The Evening Blues - 7-10-23
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features r&b singer LaVern Baker. Enjoy!
Lavern Baker - Love Me Right In The Morning
“Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.”
-- Theodore Roosevelt
News and Opinion
John Bolton Accidentally Explains Why US Policy On Russia And China Is Wrong
Professional psychopath John Bolton has an article out with The Hill titled “America can’t permit Chinese military expansion in Cuba” which inadvertently spells out exactly what’s wrong with the way the US empire keeps amassing heavily armed proxy forces on the borders of its large Asiatic enemies.
Citing a Wall Street Journal report from last month in which anonymous US officials claim that Havana has entered negotiations with Beijing for a possible future joint military training facility in Cuba, Bolton argues that the US must use any amount of aggression necessary to prevent this facility’s construction, up to and including regime change interventionism.
“The potential of significant Chinese facilities in Cuba is a red-flag threat to America,” Bolton writes, arguing that such activities “could well camouflage offensive weapons, delivery systems or other threatening capabilities.”
“For example, hypersonic cruise missiles, already harder to detect, track, and destroy than ballistic missiles, are natural candidates for installation in Cuba, a prospect we cannot tolerate, along with many other risks, like a Chinese submarine base,” he adds.
All of which are arguments that could be made pretty much note-for-note by Russia and China about the ways the US has been threatening their security interests with war machinery in their immediate surroundings.
Do sovereign countries have the right to host foreign militaries on their soil without their neighbors complaining, or do they not?
Bolton, always a maniac, suggests this is worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis. Imagine how aroused he got when writing this: https://t.co/gfDVCSlZE8
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 6, 2023
Arguing that the US is “bound by no commitment limiting our use of force,” Bolton advocates “Revoking diplomatic relations with Cuba; increased economic sanctions against both China and Cuba; and far stricter implementation of existing sanctions” as an immediate response to this reported development, advocating regime change interventionism as an ultimate solution to Cuba’s disobedient behavior.
“Had Presidents Eisenhower or Kennedy acted more forcefully and effectively against Castro, we might have avoided many perilous Cold War crises, sparing us decades of strategic concern, not to mention the repression of Cuba’s people,” Bolton writes, adding, “With Beijing’s threat rising, we should not miss today’s moment without seriously reconsidering how to return this geographically critical island to its own people’s friendlier hands.”
Bolton notes that Guantanamo Bay “remains fully available to us today” for any operations the US should choose to avail itself of to topple Havana.
This would be the same John Bolton who in 2002 falsely accused Cuba of having a biological weapons program in a bid to sweep the island up in the same post-9/11 war push he was helping the US construct against Iraq with extreme aggression.
Any time there’s the faintest whisper of a foreign power setting up a military presence in Washington’s neck of the woods, hawks immediately begin pounding the drums of war and exposing the hypocrisy of the US empire’s insistence on its right to form military alliances and amass proxy forces on the doorstep of its geopolitical rivals. Empire apologists always dismiss Russia and China’s claims that US military encroachments on their surroundings are an unacceptable security risk and say that no nation has a right to a “sphere of influence” which its enemies are forbidden to enter, yet we can plainly see that the US reserves a right to its own sphere of influence from its own doctrines and behaviors.
Earlier this year Senator Josh Hawley ominously asked an audience, “Imagine a world where Chinese warships patrol Hawaiian waters, and Chinese submarines stalk the California coastline. A world where the People’s Liberation Army has military bases in Central and South America. A world where Chinese forces operate freely in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.” Which is exactly what the US military has been doing to China.
The single dumbest thing the US-centralized empire asks us to believe is that the military encirclement of its top two geopolitical rivals is a defensive action, rather than an act of extreme aggression. The idea that the US militarily encircling Russia and China is an act of defense rather than aggression is so in-your-face transparently idiotic that anyone who thinks critically enough about it will immediately dismiss it for the foam-brained nonsense that it is, yet because of propaganda that is the mainstream narrative in the western world, and millions of people accept it as true.
US presidential candidate Marianne Williamson when asked about reports of China helping train Cuban troops:
"Do you know how many military bases we have surrounding China? 313. Americans need to wake up."
I actually didn't know it was SO many. Insane...https://t.co/OLt6v34Q4K
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 4, 2023
The point of highlighting hypocrisy is not that being a hypocrite is some special crime in and of itself, it’s to show that the hypocrite is lying about their motives and behavior, and to dismantle their arguments defending their positions. If the US would interpret a Chinese military presence in Cuba as an incendiary provocation, then logically the far greater military presence the US has amassed on the borders of Russia and China is a vastly greater provocation by that same reasoning, and the US knows it. There exists no argument to the contrary that doesn’t rely on baseless “well it’s different when we do it” assertions.
Demanding that Russia and China tolerate behavior from the US that the US would never tolerate from Russia or China is just demanding that the world subjugate itself to the US empire. Those who argue that Russia should have tolerated Ukraine being made into a NATO asset or that China should just accept US military encirclement because something something freedom and democracy are really just saying the US should be allowed to rule every inch of this planet completely uncontested.
If what you really want is for the US to dominate every inch of this planet completely uncontested, don’t try and tell me that your actual concern is for the people of Ukraine or Taiwan or anywhere else. Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. Just be honest about what you are and where you stand.
“Madness of Militarism”: Biden OKs Cluster Bombs for Ukraine Despite Risk of Civilian Casualties
Cluster bombs to Ukraine will damage US moral leadership, Democrat says
The decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine risks costing the US its “moral leadership” in world affairs, the influential California Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee said. “We know what takes place in terms of cluster bombs being very dangerous to civilians,” Lee said. “They don’t always immediately explode. Children can step on them. That’s a line we should not cross.” ...
Lee was asked if the US was at risk in “engaging in war crimes”.
“What I think is that we would risk losing our moral leadership,” she said. “Because when you look at the fact that over 120 countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, saying they should never be used, they should never be used.
“And in fact, many of us have urged the administration to sign on to this convention. And so I’m hoping that the administration would reconsider this because these are very dangerous bombs … and this is a line that I don’t believe we should cross.”
Sending cluster bombs to Ukraine, Washington makes clear it will stop at nothing
On Friday, the Biden administration said it would send cluster munitions—weapons that scatter unexploded bomblets across a wide area, killing and maiming civilians for decades—to Ukraine. Facing the failure of Kiev’s military offensive, the United States is desperately seeking to use the provision of ever more destructive and indiscriminate weapons to reverse its setbacks on the battlefield. Critically, the announcement precedes next week’s NATO summit in Vilnius, at which the United States and NATO are planning to massively expand their involvement in the war. Driven into a corner by its miscalculations, the Biden administration is compelled to take ever more drastic measures.
The aim of the decision to use cluster bombs—regardless of its long-term impact on civilians—is to kill as many Russian soldiers as possible. The reasoning that led in the past to the use of Agent Orange and Napalm—and which will be used to sanction the use of tactical nuclear weapons—is presently at work.
The US, on the eve of Vilnius, is clearly sending a message to Russian president Vladimir Putin. NATO will stop at nothing. In a briefing Friday announcing the move, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan justified the decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine as a means of staving off military disaster. “There is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine does not have enough artillery,” he said. ... “We recognize the cluster munitions creating risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” Sullivan said. “But we had to balance that against the risk” that Ukraine might “not have sufficient artillery ammunition.”
In other words, the Biden administration weighed the cost of killing and maiming generations of Ukrainian civilians against the benefits of killing more Russian troops. It decided that the deaths of Ukrainian children from unexploded ordnance was a sacrifice America’s oligarchy was willing to make. Managing to outdo himself in total callousness, Sullivan added that Ukraine would have to be “de-mined regardless.”
Every line employed by the White House to justify sending these weapons of terror to Ukraine could be used to justify the deployment, or even use, of tactical nuclear weapons in the conflict. Yes, the White House would argue, nuclear fallout poses a risk to civilians, but this risk must be “balanced” against the risk of Russian military advances.
Zaluzhny Tells Zelensky Offensive Unsustainable, Should be Stopped; Wagner Swear Loyalty, Rejoin War
Ukraine pessimistic about joining Nato ahead of Vilnius summit
Ukraine is increasingly pessimistic about taking a significant step forward in joining Nato as leaders of the western military alliance are set to assemble on Tuesday in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Kyiv is expected to be offered a package of last-minute “enabling security guarantees” at the two day summit – an assurance from countries such as the US, UK, France and Germany that military aid and training will continue in the long term.
The US and Germany, in particular, appear unwilling to support Ukraine joining the 31-country alliance while the conflict with Russia is ongoing, leaving those close to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, not hopeful of obtaining a concrete pathway to membership. ...
The US president, Joe Biden, on Sunday told CNN that Ukraine was “not yet ready” for Nato membership. “Nato is a process that takes some time to meet all the qualifications – from democratisation to a whole range of other issues,” he said, adding that Nato needed to “lay out a rational path” for membership.
He suggested the US could provide military aid similar to the support it has long provided to Israel.
Kyiv believes Nato membership, carrying with it the defensive prospect of the western nuclear umbrella, is the only realistic long-term guarantee of its security since it is still likely to face a hostile Russia even if it can somehow force Moscow to sue for peace.
Erdogan links Sweden's NATO bid with Turkey's EU membership
REVEALED: Up To ONE HUNDRED CIA Inside Ukraine
Ukraine Spy Chief Says Threat to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Subsiding
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said Thursday that the threat to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is subsiding. ...
Budanov said the alleged Russia threat was “decreasing” but wouldn’t offer any details. “Sorry I can’t tell you what happened recently but the fact is that the threat is decreasing”, he said. “This means that at least we have all together with joint efforts somehow postponed a technogenic catastrophe.”
Hungary threatens to retaliate over Ukraine's sanctioning of OTP Bank
Hungarian Foreign Minister and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto stated that Budapest will block EU money for military supplies to Ukraine until Kiev removes OTP Bank from the blacklist.
Because of the bank's huge presence in Russia, Ukraine's National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP) placed Hungary's largest commercial lender, OTP, on its list of "international sponsors of war" in May. ...
"It will be better if they [the EU] do not come up with any proposals to finance further arms deliveries," Szijjarto asserted.
Kiev's sanctioning of Hungary's biggest commercial bank was described by Hungary as "outrageous, unacceptable, and scandalous."
French policing called into question again after brutal arrest at peaceful march
A brutal arrest during a peaceful march against police violence has again put French law and order under the spotlight, as the government, fearing further unrest, banned fireworks outside authorised displays during the Bastille Day holiday weekend. Amid continuing tensions after rioting sparked by last month’s fatal shooting of a teenager, police faced further accusations of brutality on Sunday when video emerged of the arrest of the brother of a black man who died in custody seven years ago.
Youssouf Traoré, 29, was forcefully tackled to the ground and held face-down by officers from a controversial rapid reaction force, BRAV-M, at an unauthorised march on Saturday in memory of his brother Adama, who died aged 24 in 2016. The arrest at the march, which brought an estimated 2,000 protesters together in central Paris, and other images of demonstrators being violently pushed by officers were filmed by several witnesses and spread rapidly on social media.
Led by his sister, Assa Traoré, the family allege that Adama – who has been called “the French George Floyd” – was pinned to the ground by police and died of asphyxiation. No charges have been brought in the case.
Paris police forbade the annual march – which had been banned from its original route outside the capital – saying it was “likely to attract radical elements seeking to commit acts of violence” and that authorities had not had enough time to prepare. But Assa called for a peaceful gathering at Paris’s Place de la République, telling the crowd: “France cannot give moral lessons; its police is racist, its police is violent.”
Youssouf’s lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, told Le Monde his client had suffered injuries to his skull, eye, nose, stomach and back and had been hospitalised. The officers had used “disproportionate and illegitimate” force and he had filed a formal complaint, he said.
Most US House Incumbents Filed Financial Disclosure Extensions Amid Push for Stock Trading Ban
The government watchdog Accountable.US reported Friday that a majority of incumbent members in the U.S. House of Representatives filed extensions this year for their 2022 financial disclosures, a revelation that comes as congressional Democrats are leading multiple bills that would ban lawmakers and their relatives from stock trading and other self-dealing.
According to the Accountable.US analysis, 257 House incumbents—or nearly 60% of all lower chamber lawmakers—filed for financial disclosure extensions for last year. Of those 257 lawmakers, 140 were Republicans. Nine out of 10 House members filing for extensions sought the maximum 90-day postponement.
"It's a giant red flag when so many representatives are beating out the S&P 500 despite the most tumultuous market in years, raising questions whether some are taking advantage of their privileged positions," Liz Zelnick, who directs the economic security and corporate power program at Accountable.US, said in a statement.
The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Stop Trading Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 require annual financial disclosures by members of Congress in order to identify and take action when government officials use their positions of influence for personal gain.
However, critics have long called existing legislation "toothless," while calling for more stringent safeguards against self-dealing by members of Congress.
"The status quo has allowed many in Congress to trade in secret by kicking the can on public disclosure, which only invites corruption and conflicts of interest," Zelnick argued. "The less means and opportunity Congress has to use their influence to game the stock market for personal and family gain, the less it will happen."
Judge rejects reparations for Tulsa race massacre in ‘sad miscarriage of justice’
An Oklahoma judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, dashing an effort to obtain some measure of legal justice for elderly survivors.
The judge, Caroline Wall, on Friday dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit which attempted to force the city and others to make recompense for the destruction of Greenwood, a once-thriving Black district.
The case involved three survivors of the attack, all now over 100 years old and who sued in 2020, in the hope of seeing what their attorney called “justice in their lifetime”. ...
Wall, a Tulsa county district court judge, wrote in a brief order that she was tossing the case based on arguments from the city, the regional chamber of commerce and other state and local government agencies. Last year, she ruled against the defendants’ motions to dismiss and allowed the case to proceed.
Judicial elections in Oklahoma are technically nonpartisan but Wall has described herself as a “constitutional conservative” in campaign questionnaires.
Outrage as Republican says 1921 Tulsa massacre not motivated by race
The state official in charge of Oklahoma’s schools is facing calls for impeachment, after he said teachers should tell students that the Tulsa race massacre was not racially motivated. In a public forum on Thursday, Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, said teachers could cover the 1921 massacre, in which white Tulsans murdered an estimated 300 Black people, but teachers should not “say that the skin color determined it”.
Walters is a pro-Trump Republican who was elected to oversee Oklahoma education in November. He has consistently indulged in rightwing talking points including “woke ideology” and has said critical race theory should not be taught in classrooms. Republicans have frequently conflated banning critical race theory with banning any discussion of racial history in classrooms.
At the forum in Norman, Oklahoma, Walters was asked how the massacre could “not fall” under his broad definition of CRT. “I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of your color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist.
“That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals. Oh, you can, absolutely. Historically, you should: ‘This was right. This was wrong. They did this for this reason.’
“But to say it was inherent in that … because of their skin is where I say that is critical race theory. You’re saying that race defines a person. I reject that.
“So I would say you be judgmental of the issue, of the action, of the content, of the character of the individual, absolutely. But let’s not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined it.”
The next Kyrsten Sinema?
AOC ENDORSES Biden, HINTS At Senate Run, SELLS OUT Left Base
Future of deep-sea mining hangs in balance as opposition grows
The list of countries calling for a pause on deep-sea mining continued to grow this week ahead of a key moment that mining companies hope will launch the fledgling industry, and its opponents hope could clip its wings, perhaps for good. Ireland and Sweden became the latest developed economies to join critics, including scientists, environmental organisations and multinationals such as BMW, Volvo and Samsung. The carmakers have committed not to use minerals mined from the seabed in their electric vehicles.
No deep-sea mining contracts have yet been authorised, but efforts by the industry and some states, including Norway, have accelerated the race to mine for metals in the planet’s last unexplored frontier.
It is a critical time. With a deadline due to expire on Sunday, commercial applications for deep-sea mining could be given the green light despite the absence of any regulations. From Monday, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the quasi-UN body in charge of those regulations, will meet in Kingston, Jamaica until 28 July to resume negotiations.
Much is at stake. Scientists have warned of large-scale, severe and irreversible harm to global ocean ecosystems, already threatened by the climate and biodiversity crises, if deep-sea mining goes ahead. Too little is known about the ocean’s abyss even to draw up regulations, they say. ...
Canada-based TMC, formerly known as Deep Green Metals, is partnering with the Pacific states of Nauru, Tonga and Kiribati to explore for deep-sea metals. It has downplayed the impacts and highlighted the need for metals such as cobalt and copper for a transition to clean energy technologies. That narrative is disputed by some scientists and environmental groups. They point out that such metals are already mined around the world; that lithium, the key mineral used in many batteries, is not widely present in the deep sea; and that electric vehicle technology is constantly changing.
Scientists say poisonous pea could be made vital climate crisis crop
It is grown in some of the world’s most inhospitable, arid regions and is noted for being rich in protein. But the grass pea – although hardy and nutritious – comes with a catch. It contains a poison that can occasionally trigger irreversible paralysis, particularly among individuals who are already undernourished. As a result, it is often grown only as an insurance crop, to provide short-term food supply when harvests of other crops have failed. Nevertheless, poisoning from Lathyrus sativus still occurs in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Ethiopia and Algeria.
The key biochemical steps by which the grass pea’s poison is made were revealed when scientists decoded the highly complex genome of Lathyrus sativus. They discovered details of the pathways that lead to the pea poison’s manufacture, leaving them poised to use gene-editing or standard breeding techniques to create versions that are poison-free or extremely low in toxins.
“Obviously you don’t want to create a version of the grass pea that does not make toxins and then find out that it is also no longer drought-resistant,” said Edwards. “However … it seems there is no penalty from removing the toxin or having very, very low levels of it.” ...
However, once stripped of its toxic effects, the grass pea could have a crucial role to play in a world that has been afflicted by the consequences of the climate emergency. “We should not underestimate the potential of grass pea across the world,” said Edwards. “It’s a legume, and bacteria in its roots make fertiliser by converting nitrogen in the air into ammonium compounds, which it releases into the soil and improves it.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Turkiye Refuses to Back Down on Sweden Accession Ahead of NATO Summit
In Assange Case, Disaffected Journalists Reject FBI Requests To Aid Prosecution
Hiroshima Survivors Decry Link to Pearl Harbor
Bashing China Has Replaced The Diplomatic Dialogue
Meet the DC thinktank giving big oil ‘the opportunity to say they’ve done something’
‘What are we willing to sacrifice?’ A journey down America’s most endangered river
Biden FIGHTS With NATO Over Ukraine Membership
WAR CRIME? Biden Shipping CLUSTER MUNITIONS to Ukraine, 97% Casualties Are CIVILIANS In 21’
OLD YELLER: Joe Biden ANGRY, Staff AFRAID TO BE ALONE With Him; Report
A Little Night Music
LaVern Baker - Voodoo Voodoo
LaVern Baker - Soul On Fire
LaVern Baker - Tweedle Dee
LaVern Baker - Tiny Tim
LaVern Baker - Bumble Bee
Lavern Baker - Still
LaVern Baker - See See Rider
LaVern Baker - Substitute
LaVern Baker & Jimmy Ricks - You're The Boss
LaVern Baker - Jim Dandy
Comments
It is so sad that the press steps in to correct Miller when he
for once tells the truth.
evening humphrey...
wow, that guy should take more, longer vacations. if he goes away for a week and forgets to lie twice in a row, you have to wonder what 2 weeks away might do for him.
the evil empire strikes again
why not make Bolton the good will ambassador for the world?
cluster bombs and civilian casualties are not improving the
moral high ground so vaunted in the diplomatic corpse
and Elliot Abrams is to join the team of liars and thieves?
Ollie North must be waiting in the wings
Turn-about is fair play, so if China wants to play games
in Cuba or Venezuela, Uncle Sam can pound sand
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
evening qms...
heh, perhaps after they install ollie north they can dig up curtis lemay ...
How did it happen that Caitlin Johnstone and
...Tim Foley are the wide spectrum voices of fairness, justice, and sanity on this planet?
I'm glad I got to see this happen.
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
evening pluto...
i guess they just stated the obvious repeatedly. it doesn't strike me that they are saying anything extraordinary, except that few other media outlets are willing to say it.
As popular as Ritter seems to be
...in his analysis of weaponry, it should be noted that matters of psychology may allude him. Certainly, most Western commentators across the board were somehow bamboozled into believing Prigozhin was leading some kind of rebellion against the Russian government.
.
As Joe noted in his "Also of Interest" list of pertinent news stories, today:
Prigozhin's War
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
heh...
i'm still not sure that i could state with certainty exactly what happened with prigozhin and why, but the fact that prigozhin appears to have returned to russia and is not dead is a good sign that he was not seriously colluding with western intelligence.
And I'll add to the list
amerika is an exceptional country.
What say you all?
Thanks for the EB's Joe
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...
well, so far america's ruling class still seems to believe the exceptional hype. the rest of us, maybe not so much.
A new understanding of Critical Race Theory?
.
Ryan Walters explains that Critical Race Theory asserts that the reason that Tulsans committed those murders is because they were white. And teachers should not “say that the skin color determined it. Says Walters:
“So I would say you be judgmental of the issue, of the action, of the content, of the character of the [white] individual, absolutely. But let’s not tie it to the [white] skin color and say that the skin color determined it.”
I did not know that this was the basis of the objection to Critical Race Theory:
The theory that white people were inherently, genetically, instinctively murderers of people who have dark skin. (I'm not determining whether the theory is valid or invalid.)
Was this made clear in the news coverage? Did I miss this? Does it matter?
You learn something new here every day.
Is this why is is absolutely vital that the US become the supreme ruler of the world?
[edit=typo]
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
heh...
i may be off here, but i think that this okie fellas' insight that skin has a consciousness of its own and may experience homicidal urges is somewhat unique. i guess we'll see if other okies stand up for him.
I think he is saying that you cannot describe
...the murderers in Tulsa as "white," and then call their actions "racially inspired," because you are then saying that all whites are racists and prone to killing blacks.
That's the logic he is hearing, anyway.
I think he would agree that white skin doesn't have consciousness.
He seems to think that Critical Race Theory condemns whites, as a race.
It probably does.
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
oh well...
then there's his problem:
no, you are not saying that "all whites are racists." you might be saying that all of the exclusively white perpetrators of crimes against all of the exclusively black victims are racists, however.
you might also be saying that the institutional culture of the time supported the racist acts of the exclusively white perpetrators as well, given the lack of an institutional response which made whole the victim group that was allegedly under the protection of the state just as much as the perpetrator group was.
So, no.
To say that "racism is embedded in the justice system," as the critical race theory people do, is not to condemn "whites" as a "race."
Just as a footnote -- if you were to try to understand critical race theory, you'd look first at the notion that "white people" are a construction of culture, a repository for attitudes, and not actual physical things. This was the point, btw, of Mark Twain's novella "Pudd'nhead Wilson," published in 1894, so, no, this isn't something dreamed up by academics (though much of critical race theory is).
Further footnote: much of what counts as "critical race theory" is a mediocrity when compared alongside actual critical theory, a product of the Frankfurt School of social theory.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
This Vet gives us hope for humanity!
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
excellent! n/t
Made my day!
Thanks!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Thanks for the music and news as always!
Given me lots to think about and read further analysis. Thanks for the article on the Colorado and what is happening downstream from Glen Canyon. Have spent a great deal of time on that stretch of river down to Lee’s Ferry. Of course, being in Santa Fe, am involved with Wildearth Guardians and work that is being done to protect the river.
Have a great evening all!
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
evening jb...
thanks for all you do to help out the colorado, it needs all the help it can get!
have a great evening!
Erdogan makes a deal! Now how will Russia react?
heh...
i would guess that russia would see this as erdogan trying to get the u.s./west to bid up the game (playing off the west against russia) that he has been playing for years. erdogan knows that the eu has less than zero interest in doing more than stringing turkey along and is unlikely to give him what he wants in return for assent to sweden joining nato.
The UK also refusing to give Venezuela its gold is also a factor
Good evening Joe, thanks for the Evening Blues.
It's nice to see Barbara Lee speaking out against sending cluster bombs to the Ukies and using such catchy rhetoric to do so, but she knows damn good and well that we have no moral leadership or moral authority of any kind and haven't had for decades.
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...
heh, to bend a phrase, the u.s. doesn't have permanent morals, it has interests.
have a great evening!
Good evening, joe!
Jim Dandy was a huge favorite at my house. We danced all over the house when it came on the radio. Great memories. Thanks.
Waiting for sanity to be exhibited by TPTB. Will be a long wait, no doubt.
It is creeping back up to the 100s temp around here. Not what I experience when I was dancing to Lavern Baker.
Might I say I am not a fan of cluster bombs without being called a Putin puppet? I like little innocent kids, hate to see them get blown to bits playing in the parks.
Enjoy your evening, friend.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
evening otc...
sorry to hear about your hellscape weather. we've been riding a rollercoaster here. tonight it's a very pleasant 70 degrees on my back porch, but the weatherdroid says tomorrow and for the next several days daytime temperatures are going up into the 90's - yuk!
sanity exhibited by tptb? not likely. they seem to have all taken delusion pills at the same time. i'd like to banish the lot of them to some remote island where they would trouble us no more.
these days i think that just about anything a sane person might say could get them labelled something unappealing and obviously incorrect. our culture has gone mad.
have a great evening!
homicidal logic
I'm afraid I have to agree with Norman Solomon and Andre Damon, that the rationalization for the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium could also serve to justify the use of so called tactical nuclear weapons.
I had been obsessing about the recent BBC report that South Korea had committed to provide 4 million rounds of ordnance presumably indirectly to Ukraine (according to information disclosed by Kim, it would take about 3 years to produce this many shells). How could that be possible? I remembered Kim Byung-ju's revelations about the poor state of the South Korean 155mm artillery shell inventory a couple of months ago. He hasn't really commented on it since then, because he was chastised publicly when he brought the issue up at a National Assembly defense committee hearing where he raised the issue of existing stocks of 155mm shells for use by the ROK Army in the event of a military conflict with North Korea. Defense Ministry policy is to maintain a two, preferably three month inventory with 60 days the absolute minimum reserve stockpile allowed. The defense official being questioned at the time equivocated about whether there was even a 30 day supply on hand. The chairman told Kim that his questions on this subject shouldn't be at an open hearing or words to that effect.
At that time it was believed that South Korea had agreed to ship a half million rounds ostensibly to the US to "replenish" US 155mm stocks depleted by the Ukraine war. Kim displayed a copy of one of the discord leaked documents that showed a schedule for 330,000 rounds being delivered to Poland. During the agreed diversion and depletion of South Korean stocks of conventional 155 mm ammunition maintained to deter and defeat if need be, any North Korean artillery attack on Seoul, we have witnessed this ballet of "enhanced cooperation" on nuclear weapons contingency plans between the US and South Korea, and notably at the same time new deployments of "nuclear capable" assets to the Korean theater by the US, typically B-52s. It's debatable whether the SSN/SSG nuclear submarines are "nuclear capable" that have visited because of pre-existing restrictions in the START or INF treaties.
In any case, the connection is that the shortage of these conventional artillery shells, is the cause of both the deployment of cluster bombs to Ukraine by the US, and the huge commitment of 155mm ammunition by South Korea to what it knows, indirectly or not, is Ukraine. The rationalization for the use of cluster bombs stated to be required by the shortage of 155mm ammo, that supposedly is not sufficiently offset by depletion of these resources from South Korean inventory and production lines. Is not the nuclear augmentation, or the increased and much more visible reliance on "strategic platforms" in South Korea not also compensation for decreased conventional stockpiles and increased willingness to resort to nuclear war in Asia as well? Kim, a former CFC deputy commander, says the 155mm artillery shells are a conventional deterrent and counterforce to any attack on Seoul. Isn't the implicit threat that any potential war with North Korea might also go nuclear because of a shortage of conventional ammunition. In other words, the nuclear risk is increasing because of "supply chain" challenges the west is facing in Ukraine, and the instability is spreading to Asia.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/10/n-korea-slams-us-move-to-deploy...
Thanks for EBs and news updates Joe!
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
it is certainly not comforting that everywhere you look it seems that nuclear conflicts are brewing. the idea that sending nuclear-armed subs to south korea wouldn't be seen as a provocation by the north is pretty risible. apparently, it doesn't bother joe biden who already has a foot in the grave.
I liked this approach better
US should have accepted NK’s offer to shutter Yongbyon, says former SK vice foreign minister
Posted on : Jul.7,2023
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1099204.html
語必忠信 行必正直
heh...
but, the u.s. and its proxy sk can't make peace with nk because that would ruin the u.s. excuse to fill the neighborhood of china with military bases and weapons.
A final note today by Caitlin Johnstone
....and Tim Foley:
Read On....
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
Now Sweden
Things not going so well for Pooty Poot.