This evening's music features Chicago blues piano player and singer Big Maceo Merriweather.

Here are some stories from tonight's posting:

Obama Administration Finds New Way to Let Criminal Banks Avoid Consequences

Three top Democrats are accusing the Department of Housing and Urban Development of quietly removing a key clause in its requirements for taxpayer-guaranteed mortgage insurance in order to spare two banks recently convicted of federal crimes from being frozen out of the lucrative market.

HUD’s action is the latest in a series of steps by federal agencies to eliminate real-world consequences for serial financial felons, even as the Obama administration has touted its efforts to hold banks accountable.

In this sense, the guilty plea has become as meaningless to banks as their other ways of resolving criminal charges: out-of-court settlements, or deferred prosecution agreements. “Too Big to Fail” has morphed into “Too Big to Jail” — and then again, into “Bank Lives Matter.”

Sens. Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters fired off a letter to HUD on Tuesday, saying they believe that the timing of the change was designed to clear the way for two banks recently convicted of federal crimes — JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup — to continue to make Federal Housing Administration-insured loans. Last year, JPMorgan Chase wrote $1.67 billion in FHA loans, and Citi wrote $342 million, according to data from the Congressional Research Service.

[Follow the link for the gory details. I bet Obama's post-presidential reward from his savvy bankster friends just grew by a very large increment. - js]

Guantánamo Bay psychologists to remain despite APA torture fallout

The Pentagon has said it has no plans to divest Guantánamo Bay of its psychologists even as the American Psychological Association signals a desire to end its decade-long association with US military and intelligence interrogations and detentions.

Those psychologists are said to participate in Guantánamo’s highly controversial forced tube feedings.

The APA, the premiere professional association for psychologists, is embroiled in a crisis after an independent report found it to be complicit in US torture, with responsible officials motivated in part by a desire for lucrative US military contracts. At least four senior officials have resigned or been sacked as a result.

Now the APA is signaling a desire to reverse a decade-old policy central to the crisis. Nadine Kaslow, a former APA president who chairs the special committee that aided the report, told the Guardian that the group “needs to adopt a policy to prohibit psychologists from being involved in interrogation, people being held in military custody at Gitmo and other sites”. ...

“We are not aware of any changes concerning the use of mental health professionals in support of detention operations at the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,” said Henrietta Levin, a Pentagon spokesperson. ...

There are currently five psychologists working for the Guantánamo detentions taskforce, Levin confirmed. They are said to be involved at the facility’s behavioral-health unit and participate in some capacity in the controversial forced feedings administered to detainees on hunger strike.

“It wouldn’t be in every feeding, but the psychologists were in the mix of the ‘treatment’ of hunger strikers,” said Cori Crider, attorney for Abu Wael Dhiab, who in December was released from Guantánamo without charge after 12 years.

Riots in Athens: EU’s Impending Collapse?

People move events. The Greek people are trying to shape their own history. They aren’t there yet—even the Left hasn’t quite joined them. But a coalescence of forces is on the horizon: either Syriza radicalizes or it will be left behind. Capitalism by its very harshness is creating its own antithesis. Ideological labels are not important; what is, is a genuine people’s government. The riots in Athens, while the Greek Parliament passed the austerity measures, may be the first sign of the breakup of the EU, itself a political formation of advanced capitalism unable to meet the needs of its poorer members. ...

Austerity is repression, pure and simple. It is also, as I recently pointed out, the framework for class warfare, in both cases to the extreme detriment of working people. The people in the Athens street know this, know that Tsipras and Syriza have not done right by them. The public workers’ union went out on strike Wednesday. Crowds gathered before Parliament in the evening. ...

This was not the affirmation one expects from a basic settlement, and rather, a period of deliberation, of gathering force that, should the EU turn the screws further, might well explode, not as revolution, but a willingness to say No and from there leave the eurozone and the EU itself. Why would Germany and the other stalwarts, Finland, the Netherlands, and the Baltic countries care? For the reason that Greece is a living refutation of all the stalwarts value: balanced budgets, taxation favoring business growth, gradual diminishment of labor rights, erosion of pension and social-welfare programs, etc. By bringing Greece to its knees validates austerity: there is no other way than this, the best of all possible worlds. Capitalism, both in Europe and America (indeed everywhere), thrives on false consciousness lest its destructiveness becomes apparent.

Merkel 'gambling away' Germany's reputation over Greece, says Habermas

Jürgen Habermas, one of the intellectual figureheads of European integration, has launched a withering attack on the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, accusing her of “gambling away” the efforts of previous generations to rebuild the country’s postwar reputation with her hardline stance on Greece.

Speaking about the bailout deal for the first time since it was presented on Monday, the philosopher and sociologist said the German chancellor had effectively carried out “an act of punishment” against the leftwing government of Alexis Tsipras.

“I fear that the German government, including its social democratic faction, have gambled away in one night all the political capital that a better Germany had accumulated in half a century,” he told the Guardian. Previous German governments, he said, had displayed “greater political sensitivity and a post-national mentality”.

Habermas, widely considered one of the most influential contemporary European intellectuals, said that by threatening Greece with an exit from the eurozone over the course of the negotiations, Germany had “unashamedly revealed itself as Europe’s chief disciplinarian and for the first time openly made a claim for German hegemony in Europe.”

Protests Erupt Outside of Greek Parliament as It Approves Harsh Austerity Measures in Bailout Deal

EU ministers begin drive to deliver bailout as Greece gives bitter consent

Eurozone finance ministers are to begin discussions on delivering Greece’s bailout after MPs in Athens adopted the contentious package, amid angry scenes in parliament and violent clashes on the streets.

The Eurogroup of finance ministers is due to hold a conference call to discuss the situation at 8.00 GMT (9.00 BST) on Thursday, as they scramble to assemble a short-term financing package – expected to be worth about €7bn – to keep Greece afloat until the new bailout can be finalised.

Even with the deal accepted by Alexis Tsipras’s Greek government and the parliament, MPs in euro states are yet to give the green light. Germany’s Bundestag is set to vote on the plan on Friday and tough talks to finalise the bailout, expected to take much of the summer, can only begin after that.

Hours before the Athens vote, the French national assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of starting negotiations for the third bailout.

If a deal is reached, eurozone governments will contribute €40bn-€50bn and the IMF will contribute another chunk, with the rest coming from selling off state assets and from financial markets.

A Fury Rising as Greek Parliament Votes to Accept Eurozone Agreement

Greece's next hurdle? ECB

The European Central Bank increased emergency funding for Greek lenders, although capital controls will have to remain to avoid a bank run when they reopen on Monday.

European Union finance ministers also approved 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in bridging loans to keep Greece afloat, allowing it to make a bond payment to the ECB next Monday and clear its arrears with the International Monetary Fund.

The loans will be finalised on Friday provided Germany's parliament approves a Berlin government request to open talks on a three-year bailout program - Greece's third in the past five years - worth up to 86 billion euros. ...

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, one of Greece's sternest critics, questioned whether Athens would ever get a third bailout, even after the parliamentary vote. He suggested its financing needs were spiraling and a debt "haircut" or write-off outside the euro zone might be a better solution.

"We will now see in the negotiations whether there is even a way to get a new program, taking into account financing needs, which have risen incredibly," Schaeuble told Deutschlandfunk radio.

The move by the Greek parliament was enough to persuade the ECB to raise Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) for the banks by 900 million euros for a week to nearly 90 billion euros.

When Will Greek Looting and Austerity End?

Back in 2010 a friend predicted it would end when Greeks stormed parliament and beat or hung members of parliament.

It seems that while that may or may not be literally the case, that in general terms it is one of three possible end states. Since there are always enough MPs willing to sign any deal, no matter how bad, because they personally do not suffer the consequences of said deals, bringing the consequences home will be necessary.

The second possibility is the Schauble plan. It is odd that Schauble, though extraordinarily punitive, is willing to offer a pretty good deal for Grexit. He’s worked hard for it, and maybe he’ll be able to force it thru yet. So far he has been stymied primarily by the fact that the Greeks will accept any deal, no matter how bad. ...

So, Schauble, having realized that Greece will not leave no matter how terrible the deal inflicted on them, must now convince not Greeks, but other key European decision makers.

The third possibility is that a truly radical government takes over in Greece: likely Fascists or Communists. Someone who actually says what they mean about austerity and will do whatever it takes to end it.

Greece Might Be Better Off Outside Eurozone, German Finance Minister Says

Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, suggested on Thursday that Greece might be better off leaving the euro, saying that a temporary exit from the common currency could give the country additional flexibility to reduce its crippling debt load.

It was the second time this week that Mr. Schäuble has raised the idea in public. His statement, in a radio interview, came just hours after the Greek Parliament reluctantly approved a package of economic policy changes, demanded by Germany and other creditors, intended to allow Greece to remain in the eurozone and to qualify for a new round of bailout financing.

Mr. Schäuble’s statements, a day before the German legislature is expected to approve negotiations on the new Greek bailout, highlighted the continuing debate in Germany about the best path toward resolving the crisis.

It also gave further credence to assertions by some Greek officials that Mr. Schäuble wanted Greece out of the eurozone all along, and underscored the divisions in Europe and beyond over whether Greece can recover from its long economic crisis without a substantial reduction in its debt.

This is a really interesting interview in Jacobin magazine with Stathis Kouvelakis, a member of Left Platform. There's far more here than can be fairly excerpted, but here's a small taste:

Greece: The Struggle Continues

Q: What were the causes of the July referendum? Many saw it as something out of the blue, a wildcard that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pulled out. But there is some uncertainty about his motivations — some even speculate that he thought he would lose.

A: I think that the referendum was clearly an attempt to get out of the trap into which the government was falling through the negotiating process.

It was quite obvious, actually, that during the downward spiral of concessions the government and Tsipras realized that whatever they proposed was never going to be enough for the troika. By the last week in June, it was clear that the agreement that was more or less taking shape would not pass the internal test within Syriza and would not pass the test of public opinion. ...

Two things have to be said at this point. The first is that Tsipras and most of the people close to him thought it was going to be a walk in the park. And that was pretty much the case before the closure of the banks. ... What happened in that cabinet meeting was that a certain number of people — the rightist wing of the government, lead by Deputy Prime Minister Giannis Dragasakis — disagreed with the move. ... This wing thought that the referendum was a high-risk proposal, and they understood, in a way that Tsipras did not, that this was going to be a very confrontational move that would trigger a harsh reaction from the European side — and they were proved right. ...

On the other hand, the Left Platform’s leader and minister of energy and productive reconstruction, Panagiotis Lafazanis said that the referendum was the right decision, albeit one that came too late, but he also warned that this amounted to a declaration of war, that the other side would cut off the liquidity and we should expect within days to have the banks closed. Most of those present just laughed at this suggestion.

I think this lack of awareness of what was going to happen is absolutely key to understanding the whole logic of the way the government has been operating so far. They just couldn’t believe that the Europeans would react the way that they actually reacted.

Critics Say Bill Would Turn Muslim Communities Into "Mini-Surveillance States"

An open letter published this week by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, signed by a coalition of 42 civil rights organizations, says that a proposed bill designed to counter violent extremism would threaten “freedom of speech, association, and religion,” while doing little to actually combat terrorism.

The legislation, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on June 25, would create a new government agency, the Office of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security. While the practical implications of this new division still remain nebulous, the bill would give the new office a $10 million annual budget for “identifying risk factors that contribute to violent extremism,” identifying populations targeted for extremist propaganda, and developing government-approved “counter-messaging.” ...

The letter says the bill would result in “religious and political views [being] identified as markers of pre-terrorism that must be reported to the government,” and adds that such a development would likely have the perverse effect of stifling public discourse while stigmatizing entire communities as potential security threats. ...

Critics charge that despite considerable government resources now being committed to the purpose of countering violent extremism, there is little evidence that CVE programs actually reduce violence, nor is there much to substantiate the claim that holding “radical” ideas is a predictor of violent behavior, the authors note.

Naureen Shah, the director of Amnesty International USA’s Security and Human Rights Program, says the bill would have the potential result of creating “mini-surveillance states” within Muslim-American communities, by compelling the implementation of CVE programs that use threats and incentives to encourage people to report on each other’s political views.

Warming of oceans due to climate change is unstoppable, say US scientists

Seas will continue to warm for centuries even if manmade greenhouse gas emissions were frozen at today’s levels, say US government scientists

The warming of the oceans due to climate change is now unstoppable after record temperatures last year, bringing additional sea-level rise, and raising the risks of severe storms, US government climate scientists said on Thursday.

The annual State of the Climate in 2014 report, based on research from 413 scientists from 58 countries, found record warming on the surface and upper levels of the oceans, especially in the North Pacific, in line with earlier findings of 2014 as the hottest year on record.

Global sea-level also reached a record high, with the expansion of those warming waters, keeping pace with the 3.2 ± 0.4 mm per year trend in sea level growth over the past two decades, the report said.

Scientists said the consequences of those warmer ocean temperatures would be felt for centuries to come – even if there were immediate efforts to cut the carbon emissions fuelling changes in the oceans.

Also of interest:

Blame the Banks

'Our children will grow up in a destroyed country' – Greeks fear for the future