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This evening's music features St. Louis blues guitarist and piano player Henry Townsend. Enjoy!

"Wise statesmen ... established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity should look up again at the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began."

-- Abraham Lincoln

News and Opinion

Excellent reporting from Lee Fang, worth a full read:

Billionaire Biden Donor Bankrolled 2020 Election Social Media Censorship Effort

The Department of Homeland Security’s controversial social media censorship effort during the 2020 election was propped up by a partisan billionaire.

Newly obtained documents, acquired through a public records request, confirm that Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of eBay, financed a specialized portal maintained by the Center for Internet Security (CIS). This portal was used to facilitate the swift removal of predominantly conservative messages on Twitter and Facebook during the previous presidential election.

Omidyar, previously identified as one of the largest donors to campaign groups supporting Joe Biden's presidential bid, donated $45 million to the "Sixteen Thirty Fund" in 2020. This dark money group mobilized Democratic voters and financed pro-Biden Super PACs. However, Omidyar's direct involvement in the DHS partnership, which is now facing increased scrutiny, remained undisclosed until now.

The funding provided by Omidyar to CIS was used to establish a Misinformation Reporting Portal (MiRP). A team from CIS continuously monitored this portal 24/7 from September 28 to November 6, 2020, as revealed in a post-election report, “Election Infrastructure Misinformation Reporting.” The Democracy Fund, Omidyar's foundation, supported the creation of the MiRP through a direct grant, according to the report.

The misinformation reporting portal served to rapidly identify and remove instances of alleged misinformation. CIS's report acknowledged that the flagged content ranged from “intentional misinformation to honest mistakes.” Of the content reported by CIS, 61% “resulted in positive action,” which the group defined as content takedowns or labeling.

This MiRP system was used by a coalition of liberal-leaning research groups and overseen by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), a sub-agency of the DHS that has led the government's push to censor social media. Despite government backing for the project, the effort was partisan – the Democratic National Committee was part of the consortium, but not the Republican National Committee, indicating a partisan bias.

Number of nuclear weapons held by major powers rising, says thinktank

The number of operational nuclear weapons in the arsenals of the major military powers is on the rise again according to a leading thinktank, whose analysts warn the world is “drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history”.

At a time of both deteriorating international relations and the escalation of nuclear sabre-rattling, there are now said to be an estimated 12,512 warheads globally, of which 9,576 are in military stockpiles ready for potential use, up 86 on a year ago.

The rise brings to an end the period of gradual decline that followed the end of the cold war. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) suggested 60 of the new warheads were held by China.

The other new weapons are attributed to Russia (12), Pakistan (five), North Korea (five) and India (four). ... France (290) and the UK (225) are the world’s next largest nuclear powers and British operational arsenal is expected to grow further following an announcement two years ago that it was raising its limit from 225 to 260 warheads.

Dan Smith, a director at Sipri, said: “We are drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history. It is imperative that the world’s governments find ways to cooperate in order to calm geopolitical tensions, slow arms races and deal with the worsening consequences of environmental breakdown and rising world hunger.”

Fighting stuck in gray zone. Neocon escalation, tactical nukes

What the Ukrainians are saying about their counteroffensive performance, served up by The Guardian's propaganda catapult:

Ukraine claims to have liberated three frontline villages in Donetsk

Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed to have liberated three frontline villages in western Donetsk, almost a week after the launch of counteroffensive operations.

Soldiers were shown in video footage raising he Ukrainian flag over the village of Blahodatne, south of the town of Velyka Novosilka, one of the main axes of the counteroffensive so far. Troops from another brigade filmed themselves with their unit’s banner in Neskuchne. Later on Sunday, the deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said a third village, Makarivka, had been taken. It is believed to have fallen on Sunday morning.

“In the areas where our troops are on the defensive, no position was lost,” Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.

They are the first settlements that the armed forces have officially confirmed as liberated since the start of the counteroffensive a week earlier. Another settlement further south along the same road, Urozhaine, was being fiercely contested, according to Russian military bloggers. ...

“In total, in one week of assault operations around Velyka Novosilka, Ukrainians managed to liberate around 95 sq km of the ground,” a Ukrainian military reporter blogging under the title of Reporting from Ukraine wrote. The advance south from Velyka Novosilka represents the most significant gains of the counteroffensive to date, but Ukrainian forces still have some way to go before they reach Russia’s main fortified defensive line.

White House Says Iran Is Helping Russia Build a Drone Factory

As part of a "deepening" military partnership between Iran and Russia amid the war in Ukraine, US intelligence officials believe Tehran is assisting Moscow in building a drone manufacturing plant that may be operational next year, the White House said on Friday. American officials claim hundreds of Iranian drones were transported to Russia via the Caspian Sea last month.

The drones are "shipped across the Caspian Sea, from Amirabad, Iran, to Makhachkala, Russia, and then used operationally by Russian forces against Ukraine," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. "As of May, Russia received hundreds of one-way attack [unmanned aerial vehicles], as well as UAV production-related equipment, from Iran," Kirby added.

The Islamic Republic insists that it has not provided drones to Russia since the Kremlin launched its invasion last year.

According to Kirby, the alleged drone factory will be built in the Alabuga special economic zone in the Russian republic of Tatarstan. The White House released a satellite photo that purports to show an industrial site, 600 miles east of Moscow in the Yelabuga region, where Russia will "probably" conduct the "domestic production of Iranian designed UAVs."

US and Britain agree “Atlantic Declaration,” pledging economic warfare against Russia and China

US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held talks at the White House Thursday, agreeing to an “Atlantic Declaration” to strengthen economic ties between the countries in areas related to military production. The meeting was the fourth in four months between Biden and Sunak, following meetings to discuss the AUKUS military alliance, the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland and at the G7 summit in Hiroshima.

Biden and Sunak discussed the situation in Ukraine following the beginning of the Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russia. Also discussed was the development of closer economic ties centred on the declaration that includes commitments to ease trade barriers, for closer defence industry ties and a data protection deal.

The declaration, “A framework for a twenty-first century US-UK Economic Partnership” makes clear that cooperation between the US and Britain is based on confronting Russia and China. It states, “We face new challenges to international stability from authoritarian states such as Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).” It continues: “Over the past year, we have taken steps to deepen our unrivalled defence, security, and intelligence relationship across every theatre in the globe in which we cooperate, recognizing the indivisibility of security in the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific and other regions.”

NATO’s war against Russia is declared to be pivotal to further cooperation. The declaration states: “We have stood shoulder to shoulder in our resolve to support Ukraine for as long as it takes in the face of Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression and to preserve a free, independent, and sovereign Ukraine. We are committed to continuing to strengthen NATO’s ability to deter further attempts to undermine Alliance security, in support of NATO’s new Strategic Concept.”

On Britain’s role in confronting China, in alliance with the US and Australia, the declaration states: “We have taken significant steps to implement AUKUS, including announcing our plans to support Australia acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. Through our deeper engagement in the Indo-Pacific we are working more closely than ever before with our partners to support a free and open region.”

AfD rises to match SPD in latest polls. Green collapse

US and China take steps towards thaw as Blinken prepares to visit Beijing, but mistrust remains

In the clearest sign yet that president Joe Biden’s predicted “thaw” in US-China relations may actually come to pass, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is expected to visit Beijing on 18 June. But after several months in which tensions between the two countries have only increased, both sides will need to overcome a mutual mistrust that has been allowed to build following a number of recent incidents. ...

Last week, two mid-level US officials met with Chinese counterparts in Beijing. Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant US secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Sarah Beran, the national security council senior director for China, travelled to Beijing to meet Ma Zhaoxu, the deputy foreign minister, and Yang Tao, the director of the North American and oceanian affairs department.

In May, William Burns, the director of the CIA, was reported to have travelled to Beijing for a series of secret meetings with intelligence officials, while the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna.

These attempts have all been part of an effort to rebuild relations since the spy ballon saga earlier this year led to Blinken’s original visit to Beijing, which had been scheduled for February, being cancelled. ...

Recent trust-building exercises also suffered a new blow after the Wall Street Journal reported last week that China and Cuba had reached a multibillion-dollar agreement for China to build an eavesdropping facility on the island. The US, China and Cuba all denied the reports. Many analysts noted that the timing of the report coincided with Blinken’s second attempt to visit Beijing, raising questions about whether it had been leaked to derail the trip.

George Soros hands control of multi-billion foundation to son

The financier George Soros, the billionaire investor and liberal donor, has handed control of his multi-billion-dollar foundation to his son, Alexander.

The 92-year-old, who memorably made $1bn betting against the British pound and “breaking the Bank of England” in a catastrophic financial event in 1992 that became known as Black Wednesday, had said previously that he did not want his Open Society Foundations (OSF) to be taken over by any of his five children.

However, Soros has now named his son Alexander as chairman of one of the wealthiest global philanthropic foundations. “He’s earned it,” said Soros, whose personal fortune is valued at $6.7bn.

The 37-year-old, who was quietly appointed in December, said he was “more political” than his father and that he planned to continue donating family money to left-leaning US political candidates, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. His father has been one of the biggest donors to Democratic candidates in US politics.

“We are going to double down on defending voting rights and personal freedom at home and supporting the cause of democracy abroad,” said Alexander. “As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it too.”

'Tax Scam': Republicans Follow Debt Ceiling Fight by Proposing Tax Cuts for Wealthy

After threatening to force the government into default over the debt ceiling, Republican lawmakers Friday introduced new tax cuts that could add at least $21 billion to the federal debt over the next decade.

Three new GOP-backed bills would cut taxes for large companies, small businesses, and individual families while reducing clean energy tax incentives to pay for it.

"It's Republican clockwork," the ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) said in a statement. "Not even a week after their manufactured default crisis and it is back to tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected."

"This stoops to a new low even for them: retroactive corporate tax cuts, next-to-nothing for the most vulnerable children and families, and sneaking in favors for Big Oil," he continued. "Make no mistake about it, they are laying the groundwork for even bigger cuts in 2025, and the only way they will ever achieve a balanced budget is by sticking seniors and working families with the bill."

The cuts come in the American Families and Jobs Act, introduced Friday by Ways and Means Committee leader Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Mo.). That act is comprised of three different bills.

The first, The Washington Post explained, would reinstate corporate tax breaks related to spending on interest, equipment, and research for a limited time.

It would also roll back some provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by limiting tax credits for electric vehicles, barring tax payers from using those credits for used vehicles, ending tax credits to incentivize clean energy production and investments, and repealing a tax on toxic chemical waste sites.

The elimination of the green energy tax credits are expected to pay for $216 billion of the tax cuts' $240 billion price tag over the next decade, POLITICO reported.

Neal pointed out the ironic timing of the proposed swap, noting that, "while Americans are sheltering inside to avoid the fallout of climate-spurred wildfires, Republicans think now is a good time to repeal the largest climate investment in our history to pay for their corporate handouts."

The second and third bills would increase deductions for families making less than $400,000 over the next two years and get rid of a requirement that taxpayers report Venmo or similar transactions over $600, a measure aimed at small businesses, The Washington Post explained.

"These policies will provide relief for working families, strengthen small businesses, grow jobs, and protect American innovation and competitiveness," Smith said in a statement. ...

Exactly how much Republican plans would add to the deficit is a matter of debate. The nonpartisan Join Committee on Taxation calculated a total of $21 billion over the next 10 years, The Washington Post reported.

However, the bills extend Trump tax breaks for businesses through 2025, but Republicans have said they would like to make them permanent. If they succeeded, it could cost the government a little under $500 billion, the Tax Policy Center said, and the dividend would largely go to high-earning Americans.

Wyden Calls McCarthy Social Security Commission 'A Glide Path to Reduce Benefits'

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden on Friday warned that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's commission tasked with reducing the nation's growing debt is a "prescription for trouble" that will likely result in the slashing of vital programs on which tens of millions of Americans rely—including Social Security.

McCarthy (R-Calif.) recently announced the launch of a fiscal commission that will find ways to reduce the national debt—on the heels of striking a deal with President Joe Biden to suspend the nation's borrowing limit until 2025.

While some other leading Republicans have embraced the idea of a commission, many Democrats are wary.

Wyden (D-Ore.), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, toldThe Associated Press that he views the plan as a way for Republicans to rack up "ideological trophies."

"Everything I've heard about it, it's a prescription for trouble," Wyden said, adding that Republicans are "looking at a glide path to reduce benefits."

Stupid Cop Posts Video Telling People To “Get The F*ck Out Of My Way”

Connecticut man paralyzed in police ride last year awarded $45m

A Connecticut man who was left partially paralyzed while in police custody last year has reached a $45m settlement with the city of New Haven. Last June, 36-year-old Randy Cox was arrested on charges of illegal handgun possession and was put into a police transport van without any seatbelts.

According to video footage released by Cox’s family, Cox was being transported to a detention center when the officer driving the van, Oscar Diaz, braked suddenly, causing Cox to slide across the bench and hit his head against the van’s wall.

Cox was left slumped at the back of the van for three minutes before Diaz stopped to check on him. “I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” said Cox. He was eventually taken to the detention center where police officers ordered him to get up from the floor.

When Cox said that he could not move, an officer replied: “You’re not even trying.” Video footage showed Cox repeatedly slipping out of a wheelchair that officers placed him in, as well as a police officer saying “He is perfectly fine” as Cox lay on the floor of a cell.

Following the incident, Cox filed a $100m federal civil lawsuit against the officers and the city of New Haven, alleging negligence, carelessness and excessive force against the officers involved. ...

The $45m settlement was reached on Friday evening and came two days after the city fired two police officers over their reckless treatment and lack of compassion towards Cox, the Associated Press reported.

Maddow’s STUNNING Admission: Biden DOJ Could BLACKMAIL Trump, Drop Charges If He Quits 2024 Race

‘I’ll never leave’: Trump vows to stay in 2024 presidential race even if convicted

Donald Trump has pledged to continue his 2024 presidential campaign even if he is convicted of a felony, saying he would campaign from prison if necessary.

“I’ll never leave,” the former US president told Politico in an interview carried out on his plane between two campaign events. He also dismissed the possibility of pardoning himself, telling the outlet: “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

US law does not bar Trump from running while under indictment, nor would it block him if he was convicted.

“These are thugs and degenerates who are after me,” he said, continuing his use of inflammatory language to describe his opponents and extensive legal troubles.

The defiant comments from Trump came two days after the US Department of Justice charged him with 37 criminal counts related to his mishandling of classified documents and obstructing the department’s investigation into the matter.

FBI Informant: Biden Took 5 Million Bribe As VP, GOP Says

EPA sued over pesticide-coated seeds’ ‘devastating impacts’ on US wildlife

Environmental groups are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency over pesticide-coated seeds they say have “devastating environmental impacts” and are spread largely without regulatory oversight. The suit alleges the neonicotinoid seeds are now spread on about 150m acres (61m hectares) of US farmland and up to 95% of the pesticide on the seed sheds, polluting nearby soil, water and air. The seeds are so dangerous to wildlife that just one can kill a bird, the groups note.

“They are highly toxic to pollinators, insects, birds, aquatic organisms that build the base of our food chain,” said Amy von Saun, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Because the seeds represent so much neonicotinoid use, this is where all the devastation is coming from.”

The CFS is a co-plaintiff in the suit with Pesticide Action Network North America. Neonicotinoids are a controversial class of chemicals used in insecticides widely spread on cropland to treat for pests, but which a growing body of science has found harms pollinators and other insects not targeted by the chemical. Neonicotinoids work by destroying an insect’s nerve synapse, causing uncontrollable shaking, paralysis and death.

While neonicotinoids can be sprayed on cropland, about 95% of it is distributed via seeds. The chemicals are water soluble and easily leach into soils and streams, and clouds of neonicotinoid-laced dust released during seed plantings have caused mass bee die-offs, the groups say.

'A Perfect Storm': Hundreds of Thousands of Fish Wash Up Dead on Texas Beach

Hundreds of thousands of fish washed up dead along Texas beaches over the weekend as a "perfect storm" of weather, water, and temperature conditions depleted the oxygen they needed to survive.

While die-offs like these are naturally occurring, the climate crisis can make them ever more likely.

"As we see increased water temperatures, certainly this could lead to more of these events occurring," Katie St. Clair, who manages the sea life facility at Texas A&M University at Galveston, told The New York Times Sunday, "especially in our shallow, near-shore or inshore environments."

Thousands of dead fish began washing up on local beaches in Texas' Brazoria County Friday, Quintana Beach County Park wrote on Facebook. The park wrote that the fish were mostly Gulf menhaden.

The carcasses continued to wash in on Saturday. Park supervisor Patty Brinkmeyer toldCNN that the dead fish numbered in the "hundreds of thousands" since Friday morning.

In her 17 years at the park, Brinkmeyer said this was "by far" the largest of the three die-offs she had observed.

Oil Lobby Pushed Pollution Loophole for Wildfire Smoke

Seventy-five million people nationwide have been under air quality alerts, as days of smoke-filled skies sent soot levels soaring more than 10 times beyond what federal regulators consider safe for breathing.

But in federal air quality data, it will be as if those days never happened. That’s because a Big Oil-backed exemption in federal environmental law allows states to discount pollution from “exceptional events” beyond their control, including wildfires. And while environmental regulators are considering cracking down on soot and particle pollution, industry groups are opposing those reforms, too.

Under current rules, states like New York, where residents have been urged to remain indoors, won’t have their “hazardous” air quality index levels count against their compliance with the federal Clean Air Act — so emissions sources in the state, for example, won’t be required to reduce other discharges to help offset the smoke pollution.

“Every air quality monitor from New York to D.C. is going to blow past the limit,” said Sanjay Narayan, a managing attorney with the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. But instead of localities counting that data towards the overall standards they’re required to maintain, he said, “They’ll say, ‘This is caused by wildfires, so we’ll continue to do what we normally do.’”

Environmental justice groups in cities like Phoenix, Chicago, and Detroit have previously accused states of exploiting the wildfire loophole to avoid cleaning up air that’s already dangerously dirty — often to the benefit of polluters that also helped push changes to the Clean Air Act beginning in the mid-2000s. Those changes allow states to skip reporting pollution from natural occurrences like dust storms, thereby reducing the likelihood of triggering enhanced cleanup measures that could impact industrial activities.

Also of Interest

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

Jonathan Swift’s Lilliputian Reasoning

"Let's Try This Again!" (MOA)

Kursk 2.0?

Russian neo-Nazi fighting Putin taught at far-right camp in UK

The EU Looks to “Jungle” Sacrifice Zones to Help It Out of Energy Crisis

The Shadow Docket review: how the US supreme court keeps sunlight out

Michael Hudson on the US Economy – Surprisingly Resilient or Potemkin Village?

‘A portion of paradise’: how the drought is bringing a lost US canyon back to life

Berlusconi, master populist who dominated Italian politics, dies at 86

Mark Zuckerberg ADMITS Feds Asked Facebook To Censor TRUE Covid Information

Fox News DESPERATE To Silence Tucker Carlson, Sends Cease-And-Desist Letter Over Twitter Show

A Little Night Music

Henry Townsend - Have No Fear

Henry Townsend - It's A Hard Road To Travel

Henry Townsend - Talkin Guitar Blues

Henry Townsend - The Train Is At The Station

Henry Townsend - Don't love that woman

Pinetop Sparks & Henry Townsend - Everyday I have the Blues

Henry Townsend - Tired of Being Mistreated

Henry Townsend - Rocks Have Been My Pillow

Henry Townsend - Walk All Night