The Evening Blues - 1-10-23



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Legendary Blues Band

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues band Legendary Blues Band. Enjoy!

Legendary Blues Band - For You My Love

"To be an enemy of the US is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal."

-- Henry Kissinger


News and Opinion

NATO recklessly escalates war against Russia

The rapid escalation of the conflict in Ukraine has shattered the claim that NATO is not a party to the war against Russia.

Not a week goes by without a major new expansion of NATO involvement:

  • On December 10, a US official told the Times of London that the US had officially endorsed Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia, declaring, “We’re not saying to Kyiv, ‘Don’t strike the Russians [in Russia or Crimea].’”

  • On December 21, the Biden administration announced that it would send a battery of Patriot missiles to Ukraine, the most advanced weapons system sent to date.

  • On December 29, Biden signed into law the appropriation of another $50 billion for the war, doubling with the stroke of a pen the level of US involvement in the conflict.

  • On January 4 and 5, France, Germany and the United States announced they would send tanks and armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

  • These are the very actions that Biden and other NATO leaders previously asserted would lead to a direct war between the US and Russia. In March, Biden said, “The idea that we’re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews... that’s called World War III.” To buttress his claim that “we do not seek a war between NATO and Russia,” Biden wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in May that stated, “We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders”—a position that is now openly contradicted in press statements by US officials. ...

    In internal publications, the strategists of US imperialism admit that the Ukrainian army has been effectively hired as a mercenary force by the United States, with the aim of destroying the Russian military. “In cold, geopolitical terms, this war provides a prime opportunity for the US to erode and degrade Russia’s conventional defense capability, with no boots on the ground and little risk to US lives,” wrote Timothy Ash of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). “US spending of 5.6% of its defense budget to destroy nearly half of Russia’s conventional military capability seems like an absolutely incredible investment,” Ash added, concluding, “The US military might reasonably wish Russia to continue deploying military forces for Ukraine to destroy.” ...

    With every escalation, the US and NATO are betting that they can push further than the last time without a major response. Last month, the New York Times explained this rationale by pointing to “the sense widespread in Kyiv among officials and civilians that, short of nuclear intensification, Russia cannot do much more to Ukraine that it is not already doing.” But gambling that Russia will not respond to what it perceives as an increasingly existential threat is just that—a gamble with the lives of millions of people.

    Ukraine's Donbass defense system collapsing

    Worth a full read. Here's a taste to get you started:

    US Takeover of Greece Pushes Türkiye Closer to Russia and Increases Odds of Athens-Ankara Conflict

    Greece’s recent embrace of the US is being driven by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who has been in power since July 2019 (and might get thrown out soon), but the effects will be felt for much longer and in the wider region – especially in Türkiye. Greece’s abandonment of its ties with Russia came to a head with the recent bombshell that it was considering sending Russian-made S-300 air defense missile systems to Ukraine. When Athens received the weaponry from Russia back in 1998 it agreed to never give it to another country (let alone one that is at war with Russia). But Athens’ demonstration of its non-agreement capability is just another sign that it is now wholly in the US/NATO camp.

    While the S-300 would make little difference on the Ukrainian battlefield, the escalating tensions between Greece and Türkiye are much more consequential. Many of the US moves in Greece seem designed to apply pressure on fellow NATO member Turkiye, which occupies the most important geostrategic position in the alliance and has its second-largest standing army.

    But Ankara has steadfastly refused to apply sanctions on Russia and mutually beneficial ties between the two countries have grown much closer. Putin helps Erdogan boost the Turkish economy and in return gets a sanction-free link for exports and imports. But Washington refuses to accept this arrangement and has grown increasingly frustrated to the point that US war criminal John Bolton now wants to boot Turkiye out of NATO. Such an outcome no longer seems unlikely. And a conflict between Greece and Türkiye is also becoming an increasing possibility – especially if Russia decides Greece is a lost cause and no longer works to restrain Türkiye.

    It’s unclear what Greece thinks it stands to gain in wholly throwing in its lot with the Americans who once supported the brutal military dictatorship in Greece in the 1960s and 70s. It appears to be more of an ideological mission by PM Mitsotakis who was educated in the US at Harvard, Stanford, and then Harvard Business School for an MBA. He went on to work for Chase Bank in London, McKinsey & Company, and in 2003 was nominated by the World Economic Forum as a global leader of tomorrow.

    Israel security minister bans Palestinian flag-flying in public

    Israel’s national security minister has ordered police to ban Palestinian flags from public places in the latest crackdown by the country’s new hardline government.

    Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows a series of other punitive steps against the Palestinians since taking office late last month.

    “Today I directed the Israel police to enforce the prohibition of flying any PLO flag that shows identification with a terrorist organization from the public sphere and to stop any incitement against the State of Israel,” Ben-Gvir announced on Twitter.

    Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government has moved quickly against the Palestinians in retaliation for a Palestinian push for the UN’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on Israel’s 55-year military occupation of the West Bank.

    France to raise retirement age to 64 by 2030 in controversial pension reform

    Ilhan Omar PRAISES Republican Plan To Investigate Deep State

    US supreme court lets WhatsApp pursue Pegasus spyware lawsuit

    The US supreme court has let Meta Platforms Inc’s WhatsApp pursue a lawsuit accusing Israel’s NSO Group of exploiting a bug in its WhatsApp messaging app to install spy software allowing the surveillance of 1,400 people, including journalists, human rights activists and dissidents.

    The justices turned away NSO’s appeal over a lower court’s decision that the lawsuit could move forward. NSO has argued that it is immune to being sued because it was acting as an agent for unidentified foreign governments when it installed the Pegasus spyware.

    Joe Biden’s administration had urged the justices to reject NSO’s appeal, noting that the US state department had never before recognised a private entity acting as an agent of a foreign state as being entitled to immunity.

    Meta, the parent company of both WhatsApp and Facebook, in a statement welcomed the court’s move to turn away NSO’s “baseless” appeal.

    “NSO’s spyware has enabled cyber-attacks targeting human rights activists, journalists and government officials,” Meta said. “We firmly believe that their operations violate US law and they must be held to account for their unlawful operations.”

    At Summit in Mexico, AMLO Urges Biden to End U.S. “Disdain” for Latin America

    1,500 Bolsonaro Backers Detained After Far-Right Coup Attempt in Brazill

    Brazilian Justice Minister Flávio Dino said Monday that "about 1,500" people have been arrested since supporters of Brazil's far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro attacked government buildings in Brasília the previous day.

    Dino said that at least 209 people were arrested Sunday and "about 1,200" were detained Monday, as authorities dismantled a protest camp set up near military headquarters in the federal capital, according toCNN.

    As Bloomberg reported Monday:

    Lula held a meeting with the heads of the Supreme Court, Congress, and several of his Cabinet members at a presidential palace left in shambles.

    "We're united to ensure that institutional measures are taken in accordance with the law," they wrote in a joint statement after the meeting. "We call on society to remain calm, defending peace and democracy in our country."

    ...

    Although Bolsonaro is reportedly hospitalized with abdominal pain potentially related to an old stab wound, Biden is under mounting pressure—including from U.S. lawmakers—to expel him from the United States. The peace group CodePink has joined that call and highlighted that "Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro's justice minister who was appointed minister of public security for the capital city Brasília, is also in the United States."

    "Bolsonaro and Torres should be sent back to Brazil to face justice for their crimes," the group said. "While Brazil's elected government and its people are anxious to rebuild a country that was seriously damaged by the unbridled neoliberal policies of the Bolsonaro government, the anti-democratic and violent mobs ignored the sovereign will of the Brazilian people who elected President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva to a new constitutional mandate. CodePink vehemently rejects these threats to the social and political peace of the Brazilian people, and stands firmly with the elected government of President Lula."

    The Brazilian justice minister explained during a news conference Monday that at this time, there are no legal grounds to investigate Bolsonaro in connection with Sunday's violence. However, he still placed blame on the far-right leader.

    "Words have power and those words turned into hate, which turned into destruction," Dino said. "It is a political responsibility because there are political leaders who are responsible for the hate speech and the destruction that we saw yesterday at the buildings of the three branches of powers, aiming at a coup d'état." ...

    Lula tweeted Monday evening that "it is not possible for a movement to last as long as it did" in front of the military headquarters "if there are no people financing it" and pledged that "we're going to investigate and we're going to find out who financed it."

    FBI & CIA To Be INVESTIGATED By Republican Congress!

    McCarthy Brought TO HIS KNEES As GOP Holdouts Win Major Concessions!

    House adopts new rules Democrats decry as a ‘ransom note to America’

    The Republican-led US House of Representatives on Monday adopted a package of internal rules that give rightwing hardliners more leverage over the chamber’s newly elected Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy. Lawmakers voted 220-213 for the legislation, with only one Republican voting against. All 212 Democrats voted against the rules package, saying it was full of concessions to the right wing of the Republican party.

    The rules package, which will govern House operations over the next two years, represented an early test of McCarthy’s ability to keep his caucus together, after he suffered the humiliation of 14 failed ballots last week at the hands of 20 hardliners before finally being elected speaker on Saturday.

    The legislation includes key concessions that hardliners sought and McCarthy agreed to in his quest for the speaker’s gavel. The changes include allowing a single lawmaker to call for his removal at any time. Other changes would place new restrictions on federal spending, potentially limiting McCarthy’s ability to negotiate government funding packages with President Joe Biden, whose fellow Democrats control the Senate.

    Democrats denounced the legislation as a rules package for “Maga extremists” that would favor wealthy corporations over workers, undermine congressional ethics standards and lead to further restrictions on abortion services. “These rules are not a serious attempt at governing. They’re essentially a ransom note to America from the extreme right,” Representative Jim McGovern said.

    TWITTER FILES Go To Washington? GOP To Open Probe Based On Taibbi's Reporting



    the horse race



    7 YEARS LATER: Media Admits Russiagate Was Fake



    the evening greens


    Earth’s ozone layer on course to be healed within decades, UN report finds

    The hole in the Earth’s ozone layer, once the most feared environmental peril facing humanity, is set to be completely healed over most of the world within two decades following decisive action by governments to phase out ozone-depleting substances, a new UN assessment has found.

    The loss of the ozone layer, which risked exposing people to harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun, is on track to be completely recovered by 2040 across the world, aside from the polar regions, according to the report. The poles will take a little longer – the ozone layer will fully bounce back by 2045 over the Arctic and by 2066 over the Antarctic.

    Following alarm over the loss of ozone in the 1980s, the ozone layer has been steadily improving in the wake of the 1989 Montreal protocol, an international agreement that has helped eliminate 99% of ozone-depleting chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that were used as solvents and refrigerants.

    The UN said the action taken on the ozone layer had also bolstered the more ponderous response to the climate crisis – CFCs are also greenhouse gases and their continued uncontrolled use would have raised global temperatures by as much as 1C by the middle of the century, worsening an already dire situation where planet-heating gases are still not declining.

    “Ozone action sets a precedent for climate action,” said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, which unveiled the progress report, which is conducted every four years, on Monday. “Our success in phasing out ozone-eating chemicals shows us what can and must be done as a matter of urgency to transition away from fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gases and so limit temperature increase.”

    Global pollinator losses causing 500,000 early deaths a year – study

    The global loss of pollinators is already causing about 500,000 early deaths a year by reducing the supply of healthy foods, a study has estimated.

    Three-quarters of crops require pollination but the populations of many insects are in sharp decline. The inadequate pollination that results has caused a 3%-5% loss of fruit, vegetable and nut production, the research found. The lower consumption of these foods means about 1% of all deaths can now be attributed to pollinator loss, the scientists said.

    The researchers considered deaths from heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers, all of which can be reduced with healthier diets. The study is the first to quantify the human health toll of insufficient wild pollinators. The study was based on data from hundreds of farms across the world, information on yields and diet-related health risks and a computer model that tracks the global trade in food.

    “A critical missing piece in the biodiversity discussion has been a lack of direct linkages to human health,” said Dr Samuel Myers, at Harvard University’s TH Chan School of Public Health and senior author of the study. “This research establishes that loss of pollinators is already impacting health on a scale with other global health risk factors, such as prostate cancer or substance use disorders.”

    “But there is a solution out there in pollinator-friendly practices,” Myers said. These include increasing flower abundance on farms, cutting pesticide use, especially neonicotinoids, and preserving or restoring nearby natural habitats. “When these have been studied, they pay for themselves economically through increased production.” Nonetheless, the researchers said “immense challenges remain” in restoring pollinator populations globally.

    Several California counties ordered to evacuate as deadly storm weathers on

    A series of deadly and destructive storms continued to hammer California on Monday, as the drought-stricken state grapples with the sudden onslaught of a very wet January. Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for California on Sunday, unlocking federal aid to support recovery as mud slides, engorged rivers and streams, and wind-strewn trees wreaked havoc on already-inundated infrastructure across the state. The California department of water resources warned that more than a dozen places were at high risk of flooding.

    In southern California, the entire community of Montecito were ordered to evacuate on Monday, amid a deluge of rain that has flooded roads and swollen waterways. ... The Montecito fire chief, Kevin Taylor, said at least 8in of rain had fallen in 12 hours, with several more inches expected. The canyon communities under evacuation orders are at the foot of hillsides burned bare in recent years by wildfires. ...

    Storm-weary residents are facing another bout of heavy downpours, high winds and flooding this week, with two major new storms expected to drop heavy rainfall on the coast and snow in the mountains in the coming days. ... Most of California’s 39 million residents could expect heavy rainfall of up to 5in (13cm) near the coast, more than a foot of snow to the west and wind gusts reaching 65mph across the state, the National Weather Service said. ...

    The National Weather Service warned of a “relentless parade of atmospheric rivers” – storms that are long plumes of moisture stretching out into the Pacific and are capable of dropping staggering amounts of rain and snow.


    Also of Interest

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

    Why The American Radical Right Is Powerful And The American Left Is Meaningless

    Patrick Lawrence: Dimming the Lights

    Two Parties Of Capitalist Imperialists: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

    50 Years After Allende at the UN: a Corporate Triumph Named Multistakeholderism

    Patrick Lawrence: Europe and the Legitimization of Deception

    Rosewood Massacre: Families Mark 100 Years Since White Mob Razed Black Town & Killed Black Residents

    POLL: Why Republican Plan To Cut Social Security Is A DISASTER

    Classified documents from Biden's vice presidency found at think tank

    MSNBC Columnist SMEARS Matt Taibbi As 'AUTHORITARIAN' For Twitter Files Drops


    A Little Night Music

    Legendary Blues Band - Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong

    Legendary Blues Band - Lottery blues

    Legendary Blues Band - Woke Up With The Blues

    Legendary Blues Band - Having A Hard Time

    Legendary Blues Band - Do The Get Down

    Legendary Blues Band - In the Rain

    Legendary Blues Band - I don't wanna know

    The Legendary Blues Band - Money

    The Legendary Blues Band - High Heel Sneakers


    Share
    up
    14 users have voted.

    Comments

    mimi's picture

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    4 users have voted.
    enhydra lutris's picture

    @mimi

    awful person.

    be well and have a good one

    up
    9 users have voted.

    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

    @mimi

    always great to see you!

    it's an awful quote from an awful person who's just a little (probably microscopically) less awful than the people who run things now, if only because he's ever so slightly more honest in some of his pronouncements.

    up
    9 users have voted.

    who's business is it anyway? Greece and Turkiye.
    Just for clarification ..
    US war criminal John Bolton now wants to boot Turkiye out of NATO
    John who?
    Another fine example of the inability of the Biden administration to
    figure out international relations.

    thanks for the Legendary Blues joe!

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    9 users have voted.
    joe shikspack's picture

    @QMS

    John who?

    war criminal and currently announced presidential candidate.

    he's among the neocon nuts that would encourage greek military hostilities against turkey if turkey stops following along in the hymnal.

    legendary was a great band, especially when they had pinetop.

    up
    6 users have voted.

    with regards to the present and future aspects of the war in Ukraine.

    It is lengthy but well worth viewing if you have the time.

    up
    10 users have voted.

    @humphrey Nixon and Ritter lay it all out very clearly.

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    NYCVG

    @NYCVG

    character which hadn't been revealed previously.

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    7 users have voted.

    @humphrey about Wagner fascinated me. I thought it was a Blackwater type mercenary group and it is more a branch of the Russian forces. I could not understand why so many analysts spoke respectfully about "the Musicians" but now it makes a little more sense.

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    4 users have voted.

    NYCVG

    @humphrey

    lots to assimilate there

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    joe shikspack's picture

    @humphrey

    thanks for the interview! it was a good one. nixon asked good questions and had the good sense to sit back and not interrupt as some interviewers like to.

    up
    6 users have voted.

    @humphrey soldiers do have hearts.
    The last 10 minutes or so brought them both to "war is a racket" sort of discussion. It just isn't fought to make the US a better, safer place.

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    5 users have voted.

    "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

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    NYCVG

    joe shikspack's picture

    @NYCVG

    heh, if only they could get baghdad bob to deliver the daily reports from ukraine. Smile

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    8 users have voted.

    @joe shikspack @joe shikspack @joe shikspack

    lol---Here's another one

    Re: Soledar

    https://t.me/levigodman/6496

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    5 users have voted.

    NYCVG

    joe shikspack's picture

    @NYCVG

    it details all of the stages and could save elensky a lot of time if he just posted that graphic with an arrow.

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    ggersh's picture

    he continuously tried to achieve peace with the West, albeit to no avail
    as the west is "adverse to peace"

    Courtesy of the CIA, leaked by Wikileaks

    https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2023/01/debt-rattle-january-10-2023/

    CIA back in 2008. Leaked by @wikileaks

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    10 users have voted.

    I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
    those born Jewish

    "Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
    now it's someone who Jews don't like"

    Heard from Margaret Kimberley

    @ggersh

    the last thing the CIA wants is peace with anyone challenging the hog it sucks on
    their mission has always been ill defined, but the truth is war, indoctrination,
    intimidation, upheaval and downright dastardly deeds for the sake of the well
    paying idiots that want to control the world. A useless cause.

    The world will progress in spite of their mission. I only hope to see the agency
    stripped of its role by being exposed for the selfish parasite it is.

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    @ggersh why he chose to believe in the Minsk accords.

    up
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    NYCVG

    joe shikspack's picture

    @ggersh

    putin was quite prepared from early on to have close and constructive relations with the west, he even (at one point, early on) put forward the idea of russia joining nato. he referred to the west russia's "partners" pretty much until the point that he invaded ukraine. he stopped using that terminology when it was plain as the nose on one's face that the west was engaging in bad faith.

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    Artyomovsk aka Bakhmut is next. When do the Ukies admit defeat?
    The neck is soon to be broken in spite of NATO and US interference.
    Better to count their losses than to make more in a sane world.

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    @QMS Collapse is happening and a painful surrender is next.

    Sadly the War will go on. And on. Until the USA pulls the plug.

    Catastrophe in Ukraine means wealth for our Rulers.

    up
    7 users have voted.

    NYCVG

    @NYCVG

    collapse (can't say surrender) will not ease the suffering of the dead
    US can not pull any meaningful plugs at this point.
    The damage is, as you say, perpetual.

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    5 users have voted.

    @QMS

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    8 users have voted.
    joe shikspack's picture

    @QMS

    i suspect that the ukies will never admit defeat. i would guess that at some point elensky and the ukro-nazi leaders will flee the country and form a government in exile somewhere. i hear that elensky owns a condo in miami, so maybe there.

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    enhydra lutris's picture

    @QMS

    meaningful change to occur

    be well and have a good one

    up
    6 users have voted.

    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 --

    More from Ben Norton.

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    joe shikspack's picture

    @humphrey

    thanks to biden and his genius neocons we may have a multipolar world sooner than expected. or a nuclear winter.

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    6 users have voted.
    snoopydawg's picture

    This is most excellent

    Hillary Clinton’s College Gig Funded by Chinese Oligarchs

    Hillary Rodham Clinton, after a lifetime of struggling to find a steady job to support her family , has finally landed a position with Columbia University.

    The former first lady and two-time presidential loser will become a “professor of practice” at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and a “presidential fellow” at Columbia World Projects. Considering Hillary’s “practice”, the university will likely be locking the cash drawer and securing any valuable art that might perchance fall into her pantsuit pockets.

    “I have had the great pleasure of knowing Hillary personally for three decades,” President Lee C. Bolling, who holds the job title that she was denied, announced. He gushed over “her extraordinary talents and capacities together with her singular life experiences”.

    The new job is good news for Hillary, who will finally be able to provide for her daughter, Chelsea, still trying to make ends meet while being married to a poor hedge fund executive, and won’t have to humiliate herself by trading cash to foreigners for access to our political system.

    Oh… wait a minute.

    Columbia World Projects is funded by a diverse variety of donors like Abdulrahman R. Al-Rashed. It’s unclear if this is the former head of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya or the member of the Al-Rashed group: a massive Saudi conglomerate. Or perhaps some other Saudi bigwig.

    Hopefully Hillary knows which particular Saudi she’s climbing into bed with, but when you’ve been around and in as many Saudis as she has, it can be hard to tell the burnooses apart.
    …..

    Before Hillary made up Russiagate, Bill was palling around with Vladimir Putin in Russia and scoring a $500,000 check.
    ……
    All of this might be awkward for most other politicians, but Hillary lost whatever sense of shame she had around the time she began spewing a stream of pathological lies and covering for her husband’s side gig as a freelance sexual predator. After defending a 12-year-old girl’s rapist by calling his victim, who was recovering from a coma, a slut, she had any concept of right and wrong surgically removed. In prepping for her presidential run, the Clintons and their foundation took money from any oligarch or terrorist state with a checkbook who could sign their names.

    And it’s not as Hillary doesn’t have company.

    Hillary has run out of supporters and out of ideas. Her Apple TV+ documentary series, “Gutsy”, was so bad that Steve Jobs rolled hard enough in his grave to trigger a 5.2 earthquake. The podcast, “You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton”, just consists of her begging SNL cast members to teach her to laugh like a human being. Her merchandise site is selling a pantsuit onesie.

    At this rate, she’ll be on UK’s Celebrity Big Brother by 2024. So why not instead go back to college and the murky swamp of foreign money that spawned her career?

    Americans are ignoring Hillary, but America’s enemies might be more willing to take her in.

    Weird how so many of our so called enemies are allowed to pour money into our universities ain’t it? Someone said that this part of the school Hellabitch is going to teach at was created by Susan Rice…or Powers.

    Free the Bill palling around with Russia essay:

    Hillary Clinton sought to tamp down reports about her opposition to Russia sanctions that coincided with a speech her husband gave in Moscow that landed him half a million dollars.

    Hillary Clinton opposed Russia sanctions in 2010 when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was paid to give a speech at the Russian bank Renaissance Capital, Fox News reports.

    The bank was connected to the fraud case that led to the sanctions posed by the Magnitsky Act, and after the former president gave the speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin called him to say thanks.

    This story did not receive much attention while President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were pursuing their Russian "reset," but Hillary Clinton's campaign took pains to prevent the story of Bill's speech from getting out. In 2015, campaign operatives were able to prevent a mainstream media outlet from reporting on it.

    That’s when she overruled other departments that wanted to keep Russia from having 20% of our uranium. And before she became a call girl for her foundation so that foreign countries could get her help if they were in trouble with our state department. I think the world owes Trump a favor for keeping her from becoming president. It might already be a smoking pile of ash if she had gotten the war with Russia started earlier.

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    Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

    joe shikspack's picture

    @snoopydawg

    wow. it's never enough is it? she can't just slink off with her millions and retire on an island somewhere. no, somebody somewhere wants her "wisdom," and she's willing to dispense it for a significant consideration. yuck!

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    snoopydawg's picture

    @joe shikspack

    The island that Hillary liked to visit has been closed down since her friends Jeff and Giselle got arrested. It’s why she had to take wandering in the woods with her bottle of wine. But like that saying goes:

    I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

    up
    5 users have voted.

    Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

    enhydra lutris's picture

    Sounds like Soledar and Bakmut are done, finito, kaput. Maybe Friday? So, how then does Biden prop up the ukies further? What else does he promise to send forthwith? Boots, or is he getting wise enough to push the allies to send shit while simply he simply promises stuff that will take a while to get there? If the ukies collapse, do we get to dedicate all those monies that we budgeted for them to domestic purposes? Bet not.

    And the EU, what the hell do they do? They've killed their economies and burned a shitload of wealth at the same time. Will somebody wake up and pop elensky?

    What degree of losses will it take for the propaganda war to fail? Our satellites will show, at some point, the degree of ukie rearward advances and the word will leak out.

    be well and have a good one

    up
    9 users have voted.

    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

    @enhydra lutris

    i was just reading about soledar, which russia says is under their control. bakhmut by the end of the week? i dunno, from what i've been hearing that might be a bit of a stretch considering how well dug in the ukro-nazis are.

    i reckon that biden and the eu have several months yet to enrich the mic at the long-term expense of their domestic publics.

    i just saw porter's announcement. i don't know how she is on foreign policy, but regardless, she's a big step up over difi for sure.

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    5 users have voted.
    enhydra lutris's picture

    It appears that Katie Porter is gearing up for a run for DiFi's seat.

    be well and have a good one

    up
    7 users have voted.

    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 --

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    6 users have voted.

    https://sputniknews.com/20230111/us-federal-agency-eyes-ban-on-gas-stove...

    About 35% of homes in the US have gas stoves, which the EPA and the World Health Organization are now saying present a hazard to people’s health. The appliances people use to cook their meals can release carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other matter that may cause severe health issues.
    The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is eyeing a ban on gas stoves after reports by the Institute for Policy Integrity and the American Chemical Society found the appliances to be emitting dangerous air pollutants.

    The offending pollutants were identified as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, as well as other particles the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) say are unsafe and are linked to respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular problems, cancer, and other health conditions, Bloomberg reported.
    A research article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health last month also found that more than 12% of current asthma cases among US children can be attributed to the use of gas stoves.

    “There is about 50 years of health studies showing that gas stoves are bad for our health, and the strongest evidence is on children and children’s asthma,” said Brady Seals, a co-author of the study. “By having a gas connection, we are polluting the insides of our homes.”

    The CPSC has been considering a ban for months, but has yet to finalize a plan. Agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. first recommended in October that the CPSC should seek public comment on the health and safety issues surrounding gas stoves. The agency also told CNN in a statement that such an action would “involve a lengthy process.”

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    travelerxxx's picture

    @humphrey

    The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is eyeing a ban on gas stoves...

    They can take my gas range after they pry my cold de.... Um, something.

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    @travelerxxx

    I would actually prefer the old type coil range as that seem to have better control over the cooking temperature but it isn't as stylish. (gag)

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    6 users have voted.

    @humphrey Most of NYC has gas cooking and yes, it is much better, imho.

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    6 users have voted.

    NYCVG

    TheOtherMaven's picture

    @NYCVG

    the biggest risk isn't the carbon monoxide yada yada, it's forgetting to turn the gas off and accidentally burning yourself out of house and home (or blowing the house up).

    Everything has tradeoffs - that's just the nature of reality.

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    There is no justice. There can be no peace.

    @humphrey electric stoves.
    Addressing The Other Maven's concern, a lot of stoves have a click or buzz sound indicating you didn't completely turn it off.
    When the electricity is off for days or weeks due to storms, I can still cook, and keep a section of my house warm.
    I agree with travelerxxx. They will not like the process of removing my stove. I will refrain from making a public comment to CPSC as a waste of time after my curse words are edited out of it.

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    "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981