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This evening's music features New Orleans jazz musician Louis Armstrong. Enjoy!

"The problem was that Panama technically belonged to Colombia, which refused to sign a treaty leasing it to the United States. So Roosevelt sent a gunboat filled with marines down to Panama, just on the off chance that a revolution might suddenly break out, and darned if one didn't, two days later. Not only that, but the leaders of the new nation of Panama -- talk about lucky breaks! -- were absolutely thrilled to have the United States build a canal there."

-- Dave Barry

News and Opinion

Venezuela Reveals America’s Sickness

Does the United States have the right to decide who governs Venezuela? The answer is a simple and resounding “No.” Those who respond in any other fashion are followers of the discredited doctrine of Manifest Destiny and are equally discredited themselves. Reactions to the Donald Trump coup attempt are quite revealing and prove that this country is indeed very, very sick. We can now see that most politicians are either cynical cowards who will go along to get along, or are true believers in imperialism like Trump and his presidential predecessors. ... Anyone who repeats the Trump administration talking points about starvation and tyranny in Venezuela is not to be trusted. The rationales for promoting a war crime may vary. Florida senator Marco Rubio intersperses his bible verse posts on twitter with threats to murder Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rubio is a dyed in the wool fascist and doesn’t shrink from proving it on a daily basis. Rubio is joined by Democratic colleagues like Chris Murphy, who called Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro an evil man and who criticizes Trump for style points only. He wants a more elegant intervention but he is no better than his Republican colleague.

All of the criminals have joined in the attack. Like a pack of predators they have lined up to assist in the kill. Democrats Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, and Dick Durbin have all repeated Trump’s assertions. Hillary Clinton may give Trump side eye in public, but she goes along because she agrees with him that Venezuelans have no rights that need to be respected. Other Democrats are mealy-mouthed like Bernie Sanders and claim to oppose intervention but never speak of Venezuela without condemning Maduro with Trumpian falsehoods. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was silent for weeks and finally posted a video describing Venezuela as a “failure of democracy” and repeated Trump claims of Maduro’s supposed authoritarianism.

Most political leaders in this country believe that Venezuela is in their “back yard” and they can decide to mow the lawn whenever they choose. There are old school ugly Americans like Rubio and cowards like members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are conspicuously silent. There are phony resisters who have spent two years calling Trump a racist, fascist, lying, traitorous maniac who will destroy the planet and yet they now find reasons to support the newest war crime. It is clear that most people in this country believe in the right to kill and steal as long as the crime is carried out by someone in the White House, even if that person is someone they claimed to dislike. No one in the corporate media or among so-called progressives will dare to point out what we have all lived through in very recent times. None of them have asked why the process repeats itself over and over again. But of course they don’t want to ask. Doing so would quite literally put them out of business. The corporate media and their friends among the ruling classes need puppets in government to give the criminal enterprise some legitimacy.

Venezuela is the very definition of a litmus test.

Debunking CNN Lies About Venezuela

Venezuela blocks off second bridge to Colombia as Guaidó flies to Brazil

Venezuelan authorities have blockaded a second bridge to Colombia amid fresh skirmishes between protesters and security forces loyal to embattled leader Nicolás Maduro. The move came as opposition leader Juan Guaidó travelled to Brazil to shore up international pressure on Maduro following an inconclusive meeting of regional leaders in Colombia earlier this week.

Early on Wednesday, two shipping containers were positioned across the Simón Bolívar bridge, a major pedestrian crossing between the two countries, following days of sporadic violence. The bridge was the focus of a failed weekend attempt to bring US food aid into the country as part of opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s campaign campaign to force Maduro from power. ...

The Colombian border has been closed to most vehicles since 2015 following a string of disputes between the two countries, and on Saturday Maduro closed all Venezuela’s borders.

Wow, Trump loves opening cans of worms! Worth a full read to get all of the detail.

Trump Threatens Havana With a New Embargo

The Trump administration is threatening to unleash a flood of lawsuits involving Cuba, which no U.S. president has ever done. It has set a deadline of March 2 to announce whether it will create, in the words of the National Lawyers Guild, “a second embargo” of Cuba — “one that would be very difficult to dismantle in the future.” President Donald Trump may give current U.S. citizens standing to sue in U.S. courts even if they were Cuban citizens when the Cuban government nationalized their property after the 1959 revolution. They would be able to bring lawsuits against U.S. and foreign companies that allegedly profit from the nationalized properties. ...

For 59 years, the United States has maintained a cruel embargo. “The embargo on Cuba is the most comprehensive set of U.S. sanctions on any country, including the other countries designated by the U.S. government to be state sponsors of terrorism — Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria,” according to the U.S. government. ... In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act, which codified the embargo into law so that no president could unilaterally lift the sanctions against Cuba. ...

After the Cuban Revolution, the new government led by Fidel Castro nationalized the property of Cuban nationals, many of whom then fled the country and emigrated to the United States. Helms-Burton contains a notorious provision in Title III that allows private lawsuits against U.S. and foreign entities for allegedly “trafficking” in property confiscated in Cuba since 1959. “Trafficking” as defined includes knowingly engaging in a commercial activity or otherwise “benefitting from confiscated property.” Every U.S. president beginning with Clinton has delayed the implementation of Title III by waiving its provisions in six-month increments. Clinton put Title III “on hold because it triggered immense opposition from U.S. allies, whose companies operating in Cuba would become targets of litigation in U.S. courts,” American University professor and Cuba scholar William M. LeoGrande wrote in The Conversation.

Thus far, the Trump administration has followed suit with three six-month waivers. But on Jan. 16, the president waived Title III for only 45 days, from Feb. 1 to March 17, while his administration conducts “a careful review” of whether to allow the provision to go into effect. He will announce his decision by March 2. If Trump does activate Title III, it would be the first time since Helms-Burton was enacted. It would tie up U.S. and foreign firms in a tidal wave of litigation if they do business with Cuba — including in medicine and agriculture — and have allegedly benefited from confiscated properties.

China is challenging U.S. power by buying up ports around the world

While the Trump administration has been focused on trade wars, China has found another way to challenge U.S. power — by using its signature overseas development policy, "The Belt and Road Initiative," to advance military interests, especially on the high seas.

China is using the debts it is owed by other countries to purchase or invest in strategically located ports around the world on terms favorable to Beijing. The country is investing in ports located near U.S. military bases in places like in Djibouti, countries like Israel and Greece, which are traditionally U.S. allies, and, increasingly, in Latin America.

In the last few decades, China's Navy has gone from practically nonexistent to one of the largest navies in the world. Analysts see the "Belt and Road" initiative as key to extending Beijing's naval power, and realizing President Xi Jinping's goal of building a military capable of confronting the U.S. on the world stage.

Since 2013, China has lent or invested more than a $1 trillion abroad, much of it for port infrastructure, but that money often comes with significant strings attached. And when another country can't pay, China takes advantage.

“The Korean People Want Peace:” Christine Ahn on Trump Walking Away from N. Korea Nuclear Talks

Pakistan’s PM says he will release the captured Indian pilot as a “peace gesture”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday his government would return a captured Indian air force pilot whose jet was shot down over Kashmir as a “peace gesture” between the nuclear-armed rivals.

"We have an Indian pilot. As a peace gesture we will release him tomorrow," Khan told parliament in the capital, Islamabad. “Pakistan wants peace, but it should not be treated as our weakness... The region will prosper if there is peace and stability. It is good for both sides.”

The announcement of the pilot’s impending release is the most significant sign so far of a potential de-escalation in tensions, which have been ratcheting closer to war since an attack claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group killed 40 Indian officers on Feb. 14. On Tuesday, India carried out air raids over Pakistani territory, its first in nearly 50 years, and on Wednesday, Pakistan responded in kind.

Asad Ali, senior analyst at IHS Markit, told VICE News that Khan's statement had widened the scope for de-escalation, leaving "the ball very much in India’s court in terms of further military action."

Iranian FM Javad Zarif Thanks Supporters, Will Remain in Post

Days after his resignation, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif remains in office, and signed two deals to expand cooperation with nearby Armenia. His resignation was rejected by President Hassan Rouhani.

The resignation effectively never happened, but it is still surrounded
in speculation, as many analysts believe it reflects the ongoing
internal dispute within Iran between the Reformists, which include Zarif and Rouhani, and more hardline factions.

This dispute is broad and touches on a lot of issues, but the biggest split is through Zarif’s office. Rouhani is a supporter of rapprochement with the West, and Zarif was a big part of making the P5+1 nuclear deal. The hardliners opposed the deal, saying the US could not be trusted.

hat tip snoopydawg:

With Oil, Water and Iran as Targets, US on Brink of Recognizing Israeli Sovereignty Over Golan Heights

A new bill recently introduced in the Senate, along with its companion bill in the House, would result in the United States government recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s Golan Heights, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967. The territory was later annexed in 1981, but the international community — including the United States — has not recognized Israel’s claim to the Syrian territory.

In addition, the bill would also promote the U.S. conducting “joint projects” with Israel in the Golan, including “industrial research and development.” This is sure to result in joint U.S.-Israeli efforts to extract the large oil reserves recently discovered in the Golan Heights, as the rights to extract that oil were granted to the joint U.S.-Israeli venture Genie Energy soon after its discovery was made public.

The move to introduce legislation regarding the contested territory has been hinted at for months by top Israeli officials, especially following the decision of the Trump administration to unilaterally recognize the city of Jerusalem as belonging exclusively to Israel and as being that country’s capital.

Last May, Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz told Reuters that Washington’s endorsement of Israel’s control of the Golan Heights was now “topping the agenda” in bilateral diplomatic talks between the two countries, and that such a move would likely come within a matter of months, though it apparently took longer than Katz had originally anticipated. Katz also had stated that U.S. recognition of the Golan was being peddled to the Trump administration as a way to further counter Iran, the goal that has now become the guiding force behind President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy. In addition, Katz had stated that bilateral discussions regarding U.S. recognition of the Golan had vastly expanded to involve various levels of the U.S. administration as well as several Congressmen.

Trudeau officials accused of 'sustained' effort to interfere in bribery prosecution

Canada’s former minister of justice and attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould has described a consistent, sustained and inappropriate effort by senior officials close to prime minister Justin Trudeau who were attempting to dissuade her from prosecuting a Canadian engineering company accused of bribery. In searing testimony to the justice committee on Wednesday, Wilson-Raybould said the pressure on her included “veiled threats” if she did not acquiesce.

“I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada in an inappropriate effort,” she said in her opening statement. Wilson-Raybould’s appearance before the committee marked her first public comments on the scandal, which has become the biggest crisis of Trudeau’s administration.

In early February, the Globe and Mail reported that aides close to the prime minister had lobbied Wilson-Raybould to abandon plans to prosecute Quebec-based engineering company SNC Lavalin over accusations of fraud and bribery. Instead, they requested she pursue a “deferred prosecution agreement”, which allowed the company to pay a fine. ...

Wilson-Raybould also detailed a meeting with Trudeau, in which the prime minister said that – as a member of parliament from Quebec – he was concerned by the issue of SNC Lavalin jobs in the province, and asked her to “help out” with the case. “Are you politically interfering with my role as attorney general? I would strongly advise against it,” Wilson-Raybould recalled telling the prime minister. “No, no, no, we just need to find a solution,” she said, recalling the prime minister’s answer.

Keiser Report: Warren Buffett’s big, fat pile of cash

Cory Booker and other 2020 hopefuls are about to drop a bill that would legalize marijuana everywhere

Sen. Cory Booker — and a host of other Democratic senators vying for the White House — are re-introducing a bill Thursday to legalize marijuana at the federal level and expunge the criminal records of previous marijuana offenders.

Booker first introduced the Marijuana Justice Act in 2017, though the bill never even had a committee hearing. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Kirsten Gillibrand, all 2020 candidates, are co-sponsoring the legislation. Midwestern Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Sherrod Brown, who are positioning themselves as moderate alternatives in the 2020 race, notably abstained from signing on to the legislation. ...

The failed War on Drugs has really been a war on people—disproportionately criminalizing poor people, people of color & people with mental illness. I’m reintroducing the #MarijuanaJustice Act to begin reversing our failed federal drug policies. Join us: https://t.co/K4Xgmai5xk

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) February 28, 2019

And it’s not enough to just legalize marijuana, we should help those with records for use and possession convictions, and allow people currently in prison for marijuana-related crimes to petition for resentencing, which is why my legislation includes expungement provisions.

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) February 28, 2019

The expungement proposed in the bill would apply to people who have already been convicted of marijuana offenses and are serving prison time. The bill also includes provisions that would establish reinvestment funds for communities hit particularly hard by the war on drugs. The funds would be used for job training, expenses related to expunging convictions, public libraries, community centers, and health education programs.

Ten states as well as Washington, D.C., have already legalized the use of recreational marijuana. In 2018, 21 states considered legislation or legal initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana. Two-thirds of Americans support the legalization of marijuana (an all-time high level of support), according to a recent Gallup poll.

Seth Meyers: 'If Mexico won’t pay for the wall, maybe Pfizer will'

On Tuesday’s Late Night, Seth Meyers took a break from Michael Cohen’s impending congressional testimony and legal challenges to Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to check in with the sky-high costs of prescription drugs in the US. The price for many life-saving drugs, such as insulin, has more than doubled in recent years, forcing people to resort to increasingly desperate measures for medicine. Meyers showed a clip from a recent NBC News segment that followed a group of Americans as they crossed the border into Tijuana to buy far cheaper insulin.

“So that’s where we are as a country right now: Trump’s trying to build a wall to prevent outsiders from coming in, while Americans are forced to cross the border into Mexico just to get affordable medication,” said Meyers. “Hey, if Mexico won’t pay for the wall, maybe Pfizer will.”

Vowing to Fight 'Until We Win,' Advocates Plan Nationwide Mobilization to Pass Medicare for All

With Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and more than 100 other House Democrats standing behind sweeping new Medicare for All legislation, advocates on Wednesday immediately mobilized to pressure lawmakers to pass the bill. On Capitol Hill, leaders of National Nurses United unveiled their plan to initiate more than 1,500 local canvassing operations across the country to continue building grassroots momentum—tapping into the growing demand for Medicare for All among the public. ...

The Medicare for All advocacy blitz will include canvassing and phone banking campaigns, and follow more than 150 barnstorms organized by NNU earlier this month. Organizing efforts are currently scheduled throughout throughout the month of March and into April. "The launch of today's bill is a monumental achievement in its own right," wrote NNU in an email to supporters. "Just a few years ago, Medicare for All was viewed as little more than a far-away dream. Virtually zero legislators supported it, and even fewer had the courage to add their name to any bills publicly."

"But that didn't deter us. We've rallied and fought tirelessly—fueled by the belief that healthcare is a right, not a privilege—and now Medicare for All is supported by the majority of voters, the majority of Congressional Democrats, and the majority of 2020 presidential candidates," the group continued. "That's proof that our work is paying off. And this bill is our next big test."

Democrats just passed the first gun control out of Congress in more than two decades

The U.S. House of Representatives, now under Democratic control, passed the most sweeping gun-control measure that’s made it out of Congress in more than two decades when lawmakers voted Wednesday to require background checks on every gun purchase in America.

And while there’s almost no chance Majority Leader Mitch McConnell puts it up for a vote in the Senate, gun control advocates are cheering. ...

The measure closes so-called “loopholes” in the current background check law, extending them to online purchases, firearms purchased at gun shows, and private gun sales, though close family members are exempted from that provision. Eight Republicans crossed the aisle and supported it. ...

On Thursday the House is set to vote on a bill that expands the number of days licensed gun dealers must wait — from the current three days to 10 business days — for the federal background check to be completed before they can make their sale. And House Democrats are preparing a slew of other gun-control measures. But Republicans control the Senate and GOP leaders are showing little to no appetite to allow these measures to come to the floor for a vote.

How Wall Street Gave Us Trump w/Michael Hudson

Federal judge temporarily blocks Texas from purging voter rolls

A federal judge has blocked election officials in Texas from checking the citizenship of registered voters and potentially purging them from electoral rolls in a temporary order that marks a significant victory for civil rights activists.

The ruling by US district judge Fred Biery on Wednesday comes a month after the Texas secretary of state’s office flagged almost 100,000 registered voters who it claimed required a citizenship review in order to maintain the right to vote in the state. The office was later forced to concede the data it had used was significantly flawed as advocates argued it discriminated against Hispanic Americans. ...

The thousands of voters identified by the secretary of state’s office were individuals who recently had registered as non-citizens when applying for or renewing their driver’s license. The office later conceded that around a quarter of those flagged were naturalized citizens and, during court proceedings, accepted there were likely many more on the list who were now US citizens.

In a rebuke to the Texas secretary of state’s office, Biery said in his ruling that the process “was inherently paved with flawed results, meaning perfectly legal naturalized Americans were burdened with what the court finds to be ham-handed and threatening correspondence from the state”.

Cohen Kills Collusion Conspiracy Theory

Republican lawmakers ask Justice Department to investigate Michael Cohen for perjury

Two of President Donald Trump's closest allies on the House Judiciary Committee referred Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to the Justice Department Thursday for possible criminal prosecution, claiming to have evidence that Cohen "committed perjury and knowingly made false statements" to lawmakers during his day-long testimony Wednesday.

The criminal referral -- sent by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, and North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows -- outlined several areas of testimony they urged the Justice Department to investigate, including Cohen's claims Wednesday that he did not seek a job in the Trump White House, his denial of committing bank fraud, as well as his assertion that the did not have any reportable contracts with foreign entities.

Claim Trump Had Prior Knowledge Of Wikileaks Fails Hilariously

In 'Historic Vote,' Ohio City Residents Grant Lake Erie Legal Rights of a Person

Tired of receiving notices warning that their drinking water may have been compromised and having little recourse to fight corporate polluters, voters in Toledo, Ohio on Tuesday approved a measure granting Lake Erie some of the same legal rights as a human being. Sixty-one percent of voters in Tuesday's special election voted in favor of Lake Erie's Bill of Rights, which allows residents to take legal action against entities that violate the lake's rights to "flourish and naturally evolve" without interference.

Toledoans for Safe Water led a years-long campaign to convince voters that their city's charter must be amended to ensure that the "environmental burden" carried by the lake, which provides drinking water to 12 million Americans and Canadians, must be reduced. "Beginning today, with this historic vote, the people of Toledo and our allies are ushering in a new era of environmental rights by securing the rights of the Great Lake Erie," said Markie Miller of Toledoans for Safe Water in a statement.

Under the Bill of Rights, residents will now have legal standing in court to sue corporate polluters on behalf of Lake Erie and to seek damages which would be used to rid the lake of pollution. ...

"People need to start relying on our democracy to hold polluters accountable," Mike Ferner of another local group, Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie (ACLE), told the Toledo Blade. "Regulatory agencies have not been doing their jobs for a long time. We're still going to try to get them to do what they're supposed to do. But there's no reason to be limited just to that if there are creative approaches out there such as the Lake Erie Bill of Rights."

Who’s Afraid of the Green New Deal?

For years, the terms of the debate about climate change in the United States have been clear. One side — flush with fossil fuel cash — cast doubt on whether the problem existed at all, spreading disinformation and calling global warming an elaborate hoax to bring about socialism. For the most part, they were Republicans. On the other side were those who believed the science and usually rallied around some call for climate action, however vague. The conversation around the Green New Deal has brought those sides together, as politicians on both sides of the aisle scramble to cobble together a third way. That Republicans being paid by the fossil fuel industry have come out against a plan for the United States to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is hardly surprising. That they’re being joined by prominent Democrats in casting doubt on the idea is a signal for how old tribalisms around climate change are starting to radically shift.

“The Anti-Green New Deal Coalition,” a new report from the Public Accountability Initiative, or PAI, attempts to map these evolving allegiances. Unsurprisingly, a common bipartisan thread in Green New Deal opposition is fossil fuel donations. Raking in 81 percent of all oil and gas donations since 1990, today’s GOP “operates as a de facto wing of the fossil fuel industry,” the report’s authors write. ... Yet Democrats — and those ambivalent or hostile to the Green New Deal, in particular — have accepted their share of coal, oil, and gas money too. ... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who famously called the Green New Deal the “green dream or whatever” — is also backed by the fossil fuel industry. E&E News found that Pelosi and four of her top allies have collected $790,000 from fossil fuel interests, and that either they or their spouses have “tens of thousands of dollars invested in a fossil-fuel-powered electric utility, a natural gas infrastructure company and several funds with significant fossil fuel assets.”

So far, 89 House and 11 Senate Democrats have signed on to the Green New Deal resolution, introduced by Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey earlier this month, which leaves many still on the sidelines. HuffPost’s Alex Kaufman calculated that senators opposed to the Green New Deal accepted an average of seven times more money in donations from fossil fuel companies than the resolution’s co-sponsors. ...

There may be no issue that lends itself better to a “which side are you on”-style politics than the climate crisis — that is, do we do everything necessary to avoid the worst or not? Scientists rarely stutter about the scale of change needed, which many have likened to the Allies’ economy-wide mobilization for World War II. In the eleventh hour to preserve a habitable planet, simply believing climate change is real isn’t enough.

Senate confirms Andrew Wheeler as EPA administrator along mostly party-line vote - ABC News

Andrew Wheeler will be the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after the Senate voted to confirm him in a mostly party line vote.

The Senate confirmed Andrew Wheeler's promotion to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in a 52-47 vote on Thursday, seven months after his predecessor Scott Pruitt resigned.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican to vote against Wheeler. She said that despite his experience she can't support his policies, citing the threat of climate change and EPA's proposals to roll back or replace policies intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution. ...

One Democrat, Sen. Kristen Sinema of Arizona, did not vote.

Also of Interest

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

Deconstructed Podcast: Ilhan Omar Speaks Out on Her Twitter Scandal, Anti-Semitism, and a Progressive Foreign Policy

The Holes in Jorge Ramos’ Story About His Clash with Nicolas Maduro

Why Are Democrats Trying to Torpedo the Korea Peace Talks?

The Right May Finally Get Its War on Iran

Labor Unions Are Skeptical of the Green New Deal, and They Want Activists to Hear Them Out

Confirmed: Andrew Wheeler’s Love of Polluters, Disdain for Science and Public Health

Millions of Ugandans quit internet after introduction of social media tax

Low pay, large classes, funding cuts: behind new wave of US teachers' strikes

A Little Night Music

Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - Hotter Than That

Louis Armstrong & King Oliver - Chimes Blues

Louis Armstrong - Canal Street Blues

Louis Armstrong - Duke's Place

Louis Armstrong - Now You Has Jazz

Louis Armstrong - Potato head blues

Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - Savoy Blues

Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - Muskrat Ramble

Louis Armstrong - Skokiaan

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams