Evening Blues Preview 4-30-15

This evening's music features Chicago blues singer and guitarist "Magic Sam" Maghett.

Here are some stories from tonight's post:

Freddie Gray: protests across US as Baltimore forced to free 100 suspects

Marches in New York, Boston, Ferguson and Washington, while authorities in Baltimore back down after holding people for days without charge

Protests over the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray spread across the US overnight as the city at the centre of the storm used national guard troops to help maintain a curfew and authorities were forced into an apparent backdown after holding suspected rioters for days without charge.

Gray died last weekend in Baltimore with a severed spine after apparently being injured in police custody.

Baltimore on Monday had been the scene of widespread rioting and destruction but on Wednesday night the protests, while large, were mostly good-natured. ...

Also on Wednesday, after a flurry of legal challenges, more than 100 people were freed from police custody, having been been held since Monday under what amounted to a suspension by Hogan of the writ of habeas corpus – the right to be released from an arrest made without lawful cause.

Natalie Finegar, the deputy district public defender in Baltimore City, told the Guardian that after 82 habeas corpus petitions were filed to the attorney general’s office, a decision was made to release those who were yet to have charges read against them.

Finegar said the decision to hold so many “without any respect for due process” could “further shake the confidence in the criminal justice system for those arrested”. She said many of those detained had complained of the harsh conditions in jail. Some said they went 18 hours without food and later were given inedible pieces of bread.

Fraud, Waste, and Lies: Charter Schools Cheating Communities Out of Millions of Dollars

Accepting and soliciting bribes. Diverting public funds for personal profit. Lying about the number of students. These are just a few examples of the fraud and malfeasance committed by charter school officials—cheating communities out of millions dollars that were supposed to go to education, a new report finds.

The Tip of the Iceberg: Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse (pdf) was released Tuesday by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) and the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD).

It concludes that, in 15 states alone—a third of states with charter schools—such waste cost more than $200 million. ...

However, the report warns, "The number of instances of serious fraud uncovered by whistleblowers, reporters, and investigations suggests that the fraud problem extends well beyond the cases we know about. According to standard forensic auditing methodologies, the deficiencies in charter oversight throughout the country suggest that federal, state, and local governments stand to lose more than $1.4 billion in 2015."

"The vast majority of the fraud perpetrated by charter officials will go undetected because the federal government, the states, and local charter authorizers lack the oversight necessary to detect the fraud," the report adds.

Obama’s “No Growth, No Jobs, No Recovery” Economy Gives Up The Ghost

The world’s biggest economy ground to a standstill in the first quarter of 2015 wracked by massive job losses in the oil sector, falling personal consumption, weak exports and droopy fixed investment. Real gross domestic product (GDP), the value of the production of goods and services in the US, increased at an abysmal annual rate of just 0.2 percent in Q1 ’15 according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis demonstrating conclusively that 6 years of zero rates and Large-Scale Asset Purchases (LSAP)– which have enriched stock speculators, inflated the largest asset-price bubble in history, and exacerbated inequality to levels not seen since the Gilded Age– have done nothing to improve the real economy, boost demand or reduce unemployment. As the BEA data illustrates, the US economy is basically DOA, a victim of criminal congressional negligence and Central Bank chicanery. ...

The economy is in the shitter. Consumers aren’t spending because the crap-ass jobs they landed after the crisis pay half as much as the jobs they lost when Wall Street blew up the financial system. Personal savings are up and spending is down because households face an uncertain future where pensions are being trimmed and Social Security is under attack. Also, spending is impacted by the historic low (employment) participation rate which indicates that joblessness is much higher than the government’s phony numbers suggest. When workers are unemployed they don’t spend, activity drops, and the economy tanks. It’s that simple. Today’s data just confirms what most people already know, that the economy stinks and that they’re being ripped off by a voracious oligarchy that’s stacked the deck in their favor.

The US economy is stuck in the mud because our bought-and-paid-for congress has relinquished all authority and handed over the management of the economy to the industry-controlled Federal Reserve. Whereas our current budget deficits are in the range of 2 percent per annum, the government should be spending a lot more to compensate for the slowdown in private sector spending and investment. In the past, the congress and president would initiate sensible Keynesian fiscal stimulus programs to keep the economy sputtering along while households repaired their balance sheets or businesses struggled with weak demand. Those tried-and-true remedies have been jettisoned for the new monetarist orthodoxy that requires that all the nation’s wealth be filtered through the Wall Street casino so that the pampered thieves who destroyed the country with their mortgage-securities-Ponzi-scam be further rewarded for their insatiable greed.

This is an interesting examination of both Bernie's record and the internal politics of the party that he has chosen to run for nomination in. I heartily recommend reading the whole thing. The author makes some excellent points and it would be good to go into this election clear-eyed about the choices.

The Problem With Bernie

So, Bernie Sanders made his call. He is going to run for President of the United States and he is going to do so as a Democrat. Even if he wins the nomination, one can be quite certain that the reactionary forces of US capitalism will oppose him in every way they can. Additionally, and more insidiously, so will a fair number of liberal champions of US capitalism to his right in the Democratic Party. Yet, he has made his claim and it is one he will have to live with, no matter what price he ends up paying. Given the nature of national electoral politics in the United States, his chances of winning the party nomination are small, much less the presidency itself.

Who is Bernie Sanders and what does he stand for? Now that he is a candidate, it’s fair to assume that his biography will be dissected across the media spectrum. To much of the US population, he is still the most radical politician from the Left they have ever seen. This is especially true for anyone who came of age politically since Ronald Reagan’s first term in the White House. What interests me more is the gradual transition he has made politically from socialist (more or less) to social democrat and from that to liberal Democrat. ...

[Discussion of Bernie's record at link above. - js]

In a recent interview I conducted with Left progressive authors William Grover and Joseph Peschek regarding their book The Unsustainable Presidency, I asked them if Sanders could actually move the US leftward and institute policies for working people and other disenfranchised. The key part of their answer was “(No.) He would be among the first to admit that. Indeed, in an interview last week he did just that: “We can elect the best in the world to be president, but that person will get swallowed up unless there is an unprecedented level of activism at the grassroots level.” The question I have for Mr. Sanders is this: How does he expect to create radical change in the US if this radical grassroots activism he correctly states is needed is hijacked by the Democratic Party–a political entity that is owned lock, stock and barrel by the very same banks and corporations he claims to oppose. After all, it’s been many years since the progressive George McGovern was the Democratic candidate for President. It’s been almost as long since the conservative wing of that party formed the Democratic Leadership Council and changed their rules so that no one with politics like McGovern’s would ever be their nominee again. Ask Bill Clinton about that. After all he was the first candidate chosen by that council to win the White House. His wife may be the next. There are those who say Sanders will “at least move the discussion leftward.” That is not enough. Conversations are meaningless without bold, concrete action. The Democratic Party has proven over the past six and a half years that not only is it incapable of bold action in favor of the vast majority of working people in this country, it is barely capable of concrete action. How else does one explain the disastrous austerity policies taking place in the United States?

The majority of Vermonters still like Bernie Sanders. In fact, he wins election with a substantial majority every time he runs. After all, as the summary above of his voting record suggests, Bernie Sanders is if nothing else a shrewd politician. Like his colleague currently in the White House, Sanders campaigns on progressive and populist themes. Unlike Mr. Obama, however, Sanders usually sticks to his positions on issues relating to labor, veterans, children, corporate cheats, and certain social issues (marriage equality, for example.) However, when it comes to matters of war and peace, his record is at best a mixed bag and, more likely, representative of his ideas on how the United States can maintain its imperial role forever (or at least for a long, long time.) Remember, all US wars involve a defense of the capitalist economy and, consequently, a belief in that economy’s superiority. Bernie Sanders actions make it clear he shares that belief. ...

He’s more of an ally than a foe, isn’t he? My answer to these challenges is that I’m not sure. So called progressive politicians who do not draw the link between corporate America’s wars and its attack on social security, health care, the minimum wage, forty- hour work week, and other issues working people consider important are doing us a disservice. The wars fought by the US military are ultimately fought for one reason only–to maintain and expand the power of corporate America at the expense of workers and the poor around the world. ...

After all is said and done, the question here is not whether Bernie Sanders is the progressive savior so many people want him to be. Instead, it is whether or not such a politician can even exist in the United States. I am one of the first to admit that Sanders’ record on labor, veterans, and most civil liberties issues is mostly decent, especially for someone who is part of the ruling elite (even if he doesn’t see himself that way.) However, this fact is probably irrelevant. The system in place in the Executive Branch is implacable and essentially without redemption.

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mimi's picture

it looks all you can do is sticking your head in the sand. Ending up in cynicism again. From the article, part that is not quoted here,

The reality of US politics in the current age is that any progressive in a position of power must temper their left-leaning politics if they want to keep their power. The more powerful their position, the more compromise is required. The anecdotes related above suggest Bernie Sanders understands this all too well and acts accordingly. So, even if the reader might believe President Bernie Sanders could bring us back from the precipice we find ourselves on the edge of, the very nature of the US economic and political system ensures that he can not. By beginning his campaign as a Democrat one wonders if he even wants to.

I think I need to read more from Chris Hedges about the civil wars in Yugoslavia, Kosovo and the attack on the Serbs to make up my mind about what they mean and in how far Sanders positions were acceptable or not. Sigh, so much to learn.

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joe shikspack's picture

the way i'm looking at it now is that bernie is a decent guy, he means well, but winning an election is not the same thing as winning power.

the kinds of changes that need to be made require the power structure to be reworked and those that have power need to have their access to power removed (because they're screwing everything up).

i can see a case where bernie + a very large insistent movement could = the kind of power that can challenge and beat the bad power.

the question in my view is, does bernie really want that sort of thing, or is he more of a modest reformer.

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mimi's picture

believe that those, who have the power, can extort compliance from him. That's how fucked up I think the power structure allows those who have power to behave. I have to admit that sometimes in the past I believed that this happened to Obama as well. And since today I even believe that GWBush was "forced" to let Cheney et al run the war and everything surrounding that. But then I probably go over to the dark side. I shouldn't think at all. Nothing good comes out of it.

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lotlizard's picture

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3588

[Exceptional and Indispensable America Man], I know you stand for good and all, but I've been wondering … How is it you've been fighting [the "bad guys"] for years and years and years, but nobody ever wins?

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Pluto's Republic's picture

Obama’s “No Growth, No Jobs, No Recovery” Economy Gives Up The Ghost

I've sent the entire article to some of my investor-bubble friends, with this title (from the article):

Good News!

Today's BEA report expected to send stocks Even Higher since every proclamation of bad news generates a buying frenzy by speculators who anticipate that the Fed will continue to extend the zero rates and easy money to infinity.

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____________________

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

i wonder how long they can keep the rich folks satisfied in their quest for returns and double-digit growth by pumping valueless money into their pockets so that they can bid up assets and stocks.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

The 2008 crash happened in a number of hours and was caused by European banks threatening to call their US Treasuries because the money market dollar broke.

Like your rumination about Sanders, above, nothing can be done from inside the United States. You are not dealing with a national government. That train left the station a long time ago. It's up to the rest of the world to come together and squash this bug, as I explained in America's Mein Kamph.

ymmv

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

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Pluto's Republic's picture

These are the 57 nations that founded the system for a new global currency to replace the US Dollar. They represent the majority of the world's population and the world's net wealth.

It's pretty much over. India's media is not afraid to discuss reality.

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____________________

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

America under Eisenhower did do a very good thing in 1956, when she forced Britain, France, and Israel to return Suez to Egypt, which the three acting in concert had invaded.

But a lot of societies who have been on the receiving end of U.S. foreign policy have seen it deliver death squads and dictatorship. Or, in the 21st century, failed states, civil war, and chaos.

"Pot-stir" Americana?

By now the world may be getting really tired of it.

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lotlizard's picture

When a sovereign nation allows a foreign nation free rein to electronically spy on its government officials, businesses and neighboring countries, it is reasonable to question the true sovereignty of that nation.

When a sovereign nation follows the dictates of a foreign nation's leaders through actions that hurt the sovereign nation's people, business, trade, and diplomatic relations, it is reasonable to question the true sovereignty of that nation.

Is Germany a Sovereign Nation?

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mimi's picture

so why even mention it. And if we were, you can bet we become "The Bad Germans" again. At least nowadays we are "The Good Germans". Are you happy now? Are the "Good Germans" better than the "Bad Germans"?

I am so tired of all this. I will change my nationality to "Wikings". May be that will work.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

There was no alternative. It immediately prevented a global humanitarian catastrophe. Foreign banks were made whole.

The real atrocity occurred when, on January 21, 2009, the big US banks were not nationalized, broken up, and severely regulated to operate while doing no harm to the nation and its people. From that point forward, the US was doomed.

I wrote about this numerous times before and after that hammer dropped. But… you know… "whoosh."

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____________________

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

I'd like to thank Johnny for creating a terrific blog. I lurked some the past couple of weeks, read a fair bit, and learned a lot. There are many interesting voices here and I appreciate a great deal of what I've seen here.

Dallasdoc has a top-rated diary up on the GOS raising funds for Senator Bernie Sanders. If you can, do join in. Thanks.

Bernie Sanders for Our President: Contribution Match - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/01/1381581/-Bernie-Sanders-for-Our.... In the past few hours, the diary has already raised an impressive $3,500.00!

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A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

thank you for the kind words. Glad to see you posting here, you are a welcome addition. Thanks for the link, my friend, headed over there now. Enjoy your stay here and make yourself at home!

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JayRaye's picture

Welcome aboard!

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Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons

JekyllnHyde's picture

... for the welcome. As I have a bit more time in a couple of weeks, I hope to make a contribution to this blog.

There's a lot of frank, open, and honest discussion here and so far, I've just lurked to get a sense and feel for the issues important to all of you. The one thing I'm most impressed with is that there's a distinct disdain for political conformity here - a concept of which I'm not a huge fan.

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A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

lotlizard's picture

Three articles from OEN (OpEd News):

Changing Alliances and the National Interest in the Middle East

Sandy Tolan: The One-State Conundrum

Invest in Activism, Not Bernie Sanders

At the moment, Saudi Arabia and Israel seem to hold all the cards (including the nuclear card) in the Middle East and they and their respective supporters are calling the shots.

The U.S. seems incapable of saying "No" to either.

$30 billion worth of arms given to the one.
$74 billion worth of arms sold to the other.

The U.S. needs to show more spine and stand up to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But who thinks this will happen, even under a President Sanders?

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Big Al's picture

It kind of reminds me of Obama, although Sanders doesn't have a chance in hell to win. But it throws red meat
to the left to keep them participating in the presidential election farce. I agree with Swanson completely. Backing
Sanders is a waste of time, it won't change a thing. All those donating money and willing to canvas, govt, etc., for
Sanders are wasting their time and money.
And you can bet Sanders wouldn't change the Israel and Saudi Arabia relationship, not the basic course of destruction
this country is on. Even if he wanted to.
"class, Class, CLASS! We've already covered this."

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Pluto's Republic's picture

"class, Class, CLASS! We've already covered this."

B-b-but, it worked before… in 1933.

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

what with 1933 when it comes to a Sanders candidacy?

Over my head and actually pissed.

What actions then do you propose?

Writing diaries?

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