The Evening Blues - 2-13-23



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Wynonie Harris

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b and blues singer Wynonie Harris. Enjoy!

Wynonie Harris - Good Rockin’ Tonight

"Media manipulation in the U.S. today is more efficient than it was in Nazi Germany, because here we have the pretense that we are getting all the information we want. That misconception prevents people from even looking for the truth."

-- Mark Crispin Miller


News and Opinion

Pentagon Wants To Return Special Ops Propagandists To Ukraine

An article by The Washington Post titled “Pentagon looks to restart top-secret programs in Ukraine” contains some interesting information about what US special ops forces were doing in Ukraine in the lead-up to the Russian invasion last year, and what they are slated to be doing there in the future.

“The Pentagon is urging Congress to resume funding a pair of top-secret programs in Ukraine suspended ahead of Russia’s invasion last year, according to current and former U.S. officials,” writes the Post’s Wesley Morgan. “If approved, the move would allow American Special Operations troops to employ Ukrainian operatives to observe Russian military movements and counter disinformation.”

Much further down in the article we learn the specifics of what those two top-secret programs were. One of them entailed US commandos sending Ukrainian operatives “on surreptitious reconnaissance missions in Ukraine’s east” to collect intelligence on Russia. The other entailed secretly administering online propaganda, though of course The Washington Post does not describe it as such.

“We had people taking apart Russian propaganda and telling the true story on blogs,” WaPo was told by a source described as “a person in the Special Operations community.”


US special ops forces “employing Ukrainian operatives” to “take apart Russian propaganda” and “tell the true story on blogs” is just US special ops forces administering US propaganda online. Whether or not they actually see themselves as “telling the true story” or “taking apart Russian propaganda” does not change the fact that they are administering US government propaganda. A government circulating media which advances its information interests is precisely the thing that state propaganda is.

The US government is theoretically prohibited from directly administering propaganda to its own population (though even that line has been deliberately eroded in recent years with measures like the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act and US government infiltration of the mass media and Silicon Valley), but there’s nothing stopping the funding and directing of foreign bodies to circulate propaganda on the internet, which has no national borders. Back when US propaganda was limited to old media like the CIA’s Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia it was possible to claim that the propaganda was solely being targeted at the populations where that media was broadcast, but propaganda circulated online will necessarily trickle over everywhere, including to US audiences.

The Washington Post explains that these secret programs were discontinued ahead of the Russian invasion last year because a stipulation in the 2018 NDAA law which permitted their funding forbids their use during a “traditional armed conflict,” so the Pentagon is working to persuade congress to repeal that condition. Part of its sales pitch to congress to get these secret operations restarted is that they will be “what the U.S. military calls ‘non-kinetic’ — or nonviolent — missions,” which the administering of propaganda would certainly qualify as.

As we discussed recently, it’s very silly that there’s a major push in the US power alliance to begin administering more government propaganda in order to “counter Russian propaganda” when Russian propaganda has no meaningful influence in the western world. Before RT was shut down it was drawing just 0.04 percent of the UK’s total TV audience. The much-touted Russian election interference campaign on Facebook was mostly unrelated to the election and affected “approximately 1 out of 23,000 pieces of content” according o Facebook, while research by New York University into Russian trolling behavior on Twitter in the lead-up to the 2016 election found “no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior.” A study by the University of Adelaide found that despite all the warnings of Russian bots and trolls following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the overwhelming majority of inauthentic behavior on Twitter during that time was anti-Russian in nature.

In reality, this push we’ve been seeing to pour more and more energy into propaganda, censorship, and other forms of narrative control has nothing to do with “taking apart Russian propaganda” and everything to do with suppressing dissent. The US empire has been frantically ramping up propaganda and censorship because the “great power competition” it has been preparing against Russia and China is going to require economic warfare, massive military spending, and nuclear brinkmanship that no one would consent to without lots of manipulation. Nobody’s going to consent to being made poorer, colder, and less safe over some global power struggle that doesn’t benefit them unless that consent is actively manufactured.

That’s why the media have been acting so weird lately, that’s why dissident voices are getting harder and harder to find online, that’s the purpose of the new “fact-checking” industry and other forms of narrative control, and that’s why the Pentagon wants congressional funding for its propaganda operations in Ukraine. The fact that the empire’s “great power competition” happens to be occurring at the same time as widespread access to the internet means that drastic measures must be made to ensure its information dominance so it can march the public into playing along with this agenda. The more desperate our rulers grow to secure unipolar planetary domination, the more important controlling the narrative becomes.

Running out of ammo

Worth a full read, here's an interesting portion of the article, there's much more at the link:

On the Legal Question of Russia’s Military Intervention

In his impassioned address to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, in which he appealed to the council’s humanity to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine, British rock legend Roger Waters called Russia’s military action “illegal.” That has gotten some attention and raised the question again of the legality of the military operation according to international law. As is often the case with law, the question is not as simple as it might seem.

The U.N. Charter has something to say about the legal use of military force. It allows it in two cases: when it is authorized by the Security Council and when it is legitimately used in self-defense. ... So, on these narrow legal grounds, the U.N. Charter only permits the use of force after authorization by the Security Council or in self defense by a “member state.” ... As the self-defense article pertains only to U.N. member states, it could not apply to Donetsk and Luhansk. ...

However, states are not prohibited by the Charter to request the presence of foreign forces on their territory. There is no language in the Charter about it. Officially inviting foreign forces onto one’s territory would not be considered an illegal occupation. ... The Russian army is certainly not seen as hostile in Donetsk and Luhansk. The murkiness of the legal issue arises then on the question of whether Donetsk and Luhansk were independent states in February of last year — states that could invite foreign forces onto its territory — or were they at the time still part of Ukraine? (Ukraine and the West argue they still are today. The republics passed referenda in September 2022 to join the Russian Federation.)

So what makes an independent state?  According to the Montevideo Convention of 1933, “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:

a permanent population;

b. a defined territory;

c. government; and

d. capacity to enter into relations with the other states.”

This is key: Article 3 of the convention adds, “The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.” That means no other other country has to recognize their independence if the above criteria are met. According to Montevideo, Donetsk and Luhansk met the four requirements of the Convention including capacity to enter into relations with other states, as it has relations with the Russian Federation. The Convention says a state need not be recognized by other states. They have been recognized by Russia, Syria and North Korea. ...

A legal argument based on the Montevideo Convention would be that the two territories were independent states at the time of Russia’s intervention and had the right to request foreign forces to enter their territory. In that sense, it would seem that Russia’s military action in February a year ago was legal.

Ukraine Relies on Intelligence from US for HIMARS Rocket Strikes

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Ukraine is reliant on coordinates provided or confirmed by the US and its allies to launch strikes using the US-provided HIMARS rocket systems, a revelation that demonstrates Washington’s deep involvement in the war.

The HIMARS is a precision-guided artillery system, one that Ukraine has employed quite a bit in its fight against Russia. One example is a January 1 HIMARS strike on a facility housing Russian forces in Donetsk that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers, one of the deadliest Ukrainian attacks of the war.

Citing three unnamed Ukrainian officials and one unnamed US official, the Post reported that Ukraine also relies on the US for targeting coordinates for similar precision weapons, including the M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket System. One senior Ukrainian official said that Ukrainian forces almost never launch strikes using these weapons without coordinates provided by US military personnel that are located at a military base in a different country in Europe. ...

Russia has made clear it views the US and Ukraine’s cooperation on targeting as an example of Washington’s direct role in the war, and Moscow isn’t alone in its assessment. Back in March 2022, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), former chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said the US wasn’t providing “real-time targeting intelligence” because that kind of cooperation “steps over the line to making us participate in the war.”

Matt Gaetz Tries To End Ukraine War Funding!

Take with very large grains of salt, comes from propaganda outlet The Guardian:

Iran smuggled drones into Russia using boats and state airline, sources reveal

Iran has used boats and a state-owned airline to smuggle new types of advanced long-range armed drones to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine, sources inside the Middle Eastern country have revealed. At least 18 of the drones were delivered to Vladimir Putin’s navy after Russian officers and technicians made a special visit to Tehran in November, where they were shown a full range of Iran’s technologies.

On that occasion, the 10-man Russian delegation selected six Mohajer-6 drones, which have a range of around 200km and carry two missiles under each wing, along with 12 Shahed 191 and 129 drones, which also have an air-to-ground strike capability. Unlike the better-known Shahed 131 and 136 drones, which have been heavily used by Russia in kamikaze raids against Ukrainian targets, the higher-flying drones are designed to deliver bombs and return to base intact. ...

Russia may have been keen to obtain the more advanced drones, loosely comparable with the Turkish Bayraktar TB2, because Ukraine has become increasingly effective in stopping the smaller suicide drones, which have to fly in low before striking. ...

Iran sits on the southern border and Russia on the north-west border of the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland body of water, making the physical transfer between the allied nations relatively straightforward.

Lula SHOCKS CNN: REFUSES Weapons To Ukraine

US shoots down ‘octagonal’ flying object near military sites in Michigan

The US military shot down a fourth flying object over North American airspace in a week on Sunday over Lake Huron in Michigan, confirmed the state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer said on Twitter that federal officials had been “tracking an object near [Michigan’s] airspace”.

“I’m glad to report it has been swiftly, safely and securely taken down,” she said.

The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, is understood to have been the same item that was picked up by radar over Montana on Saturday. At the point it was struck by an air-to-air missile launched by F-16 fighter jets, it had been flying across the Great Lakes region at 20,000ft, a height that could have posed a risk to civilian aircraft.

The Pentagon said the object appeared to have traveled near US military sites and posed a threat to civilian aviation, as well as being a potential tool for surveillance.“We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities,” the department of defense said. “Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more.” ...

The octagon was the fourth unidentified flying object to be downed by US or Canadian fighter jets this month. ... On Friday, an object about the size of a small car was downed off the coast of Alaska, followed by a similar flying object over Yukon in Canada on Saturday.

Top General: CANNOT Rule Out Aliens In UFO Shoot Downs

Mystery surrounds what exactly was object US jet shot down over Alaska

Questions remain after the US government shot down two high-altitude objects, one near Deadhorse, Alaska along the north-eastern Alaskan coast and a second near Yukon, Canada, that have yet to be identified. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted on Saturday afternoon that he had ordered the takedown of an unidentified object in Canadian airspace.

Though efforts by the navy, coast guard and FBI are under way to recover the object shot down near Alaska, officials had yet to identify its owner or purpose on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed to Canadian news outlet Global News that another “high-altitude airborne object” had been detected over northern Canada on Saturday. NORAD officials said that military aircraft are “currently operating from Alaska and Canada in support of [NORAD] activities”. American officials have not publicly commented on the airborne object seen near Canada.

The separate object that was ultimately shot down near Alaska flying at an altitude of 40,000ft, about the same level as commercial planes, and was travelling at about 20 to 40 miles per hour before it was struck down. Officials say the object had flown over parts of Alaska but was heading toward the north pole before it was struck down. American radars first identified the object’s presence around 9pm Alaska time on Thursday evening. A US warplane shot it down about 1.45pm ET on Friday. ...

Officials have yet to publicly give further descriptions of the object that was travelling over Alaska besides its size, altitude and speed. Still, officials have been speculating in various reports about the nature of the object. One official told ABC News that the object was “cylindrical and silver-ish gray” and gave the “balloon-like” appearance of floating without “any sort of propulsion”. Another official from the Department of Defense told the New York Times that the object broke into pieces when it hit the frozen sea.

Millions displaced in Turkey and Syria after earthquake

A week after two 7.8- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes levelled swathes of southern Turkey and northern Syria, hundreds of thousands of people are sleeping in the open in often sub-zero conditions.

In Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, one of the areas hardest hit by the quake and where some citizens said it took emergency teams days to arrive, many sleep in their cars or in makeshift tents under market stalls, with nowhere else to go.

In a speech last Wednesday at a tent city in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake’s epicentre, the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pledged that the state would provide immediate help to the displaced. Those whose homes were destroyed or who did not know if it was safe to return would be housed in hotels, he said. “We can never let our citizens stay on the street.”

The vice-president, Fuat Oktay, said more than 1 million people were living in tent encampments. At night, the temperature dips to as low as -9C .

The situation is even worse in Syria. “As many as 5.3 million people in Syria may have been left homeless by the earthquake,” the Syria representative of the UN high commissioner for refugees, Sivanka Dhanapala, told a press briefing. “That is a huge number and comes to a population already suffering mass displacement.”

Former Cyprus top diplomat Christodoulides elected youngest president

Nikos Christodoulides elected Cyprus’s president with 52% of vote

Nikos Christodoulides, a former foreign minister, has been elected the eighth president of Cyprus, beating the career diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis in a high-stakes, closely fought race. Christodoulides, 49, won 51.92 per cent of the vote compared with 48.09 per cent for his opponent, who had been backed by the leftist party AKEL. A mere 15,041 ballots had divided the loser from the winner.

“Tonight a long but beautiful journey has come to an end,” said Mavroyiannis, a former chief negotiator in peace talks with Turkish Cypriots, conceding defeat. “It gave me the opportunity to meet thousands of people and hopes and dreams for our country.”

The result was immediately met with jubilation by supporters of the new president, as fireworks lit up the Nicosia sky and supporters clapped and danced.

But in an election filled with rare drama and suspense, it was also quick to elicit dread. Christodoulides, who ran as an independent, had been backed by groups that take an openly hostile stance on talks to reunify the Mediterranean island.

For many his victory dashed hopes of a solution being found in the near future to the decades-long dispute that has left Cyprus, the EU’s most easterly state, bitterly divided. “Today Greek Cypriots have voted in a government with very nationalist tendencies,” said Cleopatra Kitti, a Cypriot policy adviser at the Athens-based thinktank Eliamep. “It is unlikely to back a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation any time soon which means this is likely to be another wasted opportunity.”

Nearly 1 Million March Against 'Unjust and Brutal' Plan to Raise French Pension Age

Nearly a million people took to the streets of cities across France on Saturday during the fourth round of nationwide protests against President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the country's pension eligibility age from 62 to 64.

The French Interior Ministry said an estimated 963,000 protesters rallied in Paris, Marseilles, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse, and other cities and towns large and small for the fourth straight day of demonstrations, Agence France-Presse reports.

Authorities in Paris said nearly 100,000 people turned out to Saturday's demonstrations, which included many young people who could not make it to the previous three days' protests. Union leaders said the number of Paris protesters was five times as high.

One teen protesting in the capital's Place de la République carried a placard reading, "I don't want my parents to die at work."

Others held banners declaring, "No to working longer," Not one year more, not one euro less", and other slogans.

There were reports of police brutality in cities including Rennes, where water cannons and other "less-lethal" weapons were used against protesters, the overwhelming majority of whom marched peacefully.

The massive demonstrations are a critical test for Macron's government, and for the opposition. Macron's centrist Renaissance party faces an uphill battle to get the pension plan passed in a parliament where it no longer enjoys majority control. Renaissance needs the support of right-wing opposition lawmakers in order to avert a highly controversial constitutional measure that would allow the pension reform to be forced through without a vote.

Macron steadfastly insists he's delivering upon a campaign promise to reform France's pension system, one of the world's most generous. The president asserts raising the retirement age is an "indispensable" move to guarantee the future survival of the pension system, while pointing to higher retirement ages in other European Union countries.

An inter-union coalition of 13 labor groups said in a joint statement on Saturday that "since January 19, the population has continued to demonstrate its very strong determination to refuse the government's pension reform project through strikes, demonstrations, and also the online petition, which has reached one million signatures."

"Over the weeks, the polls also show an increase in this massive rejection since now, more than 7 out of 10 French people and 9 out of 10 workers say they are opposed to the reform project," the coalition continued. "This social movement, unprecedented in its scope, is therefore now anchored in the social landscape. The government, like parliamentarians, cannot remain deaf to it."

The inter-union coalition said it would meet Thursday evening and that "in the meantime, we call on the government to withdraw its bill and on parliamentarians to take their responsibilities in the face of the massive rejection of the population [of this] unjust and brutal project."

"If, despite everything, the government and the parliamentarians remained deaf to popular protest, the inter-union would call on workers, young people, and retirees to harden the movement by bringing France to a halt in all sectors on March 7," the unions vowed, adding that the coalition "will take advantage of March 8, the international day of struggle for women's rights, to highlight the major social injustice of this reform against women."

Republicans REALLY Want To Cut Social Security

Republicans attack US child labor laws as violations rise

As child labor law violations have been on the rise in the US, some state legislators are pushing for changes at state and federal levels to roll back protections in what some see as a threat to return child labor to the country. The laws aim to expand permissible work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers.

Child labor law violations have increased in the US, with a 37% increase in fiscal year 2022, including 688 children working in hazardous conditions, with the number likely much higher as the recorded violations stem from what was found during labor inspections.

The Department of Labor issued a press release in July 2022 noting child labor violations and investigations have increased since 2015. Several high-profile investigations involving child labor have been exposed over the past year, including the use of child labor in Hyundai and Kia supply chains in Alabama, at JBS meatpacking plants in Nebraska and Minnesota, and at fast-food chains including McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and Chipotle.

Amid these increases in child labor violations, legislative efforts have been introduced in several states to roll back child labor protections.

Officer involved in Tyre Nichols arrest previously accused in assault of prison inmate

Years before Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley pulled Tyre Nichols from his car on 7 January, setting in motion a deadly confrontation, Haley was accused of taking part in the savage beating of an inmate at a county prison.

The 2015 assault of the inmate was so disturbing that 34 others – the entire cellblock – signed a letter to the corrections director.

“We are truly asking that this matter gets looked into before someone gets hurt really bad or lose their life because of some unprofessional officers,” the letter stated.

The warning from dozens of inmates at the Shelby county prison is the clearest indication yet that one of the five officers who took part in the violent beating of Nichols had an event in his past that should have raised concerns before he was hired as a police officer. Nichols died three days after the beating. The letter asks how the inmates are supposed to feel “safe and secure when the staff members at the Shelby County Correctional Center are assaulting and threatening us”? It concludes, “Please put a stop to this madness.”

Shelby county did not respond to a request Friday seeking information about its investigation into the beating allegations, so it is unclear if Haley was disciplined or cleared of the assault. An email was sent Friday to a police spokesperson asking if the department knew about the allegations when Haley was hired. There is no national database of officers found guilty of misconduct who resign or are fired, meaning in a lot of cases they can apply for jobs in other police agencies and departments.



the horse race



Ken Paxton to pay 3.3m taxpayer dollars to ex-staffers who accused Texas AG of corruption

The attorney general for the state of Texas, Ken Paxton, has agreed to apologize and pay $3.3m in taxpayer money to four former staffers who accused him of corruption in 2020, igniting an ongoing FBI investigation of the three-term Republican. Under terms of a preliminary lawsuit settlement filed on Friday, Paxton made no admission of wrongdoing to accusations of bribery and abuse of office, which he has denied for years and called politically motivated.

But Paxton did commit to making a remarkable public apology toward some of his formerly trusted advisers whom he fired or forced out after they reported him to the FBI. He called them “rogue employees” after they accused Paxton of misusing his office to help one of his campaign contributors, who also employed a woman with whom the attorney general acknowledged having an extramarital affair.

In all, eight members of Paxton’s senior staff joined in the extraordinary revolt in 2020, and they either resigned or were fired. The attorney general said he settled with the four who sued under Texas’s whistleblower law to put to rest “this unfortunate sideshow”.

“I have chosen this path to save taxpayer dollars and ensure my third term as attorney general is unburdened by unnecessary distractions,” Paxton said in a statement.

The $3.3m payout would not come from Paxton’s own pocket but from state funds, which means it would still require approval by the Republican-controlled Texas legislature. Settlement of the case, which Paxton’s office fought in court for years, means he will avoid sitting for a civil deposition at a time when a corruption investigation by federal agents and prosecutors remains open.



the evening greens


Climate breakdown could cause British apples to die out, warn experts

Classic British apples may die out and be swapped for varieties from New Zealand and Japan, as climate breakdown means traditional fruits are no longer viable.

Apples such as pippin or the the ancient nonpareil, grown in Britain since the 1500s, are struggling in the changed climate because there are not enough “chilling hours” for the trees to lie dormant in winter and conserve energy for growing fruit.

Scientists at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are planting 40 apple trees, a third of which are heritage varieties that once grew in its Georgian kitchen gardens. Another third are new varieties bred to need less cold over winter, and the final third are from warmer countries including South Africa. The varieties will be compared to see which has the best crop in London’s warming temperatures.

In January, the Met Office announced that 2022 had been the sixth warmest year on record, and it looks as if 2023 will be another record-breaker. But though many crops are affected by the summer’s intense heat and drought, apple trees are struggling because they need a period of cold over the winter.

In autumn, they store enough energy to see them through the dormant period, and then burst into action again in spring. Perfect chilling hours for apples are those below 6C but above freezing, and most traditional apple trees need about 1,000 chilling hours. If temperatures remain above 6C then they have to respire, using up energy stores throughout the winter period, which in turn limits the stores available in spring, meaning fewer apples grow.

Cacti replacing snow on Swiss mountainsides due to global heating

The residents of the Swiss canton of Valais are used to seeing their mountainsides covered with snow in winter and edelweiss flowers in summer. But as global heating intensifies, they are increasingly finding an invasive species colonising the slopes: cacti. Authorities say cactus species belonging to the genus Opuntia, or prickly pears, are proliferating in parts of Valais, encroaching on natural reserves and posing a biodiversity threat.

“A lover of dry and hot climates, this invasive and non-native plant is not welcome in the perimeter of prairies and dry pastures of national importance,” the municipality of Fully in the Rhone valley said in a press release announcing the uprooting campaign in late 2022.

Opuntia species and similar cacti have also proliferated in some of the hills around the capital of Valais, in Sion, where estimates suggest Opuntia plants now make up 23-30% of the low vegetation cover. Their presence has also been reported in neighbouring Alpine regions, including Ticino and Grisons in Switzerland, and the Aosta valley and Valtellina in Italy.

“In some parts of Valais, we estimate that the cacti can occupy one-third of the available surface,” says Yann Triponez, a biologist who works in the canton of Valais’ nature protection service. He says Opuntia have been present in Valais at least since the late 18th century, when it was imported from North America. But authorities believe that a warmer climate in the Alps, allowing for longer vegetation periods, and the diminishing snow cover might be creating the ideal conditions for them to spread.

“These species bear -10C or -15C without any problem,” says Peter Oliver Baumgartner, a retired geology professor with a longstanding side interest in botany who has been commissioned by the canton to study and write a report on the plants. “But they want to be in a dry place and don’t like snow cover.” Snow is becoming rarer at lower altitudes, even in the Alps. According to Meteo Swiss, the number of snow days under 800 metres of altitude in Switzerland has halved since 1970. A recent study published in Nature Climate Change said snow covers the Alps for about a month less than historical averages and called the situation “unprecedented in the last six centuries.”

Ohio catastrophe is ‘wake-up call’ to dangers of deadly train derailments

Five days after a train carrying vinyl chloride derailed and exploded near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, crews ignited a controlled burn of toxic chemicals to prevent a much more dangerous explosion.

Thousands in East Palestine, a town of about 5,000 people, evacuated, and officials warned the controlled burn would create a phosgene and hydrogen chloride plume across the region. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble, and was used as a weapon in the first world war.

Though no one died in the accident, the catastrophe serves as a wake-up call to the potential for more deadly freight rail derailments, public health advocates warn. By one estimate, 25 million Americans live in an oil train blast zone, and had the derailment occurred just a few miles east, it would be burning in downtown Pittsburgh, with tens of thousands of residents in immediate danger.

Ineffective oversight and a largely self-monitoring industry that has cut the nation’s rail workforce to the bone in recent years as it puts record profits over safety is responsible for the wreck, said Ron Kaminkow, an Amtrak locomotive engineer and former Norfolk Southern freight engineer. “The Palestine wreck is the tip of the iceberg and a red flag,” said Kaminkow, who is secretary for the Railroad Workers United, a non-profit labor group that coordinates with the nation’s rail unions. “If something is not done, then it’s going to get worse, and the next derailment could be cataclysmic.”

About 4.5m tons of toxic chemicals are shipped by rail each year and an average of 12,000 rail cars carrying hazardous materials pass through cities and towns each day, according to the US Department of Transportation.


Also of Interest

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

Craig Murray: Sy Hersh & The Way We Live Now

Sen. Mike Lee ‘Can’t Rule Out’ That the US Blew Up Nord Stream

Russia: Nato should hold emergency summit over Nord Stream after Hersh revelations

Kremlin reacts to Nord Stream sabotage claim

Israeli PM Bombshell: US KILLED Ukraine Peace Deal

SpaceX Limits Ukraine’s Use of Starlink, Says It Shouldn’t Be ‘Weaponized’

The Calamity of America’s ‘Divine Mission’

How Did the German Greens Become the Party of Warmongers?

Twitter Censorship And The Crapification Path Of Social Media

Freelancers Wanted: Help Knock Out the Mainstream Propaganda Machine

US Eases Some Sanctions on Syria for 180 Days After Earthquake

Pete Buttigieg’s Transportation Department has not moved to revive an Obama-era safety rule that could help prevent future train accidents.

Hit With Extreme Weather, Texas Cities Debate Cost of Adaptation

Auckland Just Had Its Wettest Month in Over 170 Years, and More Rain Is on the Way

Bad taste? McDonald’s vows to remove McCrispy ad next to crematorium sign

"Crisis on Top of a Crisis": Syrians Displaced by War Now Dealing with Earthquake Devastation

Thousands march in Israel as Netanyahu allies push overhaul

AOC Is STILL Lying About Hunter Biden Laptop!


A Little Night Music

Wynonie Harris - Keep On Churnin' (Til The Butter Come)

Wynonie Harris - Around The Clock Parts 1 and 2

Wynonie Harris - Put It Back

Wynonie Harris - Sittin' On It All The Time

Wynonie Harris - Wynonie's Blues

Wynonie Harris - All She Wants To Do Is Rock

Wynonie Harris - Shake That Thing

Wynonie Harris - Everybody's Boogie

Wynonie Harris - Don't Take My Whiskey Away From Me

Wynonie Harris - Hey Ba Ba Re Bop


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Pluto's Republic's picture

...French pension reforms:

"Over the weeks, the polls show an increase in [the French people's] massive rejection. More than 7 out of 10 French people and 9 out of 10 workers say they are opposed to the reform project." The coalition says: "This social movement, unprecedented in its scope, is therefore now anchored in the social landscape. The government, like parliamentarians, cannot remain deaf to it."

I have only recently come to understand that individuals elected to the Parliament, in France and other nations, have no obligation to represent the will of the people who elected them. In most Parliamentary governments, elected representatives are free to ignore the people and to follow whatever ideological, religious, or personal beliefs they think will benefit the country.

Furthermore, elected officials in a Republic, such as the United States, are also free to ignore the will of the people, regardless of what they promised during a campaign. This explains why some Americans [mostly Republicans] are so doggedly persistent in claiming that the US is not a Democracy, it is a Republic.

That claim is entirely correct. I think many USians did not learn this distinction in public school civics: The Democratic notion of 'the majority rule' and the 'will of the People' does not apply to the US Government. Democracy for the People only applies to elections. Specifically, to local elections, and not Presidential elections. Just as Political Parties can legally ignore the winner of their own Primary, and nominate any Presidential candidate they wish.

Plato hated Democracies. Said they only worked if all the candidates were Philosopher Kings. Otherwise, he said, they soon devolved into corrupt dictatorships.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

@Pluto's Republic

back in 1959.

"I object to the idea that people have a right to vote about everything."

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joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

yep, and the framers of our constitution were considerably concerned at the convention that there would be too much democracy in the new nation. among the delegates elbridge gerry stands out in my mind as being against democracy. if i am remembering correctly federalist 10 was written in part to assuage those concerns.

history seems to show that the people's only real resort against governments of the rich is rebellion, which in the past france has excelled at.

have a great evening!

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@joe shikspack

Under his governorship a local district's boundaries were redrawn to make it "safe" for his party, a political cartoonist thought the result looked like a fabulous monster, and coined the term "Gerrymander" to describe it. The rest is history (that we have never learned from, alas).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#/media/File:The_Gerry-Mande...

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12 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

joe shikspack's picture

@TheOtherMaven

yep, from my reading, he was a scheming little bastard who was scared witless by shay's rebellion and worked hard to suppress the lower classes.

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call this?

There is disinformation but what about no information?

The lack of reporting by the MSM keeps the people in the dark.

A Google search seems to prove that the tweet is accurate.

edited to add this:

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

yep, you'd think that they would at least publish some sort of fake-ass refutation of it tucked into the classified section or something, just so people wouldn't be able to spot the conspiracy of silence.

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snoopydawg's picture

Setting the Record Straight; Stuff you should know about Ukraine

On February 16, 2022, a full week before Putin sent combat troops into Ukraine, the Ukrainian Army began the heavy bombardment of the area (in east Ukraine) occupied by mainly ethnic Russians. Officials from the Observer Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were located in the vicinity at the time and kept a record of the shelling as it took place. What the OSCE discovered was that the bombardment dramatically intensified as the week went on until it reached a peak on February 19, when a total of 2,026 artillery strikes were recorded. Keep in mind, the Ukrainian Army was, in fact, shelling civilian areas along the Line of Contact that were occupied by other Ukrainians.

We want to emphasize that the officials from the OSCE were operating in their professional capacity gathering first-hand evidence of shelling in the area. What their data shows is that Ukrainian Forces were bombing and killing their own people. This has all been documented and has not been challenged.

So, the question we must all ask ourselves is this: Is the bombardment and slaughter of one’s own people an ‘act of war’?
…..
The last point deals with the Minsk Treaty and how the dishonesty of western leaders is going to effect the final settlement in Ukraine. I am convinced that neither Washington nor the NATO allies have any idea of how severely international relations have been decimated by the Minsk betrayal. In a world where legally binding agreements can be breezily discarded in the name of political expediency, the only way to settle disputes is through brute force. Did anyone in Germany, France or Washington think about this before they acted? (But, first, some background on Minsk.)

The aim of the Minsk agreement was to end the fighting between the Ukrainian army and ethnic Russians in the Donbas region of Ukraine. It was the responsibility of the four participants in the treaty– Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine– to ensure that both sides followed the terms of the deal. But in December, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with a German magazine, that there was never any intention of implementing the deal, instead, the plan was to use the time to make Ukraine stronger in order to prepare for a war with Russia. So, clearly, from the very beginning, the United States intended to provoke a war with Russia.

I want to know why Merkle thought it was a good idea to confess her duplicity on the Minsk agreements since it further gives legal Russia cover for doing it. And what are the odds that if Russia vacated Ukraine the Nazis wouldn’t restart their genocide of ethnic Russians like they had been doing for 8 years and not just on the people in the Donbas?

People like to say that Putin wants to recreate the USSR because of what he said when it broke up. He said that it was a tragedy because it left millions of Russians without a country and they are being subjected to lots of discrimination. It’s not only happening in Ukraine.

Guess people should start asking where Pete is since he’s in charge of the Ohio disaster. How long did those in charge think before igniting those dangerous chemicals that now are spreading even farther than when it was liquid. And guess what? There were more than 1 or 4 admitted chemicals on the train. Maybe 20 different ones.

Here’s a decent essay on the Ohio disaster I look forward to what he writes about it tomorrow.

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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

I want to know why Merkle thought it was a good idea to confess her duplicity on the Minsk agreements

perhaps mimi could explain the politics, but i am guessing that merkel made those admissions due to the current atmosphere of russia hatred being whipped up by the greens and others in the german media. i get the feeling that merkel didn't want to be branded like gerhard schroeder as being too cozy with the russians. but that's just my speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.

thanks for the ohio disaster link, ms shikspack was looking for a manifest of the chemicals on the train as some of her relatives live about 35 miles away as the crow flies.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack
to get along with Putin and both didn't start a shooting war between them.

I am done talking. Sorry for not having more words of wisdom.

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mimi's picture

@mimi
What had she done wrong?

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ggersh's picture

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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

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

great meme! heh, looks like the little dutch boy role that the media is playing will not be enough soon by that graphic.

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provide up the thread is one of the most informative videos I've seen in a long time.

Alex and Alexander pull no punches and they believe that the Russia/Ukraine/NATO conflict is about over.

No Tanks, no Jets. Certainly no Abrams tanks, Patriot systems, Air defense systems---none of them will be coming to Ukraine any time soon. It has all been a charade of empty promises to keep up morale as Ukraine burns and Europe suffers.

The question is how the US can extricate itself from the crumbling failed tragedy it has created, funded and profited from. Shoot Em Down Joe, as Alex Cristofouro, called Biden in an earlier segment is playing Tough Guy for the cameras while hoping a Balloon and UFO story will distract Americans from the horror that we blew up a pipeline that brought fuel to Germany.

As The Duran notes, "There is Nothing the US will not do."

No rules. No morals. Nothing but endless greed and the willingness to sacrifice vast numbers of civilians to feed this greed.

Meanwhile, the Western propaganda networks keep hyping what Russia will do next. I've been tracking a series of ridiculous maps made by American interests. Predictions backed by no facts. Here's one from the NY Times:

https://i.redd.it/au2cx8bdikha1.jpg

and another beauty:

https://i.redd.it/iu4ypsvkdzha1.jpg

As far as I know, Russia has not threatened any Offensive---major or otherwise.
Why should she? What the Russian Forces have been doing has worked very well so far.

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NYCVG

ggersh's picture

@NYCVG

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16 users have voted.

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

@ggersh

When it comes to the Global South, what the Hersh report imprints is Rogue Superpower, in giant blood red letters, as state sponsor of terrorism: the ritual burial – at the bottom of the Baltic Sea – of international law, and even the Empire’s tawdry ersatz, the “rules-based international order”.

Pepe Escobar

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ggersh's picture

@QMS @QMS https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/

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10 users have voted.

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

@NYCVG

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@humphrey declares that they are in it until the end---until the second that they drop put of the race.

Same thing happening here.

I'll bet we were lying about success in Afghanistan until the planes were loading up and taking off from Kabul.

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NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

yep, i have been quite impressed with the duran's coverage (along with the individuals' channels) of what's happening with ukraine. i think that they have the best and broadest overall coverage of it anywhere.

it appears that russia is fairly close to destroying ukraine's military now that they are conscripting 60 year old men and 16 year old boys as cannon fodder. it looks like all russia has to do is to contine to roll up bakhmut and the defense line there and elensky will deliver its army for destruction. all the russians have to watch out for is the physical entry into the war of nato (not that that's a small thing) and deter that by looking increasingly menacing with large forces on the margins.

i guess we'll see if russia has a mop-up operation.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@NYCVG

"There is Nothing the US will not do."

Sad to say, I figured that out at least 30 years ago, probably 40. Reading real history, not just US fairy tales, makes it pretty clear. WE can hope
1) large numbers of US citizens figure it out at last and
2) said citizens disapprove of it greatly enough to force change

be well and have a good one

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12 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 --

usefewersyllables's picture

@enhydra lutris

from the rooftops…

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8 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Article about UK apples is interesting, but the title misleading and not really borne out by the content.

Yes, apples will not bear fruit without a period of cold weather, but that hardly means the trees themselves are going to 'die out' as a result - unless you take it to mean people will stop cultivating them if they don't bear fruit.

Development and neglect of traditional varieties has been an ongoing threat that has resulted in the loss of many varieties yet the fact that dedicated volunteers have been able to locate and revive varieties thought to be extinct - most often from long-abandoned trees - gives some idea of apples' considerable resilience...

Meet the Appalachian Apple Hunter Who Rescued 1,000 ‘Lost’ Varieties Source

Tasmanian apple grower Bob Magnus grows fruit 'from Roman times', among 300 varieties Source

One for the bucket list:

The Last Wild Apple Forests

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joe shikspack's picture

@Blue Republic

i guess there's an important difference between becoming absent from the market and absent from nature.

i could imagine, though, that since orchards are a business, that business would remove trees that don't bear fruit and replace them with trees that do, which might leave some varieties to survive on abandoned farms and in backyards here and there.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@Blue Republic

In the early 20th century, biologist Nikolai Vavilov first traced the apple genome back to a grove near Almaty, a small town whose wild apples are nearly indistinguishable from the Golden Deliciouses found at grocery stores today.

Huh?

Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan with a population of millions and was the nation's capital until 1997.

Oddly enough, some Russian Geographer named Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov spent his whole career exploring, mapping and documenting the tian shan mountains. He changed his name to Semyonov of Tian Shan I wonder if he mentioned the apples.

be well and have a good one

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7 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 --

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enhydra lutris's picture

Really good Duran today, especially all the "Hey USA, you got a real madman at the helm" stuff near the end. There must be folks whose testimony could get him impeached and maybe sent to the Hague, but they'd probably go down with him, so it won't happen.

I have a tree that produces way more Granny Smith Apples than we can consume, and there is no way in hell that it spends 1,000 hours at 6C but don't tell the Brits. Wink

I can't help but wonder shit like 1) Did we launch the three unknown objects we shot down to create a distraction from Ukraine and will we do more? 2) When Ukraine surrenders how many UkroNazis will we ratline out of there and will we have the gall to call it paperclip2?

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

heh, if they could just send victoria nuland to the hague, they could leave sleepy joe at home.

perhaps in their madness, they will zap a real ufo and some alien culture will retaliate...

paperclip2 does have a certain ring to it, like a hollywood sequel in the making.

have a great evening!

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8 users have voted.
usefewersyllables's picture

@joe shikspack

now that dick-swinging has been accepted as an Olympic sport…

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6 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

dystopian's picture

Hi all, Hey Joe, just a quick run-through...

Some great seminal 'R & B', or proto-rock, music there... shame he did not get more success and recognition for the influence it was.

Ukraine Relies on Intelligence from US for HIMARS Rocket Strikes

Just in case it was not clear we are at war with Russia, in Ukraine. Another one of those undeclared legally by congress war thingies. Oh yeah, actions. Like a GI Joe doll.

Lula, AMLO, what is it with these four-letter latino leaders, I love 'em! Wink

For their sake, I hope France's leaders don't forget the lessons of history.

Ken Paxton is scum. This has been a public service message.

I can't decide which part of the train derailment story is better. Of how this is traveling NOT as hazardous materials, due to regulatory capture, or, how each car gets a 90 SECOND inspection because 3 minutes was too long for hedge funds. Can you inspect a car in 90 seconds? For carrying explosive toxic material, that is not, because that is what the law says. Of course if labelled as such would be on different routes, with different speed limits, etc., and less for Wall St.

Would it not be quicker to list where the Pentagon does NOT want propagandists?

Hope all are well! Thanks for the soundscape Joe!

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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

wynonie harris had a good run, i guess. he was popular in his time and made a great number of recordings. he is one of those guys who does get remembered from time to time by people trying to chart the beginning of rock and roll. not that he has gotten his due, however.

funny how these little things keep dripping out showing how involved the u.s. was for the last 20 or so years fomenting, initiating and prosecuting the ukraine war. you'd think that people would catch on. i guess the u.s. is one of those slow classrooms.

heh, and some buncha morons wants us to believe that the private sector is more efficient at running things than the gummint. i guess that argument is getting derailed.

listing where the pentagon does not want u.s. propagandists would take no time at all.

have a great evening!

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Intel Slava Z
Forwarded from
Bellum Acta - Intel, Urgent News and Archives

Fox News: U.S. Air Force F-16 that shot down an unknown object over Lake Huron yesterday missed on its first attempt, U.S. officials say.

It’s not clear where the first missile landed. A second Sidewinder air-to-air missile was needed.

Each Sidewinder AIM-9X costs over $400,000.

Not sure if it went something like this!

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

it appears that china has achieved meme dominance. Smile

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8 users have voted.

https://sputniknews.com/20230214/damn-stupid-us-journalist-behind-nord-s...

A brief description of a portion of the interview more at the Sputnik link.

‘Damn Stupid’: US Journalist Behind Nord Stream Bombshell Takes Aim at Biden, Legacy Media

In his first interview since publishing his bombshell story on the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh fleshed out the details of his explosive report exposing the role of the US Navy in blowing up critical German-Russian energy infrastructure.
American journalist Seymour Hersh is “taking heat” over his recent explosive report documenting how the US sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines, the legendary reporter revealed in a new interview.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the War Nerd podcast, Hersh called on US President Joe Biden to come clean to the American people about the Biden administration’s role in the attack. The journalist underscored that the US public is being misinformed about the proxy war in Ukraine en masse.
Last week, Hersh published a dizzying report detailing how US Navy divers planted C-4 charges on the Nord Stream pipelines during a NATO training exercise and then remotely detonated them with a Norwegian reconnaissance plan.
The veteran war journalist suggests media outlets are refusing to cover his new revelations because “they think that the story I wrote supports Russia” – which “it does,” he concedes.

The full podcast of the interview.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLpGH0BpOnk]

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@humphrey "The war I know about is not the war you are reading about" Sy Hersh comments on the NY Times and WashPo.

Yes, we have noticed.
US has crippled germany. NATO member and supposed US ally.

The ugliness and depravity here is bottomless.

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8 users have voted.

NYCVG

soryang's picture

I didn't appreciate the timing. There was some discussion going on about the last time it happened. And then what do you know? It happened again. Guess I should have taken the advice to give my email to MMM for just such an event. Alas.

I had just written some rambling thoughts about an Asian dialectic described as the politics of remonstrance. The differing emphasis placed on the governing philosophical/theological/ethical themes by which the scholar administrator class justifies their actions and policies or the lack thereof. There was actually an ideal period during the Three Kingdoms of China, where something like coexistence and harmony was a thing.

At first it was Dao, then Buddhism, then Confucianism, then neo-Confucianism, then disputes among different schools or factions of neo-Confucianism. The cycle starts starts out with the young scholar class wishing to start anew and wash out the old corrupt establishment, and return to the true or "heaven's way." If they succeed, they rise in influence and power, and as a result over time, become the established order themselves, fixed in their ways. They are then subject to collapse due to weakness that invites invasions and wars, or they collapse from within, due to their rigidity and the weight of their own corruption. This is the "mandate of heaven." Anyway, I can't retrieve my thoughts on this entirely. I lost my posts.

However, the current continues, so I want to tell this story of remonstrance in Korea, in the recent past and last weekend.

(Source- Lee Jae-Myung channel youtube, 2.10) "(Prosecutors) have yet to produce one clear piece of evidence." Lee Jae-Myung, Democratic Party leader, symbol of the political opposition to the Yoon Seok-yeol adinistration, outside prosecution offices 2.10.

The historic theme was announced in Lee Jae-myung's press briefing outside the prosecutors' offices to which he was summoned Friday, for his third interrogation.

유권 무죄 무권 유죄
有權 無罪 無權 有罪
If one has power they are not guilty;
If one does not have power, they are guilty.

(Source- KBS 1 History Journal, ep. 199) Ito was assassinated by Korean patriot Ahn Jung-geun, October 26, 1909 in Harbin, China.

There was a remarkable performance by a musical stage group at the 26th candlelight assembly in downtown Seoul the next day. The performance was an adaptation of the song Who is the Criminal, from the musical Hero, about one of Korea's great patriots in modern history, Ahn Jung-geun. Ahn was a leading member of the Righteous Army, a militia organization that opposed Japanese occupation and colonization of Korea. Ahn assassinated Ito Hirobumi, the former Resident General of Korea during the early stages of Korean colonization by the Japanese. Ito also had been a former prime minister of Japan, multiple times, an important figure. Ahn shot and killed Ito and then was tried by Japan and executed. The song from Hero, Who is the Criminal, is the dramatic rendition of Ahn's listing of the 15 Korean grievances against Japan in 1909 which justified Ito's assassination.

The fifteen reasons can be read here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Jung-geun

The original lyrics to hero and a video of the stage performance (in Korean) are posted at:

https://culture-ing.tistory.com/60

My interest concerns the lyrics of this contemporary adaptation of the musical performance at the candlelight demonstration February 11, in Seoul. Below is a rough translation. The performers asked that the audience spread the word world wide, but only the Korean subtitles were provided.

First, this large scale candlelight assembly interferes with the traffic of Seoul citizens for which we sincerely apologize.
Yet, as citizens of Korea we must cry out "Yoon Seok-yeol, step down!" and boldly transmit the reasons.

The crime of avoidance of responsibility for the Itaewan disaster.
The crime of quashing the voices of the survivors by force.
The crime of compelling the reduction of budget items for the greater welfare of the Korean people, one after another.
The crime of allowing prices of heating oil and electricity, essential to the citizens' livelihood, double, ruining their lives.

Who is the criminal, who is the criminal?

The crime of stigmatizing the voice of the people as unlawful assembly.
The crime of using the National Security Law to stigmatize organized labor as spies.
The crime of using your overseas tours to degrade the national dignity of Korea.
The crime of blaming others for your overseas blundering and humiliation.

Who is the criminal, who is the criminal?

(Against Kim Gon-hee, First Lady, whom Yoon is protecting from prosecution)

The crime of violating laws against stock price manipulation to make a million dollars in less than a year.
The crime of passing yourself off as someone of presidential status to deceive the people.
The crime of abusing your power to elevate cult leader Jeon Gong over goverment authority.
The crime of fabricating false credentials and plagiarism.

Who is the criminal, who is the criminal?

The crime of desiring US protection for Korea, at the same time bringing large quantities of modern weapons into Korea aggravating the threat of war.
The crime of advocating pre-emptive attack repeatedly, calling for war.
The crime of subordinating Korea to Japan, paving the way for the Japanese armed forces.

Because you are thoroughly destroying peace on the Korean peninsula, you sin against heaven and humanity.

Who is the criminal, who is the criminal?

Avoiding the wellbeing of citizens, incompetent, ignorant Yoon Seok-yeol
The completely manufactured fraudulent life of Kim Gon-hee.

The president and his wife, this is why we say our country is completely screwed.
It is a true honor to fight this without hesitation.
We were born citizens of Korea, to serve our country,
We raise up the candle's light.
This is true glory, we intend to fight without hesitation.

All people, don't be fooled by Yoon's lies and ambitions.
Let the world know-
Yoon Seok-yeol, step down!
Special prosecution for Kim Gon-hee!

Those who fight and serve the nation, is it right to call them criminals?
Who causes the nation to fail?
We raise up the candle lights!
Shall those who serve the country be punished?

Shall we know the suffering of losing our country?

Who is the criminal, who is the criminal?

The South Korean democracy movement uses traditional culture and art forms to advance their goals. Kim Min-jung also performed, including the democracy movement unofficial theme, Morning Dew. What yesterday's demonstration lacked in numbers compared to the prior demonstrations, was more than compensated by quality.

I chose to put Ali's rendition of Morning Dew here because of its unparalleled beauty. In a way it represents the movement on the streets led by students against the dictatorships. The Who is the Criminal remonstrance is in the confrontational mode. In Korean the stage drama loses some its historical impact for non Korean speakers. But the young stage group was so talented I needed to translate what they were saying. They want the world to know. Who is the Criminal represents the challenging remonstrance of the uprising. Morning Dew is the aftermath. Do you have the strength to carry on? Is there a shared identity and hope left after previous losses?

Staying up all night long
To every green leaf clinging, more lovely than pearls, the morning dew-
When sadness drop by drop weighs in my heart, the morning foothills
I climb- gaining a slight smile...
The red sun climbs over the graves...
In the midday blazing heat, my trials of yore,
Now, I go! Toward rough wilderness.
Let go all your sorrow. Now, we go!

Thanks for the OT Joe, it helps me to keep up with everything. Look forward to the EBs every day.

(edited to fix date typos)

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7 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直