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This evening's music features The King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. Enjoy!

“To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of responsibility.”

-- Patrick Ness

News and Opinion

Obama doesn't need Congress to close Guantánamo – so what's keeping him?

It’s increasingly looking like Obama’s vow to end one of the Bush administration’s most damaging legacies will actually live on as his own

Just as the Obama administration is finally about to release its long awaited plan to “close” the scourge on our country known as the Guantánamo detention facility this week, Congress has cowardly voted to bar the transfer of any of its inmates to the United States. But don’t just blame Congress for this impasse – the Obama administration is just as guilty for keeping one of the world’s most effective terrorist recruiting tools open more than six years after vowing to close it. ...

The administration claims they cannot charge and hold a trial for dozens of detainees (in many cases, because torture will likely taint any evidence), but they also say they consider them “too dangerous” to release from US custody. So the plan appears to be to let them rot in jail forever – in clear violation of the fifth amendment – in a supermax prison somewhere inside the United States.

Yes, the Democrats position on Guantánamo has been shameful, but somehow Republicans are worse. One of the places reportedly being considered to house the inmates is Colorado, which Republican senator Cory Gardner is not too happy about. His objection is not the clear unconstitutional nature of holding prisoners indefinitely without charges, but the absurd notion that it is somehow dangerous to bring alleged terrorists into prisons in the United States, where dozens of convicted terrorists have resided for decades without incident.

So how does this end? Well, two former Obama administration officials argued in the Washington Post that these challenges need not stand in Obama’s way. They argue that the president has the power to close it himself without approval from Congress. He’s had this power for years, and has continually failed to use it. (This has always been one of the infuriating problems with Obama’s view of executive power – he claims unlimited amounts when he really wants to do something, and claims he’s powerless and that his hands are tied by Congress when he doesn’t.)

No Excuse, Says Human Rights Lawyer, Obama Can Still Close Guantánamo

Omar Shakir, a Bertha fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told Common Dreams that the president, in fact, still retains the ability to close the prison—and must act now to fulfill his repeated pledges.

"Obama has been able and continues to be able to transfer the men cleared for release by every security and intelligence agency," Shakir said over the phone from Guantánamo where he is meeting with clients. "It is in his power to accelerate the pace of periodic review boards. He has the ability through the Department of Justice to ensure that those who face trial do so in fair proceedings in federal court."

"Obama has failed to follow through with his campaign promises and commitments to close Guantánamo by taking concrete steps while in power to articulate and execute a vision," Shakir continued. "In the vacuum we have seen opportunistic politicians from both sides of the aisle using Guantánamo as a tool for their own purposes at the expense of the critical principles of due process and freedom, holding men without charge in indefinite detention without end."

Obama says, "We don't need no stinkin' AUMF democracy around here! Fuck the peons, I'm goin' to war, baby."

White House Objections Stop ISIS War Authorization Vote

A closed briefing in the Senate today has ended with officials saying that the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) for the ISIS war is a “nonstarter,” after White House officials, principally special envoy Brett McGurk, informing the Senate leadership that such a vote was unwelcome.

Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R – TN) previously indicated that he was only interested in a new AUMF authorization in the case that the Obama Administration indicated that such a vote would give them more flexibility in fighting the war. Officials today made it clear they believe they have more flexibility in continuing the war with no authorization at all.

Free Syrian Army Faces Mass Desertions Over Low Pay, Fragmented Leadership

The on-again, off-again faction of choice for the Obama Administration to back in the Syrian Civil War, the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been struggling for years to win any important battles or amass and real territory of their own, and the group is now hemorrhaging fighters.

Those familiar with the situation say that poor conditions for FSA fighters and the fragmented leadership are a factor, but the main source of desertion is the low salaries, which are themselves irregularly paid in several of the factions that face constant funding problems.

FSA commanders say that fighters are paid as low as $50 a month to start, and even those fighting for a long time report getting less than $100 a month, when they get it at all. With other rebel factions like ISIS paying $1,000 or more as a monthly salary, the FSA just isn’t a reliable place for rebels to earn a living in a war that seemingly is going to last years.

Saudis Spurn Russian Proposal for Solving Syrian War

Reports on this weekend’s talks on Syria suggest Russia is planning to propose an 18-month period of reform in the nation, leading to free elections. This encompasses the long-standing Russian goal of uniting the existing Assad government, a close ally, with secular rebel faction to fight ISIS.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir insisted that under all circumstances, Assad has to be removed from power, and that if he doesn’t voluntarily resign he will be removed “in a military manner.”

'Turkish government using national security to punish opponents'

Arming Dictators: An American Tradition

Recently the Obama administration announced another military aid package for Pakistan: eight F-16 fighter jets.  Once again considerations of human rights and democratic values have been sacrificed to strategic calculations.  Recall, the robust figures for US military assistance to Pakistan: more than $20 billion in weapons, training, and other activities between FY2002 and FY2015, making Pakistan the 16^th ranking recipient of US arms.  And that amount does not include drone strikes.

The contrast between Obama the engager and Obama the warrior is striking.  US arms exports to authoritarian regimes such as Pakistan’s, just one element of military aid, continue to rise even as we celebrate the President’s initiatives with Iran and Cuba.  From 2009 to 2014, I count $12.5 billion in arms exports to eight other authoritarian regimes: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.  That figure is nearly a quarter of all US military exports in those years, which total $50.7 billion.

There is no evidence that those weapons, or military assistance as a whole, have moved authoritarian governments toward greater respect for human rights, social justice, accountable government, or environmental protection. Even their support of US policy on terrorism has been tentative, and in Pakistan’s case, two-faced, since its government accepts US drone strikes while its intelligence apparatus coddles al-Qaeda and the Taliban. On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that military aid has abetted repression, official corruption, and strong-arm rule. ...

So the next time we think about a liberal in the White House, or some other house, we might want to remember that it’s always a mixed blessing, and that while a liberal administration may pursue progressive policies domestically, it may act in the opposite direction internationally.

With Ramadi encircled, Iraqi forces brace for urban warfare

Iraqi forces appear better positioned than ever to launch an offensive against Islamic State militants controlling Ramadi, now that months-long efforts to cut off supply lines to the city are having an effect, but plenty of risks remain.

The fall of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, to the group in May was the biggest defeat for Iraq's weak central government in nearly a year, dampening its hopes of routing the Sunni militants from the country's north and west.

Retaking the city of 450,000 would provide a major psychological boost to Iraqi security forces, who have mostly collapsed in the face of advances by Islamic State, which last year seized a third of Iraq, a major OPEC oil producer and U.S ally.

The ultimate goal for Iraqi forces is to break Islamic State's grip over its main stronghold Mosul, the biggest city in the north. Critical momentum is needed in order to achieve that.

Kurds Launch Offensive to Take Back Sinjar From Islamic State

Backed by US air strikes, Kurdish forces launched an offensive on Thursday to retake the Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State (IS) militants who overran it more than a year ago.

VICE News is embedded with one of three divisions which are moving in on the town — an IS bastion in a key location straddling the main highway between Mosul and Raqqa — from the north, west and east. Operation Free Sinjar aims to cordon off the town, take control of IS supply routes and establish a buffer zone to protect the town from artillery.

US-led coalition air strikes pounded IS-held areas in the town overnight, as around 7,500 Kurdish special forces, peshmerga and Yazidi fighters descended from the mountain that shares its name with the town towards the frontline in a military convoy. Airstrikes continued throughout Thursday morning and drones flew overhead. ...

Spirits were high among Kurdish commanders and local officials. "It is going according to plan. We are optimistic and we consider today like a celebration," said Sinjar district mayor Mahma Xelil.

Kurdish forces and the US military said the number of Islamic State fighters in the town had increased to nearly 600 after reinforcements arrived in the run-up to the offensive, which has been expected for weeks but delayed by weather and friction between various Kurdish and Yazidi forces in Sinjar.

US troops didn't have eyes on Afghan hospital before attack

Immediately after the U.S. killed at least 30 people in a devastating airstrike on a charity hospital, Afghanistan's national security adviser told a European diplomat his country would take responsibility because "we are without doubt, 100 percent convinced the place was occupied by Taliban," according to notes of the meeting reviewed by The Associated Press.

More than a month later, no evidence has emerged to support that assertion. Eyewitnesses tell the AP they saw no gunmen at the hospital.

Instead, there are mounting indications the U.S. military relied heavily on Afghan allies who resented the internationally run Doctors Without Borders hospital, which treated Afghan security forces and Taliban alike but says it refused to admit armed men.

The new evidence includes details the AP has learned about the location of American troops during the attack. The U.S. special forces unit whose commander called in the strike was under fire in the Kunduz provincial governor's compound a half-mile away from the hospital, according to a former intelligence official who has reviewed documents describing the incident. The commander could not see the medical facility — so couldn't know firsthand whether the Taliban were using it as a base — and sought the attack on the recommendation of Afghan forces, the official said.

What is it all the sudden with hospitals? Suddenly all of the authoritarian terrorist governments want to shoot them up.

Palestinian shot dead in Israeli undercover raid on West Bank hospital

Israeli forces disguised in Palestinian clothes – including one impersonating a pregnant woman in a wheelchair – have raided a hospital in the flashpoint city of Hebron, shooting dead a relative of a man suspected of carrying out a stabbing attack.

The operation, involving two dozen undercover soldiers and Shin Bet agents – some wearing fake beards – took place in the early hours of Thursday morning.

During the raid, patients on the third floor of the al-Ahly hospital were confined to their wards. Hospitals are customarily regarded in conflicts as protected locations, even for enemy combatants.

The armed swoop – the second by Israeli forces on a Palestinian hospital this year – saw 27-year-old Abdallah Shalaldeh killed as he emerged from a bathroom in the ward where his cousin, Azzam, a Hamas member, was being treated for gunshot wounds.

The Israeli army confirmed the raid and shooting. It said Azzam Shalaldeh was suspected of stabbing an Israeli settler two weeks ago in the West Bank.

Saudi-Led Coalition 'Deliberately' Targeting Hospitals in Yemen: ICRC

With a stockpile of Western arms, the Saudi siege of Yemen has hit nearly 100 healthcare facilities in war-torn country since March

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has repeatedly targeted and attacked hospitals and clinics, an appalling trend that "disrespects the neutrality of health facilities" in war, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Tuesday.

The U.S.-backed coalition has bombed nearly 100 hospitals throughout Yemen since March, with the most recent airstrike hitting a clinic on Sunday in the southern city of Taiz—one the country's most populous regions, which has been under heavy fire for months. The shelling of Al-Thawra hospital in the south came just weeks after a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinic was hit in Haydan, in the north.

"Al-Thawra hospital, one of the main health care facilities in Taiz which is providing treatment for about 50 injured people every day was reportedly shelled several times on Sunday. The shelling endangered the lives of patients and staff on site," Kedir Awol Omar, the deputy head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen, said on Tuesday. "The neutrality of healthcare facilities and staff is not being respected. Health facilities are deliberately attacked and surgical and medical supplies are also being blocked from reaching hospitals in areas under siege." ...

"The USA and other states exporting weapons to any of the parties to the Yemen conflict have a responsibility to ensure that the arms transfers they authorize are not facilitating serious violations of international humanitarian law," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's senior crisis response adviser. "Lack of accountability has contributed to the worsening crisis and unless perpetrators believe they will be brought to justice for their crimes, civilians will continue to suffer the consequences."

"The world's indifference to the suffering of Yemeni civilians in this conflict is shocking," Rovera said.

Imperious American intelligence agencies have forced Microsoft to relinquish data to third parties abroad in order to protect their business from a compliant US court system that reinforces the will of the crazed weasels that run US intelligence agencies:

Microsoft Seeks To Dispel Cloud Mistrust In Europe

Microsoft has moved to dispel European mistrust of U.S.-operated cloud services by announcing a plan to offer cloud services, including Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online, from data centers in Germany that are also operated by a third party company — in a so called trustee model.

The underlying context here is ongoing European concern over U.S. government mass surveillance practices and the impact those intelligence dragnets are having on the perception of data security in the commercial cloud. Also relevant: ongoing legal uncertainty following the landmark decision by Europe’s top court to invalidate the fifteen-year-old Safe Harbor transatlantic data transfer agreement between the U.S. and the EU last month — itself triggered in large part by the 2013 revelations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Microsoft said its ‘cloud in Germany’ will launch in the second half of 2016, and will be operated under German law by T-Systems, a subsidiary of telco Deutsche Telekom. The two data centers will be based in Magdeburg and Frankfurt am Main, with Microsoft stressing this “data trustee” model means it will not have any access to customer data without the consent of the trustee, and that it cannot therefore be compelled — “even by a third party” — to hand over customer data.

Facebook says governments demanding more and more user data

US authorities made the most requests for users’ information, while India and Turkey had the most takedowns for content that violated local laws

Facebook has said government requests for data and demands for content to be taken down surged in the first half of 2015, which the social network has seen continually increase since it began publicly releasing such data two years ago.

Government requests for account data globally jumped 18% in the first half of 2015 to 41,214 accounts, up from 35,051 requests in the second half of 2014, Facebook said in a blogpost.

The amount of content restricted for violating local law more than doubled compared with the same period in the second half of 2014 to 20,568 pieces of content, it said. ...

The bulk of government requests came from US law enforcement agencies. US agencies requested data from 26,579 accounts – comprising more than 60% of requests globally – up from 21,731 accounts in the second half of 2014.

Massive Hack of 70 Million Prisoner Phone Calls Indicates Violations of Attorney-Client Privilege

An enormous cache of phone records obtained by The Intercept reveals a major breach of security at Securus Technologies, a leading provider of phone services inside the nation’s prisons and jails. The materials — leaked via SecureDrop by an anonymous hacker who believes that Securus is violating the constitutional rights of inmates — comprise over 70 million records of phone calls, placed by prisoners to at least 37 states, in addition to links to downloadable recordings of the calls. The calls span a nearly two-and-a-half year period, beginning in December 2011 and ending in the spring of 2014.

Particularly notable within the vast trove of phone records are what appear to be at least 14,000 recorded conversations between inmates and attorneys, a strong indication that at least some of the recordings are likely confidential and privileged legal communications — calls that never should have been recorded in the first place. The recording of legally protected attorney-client communications — and the storage of those recordings — potentially offends constitutional protections, including the right to effective assistance of counsel and of access to the courts.

“This may be the most massive breach of the attorney-client privilege in modern U.S. history, and that’s certainly something to be concerned about,” said David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “A lot of prisoner rights are limited because of their conviction and incarceration, but their protection by the attorney-client privilege is not.”

Greece, Europe hid Athens’ debt to keep it in Eurozone: corruption expert

'Our rage will be relentless': Syriza faces mass strike in Greece

Prime minister Alexis Tsipras under pressure as services including schools, hospitals, and banks are hit by 24-hour walkout

Greece’s leftist-led government will get a taste of people power on Thursday when workers participate in a general strike that will be the first display of mass resistance to the neoliberal policies it has elected to pursue.

The country is expected to be brought to a halt when employees in both the public and private sector down tools to protest against yet more spending cuts and tax rises. “The winter is going to be explosive and this will mark the beginning,” said Grigoris Kalomoiris, a leading member of the civil servants’ union Adedy.

“When the average wage has already been cut by 30%, when salaries are already unacceptably low, when the social security system is at risk of collapse, we cannot sit still,” he said. ...

“We are expecting a huge turnout,” Petros Constantinou, a prominent member of the anti-capitalist left group Antarsya told the Guardian. “This is a government under dual pressure from creditors above and the people below and our rage will be relentless. It will know no bounds.”

Greek Party Syriza Is Supporting Mass Protests Against Its Own Government

It's deja vu for many as thousands of Greek residents are once again lining Syntagma Square, outside the Greece's parliament in Athens, to protest against austerity measures.

But this time it's all a bit more confusing, now that the far-left Syriza party is in charge. In a bizarre twist, the party is actually encouraging the protests against its own government, alongside a nationwide 24-hour general strike organized by the country's main public and private sector unions.

Mass action needed to be taken "against the neoliberal policies and the blackmail from financial and political centers within and outside Greece," its labor policy division said. 

Nearly 25,000 people have taken part in three separate protests across the capital while hundreds of thousands have gone on strike. ... Domestic flights will be grounded, ships will remain docked at ports and public offices are shut in the first nationwide walkout called by the unions in a year. ...

#Greece: Thousands in front of the Parliament now for the general #strike pic.twitter.com/jz9whwKEtz

— Savvas Karmaniolas (@SavvasKarma) November 12, 2015

Greek government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili denied suggestions that the leftist party, which fought against austerity when it was in opposition, was trying to play both sides in supporting the anti-austerity strike. ...

Condemned by many citizens and politicians as having sacrificed the anti-austerity platform they campaigned on before gaining power last January, Syriza continues to repeatedly affirm that it is staying true to its original aims. MP Christos Simorelis explained the disparity to local TV: "We agreed to take these measures under pressure," he said. "In Syriza we continue to see the party as one thing, the government another."

Falling Short of Boycott, EU Moves to Label Products Made in Illegal Israeli Settlements

Though falling substantially short of the boycott campaigners have been calling for, the European Union on Wednesday adopted new measures (pdf) to label products made in Israeli settlements.

"Since the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are not part of the Israeli territory according to international law, the indication 'product from Israel' is considered to be incorrect and misleading in the sense of the referenced legislation," said the EU Commission.

Instead, products made in territories illegally occupied by Israel will now include the term "Israeli settlement," while Palestinian products could be labelled "product from the West Bank (Palestinian product)," "product from Gaza," or "product from Palestine." The labeling will be mandatory for fruit and vegetables, wine, honey, olive oil, eggs, poultry, organic products, and cosmetics, and voluntary for industrial products and processed foods.

Though the distinction stirred the ire of the Israeli government, which has threatened to boycott a series of upcoming meetings with the EU, campaigners for Palestinian rights say the action is "insufficient" given the gross violation of international law.

Lambert has some ongoing analysis of the TPP at Naked Capitalism

[For a comparison of the text of the TPP against US Trade Rep Michael Froman's FAQ - click the link above for the full burn. - js]

Photo of 5,554pg TPP on Sessions’ desk. B/C of Fast-Track, it can’t be filibustered, amended or given a treaty vote. pic.twitter.com/jrj883vDRe

— Sen. Jeff Sessions (@SenatorSessions) November 9, 2015

[Lambert digs out some good stuff. For example, there are pretty words in the preamble of the TPP... ]

which states that all parties to the deal:

Recognize their inherent right to regulate and resolve to preserve the flexibility of the Parties to set legislative and regulatory priorities, safeguard public welfare, and protect legitimate public welfare objectives, such as public health, safety, the environment, the conservation of living or non-living exhaustible natural resources, the integrity and stability of the financial system and public morals.

[Then the TPP instructs the arbitration panels how to interpret the TPP... ]

3. The panel shall consider this Agreement in accordance with applicable rules of interpretation under international law as reflected in Articles 31 and 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969).

[And the Vienna Convention says that those pretty words in the preamble are completely inoperative, because...]

Although a statement in a preamble does not create legal obligations, it sheds light on the object and purpose of the treaty

[There's more good stuff like this that Lambert has ferreted out. It's excellent work. - js]

The Corporate Coup d'etat with Ralph Nader

Fighting Back, Students Rise Nationwide to Demand Debt-Free Higher Ed

Galvanized by a key plank in Bernie Sanders' presidential platform, current and former students from hundreds of colleges coast to coast are holding walk-outs, rallies, and marches on Thursday to call for tuition-free public college, a cancellation of all student debt, and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers. 

"The United States is the richest country in the world, yet students have to take on crippling debt in order to get a college education," the movement's organizers said in a statement on their website. "We need change, and change starts in the streets when the people demand it."

Noting that more than 40 million Americans share a total of $1.2 trillion in student debt and 58 percent of that is held by the poorest 25 percent of Americans, the organizers chastise "establishment politicians" for failing to take action in the face of what they call an "urgent crisis."

"Our country has abandoned its responsibility to educate future generations," said Keely Mullen, a Northeastern University junior and an organizer for 15 Now. "Today we are dealing with a curriculum that reflects a corporate agenda, outrageous university tuitions and fees, massive student debt, and a K-12 public education system under attack by budget cuts, charter schools, standardized tests, and the school-to-prison-pipeline."

Mullen, who said she will graduate with approximately $150,000 in student loans, added: "We cannot stand by any longer while our education system is destroyed from within. It's time to take action."

Baltimore Body Cam Regs Another Set-back for Police Accountability

Black Lives Matter Supporters in Oregon Targeted by State Surveillance

On Tuesday of this week, it was revealed that the Criminal Justice Division of the Oregon Department of Justice has secretly surveilled Oregonians who use the Black Lives Matter hashtag — including the state’s own director of civil rights, Erious Johnson. This is deeply disturbing and offensive — and it is a serious threat to our democracy.  ...

This is not the first time law enforcement in Oregon has been caught surveilling innocent people. In the 1970s, we uncovered Portland Police investigations of the ACLU of Oregon and many other nonprofits and community groups. This discovery led us to help pass a law in 1981 — the only law of its kind in the country — that prohibits our state and local police from collecting information about the political, religious, or social views of any individual or group unless that information directly relates to a criminal investigation.

Having a good law on the books is clearly not enough. We need meaningful oversight of law enforcement intelligence activities to make sure these important safeguards for our freedoms won’t be ignored again. The simple act of expressing concern about racial justice on social media should not be enough to trigger information gathering by the Oregon Department of Justice. (I can’t believe I had to just write that sentence.)

Police Can Take Your Stuff for No Reason — And the Practice Is on the Rise

In addition to a lot of other things police have the power to do, they can take your cash, cars, and other personal property even if you've never been charged or convicted of a crime — a practice that has been on the rise in recent years.

This controversial practice is known as civil asset forfeiture. Not only does it allow cops to take your stuff pretty much when they feel like it, the revenue from what they take goes toward those very local law enforcement agencies seizing it. Over the past decade, this practice has gone up nearly sixfold, according to a report released Tuesday by the Institute for Justice, a legal non-profit that focuses on civil liberties protection.

Between 2001 and 2014, the funds from federal forfeitures in the Departments of Justice and Treasury surged 1,000 percent, to a total of $29 billion, according to the IJ report. This happens at both the state and federal level. The federal government and 25 states direct 100 percent of the funds seized in forfeitures to local law enforcement, usually the very ones that carried out the forfeiture. Forty-three states in the US direct almost half of the value seized in forfeitures to funding local law enforcement agencies. Other recipients of the seized funds include education and the federal government. ...

Public reporting on the practice is essentially nonexistent. Only 11 states make information on forfeiture cases publicly available and many do not even collect data on it at all, which means the details of where, how, and when it's used are difficult to come by. But groups like IJ have detected trends on forfeiture based on the information that is made public, Knepper says. For instance, the average amount of cash seized in forfeiture cases is low, usually less than $500.

Smith says forfeiture is especially common in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, where it is often accompanied by practices like New York City's controversial stop-and-frisk.

When police stop people they've deemed suspicious, "they just take their money and get away with it, because who's stopping them?" said Smith. "Certainly not the police chiefs, who are glad to have the money."

American "justice" gone wild - they can take your stuff, your money and even your children for no damned reason.

Utah judge orders baby taken away from married lesbian foster parents

Welfare official confirms there were no issues with April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce’s care but judge ordered child be placed with a heterosexual couple

Utah state child welfare officials on Wednesday were wrangling with a ruling by a juvenile court judge who ordered a baby to be taken from lesbian foster parents and instead placed with a heterosexual couple, saying it was for the child’s wellbeing. ...

The ruling came during a routine hearing for April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce. They are part of a group of same-sex married couples who were allowed to become foster parents in Utah after a US supreme court ruling made gay marriage legal across the country, Sumner said.

Hoagland and Peirce told KUTV they were distraught after the ruling, which called for the baby girl they have been raising for three months to be taken away within a week.

They said Johansen cited research that children did better when raised by heterosexual couples, but Hoagland said the judge was imposing his religious beliefs. ...

Ashley Sumner, from the child welfare agency, said she could not speak to specifics of the case but confirmed that the couple’s account of the ruling was accurate — the judge’s decision was based on the couple being lesbians. The agency was not aware of any other issues with their performance as foster parents.

Carnage in the Oil Fields - Schlumberger, Halliburton Slowly Sinking

Oilfield service providers may not be able to cut costs any further as oil stays lower for longer, and analysts expect "pretty serious carnage" in the industry.

The plunge in oil prices has forced Halliburton, Baker Hughes=, Schlumberger and other service providers to slash costs as well as the prices they charge to their customers, such as shale producers. ...

The industry built up its resources to handle a 1,600-rig environment, Jim Rice, co-managing partner of Sidley law firm's Houston office noted. Last week, the number of oil rigs hit 572, and the combined count of oil and gas rigs was 771. ... He expects "pretty serious carnage" in the industry, including more job cuts, bankruptcies and consolidation.

There were 33 companies in hydraulic fracking services, he added, "too many given the level of demand, so something has got to give."

Trump Was Right About TPP Benefiting China

Donald Trump lambasted the Trans-Pacific Partnership at Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate, contending that China would use it to “take advantage of everyone” — generating snickers from journalists and a withering refutation from Rand Paul, who said “we might want to point out that China is not part of this deal.”

But Trump never suggested that China was part of the TPP, only that the country would “come in, as they always do, through the back door” of the agreement. And he was right.

The TPP does indeed allow China and other non-members to reap benefits from the deal without having to abide by any of its terms.

Here’s how it works: TPP and other free trade deals allow signatories to exchange goods without tariffs. But we live in a complicated world, with source materials derived from one country often traveling through a supply chain to another and completed in a third before moving to a retail market.

To cope with this, TPP adds a “rule of origin” chapter to determine whether an amalgamated good qualifies for tariff-free status. This is particularly important in Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam or Malaysia, which get a significant amount of production materials from China.

TPP says that all materials that go into a good, outside of a de minimis 10 percent, must derive from TPP countries. However, there are numerous exceptions and exemptions, along with a confusing set of calculations to determine eligibility. Through these cracks in the agreement, as Trump alluded, China can deliver goods to TPP countries without tariffs.

Not For What He 'Says' But For What He Has 'Done,' Postal Workers Endorse Sanders

Declaring that "politics as usual has not worked" and "enough is enough," the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) announced its endorsement of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Thursday morning, saying the longest-serving independent in the U.S. Congress is the best candidate of the entire 2016 field.

"We should judge candidates not by their political party, not by what they say, not by what we think they stand for, but by what they do," said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. "Applying that criteria, Sen. Bernie Sanders stands above all others as a true champion of postal workers and other workers throughout the country."

With more than 200,000 active members, the APWU now becomes the largest national union to endorse Sanders. Earlier this year, the National Nurses Union—which boasts more than 185,000 members—also endorsed Sanders as they voiced their members' overwhelming support for the candidate demanding a 'political revolution' while challenging elite interests both inside and outside the healthcare industry. ...

Thursday's endorsement also arrives as a new McClatchy/Marist poll shows that Sanders would win in a landslide against top GOP contenders Donald Trump and Jeb Bush in the general election. 

War on Christmas Update

Paris climate deal must be legally binding, EU tells John Kerry

US warned that any agreement in Paris will be enshrined in law after secretary of state said it would ‘definitively’ not be a treaty

The EU has warned the Obama administration that a global climate deal at the Paris summit must be legally binding, after the US secretary of state John Kerry said that it “definitively” would not be a treaty

“The Paris agreement must be an international legally binding agreement,” a spokeswoman for the EU’s climate commissioner, Miguel Arias Cañete , told the Guardian. “The title of the agreement is yet to be decided but it will not affect its legally binding form.”

Earlier today, the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius , had said it was obvious that any agreement in Paris would contain lawful elements, and suggested that Kerry was “confused” about the point.

Kerry told the Financial Times on Wednesday that any agreement in Paris, where world leaders meet in three weeks’ time, is “definitively not going to be a treaty” and there were “not going to be legally binding reduction targets like Kyoto”, in a reference to the world’s only previous binding climate treaty.

But the nature of the agreement’s elements is being fiercely contested in talks that officials publicly say have reached a very sensitive point. Privately, they say that countries are keeping their powder dry for the frantic last days of negotiations in which a pact is expected to be thrashed out.

Monsanto Accused of Knowingly Polluting SF Bay with Toxic PCBs

Targeting the chemical giant which for decades allegedly polluted the San Francisco Bay with a highly toxic environmental contaminant, the city of Oakland on Tuesday filed suit against Monsanto.

In a press statement announcing the suit, Oakland city attorney Barbara Parker accused Monsanto of concealing information on the dangers of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCBs), long before they were banned by U.S. Congress. Parker charges that despite this knowledge, Monsanto continued to produce and distribute these compounds, thus destroying marine ecosystems and threatening human health.

"Monsanto knew that PCBs were toxic and could not be contained as they readily escaped into the environment, finding their way into bays, oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, soil and air," the statement charges. "Although evidence confirms that Monsanto recognized that PCBs were becoming 'a global contaminant,' well before the 1979 ban, it concealed this information and increased production of these profitable compounds."

Banned by Congress in 1979 and later by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001, PCBs are a common environmental contaminant associated with illnesses including cancer and are often found in the tissues of marine life, animals, and humans. According to a watchdog report (pdf), Monsanto was responsible for 99 percent of U.S. production of PCBs, commonly found in a variety of products and applications including power transformers, electrical equipment, paints, caulks, and other building materials.

Energy Democracy: Inside Californians' Game-Changing Plan for Community-Owned Power

Back in 2002, in the wake of the Enron-induced crash of California's electricity system—which to this day has left rate-payers bailing out the utility companies— California passed AB 117, the Community Choice Aggregation law. This law allows a city, county, or any grouping of cities and counties, to “aggregate” electricity customers in their jurisdictions for the purpose of procuring electricity on their behalf. Under this arrangement, a public agency—the newly formed Community Choice program—decides where electricity will come from, while the incumbent utility delivers the electricity, maintains the electric lines, and bills customers.

The new program is a hybrid between a public agency and a private utility. The utility owns the distribution infrastructure, but the public is in the driver’s seat regarding energy decisions. ...

Sonoma County’s Community Choice customers get power that is 30 percent lower in greenhouse gases than PG&E. They also pay up to 9 percent less on average than PG&E customers. In addition, electricity net revenues go back into the community rather than into the pockets of PG&E shareholders and overpaid executives.

The idea is catching on all across California.

Initiatives to establish Community Choice energy programs are now underway in more than 70 jurisdictions in the state. This, despite determined efforts by the monopoly utilities to crush this emerging movement.

Also of Interest

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

TRANSCRIPT: Interview with Charlie Savage on Obama’s War on Terror Legacy

FBI Left Out Top Muslim-American Groups When Vetting Anti-Extremist Game

5 Wars America Should Never Have Fought

End Mideast arms sales, nonhumanitarian aid

How Did the Taxpayer Make Out on the Wall Street Bailout?

A Little Night Music

Clifton Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band - Party Down

Clifton Chenier - Bon Ton Roulet

Clifton Chenier - I'm On The Wonder

Clifton Chenier - Opelousas Hop

Clifton Chenier - I'm a Hog for You

Chenier, Clifton - Boppin' the Rock

Clifton Chenier - Bon Ton Roulet

Clifton Chenier & The Louisiana Ramblers - Tighten Up Zydeco

Clifton Chenier - Black Gal

Clifton Chenier - Jambalaya

Clifton Chenier - I'm Coming Home

Clifton Chenier - Breaux Bridge Waltz

Clifton Chenier - Zydeco Sont Pas Salés

Clifton Chenier - Choo Choo Ch'Boogie

Clifton Chenier - Louisiana Blues

Clifton Chenier - Hot Tamale Baby

Clifton Chenier - Hot Rod

Clifton Chenier and The Red Hot Louisiana Band - Jolie Blonde

Clifton Chenier - Boogie Louisiane

Clifton Chener - Je me reveiller le matin

Clifton Chenier - Josephine Par Se Ma Femme

Clifton Chenier - Frog Legs

Rod Bernard & Clifton Chenier - My Jolie Blonde