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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Mound City Blue Blowers

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features a fun band whose primary lead instrument was the comb, Mound City Blue Blowers. Enjoy!

^{Mound City Blue Blowers - I Ain't Got Nobody, My Gal Sal}

“Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.”

-- Aristophanes

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News and Opinion

Patrick Lawrence: Africa for Africans

How shall we understand the July 26th coup in Niger, in which military officers ousted Mohamed Bazoum, the nation’s Western-tilted president? It is the sixth putsch of this kind in or next to the Sahel in the past four years. Shall we write off this band across sub–Saharan Africa as coup country and trouble no more about it? The thought is implicit in a lot of the media coverage, but how often do our media dedicate themselves to enhancing our understanding of global events and how often to cultivating our ignorance of them?

Do not take this latest development in Africa as an isolated event, if I may offer a suggestion. Its significance lies in the larger context in which it has occurred — its global surround, so to say. The West is besieged by the accumulating coherence and influence of the non–West and its version of the 21st century. Its media cannot bear writing or broadcasting about this. Niger, in my read, has just declared itself part of this historic phenomenon. And mainstream media can’t bear mentioning this, either. Those who deposed Bazoum are led by Abdourahamane Tchiani, former head of the Presidential Guard, and plainly nurse a deep resentment of the postcolonial presence of the French. ... But history is only part of the story, and I would say not the largest part. We ought not make too much of either history or memory in this case: Those who led the coup are facing forward, not back. And to suggest the coup deposing Bazoum was a question of palace politics, whatever these may be, amounts to serving the salad as the main course. No, we have to think larger if we are to grasp the new reality taking shape in Niger and elsewhere in its neighborhood.

Tchiani and his supporters, who appear to be many in the military and on the streets of Niamey, the capital, have the West as it is now uppermost in their minds, in my read. If they are fed up with the French, they are at this point impudently clear that they equally want no more of what the U.S. has had on offer for the past two decades and some: a klutzy, ineffective military presence and neoliberal economic orthodoxies. As in Mali and elsewhere in the region, Niger now looks set to lean in a distinctly non–Western direction. Last month’s coup, in other words, reads to me like an announcement that Niger is ready to enlist in the cause of the “new world order” the Chinese have been talking about ever more publicly over the past couple of years — since, indeed, the Biden regime alienated Beijing within months of taking office in 2021. This puts the putsch taking down Bazoum in a larger context, where I think it should be.

This means the U.S. will now find itself in increasing competition with China and Russia for influence across the African continent. Unless it alters course very majorly — and the policy cliques in Washington have no gift for altering course, if you have not noticed — America is almost certain to prove the loser in this rivalry, if that is what we have to call it. The U.S., and in this case the French, are simply ill-equipped. It is a question of appropriate technologies: Americans arrive in Africa with weapons, military assistance, and geopolitical interests; the Chinese and Russians arrive with interests of their own, yes, but also with economic aid, trade flows, and industrial development projects.

For a long time, Nigeriens had little choice but to accept forms of neocolonialism as their inheritance, history’s bequest. The mark of our time is that such nations now have viable choices, and they are at last able to make them in their own interests. As I was writing this commentary, Chas Freeman, the distinguished diplomat, recorded a webcast in which he argued that West Asia — as we must learn to call the Middle East — is destined to define its own future now that U.S. hegemony is a thing of the past. There’s a lot of this around, let’s say: Nigeriens have just announced that it is Africa for Africans from here on out.

West African bloc says 'we are going into Niger' if all else fails

Pressuring ECOWAS to intervene in Niger

Nato official apologises over suggestion Ukraine could give up land for membership

A senior Nato official has apologised and clarified his comments a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war. Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told a Norwegian newspaper that he should not have spoken as simplistically as he did, after his initial comments prompted an angry reaction from Kyiv.

At a panel event in Norway on Tuesday, Jenssen had said that while any peace deal reached would have to be acceptable to Ukraine, alliance members were discussing how the 18-month war might be brought to an end. “I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory and get Nato membership in return,” Jenssen told his audience, noting that discussions about Ukraine’s postwar status were continuing in diplomatic circles.

A day later, he gave an interview to the same newspaper, VG, that had reported on his original comments. “My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake,” he said. But Jenssen did not walk back the idea that a land-for-Nato-membership deal could ultimately be on the table. If there were serious peace negotiations then the military situation at the time, including who controls what territory, “will necessarily have a decisive influence,” the chief of staff said.

West Recriminations Re Ukr Peace, Ukr Commits Last Reserve in Offensive; Niger Intervention Revived

Ukraine intelligence agency says sea drones carried out Kerch Bridge attack

Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Russian-built Kerch strait Bridge connecting Crimea to the mainland last month, saying it had been conducted by remotely controlled sea drones.

Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the agency, told CNN the drone, called “Sea Baby”, was developed internally and that two were packed with 850kg warheads when they exploded and damaged the road and rail bridge on 17 July. Two people were killed in the attack.

“Using these drones we have recently conducted a successful hit of the Crimean Bridge,” Malyuk said, as well as more recent attacks on a Russian warship and an oil tanker, said by Kyiv to be supplying fuel for Russia’s military.

Until now, Kyiv has been coy about taking responsibility for attacks on Russian infrastructure, or in Crimea or in Russia itself, but the intelligence chief was keen to talk up the maritime threat to its enemy.

“We are working on a number of new interesting operations, including in the Black Sea waters. I promise you, it’ll be exciting, especially for our enemies,” said Malyuk in the television interview.

Blinken Urges Congress to Approve New Ukraine Spending ‘Right Away’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on Congress to approve President Biden’s request for an additional $24 billion in spending on the Ukraine war “right away.”

The White House formally made the request to Congress last week. If approved, it will bring total US spending on the war to about $137 billion. “I urge Congress to pass this legislation funding — the supplemental funding, excuse me — right away,” Blinken told reporters.

Supplemental funding is not limited by the debt ceiling deal that was reached between the White House and House Republicans. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has previously expressed that he might not support a supplemental funding bill that would blow past the spending limits, but he has been a staunch supporter of the proxy war against Russia.

Over in the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is eager to approve the new Ukraine aid, saying he wants to address it “as quickly as possible.” The White House asked for the $24 billion in Ukraine spending as part of a $40 billion supplemental bill that also includes domestic disaster relief and funds for border security.

Zelensky holds court with Ukraine’s most notorious neo-Nazi

Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky has uploaded a video to his Telegram channel showing him holding court with one of the most notorious neo-Nazis in modern Ukrainian history: Azov Battalion founder Andriy Biletsky. On August 14, just over an hour after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced another $200 million in military aid to Kiev, Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky published the video depicting what he called an “open conversation” with Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. ...

While casual Western observers might not have realized it, the brigade Zelensky was addressing is actually the newest iteration of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. “The 3rd separate assault brigade, excellent fighters,” Zelensky wrote days after the consultation, in a Twitter post which also alluded to a separate meeting with the Aidar Battalion, another neo-fascist outfit that has been accused of war crimes by Amnesty International. “They have stopped the enemy from advancing towards Kostiantynivka and pushed the occupiers back up to 8 kilometers.” ...

Like its predecessor, the unit is led by Andriy Biletsky, who founded the Azov Battalion and has long served as a figurehead for the closely-aligned National Corps political movement. But in spite of Biletsky’s rich Nazi pedigree, the video Zelensky published shows him sharing a moment of bonhomie with a white nationalist militant who has described Jews as “our enemy,” or as the “real masters” of the oligarchs and craven politicians that have corrupted Ukraine.

“How could I be a Nazi?” Zelensky asked on the eve of Russia’s intervention, pointing to his Jewish heritage. “How could a people who lost eight million lives fighting Nazis could support Nazism?”

Perhaps the question needs to be asked again of the Ukrainian president following the tribute he paid to his country’s top neo-Nazi ideologue.

Did the U.S. Push Imran Khan from Power? Leaked Cable Shows How State Dept. Pressured Pakistan

Looks like Biden was shamed to the point that he will spend part of a day in Hawaii rather than planning the next donation of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine:

Joe and Jill Biden to visit fire-ravaged Hawaii as death toll hits 110

Joe and Jill Biden will travel to Hawaii next week to witness the impact of wildfires that devastated the town of Lahaina, the White House said on Wednesday, as the death toll from disaster rose to 110.

Announcing the visit, which will take place on Monday, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said: “In Maui, the president and first lady will be welcomed by state and local leaders to see first-hand the impacts of the wildfires and the devastating loss of life and land that has occurred on the island, as well as discuss the next steps in the recovery effort. ...

Biden has faced criticism for his response to the Maui fires from Republicans prominently including Donald Trump. In a video message, the former president and frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination criticized Biden, including when he said “no comment” to reporters last weekend when asked about the rising death toll.

“To say ‘no comment’ is oftentimes fine but to be smiling when you say it, especially against such a tragedy as this, is absolutely horrible and unacceptable,” Trump said.

University of Chicago to pay $13.5m to settle ‘price-fixing cartel’ financial aid lawsuit

The University of Chicago has agreed to pay $13.5m to students after settling a claim that it conspired with other universities to intentionally limit financial aid offers for students. The top-ranked university is one of 17 elite colleges that were accused of restricting financial aid packages for students, according to a federal lawsuit filed last year, Insider reported.

The class-action lawsuit was filed against the 568 Presidents Group, an association of universities and colleges that practice need-blind admissions. The suit argued that colleges within the group took advantage of an anti-trust exemption that allowed universities to create standards for granting financial aid packages if they were “need blind”.

Universities that used the exemption were not truly “need blind”, the complaint argued, and found ways to consider a prospective student’s wealth when making admissions decisions.

The suit alleges that universities “participated in a price-fixing cartel that [was] designed to reduce or eliminate financial aid as a locus of competition”. Plaintiffs of the suit further argued that tuition rates were artificially inflated for thousands of students due to the unlawful price fixing, with more than 170,000 financial-aid recipients allegedly “overcharged … at least hundreds of millions of dollars”.

Kansas newspaper raided by police to have seized items returned

Authorities have announced the controversial search warrant of a local Kansas newspaper office has been withdrawn. The Marion county attorney Joel Ensey announced that following a review of the search warrants made last Friday at multiple locations in Marion county, he has “come to the conclusion that insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized”.

On Friday, local police raided the office of local newspaper Marion County Record, the home of publisher Eric Meyer and his mother, as well as the home of the vice-mayor, Ruth Herbel. As part of the raid, the city’s police force seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials. ...

Following national outrage, Ensey said in a press release: “I have submitted a proposed order asking the court to release the evidence seized. I have asked local law enforcement to return the material seized to the owners of the property.”

He added that the matter will remain under review until “such time as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the agency now in charge of the investigation, may submit any findings to this office for a charging decision.

“At such time, a determination will be made as to whether sufficient evidence exists under the applicable rules and standards to support a charge for any offense. It is important to note that all individuals who may be the subject of an investigation are presumed innocent until and unless a charge is proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” he said.

US appeals court upholds restrictions on abortion pill access

A US appeals court ruled on Wednesday to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone, returning to regulations that were in place in several years ago, but will not be taking the medication off the market.

The US court of appeals for the fifth circuit decided that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) previous regulations for mifepristone were unlawful, Reuters reported. The FDA had ruled that the abortion pill could be taken at a later stage in pregnancy (70 days into pregnancy versus 49 days), shipped via mail, and could be prescribed from medical professionals who are not doctors.

This latest ruling does not order the pill to be taken off the market, compared to a preliminary ruling that suspended the drug’s FDA approval. But the decision does eliminate the ability to obtain the abortion pill online or through other methods of sale that were approved post 2016. ...

Mifepristone, along with the pill misoprostol, is medication used for abortions procedures. The pill is used in more than half of US abortions and is approved for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, the Washington Post reported.

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All The Reasons Why Trump’s 4th Indictment Is A JOKE!

Well garsh, I guess if prosecuting Trump puts your demockery in such peril, and you have no broadly credible answer to his characterizations, perhaps you ought to drop the charges ...

Trump’s free-speech defense in January 6 case is danger to democracy, experts say

Donald Trump’s dubious defense that he was exercising his free-speech rights in response to a four-count federal criminal indictment charging him with pushing illegal schemes to overturn his 2020 election loss is prompting ex-Department of Justice officials and scholars to criticize such claims as bogus and as threats to the rule of law.

Despite special counsel Jack Smith’s detailed 45-page, four-count indictment of Trump for promoting several illegal schemes including organizing slates of fake electors in seven states to thwart Joe Biden’s victory, Trump and some top Republican allies have repeatedly portrayed his multi-pronged drive to stay in power as a free speech matter.

But former justice department officials, scholars and ex-Republican House members say Trump’s actions and schemes went far beyond free speech, and that Trump and his allies are weakening the justice system and could breed new conspiracy theories by making a first amendment defense.

Carbon-capture gold rush an ‘insult’ to locals in emissions-hit Louisiana

Millions of dollars of investments in new carbon capture projects in Louisiana – with more announced this week, are unwelcome developments to some environmental activists in the state. “We’ve been trying to fix the oil and gas damage, while at the same time trying to push the transition away from it,” said Monique Hardin, director of law for the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. “And now we have carbon-capture and sequestration to contend with,” added Hardin, whose group is a member of Louisiana Against False Solutions, a coalition of environmental and watchdog nonprofits fighting the carbon capture projects.

Carbon capture technology, supported by the US federal government, the fossil fuel industry and some environmental groups, does not yet exist on a meaningful scale. Some climate experts worry the focus on the technology will distract from and undermine efforts to phase out fossil fuels.

About 30 carbon-capture projects have been proposed in Louisiana – all of them spurred by federal subsidies and most supercharged by increased incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act intended to address global warming. A total of 170 projects have been announced nationwide, with only Texas having as many projects as Louisiana. On Friday, the Department of Energy announced $1.2bn investment in carbon capture projects in Louisiana and Texas.

Environmental justice advocates and other opponents of carbon capture and sequestration say the technology is environmentally and economically risky and encourages the status quo for fossil fuel companies. One oil company CEO said earlier this year that carbon capture will help “preserve our industry over time”.

The IRA increased tax credits, called 45Q, to permanently store carbon from $50 per ton to $85 per ton. Directly capturing the carbon from ambient air earns developers $180 per ton. The law also allows the credit to be paid in cash to developers, which include companies or subsidiaries of Shell, ExxonMobil and Koch.

It’s Never About The US President, It’s About The US Empire

We talk about US presidents all the time — Obama did this, Trump did that, blah blah blah. But really it’s never the president doing those things, it’s the empire. The president is just the face of the operation, the name they put on the door that they change every few years to create the illusion that the US government is responsive to the will of the electorate.

Really if you look solely at the raw data of the US power structure around the world (where the weapons are going, where the resources are going, where the money is and isn’t going, where the diplomats are and aren’t going, etc), you can’t tell from year to year when the White House is changing hands. You can’t tell from that raw data what political party the current president belongs to or what platform he campaigned on, and you can’t tell when he’s replaced by someone from the other party with another platform. The raw data of the empire keeps moving in basically the same way without any meaningful interruption.

So it’s not really true to say “Obama did this” or “Trump did that”; really they’re just the face that happened to be on the operation when it was time to kill Gaddafi or begin the Pivot to Asia or sanction Venezuela or start arming Ukraine or whatever. They’re not leaders leading the US government in various directions based on what they think the best policies are, they’re empire managers who are responding to whatever the needs of the empire happen to be each day — using whatever justifications or partisan leverage they can muster in that moment.

And Americans don’t get to vote on any of that stuff. They don’t get to vote on what will have to be done to facilitate the needs of a globe-spanning empire, or if there should be a globe-spanning empire at all. The behavior of the empire is never on the ballot. The only things that are ever on the ballot are issues which stand no possibility of ever interfering in the operation of the empire, like whether the president will appoint Supreme Court justices who oppose abortion or support gun control. And the voting populace is continually kept at a 50/50 split on as many of those issues as possible to keep both sides tugging on the rope with all their might so they don’t look up and notice that the real large-scale behavior of their government is completely unaffected by the small back and forth gains and losses of the tug-o-war game.

Really the only reason to talk about US presidents in terms of “Obama did this” and “Trump did that” is to highlight this point. To highlight the fact that Obama continued and expanded all the most malignant policies of his predecessor, and that Trump continued and expanded all the most malignant policies of his. To disrupt all the dopey partisan narratives about things getting better under Biden or worse under Trump or that Obama was a progressive or Trump was a peacemaker.

By pointing out the horrible things that happened under each administration, regardless of party affiliation or platform, the illusion that Americans are controlling the behavior of their government using their votes can be worn away. You can in this sense use the illusion to fight the illusion — use people’s intense interest in presidents and electoral politics to draw them into the insight that it’s all a performance designed to keep the eyes of the masses away from the inner workings of the machine.

And then the possibility for real change opens up. The longer Americans are convinced that they can vote their way out of problems they never voted their way into in the first place, the longer they can be dissuaded from using the power of their numbers to force real material changes by real material means.

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Deadlier Atlantic storms excessively killing US people of color – study

Atlantic storms have become deadlier as the planet warms – and are disproportionately killing people of color in the US, a landmark new study has found. About 20,000 excess deaths – the numbers of observed rather than expected deaths – occurred in the immediate aftermath of 179 named storms and hurricanes which struck the US mainland between 1988 and 2019.

More than two thirds of the total excess death toll – and 17 of the 20 deadliest storms – have occurred during the past 15 years, as ocean-heating fossil-fuel emissions have driven increasingly intense hurricanes.

The highest death counts were in counties with majority Black, brown and Indigenous residents, suggesting historical government neglect plays a role in the loss of life in the aftermath of tropical storms, according to the study published in Science Advances. ...

“Cyclones don’t hit the whole country. They tend to hit places which have more Black, Indigenous and Latin people who’ve been historically underserved and overburdened through racism, and it’s these socially vulnerable communities who are bearing the brunt of post-cyclone excess deaths,” said Robbie Parks, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s public health school and lead author.

“For the first time we have comparable death counts over time, which from a federal government and climate justice perspective can be used as levers for action and resource allocation for evacuations, rebuilds and resilience,” Parks said.

Great Lakes gets its first wind farm – but some fear environmental fallout

With a surface water area larger than the entire UK, the five Great Lakes might seem like an obvious location for offshore wind. The US Department of Energy says that the lakes collectively boast the potential to provide 700 gigawatts of offshore electricity – enough to power millions of homes.

Nonetheless, projects and proposals have failed to get off the ground. Until now. The Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (Leedco) is planning to build Icebreaker, a demonstration wind farm generating 20 megawatts of electricity several miles off the shore of Cleveland. The project would initially be small, starting with six turbines, with construction expected to begin as soon as 2025 and electricity coming online two years later. ...

However, some locals fear the environmental fallout that a wind farm would incur. Bald eagles and other raptors hunt for fish off Lake Erie’s shore, the western fringes of which serve as an important transit route for migratory cranes, waterfowl and songbirds. A petition opposing the Icebreaker project has gathered more than 9,000 signatures.

“This is our national park,” said John Lipaj of the Lake Erie Foundation, which opposes Icebreaker. “Many people don’t want to see any project put in the lake until we do our proper due diligence.” Lipaj said that diligence is through an environmental impact statement, or EIS, which is a detailed report prepared by federal agencies outlining a project’s potential effects on the human environment.

It’s not only wildlife that could suffer, project opponents argue. About 1.4 million people in the Cleveland area depend on Lake Erie for drinking water, and Lipaj is concerned oil that’s used as a lubricant inside the turbines could leak, though such cases are rare. There’s also fear that the construction process could stir up toxic sediment dredged decades ago from the Cuyahoga River, infamous for being so polluted that it caught fire in 1969. However, monitors counter that their research shows the project would result in minimal lakebed disturbance, and any underwater agitation would occur away from where potentially dangerous sediment was dumped.

Extreme water stress faced by countries home to quarter of world population

Twenty-five countries that are home to a quarter of the world’s population are facing extreme water stress, according to new research. Data from the World Resources Institute suggests these countries are regularly using 80% of their water supplies each year.

WRI’s Aqueduct water risk map reveals demand for water is increasing around the world and has more than doubled since 1960. While demand for water has plateaued in Europe and the US, it is soaring in Africa. By 2050, water demand around the world is projected to increase by between 20% and 25%.

The 25 countries under the most water stress include Saudi Arabia Chile, San Marino, Belgium and Greece. The five facing the highest water stress are Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman.

Globally, about 4 billion people, or half the world’s population, are exposed to extremely high water stress at least one month a year, according to the Aqueduct analysis. By 2050 the number could be closer to 60%.

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Also of Interest

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

Niger, ECOWAS & Western Imperialism in Africa

Niger is Far from a Typical Coup

Ignoring 'Mounting Threat to Clean Water,' EPA Denies Factory Farm Pollution Petition

Empire and Capital Set Maui Ablaze

Invasive yellow-legged hornet found in US for first time

Canadian fire nears biggest city in Northwest Territories

Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia Demands End to Azerbaijan Blockade Amid Accusations of Genocide

Pakistan PM Confirms Bombshell Cable Leak

Spain Socialists win first parliamentary battle, securing speaker role

“This Economy Is Drowning My Children!” – Alabama Mom In Viral Video

“You Won’t Turn Niger Into Another Libya!” – African Leaders

IMPEACH DA WILLIS For Actions Against Trump? GOP Lawmaker: Radical Left WEAPONIZING Elected Offices

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A Little Night Music

Mound City Blue Blowers - St. Louis Blues

Mound City Blue Blowers - Indiana

Coleman Hawkins & The Mound City Blue Blowers - Hello Lola!

Mound City Blue Blowers - San

Mound City Blue Blowers - Tailspin Blues

Mound City Blue Blowers - Barb Wire Blues

Mound City Blue Blowers - Wah-Hoo!

Mound City Blue Blowers - Deep Second Street Blues

Mound City Blue Blowers - Arkansaw Blues

Mound City Blue Blowers - Blue Blues

The Mound City Blue Blowers - Play me slow

Mound City Blue Blowers - Red Hot!

Mound City Blue Blowers - Red Sails In The Sunset

Mound City Blue Blowers - Muskrat Ramble

Mound City Blue Blowers - Blues In F

Mound City Blue Blowers: What do I care what somebody said

Mound City Blue Blowers - I'm Gonna Clap My Hands

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