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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: W.C. Handy

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features "The Father of the Blues," W.C. Handy. Enjoy!

^{W.C. Handy - Memphis Blues}

"The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse."

-- Edmund Burke

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News and Opinion

More Proof of FBI Abuse Sparks Calls for Congress to Stop Warrantless Spying

Privacy advocates renewed calls for swift congressional action to rein in warrantless spying on Americans following the Friday release of documents showing U.S. law enforcement's further misuse of a powerful surveillance tool.

"These disturbing new revelations show how Section 702 surveillance, a spy program the government claims is focused on foreign adversaries, is routinely used against Americans, immigrants, and people who are not accused of any wrongdoing," said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU's National Security Project, in a statement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) "continues to break the rules put in place to protect Americans, running illegal searches on public officials, including a U.S. senator, and it's long past time for Congress to step in," he asserted. "As Congress debates reauthorizing Section 702, these opinions make clear why fundamental reforms are urgently needed."

Before the end of this year, members of Congress must decide whether to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the U.S. government to collect the electronic communications of noncitizens who are believed to be located abroad and have specific types of information.

Americans' data swept up by such activities are supposed to be subject to extra protections, but a pair of redacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions released in May revealed that in 2020 and early 2021, the FBI misused the Section 702 database over 278,000 times—a figure that experts warn is likely an undercount.

That FBI abuse—including searches for information on crime victims, protesters arrested after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, donors to a congressional candidate, and people suspected of breaching the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021—led to internal reforms at the bureau and additional training for the involved analysts.

On Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Justice, released another redacted FISC opinion and related materials. The April 11, 2023 opinion addresses modifications to National Security Agency procedures as well as updates regarding FBI compliance.

Despite indications that the FBI's remedial measures after the previous abuse "are having the desired effect," compliance issues persist, the opinion details. "Some violations of the querying standard coincided with failure to follow an FBI policy that requires prior deputy director approval to use 'sensitive query terms'—e.g., identifiers of domestic public officials, domestic political candidates, members of the news media, academics, and religious organizations or persons prominent within them."

Additionally, the document notes, "in June 2022, an analyst conducted four queries of Section 702 information using the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator" supposedly targeted by a foreign intelligence service. The New York Times reported that "the opinion did not make public the identities of the lawmakers who had been subject to overly broad searches, but the member of Congress was notified, officials told reporters in a background briefing on Friday."

The opinion adds that "on October 25, 2022, a staff operations specialist ran a query using the Social Security number of a state judge who 'had complained to FBI about alleged civil rights violations perpetrated by a municipal chief of police.'" According to the Times, "An official familiar with the matter said it had led to accountability measures but declined to provide further details."

El Pais: CIA Spied on Ecuador’s Former President

Spanish private security company UC Global SL allegedly spied for the United States Central Intelligence Agency on meetings held between former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and leaders of several Latin American countries in 2018, El País has reported. According to the Spanish newspaper, the security company spied, in particular, on Correa’s meetings with former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, former Brazilian Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, and former Uruguayan President José Mujica.

The information emerged from an examination of the MacBook laptop belonging to David Morales, former military officer and owner of UC Global SL. The forensic examination of data from Morales’ laptop was ordered by High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz, who has been investigating him for the past three years for different crimes. Morales was hired by the Correa government (2007-2017) to handle security at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. UC Global instead he spied on the meetings that Australian journalist and WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, who was taking refuge there. Meetings with his lawyers were recorded and sent to the C.I.A.

According to El País, Morales did the same to Correa, especially after he left office, and passed information to the C.I.A. as well as to his successor and political enemy Lenín Moreno (2017-2021).

Russia Hammers Odessa, Putin Lukashenko Discuss War with Poland; Rus Economy Growth Accelerates

White House Rushing to Get F-16s to Ukraine By the End of the Year

The Joe Biden administration believes it is important to get F-16s to the Ukrainian military and estimates the warplanes could arrive around the end of the year. Although, the White House does not assess the F-16s will alter the course of the war.

National security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said at the Aspen Security Forum Washington is trying to rush the delivery of F-16s to Kiev. "We are going to push as fast as possible," he said.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council, John Kirby, told Fox News on Thursday that the White House believes that date will be around the end of the year. "Now look, the F-16s will get there probably towards the end of the year," he explained.

“Dead Ukrainians Don’t Matter!” – Says Washington Post

An interesting article worth a click:

World Hunger & War in Ukraine

On Monday, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, announced, “The Black Sea agreements are no longer in effect.” ...

Russia and Ukraine are major producers of wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed and rapeseed oil, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil, as well as nitrogen, potassic and phosphorus fertilizer, accounting for 12 percent of calories traded. Disruption of supply from Russia and Ukraine, it was felt by a range of international organizations, would have a catastrophic impact on world food markets and on hunger. ...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that his country regrets Russia’s “continued weaponization of food” since this “harms millions of vulnerable people around the world.” Indeed, the timing of the suspension could not be worse. A United Nations report, “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023” (July 12), shows that 1-in-10 people in the world struggles with hunger and that 3.1 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet.

But the report itself makes an interesting point: that the war in Ukraine has driven 23 million people into hunger, a number that pales in comparison to the other drivers of hunger — such as the impact of commercialized food markets and the Covid-19 pandemic. A 2011 report from World Development Movement called “Broken Markets: How Financial Market Regulation Can Help Prevent Another Global Food Crisis” showed that “financial speculators now dominate the [food] market, holding over 60 percent of some markets compared to 12 percent 15 years ago.”

The situation has since worsened. Sophie van Huellen, who studies financial speculation in food markets, pointed out in late 2022 that while there are indeed food shortages, “the current food crisis is a price crisis, rather than a supply crisis.” The end of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is indeed regrettable, but it is not the leading cause of hunger in the world. The leading cause — as even the European Economic and Social Committee agrees — is financial speculation in food markets.

Drones Strike Moscow AGAIN

Benjamin Netanyahu fitted with pacemaker as protests in Israel intensify

Benjamin Netanyahu has been taken to hospital and fitted with a pacemaker, raising new questions about the Israeli prime minister’s health, while protests against his government’s judicial overhaul reached fever pitch ahead of a crucial vote in the Knesset. ...

Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting was postponed as a result of Netanyahu’s emergency operation, and a security assessment of the effect of the legal dispute on the military and upcoming trips to Cyprus and Turkey rescheduled. The deputy prime minister, Yarin Levin, stood in for the premier during his admission.

The hospitalisation of Israel’s longest-serving prime minister comes amid the country’s worst ever domestic crisis, sparked by Netanyahu’s government’s attempts to rein in the powers of what critics say is a supreme court with too much power.

The judicial overhaul, introduced after Netanyahu returned to office at the end of last year at the head of a coalition of far-right and ultra-religious parties, has given rise to an unprecedented protest movement, including pressure from Tel Aviv’s hi-tech sector. It has damaged the value of the shekel, and drawn criticism from the US, Israel’s most important international ally.

It has also sown divisions within the military, which is mostly viewed as apolitical. Thousands of reservists have announced that they will not report for duty if the changes are passed into law, raising fears over operational readiness. On Saturday, dozens of former security officials published an open letter urging Netanyahu to call off the vote and seek consensus for reforms instead.

Is fugitive Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont now the kingmaker in volatile Spanish elections?

Spain’s rightwing parties fail to gain expected poll lead in election

Spain’s opposition conservative party has won a narrow victory over the ruling socialists but looks unlikely to secure a rightwing majority after a snap general election that had raised fears of the far right entering government for the first time since the country returned to democracy after General Franco’s death five decades ago.

Although the polls had consistently predicted that the opposition conservative People’s party (PP) would cruise past the Spanish Socialist Workers party (PSOE) to secure an emphatic win in Sunday’s election, early results quickly established that the race was going to be much tighter.

By 1am local time, with 100% of the vote counted, the PP had won 136 seats to the PSOE’s 122. The conservatives’ potential coalition partners in the far-right Vox party had taken 33 seats – well down on the 52 they picked up in the last election – and PSOE’s allies in the new, far-left Sumar alliance were in fourth place with 31 seats.

Most polls and early projections had forecast that, despite its victory, the PP would fall short of the absolute majority of 176 seats needed in Spain’s 350-seat congress, and would seek to form a coalition government with the far-right party. Such an alliance would make Spain, which has just assumed the rotating EU presidency, the newest addition to the growing club of European countries where the far right has moved from the fringes into the mainstream – and often into power.

But the count showed that the political hue of the next government is far from a foregone conclusion, with the left and right blocs running almost neck and neck in their race to get as close to 176 seats as possible. As Monday approached, the PP and Vox had secured 169 seats to the PSOE and Sumar’s 153, suggesting Spain is in for weeks of negotiating and horse-trading as the rival camps explore their options for government.

DOJ Threatens to Sue Texas Governor Greg Abbott for Barrels Wrapped in Razor Wire in Rio Grande

Fifth bus of asylum seekers arrives in Los Angeles from Texas

A fifth bus of asylum seekers from Texas arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday as part of Texas governor Greg Abbott’s plans to transport migrants away from Texas. On Saturday, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass’s office announced that the bus – the fifth one to arrive in the city since 14 June – arrived at around 11.30am at Union Station. ...

According to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (Chirla), the bus was carrying 44 people, among them 14 children between two and 14 years old. They hailed from Colombia, China, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.

The people were taken to Cathedral High School in Chinatown where they were examined for medical issues and provided with food. According to Chirla, most of them have been united with their families and many have already established asylum cases, ABC7 reports.

In a statement condemning Abbott, who previously said his state was being “overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas,” Chirla’s executive director, Angélica Salas, said:

“Actions ordered by Texas governor Abbott against migrants and refugees are outrageous, if not criminal … We condemn the dehumanization of migrants and refugees anywhere and we remind Governor Abbott that every life is precious and protected under the United Nations Human Rights Charter.”

Summer of discontent: will US strikes spell trouble for ‘union guy’ Biden?

Unions have launched or are threatening stoppages that could affect everything from airline travel and parcel deliveries to car manufacturing and film and TV production. They could also disrupt the economic growth that Joe Biden wants to campaign on in 2024. “It takes him off message because strikes are visual, strikes are hot video, and they’re a focal point for media,” said John Zogby, an author and pollster. “It becomes lame trying to explain, ‘But the numbers are good, but the numbers are good, but the numbers are getting better,’ when the video just doesn’t appear to show it.”

The coronavirus pandemic had many aftershocks and labour turmoil may be among them. Hollywood production is shut down as the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild are striking, partially over concerns about streaming revenues as well as artificial intelligence taking away jobs from creative workers. The action has put films and TV shows in limbo and could cost the economy an estimated $3bn.

There is also the prospect of a United Auto Workers strike as contract talks get under way and the industry wrestles with a transition toward electric vehicles. The Teamsters union said its drivers might walk off the job as they struggle to reach a new contract with UPS (United Parcel Service). And more than 26,000 flight attendants at American Airlines are set to hold a strike vote over the coming weeks.

Among other examples mushrooming across the country, thousands of hotel workers in Los Angeles have also been striking this month while healthcare workers at a major Chicago hospital are planning to do likewise in a dispute over wages and lack of staffing. And last month there were localised walkouts at Amazon, McDonald’s and Starbucks, while hundreds of journalists across eight states went on strike to demand an end to painful cost-cutting measures and a change of leadership at Gannett, the country’s biggest newspaper chain. ...

On Thursday he was at the Philadelphia Shipyard in Pennsylvania to promote “Bidenomics”, a recently adopted slogan. The president said: “We have a plan that’s turning things around pretty quickly. ‘Bidenomics’ is just another way of saying ‘Restore the American Dream’.” But that message is still struggling to break through with voters. In a CNBC All-America Economic Survey released this week, 37% approve of Biden’s handling of the economy and 58% disapprove. In a Monmouth University poll, only three in 10 Americans feel the country is doing a better job recovering economically than the rest of the world since the pandemic.

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Biden TERRIFIED Of Cornel West Bid

Alabama Voters Prep for Another Map Fight After Republicans Flout SCOTUS Ruling

Voters in Alabama are preparing for another legal battle after the state's GOP-dominated Legislature and Republican Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday approved new congressional districts that critics say defy a surprising recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The latest map "is really a slap in the face, not only to Black Alabamians but to the Supreme Court," state Rep. Barbara Drummond (D-103) asserted during a floor debate this week, according toABC News.

Legal experts and voting rights advocates were shocked last month when two right-wing members of the high court joined the three liberal justices for a ruling in Allen v. Milligan that sided with Black voters who argued that Alabama's map was racially gerrymandered by the state's GOP legislators in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA).

"Following the U.S. Supreme Court order, I called the Alabama Legislature into a special session to readdress our congressional map," Ivey said Friday. "The Legislature knows our state, our people, and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups, and I am pleased that they answered the call, remained focused, and produced new districts ahead of the court deadline."

Meanwhile, Scott Douglas, executive director at Greater Birmingham Ministries, one of the Allen plaintiffs, declared Friday that "Alabama lawmakers appear hell-bent on preventing Black voters from fully participating in the democratic process and they are blatantly ignoring their constituents, federal law, and the highest court of the land to disenfranchise us."

The plaintiffs from Allen—represented by the Alabama and national ACLU, the Legal Defense Fund, and two law firms—have already pledged to challenge the updated map, which was sponsored by state Sen. Steve Livingston (R-8) and does not include a second majority-Black district.

"Let's be clear: The Alabama Legislature believes it is above the law. What we are dealing with is a group of lawmakers who are blatantly disregarding not just the Voting Rights Act, but a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court and a court order from the three-judge district court," the plaintiffs said Friday in a joint statement.

"Even worse, they continue to ignore constituents' pleas to ensure the map is fair and instead remain determined to rob Black voters of the representation we deserve. We won't let that happen," they added. "Since the beginning of the redistricting process, we have testified before the state Legislature, sent letters, and proposed maps—then we sued to defend Black representation and won. We will not rest until the state of Alabama complies with the Voting Rights Act and enacts a map with two districts where Black voters have a real opportunity to elect their candidates of choice and the Legislature fulfills its duty to obey the law."

A federal court hearing about the new districts is set for August 14.

RFK Jr: Corporate Media HATES Me More Than Trump; NYT Wants to Criminalize Misinfo?!

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Why aren’t we more scared of the climate crisis? It’s complicated

This summer in the United States, millions of people have experienced the intense effects of the climate crisis. The “heat dome” that has gripped the south-west for the past three weeks is expanding into the south-eastern states. Catastrophic flooding in the north-east has claimed lives and wiped out farmers’ crops. And the worst wildfire season in Canadian history has not only caused tens of thousands of Indigenous people to be displaced, but the accompanying smoke has also billowed over into the north-eastern and midwest US, setting records for poor air quality. In many cases, these events have caused irreparable damage and trauma to those directly affected, and can certainly feel like they’re encroaching on those people on the periphery. And yet despite the fact that we’re living through a climate disaster, most Americans aren’t cowering in fear every day about the future of our planet. There’s a psychological reason for that.

For one, the climate crisis is a much lower priority for Americans than other national issues, such as the economy and healthcare costs. That isn’t to say that we aren’t concerned: two-thirds of Americans say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming, while 30% are “very worried”, per a Yale University survey. But because of the nature of the way that many humans experience fear, connecting this emotion to something as vast and complex as the climate crisis is difficult. According to Brian Lickel, a social psychologist who researches human responses to threats, we aren’t designed to remain in a high state of fear for long. “A very fundamental feature of the normal kind of expected emotional processing is hedonic adaptation,” he said. “Our emotion system is designed to be labile, to go up or have certain responses, but then to not stick there.”

The emotional response to the climate crisis – even if we feel fearful during an episode of wildfire smoke or flooding – is similar to what many people who live in war zones may experience, Lickel said. While at first, the threat of bombs and attacks are imminent and extremely frightening, eventually those who remain in these areas adapt somewhat to a life in which the threat becomes just another thing to deal with daily. “If they’re not escalating or the nature of the threat’s not changing,” Lickel said, “it is to be expected that the felt emotion is going to go down.”

Ecuador's Shuar Arutam tribe vs the multinational mining machine

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Also of Interest

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

From Stalinism to the ‘Most Avoidable War in History’

Secret Doc Exposes Flaws in Pentagon Claim That No Civilians Were Killed in al-Baghdadi Raid

Germany Down the Rabbit Hole

UN or NATO?

Covering ‘Racist State’ Backlash—but Not the Reality That Israel Is a Racist State

Seymour Hersh: Ordinary People by the Millions (Seymour Hersh interviews Thomas Frank)

“Bidenomics” Has No Answer for Eviction Crisis – Or Much Else

When Greenland Was Green: Ancient Soil From Beneath a Mile of Ice Offers Warnings for the Future

Scientists battle to save Guam kingfisher after snakes introduced

"Chaos & Violence": NYC to Pay $13M to Those Attacked by Police in 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests

‘We are homeless’: Rising rents drive boom in RV living in California

France police killing aftermath: Macron calls for "order, order, order"

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A Little Night Music

W.C. Handy - Muscle Shoals Blues

W.C. Handy - St. Louis Blues

W.C. Handy - Bunch O Blues

W.C. Handy - Ole Miss Rag

W.C. Handy - Mr. Crump Blues

W.C. Handy - Yellow Dog Blues

W.C. Handy - Gulf Coast Blues

WC Handy - Snakey Blues

WC Handy - Farewell Blues

Tuba Skinny - Ole Miss Rag

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