The Evening Blues - 3-1-18



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Carey Bell

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues harmonica player Carey Bell. Enjoy!

Carey Bell & Sons w/Louis Myers in Chicago - One Day & Train Ticket

"If a gigantic asteroid were barreling toward impact with our planet, you can bet there would be at least a few members of Congress who would insist on leaving it alone, either because they would see it as a warning shot from the Almighty or because a mining company with a savvy team of lobbyists had laid claim to the big rock."

-- David Horsey


News and Opinion

Bernie Sanders Wants Congress to End U.S. Support for Yemen War. Saudi Lobbyists Fought Similar Measures Last Year.

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled legislation on Wednesday designed to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. The resolution — introduced by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; and Mike Lee, R-Utah — attempts to use the War Powers Act of 1973, a Vietnam War-era law that limits the president’s power to wage war without congressional authorization, to disentangle the U.S. from a campaign that has claimed thousands of civilian lives and led to mass starvation. ...

The Sanders-Lee resolution makes clear that U.S. forces are still authorized to attack Al Qaeda members in Yemen, but requires the U.S. to withdraw its support for the Saudi-led intervention. ... A Lee aide told The Intercept that the procedure was unprecedented, and it’s unclear what type of resistance the process will face from Senate leadership. “It’s never been done before,” the aide said. “We don’t know what to anticipate.” The resolution will likely face stiff opposition from the Trump administration, which has held classified briefings in support of U.S.-backing for the Saudi bombing campaign. ...

In September, Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; Tom Massie, R-Ky.; Mark Pocan, D-Wisc.; and Walter Jones, R-N.C., introduced a similar War Powers resolution to try to force a vote on U.S. support for the war in Yemen. Senior members of both parties, including Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the Democratic minority whip, initially opposed that effort, as The Intercept first reported in October. That measure also met with stiff resistance from the Saudi government, which maintains one of the largest lobbying operations in Washington. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, a lobbying firm initially hired by the Saudi government on a $100,000-a-month retainer, met with key lawmakers to influence the resolution.

[See article for details of the extensive Saudi lobbying efforts. - js]

Dem Congressman: Military Spending is Out of Control! w/Ro Khanna)

Looks like spooky Putin is going to make U.S. arms suppliers very wealthy:

Putin claims Russia has “invincible” nuclear missile: “You will listen to us now”

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims that Russia now has an “invincible” nuclear missile. And if provoked, he would use the weapon against the U.S. Putin laid out Russia’s radically revamped military arsenal on Thursday during his annual state of the union address. By 2020, the Kremlin plans to roll out the new weapons, which include a hypersonic nuclear missile, a nuclear-powered underwater drone, and a cruise missile which the strongman claims has unlimited range and the capability to of pierce any U.S. missile defense system.

Putin framed the development and deployment of his new nuclear arsenal in relation to last month’s U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, which calls for more smaller atomic bombs to specifically counter Russia. He also warned that any use of a nuclear weapon against Russia or any of its allies would draw an immediate response. “The response will be instant and with all the relevant consequences,” he said.

The new Russian nuclear arsenal comes in response to the U.S. efforts to develop a missile defense system, with Washington failing to listen to Moscow’s concerns. “No one has listened to us,” Putin said. “You listen to us now.”

“I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country's development: all what you wanted to impede with your policies have already happened,” Putin said. “You have failed to contain Russia.”

A sprinkling of sense from an article that is deeply flawed:

Stop Blaming Russian Bots For Everything

By now you know the drill: massive news event happens, journalists scramble to figure out what’s going on, and within a couple hours the culprit is found — Russian bots. Russian bots were blamed for driving attention to the Nunes memo, a Republican-authored document on the Trump-Russia probe. They were blamed for pushing for Roy Moore to win in Alabama’s special election. And here they are wading into the gun debate following the Parkland shooting. “[T]he messages from these automated accounts, or bots, were designed to widen the divide and make compromise even more difficult,” wrote the New York Times in a story following the shooting, citing little more than “Twitter accounts suspected of having links to Russia.”

This is, not to mince words, total bullshit.

The thing is, nearly every time you see a story blaming Russian bots for something, you can be pretty sure that the story can be traced back to a single source: the Hamilton 68 dashboard, founded by a group of respected researchers, including Clint Watts and JM Berger, and currently run under the auspices of the German Marshall Fund. But even some of the people who popularized that metric now acknowledge it’s become totally overblown. “I’m not convinced on this bot thing,” said Watts, the cofounder of a project that is widely cited as the main, if not only, source of information on Russian bots. He also called the narrative “overdone.”

The dashboard monitors 600 Twitter accounts “linked to Russian influence efforts online,” according to its own description, which means the accounts are not all directly traced back to Kremlin efforts, or even necessarily to Russia. “They are not all in Russia,” Watts said during a phone interview last week. “We don’t even think they’re all commanded in Russia — at all. We think some of them are legitimately passionate people that are just really into promoting Russia.” So, not bots.

Chomsky: US moving to ‘destroy the world,’ losing international prestige with Trump as president

Americans Are Horrified by Mass Killings — Unless the Government Is Doing It

As Americans continue to rage over the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Florida, expressing indignation at both the atrocity and efforts to impose (or reject) gun control, the U.S. government has acknowledged its own perpetual addiction to violence. According to two letters released by the federal government last week in response to an inquiry from Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, the U.S. plans to maintain its military presence in Syria and Iraq indefinitely, citing vague threats of terrorism. ...

And as Americans continue to mourn and decry continuous mass shootings in the U.S., they remain largely silent on their own government’s institutionalized addiction to violence abroad. This apathetic acceptance of indefinite war is undoubtedly reflected in the U.S. Between the Pentagon’s program to arm local police and the recent push to militarize schools even further in the wake of this month’s shooting, America’s penchant for violence continues (is it any surprise a growing number of mass shooters either served in the military, were kicked out, or idolized the armed forces?).

As the media waxes hysterical over mass shootings, Americans receive comparatively far less information about the mass shootings and bombings their own government commits despite the far greater death toll of endless military empire. The media’s lack of concern for — and, often, glorification of — the U.S. military’s encroachments ultimately desensitizes the public to the violence it unquestioningly funds, even when it kills innocents.

As Americans continue to demand the U.S. government and politicians take action on mass shootings, they evidently fail to see the futility in asking a government characterized by unmitigated violence to put an end to violence.

Egypt signals a social media crackdown ahead of next month’s election

Egypt’s chief prosecutor urged his staff to hunt down “forces of evil” on social media and traditional news outlets Wednesday.

The threatening message has human rights activists worried a fresh crackdown of Facebook or Twitter posts critical of the government may be in store ahead of presidential elections in March.

“Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are not yet blocked in Egypt, but it looks like the government is heading in that direction,” Amr Magdi, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, told VICE News. ...

The prosecutor’s warning is the latest step in what observers say has been a dramatic clampdown on human rights and free speech in Egypt under President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi. His government is responsible for the arrests of over two dozen journalists, the shuttering of national and international media, and the widely documented police practice of forced disappearances and torture.

Norway Used NSA Technology for Potentially Illegal Spying

Behind an abandoned military facility 40 miles northwest of Oslo, Norway built a surveillance base in close collaboration with the National Security Agency. Its bright, white satellite dishes, some of them 60 feet in diameter, stand out against the backdrop of pine-covered hills and red-roofed buildings that scatter the area. Classified documents describe the facility as “state-of-the-art,” with capabilities “previously not released outside of NSA.” Despite a hefty price tag of more than $33 million paid by Norwegian taxpayers, the Norwegian Intelligence Service has kept the operations at the site beyond public scrutiny.

The station, code-named VICTORY GARDEN, was ostensibly built to support Norwegian troops serving overseas and to combat terrorism. But its dragnet has also secretly captured records of phone calls and emails transmitted between law-abiding Norwegians and their friends, families, or colleagues in foreign countries, an investigation by The Intercept and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, known as NRK, has found.

In 2014, the data collection at the base was central to a behind-closed-doors dispute between the Norwegian Intelligence Service and the oversight committee that monitors the conduct of the country’s spy agencies, according to sources with knowledge of the incident. The intelligence service argued that the surveillance was lawful and necessary. But the committee disagreed and claimed that the storing and searching of Norwegians’ communication records was legally dubious. The disagreement remains unresolved; meanwhile, the surveillance appears to have continued unabated.

South Africa is trying to stop paying white farmers when it takes their land

Right now in South Africa, white people own 72 percent of the country's farmland, even though they're just 8 percent of the population. But the country's government wants to change that. In an effort to redistribute the land more evenly, South Africa’s parliament advanced a motion Tuesday to allow the government to seize people's land — without compensation. The country already allows land seizure, known as expropriation, but the constitution requires that the owners receive payment.

The African National Congress made restoring land lost during apartheid a top priority when the party came into power in 1994. At the time, officials had promised to redistribute 30 percent of white-owned farmland to blacks in five years. To date, around 10 percent has been transferred. ...

In an unusual move during Tuesday’s motion, the ruling African National Congress supported one of its rivals, the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party, which introduced the bill. Newly appointed President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to ensure transfers would be handled responsibly and said the government would not allow “smash and grab” interventions.

States consider bringing prescription drugs from Canada to US as costs soar

In the face of surging prescription drug prices, some US states are proposing to import medicines in bulk from Canada, where many drugs are cheaper thanks to government price controls.

Vermont lawmakers are considering legislation to create an agency which would buy popular prescription medicines in bulk from Canada, and then distribute to pharmacies in the state. Utah, Oklahoma and West Virginia have proposed similar measures.

The state senator Ginny Lyons, who sponsored the Vermont bill, said that without government price controls, “pharmaceutical companies are getting away with murder,” in the US. “People are making choices between food and prescription drugs. We can’t allow that to continue, so we’re trying to take matters into our own hands,” she said.

Lyons acknowledged the bill is a “first step” to rein in spending, but hopes it will spur Congress to act. The federal government would need to approve any bulk importing program. “When a lot of little fish get together, it has meaning for the members of Congress.”

The desperate move comes as the cost of pharmaceuticals is expected to grow faster than other US healthcare spending in the next decade.

West Virginia Teachers Win Promise of Pay Raise, But Continue Strike over Soaring Healthcare Costs

NRA members on Trump's plans for gun control: 'Every word of it was a betrayal'

NRA members have branded Donald Trump’s plans for stricter gun control legislation “stupid” and a “betrayal” after the president suggested reforms on Wednesday. In an open meeting with congressional Democrats and Republicans, Trump embraced raising the age limit on purchasing certain weapons and suggested that law enforcement should be allowed to confiscate people’s guns before going through due process in a court.

Joe Biggs, an Austin, Texas-based NRA member and chief executive of Rogue Right, a conservative news website, was among those unimpressed by the proposal. “That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Hopefully he was just having a momentary brain fart, a lapse of judgment,” Biggs said. He added: “Hopefully someone pulled him into the back and said: ‘You’ve just lost half your base by saying something that stupid.’”

During the meeting Trump called for a “beautiful” bill which would expand background checks on gun purchases and restrict young people from purchasing certain weapons. But it was his suggestion that in some cases law enforcement should be allowed to “take the guns first, go through due process second” – that most alarmed gun owners on the right.

'I dare you to tell me arming teachers will make us safe,' says student after Georgia incident

Police say they don’t know why a popular teacher allegedly fired a handgun inside his classroom, causing a chaotic lockdown and evacuation of his Georgia high school. But it immediately pierced the national debate over whether educators should be armed.

As officers arrested Dalton high school social studies teacher Jesse Randal Davidson, his students spoke their minds on social media.

“My favorite teacher at Dalton high school just blockaded his door and proceeded to shoot. We had to run out the back of the school in the rain. Students were being trampled and screaming. I dare you to tell me arming teachers will make us safe,” student Chondi Chastain wrote in a tweet quickly shared thousands of times.

Davidson, 53, is accused of barricading himself inside a classroom and firing a handgun, sending students running outside or hunkering down inside darkened classrooms and a gymnasium locker room. He was taken into custody without incident after a 30- to 45-minute standoff with officers, and his motivations remained a mystery, a Dalton police spokesman, Bruce Frazier, said.
left

“Mr Davidson did not give us much information about what his motives were or what may or may not have been the problem today,” Frazier said after detectives had interviewed the teacher.

US and Gun Control: "Students like Emma Gonzalez make me hopeful that this time will be different"

Walmart will no longer sell guns or ammunition to people under the age of 21

The world’s largest retailer has entered the gun control conversation, announcing stricter new rules around the sale of guns, ammunition, and toys that look like them.

Walmart will raise the minimum age for purchasing weapons and ammunition from 18 to 21 years old, according to a statement issued by the company Wednesday night. The global company will also remove items from its website that resemble assault-style rifles, including toy and airsoft guns. ...

Walmart joins national retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods, which announced earlier on Wednesday that it will no longer sell assault-style rifles or sell firearms to anyone under 21. Walmart banned the sale of assault rifles in 2015, and sells handguns only in Alaska, according to the statement.

School Shootings Have Declined Dramatically Since the 1990s. Does It Really Make Sense to Militarize Schools?

Schools are increasingly becoming fortresses: packed with metal detectors, police officers, and other measures designed to counter the threat of a school shooter. Six states now even require mandatory active shooter drills. In the wake of the tragedy of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, many local, state, and federal officials are responding by promoting an expansion of these measures — some, including the president, are even calling for arming teachers. One Democratic member of Congress in Georgia even suggested posting the National Guard outside of schools.

But ideally, policy should be proportionate to the danger faced. And that leaves us with a question: Are schools actually increasingly dangerous? New research released this week by Northeastern University researchers shows that they aren’t.

Criminology professor James Alan Fox and doctoral student Emma Fridel charted the path of mass shootings and school shootings over three decades, from 1992 to 2015. ... They found that schools are actually increasingly free of mass shootings, which they define as a shooting in which four or more individuals are killed by firearms. “There is not an epidemic of school shootings,” Fox said in a statement about the research, noting that there were four times as many children shot and killed in schools in the early 1990s as today. ... Over the past 25 years, around 10 students per year were killed in gunfire at school. To put that into perspective, in the fall of 2017, around 56 million students attended public and private public elementary and secondary schools.

In an interview with The Intercept, Fridel made clear that the researchers are not using this data to argue against all school safety measures, gun law reforms, or expanded access to mental health care. Their intent, rather, is to put the scope of the problem in the proper perspective — allowing for a reasoned response that doesn’t needlessly scare people or encroach on civil rights.



the horse race



Bernie Sanders colluded — with the Australian Labor Party

Between Bernie Sanders and the Australians, there was collusion.

While the Russia investigation continues to swirl around President Donald Trump and the members of his entourage, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has confirmed another instance of illegal meddling in the election: Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign illegally accepted contributions from the Australian Labor Party, which paid for volunteers to fly across the globe to volunteer on his campaign, according to a ruling filed earlier this month.

The volunteers, who were participating in a government-funded education program, even got $8,000 in stipends from their native country to campaign for the popular Vermont senator in his 2016 run for the White House.

The FEC ruled that the Sanders campaign accepted about $25,000 in in-kind donations from the Australians. Bernie’s been ordered to fork over $14,500 in civil penalties for violating campaign law. Sanders’ campaign staffers told the FEC they knew that some of the Australian volunteers were getting stipends, but they thought — “mistakenly,” the FEC has pointed out in their ruling — that the volunteers were doing legal work. After initially pushing back against the FEC, the Sanders campaign has agreed to pay up.

A campaign spokesperson told VICE News that the campaign accepted the fine to avoid an expensive legal fight with the FEC but noted that it did not admit to any wrongdoing.

White House loses Hope

White House communications director Hope Hicks is resigning, the New York Times reported Wednesday afternoon.

The announcement comes just one day after Hicks offered testimony in a roughly nine-hour hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, where she declined to answer questions about the administration concerning events that took place after the 2016 presidential election, according to Democratic lawmakers who said they were "dissatisfied" with her cooperation. Hicks did admit to telling "white lies" for the president, but she insisted she hadn’t lied about any matters pertaining to the Russia investigation, according to the Times.



the evening greens


Brazil’s top court just made it easier to cut down the Amazon rainforest

A Brazilian court has dealt a major blow to those seeking to protect the Amazon rainforest, by reducing the amount of rainforest landowners have to restore — by an area the size of Arizona. Brazil’s Supreme Court also upheld changes in the law that remove criminal liability for anyone who illegally cut down parts of the rainforest prior to 2008. About 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil.

The revised rules, pushed by agribusiness interests, mean that 112,000 square miles — roughly equivalent to the area of Arizona or Italy — will no longer have to be restored. Indeed farmers can now cultivate land closer to hilltops and riverbanks, both areas more susceptible to erosion after trees are cut down.

While Attorney General Grace Mendonca defended the decision, saying it struck a balance between environmental protection and economic development, environmentalists believe it will simply lead to further deforestation. ...

According to the Rainforest Foundation, the current rate of destruction is about 1 acre each second, which is a bit less than a U.S. football field. Deforestation is also impacting the rate of natural extinction, which is approximately 1 species per year. As a result of deforestation, species will become extinct at a rate 3 to 4 times higher than that.

Total ban on bee-harming pesticides likely after major new EU analysis

The world’s most widely used insecticides pose a serious danger to both honeybees and wild bees, according to a major new assessment from the European Union’s scientific risk assessors. The conclusion, based on analysis of more than 1,500 studies, makes it highly likely that the neonicotinoid pesticides will be banned from all fields across the EU when nations vote on the issue next month.

The report from the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa), published on Wednesday, found that the risk to bees varied depending on the crop and exposure route, but that “for all the outdoor uses, there was at least one aspect of the assessment indicating a high risk.” Neonicotinoids, which are nerve agents, have been shown to cause a wide range of harm to bees, such as damaging memory and reducing queen numbers.

Jose Tarazona, head of Efsa’s pesticides unit, said: “The availability of such a substantial amount of data has enabled us to produce very detailed conclusions. There is variability in the conclusions [and] some low risks have been identified, but overall the risk to the three types of bees we have assessed is confirmed.”

The Efsa assessment includes bumblebees and solitary bees for the first time. It also identified that high risk to bees comes not from neonicotinoid use on non-flowering crops such as wheat, but from wider contamination of the soil and water which leads to the pesticides appearing in wildflowers or succeeding crops. A recent study of honey samples revealed global contamination by neonicotinoids.

EPA chief Scott Pruitt bravely commits to flying coach

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, will stop using taxpayer money to pay for first class plane tickets and will fly coach, he told CBS News’ Major Garrett on Wednesday. The Washington Post reported in mid-February that Pruitt had regularly been flying first class at taxpayer expense. ...

Pruitt and his team added fuel to the fire by changing their rationale for the luxurious accommodations, first claiming that Pruitt had a “blanket waiver” for such travel because of security concerns and then saying they had a waiver approved for each trip. A blanket waiver is illegal under federal rules. Pruitt’s team also declined to elaborate on the nature of the security threats except to say that angry passengers were yelling at him.

“He was approached in the airport numerous times, to the point of profanities being yelled at him and so forth,” Henry Barnet, director of the agency's Office of Criminal Enforcement, told Politico.


Also of Interest

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

Mohammad Tamimi: ‘They beat me into confessing’

Gun Control Has Always Been Racist — That Doesn’t Mean We Shouldn’t Support the Parkland Students’ Movement

How London’s 7/7 Bombings Led to “Unprecedented” Surveillance Tactics

The Powerful Global Spy Alliance You Never Knew Existed

The House Passed an Anti-Sex Trafficking Bill That Could Restrict Online Speech and Endanger Sex Workers


A Little Night Music

Carey Bell & Tough Luck - Walkin' By Myself

Carey & Lurrie Bell - Every Day I Have The Blues

Carey Bell - Taking You Downtown

John Littlejohn & Carey Bell - Hoochie Coochie Man

Carey Bell - Walking Thru The Park

Carey Bell - Last Night

Carey Bell - Bell Hop

Carey Bell & The Sons Of Blues - Easy to Love You

Carey Bell - I Got To Go

Big Walter Horton & Carey Bell - Lovin' My Baby


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snoopydawg's picture

because we aren't fighting terrorists, we're supporting them. This has been disclosed by our state department and other agencies.

US, UK, and France Are Making the Case for War Against Both Syria and North Korea

The United States, the United Kingdom, and France are gearing up for a renewed assault on Syria and North Korea. Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron said France will strike Syria if chemical weapons have been used against civilians in the Syrian war in violation of the international treaty banning chemical weapons — even though he admitted he had not yet seen proof this was the case.

Oh the hypocrisy. Which countries have created these guys?

Tip-off received on Al-Nusra, White Helmets plotting chemical weapons provocation in Syria

According to the source, on the afternoon of February 12, rebels from the Jabhat Al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front) terrorist organization brought three cars packed with more than 20 cylinders of chlorine along with personal protective equipment to Serakab.

Additionally, according to the caller, representatives of the local branch of the White Helmets, wearing individual means of protection, conducted rehearsals of "giving first aid" to "local residents" who were supposedly suffering from poisoning.

According to the source, on the afternoon of February 12, rebels from the Jabhat Al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front) terrorist organization brought three cars packed with more than 20 cylinders of chlorine along with personal protective equipment to Serakab.

Additionally, according to the caller, representatives of the local branch of the White Helmets, wearing individual means of protection, conducted rehearsals of "giving first aid" to "local residents" who were supposedly suffering from poisoning.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh... they were ronnie raygun's "freedom fighters" before they were dubya's terrists, proving that one mans freedom fighter is another mans terrorist. Smile

regardless of whether they are freedom fighters or terrorists, they are certainly money in the bank for the military industrial complex.

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enhydra lutris's picture

how fr I trust him, but perhaps he will try to push for doing the right thing in order to try to meaintain his seat. Just remember, that is silicon valley's rep, who ran with silicon valley's money (including his own fortune) and their agenda.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

heh, i'm so accustomed to being disappointed by "progressive" democrats, i wouldn't trust ro khanna further than i can spit. they all seem to know how to make pleasant, though modestly liberal noises for the camera, though the steam seems to go out of them when it's time to take action much of the time.

have a great evening!

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The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW6xMEdfx-g]

...while using EXACT NRA talking points about how 'Now isn't the time to talk about it.' Cowards. All of them. Especially the DCCC. Oh, and 'Thoughts and Prayers'.

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

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

joe shikspack's picture

@The Aspie Corner

heh, does this remind you of anybody?

Cowardly Lion: [crying] You're right, I am a coward! I haven't any courage at all. I even scare myself. [sobs]
Cowardly Lion: Look at the circles under my eyes. I haven't slept in weeks!
Tin Woodsman: Why don't you try counting sheep?
Cowardly Lion: That doesn't do any good, I'm afraid of 'em.

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Striking teachers go out of their way to make sure students have food

https://www.today.com/parents/striking-teachers-west-virginia-make-sure-...

When teachers at Beckley Elementary in West Virginia considered going on strike, they worried their students would go to bed hungry. About 300 of the school’s 430 students rely on the free breakfast and lunch programs and a closed school meant many would have rumbling bellies.

Before the statewide teacher strike in West Virginia, Williams and his colleagues brainstormed about how to feed their students during it. In a faculty meeting, they pooled money to purchase pizzas, fruit, and water. They set the first free lunch at a local grocery store on the second day of the strike, last Friday. When the local Sam’s Club and Little Caesar’s Pizza learned of it, they also donated items.

During lunch, teachers and staff handed out slices from about 40 boxes of pizza, but they still had about 60 boxes left. That’s when Williams suggested they visit the students at home.

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snoopydawg's picture

@MrWebster

They have set up a gofundme page.

This is a nice gesture, but it should never have come to this. The national president of the AFT, Randi Weingarten, whose annual salary is more than $500,000," She made the decision for the teachers to end their strike even though they didn't have everything they wanted in writing. Their health insurance is still underfunded.

The WSWS website has been covering the strike and they seem mighty pissed.

West Virginia teachers strike

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

The Aspie Corner's picture

@snoopydawg Always willing to sell out other workers to save her own ass. A lackey for capitalist interests who herself will be sold out at the first opportunity.

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

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

@snoopydawg Thanks for the link.

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joe shikspack's picture

@MrWebster

that's both a wonderful, charitable act and a fantastic organizing tactic. somewhere, saul alinsky is smiling.

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Meteor Man's picture

Oooh boy.

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) sent Attorney General Jeff Sessions a letter on Thursday accusing the FBI of breaking the law when acquiring surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

In the letter, which was obtained by Fox News, Nunes claims the bureau violated the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide by obtaining warrants for Page on the alleged base of an unverified dossier that purports as evidence of ties between Donald Trump and the Kremlin and other Russian individuals.

The story notes:

Page, however, had been under FISA surveillance since 2014, when the FBI became suspicious of his ties to Russian entities.

I really can't make heads or tails of this crazy investigation. Is Nunes helping position Trump for a Saturday night massacre?

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/devin-nunes-just-sent-jeff-sessions-let...

I don't know if this is worse than Watergate or just crazier.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

joe shikspack's picture

@Meteor Man

yeah, it's pretty hard to figure out what they are all on about. nunes and schiff, especially both make these proclamations about things for which evidence is lacking, but they certainly can't be faulted for lacking passion.

at least watergate made sense and there was evidence presented.

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mimi's picture

the intercept article by Ryan Gallagher on March 1 2018, 6:03 p.m.THE POWERFUL GLOBAL SPY ALLIANCE YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED, there was only thing that came to my mind about it. If I were any nation with my own national security spy agency, I would want to become a participating member of that alliance, just to spy the other members gathered secret info and then eventually leak all the information I got access to. Yep. The more they all work together, the more is leaked and probably then staged events created to counter the leaks with more 'formerly secret' stuff. I think even a normal innocent ignoramus person like me can feel that for example in the German the daily evening news they offer the same vague 'news' reports as you would hear them in the US.

Makes not much sense anymore to read or listen to the 'news'. It's too exhausting to try to figure out, what is real and what is fiction. At least I am tired of all of it and the common person on the street is unable to escape from the whole world-wide shadowy spy agencies' network. To me that article was depressing to read.

Don't become a spy or a blogger. You will be used and be part of the problem.

And Chomsky is imo right with what he is saying Chomsky: US moving to ‘destroy the world,’ losing international prestige with Trump as president, even if that was a video cut together by RUSSIAN TV. OMG.

And BTW I have had it with all Russia, Putin and other blame this person or that other person on that matter or other thingies altogether. It turns me off on the long run. I feel overfed with food I used to salivate over so much that I get a throw-up reflex reaction. That shouldn't have happened. But it did.

Hope all is well in your woods of your world. Good Night for you.

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