The Evening Blues - 2-17-23



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: WAR

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features rock and funk band WAR. Enjoy!

WAR - Low Rider

"There’s this Pink Floyd line that’s been rattling around in my head, “You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to.” Because it’s so true; you can’t deceive people who don’t trust you. Propaganda only works if people don’t know it’s happening — if they don’t think of its source as untrustworthy."

-- Caitlin Johnstone


News and Opinion

Pffffttt!!!!!! That's the best you've got, "trust the government?"

‘Trust the government’: EPA seeks to reassure Ohio residents near toxic spill

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got a first-hand look on Thursday at the toll left by a freight train derailment in Ohio, where toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving the stench of fresh paint nearly two weeks later.

The EPA’s administrator, Michael Regan, walked along a creek that still reeks of chemicals and sought to reassure skeptical residents that the water was fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe around East Palestine, where just less than 5,000 people live near the Pennsylvania state line.

“I’m asking they trust the government. I know that’s hard. We know there’s a lack of trust,” Regan said. “We’re testing for everything that was on that train.”

Since the derailment, residents have complained about headaches and irritated eyes and finding their cars and lawns covered in soot. The hazardous chemicals that spilled from the train killed thousands of fish and residents have talked about finding dying or sick pets and wildlife.

Residents are frustrated by what they say is incomplete and vague information about the lasting effects from the disaster, which prompted evacuations.

Corporate Greed and Deregulation Fuel Threat of More Bomb Trains As East Palestine Demands Answers

Railroad workers confirm “nasty” toxic train “broke down” two days prior to crash in East Palestine, Ohio

Two weeks after a massive Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed and burst into flames just outside East Palestine, Ohio, railroad workers have confirmed to CBS News that the train, which originated in Madison, Illinois, “broke down” the evening of February 1, two days prior to the crash. Speaking anonymously out of fear of retaliation from the corporation, the workers told CBS that they had major safety concerns prior to the crash due to the train’s length and weight—nearly two miles (2.8 km) long and 18,000 tons—which they said were factors in the derailment.

“We shouldn’t be running trains that are 150 car lengths long,” one of the workers told CBS. “There should be some limitations to the weight and the length of the trains. In this case, had the train not been 18,000 tons, it’s very likely the effects of the derailment would have been mitigated,” they added.

In a separate interview with Vice Motherboard on February 15, two railroad workers “with direct knowledge of 32N,” (the designation of the train that derailed) told the outlet that this particular train and route, was a “known safety risk.” 32N travels from from St. Louis to the edge of Pittsburgh and “has a reputation,” the workers told the outlet.

In fact, this train and route had such a “notorious” reputation, that the workers dubbed the train the“32 Nasty.” The workers told Vice that prior to derailing, “32 Nasty” had “two mechanical problems” which went “undetected or were ignored in the hours leading up to the crash.” Security footage obtained from Salem, Ohio, roughly 20 miles outside of East Palestine, appeared to show the massive train on fire roughly 40 minutes before it reached the town.

Biden DOJ Backing Norfolk Southern’s Bid To Block Lawsuits

A looming Supreme Court decision could end up making it easier for the railroad giant whose train derailed in Ohio this month to block lawsuits, including from victims of the disaster.

In the case against Norfolk Southern, the Biden administration is siding with the railroad in its conflict with a cancer-stricken former rail worker. A high court ruling for Norfolk Southern could create a national precedent limiting where workers and consumers can bring cases against corporations.

The lawsuit in question, filed initially in a Pennsylvania county court in 2017, deals with a state law that permits plaintiffs to file suit against any corporation registered to do business there, even if the actions that gave rise to the case occurred elsewhere.

In its fight against the lawsuit, Norfolk Southern is asking the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court ruling, overturn Pennsylvania’s law, and restrict where corporations can be sued, upending centuries of precedent.

Oral arguments in the case were held last fall, and a ruling is expected from the Supreme Court in the coming months.

If the court rules in favor of Norfolk Southern, it could overturn plaintiff-friendly laws on the books in states including Pennsylvania, New York, and Georgia that give workers and consumers more leeway to choose where they take corporations to court — an advantage national corporations already enjoy, as they often require customers and employees to agree to file litigation in specific locales whose laws make it harder to hold companies accountable.

Real Reason Behind Chinese Balloon Story Revealed

Biden says latest objects shot down over US not linked to China spy program

Joe Biden has broken his silence on unknown aerial objects shot down over North America during the past week, assessing that they were “most likely” operated by private companies or research institutions rather than China.

The US president’s tentative conclusion is likely to fuel criticism that his orders to take down the objects were an overreaction amid political pressure over the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that transited much of the country. ...

“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” the president told reporters, against a backdrop of flags and the presidential seal.


Blood-Soaked USAID Chief Samantha Power Targeting Hungary!

Implications of US Destruction of Nordstream 2 Pipeline

The stunning recent and detailed reportage of direct American sabotage of the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline represents a major geostrategic watershed in two senses:

First, the implications of Washington’s act of war with disastrous economic impact upon Europe will not subside easily. But more importantly this event has demonstrated America’s successful cowing of any public commentary on the event — across U.S. media but more so across all European media itself, including in the most economically victimized state —Germany. We observe stunning, nearly inexplicable silence over this major international event.

And Russia has gotten the message — American policies and statements have deeply reinforced Russia’s long-standing belief that the West is implacably hostile to any Russian role in the West — going back to the bitter and irrevocable split of Christendom between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054. That was later followed up by two devastating European invasions of Russia (Napoleon and Hitler).

Growing European trade ties — especially Germany — with Russia since the end of the Cold War have been thrown on the trash heap by NATO expansion east. The hostility of East-West relations has been reinforced and deepened. Washington has no desire to work out a new common-European security policy that includes Russian interests as well. And these U.S. policies have helped ensure that Russia’s future now firmly lies in the East–Vladivostok and with China in a shared rejection of U.S. global hegemony.

The rise of a new Great Wall that blocks off Russia from Western Europe is one of the most striking outcomes of this war: European officialdom seems to have cast in its lot, perhaps reluctantly but irrevocably, with the American strategic goals in the world. Those goals now even speak of creating a new “NATO Pacific” designed to challenge Chinese power economically and strategically in China’s own backyard — at great potential economic cost to Europe. ...

The stunning silence of U.S. and European media reportage on the sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline sadly represents a clear sign that Europe frankly lacks the courage or vision to pursue a policy independent of Washington’s strategic game plan. This does not present a very inviting menu of positive policy options for most of the rest of the world — a world that seeks to avoid costly involvement in Western wars and to pursue their own economic development. They show signs now of visceral negative reactions to the perpetuation of Western ex-colonial powers seeking to impose their own stale geopolitical and economic agendas on the rest of the world.

This is the reality of the outcome of the war in Ukraine. Washington seems determined to pursue its increasingly illusory goal of maintaining international hegemony, now packaged in spurious claims of supporting “democracy versus authoritarianism.” Not many buyers there.

Biden Is Freezing Germans On Purpose! – Says Pulitzer-Winning Journalist

Australians Aren’t Allowed To Know If There Are American Nukes In Australia

The US government is permitted to have nuclear weapons in Australia. What’s more, Australians are not permitted to know whether or not this is happening. What’s more, not even Australia’s elected senators are permitted to know whether this is happening. It’s assumed to be none of Australia’s business whether there are foreign nuclear weapons in Australia.

This was clarified during a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday, when Greens senators were condescendingly admonished by the Australian foreign minister for the very normal and appropriate attempt to clarify the government’s policy regarding the presence of US armageddon weapons on Australian soil.

ABC News reports:

During a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday Greens senators sought details on whether visiting American aircraft such as the B-52s operating out of the Top End are ever nuclear armed.

The committee was told the United States had a longstanding policy of “neither confirming or denying” the presence of nuclear weapons under its practice of maintaining global operational unpredictability.

US bomber aircraft have been visiting Australia since the early 1980s, with nuclear-capable B-52s and B2 Sprits regularly operating out of northern Australia.

Defence Department secretary Greg Moriarty said the “stationing of nuclear weapons” in Australia was prohibited under the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, but the treaty did not prevent visits by the US bombers.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong was bizarrely hostile toward Senator David Shoebridge’s line of questioning on US nuclear weapons in Australia, angrily accusing him of trying to “make a political point” and acting in a way that is not “responsible or fair to the Australian community,” just for seeking answers beyond stock “the US can neither confirm nor deny” responses on this extremely important matter.

So there you have it. The US does indeed have permission to bring weapons into Australia which can turn the nation into a nuclear target, and Australians not only have no say in the matter but are also not allowed to know anything about it. It’s actually kind of rude and offensive for you to even ask.

Can you imagine if another country tried to do this to the US? Can you imagine how quickly a nation like India or France would be laughed out of the room if they told Washington they want the right to bring nuclear weapons in and out of the continental United States, but it’s none of the US’s business if they do? Nobody would give it a single thought, because it’s understood that the United States is the rightful ruler of this planet.

The Greens delivered a strong response to this whole ordeal, correctly accusing the Australian government of subverting Australian interests to advance US interests.

“The decision for the Australian Government to allow American B-52s into Australia is another clear example of successive major party governments selling out Australian interests for the Americans,” said Greens Senator and Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Jordon Steele John said in a statement. “Whether it be the AUKUS pact, the coverup of how Australia became involved in the illegal US invasion of Iraq or this newest escalation in the force posture agreement. When it comes to the US, there is no Australian interest this government has not been willing to sell out.

“Australia needs to deeply reevaluate our relationship with the United States and pursue an independent, peaceful and cooperative foreign policy,” the senator added.

This happens as Australians are being manipulated into consenting to war and militarism against China in a shockingly aggressive propaganda campaign spearheaded by our freakishly consolidated news media and think tanks funded by the US power alliance and military industrial complex war profiteers like the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. This propaganda campaign makes no secret of the expectation that Australians should be prepared to pour their wealth and their blood into a future war with China in order to support their good friends the Americans.

Julian Assange — an Australian citizen who has been left to rot in Belmarsh Prison because his own government refuses to back him against the US government’s efforts to extradite him for the crime of journalism — said shortly before his arrest, “I love my birth country Australia but as a state it doesn’t exist.”

As an Australian myself I feel much the same way. We’re not a real country. We’re a US military/intelligence asset run by a puppet regime who the US government changes and stages blatant coups against whenever it sees fit. This whole continent is basically just a giant US military base with kangaroos.

And now we’re being pushed toward a future military confrontation of unimaginable horror, and when anyone in our pretend government objects to this they are chided and dismissed for their lack of loyalty to our glorious leaders in Washington. It would be funny if it wasn’t so goddamn terrifying.

Hope strategy at Munich Security Conference

Mike Pompeo has a magic book that tells him things.

Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is ‘not an occupying nation’

Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it.

Pompeo told the One Decision podcast that his religious beliefs, US strategic interests and his view of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “known terrorist” underpinned his support as the Trump administration’s top diplomat for the shift in US policy away from mediating a two-state solution and toward more openly siding with Israel.

“[Israel] is not an occupying nation. As an evangelical Christian, I am convinced by my reading of the Bible that 3,000 years on now, in spite of the denial of so many, [this land] is the rightful homeland of the Jewish people,” he said.

Pompeo, who referred to the occupied West Bank by its Israeli name of Judea and Samaria, declined to support a two-state solution of an independent Palestine alongside Israel – an increasingly diminishing prospect after years of failed negotiations and the rise to power of politicians in Israel who advocate annexing the occupied territories.

Peru’s ‘racist bias’ drove lethal police response to protests, Amnesty says

Peru used “excessive and lethal force” driven by “marked racist bias” against a largely indigenous and campesino population, Amnesty International has concluded, following an investigation into more than two months of anti-government protests which have claimed at least 60 lives.

An Amnesty International fact-finding mission investigated 46 possible cases of human rights violations and documented 12 cases of deaths from the use of firearms – all the victims appeared to have been shot in the chest, torso or head – following visits to the capital Lima and the southern cities of Chincheros, Ayacucho and Andahuaylas.

In a damning report, Erika Guevara-Rosas, the organisation’s Americas director, said the Peruvian authorities had permitted the “excessive and lethal use of force to be the government’s only response for more than two months to the clamour of thousands of communities who today demand dignity and a political system that guarantees their human rights.”

“The grave human rights crisis facing Peru has been fueled by stigmatisation, criminalisation and racism against Indigenous peoples and campesino communities who today take to the streets exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and in response have been violently punished,” she told journalists on Thursday.

The rights group’s visit comes as President Dina Boluarte and her government face widespread accusations of using excessive force against civilian protesters. At least 48 people have been killed by security forces, prompting the UN human rights office to demand an investigation into the deaths and injuries last month.

Corbyn Rebukes Starmer for Barring Him From Running With UK Labour Party

Former U.K. Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn—a member of Parliament who represents the Greater London constituency Islington North—called out Leader Keir Starmer this week for barring him from running with the party in the nation's next general election.

In a move that outraged progressives worldwide, Corbyn was suspended from Labour in 2020 over allegations of antisemitism, which the leftist contested. Starmer said Wednesday the party had changed "and we are not going back, and that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election."

Corbyn responded on Twitter that "ever since I was elected as a Labour MP 40 years ago, I have fought on behalf of my community for a more equal, caring, and peaceful society. Day in, day out, I am focused on the most important issues facing people in Islington North: poverty, rising rents, the healthcare crisis, the safety of refugees, and the fate of our planet."

"Keir Starmer's statement about my future is a flagrant attack on the democratic rights of Islington North Labour Party members. It is up to them—not party leaders—to decide who their candidate should be," he argued. "Any attempt to block my candidacy is a denial of due process, and should be opposed by anybody who believes in the value of democracy."

Also taking aim at the Tories now in power, Corbyn charged that "at a time when the government is overseeing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, this is a divisive distraction from our overriding goal: to defeat the Conservative Party at the next general election."

"I am proud to represent the labor movement in Parliament through my constituency," he continued. "I am focused on standing up for workers on the picket line, the marginalized, and all those worried about their futures. That is what I'll continue to do. I suggest the Labour Party does the same."


Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that "few leaders around the world have shown the same commitment to the many, to every single minority, to every decent and worthy campaign against the oligarchy as Jeremy Corbyn has. Labour is all the poorer now that Starmer, seeking to impress the oligarchy, is expelling Jeremy."

Corbyn's statement did not address whether he will seek the seat as an independent, but many anticipate a bitter battle if he does.

Noting that Corbyn has been backed by the grassroots group Momentum since his 2015 campaign to lead the Labour Party—which he did for nearly five years—The Guardian reported Wednesday:

Asked whether he would put Momentum "on notice," Starmer said: "Well, I have many powers and duties and responsibilities in the Labour Party, but that one is not for me, I'm afraid. But look, whatever group or individual in the Labour Party, I think the message from this morning couldn't be clearer."

A Momentum spokesperson said on Wednesday: "Labour is a democratic socialist party—it's written on our membership cards. This party does not belong to one man alone—it belongs to its members and trade unions."

"It should be for Labour members in Islington North to decide their candidate. That is their democratic right."

In a separate analysis for The Guardian Wednesday, deputy political editor Jessica Elgot wrote that if the "former leader capitalizes on huge local support to stand as an independent, party allies and supportive MPs face a dilemma."

"Many on the Labour left still want to keep the party as a broad church where they can fight on issues like nationalization, student fees, trade union rights, and fair pay," she explained. "The question now is whether supporting the leader that first inspired many of them will cost them their ability to influence Labour in government."

France's debate on contested pension bill to head to Senate

GOP Unveils Bill to Make Trump Tax Cuts Permanent While Howling About Debt

A group of more than 70 House Republicans introduced legislation this week that would make elements of the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, delivering a huge windfall to the rich and choking off more federal revenue at a time when Republican fearmongering over the national debt is at a fever pitch.

Led by Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the TCJA Permanency Act, would cement into federal law tax cuts for individuals that are set to expire at the end of 2025.

The original 2017 tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, made most of its corporate tax provisions permanent. In a statement Wednesday, the Biden White House said Trump and congressional Republicans "deliberately sunset portions of their tax giveaway" in order to "conceal how much their plan added to the debt."

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis released last year, extending the individual provisions of the Trump-GOP tax law would cost around $2.2 trillion through 2032. A separate Tax Policy Center analysis estimated that the extension would deliver an average tax cut of $175,710 to the richest 0.1%.

"It's no surprise that the House majority wants to spend trillions of dollars to extend the Trump tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations—but it's absolute hypocrisy from the same members who are pushing us to a debt limit crisis on claims they care about the deficit," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative.

"Congress should be working together to invest in worker and family priorities and increase taxes on the rich—not give them another handout," Owens added.

Deputies suspended in Tyre Nichols case failed to keep body cameras on

Two sheriff’s deputies suspended for five days for their role in the arrest of Tyre Nichols failed to keep their body cameras activated after they went to the location where Nichols had been beaten by five Memphis police officers, officials said.

Shelby county sheriff’s office deputies Jeremy Watkins and Johntavious Bowers each violated multiple policies after they reported to the location of Nichols’ violent arrest on 7 January, said the sheriff, Floyd Bonner, in a statement.

Nichols fled a traffic stop but was caught near his home by Memphis police officers who punched him, kicked him and hit him with a baton, police video footage and other documents showed.

Video released by the city showed several officers standing around as Nichols struggled with serious injuries while propped up against a police car. Nichols was taken to a hospital in an ambulance that left the location of the beating 27 minutes after emergency medical technicians arrived, authorities have said.

Nichols died at a hospital on 10 January. Five officers accused of beating Nichols have been fired and charged with second-degree murder. One other officer has been fired but not charged criminally for his role in the traffic stop that preceded the beating.



the horse race



Witnesses in Trump investigation may have lied, says Georgia grand jury report

Multiple witnesses who testified before a special purpose grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election may have lied and committed perjury, according to a section of the grand jury’s report released on Thursday.

The report offers the first insight into the work of the special purpose grand jury, which was convened in May last year. The 23 jurors and three alternates heard from 75 witnesses during the course of its investigation.

The Georgia case, led by the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, is believed to be one of the most likely scenarios in which the former president, and some of his allies, could face charges for efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 US election.

“A majority of the Grand Jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it. The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling,” the grand jurors wrote. The sections released on Thursday do not name the witnesses or provide any other details.

A judge also released the introduction and conclusion to the report, neither of which provide substantive insight into whether Trump or allies will face criminal charges. The judge has declined to release the full report until Willis decides whether to bring charges.



the evening greens


World risks descending into a climate ‘doom loop’, warn thinktanks

The world is at risk of descending into a climate “doom loop”, a thinktank report has warned. It said simply coping with the escalating impacts of the climate crisis could draw resources and focus away from the efforts to slash carbon emissions, making the situation even worse. The damage caused by global heating across the globe is increasingly clear, and recovering from climate disasters is already costing billions of dollars. Furthermore, these disasters can cause cascading problems including water, food and energy crises, as well as increased migration and conflict, all draining countries’ resources.

The researchers, from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Chatham House, said a current example of the impact of the climate crisis complicating efforts to reduce emissions and other action was the debate over whether keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5C – the international goal – was still possible. Those arguing 1.5C was still possible risked perpetuating complacency that today’s slow pace of action was sufficient, the researchers said, while those arguing it was not possible risked supporting fatalism that little that could now be done, or “extreme approaches” such as geoengineering.

Avoiding a doom loop required a more honest acceptance by politicians of the great risks posed by the climate crisis, the researchers said, including the looming prospect of tipping points and of the huge scale of the economic and societal transformation required to end global heating. This should be combined with narratives that focused on the great benefits climate action brought and ensuring policies were fairly implemented. ...

The report said: “This is a doom loop: the consequences of the [climate] crisis draw focus and resources from tackling its causes, leading to higher temperatures and ecological loss, which then create more severe consequences, diverting even more attention and resources, and so on.”

Great Salt Lake’s retreat poses a major fear: poisonous dust clouds

To walk on to the Great Salt Lake, the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere which faces the astounding prospect of disappearing just five years from now, is to trudge across expanses of sand and mud, streaked with ice and desiccated aquatic life, where just a short time ago you would be wading in waist-deep water. But the mounting sense of local dread over the lake’s rapid retreat doesn’t just come from its throttled water supply and record low levels, as bad as this is. The terror comes from toxins laced in the vast exposed lake bed, such as arsenic, mercury and lead, being picked up by the wind to form poisonous clouds of dust that would swamp the lungs of people in nearby Salt Lake City, where air pollution is often already worse than that of Los Angeles, potentially provoking a myriad of respiratory and cancer-related problems.

This looming scenario, according to Ben Abbott, an ecologist at Brigham Young University, risks “one of the worst environmental disasters in modern US history”, surpassing the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania in 1979 and acting like a sort of “perpetual Deepwater Horizon blowout”. Salt Lakers are set to be assailed by a “thick fog of this stuff that’s blowing through, it would be gritty. It would dim the light, it would literally go from day to night and it could absolutely be regular all summer,” said Abbott, who headed a sobering recent study with several dozen other scientists on the “unprecedented danger” posed by lake’s disintegration.

“We could expect to see thousands of excess deaths annually from the increase in air pollution and the collapse of the largest wetland oasis in the intermountain west,” he added.

There is evidence that plumes of toxic dust are already stirring as the exposed salt crust on the lake, which has lost three-quarters of its water and has shriveled by nearly two-thirds in size since the Mormon wagon train first arrived here in the mid-19th century, breaks apart from erosion. ... “People have seen and realized it’s not hypothetical and that there is a real threat to our entire way of life,” Abbott said. “We are seeing this freight train coming as the lake shrinks. We’re just seeing the front end of it now.” About 2.4 million people, or about 80% of Utah’s population, lives “within a stone’s throw of the lake”, Abbott said. “I mean, they are directly down wind from this. As some people have said, it’s an environmental nuclear bomb.”


Also of Interest

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

You Have To Be Trusted By The People That You Lie To: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

The US May Have Shot Down a Small Hobby Balloon With a Sidewinder Missile

Media Bullshit About Ugledar

The Buildup To War In Ukraine - February 16 2022

Silencing Critics of Israel: Biden Pulls Nomination of Human Rights Lawyer For Decrying Apartheid

Brazilian Amazon Leader Urges Lula to Prosecute Bolsonaro for Genocide Against Indigenous Yamomami

Liberals Working Overtime To Undermine Anti-War Rally


A Little Night Music

WAR - Slippin' Into Darkness

WAR - The World Is A Ghetto

Eric Burdon & War - Spirit

WAR - Summer

War - Galaxy

Eric Burdon & War - Tobacco Road

WAR, Eric Burdon - Spill The Wine

WAR - Gypsy Man

WAR - Cisco Kid

WAR - Get Down

WAR - Southern Part of Texas

WAR - Live At The Grove 2007


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Comments

I dream of the day when elected officials will be as pissed off at our well-funded military and security agencies that, with all our tax dollars, shoot down hobby balloons. If our military and all our surveillance can't identify a hobby balloon, wtf are they shooting down and bombing all over the world?
The positive is that if we fired off a nuke, it would likely miss Earth. Poor Mars.
Take good care, friend, and keep the music blasting! We got some Cajun music coming up this Sunday. A band called Eazy. 11 members. Should rattle the walls!

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8 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

heh, considering the other things that they do with the toys that we purchase for them, i guess if the military would rather shoot down run-away balloons from the party store than mass-murder brown people, that's okay with me.

have a great time at the cajun music show!

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5 users have voted.
QMS's picture

is this evening's band
thanks joe!

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6 users have voted.

question everything

joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

i quite agree!

have a great weekend!

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4 users have voted.

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7 users have voted.

@humphrey When I think my hatred of Biden and his administration has peaked, he doubles down!

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6 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

@humphrey

i guess working class white people are not his constituency.

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7 users have voted.
TheOtherMaven's picture

@joe shikspack

otherwise known as his owners.

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3 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

enhydra lutris's picture

be well and have a good one

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5 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

great tune, thanks!

have a great weekend!

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4 users have voted.

Watching CNN could cause brain damage.

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7 users have voted.

@humphrey to find someone from Russia to "convincingly" draw a comparison of Stalin and Putin.
Because of a train car.
If Biden road a train regularly, like he once did and campaigned on, it would be a hospital car.

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7 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

@humphrey

thank the flying spaghetti monster that i don't have cable.

have a great weekend!

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4 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Maybe someone else can? But I’m sure that countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, ect would definitely disagree with him.

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8 users have voted.

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

QMS's picture

@snoopydawg

to the aware
but let's cloak it in double speak

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5 users have voted.

question everything

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

thank goodness for matt lee. he's particularly good at calling out the bs of these morons.

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enhydra lutris's picture

Alex and Alexander knock all the hope based plans to topple Russia, as wll they should, but, in the end,seem to hold our a ray of hope that we might very well soon see the collapse of the neocons. It doesn't sound like they'll take the neolibs down with them, but even if they are merely seriously weakened it would be a really great thing.

be well and have a good one and a wonderful weekend

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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 --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

yeah, it feels like the neocons have been such an omnipresent, pernicious force in government, the media and the culture that it's hard to imagine them all being swept away to the remedial academy for dunces that they deserve to be incarcerated in. but, i suppose there's always hope.

have a great weekend!

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5 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

... when I passed on what Dmitry Orlov has emphasized about Russia's position. Orlov is a US citizen who has remained in Russia to report on the Ukraine war from the inside:

From tonight's EB News: "And Russia has gotten the message — American policies and statements have deeply reinforced Russia’s long-standing belief that the West is implacably hostile to any Russian role in the West — going back to the bitter and irrevocable split of Christendom between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054. That was later followed up by two devastating European invasions of Russia (Napoleon and Hitler)."

.

As I posted Feb. 15th HERE:

"The Russians believe that this Western insanity toward Russia is a continuation of the Crusades. It is an ongoing religious obsession on the part of the Western Christofacists...." (Read On.)

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And added context for HERE:

"In the last war, WWII, Russia vanquished Nazi Germany and (as is often overlooked) also Rumania, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Austria, which sent their troops into Russian territory, as well as numerous mercenaries and volunteers from the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France and Spain, and, of course, Britain and the US which bankrolled the German Nazis and provided them with key technologies and fuel. Thus, the Russian victory was not even specifically against Germany but against the combined West. The cost in human life was absolutely staggering—a human tragedy beyond comprehension—but most Russians will tell you that it was entirely worth it. Furthermore, many Russians will say that they will repeat the lesson if necessary...." (Read on — more carefully this time to learn about the fate of the US.)

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This, then, finally begs the question:

How does that mesh that with Israel's predominant presence and influence in Western governments and media? Are they installed in the US to assure superpower defense for Israel's own acts of wars? Or to piggyback on the potential destruction of any and all US rivals for the ultimate Global Throne of Empire? Which they can easily seize for themselves, while the US population is reduced to squalor.
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joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

things sure seem to get more and more interesting as time moves forward with interesting resonances in the past.

i would assume that like their american neocon cousins, the israeli elites want full spectrum dominance and will do whatever it takes to get it.

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4 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

@joe shikspack

....the "Ring of Truth."

Who's up for a RV caravan to the Southern rainforests of Mexico for an extended vacation?

Recapture the freedom, excitement, and promise of adventure one more time.

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4 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

i dunno, i read this week that the best place to survive the outcome of letting idiots play with nuclear toys is new zealand ...

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@joe shikspack

Ever read "On the Beach?"

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6 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

given what climate change appears to be doing to nz, an island could be a bit of an iffy choice. but then again, anywhere is an iffy choice these days.

i never read "on the beach," but i am pretty sure that i saw the movie years and years ago.

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5 users have voted.
TheOtherMaven's picture

@joe shikspack

it was that literally nowhere would escape the nuclear fallout. Nowhere. Not even Antarctica. (Whether this was a scientifically valid scenario is another question.)

Another, probably more relevant reason to avoid New Zealand is that it's turning into a totalitarian state...as is Australia, as is Canada.(IMHO the US already is a totalitarian state, just not a very efficient one. For now.)

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5 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

snoopydawg's picture

And the lake smell blew in with it. Now I can look forward to all the pollutants blowing in instead. People here should be absolutely pissed at the legislature for allowing the lake to get this low. They’re still letting the Saudis grow alfalfa and other big corporations to build here that use a lot of water. Remember we have Facebook big data center using billions a day. But hey let’s just throw some money at it!

The bill, alternately known as the Great Salt Lake Commissioner Act, would create a commissioner position along with a staff to oversee the lake's function within the Utah Department of Natural Resources. The governor would appoint the person who would serve on a six-year term basis.

The commissioner would prepare, execute and regularly update "an approved strategic plan for the long-term health of the Great Salt Lake," including information that tracks the lake's water and salinity levels among other statistics, the bill states. He or she would meet regularly with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and also serve on the Utah Board of Water Resources, and report to the governor and Utah Legislature at least once a year.

And then there’s Lake Powell that is also at its lowest ever. Both lakes have been decreasing for close to 20 years while they have sat on their asses!

Lake Powell is once again the lowest it has ever been since it was first filled six decades ago.

The reservoir, located by the Utah-Arizona border, dropped to 3,521.95 feet elevation on Friday, surpassing the previous record low of 3,522.24 feet set in April 2022, said Becki Bryant, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. She added that the lake is expected to continue to drop until the snowpack runoff begins in the spring.

Hey I’ll just not water my lawn this summer along with everyone else and that won’t put a damn dent in it getting lower! How about every golf course goes brown this summer instead?

Btw St. George in s Utah is going to build a huge complex for the rich along with a water park. Yeah good luck with that since there won’t be any water for it. Lots of corporations are building huge complexes for the rich only.

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6 users have voted.

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

...who is ever so grateful, for once, for the USian cognitive denial disability that is currently in effect, while I offload my real estate. We should put our heads together, like two big "spy balloons" and discuss.

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4 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

... Mike Pompeo, could on track to become the next US President.

From tonight's EB:

Mike Pompeo has a magic book that tells him things.

Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it. Pompeo. who referres to the occupied West Bank by its Israeli name of Judea and Samaria, declined to support a two-state solution of an independent Palestine alongside Israel.

“[Israel] is not an occupying nation. As an evangelical Christian, I am convinced by my reading of the Bible that 3,000 years on now, in spite of the denial of so many, [this land] is the rightful homeland of the Jewish people,” he said.

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Can anyone make a convincing argument that, from World II to the present, the US has been positioning itself and acting as a golem in a global Religious War driven by Israel and the Jews?

The rest of the world, the Ukrainians, the Nazis, the Europeans, and the USians are all being treated as Palestinians by the Ruling Matrix of the US.

Put a little space-time on it and that's essentially what it looks like.

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