The Evening Blues - 3-27-19



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Eddie Kirkland

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Detroit bluesman Eddie Kirkland. Enjoy!

Eddie Kirkland - Train Done Gone

"Well, I got a little red rooster
Too lazy to crow 'fore day
Keeps everything in the barnyard
Upset in every way

You know he keeps the hens fighting
keeps 'em fighting among themselves
Keeps those hens upset and bothered
don't want 'em laying eggs for no one else"

-- Willie Dixon


News and Opinion

Recommended for a full read:

Three Lessons From ‘Failed’ Mueller Inquiry

The left never had a dog in this race. This was always an in-house squabble between different wings of the establishment. Late-stage capitalism is in terminal crisis, and the biggest problem facing our corporate elites is how to emerge from this crisis with their power intact. One wing wants to make sure the pig’s face remains painted, the other is happy simply getting its snout deeper into the trough while the food lasts. Russia-gate was never about substance, it was about who gets to image-manage the decline of a turbo-charged, self-harming neoliberal capitalism. The leaders of the Democratic Party are less terrified of Trump and what he represents than they are of us and what we might do if we understood how they have rigged the political and economic system to their permanent advantage. For them, it may look like Russia-gate was a failure, but it was actually a success. It deflected the left’s attention from endemic corruption within the leadership of the Democratic Party, which supposedly represents the left. It diverted the left’s political energies towards the convenient bogeymen targets of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

What Mueller found – all he was ever going to find – was marginal corruption in the Trump camp. And that was inevitable because Washington is mired in corruption. ... [I]n focusing on the Trump camp – and relative minnows such as Paul Manafort and Roger Stone – the Russia-gate inquiry actually served to shield the Democratic leadership from an investigation into the much worse corruption revealed in the content of the Democratic National Committee emails. It was the leaking / hacking of those emails that provided the rationale for Mueller’s investigations. What should have been at the front and center of any inquiry was how the Democratic Party sought to rig its primaries to prevent party members selecting anyone but Hillary as their presidential candidate. ...

It is not just that the left wasted two years of political energy on Russia-gate. At the same time, it empowered Trump, breathing life into his phony arguments that he is the anti-establishment president, a people’s president the elites are determined to destroy. Trump faces opposition from within the establishment not because he is “anti-establishment” but because he refuses to decorate the pig’s snout with lipstick. He is tearing the mask off late-stage capitalism’s greed and self-destructiveness. And he is doing so not because he wants to reform or overthrow turbo-charged capitalism but because he wants to remove the last, largely cosmetic constraints on the system so that he and his friends can plunder with greater abandon – and destroy the planet more quickly.

The other wing of the neoliberal establishment, the one represented by the Democratic Party leadership, fears that exposing capitalism in this way – making explicit its inherently brutal, wrist-slitting tendencies – will awaken the masses, that over time it will risk turning them into revolutionaries. Democratic Party leaders fear Trump chiefly because of the threat he poses to the image of the political and economic system they have so lovingly crafted so that they can continue enriching themselves and their children. ... Just as Mueller put the left on standby — into waiting-for-the-Messiah mode — so simple-minded, pussy-hat-wearing identity politics has been cultivated in the supposedly liberal bastions of the corporate media and Ivy League universities – the same universities that have turned out generations of Muellers and Clintons – to deplete the left’s political energies. While we argue over who is most entitled and most victimized, the establishment has carried on raping and pillaging Third World countries, destroying the planet and siphoning off the wealth produced by the rest of us. ...

The “liberal” elites exploited identity politics to keep us divided by pacifying the most marginalized with the offer of a few additional crumbs. Trump has exploited identity politics to keep us divided by inflaming tensions as he reorders the hierarchy of “privilege” in which those crumbs are offered. In the process, both wings of the elite have averted the danger that class consciousness and real solidarity might develop and start to challenge their privileges.

If this matter interests you, there are some useful details about the law regarding disclosure of special counsel's reports in this article which would make it worth a peek.

Frustrated you can’t read the Mueller report? Blame Ken Starr

Attorney General William Barr may have written the epitaph of Robert Mueller’s investigation, but another conservative lawyer from the ‘90s put an unmistakable imprint on the probe into President Donald Trump: former independent counsel Ken Starr. In 1998, Starr published his official report on former President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky — chockfull of lurid detail about the couple’s sexual relationship, including oral sex in the Oval Office.

It was considered so explicit that it was dubbed a “voluminous work of demented pornography” by the writer Renata Adler. And it provoked such a severe backlash that it changed how American presidents get investigated — and itt's why you can't read the Mueller report. It also helped make sure Trump’s own attorney general got to make a ruling on his boss’s alleged obstruction of justice — before Congress could even review the evidence. Starr’s report drifted so far from his original mandate, which was to investigate the Clintons’ shady land deals in Arkansas, that both Republicans in Congress and the Clinton administration agreed to rein in the power of the independent counsel’s office.

Even Starr ultimately agreed the old law should go. So did Janet Reno, Clinton’s Attorney General at the time. During Congressional hearings about the rules in the spring of 1999, Reno called big final reports a “problem.”

“We believe that information obtained during a criminal investigation should, in most all cases, be made public only if there is an indictment and prosecution, not in lengthy and detailed reports filed after a decision has been made not to prosecute,” Reno told Congress at the time. “The final report provides a forum for unfairly airing a target’s dirty laundry…. We have come to believe that the price of the final report is often too high.”

So in the summer of 1999, the old law was allowed to quietly die, and Reno’s DOJ put new regulations in place, which have governed Mueller’s entire investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia. They are the reason his final report isn’t yet public.

Schiff targeted by GOP after Mueller probe ends: 'Dishonest.' 'Off the rails.'

He led the chorus on Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, and now top Republicans want Adam Schiff to say dosvedanya.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and numerous GOP lawmakers are calling on Schiff, a California Democrat, to resign as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee for having claimed there was "more than circumstantial" evidence that Donald Trump's presidential campaign conspired with the Kremlin in an effort to win the 2016 presidential election. "You cannot have a chair of a committee that misled the American public, misled their conference, in a moment that we now have an answer," McCarthy said. "It is a time to turn the page and let America trust the committee again."

Mike Turner, a Republican congressman who serves on the intelligence committee with Schiff, called for him to step down because he's been "divisive."

"He's been dishonest with the American public on what was happening, blaming the Republicans" for stifling the congressional probe into Russia's election meddling, Turner said Tuesday on CNN.

Rep. John Ratcliff, R-Texas, a member of the intelligence committee, criticized Schiff and others who have claimed to seeing collusion. "The special counsel said there is no evidence of a Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy, which is a clear indictment of those who say they have such evidence of collusion or conspiracy," Ratcliff said. "They helped Putin consume the public discourse for two years about a false story they claimed was true and, in so doing, gave Vladimir Putin a kind of success he could not have possibly imagined."

Democrats rally behind Schiff amid withering GOP assault

Democrats raced to defend House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Monday amid a withering Republican assault on his credibility following special counsel Robert Mueller’s finding that there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Schiff, who basked in the applause of colleagues during a closed-door meeting of senior Democratic lawmakers earlier in the day, told reporters he stood behind previous statements that he’d seen “more than circumstantial evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“There’s both circumstantial and direct evidence,” he said, describing the offer of help from the Russian government steered to Donald Trump Jr. that led to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a lawyer connected to the Russian government. Schiff dismissed calls from top Republican lawmakers and the White House for his resignation. “I’ve been attacked by the president and his allies ever since he took office,” he said. “Nothing new.”

The California Democrat’s comments came as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats rushed to defend him from an onslaught of Republican venom following the release of Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Mueller’s findings on Sunday.

Democrats’ Russophobia Hid Trump’s Real Crimes

US stages another provocation in the Taiwan Strait

The United States sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, only days before the opening of trade talks with China in Beijing. This deliberate provocation over Taiwan, China’s most sensitive diplomatic issue, is a clear threat aimed at forcing the Chinese to accept a US-dictates trade deal.

The USS Curtis Wilbur, a naval destroyer, and the Bertholf, a US Coast Guard (USCG) cutter entered the strait dividing Taiwan from the Chinese mainland from the south. The US incursion was the third in as many months, as the Trump administration ramps up measures to bring further military pressure to bear on Beijing. Washington also sent warships through the strait last year in July, October and November.

“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” declared Commander Clayton Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet. He added, in an implicit threat to Beijing, “The US will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang urged the US to “cautiously and appropriately handle the Taiwan issue to avoid harming Sino-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” He also stated that “China has lodged stern representations with the US.”

Palestinian scholar says Gaza violence can’t be viewed in isolation

Trump recognizes Israeli annexation of Golan Heights: Green light for global war

The hastily completed White House ceremony in which President Donald Trump signed a decree granting official US recognition to Israel’s illegal annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights is an act which, on its surface, appears to change few facts on the ground in the Middle East. No one should underestimate, however, its far-reaching global implications.

In a brief proclamation, witnessed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump declared that “the United States recognizes that the Golan Heights are part of the State of Israel.” He argued that Israel’s illegal seizure of the Golan Heights in 1967, its unilateral annexation of the territory 14 years later and its continued assertion of control along with the aggressive buildup of Jewish settlements and Israeli capitalist exploitation in the territory were all justified by “Israel’s need to protect itself from Syria and other regional threats,” including Iran.

What nonsense. Trump turns reality on its head. Israel has used the Golan Heights as a launching pad for its own relentless attacks on Syria, which have included the Israeli arming and support for Islamist militias, including ISIS, in the war for regime change against the government of Bashar al-Assad, as well as the thousands of air strikes which Israel’s own military chief of staff acknowledged earlier this year. Washington’s recognition of “Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights” comes amid reports that the US military is consolidating its permanent occupation of eastern Syria, including the country’s main oil and gas-producing areas, even after Trump’s abortive announcement at the end of last year that he was going to “bring the troops home” from Syria. In recent weeks, there have been reports that some 1,000 troops—backed by larger numbers across the border in Iraq—will remain on Syrian soil, while the US military has been spotted trucking large quantities of arms and materiel into the US-occupied zone. ...

Trump’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights will serve in the first instance to fuel Israeli military aggression in the occupied territories and throughout the region. It will also push the already rightward lurching trajectory of Israel’s capitalist political setup ever further toward outright fascism. ... For the Golan Heights, Trump’s edict will doubtless spur on Israel’s drive to eradicate what remains of the territory’s original population. Some 130,000 Syrians fled for their lives when the Israeli military invaded the Golan in 1967. The remaining 25,000 Druze Arabs in their overwhelming majority have rejected Tel Aviv’s attempts to force them to accept Israeli citizenship and insist that they are Syrians.

On Saturday, hundreds marched in the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams in protest over Trump’s impending decree. One told the media, “From here we say that the Golan [Heights] is Arab and Syrian and neither Trump nor any other person can decide its fate.” Another said, “He wants to give Israel land, he can give them one or two of his states in America.”

Netanyahu: Golan Endorsement ‘Proves’ Israel Can Keep Occupied Territories

Still trying to make political gains on President Trump’s endorsement of the Golan Heights annexation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hinting that Trump’s extra-legal decree could have broad ramifications across the occupied territories.

Netanyahu claimed Trump’s move “proves” that Israel is able to hold occupied territories permanently, telling reporters that anything that is occupied “in a defensive war, then it’s ours.” ... Netanyahu’s new “it’s ours” mantra is clearly meant to sent the message to Israeli voters that the annexation of the West Bank too could be in the offing.

As Bombs Rain Down on Gaza, Pelosi Praises AIPAC's 'Leadership'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told AIPAC attendees Tuesday morning that Congressional support for Israel was "relentlessly bipartisan" only hours after Israeli bombs and missiles rained down on the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row. "Israel and America are connected now and forever," said Pelosi. "We will never allow anyone to make Israel a wedge issue."

Pelosi's speech—in which she praised AIPAC's "leadership"—came during a scheduled appearance at the annual conference which celebrates the lobby group's close ties with U.S. lawmakers from both major parties. The California Democrat spoke after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer addressed the conference on Sunday night and just ahead of remarks by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

While no declared Democratic presidential candidates attended or spoke at the event, this year's conference coincides with a fresh wave of Israeli aerial attacks on the besieged Gaza strip that have increased in frequency and destruction over the last three days.Whether or not the two sides will reach a truce is in question. As journalist Rania Khalek pointed out on Twitter, Israel is demanding a halt to border protests against the occupation, a proposition that seems sure to go nowhere.


Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) may be preparing a land invasion of the territory, according to reporting from Democracy Now!.


Theresa May to resign before next phase of Brexit

Theresa May has promised Tory MPs she will step down as prime minister before the next phase of Brexit negotiations in a bid to get Eurosceptics to back her withdrawal deal. The prime minister said she would make way for another Conservative leader, after listening to the demands of MPs for a new leadership team.

“I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party. I know there is a desire for a new approach – and new leadership – in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations and I won’t stand in the way of that,” May said, according to a transcript released afterwards. “I know some people are worried that if you vote for the withdrawal agreement, I will take that as a mandate to rush on into phase two without the debate we need to have. I won’t; I hear what you are saying. But we need to get the deal through and deliver Brexit.

“I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party.” She did not set a specific date for her departure as she spoke to a 1922 committee meeting of Conservative backbenchers. But she is likely to be out of Downing Street before the autumn.

The prime minister’s announcement is seen as key to getting dozens of hard Brexiter MPs, including Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, to back her Brexit deal.

Parliament to hold non-binding vote on alternatives to May's Brexit plans

Obama, the despicable shill for the 1%, is at it again:

Obama Pilloried for Playing the 'How You Gonna Pay for It?' Card on Progressive Agenda

Former President Barack Obama on Monday night cautioned freshman members of the U.S. House against pushing for broadly popular, sweeping reforms by suggesting that voters will reject progressive policies due to their supposed high costs—despite evidence to the contrary. At a meeting organized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Obama told several first-term members both that they should continue to pursue "bold" policy agendas — but also injected the familiar right-wing and centrist canard concerning the cost of such programs.

"He said we [as Democrats] shouldn't be afraid of big, bold ideas—but also need to think in the nitty-gritty about how those big, bold ideas will work and how you pay for them," one attendee told the Washington Post.

The two ideas struck many critics as contradictory. Some slammed the former president for appearing to try to tamp down the ambition, passion, and sense of urgency many freshman including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) have brought to their work—hoping to combat a climate crisis fueled by corporate greed and politicians' complicity; a for-profit health insurance system which has left tens of millions of Americans without healthcare; and rising economic inequality.


Obama's remarks also put him at odds with a number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, at least 10 of whom support a Green New Deal and a majority of whom have backed a Medicare for All plan, including several who have co-sponsored Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) bill in the Senate. According to the Post, the former president mainly expressed concern with how voters will react to progressive policies that require financial investment. ...

On social media, some critics added that Obama's comments crystallized the results of his two terms in the White House, during which he pushed for healthcare reforms that insulated the private insurance industry; bailed out the U.S. financial system without holding big banks accountable for causing the 2008 financial meltdown and leaving working Americans still struggling through a foreclosure crisis; and failed to propose ambitious targets for reducing fossil fuel emissions.

Trump's border emergency declaration stands after House vote falls short

Donald Trump’s emergency declaration over the US border with Mexico remained in force after the House failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the president’s veto.

The House voted 248-181 on Tuesday to override Trump’s veto, the first of his presidency. Democrats succeeded in attracting 14 Republicans to join them in the effort, but still fell 38 votes short of their target. ...

The two Democrats who wrote the resolution to override Trump’s veto, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Joaquin Castro, a congressman from Texas, denounced the emergency declaration as a “dangerous action” that violated the exclusive responsibility of Congress to set budgets. In a joint statement, they vowed to carry on striving to “restore our constitutional system of balance of powers”.

Pret a Manger and Krispy Kreme owners discover disturbing Nazi past

A German newspaper report has revealed major historical ties between the Reimann family, owners of Krispy Kreme and Pret a Manger, and the Nazi party. The report in Bild, since confirmed by the family’s spokesman, shows that ancestors of Reimann family were enthusiastic antisemites and keen supporters of Adolf Hitler. They used Russian civilians and French prisoners of war as forced labourers in their factories.

The report contains harrowing details about the family’s treatment of forced workers: female slaves, mostly from eastern Europe, were forced to stand naked in the factory barracks during checks. Those who refused were beaten and sexually abused. Other workers were beaten, often by the Reimanns themselves, including a Russian woman who worked in the Reimanns’ private villa. ...

Reimann Jr amassed a huge fortune which was passed, through shares in his company, to his nine adopted children, four of whom now control the company. The Reimann family are now the second richest family in Germany with an estimated net worth of €33bn ($37bin). Through JAB Holding, a private company owned by the family, they also have majority shares in Peets Tea and Coffee, Panera Bread and Dr Pepper.

FBI releases documents on Trump Organization after years of resistance

Documents offering a glimpse of attention paid to Donald Trump’s real estate company by the FBI over the past four decades were published by the bureau on Tuesday, following years of resistance.

A pair of subpoenas for testimony to a federal grand jury in Manhattan, which were accepted by attorneys who worked for the Trump Organization, were among the files released under freedom of information (Foia) laws.

But the name of the people called as witnesses and the federal crimes alleged to have been broken in the November 1985 case were redacted, along with hundreds of other details across 149 pages that were published following requests by reporters.

Reports involving Trump’s company were produced over the years by special agents in FBI offices including New York, Philadelphia and Newark.

UN accuses Blackstone Group of contributing to global housing crisis

The UN’s housing advisor has accused private equity firms and one of the world’s largest corporate residential landlords, Blackstone Group, of exploiting tenants, “wreaking havoc” in communities and helping to fuel a global housing crisis.

In a stinging critique of the role of private equity in the housing market UN rapporteur Leilani Farha and co-author Surya Deva, chairperson of the UN Working Group, singled out Blackstone’s business practices – which they claim include massively inflating rents and imposing an array of heavy fees and charges for ordinary repairs – as having “devastating consequences” for many tenants in countries around the world.

In a series of letters to Blackstone and government officials in Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the US, Farha and Deva accused private equity and asset management firms like Blackstone and its subsidiaries of undertaking “aggressive evictions” to protect its rental income streams, shrinking the pool of affordable housing in some areas, and effectively pushing low and middle-income tenants from their homes. ...

Blackstone has, in recent years, acquired hundreds of thousands of homes in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America, often through subsidiaries, making it one of the largest and most powerful global players in the housing investment sector. ... The UN letter to the US government focuses on the way corporate landlords bought hundreds of thousands of ordinary family houses left empty after their owners defaulted on mortgage payments during the sub-prime crisis of 2008.

The firms were encouraged by US government agencies to acquire the heavily-discounted properties in part because they would bring homes back into use as local economies began to recover from the financial crash. However, the need to maximize profits to repay investors typically led to a “constant escalation” of housing costs for tenants, primarily by hiking rents – in some cases by 30-50% – and ruthlessly pursuing eviction for non-payment. One corporation issued nearly a third of its tenants with eviction notices, the letter says.



the horse race



Right-Wing Supreme Court Hints at Troubling Decision on Partisan Gerrymandering

Even as voting rights advocates urge the U.S. Supreme Court to "be on the right side of history" by putting voters and not lawmakers first, the court's right-wing majority indicated Tuesday it may refuse to impose constitutional limits on extreme partisan gerrymandering. "A familiar pattern repeated itself," the Washington Post reported Tuesday after two hours of oral arguments about politically motivated maps. "Liberal justices saw it as a threat to democracy that requires action while conservatives wondered how courts could ever decide when a political process becomes too political."

Justices on Tuesday heard arguments for both Lamone v. Benisek and Rucho v. Common Cause, which has been consolidated with Rucho v. League of Women Voters of North Carolina (LWVNC). The political maps in these cases, which local leaders have acknowledged were intentionally drawn to benefit the political parties in power, gave an advantage to Republicans in North Carolina and Democrats in Maryland.

"Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of rigging the system by drawing lines to maximize their own party's advantage, so these cases present the justices with a unique opportunity," said Paul Smith, vice president at the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and counsel of record for Rucho v. LWVNC. "Voters nationwide are ready for a ruling that will put the voters and not lawmakers first." ...

"The court needs to be on the right side of history and stop politicians from infringing on the people's right to freely choose their representatives through voting," said Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn, calling the case in North Carolina "the most egregious partisan gerrymander the Supreme Court has ever seen." However, current members of the nation's high court—which has ruled on racial but not partisan gerrymandering and "sidestepped the central questions" in another pair of cases last year—don't seem inclined crack down on constitutionally dubious map drawing. ...

As journalist Ari Berman, who has written extensively about voting rights, put it: "Presented with two cases of extreme partisan gerrymandering, the Supreme Court's conservative majority hinted that it might preserve these politically motivated maps in order to avoid what it seemed to regard as the most dangerous possible outcome: equal representation for all citizens."

Geez, you couldn't write this stuff:

Biden condemns 'white man's culture' as he laments role in Anita Hill hearings

The former vice-president Joe Biden condemned “a white man’s culture” on Tuesday night as he lashed out against violence against women and, more specifically, lamented his role in the supreme court confirmation hearings that undermined Anita Hill’s credibility nearly three decades ago.

Biden, a Democratic presidential prospect who often highlights his white working-class roots, said Hill, who is African American, should not have been forced to face a panel of “a bunch of white guys”.

“To this day I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to give her the kind of hearing she deserved,” he said, echoing comments he delivered last fall as the nation debated sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh amid his supreme court confirmation hearing.

Later in his Tuesday remarks, Biden called on Americans to “change the culture” that dates back centuries and allows pervasive violence against women. “It’s an English jurisprudential culture, a white man’s culture. It’s got to change,” Biden said. ...

Hill told Elle magazine last September that Biden had stopped short of giving her a full and direct apology. She said: “It’s become sort of a running joke in the household when someone rings the doorbell and we’re not expecting company. ‘Oh,’ we say, ‘is that Joe Biden coming to apologize?’”



the evening greens


Widespread losses of pollinating insects revealed across Britain

A widespread loss of pollinating insects in recent decades has been revealed by the first national survey in Britain, which scientists say “highlights a fundamental deterioration” in nature. The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they were found in 1980. A third of the species now occupy smaller ranges, with just one in 10 expanding their extent, and the average number of species found in a square kilometre fell by 11.

A small group of 22 bee species known to be important in pollinating crops such as oilseed rape saw a rise in range, potentially due to farmers increasingly planting wild flowers around fields. However, the scientists found “severe” declines in other bee species from 2007, coinciding with the introduction of a widely used neonicotinoid insecticide, which has since been banned.

Researchers have become increasingly concerned about dramatic drops in populations of insects, which underpin much of nature. Some warned in February that these falls threaten a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, while studies from Germany and Puerto Rico have shown plunging numbers in the last 25 to 35 years.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, is based on more than 700,000 sightings made by volunteers across Britain from 1980 to 2013. These are used to map the range of each species of bee and hoverfly over time. The data did not allow the assessment of numbers of insects, but some researchers think populations have fallen faster than range.

Pollinating insects are vital to human food security, as three-quarters of crops depend on them. They are also crucial to other wildlife, both as food and as pollinators of wild plants. “The declines in Britain can be viewed as a warning about the health of our countryside,” said Gary Powney at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, who led the research.

Green New Deal Discussed In The Senate

Our esteemed leaders in Congress discussed the Green New Deal on the Senate floor Tuesday in what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intended to be a humiliation of Democrats and their “radical” agenda. And Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, offered a daring solution to the climate crisis: babies. “The courage needed to solve climate change is nothing compared to the courage needed to start a family,” said Lee, standing on the Senate floor next to a picture of numerous babies. “The solution to so many of our problems at all times and in all places is to fall in love, get married, and have some kids."


There’s no known research or evidence to support the claim that having babies, falling in love, or getting married would affect the climate in a positive way, though some climate activists believe we should stop reproducing. As of Tuesday, there was also no Senate resolution supporting the use of babies to solve the climate crisis.

Not to be outdone by their delusional colleagues, the Senate Democrats evinced profiles in courage (not):

Green New Deal: Senate defeats proposal as Democrats unite in protest

The US Senate defeated a motion to take up the Green New Deal, the non-binding proposal spearheaded by progressive Democratic lawmakers to radically reduce greenhouse gases and try to lessen social inequity. Republican leaders in the Senate had scheduled Tuesday’s vote in an effort to turn the proposal into a wedge issue in the 2020 elections, hoping to force Democrats on the record about their support – or opposition – for a proposal that is popular among the Democratic base but has been criticized by many conservatives.

Democrats called the efforts by the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell a “sham”, and 43 of them voted “present” rather than casting an up-or-down vote.

Lawmakers ultimately voted 57-0 against the proposal. Three Democrats and independent senator Angus King of Maine ultimately joined all 53 Republicans in opposing the plan.


Also of Interest

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

The Three Intersecting Reasons Ilhan Omar Gets Singled Out

How the Israel Lobby Got its Start

Trump Tries To Undo North Korea Sanctions - Gets Sabotaged By His Own Staff

The Mueller Report: Who Cares?

Pathological Deceit: The NYT Inverts Reality on Venezuela’s Cuban Doctors

The Homeless 8-Year-Old Chess Champion and Other Horrific ‘Uplifting’ Stories


A Little Night Music

Eddie Kirkland - Eddie's Boogie Chillun

Eddie Kirkland - Going To The River, See Can I Look Across

Eddie Kirkland - Please Don't Think I'm Nosey

Little Eddie Kirkland - That's All Right

Eddie Kirkland - I Need You Baby

Eddie Kirkland - Must Have Done Somebody Wrong

Eddie Kirkland - Mistreated Woman

Eddie "Blues Man" Kirkland - Have Mercy On Me

Eddie Kirkland - Turning Point

Eddie Kirkland & The Falcons - I Tried


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Lookout's picture

You got your eb out early today.

Another great job with your news review.

Larry Wilkerson was interviewed today about our offensive department of offense (war) budget.
https://therealnews.com/stories/us-military-budget-reveals-an-offensive-...
(video or text)

I sure like the optimism of youth...
The Senate rejected the GND proposal in what Democrats called a “sham vote,” but 18-year-old Jeremy Ornstein of the Sunrise Movement says that won’t stop the movement for climate action
https://therealnews.com/stories/green-new-deal-voted-down-by-senate-but-... (video or text)

AOC comments yesterday about the GND (2 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=29&v=QFY0z_Ei8KQ]

All the best and thanks for the eb joe!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

thanks for the links! aoc is pretty much right on target.

the senate gnd debacle would have been pretty funny if the result wasn't that these clowns are not going to do anything about climate change in a timely fashion.

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detroitmechworks's picture

he never changes the behavior.

Therefore the apologies are like his speeches. Meaningless and a waste of breath.
He doesn't get to shift the blame for his actions to a culture he alternately hates and claims doesn't exist.

I do find it funny as well that the Dems are alternately demanding no records be released in one case, and ALL the records be released in another, on the same day.

I really can't stress this enough, MSM. PICK A FUCKING STORY. You don't get to claim that you're defending yourself while you assassinate people in their beds from a nice safe bunker hundreds of miles from the battlefield, and you don't get to say black is white, because that's the way you get yourself killed at Zebra Crossings.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N5e1R4-G9I]

Edit: Title Typo

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Cassiodorus's picture

@detroitmechworks A really good book on the behavior of the mass media is Mark Pedelty's War Stories. Have I recommended this here before?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

detroitmechworks's picture

@Cassiodorus But I saw the Production process first hand in my youth, so there's things I'm familiar with that I wish I wasn't.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks His “apology” on this, his recent crap he took on millennials who his policies hurt, etc. etc. It’s only going to force people to take a look at what he actually stands for vs. what they think he stands for...I hope anyway.

Also, has he admitted yet that he’s running or are we still supposed to pretend he is undeclared?

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter Just like Hillary. They're waiting till everybody burns out and plan on riding "To the Rescue".

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

OLinda's picture

@detroitmechworks

Was going to post that he is full of S#!#, but I see you got it covered. Wink

Thanks, dmw.

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detroitmechworks's picture

@OLinda I am frankly sick of everything I do being attacked because of who I am. I know who I am, Joe has no fucking idea. That's why he apologizes all the time. His entire self identity is based off the approval of others, and the media has decided to hate on white guys.

Since he's a white guy, to get their approval, he has decided that he needs to apologize and convince others to apologize. I used to apologize for everything, and it just made people hate me more. Continual shaming DOESN'T WORK. Just makes the insult into a mark of pride. A badge of other.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

snoopydawg's picture

@detroitmechworks

that he has no idea what it's like to live in the real world. I think he first got there in 1972 during the better days of the country and then he worked hard ever since to put a stop to it. From his work on the war on drugs, his work during the Clinton's administration and backing up everything Bill did to his bankruptcy bill that made it harder for We peons to discharge our debts and making it so that student loans can't get relief from bankruptcy to .... oh yeah making sure that Thomas got on the Supreme Court. He might have voted against him, but what he did to Anita and not letting other women speak out about what Thomas did to them. How hard is it to send her a letter or make a damn phone call?

"Millennials need to stop their bitching about how bad things are for them." This is true, Joe and they can thank yew and the other dinosaurs like DiFi, Nancy, Schumer, John Lewis and everyone else who have spent decades in congress living off government handouts.

If for some reason all those things aren't enough to not vote for him there's his wondering hands and nose that he thinks girls and women have to put up with just because of who he is.

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

detroitmechworks's picture

@snoopydawg in my dealings with intimate partners, I find him absolutely disgusting.

What drives me crazy is that nobody seems to feel the need to call him out on it, because he's one of the "Good Guys".

The concept of abuse being tolerated because of the holiness of the person doing it used to be reserved by the Church.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

joe shikspack's picture

@detroitmechworks

biden just needs to go away if he wants to preserve his dignity. his act will not stand the scrutiny of the sort of constant attention that a presidential campaign provides.

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detroitmechworks's picture

@joe shikspack But then I remember Bill Clinton.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

joe shikspack's picture

@detroitmechworks

i tend to think of bill clinton as having an exceptional teflon coating, but we've never seen biden under similar scrutiny. i would guess, though, that considering how gaffe-prone biden is, he wouldn't be able to carry it off.

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mimi's picture

@joe shikspack
I have read now three hours straight through the articles and take a break.

I admit I can't stop thinking of creating an archival website, in which I would sort all articles you, lookout and some others provide here, according to the subject categories list of the Library of Congress. I did something similar in 1996 for books. It's an old fashioned way of sorting, which would not rely on search engines' key word searches and be more independent of algorithms of search engines. I just like it better, especially because the selection of relevant articles is behind the used data pool and has been made by you and others in a way that is worth having trust in.

The only thing bothering me is that even relying on your pre-selcetion process, it is so much material, I close my eyes foreseeing the amount of work it would be. So, I talk about it openly here, to create a situation in which I would feel ashamed to not follow through with what I have said publicly.

I try to trick my inner "lazy Schweinehund" out this way. May be it will work ... well, don't count on it, but I am still a stupid dreamer. Smile

Good morning from the other side of the pond.

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Cassiodorus's picture

And so the masses are to be sacrificed on the altar of climate change.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

joe shikspack's picture

@Cassiodorus

sometimes it looks like the elites have so successfully rigged the game that they cannot lose and it is becoming meaningless and hence, boring to them. surely they are aware that they or their spawn will not survive climate change either, but in a fit of ennui and dissolution they cannot bestir themselves to action to save their own lives, either.

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snoopydawg's picture

@lotlizard

and Rachel is the left's Glen Beck. Sad ain't it?

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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

@lotlizard

thanks for the links! america does indeed deserve its own nuremberg, but nuremberg was an action imposed by the victors (who write the history) upon the losers.

in order for america to have the nuremberg that it deserves, it will have to be held accountable in defeat by a stronger power.

the russiagate/birtherism post was quite good, too.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

What is there left to say? The resisters are all in denial over Russiafauxgate.

AIPAC, Israel, Golan Heights. WTF?!?!?!? I'm sick of the whole thing. Are we the United States of Israel? It feels like it. Did you hear Pelosi at AIPAC? She is a disgrace to our Congress and to the Speakership - but what else is new?

Okay - feeling better now.

Have a beautiful evening, everyone! Pleasantry

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"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

What is there left to say? The resisters are all in denial over Russiafauxgate.

they have squandered their resistance for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises ... a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. heh, i think they have a new theme song, especially the chorus of lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie ...

have a great evening!

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@joe shikspack

that's been running around the SA for 45 years now....

Tell the truth to a lord you trust,
More truth to a lord you hate.
Lie to a lady, if lie you must,
But since the nobles sit far away,
And will not heed what the people say,
Lie, lie, lie to the Council, lie to the Lords of State.

Where the low hills sit by the foggy bay,
And the ground all shakes with fire,
The high lords sit in council today,
Let them consider the price they pay,
For calling a man a liar.

With title goes a certain power,
And a much more certain schooling.
A child may play in a castle tower,
But a lord who does will see the hour
He hasn't a land worth ruling.

For there isn't a man but has his doubt
Of the worth of them that rule him,
But the good ones he will not turn out,
Unless he finds he's pushed about,
Or he thinks they're trying to fool him.

There's many a man in the lands of the East,
And a few in the West and the Middle,
Who hold a lord sits last to feast,
Thinks first of his men, their lands, their beasts,
And then of his pride a little.

Now what a man says and what a man writes
Are ruled by law and reason.
But half the cause of all our fights
Is that one man calls his Natural Rights
And another man calls treason.

Take care, all ye who sit in state,
Take care when you come to judge,
The cost of a word in anger is great,
But higher still in lasting hate
Is the cost of holding a grudge.

So tell the truth to a lord you trust,
More truth to a lord you hate.
Lie to a lady, if lie you must,
But since the nobles sit far away,
And will not heed what the people say,
Lie, lie, lie to the Council, lie to the Lords of State.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

cybrestrike's picture

Because his antics will revealed for all to see. And it'll be absolutely unavoidable on the debate stage, with Gillibrand, Harris, and Klobuchar taking pot shots at him. He's a fossil from a bygone age...maybe a public execution before all of America is what it takes for him to finally disappear.

In other news, I've been having a blast watching Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Mate, Michael Brooks, Jimmy Dore, et al dunk on all of the Russiagaters. Some of the true believers just won't let the conspiracy go.

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smiley7's picture

@cybrestrike
Pardon my thread interruption to say so.

Hope you are well and in good spirits.

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OLinda's picture

@cybrestrike

Glenn's twitter page has been pretty entertaining. Smile

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@cybrestrike

but, for a slightly different reason. Could be wrong, but I 'figure' that if several Dem Centrists run, it'll become quite obvious that, especially, on foreign policy, there's not a dime's worth of difference between their neo-liberal views, and the views of many of the self-proclaimed progressive Dem candidates. Especially, if Howard Schultz runs. (Talk about a piece of work--Yikes!)

Don't be a stranger.

Pleasantry

Blue Onyx

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

smiley7's picture

@Unabashed Liberal
How's the pup? Wasn't sure with this week's c99 readings.

And i've a close ski buddy who just got Medicare and he asked his agent for plan F and was sold on plan G as well; suggesting news to me that grandfathered plan F premiums will rise faster in future because of a shrinking pool. If this is true, could we, should we switch to plan G or can we, even?

Cheers Smile

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@smiley7 @smiley7 @smiley7

to catch up with you this Saturday, and fill you in on her medical status, if I know more--her vet's still waiting on results of several tests that he ran last week. Kaity's sonography/ultrasound revealed serious health problems, which was quite a shock. Our vet expects to refer her to a vet specialty practice to see an internist, for further testing (after he gets results on all tests he ran). Hopefully, I'll know more by this Saturday.

I'll double-check, but, pretty sure that the ability to move (from plan to plan within the same company, or, from company to company) depends upon federal and state laws--and, the policy of each individual Medigap insurer, or company.

The only insurer that we found that allowed movement between plans without medical underwriting (meaning, involving at least a health questionnaire, if not an actual medical physical exam) was the one that I mentioned to you a year or two ago--Farm Bureau, or the equivalent of that organization in North Carolina--which also had super low premiums.

Probably, equally important, when shopping for a Medigap/Medicare Supplement policy--is getting the companies' premium increase 'history'--which they are obligated to supply, if asked.

Also, if an individual can enroll in a non-profit insurer (like one that provides insurance for a retiree/professional group, a fraternal order, etc.)--they're normally considerably better off, premium-wise.

And, when possible, better to stay away from companies which regularly potentially impose '2' premium raises per year--on the policyholder's birthday, and, at a designated time of year for 'across-the-board' so-called inflation increase. BTW, it's relatively rare, but some have a one-year "premium lock-in period"--a guarantee of no raises (inflation, or otherwise) for first 12 months.

On the bright side, since over half of Medigap policyholders are enrolled in Plan F (I think you posted about this, the other day, but, I can't remember the exact percentage)--pool shrinkage shouldn't greatly affect premiums, for at least a few years.

BTW, Plan G is cheaper NOW because it's not one of the 'guarantee-issue' (GI) plans. Today, they are Plans F and C.

(Both of which will sunset to newly eligible individuals this December 31, 2019.)

BUT, once those two plans (F & C) sunset, or, are 'retired,' Plan G and Plan D will become 'GI' plans.

So, the very feature that helped keep the premiums for Plan G lower in years past--goes away.

Therefore, the rate of premium increases for both Plans G and D will probably tick up considerably, too--because retirees thrown out of their employer [retiree] insurance plans will begin to land in the risk pools for these plans (G & D).

IOW, the only beneficiaries who've enrolled in Plan G, to date, are those who are just aging into Medicare--in their 6-month Initial Enrollment Period--so they're 'younger' seniors, mostly age 65, OR, seniors who've transferred into Plan G--but are pretty healthy, since, aside from the IEP enrollment period, they've had to undergo relatively rigorous medical underwriting (in order to enroll in Plan G).

Again, Non-Guarantee Issue (GI) status ends for Plan G on 1 January 2020.

Boy, that sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo--sorry! I'll take a stab rewriting or rewording this, on Saturday, for the sake of clarity. Today's been on the hectic side, much like most of this week. So, don't think I'm conveying my thoughts as clearly, or concisely as I would like.

Pardon

Mollie

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

smiley7's picture

@Unabashed Liberal
do. You and the pup were on my mind.

Thanks for the knowledge about the plan's (F,G) future. Hey, can't just dig that up with ease googling.

Vibes for the pup.

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joe shikspack's picture

@cybrestrike

great to see you!

Because his antics will revealed for all to see.

well, it might cause him to lose the primary, but i don't think that the man has any capacity for shame, so only his mortality will cause him to exit the stage. until that day, he will continue to turn up like a bad penny.

heh, i have been pretty amused at watching the loudmouth club doubling down on their claims of russian collusion. i await with great anticipation adam schiff's presentation of the incontrovertible proof that he's seen.

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@cybrestrike just said that the dems/liberals will be in denial until 2025, when Trump is no longer in office.

I don't know that they will ever recover.

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dfarrah

Anja Geitz's picture

This, more than anything, nails the stake right through the heart of It all.

Trump faces opposition from within the establishment not because he is “anti-establishment” but because he refuses to decorate the pig’s snout with lipstick. He is tearing the mask off late-stage capitalism’s greed and self-destructiveness.

If only a large part of Dem electorate could tear themselves away from their Trump derangement syndrome, while those on the opposing side could disabuse themselves that he is their savior, we might manage a cohesive message and turn the Klieg lights on the actual monster(s) hell bent on destroying our planet.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Anja Geitz's picture

@Anja Geitz

Great edition today to the EB Joe! Thanks Biggrin

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

joe shikspack's picture

@Anja Geitz

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joe shikspack's picture

@Anja Geitz

the monsters are in plain sight. sadly, they are not as compelling as targets for the anger of the masses as the buffoons that play in the beltway bigtop.

drawing attention away from the true monsters is their real job and they do it well.

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smiley7's picture

than in years, a movement afoot. Not evident, of course, on MSM, or social media for that matter; but it's there, waiting for an opener. A good feeling more and more young people understand, easily lost in constant conjectures on blogs and the 24/7 droning of talking heads; however, permeating the barrage is an awareness, partly new to me, though not unlike my youthful enlightments; very similar in fact. I'll call it, simple, a growing sense of community. Globally, of and by the people.

Bringing to mind old readings of muckrakers and the import of looking to and elevating those working today ... and, while i'm in this frame of mind, damn the conspirators.

import: "having thus seen, what is imported in a Man's trusting his Heart"

The news and blues i love.

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joe shikspack's picture

@smiley7

i am encouraged by the increasing activism and expressed impatience of young people who would like a habitable planet to live out their lives upon. the children are going to have to lead this one because politicians will be loath to send in troops with live ammunition to shut them up as they would have little hesitation to do with adults.

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smiley7's picture

@joe shikspack
In the wind, change is; in the hands of the 99%. Hope it's not bloody, this tide coming in.

If, we countered JP Morgan--planted seeds--worldwide these past eighty years, power to us.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

needn't despair, when he says,

in focusing on the Trump camp – and relative minnows such as Paul Manafort and Roger Stone – the Russia-gate inquiry actually served to shield the Democratic leadership from an investigation into the much worse corruption revealed in the content of the Democratic National Committee emails. It was the leaking / hacking of those emails that provided the rationale for Mueller’s investigations. What should have been at the front and center of any inquiry was how the Democratic Party sought to rig its primaries to prevent party members selecting anyone but Hillary as their presidential candidate.

'cause Senators Paul and Graham are talking about investigating 'what' led to the inception of the Russia Ruse, and 'who' hatched the scheme. If they do, surely FSC will forego a run--if she's really considering one.

(Personally, I don't think she's planning to run, because of the harsh reality that she and Bill would have to deal with regarding his #MeToo problem.)

Thanks for tonight's EB, Joe. Really enjoyed Hedges piece (last night, I think). It reminded me of 'why' he one of my fav writers.

For those folks who don't hear/watch Cable teevee--they're turning on Biden, now!

Yahoo

Hey, if I can re-find it, may swing back by with a piece about Oregon's move to deny Medicaid beneficiaries pain meds. Whew! Thought Oregon was considered a progressive state--WTH?

Today was probably the nicest day we've had this Spring, and, it's expected to stay like this for better part of the rest of the week.

Everyone have a nice evening!

Pleasantry

Bye Blue Onyx

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne

Dem Budget Committee Chair Yarmuth, December 13, 2018, "Newsmakers" -
"Ultimately, we are going to have to 'deal with' programs like Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security, and, ah, it's one of those things that's going to have to be done on a bipartisan basis, because "nobody wants to walk the plank on those."

Bad

Beware! Yarmuth wants to strike a so-called "Grand Bargain" with Republicans. See C-Span video, above.

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

i hope that paul and graham manage to get something going. it's high time some attention was paid to the fact that clinton and her minions colluded with the dnc to meddle with the purity of our primary elections.

the temperatures here are climbing, ms shikspack's daffodils are greening out and we are supposed to have a gorgeous saturday this week. i'm ready for spring.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@joe shikspack

who's had the most to saw about the stolen Dem primary race, has been DT. (Not that his intent was pure, or particularly honorable--it wasn't. Still, it's been 'crickets' with Dem lawmakers, pols, and so-called Leaders.)

This,

. . . we are supposed to have a gorgeous saturday this week. i'm ready for spring.

made me think of DO.

I say that, because I'm almost certain it would have prompted him to ask if you've readied your camper for the summer, yet. He was good people. Miss him.

Hey, hope you and Ms S have a nice weekend. With all the hard work you put into producing EB every night, you sure deserve the break and rest!

Pleasantry

Mollie

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBMjoEXl5ck]

Where's Captain Planet when you need him?

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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

every time i see devos, the monty python skit about the upper class twits comes to mind.

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smiley7's picture

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dystopian's picture

Great Eddie Kirkland, original motor city blues. Real deal good stuff.

Bibi just can't stop pokin' the hornets nest and Trump to dumb to know better.

The grovelling of the sycophants at AIPAC is sickening. So surpised to see Chuck 'the schmuck' Schumer at the front of the line.

So now Theresa May is going to what is right for the country???? NOW????

I wished Ilhan or AOC would have asked Obama something like "why, because we haven't REALLY paid for your Wall St. bailout and wars yet?" Or maybe "did you ask yourself that before your Wall St. bailout and wars?"

Neonics are another example of corporate capture, and never should have been approved for outdoor pesticide use in the first place. They were commonly used indoors in the 1950's. It required changing the definition of 'lethal' to mean only instant (or relatively so), that allowed them to be approved. Dying a day or two later was no longer considered lethal. Isn't the law beautiful. At least the regulators and lawmakers found a way. It is another glyphosate. Yeah capitalism. Goodbye bugs, oh yeah, and fruits, nuts, and veggies.

thanks for the good tunes...

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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

Bibi just can't stop pokin' the hornets nest and Trump to dumb to know better.

i think that trump doesn't care which hornets are pissed off. my sense is that he envisions the u.s. as a citadel state that does whatever the hell it wants at any time and damn the torpedoes hornets - the u.s. will just "bomb the shit out of them."

The grovelling of the sycophants at AIPAC is sickening. So surpised to see Chuck 'the schmuck' Schumer at the front of the line.

it looks like aipac's days as an apex predator may be numbered. it seems quite telling that democrat candidates gave them a wide berth.

heh, i'd like to see obama in a forum where he is pressed to answer hard questions by an unrelenting interlocutor. i mean, i'd really like to see him in the dock at the hague, but that seems unlikely.

i guess the need for hand-pollinating plants may have a side benefit of making it difficult for agriculture to be practiced on an industrial scale. it will be good to see corporate ag slowly go extinct.

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