us. More July weather in June.

Does anyone else see the problem with this chart? Joementia certainly didn't.
Maybe that Wilde quote applies here??

https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/vgsumf/they_want_us_to_fo...

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11 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

i feel a little guilty, the weather here is spectacular. it has been cool all weekend, with temps at night dropping into the high 50's and during the day in the 70's. i hope that your weather breaks soon.

it's funny how the mainstream media outlets assume that the people are so innumerate that they can post charts showing the opposite of their claims as support for them.

i saw on a clip that i posted from krystal ball that bill maher tried to pull a fast one and deny that there was a market crash as you can see on the chart you posted in 2020 and got beat down by krystal.

here's the link:

Krystal DESTROYS Inflation Talking Points On Bill Maher

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10 users have voted.

@joe shikspack be shown to kill, uh, everything, before it FINALLY gone?
CommonDreams has succumbed to TDRS, as has Stiglitz. Wish he would have elaborated on US products for sale. Bombs, missiles, war planes... what? Debt? We have lots of war material and debt. That's it.
This holiday gave me an extended weekend that was really appreciated. Hot as hell, but tonight, at least there is a breeze.
Enjoy your weather. Let's revisit it in the dead of winter, pal!
Take good care, joe!

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11 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

heh, if only glyphosate became so unprofitable as to miss bayer's corporate goals, well then we could get rid of it. the epa is more sensitive to corporate needs than human and habitat needs.

glad you got your extended weekend and made use of it. have a good one down there in the shade with a frosty cold one. Smile

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

It was 50 when I left Ogden and it’s 45 now. Brrr… big change from 100 on Saturday. The peaks got a bit of snow too, but none where I’m at.

We’re in a beautiful spot in and surrounded by aspen trees and pines. I posted a picture of the mountain close by in the OT. Sam has been very busy exploring every scent she comes across and is one happy lil dawg. I have one bar for internet which comes and goes but happy I’ll not go through withdrawal.

Bummer news again today but not much to be done about it. Damn all the folks who know that Russia will win their objectives in Ukraine and for the loss of lives it’s going to cost. It didn’t have to be this way! And Biden’s rattling China too. But we lucked out not getting Kamala thrust upon us this weekend. .)

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9 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

glad that you and sam are enjoying a cool place to hang out and lots of message boards for sam to read and post on.

the news probably won't get any better while you're out there, so enjoy it as much as you can. but if you need to reminded about how bad news can be and how beautiful music can be, we're here. Smile

give sam a scritch for me!

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9 users have voted.

@snoopydawg Oh, wait! You were talking about internet connection? Sorry.
Labs do that air scent thing. My hounds were ground scent. So why did they know I had steaks in my hands headed from the patio grill to the dining room? Anybody?
Hope you and Sam have a great time! I have no doubt you have the clothing to stay warm, chica.
Not even nude cools you off here. Brutal heat.

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10 users have voted.

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

snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

@on the cusp

But brrr it’s cold here. It’s a good thing I still have gloves in the car and brought warm clothes. In January I’d think this was a heatwave but after 100 degree temps it’s quite shocking. I’m not bitching mind you and am enjoying it but wowzer.

I’ll deliver the scritch when the Sam dawg decides to come get it. This spot keeps getting prettier as the light changes. The aspen stands out from the shadows. Really nice spot.

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10 users have voted.

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

janis b's picture

@snoopydawg

You’re a perpetual mother ; )

I remember aspen trees being very beautiful in the sun and the mist, from the few times I was in their environment.

A hug for you and sam.

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10 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@janis b

I promised Sam that she’d have a good life when I brought her home and boy is she having a good time. Brought the toy with us and she’s having a blast playing with it and pretending all sorts of things. This dawg is gonna sleep well tonight.

I took a picture of the aspen at dusk and hopefully it turns out well. They have always been my favorite tree and it’s probably because of how much time we spent in this area. The only downside is that I can’t see the mountain from here. Love to watch alpen glow on them as the sun sets.

Take care.

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

janis b's picture

@snoopydawg

you'll sleep well as well.

It's all the same, the glowing aspen and alpen, both are mountain environments. It's all about the light! It's mostly a feeling of warmth that I get in the vision of both, even if it's cold.

Stay warm and cosy.

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janis b's picture

Loving Jimmy McGriff, who I haven't listened to in too long.

"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you."

-- Oscar Wilde

... Just ask Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais!

Thanks

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joe shikspack's picture

@janis b

glad you're digging the tunes.

i'm not sure anymore if making the people laugh when you tell them the truth is going to be good protection. some people seem to be immune to humor.

have a great evening!

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janis b's picture

@joe shikspack

is growing. What a shame, especially at a time both could be so beneficial. Isn't that what the blues are for - to express the deep pain in a healing way. Being 'woke' doesn't seem to be helping ... but these are trying times. Hopefully we'll wake up in time.

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enhydra lutris's picture

Absolutely love Jommy McGriff. Back in the day our travelling set of CDs included Blues Groove with Hank Crawford. Also love the Oscar Wilde Quotation.

Krystal v Maher was good to see but you can't help but wonder why all the talking heads and politicos are dissembling about the likely fate of the economy. What do they plan to spew when shit actually happens, beyond punt and dissemble some more?

Thanks again for the news and blues.
be ell and have a good one

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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, just about anything with hank crawford on it is great late night driving music.

you can't help but wonder why all the talking heads and politicos are dissembling about the likely fate of the economy.

i think that they are all positioning the ideological group that they represent to avoid the blame when the shit hits the fan, which they know is going to happen. lies and diversions is all they have, so they are going to use them perpetually.

have a great evening!

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7 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@joe shikspack

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3 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 --