The Evening Blues - 2-17-17



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Hans Theessink

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Dutch blues musician Hans Theessink. Enjoy!

Hans Theessink - Statesboro Blues

“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”

-- Joseph Heller


News and Opinion

Hot on the heels of yesterday's trial balloon that the Pentagon might deploy ground troops in Syria, NATO is getting religion, too.

U.S., NATO to Accelerate' Counter-ISIS Fight, Mattis Says

The United States and its NATO partners intend to intensify efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said today in Brussels.

At the opening of a counter-ISIS ministerial meeting at NATO headquarters, Mattis said the nations in the 28-member bloc are "united in this fight to defeat ISIS." ...

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg commended the efforts of the alliance members, saying ISIS and terrorism are among the most pressing challenges NATO faces.

Mosul will be completely 'destroyed' in battle to liberate it from Isis

The Iraqi armed forces will eventually capture west Mosul, which is still held by Isis fighters, but the city itself will be destroyed in the fighting, a senior Iraqi politician has told The Independent in an interview.

Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish leader who until last year was the Iraqi finance minister and prior to that the country’s long-serving foreign minister, says that Isis will fight to the last man in the densely-packed urban districts it still holds.

“I think west Mosul will be destroyed,” says Mr Zebari, pointing to the high level of destruction in east Mosul just taken by government forces. He explains that Isis is able to put up such stiff resistance by skilful tactics using networks of tunnels, sniper teams and suicide bombers in great numbers. ...

Mr Zebari’s prediction that Mosul will be destroyed as a city by the next wave of fighting is all too likely because the last three years in Iraq and Syria have seen deepening sectarian and ethnic hatred. This was greatly fostered by Isis massacres, primarily of Shia and Yazidis but also of its other opponents. There is an ominous precedent for what may happen in Mosul because other Sunni cities and towns up and down Iraq have been wrecked or rendered uninhabitable by government counter-offensives since 2014. Some 70 per cent of the houses in Ramadi, the capital of the overwhelmingly Sunni Anbar province, are in ruins or are badly damaged. Even where many houses are still standing, as in Fallujah 40 miles west of Baghdad, the people who come back to them have to live without electricity, water, jobs or medical care. In practice, the Shia-dominated Iraqi government wants to break the back of Sunni resistance to its rule so it will never be capable of rising again.

Saudi Warplanes Attack Yemeni Mourners, Killing 10 Civilians

For the second time in the last 48 hours, Saudi warplanes have attacked a crowd of mourners from a funeral in the northern part of Yemen, this time killing nine women and a child. The attack targeted the home of a local tribal leader, after a woman in the family had previously died.

This comes just a day after an attack on a funeral in the capital city of Sanaa, where Saudi warplanes launched both an attack against the funeral itself and a second attack which was said to have injured a number of medical workers trying to rescue victims of the first strike.

Cost of NATO: EU must not let US push it to increase military spending – Juncker

Europe must not bow to U.S. spending demands on NATO: EU's Juncker

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday that Europe must not cave in to U.S demands to raise military spending, arguing that development and humanitarian aid could also count as security. ...

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies on Wednesday that they must honor military spending pledges to make sure the United States does not moderate its support.

"It has been the American message for many, many years. I am very much against letting ourselves be pushed into this," Juncker said in a speech on the sidelines of the international Munich Security Conference.

"I don't like our American friends narrowing down this concept of security to the military," he said, arguing it would be sensible to look at a "modern stability policy" made up of several components.

NATO to boost naval presence in Black Sea

NATO will step up naval war games and surveillance in the Black Sea to complement its increased presence of land and air forces near a more assertive Russia, the alliance said Thursday.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the decision taken by alliance defence ministers in Brussels was not designed to be a provocation at a time of heightened tension with Russia, which annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. ...

A NATO official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the decision was taken to counter Russia's military buildup in the Black Sea and bolster the alliance's southeast flank after it sent troop reinforcements to the Baltic States and Poland in the northeast.

The official also said the goal was to bolster intelligence gathering, for example of Russian ground-to-air missiles in the region. ...

The NATO official told AFP that it took the alliance about nine months since its Warsaw summit to work out the agreement, partly because Bulgaria did not want to be seen as provoking Moscow.

Oh My God, Shut Up About Russia!

A few hours ago the notorious corporate crack whore Cory Booker posted a video to his Facebook page asking Democrats to make even more noise demanding that the government make even more of a fuss about Russia’s “cyber attacks” and implying that they interfered with vote tallies by telling his audience that Russia interfered with “your ability to express yourself and your opinion at the polls.” This is of course a lie; no legitimate source anywhere claims that Russians were caught tampering with polling machines or stopping Americans from expressing their opinions at the polls. As of this writing his video has half a million views, and Booker is just one of many Democrats leading a renewed charge to beat an extremely dead horse with a very broken stick.

This is getting so stupid and tedious. ...

It’s time to move on, Democrats. Seriously. I can understand why the Deep State cares about Russia, I can understand why Trump’s political opponents care about Russia, but we all know you don’t really care about Russia. Come on. You don’t. You know you don’t. You know damn well you hardly ever thought about that icy potato patch until the people who lied to you about WMDs in Iraq started telling you they were helping the obnoxious Republican win. You don’t really care about Russia. You care that your team lost.

Don’t try and tell me otherwise. Don’t come to me trying to pretend you were losing sleep about Georgia and Crimea before the “Russia hacked the election” meme was being pounded into your skull over and over and over again by corporate media. Don’t try to tell me you were spending any percentage of your day-to-day life thinking about Putin’s human rights violations before the talking heads on TV told you that you should spend more time worrying about the Kremlin. Don’t try to tell me you cared about Russia before it became advantageous for the Deep State to make you care about Russia. I’ll know you’re lying if you do.

NY Times Ed Board calls for Sessions To Appoint Special Prosecutor for Trump-Russia Ties

The New York Times has called for a special prosecutor to lead an impartial investigation into possible ties between the Trump administration—"which seems uninterested in telling the truth in matters large and small"—and Russia.

The Times editorial board writes Friday

the scope of a potential investigation expanded sharply in the last four days, with the firing of Mr. Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, for lying to the White House about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, and the news that members of the Trump campaign's inner circle were in repeated contact with Russian intelligence agents last year, at the same time that Russia was actively attempting to swing the election to Mr. Trump.

The calls for investigations into the potential links have swelled, and the House and Senate intelligence committees as well as the Senate Armed Services Committee are already looking into claims of Russian interference in the election, but as the Associated Press notes, "the congressional probes are ultimately in the hands of the Republican committee chairmen," and that party appears to be shielding the president. 

The probe can't be in the hands of Federal Bureau of Investigation head James Comey, the Times writes, "after his one-sided interference in the 2016 election compromised the bureau's integrity and damaged Hillary Clinton's campaign in its final days." Moreover, he reports to newly-confirmed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who, as others have pointed out,  is clearly not impartial given his key role in the Trump campaign. Yet, as the Times writes, Sessions "has said he sees no reason to recuse himself from any inquiry into the relationship between the president's top aides and Russia."

Given these factors, "the need for an independent actor who can both investigate and prosecute criminal wrongdoing in the executive branch is clear," the Times writes.

Flynn in FBI interview denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said.

The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy. Lying to the FBI is a felony offense. But several officials said it is unclear whether prosecutors would attempt to bring a case, in part because Flynn may parse the definition of the word “sanctions.” He also followed his denial to the FBI by saying he couldn’t recall all of the conversation, officials said.

Any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department.

A spokesman for Flynn said he had no response. The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment.

Rogue Elephant Rising: The CIA as Kingslayer

With members of the CIA and NSA leaking materials on Michael Flynn’s communications with Russian officials, we are witnessing a slow boiling domestic coup that will transform American governance and the Executive Branch’s relationships with intelligence agencies. It remains to be seen whether these moves signal broader attacks on the Presidency by agencies long accustomed to taking out administrations threatening the Agency’s perceived interests.

This moment tells us more about the CIA revolting against a particular administration than it does about Trump’s people engaging in unusually diabolical-illegal activities designed to undermine an outgoing administration. We know enough about Reagan’s pre-election dealings with Iran to know that the CIA and NSA knew about these transactions, yet these agencies were content to remain silent; apparently glad to see Carter ousted and welcoming a new era of unparalleled “peace time” military and intelligence spending. Similarly, American intelligence agencies knew of Nixon’s efforts to sabotage the Paris peace talks before the 1968 election, and the CIA did nothing to undermine a new president who was going to give the agency the war it wanted. The leaking of Flynn’s information tells us little new about how incoming administrations act, but it suggests something new about US intelligence agencies willingness to take out an administration not to their liking. ...

This attack on the Executive Branch is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. The most historically interesting element of this moment is the rarity of seeing the CIA operating, in real time, not in its usual historical role as a covert arm of the presidency (which Congressman Otis Pike argued was its primary function), but as the sort of rogue elephant that Senator Frank Church and others long ago claimed it is. As members of the Republic, no matter what momentary joy we might feel watching this rogue elephant canter towards our incompetent Commander and Chief, we must not ignore the danger this beast presents to one and all.

We should welcome calls to investigate Trump, Flynn, Bannon, Pence and others within the administration, but we need to also investigate and monitor the CIA for this latest in its long history of attempted coups.

Senate narrowly confirms Mulvaney as Trump's budget director

The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed Rep. Mick Mulvaney to head up the White House Office of Management and Budget.

He was confirmed on a 51-49 vote.

Mulvaney, a conservative Republican from South Carolina, faced opposition from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain. McCain, R-Ariz., took issue with Mulvaney’s past support of defense cuts as well as his 2011 vote to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

This is actually kind of an interesting read, perhaps moreso than this excerpt might indicate.

Trump Official Obsessed Over Nuclear Apocalypse, Men’s Style, Fine Wines in 40,000 Posts on Fashion Site

A senior official on President Trump’s embattled National Security Council warned in previously unreported comments that it is “inevitable” an Islamic terrorist group will carry out a successful nuclear attack against the United States, and that in its aftermath, the world “will regress hundreds of years politically.” The official, Michael Anton, laid out a dire scenario of multiple nuclear detonations on American soil, saying that terrorists “will, I think, wait until they can hit us with several blows at once, followed by a number of follow-on blows.”

Anton, appointed as the Trump administration’s senior director of strategic communications on the NSC, wrote in 2009 that he was “surprised it hasn’t happened yet” and predicted that once the attacks occur, “economies will collapse … the world will revert to a kind of localsim [sic] and warlordism.” He added, “If Chicago wakes up one morning and NY is simply not there any more, and some dude on Al Jazeera is saying, ‘Chicago you are next!’ I don’t see order lasting long.”

New York, he added, seems to be the most likely first target.

I think you do not fully grasp what New York represents to the Islamist Terrorist mind. It is not simply the financial capital of the US, or even of the world. It is quite simply the capital of the western world and of all modernity. It is the center and chief creator and exporter of decadence and corruption. It is quite simply, to them, the most hated place on the planet, and the most important, outside the holy cities.

Anton, who previously served in a mid-level position on the NSC in the Bush era, published a string of attention-getting essays last year that attempted to make a conservative intellectual argument for supporting Donald Trump’s candidacy. Those essays, while provocative, do not seem to be nearly as controversial or apocalyptic as the comments The Intercept unearthed after receiving a tip from a reader. The comments were made on an obscure website devoted to men’s fashion, Styleforum.net, which also hosts wide-ranging discussions among its members on a variety of political topics.

Britain's favorite war criminal is back to tell the citizenry that democracy doesn't matter, except when it matters to him.

Tony Blair calls on British people to "rise up" and fight against Brexit

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on the British people to “rise up” and fight against Brexit, arguing that it is not inevitable that the U.K. has to leave the European Union — despite the country voting to do just that in June last year.

In a controversial speech in London Friday, Blair criticized Prime Minister Theresa May and her government for its blinkered view on Brexit; slammed the current Labour leadership for its lack of opposition and said that the case for Scotland leaving the U.K. had been made “more credible.”

Blair dismissed accusations that it was undemocratic to discuss Brexit over six months after the public voted to leave the EU and just weeks before Article 50 is set to be triggered, saying the public did not have all the information they needed.

“They will say the will of the people can’t alter,” Blair said. “It can. They will say leaving is inevitable. It isn’t. They will say we don’t represent the people. We do, many millions of them and with determination, many millions more.”


Trump nominee for Israel ambassador heckled, questioned at Senate

President Donald Trump's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Israel faced repeated heckling at a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday before he apologized for his stinging criticism of liberal American Jews and promised to be less inflammatory in an official capacity. ...

Friedman repeatedly expressed regret for likening liberal American Jews to Jewish prisoners who worked for the Nazis during the Holocaust, telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his opening statement, "I regret the use of such language." ...

Democratic senators pressed Friedman on incendiary comments he made including calling Obama an anti-Semite and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, an appeaser.

"Frankly the language you have regularly used against those who disagree with your views has me concerned about your preparedness to enter the world of diplomacy," Ben Cardin, the senior Democrat on the committee, told the nominee.

Friedman acknowledged using overheated rhetoric as part of his passionate support for the Jewish state, which has included financial support of Jewish settlements built on land claimed by Palestinians. He promised to avoid inflammatory comments as a U.S. diplomat.

He told Cardin, "There is no excuse. If you want me to rationalize it or justify it, I cannot. These were hurtful words and I deeply regret them."

France's Macron causes uproar by calling colonisation 'crime against humanity'

Pope appears to back anti-Trump protests in letter condemning populism

Pope Francis has offered his unequivocal support to grassroots organisers and activists who are fighting for social justice, migrants, and environmentalism, saying he “reaffirms” their choice to fight against tyranny amid a “gutting of democracies”.

“As Christians and all people of good will, it is for us to live and act at this moment. It is a grave responsibility, since certain present realities, unless effectively dealt with, are capable of setting off processes of dehumanisation which would then be hard to reverse,” the pontiff wrote in a letter that was read to organisers this week. ...

In the letter, Francis condemned the growth of populist and xenophobic movements around the world, saying they posed a “grave danger for humanity”. He also criticised leaders who rely on “fear, insecurity, quarrels, and even people’s justified indignation, in order to shift the responsibility for all these ills on to a ‘non-neighbour’”.

“Sooner or later, the moral blindness of this indifference comes to light, like when a mirage dissipates,” he wrote. “The wounds are there, they are a reality. The unemployment is real, the violence is real, the corruption is real, the identity crisis is real, the gutting of democracies is real.”

He offered praise to the activists who are organising in opposition to those threats. “I know that you have committed yourselves to fight for social justice, to defend our Sister Mother Earth and to stand alongside migrants. I want to reaffirm your choice,” he wrote.

House vote paves the way for states to defund Planned Parenthood

The House on Thursday approved a resolution that would permit states to withhold federal family-planning funds from affiliates of Planned Parenthood and other healthcare providers that offer abortions. Abortion foes immediately hailed the measure, which is expected to pass the Senate, as a critical victory, while public health advocates worried that the cuts would blow a hole in the nation’s fragile family planning safety net.

The measure would overturn a rule, issued by Obama’s department of Health and Human Services, prohibiting states from withholding federal family-planning dollars from groups that provide abortions. States can only withhold those funds for reasons related to a provider’s ability to deliver family planning services, the rule says.

Does New Labor Secretary Nominee Alex Acosta Have the Perfect Résumé to Sabotage a Federal Agency?

Robert Harward turns down Trump's offer to be national security adviser

Robert Harward, a respected former navy Seal who earned high marks for his management skills, has turned down Donald Trump’s offer to replace Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

Reached by the Associated Press on Thursday evening, Harward, who is a senior executive at Lockheed Martin, cited family and financial reasons for opting not to take the job to replace Flynn, who was asked to resign on Monday after a brief and turbulent tenure. ...

Two sources familiar with the decision told Reuters that Harward turned down the job in part because he wanted to bring in his own team. That put him at odds with Trump, who had told Flynn’s deputy, KT McFarland, that she could stay.

Why Did ICE Arrest & Imprison a 23-Year-Old DREAMer and DACA Recipient Living Legally in the U.S.?

Hispanic caucus members ejected from meeting about immigration raids

Two members of the Congressional Hispanic caucus said they were removed from a meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on Thursday, just two days after the agency’s acting director abruptly cancelled a meeting with the CHC.

On Thursday, Democratic Representatives Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois and Norma Torres of California said Republicans asked them to leave a meeting with the agency’s acting director, Thomas Homan, about the rash of raids on immigrant communities. ...

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said during a press conference after the meeting that Ice determined the guest list. She said the list initially excluded all members of the Congressional Hispanic caucus but that the Democrats were able to convince them to invite the caucus chairwoman, Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Caucus members said the decision to exclude them was striking as they had initiated the Tuesday meeting with Homan to discuss the raids happening in cities across the country. Agents have arrested more than 680 undocumented immigrants in what Donald Trump touted on Twitter as a “crackdown on illegal criminals”.

Undocumented Texas woman arrested while seeking domestic violence help

Immigrant advocates and local law enforcers expressed fears on Thursday that the arrest of an undocumented woman at a Texas courthouse as she sought protection from domestic violence would discourage others from asking for help.

Officials in El Paso, Texas, said that the detention of the woman moments after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents watched a judge grant her a protective order was an alarming development that had sent shockwaves through the community.

The woman has been a victim of violence by her partner on at least three occasions, has filed three police reports and endured punching, kicking, choking and having a knife thrown at her, Jo Anne Bernal, the El Paso county attorney, said on a conference call with reporters. ...

“None of us can recall an incident where immigration authorities made their presence known inside a courtroom in this courthouse, and especially not in a courtroom that is reserved for victims of domestic violence,” Bernal said. “We need to be very firm in our voice: the courthouse is not a place for enforcement of immigration law, the courthouse is a place where victims of domestic violence come for protection.”

Jaime Esparza, the local district attorney, said: “They came into the courthouse and I think it sends a horrible message to victims of domestic violence on whether or not they’re actually going to have the ability to seek justice in our courthouse.”

Immigration agents arrested men as they left a church hypothermia shelter in Virginia

A group of Latino men were reportedly apprehended and some of them arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they were leaving a church shelter in Alexandria, Virginia, the latest high-profile apprehensions to come to light amid a surge of immigration raids.

On Feb. 8, a group of six men left the hypothermia shelter at Rising Hope Mission Church at about 6:45 a.m., according to local news station WRC, and were surrounded by ICE agents immediately after crossing the street. Oscar Ramirez, who was among those apprehended, said the agents ordered the men to line up against a brick wall before scanning their fingerprints to determine whether they had criminal records.

Ramirez, a green card holder, was not arrested, but two of the six men reportedly were.

ICE agents are expected to follow guidelines that discourage them from targeting suspected undocumented immigrants in so-called “sensitive sites” — places of worship, schools, shelters, hospitals — unless they have permission to do so from a supervisor or there are “exigent circumstances necessitating immediate action.” It is not clear what led the ICE agents in this case to target the sensitive site.



the evening greens


California storms: rains drench the north as south braces for huge hit

Heavy rain has returned to California with the first in a fresh series of storms moving across the northern half of the state while the south awaited a storm that forecasters said could be the strongest in years if not decades.

Rain, accompanied by heavy winds, pelted the San Francisco Bay area, where Marin and Napa counties logged up to 2.2cm (1in) of precipitation. San Francisco recorded 4.24cm (1.67in) for the day, according to the National Weather Service.

Precipitation also moved down the central coast counties, but forecasters said it was only a light precursor to a dangerous atmospheric river taking aim at southern California.

The plume of moisture stretching far out over the Pacific was expected to arrive early Friday and last through the day and into Saturday.

Flood warnings for the period were in effect for rivers and creeks up and down the state. High wind warnings were issued for mountains and valleys, which could see gusts to 70 mph. ...

Rainfall predictions ranged from 4.4cm (2in) to 13.2cm (6in) on the coast and from 11-22cm in foothills and coastal mountain slopes.

'Egregious Cover-Up': After Ruling on Pruitt Emails, Dems Demand Vote Delay

Democratic lawmakers and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) workers are mobilizing against Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt after a judge on Thursday ordered the release of thousands of emails between his office and fossil fuel companies—raising questions about whether the EPA nominee engaged in corruption.

In response to the order, Senate Democrats called for a delay on Pruitt's confirmation hearing, which is still scheduled for Friday after he passed out of the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month amid a Democratic boycott. According to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), lawmakers will force a vote to extend the debate at 12:30pm.

Oklahoma County District Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons on Thursday gave Pruitt until February 21 to hand over more than 2,500 emails he withheld from the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a watchdog group that has been pursuing the documents since 2014. CMD and the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit earlier this month which accused Pruitt of violating the state's Open Records Act.

"[T]here was an abject failure to provide prompt and reasonable access to documents requested," Timmons wrote in her ruling.

The emails are "essential to fair consideration of Pruitt's nomination," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Thursday. "But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is forcing the Senate to vote tomorrow on Pruitt even though his emails won't be released until Tuesday. This is an egregious cover-up that must not stand."

After Advancing Scott Pruitt Confirmation, Senator Heads Over to Energy Lobbyist Fundraiser

Just moments after leading the floor debate on Thursday in support of Scott Pruitt’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left the Senate chamber to attend a high-dollar fundraiser hosted by energy lobbyists at a Capitol Hill steakhouse.

The Senate voted 54-46 around 11:15 am to invoke cloture, a mechanism that limits debate and allow an up-or-down confirmation vote Friday at 1 pm.

[The Democratic traitors in the cloture vote were the usual suspects, Heitkamp and Manchin. - js]

Barrasso, who has worked to shepherd Pruitt through the confirmation process, gave a brief floor statement, then left the chamber to relax with influence peddlers at Charlie Palmer Steak.

The event, which asked for checks as high as $5,000 to Barrasso’s campaign committee, was hosted by lobbyists for energy firms that have cheered Pruitt’s battles with regulators. ...

Barrasso, the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has — like Pruitt — advanced oil and gas industry agenda items by moving to block environmental regulations. Records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show that Barrasso collected over $1.1 million from the oil, gas, mining and  utility industries in the last campaign cycle.


Also of Interest

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

Corporate Media Invented The Term ‘Fake News’ 3 Months Ago, Now Cries When It’s Used On Them

Trump's Repeal of Bipartisan Anti-Corruption Measure Proves He's a Fake

German Intel Clears Russia on Interference

Is Russia a Red Herring?

Merkel says didn't know Germany spied on allies

‘Deep State’ Has Trump on the Menu

Trump's 'one-state' remarks embolden rightwing Zionists – Jewish and Christian

The Next Farm Crisis is Here and Farmers Can No Longer Afford to Be Ignored

IMF Lent to Greece Knowing It Could Never Pay Back Debt

Gaius Publius: Field Notes from the Battle Within the Democratic Party

Is Trump the Worst President Ever?

France: Another Ghastly Presidential Election Campaign; the Deep State Rises to the Surface


A Little Night Music

Hans Theessink - Maybelline

Hans Theessink - Big Bill's Guitar

Hans Theessink - 29 Ways

Hans Theessink & Terry Evans - Delta Time

Hans Theessink & Terry Evans - Blues Stay Away From Me

Hans Theessink - Mercury Blues

Hans Theessink - A Hundred and Ten in the Shade

Hans Theessink, Donovan, Arlo Guthrie - Columbus Stockade Blues

Hans Theessink - Minnibelle

Hans Theessink & Blue Groove - Yes We Can Can

Hans Theessink & Knud Møller - The Planet


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Pricknick's picture

It's 55 degrees here in southern Michigan. Supposed to be in the 50's for the next week.
The Maples are putting out their seed pods in February. Second year in a row that most seeds will likely die.
But look over there.......The Russians are still coming. Pay no attention to mother nature gearing up for a smackdown on all existing life.
Had a talk with a neighbor of mine. He's what I would call very intelligent but claims "The earth has gone through these cycles before. It's been proven by ice cores". Very interesting that he had no explanation for why when it happened before it took tens of thousands of years but this time it's happening in a space of 100.
I'm getting very close to not talking to these types anymore. Why waste the oxygen on dead brain cells?

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

divineorder's picture

@Pricknick @Pricknick
Agree with the sentiment :

I'm getting very close to not talking to these types anymore. Why waste the oxygen on dead brain cells?

Sorry about the maples. Only saw them once in my life, from the air, one a Citizens Diplomacy Project to Russia via Helsinki back in the 80's.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

riverlover's picture

@Pricknick Now. It might be an early spring. Or a brutal one, who can predict now? Winds seem to be the new normal. No maple sap collection this year; broken foot precludes. Das Boot is rubbing everywhere, have pads but no idea where to stick them in. Best solution is to read in bed for 1/2 the day, incremental less swelling and pain. Lucky me, a long apocalypse novel.

Have a good Friday evening! I am doing a negative control experiment on me.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

joe shikspack's picture

@Pricknick

it's warming up here in maryland. it was kind of brisk this week, the temperatures weren't too bad, nothing lower than the 20's, but the winds were very bracing.

it's supposed to hit the 60's this weekend and the gigundous swamp maple in my backyard is putting out buds.

i am delighted to have nice weather this weekend for russian watching.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

Joseph Heller was a heck of a writer. He didn't even know he was describing our current administration those 50+ years ago! Pyschic is what that man was!

Caitlin Johnstone is burning it up! She's on fire! Thanks for including her latest rant. It was worth the WHOLE read!

It's been a busy week - don't think I've even had time to stop by and say hi! I'm just happy it's Friday. I am looking forward to my weekend.

Have a beautiful evening and weekend, folks! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

joe shikspack's picture

@Raggedy Ann

when i saw that heller quote in jeffrey st. clair's weekly wrap-up it really struck me how well it describes not only trump, but most modern presidents - trump is just such an unvarnished thug that he stand out for his brash expressions.

have a great weekend! i'm looking forward to a news-fast weekend, i need a break from the donald for a day or two. Smile

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divineorder's picture

!?

Saw your post above on CA. Talked to a guy from California here in Costa Rica this morning and he mentioned all the news of extreme flooding back home. Since we have reservations to fly to CA before Africa again later this year and had planned to camp from Big Sur to Mendocino again, we had to have a look.

OMG good thing we did, because the ground under the Pfeiffer Canyon bridge in Big Sur is moving and has cracked supports so CalTrans is shutting it down indefinitely. The NFS Nacimiento Road might be an option to get in and out of Big Sir but it is closed because is sliding down into the creek! Now Big Sur is a land island. This was after an epic fire started by an illegal campfire shut things down a while back. Not sure things will be put back by April.

PHOTOS: Highway 1 bridge in Big Sur closes indefinitely.

Back here in Costa Rica, the Vulcan Turrialba has began erupting again after staying quiet long enough for us to land. Did not realize it until I read some news online today and saw a picture but can see the smoking volcano from the International Airport. Whoooweeee.

Here in the OSA peninsula they at one point last year had over a month of rain almost 24 hours a day, roads shut down, bridges damaged, landslides up the mountains but a restaurant owner we know they pulled together and pulled through. However now they are back in a very serious drought with some rivers reportedly drying up...

As they say, 'one day at a time' -- we have been getting up before dawn and kayaking into the manglar looking for wildlife. Good stuff.

All we've got is this moment..... makes one think of hopping on a boat and sailing into the sunset? Smile Smile

011 (1024x768).jpg Golfito Bay, Costa Rica. February, 2017

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

mimi's picture

@divineorder
I even like to talk about the weather. Your posts always make me envious. How do you get to the point doing what you are doing? You seem to stumble from one paradise to the next and enjoying it. Thanks for all your great photos you post so often.

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divineorder's picture

@mimi and decided travel would be a major priority of our life together. We have kept that focus and made choices to make it happen. Sacrifices were made that many of our fellow countrymen would not make. We are thankful to be at 67 and still and be able to make that old dream materialize. One trick that works really well for us now is to aply for credit cardoffers which give 20-50000 air miles if one meets the required spending 8n two months. So we often have 'free' air travel except for the taxes. In some countries we stay in our tent and that saves.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

mimi's picture

@divineorder
and let me know her answer. I kinda want to do something like it, but, heh, 'the man at my side' is missing. Alone, I am a bit scared.

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@divineorder .l Have seen a lot of single women traveling alone and would like to think I could do the same. Did talk to a young woman traveling by herself in Costa Rica on her way to Panama and she said she liked to stay in hostels because of the chance to meet people and do things with others. Probably would find this type of travel a safer option. But, traveling with a companion is a preferable option for me.

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Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

joe shikspack's picture

@divineorder

the weather here is kinda unusual for this time of year, but what the heck, it's just peachy.

sorry to hear that big sur is under the weather so to speak. perhaps if you have to change your itinerary you might consider sequoia and kings canyon - they were totally awesome this past summer as was yosemite.

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divineorder's picture

@joe shikspack all the way to Kings Canyon!!! Yosemite Will not be open in April. Haven't been there in years but it's awesome.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

mimi's picture

I need a change of subject ...
When they change the subject
[video:https://youtu.be/2T3xS8NsUG4]
it was so easy... not to understand a thing. Next I only understand TC 4:32.
[video:https://youtu.be/caEP6x3-Ltg]
That is absolutely horseshit.
Tomorrow is another day, bullshit, it's the same 'ol horseshit tomorrow as it is today.
Oh yeah, our weather is pigshit. Stinks. And I have too much time on my hands, that's when things get out of hand. Nevertheless ...
I am so sorry... Cray 2
Thx. for the EB and good luck and good night.

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

heh, i talk about the weather, i guess, because i like to be in tune with the nature around me. i enjoy my days most when i can get outside and walk around in the woods and observe/participate in the world around me for a while. for me, talking about the weather or the trees budding out, flowers blooming, butterflies flying, etc. is an expression of my connection to the world around me at kind of the most basic level.

those things are just as important (maybe more) to me than whatever outrage donald trump has performed today.

(this is just an explanation, please don't read anything more than that into it.)

anyway, i really liked the second video. thanks!

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack

I posted this comment very early in the thread's discussion and thought people are circumventing to talk the political talk and just let out some frustrations that were uncalled for.

I apologize, never meant that as a critique. I am stuck in grey Germany in a situation I didn't want to be in and wait to hike through the Maui mountain sides and take a lot of pictures. Have to learn to make photoes for real. My camera is somewhere on a ship going the wrong direction. Life has its stupid sides sometimes.

Have a good walk. I know how you love nature. Your photos showed that convincingly. And again I apologize for my loose talk.

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

no offense taken, no need for apologies. have a great weekend!

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janis b's picture

The Divine Miss M tweeted that same quote in reference to Trump. That quote sums it up.

[video:https://youtu.be/5tVgExxWaUI]

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joe shikspack's picture

@janis b

heh, i guess a lot of people are all thinking along the same lines. trump is apparently both a divider and a uniter.

have a great weekend!

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janis b's picture

@joe shikspack

of what is disturbing.

Have a serene evening, all.

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mimi's picture

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

mr. fish is absolutely spot on.

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snoopydawg's picture

She's on fire and getting better with each article she writes. This is WMDs on steroids and people are buying the government's propaganda big time.
Booker is an asshole for spreading false information about Russia hacking the election machines and changing votes.
Funny how no one talks about what actually happened during the primary when that did happen to Bernie's supporters.
And there's an easy way to fix this

ISIS and terrorism are among the most pressing challenges NATO faces.

Tell the countries that are financing the terrorists to quit doing it. Everyone knows that Saudi Arabia is the biggest financier of the terrorists and our government's hands aren't clean either.
It's the old story that we have always been at war with Eurasia.

Thanks for the EBs and have a good weekend joe.
Looks like mine is going to be a ☔️ rainy one.
Less than 2 weeks ago I had 4 feet of snow in my yard and 3 days later most of it was gone which made Abby sad. She loves the snow and found a patch on our walk today and rolled in it.

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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

it is both amusing to me and at another level kind of maddening that cory booker and other democrats are spreading fake news. so much for the reality based community. this is not the way to fight back against fox news and right-wing talk radio.

i guess the democrats have decided that they need a base full of propagandized imbeciles to return them to power and are setting about creating that at the same time a significant portion of the activist base is determined to become more like the tea party.

i think that i know how this movie ends. can i get my money back? here's my ticket.

have a great weekend, snoopy. give abby a scritch for me.

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Azazello's picture

Here's an interesting piece on California weather: California's past megafloods
If you haven't yet seen Oliver Stone's Ukraine movie it's worth a look: Ukraine on Fire/YouTube
Jimmy Dore just put a new one up:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hta3t8k1aQ width:500 height:300]

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

@Azazello Thanks for giving me my Jimmy Dore fix!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

jimmy dore is spot on as usual. heh, i'm glad to hear that he's calling on sanders to split from the dems. if anybody could successfully start his own third party at this point and stand a chance of winning elections, it's probably sanders.

have a great weekend!

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Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack
In the winter we always get whatever weather L.A. got yesterday, and that's rain, but rain is always welcome in the desert. Take it easy, joe.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJzvkHtfBfM width:500 height:300]

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Granma's picture

She names names of some untouchables, and blasts the media, including some blogs we are all familiar with. It is long, but she holds you all the way through, like a book you can't put down.

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joe shikspack's picture

@Granma

thanks for the video! i hope you don't mind, i resized your video so that it would fit in the frame for most browsers.

have a great weekend!

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Granma's picture

@joe shikspack @joe shikspack Next time I'll do it another way so that it will be the right size.

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Granma's picture

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

And here's a neat photo of her, just being a dog.

and, here, being a world champion,

Rumor, Champion.png
[Westminster Dog Show 2017: Rumor the German Shepherd Wins Best In Show]

Thanks for tonight's News & Blues, Joe. I'm nursing 'the B'--yesterday he got in pretty bad shape. Apparently, the diagnosis of spondylosis has come home to roost, so to speak. Hopefully, the two pain meds prescribed will be enough to alleviate his discomfort, and improve his mobility. Fingers crossed!

Everyone have a nice weekend--hope your weather is as beautiful as ours (in the high sixties, and sunny)!

Bye

Mollie


The original meaning of “fiscal conservative” may be gone. In fact, Democrats have had a better claim on the label in recent years than Republicans.
____David Leonhardt, Journalist, NYT, January 9, 2017

"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."
____Author Unknown

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

i'm so sorry to hear about the b's diagnosis. i hope that the pain meds work for him and he's comfortable. give him a scritch for me.

our weather is supposed to be pretty much like yours soon, i'm looking forward to getting out and enjoying it. have a great weekend!

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Now, I happen to think that the Trump presidency is extremely dangerous. You just listed off in your news—in your newscast that led the show, many reasons. They want to dismantle the environment. They want to eliminate the safety net. They want to empower billionaires. They want to enact bigoted policies against Muslims and immigrants and so many others. And it is important to resist them. And there are lots of really great ways to resist them, such as getting courts to restrain them, citizen activism and, most important of all, having the Democratic Party engage in self-critique to ask itself how it can be a more effective political force in the United States after it has collapsed on all levels. That isn’t what this resistance is now doing. What they’re doing instead is trying to take maybe the only faction worse than Donald Trump, which is the deep state, the CIA, with its histories of atrocities, and say they ought to almost engage in like a soft coup, where they take the elected president and prevent him from enacting his policies. And I think it is extremely dangerous to do that. Even if you’re somebody who believes that both the CIA and the deep state, on the one hand, and the Trump presidency, on the other, are extremely dangerous, as I do, there’s a huge difference between the two, which is that Trump was democratically elected and is subject to democratic controls, as these courts just demonstrated and as the media is showing, as citizens are proving. But on the other hand, the CIA was elected by nobody. They’re barely subject to democratic controls at all. And so, to urge that the CIA and the intelligence community empower itself to undermine the elected branches of government is insanity. That is a prescription for destroying democracy overnight in the name of saving it. And yet that’s what so many, not just neocons, but the neocons’ allies in the Democratic Party, are now urging and cheering. And it’s incredibly warped and dangerous to watch them do that.
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LeChienHarry's picture

French elections
Counterpunch article

An excellent piece by Diana Johnstone. Helps me understand too.

Continuing to read: Talbot's book "The Devil's Chessboard": Allen Dulles et al. Explains a lot.

Reads easily, and can be connected to events in our lifetimes.

Have a good weekend, and break from the crapola.

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You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce

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