The Evening Blues - 1-4-24
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues, r&b, rock and soul saxophonist King Curtis. Enjoy!
King Curtis - Soul Serenade
"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible... Thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness... Political language [is] designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable."
-- George Orwell
News and Opinion
US Admonishes Israeli Officials For Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud About Ethnic Cleansing
The US State Department has issued a statement indignantly finger-wagging at two Israeli officials who recently drew headlines for openly endorsing the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.
The statement reads as follows:
“The United States rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible. We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.
“We have been clear, consistent, and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel. That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world.”
The offending statements by Ben Gvir and Smotrich promoted the idea of “encouraging” Palestinians to flee Gaza en masse, absurdly referring to this hypothetical outcome as “voluntary migration” despite the fact that Israel has been doing everything in its power to make living in Gaza impossible.
You will note, probably without surprise, that the statement contains nothing but empty scolding. No mention is made of the faintest possibility of any consequence of any kind being brought to bear should Israeli officials continue to openly advocate for eliminating the Palestinian population of Gaza and replacing it with Jewish settlements. This is because the US has no intention of actually doing anything to hinder Israel’s ethnic cleansing agendas.
And make no mistake, that absolutely is Israel’s agenda. The State Department can claim all it wants that “such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government” and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assured Washington that there are no plans to resettle Palestinians outside of Gaza, but Netanyahu himself has been publicly contradicting this claim with increasing brazenness.
Just last week at a Likud party meeting Netanyahu explicitly said that his government is working on finding countries who would be willing to “absorb” Palestinian refugees from Gaza, claiming that the world is “already discussing the possibilities of voluntary immigration.”
Netanyahu Says He’s Looking for Countries to ‘Absorb’ Palestinians from Gaza
His comments are the latest sign that Israel's goal is to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians
by Dave DeCamp@DecampDave #Netanyahu #Gaza #Palestine #Palestinians #Israel https://t.co/JJ46bpUvSV pic.twitter.com/T2nkfZzy1k— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) December 27, 2023
Indeed, it’s fair to say that the extreme-right ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich are not actually saying anything on this front that is significantly different from what Netanyahu himself has been saying. Bibi’s just a bit more polite about it, with Ben Gvir openly thumbing his nose at the State Department’s remarks saying “we aren’t another star on the American flag” and “facilitating the relocation of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow those in the Israeli Gaza border communities to return home and live securely while safeguarding the IDF soldiers.”
In fact, one could easily argue that Netanyahu as well as Ben Gvir and Smotrich have been entirely in alignment with the State Department’s own language on this subject. The idea of “voluntary immigration” does not contradict the position asserted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the US vision for Gaza involves “no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza — not now, not after the war.”
Notice Blinken’s careful insertion of the word “forcible” there. His wording makes it clear that the US would only object if Palestinians were actually forced onto ships or marched across the Egyptian border at gunpoint, as middle east analyst Mouin Rabbani recently observed on Twitter:
“Alarm bells should have started ringing in early November when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Western politicians began insisting there could be ‘no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza’. Rather than rejecting any mass removal of Palestinians, Blinken and colleagues objected only to optically challenging expulsions at gunpoint. The option of ‘voluntary’ displacement by leaving residents of the Gaza Strip with no choice but departure was pointedly left open.”
So contrary to its self-righteous moral posturing, the State Department is not actually upset with Ben Gvir and Smotrich for advocating the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. They’re just upset they said the quiet part out loud.
If there’s one thing Blinken and his cohorts understand, it’s that you’re not supposed to describe the evil things you want to do in evil-sounding language. You’ve got to tapdance gracefully around the actual depravity you intend to inflict, uttering flowery prose about humanitarian concerns and compassion for both sides to keep everyone dazzled and hypnotized while the killing machines are quietly rolled out in the background. You’ve got to be eloquent and elusive about your murderousness. Like Obama.
The US war machine is every bit as depraved as the state of Israel, and the Biden administration is just as culpable for the horrors being unleashed in Gaza as Netanyahu and his goons. Ignore their words and watch their actions. Don’t let them dazzle you with their feigned concern for human rights.
ICJ to hold public hearings on South Africa's genocide case against Israel next week
In a press release on Wednesday, the ICJ said that it will hold public hearings at the Peace Palace in The Hague next Thursday and Friday.
It added:
“The hearings will be devoted to the request for the indication for provisional measures contained in South Africa’s application.
In its request, South Africa asks the court to indicate provisional measures in order to ‘protect against further, severe, and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention’ and ‘to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and punish genocide.’”
PRESS RELEASE: the #ICJ will hold public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by #SouthAfrica in the case #SouthAfrica v. #Israel on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 January 2024. Watch live on @UNWebTVhttps://t.co/kHMCQklbfQ pic.twitter.com/t8Pgf5T4Ly
— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) January 3, 2024
Deadly Bombing in Iran Kills Dozens as Tensions Rise Across the Middle East
Almost 100 dead in blasts at Iran memorial for assassinated commander
More than 95 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in a terrorist attack at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate the assassination of a top general, further heightening tensions in the increasingly volatile Middle East.
The explosions came at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force, and it was not clear whether either of Suleimani’s principal regional adversaries – Israel or Islamic State – were responsible for the carnage.
Iran’s new minister of interior, the hardliner Ahmad Vahidi, did not immediately attribute blame for the attack and no side claimed responsibility for the deadliest single terrorist incident since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The US state department said it had no reason to believe Israel was involved. ...
The attack could not have come at a more febrile moment in the Middle East. Fighting between Hamas and Israel continues to rage in Gaza, and Hamas accused Israel of launching a drone attack on Tuesday that killed its deputy head in Beirut. That attack saw limited casualties in a densely populated neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital.
Israel’s hallmark is the targeted assassination of key military and scientific figures inside Iran, as opposed to mass terrorist attacks on civilians, but it has also said its rules of engagement have changed in response to the Hamas killings on 7 October, for which Israel holds Iran ultimately responsible.
Turkey, Malaysia Back South Africa's ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel
South Africa is no longer alone in bringing its claim of genocide by the Israeli government to the International Court of Justice, following announcements from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they support the case.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said Wednesday that those responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza since October 7 "must be held accountable before international law."
"Israel's murder of more than 22,000 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were women and children, in Gaza for nearly three months should not go unpunished in any way," Keceli said. "We hope that the process will be completed as soon as possible."
Turkey has officially backed South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice, which rightly accuses the israeli enemy of genocide https://t.co/TBBTzBfgh2
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) January 3, 2024
The ICJ is scheduled to hear the case on January 11-12. Israeli representatives are expected to appear at the hearing.
International rights groups issued a call on Wednesday for other countries to file Declarations of Intervention at the court, whose authority Israel recognizes, to bolster South Africa's case.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it expects "that within the framework of this application, the ICJ will decide on provisional measures involving those to stop Israel's attacks on Gaza."
The Malaysia Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late Tuesday that it "welcomes the application by South Africa instituting proceedings against Israel... concerning the violations by Israel of its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."
A spokesperson for the South African Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post that it expects other countries to soon follow Turkey and Malaysia's lead and back its case.
In its 84-page complaint, South Africa detailed the genocidal intent that's been displayed in numerous public statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and other top officials, as well as Israel's bombardment of civilian targets and forced displacement of civilians.
Ryan Grim GRILLS State Dept: IS U.S. COMPLICIT In 'Ethnic Cleansing' Of Palestine?
No Serious Discussions Within Biden Administration About Limiting Military Aid to Israel
Despite the mass slaughter Israel is committing in Gaza, there are no “serious discussions” within the Biden administration about cutting off Israel or placing any conditions on military aid, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
The report detailed President Biden’s commitment to supporting the Israeli campaign, saying he “has involved himself more intensely in the conflict than almost any other issue in three years in office.”
President Biden has had tense conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has made meager efforts to get Israel to change its tactics but refuses to use any leverage the US has over Israel.
Israel bombs Palestine Red Crescent building, as genocide probe looms
An Israeli attack on a building belonging to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Gaza’s Khan Younis killed five people on Tuesday and wounded several others.
The Red Crescent compound in southern Gaza includes the Red Crescent headquarters, al-Amal Hospital, a hotel, and a building designated for people with special needs. Around 14,000 Palestinians are sheltering in the area after being forcibly displaced since the war broke out on 7 October. ...
Later on Tuesday, an Israeli government spokesperson said Israel would appear before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague to contest South Africa's genocide accusations.
South Africa on Friday launched a case for the ICJ, stating that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the Genocide Convention and calling for a halt to its military operations in Gaza.
"The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice at The Hague to dispel South Africa's absurd blood libel," spokesman Eylon Levy told an online briefing. "We assure South Africa's leaders, history will judge you, and it will judge you without mercy," he added.
Broader War LOOMS After Iran Terror Attacks
US, Allies Release Statement Threatening Houthis Over Red Sea Attacks
The US and some of its allies released a joint statement on Wednesday threatening Yemen’s Houthis over their attacks on Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea, which started in response to the brutal Israeli assault on Gaza.
“Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews. The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the statement reads.
The statement was issued by the US, Britain, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Australia, and Bahrain, the only Arab nation to sign onto the threat.
Fresh Calls for Stock Trading Ban After US Lawmakers Beat Market in 2023
A financial watchdog group on Tuesday released its annual report on congressional stock trading, which shows that "Congress blew the market out of the water" in 2023, fueling fresh calls for a ban targeting U.S. lawmakers and their immediate family members.
"Members of Congress shouldn't be allowed to trade stocks of the companies they regulate for the same reasons referees aren't allowed to bet on the games they officiate," Melanie D'Arrigo, a former Democratic congressional candidate who is now executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, said in response to the Unusual Whales report.
Nina Turner, who also previously ran for Congress and is now a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy, agreed. As Turner put it: "Members of Congress should not be allowed to trade stock. It's corruption."
Our entire system is corrupt from top to bottom. The 1% bribe judges and lawmakers and get the laws & rulings they pay for. The middle-managers on the court & congress get paid with bribes and insider trades and make out like bandits.
The working class fights for itself https://t.co/68wYE70LTQ
— The Debt Collective (@StrikeDebt) January 2, 2024
While the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 was intended to ban insider trading by members of Congress, lawmakers are still permitted to buy and sell stocks, even those of companies impacted by their work on Capitol Hill.
House Republicans to seek to impeach US homeland security secretary
US House Republicans will seek to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden’s secretary of homeland security, alleging “egregious misconduct and refusal to enforce the law” in relation to immigration policy and the southern border.
In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, a spokesperson said the House homeland security committee had conducted “a comprehensive investigation into Secretary Mayorkas’s handling of, and role in, the unprecedented crisis at the south-west border.
“Following the bipartisan vote in the House to refer articles of impeachment against the secretary to our committee, we will be conducting hearings and taking up those articles in the coming weeks.”
A spokesperson told Reuters the first hearing would be next Wednesday, 10 January.
In November, a resolution to impeach Mayorkas was blocked, and referred to the committee, when eight Republicans sided with Democrats against a measure introduced by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Trump supporter from Georgia.
California police show severe racial bias in stops and searches, data finds
Law enforcement in California handcuffed and detained Black and Indigenous residents during traffic stops at significantly higher rates than white people in 2022, according to data released on Wednesday.
The annual racial profiling report from a state board analyzed 4.5m vehicle and pedestrian stops conducted by 535 law enforcement agencies, the first time departments from across the state contributed data.
The findings suggest there are persistent and severe racial disparities in overall stops and searches; transgender Californians are disproportionately impacted; and youth of color are heavily policed and frequently stopped in schools. ...
The data suggests broad bias in police stops of people of color, a trend that has been repeatedly documented in government and advocacy groups’ reports.
RFK JR SLAMS Colorado/Maine Decisions as Undemocratic, Says He Wants to Beat Trump FAIR AND SQUARE
Big oil ‘fully owned the villain role’ in 2023, the hottest year ever recorded
Throughout 2023, the hottest year in recorded history, fossil fuel giants doubled down on their planet-heating business models. The moves flew in the face of oil and gas companies’ promises to tamp down
their emissions and prioritize cleaner forms of energy. It is evidence they are “unfit to have a role in the energy transition”, said Collin Rees, the US program manager at Oil Change International.Oil majors have over the past several years announced seemingly ambitious climate plans. BP promised to cut its fossil fuel investments by 35 to 40%. Shell pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Exxon, meanwhile, said it would slash its emissions and gas burning and touted its investments in algae as a potential carbon-free fuel. Chevron announced an “aspiration” to reach net-zero upstream emissions by 2050. And dozens of oil companies signed onto an initiative to cut their methane emissions.
But in 2023, firms took actions that stood in sharp contrast to those plans.
“Companies have gotten more brazen about their plans to keep polluting,” said Rees. “They took the mask off.” ...
“They have left no doubt that their pledges were deployed for cynical political purposes, only to be ditched when they no longer suited the industry’s strategic position,” Dan Cohn, global energy transition researcher at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told the Guardian in July.
US’s first large-scale offshore wind project produces power for first time
The US’s first large-scale offshore wind project, located off the coast of Massachusetts, has started producing power for the first time, delivering a boost to Joe Biden’s ambitions of a proliferation of coastal wind turbines to help combat the climate crisis.
The first wind turbine in the Vineyard Wind development started to whirr on Tuesday, delivering around 5MW of power to the New England grid. The operator of the project said it expects to have five turbines operational in the early part of this year, before eventually having 62 turbines as part of the project, which will produce enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.
“This is a historic moment for the American offshore wind industry,” said Maura Healey, the governor of Massachusetts. “This is clean, affordable energy made possible by the many advocates, public servants, union workers and business leaders who worked for decades to accomplish this achievement.”
The US has been slow to develop offshore wind compared with some other countries, but Biden has enthusiastically backed the concept, with the White House setting a goal to deploy 30GW of offshore wind by 2030, enough to power 10m homes with clean energy, and several projects are now planned.
Vineyard Wind, about 15 miles (24km) off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, is the largest so far and its launch is “truly is a milestone for offshore wind and the entire renewable industry in North America”, according to Tim Evans, a partner at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, which is developing the project with Avangrid, which is itself owned by a Spanish electricity utility.
Human activity is powering ‘a new industrial revolution’ at sea, say experts
Researchers have created the first global map of the industrial use of the ocean, using space technology and AI to reveal the emergence of a “new industrial revolution”. A study led by Global Fishing Watch (GFW) and published in Nature found that 75% of the world’s industrial fishing vessels, mainly operating in Africa and south Asia, are “dark” or not publicly tracked. More than a quarter of the activity of transport and energy vessels is also missing from public tracking systems, it found.
While fishing decreased globally by 12% over the study period of 2017-2021 due to the Covid pandemic, the research showed that the number of offshore structures at sea grew rapidly, with wind turbines surpassing the number of oil structures in 2021. China’s offshore wind energy has increased ninefold since 2017, while the biggest offshore wind developers in Europe – the UK and Germany – saw an increase of 49% and 28% respectively.
The analysis of ocean industrialisation reveals hotspots of potential illegal activity, including industrial fishing vessels encroaching on artisanal fishing grounds or other countries’ waters. It shows “dark” fishing vessels inside marine protected areas, including, on average, more than 20 a week in the Great Barrier Reef and five a week in the Galápagos Islands, two of the most well-monitored and biologically important reserves in the world.
“A new industrial revolution has been emerging in our seas undetected – until now,” said David Kroodsma, the director of research and innovation at GFW and co-lead author of the study. “On land, we have detailed maps of almost every road and building on the planet. In contrast, growth in our ocean has been largely hidden from public view. This study helps eliminate the blind spots and shed light on the breadth and intensity of human activity at sea.”
The open data, technology and mapping used in the study will be freely available, said Kroodsma, heralding a new era in ocean management and transparency. It could help with estimates of greenhouse gas emissions at sea, or with tracking marine degradation caused by oil pollution, he said.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Palestine SitRep - Hizbullah's Response To Assassinations By Israel In Lebanon
Washington Post erases Israeli minister’s farfetched October 7 rape claim at his request
Ray McGovern: A Matter of Justice
Have Any Lessons Been Learned in Three Months of Bloodshed in Gaza?
US commercial real estate facing “wall of debt.”
Scientists hail new antibiotic that can kill drug-resistant bacteria
Polar bear dies from bird flu as H5N1 spreads across globe
Jeffrey Epstein Files UNSEALED: Alan Dershowitz, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and MORE Names Appear
Terror attack hits Iran. 10 countries warn Yemen. Wonder weapon long range missiles. RIP Star Wars
Rus Missile Devastated Kiev; Advance Chasov Yar; Ukr InfoWar, West Weapons Fail; West Warns Houthis
A Little Night Music
King Curtis & The Kingpins - Memphis Soul Stew
King Curtis - A Whiter Shade of Pale (Live at Fillmore West, 3/7/1971)
King Curtis -Sweet Inspiration
King Curtis & Duane Allman - The Weight
King Curtis & The Noble Nights - Soul Twist
Champion Jack Dupree and King Curtis - Sneaky Pete
King Curtis - Green Onions
King Curtis - I Heard It Through the Grapevine
King Curtis - Harlem Nocturne
Comments
Wall Street Parade on the Epstein files
.
There are over 1,500 names in Epstein’s black book, but only 2 people have been charged for sex crimes and that’s Epstein and Maxwell. Curious huh?
https://wallstreetonparade.com/about-3/about/
What are the chances that the FBI wasn’t aware of what Epstein and Maxwell were doing? Let’s not forget that Epstein was initially charged with statutory rape, but many people and organizations stepped in to get the charges reduced. And let’s not forget the sweet deal he got. 13 months in a minimum security prison where he got to leave every day and go to work.
Then after he leaves prison he just goes back to continue doing what he was sent to prison for and the world elite went on to swaddle him in their loving arms and pretending that he wasn’t just released from prison for sex crimes. And big whoop! The names that were released were the ones we already knew about. Clinton, Gates, Trump, Richardson and one of the Pritzkers.
I wonder why Epstein was arrested in the first place unless it was just so he could be killed or maybe so he could disappear with a new identity.
Also remember that Maxwell was at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. Small world and I’m glad that I’m not in it.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
evening snoopy...
heh, i haven't been able to bring myself to follow all of the twists and turns of the epstein affair, but it seems like epstein has managed to be the greasy center of the hub of a wheel connected to just about everything, separated only by a layer of slime.
i suspect that there is still a great struggle going on between elites over what things to keep quiet. so far it appears that omerta hasn't broken down.
You haven’t missed anything in the new document dump
This site covered the Epstein saga quite well just after he was arrested and I got my information from the Miami Herald and Whitney Webb. More information was detailed then than what has recently been revealed. Many people are wondering if this is just a distraction from something else that the parasites don’t want us looking at.
I agree. That’s why we are seeing dualing headlines on Biden and whether he should run again like the one I posted from HuffPost last week. And why we are seeing all the attacks on Trump.
A California judge shut down keeping him off the ballot because they waited too long to file their complaint against him…2 years after the so called ‘insurrection'. And democrats are still calling the republicans that weren’t going to vote to certify the election insurrectionists even though they did vote to and after democrats themselves did it 5 times.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Somewhere I’m sure,
one can find the average number of days between commercial breaks/distractions in the horror of reality.
Why does the US government not make friends in the world?
Is this an indication of a culture-wide sociopathy? We tend to use countries, abuse
trust and bomb the hell out of everyone as perceived dangerous competition.
At least China, Russia, and to a certain extent India make positive inroads with
their neighbors. Cooperation between friendly nations is still possible.
Enjoying the King Curtis rendition of Green Onions and
several others. Sax to the max. Thanks joe!
question everything
evening qms...
it seems to me that the u.s. does not make friends of other countries (except for matters of temporary expedience) because of the values of capitalism which foster exploitation rather than cooperation.
1 mm saved his life
This statement was made by the vice president of the South Korean Medical Association Kang Chung-hui. Lee's internal jugular vein was severed to a degree of 60 percent and required 9 mm of stitches by surgeon specializing in microscopic vascular surgery. The surgeon warned there is a risk of damage to internal organs because excessive loss of blood and the possibility of infection. Lee was flown from the hospital in Busan to Seoul for the surgery. It was more than five hours from the stab injury to completion of the surgery.
I watched a program in which a director of Seoul Story, an independent investigative journalism web publication, compared the attempted assassination of Lee Jae-myung the democratic opposition leader to the "white terror" during the Syngman Rhee administration. He implicitly compared Yoon and Han Dong-hun's intolerance of both political rivals and criticism to that of the first president of the Republic of Korea, and also referenced the assassinations of his rivals Kim Koo and Yeo Woon-hyung. Kim Tae-hyung also referenced a very similar attack (with a hammer) on former democratic party leader Song Young-gil in March 2022 right before the vote in the presidential election where Yoon Seok-yeol and Lee Jae-myung were the rival major contenders for office.
The conservative mainstream press minimized Lee's injury referring to it as a 1 cm laceration, giving rise to speculation by right wing youtubers and social media, that Lee's attempted assassination was "theater" and that he received undue preference to get emergency helicopter transfer (119) to Seoul for surgery (from the hospital in Busan). President Yoon and Han Dong-hun made perfunctory statements about political violence of any kind being unacceptable and would be thoroughly investigated. That I sincerely doubt. The suspect in his late sixties was a small time realtor, who gave investment advice, and sold/rented one room living spaces in Asan. He was photographed at an earlier Lee appearance to discuss "jeonse fraud," which is a kind of ponzi scheme where renters deposit large sums of money to be returned when they vacate the premises and then never recover it because the lender invested it in other real estate and lost it.
The press also claimed within hours of the attack that the perpetrator was a member of the democratic party and was a retired government employee. There is no record of his being a member of the democratic party, but there is evidence that he has been a member of various conservative parties over the years. Also the local police investigating the crime said within a day or so, that there "was no evidence of conspiracy" and that the suspect acted alone. This is odd. Could a forensic examination of all potential evidence be completed in such a short time? Critics are very suspicious of the rush to judgement. Kim Tae-hyung compared the circumstances and premature leaks to the press as similar in nature to US political assassinations. A VoA article on this subject by William Gallo referred to Lee as a polarizing figure, and claimed that political violence was unusual in the last few decades in South Korea. Gallo went on about the multiple criminal investigations of Lee implying his character was questionable. Lee has been under investigation and prosecution for years, and nothing has stuck. All investigations were politically motivated to keep him from affecting the political environment in South Korea.
Prosecuting political leaders for political purposes is an abuse of state power, and is political violence. Turning the friends and family of politicians upside down with summons, subpoenas, press leaks, and warrants, in effort to intimidate and coerce political figures is political violence. The political case against former Prime Minister Han Myung-suk, resulting in imprisonment for over two years, was obtained by perjury. The extremely popular deceased Mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon committed suicide after being falsely accused of rape by one of his secretaries. Similarly, Roh Moo-hyun, former president of South Korea, committed suicide after a series of politically motivated investigations and prosecutions of close aides and family members. (All democrats).
US reporters paint a rosy picture of what is going on in South Korea, some people call it fascism. It isn't just polarization or a mutual lack of tolerance. The current president and the new leader of the PPP emergency committee, the current de facto leader of the president's party are a threat to democracy. Those in their way will be removed one way or the other. Who is supporting them? Who supported Syngman Rhee? Who supported the two following dictators?
Lee Jae-myung is an outsider. He puts people first and supports basic minimum income, labor, and normalizing relations with China, North Korea, and Russia rather than unnecessarily antagonizing them. That doesn't mean he's a red, a communist dupe, or an "internal enemy" as described by Yoon and his ministers. Yoon and Han are psychopaths. .
Okay, I'm done with my rant.
Thanks for EBs Joe. Great music!
(edited for style and clarity)
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
thanks very much for the update! i read about the stabbing, but the article didn't go into much depth about the political ramifications or likely cause of it. your update fills in some blanks.
Earlier Lee faced losing...
@#3.1...his legislative immunity from prosecution processes while the National Assembly was in session. That could only be accomplished with a majority vote of Assembly. The conservatives and others opposed to Lee couldn't achieve that. Han Dong-hun filed a second motion for a vote to waive Lee's immunity again, a short time later when a pre-trial confinement hearing was pending on another charge or charges. I believe there were four indictments pending. Han won and Lee lost the vote because DINOs in his own party, bolted, saying it didn't look good to have a party leader being prosecuted, using legislative maneuvers to avoid prosecution, etc. They wanted him out as party leader and still do, he's too progressive.
So Lee had to go to the judicial hearing because he lost his legislative immunity. To the surprise of some, including me, the judge said he didn't see enough evidence to warrant pre-trial detention, that he didn't see adequate evidence of the severity of crimes alleged, that the charges had been under investigation for an extended time, and if the prosecution hadn't collected all the evidence by then, it was a little late to claim Lee is a threat to destruction of evidence or flight.
Subsequently, Lee and the current floor leader of the party drafted and negotiated a bill for dual special prosecutions of the so called 5 billion won club, and the First Lady which I have described in an earlier post. It passed about a week or so back. Either of these could result in finding derogatory or incriminating evidence concerning Yoon. Yoon's influence had been blocking investigation and indictment of his wife for several years. So Lee had turned the tables on Yoon.
Lee wasn't jailed, he was still the most powerful figure in the National Assembly where his party controlled a majority of seats. Previously, his party had passed popular legislation Yoon vetoed. Now Yoon has the unpleasant choice of being forced to veto the special investigation of his wife upon referral of the bill to his office, or allowing the investigations to proceed during the election campaign. This is exactly the situation Yoon and Han put Lee in several weeks earlier.
The choice where neither choice is a good one, is called "flower game board" in baduk or "go" the Asian board game somewhat analogous to chess/checkers if I interpreted the explanation correctly. Han had claimed in August it was a hwatu game card draw. (I don't know how to play either).
So this sets the stage for the assassination attempt. Picture of Han below celebrating with his colleagues just within a few hours of the assassination attempt on Lee. Whatever he's celebrating, it's inappropriate as hell.
(Source- 언론 알아야 바꾼다 youtube 01.02.04)
語必忠信 行必正直
The US as a nation of psychopaths
.
...is steadily revealing itself. What happens here is the will of the people. In a democracy, the people are accountable.
.
Americans are insane.
evening pluto...
it seems odd that in a nation where conservatives believe in limited government, the most conservative states are the ones that give the government the power to conduct retaliatory murder of its citizens.
I’m becoming increasingly
more discouraged by the mind state of a good part of the population. It was a bit easier to just blame the government. I still hold some hope that one by one, rather than all at once, people can throw off the insanity their government and media encourage.
Evening joe and bluesters
Wow, the things you learn here!
omertà - (among the Mafia) a code of silence about criminal activity and a refusal to give evidence to the police.
"loyal to the oath of omertà"
King Curtis - I’m sending him right over to my neighbour who practices saxophone.
Do you have a favourite version of Green Onions?
evening janis...
glad to help you out with the lingo of government and gangsters.
wrt green onions ...
the original is no slouch:
i'm partial to roy buchanan's version:
then there's this:
Thank you joe!
The original is certainly no slouch, is right. I’m an american who was introduced to Roy Buchanan by my german husband. I remember from years ago at the orange place hearing the Luna version, which is also unique.
I agree fully with your partiality for the RB version. It is electrifying.
Re the Iran bombing
It has since been resolved that ISIS was responsible for the bombing.
If the choice was between "Israel or Islamic State" — I associate both with the United States.
yep...
i just read that is had taken responsibility for the bombings.
well, the u.s. incubated is, and at various times has supported it as has israel. i'm sure that our spooks and mossad have high-level connections with them.
Well looky here
Who’s paying their salaries?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Good evening Joe and everybody; thanks for the ebs Joe.
Interesting renditions of several tunes, including Harlem nocturne. The news is what it is, of course. Latest I hear is that IS is claiming responsibility for the Iran bombing, fwiw.
Not much to say about things. An Asia Times columnist says that Japan's Kishida has approval ratings around 20% and falling and that 30% is usually enough to end a career. This is seen as good news for China because Kishida has been such a gung-ho US & Biden supporter.
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...
glad to hear that kishida is slipping. it would be good if japan could elect itself somebody with a less militaristic bent. the region and the world don't need more u.s. hegemony induced conflicts.
have a great evening!
This is really outstanding
.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
excellent! n/t
ooh!
snap!
She owns the internet!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
"No basis in facts"
.
Gawd what an ugly cretin he is…
Well except for all the Israelis who have been saying that Palestinians aren’t human or they are all terrorists that need to die or Bibi asking countries to take the Palestinians in who voluntarily want to leave Gaza because he has made life unlivable there or all the other messages that say that Israel is intentionally committing genocide …but other than that….
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
heh...
somebody ought to tell him, "read the damned thing and get back to me, ok?"
Kirby will probably ignore this outright call for genocide
too. Hopefully someone will ask him about this.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
It's about time I asked
How the heck does one not only embed MULTIPLE videos, but also put text BETWEEN them?
Are the mechanics somehow different for OPs versus comments?
All I've ever been able to figure out is how to include ONE video link, and only as the very last thing.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
evening moonbat...
i use the embed code from youtube to insert videos and type text between them which seems to work out swimmingly.
Follow...
Method 3 in this FAQ.
If you want to post multiple videos don't use the "Video URL" field below the text editor, it's limited in its functionality. You can only post one video at a time with it.
Follow the FAQ above, step by step, and it will teach you how to embed youtube videos, then as Joe says, put your mouse cursor between the video codes and type what you want.