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This evening's music features blues singer, saxophone and clarinet player Lem Johnson. Enjoy!

"A person isn't considered insane if there are a number of people who believe the same way. Insanity isn't supposed to be a communicable disease. If one other person starts to believe him, or maybe two or three, then it's a religion."

-- Robert M. Pirsig

News and Opinion

Americans consumed by irrational imperial delusions which sound a lot like projection:

‘We’re in a space race’: Nasa sounds alarm at Chinese designs on moon

The US is locked in a space race with China and the country needs to “watch out” that its rival does not gain a foothold and try to dominate lunar resources, Nasa’s top official has warned.

The assessment came from the Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and Florida senator, who went on to warn that China could eventually claim to “own” the moon’s resource-rich areas.

The contest between the US and China, he added, was intensifying and the next two years could determine which country achieves an advantage.

“It is a fact: we’re in a space race,” Nelson told Politico. “And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’”

Nelson cited Chinese aggression over islands in the South China Sea, where Beijing has established military bases, as evidence of its territorial ambition. “If you doubt that, look at what they did with the Spratly Islands,” he said.

Western Governments Keep Assigning Themselves The Authority To Regulate Online Speech

Depending on what political echo chamber you’ve been viewing it from, the ongoing release of information about the inner workings of pre-Musk Twitter known as “the Twitter Files” might look like the bombshell news story of the century, or it might look like a complete nothingburger whose importance is being wildly exaggerated by the far right.

From where I’m sitting, the Twitter Files look like entirely newsworthy revelations which add new detail to information that had already been spilling out about the way government agencies have been inserting themselves into Silicon Valley’s processes of regulating online speech. Right wing punditry has of course been exaggerating the significance of the releases and spinning them in all kinds of disingenuous ways, and Musk himself plainly has a partisan agenda in releasing the information in the way that he has been, but it’s not actually difficult to separate that from the value of the information being released.

Many liberals and leftists have struggled to grasp this (in my view simple and obvious) distinction, but we’re now seeing articles coming out in publications like The Guardian and Jacobin explaining to their respective audiences that it should actually concern anyone who opposes government tyranny to see secretive agencies taking it upon themselves to control the way people talk to each other on the internet.

“Make no mistake: while some criticisms of the project coming from left of center certainly have merit, that doesn’t mean the disclosures aren’t important, or that the accuracy of the information contained in the files is somehow undermined by the political slant of some of those reporting on it,” writes Jacobin’s Branko Marcetic. “The Twitter Files give us an unprecedented peek behind the curtain at the workings of Twitter’s opaque censorship regime, and expose in greater detail the secret and ongoing merger of social media companies and the US national security state.”

The Twitter Files show an outrageous and unacceptable amount of overlap between Twitter management and many US government agencies — including the CIA — in not just the censorship and shadowbanning of unauthorized speech but also whitelisting and amplifying actual psyops of the US military. The justifications for this have ranged from fighting “Covid misinformation” to combating “foreign influence” (the latter of which is odd because those efforts seem to have focused primarily on domestic speech), but what apparently went completely unquestioned the entire time was whether these government institutions have any business inserting themselves into the regulation of public speech at all.

This bizarre assumption that governments need to involve themselves in policing online speech has been rapidly normalizing itself around the western world. Here in Australia we’ve got government officials suddenly babbling about the need to restrict the spread of “conspiracy theories” after a shooting that left two police officers dead. The EU has its controversial Digital Services Act, which Elon Musk is interestingly an enthusiastic supporter of despite being publicly warned that Twitter could be banned throughout the European Union if Twitter doesn’t sufficiently restrict speech on the platform.

(Musk has, while we’re on the subject, continued the practices of branding media figures as “state-affiliated media” if they’re associated with empire-targeted governments, banning people for questioning official narratives about the war in Ukraine, and restricting the visibility of state media for empire-targeted governments while letting western propagandists run rampant. So while some are falling all over themselves in fawning hero worship of the billionaire Pentagon contractor, I personally am not expecting to crown him a free speech warrior anytime soon.)

And what’s important to remember about the Twitter Files is that Twitter has historically been the least compliant with government demands for speech regulation of all the major platforms. Everything we’re learning about what’s been happening in Twitter has surely been happening to a much greater extent with Google/YouTube and Meta/Facebook/Instagram.

Do you remember voting for government agencies to insert themselves into the regulation of online speech? I don’t remember any such vote. I don’t remember any politician campaigning to do this or any part of the public being asked for their permission at all. It sure seems like they appointed that authority to themselves without the permission of the electorate, solely for their own benefit. It’s almost like democracy is an illusion and our rulers do whatever they want to us, up to and including restricting the ways we’re allowed to communicate with each other, in whatever way benefits them and their agendas.

Online speech has nothing to do with the government. Nothing whatsoever. Governments have no more business regulating online speech than they have regulating what consenting adults do in the bedroom, and until very recently this was universally understood as one of the fundamental tenets of liberal democracy. But with a little narrative-diddling over the last few years they’ve managed to intertwine themselves with the online platforms we use to communicate with each other worldwide.

And as all this information comes out we’re seeing imperial narrative managers working to manipulate the debate into an argument about what kinds of government interventions in public speech are acceptable and how far they should go, rather than whether the government should be involving itself in the business of online speech regulation at all. One of main jobs of an empire propagandist is to get people arguing over how ugly imperial agendas should be rolled out, rather than if they should.

This is insane. Let the powerful involve themselves in the regulation of public speech and they will regulate it to their advantage every time. This should be obvious to everyone.

The response to all this should not be mitigated. The response should not be to get bogged down in partisan bickering and culture war distractions. The response should not quibble about whether this or that activity was technically legal or a breach of the First Amendment or not. The response should be an unequivocal, “No. This is not your area. Out. Now.”

Accusations Of CIA-Backed Sabotage Attacks INSIDE Russia!

NATO Chief Says Sending More Weapons to Ukraine Is Quickest Path to Peace

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg claimed in an interview published Friday that the quickest path to peace in Ukraine is through NATO countries sending more weapons to Kyiv.

“It may sound like a paradox, but military support for Ukraine is the fastest way to peace,” Stoltenberg told the German news agency DPA. “We know that most wars end at the negotiating table – probably this war too – but we know that what Ukraine can achieve in these negotiations depends inextricably on the military situation.”

Stoltenberg’s comments come as there is no indication that Ukraine and Russia will come to the negotiating table.

Makeyevka. Neocons will push to escalate, will Russia stay the course?

Ukrainian HIMARS Strike Kills 63 Russian Soldiers in Donbas

The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that 63 Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian rocket strike in the eastern Donestk Oblast in one of the deadliest Ukrainian strikes against Russian troops of the war.

According to Moscow, Ukraine used US-provided HIMARS rocket systems in the attack, which targeted the city of Makeyevka. According to RT, the strike hit a temporary housing facility used by Russian forces in the Donbas.

Israeli far-right minister visits Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Palestinians slam ‘provocation’

Israel's Ben-Gvir Postpones Visit to Al-Aqsa Amid Warnings That 'People Will Die'

Israel's far-right national security minister on Monday postponed a planned visit Islam's third-holiest site amid warnings from the country's opposition leader and Palestinian officials that such a trip would have deadly consequences.

The Times of Israel reports Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir temporarily put off a promised visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem—which sits on what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism's most sacred site since biblical times—after speaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party.

The previous day, Ben-Gvir vowed to visit the contested site—which has been illegally occupied by Israel for over half a century—sometime this week, possibly as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.

Yair Lapid, who stepped down as Israel's prime minister last week and now leads the opposition, said Monday that "Itamar Ben-Gvir must not go up to Temple Mount. It is a deliberate provocation that will put lives in danger and cost lives."

Lapid, of the liberal Yesh Atid party, added that Netanyahu must tell Ben-Gvir: "'You are not going to the Temple Mount. People will die.'"

However, Ben-Gvir, who is also the leader of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, declared that "no one will threaten us or tell us anything."

"The Temple Mount is the holiest place for the people of Israel. We will not give up on any place in the land of Israel," he continued.

"I'm against the racist policy at the Temple Mount, as well as the racism against Jews," added Ben-Gvir—who was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization after he advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which governs Gaza, warned Monday that it "won't sit idly by" if Ben-Gvir visits Al-Aqsa.

Middle East Eye reports Hamas spokesperson Abd al-Latif al-Qanua called the planned visit "another example of the arrogance of the settler government and their future plans to damage and divide Al-Aqsa mosque."

"The Palestinian resistance will not allow the neo-fascist occupation government to cross the red lines and encroach on our people and our sanctities," he added.

Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Zvika Fogel—a former Israel Defense Forces brigadier general who in 2018 advocated killing Palestinian children—said that Ben-Gvir "will visit the Temple Mount whenever he sees fit."

"We shouldn't treat his visit as something that will lead to an escalation," he added. "Why not see it as part of realizing our sovereignty?"

Under an Israeli-enforced policy, only Muslims are permitted to pray at Al-Aqsa. Jews and others are allowed to visit during assigned times and under strict restrictions.

Last year, attacks on the compound by Israeli occupation forces and settler-colonists wounded hundreds of Palestinians.

Ben-Gvir—who believes Isreal's founders "didn't finish the job" of ethnically cleansing all Arabs from Palestine—has visited Al-Aqsa several times while serving in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. He also led an October 2022 Jewish supremacist march through the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, where he brandished a pistol and threatened to "mow down" Palestinians protesting the ethnic cleansing of their neighborhood.

Chagos Islanders demand say as UK-Mauritius sovereignty talks begin

Descendants of the people of the Chagos Islands have claimed their views are being ignored as the prime minister of Mauritius announced the start of talks with Britain over the territory’s sovereignty. ... Mauritius, a British colony until its independence in 1968, claims the remote islands as its own territory although it is administered by Britain, which has a joint military base with the US on one of the islands, Diego Garcia.

The talks are expected to lead to the return of former inhabitants of the Chagos archipelago who were forcibly displaced by the British government in the 1960s and 1970s. The UK is expected, however, to seek continued rights over Diego Garcia which is a vital strategic asset for the US military. ...

Rosy Leveque, 28, from the Chagos Islanders lobby group, said: “I feel that history is repeating itself – the same two states who treated my family like cargo are once again negotiating our community’s future without the involvement of the actual community itself. “The Lancaster agreement of 1965 where Mauritius and the UK signed a document to exile an entire population into a life of poverty and discrimination both in Mauritius and Seychelles – the same thing is happening again.”

Three years before Mauritius gained independence from the UK, London severed the Chagos Islands from the rest of the country so it could lease the island of Diego Garcia to the US for military use. The British government then forcibly deported 2,000 Chagossians, who subsequently waged an arduous legal battle to return, culminating in a 2019 ruling by the international court of justice that the continuing British occupation of the islands was illegal.

"Return to Democracy": Brazil Swears In Lula as President, as Far-Right Bolsonaro Flees to Florida

Third of world economy to hit recession in 2023, IMF head warns

For much of the global economy, 2023 is going to be a tough year as the main engines of global growth – the US, Europe and China – all experience weakening activity, the head of the International Monetary Fund has warned.

The new year is going to be “tougher than the year we leave behind,” IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on the CBS Sunday morning news program Face the Nation on Sunday. ... “We expect one-third of the world economy to be in recession. Even countries that are not in recession, it would feel like recession for hundreds of millions of people,” she added.

In October, the IMF cut its outlook for global economic growth in 2023, reflecting the continuing drag from the war in Ukraine as well as inflation pressures and the high interest rates engineered by central banks like the US Federal Reserve aimed at bringing those price pressures to heel.

Georgieva said that China, the world’s second-largest economy, is likely to grow at or below global growth for the first time in 40 years as Covid-19 cases surge following the dismantling of its ultra-strict zero-Covid policy.

2023 IMF PREDICTION: “We expect one-third of the world economy to be in recession,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva tells @margbrennan. But, a strong U.S. labor market might help the world get through a difficult year, she says. pic.twitter.com/Vbhj478pFo

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 1, 2023

McCarthy Speaker Hopes NEAR COLLAPSE

Kevin McCarthy’s speaker bid in balance as effort to placate hardliners flops

The final hurdle to Republican Kevin McCarthy’s years-long quest to secure the speaker’s gavel grew even more formidable on Monday as a sizable group of House colleagues from his own party said they were not yet ready to support him. The nine Republican rebels made the announcement after the California congressman made a series of concessions on Sunday to try to shore up the support of conservative hardliners ahead of Republicans assuming control of the US lower chamber on Tuesday.

McCarthy can afford to lose only four votes from his party’s slender majority if he is to win the election for speaker that will be among the first orders of business for the new Congress.

The rightwingers had demanded a change in House rules to make it easier to topple the speaker, and increased representation for fringe members on committees. While the group’s statement acknowledged there had been some steps forward, it said McCarthy’s messaging during a Sunday evening conference call, and in a summary sheet obtained by Punchbowl News, left them uncertain of exactly what he was offering. ...

The main sticking point appears to be the so-called motion to vacate, a House rule that allows members to challenge the speaker, which was loosened during the tenure of the Democrat Nancy Pelosi. The hardliners want a restoration of the rule that existed under previous Republican speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan that any single congressman or woman could initiate a vote to remove the speaker.

McCarthy said in his call on Sunday that “weeks of negotiations” had resulted in a “concession” of him agreeing to a threshold of five House members. But according to CNN, it was not enough to appease Republicans known as “Never Kevins”, a fluid group of hardliners including the Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who have said they will not support him under any circumstance.

Largest Wolf Cull in Modern History Underway in Sweden

Wildlife defenders in Sweden and beyond decried the start on Monday of what's being called the largest wolf cull in modern times, arguing that killing nearly a fifth of the country's critically endangered lupine population could have grave consequences for biodiversity.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT reports hunters in the five Swedish counties with the most wolves—Gävleborg, Dalarna, Västmanland, Örebro, and Värmland—will be allowed to kill a total of 75 wolves out of a national population of 460 animals.

Last winter, Sweden authorized the killing of 27 wolves, while hunters in neighboring Norway had permission to kill 51 wolves—about 60% of the lupine population—and Finland approved the culling of 27 wolves.

While Gunnar Glöersen, the predator manager at the Swedish Hunters' Association, says "hunting is absolutely necessary to slow the proliferation of wolves," Daniel Ekblom of Sweden's Nature Conservation Society called the cull "tragic."

"It could have consequences for a long time to come," Ekblom told SVT.

Other opponents of the cull noted Sweden's relatively low wolf population. Italy, for example, is only about half as large as Sweden but has around 3,000 wolves, which are strictly protected by law.

"Wolves as top predators in the food chain are a prerequisite for biodiversity," Marie Stegard, president of the anti-hunting group Jaktkritikerna, told The Guardian, warning that killing so much of "the population through hunting has negative consequences for animals and nature."

"It's disastrous for the entire ecosystem," she said. "The existence of wolves contributes to a richer animal and plant life. Human survival depends on healthy ecosystems."

Stegard added:

It is obvious that there is strong political pressure for licensed hunting for wolves, and also lynx and bear.

There is a large majority of Swedes who like wolves, even where they live. In our opinion, the reason for these hunts is simply that there is a demand for shooting wolves among hunters. The hunters' organizations have enormous power in Sweden. It is a fact that the Swedish parliament has a hunters' club open to members of all parties, with a shooting gallery underneath the parliament. This sounds like a joke but it's absolutely true.

The Swedish Parliament is also lobbying the European Union to remove wolves and bears from its list of species in need of protection.

Hanna Dittrich-Söderman, who leads the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's wolf program, says the lupine predators hold a special place in national folklore, evoking primal fears and irrational hatred.

"There is no other animal that is so easy to both demonize and glorify as the wolf—an imagined fear or hatred has been attached to it," Dittrich-Söderman toldThe Local. "We have almost made it a symbol of our fearful nature as a whole, it has almost mythical qualities."

Biden declares Arizona floods a federal disaster for Havasupai tribe

The White House has made a federal disaster declaration for the Havasupai Native American tribe that mainly lives deep inside the Grand Canyon in Arizona, as the community prepares to reopen tourist access to its famous turquoise waterfalls next month.

Last October, the village experienced drastic flooding which damaged extensive parts of the reservation. The floods “destroyed several bridges and trails that are needed not only for our tourists, but for the everyday movement of goods and services into the Supai Village”, the tribe said.

The Havasupai is now readying itself to receive tourists again from 1 February on its reservation, which sits nine miles down narrow trails between spectacular red rock cliffs deep within the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. Tourists must apply for permits to enter the reservation.

It is the first time that tourists have been allowed to return to the reservation not only since the flooding, but in almost three years, since tourism was closed off early in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic spread across the US. The canyon community has very limited health care resources on site.

The tribe is one of North America’s smallest and is the only one based inside the canyon, where the community has lived for more than 800 years, despite being driven off much of its original, much wider, territory by armed settlers in the 19th century.

Also of Interest

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

Obvious Predictions For 2023

Are There Any U.S. Red Lines?

Ukraine’s DEVASTATING Attack Inside Russian Borders

Scoop: Netanyahu asked for Ukraine's support at UN — and Zelensky asked for military aid

On Palestine’s Looming Armed Revolt

Homeless deaths surged across the US in 2022 due to extreme weather, economic hardship

New York University emergency department prioritizes the wealthy for treatment

The Partisan Ghost In The Media Machine

Havasupai Tribe Opposes Uranium Mining Activity Near Grand Canyon

The hidden underwater forests that could help tackle the climate crisis

Pete Buttigieg HUMILIATED By Southwest Meltdown

JP Morgan SUED For Covering Up Epstein's Sex Crimes, Prosecutor Fired DAYS After Filing Lawsuit

A Little Night Music

Lem Johnson - Eatin' and Sleepin' with the Blues

Lem Johnson and His Washboard Band - Queen Street Blues

Lem Johnson - It Takes Money Honey

Lem Johnson - Railroad Blues

Hot Lips Page w/Lem Johnson - The Blues Jumped The Rabbit

Hot Lips Page w/Lem Johnson - Rockin' At Ryans

Hot Lips Page w/Lem Johnson - You'd Be Frantic Too

Deacon Lem Johnson - Walkin' The Boogie