The Evening Blues - 12-9-24
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist Floyd Jones. Enjoy!
Floyd Jones - On The Road Again
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man."
-- Mark Twain
News and Opinion
Assad Is Out, Woke Al-Qaeda Is In - The empire notches another win
Well it looks like the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is on its way out, likely to be replaced by one or more US puppet regimes depending on whether the nation maintains its current borders or is carved up into separate states. The empire notches another win.
I am not a military analyst, but analysts who are normally supportive and optimistic in favor of Assad like Elijah Magnier and Pepe Escobar are saying this is the end. Assad’s whereabouts are unknown as Turkish-backed fighters and al-Qaeda-linked forces with a history of western backing have swept through the country with alarming speed, and now Russia and Iran have joined with the governments of US-aligned nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey in calling for an end to the fighting in favor of a political solution. CNN reports that opposition forces have entered Damascus in search of Assad, and footage reportedly shows Assad forces retreating from the area where the president’s main residence is located.
The US proxy warfare in Lebanon and Ukraine makes a lot more strategic sense now; by tying up Hezbollah and Russia in other conflicts, the path was opened up for another run on Damascus and a chance to further cut off Hezbollah from supplies. Many pundits on my end of the commentary spectrum had been calling those proxy wars self-defeating and framing them as the desperate flailings of a dying empire which will only accelerate its demise, but now here we are watching the empire score a victory it’s been chasing for years, with the western/Israeli stranglehold on the middle east growing tighter than ever.
Looks like “our side in Syria” won. Let’s all hope it now doesn’t go like the last time we “won” in Iraq and Libya. pic.twitter.com/F3HbpE5uiv
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) December 7, 2024
Meanwhile the press is falling all over itself to support this regime change by promoting the narrative that al-Qaeda is woke now.
CNN just released a coddling softball interview with Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the former ISIS and al-Qaeda member who leads the Syrian opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is itself a rebranded offshoot of al-Qaeda in Syria. Jolani told CNN that he has reformed from his radical ways of the past, saying, “Sometimes it’s essential to adjust to reality,” adding, “someone who rigidly clings to certain ideas and principles without flexibility cannot effectively lead societies or navigate complex conflicts like the one happening in Syria.”
Now the imperial press are full of headlines like “How Syria’s rebel leader went from radical jihadist to a blazer-wearing ‘revolutionary’” from CNN, “Syria’s rebel leader Golani: From radical jihadist to ostensible pragmatist” from The Times of Israel, and “How Syria’s ‘diversity-friendly’ jihadists plan on building a state” from The Telegraph.
Only a matter of time before we start seeing former ISIS and al-Qaeda members chatting it up on liberal western talk shows with their preferred gender pronouns listed next to their names.
As luck would have it, these “diversity-friendly jihadists” have been telling the Israeli press that they “love Israel” and won’t do anything to harm its interests, so it’s safe to say that this “revolution” has been about as organically grown as a sheet of crystal meth.
Lmao, I cannot believe this is real. pic.twitter.com/TxsA0MJKnD
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) December 4, 2024
One of the many perks of being the world’s dominant superpower is that it gives you the luxury of time. If one regime change operation fails, don’t worry, you can just move some chess pieces around and take another shot at it. If a coup attempt fails in Latin America, relax, there will be other coup attempts. If your efforts to grab Syria fail, you can just smash it with sanctions and occupy its oil fields to impoverish it while overextending its military allies in proxy conflicts elsewhere and grab it later.
A good kickboxer throws many combinations with the understanding that most strikes will miss or be blocked or cause minimal damage, trusting that eventually the one knockout blow will get through.
No empire lasts forever, but there’s no evidence that this one is going away any time in the immediate future. This ugliness could conceivably drag itself out for generations.
Tonight in Beirut I reflect on 24 hours that radically changed the Middle East pic.twitter.com/FvvoQt0wl3
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) December 8, 2024
Offensive Forces in Syria are Like Khmer Rouge
Taking place in Syria now as thousands of Salafi-jihadists head dangerously close to the capital, Damascus, in a surprise and lightning offensive, has the potential to unleash catastrophic consequences not only in Syria but across a region already exhausted from a surplus of conflict and the concomitant human suffering endured.
The depiction of the smorgasbord of medieval-minded head-chopping fanatics involved as “rebels” in the Western media; this is proof-positive that no lessons — zero — have been learned. None learned from the consequences following the overthrow of Mohammad Najibullah in Kabul back in 1996. From the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003. Or from the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011.
In each case, the result was not the establishment of a liberal democracy underpinned by the rule of law. Instead, in each case the result was mayhem and carnage wrought by Year Zero fanatics intent on mass slaughter in the name of a perverted rendering of Islam.
#UPDATE More than 115,000 people have been "newly displaced" in Syria's Idlib and Aleppo provinces, a UN official said on Wednesday, following a major rebel offensive in the north https://t.co/q3tMeRRv9P pic.twitter.com/jnUsia0Ueg
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 4, 2024
This brings us now to the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia of the 1970s, which in similar conditions of a destabilization were able to incubate and grow to the point of taking power. The cause of this destabilization in Cambodia was the extension of the war in Vietnam by the United States with a mass bombing campaign in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was, at the time, a marginal Maoist cult in Cambodia, led by Pol Pot, a former Buddhist monk. The organization had no base of support to speak of and their influence was near non-existent prior to the U.S. mass bombing campaign. The destruction and chaos wrought by it, changed everything.
By 1975 this death cult had managed to take over the country, whereupon they immediately embarked upon one of the most brutal and barbaric campaigns of genocidal violence the world has seen. ... The brutal rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge lasted until 1979, when the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam entered the country to liberate its people. Washington’s response to Cambodia’s liberation was the imposition of economic sanctions on its new government — an an act of nauseating cruelty against a beleaguered people whose only crime was that they’d been liberated by a country, Vietnam, that had refused to accept its colonial status and thrown off the yoke of U.S. imperialism. Today, the parallels between Cambodia and the Middle East are undeniable.
Syria COLLAPSES: Assad FLEES to Moscow, Is Iran Next? w/ Prof. Mohammad Marandi
In Damascus, Julani Declares ‘Mujahideen’ Victorious Against Assad
Abu Mohammad al-Julani, leader of the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, delivered a victory speech at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, declaring the success of the “mujahideen” against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has reportedly fled to Moscow.
“Today, Syria is purified, thanks to God almighty,” Julani said. “Thanks to God almighty, then thanks to the heroic mujahideen.” ...
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali, who stayed in the country, said he was willing to “cooperate” with whoever Syrians choose as their leader. “This country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world,” Jalali said, according to The New Arab. “But this issue is up to any leadership chosen by the Syrian people. We are ready to cooperate with it (that leadership) and offer all possible facilities.”
Alastair Crooke : Turkey Turns on Russia
Roughly 900 US Troops Still in Syria as Rebels Close in on Damascus
Syrian rebel groups' rapid advance on the nation's capital city of Damascus and the possible collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's government after more than a decade of civil war has brought renewed attention to the continued presence of U.S. forces in the country, despite the absence of a clear legal authorization.
The U.S. is believed to have around 900 troops deployed to Syria, mostly in the northeast, as well as an unknown number of private contractors. Nick Turse, a contributing writer for The Intercept, observed Thursday that American forces in Syria "have, on average, come under fire multiple times each week since last October," according to internal Pentagon statistics.
"Keeping military personnel in harm's way for the sake of foreign policy credibility has become increasingly risky with the Gaza war and the flare-up of the Syrian civil war," Turse wrote.
Kelley Vlahos, senior adviser to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote Saturday morning that "whether the Pentagon wants to admit it or not," U.S. troops "are likely involved in the broader conflict unfolding there right now."
Reuters reported Tuesday that as rebels advanced toward the city of Hama, "fighters from a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition battled government forces in the northeast, both sides said, opening a new front along a vital supply route" and "compounding Assad's problems."
As the coalition of groups led by the Islamist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and factions of the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army has quickly seized control of large swaths of territory, the White House National Security Council (NSC) said in a statement last weekend that the U.S.—which has previously armed and trained Syrian rebels—"has nothing to do with this offensive."
"The United States, together with its partners and allies, urge de-escalation, protection of civilians and minority groups, and a serious and credible political process that can end this civil war once and for all with a political settlement consistent with UNSCR 2254," said NSC spokesperson Sean Savett. "We will also continue to fully defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military positions, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never again resurge in Syria."
On Friday, the White House said in a letter to Congress that "a small presence of United States Armed Forces remains in strategically significant locations in Syria to conduct operations, in partnership with local, vetted ground forces, to address continuing terrorist threats emanating from Syria."
Israel attacks hospital in northern Gaza, leaving bodies lying in streets
Israeli forces have stormed into Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza, expelled some staff and displaced people before withdrawing, and bodies of people killed by airstrikes littered the streets outside, its director has said.
The attack had begun with a series of airstrikes on the western and northern sides of Kamal Adwan accompanied by intensive shooting, the hospital director, Hussam Abu Safiyeh, said, speaking via an online chatroom, Reuters reported.
He said troops who swept into the hospital ordered all staff, patients and displaced people into its courtyard before allowing them hours later to return inside, though some staff, including its Indonesian emergency surgery team, and some displaced were ordered to leave the premises for good.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 29 people were killed and dozens wounded on Friday by Israeli shelling in north Gaza, “especially around Kamal Adwan”. AFP reported that four hospital staff members were among the dead, citing Abu Safiyeh. The broadcaster Al Jazeera said it had verified footage of Israeli forces firing on a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance outside the hospital.
It is not possible to independently verify the reports as Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza. The Israeli military on Friday denied claims it had struck or entered Kamal Adwan hospital, saying it was operating next to the facility. “Contrary to the reports made over the past day, the [military] did not strike the Kamal Adwan hospital or operate within it,” it said in a statement.
Larry Johnson : Putin’s Warning to the US
US Bill Would Reverse ATACMS Order
A bill introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) would prohibit the U.S. from sending long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine to be fired into Russia.
As U.S. personnel and satellites are required to fire the missiles from Ukrainian territory, Moscow considers it a direct U.S. attack on Russia putting it in a state of war with the U.S. which could lead to nuclear conflict.
To remove the potential of nuclear war, the proposed legislation seeks to end ATACMS launches into Russia. The bill reads:
(a) Prohibition.—For the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending at the close of January 20, 2025, notwithstanding any other provision of law, during any period for which a state of conflict exists between Ukraine and the Russian Federation—
1) no Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) may be transferred to Ukraine; and
(2) U.S. Military Services or intelligence agencies may not provide support to Ukrainian units operating High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HMARS) platforms utilizing ATACMS munitions to strike outside of internationally recognized Ukrainian territorial borders—
A) targeting intelligence support;
(B) mission planning support; and
(C) any other type of support.
Several members of Congress and their staff said they were taken off guard by President Joe Biden’s reversal of his previous decision not to allow the use of ATACMS to be fired into Russia from Ukraine.
The members and their staff made these remarks during meetings on Thursday on Capitol Hill with former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter and activists of Code Pink, led by Medea Benjamin.
Trump calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Ukraine after meeting Zelenskyy
Donald Trump has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a day after meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Paris, claiming Kyiv “would like to make a deal” to end its war with Russia.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said both sides had suffered enormous losses in the war – which he claimed on the US election campaign trail he would be able to end “in 24 hours” if elected. Trump has already appointed the retired army general Keith Kellogg as his Russia and Ukraine envoy, tasked with ending the war.
“There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,” Trump said on Sunday. He said Kyiv had “ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians”. He did not specify whether the figure included those wounded. “Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” he added.
Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Sunday that he had had a “good meeting” with Trump in Paris. The news site Axios reported that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had persuaded Trump to meet Zelenskyy with him, Trump being initially reluctant to meet the Ukrainian leader. ...
How Trump’s policy on Ukraine will look in practice remains something of a mystery. Kellogg has previously talked of putting pressure on Kyiv and Moscow to enter talks, and boosting military aid to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin refused to engage. Others in Trump’s orbit have espoused openly pro-Russian views.
Europe may have to double its aid for Ukraine under Trump, diplomats fear
European military aid to Ukraine may eventually need to be doubled if Donald Trump cuts off US funding, European diplomats fear, but Ukraine is confident with already announced US aid this year that it has the military and budgetary support to keep fighting through 2025.
The former EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has also recommended a step-change in Ukraine’s domestic arms manufacturing during 2025, believing it the cheapest and most efficient way for Ukraine to keep fighting.
European officials are meanwhile confident that Ukraine will receive a $50bn (£39bn) loan repaid from the interest earned on frozen Russian assets of $280bn that was announced in October by G7 countries.
The US is expected to cover $20bn of the loan with the first US tranche to be paid before Donald Trump takes office, but it is not clear if the president-elect could later legally pull out of the arrangement in an attempt to force Ukraine to the negotiating table.
Officials from the EU believe that, even in this situation, they could agree to make up most of the shortfall. Europe has provided €46bn in military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion and the US approximately €65bn. This is separate from aid to help fund Ukraine’s debt.
Motion to impeach South Korean president fails after vote boycott
A motion to impeach the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, over his ill-fated declaration of martial law this week has failed after members of his party boycotted the vote. The walkout on Saturday meant the national assembly did not have the 200 votes needed to begin the process of forcing out the embattled Yoon.
“With a total of 195 votes, the number of members who voted did not reach the required two-thirds majority of the total members,” the national assembly speaker, Woo Won-shik, said. “Therefore, I declare that the vote on this matter is not valid.”
The dramatic walkout meant uncertainty surrounds Yoon’s fate. Having indicated on Friday that some members of Yoon’s People Power party (PPP) could join opposition lawmakers and support impeachment, the mood had changed by Saturday, with MPs rallying around their embattled president.
Opposition parties, led by the Democrats, hold 192 seats in the 300-seat assembly and needed just eight PPP lawmakers to join them for the impeachment motion to succeed. But the plan unravelled when members of the PPP filed out of the chamber just before the televised vote, leaving the assembly without enough MPs for the motion to pass unless they returned.
The lawmakers left to angry protests from some of those still in the chamber, while an estimated 150,000 people demonstrated outside.
South Korea arrests ex-defence minister after failed martial law attempt
South Korean prosecutors have arrested ex-defence minister Kim Yong-hyun over his alleged role in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law on Tuesday, local media has reported. Kim, who offered his resignation on Wednesday, was seen as a central figure in Tuesday’s brief martial law declaration. A senior military official and filings to impeach Yoon by opposition members said Kim had made the proposal to Yoon. ...
The prosecution’s special investigative team has questioned Kim, who voluntarily appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office at about 1.30 am on Sunday, the national news wire Yonhap reported. The office was not immediately available for comments.
Three minority opposition parties filed a complaint with the prosecution against Yoon, Kim and martial law commander Park An-su, accusing them of treason. Kim faces a travel ban as prosecutors investigate, Yonhap said. The news wire later reported that police had also raided Kim’s official residence and office.
‘We were demonized’: labor unions win big in ruling on Wisconsin’s Act 10
As the labor movement braces for a second Trump term, union members and their leaders are celebrating a major victory over a controversial law that stripped public sector unions of collective bargaining rights.
In response to a lawsuit alleging that a notorious law passed by the former Republican governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker in 2011 is unconstitutional, a county judge ruled on Monday that more than 60 sections of the law and several sections of a follow-up law in 2015, Act 55, are unconstitutional.
Walker called the decision “brazen political activism at its worst” and Republicans plan an appeal.
Thousands protested the introduction of the law, which crippled unions’ funding and powers. Following the passage of Act 10, several Republican-dominated states pushed to pass similar legislation, including Florida which passed a similar law in May 2023 targeting public sector unions, and Iowa, which passed legislation that took away collective bargaining rights from many state employees in 2017.
Act 10 stripped collective bargaining rights from thousands of state employees in Wisconsin, limiting their ability to bargain solely on wage increases that cannot exceed inflation. It also forced public sector labor unions to annually vote, with a majority of members participating and voting, to maintain certification.
UnitedHealthcare CEO's Murder SPARKS CELEBRATION On Reddit; Industry Rife W/ 'GREED'—Interview
College enrollment is falling at a ‘concerning’ rate, new data reveals
College enrollment is dropping at a “concerning” rate, according to new data. Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows enrollment of 18-year-old freshmen has dropped by 5% this fall semester. The data reflects enrollments reported for 1.4 million 18-year-old freshmen as of 31 October 2024.
The decline is most significant at both public and private, non-profit four-year colleges, which have seen a more than 6% decline in enrollment. For 46 states, Inside Higher Ed noted, the average drop was almost 7%. At prestigious universities with lower acceptance rates, the largest drops in enrollment were among freshmen of color. Black freshmen, for example, enrolled 16.9% less at highly selective public and private, non-profit four-year schools.
Body-cam shows Ohio police fatally shooting 15-year-old boy
Police in Akron, Ohio, have released body-camera footage of the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy, in an incident the city’s mayor called “deeply troubling”.
Video of the Thanksgiving night killing of Jazmir Tucker does not clearly show what led up to the shooting, but suggests that an officer quickly fired at the teenager upon encountering him, and that a group of officers waited seven minutes to approach the boy after he had been shot. The family’s attorneys have said officers did not start rendering aid for 10 minutes.
“In hindsight, the amount of time that expired between the shooting and the initiation of physical aid to Jazmir is deeply troubling to me,” Akron’s mayor, Shammas Malik, said in a statement on Thursday, alongside the release of the footage. “I want to be clear that any unreasonable delay in the rendering of aid by police officers is unacceptable and has no place in Akron.”
Police have said that two patrol officers heard nearby gunshots just after 11pm on 28 November and got out of their parked car to investigate. The officers then encountered Jazmir and ran after him, officials said. One officer fired his assault rifle at the teen, fatally striking him. The boy was later pronounced dead at a hospital and no officers were injured.
The boy was found with a gun in a zipped-up pocket, raising concerns about why lethal force had been used, Malik said: “Why did the officer decide to use his weapon?”
Donald Trump promises to pardon January 6 rioters on ‘day one’
In his first sit-down television news interview since winning a second presidency in November’s election, Donald Trump renewed promises to pardon his supporters involved in the attack on the US Capitol in early 2021.
He also doubled down on promises of mass deportations and tariffs in the conversation with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker – the latter of which he acknowledged could cause Americans to pay more after riding voters’ complaints about higher prices back to the White House at the expense of Vice-President Kamala Harris.
“I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day,” Trump said in the interview, claiming convicted Capitol attackers had been put through a “very nasty system”.
“I know the system,” said Trump, himself convicted in May by New York state prosecutors of criminally falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. “The system’s a very corrupt system.” ...
Trump denied he would direct his second administration’s appointees to arrest elected officials involved in the investigation of the attack on the US Capitol, which led to federal criminal charges against him that have been dismissed. But he made it a point to tell Welker: “Honestly, they should go to jail.”
Bernie Sanders SLAMS BLOATED Defense Budget; EMBRACES Elon Musk's Vision
Younger people at greater risk of heat-related deaths this century
Extreme heat fueled by the climate crisis is often viewed as primarily a problem for vulnerable segments of the population, such as elderly people. But it is people aged under 35 that are set to suffer the brunt of heat-related deaths as temperatures climb, new research has suggested.
While older people are susceptible to heatwaves, they currently make up the bulk of cold-related deaths. As the world heats up, it will be younger people that will suffer disproportionately as the mortality burden shifts, with the new study estimating a 32% increase in deaths of people under 35 years old this century from heat if greenhouse gases emissions aren’t radically cut.
“Most discussion of vulnerability to heat focuses on the elderly, but we found a surprising source of inequality in that most heat mortality is in younger people,” said Andrew Wilson, a Columbia University researcher who led the study, published in Science Advances, with a group of nine other scientists. “We didn’t think we’d find this.”
The study is based on data drawn from deaths in Mexico, a country of extensive mortality records and high “wet bulb” temperatures, which is a measurement that factors in humidity to ascertain the heat stress level upon people. The researchers found that in the two decades until 2019, 75% of deaths from heat occurred among people younger than 35 while, conversely, almost all cold-related deaths were of those older than 50.
As most temperature-related deaths in Mexico, like in most countries, currently occur due to cold weather, the growing problem of extreme heat is likely to tip the balance towards more younger people dying, the research suggests. This pattern may well be replicated in other countries such as the US and in Europe, Wilson said, due to fundamental similarities in how different age groups react to temperature.
US Food and Drug Administration moves to ban red food dye
The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that it could soon act to crack down upon the additive known as red 3, derived from petroleum and used to provide a cherry-red coloring to an array of foods.
“With red 3, we have a petition in front of us to revoke the authorization board, and we’re hopeful that in the next few weeks we’ll be acting on that petition,” Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, told a US Senate health committee on Thursday.
Red 3 is used in nearly 3,000 food products, according to a database by one environmental health group, including Pez, Peeps, Betty Crocker’s products and Dubble Bubble chewing gum. Like other food dyes, it adds nothing of nutritional value and is used instead to add color to foods for marketing purposes.
While the FDA said that this food dye, like other such approved additives, is safe to consume if done so correctly, red 3 has been found to be carcinogenic in animals and has been banned for use in cosmetics since 1990. Public health groups have also linked it to behavioral problems in children.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Another Nation Absorbed Into The Blob Of The Empire
Craig Murray - The End of Pluralism in the Middle East
Two Lessons From the Syrian Collapse
Trump’s Pro-Israel Dream Team: Patel Nomination Caps Hawkish Cabinet
China Sanctions 13 US Companies in Response to Weapons Sales to Taiwan
Appeals Court Upholding TikTok Ban Is a Grim Sign for Press Freedom
The 'Silent Violence' of Corporate Greed and Power
Syrians Are Celebrating Fall of Assad, Even as "the Bigger Picture Is Grim": Scholar Bassam Haddad
CEO Killer Backpack Found With MONOPOLY MONEY
SNL BANNED Sketch About Israel Control Of U.S. Politicians!
A Little Night Music
Floyd Jones - Playhouse
Floyd Jones - Skinny Mama
Floyd Jones and Eddie Taylor - Dark Road
Floyd Jones - Stockyard Blues
Floyd Jones - I Lost A Good Woman
Floyd Jones - Hard Times
Floyd Jones - Schooldays on My Mind
Little Walter, Floyd Jones - Big World
Floyd Jones - Early Morning
Big Walter Horton & Floyd Jones - Overseas Blues
Comments
Hey joe another good blues session
.
.
does anyone else grow tired of the
unending twisting of reality the news
outlets promote? We get it bad here in
empire land, pretty much worse(?) in the
EU/UK 'garden'. The fifth column thrives.
thanks for the updates
question everything
evening qms...
the twisting of reality by news organizations is something that i take for granted. i view it as a challenge to figure out what is going on since there are so many professional liars stirring the pot.
Karen Kwiatkowski seems a tad angry about some events
.
The Capitol Report
Great humor!
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
evening snoopy...
heh, i didn't realize that kwiatkowski had such a talent for snarkiness, good stuff!
Yep…
She didn’t hold back. Did you watch the video of her from the past? I saw shades of her snark then.
Funny way to treat your enemy.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20241209/russian-us-trade-hits-5-month-high-in-...
Russia has upped how much plutonium it’s selling us. And it hasn’t ever stopped selling us diesel. Other countries are forbidden to trade with Russia, but not the exceptional one. Putin could have stopped weapons shipments long time ago if he had threatened to stop his exports. Funny way to do a war too.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
heh...
no, i got busy and never got back to digging up her video. one of these days ...
i suspect that the u.s. trades with russia because it can't produce the things that russia sells it. it would seem to give russia some extra leverage.
John Helmer on the Syria wtf just happened?
.
Helmer lives in Russia so he usually has a good feel for what is happening there.
https://johnhelmer.net/the-russian-general-staff-kremlin-discuss-holding...
Also the transcript of a Lavrov interview and. I’ll just say I’m not impressed with most of his answers.
https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1986144/
Gosh…Turkey and the terrorists didn’t abide by the treaties they signed. Must be a shock how Russia keeps getting betrayed when they sign treaties in good faith…./s
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
heh...
if you haven't, check out this short piece from ian welsh, he seems to get at the root of the problem:
Two Lessons From the Syrian Collapse
it looks like putin has not wanted to go whole hog and settle issues decisively with the west.
it looks to me like putin needs to do something bigger than vaporizing a weapons factory in east jesus, ukraine. perhaps he ought to give erdogan a bloody nose for starters.
Yeah
His first sentence sums it up:
The first is that frozen conflicts are poison.
But….
It didn’t just fall in days did it? Israel was allowed to bomb Syria at will and destroy its military and military infrastructure. Plus it had been bombing Iranian military supplies and it blocked Iran from landing in Syria plus what it did to Hezzbollah and the border between Syria and Lebanon.
Maybe if Russia had let Syria use its air defense system against Israel things would be different today? How many years was Israel allowed to do that?
Plus America propping its military ass on the oil fields and cutting off the food sources it took money out of Syrian mouths. Couldn’t other countries have done something to offset the sanctions? Russia has been sending wheat and stuff to poor countries so why couldn’t it help Syrians? Why couldn’t other countries? And for gawd’s sake why hasn’t the world helped people in Cuba in over 50 years? I think countries should have done that in many places and let America keep putting out the fires. The way to beat the bully is to punch it in the nose.
And again I’m so disgusted that the world is just watching the Palestinians being genocided. Oh well let’s just pretend that international law is going to do its job any day now…after 15 fcking months.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
yeah...
i have been scratching my head for ages about why russia allowed israel to flagrantly attack syria. i can't figure out what the advantage was in that.
international law is useless. the u.s. broke it.
Good evening Joe, thanks for the EBs. More solid
classic Chicago Blues tonight. It's amazing how much of it is out there.
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...
yep, there are hundreds of lesser-known chicago blues musicians who are/were incredibly talented and never got the attention they deserved. i suppose that's just the nature of the music business, if you're taylor swift you become rich beyond belief and people all over the world know who you are. if you're a talented musician doing quality work, that's apparently not enough.
have a great evening!
KJ Noh on US promotion of crackpot despot Yoon
I never considered him anything else but.
Nice essay by KJ on how the US did everything it could to dress up a pig. Worth a read.
South Korea’s Martial Law Fiasco: Legitimation Crisis in the Imperial Vassal State
The crowds aren't letting the gookchimdang (PPP) that blocked the impeachment off the hook. The popular campaign on the streets and on the internet isn't letting up. Han's effort to stave off disaster and inflate his own power and prospects may not succeed. The next vote on impeachment is said to be scheduled for the 14th. Legal scholars have been pronouncing Han's plans (of self aggrandizement) for some sort of delayed Yoon resignation plan, with him and Han Duk-soo running the show for the minority party as unconstitutional. He has been unresponsive to questions as to whether he considers the president commander in chief or not. There is no constitutional provision for the president to defer his presidential powers to someone else. He must either resign now or be impeached.
There have also been large demos relatively speaking in Taegu and Busan, so this popular resistance to Yoon and the party that is blindly supporting him is national.
Austin skipped a trip to South Korea that he would have otherwise made after a stop in Japan. I don't think the NSC/diplomatic people in SK can show their faces. If they did, they'd have to say something, and it would just be a foot in mouth moment. Yes, shared democratic values, blah, blah, blah...
The crowds opposed to Yoon and now his party aren't going away. Here they are still outside the National Assembly building days later in the cold weather singing a song inspired by the Gwangju uprising. This video is remarkable.
March for the Beloved
Thanks for the EBs Joe!
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
thanks for the updates. i'm glad to hear that the south korean people are not backing down. good on 'em.
have a great evening!
This is something really moving about the current
.....of natural unity that binds the people, perhaps through their strong culture. They show a social cohesion and organic trust that is nothing like the American experience. I hope that can grab hold of that; develop standards about who they are in the world, geopolitically, and what nobel role they are destined to play. There is a game changing opportunity for the people to take control, and make their government perform correctly. The South Koreans being manipulated to take sides in a war with China; their corrupt politicians eager to serve the delusional US psychopaths — these things are a disgrace.
I recently read a a thought-provoking discussion between renowned Chinese scholar Zhang Weiwei and Professor Park Tae-gyun from Seoul National University about South Korea's important path forward — if it has the courage.
https://thechinaacademy.org/korean-is-wise-enough-to-keep-some-distance-...
Carry a burning candle and share the light.
.
this is a great dialogue. PR
Thanks so much for reminding me of The China Academy. I had listened to two of Zhang Weiwei's videos a several weeks back, but in all the turmoil we've experienced recently, forgot about his presentations there. Of course, the algorithms are not going to bring this up, although the internet minders should know I'm interested in their programming.
The US obviously is trying to set up a neo-mercantilist imperial economy in a desperate effort to avoid competition from China and others. Long gone are the free trade days. This is the model that preceded WWII. Interfering in South Korea's technical exports and capital investments has been disastrous for its trade balance.
It is so true that Korea can and should be a "bridge" or intermediary to mitigate trade friction between the US and China, rather than aggravate it. The geopolitical situation on the Korean peninsula and Korean armed forces should not be used to aggravate and provoke either China or Russia. It's bad for business and the standard of living worldwide.
For me personally, my exposure to Korean culture is a bridge to understanding Chinese culture, as incomplete as that is, it is a project under development. The ties culturally and politically with all their ups and downs have always been there. Some people, particularly those in the west, are bent on aggravating the differences that exist between the two national cultures. When I see these being so fervently pursued, seemingly irrelevant and pointless arguments on social media, "who invented the hanbok (Korean traditional dress)?" or "who invented kimchi?" I often feel this is a form of political manipulation to no real valid end. It's not too different from the faux, "shared values" dichotomy. The west and east are different, live with it. Live with ambiguity. Respect the other. Korea is a crossroads, use it, rather than obstruct it. Shared humanity should be the focus. This really underlies the nature of the DMZ and the putative inability to resolve or even attempt to resolve the Korean war legacy. The west is not going to rule Asia again. Get over it.
My greatest fear now, is that the collapse of Syria, will lead the west to feel the "maximum pressure" strategy will ultimately succeed with North Korea. This is the wrong way to go.
Thanks so much for your insights and observations, Pluto's Republic.
語必忠信 行必正直
Evening joe and bluesters
Thank you for the Mark Twain quote. It is very expressive of a very unfortunate characteristic of man. Too often it’s the principle that’s missing.
Cool blues to make up for the news.
I'm not sure there's an association with this image that I saw right after reading the Twain quote?
Have a good evening all
evening janis...
heh, if there is an association, it is not susceptible to language concepts for me. perhaps that's why it's art.
have a great evening!
Thanks for the great response, joe n/t
HeH
Precisely!
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 --
Since the news is so rotten
.
Here’s a funny story about Sam. As y’all know she loves empty toilet paper rolls. I put one in the bathroom sink a week ago because she likes to see what’s in it and take whatever isn’t hers and waited for her to find it. This morning I woke up with it next to my pillow… For some reason she went snooping in the middle of the night to see if there was something waiting for her. Lots of giggles ensued after I asked her what it was. Heh…life with Sam is never dull.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
thanks for the story...
it was better than the news and better than any i've found so far for tomorrow's eb.
give sam a scritch for me.
snooping, sweet Sam ; )
Nice
Will do
With all the rotten things happening in this world I’m so glad that I have Sam to help me not sink into despair. Scritches delivered.
I don’t know why after a week she decided to do that in the middle of the night. I can see her standing up to see what’s in the sink and bringing it to me and hoping that I will wake up and play. She does that with my socks before I fall asleep. The glint in her eyes is just the best thing ever. I have to pretend to scold her for being naughty, but she just giggles.
"Sam that’s my sock!" Snicker…
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.