The Evening Blues - 11-11-22



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: James Cotton

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues harmonica player James Cotton. Enjoy!

James Cotton - How Long Can A Fool Go Wrong

"The cost of living is going up and the chance of living is going down."

-- Flip Wilson


News and Opinion

October inflation report: Prices continue to devastate living standards of US workers

Inflation rose at an unadjusted annual rate of 7.7 percent in October, according to data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Thursday morning. The report noted that consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent over September, the same rate as the previous month. ... The statement said that the “all items less food and energy index rose 6.3 percent over the last 12 months.” But in the critical categories of energy and food, prices increased by 17.6 percent and 10.9 percent respectively.

The apparent slowing of inflation was welcomed in the corporate press as a sign of “cooling.” This was presented entirely from the standpoint of the concerns of the wealthy over the long-term effect of rising interest rates on their asset portfolios. ... The financial elite celebrated the inflation report with the biggest Wall Street rally since 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1,201 points, or 3.7 percent. The S&P 500 rose 5.4 percent and the NASDAQ gained 7.35 percent.

The stock market surge was not driven by concerns over the impossible situation facing workers, whose living costs are exploding while their real wages stagnate or decline. It shot up because billionaire investors see in the inflation report the possibility of a return to easy money that existed prior to the Fed interest rate hikes that began early this year. They were also cheered by the prospect of an economic slowdown engineered by the Fed undercutting a growing rebellion among workers against the corporations and the pro-corporate union bureaucracies. ...

The October BLS inflation report showed that food at work and school was up 95.2 percent so far this year, airline fees were up 42.9 percent, public transportation was up 28.1 percent, health insurance was up 20.6 percent, gasoline was up 17.5 percent, electricity was up 14.1 percent, motor vehicle insurance was up 12.9 percent and food at home was up 12.4 percent. Rent was up 0.7 percent compared to the month before and is up 7.5 percent over the year. Home mortgage rates continue to soar, with the 30-year fixed rate heading toward 8 percent. ...

Under conditions of an intensifying crisis of the US political system and growing social opposition from the working class, Biden and the Democrats have already signaled their readiness to “focus on the future,” i.e., forget about the Republican Party’s support for Donald Trump’s attempted coup of January 6, 2021, and find “common ground” for a bipartisan program of war and austerity.

Americans Selling THEIR BLOOD To Make Ends Meet

Russia takes Pavlovka. Elensky interview on CNN, in Kiev. Kherson timing, freezing the conflict.

Ukrainian troops approach outskirts of Kherson after taking key town

Ukrainian forces were closing in on the outskirts of Kherson city as Russia said on Thursday it had begun the retreat from the southern city that it announced the previous day. Hours after Ukraine claimed the liberation of the key town of Snihurivka, images emerged of relaxed-looking soldiers from Ukraine’s 28th Mechanised Brigade with a Ukrainian flag in Kyslivka, a village just outside Klapaya and about nine miles (15km) from Kherson’s city centre.

The Russian defence ministry, confirming that its withdrawal was under way, said: “The Russian troop units are manoeuvring to a prepared position on the left bank of the Dnipro River in strict accordance with the approved plan.” Witness reports said Russian forces were still visible in Kherson, with Ukrainian troops continuing their advance from three directions – from the north, east and west – as the large pocket around the city once held by Russian forces appeared to be shrinking.

Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s deputy military intelligence chief, estimated over half of the Russian forces that had been stationed on the right bank were still there – a force that had previously been put at 20,000. “The most recent information we have is the 4th Tactical Military Base has supposedly been transferred to the left bank. The rest are still there, fighting, conducting military activities with the aim of providing cover for others to leave,” added Skibitsky.

How Ukraine – Not Russia – Floods Social Media With War Propaganda

Turkey plans to give free Russian grain to developing countries

Turkey’s Agriculture Minister Vahit Kirisci reported that the country will use its own capacities to process the wheat promised free of charge by Russia and deliver it to countries in need. “We will get Russian wheat for free, and the grain that will be processed in Turkey will be transferred to 8 countries, according to the desire of the Turkish president,” Kirisci explained to Turkish media after a cabinet meeting.

“We have an unused production capacity in this regard. For example, in the flour, pasta, semolina, and bulgur industry. After processing the free wheat we will receive from Russia in our own factories, we will send it to less developed countries,” he added.

On 4 November, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pledged to send grain and fertilizer to some of the world’s least developed countries, especially those in Africa, as part of the agreement for the departure of ships from Ukrainian ports, according to Sputnik.

“We will make sure that ships with grain reach all countries in need, starting with Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan, which are experiencing problems because of a severe food crisis and famine,” he said, speaking at the MUSIAD Expo 2022 in Istanbul, according to Daily Sabah News.

'Necessary and Urgent': Human Rights Watch Renews Push for Killer Robot Treaty

Noting that countries have been discussing a treaty banning autonomous weapons systems for nearly a decade "with no tangible results," Human Rights Watch on Thursday renewed calls—and outlined alternative strategies—for a global agreement prohibiting the development of so-called "killer robots."

The 40-page report, which was co-published with Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic, posits that "rather than accepting continuing stagnation" while trying to reach a deal within the framework of the United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), proponents of a legally binding instrument for banning killer robots should try something new.

"The longer the killer robots issue stays stuck in the current forum, the more time developers of autonomous weapons systems have to hone new technologies and achieve commercial viability," HRW senior arms researcher Bonnie Docherty said in a statement. "A new treaty would help stem arms races and avoid proliferation by stigmatizing the removal of human control."

"A new international treaty that addresses autonomous weapons systems needs a more appropriate forum for negotiations," Docherty, who is also associate director of armed conflict and civilian protection at the Human Rights Clinic, added. "There's ample precedent to show that an alternative process to create legal rules on killer robots is viable and desirable, and countries need to act now to keep pace with technological developments."

HRW proposes negotiating a killer robot ban via the United Nations General Assembly—how the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons began life—or even independently from the U.N. altogether, an avenue that led to the treaties banning anti-personnel land mines and cluster munitions.

Biden to meet Xi Jinping at G20 in first face-to-face talks as president

Joe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the White House has said, in their first face-to-face talks since the US leader became president.

Biden hopes the meeting will allow him to build a “floor” for relations between the two countries, but he will be honest about US concerns, including Taiwan and human rights, a senior administration official said on Thursday.

The White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, said in a statement: “The leaders will discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication,” as well as how to “responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, especially on transnational challenges”.

Biden and Xi last met in person during the Obama administration, and US ties with China have since slumped to their lowest level in decades, most notably since US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan, the self-governed democratic island that Beijing claims as its territory.

The two presidents have spoken by phone a number of times over the past 22 months, but the Covid pandemic and Xi’s aversion to foreign travel has prevented them from meeting in person.

Biden FTC Applauded for Moving to Crack Down on 'Predatory Pricing,' Other Corporate Abuses

Progressives cheered Thursday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-1 to issue a new policy statement restoring the agency's commitment to "rigorously enforcing the federal ban on unfair methods of competition."

While Section 5 of the FTC Act—passed in the early 20th century by congressional lawmakers unsatisfied with the Sherman Act, the original antitrust statute—prohibits "unfair methods of competition" and instructs the commission to identify and rein in such practices, the agency has refused for decades to exercise its full legal authority to do so.

The statement approved Thursday by FTC Chair Lina Khan and Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya revives the agency's policy of doing everything in its power to prevent corporations from using anti-competitive tactics to gain advantages.

"When Congress created the FTC, it clearly commanded us to crack down on unfair methods of competition," said Khan. "Enforcers have to use discretion, but that doesn't give us the right to ignore a central part of our mandate. Today's policy statement reactivates Section 5 and puts us on track to faithfully enforce the law as Congress designed."

As the Americal Economic Liberties Project (AELP) explained:

Section 5 of the FTC Act of 1914 originally charged the Federal Trade Commission with using its expertise to distinguish between "unfair" and "fair" methods of competition. As opposed to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division's role, which is focused on enforcement of the law, the FTC was tasked by Congress to clarify and interpret the rules of the road for anti-competitive behavior.

However, beginning in the 1980s, antitrust enforcers strayed from this original mission, culminating in a 2015 policy statement where the commission announced it would not bring cases under Section 5 unless they met a much narrower framework. One of Chair Khan's first actions as head of the FTC was to overturn this 2015 policy statement, with promises for additional policy statements in the future.

...

AELP executive director Sarah Miller called the blueprint approved Thursday "an important policy change that will empower the agency to better combat anti-competitive behavior across all markets."

"As a result, the FTC will have renewed authority to outlaw predatory pricing, unfair supplier rebates, and other abusive monopolistic tactics with sharp focus," said Miller. "Chair Khan isn't just realigning the agency with its congressional mandate after years of retreat, but charting a path toward a new era of refined antitrust enforcement that prioritizes working families and small businesses."

Corporations gone wild in search of profits:

Outrage as Investigation Shows How Big Pharma 'Snuffed Out' Vaccine Patent Waiver

While Big Pharma made no secret of its opposition to waiving patents for coronavirus vaccines, a new investigation published Thursday details the extent of the powerful industry's behind-the-scenes lobbying push as it sought to crush an effort to ramp up global production and distribution of the lifesaving shots.

Joint reporting by Politico and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) revealed that pharmaceutical giants threatened several countries, including Belgium and Indonesia, with investment cuts if they decided to support a popular proposal to temporarily lift patent protections that have hindered vaccine production and distribution throughout the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

"Big Pharma used its vast lobbying and influencing efforts to try to kill a proposal that threatened the very tenets of the industry," the outlets report. "Top industry executives enjoyed direct access to senior officials within the E.U., which was opposed to the proposal from the very start and encouraged potentially rogue member states, including Italy and France, to fall into line."

"And the U.S., after a dramatic late intervention in favor of a waiver for vaccines eight months after the proposal had been tabled, failed to follow through as the Biden administration came under pressure from industry and Congress," they added.

The investigation uncovered several instances in which pharmaceutical giants directly pressured and threatened country officials over the patent waiver, which was originally introduced in late 2020 by South Africa and India. The version the World Trade Organization finally approved in June—almost two years and millions of coronavirus deaths later—was so thoroughly gutted that it could no longer be accurately described as a waiver.

An adviser to the Belgian prime minister recounted a phone call they received in 2021 from a spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Belgium-headquartered firm that is wholly owned by Johnson & Johnson, one of the major coronavirus vaccine producers eager to protect its stranglehold on production.

"According to the adviser, the spokesperson warned them that if Belgium supported a radical proposal made by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization, then Janssen might rethink its vast billion-dollar research and development investments in Belgium," Politico and TBIJ noted.

While Belgium never formally endorsed the proposed patent waiver, "Janssen appears to have been worried that the country's stance might change, possibly after some Belgian politicians appeared receptive to the proposal," the outlets reported. "Soon after Belgium's development cooperation minister Meryame Kitir appeared on TV to support a lifting of vaccine IP protections in late April 2021, the adviser received a call from Janssen's public affairs spokesperson."

The adviser said the Janssen official warned that "if Belgium is supporting this, the [Johnson & Johnson] headquarters in New Jersey are going to be agitated and they might consider reviewing the R&D budget."

According to Politico and TBIJ, the Belgian official's account "echoes that of others around the world."

"An Indonesian official told the Bureau and Politico that, in 2020, when the country was in discussions with a different pharmaceutical company about a Covid-19 drug, the company pressured Indonesia on its waiver position," the investigation found. "The 'stick' was reduced investment, the official said."

Unlike Belgium, Indonesia ultimately defied pharmaceutical industry pressure and joined more than 100 mostly developing countries in backing the waiver.

But it wasn't nearly enough to overcome opposition from rich countries—particularly Germany and other powerful members of the E.U., which faced immense lobbying pressure and spending from Pfizer, Moderna, and other pharmaceutical industry giants and trade groups such as the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.

"Between January 2020 and September 2022, 13 pharmaceutical lobby groups and companies held nearly 100 meetings with the most senior [Eureopan] Commission officials," Politico and TBIJ found. "In the U.K., there were more than 360 meetings between January 2020 and March 2022—equivalent to nearly one every two days. Boris Johnson personally attended 11 of them."

Max Lawson, co-chair of the People's Vaccine Alliance and head of inequality policy at Oxfam, said in response to the investigation that "these shocking allegations are a testament to the huge unaccountable power of big business in global politics."

"Millions died without access to vaccines while pharmaceutical companies gouged extraordinary profits from the pandemic," Lawson added. "Rich countries expressed warm words and pledged donations, but to Germany, the U.K., Switzerland, and the European Commission, it was apparently just a PR exercise. In the end, global solidarity was snuffed out by the wealthy pharmaceutical lobby, which is not how a healthy democracy should function."

More than 1,400 people around the world are still dying each day from Covid-19, and poor nations are still struggling to obtain sufficient vaccine doses and therapeutics. To date, just 23.4% of people in low-income countries have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose.

While Politico and TBIJ's findings offered a grim look at how corporate power and influence peddling can stamp out critical public health initiatives behind closed doors, Lawson argued that there is still "a glimmer of hope amid these revelations."

"The narrow outcome of TRIPS negotiations set an important precedent, recognizing that intellectual property rules are a barrier to accessing medical tools," Lawson said. "World Trade Organization members are now deciding whether to extend the decision to cover tests and treatments. That could ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to lifesaving medical tools that reduce Covid-19 hospitalizations and death."

"While Big Pharma will once again use all of its lobbying might to protect its medical monopolies," he added, "governments must ensure this time that they put people's lives before profits."

Omg. Corporations gone wild in search of profits:

KFC apologises for Kristallnacht chicken and cheese promotion

KFC has apologised for a push notification sent out via its app inviting German customers to celebrate the anniversary of the Nazi Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews by ordering fried chicken and cheese.

It sent the message to its customers on Wednesday, the 84th anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass in which Nazis led gangs in the torching, vandalising and ransacking of Jewish shops, businesses and synagogues across Germany. The event is seen as the beginning of the Nazis’ systematic attempt to annihilate Europe’s Jewish population.

KFC reached out to its customers with the message: “Commemorate Kristallnacht – treat yourself to more soft cheese and crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!” About an hour later it sent out another message apologising for the first and blaming it on “a fault in our system”.

It has been speculated that the message was computer generated, with the text to promote its cheesy chicken being automatically connected to current anniversaries and events to stimulate sales. But social media experts in Germany said they were astounded that the company had no checking mechanism to pick up on the blunder, apparently noticing only after it had been reported back to them that the erroneous message had gone out. ...

The incident recalled other fast-food advertising slogan gaffs, such as when McDonald’s in Portugal used the campaign slogan “Sundae Bloody Sundae” in a Halloween campaign for its ice-cream puddings. It pulled the campaign after protests, insisting it had never intended to refer to Bloody Sunday in 1972, when British paratroopers shot dead demonstrators at a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland.



the horse race



CHAOS Ensues As House Margins NARROW



the evening greens


World’s biggest carmakers to build 400m more vehicles than 1.5C climate target will allow

The world’s biggest carmakers plan to build about 400m more diesel and petrol cars than what is sustainable to contain global heating, a study has found.

Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the University of Applied Sciences of the Industry in Bergisch Gladbach and Greenpeace Germany compared the rate at which the world needed to embrace zero-emissions vehicles with the rate at which major car companies were planning to produce various models.

The report, which focused on 12 carmakers globally, showed some of Australia’s most popular brands – Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai/Kia – were on track to make far more petrol and diesel cars than is sustainable if the world is to limit global heating to the Paris climate agreement target of 1.5C.

Researchers calculated the global carbon budget – how much carbon the world can still emit and remain within a 1.5C envelope – using a climate model developed by UTS and came up with a figure of 53Gt.

“The carbon budget of 53Gt allows for the sale of an additional 315 million ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles as of 2022,” the report states. “At the same time, however, projected ICE sales range between at least 645m and 778m vehicles. This represents an overshoot of 105% to 147% compared to the 1.5°C-compatible number of ICE sales.”

"Carbon Billionaires": Oxfam Calls for Taxing Rich Who Profit from Emissions Fueling Climate Crisis

‘Major push’ for gas amid Ukraine war accelerating climate breakdown

The global dash for gas amid the Ukraine war will accelerate climate breakdown and could send temperatures soaring far beyond the 1.5C limit of safety, analysis has shown.

If all of the new gas projects announced in response to the global gas supply crunch are fulfilled, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions would add up to about 10% of the total amount of carbon dioxide that can safely be emitted by 2050.

As that gas is in addition to current production of fossil fuels, that would threaten to derail the Paris climate agreement, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group of analysts, in a report published on Thursday at the Cop27 UN climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

There will be an oversupply of liquefied natural gas across the world, reaching about 500 megatonnes of LNG by the end of this decade, according to the new data. The amount of oversupply will be about five times as much gas as the EU imported from Russia last year, and about twice as much as Russia’s total gas exports.

Bill Hare, the chief executive of Climate Analytics, one of the partner organisations behind Climate Action Tracker, told the Guardian that the world had “overreached” in its attempts to fill the hole left by Russian gas. “There will be just too much,” he said. “The volume of import capacity of gas being built in Europe far exceeds the replacement needs.”

California Sues Manufacturers of 'Forever Chemicals' for Deception and Harm

The state of California on Thursday sued 18 manufacturers of "forever chemicals" for harming people and the planet, and engaging in widespread deception.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are manufactured chemicals that persist in the human body and environment for long periods. They have been used in everything from water-resistant clothing and furniture to cookware, food packaging, and firefighting foam. ...

"PFAS are as ubiquitous in California as they are harmful," said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. "As a result of a decadeslong campaign of deception, PFAS are in our waters, our clothing, our houses, and even our bodies."

The Democrat declared that "the damage caused by 3M, DuPont, and other manufacturers of PFAS is nothing short of staggering, and without drastic action, California will be dealing with the harms of these toxic chemicals for generations."

"Today's lawsuit is the result of a yearslong investigation that found that the manufacturers of PFAS knowingly violated state consumer protection and environmental laws," he added. "We won't let them off the hook for the pernicious damage done to our state."

Filed in the Alameda County Superior Court, the complaint states that the "defendants created and/or contributed to a public nuisance, harmed and destroyed natural resources, marketed defective products, failed to provide adequate warnings concerning the use of their products, and engaged in unlawful business practices."

The suit is seeking preliminary and permanent equitable relief, damages, statutory penalties, and restitution as well as associated attorneys' fees, expert costs, and litigation costs.

Tropical Storm Nicole’s wind and rain lash Florida

The late-season cyclone made landfall close to Vero Beach on Florida’s east coast at about 3am, delivering 75mph winds and a storm surge that collapsed buildings into the ocean and swept away roads as far north as Daytona Beach. ...

Nicole, which gained category 1 hurricane strength on Wednesday afternoon over the Bahamas, hours before its Florida landfall, lacked the intensity of its 150mph predecessor, which killed 114.

Nicole was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm inland with maximum sustained winds below 50mph as it headed on a diagonal path past Orlando and Tampa and into the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said in an afternoon update the storm would continue to lose power through the day, but remain dangerous with heavy rainfall and inland flooding the biggest risks as its remnants turned north-east on a path through Georgia and the Carolinas and towards New York.

“Hazards will continue to affect much of the Florida peninsula and portions of the southeast US,” senior NHC hurricane specialist Jack Beven said in the bulletin.

“Nicole will produce heavy rainfall this evening across the Florida peninsula and flooding will also be possible on Friday in the south-east through the central Appalachians, including the Blue Ridge mountains, and northward through eastern Ohio, west central Pennsylvania, into western New York by Friday night into Saturday.”


Also of Interest

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

Russia Slips Out of Kherson Under Cover of Midterms

The Pullout From Kherson

Complications of the Ukraine War

Real Democracy Means Democracy Of Information: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

The Chris Hedges Report: Andrew Bacevich on His Book ‘After the Apocalypse’ and the Folly of Endless War

The REAL Reason For Dems’ Rust Belt Revival

Exodus continues at Twitter as Elon Musk hints at possible bankruptcy

Florida police arrest legally blind man whose cane they mistook for a gun

Mean, moody and magnificent: film noir studio portraits – in pictures


A Little Night Music

James Cotton - Don't start me talking

James Cotton - Dealing With The Devil

James Cotton - Cotton Crop Blues

James Cotton Band - Ain't Doin Too Bad

James Cotton - When It Rains It Pours

Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter & James Cotton - Done Got Over It

James Cotton - The Creeper

James Cotton - Boogie Thing

James Cotton - Live From Chicago, Mr. Superharp Himself

James Cotton & Johnny Winter - New York City 1977


Share
up
15 users have voted.

Comments

refried brains and rice
trying to get over it

Thanks for the cotton ~ good harp man!

Corps gone wild for profit? Who knew?
We are getting the short end of the stick.

Thanks again joe
boogie with your blues!

up
11 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

got my red brains cookin'? Smile

apparently corps will do anything for a dollar. why we let these predatory forces run our lives i will never get.

have a great weekend!

up
8 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

Thanks for the EB's Joe! So much good news once again s/

I found this interview by Glenn beck with Whitney Webb quite riveting
it is almost an hour and half long but it's a very good one that won't
turn you off at all.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-d3jFIGxdQ]

up
7 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, yep, if the news got any better humanity might explode in a frisson of joy.

thanks for the video, i'll try to get time to watch through it later.

have a great weekend!

up
6 users have voted.

Thanks for the blues especially and the news does not seem to bring us much hope for a better world. It seems that greed is the word of the day and it doesn’t matter who is “in charge”, we are not going to be better off as a result.

Keeping my head down enjoying the end of my time in Santa Fe for the season. We are in a cold streak and the wind makes time outside quite chilly! Hope the wind will die down for a trip to the Farmer’s Market. Hoping to be able to hit the road and explore some areas in the western part of the state in the Gila Wilderness

Have a good weekend!

up
10 users have voted.

Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

joe shikspack's picture

@jakkalbessie

glad to hear that things are going well out there in santa fe. i hope the weather accommodates you. we are getting the tail end of tropical storm nicole here and it's been warmish and rainy all day.

have a great trip through the gila wilderness, sounds like fun!

up
6 users have voted.

Ukrainian weapons black market.

up
11 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

that really must give the u.s. decision makers confidence about their support of ukronazis.

up
6 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

and I hope he sues their buttocks off. After he showed them that he had a blind man walking stick she should have apologized and ended it there. Instead they put him in handcuffs after he refused to show his identity papers and searched him. Hasn’t it been settled that they can’t do that? I didn’t hear them saying that he was under arrest.

This is what I would be a lousy juror. I read something that makes total sense to me and agree with that viewpoint until I read something else that makes me change my mind. Another view on the Kherson withdrawal.

Kherson withdrawal: Views from Russian media

The Russian military has withdrawn from Kherson. The city was declared a Russian territory at the end of September.

What do patriotic, pro-Putin, pro-SMO Russian-language media outlets think about this decision?

Topwar.ru, Russia’s most popular military news portal, published a scathing op-ed about the decision to abandon the city:

So, Kherson is finished.

The city is being handed over without a single shot being fired …

We have repeated Gostomel, Bucha, and Krasny Liman—only on a somewhat larger scale. 115,000 Kherson residents (data from the Ministry of Defense) became refugees, having lost everything: housing, work, property, prospects. […]

Now for several days we will listen to a stream of completely shameless propaganda, the purpose of which is to justify what happened. […]

But our shameless propagandists will justify anything. They’ve been paid. And they’ve already started to explain that Kherson was not needed at all and stuff like that.

The world’s second-largest army continues its heroic flight … But that's not the point. The main thing is that a subject of the Russian Federation has been abandoned. […]

The bottom line is that today Russia is losing the remnants of self-confidence of the so-called “Russian world.”

And so on. The commentary ends with an appeal to the Kremlin:

The Russian government, which conducts the special military operation so splendidly, needs to understand the main thing that it (they) stubbornly refuses to understand: what they call the SMO is an ordinary war for the rest of the world … it’s time to start [really] fighting. […]

I can go on and on about what Russia should be doing besides the stupid destruction of its citizens.

There’s more. I guess now a voluntary withdrawal is actually the other side liberating the city according to the Ukraine propagandists. But one of Russia’s goals was to push Ukraine troops back far enough that they couldn’t hit Russia territory with the new weapons. Seems odd to let them park closer.

Well here’s something you don’t see every day….

It’s the weekend again so everyone have a good one.

up
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

yep, i guess it's important that people watch those videos of ordinary police brutality so that they are aware of the sort of country they live in.

there's too much information missing from public discussions of what's going on with kherson to really get a sense of what russia is doing and why. the russians don't strike me as anybody's fools, so i am pretty certain that there are good reasons for what they are doing.

up
6 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

but seriously how can any leader take him seriously when he ‘stutters' like that?

I wonder how many of his handlers groaned when he started talking?

up
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

you know, i could care less if he stutters, so long as he says substantive, well-reasoned things and had a demonstrated intention to carry through the actions he describes. if his handlers are groaning because of the style rather than the substance (which i am certain that his administration has no intentions of making good on) - well, tough shit for them.

up
5 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

The factual basis for AG Bonta's suit against the makers of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) aren't any surprise. In fact anybody and everybody has known it for years and anybody could have brought the suit except Kamala, who was incapable of going after big shots and large corporations. What isn't known is why the hell he brought the suit in Alameda County, unless he's hoping that they're dumb enough to demand a jury trial.

Thanks for the James Cotton. Nize way to ease into the weekend.

So have a great weekend; be well and have a good one

up
7 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 don't know enough about the california court system to figure out why bonta would choose alameda county, though i would guess there's some sort of rationale for it. i wish him luck going up against the chemical giants. even though he has the weight of the evidence on his side, i'm sure that he has an uphill battle ahead.

have a great weekend!

up
6 users have voted.
soryang's picture

@enhydra lutris used to be there. The Naval Air Station closed some time ago, (now Alameda Point), and is a Superfund cleanup site. I saw an add by some law firm advising people who worked at the site to bring personal injury lawsuits if they had one or more of many diseases caused by exposure to PFAS and other chemicals routinely found at Naval Air Stations. So there is hook for jurisdiction and venue. This is just conjecture, I've never looked at these lawsuits, although I've heard DOD lawyers complaining about them. The fire fighters at Navy airfields used it.

up
4 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

enhydra lutris's picture

@soryang

closed air bases, navy bases, navy air bases, etc. as well as active bases, oil sites, and the like. If you zoom in on this map ( https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/ ) you'll note 2 military sites plus a dense cluster of other sites right up at the state capitol, and LA is awash with sites.

be well and have a good one

up
6 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 --

soryang's picture

@enhydra lutris I know very little about California or other uses for the chemical. I see there are a number of other sites near Alameda, too. I guess there are or were hundreds of consumer uses for PFAS chemicals. I had no idea.

up
4 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

enhydra lutris's picture

@soryang

relates to a chunk of those sites down the CA central valley and some of LA too, beyond that I don't really know. There's one oddball one, a more or less isolated dot out at Livermore CA that, iirc, was purple, for military/defense. It isn't a base, it is a civilian defense contractor that does research, no manufacture or anything like that.

be well and have a good one

up
2 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 --

dystopian's picture

Hi all, Hey Joe! Hope its all good out there! Nice ya got a warm rain! We got a cold 14mm here today.

I must confess to having a 'warm rain' saying I fortunately picked up early and still reserve the right to use if the need arises... 'I don't mind if you piss in my ear, but don't tell me its a warm rain'. Or something like that... Wink

GREAT tunes man, James Cotton was great, and the stuff with Johnny Winter is outstanding. What a pair! That Willie Dixon was awesome too, he was a 'founding father' as indicated by those skinny little white cats that made the British invasion.

Thanks for the great soundscapes! Have a great weekend!

be well all!

up
8 users have voted.

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

@dystopian 4 blue birds visited the bird bath today.
In my youth, they were everywhere.
Now, they are so infrequently seen, one stops breathing until they fly away.

up
5 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

glad to hear that you're getting precipitation, i'm sure that the southwest can use it.

cotton was a really great performer. i was lucky to see him a bunch of times from the late 70's onwards and he always put on a great show.

have a great weekend!

up
5 users have voted.

up
9 users have voted.

@humphrey
We’re the GOOD GUYS! We spread FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY!

Who is this ‘GEROMAN’ who is spreading this OBVIOUS AND BLATANT DISINFORMATION?

[/s sorry about all the shouting]

up
7 users have voted.

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

@humphrey @humphrey
"Britain and the EU have agreed to boycott the speeches of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the G20 summit and will urge other countries to do the same."

"This was reported by the British edition of The Telegraph, citing sources in London and Brussels."

Meanwhile, Putin is not attending G20. I think he has had enough of the West. We have and will continue to see the Russian President at a large number of conferences and summits within the new world he is creating. BRICS, and Asian and African venues.

The US also revealed that there will be no Saudi Arabia, MBS meeting with Biden.

The propaganda value of these ridiculous energy expensive parties has gone down for DC. Years, decades of breaking agreements and not fulfilling responsibilities has done that.

up
9 users have voted.

NYCVG

you can see the ongoing second day of celebrations in the city.

Putin has been making negotiation noises but the Ukrainian position is in a place he isn't ready to go. Mainly no Putin and Russian withdrawal from all of Ukraine. I guess negotiations would be over reparations and prosecutions for war crimes.

Russia has had to move high value targets out of Crimea as it is all within Himar range now. Himar rounds cost over a hundred thousand so they are only used on things worth far more than that. Helicopters and submarines for instance. Militarily Crimea seems like a suck right now, no way to supply, vulnerable to shelling.

The Russians destroyed the electric grid on the way out, so no light or heat. Temps below freezing at night and in the thirties to fifties in the day. National police and aid orgs already there. I'd think the story of nine months occupation will be like elsewhere.

up
1 user has voted.
soryang's picture

The massive US led military exercises in the Pacific, and the largest military exercises in the Korean littoral were supposed to show China and North Korea, respectively, who's boss in the East. Predictably they had little impact on the two major issues Taiwan and North Korea.

There's little reason for China to be forthcoming with regard to any US requests to "restrain North Korea." Imo the situation resembles the environment in 1950, when there was talk of Chiang Kai-shek conducting some kind of offensive on the mainland, while the US stooge in South Korea Syngman Rhee tried to convince the US to reunify Korea (by force). If China doesn't get some real concessions from Biden on Taiwan and perhaps on trade issues, there is little incentive for them to restrain Kim Jong-un. US and South Korean escalation of threats and complete dismantling of the Singapore agreement has only led to escalating tensions about to approach the "fire and fury" level when and if North Korea takes the last step by conducting a nuclear test. The idiot defense minister of South Korea basically issued an ultimatum to North Korea last week when Austin was there, saying that if they conducted a test, it would be met with an overwhelming response to remove the North Korean regime. This is a reference to the ill conceived South Korea/US decapitation strategies of attacking North Korea to remove its leadership.

I don't think most Americans are aware of just how serious this situation is. The focus of the Guardian article was almost entirely on Taiwan with a short discussion of the North Korean issue at the end. Why civilian leadership can't see that the advice coming from the Indo-Pacific Command, Stratcom, and so called experts in the State Dept is leading them down a path toward war. All the show of force demonstrations against North Korea thus far have had the exact opposite result from the alleged intended effect- the North Koreans are firing more missiles than ever. I wouldn't be surprised to see another ICBM test launch by North Korea or even a nuclear test as the next likely response, not because they are evil, but because they are not ever going to submit to US/South Korean military intimidation. An ICBM test would be an intermediate response they could take to buy time and save face, to let the war of nerves go on a little longer.

up
7 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

soryang's picture

Japan, U.S. hold joint arms drills amid China, North Korea worry
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

November 11, 2022 at 13:10 JST

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14765801

Japan and the United States began a major joint military exercise Thursday in southern Japan as the allies aim to step up readiness in the face of China’s increasing assertiveness and North Korea’s intensifying missile launches.

The biennial “Keen Sword” drills kicked off at a Japanese air base in southern Japan and were also held at multiple other locations in and around Japan. They will run through Nov. 19.

About 26,000 Japanese and 10,000 American troops, as well as 30 vessels and 370 aircraft from both sides, are to participate in the drills, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. Australia, Britain and Canada will also join parts of the drills, it said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, citing worsening security in the region, has pledged to substantially increase Japanese military capability and possibly allow pre-emptive strike capability to attack enemy missile launch sites from afar. The plans are expected to be included in a revised national security strategy and mid- to long-term defense guidelines later this year.

A move to develop strike capability is a major shift for Japan’s self-defense-only principle...

Everyone is getting on the preventive strike/first strike boat with the US. What could possibly go wrong?

up
7 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直