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This evening's music features r&b singer Ruth Brown. Enjoy!

"Many on the left (and god knows many on the right) like to refer to Assad’s government as a *regime*. This is an orientalist code for expendable. Chavez was elected three times but was labeled a dictator. Milosevic was the ‘Butcher of the Balkans’. Qadaffi went in and out of favour with the U.S. (and France) a number of times, but his economic reforms were just a step too far. And he served as the perfect object lesson in disobedience. If you don’t do as you are told, you will be driven into a hole and beaten to death. Saddam could gas his own people and get trade breaks, as long as he flew U.S. made helicopters to do it. Eventually it was expedient to lose him, too. Clinton has now famously boasted of the Qadaffi hit. We came, we saw, he died. Those words and her cackle afterwords will linger in the western imagination for decades. And the handling of these narratives always employs a certain very specific Orwellian vocabulary. And there are always lurid tales of chemical weapons or rape and there are always poor dark skinned suffering children used to gain sympathy. Remember the babies torn from incubators in Kuwait story? Or the rape camps in football stadiums in the former Yugoslavia. And now the western funded fraud that is the White Helmets and the ash covered boy in the orange seat. Fictions, created by Madison Ave firms; but you know what was real? Abu Ghraib. A story that has mostly faded from media memory. At what point does the U.S. public decide to remember any of this? To remember that the media lies. I guess never. And even on the left there is often a curious adherence to U.S. state department storylines. Whatever Assad has done, remember the situation. Assad is called out because Syria had torture sites (allegedly) in service to the U.S. You know who else did? Poland. But Poland is not a regime."

-- John Steppling

News and Opinion

4th Circuit overturns lower court ruling that executive decisions to torture are a "political question."

Major New Court Ruling Says “Even The President” Can’t Declare Torture Lawful

In a robust ruling in favor of Abu Ghraib detainees, an appellate court ruled Friday that torture is such a clear violation of the law that it is “beyond the power of even the president to declare such conduct lawful.”

The ruling from a unanimous panel of judges on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates a lawsuit against a military contractor for its role in the torture of four men at the notorious prison in Iraq. ...

“While executive officers can declare the military reasonableness of conduct amounting to torture, it is beyond the power of even the president to declare such conduct lawful,” wrote appellate Judge Barbara Keenan, writing for the unanimous panel.

US Airstrike Kills 15-20 Civilians at Iraqi Funeral Procession Near Kirkuk

An airstrike, believed to have been carried out by the US-led coalition, hit a Shi’ite mosque in the town of Daquq, on the outskirts of the city of Kirkuk, killing at least 15 civilians, and by some estimates 20, involved in a funeral procession. Scores of others were wounded.

The Pentagon followed the Friday attack with a statement Sunday denying involvement, insisting they had “determined definitively” that they were not involved in any airstrikes against Daquq that resulted in civilian casualties.

The denial’s very specific caveats, that they didn’t deny attacking Daquq, or indeed the mosque, doesn’t help with credibility, and indeed Iraq is still carrying out an investigation into the attack. ... With the US loudly publicizing every Russian airstrike in Aleppo as a “war crime,” Russia was quick to fire back over this incident, saying the attack on the funeral procession had “all the signs of a war crime.” Russian Defense Ministry officials said two US warplanes were involved in the attack.

Turkey joins battle against 'IS' in Iraq

Iraq PM: Thanks but No Thanks on Turkish Help in Mosul

Just a day after the Pentagon claimed Turkey and Iraq had reached “an agreement in principle” for Turkish participation in the invasion of Mosul, Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder Abadi reiterated that Iraq neither needs nor wants Turkey’s help in the operation. ...

There’s been considerable tension between Iraq and Turkey over Turkey’s positioning of ground troops in their country, and it’s been increasing recently with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announcing his intention to participate militarily in the Mosul attack. US officials have tried to keep both sides calmed down, but neither seems willing to budge on the matter.

An excellent article worth reading in full to find out how the mainstream and even some alt media are cooperating in information ops. Here's a teaser:

The ‘White Helmets’ Controversy

Across the mainstream Western media, the “White Helmets” are hailed as heroic first responders rescuing injured civilians in rebel-controlled parts of Syria. The U.K. Guardian and The Independent urged the Nobel Committee to award this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the “White Helmets.” As it turned out, they didn’t get that one, but they did receive the prestigious 2016 “Right Livelihood Award.”

On the U.S. side of the Atlantic, the “White Helmets” are treated with similar uncritical acclaim. They were the subject of the Oct. 17 TIME magazine cover story. Netflix has released a special “documentary” movie about them. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has gushed over them for years, helping the group’s one-sided depiction of events inside Syria shape the pro-rebel narrative that is pretty much all the American and European publics hear about Syria.

And, this love-fest is not just confined to establishment media. DemocracyNow! ran a puff piece interview with the White Helmet infomercial directors. The Intercept published an uncritical promotion of the “White Helmets” and the group’s controversial leader. Codepink recommended the Netflix movie (though after receiving criticism about the endorsement, the anti-war group removed it).

Yet, despite the favorable “group think” regarding the “White Helmets” – and more broadly about the rebel cause in Syria – there is another side to the story, including the fact that the “White Helmets” are not just some well-meaning Syrians who emerged to help all civilians suffering from the five years of war.

Not only do they only operate in rebel-controlled areas but they are a source of propaganda about the war, indeed their very existence is an element in the larger propaganda campaign to rally international support for a “regime change” war in Syria. The “White Helmets” brand was conceived and directed by a New York-based marketing company named “The Syria Campaign,” which itself was “incubated” by a larger politically oriented marketing company called Purpose. ...

Evidence now suggests that we are seeing a replay of Curveball and the Iraqi WMD in 2003 and the bogus hysteria about stopping a Libyan “genocide” in 2011, both debunked by later investigations but too late to spare those countries from massive death and destruction.

Obama Backs Away From Plans to Further Arm CIA-Backed Rebels in Syria

The CIA’s program to heavily arm “moderate” rebels to fighting the Syrian government, which has been ongoing since the Syrian Civil War began, was supposed to be “plan B” when the most recent ceasefire efforts in the country failed, with plans in place to throw a bunch of anti-aircraft and other arms at them to go after the Russians.

It’s not happening though. Officials were hyping up the proposal during a recent meeting, which also included possibile military action against Russia in Syria, but officials say the idea was “neither approved nor rejected” and just left it in limbo.

It’s not an oversight, but rather a reflection of the president’s unwillingness to continue the program himself, and a desire to leave it as an option for the next administration next year.

Syrian Kurds Fire on Rebel-Held Jarabulus as Turkey Continues to Attack Them

Turkey continued its airstrikes and rocket fire against the Kurdish YPG forces around the town of Afrin into the weekend, an ongoing flurry of attacks which began last week with airstrikes against YPG forces trying to attack ISIS, and killing 200 of the Kurdish fighters.

This led to some skirmishes with Turkish-backed rebels around Afrin too, and threatens to expand across the region, with reprots that YPG forces have started firing on the city of Jarabulus, farther to the east, killing two rebels in the attack.

This has been an ongoing problem all year, with the Kurdish YPG heavily armed by the Pentagon, and the Turkey-backed rebels the same groups armed by the CIA over the past several years, and the two constantly at one another’s throats. Efforts to keep them out of direct conflict appear to have been dramatically undermined by Turkey’s invasion.

WikiLeaks reveals US Democrats’ disdain for Netanyahu

Email correspondence leaked to the public by WikiLeaks Thursday between officials at the highest echelons of the US Democratic Party have shed further light on the general distaste which prevailed among some in the party’s ranks for Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu’s 2015 election campaign strategies.

The emails between former political advisor to Bill Clinton, Paul Begala, and John Podesta, Chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, also revealed that the former had been backing and advising Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog during Israel’s 2015 elections. ...

In an email dated March 18, 2015, a day after the Israeli elections, Podesta sent a short sentence to Begala asking him whether he had anything to say “on Israel other than the obvious?” to which Begala responded with a number of bleak conclusions.

“Just as patterns of immigration are moving the US left, patterns of immigration are moving Israel right. I have never seen anything like Bibi's furious surge to the right in the last 4 days. Nothing like it in America. He had robo-calls calling the President 'Hussein Obama, the Muslim,' he had ads saying the Arabs will vote in droves. He accused Herzog of wanting to divide Jerusalem,” the email began.

“Bibi did not win because of Iran,” continued Begala in reference to Netanyahu’s 2015 speech in the US Congress two weeks prior to the elections. ...

“All the smart guys in Tel Aviv thought Bibi was having a nervous breakdown. In the US you could never get away with those kind of racist appeals. But, man, did it work.”

Israel refuses to sign U.S. document regulating attack drones

Israel is concerned that a U.S. State Department document formulated in recent months on drone usage could adversely affect Israeli defense industries. The document includes guidelines on the use and export of armed drones that have been provided to several countries that are considered American allies.

The one-page document, titled "Joint Declaration for the Export and Subsequent Use of Armed or Strike-Enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)," covers a number of issues, including international legal standards, oversight of arms exports and the sale of weapons to various countries, as well as efforts at transparency.

It has been signed by over 40 nations, including Austria, Germany and Italy, but not Israel. ...

Sources in Israel’s defense industry have told Haaretz that they are concerned that the document could limit the country’s export business. One source said he saw it as an additional step by the United States that could indirectly damage Israeli exports.

US seeks clarity on Philippine president's 'separation' comments

The most senior US diplomat for Asia is seeking an explanation for comments made by the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, about his country separating from the US.

Daniel Russel, the assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific affairs, expressed concern over Duterte’s deadly war on drugs and anti-US rhetoric during a meeting with the Philippine foreign secretary, Perfecto Yasay, on Monday.

“I’ve pointed out to secretary Yasay that the succession of controversial statements, comments and a real climate of uncertainty about the Philippines’ intentions has created consternation in a number of countries, not only in mine,” Russel said. “This is not a positive trend.”

The relationship between the Philippines, a former US colony, and Washington has soured significantly since Duterte took office in June, reaching a low when he suggested Barack Obama was a “son of a whore”.

Last week, on the eve of a visit to China, Duterte said: “I announce my separation from the United States … both in military and economics also.”

The U.S. Government Wants to Read Travelers’ Tweets Before Letting Them In

Soon, foreign visitors to the United States will be expected to tell U.S. authorities about their social media accounts.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to start collecting “information associated with your online presence” from travelers from countries eligible for a visa waiver, including much of Europe and a handful of other countries. Earlier this summer, the agency proposed including a field on certain customs forms for “provider/platform” and “social media identifier,” making headlines in the international press. If approved by the Office of Management and Budget, the change could take effect as soon as December.

Privacy groups in recent weeks have pushed back against the idea, saying it could chill online expression and gives DHS and CBP overbroad authority to determine what kind of online activity constitutes a “risk to the United States” or “nefarious activity.”

The Little-Known Company That Enables Worldwide Mass Surveillance

Dozens of internal documents and emails from Endace, obtained by The Intercept and reported in cooperation with Television New Zealand, reveal the firm’s key role helping governments across the world harvest vast amounts of information on people’s private emails, online chats, social media conversations, and internet browsing histories.

The leaked files, which were provided by a source through SecureDrop, show that Endace listed a Moroccan security agency implicated in torture as one of its customers. They also indicate that the company sold its surveillance gear to more than half a dozen other government agencies, including in the United States, Israel, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Spain, and India. ...

Documents from the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, previously disclosed by The Intercept, have shown how GCHQ dramatically expanded its online surveillance between 2009 and 2012. The newly obtained Endace documents add to those revelations, shining light for the first time on the vital role played by the private sector in enabling the spying. ...

Endace sells its equipment to some of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, among them AT&T, AOL, Verizon, Sprint, Cogent Communications, Telstra, Belgacom, Swisscom, Deutsche Telekom, Telena Italy, Vastech South Africa, and France Telecom. Some of these companies may use the Endace equipment for checking the security of their networks. But a key strand of Endace’s business involves providing technology for telecommunications firms that enables law enforcement and intelligence agencies to intercept the messages and data of phone and internet users. ...

All telcos and internet companies in the U.S., Europe, New Zealand, and a number of other countries are required by law to have “intercept capable” equipment on their networks. When police or spy agencies want private data about a customer (with or without a warrant, depending on the country), it can be extracted easily.

When installed on a network, Endace’s surveillance equipment can be used to perform targeted monitoring of individual people, but it can also be used to enable dragnet spying.

Friday's massive cyber attacks blocked users from accessing popular websites like Twitter, Reddit, HBO, and Netflix

Internet users across the United States on Friday were blocked from accessing popular websites like Twitter, Reddit, HBO, Netflix, and others, as part of what officials are calling an “unprecedented” cyberattack. The cyberweapons? Ordinary smart devices, like baby monitors and webcams — the array of devices comprising the “internet of things” — were hijacked by hackers and transformed into conduits for a massive online assault.

The attacks came in three waves, starting at about 7 a.m. on the East Coast of the U.S., and then spread across the country and into Europe, with the last one rolling in at about 4 p.m. ET.

The target of the attack was a company called Dyn, whose servers reroute traffic for some of the busiest sites on the web. You’d probably never heard of Dyn until now, but it’s an essential component to how the internet works. According to the company, its service acts as a “phone book for the internet,” connecting the web address you type in your browser to the IP address the computer ultimately needs to locate your destination. ...

Affected websites included PayPal, the BBC, Etsy, Tumblr, Yelp, The New York Times, Starbucks, Visa, CNN, Spotify, the PlayStation Network, and Airbnb.

The roof
The roof
The roof is on fire
We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn
burn motherfucker burn#DDoS pic.twitter.com/S6R2AR9lvq

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) October 21, 2016

Hacktivist groups Anonymous and New World Hackers were quick to claim responsibility for the online siege. The shadowy online groups said the attacks were in retaliation for the Ecuadorian government’s decision to cut off WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s internet access last week. But experts and investigators remain skeptical, Politico reported, because they doubt that those groups have the capability to orchestrate such a large-scale attack.

Trump and Clinton camps raise concerns over AT&T-Time Warner deal

The US telecoms giant AT&T has agreed to buy Time Warner, the owner of the Harry Potter and Batman film franchises as well as HBO, CNN and Cartoon Network, for $85.4bn (£70bn), creating a new media behemoth that will control both content and its distribution.

The deal has prompted political concern. On Saturday, the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, promised to block it because it would “destroy democracy”. On Sunday, Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, said he was “pro-competition”.

The companies’ bosses announced late on Saturday night that they had signed a deal – the biggest corporate takeover of the year – which was a “perfect match” of firms to “bring a fresh approach to how the media and communications industry works”. ...

AT&T and Time Warner would have combined market value of more than $310bn. If the deal goes through and the companies aren’t forced to sell assets, it would have AT&T’s assets of more than 130 million mobile phone customers and 25 million pay-TV subscribers through DirecTV, which AT&T bought for $50bn in 2015, as well as Time Warner’s extensive collection of Hollywood movies and TV channels and productions. Time Warner owns Warner Brothers (Harry Potter and Batman) as well as HBO, CNN and DC Comics. It also holds a 10% stake in the streaming service Hulu.

Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chief executive, who will lead the combined company, said the corporate tie-up would transform consumers’ experience of watching media on their phones at a time when many young people are giving up on pay TV.

The shocking racial divide in student debt

Levels of student debt for black college graduates are much higher than previously thought, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.

Four years after graduating in the 2007-08 academic year, black college graduates carried an average of $53,000 in student debt, vs. an average $28,000 for white students who graduated in the same year. It’s also roughly five and a half times the debt black students who graduated in 1992-93 were dealing with four years after graduation ($8,700).

Levels of student debt have surged for students of all racial backgrounds since the 1990s, but debt for black students who graduate from college has risen much more quickly to much higher levels, the authors of the paper say. ...

Black graduates pay off their students debts slowly, which may be related to the growing earnings gap between blacks and whites, the paper says. The accumulated interest payments over longer times add significantly to the debt level.

Gosh, this sort of heartwarming show of national unity would not have been possible without Hillary Clinton's actions delivering Honduras to a right-wing coup government.

In Symbolic Call for Peace, Tens of Thousands Form Human Chains in Honduras

In the face of rising violence, including two recent murders of local land rights activists, tens of thousands across Honduras formed human chains on Sunday in a symbolic call for peace.

TeleSUR reports that 40,000 Hondurans participated in the actions, which took place in the capital of Tegucigulpa as well as scores of other cities.

The human chains were organized by 30 human rights groups, including the Honduras Towns Association and the "Say Yes to Life" movement, which denounced the country's estimated 14 homicides per day and forced displacement of tens of thousands fleeing the violence.

"The human chain is a peaceful demonstration, focused on the citizenship, on all the Hondurans who have experienced the pain of violence in various ways," organizer Nery Cerrato told the EFE news agency. "Honduran society does not deserve to be stigmatized as the most violent country in the world."

Legendary Antiwar Activist and SDS Organizer Tom Hayden Dies at 76

Tom Hayden, 1960s anti-war activist, dies at 76

The 1960s anti-war activist Tom Hayden, whose name became forever linked with the celebrated Chicago seven trial, Vietnam war protests and his ex-wife, actor Jane Fonda, has died aged 76.

Hayden died on Sunday after a long illness, said his wife, Barbara Williams. He had a stroke in 2015.

Once denounced as a traitor by his detractors, he won election to the California assembly and senate where he served for almost two decades as a progressive force on issues such as education and the environment. ... He was an enduring voice against war and spent his later years as a prolific writer and lecturer advocating for reform of US political institutions.

It Isn’t Just Donald Trump. The Bush Campaign Plotted to Reject Election Results in 2000

Donald Trump is being pilloried for refusing to say that he will accept the results of the election on November 8.

However, this is not new behavior for the GOP. While it’s almost forgotten now, the George W. Bush campaign was planning to challenge the results of the 2000 vote if he lost the electoral vote, but won the popular vote. His campaign hoped to spark a national movement to pressure members of the Electoral College in states where the popular vote went for Al Gore to ignore that and instead vote in line with the national popular vote — thus making Bush president.

In the end, the reverse happened. Bush won the Electoral College vote while losing the popular vote.

But in the weeks before the November 7, 2000, election, it seemed more likely that Gore would get a majority of electoral votes, while Bush, buoyed by a wide margin in his home state of Texas, would have the most votes by actual people. This possibility was widely discussed, including in the Boston Globe and Christian Science Monitor and in an Associated Press polling analysis.

Gore was even preemptively criticized for winning under these circumstances. It “would be an outrage” said Rep. Ray LaHood, R.-Ill. NBC’s Chris Matthews said that “knowing him as we do, [Gore] may have no problem taking the presidential oath after losing the popular vote to George W. Bush.” (Matthews lost interest in this issue when the opposite occurred. He later said that he himself had voted for Bush in 2000.)

'Unprecedented': Poll Shows Half of Republicans Would Reject Clinton Win

Half of Republicans would "reject" a Hillary Clinton presidency, with nearly 70 percent saying a win for the Democratic nominee would be the result of a rigged election, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

The survey, released Friday, indicates that Republicans are continuing to take their cues from party nominee Donald Trump, who suggested at the final presidential debate this week that he might contest the election results if he loses—an "unprecedented" break with democratic tradition in America, as many observers pointed out in response. ...

As Lonna Atkeson, University of New Mexico professor and head of the Center for the Study of Voting, Elections, and Democracy, told Reuters, this level of mistrust among Republicans is unprecedented.

"I've never seen an election like this. Not in my lifetime. Certainly not in modern history," she said.

The reason for it is Trump, Atkeson added. "It has to be the candidate effect."

How Washington's Money-Machine Stays Ahead of Democracy

Murder of Brazil official marks new low in war on Amazon environmentalists

It was just after sunset in Altamira, a small town nestled on a curve of the Xingu river in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, when Luiz Alberto Araújo, the secretary for the environment on the city council, arrived home with his family. Before he could get out of his car, two men on a motorcycle pulled up and the passenger shot seven bullets into the 54-year-old, who was still sitting in the driver’s seat. The killer got off the bike, opened the car door and shot him twice more. Araújo slumped on to his wife, who was seated beside him. Neither she, nor his two stepchildren, were injured. No attempt was made to steal anything.

The killing, on Thursday 13 October, had all the hallmarks of the sort of assassination that is common in the lawless Pará state, in the eastern Amazon, where illegal logging, clandestine mining and modern slavery are rife.

More than 150 environmental activists have been killed in Brazil since 2012, with studies showing the country accounts for half the global toll of such murders. Many of those killed, including the high-profile cases of Chico Mendes, Dorothy Stang and Zé Claudio Ribeiro da Silva, were campaigners. But Araújo was a government official, and advocates say his murder is a rare and worrying development.

“The killing of Luiz Alberto Araújo marks a new low in the war waged against environmentalists in the Brazilian Amazon,” said Billy Kyte, campaign leader at the NGO Global Witness. “It sends a message that no one is untouchable.

North Dakota: Water Protectors Erect New Frontline Camp Directly in Path of Dakota Access Pipeline

'New Era of Climate Change Reality,' WMO Warns

With atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations having reached a "symbolic and significant milestone" in 2015—and with no signs of them abating this year—the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Monday that "a new era of climate change reality" is upon us.

New era of climate reality. For 1st time, CO2 in atmosphere averaged 400 ppm for whole world and whole year in 2015. #climatechange. pic.twitter.com/67ESDODoyc

— WMO | OMM (@WMO) October 24, 2016

Boosted by the year's exceptionally strong El Niño, that milestone was reaching worldwide average concentrations of carbon dioxide of 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time ever. "The last time CO2 was regularly above 400ppm was three to five million years ago, say experts," the BBC writes.

The data in for this year offers little hope for a better emissions scenario. "I think we're essentially over for good," Ralph Keeling, director of the greenhouse gas monitoring station at Mauna Loa, Hawaii at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said in May. With data from September (typically the low point of the year) showing levels above 400 parts per million, Keeling warned last month, "it already seems safe to conclude that we won't be seeing a monthly value below 400 ppm this year —or ever again for the indefinite future."

Republicans refuse to even say the words "Radical Climate Terrorism."

Maybe governments will actually listen if we stop saying "extreme weather" & "climate change" & just say the atmosphere is being radicalized

— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) October 22, 2016

Climate Activist Unrepentant in Face of #ShutItDown Charges

Ken Ward of Oregon, who was arrested for closing a safety valve on Kinder Morgan's TransMountain tar sands pipeline in Anacortes, Washington, faces charges of burglary, criminal trespass, sabotage, and assemblages of saboteurs. ...

Ahead of his participation in the "unprecedented" protest, 59-year-old Ward explained why he was taking part: "There is no plan of action, policy, or strategy being advanced now by any political leader or environmental organization playing by the rules that does anything but acquiesce to ruin. Our only hope is to step outside polite conversation and put our bodies in the way. We must shut it down, starting with the most immediate threats—oil sands fuels and coal."

In a statement on Thursday, Ward reiterated that sentiment, noting that he is "a responsible and law-abiding citizen" whose previous brushes with the law also involved attempts to avert climate catastrophe. In 2013, Ward and one other activist blockaded a shipment of West Virginia coal from arriving at Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts—an act for which they were later praised by a local district attorney who dropped all charges against them. Then last year, Ward took part in the Break Free from Fossil Fuels oil train blockade, also in Anacortes. 

"I did these things because I believe that it is the obligation of every thinking person to find a way to stave off climate cataclysm, and there is no effective, legal alternative to personal direct action," Ward said.

He cited a recent study from Oil Change International that showed the vast majority of fossil fuels must be left in the ground for a good chance at a habitable planet..]

"In this context and with these terrible imperatives," Ward said, "my actions of walking across a field and cutting a fence chain are inconsequential and excusable compared to the ghastly effect of continuing to burn tar sands oil."

Actor Shailene Woodley On Her Arrest, Strip Search and Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance

Also of Interest

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

Compare the coverage of Mosul and East Aleppo and it tells you a lot about the propaganda we consume

Washington’s New Lock-Step March of Folly

Russia’s Very Different Reality

Turkey says it has 'other options' if EU closes its doors to membership

Spies for Hire

The Unwoke: Sleepwalking into the Nightmare

Albert Woodfox: ‘I choose to use my anger as a means for changing things’

Woman puts real-life horrors of policing and carjacking on display for Halloween

Landscape photographer of the year awards – in pictures

A Little Night Music

Ruth Brown - As Long As I'm Movin'

Ruth Brown - Lucky Lips

Ruth Brown - Mambo Baby

Ruth Brown - Daddy Daddy

Ruth Brown - Oh What a Dream

Ruth Brown - I Burned Your Letter

Ruth Brown - Smooth Operator

Ruth Brown + Bonnie Raitt - Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean

Ruth Brown - Good Day For The Blues

Ruth Brown - That Train Don't Stop Here