The Evening Blues - 11-29-22
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Texas blues guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson. Enjoy!
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Easy Rider Blues
"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late."
-- William Shakespeare
News and Opinion
New York Times, Major Media FINALLY Call For Julian Assange's Charges To Be DROPPED
Past due:
‘Publishing is not a crime’: media groups urge US to drop Julian Assange charges
The US government must drop its prosecution of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange because it is undermining press freedom, according to the media organisations that first helped him publish leaked diplomatic cables.
Twelve years ago today, the Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País collaborated to release excerpts from 250,000 documents obtained by Assange in the “Cablegate” leak. The material, leaked to WikiLeaks by the then American soldier Chelsea Manning, exposed the inner workings of US diplomacy around the world.
The editors and publishers of the media organisations that first published those revelations have come together to publicly oppose plans to charge Assange under a law designed to prosecute first world war spies.
“Publishing is not a crime,” they said, saying the prosecution is a direct attack on media freedom.
Russia POSTPONES Nuclear Arms Talks As US Eyes LONG-RANGE MISSILES For Ukraine
Biden Mulls Sending Long-Range Missiles to Ukraine
The Biden administration is considering an offer from military-industrial complex giant Boeing to supply Ukraine with long-range precision-guided bombs capable of striking targets up to nearly 100 miles away, Reuters reported Monday.
The Pentagon is reviewing Boeing's proposal to send Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB)—manufactured jointly with Sweden's SAAB—to Ukrainian forces, a move that would enable them to hit targets deep behind enemy lines as they fight to repel invading Russian troops.
The GPS-guided GLSDB combines the GBU-39 bomb and the M26 rocket motor, both of which are cheap and relatively abundant. GLSDB is compatible with existing launchers used by Ukrainian forces and could be added to Kyiv's arsenal by early next year.
While Ukrainians and their supporters encouraged the proposed transfer on social media, Bulgarian independent journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva—one of the few online critics of the proposal—tweeted, "This is how the U.S. military-industrial complex (Boeing) is dictating the U.S. foreign policy and profiteering from wars."
Bakhmut, Marinka, Ugledar. Russia speeds up offensive. Macron to meet Biden
New Zealand government reaffirms support for US-NATO war against Russia
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to speak by video-link to the New Zealand parliament, as Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party-led government continues and deepens its support for the US-NATO imperialist war against Russia in Ukraine.
The invitation was publicly reported on November 22, although a date has not yet been announced. Underscoring its significance is the fact that Zelensky will be only the second world leader ever to speak to the New Zealand parliament (the first was Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2011).
The announcement follows New Zealand defence minister Peeni Henare’s visit to Ukraine, which the government revealed on November 20. He met with Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov in Kiev and discussed New Zealand’s contribution to the war, which includes 120 NZ soldiers training Ukrainian troops in the UK, and $60 million in military and other support.
While in Europe, Henare also visited the UK, where he spoke with his British counterpart Ben Wallace about the war against Russia, and extended the deployment of 66 NZ soldiers in the UK as part of the training mission until the end of July 2023. New Zealand also has a dozen military personnel involved in intelligence operations relating to the war based in the UK, and another 12 embedded with NATO in Europe assisting with “administration support” and logistics.
Henare said in a statement that visiting Kiev had sent a message that “our support for the Ukrainian defensive effort against Russia’s illegal invasion is unwavering.” While saying “it is important to push for de-escalation and diplomacy,” Henare also expressed support for the Ukrainian regime’s “mind set of we can win, we will win, and we must win.” Kiev has rejected negotiations to end the fighting unless Russia meets its demand for a complete demobilisation and withdrawal.
20 NATO States ‘Pretty Tapped Out’ After Weapons Transfers to Ukraine
Two-thirds of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have depleted their stockpiles by sending weapons to Kiev, according to an alliance official. Even larger NATO states are struggling to meet the demands of Ukraine’s war effort.
The New York Times reported on Sunday the North Atlantic alliance is struggling to meet Kiev’s battlefield needs. According to one NATO official, 20 out of 30 members are “pretty tapped out” regarding their ability to supply Ukraine with additional weapons. While larger states like the US, France, Germany, and Italy have the ability to arm Ukraine, those governments have also resisted sending specific weapons systems requested by Kiev. ...
Part of the cause of the dwindling arms supply is the massive demand for artillery. Currently, Ukrainian forces are firing thousands of rounds daily, but the US can only produce 15,000 rounds per month. Camille Grand, a defense expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told NYT, “[a] day in Ukraine is a month or more in Afghanistan.”
EU Fails to Reach Agreement on Russia Oil Price Cap
EU diplomats failed on Monday to agree on a set price cap for Russian oil as a December 5 deadline for the policy is approaching, Reuters reported.
The main hindrance to reaching a deal was Poland, which is demanding a much lower price cap than what the G7 has requested. The EU was asked to put the price cap between $65 to $70 per barrel, but Poland wants it slashed down to $30, a similar figure to what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would like to see.
“The Poles are completely uncompromising on the price, without suggesting an acceptable alternative,” an EU diplomat told Reuters. “Clearly there is growing annoyance with the Polish position.”
China Keeps Aggressively Surrounding Itself With US Bases: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Why does China keep aggressively surrounding itself with US military bases?
US Military Set to Return to Subic Bay, Philippines to Counter China
The US closed its military base in Subic Bay 30 years ago
by Dave DeCamp@DecampDave https://t.co/6gmTbebKc3 pic.twitter.com/1jniZiFr9q— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) November 25, 2022
Biden Sides with Big Business & Urges Congress to Block Major Freight Rail Strike
Funny how Biden is willing to stop a strike, but unwilling to tell the railroad owners to grow up and stop acting like greedy dicks.
Biden asks US Congress to block railroad strike that could ‘devastate economy’
Joe Biden called on Congress to intervene and block a railroad strike before next month’s deadline in the stalled contract talks, saying a strike would “devastate our economy”. Biden’s move comes as business groups have warned that the looming strike would hit just before the holiday season and worsen the US’s inflation problems.
“Let me be clear: a rail shutdown would devastate our economy,” Biden said in a statement. “Without freight rail, many US industries would shut down.” The strike comes after long-running negotiations reached an impasse and both sides agreed to a cooling-off period that ends next week.
Congress has the power to impose contract terms on the workers, but it’s not clear what lawmakers might include if they do. They could also force the negotiations to continue into the new year. ...
Last month the Biden administration said it was up to unions and the rail companies to reach an agreement. In his statement Biden said that as “a proud pro-labor president” he was reluctant to override the views of people who voted against the agreement. “But in this case – where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families – I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal.”
Railroad workers still get zero paid sick leave. Increased risk of exposure to infectious illness is part of many jobs. Paid sick leave is both a basic part of fair employment practices and an absolutely essential part of national public health policy.https://t.co/sKu0jbyt6m
— Eric Reinhart (@_Eric_Reinhart) November 28, 2022
US judge orders Amazon to ‘cease and desist’ anti-union retaliation
Amazon will be forced to read out a public notice this week to all employees at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, where workers won the first Amazon union election, stating it will “cease and desist” from retaliating against people involved in union organizing.
US district judge Diane Gujarati ruled on 18 November that Amazon cease and desist from retaliating against workers for organizing in the workplace, in response to Amazon employee Gerald Bryson’s termination in April 2020. She included in her ruling that Amazon read out publicly her 30-page decision to employees, which is set to be conducted on Thursday 1 December.
While the order does not reinstate Bryson, Amazon could be held in contempt of court if found to be violating the order.
“The judge’s order in this case recognizes Amazon’s unlawful conduct and provides the full force of a federal court injunction to prohibit Amazon from further discharging employees for engaging in protected concerted activity,” Teresa Poor, the regional director of the Brooklyn office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), said in a statement. ...
Amazon has aggressively opposed unionization efforts within its warehouses, fending off union elections in Bessemer, Alabama, a second warehouse in Staten Island, and another outside Albany, the New York state capital. Numerous unfair labor practice charges against Amazon related to those campaigns are still under review at the NLRB.
House Progressives BETRAY Voters By Capitulating To Establishment Dems EVERY Time
Republican officials in Arizona county refuse to certify midterm results
Republican officials in a rural Arizona county refused on Monday to certify the results of the 2022 midterm election, despite no evidence of anything wrong with the count from earlier this month.
Some officials who have embraced voter fraud theories held out, defying a state deadline and setting the stage for a legal battle.
The move came amid pressure from prominent Republicans to reject results showing Democrats winning top races, and the county was holding out in the afternoon of a nail-biting day that was the deadline for several counties to confirm results.
State election officials have said they will sue Cochise county if the board of supervisors misses Monday’s deadline to approve the official tally of votes, known as the canvass.
The two Republican county supervisors delayed the canvass vote until hearing once more about concerns over the certification of ballot tabulators, though election officials have repeatedly said the equipment is properly approved.
Melting point: could ‘cloud brightening’ slow the thawing of the Arctic?
Like the apocryphal frog that doesn’t notice the rising water temperature until it’s boiled alive, we as a global society are still struggling to recognise that anthropic global warming is hastening us towards irreversible environmental and ecological catastrophe. While there is consensus among climate scientists about the urgency of the situation, and widespread political acknowledgment that the use of carbon fuels must be reduced, targets have not been met and as the UK’s Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, said, the lack of progress at this month’s Cop27 demonstrates the 1.5C limit is on “life support” and there is growing evidence that we are further along the road to a tipping point than previously thought.
So advanced is this process that some scientists are beginning to argue that merely cutting carbon is not enough and an emergency measure involving what is known as geoengineering is called for. There have been a number of plans suggested, some more outlandish than others. They range from building giant mirrors in space to reflect away sunlight to painting the roofs of buildings white to help counteract heatwaves in cities. One particular area of concern is the Arctic, which, according to the latest research by Norwegian scientists, is warming at four times the speed of the rest of the planet. The more it warms, the more ice cover it loses, which in turn leads to further heating, creating a so-called positive feedback loop (although, paradoxically, the effect is entirely negative).
Two suggestions for geoengineering the poles’ climate have drawn serious attention and have been the subject of theoretical modelling. The most popular and perhaps advanced of these is what is known as stratospheric aerosol injection, in which sulphur dioxide would be released into the stratosphere to gather around the poles. The idea is that the aerosols will have a similar effect to the ash clouds from volcanoes, which reach a high altitude and reflect sunlight, bringing down temperatures on Earth. There are many critics of the proposal, who point out that sulphur dioxide, which is associated with acid rain, asthma and chronic bronchitis, is itself environmentally damaging and there is no guarantee that its effects would be limited to the poles or, indeed, what its long-term effects might be. There has been some very limited field work examining aerosol effects, but it has been too restricted to offer any definitive answers. ...
In theory, the sulphur dioxide particles would settle over the poles, but in practice, no one can be sure. It’s one of the reasons that cloud brightening has been suggested as a less risky and more viable option. Sir David King is the founder of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge (CCRC). A multidisciplinary team, it has three main objectives: to reduce CO2 emissions, remove excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and to refreeze damaged parts of the climate system. The CCRC is backing research into cloud brightening, which King insists is not geoengineering. “We reserve the phrase geoengineering for putting sulphates into the stratosphere,” he explains. While he is in favour of small-scale experiments with sulphates, he believes there should be a moratorium on “at scale” use of them in the stratosphere. Marine cloud brightening, by contrast, he says is not geoengineering but “biomimicry”, a means of imitating a natural process on a huge scale. The science is straightforward in theory.
Clouds formed over oceans tend to build around salt crystals left after droplets of sea spray evaporate. Salt crystals vary in size and if they are at the smaller end of the spectrum, then clouds are formed of lots of small droplets. Clouds made from smaller droplets appear whiter than those composed of larger droplets and as a result reflect more sunlight, even if they carry the same amount of water. The idea is to whiten clouds by creating sea spray with a flotilla of boats armed with pumps and nozzles.
Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano erupts for first time in 40 years
Waves of orange, glowing lava and smoky ash belched and sputtered Monday from the world’s largest active volcano in its first eruption in 38 years, and officials told people living on Hawaii’s Big Island to be ready in the event of a worst-case scenario.
The eruption of Mauna Loa wasn’t immediately endangering towns, but the US Geological Survey warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big Island that an eruption “can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly”.
Officials told residents to be prepared to evacuate if lava flows started heading toward populated areas.
The eruption began late Sunday night in the summit caldera of the volcano on the Big Island, the US Geological Survey said. Early on Monday, it said lava flows were contained within the summit area and were not threatening nearby communities. ...
Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said air quality could deteriorate while the eruption lasted, which scientists expect will be about one or two weeks if the volcano follows historical patterns.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Patrick Lawrence: Zhou Enlai’s Posthumous Triumph
“Instructions from Kiev”: Ukraine Propaganda Messaging
Ukraine War - A Contentious Graveyard In Poland
Report: US, Israel to Hold Drills Simulating Bombing Iran
Top-flight recovery: the inspiring comeback of the California condor
A free Spotify alternative? How US libraries became the place to stream your new favorite band
Liberal Hypocrites Now OPPOSE Lockdowns In China
A Little Night Music
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Match Box Blues (Alternate Take 3)
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Dry Southern Blues
Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Long Lonesome Blues
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Black Snake Moan
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Broke And Hungry
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Hot Dogs
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Stocking Feet Blues
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Mean Jumper Blues
Blind Lemon Jefferson - One Dime Blues
Comments
Tanks for the blind melon chitlin*
Funny notes from above the fold -
NATO states 'pretty tapped out'
(as in raped)
and
China aggressively surrounding itself with NATO weapons
and thank the stars for responsible leadership ..
Biden said that as “a proud pro-labor president”
he is willing to cave to scavenger industry titans,
screw the workers and kick the can to congress.
This is beginning to smell like the onion.
* a take-off from a Firesign Theater skit by Cheech and Chong
[video:https://youtu.be/SZclLDlcXO0]
Thanks for the laffs joe!
question everything
"Only my momma
loves me, but she could be jivin' too..."
I can't even tell you how may times I've started singing that at blues jams. It never gets old.
Whoops. Senior moment. I crossed over a real BB King tune for a C&C parody, without listening to the bit... Never mind.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
no, really, I followed that segue without a wince
perhaps we were brewed in the same stew
question everything
Stew,
indeed!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
evening qms...
heh, happy to oblige with a little blind lemon or melon or whatever there.
have a great evening!
Hey Joe, thanks for the EB's
What could possibly go wrong with eugenicist Bill Gates
leading the way with "geoengineering" the poles. After all
his vaccine pushes worldwide have always been a glowing success s/
Being of the Jewish faith this disturbs me, to put it mildly.
Can I say that without being anti-semetic?
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
evening ggersh...
yep, this new israeli government appears to be quite the step over the abyss. you've got to wonder if this is yet the answer to the eternal question, how low can you go? i hope that there's not much further down.
how much longer until there's a "here goes nothing" moment because geoengineering is the only choice left? i'm really not on board with potentially screwing up our habitat, but then again we're doing that every day.
have a great evening!
It’s good to see how the Condors have come back, but….
how many other species go extinct every day? And it’s dumb for the PTB to make us eat bugs and insects when we very much need them to keep our planet alive. Denmark is going to forcibly buy out 3,000 farms because of nitrogen issues and climate change, but ne’er a word about the huge honking big factory farms that are much worse for the environment. Again it’s like closing down mom and pop stores whilst leaving the big box ones up and running and making sh*t loads of money. How can people not see through this planned sh*t show?
heh...
denmark's totally wrong ag policy underlines that decisions about the environment and climate change are being made by the wrong people.
i am guessing that a lot of people see through the shitshow, but don't feel that they can do much about it.
Buyers like that don't care much about the food itself
but often worshipfully choose & prize outlets because they're "so convenient."
FJB….
On the railroad strike.
It was the union leaders that decided the deal not the workers. From what I understand they are only asking for guaranteed time off to see a doctor, but apparently that’s too much to ask for from Buffet who made $25 billion in profits last year. Plus he’s trying to use only 1 train man on trains that are now 3 miles long instead of just 1 mile. That cut costs bigly already. I hope that they strike anyway. Just think if every worker would go out on strike with them imagine what they could get for themselves. Come on people go for it!
Can’t believe how many people are falling for the new engineered outrage over Twitter restoring free speech. Shitlibs are not only deleting their Twit accounts, but they are turning in their Teslas because Musk built them. Turn in your paid off car and get stuck with another car loan. Brilliant!
People are also being told to be mad at China for their authoritarian rule, but not a word against the Saudis for their authoritarian rule nor their unprovoked attack on Yemen. Gawd they are dumb.
evening snoopy...
yep, fjb is the most pro-union presidunce evah!
pull the other one.
i guess this might be a good time to buy a used tesla. also, i can't help but think that tweeter will be a more pleasant place without the shitlibs.
have a great evening!
Ha…
Here’s a fun essay on the Twitter dust up.
Elon Musk's Twitter Is A Monster Of The Left's Own Making
My thoughts exactly. Right now if people disagree with someone’s opinion on things they don’t even try to debate them. On Ukraine/Russia for example people just get called Putin lovers or Russian bots or just say that they are unfollowing them or worse yet say they are going to report them to the twit police. I just don’t get the games that are played. Some people seem to follow others just so they can be against what they say and put them down for saying it.
Good grief if being upset about what someone says maybe it’s best for people to stop using it. Life can’t be that boring that you spend your days trying to find something that makes you unhappy. No wonder the world is laughing at Americans.
heh...
there is something about the culture of twitter as it was that makes grown ass people act like children. perhaps it will be better with musk in charge, perhaps not.
heh, i remember back in the 70's when cb radio became popular for a few months and thousands of people thought that they would like to talk like truckers to their fellow americans. that wore off pretty quickly, and perhaps the lesson is that the american general public is just not that interested in talking to itself once it realizes that some people think differently than they do. go figure.
Bingo
I’ve seen a few people who were the Twitter police and they didn’t have any qualifications that made them smarter than others. Doctors who had decades of experience were banned because some high school drop out didn’t agree with what they said. My doctor used this analogy when he had to call for permission to do a treatment. "It’s like a 6 grader grading a college student’s homework." Especially when he had to explain to the person what the retina did.
I’ve seen shitlibs post a tweet and tell everyone that should go on Twitter and report the person. Boy if people find that fulfilling I sure feel sorry for what their lives must be like. I’d rather go for a walk…
heh...
i suppose that if twitter keeps them busy, perhaps that's good. large groups of shitlibs with nobody to persecute would be a danger in real life.
imagine what they could get for themselves
hey snoop, wonder what that means?
imagine the leverage of mass strike
and what that would do for the rich class
or mass boycott, or mass movement of any kind
except for mass hypnosis and hysteria?
question everything
I can’t believe we haven’t tried this yet
The best time to have done it was after NAFTA was signed. Or better yet before it was. Maybe minimum wage would cover the cost of living now instead of being stuck at $7.25. When I started working in the late 70's it was $3.25. It’s only gone up $4 in 40 years! How many decades has Pelosi run on raising it? Reminds me of Biden saying that democrats would pass abortion legislation if they won and even before the election was decided he said that they wouldn’t be able to do it just yet. Now he and democrats are saying they will pass it in 2024. Those goalposts have to be getting quite heavy by now.
Glad for one bit of good news tonight…..
Thanks as usual for keeping us informed about the many ways the fearless leaders of the western world are trying to destroy that which they cannot conquer.
Loved the story about the successful bringing back of the condor from extinction. One time as we were traveling along the Big Sur coastline, we stopped at a favorite place to have a cup of coffee and saw what we thought we condors and sure enough they were. In fact, a very young condor landed in a tree above us and seemed to be watching what we were doing. Great to see this bird up close. A man stopped where we were and he had been part of group that was tracking them and confirmed this was indeed one of the young from this particular group of condors. Love those moments in nature.
Hope you have a good rest of the week.
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
evening jb...
a close encounter with a condor sounds pretty cool to me. glad you got to get up close to one.
have a great evening!
thanks for sharing your condor experience
reminds one of Peru
[video:https://youtu.be/QqJvqMeaDtU]
question everything
I was on a tour in Mexico.
We went on a bus to a park. Condors were there.
Except not on that particular day.
I have looked and looked where they are, haven't seen one yet.
It took me a couple of tries, couple of countries, before I saw a sloth. I hit the lotto with a honey badger on my first safari to S. Africa. I also spotted a leopard the guides missed. I was treated to many beers by the staff.
Cheers for a sighting!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981