The Evening Blues - 2-20-19



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Roy Milton

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features jump blues and r&b singer, drummer and bandleader Roy Milton. Enjoy!

Roy Milton - You Got Me Reeling & Rocking

“You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things.”

-- Donald J. Trump


News and Opinion

Sweet Jesus, what could possibly go wrong with this? The whole article is not for the faint of heart. Enormous corporations (Exelon Corp., Toshiba Energy, Bechtel Corp., Centrus, GE Power and Siemens USA) want to plant nuke plants all over the Middle East - that place that the U.S. has taken such great pains to bring stability and demockery to. They probably have the money to make it happen.

Donald Trump rushing to sell Saudi Arabia nuclear technology

The administration of President Donald Trump is bypassing the United States Congress to advance the sale of US nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns it would violate US law guarding against technology transfers, according to a new report by a congressional committee. Security analysts worry the technology would allow Saudi Arabia to produce nuclear weapons in the future, potentially contributing to an arms race in the Middle East.

US legislators are concerned about the stability of Saudi leadership under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) because of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen.

Multiple unnamed "whistleblowers" have come forward to warn about White House attempts to speed the transfer of highly sensitive US nuclear technology to build new nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia, according to the staff report by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. "The whistleblowers who came forward have warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers that could implicate federal criminal statutes," Representative Elijah Cummings, the Democrat chairman of the committee, said in a letter to the White House on Tuesday.

Trump Admin’s Secretive Talks to Sell Saudi Arabia Nuclear Technology Spark New Fear of Arms Race

‘Irritated’ by Russia, US Admiral Sends Warship to Black Sea

In November, a maritime incident saw Ukrainian boats enter Russian territorial waters without permission, leading to their capture and detention of their crew. US Admiral James Foggo says he is ‘irritated’ by that.

To that end, the admiral has ordered the USS Donald Cook, a destroyer, to enter the Black Sea and conduct naval exercises with Ukraine to “demonstrate solidarity” with what remains of the nation’s very limited navy.

Russia may be forced to aim weapons at Washington, suggests Putin

In a speech to senior Russian officials in Moscow, Vladimir Putin said the possible deployment of missiles that could reach Moscow in 10 minutes was “dangerous for Russia,” and that Moscow would be forced to review “symmetrical and asymmetrical actions”.

“Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons, which can be used not just against those territories, from which the direct threat will come, but also against those, where the centres of decision-making for using these missile systems will come,” the Russian president said. ...

During the speech, Putin reaffirmed Russia’s stance that it would not deploy short or intermediate-range missiles in western Russia unless similar weapons were first deployed in Europe.

Saudis Facing Criminal Charges in the U.S. Keep Disappearing. Is the Kingdom Helping Them Escape?

Worth a full read:

Trump administration preparing public argument for war on Iran

The Trump administration is preparing a public argument for war on Iran. The Washington Times has some 'senior administration officials' claiming that Iran is allied with al-Qaeda and thus could and should be attacked:

Iran-al Qaeda alliance may provide legal rationale for U.S. military strikes

Iran is providing high-level al Qaeda operatives with a clandestine sanctuary to funnel fighters, money and weapons across the Middle East, according to Trump administration officials who warn that the long-elusive, complex relationship between two avowed enemies of America has evolved into an unacceptable global security threat.
...
The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress in the days after the 9/11 attacks provided the legal framework for President George W. Bush to order U.S. military action against the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan. The law has underpinned the U.S. counterterrorism campaign and has largely gone unchanged for the past 17 years through three presidential administrations.

Congressional and legal sources say the law may now provide a legal rationale for striking Iranian territory or proxies should President Trump decide that Tehran poses a looming threat to the U.S. or Israel and that economic sanctions are not strong enough to neutralize the threat.

That Iran is colluding with al-Qaeda, which it actively fights in Syria and Iraq, is obviously nonsense.

Venezuelan opposition plans delivery of aid from Colombia and Brazil

Members of Venezuela’s opposition are gathering in Cúcuta, Colombia to shift stockpiled US aid to their homeland this weekend in defiance of their country’s embattled president Nicolás Maduro. “Saturday will be a day that goes down in our history,” said Omar Lares, the former mayor of Campo Elías in western Venezuela, who has been living in exile in the border city for two years and is now helping coordinate Saturday’s planned delivery of aid. ...

The Brazilian government said on Tuesday that it would also deliver humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan border by 23 February at the request of Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan opposition leader. The distribution of the food and medicine from the northern Brazilian city of Boa Vista across the border would be in Venezuelan trucks driven by Venezuelan citizens organized by Guaidó, Brazil’s presidential spokesman General Otavio Rego Barros said.

Guaidó, who has been recognised by the US and dozens more countries as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president, set a deadline of Saturday for the aid to move across the border, though representatives in Cúcuta, Caracas and Washington are yet to decide how the aid will cross. Guaidó called for caravans of volunteers to carry the aid across at a speech before thousands of supporters in Caracas last week, though it would pit those civilians against the military – loyal to Maduro – which is under orders to block the aid.

In Rebuke to U.S., Germany Considers Letting Huawei In

he German government is leaning toward letting Huawei Technologies Co. participate in building the nation’s high-speed internet infrastructure despite U.S. warnings about the risks posed by the Chinese tech giant, according to senior German officials. Washington had asked it to restrict Huawei from bidding for so-called 5G infrastructure contracts in Germany, but Berlin is unwilling to do so, according to officials. ...

A recent probe by Germany’s cybersecurity agency with help from the U.S. and other allies failed to show that the Chinese company could use its equipment to clandestinely siphon off data, according to senior agency and other government officials. ...

The strategy of Deutsche Telekom AG , Germany’s former telephone monopoly and its dominant mobile and internet carrier, not to invest heavily in fiber connections to the home means Germany lags behind the rest of Europe—and most of Asia—in internet speed. This makes a fast 5G rollout crucial to bringing the country up to speed and enabling a range of new services such as autonomous vehicles and high-resolution video streaming. German industry representatives also back a rapid rollout, partly out of concern that China could retaliate by cutting off German companies from the Chinese market.

Could 'Benallagate' sink Macron?

Brexit causing ‘palpable decline’ in UK influence at the UN

Brexit is already leading to a “palpable decline” in British influence at the UN, and that influence would be in freefall but for the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7 % of gross national income on overseas aid, a study has found. The report by the UK branch of the United Nations Association suggests Britain will lose political capital on the 15-member UN security council and the larger general assembly in New York because its campaigns will no longer be automatically aligned with those of the EU.

Based on more than 40 interviews, on and off the record, with current and previous UN-based diplomats, the report suggests the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, will need to work harder to highlight a more value-based diplomacy, and a commitment to multilateralism, to retain the UK’s traction. ... The British Academy-funded report is one of many warning that the UK may lose diplomatic sway after Brexit, even though the UK’s permanent seat on the security council is not under challenge. ...

When asked whether Brexit had impacted the UK’s capacity for influence, a senior source from a non-EU state said: “Yes, I can feel the UK’s weight in the council is dwindling, you can feel it. Definitely when Brexit happens things will change.” An EU source at the UN said: “One of the risky things about Brexit is the inconsistency of the mood, and you know to be effective in the security council is this sort of mixture of being confident, consistent, reliable.”

Brexit III: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Brexit backstop: Theresa May to put new proposals to EU

Theresa May will present the EU with new legal proposals to solve the Irish backstop issue on Wednesday, which Downing Street hopes will be enough to convince Eurosceptics to back her Brexit deal. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, confirmed late on Tuesday that the government no longer intended to pursue alternative arrangements for the backstop in the withdrawal agreement, which had been championed by cross-factional MPs including Eurosceptic Steve Baker and soft Brexiter Nicky Morgan.

Instead, the prime minister is travelling to Brussels to meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, with a plan to secure legal assurances that the backstop would not permanently bind the UK into a customs union.

She was forced to admit to Conservative MPs who met her on Tuesday night that the Irish backstop could not be replaced by the “Malthouse compromise” – proposals for a free trade agreement with as-yet-unknown technology to avoid customs checks on the Irish border. ...

No 10 had been hoping to secure a renegotiated withdrawal agreement and put this to parliament next week, but senior sources acknowledged time was running out. Hammond hinted the vote could still come next week, saying that “over the next few days, Members of Parliament need to think long and hard about the choice before them.”

Three MPs quit May’s Conservatives over ‘dismal failure to stand up to’ hard Brexiteers

Eighth Labour MP quits party to join breakaway Independent Group

Joan Ryan has become the eighth Labour MP to resign and join the breakaway Independent Group, claiming Jeremy Corbyn’s party has become “infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism”. Ryan, the MP for Enfield North, said she had been a member for four decades – but could no longer remain as a Labour MP. ...

In a signal of the leadership’s hardening attitude to the breakaway MPs, Corbyn’s close ally Jon Trickett, the shadow minister for the cabinet office, announced that Labour would consult on changing the law to allow constituents to remove an MP who resigns from their party.

“Communities should not have to wait for up to five years to act if they feel their MP is not properly representing their interests,” Trickett said. “This proposed reform has the dramatic potential to empower citizens and will be one of many measures the Labour party is planning to consult on and announce that will change the way politics in this country is done.”

Current law allows voters to petition for the recall of their MP, but only in specific circumstances – such as where they’ve committed a criminal offence, as in the case of Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya.

Illinois Workers Celebrate as 'Life-Changing' $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Signed Into Law

Illinois workers and local Fight for $15 organizers celebrated a win on Tuesday as newly elected Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law that will gradually raise the state's hourly minimum wage from $8.25 to $15 by 2025. ...

While Pritzker's signature on Tuesday made Illinois the first Midwestern state, and fifth in the nation, to mandate a $15 hourly wage, the measure—which didn't receive any support from Republican lawmakers—does have some limitations in addition to its gradual implementation. As the Chicago Tribune outlined:

An estimated 1.4 million Illinois residents will see their pay go up Jan. 1 as a result of the law, which increases the statewide minimum wage to $9.25 per hour from $8.25. The minimum wage will increase again to $10 per hour on July 1, 2020, and will then go up $1 per hour each year on Jan. 1 until hitting $15 per hour in 2025...

In an attempt to ease the burden on employers, the law creates a tax credit to help businesses with 50 or fewer employees offset some of the cost of wage increases. Employers will be able to claim a tax credit for 25 percent of the cost in 2020, and the credit will scale back annually, then eventually phase out.

The law also preserves the way restaurants and other employers with tipped workers count gratuities toward employees' wages, and it sets a lower minimum wage for workers younger than 18 who work fewer than 650 hours in a year. The minimum wage for younger employees—currently $7.75 per hour—would increase to $8 on Jan. 1 and peak at $13 per hour in 2025.

Flooding State Capitol, West Virginia Teachers Save Public Education From Privatization Scheme

West Virginia teachers celebrated Tuesday afternoon when they learned the strike they had staged had helped force the state House of Delegates to vote down an education reform bill that would have pulled funding away from public schools, redirecting it to private and charter schools and harming students across the state. The pro-privatization bill failed in a 53-45 vote.

The victory marks the second time in the past year that teachers in the state have used civil disobedience to force legislators to invest in public education. ...

Despite the inclusion of the very pay increases they fought last year to win, the teachers are calling on state lawmakers to reject an education reform bill (S.B. 451) because it also includes funding for charter schools and voucher programs which the state teachers union says would pull much-needed funding from public schools.

"By striking, we're basically saying, 'We refuse to take your pay raise under these conditions because we realize how bad privatization will be for our students and our schools,'" Jay O'Neal, a teacher in Charleston, told Jacobin. ...

Teachers argue legislators have rushed through the process without asking for their input and many believe the bill is actually punishment for the victory they won during last year's nine-day strike.

"This is not reform, this is retaliation," Brandon Wolford, a special education teacher and president of the Mingo County Education Association, told Jacobin. "Nothing in this proposal would make things better for students or staff. How does bringing in uncertified teachers [by legalizing charters] help our kids? How does taking public money and putting it into private hands help our schools? Unfortunately, the politicians are listening to the top one percent instead of listening to us."

Trump picks Jeffrey Rosen to replace embattled deputy attorney general

Donald Trump plans to nominate Jeffrey Rosen as the next deputy US attorney general, a senior administration official said on Tuesday night.

Rosen, currently deputy secretary of the US Department of Transportation, would succeed Rod Rosenstein, who after the firing of the FBI director James Comey appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate possible ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign.

Rosenstein is expected to step down by mid-March, a justice department official said on Monday.

At least 13 states aren’t covering abortions under Medicaid like they should, federal report says

Under federal law, states have to cover abortion costs for Medicaid beneficiaries who’ve gotten pregnant through rape or incest. But for the last 25 years, South Dakota hasn’t done that.

That fact was one of the more striking findings uncovered in a report released this month by federal investigators at the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The report, which broadly examined abortion access across the country, also dove into whether states are complying with Medicaid requirements. Thanks to a federal law known as the Hyde Amendment, federal dollars typically cannot be used to pay for abortion services, but state Medicaid programs must cover the cost of an abortion if the pregnancy either endangers the life of the woman or if it’s the result of rape or incest.

If someone is seeking an abortion in one of those circumstances, state Medicaid programs must cover a pill that induces abortions, called Mifeprex. But in another example of flouting federal rules, 13 states and Washington, D.C. won’t pay for the medication, the report discovered. ...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees Medicaid, didn’t know that so many states were out of compliance, according to the report — though it did know about South Dakota. The federal agency first sent a letter to South Dakota about the problem back in 1994, according to the report, but hasn’t done anything to force the state to comply with federal regulations.



the horse race



Bernie Sanders announces run for presidency in 2020: 'We're gonna win' - Raises $4m first day

Sanders, a self-styled democratic socialist who spent much of his nearly 30-year congressional career on the political fringe, cast his candidacy as the best way to accomplish the mission he started three years ago when he ran against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. “Together, you and I and our 2016 campaign began the political revolution,” he said in an email announcing his decision to supporters on Tuesday morning. “Now, it is time to complete that revolution and implement the vision that we fought for.” ...

Asked in an interview on CBS on Tuesday morning what would be different about his 2020 campaign, Sanders replied: “We’re gonna win.” ...

[N]o candidate will enter the race with as many advantages as Sanders, who ended the 2016 primary with more than 13m votes and nearly $230m raised, much of it through small donations. Now he begins a second run not as a political outsider but as a top-tier candidate with near-universal name recognition, a dedicated following and an unrivaled donor list. To this point, Sanders’ campaign announced on Tuesday night that in the first 12 hours after his launch, the senator raised a stunning $4m from 150,000 donors in all 50 states. The average donation was $27 – the same small-dollar amount he often touted as a sign of his grassroots revolution in 2016.

Tulsi Gabbard: Peace Candidate



the evening greens


When all of the shouting is over, it appears that the Trump administration may legitimately qualify by a variety of standards as the most corrupt administration in U.S. history. Number one. Winning.

Interior Department Is Filled With Ex-Lobbyists Who Are Cozy with Their Former Employers, New Ethics Complaint Shows

Only a few short weeks after President Donald Trump nominated David Bernhardt, a former oil and agriculture industry lobbyist, to run the Interior Department, the agency is facing a slew of new allegations that top officials violated federal ethics rules by keeping cozy ties to their former employers.

A lengthy ethics complaint filed Wednesday by the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, outlines “a disturbing pattern of misconduct” at the scandal-plagued Interior Department, including meetings that violate the White House’s own ethical pledge and good governance standards.

The Campaign Legal Center used public records, some of which were first obtained by The Intercept, to lodge the complaint against six top Interior Department officials, including Benjamin Cassidy, a top official at the department’s external affairs office and former National Rifle Association lobbyist; Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Douglas Domenech; White House liaison Lori Mashburn, a former Heritage Foundation staffer; and others.

The officials are among a little-known but powerful group of Department of Interior political appointees — many of whom joined the agency after careers with fossil fuel groups or conservative lobbying organizations. Amid an environment of persistent ethics issues at the Interior Department, these officials are responsible for the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to roll back environmental protections and open public lands to extractive industry interests.

Trump v California: administration wants to get billions in rail funding back

One week after Donald Trump called California’s high-speed rail project a “‘green’ disaster”, the US Department of Transportation announced plans to cancel $929m in federal grant funds that were yet to be paid toward the $77bn endeavor.

The department also “is actively exploring every legal option to seek the return from California of $2.5bn in federal funds FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) previously granted,” according to the statement released Tuesday.

The moves come a week after California Governor Gavin Newsom said during his state of the state address, that the high-speed railway project as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long”. Opponents of the ambitious project interpreted his comments as a declaration that “the train to nowhere has finally stopped” and that Newsom was canceling the leg of the plan that extended the railway from San Francisco to Los Angeles. But Newsom’s office later clarified that he meant only that “we have to be realistic about the project”.

Federal Railroad Administrator Ronald Batory argued on Tuesday that Newsom had “presented a new proposal that represents a significant retreat from the state’s initial vision and commitment and frustrates the purpose for which federal funding was awarded”. The Federal Railroad Administration determined that the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the state-run organization tasked with overseeing the project “has materially failed to comply with the terms” of the agreement that promised $929m in federal funds for construction, Batory wrote in a letter to Brian Kelly, the authority’s chief executive.


Also of Interest

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

Intercepted podcast: Regime Change We Can Believe In: The U.S. Agenda in Venezuela, Haiti, and Egypt

Podemos was the dazzling new force in Spanish politics. What went wrong?

Six Thoughts On Bernie 2020

Beyond the Rising Tide: Reparations for Slavery Has to Be More Than a Threat

Brexit and Labour’s Spat: Everything That’s Wrong with The Independent Group

Feds share terrorist watchlist with 1,400 private groups

This Is What the Beginning of a Real Israel Debate Looks Like

CNN Hires Trump Official Who Used Same Anti-Press Rhetoric as Man Who Sent Bombs to CNN

US hate groups have seen ideas enter mainstream in Trump era, report finds

hat tip Azazello:

I Don't Give A Shit How You Bend The Cost Curve

The First Rule of AIPAC Is: You Do Not Talk about AIPAC


A Little Night Music

Roy Milton And His Band - Baby I'm Gone

Roy Milton And His Solid Senders - Where There Is No Love

Roy Milton - Hush

Roy Milton - Boogie Woogie Baby

Roy Milton And His Solid Senders - Junior Jives

Roy Milton & His Solid Senders - Hop Skip & Jump

Roy Milton - R.M. Blues

Roy Milton - True Blues

Roy Milton - Oh Babe


Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

JekyllnHyde's picture

By the way, I caught the last few minutes of MTM Daily on MSNBC. The panel that Toad had was very impressed with Bernie's $6 million haul in the first 24 hours of his campaign. Michael Steele all but declared Bernie to be the favorite to secure the nomination. He said that not unlike Trump in 2016, 30%-40% support in a crowded field of candidates ensures victory for Bernie. Even Toad had yesterday's DK poll splashed in large letters and (grudgingly) acknowledged that Bernie has staying power and would be a formidable 2020 candidate. The look on his face said that maybe Markos was, as usual, favoring the wrong candidate(s).

Once the video becomes available, I'm sure someone will write more about it.

up
0 users have voted.

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

joe shikspack's picture

@JekyllnHyde

heh, love the cartoon. we have so long needed a national conversation about our priorities. i don't really trust any set of politicians and chattering class morons to carry it on, though.

i was gratified to see kos' poll more accurately reflect the kind of site it was many years ago, before he got through the gates and welded them shut behind him.

up
0 users have voted.

@JekyllnHyde
TPTB are executing a strategy of flooding the field so as to get to the convention without a candidate, force a second ballot, and allow the superdelegates to anoint the nominee.

i doubt that such a scheme is in play, but if it is, then i think they are miscalculating badly. that's exactly the situation the GOP was in -- an endless procession of "front-runners" going up against Trump, who just held steady winning his 25 or 35% victories ... "and then there were none". no single candidate was ever able to muster a significant enough level of support to keep Trump from a first-ballot victory, and the arithmetic of both the republican and democratic delegate assignments tended to favor the first past the post in each state.

up
0 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@UntimelyRippd

that strategy of getting to a second ballot has certainly crossed my mind. i guess there are a couple of things that might make sanders' run in a crowded field a little different than trumps. first, trump got billions of dollars of free media publicity, while sanders was battered from pillar to post by the big outlets (especially wapo). second, gaffes, outrageous conduct and obvious repeated falsehoods made absolutely no difference for trump. sanders every statement will be subjected to scrutiny, then twisted and turned into fodder to be amplified by the flapping gums of the usual corporate presstitute suspects.

there will be no media "free pass" for sanders like there was for trump.

up
0 users have voted.

@UntimelyRippd I think the Democrats dole out the delegates proportionally. I am in agreement with those that think that no one will enter the convention with the required number of delegates to claim victory, unless someone runs away from the pack. That would be joy to people like Donna Brazile.

up
0 users have voted.

It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan

Hang in there bud.

up
0 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

thanks, i'm doing just fine. after i spend some time reading the news, i generally take a nice walk and today's walk in a "winter wonderland" was quite refreshing.

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

We got 8 inches in Ogden, but SLC got none.. i washed my car Saturday because it was caked with sand and salt. Sigh.

up
0 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

we got 4-5 inches so far, and a bit of light rain/sleet which they call "wintry mix" on teevee. there's a possibility that we could get more snow, rain and/or sleet by morning.

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

Yucky snow for skiing that's for sure. Ours was the kind everyone dreams about. Light and fluffy snow, but that's because it was below 20. I've been looking at Mt. Ogden where the ski resort is on the backside and wishing that I was a few decades younger again. Fond memories of skiing every chance I got. Maybe I'll try snow shoeing some day. Right now Abby isn't able to do it with me.

Guess it wasn't too cold where you live? Did you ski in your younger days or do anything in the snow? Most people who complain about winter here don't find ways to play in it.

up
0 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

and then turned to the "wintry mix" as the day got warmer. fortunately, i shoveled the walk while the snow was light and fluffy.

i was never any good at skiing, but i've done some snowshoeing, winter hiking and dog-sledding. these days, though, i prefer shorter jaunts out in the snow followed by hanging out at the fireplace watching the snow falling outside with a warm beverage in hand. Smile

up
0 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

It worked out so well the last time we made that mistake.

atoms-for-peace-stamp.png
up
0 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

yeah, it's kind of sad that it seems that every great advance is first hailed to be a boon to mankind and then it turns out that the use that these advances are put to sink mankind further into the muck.

"We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner."

-- Omar Bradley

up
0 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

@joe shikspack

...on this, and boy does it go deep. Beyond the surface pitch:

IP3 International, a consortium of nuclear power producers, are working to get U.S. government approval of next-generation advanced and small modular nuclear reactors so they can sell them to the world “at a difficult time for our domestic market.”

They want the Trump administration to help make U.S. nuclear power more competitive globally, such as with financing assistance to vie against subsidized companies.

More like they want to be subsidized with free government national security money so they can compete against France, etc. and still make more money.

The NY Times noted last November that: “Privately, administration officials argue that if the United States does not sell the nuclear equipment to Saudi Arabia someone else will — maybe Russia, China or South Korea.” 

But the real story is the unilateral rule of the US Global Empire, as usual — and US control and profitability over all technology development in all nations. The IP3 is using the Empire stick to goad the Neocon swamp things:

Energy is an essential driver of every economy. It enables formation of businesses, jobs and the possibility of prosperity. Ironically, because we are so richly blessed with energy we tend to take it for granted. But what if your electricity were provided by an authoritarian government such as Russia or China? Before long that could well become the case for much of the world.

In other words, how are we going to impose harsh energy sanctions on other nations for disobeying the US and acting like socialists, if we don't control the technology they are using to produce their own energy?

When America is not at the table, we have little say about how countries use their nuclear technologies. America is now allowing nuclear power’s fate to be determined by anti-nuclear activism. The rest of the world is moving forward in nuclear energy, while America is regressing. The United States is unilaterally surrendering its leadership in nuclear energy to Russia and China because of its failure to develop a comprehensive energy policy. America should be doing a whole lot more to protect its leadership in nuclear energy.

Plus: Anti-nuclear activists, Russia, Russia, Russia, and China! And, Iran too.

At least, that's my take.

up
0 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
joe shikspack's picture

@Pluto's Republic

i think that the other thing worth noting is that they need subsidies because nuclear power is an extremely expensive means of generation. solar and wind are far cheaper at this point, they don't require the level of expertise to deploy and maintain that nuclear does and you don't wind up with piles of nuclear waste at the end of the process that nobody has figured out a really good way to dispose of.

the only real reason for a country like saudi arabia (which has no shortage of sunshine or wind) to want nuke plants is to process weapons grade uranium. and, in fact, this is probably what trump wants them to do as a means to threaten iran. the behemoth corporations that sell nuke plants probably just don't care about the weapons production - they only care about money.

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

I got nuthin' It is nicely ironic for the original source of all of Ireland's troubles, Britain, to suddenly find that Ireland is the source of one of its bigger problems (other than that it was self-inflicted). Hah.

up
0 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

i would imagine that there might be a sense of cosmic justice among the irish as they watch their oppressor sink into irrelevance from self-inflicted wounds.

up
0 users have voted.
Raggedy Ann's picture

Every day we stand on the precipice of disaster. Holding one’s breath can result in fainting and falling into said precipice. It appears either way, we lose.

As far as selling our nuclear secrets to SA ~ how can we be surprised? Was money involved? Certainly. Where morals considered? Absolutely not. Is greed really good?

I’m trying to breathe through it.

Have a lovely evening, everyone! Pleasantry

up
0 users have voted.

"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

every day is a marvel.

breathe well and have a great evening!

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

No matter how much proof is shown that there was no collusion with Russia to sway the election people will continue to believe that it happened. They also won't admit that Hillary and Podesta just made up the story of Russia hacking the DNC so that people wouldn't focus on their content. Here's a new article showing how much evidence there is that disproves the narrative.

NarrativeRussiagate In Flames: No Evidence Of Collusion, New Findings Challenge DNC Hack Narrative

In terms of the larger political picture, Russiagate has been endlessly hyped to deflect from public outrage that rightfully erupted in response to overt election interference by the Democratic Party in the 2016 primary season. It has been used in an attempt to mask the failure of the Democrats and specifically Hillary Clinton as a Presidential candidate.

As long as the legacy press continues to use Russiagate to gaslight the public from focusing on ongoing domestic election interference, it remains imperative to point out that Russiagate, to date, has no basis whatsoever in fact. For that reason, Disobedient Media will continue to report on the subject as it develops.

Not only will the democrats hide behind Russia Gate to keep people seeing that they too are Empty Suit and have no plans to help stop Trump destroying everything he can, but to hide the facts that they don't have any plans to reverse the damage he's done. Plus the worst consequences of it will be the continuing censorship of any news websites that tells us the truth about our government.

^

up
0 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

yep, the 2016 election broke out into open information warfare - and the fight has not ended.

oh, gonna fix a sentence from up there:

"It has been used in an attempt to mask the failure criminality of the Democrats and specifically Hillary Clinton as a Presidential candidate."

there, fixed it.

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

I think if we ever get to see the evidence behind this Russian propaganda we would see how far out of bounds the Obama administration went to put Trump in the crosshairs. What I've seen so far shows me that a second special council should be formed, but I doubt that will ever happen.

up
0 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i think that second special counsel may have to wait for a truth and reconciliation committee.

up
0 users have voted.
Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

...and leaving next week, I wonder what will come of Roger Stone's indictment.

I don't think the investigation could be dragged out for another second. Too many people have picked up on the hoax. Ron Rosenstein is leaving with the rest of the circus.

Something tells me that nothing of Mueller's "investigation" will be released. I heard the pricetag for the hoax investigation could be as much as $60 million, and I realize that people are going to want to see what they paid for, but what good could come of it? The critical parts like Crowdstrike's collusion were never investigated. None of the evidence of the so-called hack was ever seen by anyone. And, like you say, the real conspiracy to overthrow a president will never be investigated.

This country is exactly what it looks like.

up
0 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

Even if he finds that nothing happened people still want Trump impeached. Gawd knows that he could be for many reasons, but that would bring people from past administrations into play and we cannot have that.

up
0 users have voted.

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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

As you point out, there are potential grounds for impeachment, particularly the war crimes. But nothing related to the fabricated Russian Hoax. There was nothing there to find. As for entrapping him in the process, that wasn't going to happen. Besides, as I have mentioned (you too), Trump has stacks of classified documents that expose the real conspirators subversive efforts to undermine the constitution. There's really no incentive to expose all that. I don't think it is reformable at the overlord level where the corruption has been institutionalized.

One thing I have learned after all this is that no one inside government has but a single piece of the big picture. Even the Intelligence agencies. Dirty though they may be, they don't know who they serve. Those who are elected are at the very bottom, operating in tight circles of imagined purpose.

up
0 users have voted.

____________________

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

up
0 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@gjohnsit

heh, he really does have a way of getting under just the right people's skin. Smile

up
0 users have voted.
The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijAYN9zVnwg]

Information Society - What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)

up
0 users have voted.

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

joe shikspack's picture

@The Aspie Corner

thanks for the tune. have a great evening!

up
0 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

So we are the ReichwingNuts of Ukraine's Navy now too? Are we winning again? Because being Bibi and MBS's lapdog is not enough groveling to mad men?

I saw an article about Saudi smuggling their criminally charged people out a couple weeks ago, one was a half-million bail paid. Wonder what you do for MBS when you get back after that? Kill a journalist? Top of the fallguy list?

Good to see Germany (and UK I heard) not buckle to the U.S. (corporate fascist) bullying
over Huawei.

The Dept. of the Interior has become a facilitator for extractive industry interests, whilst endangered species science and National Parks/Monuments are completely ignored.

I would say something about AIPAC, but the first rule of AIPAC is we do not talk about AIPAC.

Probably do not need to say Roy Buchanan's (Livestock version) "You Got me Reelin & Rockin'" shows what a fan he was of Roy Milton. Billy Price sings on the Livestock
version, think he was a Pittsburg dude, great great voice. Wonder if Roy Milton ever heard Roy's version. Even Roy's rhythm guitar work is soooo awesome.

In case the embed doesn't work here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpY7Xp5pTNY

Billy's vocals in Change my Mind are breathtaking too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJNNZ9_cX-c
Roy's lead solo is one of the tastiest every played.

up
0 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

heh, i guess we need to protect the nazi's in ukraine because, you know, russia! they're our most promising enemy.

yeah, i would expect to see western european countries departing from the desires of the u.s. empire on more and more things as time goes forward and the empire becomes increasingly delusional.

yep, i'm pretty sure billy price was from pittsburgh. he frequently showed up in my neck of the woods fronting the keystone rhythm band - a great act.

have a great evening!

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

can wait. I suggest you start an EB of good news. That will give you some time. There are none to cover and you have more time to walk the dogs in the winter snow.

Have a good day of sleep.

up
0 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

not to worry. i am a long way from bursting my bud of calm. Smile

up
0 users have voted.