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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features soul and blues singer Earl Gaines. Enjoy!

^{Earl Gaines - 24 Hours A Day}

"The possession of arbitrary power has always, the world over, tended irresistibly to destroy humane sensibility, magnanimity, and truth."

-- Frederick Law Olmsted

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News and Opinion

Will Julian Assange of WikiLeaks Go Free After U.N. Finds He Is Being Arbitrarily Detained?

Julian Assange is being arbitrarily held, UN panel to say

A UN panel has ruled in favour of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after he complained he was "arbitrarily detained", the BBC understands. ...

In 2014, Mr Assange complained to the UN that he was being "arbitrarily detained" as he could not leave the embassy without being arrested.

The application claimed Mr Assange had been "deprived of his liberty in an arbitrary manner for an unacceptable length of time".

The UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is due to announce the findings of its investigation on Friday. ...

Downing Street said the panel's ruling would not be legally binding in the UK.

Syrian rebels losing grip on Aleppo

Opposition forces in northern Syria say they are losing their grip on Aleppo as Russian bombardment and advances by pro-Assad militias come close to cutting their supply lines and besieging the city.

After a week of the most intensive bombardment of the five-year war, forces loyal to the Syrian leader are in control of most of the countryside immediately to the north.

Russian jets have pounded the area throughout the past week, as Syrian factions have gathered in Geneva for a faltering peace summit. The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday it had hit almost 900 targets in Syria in the previous three days.

It also accused Turkey of preparing for a military incursion. “The Russian defence ministry registers a growing number of signs of hidden preparation of the Turkish armed forces for active actions on the territory of Syria,” said spokesman Igor Konashenkov. ...

The fall of Aleppo would be a devastating blow to anti-Assad forces. Opposition groups, among them the al-Qaida aligned Jabhat al-Nusra, which sent large numbers of fighters to the city last week, have controlled Aleppo’s eastern half since the summer of 2012. Syrian forces, heavily backed by their allies have remained in control of the west.

Rebels Fume as Syrian Army Breaks al-Qaeda’s Siege on Northern Shi’ite Towns

Backed by Russian airstrikes and supported by a host of allied militias, the Syrian Army today finally broke the siege against the towns of Nubul and Zahraa, two northern Aleppo Province Shi’ite towns which have been surrounded by al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front and other rebel factions for years. ...

That’s led the rebel groups at the Geneva peace talks to condemn the Syrian gains, and has Western offiicals lashing the effort as well, with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius terming the offensive that broke the siege “brutal,” and accused it of “torpedoing peace efforts.” ...

The UN also criticized the offensive, saying it displaced “hundreds” of civilians from towns near the area. It did, however, end up freeing an estimated 60,000 civilians from siege conditions, so it’s going to be difficult for them to spin as a major humanitarian blow.

UN Declares Syria Talks ‘Paused,’ But Both Sides Argue They Never Started

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura today declared a “pause” of the Geneva-based Syrian peace talks, saying both sides need to do more before than can be a serious effort. Mistura added he didn’t want talks just for the sake of talks.

The talks cap a week and a half process, in which talks were initially scheduled for last Monday, invites sent out Tuesday, the rebels declined the invitation Wednesday then showed up over the weekend, insisting they weren’t officially “at” the talks, and both sides disputing assessments from earlier this week that the talks had “formally begun.” Indeed, to this point neither side was willing to concede that talks ever happened at all.

'Weakest position in Syria in years': Russia and Assad may have just delivered a decisive blow to Turkey

Russian airstrikes across northern Syria had been steadily shifting the epicenter of the war toward the corridor north of Aleppo since late November, in retaliation for Turkey's decision to shoot down a Russian warplane that it said violated its airspace.

A stepped-up Russian bombing campaign in the Bayirbucak region of northwest Syria, near the strategically important city of Azaz, had primarily targeted the Turkey-backed Turkmen rebels and civilians — and the Turkish aid convoys that supplied them.

As a result, Turkey's policy in Syria of bolstering rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime — and establishing a "safe zone" for displaced Syrians that might hinder the regime's efforts to take Aleppo — has been unraveling for months, and now appears to have been defeated entirely.

"This has to be Turkey's weakest position in Syria in years," David Kenner, Foreign Policy magazine's Middle East editor, noted on Twitter. "Shooting down of that Russian jet was a pivot point — backfired in a major way."

Number of US Troops in Iraq More Than 4,000, Exceeds Previous Claims

The U.S. routinely has more troops on the ground in Iraq than the 3,500-3,600 frequently cited by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, the high command and President Barack Obama, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said Wednesday.

"It's fair to say" that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq serving as trainers and advisors -- or in support or on special assignment -- was well above 4,000 on a daily basis, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve led by Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland.

In a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon, Warren essentially confirmed a Daily Beast report that the current number of U.S. troops in Iraq was about 4,450. "I don't think we're going to dispute what's in the Daily Beast article," he said.

Warren said U.S. troops on the ground also exceeded the "cap" of about 3,870 agreed to with the Baghdad government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. "We're aware of those restraints and limitations," he said.

Tortured, burnt alive: 2 Israelis sentenced to life & 21 years for 2014 Palestinian teen murder

Israeli teenagers jailed for murder of Palestinian boy

Two Israeli youths who kidnapped and murdered the Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir in 2014 in the runup to the Gaza war have been handed lengthy jail sentences.

A court in Jerusalem sentenced the older of the two, aged 17, to life in prison, while the second, aged 16, was sentenced to 21 years for the murder that saw 16-year-old Mohammed grabbed outside a mosque, beaten and then burned to death in a forest outside the city.

The ringleader, Yosef Ben David, 31, has yet to be sentenced because the court is considerating a claim of insanity.

The Private Sector Terrorism Blacklist Secretly Wielding Power Over the Lives of Millions

An American Muslim civil rights leader praised by George W. Bush, an economist honored by the British Queen, and a prominent anti-extremism campaigner have all been secretly given a "terrorism" designation on a confidential database [owned by Thomson Reuters] that banks use as a reference tool for blacklisting customers, a VICE News investigation can reveal.

The highly influential World-Check database has also listed major charities, activists, and mainstream religious institutions under its category of "terrorism". ...

The confidential service, part of an unregulated industry, claims that it is used by over 300 government and intelligence agencies, 49 of the 50 biggest banks, pre-employment vetting agencies and 9 of the top 10 global law firms. It provides "an early warning system for hidden risk" — and is used by banks, for example, to minimize their risk of complicity in terrorist financing or money laundering. ...

Numerous individuals and organizations have reacted with anger and shock to the discovery that they have a "terrorism" designation on World-Check's database, which is compiled using public domain sources. ... CAIR Executive Director Awad — recently profiled by the LA Times as an emerging voice for civil rights leadership in the 21st Century — described his profile as "inaccurate, bigoted garbage." ...

World-Check told VICE News that it uses "only reliable and reputable public domain sources (such as official sanctions lists, law and regulatory enforcement lists, government sources and trustworthy media publications) for risk-based information or allegations about an individual or entity."

Blog content would only be used as a "supporting source" for "secondary identifying information," a spokesperson said.

However, VICE News saw listings for individuals and organizations that did not appear to conform to this code of practice.

Each terrorism profile includes a list of the sources of information used by World-Check when compiling the profile— and some have been created solely from allegations written on conservative blogs, Islamophobic websites and political organizations.

New Safe Harbor Data “Deal” May Be More Politicking Than Surveillance Reform

Lobbyists, government officials, and technology executives celebrated news from Strasbourg on Tuesday morning that the European Commission and the United States had reached an agreement to reinstate the free flow of massive amounts of data between companies in the United States and the European Union, safeguarding users’ privacy at a new level. ...

The Article 29 Working Party — a data protection authority set up the European Parliament — said on Wednesday morning that it was pleased an agreement had been reached, but expressed concerns about the commitment of the United States — especially regarding the scope of its surveillance activities and relevant legal remedies available to all people. The party said it would not formally weigh in until the text of the agreement surfaces, and assigned a new deadline to release it: the end of February. ...

The new agreement calls for an ombudsman in the State Department to review complaints from Europeans about U.S. privacy infractions, as well as for written promises from U.S. government officials that they will not spy indiscriminately on European citizens. It also calls for yearly reviews. So far, however, there has been no mention of a deadline for Congress to reform its spying programs, including Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the NSA to sweep up large streams of overseas digital communications with practically no privacy protections.

While agreeing that the Privacy Shield deal is important for data protection, critical observers said that the negotiations had totally missed the point, which was to encourage surveillance reform in both jurisdictions.

It's not a "Privacy Shield," it's an accountability shield. Never seen a policy agreement so universally criticized. https://t.co/VxXxxkIEPR

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 2, 2016

A Wall Street bastard working to destroy Social Security for his own personal profit, Pete Peterson has spread his tentacles further and now has a media outlet in New Hampshire spewing his misleading assertions and trying to influence the election:

In New Hampshire, TV Station Partners With Interest Groups That Push Candidates on War and Austerity

A New Hampshire television news network owned by a former Republican candidate for Senate is working closely with conservative interest groups that are pressuring presidential candidates to take more aggressive positions on use of military force, entitlement reform, and tax cuts. ...

And while local television stations regularly work with non-partisan, non-ideological groups to host and broadcast events such as candidate debates, the NH1 News network, owned by Bill Binnie, has gone a step further, providing its on-air talent to press the candidates on issues championed by its interest group partners.

Binnie’s NH1 News network, which operates WBIN-TV and includes over a dozen radio stations, also hosts a special interview series called “Fiscal Fridays” on behalf of Fix the Debt and the Concord Coalition, two groups bankrolled by billionaire Pete Peterson. Both groups encourage candidates to adopt the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles commission — which in practice translates into pushing for corporate tax cuts and reductions in Social Security and Medicare. ...

The Peterson network has also flooded Iowa and New Hampshire with television ads promoting its vision of debt reduction through entitlement cuts and tax reform. Records show the Peterson groups have purchased advertising on Binnie’s WBIN-TV.

Lori Wallach: Signing of TPP Marks Only Beginning of the Fight, Trade Deal Could Still Be Stopped

Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson runs to be Baltimore mayor

Prominent Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson announced on Wednesday night that he will run for mayor of Baltimore, a move that could shake up both the movement and the city’s politics.

But McKesson’s campaign may also change the Black Lives Matter movement because Johnetta Elzie, another movement leader, is moving to Baltimore to help with McKesson’s campaign. ...

Deray McKesson likens the democratic process to the development of Campaign Zero, the “data-informed platform [which] presents comprehensive solutions to end police violence in America” by integrating “community demands and policy recommendations from research organizations and the president’s taskforce on 21st-century policing”. ...

Jill Carter, a state delegate representing Baltimore whom many progressives hoped would run, is not so positive, calling the run “ridiculous”.

“He has no authenticity and no base other than Twitter followers,” she said. “I’m a little worried that his decision is another self serving scheme that will further divide our justice movement.”

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#HillarySoProgressive Black Ties Matter pic.twitter.com/MgASXSw1sz

— laugh@libs (@LibsNoFun) February 4, 2016

New Hampshire town hall: Clinton and Sanders spar over progressive record

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have escalated the feud over their progressive records, as the former secretary of state accused Sanders of having “set himself up to be the gatekeeper of who is a progressive”.

Appearing at a town hall event in New Hampshire at the end of a day that saw the two candidates for the Democratic nomination publicly clash after Sanders accused Clinton of only being progressive “on some days”, both talked up their liberal appeal.

Clinton defended her record during the town hall on Wednesday, saying that under Sanders’s definition, the president, Barack Obama, and vice-president, Joe Biden, would not even be considered progressives.

But she appeared to be taken by surprise when she was asked whether she should have been paid $675,000 by Goldman Sachs to give three speeches.

“I don’t know,” Clinton said. “That’s what they offered.”

Some other days... pic.twitter.com/7SjQdgiiQr

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 3, 2016

Oh looky, the chief Vampire Squid, Lloyd Blankfein evinces a talent for massive understatement, suggesting that the Vampire Squid was, "a little bit out of line." And Joe Stalin was a little bit naughty.

Goldman Sachs Chief Threatened by 'Dangerous' Criticism from Sanders

Just days after a Bernie Sanders campaign ad singled out Goldman Sachs as "one of the Wall Street banks that triggered the financial meltdown," the head of the global investment banking firm said such criticism is "dangerous."

According to The Hill:

Sanders has railed against Wall Street throughout his populist campaign, accusing the sector of ruining the economy and holding down the middle class. And he has singled out [Goldman CEO Lloyd] Blankfein and his firm as a poster child for the greed and recklessness he says is endemic in finance.

In a January interview with Bloomberg, he specifically mentioned Blankfein as representing greed on Wall Street, for taking massive pay packages “after destroying the economy.”

"To personalize it, it has potential to be a dangerous moment," Blankfein told CNBC on Wednesday. "Not just for Wall Street…but for anybody who is a little bit out of line." ...

Bloomberg notes that Blankfein—who supported Clinton for president in 2008—also "declined to endorse a candidate for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, saying his imprimatur could harm that person's chances."

Is the CEO of Goldman Sachs Really Afraid of Bernie Sanders?

Bernie Sandershas made Lloyd Blankfein nervous. Poor Lloyd Blankfein. Get him a peasant to flog until he feels better immediately.

"To personalize it, it has potential to be a dangerous moment," Blankfein told CNBC on Wednesday. "Not just for Wall Street…but for anybody who is a little bit out of line."

(It seems that Blankfein is afraid of "them damned pictures," or something.)

Alas for nervous Lloyd, these remarks got on the radar of Senator Professor Warren, whom we will allow to retort.

"He thinks it's fine to prosecute small business owners, it's fine to go hard after individuals who have no real resources, but don't criticize companies like Goldman Sachs and their very, very important CEO—that's what he's really saying…When Blankfein says that criticizing those who break the rules is dangerous to the economy, then he's just repeating another variation of 'too big to fail,' 'too big to jail,' 'too big even to prosecute.' …That tells you here we are, seven years after the crisis and these guys still don't get it. Seven years. That crisis cost an estimated $14 trillion, it cost jobs, it cost homes, it cost retirement funds. And Lloyd Blankfein stands up and says 'Don't even criticize me, I ran a company that was right at the heart of some of the biggest financial frauds in history and made money off it, but don't you dare criticize me.' That's his position? That's why we need voters to get really engaged."

Surely Hillary Clinton Knows Why Wall Street Pays Her

Hillary Clinton is an exceptionally skillful politician. Collectively, she and her husband Bill have parlayed their political experience into at least $125 million in speaking fees alone. According to Bloomberg, Hillary was paid $12 million in the 16 months after leaving her role as US secretary of state. Knowing she'd likely run for president, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley (and other big Wall Street corporations) gladly paid her $2.9 million in speaking fees alone. The same Wall Street corporations then gave her campaign super PACs millions more. Coincidence?

Clinton is surely aware that Wall Street won't give politicians millions without expecting something big in return. In a Des Moines Register interview, she justified her $250,000-per-event Wall Street speaking fees, saying, "What they were interested in were my views on what was going on in the world ... there's a lot of interest in getting advice and views about what you think is happening in the world." Does she honestly expect the American people to believe Wall Street pays her $250,000 for a one-hour talk because they want her views on the world? She most surely knows that Wall Street wants her political influence.

#HillarySoProgressive can take money from Prisons, WallStreet, Pharma, Fracking Industry, and still be progressive pic.twitter.com/aT432mOJRG

— Guerrilla Democrats (@GuerrillaDems) February 4, 2016

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My, what a talent for understatement Snyder's minions have. "Letting the people of Flint down," is appropriate language for the outfielder of the town's softball team to use when he fails to catch a fly ball and loses the game. "Letting the people of Flint down," is not appropriate when you freaking poison an entire city of people.

Flint water crisis: Michigan officials ignored EPA warnings about toxicity

‘We all let the people of Flint down,’ authorities tell Congress

The Environmental Protection Agency warned of an unfolding toxic water crisis in Flint but was “met with resistance” by Michigan authorities, a fiery congressional hearing into the city’s public health disaster has heard.

Expert advice was dismissed, prompting Michigan’s government to issue an apology to the people of Flint at the hearing for sidelining people who raised concerns over dangerous levels of lead in in the city’s water.

Congress was also told that flawed water testing practices, now eliminated in Flint, are happening unchecked across the US, risking a much wider public health crisis in other cities.

A picture emerged at the hearing of failure, delay and resistance as state officials ignored scientists and kept the public in the dark about health risks. One senior official admitted there were still no guarantees that water was safe to drink, conceding: “We all let the people of Flint down.”

"There's a Jim Jones in Michigan": Lawmaker Likens Flint Crisis to Cult Leader Who Poisoned Members

Professor Who Exposed Flint Crisis Says Greed Has Killed Public Science

"Academic research and scientists in this country are no longer deserving of the public trust," declared Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech civil engineering professor who helped expose the Flint water crisis.

In an interview published in the Chronicle of Higher Education on Tuesday, Edwards explained how the pressures put on academics to secure funding are forcing scientists to abandon work done in the public interest and that similar financial motives are causing government science agencies to ignore inconvenient truths—like high levels of lead in public drinking water. ...

He said:

In Flint the agencies paid to protect these people weren’t solving the problem. They were the problem. What faculty person out there is going to take on their state, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency? 

I don’t blame anyone, because I know the culture of academia. You are your funding network as a professor. You can destroy that network that took you 25 years to build with one word. I’ve done it. When was the last time you heard anyone in academia publicly criticize a funding agency, no matter how outrageous their behavior? We just don’t do these things.

If an environmental injustice is occurring, someone in a government agency is not doing their job. Everyone we wanted to partner said, Well, this sounds really cool, but we want to work with the government. We want to work with the city. And I’m like, You’re living in a fantasy land, because these people are the problem.

Green Groups to Obama: Take Oceans Out of Offshore Drilling 'Crosshairs'

Coalition to deliver two million petitions as White House gears up for review of oil lease sales

On Wednesday, a coalition of lawmakers and environmental advocacy groups will deliver more than two million petitions calling on President Barack Obama to put an end to offshore drilling on the grounds that it is a threat to the climate, public health, and frontline communities.

The petitions are specifically asking that the administration exclude the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans from its five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy project, which outlines upcoming oil and gas offshore drilling plans. The White House and the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management are due to review and update the program in the coming weeks, which will be followed by a public comment period. The OCS plan oversees offshore oil lease sales from 2017 to 2022. ...

"We are at a critical moment for the future of our coastal states," Markey said in a statement to Bloomberg. "Right now, the Department of Interior is considering an offshore drilling plan that will put our beaches, our fishermen and our environment on the East Coast in the crosshairs for an oil spill that could devastate our shores and our economies." ...

More than 100 communities along the East Coast have passed resolutions opposing oil and gas extraction in their waters. That includes the nation's capital, where the city council voted unanimously against drilling and seismic activities.

US electricity industry's use of coal fell to historic low in 2015 as plants closed

America’s use of coal for electricity dropped to its lowest point in the historical record in 2015, delivering a new blow to an industry already in painful decline.

The dirtiest of fossil fuels and America’s biggest single source of climate pollution, coal accounted for just 34% of US electricity generation last year, according to the Sustainable Energy in America handbook on Thursday.

It was the smallest share for coal in the electricity mix since 1949, the first year in which Energy Information Administration records were kept. ...

The changes in the US electricity system last year also produced milestone benefits for the climate, the report found.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector – the largest single source of climate pollution and the target of Barack Obama’s clean power plan – fell 18% below 2005 levels last year, the report found.

That was halfway to Obama’s goal of a 32% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by 2030, and on a relatively short time frame.

The drop in coal use for electricity appeared set to seal the fuel’s long and slow decline in the US, with crashing prices, thousands of miners laid off work, and big coalmining companies forced into bankruptcy.

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Also of Interest

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

Final Shots: the Clintons and Colombian Death Squads

More Lies From Spies: the Tall Tales of Robert Gates

recommended:

Trump’s Neofascism Isn’t Going Away, Even if Trump Does

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Threatens Our Liberty

US Defense Secretary Announces Navy Can Blow Up Anything It Wants, Any Time It Wants

How FBI blocks whistleblower fighting dismissal; new bill could help others

'Still a city of slaves' – Selma, in the words of those who live there

The Town That Hates Pipelines — How Canada’s Energy Future Hit a Wall in Burnaby

The bottom line: What really poisoned the water in Flint

As Madoff Airs on TV, Two Anonymous Whistleblowers Are Pounding on the SEC’s Door Again

Naomi Klein: Climate Change “Not Just About Things Getting Hotter… It’s About Things Getting Meaner”

Heather White and the Human Costs of Electronics

A "Probable Carcinogen," Monsanto's Glyphosate Most Heavily Used Weed-Killer Ever

Oregon ranchers fear impact of militia standoff: 'We all look like crazies'

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A Little Night Music

Earl Gaines - Nine Pound Steel

Earl Gaines - The Door Is Still Open

Earl Gaines - Tell Me Tonight

Earl Gaines - Stacked In The Back

Earl Gaines - Every Night Of The Week

Earl Gaines - Meat and Potatoes Man

Earl Gaines - You Better Know Your Hole From Mine

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