The Evening Blues - 4-19-16



eb1pt12


Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features jump blues singer and guitarist Jimmy Liggins. Enjoy!

Jimmy Liggins and His Drops Of Joy - Cadillac Boogie

“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shore, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it. Our children are still taught to respect the violence which reduced a red-skinned people of an earlier culture into a few fragmented groups herded into impoverished reservations.”

-- Martin Luther King Jr.


News and Opinion

Indigenous Youth to Canadian Politician: ‘Tell Me Why We Live in Third World Conditions’

A young member of the Aboriginal community at the center of a suicide crisis in Canada delivered a pointed question to a key member of Justin Trudeau's Liberal government on Monday.

"Tell me why we First Nations we live in Third World conditions," Robert Sutherland asked Carolyn Bennett, Canada's Indigenous affairs minister, as she toured Attawapiskat, a remote reserve in northern Ontario, the Canadian Press reported.

"Why is it so easy for the government to welcome refugees and offer them first-class citizenship in our country? When will Canada wake up and open its eyes to First Nations communities?"

CP did not note what, if anything, Bennett said in response. But she committed to a new, properly equipped youth center and additional youth programming in Attawapiskat, which shot to international attention last week with reports that 11 people — most of them youths — had tried to commit suicide in one day alone. More than 100 had made the attempt since September. There were reportedly five more suicide attempts by children on Friday. About 2,000 people live in the reserve off the shores of James Bay.


US congressman calls for investigation into vulnerability that lets hackers spy on every phone

Vulnerabilities within SS7 mobile phone network brokerage system allow attackers to listen to calls, read messages and track location using just a phone number

The security flaws within the system that brokers connections, billing and transfers messages between phone networks – called Signalling System No 7 (SS7), also know as C7 in the UK or CCSS7 in the US – allow remote access to mobile phone users’ data anywhere in the world regardless of the security of their smartphone, using just their phone number.

The Californian congressman Ted Lieu said: “The applications for this vulnerability are seemingly limitless, from criminals monitoring individual targets to foreign entities conducting economic espionage on American companies to nation states monitoring US government officials.”

While encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp are unaffected, SMS messages and calls placed across the mobile phone network can be listened in to, read and recorded, while the location of the phone can be tracked using the mobile network’s location services independent of GPS or other location technologies on the phone. ...

As the vulnerability is within the mobile phone network infrastructure, there is nothing users can do to protect themselves beyond switching off their phone.

Pentagon Announces More US Ground Troops Headed to Iraq

Over the past couple of weeks, Pentagon officials have been talking up planned further escalations of the war in Iraq, and today started their latest move, announcing 217 more US ground troops, along with attack helicopters will be heading to the front lines around Mosul.

The deployment is the formal point at which the US will be violating its deal with the Iraqi government, wherein US ground troops were to be capped at 3,870. The Pentagon has admitted having almost 5,000 troops in Iraq for months, but didn’t count many, listing them as “temporary” even though they have no end date for their deployment. Today’s move will put the “official” figure at over 4,000.

The inclusion of Apache helicopters in the escalation is also noteworthy, as Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has been pushing those for months, with Iraq’s government repeatedly rejecting the idea during previous offensives.

War in Syria: Peace talks near collapse as opposition declares pause

Syrian Rebels Withdraw From Peace Talks, Will Stay in Geneva for Now

After days of loudly condemning the Syrian military for an offensive against al-Qaeda controlled territory south of the city of Aleppo, the Syrian rebel negotiating team in Geneva has withdrawn from the UN-brokered peace talks.

Officials are presenting this simply as a “postponement” of the talks, and say that the rebel negotiators will remain in Geneva for now, with the possibility of returning to the talks, though top negotiator Mohammed Alloush inssisted there was “no way” they’d return. ...

The US appears to be endorsing the rebels’ decision to withdraw from the talks, demanding that Russia use its influence to stop Syria’s ongoing offensive against Nusra territory. Other Western diplomats, however, warn that if the talks collapse over this, the rebels will be blamed.

White House to Veto Bill Allowing Lawsuits Against Saudi Govt for 9/11

The possibility of holding the Saudi Arabian government liable for the role of its officials in the 9/11 attacks in New York City is looking remote today, with the White House press secretary Josh Earnest openly saying he can’t imagine a scenario in which President Obama doesn’t veto the measure. ...

Multiple reports have Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir threatening to have the Saudi government sell as much as $750 billion in US assets, including Treasury securities and other financial securities on the world market, a move that would potentially have disastrous effects on the US dollar and the American economy in general.

Earnest appeared to concede as much, saying that taxpayers would be at risk if Obama didn’t veto the bill that would authorize the lawsuit. This, however, would be ultimately an acknowledgement that the Saudi government is untouchable, and that efforts to keep the Saudi involvement in 9/11 a secret ultimately is to avoid embarrassing US officials who believe they can’t do anything about it.

Saudi Arabia Coerces US Over 9/11

On Saturday, Mark Mazzetti wrote an article that appears on the front page of the New York Times called, apparently very scared by it.

It is bad enough that Wall Street tycoons got off the hook in 2008 because they were “too big to fail.” But, to re-victimize the 9/11 families in order to protect the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because they are “too invested in the U.S. economy to be held accountable” is appalling. It is extortion — plain and simple.

US Rejects Netanyahu’s Declaration That Golan Is ‘Forever’ Israeli

The US State Department has rejected yesterday’s demand from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the international community recognize the occupied Golan Heights as “forever” part of Israel, saying that the US position is unchanged, and that Golan is not legally part of Israel.

Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967, and reports have suggested previous Israeli governments sought to return the heights to Syria as part of a broader peace deal. Netanyahu opposed this, however, and insists that the illegal 1981 annexation of Golan will never be reversed.

‘Total failure’ – Palestine FM on Obama’s foreign policy

US feels 'overwhelming frustration' with Israeli government, says Biden

The US vice-president, Joe Biden, has delivered an unusually sharp critique of the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, saying the Israeli prime minister is leading Israel in the wrong direction through his policies, including settlement building.

Biden described the Obama administration’s “overwhelming frustration” with Israel, adding that “profound questions” existed about how the country could remain both Jewish and democratic.

Although Biden’s comments, made in a speech to the Jewish American group J-Street, also criticised Palestinians for the failure of the last round of Middle East peace talks, his remarks about the Netanyahu government were particularly pointed.

“I firmly believe that the actions that Israel’s government has taken over the past several years – the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalisation of outposts, land seizures – they’re moving us and more importantly they’re moving Israel in the wrong direction,” Biden said.

His remarks appear to have scotched the notion that relations between Israel and its most significant backer – which have been unusually strained – were returning to normal after the deep frictions over the Iran nuclear deal.

Ringleader in burning alive of Palestinian youth convicted of murder

The Israeli ringleader in the beating and burning alive of a Palestinian teenager in 2014 has been convicted of his murder.

Yosef Haim Ben David, 31, was found in November to have led the assault, but a verdict was delayed after his lawyers submitted last-minute documents saying he suffered from mental illness.

The court ruling on Tuesday said that Ben David “was not psychotic, fully understood the facts, was responsible for his actions, had no difficulty in understanding reality and had the capacity to prevent the crime”.

A sentencing hearing has been set for 3 May.

The family of the teenager, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, welcomed the decision but said they hoped judges followed through with a life sentence for Ben David.

Germany-Pegida leader on trial: Anti-immigration group founder charged with hate speech

Hate Speech Trial of Far-Right Pegida Party Founder Begins in Germany

The founder of Germany's far-right anti-Islam group Pegida went on trial on Tuesday accused of inciting racial hatred.

The charges against Lutz Bachmann, 43, relate to Facebook posts in which he called refugees "cattle," "filth," and "scumbags." A court said his comments amounted to an attack on the dignity of refugees and a disruption of public order. ...

He arrived at court with his girlfriend amid tight security wearing large rectangular dark glasses that mimicked the way media conceal people's identities by blacking out their eyes in pixelated photos — apparently mocking Germany's censorship rules, said the BBC.

Supporters cheered and held banners reading "Against religious fanaticism and any kind of radicalism," "We are the people!" and "Shame on you! Acquit Bachmann."

Bachmann denies being a racist. If convicted he faces between three months and five years in jail.

After Vote to Remove Brazil’s President, Key Opposition Figure Holds Meetings in Washington

It is highly likely that the Senate will agree to hear the charges, which will result in the 180-day suspension of Dilma as president and the installation of the pro-business Vice President Michel Temer from the PMDB party. The vice president himself is, as the New York Times put it, “under scrutiny over claims that he was involved in an illegal ethanol purchasing scheme.” Temer recently made it known that one of the leading candidates to head his economic team would be the chairman of Goldman Sachs in Brazil, Paulo Leme. ...

The US has been notably quiet about this tumult in the second-largest country in the hemisphere, and its posture has barely been discussed in the mainstream press. It’s not hard to see why. The U.S. spent years vehemently denying that it had any role in the 1964 military coup that removed Brazil’s elected left-wing government, a coup that resulted in 20 years of a brutal, pro-U.S., right-wing military dictatorship. But secret documents and recordings emerged proving that the U.S. actively helped plot that coup, and the country’s 2014 Truth Commission report documented that the U.S. and U.K. aggressively supported the dictatorship and even “trained Brazilian interrogators in torture techniques.”

That U.S-supported coup and military dictatorship loom large over the current controversy. President Rousseff and her supporters explicitly call the attempt to remove her a coup. ... The U.S., of course, has a long — and recent — history of engineering instability and coups against democratically elected, left-wing Latin American governments it dislikes. ...

Although no real evidence has emerged proving this theory, a little-publicized trip to the U.S. this week by a key Brazilian opposition leader will likely fuel those concerns. Today — the day after the impeachment vote — Sen. Aloysio Nunes of the PSDB will be in Washington to undertake three days of meetings with various U.S. officials as well as with lobbyists and assorted influence-peddlers close to Clinton and other leading political figures.

Nunes is an extremely important — and revealing — opposition figure to send to the U.S. for these high-level meetings. He ran for vice president in 2014 on the PSDB ticket that lost to Dilma. He will, notably, now be one of the key opposition figures leading the fight to impeach Dilma in the Senate.

As president of the Brazilian Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Nunes has repeatedly advocated that Brazil once again move closer to an alliance with the U.S. and U.K. And — it almost goes without saying — Nunes has been heavily implicated in corruption allegations; in September, a judge ordered a criminal investigation after an informant, a construction company executive, told investigators that he gave Sen. Nunes R$ 500,000 (US$ 140,000) for his campaign — R$ 300,000 above board and another R$ 200,000 in illicit bribes — in order to win contracts with Petrobras. It is hardly the first such accusation against him.

Dilma Rousseff would likely take the fight to the Supreme Court

Dilma Rousseff vows to keep fighting despite impeachment defeat

Brazil’s embattled president Dilma Rousseff has said that she will fight to maintain power despite a devastating impeachment defeat in the lower house.

While the opposition camp celebrated Sunday’s vote and prepared for a new administration under Vice-President Michel Temer, Rouseff said that she was the victim of a “non-traditional coup d’etat”.

“I believe in democracy,” she told reporters. “I will fight, like I have always done in my life.”

She added: “This is not the beginning of the end – it’s the beginning of the fight.”

Rouseff singled out Temer for criticism, saying that he had “openly conspired” against her, and repeated her pledge not to stand down.

“My mandate is not for me, it’s for 54 million who voted for me ... this is a fight for Brazil, for democracy,” she said. ...

The government side said supporters should to prepare for the next stage of the impeachment process in the senate.
“The Workers’ party calls on all men and women committed to democracy to remain mobilised and occupy the streets against this fraudulent impeachment,” said Rui Falcão, the party’s national president.

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez: U.S. Exceeding King George III's Despotism in Current Treatment of Puerto Rico

'An international disgrace': Jesse Jackson calls for Chicago to close Homan Square

The Rev Jesse Jackson has called for Chicago police to close the warehouse it uses for thousands of incommunicado detentions and interrogations, condemning Homan Square as an “international disgrace”.

Criticism from the civil rights leader comes as the Chicago police department is under heavy pressure for reform, following a mayoral taskforce’s conclusion last week that the force is plagued by institutional racism and an ongoing US Justice Department investigation into its patterns and practices.

“Homan Square is an international disgrace,” Jackson said of the warehouse exposed by the Guardian, at a Monday press conference reacting to the police accountability taskforce’s report.

“People will go without police protection, without equal protection. They are violated and whipped into submission and some of them never return alive.”

A minimally marked warehouse, Homan Square houses the headquarters of anti-narcotics, anti-gang, anti-vice and intelligence units, as well as the property reclamation unit.

But a Guardian investigation and transparency lawsuit has revealed, based largely on the Chicago police’s own internal documents, that at least 7,300 people have been held at Homan Square without a contemporaneous public record of their whereabouts. More than 80% of known Homan Square detainees are black, a figure disproportionate to Chicago’s population. Fewer than 1% of arrestees at Homan Square, according to police records, received access to an attorney. Activists and lawyers have called Homan Square the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.

Matt Taibbi has an important find. There's a good chance that Obama and his stenchly henchmen are up to something crooked. Here's a taste, there's more detail to look into, a full read is a good idea.

Why Is the Obama Administration Trying to Keep 11,000 Documents Sealed?

For years now, the federal government has been quietly fighting to keep a lid on an 11,000-document cache of government communications relating to financial policy. ... The Obama administration invoked executive privilege, attorney-client and deliberative process over these documents and insisted that their release would negatively impact global financial markets. But in finally unsealing some of these materials last week, a federal judge named Margaret Sweeney said the government's sole motivation was avoiding embarrassment.

"Instead of harm to the Nation resulting from disclosure, the only 'harm' presented is the potential for criticism," Sweeney wrote. "The court will not condone the misuse of a protective order as a shield to insulate public officials from criticism in the way they execute their public duties."

So what's so embarrassing? Mainly, it's a sordid history of the government's seizure of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, also known as the government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs. ...

Within a few years after the crash, the housing markets improved significantly, to the point where Fannie and Freddie started to make money again. Lots of money. The GSEs became cash cows again, and in 2012 the government unilaterally changed the terms of the bailout.

Now, instead of taking a 10 percent dividend, the government decided that the new number it preferred was 100 percent. ...

Despite the fact that the GSEs went on to pay the government $228 billion over the next three years, or $40 billion more than they owed, none of that money went to paying off Fannie and Freddie's debt. ...

But there might be more to this story. Likely also buried in the still-sealed documents is a wealth of information about the government's plans for future reorganization of Fannie and Freddie, a huge looming event in the history of American finance.

Many of the government officials who were involved in the decisions surrounding the GSE conservatorship are now in the private sector, working on proposals for much-anticipated GSE reform.

Heh, the vampire squid is flailing:

Goldman Sachs' slump extends to four quarters as net revenue plummets

Wall Street bank’s net revenue falls 40.3% in first quarter of 2016 to its lowest level since third quarter of 2011 due to market volatility and China worries

Goldman Sachs profit slumped for the fourth straight quarter as market volatility hit the company’s bond trading and investment banking businesses.

The Wall Street bank’s net revenue fell 40.3% in the three months ended 31 March to its lowest since the third quarter of 2011.

“The operating environment this quarter presented a broad range of challenges, resulting in headwinds across virtually every one of our businesses,” the chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, said in a statement.

Goldman – the last of the big US banks to release first-quarter results – reported a 56.3% fall in net income applicable to common shareholders to $1.2bn, or $2.68 a share, for the three months ended 31 March. That compared with $2.75bn, or $5.94 a share, one year earlier, when the bank recorded its best quarterly profit in five years. Analysts on average had expected earnings of $2.45 a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Goldman’s shares, which up to Monday had fallen about 12% this year, were down 0.5% in pre-market trading.

As with other banks, Goldman’s trading revenue was hit by sliding commodity and oil prices, worries about the Chinese economy and uncertainty about US interest rates.

'Sea of Red' as 40,000 Verizon Workers and Allies March Against Greed in New York

Verizon workers were joined by city leaders in New York on Monday for the sixth continuous day of their labor strike, with a march that stretched from the Verizon building on West 36th Street to 42nd Street.


An estimated 40,000 workers, elected officials, and other allies marched through Manhattan in "a sea of red" as they called for Verizon executives to settle contract disputes that they say hold tens of thousands of livelihoods in the balance and expressed outrage over the company's plans to outsource labor to the Philippines, Mexico, and other developing countries.

Bernie Sanders made an impromptu visit to the picket line, joining them for the second time since the strike began last week and thanking the workers for standing up to the kind of "corporate greed...that is destroying the American middle class." ...

As organizers noted in a press release ahead of the action, Verizon's service quality has "deteriorated to the point that New York State’s Public Service Commission has convened a formal hearing to investigate problems across the Empire State," with similar probes taking place in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Ben & Jerry's co-founders scooped up by police for protesting at US Capitol

Police arrested the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at the US Capitol on Monday as they protested against the influence of money in politics.

Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen were arrested while participating in the Democracy Spring protests, a two-week series of demonstrations at the US Capitol. Since the protests began on 11 April, 12 people have handcuffed themselves to scaffolding in the building’s rotunda and more than 1,200 people have been arrested.

The demonstrations are not affiliated with any presidential candidate, but are calling on politicians at all levels of government “to commit to fight for reform to save our democracy and ensure political equality”.

US Capitol police said about 300 people were arrested during Monday’s demonstrations for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding”. Those arrested were processed on the scene and released.




the horse race



Democrats March Toward Cliff

As Democratic-insider “super-delegates” give Hillary Clinton a seemingly insurmountable lead for the presidential nomination, the former Secretary of State’s negative ratings continue to soar to stunning levels, hitting a net 24-point unfavorable in the new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll.

It is hard to imagine someone who is viewed unfavorably by a clear majority of voters (56 percent) and with a net-negative of 24 points winning the White House, except that most voters also don’t like the top Republican choices either. Donald Trump sports a 41-point net-negative and Sen. Ted Cruz is at minus-23 points. (By contrast, of the two trailing candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders gets a net-positive 9 points and Gov. John Kasich a net-positive 12 points.)

But a major difference between Trump and Clinton in the latest poll is that Trump’s numbers haven’t moved much while Clinton’s net-negative has almost doubled in the last month. In other words, the more Americans get to see of Clinton the more they don’t want her.

While Clinton’s dismal approval ratings haven’t seemed to have shaken the Democratic establishment, which continues to line up behind her long-anticipated coronation, some outside analysts see the party leaders blindly marching toward a cliff. ...

So, if Clinton’s eventual nomination is inevitable, the Democrats will be putting up a candidate who is broadly disliked by the American people. That means a Clinton candidacy will require massive spending on negative ads to make the Republican candidate so frightening in the eyes of most Americans that they will vote for Clinton out of fear, not hope.


Emergency Lawsuit Highlights Voter Frustration with New York Primary Process

One day before primary, voters sue Board of Elections and say mysterious "purges" of voting rolls have disenfranchised unsuspecting New Yorkers

As voters on Tuesday morning began casting ballots around New York in the state's Democratic and Republican primaries, a federal court in New York City was scheduled to hear an emergency class-action lawsuit that was filed against the state's Board of Elections alleging that thousands of New Yorkers will be heading to the polls only to discover they can't vote.

Many New Yorkers—mostly registered Democrats—recently discovered their voting registrations changed without their knowledge or that their registration never went through in the first place, argued Election Justice USA (EJUSA), the group that filed the lawsuit alongside 200 voters.

These disenfranchised voters, numbering in the thousands, have been unfairly disqualified from voting in the state's closed primary, argues EJUSA.

"Voters are frustrated, angry, and feel helpless," said Shyla Nelson, spokeswoman for EJUSA. "We have heard hundreds of stories, with desperate pleas for help. This election season has excited and galvanized the voting public in unprecedented numbers. For these voters to be systematically and erroneously removed from the rolls or prevented from voting in their party of choice is devastating to them personally and has sent a wave of doubt and worry through the voting public."

The group seeks an injunction that would immediately allow "tens of thousands" of potential plaintiffs to cast their votes in Tuesday's primary, reports Gothamist. Such a blanket order would effectively make the New York primary an open one, according to ThinkProgress.

EJUSA was awarded a 9am hearing in federal court in New York City on Tuesday. By 11:15am the attorney general named in the case had still not showed up, according to a local reporter, and after EJUSA requested an emergency summons the hearing was rescheduled to 2pm. If the judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs any provisional ballots filed today will be counted, EJUSA says.

New revelations have lent support to the group's allegations: WNYC reported Tuesday that over 123,000 Democratic voters in Kings County—a.k.a Brooklyn—had mysteriously disappeared from the Board of Elections' records since November of 2015. (The deadline for New Yorkers to change party affiliation was October 9, the earliest in the country, and the deadline for first-time voters to register was March 25.)

Millions of New Yorkers Disenfranchised from Primaries Thanks to State's Restrictive Voting Laws

On Staten Island, Clinton thanks Bush for 9/11 aid

Days before the state's April 19 presidential primary, Hillary Clinton made a moderate, middle-of-the-road pitch to supporters on Staten Island’s north shore — the borough she failed to carry in her 2000 Senate campaign, but won in her 2006 re-election. ...

But she used her appearance in the swing borough to remind voters of her record of working with Republicans, going so far as to praise former president George W. Bush and promising not to raise taxes. ...

The appearance on Staten Island comes as Clinton seeks to project a broader message of electability in November, and prove she can attract white, blue-collar voters. Hours before Clinton’s rally here, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump was six miles away at the Hilton Garden hotel, also on Staten Island, for a speech at the county’s annual luncheon.

Clinton praised Bush for delivering $20 billion in federal aid to New York after the terrorists attacks on September 11. She said that was the dollar figure she requested from the White House, when she was a New York senator.

"And despite intense Republican pressure to back down, he never did. So I publicly say, thank you President George W. Bush for making sure we got the money to rebuild," she said over applause.

Abby Martin Exposes What Hillary Clinton Really Represents

Bernie Sanders Just Accused Hillary Clinton of Violating Campaign Finance Laws

The Bernie Sanders campaign issued a blistering statement accusing Hillary Clinton’s campaign of circumventing federal campaign finance regulations.

In an official letter to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Sanders’ campaign attorney Brad C. Deutsch accused the Hillary Clinton campaign of using a joint fundraising committee to skirt campaign finance regulations. As Politico reported this weekend, the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF), which was designed to be a joint fundraising effort between the Clinton campaign and the DNC to help Democrats win down-ticket races, is unloading unusually large amounts of cash to Hillary for America (HFA) — Hillary Clinton’s official campaign account.

Deutsch pointed out that the money disbursed by the Hillary Victory Fund is disproportionately benefiting the Clinton campaign, rather than the Democratic Party as a whole:

The Hillary Victory Fund has reported receiving several individual contributions in amounts as high as $353,400 or more, which is over 130 times the $2,700 limit that applies for contributions to Secretary Clinton’s campaign. Bernie 2016 is particularly concerned that these extremely large-dollar individual contributions have been used by the Hillary Victory Fund to pay for more than $7.8 million in direct mail efforts and over $8.6 million in online advertising, both of which appear to benefit only HFA by generating low-dollar contributions that flow only to HFA, rather than to the DNC or any of the participating state party committees. ...

On the Hillary Victory Fund’s official FEC report, the joint fundraising committee disbursed $9.5 million in funds to HFA, while only allocating just over $2 million for the DNC and even less money for state Democratic parties.

Facebook Employees Asked Mark Zuckerberg If They Should Try to Stop a Donald Trump Presidency

Every week, Facebook employees vote in an internal poll on what they want to ask Zuckerberg in an upcoming Q&A session. A question from the March 4 poll was: “What responsibility does Facebook have to help prevent President Trump in 2017?” ...

It’s not particularly surprising the question was asked, or that some Facebook employees are anti-Trump. The question and Zuckerberg’s statements on Tuesday align with the consensus politics of Silicon Valley: pro-immigration, pro-trade, pro-expansion of the internet.

But what’s exceedingly important about this question being raised—and Zuckerberg’s answer, if there is one—is how Facebook now treats the powerful place it holds in the world. It’s unprecedented. More than 1.04 billion people use Facebook. It’s where we get our news, share our political views, and interact with politicians. It’s also where those politicians are spending a greater share of their budgets.

And Facebook has no legal responsibility to give an unfiltered view of what’s happening on their network. ...

If Facebook decided to, it could gradually remove any pro-Trump stories or media off its site—devastating for a campaign that runs on memes and publicity. Facebook wouldn’t have to disclose it was doing this, and would be protected by the First Amendment.

You may hate Donald Trump. But do you want Facebook to rig the election against him?

While the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency is a terrifying one, perhaps this is scarier: Facebook could use its unprecedented powers to tilt the 2016 presidential election away from him – and the social network’s employees have apparently openly discussed whether they should do so. ...

The fact that an internet giant like Facebook or Google could turn an election based on hidden changes to its code has been a hypothetical scenario for years (and it’s even a plot point in this season’s House of Cards). Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain explained in 2010 how “Facebook could decide an election without anyone ever finding out”, after the tech giant secretly conducted a test in which they were able to allegedly increase voter turnout by 340,000 votes around the country on election day simply by showing users a photo of someone they knew saying “I voted”.

Facebook repeated this civics engagement experiment on a broader scale during the 2012 election. While the testing did not favor any one candidate, the potential for that power to be used to manipulate voters became such an obvious concern that Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, said, in 2014, “I want to be clear – Facebook can’t control emotions and cannot and will not try to control emotions.” She added: “Facebook would never try to control elections.”

Her comments came right after a controversial study conducted by Facebook became public. It showed that, in fact, the company had secretly manipulated the emotions of nearly 700,000 people.

And in a Politico Magazine piece entitled “How Google could rig the 2016 election”, research psychologist Robert Epstein described how a study he co-authored in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that “Google’s search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more – up to 80% in some demographic groups – with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated.”

To be sure, many corporations, including broadcasters and media organisations, have used their vast power to influence elections in all sorts of ways in the past: whether it’s through money, advertising, editorials, or simply the way they present the news. But at no time has one company held so much influence over a large swath of the population – 40% of all news traffic now originates from Facebook – while also having the ability to make changes invisibly.



the evening greens


Australia's Largest Mining Project Moves Forward, Despite Weak Demand for Coal

When scientists from Australia's Coral Bleaching Task Force conducted a series of aerial surveys of the Great Barrier Reef last month, they expected to find some damage from the world's warming oceans around Lizard Island, north of Cooktown on Queensland's northeast coast.

Instead they found a disaster of epic proportion.

Ninety-five percent of more than 500 reefs stretching between Cairns and Papua New Guinea showed signs of bleaching — and some reefs appeared close to death. ...

So when the Queensland government approved three mining leases for Australia's largest coal mine — which will require dredging of waters around the reef to make way for coal ships — many scientists and conservationists expressed further dismay.

Emissions from the $17 billion Carmichael coal mine, which includes a 100-mile-long rail line and one of the world's largest coal ports, Abbot Point, are projected to be huge.

An estimated 4.7 billion metric tons of carbon will be released into the atmosphere over the mine's lifetime. Annual emissions from the mine — 79 million metric tons — will be 20 percent more than the annual average emissions of New York City, according to calculations by the Australia Institute.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the approvals were a "major step forward" and would create thousands of jobs. But the project future remains in jeopardy due to legal challenges, falling coal prices, and funding shortfalls.

New Leak at Hanford Nuclear Waste Site is 'Catastrophic,' Worker Warns

A leak at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state has prompted warnings of "catastrophic" consequences, as workers attempt to clean up more than eight inches of toxic waste from one of 28 underground tanks holding radioactive materials leftover from plutonium production.

Alarms on the site began sounding on Sunday, leading workers to discover 8.4 inches of toxic waste in between the inner and outer walls of tank AY-102, which has been slowly leaking since 2011 but has never accumulated that amount of waste before.

A former tank farm worker told local media that despite statements from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that the spill does not pose a threat to public health, it should be considered a major problem.

"This is catastrophic," the worker, Mike Geffre, who first discovered that the tank was failing in 2011, told King-TV on Monday. "This is probably the biggest event ever to happen in tank farm history. The double shell tanks were supposed to be the savior of all saviors [to hold waste safely from people and the environment]."


Also of Interest

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

Prisoner’s Letters Document Tragedy and Hope Inside Guantánamo


Why is Goldman Sachs funding the violent, racist Jewish settlers of Hebron?

An Interview With Gustavo Castro, Sole Witness to Assassination of Berta Cáceres

Iran's President Is Betting Billions on Economic Reform

Techies for Bernie: why some best-paid workers are supporting a socialist

Hillary Clinton’s Dealings With Saudi Arabia Back In Focus For 9/11 Bill

Wall Street Banking Model Takes Center Stage in Today’s New York Primary

Hillary's Dance: The Two-Faced Hypocritical 12-Step

Clinton Delegate Lead Down to 194, Even as Dramatic Miscounting of Delegates by Media Continues

Freddie Gray, one year later: Baltimore's black residents still waiting for changes


A Little Night Music

Jimmy Liggins - That's What's Knockin' Me Out

Jimmy Liggins - Boogie Woogie King

Jimmy Liggins - I Ain't Drunk

Jimmy Liggins - Talking That Talk

Jimmy Liggins - Shuffle Shuck

Jimmy Liggins - Drunk

Jimmy Liggins - I Can't Stop It



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Techies for Bernie: why some best-paid workers are supporting a socialist - See more at: http://caucus99percent.com/content/evening-blues-4-19-16#sthash.ZF7fbvz4...

The article wondered why tech workers are supporting a socialist which would be against their supposed libertarian or capitalist views. While the self-described "entrepeneurs" (French for exploitive sleazeball?) might be pretty happy with the way things are, the highly-paid tech workers know that they're still just disposable resources to the big companies who are all too willing to cry to Congress that there aren't enough tech workers to be found—at least not at the prices many companies want to pay nor are they always willing to sell their souls to the company gift shop. High tech regularly makes some folks fabulously wealthy but the percentage is vanishingly small and those out of the running for the big money often end up losing their livelihood or big chunks of their life in the quest to make some wheeler-dealer into a fatcat.

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joe shikspack's picture

i think that you are absolutely barking up the right tree, techies by and large are aware that given half a chance, their employers would outsource their jobs to a lower-paid workforce.

the other thing that crosses my mind is that the best techies that i know grew up reading a lot of science fiction and seem to have more flexible ideas about what a good society looks like than the average bear.

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Bisbonian's picture

The biggest dividing line in a capitalist economy isn’t between those who earn a high wage and those who earn a low wage. It’s between those who work and those who own capital.

If you live on a wage, you are subject to the whims of the wage payer, period.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

this,for me, is actually an all-night blues. I think this is just as well though, as we know it is going to be a late night tonight. I am watching returns. I will be reading the offerings here to drown out the bought-and-paid-for pundits on all of our available tv channels. Thank you for a dose of reality as opposed to a steady stream of bullshit.

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joe shikspack's picture

well, enjoy the reality for a while then. i'd guess that if the margin is slim, the counting will run into the wee hours.

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PastorAgnostic's picture

Some facts that I did not know.

The US is the biggest oil producer in the world.

Let me repeat that, so it stinks in. the US is the biggest oil producer in the world. Mother Russia is #2, the Saudis have artificially boosted production on some of its most fragile oil reserves to force its way to #3.
Iran, with the 4th largest reserves in the world, is only producing 2.5 million barrels a day, 1/6 of what the US does.

The Saudis are so desperate for cash, that they have begun peeling off some of their corporate investments and liquidating assets - all in then hopes that major riots and revolutionary spirits continue to be paid off. Essentially bribing its people with petro-dollars rather than running a better government.

But it is not just the mysoginist policies that the House of Saud has, it also has a conservative religious group called the Wahabis - much like the gun toting conservo-Christians who love to shoot up abortion providers in church, or who blow up Planned parenthood offices, except they are even more violent. And, it seems that the government actively promotes and supports them. Imagine Obama and Nancy Pelosi sending money to that insane, anti-gay family cult that protests military funerals.

It gets worse. Prince Bandar Bush, as W used to call him, personally sent $130,000 to help the 9/11 terrorists run their campaign of terror on 9/11.

Finally, former FBI agents, who have been gagged about the aftermath of 9/11, are breaking their silence. People of interest, members of the House of Saud, folks who were either involved in 9/11 or supported their goals, were escorted out, and flown to safety. That meant that the US had a very good idea immediately after 9/11 of who underwrote, planned, and executed that attack. The House of Saud. Getting them out pissed off the FBI something fierce, and they are beginning to talk.

With the billions in arms that Hillary negotiated and approved for the House of Saud, they have gone on a civilian killing spree, ending the lives of over 11,000 civilians in just two years. Everyone in Yemen thinks of this as a US-Saud attack and eradication program, not a Saudi-US project.
They do the killing (thanks for the arms, Hillary. Was that donation big enough?) but we get the blame. As we should.

So, the oil market is crazy low, with the Sauds pissed at us being the number one producer and exporter. The Sauds fear the reaction when those 28 pages get released to the US public. Cuz the Sauds will no longer be considered our friends after that. The Sauds are killing innocents at will, and we get the blame. Hillary personally profited from dealing high tech arms to the House of Saud.

And Obama is flying there to discuss issues? Complex? You betcha.

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Gerrit's picture

the meaning of the word "karma." The Saudi powder keg of huge numbers of (ideologically-nutbar, jobless-except-for-made-up-gov-jobs) youth (in a desert without significant oil or water or food in a rapidly-changing climate) is gonna go boom real soon. That evolution will be in Technicolor.

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

WindDancer13's picture

the oil reserves and production in the US were known in the 70s. The fact that the Saud family members were secretly flown out immediately after the attack was known as soon as it happened.

The US government is very good at pointing in the other direction and the people have been well trained to follow whatever distraction is in that other direction. Right now, we have a faux election to keep the potential rabble rousers occupied.

We may out smart them yet...just not holding my breath for it.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Haikukitty's picture

I just hope now that they've seen the light, they don't sink back into complacency regardless of how this election turns out.

But I don't know how you can, once you know you are being manipulated by the PTB.

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WindDancer13's picture

were paying attention back then--on both topics. They still got swept under the rug.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Haikukitty's picture

If the PTB can just hold on long enough, eventually people get worn out.

But I still like to think we have more access to non-mainstream information now...

Anyway, stop taking my idiotic hope away from me!!!! Biggrin

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WindDancer13's picture

There are a lot of differences between then and now. And yes, the Internet has and will make a huge difference as long as it can be protected. Although, as Tom Hartmann points out, we are seeing signs of corporate censorship there also (e.g., Facebook trying to decide if they should trash Trump's candidacy). Ever vigilant.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

PastorAgnostic's picture

Exceeded all imagined interest. And when the holes in the report became obvious, people began to grumble. Those rugs were thick and broad.

The peoples are finally realizing just how much we have been lied to. And they ain't happy.

That, more than anything else, explains the attraction of a Jewish socialist and an arrogant real estate asshole.

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Deja's picture

Goodbye, Felicia! /S

This scares the shit out of me. And the thought of driving into Houston tomorrow for work - still finding bodies.

All I have is a shower, but would sure love a tub and some Calgon!

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Martha Pearce-Smith's picture

of 9/11 was when TOP started banning "CT" diaries... I would bet money that some disgruntled FBI agents were trying to get the word out even then...

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Deja's picture

Hmmm. Not sure where I read or watched - was it in the actual 9/11 Report (?) where they found that the two agencies refused to share intel with each other, and so 9/11 happened?

Am I crazy? Sometimes I dream things and think they happened, so it's entirely possible I never saw or read anything like that. But I'd love some validation. My dreams are incredibly lucid, sometimes.

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joe shikspack's picture

yes, the us surpassed saudi arabia a while ago. one caveat, though, saudi arabia's oil is cheap to produce, a lot of us oil requires expensive and/or more dangerous production techniques. also, despite the fact that we are the world's #1 producer, we still import oil, something like 9 or 10 million barrels a day.

the saudis have been hard hit economically by selling its oil at such low prices, buying weapons at an incredible clip and running a war in yemen. they are headed for a crash if they don't modify one or all of those conditions soon.

frankly, given the position the saudis are in, cashing out their dollar holdings precipitously would probably be a loss that they cannot afford. threatening the dollar or threatening to price oil in something other than dollars would also put them on the fast track to a coup or a us military intervention.

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divineorder's picture

before we left a week ago, $1.69 a gallon and diesel was cheap again as well. What gives?

As expected it costs more here in CA but still is dirt cheap. I still think we should be taxing the sh*t out of gas and subsidizing alternative vehicles.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Bluesee's picture

Yes, a true mess! The problem of the tanks is very old.. each tank is different, there are no records of what is inside the tanks - they apparently treated them like dumpsters. The contents are described mostly as a peanut buttery, sludge-y mix. Some of the tanks had to have stirrers put in them decades ago because they started belching radioactive hydrogen (got a match?).

I also worked on the Yucca Mountain project, where we tried to design a storage solution for the over 300 radioactive waste pools scattered about the country.

There is precious little political will to resolve these two situations, the phrase "Don't Mess with Texas" (partially?) came from this time; I remember the acronym NIMBY was strongly associated with the issues of trying to find a repository for the spent waste.

The waste has time on its side, we do not.

On a positive note, I hear that Chernobyl is thriving absent human activity. So, there's that.

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Bernie is a win-win.

divineorder's picture

There have been leaks in NM and the fact that Los Alamos is upstream from Santa Fe is troubling to me.
Thanks for the comment.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Bluesee's picture

But thanks, yes, I have had a pretty cool job over the years!

I am an engineer for Northrop Grumman, started out at TRuly Wonderful (TRW).

I think I'll write a full disclosure post here soon, being a defense contractor in a hippie place! Never wanted to do it in Orange, didn't trust the place enough, I guess.

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Bernie is a win-win.

Deja's picture

Are you pooling everything together?
I'm confused.

Like, the peanut butter in SA, the oil turned radio active ??? in NV (that's fucking possible????), and a phrase associated with stupid Texas brainwashing about litter, but that kinda worked unless you consider diapers in certain parking lots and fast food bingers who either are neat freaks in their own vehicles, or hide their binge (disorders?) from the ones at home?

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Bluesee's picture

...it's still a mess.

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Bernie is a win-win.

Bisbonian's picture

post 9/11 pissed some airline pilots off something fierce, too.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

Gerrit's picture

All those hundreds of nuclear waste sites, the vast majority still on the plant property, like at Hanford, because there is no - I mean, no, none, nada, zip, zilch, zero - way to store radioactive materials safely over the long term.

The ex-worker, Mr Geffe, said that the double-shelled tanks were supposed to be the solution, but they are not. They're failing, as that one just did. So, over at the linked Common Dreams article, the staff writer reported this:

In 2012 and 2013, leaks were reported at seven of Hanford's 177 tanks, 149 of which are single-shelled.

Understand this: the double-shelled tanks are failing at Hanford. There are 28 such tanks there. Out of a total number of 177 storage tanks. There are 149 single-shelled tanks there.

How much confidence do you have in the U.S. Dept of Energy to keep all the radioactive waste safe?
Let me show you this, from the Common Dreams article:
hanford_0.jpg
That's how they maintain the sign outside the nuclear property. What do you think is happening beyond such a sign?

NukeButchersOhPardonMe4inch.jpg

Edited: More info - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site

How close do you live to here?
Hanford Nuclear Facility, WA_0.jpg

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Martha Pearce-Smith's picture

I was ~just~ coming over here to post about this..... unnerving to say the least, eh?

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Gerrit's picture

All these threads and conversations :=) It is chilling stuff indeed. Take Hanford. Now add rapid climate change. And human nature. And the nature of corporations and governments. Frightening.

What does "GMTA" mean?

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Martha Pearce-Smith's picture

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Gerrit's picture

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PastorAgnostic's picture

We have a section of the military that is dedicated to maintain, control, and if necessary, launch a reign of fire so devastating that all life as we know it would end. They are in Colorado. They are filled with fucking Christian end of timers, drug abusers, and inept folks who cannot find a job in the military elsewhere.

They delivered live atomic weapons without any controls, documentation, or security to a Texas airbase to be sent to Iraq. Luckily, that was nipped in the butt.

There are constant prayer meetings ON BASE (check out Mickey Weinstein on the issue) that preach the end to times. And their duty to create it.
We live in a sick sad time.

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Gerrit's picture

firing pin malfunction.

You understand of course that the Christian Dominionists who run the "deep state" of the U.S. (and Canadian) militaries very much want an armageddon...

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joe shikspack's picture

well, you don't expect the government to admit its errors, do you?

hanford has a long history of irresponsible behavior causing contamination. it is still the most contaminated nuclear site in america.

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Gerrit's picture

Step one: take Hanford

Step two: add climate change. Here's Robert Scribbler, the best climate journo out there:
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/04/19/a-hothouse-summer-is-coming-and-w...

A Hothouse Summer is Coming and We’d Better Get Ready — Lingering California Drought, Record-Shattering Heat in Washington, and Thunderstorms Pounding the Northwest Territory in April
Writing about human-forced climate change isn’t easy. And, lately, year after year, I’ve grown to dread these three words more and more — Summer is Coming.

This year, it’s worse. The gateway of Equatorial-to-Polar heat transfer was thrown wide open as one of the strongest El Ninos on record blazed through the Pacific. As a result, Winter temperatures in the Arctic hit levels that were likely never seen by any human that has ever lived in a settlement resembling a town or a city. And one of the paths over which this heat ran was Western North America. A region that is now experiencing a number of early warning signs that trouble is on the way.

Oh, you should see what summer 2016 will bring WA state...

Step three: Repeat year after year, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2030, 2050, etc. Tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick...

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Bisbonian's picture

that the Department of Energy (or the US, for that matter) will even exist for as long as this stuff is dangerous?

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

Raggedy Ann's picture

When I read the words of MLK, I hear his voice in my head. Very soothing, indeed. Unfortunately, not much has changed since those words were spoken.

So, Biden says they are all frustrated with Netanyahu? Really? Someone needs to clue HRC in on that. She thinks the moon rises on Netanyahu's ass, or something. Of course, she has to pander, and will.

I hope we do well today in NY in spite of the rigged election. If it is really bad, the people of New York must speak loudly and clearly that this is not okay. Giving it a pass only emboldens them to do it again, do it without compunction.

Let's send those positive Bernie thoughts out into the universe - give them the power to materialize: America needs President Bernie Sanders more than ever!!!

Have a beautiful evening, dear friends.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

joe shikspack's picture

the one thing that has changed since mlk spoke those words is the number of people who (as we used to say back in the day) consciousness has been raised on the issue has risen. perhaps we are not at a tipping point yet, though.

the one thing that i hope that we can expect from new yorkers is, if there is significant election fraud, they will make noise at a level that will get some action.

have a great evening!

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Lookout's picture

Will Bernie win NY? TYT 10 min take

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnIrEOvWRyQ]

What media can we trust? Thom Hartman 5 min

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVFL8y8X70k]

And a final rant against the media 8.5 min

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDPVzWM3U-w]

I'm hopeful today.

I'm the storm.png

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

featheredsprite's picture

Bernie has been one of the minority of folks who have been preaching the gospel of "us" for a long time. There has now been an awakening. I don't know where it will lead.

We live in interesting times.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

lotlizard's picture

Palestinians are human. Amazing, isn’t it?

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joe shikspack's picture

thanks for the vids! i'll give them a look-see later on.

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Lookout's picture

to read your thoughtful news summary. I think you'll enjoy the clips - the TYT and Tom Hartmann media pieces are synergistic. Isn't it really the requirement of democracy to have fair representation of the news? The scary part is it is all corporate - even the public broadcasting is corporate. How did we end up in this low information mess?

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

beholder --

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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 --

joe shikspack's picture

cast your eyes, er ears on this cadillac...

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stevej's picture

Here's a thing from the NY Comptroller's office

AMID WIDESPREAD REPORTS OF VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND POLLING PROBLEMS, COMPTROLLER STRINGER ANNOUNCES AUDIT OF BOARD OF ELECTIONS

(New York, NY) – With the New York City Board of Elections confirming that more than 125,000 voters in Brooklyn were removed from voter rolls and widespread reports of voters having trouble accessing polling sites and other polling irregularities, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer announced today that his office would undertake an audit of the operations and management of the Board of Elections.

- See more at: http://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/amid-widespread-reports-of-voter-dis...

Press Release

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

featheredsprite's picture

Some good will come from this.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

joe shikspack's picture

thanks! glad to hear that someone is lighting a fire under the board of elections.

the last update i saw from commondreams said:

The judge presiding over Tuesday's class-action lawsuit against the New York Board of Elections has moved the hearing to a later date, reports The Young Turks' Jordan Chariton, who attended the hearing.

The judge also instructed the plaintiffs to name all New York counties as defendants and to give the counties notice that they have to appear in court to defend their registration process. There are over 60 counties in the state of New York.

The state's Board of Elections has defended itself against the suit's claims of widespread disenfranchisement by arguing that it isn't responsible for the registration procedures in the various counties.

The judge told voters they could file a court order if they feel they have been disenfranchised, Chariton said, while lawyers for the plaintiffs have directed voters who are unable to vote in Tuesday's primary because their registration was switched to a different party without their knowledge to file a provisional ballot.

The plaintiffs' lawyers were pleased that the judge did not dismiss the suit, noting that Tuesday afternoon's decision preserved the right to contest the primary's results.

Watch Chariton's full report on the lawsuit here.

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Bisbonian's picture

The election results will be certified. They were in Arizona, weeks ago.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

A so-called journalist at the WaPo explodes this dangerous myth. Bernie's average campaign donation is actually... $27.89. And people think Hillary can't be trusted.

Washington Post's Laughable Smear Job on Bernie's Campaign and Army of Small Donors

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

Haikukitty's picture

If that's all they've got... Holy cats.

and i really love that people are pushing back on all the BS over and over these days.

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joe shikspack's picture

well damn - that's a heinous rounding error... i sure hope that bernie changes his stump speech! /s

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detroitmechworks's picture

I get tired of saying it, but I'll say it again because it needs to be said.
Obama ended ZERO wars.
He and his advisors instead decided to play god and smite those that they felt deserved it.
Either go Roman and declare yourself a GOD, or knock the shit off.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Gerrit's picture

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

Mr Nobel Peace Prize apparently just can't help himself.

I honestly can't decide who was worse, Obama or Bush. (quite serious)

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Haikukitty's picture

I think its worse to be sold a pretty story about transparency and fairness, and then end up with the same old crap.

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snoopydawg's picture

Obama betrayed us even before he became president when he voted for the FISA bill that he said he would filibuster.
Just like he said that he wouldn't sign a health care bill without a public option in it.
And I have told people over at TOP that he didn't end two wars, but they keep writing that he did. And hasn't started any new ones.
And that its okay for him to use drones because that way no American troops are being killed.
Just thousands and thousands of innocent civilians.

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“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt

Citizen Of Earth's picture

Obama and Hellery call themselves "progressives". They actually have the nerve to say it out-loud.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

thanatokephaloides's picture

I think its worse to be sold a pretty story about transparency and fairness,

..... and hope and change, please don't forget.....

and then end up with the same old crap.

Typical Turd Way nonsense, though.

At least Dumbya was honest with us about it......

Bad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

joe shikspack's picture

my vote on who's worse is for obama. he's the more effective evil.

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snoopydawg's picture

And he keeps getting shit for saying it. But it's true. As was Rev. Wright if people listen to his whole speech.
He talks about how the United States was built on genocide and slavery, which is true.
He also talks about the many military interventions that has killed over 1.3 billion people between 1950-2015. I'll try to find the article I read and provide the link.
If the US isn't invading countries outright, then they are arming, training and funding not only other country's militaries, but also terrorists groups like AQ in the 80's and now in Syria to help overthrow Assad.
1.3 BILLION

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“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt

Bisbonian's picture

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

The more effective evil

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riverlover's picture

Time to teach the kids Roman history. See kids? This is what a Legion means. Poor deployed and their families. And I am sorry, veterans.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

detroitmechworks's picture

that we learn from the Romans...

Is How much they LIED about their history and the history of the peoples they enslaved and stole from.

It's a very important lesson that we should be learning about all of our "Official" stories.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

featheredsprite's picture

My daughter was in military service when 9/11 happened, and now she is a disabled vet. When she first came home [medical discharge], she was frankly kind of weird. Over time, she has regained her former self, but a self with physical problems.

I lost a brother in Korea. A lover went to Vietnam and came back so messed up he was a complete stranger. So I lost him, too.

I am so tired of war.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

Gerrit's picture

you and your daughter as she struggles with "life after." It's a bad trip. My family and I have had to work so very, very hard to regain what we had lost over my years of madness. Give her my very best wishes for the road ahead. There are a number of vets here on c99. We support each other in the struggle for peace within and peace without. I hope she has or finds support and help. Best wishes and thanks for what you do.

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lotlizard's picture

“Veni, vidi, vici,” too.

Of course, Hillary would be far from the first power elitist to equate the U.S. to Caesar and the Roman Empire — the Deep State boys have been doing that since 1945. The strategic notion of the whole world under a U.S.-imposed “Pax Americana” is derived directly from “Pax Romana.”

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joe shikspack's picture

obama may not have ended any wars, but he's been great at starting them. and he's surprisingly good at killing people, too.

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

today had voted for Bernie! Woohoo! Report was done in Plattsburg NY.

Enjoy some Liberty.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

riverlover's picture

asked locals who they had voted for. R's and D's. 75% for Bernie Sanders. Fingers crossed.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Gerrit's picture

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

joe shikspack's picture

heh, i was thinking that a margin of loss under 10% would be enough to make the wheels spin, but i'd definitely love to see a win.

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Gerrit's picture

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Borkrom's picture

on this bold prediction. If we are wrong then so be it.

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Martha Pearce-Smith's picture

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Please help the Resilience Resource Library grow by adding your links.

First Nations News

joe shikspack's picture

excellent ad, really well made. thanks!

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Haikukitty's picture

Or at least a moderately hopeful one - on organizing for the next system - positing that change can happen faster than you think sometimes...

Don't know if anyone posted it already, but I missed it if so.

My feeling is it's not really remote. I think most of these things are right below the surface in people's consciousness. It has to be brought forward. This is true of many issues incidentally. It's very important to recognize how unresponsive the political economic system is to people's attitudes. You see this all the time. Take, say, Bernie Sanders. His positions are regarded as radical and extremist. In fact if you look at them, they're very much in accord with the popular will over long periods. Take, say, national healthcare. Right now about 60% of the population are in favor of it, which is pretty remarkable since nobody speaks for it and it's constantly demonized. If you look back, that's consistent. In the late Reagan years about 70% of the population thought it should be in the Constitution, such a natural right, and in fact about 40% of the population thought it already was in the Constitution.

About 60 percent of the population are in favor of [national health care], which is pretty remarkable, since ... it's constantly demonized.That's consistent right through. It's called politically impossible, meaning the financial institutions and the pharmaceutical corporations won't accept it. But that tells you something about the society, not the popular will. Same is true for other things: free tuition, higher taxes on the rich, all consistent over long periods, but the policy goes in the opposite direction. If popular opinion can be organized, mobilized, with institutions of interaction and solidarity, like unions, then I think what's right below the surface can become quite active and implemented as policy.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35691-noam-chomsky-on-organizing-for-a-next-system

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joe shikspack's picture

attitudes are changing faster than i thought possible. that makes the social space for change to occur.

i am cautiously optimistic.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

Bisbonian's picture

Seriously?

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

snoopydawg's picture

of innocent civilians being killed when they drop bombs on ISIS. The number of innocents killed is now going to be 10.
I'm pretty sure that there have been more than 10 innocents killed during the bombing in the past. Sometimes over 250 people who were at a wedding party or other social event. Then they would also drop a bomb on the people who went to help them.
And we call them the terrorists? Sure.
http://news.antiwar.com/2016/04/19/pentagons-new-rules-allow-them-to-kil...

Another great EB, joe. Thanks.

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“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt

joe shikspack's picture

i've always wondered how they decide how many collateral deaths are "acceptable." i wish that they would post their formula. for example, a while ago when they were bombing the places where they suspected that isis was housing its cash reserves, they said that 50 collateral deaths would be okay because of the amount of money that would be destroyed.

i just can't imagine the ghoulish math they employ.

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Gerrit's picture

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

snoopydawg's picture

I hope that people read it. It has a great take down of Hillary in it and her emails and the Clinton foundation.
I am amazed that it was legal for her charity to take money from the government's that she sold weapons to. Especially after Obama told her to keep her foundation separate from her duties as SOS.

llary Clinton’s support for arming Saudi Arabia also raises concerns about her proclaimed championing of women’s rights. Saudi Arabia has been regularly condemned for treating women as second class citizens, even disallowing women from ever leaving their home without a male guardian. In fairness to former Secretary Clinton, whose surrogates like to remind people of Clinton’s speech in China where she said “Women’s rights are human rights,” Clinton’s Saudi benefactors are not big on human rights and beheaded almost twice as many people as ISIS last year.

If the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act passes, the US may finally start holding terrorist-sponsoring states accountable for their attacks against Americans. Will there ever be accountability for those states’ enablers? Hillary Clinton better hope not.

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“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt

Unabashed Liberal's picture

to say 'hi,' and thank you for tonight's excellent edition of News & Blues.

**Edited, just now, to add blockquote--sorry, in a hurry!

BTW, Joe--really enjoyed the Sam Moore videos last night. I didn't realize that he was the 'Sam' from Sam and Dave--duh! Wink

As I've mentioned before, I was very much into 'soul' music growing up, since it was 'in' during much of my older Brother's preteen and teenage years.

Gonna drop back by sometime during/after the NY returns, but before I take 'the B' out, wanted to post this piece by Dem Strategist/Policy Wonk and neoliberal, Michael Lind.

(Lind was affiliated with the New American Foundation, at one time. May still be, dunno.)

Tomorrow, I'll post an 'answer' to this opinion piece.

Here you go:

Trumpism and Clintonism Are the Future

By MICHAEL LINDAPRIL 16, 2016

. . . Like Reagan, Bill Clinton was a transitional figure in an era of partisan flux. He himself had worked in the George McGovern campaign in 1972. Nevertheless, in the 1980s and 1990s, Reagan Democrats were important enough as swing voters that Bill Clinton, Al Gore and other New Democrats sought to distance themselves from the liberal left on the military, policing, the death penalty, censorship and other issues. . . .

Today’s Democratic base is, to simplify somewhat, an alliance of Northern, Midwestern and West Coast whites from the old Rockefeller Republican tradition with blacks and Latinos. To give one telling example, former Senator Jim Webb, the candidate who most fully represented the white Southern working-class base of the F.D.R.-to-L.B.J. Democrats, abandoned his campaign after receiving little support in a party that bears ever less resemblance to the New Deal Democrats.

For their part, the Republicans of 2016 rely for their votes on the Southern white and Northern white working-class constituencies that were once the mainstays of the other party. With this partisan realignment over, the policy realignment has begun — the closing of the gap between the inherited program of a political party and the values and interests of its present-day voters. . . .

Whatever becomes of his bid for the presidency, Mr. Trump exposed the gap between what orthodox conservative Republicans offer and what today’s dominant Republican voters actually want — middle-class entitlements plus crackdowns on illegal immigrants, Muslims, foreign trade rivals and free-riding allies. Other candidates less flawed than Mr. Trump and more acceptable to the Republican establishment, like Ted Cruz, are likely to bring Republican policy positions and Republican voter preferences more closely into alignment, by moving somewhat to the left on middle-class entitlements and somewhat to the right on immigration and trade.

A similar process of policy realignment is underway among the Democrats. But notwithstanding the enthusiasm of the young for Bernie Sanders, the major tension is not between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton. It is between Hillary Clinton and the legacy of Bill Clinton.

President Bill Clinton, as we have seen, was still trying to appeal both to the so-called rising American electorate of minorities, single women and progressives and to white working-class remnants of the old Roosevelt coalition. Looking back, many progressives today blame the Clinton administration for appealing to white voters by contributing to mass incarceration. Likewise, many progressives resent President Clinton’s support of the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act and the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule in the United States military. . . .

At the same time, the success of the Democrats in winning the popular vote for the presidency in every election since 1992 except 2004 has convinced most Democratic strategists that they don’t need socially conservative, economically liberal Reagan or Wallace Democrats any more.

Many Democrats hope that the long-term growth of the Obama coalition, caused chiefly by the growth of the Latino share of the electorate, will create an all but inevitable Democratic majority in the executive branch and perhaps eventually in the government as a whole. The Clintonian synthesis of pro-business, finance-friendly economics with social and racial liberalism no longer needs to be diluted, as it was in the 1990s, by opportunistic appeals to working-class white voters.

This realignment within the Democratic Party requires Hillary Clinton to distance herself from many of the policies of her husband’s administration and to adopt policies favored by her party’s core constituencies. On issues from criminal justice to immigration enforcement, that is precisely what she has done. Even if she had not been challenged by Mr. Sanders, she probably would have done this anyway, because with the departure of the Reagan Democrats, the Democratic coalition has shifted to the left. . . .

The centrality of identity politics, rather than progressive economics, to the contemporary Democratic Party is nothing new. In 1982, the Democratic National Committee recognized seven official caucuses: women, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, gays, liberals and business/professionals. Thirty-four years later, this is the base of the Democratic Party of Hillary Clinton. The pro-Sanders left objects to the solicitude of the Democratic Party for Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the sources of much of its funding. But it is safe to assume that most progressives, when confronted with conservative candidates, will prefer incremental, finance-friendly Clintonism over the right-wing alternative. Moreover, the ability or even willingness of Mr. Sanders to help down-ballot or state candidates is doubtful. The next generation of Democrats are figures like Julian and Joaquin Castro and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who are much more in the mold of the Clintons and Mr. Obama than of the maverick outsider Bernie Sanders. . . .

Hope folks read the entire piece. (Of course, I'm not in agreement with Lind. Shows how arrogant and out-of-touch Dem Party Elites are, IMO.)

Fingers crossed--hope tonight is a good night for Bernie! Catch you Guys later.

Bye

Mollie
elinkarlsson@WordPress


"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive."
----Gilda Radner, Comedienne

Thumbnail of 'Lily' for Signature Line.png

National Mill Dog Rescue

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

thanks for the article. it's good to keep track of what the partisans are thinking.

have a great evening and i hope that there's good news soon.

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WoodsDweller's picture

I found this link

http://nyenr.elections.state.ny.us/

The unofficial election night results displayed on this web site are based on the unofficial results reported to us by each County Board of Elections and as such, are posted on the web as a convenience to the public. New York State Election Law requires a complete recanvass of all votes cast on Election Day and the canvass of all valid absentee, special, and affidavit (provisional) ballots before any election results can be certified. Once all ballot counting tasks have been completed (usually within 15 days for a primary and within 25 days for a general election), each County Board certifies their respective election results pursuant to and in accordance with the applicable sections of New York State Election Law (see NYS Election Law, Sections 3-222, 9-200, 9-208). Those certifications are then sent to the State Board for aggregation, certification and publication/posting.

In other words, this looks like the most official thing we'll have available tonight. I'll repost this if Alpha has a thread.

Results after 9PM Eastern. Two hours from now.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Haikukitty's picture

At least, i'm pretty sure that's what I heard.

How is that possible with polls still open for two hours? Anyone else hear that?

Why was I listening to NPR? I ran out to grab some mashed potatoes from Outback - comfort food - and was too lazy to hook up the phone for music... sigh.

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divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

joe shikspack's picture

thanks for the tip!

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OLinda's picture

This, however, would be ultimately an acknowledgement that the Saudi government is untouchable, and that efforts to keep the Saudi involvement in 9/11 a secret ultimately is to avoid embarrassing US officials who believe they can’t do anything about it.

Oops. The U.S. is not the most powerful country in the world?

Obama said if we allow citizens to sue Saudi, then other countries' citizens could sue the U.S, and he can't have that. Gee, why would anyone want to sue a nice country like the U.S.? What in the world could he be worried about? Surely we would just swat down frivolous lawsuits.

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