Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Texas country blues singer Andrew "Smokey" Hogg. Enjoy!

"We need an attitude of defiance, not an attitude of cowardice. Out in the street, that's how we are winning against the TransCanada Pipeline. This is how we have delayed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and forced it into an election season, gotten everybody to stand against it. Democracy is not about surrender."

-- Jill Stein

News and Opinion

Video shows pickup truck plowing into Native American rights protesters

Reno police are investigating reports of a pickup truck plowing into a group of Native American rights demonstrators after dramatic video emerged showing the vehicle’s occupants arguing with activists, revving the engine and then speeding into the crowd.

Police chief Jason Soto said the 18-year-old male pickup driver and 17-year-old passenger contacted police three minutes after Monday evening’s incident beneath the famous arch with the Nevada city’s slogan, Biggest Little City in the World. The driver stopped several blocks away, and both he and a passenger in the truck are said to be cooperating with police.

A 59-year-old woman has been hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening, and three others were hurt. Police say about 40 people were blocking Virginia Street in front of the city’s famous arch on Monday night. ... Quanah Brightman, executive director of United Native Americans Inc, told the Reno Gazette-Journal the incident was a “hate crime”. ...

“They drove by once as we were walking toward the arch, yelling obscenities,” said Taylor Wayman, 27, who said he was not an official member of the sponsoring groups but decided to attend the rally. “I heard the driver ask one of the protesters, ‘Do you want me to kill your homies?’ and that really set everybody off,” Wayman told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

U.S. Military Operations Are Biggest Motivation for Homegrown Terrorists, FBI Study Finds

A secret FBI study found that anger over U.S. military operations abroad was the most commonly cited motivation for individuals involved in cases of “homegrown” terrorism. The report also identified no coherent pattern to “radicalization,” concluding that it remained near impossible to predict future violent acts.

The study, reviewed by The Intercept, was conducted in 2012 by a unit in the FBI’s counterterrorism division and surveyed intelligence analysts and FBI special agents across the United States who were responsible for nearly 200 cases, both open and closed, involving “homegrown violent extremists.” The survey responses reinforced the FBI’s conclusion that such individuals “frequently believe the U.S. military is committing atrocities in Muslim countries, thereby justifying their violent aspirations.”

Online relationships and exposure to English-language militant propaganda and “ideologues” like Anwar al-Awlaki are also cited as “key factors” driving extremism. But grievances over U.S. military action ranked far above any other factor, turning up in 18 percent of all cases, with additional cases citing a “perceived war against Islam,” “perceived discrimination,” or other more specific incidents. The report notes that between 2009 and 2012, 10 out of 16 attempted or successful terrorist attacks in the United States targeted military facilities or personnel.

Overall, the survey confirmed the “highly individualized nature of the radicalization process,” a finding consistent with outside scholarship on the subject.

US Warship Fires Missiles Off Coast of Yemen

While Pentagon officials yesterday conceded that it was “possible” that a pair of missiles fired from Yemen were aimed at the USS Mason, it turns out the US warship actually fired three missiles of its own in response to what officials didn’t even want to confirm was a real attack.

The Mason fired a RIM-162 SeaSparrow, a missile interceptor, along with two SM-2 surface-to-air missiles. It is unclear what, if anything, any of these missiles hit, but Pentagon officials hyped this as proof that anyone “threatening” a US warship did so at their own peril.

Isis booby-trapped drone kills troops in Iraq, officials say

A booby-trapped drone launched by Islamic State militants killed two peshmerga fighters and wounded two French soldiers this month north of the Isis-controlled city of Mosul, French and Kurdish officials have said.

The drone exploded when peshmerga fighters tried to lift it after it crashed, said Jabbar al-Yawar, secretary general of the autonomous Kurdish region’s defence ministry. “It seems it was booby-trapped.”

Le Monde reported on Tuesday that the drone had been intercepted in flight on 2 October and exploded near the Kurdish and French soldiers when it hit the ground. It was unclear, the French paper said, whether the drone was remotely detonated or carried a timed bomb.

Yawar, speaking from Irbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, said the French soldiers had been training Kurdish fighters near the site of the drone crash, close to the town of Dohuk.

Russian Jets Pound Eastern Aleppo as Syria’s Army Consolidates Gains

After a few days of relative calm, the battle over the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has picked up anew, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting heavy Russian airstrikes against the eastern half of the city, held by the Nusra Front. ...

At the same time, the Syrian Army is reporting that it has consolidated gains north of the city, further establishing control over a key intersection on the city’s northern outskirts, and controlling a main route through which they intend civilians to flee the east. ...

The resumption of airstrikes around Aleppo is likely to add to the chorus of US officials calling for war with Russia to keep the al-Qaeda-linked rebels from losing, with officials harping on about this even after the airstrikes had stopped.

Former Soviet leader Gorbachev says US-Russia tension has reached 'a dangerous point'

The last leader of the Soviet Union said the tension between Russia and the U.S. has reached a "dangerous point" and that ending talks between the two world powers was "the biggest mistake." ...

The former leader urged world leaders to "return to the main priorities": nuclear disarmament, fighting terrorism and preventing an environmental disaster.

"The worst thing that has happened in recent years is the collapse of trust in relations between major powers," he said. "The window to a nuclear weapon-free world ... is being shut and sealed right before our eyes."

Putin: We know who hit aid convoy in Aleppo, so do the Americans

Russia scorns Boris Johnson's 'hysteria' as bombs hammer Aleppo

Moscow has responded forcefully to accusations by Britain’s foreign secretary about its involvement in an attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month, as intense violence in Aleppo’s besieged east continued.

The Russian defence ministry said Boris Johnson’s comments that Russia should be investigated for war crimes in Aleppo were “Russophobic hysteria”.

“There were no Russian planes in the area of the aid convoy to Aleppo. That is a fact,” the ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. Johnson’s speech was “a storm in a glass of muddy London water”, he added. ...

Making his frontbench debut as foreign secretary in a Commons debate on Tuesday, Johnson said “the mills of justice grind slowly, but they grind small” as he predicted those responsible for war crimes in Syria would eventually face charges before the international criminal court. He also took the unusual step of calling for demonstrations by anti-war protesters outside the Russian embassy in London. ...

The resumption of intensive airstrikes by Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its Russian allies followed several days of relative calm in which the government reiterated its demands for rebels in the eastern districts of Syria’s commercial capital to lay down their arms and abandon the city, and for civilians to flee to the regime-held western half.

This is an excellent article, worth reading in full. The article documents how US-supported rebels have trapped civilians in East Aleppo and are using them as human shields and the US supports this tactic because it is strategically disadvantageous to separate civilians from the rebels.

Selective Outrage Over Aleppo Bombing

The United States is manipulating humanitarian concern in an effort to protect its proxy militias and its imperial regime-change project in Syria. The mainstream media and intellectual classes are dutifully falling in line, promoting a narrative favoring U.S. military aggression under the cover of “protecting civilians.”

Similar arguments contributed to the invasions of Iraq and Libya, exponentially increasing the massacres, chaos and proliferation of violent extremism within those countries. These “responsibility to protect” or R2P claims are hypocritical, designed to further the interests of conquest and domination and will lead to even more death and destruction in Syria.

The United States has no stake in the wellbeing of Syrian civilians, despite the condemnations of Russia’s offensive in Aleppo. This is clearly shown in the fact that the people that the U.S. is supporting are guilty of the same crimes that the U.S. accuses Russia and Syria of: indiscriminate attacks, targeting of civilians, destruction of schools, hospitals, etc.

Furthermore, the offensive in Aleppo is really no different from what the U.S. did in Manbij, a Syrian city northeast of Aleppo where the U.S. is said to have incorporated a “scorched earth policy” while liberating the city from ISIS this year by treating the civilian population “as if they were terrorists or ISIS supporters.”

Arguably the U.S. conduct was even worse, as the U.S. earned the distinction of launching the deadliest single airstrike on civilians out of the entire five-year conflict, massacring at least 73 where no ISIS fighters were present. But the Manbij operation elicited no moral outcry from the media and punditry, since these were deemed “unworthy victims” given that they were our victims and not those of our enemies. The same can be said about the U.S. operations in Kobani and Fallujah, whereby the entire towns were essentially reduced to rubble without any R2P uproar. ...

The real reason the U.S. is decrying the Russian operation is the fact that the U.S.  is staring aghast at the near-term possibility that its proxy insurgency in Aleppo will be defeated.  Not only will this mark the decisive turning point in the war, the rebels all-but being fully overcome and the Syrian government in control of all the populated city centers except Idlib, but others have argued that it could as well mark the end of U.S. hegemony over the entire Middle East in general. In other words, the U.S. is trying to turn global public opinion against the Russian effort in an attempt to halt the advance and protect U.S. rebel proxies trapped in Aleppo.

An excellent article, worth a full read. Here's a taste:

America’s Military and Diplomatic Power in Visible Decline

In the strangest election year in recent American history — one in which the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson couldn’t even conjure up the name of a foreign leader he “admired” while Donald Trump remained intent on building his “fat, beautiful wall” and “taking” Iraq oil — the world may be out of focus for many Americans right now. So a little introduction to the planet we actually inhabit is in order. Welcome to a multipolar world. One fact stands out: Earth is no longer the property of the globe’s “sole superpower.”

If you want proof, you can start by checking out Moscow’s recent role in reshaping the civil war in Syria and frustrating Washington’s agenda to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. And that’s just one of a number of developments that highlight America’s diminishing power globally in both the military and the diplomatic arenas. On a peaceable note, consider the way China has successfully launched the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a rival to the World Bank, not to speak of its implementation of a plan to link numerous countries in Asia and Europe to China in a vast multinational transportation and pipeline network it grandly calls the One Belt and One Road system, or the New Silk Road project. In such developments, one can see ways in which the previously overwhelming economic power of the U.S. is gradually being challenged and curtailed internationally.

The Moscow-Washington agreement of September 10th on Syria, reached after 10 months of hard bargaining and now in shambles after another broken truce, had one crucial if little noted aspect. For the first time since the Soviet Union imploded, Russia managed to put itself on the same diplomatic footing as the U.S. As Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented, “This is not the end of the road… just the beginning of our new relations” with Washington. Even though those relations are now in a state of suspension and exacerbation, it’s indisputable that the Kremlin’s limited military intervention in Syria was tailored to achieve a multiplier effect, yielding returns both in that war-ravaged, devastated land and in international diplomacy.

US State Dept defends Saudi massacre of Yemeni civilians

The U.S. State Department Spokesperson, John Kirby, claimed on Tuesday that the Saudi airstrike against Yemeni civilians in Sanaa was "different" than Russian and Syrian airstrikes in Aleppo.

The flustered Kirby then claimed the Saudis are not "deliberately targeting civilians" like the Russians and Syrians; furthermore, the Saudi Air Force is "investigating" the airstrikes.

Shockingly, Kirby then asserts that the Saudis are defending themselves against the Houthi fighters that are allegedly being armed by the Iranians.

Kirby's comments were not only false, but also contradictory because his regime has supplied weapons to the opposition in Syria.

New Clinton email reveals direct support for ISIS from two powerful Western allies

A new Hillary Clinton email published by WikiLeaks as part of the ongoing release of hacked campaign files confirms that Daesh (Isis/Isil) has state backing. ...

The lengthy email contains a summary assessment of proposed US policy plans in Iraq and Syria. This is based on what the email internally describes as Western and US intelligence sources. Most of the document lays out strategies for pushing Daesh back in the Middle East.

But one section bluntly describes Western allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar as direct supporters of Daesh (“ISIL” in this email):

We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region… The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure.

... In short, analysts have long acknowledged indirect Saudi support of Daesh. But Clinton’s email is the first known intelligence memo which spells out direct Saudi support of the Wahhabi terror group.

This leaked email alone should cause the media and Western governments to demand a radical reevaluation of the West’s priorities in the Middle East.

NEW: This Aug. 2014 email sent by Hillary means she knew Clinton Found. donors Saudi Arabia & Qatar support ISIS & other terrorists. #Syria pic.twitter.com/Poc290jErX

— Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) October 10, 2016

Clinton campaign dubs WikiLeaks 'Russian propaganda' after latest hack

Hillary Clinton’s campaign fired back on Tuesday as WikiLeaks released a new tranche of hacked emails from the account of its chairman, John Podesta, dubbing the website a “propaganda arm of the Russian government” seeking to help elect the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

The latest batch of more than 2,000 emails, disclosed on Monday, offered a glimpse into the inner workings of the Clinton campaign. They included insights on multiple fronts, such as a lack of preparedness for Bernie Sanders’ insurgent campaign, concerns raised by Chelsea Clinton over potential conflicts of interest for the family’s foundation, and efforts by aides on how to best frame the former secretary of state’s second bid for the White House.

Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Clinton’s campaign, fired off a tweet storm late on Monday in which he assailed WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, for working on behalf of the Russian government.

“You are no media organization,” Fallon tweeted at WikiLeaks. “You are a propaganda arm of the Russian government, running interference for their pet candidate, Trump.

Obama Mulls ‘Retaliation’ Against Russia Over Claimed Hacks

According to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, President Obama is actively considering retaliatory moves against Russia in response to putative hacking attacks that the Obama Administration has blamed on the Russian government. ...

It is unclear what form the revenge moves will take, but administration officials have previously suggested military action would be appropriate in certain cases of cyber attacks, and the Treasury Department is also talking imposing new sanctions. The US makes anti-Russia moves pretty regularly right now anyhow, so it may be hard to tell the difference, barring some huge, war-starting incident.

ACLU finds social media sites gave data to company tracking black protesters

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have previously provided users’ data to a software company that aids police surveillance programs and targets protesters of color, according to government records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU revealed on Tuesday that the technology corporations gave “special access” to Geofeedia, a controversial social media monitoring company that partners with law enforcement and has marketed its services as a tool to track Black Lives Matter activists.

In response to the findings, all three companies have announced measures to cut off Geofeedia’s access to certain data streams, even though critics say the corporations need to adopt broader policies that prevent this kind of surveillance and data sharing.

The ACLU’s past records requests in California have determined that at least 13 police agencies have used or acquired Geofeedia, a Chicago-based startup that has worked with law enforcement across the US. Emails between the company and police revealed that Geofeedia had developer-level access to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which means it could review streams of user content in ways that regular members of the public cannot, according to the ACLU.

“The fact that third parties are making big money off of the sale and trading of our data with law enforcement is a huge problem and one that any social media user in this country or beyond should be disgusted and surprised by,” said Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice, which has urged companies to end their relationships with Geofeedia. “It clearly has a chilling effect on democratic protests.”

Verizon Lawyer Argues for Greater Legal Protection for Customer Location Data

Verizon's General Counsel and head of public policy made a public case this week for reconsidering legal protections on customer data in light of evolving technology that allows companies to almost continuously track cell phone users’ location.

Craig Silliman’s opinion piece published Monday in Bloomberg Law comes just days after Reuters revealed that Yahoo, the company Verizon is reportedly buying, helped the U.S. government scan millions of emails for a specific “digital signature,” outraging privacy activists. It also follows several years of controversy since Verizon was implicated in the NSA’s mass surveillance program through the 2013 Snowden disclosures, which revealed the collection of thousands of its customers’ phone records.

The piece describes the legal ins-and-outs of location privacy, including a specific issue courts have been pondering over the last few years: whether or not customers, when they make phone calls or log into apps on their smartphones, are voluntarily handing over to private companies’ information about where they are and what they’re doing — making that information available to law enforcement without a warrant.

Security fears over FBI contracting out highly sensitive surveillance documents

The FBI has contracted out with a private firm to handle, distribute and monitor highly sensitive surveillance documents, in an arrangement veteran FBI agents consider a potential privacy and counterintelligence risk.

Since 2015, the FBI has entrusted a national-security professional services contractor, Aveshka, to prepare, organize, courier and disseminate surveillance materials, including documentation leading to court orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), the legal wellspring of domestic national-security surveillance.

Neither the company nor its employees have been accused of any wrongdoing, but national security has come under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the arrest last week of a Booz Allen Hamilton employee on suspicion of stealing National Security Agency computer code. FBI veterans and other surveillance experts consider the bureau to be effectively inserting a private firm as a middleman in surveillance, which they consider an inherent and seemingly unnecessary security vulnerability.

“The FBI here is literally giving out the keys to the national security kingdom,” said Jim Wedick, a 35-year FBI agent who retired in 2004.

“Being a courier for Fisa material, you literally have all information needed to identify both subjects and informants. Something any adversary would want. It’s the choke point for information.”

Pre-Debate Roundtable: Lee Fang on "Cozy" Relationship Between Clinton Campaign & Press

Memo Shows What Major Donors Like Goldman Sachs Want From Democratic Party

Wall Street donors have used their financial relationship with the Democratic Party to complain bitterly about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Mass., influence over the direction of the party, a new fundraising document reveals. At one point, the Democratic lawmaker in charge of raising cash for House Democrats attempted to reassure donors by pointing to a news story claiming that Warren does not speak for the party.

The document, a fundraising summary compiled by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, provides a window into the relationship between the Democrats and major interest group donors. The party held meetings with donors such as Goldman Sachs and General Electric and carefully compiled their concerns, even when they whined about core progressive goals. It’s an awesome example of how money greases the wheels of Washington, D.C.

The notes were compiled on behalf of Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., the chair of the DCCC, providing a summary of his fundraising meetings with various corporate and union donors. The DCCC did not respond to a request for comment.

Goldman Sachs lobbyists Michael Paese and Joyce Brayboy complained to Luján that his party’s “rhetoric is problematic” and that they “don’t like Warren’s messaging,” a reference to populist Sen. Elizabeth Warren. ... The lobbyists’ access was likely influenced by significant contributions to the DCCC. In the 2014 election cycle, the Goldman Sachs PAC gave the DCCC $30,000; in 2016, it gave $20,000.

WikiLeaks Emails: Hillary Clinton Team Courted Elizabeth Warren as Early as Spring of 2014 — With Inside Help

... The emails show in great detail just how aggressively and comprehensively the Hillary Clinton team pursued Elizabeth Warren for support, beginning as early as the spring of 2014 – a full year before Sanders had even declared his candidacy.

In one long email thread, long-time Clinton advisor Huma Abedin reveals on November 18, 2014 that a meeting has finally been secured with Senator Warren for December 4, 2014 and indicates the Warren camp has been less than receptive to the meeting. Abedin writes to other Clinton advisors in the email:

“Elizabeth Warren: We confirmed this meeting last week. It is set for December 4th. We were having problems with them because this was supposed to take place in June. They do not want intermediaries discussing the relationship or the potential policy differences as they feel that is happening too much. They want to have a direct conversation about economic policy.”

On the same date, November 18, 2014, and in the same thread, Abedin indicates that whenever Warren says something publicly that is “critical” to Hillary Clinton, members of the Clinton team are to call Warren down on it. Abedin also indicates that there have been ongoing discussions with “Mindy,” (Mindy Myers), Warren’s Chief of Staff at the time and implicates “Mandy” (Mandy Grunwald) as having “been helpful.” Mandy Grunwald was a top strategist for Senator Warren at that time, but according to Abedin, was providing “good intel” to the Clinton team. The leaked emails back that up. Grunwald had been an advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton for more than two decades but it was not officially announced that Grunwald was joining the Hillary Clinton campaign until February 2015.

Abedin explains the involvement of “Mindy” and “Mandy” in her email:

“There is some background here that Im happy to share. Mandy has been helpful and will provide good intel. As for Mindy, we have frustrated her but yes she will also be very helpful. But I think everytime EW [Elizabeth Warren] says something interpreted as not being effusive enough or critical, she hears from a Neera, Gillibrand, Mandy or we suggest that Dan talk to her policy person. Basically her people are saying say enough already, lets just talk direct. We should assume meeting will leak as we are currently doing it at a hotel in Boston and I am sure they are prepared for that too. We conveyed that we are happy to meet wherever EW wants.”

It’s not a pretty picture that the Clinton camp was attempting to muzzle the free speech of a sitting Senator from Massachusetts, who owes her loyalty solely to her constituents in that state. Using Warren’s own strategist as a source of “good intel” has the same earmarks as co-opting the Democratic National Committee to further the aspirations of Hillary Clinton.

Behind Closed Doors, Hillary Clinton Sympathized With Goldman Sachs Over Financial Reform

Excerpts of Hillary Clinton's previously secret speeches to big banks and trade groups in 2013 and 2014 show her exalting the work of her hosts, hardly a surprise when these groups paid her up to $225,000 an hour to chat them up.

Far from chiding Goldman Sachs for obstructing Democratic proposals for financial reform, Clinton appeared to sympathize with the giant investment bank. At a Goldman Sachs Alternative Investments Symposium in October 2013, Clinton almost apologized for the Dodd-Frank reform bill, explaining that it had to pass “for political reasons,” because “if you were an elected member of Congress and people in your constituency were losing jobs and shutting businesses and everybody in the press is saying it’s all the fault of Wall Street, you can’t sit idly by and do nothing.” ...

Clinton has historically been far less critical of the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington than many other Democrats, and as secretary of state allowed two of her top aides — Tom Nides and Robert Hormats — to receive big payouts from their big-bank employers before entering public service.

“Thank you for lending me Tom Nides for the past two years,” Clinton said to a crowd at Morgan Stanley on April 18, 2013. As The Intercept reported in July 2015, Nides moved from chief operating officer at Morgan Stanley into Clinton’s State Department, and when Clinton left Foggy Bottom, Nides went right back to Morgan Stanley as a vice chairman.

Clinton joked about the “culture shock” for Nides, working a government job. “You should have seen his face when he learned there were no stock options at the State Department. But he soon not only settled in very nicely, he became positively enthusiastic when I told him we did have our own plane.” Clinton also gushed about Hormats, who joined her at State after a career at Goldman Sachs, in a 2014 speech at JPMorgan Chase.

Wealthy San Francisco tech investors bankroll bid to ban homeless camps

A tent on a sidewalk is the only place thousands of San Franciscans have to call home. But if a few of the city’s tech billionaires and millionaires have their way, even that shelter could be taken away.

Sequoia Capital chairman Michael Moritz, tech angel investor Ron Conway, and hedge-fund investor William Oberndorf have donated $49,999 apiece to a divisive ballot measure intended to clear San Francisco’s streets of homeless encampments, according to campaign filings.

Zachary Bogue, a tech investor best known as husband to the Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, also pitched in $2,500.

Those sums may be chump change to the likes of Moritz (net worth $3.1bn), but they account for the majority of the approximately $270,000 campaign chest.

Proposition Q purports to address the most visible symptom of the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis, tent cities that crowd the sidewalks in certain neighborhoods. To the city’s housed residents, the encampments serve as a visceral reminder of the city’s gaping inequality – or as a nuisance that they wish would go away.

Report: Every 25 Seconds, Cops Arrest Someone for Drug Possession

The War on Drugs may have failed but it certainly hasn’t ended: Every 25 seconds in the U.S., someone is arrested for drug possession.

Arrests for the possession and personal use of drugs are boosting the ranks of the incarcerated at astonishing rates — with 137,000 people behind bars for drugs on any given day, and 1.25 million every year. Possession of even tiny quantities of illicit drugs is criminalized in every state, a felony in most, and the number one cause of all arrests nationwide. And while marijuana is now legal in a handful of states and decriminalized in others, in 2015 police nationwide made over 547,000 arrests for simple marijuana possession — more than for all categories of violent crime combined. These arrests are feeding people into a criminal justice system that’s rife with inefficiencies, abuse, and racism, and compounding drug users’ substance abuse with the lifelong impact of a criminal record.

The staggering numbers, detailed in a report released today by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, shed new light on the colossal impact of the criminalization of drug use, as well as on the discriminatory impact of its enforcement. These laws have done nothing to stem the public health problem of drug addiction and in the process have destroyed countless of lives and cost incalculable amounts of public resources in arrests, prosecution, and incarceration, the report charges.

“The shackles have been taken off me”

It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016

Trump managed to stop the stream of turncoats with his debate performance Sunday evening but has taken the defection as a license to attack Democrat Hillary Clinton without restraint. ... Sunday night, Trump invited several women who have accused the former president of sexual impropriety and gave them seats at the second presidential debate. His campaign also tried to orchestrate a face-to-face confrontation inside the debate hall with President.

More brutal tactics like this are likely coming in the final weeks of the campaign as Trump tweeted that the “shackles” have come off. Ryan’s “disloyalty,” as Trump called it, has clearly irritated him, but it also allows him to campaign “the way I want to,” he tweeted. Get ready for Trump unleashed.

With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016

Hillary's secret weapon to win over millennials is ... Al Gore

The former first lady and Gore have at times had a tense relationship since the last Clinton presidency, when both vied for power and influence. The relationship soured during the Lewinsky scandal. Gore felt compelled to separate himself from the President and Clinton resented being distanced from.

Gore has also been noticeably absent from the former first lady’s presidential runs in 2008 and this year. When he finally endorsed her in July, he simply put out a short statement online and did not attend the Democratic convention. But on Tuesday, Gore and Clinton put aside any remaining personal differences to rally together for a second Clinton presidency.

The Clinton campaign said that Gore’s appearance was targeted at millennials skeptical and unenthused by the Democratic nominee. Gore is an odd surrogate for young voters since anyone younger than 35 was too young to vote in 2000, but the Clinton campaign is hoping his high-profile work on climate change will resonate with younger voters.

Leaked Hillary Clinton Emails: Could Bernie Sanders Have Won Primary If Leak Occurred Earlier?

WikiLeaks releases fourth Podesta email dump

WikiLeaks on Wednesday added to its release of material allegedly stolen from the email account of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, publishing more than 1,100 new emails on its website.

The release follows similar publications over recent days in an apparent bid to follow through on founder Julian Assange’s promise to release an “October surprise” in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. ...

So far, much of the damaging material — such as alleged excerpts from secret speeches Clinton gave to Wall Street or indications that the former secretary of State's presidential campaign received a debate question in advance — have been buried by an escalating divide within the Republican Party and explosive details about Donald Trump’s past behavior toward women.

The Empire Files: Fighting at Standing Rock with AIM Founder Dennis Banks

The Financial Powers Behind the Dakota Access Pipeline Must Be Confronted

The “Dakota Access” Pipeline (DAPL), a $3.8 billion, 1,100 mile fracked-oil pipeline is being built and financed by a complex network of dozens of shady oil companies and banks with presences all over the world. Research into the pipeline’s ownership shows us that virtually every major bank in the world is financially connected to the companies involved in the project and numerous oil and gas companies will have ownership interests in the project. But who is driving the construction of the pipeline, and more importantly who has the power to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline?

The Dakota Access Pipeline project is owned by a convoluted network of oil and pipeline companies, joint ventures, and holding companies.  Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners and its wholly-owned subsidiary Sunoco Logistics (ETP/SLX) currently own 38.25% of the pipeline; MarEn Bakken Company LLC, a joint venture between Enbridge Energy Partners and Marathon Petroleum Company owns 36.75% of the pipeline (ultimately Enbridge and Marathon hold 27.6% and 9.1% ownership interests in the pipeline); and a subsidiary of Phillips 66 owns the remaining 25% of the project. ...

As the company with, by far, the largest ownership interest and the company overseeing the construction and the theoretical operation of the pipeline Energy Transfer Partners is clearly responsible for driving this destructive project and the player in the best position to bring it to a halt. ...

The oil companies behind the pipeline are rich, but they aren’t rich enough to shell out the $3.8 billion needed to build the pipeline on their own.  While each of the companies involved holds lines of credit with numerous banks and financial institutions, the money that is ear-marked specifically for the project is a $2.5 billion project finance loan.

The loan, which closed on August 2, 2016 was coordinated by Citibank along with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Mizuho Bank and TD Securities. The interesting piece of this loan is that under the credit agreement the borrowers could only access $1.1 billion immediately. The other $1.4 billion would not become available until the pipeline received the appropriate permits.

As of the closing of the loan agreement $860.7 million of that original $1.1 billion had already been borrowed. If Citibank, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Mizuho Bank and TD Securities were to hold back remaining $1.4 billion the cash for the pipeline could dry up and the project could come grinding to a potentially permanent halt. ...

As Utah Phillips once famously said, "the earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses." With virtually every single major bank in the world and a gaggle of oil and gas companies standing to rake in huge profits off this destructive and irresponsible project there are simply too many names to name and addresses to list. But we do know where the power behind the pipeline is.

Climate Direct Action: Activists Halt Flow of Tar Sands Oil by Shutting Off Valves of Five Pipelines

Ken Bone, Online Sensation from Presidential Debate, Works for Coal Company Opposed to Climate Regulations

After Kenneth Bone asked a question about energy to presidential nominees Donald Trump and Secretary Hillary Clinton at the presidential town hall debate on October 9, he quickly became a viral internet sensation.

That evening at Washington University in St. Louis, Bone asked, “What step will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job loss for fossil power plant workers?” ...

A DeSmog investigation has revealed that Bone works for the Prairie State Energy Campus, which is co-owned by a consortium of electric power companies and located about an hour southeast of St. Louis in Lively Grove, Illinois. Adam Siegel, who blogs at the site Get Smart Energy Now, first pointed to the lack of disclosure the day after the debate. ...

According to the Chicago Tribune, Prairie State opened in late 2012 and is one of the dirtiest U.S. power plants opened in the past quarter century. Previously, it was partially owned by coal giant Peabody Energy until it sold its five percent stake in May. ...

In introducing Bone, co-moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN did not disclose what he did for a profession, but that was standard procedure for all audience members who asked a question. In doing post-debate media interviews, Bone has said he works for a coal-fired power plant company, but media outlets apparently have not asked him about which company he works for.

Hundreds of jellyfish invade New Zealand coastline

Thousands of kilometres of New Zealand coastline have been invaded by giant jellyfish, a phenomenon that has been linked to warmer sea temperatures.

In the last month mass jellyfish landings have been reported on beaches from Nelson in the south island to Whangarei in the top of the north island.

The Department of Conservation suspects more mass landings may have gone unreported or unsighted.

The jellyfish have been identified by marine biology expert Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin as Lion’s Mane – the world’s largest jellyfish – in Whangarei, and its close relative Desmonema in Nelson.

Gershwin, who is director of the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Services, said the invasion suggested a significant bloom in the local jellyfish population, but the presence of them so early in the season was strange. ...

“New Zealand can probably expect to see more of these landings in the coming years, as jellyfish take advantage of prime breeding conditions in the oceans, which help them grow in super abundance.”

Also of Interest

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

Obama Stepped Back From Brink, Will Hillary?

Both prisoners and guards are on strike in overcrowded, chaotic Alabama prison

Delusions of “Worthy Wars”

President Obama promised to fight corporate concentration. Eight years later, the airline industry is dominated by just four companies. And you’re paying for it.

Applying Tolstoy to Today’s Rush to War

A Little Night Music

Andrew "Smokey" Hogg - Kind-Hearted Blues

Smokey Hogg - I Want A Roller

Smokey Hogg - Long Tall Mama

Smokey Hogg - Great Big Mama

Smokey Hogg w/ Frankie Lee Sims - Hard Times

Smokey Hogg - She's Always On My Mind

Smokey Hogg - Crawdad

Andrew "Smokey" Hogg - Miss Georgia

Andrew "Smokey" Hogg - Dirty Mistreater

Smokey Hogg - You Won't Stay Home

Smokey Hogg - When the Sun Goes Down

Smokey Hogg - Believe I'll Change Towns