The Evening Blues - 10-5-23
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues singer, songwriter and guitarist Bo Diddley. Enjoy!
Bo Diddley – Story Of Bo Diddley
"Promises may get thee friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies."
-- Benjamin Franklin
News and Opinion
Eleven Activists Arrested in Senator Bernie Sanders' Office Demanding Diplomacy Instead of Funding More War in Ukraine
A group of 50 activists and Vermont constituents staged a sit-in inside Senator Bernie Sanders' office on Wednesday, demanding the senator to call for peace and diplomacy in Ukraine instead of more weapons and war. The sit-in resulted in the arrest of 11 activists, including an 89-year-old CODEPINK peace activist.
The group was joined by Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Cornel West in the Senate lobby for a prayer vigil before the sit-in. The prayer vigil and sit-in were part of a week of action that included an antiwar rally on Tuesday night featuring Dr. West, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary; Claudia de la Cruz, Co-Executive Director of The People's Forum; Lee Camp, American comedian, writer, podcaster, news journalist; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange; and Eugene Puryear, American journalist, activist, and host on Breakthrough News.
“We need Bernie to provide leadership to put a stop to the US funding of the Ukraine war now. Use the money for healthcare, not warfare,” said Burlington resident James Marc Leas.
Crystal Zevon, an artist and CODEPINK peace activist from Barnet, VT, expressed her disappointment in Senator Sanders, who has voted for more weapons to Ukraine and even criticized Democrats who called for peace talks. “Yes, Bernie should condemn the Russian invasion, but he should also be calling for a negotiated end to this brutal war,” said Zevon.
The group carried signs in support of peace talks and negotiations, including one quote from the Senator himself in which he previously called for a diplomatic solution.
Jodie Evans, Co-Founder of CODEPINK, reminded Senator Sanders of his antiwar roots, “We are showing up to remind Bernie of the values he espoused that made his name what it is. And call on him to stand for peace, to call for diplomacy and to again lead for peace,” said Evans.
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of CODEPINK and author of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, expressed her disappointment in the lack of Democrats calling for peace talks. “I am appalled that NO Democrats are saying what the majority of American people are saying: We need peace talks, not more war. This is NOT a MAGA issue or a Republican issue but an issue of human survival to stop WWIII and possibly a nuclear war. We need Bernie to be with us on the side of peace,” said Benjamin.
The activists are urging Senator Sanders to call for the flow of weapons to stop and the leadership of Ukraine, Russia, and the US to sit at the negotiating table and end the horrific war.
Anti-War Activists ARRESTED Outside Bernie Sanders' Office, Rep MTG BACKS Ukraine Protest
American State Propaganda: A Thought Experiment
The New York Times has published another CIA press release disguised as news, this time aimed at whipping up paranoia toward anyone who criticizes the US proxy war in Ukraine.
The article is titled “Putin’s Next Target: U.S. Support for Ukraine, Officials Say”. Its author, Julian E Barnes, has written so many New York Times articles with headlines ending in the words “Officials Say” that we can safely assume the primary reason for his continued employment in that paper is because empire managers within the US government have designated him someone who can be trusted to print what they want printed. This designation would make him a reliable supplier of “scoops” (read: regurgitations of unevidenced government claims) for The New York Times.
“American officials said they are convinced that Mr. Putin intends to try to end U.S. and European support for Ukraine by using his spy agencies to push propaganda supporting pro-Russian political parties and by stoking conspiracy theories with new technologies,” Barnes writes.
Of course the report never gets any more specific than that, and of course the “American officials” Barnes cites promote their unevidenced assertions under cover of complete anonymity.
“The American officials spoke on the condition their names not be reported so they could discuss sensitive intelligence,” Barnes writes.
One of the most pathetic attempts at proxy war propaganda to date. If you criticize the US role in fueling the Ukraine war, then you have fallen under the spell of the all-powerful Putin’s “disinformation” and “conspiracy theories.” https://t.co/83OlgOUAQd
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) October 3, 2023
The only named source cited in the article is a CIA veteran named Beth Sanner, who says that “Russia will not give up on disinformation campaigns,” but adds that “we don’t know what it is going to look like.”
And that’s really the whole article right there. Putin is going to be using his spy agencies to promote political parties and messages which support ending the practice of pouring billions of dollars of weapons into Ukraine, but nobody knows what that will look like exactly, so we all have to just be sort of generally distrustful toward anyone who doesn’t think it’s a swell idea to perpetuate a horrific war with potentially world-ending consequences, because they might be part of an unspecified Russian influence operation.
We saw a similar report from CNN a few weeks ago, in which the public was warned that Russia’s FSB is working to convert westerners into mouthpieces for Russian propaganda using methods so sneaky and subtle that those westerners wouldn’t even know it’s happening. Again, details were extremely vague and the only obvious response to the information provided is for everyone to just get really paranoid toward anyone saying anything that doesn’t support current US foreign policy toward Russia.
As a thought experiment, imagine what it would look like if the CIA or some other agency wanted to advance US information interests by making the public distrustful of any people or information which go against US strategic objectives. Try to imagine some of the things they might say or do.
Do you imagine it would look much different than what we’re seeing currently? Feeding trusted mainstream news reporters extremely vague stories about the Kremlin trying to deceive people into opposing the longstanding agendas of the US intelligence cartel, using online media and social subversion? Can you think of a more effective way to help shore up trust in your preferred narratives and sow distrust in narratives you do not prefer?
Here’s another one: imagine a state media outlet for a tyrannical dictatorship. Think about how its news stories are made, how it would often take orders from the government on what to report and what not to report, and how all its printing or broadcasting would always align with the information interests of that government.
Now ask yourself: in what material way is that reporting different from these CIA press releases we’re seeing from outlets like The New York Times and CNN? In both scenarios the government is feeding the media information it wants printed, and in both scenarios there will be consequences if the media don’t obey. In our hypothetical dictatorship those consequences might be more severe, but in our real life scenario the consequences are no less real.
If Mr Barnes had refused to work on this story, he would have lost his “scoop” and it would have been given to someone else, perhaps at a competing outlet. If Barnes ceased uncritically reporting unevidenced assertions from anonymous government officials, his prominence in the mainstream media would quickly fizzle, and his career would dry up. If The New York Times ceased functioning as a reliable outlet for the credulous printing of unevidenced government claims, then the government agencies who’ve been elevating the paper to prominence with their artificial “scoops” can take those hot stories to another competing outlet and let them get the subscriptions and the glory.
In both scenarios, the government is able to get its propaganda messaging printed as hard news reporting. In one scenario the reporter reports what the government wants because they work for the government, in the other scenario the reporter reports what the government wants because that’s the only way to have a career in media outlets that are owned and controlled by the plutocrats who benefit from the political status quo the government is premised upon. The only major difference is that in our hypothetical dictatorship, the public probably knows it’s being fed propaganda, and is therefore more likely to take what they’re being told with a grain of salt.
In a tyrannical dictatorship, the press is operated by employees of the government. In a Free Democracy™️, the press is operated by employees of the oligarchs who operate the government. In both cases you’re getting state propaganda, but in one of them the propaganda is disguised as objective news reporting.
Elites Panic As Anti-War Populist Wins in NATO-Member Slovakia
Ukraine Is ‘Freaking Out’ Over the Lack of New US Aid From Congress
Ukrainian officials are “freaking out” over the uncertainty about new Ukraine aid being passed through Congress, a Ukrainian member of parliament told POLITICO.
“We are freaking out. For us it is a disaster,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, an MP who chairs the committee on Ukraine’s integration into the EU. “We are interested in getting things sorted out so American democracy can function, and so we can restore the bipartisan consensus on supporting their own national interest by supporting Ukraine.” ...
Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova [...] said there was $1.23 billion left in budgetary aid, which the US provides through the World Bank and pays for Ukrainian government services and salaries, among other things. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the US only has enough budgetary aid to pay for the month of October and that the funds would dry up if Congress doesn’t authorize more aid.
Biden FREAKS As Ukraine Aid Looks DEAD
Shoigu Visits HQ; Rus Seeks Odessa, Kharkov; UK/NATO Admit No Ammo; UK MSM Ukr Army Demoralised
US supplies Ukraine with a million rounds of ammunition seized from Iran
The United States has supplied Ukraine with more than a million rounds of Iranian ammunition confiscated in the Gulf late last year.
The transfer of the ordnance followed a civil forfeiture case pursued by the justice department to gain ownership on the grounds that the bullets were seized as they were being smuggled to Yemeni Houthi forces in violation of a UN arms embargo.
“With this weapons transfer, the justice department’s forfeiture actions against one authoritarian regime are now directly supporting the Ukrainian people’s fight against another authoritarian regime,” the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said on Wednesday. “We will continue to use every legal authority at our disposal to support Ukraine in their fight for freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”
Russian economy not in tatters. German economy in tatters
US senator seeks to end Azerbaijan aid after offensive
The new head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee called Wednesday for an end to security aid to Azerbaijan after the country's forces seized back Nagorno-Karabakh from ethnic Armenian separatists.
"As the world continues to grapple with Azerbaijan's coordinated, intentional campaign of ethnic cleansing, we must both prioritize support for the Armenians who have been expelled as well as (hold) Azerbaijan accountable," Senator Ben Cardin said in a statement.
He called on the United States to halt security assistance as leverage to prevent Azerbaijan from forcibly seeking a land corridor inside Armenia to connect to its exclave of Nakhchivan.
Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey have hinted at designs on a land corridor to Nakhchivan -- tied to Azerbaijan for a century but without a land border -- in the wake of last month's lightning offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh that ended decades of control by ethnic Armenian separatists.
China moves into position to support Syria
What does speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ousting mean for US aid to Ukraine?
The historic removal of the House speaker Kevin McCarthy has thrown further doubt over the future of US support for Ukraine and resistance against Russia’s invasion.
The latest tranche of $300m (£247m) in aid to Ukraine was approved overwhelmingly by the House last Thursday in a 331-117 vote, but all the 117 no votes were Republicans – more than half the party’s representatives. It was the far right of the party that ousted McCarthy and will be critical to the election of his replacement, as it is focused on cutting US funding for Kyiv.
The choice of a new speaker will be all-important for Ukraine’s hopes for continued assistance, as they could stop funding bills even reaching the floor of the House for a vote. Joe Biden said at the weekend that US support for Ukraine could not be interrupted “under any circumstances”, and he can still count on bipartisan support for that position in the Senate, but sentiment among House Republicans is moving steadily against him. ...
In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion last year, support for military aid to Ukraine was about 80%, from Democrats and Republicans alike. Democratic backing has declined only marginally, but enthusiasm among Republicans has plummeted to 50%. Ukraine supporters in the field of Republican presidential contenders are trailing badly, and the members of Congress report an increasing number of calls from constituents, concerned that taxpayers’ funding is being squandered in Ukraine, a theme being hammered home in rightwing media.
SPEAKER CIVIL WAR: Jordan, Scalise, TRUMP? Who Will Win
Republicans Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise launch House speakership bids
Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana announced Wednesday they would seek to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the US House of Representatives, after the Californian was brutally removed by his own Republican party on Tuesday.
Jordan is chair of the powerful judiciary committee, while Scalise is the majority leader. Both had been named as potential successors to McCarthy, and they confirmed their intentions to run for the top House job a day after the speakership was declared vacant.
Pitching his candidacy in a “Dear Colleague” letter, Jordan pledged to unify his fractious conference, which has repeatedly stumbled under the weight of a razor-thin majority. ... But Scalise argued he had the experience needed to unite the conference, after serving as part of the House Republican leadership team for the past decade.
Weighing in on the speakership race, Joe Biden expressed concern over the “dysfunction” in the House and emphasized the importance of continuing funding to Ukraine, which has become a source of outrage among hard-right lawmakers. ...
Ukraine could become a central focus of House Republicans’ speaker candidate forum, which is scheduled for next Tuesday. Asked about his stance on approving more funding for Ukraine, Jordan said: “I’m against that … The most pressing issue on Americans’ mind is not Ukraine. It is the border situation, and it is crime on the streets.”
Squad FAIL: 'Progressive' Caucus FALLS IN LINE With Dems, ABANDON BASE That Got Them Elected
Rightwing group behind regressive US state laws (ALEC) to face protest at DC gala
A broad coalition of opponents to the rightwing corporate agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) will hold a rally on Wednesday night outside a glitzy gala event to celebrate the secretive group’s 50th anniversary.
Environmentalists, gun reform campaigners, union leaders and voting rights activists will protest outside the $750-a-ticket event at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, calling on corporations to cut ties with Alec – a tax-exempt group behind a slew of regressive state laws including the stand your ground gun legislation, right-to-work labor policies and so-called critical infrastructure protections that criminalize protest against fossil fuel polluters.
“They design cookie cutter legislation to pass to state houses across the US, helping pass laws that make it harder to vote, harder to get healthcare, harder for workers to unionize, and harder to get dark money out of politics,” said Svante Myrick, CEO of People for the American Way, one of the rally organizers.
“The model bills sound like they are protecting our country but are actually designed to protect corporate interests. We have to shine a light on this,” said Viki Harrison from Common Cause, a group which for years has pushed corporations to break ties with Alec over the racist impact of its legislation.
Alec’s corporate members pay thousands of dollars to each year for access to friendly state legislators and a seat on policy groups such as the Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force, which has been a conduit for the fossil fuel industry to promote state-level policies that weaken environmental regulations and impede efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
Medicare Advantage Overbills Taxpayers by $140 Billion a Year—Enough to Wipe Out Medicare Premiums
A report published Wednesday estimates that privately run, government-funded Medicare Advantage plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion per year, a sum that could be used to completely eliminate Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare's prescription drug program.
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), an advocacy group that supports transitioning to a single-payer health insurance system, found that Medicare Advantage (MA) overbills the federal government by at least $88 billion per year, based on 2022 spending.
That lower-end estimate accounts for common MA practices such as upcoding, whereby diagnoses are piled onto a patient's risk assessment to make them appear sicker than they actually are, resulting in a larger payment from the federal government.
But when accounting for induced utilization—"the idea that people with supplemental coverage are likely to use more health care because their insurance pays for more of their cost"—PNHP estimated that the annual overbilling total could be as high as $140 billion.
"This is unconscionable, unsustainable, and in our current healthcare system, unremarkable," says the new report. "Medicare Advantage is just another example of the endless greed of the insurance industry poisoning American healthcare, siphoning money from vulnerable patients while delaying and denying necessary and often lifesaving treatment."
Even if the more conservative figure is accurate, PNHP noted, the excess funding that MA plans are receiving each year would be more than enough to expand traditional Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision. Traditional Medicare does not currently cover those benefits, which often leads patients to seek out supplemental coverage—or switch to an MA plan.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that adding dental, vision, and hearing to Medicare and Medicaid would cost just under $84 billion in the most costly year of the expansion.
"While there is obvious reason to fix these issues in MA and to expand traditional Medicare for the sake of all beneficiaries," the new report states, "the deep structural problems with our healthcare system will only be fixed when we achieve improved Medicare for All."
Bolstered by taxpayer subsidies, Medicare Advantage has seen explosive growth since its creation in 2003 even as it has come under fire for fraud, denying necessary care, and other abuses. Today, nearly 32 million people are enrolled in MA plans—more than half of all eligible Medicare beneficiaries.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration took steps to crack down on MA overbilling, prompting howls of protest and a furious lobbying campaign by the industry's major players, including UnitedHealth Group and Humana. Relenting to industry pressure, the Biden administration ultimately agreed to phase in its rule changes over a three-year period.
Leading MA providers have also faced backlash from lawmakers for handing their top executives massive pay packages while cutting corners on patient care and fighting reforms aimed at rooting out overbilling.
MIGRANT CRISIS: Biden To Finish TRUMP Border Wall? Admin Green Lights Construction
Biden Admin Waives Protections to Speed Border Wall Construction
Environmental protection advocates and immigrant rights campaigners expressed horrow Wednesday over a Department of Homeland Security plan entered into the Federal Register that will waive more than two dozen laws in order to expedite the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
The "notice of determination" was entered under Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, which was signed by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, and said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas "has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements."
The 26 laws—which include the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act—are being set aside "to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border in Starr County, Texas," the Federal Register said.
The waiver will allow construction through the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and could threaten endangered species including ocelots, as well as the plant species Zapata bladderpod and prostrate milkweed, said the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).
Voces Unidas Rio Grande Valley said it was "disappointed, but not surprised" by DHS's plan and noted that it will further limit the access to green spaces that area residents have.
Mayorkas' determination marks the first time the Biden administration has used its waiver authority under the REAL ID Act of 2005 to override federal laws.
‘Trump show is over,’ says New York attorney general as third day of fraud trial ends
The New York attorney general, Letitia James, told reporters on Wednesday that “the Trump show is over” as the third day of the former US president’s civil fraud trial wrapped up in Manhattan. James and Trump both returned to the trial a day after Trump ran afoul of the judge by denigrating a key court staffer in a social media post.
Outside court, James called Trump’s appearance at the civil trial – which he is not required to attend – a “political stunt” and a “fundraising stop”. Trump has spent the first three days of the trial attacking James and Judge Arthur Engoron in press gatherings outside court. He is expected to return to Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday. “I will not be bullied,” James said. “Justice will be served.”
The former US president and Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race is voluntarily taking time out from the campaign trail to attend the trial. James’s lawsuit accuses Trump and his business of deceiving banks, insurers and others by providing financial statements that greatly exaggerated his wealth.
Trump formally appealed a judge’s refusal to dismiss James’s civil fraud lawsuit against him and his family business on Wednesday. The appeal was filed as Trump sat in a the courtroom, watching an accountant who used to work for him testify as the state’s first witness. ...
The accountant, Donald Bender, told the court on Tuesday that the Trump Organization didn’t always supply all the documents needed to produce the statements, despite attesting in letters to the accounting firm that the company had provided all financial records and hadn’t “knowingly withheld” relevant data. During cross-examination, Bender acknowledged he missed a change in information about the size of the Trump Tower apartment.
Cornel West DEFECTS From Green Party, Goes INDEPENDENT; Americans DESPERATE For 3rd Party: Poll
Cornel West, Dropping Green Party, Will Run as an Independent
Cornel West, the left-wing academic and third-party presidential candidate, said Thursday that he will not seek the Green Party’s nomination for president, running instead as an independent.
The West campaign gave little explanation for the move, which appeared counterproductive to his goal of getting his name on ballots nationwide, but noted his desire not to be constrained by a party platform and the complexities of the Green Party’s nominating process.
“The best way to challenge the entrenched system is by focusing 100 percent on the people, not on the intricacies of internal party dynamics,” his campaign said in a statement. ...
Although Mr. West remains a candidate, he will now have to navigate the complex and time-consuming project of qualifying for the ballot in individual states, without the support of the Green Party. ...
Peter Daou, Mr. West’s campaign manager, said that the West campaign had weighed these likely complications against other factors, such as the Green Party’s highly decentralized nominating process. “You have to consider the pros and cons, and he did,” he said. “And he came down on the side of wanting to be 100 percent laser-focused on people as opposed to the party process.”
South American monsoon heading towards ‘tipping point’ likely to cause Amazon dieback
The South American monsoon, which determines the climate of much of the continent, is being pushed towards a “critical destabilisation point”, according to a study that links regional rainfall to Amazon deforestation and global heating. The authors of the report said they found their results “shocking” and urged policymakers to act with urgency to forestall a tipping point, which could result in up to 30% less rainfall, a dieback of the forest and a dire impact on food production.
The study, published on Wednesday in Science Advances, examines how forest degradation and monsoon circulation are interlinked. Using past observations and computer modelling, it finds that the Amazon and the South American monsoon are “one coupled system”, in which the evapotranspiration by the tropical rainforest recycles moisture from the Atlantic Ocean so that it can move south across the continent.
Human degradation of the Amazon – by land clearance, fire, logging and mining – is pushing that system towards a tipping point, after which drier conditions would be expected to cause an abrupt “regime shift” in the rainforest, which would be unable to sustain itself and transport moisture.
Other biomes in the region would also be affected, along with swathes of agricultural land because the monsoon stretches thousands of miles south from the Amazon to the River Plate (Rio de la Plata) basin. There would also be a climate impact because the Amazon – which would be worst affected – has historically served as an important carbon sink, though another study this week suggests it is now so degraded that it is at best carbon neutral. A dieback of the forest would release enormous amounts of carbon.
The researchers on the Amazon-monsoon paper saw several precursors of the tipping point, including falling rainfall in many areas, the steady lengthening of the Amazon dry season, reduced soil moisture and the increasing frequency and intensity of droughts. There have been three statistically one-in-100-year droughts in the space of a single decade.
Global carbon emissions from electric power may peak this year
Carbon emissions from the global electricity sector may peak this year, after plateauing in the first half of 2023, because of a surge in wind and solar power, according to a climate thinktank. A new report on global electricity generation found that the growth of renewables was so rapid that it was close to the incredibly fast rate required if the world is to hit the tripling of capacity by the end of the decade that experts believe is necessary to stay on the 1.5C pathway.
It also noted that there had been only a slight increase in emissions in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period a year before. The findings suggest the world may be close to reaching the peak of the global power sector’s carbon emissions, and they could soon even begin to fall in line with global climate targets.
The report, by the climate thinktank Ember, compared electricity data from January to June 2023 to the same period last year, across 78 countries representing 92% of the world’s electricity demand. Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, Ember’s senior electricity analyst and the lead author of the report, said: “It’s still hanging in the balance if 2023 will see a fall in power-sector emissions.”
“The world is teetering at the peak of power-sector emissions, and we now need to unleash the momentum for a rapid decline in fossil fuels by securing a global agreement to triple renewables capacity this decade,” she said. The report found that global power-sector emissions rose by 0.2% in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year. However, it also found that wind and solar power had climbed to a combined total of 14.3% of the world’s electricity, up from 12.8% last year.
Dutch politician who worked for Shell poised to become EU climate chief
A Dutch politician who used to work for Shell and McKinsey has been given the green light for the job of EU’s climate chief. Wopke Hoekstra, who was the Netherlands’ foreign minister and worked for an oil company and a consultancy before getting into politics, was questioned by MEPs on the European parliament’s environment committee about his employment history and commitment to climate action during a three-hour session on Monday night.
He made clear his position on the oil industry, telling the committee: “Fossil fuels must become history, the sooner the better.” In a separate hearing on Tuesday, the Slovakian commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, was questioned about expanding his job description to finish the European green deal.
The committees voted through both men on Wednesday after extra questions from lawmakers who had been unconvinced by their performance the first time around. Manon Aubry, the head of the Left group that voted against Hoekstra, said “there was an “obvious conflict of interest” and “nothing to be proud of” in Hoekstra’s appointment.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
McCarthy Ouster, Senate Republican Opposition Bode Ill for 2023 Ukraine Funding
British govt funded plan for censorship of factual NATO criticism
Gaza Strip protesters received bullet wounds to ankles, medics report
DISASTROUS Jobs Report Amid Housing Chaos
Judge Orders CLOSER REVIEW Of Trump's Assets Amidst NY Fraud Trial
ANOTHER NAZI?! Canada Apologizes for HONORING Ex-Waffen SS Soldier In 1987
A Little Night Music
Bo Diddley - I'm A Man
Bo Diddley w/Billy Boy Arnold - She's Mine, She's Fine
Bo Diddley - Hey Bo Diddley!
Bo Diddley – Let Me In
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing
Bo Diddley – Walkin' And Talkin'
Bo Diddley - You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover
Bo Diddley - Crackin Up
Rolling Stones & Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love
Comments
So let me get this straight…
Medea Benjamin and CodePink organize an anti-war sit in, and Bernie Sanders has the demonstrators arrested? But then Marjorie Taylor Greene sticks up for them?
And the earth is flat and the moon is made of green cheese, amirite? Everything is now upside-down and backwards.
Conditioning
Everything you think is the opposite
to lose confidence in your understanding
and prohibit free thought
it's an old trick
To add to the upside down world we now live in
While Manning was in jail and Assange is still in jail
war criminals, Bush, Blair, Cheney, etc.etc.etc.etc.etc.
walk free
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2023/10/debt-rattle-october-5-2023/
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
evening lotlizard...
i guess we just need a republican in the white house so that the democrats can revert to being all anti-war and progressive again.
The most dangerous book?
I couldn't find a way to characterize recent events in a cohesive way yesterday. Perhaps this is because of the media tendency to disguise, camouflage, or misrepresent the ongoing world military tensions and crises. This morning I read an Inspector O installment at 38North that did provide some clues, that helped me gather some observations on the increasing dangers in East Asia. I'm a little concerned when I think I understand Inspector O, which is always a bit cryptic. Frankly, sometimes I don't get them. Let me start with this-
Defense ministry warns N. Korea will face end of regime in event of nuclear use attempt
Yonhap
Here's another Yonhap article on a related matter-
S. Korea, U.S. closely monitoring N. Korea for signs of nuclear reactor halt
Siegfried Hecker's recent article (also in 38North) that I linked to in earlier comment about Russian-North Korean potential weapons cooperation has some explanation of why plutonium production/extraction is important to North Korean nuclear weapons development- for fusion bombs and warhead miniaturization. Others know more about this technology than I do. I'll take Hecker's word for that but not his editorial remarks concerning Russian policy.
What strikes me about the ROK Defense Ministry's statement, is its wording that North Korea faces "end of regime" if it "attempts nuclear use." In the first paragraph, they "clarify" that they mean use of nuclear weapons. I assume they mean in the context of a nuclear attack on South Korea, the US, or Japan. I prefer to think the Ministry doesn't mean just testing such a weapon.
So what does an attempt look like? Rolling out one or more of the TELs (transporter, erectors, launch vehicles) from their hidden caves somewhere in North Korean mountainous areas? Is an indication like this enough to meet the criteria of attempted nuclear use? This is where the cryptic riddle of Inspector O comes in. First he asks if he is the most dangerous man. And then he refers to the most dangerous book written by AI and how absurd it is. To me, in this current context, he is referring to Daniel Ellsberg as "the most dangerous man." The most dangerous book, then has a couple of applicable connotations. The first, to his book, the Doomsday Machine. (The most dangerous man appellation actually refers to Ellsberg as the leaker of the Pentagon Papers).
The most dangerous thing about the Doomsday Machine, according to Ellsberg, was the single integrated operational plan, because of its lack of flexibility, wrt to Russia in particular. The plan is basically for world suicide. Presumably, that has been "rectified" with some "limited options." Likely, there is a limited option (or options) with respect to North Korea. The second greatest problem is so called LOW, launch on warning, which is undertaken as a strategy, to preclude destruction of one's own forces postured to deter the oncoming attack. Incidentally, Ellsberg characterized US nuclear strike plans in general as nuclear first strikes.
Inspector O installments by James Church are available at the link below. They are published intermittently as far as I can tell. I had missed this one. You have to emphasize the sarcastic/snarky distinction in these episodes.
Inspector O and the Most Dangerous Book
38North presents "informed analysis of events in and around North Korea."
October 4 was the 16th anniversary of the 10.4 joint declaration of President No Moo-hyun, and Chairman Kim Jong-il to forge a new relationship founded on peace and prosperity. I listened to a speech by a former National Assembly leader (like our Speaker of the House) yesterday at a No Moo-hyun Foundation commemorative event. I found a copy of the declaration on the internet in English.
Declaration on the Advancement of
South-North Korean Relations, Peace and Prosperity
Pyongyang, 4 October 2007
https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/KP%20KR_071004_D...
If you looked at this declaration and its plans, (which are now ostensibly defunct, with Yoon, and the US in charge of South Korea's military policy), you can see the South Korean plan for accommodation rather than than conflict with the North as it was October 4, 2007.
This is very similar to many of former President Moon Jae-in's more recent initiatives with North Korea which the current Yoon administration, with US encouragement, is in the process of dismantling entirely. Moon was a Chief of Staff in No Moo-hyun's presidential office office. At a National Assembly committee hearing, Kim Byung-ju a former 4 star South Korean general, grilled the new defense minister nominee, Shin Won-shik, on the military agreements initiated by Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un as part of his Sunshine Policy with North Korea to limit the possibility of violent incidents in the DMZ and East and West Seas. In other words. to limit the risk of a chance encounter or intentional event, between the opposing forces, along the DMZ or MDL escalating into war.* I didn't watch the hearing itself, but Kim Byung-ju, suggested on his regular OhMYTV interview program that Yoon's current nominee, when questioned by him, didn't have a clue as to the military agreement's intended purpose. In short, like Yoon and the rest of the new right, Shin contends demilitarizing the front between North and South Korea as much as practicable, to reduce the risk of war, represents a communist plan of appeasement and surrender. Assembly member Kim's contention is that it enhances South Korean security as a matter of fact, rather than weakening it.
* 악마 노무현' 언급 신원식 허찌른 김병주 (오마이TV youtube 10.3) Shin Won-shik's expression "the devil No Moo-hyun," unsettles Kim Byung-ju
I thought this was an interesting report-
These weapons probably will be targeted at North Korea as well. That is unwise. North Korea like the US refuses to renounce a nuclear first strike policy.
Great news roundup JS. Ukraine fatigue yes! Techno-fantasies-no! Looking forward to listening to Bo-Diddley.
語必忠信 行必正直
Per your essay: That is unwise.
You have encapsulated the foreign (aggression) policies in a nutshell.
Like you, I do not believe armament is better than negotiation.
Thanks for breaking it down for us.
Thanks
I had a lot of trouble posting this because there was a symbol of the Japanese flag in the twitter post. In the process I lost or left out the "AI Book" symbol(ism) used by Inspector O.
The dangerous nature of LOW, is the likely AI aspect. The configured computer early warning system, has AI features, that detect, acquire, correlate and then evaluate the warnings and indications and concludes whether a nuclear attack is under way or not. Then the decision makers are presented with the so called six minute problem, to decide whether or not to launch a nuclear "counterstrike" which could possibly turn out to be an erroneously launched first strike. Ellsberg points out with real examples, how detection and early warning of nuclear strikes have been wrong in the past, and but for human intervention, where something (un)usual moved the actor to deviate from the "rules," prevented a nuclear holocaust.
(edits-duh)
語必忠信 行必正直
I've been reading some of Ellsberg research notes
....on nuclear weapons policy,a trategic justification for stockpiling and/or using these weaponsfrom different periods
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
I started to look at his website
It looks like there is quite a bit of material there at ellsberg.net. Is that where the notes you mention are?
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
i keep wondering why people keep telling north korea the obvious about how the use of nukes against the south will cause the end of his regime. surely he is aware that even if the south doesn't retaliate in kind the assorted after effects of a major nuclear strike are likely to wipe out the north end of the penninsula, too. kim jong un is not an idiot, surely he thinks of his nuclear deterrent as a doomsday weapon and expects to use it only to provide retribution for an attempt to destroy his regime.
on the other hand, the americans are idiots because they continue this deeply unproductive policy of provocation and oppression guaranteed not to obtain the results they claim to want.
Hoy! Good evening Joe, thanks for the EBs. First Johnny O
and then Bo, fantastic. The
above got me laughing out loud. Re-watch it, especially the audience and the audience behavior and compare it to this earlier version.
be well and have a good one
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 --
evening el...
yep, it's funny how much changed in just a few years. thanks for the tune, have a great evening!
Has anyone heard of this story
.
I agree with the ending:
There is just too much evidence that the government was involved in what happened at the capital on 1/6. Many people in the intelligence agencies were warning about the large group of Trump supporters were going to DC that day to hear him speak and they were worried about whether they would turn violent. Trump offered Pelosi and the DC mayor the national guard, but they both turned him down. The capital police chief tried for days to get extra security for the protest and equipment for the cops, but he was told to take a walk. The FBI director will not answer the question from congress on how many agents were in the crowd that day or what their role was. The protesters were peaceful until the cops and the agitators riled them up. Maybe if we could see the hidden videos that can be proved.
And never forget the outpouring of security for whenever BLM groups were going to protest at the capitol or Supreme Court. Cops in riot gear were spread across the steps going into the buildings. Another thing that was different about the response to the different groups was that cops let a lot of the BLM groups get out of control and start burning buildings, cars, etc. The cops at the capital actually started the violence by pepper spraying the people who were just milling around and shot them with rubber bullets and basically just attacked them for no reason.
And again why hasn’t all the videos been shown? Democrats sat on 41,000 during their kabuki media produced hearings and the justice department has refused to let the people charged see them. We saw the different story of the shaman dude. We saw the video of cops taking selfies with those violent rioters and being all smiles.
Lots of lives have been ruined and whole families have lost everything and Biden is writing rules to go after Americans just because they don’t believe the lies that their government is telling them.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
evening snoopy...
that's the first i've heard of those specific allegations about armes and erika flores. in the past, there probably would have been a few investigative reporters poking around on such a consequential story. serious investigation doesn't seem that likely anymore.
Do you think it’s true?
Especially after we found out how involved the FBI was in the Michigan governor’s kidnapping plot. Haven’t all the people charged for it been found not guilty because most of what happened was done by the FBI.
Plus the case against Trump for his real estate seems very wonky too. Was there any trial before the judge decided that he was guilty of fraud?
James ran on putting Trump in prison and I think that anyone who has already made up their mind on whether someone is guilty or not should have to recuse themselves from any proceedings against them. If they didn’t give him a chance to defend himself then they are judge, jury and executioner which is against everything this country is supposed to be against.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
well...
it certainly sounds plausible. i really couldn't tell you based upon that story if there's any there there, but there is likely some there somewhere because it seems quite obvious that the feebs had more of a role in organizing the 1/6 fiasco than has been revealed to date.
wrt trump's new york fraud trial, it appears to be a fraud. the judge is either utterly biased or a total moron (or both).
Putin doesn't beat around the bush.
evening humphrey...
i think putin is done with the tactful diplomatic language about western "partners." i would imagine that the years of demonization and other western stupidity have finally allowed him to shake off any concerns about the need to observe diplomatic niceties.
Putin is in a mood
Is he suggesting that Prigozhin was playing Russian roulette?
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-prigozhin-death-wagner-lead...
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
He certainly touched on a lot of varied topics in his address
at the Valdai Club.
More from Putin….
Link
Russia voted against the WHO Stripping countries of their national sovereignty in the latest vote and hopefully Russia will be able to veto the whole damn thing.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Dubious
source, imo. The extreme language imputed to Putin seems very out of character for him, something more like what some (mainly on the left) would like him to say.
Iirc, Putin has cordial relations w Schwab from many previous int'l conferences. rt.com and sputnik stories on this Valdai conference do not mention Putin excoriating Schwab. https://sputnikglobe.com/20231005/putins-valdai-speech-multipolar-future.... https://www.rt.com/russia/584134-putin-valdai-speech-recap/
Thank you,
,
I have had the same feeling reading supposed translations of Putin speeches recently, even at Moon of Alabama. I'm beginning to wonder if someone is misquoting him on purpose.
The gist of what he is saying may be accurate, but the sloppy use of language and attitude do not sound like him.
Here are a couple of excerpts
from the Valdai speech.
A very astute reasoning process by Mr. Putin, well spoken
The part left out of this are current economic realities.
Obviously, it is not about territory. The western colonial
adventure is mostly about economic advantage. Previously,
power was the secondary benefit. This is now turned on its
collective head. The major power players in the west have
forsaken economic gain in favor of political power. The balancing
powers of the east have a more sustainable approach to global
issues, IMO. The contrast between the two ideologies is becoming
more obvious with the western sanction games being lost on all fronts.
Joe did you know about this fight between Max and Ben?
.
I posted it earlier but didn’t know if you had seen it.
Too bad that Ben didn’t respond. I’d like to hear his side of the story.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
i was unaware of the contentious nature of the split...
i had just assumed that norton had gone off to do his own thing for his own reasons.
the actions described by max sound pretty slimy, but i like to hear both sides of a story with evidence to back them up where appropriate before coming to a conclusion.
I bet that this info is new to many.
But it does sound about right.
Of course the latest version of Bernie will oppose this as he used to support the fight for $15
The once supported US puppet is now in a heap of trouble!