The Evening Blues - 4-24-23
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Chicago blues harmonica player Billy Branch. Enjoy!
Billy Branch - You're So Fine
"Distracted from distraction by distraction."
-- T. S. Eliot
News and Opinion
The Empire Of Hypocrisy
So it turns out that after the Hunter Biden laptop leak Tony Blinken contacted his CIA buddy Mike Morell to make it go away, and Morell has now admitted to cooking up the bogus “Russian disinfo” letter from 51 US intelligence insiders to “help Vice President Biden… because I wanted him to win the election.”
Obama’s acting CIA director just coolly admitting that he used his intelligence connections to orchestrate a psyop to change the outcome of a presidential election completely invalidates anything the US government does under the banner of fighting “election interference”. Keep this glaring hypocrisy in mind as the US government continues churning out indictments and ramping up authoritarian measures in the name of fighting “disinformation” and protecting American “democracy”.
OH SH*T, Protesters STORM Blackrock Offices!
Western Outlets Send Warning to Lula Over Ukraine Dissent
Former and current Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva’s brief honeymoon with US corporate media hit its first roadblock this week as a minor story repeated in Reuters and AP generated headlines in Brazil’s newspapers, with its largest, O Globo, running an editorial with a thinly veiled coup threat.
After years of character assassination, US establishment outlets such as the New York Times eased up on Lula during the last two years, as a series of scandals, record Amazon deforestation, the assassination of Guardian/Washington Post journalist Dom Phillips, and a cozy relationship with Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and their far-right cronies made it impossible to support the reelection of neofascist President Jair Bolsonaro.
Parallels between Brazil’s January 8, 2023, coup attempt and the January 6, 2021, US Capitol incursion placed US media outlets with close relations to the Democratic Party, such as the Times, in a difficult position. Criticizing the Lula administration could appear to offer tacit support to the Republican Party, in alliance with its preferred outlets like Fox News, which ran an election-season documentary (9/22/22) warning about the transformation of Brazil into a colony of its largest commercial trading partner, China, if Bolsonaro was not reelected.
This has resulted in an unusual situation, in which outlets such as the Times, after years of negative coverage (e.g., 4/12/14), have produced largely neutral stories on Lula’s Workers’ Party. Even as Lula’s diplomatic trip to China approached, this balanced coverage continued, as demonstrated in the Times‘ April 14 article, “Brazil’s Lula Meets Xi in China as They Seek Path to Peace in Ukraine.” The piece included this accurate explanation of Brazil’s position on the Russia/Ukraine conflict:
Brazil has criticized Russia’s invasion in carefully worded statements, but its position is complicated by its reliance on Russia for about a quarter of its fertilizer imports, which are crucial to Brazil’s enormous agriculture industry. Mr. Lula has also suggested that Ukraine’s president and NATO share some blame for the war, and he has resisted calls to send weapons to Ukraine.
Lula signed 15 bilateral agreements with Chinese President Xi Jinping, including a joint venture for satellite manufacturing and abandonment of the dollar in trade between the two nations, and gave an interview to Chinese TV news station CGTN (4/15/23) in which he commented on the conflict in the Ukraine:
How are we going to achieve peace in Russia and Ukraine if nobody is talking about peace? Everybody is talking about war. Everybody is talking about giving more weapons to Ukraine to attack Russia, or of NATO moving its border to the border of Russia. So what are we looking for? Countries that want peace. China wants peace. Brazil wants peace. Indonesia wants peace. India wants peace. So we have to bring these countries together and make a peace proposal for Russia and Ukraine.
Later, during a press conference in China (Kawsachun News, 4/15/23), he said, “It takes patience to talk with the president of Ukraine. But we have to, above all, convince the countries that are supplying weapons, encouraging war, to stop.”
In February, Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira invited his counterparts in Ukraine and Russia, Dmytro Kuleba and Sergey Lavrov, to visit Brazil. Lavrov took him up on his offer, announcing he would arrive in Brasilia shortly after Lula’s return from China. During the press conference after their meeting, Lavrov said:
As for the process in Ukraine, we are grateful to our Brazilian friends for their excellent understanding of this situation’s genesis. We are grateful [to them] for striving to contribute to finding ways to settle it.
The meeting with the Russian diplomat appeared to be the last straw, as foreign correspondents and Brazil analysts who had held back all year began to criticize the Lula administration on Twitter.
That evening, Reuters and AP ran similar articles quoting the same US government official, which were immediately disseminated in partner news organizations around the world.
AP‘s “Brazil’s Welcome of Russian Minister Prompts US Blowback” (4/17/23) related an “unusually sharp rebuke from the White House,” with National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby “blasting” Brazil’s stance on the conflict. Without explaining where and with whom the conversation took place—there was no White House press briefing that day—the article includes the following quote from Kirby:
Brazil has substantively and rhetorically approached this issue by suggesting that the United States and Europe are somehow not interested in peace or that we share responsibility for the war. In this case, Brazil is parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without at all looking at the facts.
Reuters‘ article, headlined “Brazil’s Lula Draws Russian Praise, US Scorn for Ukraine Views” (4/17/23), repeated Kirby’s statement that Brazil was “parroting” Russian propaganda. It added that Kirby called Brazil’s position “simply misguided.”
Within minutes of Reuters‘ release, Brazil’s largest media company, Globo, released an article paraphrasing it on its online news site G1 (4/17/23), and other big Brazilian media companies followed suit.
The conglomerate’s O Globo, the nation’s highest-circulation newspaper, ran an editorial (4/17/23) criticizing Lula’s calls for peace and calling for Brazil to more closely align with the US and NATO in the Ukraine conflict. The newspaper, which only apologized for its support for Brazil’s far-right military dictatorship of 1964–85 in 2013, and actively supported the 2016 legislative coup against President Dilma Rousseff, ended its editorial with a threat:
Instead, out of almost 130 “neutrals” in the Ukrainian conflict, Brazil is the only one that got involved in creating a “peace club” and openly flirts with Russia. The danger of provoking the Americans and Europeans is evident: Lula risks taking a fall.
Meanwhile, in the US, many of the largest media companies, including the New York Times, did not pick up Reuters‘ and AP‘s story. There is an old expression in Brazil, dating back to the period of British economic colonialism (roughly from the 1830s to the 1930s), which goes, “This is news for the English to see,” which is used to refer to stories generated specifically for a foreign audience. The Reuters and AP articles, by contrast, look like news that was generated specifically for a Brazilian audience. By delivering a message from the White House to the Brazilian government, which made headlines in Brazil, while only appearing as a minor story, if reported at all, in US news outlets, AP and Reuters appeared to act as a tool for the US State Department to exercise soft power on Brazil.
As US economic power continues to wane south of its border, as a result of what many refer to as a new cold war against China, the US government and its allies in the media continue to try to assert imperial influence over Latin America. Add this to the cozy relationship between the Brazilian and US armed forces, which was strengthened after Bolsonaro’s 2020 visit to Southcom, and it shows the magnitude of the challenges facing the Lula administration as it attempts to regain the resource and foreign policy sovereignty lost after the US-supported 2016 coup.
North Sea summit: Bordering countries to pledge increase in wind energy, hand-wringing about Russia
Ukr Bakhmut Attacks Fail, Kiev Complains Dud Weapons Supplied; China Ambassador Backs Russia Crimea
Leaked Docs: Ukraine Planned Attacks on Russian Forces in Syria
Kiev’s military intelligence agency believed it could carry out attacks on Russian soldiers and Wagner Group forces in Syria, forcing Moscow to redeploy military assets from Ukraine. The story was reported by the Washington Post using documents released by Jack Teixeira.
The Ukrainian defense officials believed they could use Kurdish forces to wage a proxy war against Russia in Syria. According to the Post, the plan never materialized as President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered an end to the planning in December.
It appears that Ukrainian officials engaged in some discussions with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish militia backed by the US. The documents said the Kurdish officials requested training on drones and air defenses. Additionally, the Kurds said they would not attack Russian positions in areas held by the SDF, and requested their role in the operations be kept secret.
Russia Warns South Korea Against Arming Ukraine
Russia on Wednesday warned South Korea against sending weapons to Ukraine after Seoul opened the door to possible military aid to Kyiv in the event of a large-scale civilian attack. ...
But South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol told Reuters on Wednesday that “if there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians… it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support.”
The Kremlin said the start of arms supplies would mean indirect involvement in the Ukraine conflict. ...
“Unfortunately Seoul has taken a rather unfriendly stance,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. The remarks also drew a warning from Russia’s ex-leader Dmitry Medvedev. ... Medvedev said that Moscow could reciprocate and send weapons to North Korea.
Facebook CENSORING Info About Nordstream Pipeline Bombing
More interesting stuff in the thread:
There is a big debate over who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline. Instead of allowing the debate, Facebook has decided to take a side. It is censoring Pulitzer-winning journalist Seymour Hersh. And instead of explaining, Facebook sends readers to an article in Norwegian. Watch pic.twitter.com/nN18HovBPR
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) April 19, 2023
Fresh off The Guardian's propaganda catapult, use copious quantities of salt.
New Ukraine positions near Kherson could signal spring offensive – report
Ukraine’s military has set up positions on the eastern side of the Dnipro River near Kherson city, the Institute for the Study of War cites Russian military bloggers as saying. Infiltrating the area could be a first step towards trying to dislodge Russian forces from positions they are using to shell and shoot at Kherson. The constant attacks have made it impossible for residents to return to normal life months after Ukrainian troops liberated the city from occupation.
Ukrainian military forays across the river could also mark the first tentative steps towards launching a long-awaited spring offensive to reclaim more territory. “This is the first time ISW has observed reliable geolocated imagery of Ukrainian positions on the east bank along with multi-sourced Russian reports of an enduring Ukrainian presence there,” the thinktank said in an update.
The Russian military bloggers said Ukrainian forces had established stable supply lines to their positions and “regularly conduct sorties in the area”, the ISW said.
The reported positions were in marshy areas of islets and tributaries near the settlements of Oleshky and Dachi, the report said. Russia still holds those settlements.
Why Is The Government Targeting Black Socialists?
Baltic states condemn China envoy’s remarks over sovereignty of ex-Soviet nations
France, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have expressed dismay after China’s ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty not only of Ukraine, but all the former Soviet Republics including the Baltic states. Lu Shaye’s remarks in a TV interview late on Friday raise fresh questions about the faith the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has placed in China to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
Lu had been asked whether he considered the peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, part of Ukraine under international law. “Even these ex-Soviet Union countries do not have effective status, as we say, under international law because there’s no international accord to concretise their status as a sovereign country,” Lu said.
Lu’s comments appeared to brush aside the sovereignty of countries, including ironically Russia, that formally recognised each other after the Soviet Union’s dissolution and are represented at the United Nations and in European security organisations.
Asked if Crimea was part of Ukraine, he said the answer depended on one’s position, and it was not so simple. He added: “There is a history here where Crimea was originally part of Russia. It was Khrushchev who offered Crimea to Ukraine during the period of the Soviet Union”.
Peru: former president Alejandro Toledo arrives to face corruption charges
The former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo arrived in Lima on Sunday after his extradition from the United States, the latest in a string of ex-leaders to face corruption charges in the country. ... Toledo, president of Peru between 2001 and 2006, surrendered himself at a courthouse in San Jose, California, on Friday for extradition after a judge dismissed his last appeal.
The extradition has caused a stir in Peru, amid outrage and disappointment that yet another ex-president has fallen from grace. Toledo is accused of receiving millions of dollars in bribes from the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, the giant company at the centre of Latin America’s biggest corruption scandal.
He is one of four former Peruvian presidents sucked into the graft network. Former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who was forced resign over corruption allegations in 2018, is also being investigated for alleged money laundering. Alan Garcia, who followed Toledo as president between 2006 and 2011, killed himself when police came to arrest him at his home in 2019.
Toledo is accused of taking about $35m in bribes from Odebrecht to win a public works contracts to build a highway connecting Peru and Brazil. The Brazilian firm has admitted to paying $800m to officials throughout the region in exchange for lucrative public works contracts.
Toledo – widely credited as the leader who restored democracy to Peru after the decade-long regime of jailed former president Alberto Fujimori – will probably share the Barbadillo prison on a Lima police base with the 84-year-old ex-strongman, who was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years for corruption and human rights abuses.
What's Next in Legal Fight over Mifepristone? Supreme Court Protects Access to Abortion Pill for Now
Republican Graham loses cool over abortion after supreme court pill ruling
Republican frustration with the supreme court decision which on Friday blocked restrictions on a widely used abortion pill spilled into public on Sunday, as the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham lost his cool in a television interview when challenged on his flip-flopping position.
Graham, who last September proposed a national 15-week abortion ban only a month after insisting it was an issue for states to decide, became angry on CNN’s State of the Union, deflecting questions with false claims Democrats wanted a law allowing abortions until birth on demand.
The flustered senator accused his interviewer, Dana Bash, of covering for opponents he said wanted to see “barbaric” late-term abortions “out of line with the rest of the civilised world” and commonplace, he said, only in China and North Korea.
“No, no, no, you [in the] media keep covering for these guys,” Graham shouted. “They introduced legislation that allowed abortion on demand with taxpayer funds to the moment of birth, that’s the law they want to pass and nobody in your business will talk about it.”
Supreme court justices think selves exempt from rules, top Democrat says
Dick Durbin, the Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee leading a push for supreme court ethics reform, accused the top court of being a panel of “nine justices [who] believe they are exempt from the basic standards of disclosure”.
His claim came amid growing criticism of the conservative justice Clarence Thomas, whose judicial record is under scrutiny after he became embroiled in scandal over taking undeclared gifts from a Republican mega-donor.
The last US Congress considered a bill demanding the inclusion of the supreme court in existing judicial conference regulations but it did not clear the Senate and the chief justice, John Roberts, has been mostly silent on the issue.
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Durbin said he hoped Roberts would take advantage of an invitation to testify before the judiciary committee on 2 May, to explain how he intended to handle ethics reform.
“This is John Roberts’s court,” the Illinois Democrat said. “We are dealing with a situation where history will remember it as such. He is an articulate, well-schooled man when it comes to presenting his point of view. I’m sure he’ll do well before the committee.
Democrats Threaten Journalist Matt Taibbi With Prison Over Twitter Files! w/ Matt Taibbi
Congress squabble over debt ceiling as risk of default inches closer
Tax day came and went this week without lawmakers reaching an agreement on lifting the debt ceiling, the US government’s borrowing limit to cover all of its financial obligations. Experts have warned that failure to lift or suspend the debt ceiling could have catastrophic consequences for the US economy, which would be felt in every American household.
After months of stalled negotiations, the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, attempted to kickstart talks with the White House on Wednesday by outlining his proposal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for government spending cuts that would curtail implementation of Joe Biden’s landmark climate and healthcare legislation. But that proposal may not be able to pass the House, given Republicans’ narrow majority. Even if the bill does make it through the House, the proposal has already been rejected by Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader.
With the calendar inching closer to June, when a default could occur, the path forward on raising the debt ceiling remains deeply unclear.
McCarthy’s 320-page debt ceiling bill proposed lifting the government’s borrowing limit into 2024 in exchange for a number of rightwing policy concessions. If the bill were adopted, the federal government’s budget would be rolled back to fiscal year 2022 levels and limited to 1% annual growth for the next decade. McCarthy has also called for repealing portions of the Inflation Reduction Act, the signature bill Biden signed last year, and blocking the president’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt, which is currently tangled up in the courts.
70% Say NO As Biden Set To Announce 2024 Run
‘Four-time loser’ Trump may not be nominee for 2024, Republican insists
Donald Trump is a “four-time loser” who will not necessarily be the Republican presidential nominee despite dominating primary polling, the New Hampshire governor said on Sunday. “Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser in 2024,” Chris Sununu said. “We need candidates that can win.”
A Republican governor in a Democratic part of the country – and of a key early voting state – Sununu is seen as a potential candidate in the moderate lane, should such a lane still exist in a party dominated by Trump.
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Sununu was confronted by comments to the same network just two months ago, when he said Trump was “not going to be the nominee”.
“We’re just moving on as a party, as a country,” Sununu said in February. “He’s not going to be the nominee. That’s just not going to happen. Here’s the good news … Ready? … You’re dead wrong. He’s not going to be the nominee.”
RFK Jr. BLASTS War Machine Over Ukraine In Announcing Presidential Bid
‘Green colonialism’: Indigenous world leaders warn over west’s climate strategy
World Indigenous leaders meeting this week at an annual UN summit have warned that the west’s climate strategy risks the exploitation of Indigenous territories, resources and people. New and emerging threats about the transition to a greener economy, including mineral mining, were at the forefront of debate as hundreds of Indigenous chiefs, presidents, chairmen and delegates gathered at the 22nd United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. ...
The long-time advocacy group, Cultural Survival, in partnership with other organizations, highlighted how mining for minerals like nickel, lithium, cobalt and copper – the resources needed to support products like electric car batteries – are presenting conflicts in tribal communities in the United States and around the world.
As countries scramble to uphold pledges to keep global warming to 1.5°C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels by 2030, big business and government are latching onto environmentally driven projects such as mineral needs or wind power that are usurping the rights of Indigenous peoples – from the American south-west, the Arctic, to the Serengeti in Africa.
Brian Mason, chairman of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian reservation in Nevada said that the 70 or so lithium mining applications targeting Paiute lands have come without free, prior and informed consent – what is considered the cornerstone of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He described the lithium extraction efforts as being on a “fast track” to supply the Biden administration’s net-zero strategy to create a domestic supply of EVs . “It’s kinda just being rammed down our throats,” he said. “At the cost of Indigenous Peoples once again.”
‘Kill it, smash it’: spotted lanternflies due to return this spring with a vengeance
Experts are urging the US public to start keeping an eye out for the spotted lanternfly, an invasive species harmless, if irritating, to humans, but known to wreak havoc on plant life and agriculture.
Experts believe that spotted lanternflies entered the US in a shipping crate. Native to China, they were first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014 and have since spread to at least 14 states.
An adult is approximately an inch long, with black spots on its wings. Its hind legs have patches of red and black with a white band and its abdomen is yellow with black bands.
Spotted lanternflies do not fly long distances. Instead, they lay mud-like egg masses on tree bark, decks, play equipment, lawnmowers, grills, and bikes and other modes of transportation, the US Department of Agriculture said.
Lanternflies can lay egg masses with 30 to 50 eggs each and can severely affect the grape, orchard and logging industries, according to wildlife authorities.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
An all-time media blackout is in effect. We’re experiencing real-time Sovietization.
Matt Taibbi: House Democrats Have Lost Their Minds
Today In Empire: War Machine-Funded War Games, Facebook Censors Hersh
China & Russia Circle Wagons in Asia-Pacific
The Hypersonic Pentagon Budget
U.S. Cuts Itself Off From Future Chinese Profits
Debt and the Collapse of Antiquity – Michael Hudson
Quest for Religious War: How Israel Is Unifying Arabs and Muslims Around Palestine
Body of Spain’s fascist party founder to be removed from basilica
‘They’re destroying us’: Indigenous communities fear toxic leaks from Canada oil industry
DNC SHIELDS Biden, REFUSES to Hold Primary Debates, SILENCES RFK JR and Marianne Williamson
JUMP BALL: American's Don't Want Biden OR Trump
Tucker OUT At Fox News | Breaking Points
Tucker Carlson OUT At Fox News Effective Immediately: Rising
AOC Demands Tucker Carlson Be BANNED
Is Ray Epps a FED? He Tells 60 Minutes No
EU versus Europe w/ President Václav Klaus, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen
A Little Night Music
Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues - Blues Shock
Billy Branch & Jamiah Rogers - Red House
Billy Branch - My Babe
Billy Branch - My Baby Caught the Train
Billy Branch - Mellow Down Easy
Billy Branch / Lurrie Bell - The Train I Ride
Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues - Going Down Slow
Billy Branch - Sympathy for the Devil
Billy Branch feat. Lurrie Bell & The Sons Of Blues - Help Me
Comments
Tucker Carlson got the Phil Donahue treatment?
Phil was the only major media personality to come out against the 2nd Iraq war. And he was fired over it. What was notable lately about Carlson was that the clips I have seen he attacked gop leadership. Over Ukraine billions and billions of dollars at stake. I can imagine that very powerful factions talked to Fox management about major retaliation if Tucker was not stopped.
So the most watched cable news host gets axed
and they'll try to use any justification that
they can.
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 mr w...
i wouldn't be surprised if the antiwar thing figured into the reasons for carlson's firing, but my best guess is that it was a complex of reasons with struggles with management being the top reason. if i were the kind of person that bet on things, i would bet that he said something(s) that really irritated management behind the scenes which tipped them in favor of ousting him.
it would have to have been a pretty volatile situation, though, since carlson was their highest rated personality.
Could have been his response to the CNN Ray Epps interview
I’ve seen this bandied around today. Epps said that he wasn’t a ringer to get people to commit violence at the capitol or tried to get people to go into it or anything nefarious… Sure a major news site just had to let him clear his name. I believe that…not.
But what a day. NBC universal chief also booted because of an inappropriate relationship with an underling.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nbcuniversal-chief-ousted-over-inapp...
You gotta look at how she interviewed Putin..my gawd if it’s true that sex sells. You can just look at the pictures if you guys want.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Carlson's firing had absolutely nothing to do with
Fox losing a very expensive lawsuit about Carlson lying on his show. Thankfully we have AI that can lie about current events with ease, maybe toss in a ton of CT to make people feel at home, sprinkle with vaccines.
evening ban nock...
it wasn't solely carlson who propagated lies on his show - and according to what i've heard from the commentariat today, he was far from the worst of the liars, his sins were apparently minor compared to others.
i'm not saying that it had nothing to do with it, but i suspect that in the absence of other issues, it would not have caused his firing.
So republicans want to gut social programs ehh?
.
Why because they want to keep congress from spending money that it doesn’t have? Funny then how they find billions to send to Ukraine at the drop of a hat, but only 40% of the money leaves the US. The rest goes to defense companies and lobbyists and finds its way into congress’s pockets. Also funny how they can find billions to bail out the banks time after time, but then they cut millions of people from food stamps and Medicaid and can’t bring other programs back up to full funding!
How many trillions were injected into the banks since 2008 and have they stopped doing that?
Did they know what was going to happen?
Was this why Carlson stopped showing the 1/6 tapes?
I’d say it was shameful…for democrats because they obviously were very selective about only showing the videos that told the story that they wanted told, but instead we saw the shaman dude peacefully walking around the capitol with a police escort. Yeah Chuckles that was shameful alright.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
When the true left criticized AOC
during the #Force the Vote move by Jimmy Dore
she claimed it was violence also. AOC is nothing
but a puppet for the D's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7WDyWpyeKM
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
It has been obvious to many for quite some time.
Elected reps immediately become corrupted
...when they come in contact with the Federal government.
It cannot be reformed. It will not change.
The Federal government is too dirty and insane to continue. I don't believe in revolutions. They never end. The US is still embroiled in the Civil War. That's more than enough baggage.
Normally, I would lean toward dissolving the government and starting over with a new constitution — but the American People are incapable of large scale reality-based self-government. And the world doesn't need another psychopath-riddled superpower. I think it would benefit the entire world if the US broke up into a dozen or so independent regional nation/states. That way the People can experience how a real Democracy works, with direct participation and accountability.
I'm pretty sure something like that is on the menu, one way or another. People would be a lot happier.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
I couldn't agree more with you
your either with us or against us is how
tptb govern, the ROW is trying a different way
https://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=34269940
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 snoopy...
of course republicans want to gut social programs. the democrats mostly do, too. where the hell else are they going to find the money that their donors demand from them?
wow, it took democrats this bad for me to find something good about tucker carlson. that's pretty amazing.
Ths possibly sheds a bit of light on the situation in Sudan.
evening humphrey...
yep, the u.s. can't keep its armies out of other peoples business. victoria nuland wouldn't recognize democracy if it bit her on the ass.
Thanks for the blues and the news…..
It is getting harder to continue to read and listen to what the mainstream considers news and that all the information they are reporting is accurate and to be believed! How are we to make choices knowing that the powers that be may decide we are revolutionary and must be silenced.
Have a good evening.
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
evening jb...
good to see you! i hope that all is going well aside from the news.
it seems likely that the fascist movers and shakers in government are going to use their bs about disinformation/misinformation as far as they can to suppress dissent. it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.
but there's still the blues.
SMH! He even needs a "cheat sheet" for this spontaneous
conversation.
It’s just a ….
stutter.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
heh...
since it's campaign season, his handlers are probably more nervous than usual anytime the presidential gaffe machine gets near some teevee cameras.
Straight forward statement from Lavrov. Ouch!
Russia warns South Korea
I believe Yoon responded by saying that what happens depends on what Russia does in terms of targeting civilian areas, killing civilians and other acts that violate international standards. This statement is essentially a lie. Yoon has already committed hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to the war effort against Ukraine. The notion that this issue still isn't determined before the Yoon-Biden summit this week is a deception.
Leaked docs roil South Korean government ahead of Yoon visit
Is Seoul cracking under intense US pressure to provide ammunition to Ukraine?
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/04/24/leaked-docs-roil-south-kore...
The issue as posed by the author is misleading. The dispute among advisors is already over. One wonders if this 300 thousand plus shipment of artillery shells to Europe is part of the 500,000 shell deal allegedly made with the US as a "rental" agreement, or actually in addition to that number. That would make South Korea's artillery ammunition contribution to the war, whether direct or indirect, greater than that of the US.
Yoon's statements about Taiwan included the inaccurate statement that it was the use of "force" in attempts to alter the status quo in Taiwan that prompted him to side with the "international community" against China on the Taiwan issue. Obviously this gaffe didn't go over well in Beijing.
Yoon’s unbalanced diplomacy ignites fury in Beijing
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1089181....
According to the Taipei Times Yoon said:
I think the Chinese Foreign Minister was reacting to Yoon when he made this televised statement on China's core core interest in the territorial integrity of Taiwan and China.
There is a Catholic Priests for Justice Association in South Korea, that is becoming more visibly active in the movement for a sovereign South Korean foreign policy and has been highly critical of Yoon at organized Church functions. I listened to two different video presentations at mass by two different priests. I had seen a similar street mass political assembly last week organized by the Catholic organization. In one of the speeches today, a priest described Yoon as the boss of a dictatorship of prosecutors, whose officials and advisors around him in the administration were "henchmen and spies."
One of the priests described Yoon as an ideologue, incapable of considering the best interests of his own country in a pragmatic and common sense fashion. As an ideologue he sees everything in black and white. This in fact made Yoon incompetent to lead South Korea, and increased the risk of war by escalating threats and military activities particularly against North Korea, without any plan to find a way to peace. The way Yoon preemptively adopted pro-US and pro-Japanese goals without presentation to his own people, or consultation with the National Assembly made him appear more like the representative of the US or Japan, than South Korea. Both stated that his decision to join a trilateral alliance with Japan and leaving the issues of wartime reparations unaddressed by Japan, only aggravated deep historical grievances held by the public, adversely affected South Korea's economy and people's livelihood, and worsened South Korea's security situation.
I find that these views perfectly capture the national mood in South Korea today. What is so striking is the conservative venue, with the ceremonial trappings of formal religious worship, and the quiet convincing presentation these thoughtful priests delivered. They presented a great contrast to the frequent public rants and disputes of the acrimonious demagogue Jeon Gwang-hun, leader of the controversial right wing evangelical Christian Council of Korea.
Jeon perceives himself as something of a king-maker on the right. His church has done election work on behalf of conservative candidates, and he appears, currently, to be interfering in selection process for candidates in the PPP for next April's general election. Jeon's political demonstrations were regarded as unlawful during the covid epidemic but he was acquitted. Jeon's assemblies are characterized by the presence of US flags, sometimes along with Japanese flags, proverbial men in black suits, (who are they?) and far right Taeguki paramilitary groups. The pastor Jeon is an old cold war style red baiter, accusing anyone who disagrees with him of being a communist. The Catholic priests on the other hand emphasize the need for peace, and the public duty of government to find a way to live in harmony with North Korea and neighboring states. They advise not succumbing to outside pressures which present a very real risk of war.
Today, Yoo Seung-min who is a conservative who ran against Yoon in the PPP presidential primary and lost, broke with Yoon on his foreign policy today, and was particularly critical of his assumption of a personal authority to absolve and relieve Japan of its responsibility for war crimes without public approval.
Pundit and analyst Kim Jong-tae's criticism of Yoon's impetuous foreign policy moves leaves South Korea with potential enemies on all fronts. Of course, to the north, the perennial foe, North Korea; to the east Russia; to the south, Japan; and to the west, China. Is he out of his mind? There is nothing to be resolved at the summit with Joe Biden, except the economic issues, namely export restrictions on South Korean semi-conductors, and Korean high tech production facilities in China, and the lack of subsidies on Korea EVs exported to or manufactured in the US. Yoon has already conceded to all other US demands without gaining anything in return.
If you haven't seen it, Lookout posted a Break Through News video addressing the turmoil in South Korea:
Is South Korea a Pawn in the US Cold War Against China? (17 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBkFbOBqcI8&t=2s
JS thanks for the tunes and the great selection of news items and videos. I watched Aaron on JD live today, it was pretty funny. Can't wait for the shorter clips to be uploaded.
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
looks to me like yoon enjoys playing with fire. at a time when powerful potential adversaries russia and china are coalescing their programs he seems intent on drawing both of their ire. not to mention that he is pissing off his own people.
with any luck he will flame out before his country does due to his incompetence.
Sy Hersh has an interview with RT.
I couldn't figure how to embed the video but the link works.
https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/2023.04/6446756a85f5407fab327e6d.mp4
A brief excerpt that gave me a chuckle.
heh...
interesting interview, thanks!
"I'm not a candidate"
What bs.
Ron the legal adviser to Gitmo torturers meets with Japan's PM Kishida who denies Japanese WWII war crimes.
Japan to deploy PAC-3 defense system on two Okinawa Islands
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/04/24/national/japan-north-korea-...
PAC 3 Max alt 120,000 feet
SM-3 "ceiling" 1000 km approx
This Japan Times article above was not behind a paywall, which is unusual. Another article that said the "shootdown" order was dramatic but was unlikely to occur. That was behind a paywall. A siege like mentality has to be created in Japan to gather support for their proposed large military budget increases.
語必忠信 行必正直