The Evening Blues - 11-6-20



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Studebaker John

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features bluesrock guitarist and harmonica player Studebaker John. Enjoy!

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Rockin' Like Crazy

"Biden’s campaign was utterly bereft of ideas and policy issues, as if he and the Democrats could sweep the elections by promising to save the soul of America."

-- Chris Hedges


News and Opinion

Chris Hedges: American Requiem

ell, it’s over. Not the election. The capitalist democracy. However biased it was towards the interests of the rich and however hostile it was to the poor and minorities, the capitalist democracy at least offered the possibility of incremental and piecemeal reform. Now it is a corpse. The iconography and rhetoric remain the same. But it is an elaborate and empty reality show funded by the ruling oligarchs — $1.51 billion for the Biden campaign and $1.57 billion for the Trump campaign — to make us think there are choices. There are not. The empty jousting between a bloviating Trump and a verbally impaired Joe Biden is designed to mask the truth. The oligarchs always win. The people always lose. It does not matter who sits in the White House. America is a failed state.

“The American Dream has run out of gas,” wrote the novelist J.G. Ballard. “The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It’s over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now.”

There were many actors that killed America’s open society. The corporate oligarchs who bought the electoral process, the courts and the media, and whose lobbyists write the legislation to impoverish us and allow them to accumulate obscene amounts of wealth and unchecked power. The militarists and war industry that drained the national treasury to mount futile and endless wars that have squandered some $7 trillion and turned us into an international pariah. The CEOs, raking in bonuses and compensation packages in the tens of millions of dollars, that shipped jobs overseas and left our cities in ruins and our workers in misery and despair without a sustainable income or hope for the future. The fossil fuel industry that made war on science and chose profits over the looming extinction of the human species. The press that turned news into mindless entertainment and partisan cheerleading. The intellectuals who retreated into the universities to preach the moral absolutism of identity politics and multiculturalism while turning their backs on the economic warfare being waged on the working class and the unrelenting assault on civil liberties. And, of course, the feckless and hypocritical liberal class that does nothing but talk, talk, talk.

If there is one group that deserves our deepest contempt it is the liberal elites, those who posture as the moral arbiters of society while abandoning every value they purportedly hold the moment they become inconvenient. The liberal class, once again, served as pathetic cheerleaders and censors for a candidate and a political party that in Europe would be considered on the far-right. Even while liberals were being ridiculed and dismissed by Biden and by the Democratic Party hierarchy, which bizarrely invested its political energy in appealing to Republican neocons, liberals were busy marginalizing journalists, including Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, who called out Biden and the Democrats. The liberals, whether at The Intercept or The New York Times, ignored or discredited information that could hurt the Democratic Party, including the revelations on Hunter Biden’s laptop. It was a stunning display of craven careerism and self-loathing.

The Democrats and their liberal apologists are, the election has illustrated, oblivious to the profound personal and economic despair sweeping through this country. They stand for nothing. They fight for nothing. Restoring the rule of law, universal health care, banning fracking, a Green New Deal, the protection of civil liberties, the building of unions, the preservation and expansion of social welfare programs, a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, the forgiveness of student debt, stiff environmental controls, a government jobs program and guaranteed income, financial regulation, opposition to endless war and military adventurism were once again forgotten. Championing these issues would have resulted in a Democratic Party landslide. But since the Democratic Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate donors, promoting any policy that might foster the common good, diminish corporate profits and restore democracy, including imposing campaign finance laws, was impossible. Biden’s campaign was utterly bereft of ideas and policy issues, as if he and the Democrats could sweep the elections by promising to save the soul of America. At least the neofascists have the courage of their demented convictions.

Are We In For Hellish 'Bipartisan' Consensus Under Biden?

Trump has not been repudiated – a Biden presidency would face obstruction at every level

Whatever else emerges from the US’s 2020 election, one thing is clear: it has not delivered a comprehensive repudiation of Donald Trump. ... Rather than a rejection of Trump, the election results reshuffle the finely balanced and deeply polarised configuration that has prevailed in American politics since the days of Bill Clinton in the 1990s. ...

In a divided country, virtually every facet of reality is seen through a partisan lens. Not unreasonably, the Democrats tried to make the election into a referendum on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. But that did not prove to be a winning card. Almost half of Americans did not agree that Trump’s disastrous and irresponsible performance disqualified him from the presidency. This hardly bodes well for the effort to gain control of the disease, which would be the first task of a Biden administration.

If there is no collective will to take preventive action, then everything continues to ride on a magic bullet: a vaccine. But even that will not guarantee success. Opinion polling suggests that no more than a bare majority will agree to be vaccinated, with Republican-leaning Americans particularly resistant. The implication is that the US will limp along, not effectively controlling the outbreak and going through repeated lockdowns. The impact on communities and small businesses is likely to be devastating.

Even assuming the virus can be mastered, a Biden administration would face an uphill political battle. Its formidable foes are the GOP in Congress, led by Mitch McConnell, the sulphurous boss of the Senate Republicans. Ahead of the election, riding a wave of over-optimism about the likely result, Nancy Pelosi played a dangerous game. The House speaker held out for a gigantic second stimulus package in excess of $2tn, but no “blue wave” swept the Democrats to control of Congress.

Now, with a diminished majority, Pelosi will have to return to the bargaining table to negotiate with McConnell. To the pleasure of Wall Street, he has announced that he is willing to make a deal, but this is an ominous sign. Any package that McConnell will agree to is more or less guaranteed not to meet the social crisis facing tens of millions of unemployed Americans, and struggling cities and states across the country. And yet, to save the economy from catastrophe, the Democrats may well be forced to accept McConnell’s terms.

Allan Nairn: Trump and Republicans Use Legal & Physical Means in Attempted Coup Against Democracy

Trump DOJ Claims Armed Feds Are Allowed to Inspect State Vote-Counting Locations

As ongoing vote tabulation in several key battleground states continues to slowly narrow President Donald Trump's path to reelection, the New York Times reported late Wednesday that the Justice Department has told federal prosecutors that U.S. law permits armed federal agents to enter ballot-counting locations to investigate alleged "fraud," heightening fears of possible intimidation efforts by the Trump administration.

News of the Justice Department's early Wednesday email came after Trump spent much of that day lying about vote-counting procedures and peddling baseless claims of suspicious activity as he watched his slim leads in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania vanish.

The Times noted that the Justice Department's email, authored by Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, "created the specter of the federal government intimidating local election officials or otherwise intervening in vote tallying amid calls by President Trump to end the tabulating in states where he was trailing in the presidential race."

While U.S. law bars the stationing of armed officials "at any place where a general or special election is held," Donoghue claimed in his email that the statute "does not prevent armed federal law enforcement persons from responding to, investigat[ing], or prevent[ing] federal crimes at closed polling places or at other locations where votes are being counted."

State officials and civil rights advocates were quick to denounce the Justice Department's interpretation of the law as both false and dangerous while also suggesting the post-Election Day email may have been aimed at mollifying the president, who falsely declared victory early Wednesday morning with millions of ballots left to count.

Labor Organizer: I Witnessed Bush Steal 2000 Election in Florida.

Trump doubles down on false election result claims as Biden calls for calm

Joe Biden urged calm across the US on Thursday night as he held on to a lead against Donald Trump that brought the Democratic challenger tantalisingly close to the presidency – even as votes were still being counted in a handful of critical states.

Facing possible defeat after one term, Trump from the White House appeared to dig in for a long fight, falsely claiming: “If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. “If you count the votes that came in late, we’re looking at them very strongly, a lot of votes came in late,” he said, in a tone that seemed calculated to inflame divisions. There was no evidence that illegal or late votes were being counted, nor that the election was being stolen.

Trump went on to rail against “historic election interference from big media, big money and big tech … The pollsters got it knowingly wrong.”

Biden and his running mate, the California senator Kamala Harris, on the other hand had emerged in Biden’s home state of Delaware, telling the country that “each ballot must be counted.” ... As the country remained on edge, awaiting the declaration of a victory almost 48 hours after the polls had closed and as sporadic protests have broken out in places such as Arizona, Michigan, Portland and New York, Biden said: “I ask everyone to stay calm.”

Cable news cuts presidential broadcast after Trump airs baseless claims

Facebook removes pro-Trump Stop the Steal group over 'calls for violence'

Facebook removed a viral group falsely claiming that “Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and nullify Republican votes” after it gained more than 350,000 members in a single day. The hasty enforcement action against a political group was unusual for Facebook and raised questions about the consistency and transparency of the company’s content moderation.

The group, “Stop the Steal”, was established by a rightwing not-for-profit group, Women for America First, and run by a team of moderators and administrators that included the longtime Tea Party activist Amy Kremer. Members were encouraged to provide their email addresses to a website calling for “boots on the ground to protect the integrity of the vote”, as well as to donate money.

The group exploded in popularity on Wednesday and Thursday, racking up more than 730,000 interactions, according to data from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned social media analytics platform. Many of the most popular posts in the group were calls for prayer for Donald Trump, but the group was also rife with misinformation about the election and processes for counting ballots. Two of the group’s moderators, Jennifer Lawrence and Dustin Stockton, are connected to the “We Build the Wall” campaign, for which former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was indicted for fraud, the Daily Beast reported.

“In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”

Biden takes lead in Pennsylvania, though Trump not ready to concede

Trump lawyers petitioning supreme court have close ties to Brett Kavanaugh

Trump campaign lawyers who have asked the supreme court to intervene in Pennsylvania’s vote count have close ties to Brett Kavanaugh, the justice who is expected to have a decisive vote in any upcoming election-related rulings.

Justin Clark, a senior lawyer for Donald Trump’s campaign, helped shepherd Kavanaugh’s controversial 2018 confirmation through the Senate in his previous role as White House congressional liaison. Another lawyer, William Consovoy, the litigator who filed the supreme court challenge on behalf of the Trump campaign, helped to bankroll a high-profile Federalist Society dinner in Kavanaugh’s honour in 2019.

It is far from clear whether the Trump campaign’s bid before the US supreme court – which is challenging Pennsylvania’s inclusion of mail-in ballots received after 3 November – will lead to any changes in the state’s ultimate vote count. But the relationships between the campaign lawyers and Kavanaugh are an example of how conservative lawyers and jurists who have been appointed to the highest court have especially close political ties.

Heh, the Guardian can't resist taking a swipe at Maduro. What a bunch of cheap propagandists they are.

Bolivia's exiled former president Evo Morales to return next week

Bolivia’s exiled former president, Evo Morales, is set to make a triumphant homecoming next week, leading an 800-vehicle convoy to the jungle-clad coca-growing region where he began his political career. The Bolivian newspaper Página Siete reported that Morales would cross from Argentina into the southern border town of Villazón on Monday morning before heading 600 miles north to the province of Chapare. ...

The former coca farmer, who led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, has been living in Buenos Aires since Argentina’s government granted him asylum last year.

Luis Arce will take office on Sunday, 24 hours before Morales’ return, with the guest list including leftist regional leaders such as Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, and the Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.

Israeli forces leave 41 children homeless after razing Palestinian village, UN says

Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank have razed a Palestinian village, leaving 73 people – including 41 children – homeless, in the largest forced displacement incident for years, according to the United Nations.

Excavators escorted by military vehicles were filmed approaching Khirbet Humsa and proceeding to flatten or smash up tents, shacks, animal shelters, toilets and solar panels.

“These are some of the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank,” said Yvonne Helle, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory.

Three-quarters of the community lost their shelters during Tuesday’s operation, she said, making it the largest forced displacement incident in more than four years. However, by the number of destroyed structures, 76, the raid was the largest demolition in the past decade, she added.

On Wednesday, families from the village were seen rifling through their wrecked belongings in the wind, with some of the first rain of the year arriving the same day. The UN published a photo of a bed and a cot in the open desert.

With All Eyes on Election Results, Experts Horrified as Covid-19 Hits New Record

With much of the nation's attention understandably consumed by developments in the high-stakes presidential election, the United States on Wednesday reported a daily record of more than 104,000 new Covid-19 infections, the latest alarming indication that—far from President Donald Trump's repeated insistence that the virus is fading away—the deadly pandemic is only getting worse as the winter months approach.

"The count that worries me? Over 100,000 Covid-19 cases yesterday," Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves tweeted Thursday morning. "Deaths up 21%. There has been silence on this from the White House and the Dems. This is a tsunami. Washing over us. Pay attention."

Coming just 24 hours after millions of Americans showed up at polling places across the nation to cast their ballots in the presidential race and down-ballot contests, Wednesday marked the first time the U.S. recorded at least 100,000 new coronavirus infections in a single day.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been warning since June—when the U.S. was reporting around 40,000 cases daily—that the nation could reach 100,000 new infections per day if more aggressive preventative measures were not taken by the federal government in partnership with state and local leaders. ...



Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor Baylor College of Medicine, tweeted Wednesday that he has long worried the U.S. would reach 100,000 Covid cases in a single day, a grim milestone he said further lays bare the Trump administration's failures.

"I dreaded this day, here it is. And the lights are off for the entire Executive Branch of our Federal Government," Hotez said. "Historic and unprecedented abandonment of the American people. I'm horrified."

San Francisco voters approve new taxes for wealthy CEOs and tech companies

In an effort to address economic disparity laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved several tax measures targeting property owners and big businesses with CEOs paid far higher than their average workers.

Under the new law, any company whose top executive earns 100 times more than their average worker will pay an extra 0.1% surcharge on its annual business tax payment. If a CEO makes 200 times more than the average employee, the surcharge increases to 0.2%; 300 times gets a 0.3% surcharge and so on. Voters also agreed to sweeping business tax changes that will lead to a higher tax rate for many tech companies, and a higher transfer tax on property sales valued between $10m and $25m.

“We’re not gonna shed any tears if penthouse dwellers have to cough up,” the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters wrote in its voter guide.

The results “show that San Franciscans are concerned about growing economic inequality”, city Supervisor Matt Haney, the author of the measure titled the Overpaid Executive Tax, said on Wednesday. “The very wealthy are gaining more and more. They’ve gotten much richer during the pandemic, while everyone else has remained stagnant. “We need the wealth that has been generated in the city to be shared more broadly with workers and residents,” he said.

Bad apples in Canada:

Toronto policeman jailed for beating black man who lost an eye

A Toronto police officer has been sentenced to nine months in jail for his assault conviction in the beating of a young black man who lost an eye when he was arrested in 2016.

Prosecutors alleged constable Michael Theriault, who was off duty at the time, and his brother Christian chased Dafonte Miller in the early hours of the morning on 28 December 2016, cornering the then 19-year-old between two homes in Whitby, Ontario, and beating him so badly with a pipe that his left eye burst.

The Theriaults pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault and obstruction of justice in relation to the incident and its aftermath. The judge convicted the officer and acquitted his brother in June.

“The racialised context in which the offence took place cannot be ignored,” superior court justice Joseph Di Luca said in delivering his sentence. ... Di Luca also sentenced Theriault to 12 months of probation following his jail term, along with a five-year weapons prohibition.



the horse race



Cori Bush delivers electrifying victory speech: 'This is our moment … I love you'

For years, we’ve lived under leadership that shut us out of our own government. For years, we’ve been left out in the cold: protesting in the streets, sleeping in our cars or tents, working three part-time jobs just to pay the bills. And today, today, we, all of us, are headed to Congress - St Louis strong!

I can't wait to see the neoliberal democrats express their gratitude. pfffffftttt!!!

Omar and Tlaib Credited as 'Major Factors' in Securing Biden Victories in Minnesota and Michigan

Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, members of the progressive Squad in the U.S. House who represent districts in the states of Michigan and Minnesota respectively, received applause and praise Thursday for their role in lifting Joe Biden in those two battleground states—pivotal victories that have helped put the former vice president on the verge of ousting President Donald Trump.

Among the nation's most progressive legislators, Omar represents Minneapolis and its nearby suburbs, while Tlaib represents portions of Detroit and some of its suburbs in Wayne County. Both lawmakers campaigned heavily for Biden leading up to this week's election, and observers say Biden's victories in those states may not have materialized had it not been for that heavy lifting which propelled huge turnout in diverse districts.

"While the Biden-Harris campaign resisted in-person canvassing, Omar's campaign kept doing it, hiring dozens of people to knock on doors and pull out votes," the Washington Post reported earlier this week. 

Ken Martin, the chairman of Minnesota's Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, told the Post that Omar "doesn't need to increase turnout here to win her race... She could take a vacation and she'd get reelected, easy."

"But," Martin added, "she recognizes that she has a responsibility to drive up turnout; it's really important for all of our statewide races, especially the presidential race."

According to Martin, Omar "does really intensive, face-to-face contacts, with a lot of personal relationship-building, and building long-term power with communities of color," something that "a lot of politicians don't do."

Democrats Failing Working People Exposes Need For A People's Party

David Sirota: Lincoln Project EPICALLY FAILS As MORE Republicans Vote Trump

We Are Guaranteed Only One Thing, Nothing More

Though the results are not yet final, it appears that Donald Trump will be defeated. Assuming this outcome holds, it is undeniably good news. ... During this pandemic, we are not guaranteed to get much more relief. Joe Biden has recently changed his tune about deficit spending under pressure from progressives. But he has also spent decades touting himself as the guy who wants to work with Republican lawmakers to cut Social Security in the name of debt reduction.

During this health care cataclysm, we are not guaranteed to get anything at all. Biden campaigned against Medicare for All and has lately touted a much more limited version of even a modest public health insurance option, which will face tough odds in a Senate whose majority party is run by Mitch McConnell and in a Congress that is partly owned by insurance companies. During this climate emergency, we are not guaranteed to get the sweeping energy and environmental policy changes that scientists tell us are necessary to protect the ecosystem that sustains human life. Biden must be pressured to use executive authority, as congressional Republicans continue to prioritize the profits of their fossil fuel donors over their own constituents whose communities are being incinerated.

During this cataclysm of misinformation, we are not guaranteed to see major changes from a corporate- and billionaire-owned media that has consistently ignored working people, touted oligarchy and funneled cash into vapid horserace punditry while starving journalism of resources. We will only change the information ecosystem through the slow and difficult work of building and supporting new forms of grassroots-funded media and by breaking up the tech monopolies.

During this crisis of confidence in government and our political system, we are not guaranteed to see systemic changes in the political leadership that delivered us to this moment of peril. Yes, Trump will be gone, but unless there are loud demands made — and unless presidential power is actually used — the ethos of “nothing will fundamentally change” will likely become a governing strategy. Without pressure for real change, that strategy would be implemented by the same congressional leaders and political operatives who will inevitably be reinstalled into positions of authority — even after they and their ideology created the conditions for Trump in the first place.

Krystal and Saagar: No Matter Who Wins, 2020 Was A 'Middle Finger' To The Elite



the evening greens


Federal Court Smacks Down FDA Approval of 'Frankenfish'

Food safety campaigners on Thursday welcomed a federal court's finding that the Food and Drug Administration violated U.S. law in its approval of genetically engineered salmon.

"This decision underscores what scientists have been telling FDA for years—that creating genetically engineered salmon poses an unacceptable risk if the fish escape and interact with our wild salmon and that FDA must understand that risk to prevent harm," said Steve Mashuda, managing attorney at Earthjustice, one of the organizations representing plaintiffs in the case. 

"Our efforts should be focused on saving the wild salmon populations we already have," said Mashuda, "not manufacturing new species that pose yet another threat to their survival."

The lawsuit stems from Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety's 2016 legal challenge to the FDA's approval of the so-called "frankenfish" engineered by aquaculture firm AquaBounty.

Oregon Allows a Controversial Fracked Gas Power Plant to Begin Construction

Columbia Riverkeeper and Friends of the Columbia Gorge asked a Multnomah County court on Monday to review a "grievously" unlawful decision by the Oregon Department of Energy to allow construction of the controversial Perennial Wind Chaser Station power plant. If built, the plant would be one of the state's largest stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

The nonprofit environmental groups alleged that the state allowed developers to avoid required stormwater and air pollution permits and meet a Sept. 23 construction deadline by breaking the construction into "phases." They claimed that grading the site in preparation for an access road represented "phase 1" of the plant construction in a way that was never approved by a state siting panel.

If completed, the 415-megawatt, natural gas-fired power plant, near Hermiston in rural Umatilla County, 160 miles east of Portland, would provide additional power to the power grid to complement intermittent renewable sources, like wind and solar, at times of peak energy demand.

According to Columbia Riverkeeper, the plant would generate more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually, in addition to increased air pollution linked to cardiovascular and respiratory illness.


Also of Interest

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

Trump should have lost in a landslide. The fact that he didn’t speaks volumes

Even if Biden wins, the world will pay the price for the Democrats' failures

Caitlin Johnstone: Don’t Fool Yourself: Your Biden Vote Was Not A “Vote Against Fascism”

Can't Count Votes? Just Draw Straws.

Enraged Trump Supporters Swarm Election Offices Spouting Conspiracy Theories

With Control of Senate at Stake, Eyes on Georgia With Possibly Two Races Headed for Runoff

The Dangerous and Invisible Hand in the 2020 Election: Charles Koch’s i360

We Do All Understand The Trump Play To Win The Election Even If He Loses?

US Military Took Cyber Action Against ‘Adversaries’ Before Election

Michigan K-12 schools see another huge increase in COVID-19 outbreaks

Amid Deadly and Intensifying Pandemic, Kushner-Owned Company Moves to Evict Hundreds of Tenants

Democracy Now - Biden Pulls Ahead in Georgia: Blue Shift Follows Years of Community Organizing to Expand Electorate

Democracy Now - Puerto Ricans Vote to Narrowly Approve Controversial Statehood Referendum & Elect 4 LGBTQ Candidates

Rising: If Trump Loses, What Will He Do Next?

Krystal and Saagar: Biden overtakes Trump in Pennsylvania Vote Count

Krystal and Saagar: Biden Takes Lead in Georgia And The LATEST 2020 Battleground Election Results


A Little Night Music

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Boogie Walk

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Two Time Boogie

Studebaker John - Freight Train Blues

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Fear

Studebaker John - Steel Stacks

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Open The Door

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Howl With The Wolf

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Flame Of Desire

Studebaker John - The Rest Is Up To You

Studebaker John & The Hawks - Shake


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17 users have voted.

Comments

snoopydawg's picture

24 foot waves? Wish I could be there. We’re getting a blast of winter tomorrow. It’s been in the 70’s all week, but dropping bigly tonight. Our fall lacked luster this year. The trees that normally turn red only turned brown this year.

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4 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh, that's quite a satire portrayed in that tweet. biden and the dems as epic heroes? pfffttt!?! surely that is snark?

oh well, have a great weekend!

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6 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

tunes today. It's too damn bad that the US military prevented Iranian election meddling, because that would've been a win-win, with the Shia going Green and the Sunni supporting BLM.
Ah well, such is life.

be well and have a good one.

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9 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

glad you got a kick out of studebaker john.

you would think that the spooks would want to keep the iranians busy. after all, if they are busy creating facebook memes, then they are not making bombs. Smile

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6 users have voted.

If you have the humor for it.
A good joke would be in order
or even a bad one for that matter...

I can’t wait to watch Jill Biden and Donald Trump share peppermint patties during Dick Cheney’s funeral

or

EmJ-6TYW0AAFwaw.jpeg
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10 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

heh, trump and biden sharing peppermint patties, now there's a picture that i can't imagine. my brain refuses to create it. that, and, i can't imagine that trump would be invited to cheney's funeral. the cheney family appears to despise trump.

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4 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

Hope you are all having a good one. Been warm and dry here in the SE. Fall slowly gains color this year.

The oligarchs always win the election and will this year too. I keep wondering how they will screw us when the usher in "the Great Reset"

Thanks for the news and the music js!

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9 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

it was a gorgeous day here, in the low 70's. there's no shortage of color at this point, the maples especially are aflame this year.

if the oligarchs have any say about it, the "great reset" will include an enormous die-off of the lower classes and old people along with a return to feudalism.

have a great weekend!

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8 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Some Fox News anchors are whipping up Trump supporters and telling them that democrats stole the election from Trump. Tuesday he was doing better, then the numbers changed... of course they did. Everyone knew that they would because of mail in ballots, but something fishy might have happened in Pennsylvania.

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4 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

they really want to see the fireworks, don't they?

here's a pretty good article about it:

Can the Electoral College be subverted by “faithless electors”?

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5 users have voted.

@snoopydawg

but something fishy might have happened in Pennsylvania.

Now that the postal vote ballots have arrived and many counted, the pattern compared to 2012 and 2016 isn't that different. The early count was way off and out of whack with 2012 and 2012. Should have been obvious to anyone that looked at it that Biden's vote totals in most counties was below that of Clinton's. Now both Trump's and Biden's numbers are up from 2016 in almost every county. Biden isn't under-performing Clinton anywhere. Unless one believes that total votes in Philly are less than that in 2016 -- a condition that seems not to exist except in the very tiny, low population counties -- there's still at least another net 20,000 for Biden to be counted.

Personally, I don't think a high percentage of those postal votes were intended to be delivered. But a few monkey wrenches got thrown into the project.

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2 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@Marie

That explains why the vote in Pennsylvania might be overturned. But there are 2 conflicting stories about voting fraud there. It would have been counting hijinks if anything. One side said that the software stole votes from Trump to Biden. Other side is that it was an operator error that did it.

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2 users have voted.

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

They're demographically small, so they don't get a lot of attention, but their dumb-ass laissez-faire Covid's-not-the-boss-of-me toddlerism is biting them really, really hard in their Ruggedly Individual asses.

Soaring numbers of cases over the last 3 weeks have delivered to the Dakotas the ignoble distinction of having the #1 (North) and #2 (South) highest cumulative case rates (cases/million pop) in the country. And by the way, it's not even very close. Covid is saturating these two what-me-worry states, populated by people and politicians who ignorantly imagined that pandemics are a matter of ideology, rather than biology and epidemiology. Positive test rates have been unthinkably high in the last week.

Their per capita Covid death rates are at the moment fairly middle-of-the-pack, but that's going to change in a big way, as the diagnosed cases of the past three weeks begin to show up in the mortality statistics. By Thanksgiving, both Dakotas will have joined the unfortunate gaggle of states that lost more than 1/1000 of their citizens to Covid. This is not debatable, and it is not avoidable: It is baked into the stats for the cases they've already got.

Given that they are unlikely to be changing anything about the way they behave, and that the Thanksgiving holiday looms as the ultimate American super-spreader event (outside of Superbowl Sunday, perhaps), at least if you're stupid or have an insufficiently developed sense of self-preservation, it is almost certain that by New Year's the two Dakotas will rank #1 and #2 of American states for per capita Covid mortalities -- quite possibly exceeding 2 dead per 1000 citizens.

Yay for freedom from the tyranny of common sense, simple prudence, and social responsibility!

PS: Donald Trump is a big doody-head, and also a YUUUUUGE LOSER, and I'm glad he lost, and I hope his remaining days are taken up mainly with raging at his family and servants about his defeat, and with dodging his creditors (all of whom were morons for lending him money in the first place).

I'm not, on the other hand, glad that Biden won. How zen is that?

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12 users have voted.

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

joe shikspack's picture

@UntimelyRippd

yeah, you have to wonder at what point people in the dakotas will figure out that they might want to take some precautions to avoid getting and spreading covid. so far, they seem pretty impermeable by information and logic. i guess we'll see. it looks like they are going to pay a terrible price for their irresponsibility as will the people who have figured it out but just happen to live there.

i can't wait to see what happens with trump's post-presidential twitter feed. i wonder if he and his lunatic family might not go full-on revolutionary. it will be interesting to watch.

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8 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

2987 more cases with 19 deaths. We haven’t had more than 10 in a day till now. Still lots of people from nursing homes though. I read that another state wants to put hospital patients in nursing homes. Sure looking deliberate. I’ve had body chills, stomach cramps and a sore throat for 2 days. Worse in the am. I mask and wash and I’m rarely around people so I’m wondering what’s going on. I haven’t had a cold or been sick in over a decade. Still smelling ok.

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7 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

sorry to hear that you're not feeling well. i hope that everything turns out well.

my s-i-l got a cold a week or two ago (time slides by these days) and we were all concerned. he is usually pretty resistant to colds and doesn't get them, but he got tested and it turned out well. we were all quite relieved, but the time of not knowing was tough.

take care!

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5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

With all the symptoms COVID brings I’m sure most people worry when they get the sniffles or anything that can be COVID related. I had chronic mono for 2 years and my glands in my neck swell easily when I’m sick. They’re swelling now. No fever tho.

How’s COVID doing in your area? Only 4/17 died in nursing homes. Another 25-45 yo died. One lady lost her mom and grandpa on the same day and her dad is very sick. She said that they wore masks and tried to do everything right. scary times.

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5 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

overall, maryland is doing pretty well, my county is pretty densely populated and has (for maryland) a high number of cases, but lower than the even more densely populated counties around washington dc.

obviously, i'd be better off if i lived in one of the less densely populated counties in the west of the state (or heaven forfend, on the eastern shore). however, i live in an area with generally well-educated people who almost all mask up and take precautions, so i feel pretty good about my relative level of risk right now.

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4 users have voted.
Anja Geitz's picture

@UntimelyRippd

How unfortunate that people who aren’t stupid are effected by people who are. Really can’t imagine how we ever get this virus under control at the rate we are going.

The election. I’m afraid my nausea for all things Trump related will now be replaced by all things Biden related. Specifically any mention of his cuddly “Grandpa” -ness and how we can all lean back on the couch and take a deep breath because reasons. I think it was Cenk who bizarrely suggested this. I answered back saying that as far as I was concerned you couldn’t put that genie back in the bottle. The media had amped us up for the last four years with TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP, we were more than ready to pivot that. energy towards “Grandpa”.

But Caitlin’s tweet back to him was better, remarking how one doesn’t see controlled opposition quite so blatantly.

Ugh. What another awful election.

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10 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

dystopian's picture

great sounds JS! Love that Chicago sound, and that type of slide playing. He is a great blower too. Beautiful stuff!

Hope the Frankenfish smackdown holds. It is a bad idea probably completely, but certainly for open ocean farming. As if putting Atlantic Salmon in the Pacific wasn't stupid enough.

thanks fer the blues!

Have a great weekend!

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6 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

yep, i hope the frankenfish shutdown holds, too. i can't imagine that it is possible for corporations (which thrive by cutting costs) to responsibly maintain their facilities such that there are no escapes of frankenfish into the wild. if it hasn't happened already it will be a miracle.

have a great weekend!

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3 users have voted.

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2 users have voted.