The Evening Blues - 6-20-23
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features soul singer and songwriter William Bell. Enjoy!
William Bell - Marching Off To War
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations."
-- Aldous Huxley
News and Opinion
Chris Hedges: The Imminent Extradition of Julian Assange and the Death of Journalism
High Court Judge Jonathan Swift — who previously worked for a variety of British government agencies as a barrister and said his favorite clients are “security and intelligence agencies” — rejected two applications by Julian Assange’s lawyers to appeal his extradition last week. The extradition order was signed last June by Home Secretary Priti Patel. Julian’s legal team have filed a final application for appeal, the last option available in the British courts. If accepted, the case could proceed to a public hearing in front of two new High Court judges. If rejected, Julian could be immediately extradited to the United States where he will stand trial for 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act, charges that could see him receive a 175-year sentence, as early as this week.
The only chance to block an extradition, if the final appeal is rejected, as I expect it will be, would come from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, which created the ECtHR, along with their Commissioner for Human Rights, oppose Julian’s “detention, extradition and prosecution” because it represents “a dangerous precedent for journalists.” It is unclear if the British government would abide by the court’s decision — even though it is obligated to do so — if it ruled against extradition, or if the U.K. would extradite Julian before an appeal to the European court can be heard. Julian, once shipped to the U.S., would be put on trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia where most espionage cases have been won by the U.S. government.
No doubt the plane waiting to take Julian to the U.S. will be well stocked with blindfolds, sedatives, shackles, enemas, diapers and jumpsuits used to facilitate “extraordinary renditions” conducted by the CIA.
The extradition of Julian will be the next step in the slow-motion execution of the publisher and founder of WikiLeaks and one of the most important journalists of our generation. It will ensure that Julian spends the rest of his life in a U.S. prison. It will create legal precedents that will criminalize any investigation into the inner workings of power, even by citizens from another country. It will be a body blow to our anemic democracy, which is rapidly metamorphosing into corporate totalitarianism.
I am as stunned by this full frontal assault on journalism as I am by the lack of public outrage, especially by the media. The very belated call from The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País — all of whom published material provided by WikiLeaks — to drop the extradition charges is too little too late. All of the public protests I have attended in defense of Julian in the U.S. are sparsely attended. Our passivity makes us complicit in our own enslavement.
Assange’s Last Chance At Freedom
NATO Chief Says No Formal Invite for Ukraine to Join Alliance at Vilnius Summit
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that NATO will not offer a formal invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance at the upcoming summit in Vilnius that will be held from July 11-12. ...
Stoltenberg said the alliance was looking to bring Ukraine closer but did not specify what new commitments NATO might offer. “What we are discussing is how to move Ukraine closer to NATO, and the ongoing consultations. I’m not in a position to preempt the outcome of those consultations,” he said. ...
While most NATO members agree Ukraine can’t join the alliance while it’s fighting a war with Russia, they are expected to announce some sort of new support for Kyiv. Whatever steps NATO takes to commit long-term support for Ukraine will serve to prolong the war, as one of Russia’s main motives for invading was Kyiv’s alignment with the Western military alliance.
Ukr Offensive Slackens After Losses; Pause Rumours; Rus Advance Kupyansk; China Steamrolls Blinken
Got some extra salt? Here's the latest from the propaganda rag, The Guardian:
Kakhovka collapse: image emerges of apparently explosive-laden car at dam
A photograph of a car apparently laden with explosives parked at the top of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam shortly before it gave way is said to offer further evidence Russia was behind the incident.
The image, taken by a Ukrainian drone and given to Associated Press, was taken on 28 May. It appears to show a white car with its roof cut open, revealing large barrels inside, one of which appears to have a landmine attached to its lid. A cable runs from the barrel towards the side of the river held by Russian forces.
A Ukrainian special forces communications official told the Associated Press he believed the car was there to stop any Ukrainian advance on the dam and to amplify a planned explosion originating in the machine room. ...
The warring countries have traded accusations as to who was responsible for the environmental and human disaster. Ukrainian officials claimed to the Associated Press that Russian troops had set up a firing position in the dam shortly before the blast. ...
The image of the white car parked at the top of the dam is just the latest piece in the puzzle, with experts counselling that an authoritative assessment cannot be made until independent engineers are given access.
Putin CLAIMS SIGNED Ukraine Peace Plan Vetoed By NATO
Putin Shows Off Year-Old Ukraine Peace Treaty Biden Sabotaged!
NYT: Western Countries Have Sent Broken Weapons to Ukraine
The New York Times reported Monday that the US and its Western allies have shipped weapons to Ukraine that were broken and needed repair or were only useful for spare parts.
The report also said that Ukraine has not received weapons from contractors that it has paid for. As of the end of 2022, the Ukrainian government paid over $800 million for arms contracts that were completely or partly unfulfilled.
Sources told the Times that some of the unfulfilled weapons had been delivered or refunds were issued but said hundreds of millions of dollars were paid for weapons that never materialized. The report said the most valuable undelivered contracts were between the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and state-owned Ukrainian arms companies.
Ireland ‘playing with fire’ for opening debate on military neutrality, says president
Ireland’s president has rebuked the government for launching a debate about the country’s longstanding military neutrality and the possibility of joining Nato, saying ministers were “playing with fire”.
Michael D Higgins accused the government of a dangerous “drift” from a cornerstone of Irish foreign policy and said it risked “burying” Ireland in other people’s agendas.
The intervention, made in an interview with the Business Post newspaper on Sunday, puts a spotlight on a government-sponsored forum on international security, where Ireland’s neutrality will be debated. It also raises questions on the role of the president, who occupies a largely ceremonial post. ...
The justice minister, Helen McEntee, defended holding the forum. “The president himself knows what the boundaries are here, and he expressed his views. Many would agree with him, there are many who would disagree, and that’s why we need to have this forum,” she told the Newstalk radio network.
Ireland has joined UN peacekeeping missions but shunned military alliances and invested little in defence compared with other countries. Critics accuse it of saving money and claiming the moral high ground while sheltering beneath a Nato umbrella.
FBI GROOMERS Target Disabled 16-Year-Old, Entrap Him In ISIS Terrorism Scheme
Did Trump HANG HIMSELF In Fox News Interview?
Judge orders Trump lawyers not to disclose evidence in documents case
A Florida judge handed prosecutors in Donald Trump’s classified documents lawsuit a significant victory on Monday by ruling the former president cannot publicly disclose any of the evidence against him.
Trump, who was arraigned in Miami last week on a 37-count indictment over his improper storage and handling of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort, can also only view, but not retain, any of the evidence under the direct supervision of his lawyers, the order from the magistrate judge, Bruce Reinhart, stated.
The secrecy ruling in particular will thwart Trump, who has been a vocal critic of justice department prosecutors and special counsel Jack Smith on his Truth Social website, from attempting to publicize or spin any of the evidence to his advantage as he continues to insist the case against him is a politically motivated “witch-hunt”.
Hunter Biden Pleads GUILTY
BREAKING! TWO Clinton Officials Caught Lying To Congress About Russiagate!
EPA sued over reapproval of toxic herbicides using Agent Orange chemical
Public health groups are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency over the reapproval of two toxic herbicides made with an active ingredient in Agent Orange, a chemical weapon deployed by the US to destroy vegetation in the Vietnam war, and which caused huge health problems among soldiers and Vietnamese residents.
The federal suit alleges the EPA’s science shows the human health risks and harm to endangered species associated with widely spreading the chemical on US cropland, but the agency failed to properly calculate those risks during the reapproval process. The herbicide is also prone to damaging non-GMO crops or vegetation on neighboring fields.
The suit asks a federal judge to order the agency to rescind its approval and recalculate the environmental and health risks using proper methodology. “[The herbicides] are highly toxic and have devastating impacts on wildlife and rural communities that live near sprayed fields,” said Kristina Sinclair, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety. The non-profit brought the suit with Pesticide Action Network North America, and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas.
It comes after a federal court invalidated the herbicides’ previous approval in late 2020, but the EPA still “rushed” to reapprove the herbicides, the complaint alleges.
The chemical 2,4-D, is used in Enlist One and Enlist Duo, which are applied to fields with corn, soybeans and cotton genetically engineered to resist the herbicides. It is considered a likely carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and, among other human health effects, is linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, birth defects and respiratory problems.
‘Unheard of’ marine heatwave off UK and Irish coasts poses serious threat
An “unheard of” marine heatwave off the coasts of the UK and Ireland poses a serious threat to species, scientists have warned. Sea temperatures, particularly off the north-east coast of England and the west of Ireland, are several degrees above normal, smashing records for late spring and early summer. The North Sea and north Atlantic are experiencing higher temperatures, data shows. ...
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has categorised parts of the North Sea as being in a category four marine heatwave, which is considered “extreme”, with areas off the coast of England up to 5C above what is usual. ...
Daniela Schmidt, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Bristol, said: “The extreme and unprecedented temperatures show the power of the combination of human-induced warming and natural climate variability like El Niño.
“While marine heatwaves are found in warmer seas like the Mediterranean, such anomalous temperatures in this part of the north Atlantic are unheard of. They have been linked to less dust from the Sahara but also the North Atlantic climate variability, which will need further understanding to unravel.
“Heat, like on land, stresses marine organisms. In other parts of the world, we have seen several mass mortalities of marine plants and animals caused by ocean heatwave which have caused hundreds of millions of pounds of losses, in fisheries income, carbon storage, cultural values and habitat loss. As long as we are not dramatically cutting emissions, these heatwaves will continue to destroy our ecosystems. But as this is happening below the surface of the ocean, it will go unnoticed.”
US Judge Orders Stretch of Enbridge Line 5 Shut Down on Tribal Land
The Canadian oil company Enbridge has been ordered to pay the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa $5 million in damages for trespassing and to gradually shut down part of its Line 5 pipeline in Wisconsin after a federal judge found that the company has placed the tribe's sacred land at risk of an environmental disaster.
U.S. District Judge William Conley of the Western District of Wisconsin handed down the ruling on Friday after the Bad River Band argued in court that there are now fewer than 15 feet between parts of Line 5 and the Bad River following the partial erosion of the riverbank in recent months.
The tribe said its land is in imminent danger of a potential pipeline rupture as roughly 12 miles of Line 5 run through the Bad River Band's reservation, carrying up to 23 million gallons of oil and liquefied natural gas each day through Michigan and Wisconsin to Ontario.
Line 5 has been the site of about 30 oil spills in its 70-year history, and another of Enbridge's pipelines ruptured in 2010, spilling more than 840,000 gallons of oil into a creek and the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.
In addition to ordering Enbridge to pay the tribe, Conley on Friday gave the company three years to wind down its operations on the Bad River Band's land, ordering it to "cease operation of Line 5 on any parcel within the band's tribal territory on which defendants lack a valid right of way and to arrange reasonable remediation at those sites."
The judge denied, however, that the pipeline's presence has put the tribe in imminent danger. He said an oil spill "would unquestionably be a public nuisance" but claimed an immediate shutdown of a portion of the pipeline would disrupt energy security and cause fuel costs to soar for locals.
Bad River Band Chairman Mike Wiggins said the tribe does not see the ruling as "cause for unqualified celebration" but expressed appreciation for the judge "putting an end to Enbridge's flagrant trespass and disregard for our rights."
"Tribal sovereignty prevailed over corporate profits," Wiggins said, adding that the tribe expects Enbridge "to fight this order with all of their corporate might."
"We are under no illusion that Enbridge will do the right thing," he added.
Enbridge said over the weekend that it plans to appeal the ruling.
Erick Arnold, an attorney for the Bad River Band, said the three-year timeline leaves the tribe "vulnerable to catastrophe."
"While the band's motivations have never been about money," said Arnold, "such a small award for a decadelong trespass during which Enbridge earned over a billion dollars in net profits from Line 5 will not sufficiently deter trespassers like Enbridge, but will instead create an incentive for corporations to violate the sovereignty of the band."
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Declassified files expose British role in NATO’s Gladio terror armies
Belarusian Coup Plotters Train in Poland
Our Systems Reward Dysfunction And Destruction: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Emergence of a New Non-Alignment
The FBI Groomed a 16-Year-Old With “Brain Development Issues” to Become a Terrorist
Dutch study reveals extent of wealth made via slavery from three past rulers
Canada’s fires are getting fiercer – and rebuilding is becoming a challenge
Democrats Are FREAKING OUT About Biden Losing Already!
Mehdi Hasan's TONE-DEAF Attack On RFK Jr Flies In The Face Of Free Speech Principles
A Little Night Music
William Bell - Born Under a Bad Sign
William Bell - You Don't Miss Your Water
William Bell - Everyday will be like a holiday
William Bell - Everybody Loves a Winner
William Bell - Monkeying Around
William Bell - What Did I Do Wrong
William Bell - My Kind of Girl
William Bell - One Day Closer To Home
William Bell: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Comments
Well here goes, Putin has a video of what happened
to ordinary citizens in both Poland and Ukraine by the Banderites. Those
Banderites of today, with both amerikkan and western values, are who we
are supporting in Kiev.
It makes me want to puke!
EDIT: The video has some disturbing scenes.
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2023/06/debt-rattle-june-20-2023/
Thanks for todays version of what is rotten in amerikkka, Joe.
And of course the Blues!!
EDIT: Adding more western values
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
"The perverted sadism and cruelty of the Banderites"
Good lord perverted sadism and cruelty indeed. Now the offsprings of the people who supported Bandera are taking down statues of Russians that helped liberate Ukraine and putting up statues of Bandera. I think that happened in Poland too. And today kids are being taught to learn the ways of the Nazis and the world turns a blind eye to it.
If you think that Israel would have a problem supporting the Ukraine Nazis…
Ukrainian Nazi gets medical treatment from Israel
I posted this before, but in case you missed it it’s worth a read. So I guess it’s not just Russian propaganda that there are Nazis in Ukraine after all.
Israel helps Ukraine whitewash its Nazis
Surprise!
When Israel recruited Nazi war criminals
Unfortunately the rest is behind a paywall, but he links to his other work on this.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Yep, one would think that Nazi's would be last on the
It saddens me to no end how this is going down, but Nutinyahoo
hates the others, so they do have something powerful too them in
common. Hatred hatred and more hatred of all others.
I guess that being a Zionist isn't all that different than being
a Nazi.
And with all this shit going down I'm seriously rethinking my indoctrination
of our parents being the "Greatest Generation". The collective west not
only supported Nazi's but are still fighting Soviets/Russians like they're
the evil one's rather, than facing the mirror themselves.
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 ggersh...
i looked at the follow on comment thread for that tweet and some of the responses are almost as sickening as the events documented in the video. i can't imagine who would want to be an apologist for fascists, but apparently there are a lot of them out there. yeesh!
Hmm..did some of the weapons sent to Ukraine end up in
.
Palestine?
Thread and the thread reader that’s easier on my eyes.
Quite a few of the equipment that Israel uses was blown up by IED's. I mean completely blown up.
Did some of the SAMs get sold on the black market? I’m betting that there is a good chance that they did.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
The summer is getting hot, very hot
It's rained only twice here since the beginning of May, the
lawns are pretty much kaput, the potatoes are in trouble but
most of the veggies are ok but with mucho watering.
A dust bowl could be around the corner. I've heard the Wheat
crop is all but done for, Corn is most likely having a hard
time and will farmers be able to grow soybeans in dry soil??
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...
i can see this escalating into another "mow the grass" scenario in short order.
Question: Who owns the ground water?
My parents bought our house and garden in 1954. It had a well at the most eastern part of the garden, from which we could manually pump groundwater, later my mother put in an electrical pump to get the water out of the ground. She also build a network of pipes under the lawn, leading the water from the well from east to west. She used the groundwater from the well to water plants and fill a swimming pool til my father was so old that she feared he would fall into the swimming pool. So she filled up the pool with sand and closed it for good. But the water still can flow the water to an outside shower in the most western part of the garden. My mother loved to shower outside a lot.
Now 65 years later the will of my mother revealed that I inherited the most western part of the garden, my sister had no idea there was a will and believed the whole garden belonged to her, as I was living for 35 years in the US it didn't matter anyhow (neither to me nor my sister).
But now I am back in Germany and some super duper judge felt it was necessary to divide the garden area into two properties, the eastern part for my sister, the western part for me. So we got an invisible border going north to south to divide the property into my part and into my sisters part. But the damn ground water runs through the pipes from east to west and not from the north to the south.
And I insisted that I own as much of the groundwater that is pumped up and leads into my part of the garden than my sister owned the groundwater that is pumped up and leads into her part of the garden.
For some reason the government official insisted that the groundwater leading to my part of the garden doesn't belong to me and they tried to destroy the well's inside pipes to make the well unusable. They did apparently not understand, that what they destroyed would not stop the well to pump and lead the groundwater through the underground pipes my mother built and which end in my part of the garden.
Now, do I own the rain drops that fall on my part of the garden and can I steal a couple of drops from my sister's rain drops?
Who is the nuttiest of nuts in this tragedy of errors?
The next drought will come along. If any government official wants some water from me and my sisters, they won't get it from us.
https://www.euronews.com/live
evening mimi...
wow, things really get screwed up when either the legal system or families get involved.
sounds like a mess. can you afford to dig your own well?
mimi, if your country observes
Get a lawyer, chica.
edit: to clarify, if, in common law, I grant you land, you get surface and subterranean. (Soil and whatever is underneath, unless I reserve water, oil, or other minerals for myself.) If the land division was judicial, the judicial order or decree should have addressed that. If not, my second time to urge you to get a lawyer.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
my sister can't grant me anything, as she is considered
demented and has no power to enforce her own will. She gets taken care of by the government's system of caretakers.
Wow, I regret that my son thought I would be better off in Germany than in the US. Whatever. I will emigrate to an African country and collapse in my rollator.
https://www.euronews.com/live
I wonder if there is any way to stop this
.
WATCH:
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
heh...
what might wind up saving some part of the world from this is that globalist plans to control economies are going out of favor in parts of eurasia and the global south.
the wef people will undoubtedly force western governments into some sort of scheme like this meaning we are at risk, though.
This whole scheme of the IMF and WEF
I agree with joe. The whole house of cards is very close to collapsing. It's all based on the monopoly money idea, not on the real value of "stuff". Honest people have to support the dishonest activity of dishonest entities. They have to believe that a "debt" must be repaid because we always pay our debts.
At some point and not long in the future the people will say f' that. Here's the keys to the thing that you said is worth umpteen billions of bucks. Eg, like epstein's island or that fired guy's fake coin.
Long ago when dealing with some folks who did that canard that something is worth what you can get for it I realized that in so many cases if I'm not there to keep that thing working, it ain't worth crap. The dishonest guy can wave that pink slip all day long but all it'll do is generate a breeze.
Amarynth posted an excellent piece on the Argentina debt on the global south site:
There's some serious changes coming down the pike.
Ukraine tries to prove that Budanov is still alive
twitter responds!
evening humphrey...
perhaps we all need budanov action figures so that he can show up everywhere.
People were pointing out how weird his neck looks
I saw a close up of the picture and it sure looks like it’s a poor photoshop job. Either that or it’s a weird tan from wearing turtlenecks and a helmet… but then there are rumors that he died in a hospital in Germany. Zuliny is also being photographed giving battle plans.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
They sure are trying hard to prove that he is alive.
Well look at that
No big tan under his chin like in the other picture of him. I remember when I was skinny the area under my chin was white as a baby’s rump because the chin blocked the sun.
And I wonder if that guy knows when the video was made? Hey remember that general that was said to have been killed in Mariupol and then he showed up giving a speech? Yeah he hasn’t been seen since then and rumors are that he is still dead.
There have got to be lots of Americans that were killed in Ukraine and I’m wondering how they are explaining their deaths? A NYT article said that Ukraine cemeteries are running out of room for the new deaths so they are digging up unknown troops from WW1 to make room for them. Don’t know if they are tandem graves or not. But good grief the photos of recent deaths in Ukraine cemeteries are beyond sad. How long until people start speaking out about how many are dying? The pentagon spokesperson said that yes Ukraine is facing serious difficulties, but she has faith that the longer they fight the better chance they have of defeating Russia. Just no regard for the number of casualties. Maybe Nuland should take a victory lap?
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Also watch it with the sound off
It just seems like he moves his head weirdly and blinks even worse. I think it’s computer generated, but I could be wrong….
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Good evening Joe, thanks for the evening blues.
TPTB keep chugging along, but it seems as if they're starting to slow down a little. Let's hope so
be well and have a good one
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 --
evening el...
with any luck, tptb will have gotten stuck in the mud.
have a good one!
The war will continue as long as there are some Ukies left.
heh...
i guess the ukronazis will have to create some more graveyards where they can show off their work.
I think that he is pissed off! I don't blame him one bit.
Wow.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
LOL! Biden seeks to follow up on Blinken's trip to China.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4059698-biden-calls-chinese-...
So much for the thaw in relations.
No reverse gear
The elites running our show have only one operating method. Just one. And they have only one operating mode. They never stop, they just keep looking for an ally (traitor) in the society they are trying to subjugate. (ref: check out the Capital Investment groups in local gov'ts) In so many cases they even go so far as to install one of their own trained minions. During the process they wave around our monopoly money (hmm, would this be a good time to bring up that Samantha Power person who is one of the best at it? Nah...)
And time means nothing to them. They have an unlimited (would this be a good time to bring up the debt ceiling BS? The one where within days another gabizillion bucks were printed? Nah...) schedule because they have no boss overseeing them, no accountability.
When they infiltrate honest societies they operate like the evil (yep, they are evil -- I'll try to remember to stick in an essay from Ian Welsh or maybe Caitlyn's recent ones) nephew who falls on hard times and asks if he can crash in your basement until he's back on his feet. The next thing you know he's having parties with his crew and they all are living in the basement.
Tho it is almost impossible to learn anything when the Wurlitzer is blaring in our ears, I don't think it's going to work with China. From a globalsouth.co observation:
Unfortunately Peru will not be so lucky.... I understand we're polishing up a few new bases as we improve their democracy and security.