The Evening Blues - 2-3-20



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Baby Face Leroy

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues singer and drummer Baby Face Leroy. Enjoy!

Baby Face Leroy - Boll Weevil

"[James] Mitchell is our own monster, as is his running buddy, John Bruce Jessen. The two of them were allowed to be monsters by the American government of the time. The two of them were paid handsomely to be monsters by the American government of the time. The two of them were paid handsomely to create monsters out of other people, and they did that job remarkably well. ... There is a price we all pay when one administration decides not to look at the crimes of the one that preceded it. People should remember that."

-- Charles P. Pierce


News and Opinion

Second CIA contractor testifies in 9/11 case at Guantanamo

A former CIA contractor who helped design a harsh interrogation program following the the Sept. 11 attacks sought Friday to minimize the severity of techniques used on the men facing war crimes charges for their alleged roles in the plot.

John Bruce Jessen, testifying in public for the first time about an interrogation program long shrouded in secrecy, told a military court at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that the techniques used against detainees had been shown to have no lasting effects and were used only a small portion of the time they were in captivity.

Jessen said the techniques, which included waterboarding and prolonged sleep deprivation, were employed only to gather intelligence aimed at preventing another terrorist attack.

“If at at any time they didn’t want the techniques to be applied, all they had to do was talk, and most of them did that right away, ” said the retired Air Force psychologist.

Jessen took the stand after eight days of testimony by James Mitchell, also a retired Air Force psychologist. The pair are considered the architects of the interrogation program, which was used on detainees in clandestine CIA facilities around the world and is now largely viewed as torture. ...

Jessen is scheduled to resume testifying at a pretrial hearing in March.

Iraq protesters unconvinced after Mohammed Allawi named PM

Iraq’s president has named former communications minister Mohammed Allawi as the country’s new prime minister after an 11th-hour consensus among political blocs, but the streets were ambivalent about his nomination. Baghdad and the mainly Shia south have been gripped by four months of anti-government rallies demanding snap elections, a politically independent prime minister and accountability for corruption and protest-related violence.

Prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned in December but political factions had been unable to agree on a replacement. Frustrated by the delays and worried about further instability, president Barham Saleh gave political blocs until Saturday to nominate a new prime minister, sending them into crisis talks that produced a consensus on Allawi.

On Saturday evening, Allawi addressed Iraqis on state television, pledging to form a representative government, hold early parliamentary elections and ensure justice for protest-related violence – all key demands of protesters.

Israel has played a key role in US aggression towards Iran

Trump’s Regime Change Policy for Iran Is a Fevered Fantasy — It Will Only Promote Chaos and Instability

The Trump administration has been a dream come true for hawks in Washington — particularly those harboring fantasies of vengeance and retribution against Iran. ... It’s unclear where all this is headed, but for many Trump administration figures, there seems to be an ideal outcome in mind: regime change. ... Lacking the ability to win through overt war, the U.S. settled on a policy of making Iran as ungovernable as possible through sanctions and other forms of pressure, hoping that this leads to an uprising that topples the government and, presumably, ushers in something better. Yet this approach looks likely to make life as miserable as possible for ordinary Iranians while failing to create political change in their country. ...

Given the apparent mismatch between its dreams and its abilities when it comes to regime change, it’s possible that the Trump administration is pursuing a subtler policy towards Iran. Top administration officials have recently begun promoting the idea of a new agreement with Iran to replace the Obama-era nuclear deal. The odds of this offer being serious are unlikely. The nuclear deal was a complex undertaking that took years of negotiations to conclude. It was particularly sensitive due to the history of distrust between the two sides. Rather than a serious offer of talks, the Trump administration is simply seeking diplomatic cover while ramping up its own covert and overt actions against Iran. ...

For the remainder of Trump’s term — as well as his next term, if reelected — we can expect an intensification of the undeclared U.S. war with Iran. There will be more sanctions, more military actions against Iranian-backed proxies in the Middle East, and more political pressure against Iran in international forums. We might also see the intensification of a troubling new phenomenon: the targeted killing of Iranian leaders. As more information about the circumstances of Suleimani’s recent assassination has come to light, legal experts are raising alarms about the illegality of assassinating a high-ranking official of a foreign government. The lines between who can legally be killed outside of a formal declaration of war have been further blurred by the brazen killing ordered by Trump. The nebulous practices of the so-called global war on terrorism used to be defended as a way of targeting nonstate militants. With the killing of Suleimani, however, that war has been extended to states as well. The consequences of these shifts — in a world where drones and other means of remote killing are rapidly proliferating — are frightening to consider.

All things considered, the extent to which the Trump administration considered or even cared about such questions is probably limited. In pursuing an aggressive policy towards Iran with no obvious objective, Trump has now extended the most controversial counterterrorism practices of the post-9/11 era to a dangerous new frontier. The law of war might then become just another casualty along the way. “Applying the view of terrorism to a state actor destroys the notion of sovereignty, international law, and the distinction between war and peace,” said Stephen Wertheim, the deputy director of research and policy at the Quincy Institute. “We can’t even say for sure right now if we’re at war with Iran or not. But we may look back in the future and realize that the war started with the assassination of Suleimani.”

Trump appears to confirm killing of al-Qaida leader in Yemen

Donald Trump appeared on Saturday to confirm the death of Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen, through a series of tweets.

According to a New York Times report on Friday, Rimi, 41 and the leader of the splinter-group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is believed to have been killed in a drone strike in Wadi Abedah in the centre of the war-torn country last month.

On Saturday, Trump was at his Florida resort. Before the strike had been publicly confirmed by either US authorities or AQAP, he retweeted posts from an intelligence analyst and a reporter that discussed reports of Rimi’s death. He then tweeted a picture of his golf swing. ...

Rimi was considered a potential successor to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian leader of al-Qaida’s strategic operations. In 2006, Rimi and other AQAP members escaped from prison in Yemen to establish what the US considered to be one of al-Qaida’s most vigorous local branches, orchestrating attacks on pipelines carrying oil and gas to terminals in the south of the country.

Who will control Mediterranean gas: Turkey’s and France’s conflict at sea

Syrian mercenaries in Libya reportedly desert, flee to Italy

Reports have emerged recently that a number of the Syrian mercenaries fighting in Libya on behalf of Turkey have already deserted their ranks and fled to Italy, according to a report in the French daily Le Monde, which quoted French intelligence sources.

French President Emmanuel Macron had accused Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday of breaking promises made at the Berlin conference on Libya after Turkish warships and Syrian fighters arrived in the north African country to fight against Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar in early January.

A French military source also said on Thursday, that France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier spotted a Turkish frigate escorting a cargo ship this week delivering armored vehicles to the Libyan capital Tripoli in defiance of a UN embargo, AFP reported. There are allegedly plans to send an additional 6,000 troops, according to reports from mercenaries.

LNA spokesman Major General Ahmed Al-Mismari said mercenaries sent by Turkey “do not believe that they will be returning to Turkey or Syria, so trying to get to Europe is the most logical option for them.” ...

The UK-based Syrian Observatory Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the mercenaries are offered $2,000 salaries, and Turkish citizenships if they complete six months in deployment, the SOHR said in an earlier report.

In Wake of Trump-Netanyahu Proposal, Palestinian Authority Cuts Ties With US

The Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, announced on Saturday that it would act immediately to cut ties with the U.S. after President Donald Trump unveiled a so-called peace plan that effectively allows Israel carte blanche to continue the occupation and theft of Palestinian land.

"We've informed the Israeli side ... that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States including security ties," Authority president Mahmoud Abbas told members of the Arab League in an emergency meeting called to assess options for the Palestinian people.

According to Reuters reporting:

The Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo said the plan would not lead to a comprehensive and just peace, and that the League would not cooperate with the United States in implementing it.

The ministers affirmed Palestinian rights to create a future state based on the land captured and occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, with East Jerusalem as capital, the final communique said.

Foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, among others, said there could be no peace without recognizing Palestinian rights and a comprehensive solution.

Abbas also said he had refused to look at the plan or talk to Trump on the phone about it to avoid giving the U.S. president the ability to claim Abbas had been consulted.

"Trump asked that I speak to him by phone but I said 'no,' and that he wants to send me a letter," said Abbas, "so I refused to receive it."

U.S. Envoy Warns Palestinians Against Raising Opposition to U.S. Peace Plan at U.N.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft warned the Palestinians on Friday that bringing their displeasure with the U.S. peace plan to the world body would only "repeat the failed pattern of the last seven decades."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will speak in the U.N. Security Council in the next two weeks about the plan, Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour said on Wednesday, adding that he hoped the 15-member council would also vote on a draft resolution on the issue.

However, the United States is certain to veto any such resolution, diplomats said. That would allow the Palestinians to take the draft text to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, where a vote would publicly show how the Trump administration's peace plan has been received internationally.

Craft said that while the Palestinians' initial reaction to the plan was anticipated, "why not instead take that displeasure and channel it into negotiations?" ...

Mansour said on Thursday: "There is not a single Palestinian official (who) will meet with American officials now after they submitted an earthquake, the essence of it the destruction of the national aspirations of the Palestinian people. This is unacceptable."

Boris Johnson Trade Talks With US Raising Fears in UK of 'Shock Doctrine Brexit'

Social justice advocates in the United Kingdom are raising concerns over a trade deal being negotiated with the United States by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after reports surfaced that American leaders are planning to use leverage provided by Brexit to force a scheme of privavitzation and the stripping of protections from British workers.

"These trade talks are being conducted with excessive levels of secrecy," Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden said in a statement Sunday.

After the U.K. left the European Union on Friday through Brexit, Britons were left wondering how the island nation would renegotiate trade deals with its global partners. Johnson is expected to begin formal talks with both the U.S. and E.U. on Monday.

While the U.K. is now officially out of the E.U., the two sides have eleven months to work out what exactly that separation looks like.

The deal with the U.S. is slightly more straightforward, in theory, though Johnson and his government have kept negotiations a secret from the public and Parliament. Documents from the talks leaked in November show a push to privatize the National Health Service to make the U.K.'s popular universal system more like the U.S. private insurance scheme.

Beyond the NHS, Global Justice said in a press release, "U.S.demands are to radically alter the sort of food on sale in Britain after Brexit, undermine farmers' livelihoods, threaten the NHS, make tackling climate change more difficult, and allow big tech companies like Facebook an effective veto over Britain's tax policy; all things which would be impossible if Britain were to retain closer alignment with Brussels."

Labour shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer told the Guardian Friday that Johnson's approach to Brexit and subsequent trade deals could sink the U.K. economy and cause major damage to the country's way of life.

"Johnson either doesn't understand or doesn't care about the damage the Brexit deal he is proposing will do to the country," said Starmer.

Global Justice's Dearden said that while a deal with the U.S. "would be a bonanza for big business," it would likely hurt Britons.

"For all of this to happen, Britain would have to move away from our current standards and protections," said Dearden. "That's what Donald Trump is pushing, and the U.K.'s current position suggests that he's succeeded and is pulling the prime minister's strings in these trade talks, pushing us into a 'shock doctrine Brexit.'"

Brex-what happens next?

Tusk: EU would be enthusiastic if Scotland applied to rejoin

Donald Tusk, the former president of the European council, has said there would be widespread enthusiasm in the EU if Scotland applied to rejoin after independence. In remarks that will boost Nicola Sturgeon’s campaign for a second referendum, Tusk told the BBC he had great sympathy with the desire of many Scots to rejoin the EU after Brexit.

“I want to stop myself from saying something too blunt. Sometimes I feel I am Scots. I’m very Scottish now, especially after Brexit,” he told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show. “Emotionally, I have no doubt everyone would be enthusiastic here, in Brussels and more widely in Europe, but still we have treaties and formalities. But if you ask me about our emotions, there’s a genuine feeling. You will witness only, I think, empathy.”

Scotland voted 62% in favour of remaining in the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and in every election since has shown more than 70% support to parties that backed a second EU referendum or scrapping Brexit. After a YouGov poll put backing for independence at 51% (excluding those who said they didn’t know) last week, Sturgeon is hoping to boost support for a fresh vote with a series of policy papers this summer setting out the case for independence.

Trump impeachment: looming Senate acquittal threatens to overshadow Iowa

As a growing number of Republican senators confirmed they will vote to acquit Donald Trump at the conclusion of his impeachment trial on Wednesday, the saga threatened to overshadow the first contest of the Democratic primary season in Iowa on Monday. ...

On Sunday, in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity broadcast as part of coverage of the Super Bowl, Trump said impeachment proceedings, in which state and intelligence officials provided firsthand testimony of the president’s attempts to secure foreign investigations of his political rivals, had been hurtful to his family. He also suggested the process would make it harder for his administration to co-operate with Democrats in passing legislation.

“They [Democrats] don’t care about fairness,” he said. “… You look at the lies, you look at the reports that were done that were so false. The level of hypocrisy. So I’m not sure if they can do it to be honest. I think they just want to win. It doesn’t matter how they win.”

Some senior GOP senators predicted on Sunday every Republican in the chamber would vote to acquit Trump on Wednesday, and suggested a handful of Democrats up for re-election in swing states might also vote to acquit.

Polling released by NBC and the Wall Street Journal on Sunday indicated that the country remains split over Trump’s impeachment, with 46% of registered voters supporting his removal and 49% believing he should remain.

Although Iowa holds the first vote for the Democratic nomination on Monday, many of the candidates, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, will be forced to return to Washington to hear closing arguments in the Senate trial. Trump is scheduled to deliver his state of the union address on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, giving him a primetime platform.

Trump impeachment: Republican Senate 'coverup' prompts backlash

Outraged by what they see as a coverup in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, grassroots activists are planning a massive “payback project” designed to punish Republican senators at the ballot box.

Even as key Republican senators acknowledged Trump’s guilt on charges of abusing power and obstructing Congress, they defied public opinion on Friday by voting to block witnesses and documents, paving the way for the president to be acquitted and claim exoneration. Republican fealty to Trump has long wearied liberals but the senators’ move appeared to cause a new level of anger. The Indivisible Project, a progressive group, announced it would target nine senators, among them majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in November’s elections.

Indivisible said it would next week call out one of the “nine Payback Project senators for their participating in a coverup by placing a full page newspaper ad in one of their biggest state papers”. In an appeal to activists, it said “rage is good for recruiting. Hello. Are you pissed about impeachment too?”


Critics Charge Trump Expansion of Muslim Ban Continuation of 'Cruel, Inhumane, Bigoted' Policies

A chorus of condemnation met President Donald Trump's order Friday to expand the so-called Muslim ban which restricts immigration to the U.S. from Mulsim msjority countries by another six nations.

"The policies this administration has enacted towards people seeking safety have been cruel, inhumane, bigoted," Amnesty International executive director Margaret Huang said in a statement. "Once again, we reject these policies."

Trump's order adds Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, and Tanzania to the restricted travel list. The order takes effect February 22.

"President Trump is doubling down on his signature anti-Muslim policy—and using the ban as a way to put even more of his prejudices into practice by excluding more communities of color," said ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project director Omar Jadwat. "Families, universities, and businesses in the United States are paying an ever-higher price for President Trump’s ignorance and racism."

As Reuters reported:

The original travel ban barred nearly all immigrants and travelers from seven countries with majority Muslim populations. The policy was revised amid court challenges, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld it in June 2018.

Trump has made cracking down on immigration a focus of his 2020 re-election campaign. His travel ban policy is popular with Republican supporters.

That appeal to the right was noted by the Center for Constitutional rights, which said in a statement that Trump is "sending a message that the xenophobic platform that he ran on is one that he will continue to deliver on regardless of legal and human consequences."

National Iranian American Council president Jamal Abdi also took aim at the continuation of a policy rooted in prejudice.

"Today’s expanded Muslim ban is yet another consequence of the courts and Congress allowing the President to discriminate against immigrant communities," said Abdi. "This expansion, which clearly has no basis in an imminent national security threat, should further motivate lawmakers to take swift action that has been delayed too long."

Margaret Kimberley discusses her new book "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents"



the horse race



Dennis Kucinich: The Democratic Party Has No Soul

In the latest installment of “Scheer Intelligence,” former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a lifelong progressive, speaks with Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer about the conflicts tearing at the Democrats as they enter the final months in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

“I want to begin with sort of a basic question,” says Scheer. “Is this battle between Hillary and Bernie Sanders — which of course was the subject of the last Democratic primary, in 2016 — is this really the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party?”

“Well, that assumes that the Democratic Party has a soul,” responds Kucinich, who has himself run for president as a Democrat twice. “I don’t know if we could grant that. But I would say it is certainly a battle for what the Democratic Party ought to stand for.

“Bernie Sanders has been able to delineate some very progressive points of view and policies during his time as a member of the House and as a member of the Senate. His campaign would take the Democratic Party in a new direction with respect to health care and education, hopefully a new direction in foreign policy. And Hillary Clinton, you have to remember, has been a singular spokeswoman for the national security state and for war.”

To the former congressman, who served alongside many of the Democrats currently running for president, his party began to lose its direction quite a long time ago.

“At its apex, [the Democratic Party has] been, for the last 30 years, the party of plutocracy,” he asserts. Kucinich goes on to highlight policy failings that have spanned recent decades, including the Financial Services Modernization Act, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, NAFTA and perhaps most important, the bailout of banks after the 2008 financial crash, all of which left communities across the U.S. economically devastated.

As Bernie Sanders Surges Ahead of Iowa Caucus, DNC Under Fire For Changing Rules to Help Bloomberg

What Happens If Nobody Wins Iowa?

A lot of Democrats, both in Iowa and nationally, are hoping Monday’s caucuses will provide some clarity for voters as to who can actually win the nomination, and who’d be best suited to take on Trump. But that may not happen. For the first time since the caucuses became the official start of the presidential primary system in 1972, the Iowa Democratic Party plans to release not one but three different election results Monday night. That means if there’s a close race, there could be multiple candidates legitimately claiming a caucus win.

Along with each candidate’s delegate equivalent number, the measure the party has released to show who won, they’re also planning to put out both the raw votes and the second-round caucus results after the people whose candidates don’t hit the 15% viability threshold at their caucus sites get to revote for a different candidate. ...

The Associated Press and most news outlets are going to go with the traditional number: state delegate equivalents. But the three different measures give campaigns wiggle room to choose the number they think will make them look the best.

Saagar Enjeti: Bernie could destroy Biden's campaign tonight

John Kerry discussed 2020 run to stop Sanders and save Democrats

Former presidential candidate and secretary of state John Kerry has reportedly been overheard discussing a late bid for the Democratic nomination, in order to stop “the possibility of Bernie Sanders taking down the Democratic party – down whole”. A day before the Iowa caucuses, Sanders leads the way in public polling concerning the first contest in the Democratic race to face Donald Trump in November. But many in the party see the independent senator from Vermont as too leftwing to be the nominee.

NBC News reported that one of its staff overheard Kerry talking on the phone at the Renaissance Savory hotel in Des Moines.

“Maybe I’m fucking deluding myself here,” he reportedly said, discussing with an unidentified caller how he would have to give up board positions and paid speeches if he ran but also saying donors like Doug Hickey, a venture capitalist, might “raise a couple of million” to help.

Asked about the call, Kerry said he was “absolutely not” considering a run, NBC reported.

Krystal Ball: How the media would spin a Bernie victory

As Over 3,000 Rally for Sanders, Influential Iowa Survey Shelved

Over 3,000 supporters Sen. Bernie Sanders came out to rally for the White House hopeful in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Saturday night, a showing that the Vermont senator's backers said is all the polling needed to show the momentum that's made Sanders a frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

"Our campaign has officially held the three largest rallies in Iowa," Bernie 2020 Iowa state director Misty Rebik said in a statement. "We've knocked over half a million doors in the last month. That is what we mean by 'Not Me, Us.'"

Sanders was expected Saturday night to place first in the influential and "gold standard" Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, but the poll was shelved after the campaign of former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed a supporter had encountered an irregularity with the pollsters.


"Release the poll or don't, I think we've got a pretty good idea already of who's ahead," tweeted Iowa Starting Line editor Pat Rynard.


NBC News reporter Alex Seitz-Wald, on the ground in Iowa, said Sanders had drawn the largest crowd of the four front-runners Saturday.

"Crowds ain't everything," tweeted Seitz-Wald, "but they ain't nothin either."

Bernie has the biggest energy in Iowa



the evening greens


Why were whales increasingly caught in crab lines? Because of the climate crisis

When humpback whales began to appear in large numbers off the California coast in 2015 and 2016, people celebrated the comeback of the whales after a near-miss with extinction. However, the excitement was quickly met with new worries – the whales increasingly got caught up in fishermen’s crab ropes. By 2016, there were more than 50 recorded entanglements that left whales injured or killed. Whales got ropes tangled around their mouths, making it difficult for them to eat. Crab lines cut through tissue and caused infections.

Although whales and fishing had coexisted for decades, this was a new problem. So what was driving it?

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications points at climate breakdown as a factor in the mass entanglements. When the situation was unfolding in 2015 and 2016, it surprised most people, but not Jarrod Santora, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the lead author of the paper.

Santora was studying the ecosystem effects of the marine heat wave, known as “the blob”, that was happening off the coast of California at the time. Heat waves alter the ocean’s upwelling – the process in which deep, cold, nutrient-rich water rises to the surface. The upwelling in 2015 and 2016 shrunk to just a narrow band along the coast, causing organisms to cluster there. Due to a heatwave-related decline in krill, whales switched to feeding on anchovies in shallower and shallower waters. In addition, the crab fishing season – an $88m industry on the US west coast – had been delayed from November to April, and came to coincide with the whales’ presence.

“It’s like when only one restaurant is open in a town, and everyone ends up piling in around that restaurant,” Santora explains. “And that can cause conflict. There were thousands of whales and thousands of crab pots going out, so was a perfect set of events to cause entanglements.”

Scientists Raise Alarm Over Warm Ocean Water Beneath 'Doomsday Glacier' in Antarctica

A study by British and American scientists revealed that a massive sheet of ice known as the "doomsday glacier" is melting faster than experts previously believed—edging the world closer to a possible sea level rise of more than 10 feet.

Researchers at New York University and the British Antarctic Survey drilled through nearly 2,000 feet of ice in the Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica, to measure temperatures at the 75-mile wide ice sheet's "grounding line," where the ice meets the ocean.

The water just beneath the ice was found to be 32º Fahrenheit—more than 2º above freezing temperature in the Antarctic region.

The findings have "huge implications for global sea level rise," NYU scientist David Holland said in a statement. ...

Scientists refer to Thwaites as the "doomsday glacier" due to the dire implications its rapid melting could have for the planet. Though a 10-foot sea level rise would likely take years, the melting of the glacier could eventually mean the U.S. would lose 28,800 square miles of coastal land—pushing 12.3 million people currently living in those areas out of their homes.

"Warm waters in this part of the world, as remote as they may seem, should serve as a warning to all of us about the potential dire changes to the planet brought about by climate change," Holland said.

The Thwaites glacier has lost 600 billion tons of ice over the past several decades, accelerating to as many as 50 billion tons per year in recent years.

Koala 'massacre': animals reported starving or dead after plantation logging

An investigation is under way into the alleged killing and starvation of koalas in south-west Victoria after several animals were put into veterinary care on Friday. The environmental group Friends of the Earth said a koala “massacre” had occurred during the logging of a bluegum plantation near Cape Bridgewater. The Victorian environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said she was “appalled” by the reports.

According to the animal activists, hundreds of koalas were killed or injured during logging activities. “A logging harvest was completed in late December 2019, where reports came in about the plight of hundreds of starving koalas,” Friends of the Earth says. “A couple of days ago people apparently witnessed the bulldozing of many dead koalas into slash piles.”

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning said it was extremely concerned about reports of animals showing signs of starvation and injury. It confirmed that an investigation was ongoing.


Also of Interest

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

The Neocons Strike Back

Confirmed: Elliott Abrams’s Defense of Mass Murder Was Based on Lies

James Mitchell Is Our Own American Monster

Ending Palestinian Statehood as ‘Path’ to Palestinian Statehood

Nils Melzer: A murderous system is being created before our very eyes

People Keep Dying In Mississippi Prisons but the Governor Wants to Move On

The Primary Mechanism Of Your Oppression Is Not Hidden At All

Media on Climate Crisis: Don’t Organize, Mourn

Grave fears held for thousands of rock art sites after bushfires lay bare irrevocable damage

2020 Elections: Can Bernie Sanders really pull this off?

Rising: Joe Rogan responds to Bernie Sanders' endorsement controversy

Rising: Sanders' campaign on key to victory

Rising: Sanders tops final Iowa polls

Krystal and Saagar dismantle ridiculous attack on Yang

RNC Spokesperson previews Trump, Bernie matchup

Buttigieg Surrogate: Unfair to tout first Iowa vote totals


A Little Night Music

Baby Face Leroy Trio - Rollin' And Tumblin'

Baby Face Leroy - Pet Rabbit

Baby Face Leroy - Blues Is Killin' Me

Baby Face Leroy Foster / Muddy Waters - Locked out Boogie

Little Walter Trio - Just Keep Lovin' Her

Little Walter Trio - Moonshine Blues

Baby Face Leroy and His Trio - My Head Can't Rest Anymore

Leroy Foster - Take A Little Walk With Me

Baby Face Leroy Trio - Red Headed Woman


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Comments

Raggedy Ann's picture

Iowa - finally.

Weather is going to change. 60 degrees today, 35 degrees tomorrow. Talked to my granddaughter in Colo Sprgs today and she said 65 yesterday, snow and cold today. Yup! There's no climate change going on!

Have a nail biter of an evening, everyone! Pleasantry

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5 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

Azazello's picture

@Raggedy Ann
'Course, we usually get one last cold snap in February. Mrs. Z reminds me that it snowed here last Feb. and the Great Freeze of 2011 happened in February. Two nights of 20 degrees shut down half the town. Still, short sleeves and flip-flops yesterday and a freeze warning tonight, quite a turnaround.

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4 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Raggedy Ann

we got hit with a warm spell today. it was like somebody accidentally hit a switch and turned on spring. temps went up into the low 60's today.

it will be interesting to see what happens in iowa. on the way home, i heard two reports. one said that turnout seemed high and the other said that turnout was lower than 2008 and 2016. go figure. Smile

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5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@Raggedy Ann

58 degrees yesterday and woke up to snow and 6 degrees with the wind chill. Made for a chilly walk. After I stopped to talk with my friend Charlie headed to the car. Last time she wore her sweater she scooted out of it. But it was so pretty today with the snow coating the trees.

Stay warm guys.

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5 users have voted.

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

So many things to unpack.
1) His contempt for the antiwar crowd
2) His failure to notice that Bernie has been thorough vetted.

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7 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@gjohnsit

poor chris matthews, suffering in the throes of a mcgovern flashback. i hope that he's right about sanders winning big.

if sanders does win big, get some earplugs, because the whining is going to be intense.

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5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Torture techniques were used only a small portion of the time they were in captivity.

“If at at any time they didn’t want the techniques to be applied, all they had to do was talk, and most of them did that right away, ” said the retired Air Force psychologist

Unfuckingbelievable that someone would offer that excuse up and not expect people to be shocked and disgusted by it.

But Tulsi... she got absolutely fried for voting present on impeachment, but it's just fine for Joe to vote anyway he wants cuz...oh hell you can see the excuses.

I'm waiting to see how this goes over on DK. They defend Manchin there because no one better could ever get elected. This is such a crappy cop out.

lol..but Russia

Let's talk about the elephant in the country.

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7 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i am impressed with how little press the testimony of our torture designers is getting. when it gets reported, very little of the testimony is quoted. what a good job our stenographer/propagandists are doing.

well now, if manchin gets a pass for introducing a censure motion, you could remind the people who complained about tulsi's present vote of this:

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Calls on House to Censure President for Putting Personal Political Gain Over National Interest

yeah, apparently in washington d.c. and some other places in america, israel is not a foreign nation.

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7 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

and democrats could have moved on. Turley is saying exactly that. Nancy said that it was imperative that she impeach him now cuz it was an ongoing crime, but then she waited a month to give it to the senate.

And for gawd's sake why is Adam in charge of the closing? Rachel is saying that his speech will be studied in text books in the future. Seriously? This crap?

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3 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 can't begin to imagine. however, after his time in elective office, he could start a great career as a de-motivational speaker.

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3 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

My springer used to ride with me on the sled. I should have taught her this.

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8 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

that's why biden will pick joni ernst as his vice president.

talented puppy!

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6 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

I remember sledding at a park that had lots of hills and sloggiing back up it to go down again. I can't tell you how many times I've watched this video. Watching him go down over and over is just so heart lifting.

What is he thinking as he goes sliding down the hill? And yes dawgs do think.

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3 users have voted.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

What is he thinking as he goes sliding down the hill?

wheeeeeee!!!

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3 users have voted.
Lily O Lady's picture

@snoopydawg

It was really delightful to watch him.

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2 users have voted.

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

snoopydawg's picture

@Lily O Lady

Look at how he looks over at his owner and says, "watch and learn dude."

After today watching this again just lifts my spirits. We owe a big thanks to whoever decided to domesticate dawgs. I cannot imagine a life without one.

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2 users have voted.

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Lily O Lady's picture

@snoopydawg

Jack doesn’t really have the opportunity. If it did snow, Mojo might do just what this dog is doing. However, our sleds are all kaput now that the kids are grown.

Mojo does love to run beside the golf cart on the cart paths around town. We let Jack down sometimes, but he tends to slow us down, so he does more riding than Mojo. You make you fun where you find it.

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1 user has voted.

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Azazello's picture

Here's Jimmy Dore's commentary on that one Rising segment that none of us could watch all the way through.
Cufflink Wearing Hillary Supporter Humiliates Himself W/ Saagar Enjeti
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_voNrPcJT0 width:500 height:300]

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7 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

heh, that segment does seem more palatable with a laugh track. Smile

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5 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

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6 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@joe shikspack

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@joe shikspack
What could this mean?? Unknw

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4 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

incompetence or corruption or both.

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3 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

3 different stories? Well that kinda happens when democrats make up new rules just because Bernie might walk away with all the cookies.

So we are doing exit polls again huh? As I commented in the other essay on this....oh damn I just lost my train of thought. Oh well I'm sure it was a great comment. This is what happens when you take drugs and try to form a cognitive comment. If you're interested you can read my other comment on this. Really bad hair day!

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dystopian's picture

Great blues JS! Leroy was a great singer, what a voice, lots of subtle nuance, and feeling. It was pretty wild stuff they were doing for its day. Thanks!

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5 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

baby face leroy made a lot of early recordings with muddy waters and little walter, some of them under each of their names. all of those recordings are really quite good and worth seeking out.

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3 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

either the idp are the biggest bunch of fuck-ups ever, or they are the slowest election fixers ever.

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5 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

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5 users have voted.
Wally's picture

This is all so fucked up beyond any belief.

Where the fuck do we go from here?

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3 users have voted.
travelerxxx's picture

@Wally

Where the fuck do we go from here?

Pretty sure it's New Hampshire.

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5 users have voted.
Lily O Lady's picture

@Wally

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2 users have voted.

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

joe shikspack's picture

@Wally

Where the fuck do we go from here?

step into the handbasket...

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1 user has voted.