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This evening's music features blues guitarist and singer Albert King. Enjoy!

"What Generals Talk About When They Talk About Bombs on TV. Lt Col. Rick Francona: `The goal of the bomb was to destroy the tunnels. The people killed were an ancillary benefit.'"

-- Jeffrey St. Clair

News and Opinion

In Secret Court Hearing, Lawyer Objected to FBI Sifting Through NSA Data Like It Was Google

In her first appearance representing the American public before the top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2015, Amy Jeffress argued that the FBI is violating the Fourth Amendment by giving agents “virtually unrestricted” access to data from one of the NSA’s largest surveillance programs, which includes an untold amount of communications involving innocent Americans.

The NSA harvests data from major Internet companies like Facebook and from huge fiber optic backbones in the U.S. without a warrant, because it is ostensibly “targeting” only foreigners. But the surveillance program sweeps up a large number of Americans’ communications as well. Then vast amounts of data from the program, including the domestic communications, are entered into a master database that a Justice Department lawyer at the 2015 hearing described as the “FBI’s ‘Google’ of its lawfully acquired information.”

The FBI routinely searches this database during ordinary criminal investigations — which gives them to access to Americans’ communications without a warrant.

Jeffress, a former federal prosecutor now serving as an independent “friend of the court,” expressed frustration over the casualness with which the FBI is allowed to look through the data. “There need be no connection to foreign intelligence or national security, and that is the purpose of the collection,” she told Thomas Hogan, then the chief judge of the court. “So they’re overstepping, really, the purpose for which the information is collected.” ...

The NSA program in question operates under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is scheduled to sunset in December unless it is reauthorized by Congress. What critics call the FBI’s “backdoor search loophole” is likely to be a major topic of debate in the coming months.

'Defeat ISIS and go home': Trump rejects Italy's plea to help stabilise Libya

Donald Trump: US has “no role” in Libya

Donald Trump’s declaration that the US had “no role” in Libya has raised doubts about whether a political compromise can still be reached with the help of Americans in the embattled oil-rich country, possibly opening the door to greater Russian involvement in the region. Speaking at a joint press conference on Thursday, the US president rejected a plea from his Italian counterpart, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, for the US to maintain its “very critical” role in the country and help build political consensus around the struggling UN-backed government in Tripoli, which Italy has said represents the best long-term hope for stability.

“I do not see a role in Libya. I think the United States has right now enough roles. We are in a role everywhere,” Trump said, adding that the US’s priority in Libya and Iraq was to focus on counter-terrorism efforts to target Isis. The remarks represented the first time since he became president that Trump had commented publicly on the current situation in Libya, a country that is the main departure point for hundreds of thousands of migrants heading to Europe from Africa and the Middle East and is locked in civil strife between warring political factions and tribes.

Diplomats and analysts who closely follow developments in Libya said it was not entirely clear whether the president was signalling a break from the US’s strong support of the Tripoli government led by Fayez al-Sarraj, or whether he was simply stating that he did not envisage the US taking an active military role in the country.

OPCW rejects Russia-Iran plan for Syria chem incident probe team

Watchdog rejects Russian bid for new Syria attack probe

The global chemical arms watchdog Thursday "overwhelmingly" rejected a Russian-Iranian move to launch a new investigation into a suspected chemical attack in Syria, delegates said, backing the probe already under way. ... A draft decision put forward by Moscow and Tehran — and obtained by AFP — had called for a new investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) "to establish whether chemical weapons were used in Khan Sheikhoun and how they were delivered to the site of the reported incident".

But it ignored that the body, based in The Hague, is already investigating the April 4 attack on the rebel-held town in Idlib province which left 87 dead, including many children. The draft had also called for investigators to visit the Shayrat airbase — bombed by the United States after the attack — to “verify allegations concerning the storage of chemical weapons” there. But the Russian move had “attempted to undercut” the OPCW’s existing fact-finding mission (FFM), the British delegation said in [a] tweet.

The move came as OPCW head Ahmet Uzumcu said Wednesday that “incontrovertible” OPCW test results had shown sarin gas or a similar substance were used in the attack. ...

Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Thursday: “Not one representative of the OPCW has been there [Khan Sheikhoun] in the two weeks. Where, by whom and how were the samples taken?” - “If there truly had been sarin in Khan Sheikhoun, then how can the OPCW explain the charlatans from the White Helmets hopping about in sarin fumes without protective equipment?”

The Russian-Iranian move for a new inquiry raised hackles at the OPCW executive council meeting this week.

More evidence that dropping MOAB was just a gratuitous fireworks display for the benefit of people outside of Afghanistan, much like Truman's decision to drop nukes on Japan was a gratuitous display for the audience in the Kremlin. Apparently, there's no need to consider the consequences of such an action on the country that gets bombed.

Mattis: U.S. won’t dig into ‘mother of all bombs’ damage in Afghanistan

The U.S. won’t conduct a damage assessment following the drop of the “mother of all bombs” on Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan a week ago, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday. The U.S. hasn’t characterized its effectiveness in war through the number of enemy casualties for decades, Mattis said, citing lessons learned from body counts in the Vietnam War. ...

Mattis also refused to say whether he was informed ahead of time that the U.S. would be dropping the massive bomb, the second largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. inventory that had never been used in combat before last Thursday.

What's Worse? Trump Dropping 'Mother of All Bombs' or That 70% of Americans Approve?

Despite the lack of information from the Pentagon about President Donald Trump's deployment on April 13 of the "Mother of All Bombs" in Afghanistan—or its aftermath—close to 70 percent of American voters say they "strongly" or "somewhat" support the bombing, according to a new poll.

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Thursday that "he does not intend to discuss damage estimates from last week's use of the military's most powerful non-nuclear bomb on an Islamic State stronghold in Afghanistan," the Associated Press reported.

An Afghan official said this week that the bombing killed 96 Islamic State [ISIS] militants, though "the official provided no proof of the deaths or information on how officials reached the number of 96," as the New York Times notes. There have been no confirmed reports of civilian casualties.

Dude, Where’s My War?

Based on the evidence of the last few weeks, when it comes to his role as Commander Supremo of “his” military, Donald J. Trump seems to suffer from a kind of attention deficit disorder. Each week there’s a new threat emanating from the West Wing, louder than the last one and aimed at a new target. The decibel level of Trump’s war shrieks is escalating in rough relation to the downward curve of his poll numbers. ...

Naturally, Trump’s arm-chair Janissaries are all fired-up by these weekly flirtations with global catastrophe, but they also must be a little confused. Syria, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, Mexico, Iran, Canadian dairy farmers? Which of these are the real foe? Where will the next war start? Will it be the big one they’ve been waiting for?

Of course, what we are really witnessing in Trump’s bombastic, if inchoate, perorations is trace evidence for the diminution of American power. Previously, the leader of the Empire never had to publicly threaten punitive action against such minor global players. The severe consequences for imperial disobedience were simply understood. Ironically, Trump’s chest-beating is precisely the kind of bellicose over-reaction that Kim Jong-Un was hoping for, since it elevates his status among his own government and immiserated population.

Both Iran and North Korea have digested the core lesson of Libya, which is once you relinquish your most powerful weapons you’re dead. Qaddafi submitted to the demands of the West, turned over his aging stockpile of WMDs and promptly lost his country and then his head. Now Libya is the hottest marketplace in the world for the slave trade and Kim Jong-un is racing to install nuclear bombs on ICBMs. Well done, Hillary.

Russia ‘moves troops and equipment’ to North Korea border, as Kim Jong-un warns of 'super-mighty pre-emptive strike'

Russia has moved heavy military equipment towards its border with North Korea amid mounting fears of a military clash between Pyongyang and the United States over the North’s nuclear program. ...

Residents and local media in Russia’s Far East reported large military convoys travelling in the direction of the North Korean border since the weekend, in what appear to be contingency plans to contain fallout from a possible military clash between the United States and North Korea. A video published by local news site DVHab.ru showed a train carrying twelve tracked vehicles, including Tor surface to air missile systems, travelling through Khabarovsk in the direction of Vladivostok.

“Some say the situation around North Korea is a fiction, but this is the third train of equipment we’ve seen since this morning,” a man can be heard saying in the film. “Looks like something is being sent to the Korean border.”

The movements, which have not been confirmed by the Kremlin, follow reports in South Korean media that China has moved an extra 150,000 troops to its own border with North Korea.

Sometimes I wonder how people in Washington can hear anything over the sound of rattling sabres.

Tillerson says "an unchecked Iran" could become another North Korea

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ramped up the rhetoric on Iran Wednesday, accusing Tehran of trying to destabilize the Middle East with “alarming ongoing provocations,” and labeling an international deal on its nuclear program a failure.

“An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea and to take the world along with it,” Tillerson said at a press briefing in Washington.

“The United States is keen to avoid a second piece of evidence that strategic patience is a failed approach,” he said, employing the phrase that the Trump administration has used recently to justify a more aggressive line toward Pyongyang over its nuclear ambitions.

The comments came the day after the U.S. announced an interagency review of its policy toward Tehran, which Tillerson said would look not only at the 2015 nuclear deal but also at Iran’s actions in the Middle East, where it supports Shia forces engaged in conflicts with Sunni rivals. Calling Tehran “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” Tillerson accused it of having intensified conflicts and sought to undermine U.S. interests in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon, while supporting attacks against Israel.

Worn-out US accusations can't mask its admission of Iran's compliance w/ JCPOA, obligating US to change course & fulfill its own commitments

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) April 20, 2017

Trump raps Iran as violating 'spirit' of nuclear deal

Iran is failing to fulfill the "spirit" of its nuclear deal with world powers, President Donald Trump declared Thursday, setting an ominous tone for his forthcoming decision about whether to pull the U.S. out of the landmark agreement. ...

On Iran, Trump and his top officials have been walking a narrow line as they seek to show an aggressive stance. While disparaging the nuclear deal and accusing Iran of fomenting violence and terrorism throughout the Middle East, Trump has avoided committing to abandoning the agreement, a move that would be staunchly opposed by U.S. businesses and European allies.

Yet the president seems keenly aware that his indecisiveness about the deal's future is a step back from his campaign declaration that as president he would rip it up or renegotiate. ... Trump hasn't given a timeline for when his administration's review of Iran policy — including whether to stick with the deal — will be complete. But the U.S. must decide next month whether to renew a waiver so that Iran can continue receiving sanctions relief.

As US Preps Arrest Warrant for Assange, Greenwald Says Prosecuting WikiLeaks Threatens Press Freedom

The U.S. now says arresting Julian Assange is a priority

Julian Assange’s asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London could soon come to an end if U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has anything to do with it. Sessions style="font-weight: 400;">confirmedstyle="font-weight: 400;"> Thursday that the arrest of the WikiLeaks founder was a “priority” for the Trump administration.

Hours later it was style="font-weight: 400;">reportedstyle="font-weight: 400;"> that Justice Department officials have already prepared charges against Assange, having overcome concerns about whether the posting of thousands of leaked documents by WikiLeaks were protected under the First Amendment.

CNN, citing U.S. officials, said the DOJ had found a way to move forward – but Assange’s lawyer Barry Pollack style="font-weight: 400;">said there has been no communication from the U.S. government about charges being filed, despite repeated attempts by the WikiLeaks founder to open lines of communication.

Wednesday "WikiLeaks will show illegal actions by the CIA"
Friday "US prepares charges to arrest Assange"https://t.co/7zRy5A2ZAH

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 21, 2017

DHS Head to America: Shut Up, Be Terrified, and Do What You’re Told

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly has heard all of that criticism from Americans who are upset at the way his employees treat them and other people, and he has a response for all of you ingrates: Shut up.

If you've ever dealt with surly Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff who treat you as though you work for them and not the other way around, such behavior goes all the way to the top. In a wide-ranging speech designed to reinforce President Donald Trump's attitude that America is under siege, Kelly spoke told an audience at George Washington University and pretty much told them that without the aggressive approaches of the DHS we'd all be murdered by drug cartels and terrorist groups. So can it with the criticism.

The whole speech is watchable here at C-Span for the so-inclined. His speech was essentially a combination of every single post-9/11 security state speech combined with every single '80s and '90s drug warrior panic speech. The media responses are highlighting his defensiveness to criticism. Via The Hill:

"If lawmakers do not like the laws they've passed and we are charged to enforce — then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines," Kelly said, to a burst of applause in the auditorium.

These comments came toward the end of his prepared speech, so it's useful to provide some context with the other things he talked about. He described the way Americans are treated by TSA when we travel as "a little bit of an inconvenience." He was not being sarcastic. He still believes that marijuana is a "gateway drug" and said so. He added that DHS will continue to force federal law on marijuana as long as it's against federal law, regardless of whatever the states may want. So keep that in mind if you're thinking of bringing some on a flight to anywhere. He also, incidentally, made a big deal that DHS employees swear an oath to defend the Constitution, which is notable inasmuch as there is no sign that the DHS has any respect for the Fourth Amendment whatsoever when it comes to searching Americans anywhere near the nation's borders.

Border Officials Float Big Ideas for Mining Social Media

President Trump's plan for “extreme vetting” of travelers coming to the United States puts a lot of emphasis on screening social media profiles. The administration has even floated the idea of asking visa applicants for the passwords to their online accounts, a possibility that drew swift condemnation from free speech and privacy advocates.

But border security officials on a panel at an industry conference in San Antonio last week described ambitions to aggressively mine social media accounts using technology that would work with or without passwords. ... The panelists honed in on some specific techniques they wanted the government to adopt, including an improved approach to analytics and artificial intelligence. “One of the big ticket items is big data, how to automate the process [of]…taking selectors, emails, phone numbers, and mirroring them up to social media profiles quickly,” said Ted McNelis, a consultant with Deloitte who works on counterterrorism screening at CBP. ...

The point of the conference, known as the Border Security Expo, was for companies to hawk services to Homeland Security, and the event’s organizer, Thomas Winkowski, a former high-ranking official at CBP and at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who now runs a border security consultancy, reminded the audience that “extreme vetting” offered “lots of opportunities” for helping agencies scrape and sift data. Social media, he said, was a “huge opportunity there that we need industry’s help with.”

Exposé Reveals Trump Associates & ISIS-Linked Vigilantes Are Attempting Coup in Indonesia

Arkansas executes first inmate since 2005

“Why these eight? Why now?” That was the question U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer asked Arkansas just hours before the state put inmate Ledell Lee to death on Thursday, the state’s first execution since 2005.

Arkansas, which announced an unprecedented plan to execute 8 inmates in 11 days, battled a flurry of legal challenges that delayed its execution schedule until Thursday night, when Lee became the first inmate to die. Three other inmates were given stays, and a fourth was recommended for clemency. A drug manufacturer also sued to stop its product from being used in the executions; style="font-weight: 400;">it won a temporary restraining orderstyle="font-weight: 400;"> twice, only to have that order removed, twice. A separate federal court ruled to stop all the executions, only to see a higher court overturn that order, allowing the executions to proceed. Petitions were sent to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ultimately, a divided Supreme Court declined to halt the executions, but Breyer still wanted to know why this all had to happen in the first place.

“Apparently the reason the State decided to proceed with these eight executions is that the ‘use by’ date of the state’s execution drug is about to expire,” Breyer wrote in his dissent. “In my view, that factor, when considered as a determining factor separating those who live from those who die, is close to random.”

With First Vote, Gorsuch Allows 'Machinery of Death' to Whir On in Arkansas

Newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch cast the deciding vote late Thursday to allow Arkansas to execute Ledell Lee, a man who maintained his innocence until the end.

After a flurry of legal maneuvers and court rulings, the state carried out its first execution in more than 11 years just before midnight on Thursday; Lee was pronounced dead at 11:56pm, four minutes before his death warrant was set to expire.

The Innocence Project, which, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) represented Lee in seeking DNA testing prior to his execution—requests that were denied—also denounced the execution.

"Ledell Lee proclaimed his innocence from the day of his arrest until the night of his execution 24 years later," said Innocence Project senior staff attorney Nina Morrison. "During that time, hundreds of innocent people have been freed from our nation's prisons and death rows by DNA evidence. It is hard to understand how the same government that uses DNA to prosecute crimes every day could execute Mr. Lee without allowing him a simple DNA test."

"Arkansas's decision to rush through the execution of Mr. Lee just because its supply of lethal drugs are expiring at the end of the month denied him the opportunity to conduct DNA testing that could have proven his innocence," Morrison said. "While reasonable people can disagree on whether death is an appropriate form of punishment, no one should be executed when there is a possibility that person is innocent."

Massive Pro and Anti Government Protests in Venezuela

Trump signs order to assess whether steel imports threaten national security

Donald Trump set the stage for a global fight over steel on Thursday, announcing an investigation into whether cheap imports are a threat to national security. At an Oval Office ceremony, surrounded by US steel executives, Trump signed an executive order calling for the commerce department to assess effects of steel imports on US defense at a time when he has ordered a military buildup.

“Steel is critical to both our economy and our military. This is not an area where we can afford to become dependent on foreign countries,” Trump said in what he dubbed a “historic day for American steel”. The president said he had promised to take action on behalf of American workers, which was “one of the primary reasons I’m sitting here today as president”. ... The announcement is the most concrete move the administration has made on trade since Trump was elected after a campaign when he argued cheap imports were “killing” US manufacturers.

Speaking ahead of the signing Wilbur Ross, secretary of commerce, said a 19.6% increase in steel imports in the first quarter has had “a very serious impact on the domestic industry”. Ross said the US had placed more than 150 antidumping and duty orders on steel products, but they had “not substantially alleviated the negative effects that unfairly traded imports have had on the United States steel industry. ... The US steel industry is now operating at only 71% of its capacity, with imports accounting for more than a quarter of domestic steel market, Ross said.

The .01% has developed some new innovations in theft from the rest of us.

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Suits Become Favored Hedge Fund Investment

ISDS (Investor-state dispute settlement) allows foreign corporations to sue host governments for supposedly causing them losses due to policy or regulatory changes that reduce the expected profitability of their investments. Very significantly, ISDS provisions have been and can be invoked, even when rules are non-discriminatory, or profits come from causing public harm. ISDS will thus strengthen perverse incentives for foreign investors at the expense of local businesses and the public interest.

In recent years, ISDS provisions of investment treaties, free trade and other agreements have increasingly provided an investment opportunity to make money by speculating on lawsuits, winning huge awards and forcing foreign governments, and taxpayers, to pay. Financial speculators have increasingly purchased corporations deemed capable of profitably bringing winnable ISDS claims, sometimes using ‘shell companies’.

Some hedge funds and private equity firms even finance ISDS cases as third parties, with ISDS itself the raison d’etre for such investments. Such ‘third-party funding’ of ISDS claims has been expanding quickly as financing such claims has proven to be very lucrative.

Third-party financing reduces litigation costs to the corporations themselves, making it easier, and thus encouraging them to sue. Foreign corporations typically do not have to declare receiving third-party funding for an ISDS case. Not surprisingly then, the ISDS claims-financing industry is booming as different types of investors have been attracted by and drawn into financing lawsuits, treating ISDS claims as speculative assets.

An interesting article from Diana Johnstone with some excellent observations.

The Main Issue in the French Presidential Election: National Sovereignty

The 2017 French Presidential election marks a profound change in European political alignments. There is an ongoing shift from the traditional left-right rivalry to opposition between globalization, in the form of the European Union (EU), and national sovereignty. Standard media treatment sticks to a simple left-right dualism: “racist” rejection of immigrants is the main issue and that what matters most is to “stop Marine Le Pen!” ...

Fifty years ago, it was “the left” whose most ardent cause was passionate support for Third World national liberation struggles. The left’s heroes were Ahmed Ben Bella, Sukarno, Amilcar Cabral, Patrice Lumumba, and above all Ho Chi Minh. What were these leaders fighting for? They were fighting to liberate their countries from Western imperialism. They were fighting for independence, for the right to determine their own way of life, preserve their own customs, decide their own future. They were fighting for national sovereignty, and the left supported that struggle. ...

National sovereignty is an essentially defensive concept. It is about staying home and minding one’s own business. It is the opposite of the aggressive nationalism that inspired fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to conquer other countries, depriving them of their national sovereignty. The confusion is due to the fact that most of what calls itself “the left” in the West has been totally won over to the current form of imperialism – aka “globalization”. It is an imperialism of a new type, centered on the use of military force and “soft” power to enable transnational finance to penetrate every corner of the earth and thus to reshape all societies in the endless quest for profitable return on capital investment. The left has been won over to this new imperialism because it advances under the banner of “human rights” and “antiracism” – abstractions which a whole generation has been indoctrinated to consider the central, if not the only, political issues of our times.

The fact that “sovereignism” is growing in Europe is interpreted by mainstream globalist media as proof that “Europe is moving to the right”– no doubt because Europeans are “racist”. This interpretation is biased and dangerous. People in more and more European nations are calling for national sovereignty precisely because they have lost it. They lost it to the European Union, and they want it back. That is why the British voted to leave the European Union. Not because they are “racist”, but primarily because they cherish their historic tradition of self-rule.

Republicans Sell Access to Congressional Staffers, Flouting Cardinal Ethics Rule

Congressional Republicans are baldly enticing donors with the promise of meetings with senior legislative staff, effectively placing access to congressional employees up for sale to professional influence peddlers and other well-heeled interests.

Documents obtained by The Intercept and the Center for Media and Democracy show that the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee are both telling donors that in exchange for campaign contributions, they will receive invitations to special events to meet with congressional staff including chiefs of staff, leadership staffers, and committee staffers.

While selling donors access to senators and representatives and their campaign staff is nothing new, the open effort to sell access to their legislative staff — the taxpayer-funded government employees who work behind the scenes to write legislation, handle investigations, and organize committee hearings — appears to be in violation of ethics rules that prohibit campaigns from using House and Senate resources in any way. ...

It’s arguably the last fig leaf left when it comes to giving the appearance that campaign contributions are not directly linked to official acts.

This is an excellent article, far too rich in detail to present much of here; it's well worth reading in full.

Why Not a Probe of ‘Israel-gate’?

The other day, I asked a longtime Democratic Party insider who is working on the Russia-gate investigation which country interfered more in U.S. politics, Russia or Israel. Without a moment’s hesitation, he replied, “Israel, of course.” Which underscores my concern about the hysteria raging across Official Washington about “Russian meddling” in the 2016 presidential campaign: There is no proportionality applied to the question of foreign interference in U.S. politics. If there were, we would have a far more substantive investigation of Israel-gate.

The problem is that if anyone mentions the truth about Israel’s clout, the person is immediately smeared as “anti-Semitic” and targeted by Israel’s extraordinarily sophisticated lobby and its many media/political allies for vilification and marginalization. So, the open secret of Israeli influence is studiously ignored, even as presidential candidates prostrate themselves before the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both appeared before AIPAC in 2016, with Clinton promising to take the U.S.-Israeli relationship “to the next level” – whatever that meant – and Trump vowing not to “pander” and then pandering like crazy.

Congress is no different. It has given Israel’s controversial Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a record-tying three invitations to address joint sessions of Congress (matching the number of times British Prime Minister Winston Churchill appeared). We then witnessed the Republicans and Democrats competing to see how often their members could bounce up and down and who could cheer Netanyahu the loudest, even when the Israeli prime minister was instructing the Congress to follow his position on Iran rather than President Obama’s. Israeli officials and AIPAC also coordinate their strategies to maximize political influence, which is derived in large part by who gets the lobby’s largesse and who doesn’t. On the rare occasion when members of Congress step out of line – and take a stand that offends Israeli leaders – they can expect a well-funded opponent in their next race, a tactic that dates back decades. ...

Israel’s involvement in U.S. politics also can be covert. For instance, the evidence is now overwhelming that the Israeli government of right-wing Prime Minister Menachem Begin played a key role in helping Ronald Reagan’s campaign in 1980 strike a deal with Iran to frustrate President Jimmy Carter’s efforts to free 52 American hostages before Election Day. Begin despised Carter for the Camp David Accords that forced Israel to give back the Sinai to Egypt. Begin also believed that Carter was too sympathetic to the Palestinians and – if he won a second term – would conspire with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to impose a two-state solution on Israel. ... Though the evidence of the so-called October Surprise deal is far stronger than the current case for believing that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign, Official Washington and the mainstream U.S. media have refused to accept it, deeming it a “conspiracy theory.”

Massachusetts Dems in Turmoil Over Proposal to Condemn West Bank Settlements

The Massachusetts Democratic Party has been plunged into turmoil by a proposed resolution stating that Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank are an obstacle to peace between Israel and Palestine, the Boston Globe reported Friday. Carol Coakley of Millis, Mass., proposed the resolution that reads in part: "the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee affirm our support for the long-standing U.S. policy of the State Department and every administration from President Lyndon Johnson to President Barack Obama, that Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank are obstacles to peace." Coakley has been a member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee for 18 years, the Globe notes.

And while multiple U.S. presidential administrations, global leaders, and the United Nations have also repeatedly stated that Israel's West Bank settlements are an obstacle to peace in the region, some Massachusetts Democrats are attempting to derail Coakley's resolution before it heads to the full Democratic State Committee next week.

The Globe reports:

[Former state treasurer Steve] Grossman, the former chairman of both the state and national Democratic parties, as well the one-time head of the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said the resolution, if successful, could gravely damage Democrats politically.

He said it feeds a "one-sided blame game," which is playing out across college campuses and in pockets of the "progressive wing of the Democratic Party," and would send a disturbing message to many Democratic activists.

“A lot of people would read about it and would read the language and say: 'Frankly, that's the last straw. This is not a place I feel comfortable any longer,'" Grossman said.

Other Democrats also oppose the resolution, the newspaper observes.

"The Democratic State Committee cannot afford such a divisive and ill-advised resolution at a time when our party needs to unite to protect the values and commitments we hold dear," wrote James Segel, a former state representative and aide to Barney Frank, in a letter. "If adopted it is almost certain to spark a bitter, very public, and entirely unnecessary debate that would seriously undermine party unity and alienate many of our core supporters." ...

MassLive ... reports that "Coakley said she was inspired to bring the issue to the Massachusetts party in August, after the national fight," referring to failed attempts by supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to include statements in the Democratic Party platform condemning Israel's West Bank settlements. "Because the national party could not come to grips with it, or acknowledge the problem, perhaps one state could do it, and perhaps another state could follow, and maybe in four years we'll be able to say Palestinians have rights too," Coakley said.

The Democrats are falling apart on the “come together” tour

The Democrats’ “Come Together and Fight Back” tour was supposed to settle differences between the establishment wing of the party and Bernie Sanders supporters, still pointing fingers over their party’s Electoral College defeat in November. But as Claire Cummings, leader of the Maine Young Democrats found out, that’s not going to be as easy as it sounds.

“Something compelled you to find the space and time to be here, and I want you to ask yourself what that reason is,” she asked the crowd at the Portland tour stop Monday night.

“Bernie!” the crowd chanted.

She pressed on: “Maybe you came, though, because you’re curious about the new DNC chairman [Tom Perez] and the future of—”

“Booooooooo!” replied the crowd. ...

Senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic National Committee Chairman are barnstorming nine purple and red states to, according to their joint press release, “begin the process of creating a Democratic Party which is strong and active in all 50 states.” But the rancor both onstage and in the crowds indicate the party cannot simply paper over the internal divisions exposed during the Democratic primary battle last year between Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

Texas's pick to safeguard environment? The man behind Dakota Access pipeline

The CEO behind the Dakota Access pipeline might not seem an obvious choice to be designated a custodian of the environment. Texas Republicans, though, appear to disagree. The appointment of Kelcy Warren to the Texas parks and wildlife commission was approved by a state senate nominations committee on Thursday after a 4-3 vote along party lines, meaning it progresses to a vote by the full senate later this year.

Warren is a Dallas-based magnate who is head of Energy Transfer Partners, the company whose pipeline under the Missouri river in remote North Dakota attracted year-long mass protests and legal challenges, with Native American tribes contending that it could harm sacred ground and drinking water.

Still, the 61-year-old is close to being reconfirmed as one of 10 members of the wildlife commission, which guides a state agency with a stated mission “to manage and conserve the natural and cultural resources of Texas and to provide hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation opportunities for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations”. Citing conflict-of-interest fears, activists are hoping that senate Democrats will muster enough votes to block Warren’s appointment. ...

Warren has been on the commission since November 2015, when he was appointed by Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott. Warren has donated at least $700,000 to Abbott’s political campaign since 2013, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Warren also donated more than $100,000 to Donald Trump’s campaign, while Trump had between $500,000 to $1m invested in Energy Transfer Partners.

EPA chief Scott Pruitt can’t stop helping out the oil and gas industry

In a letter Wednesday, Pruitt informed energy industry leaders that thanks to their petition against an Obama-era rule regulating methane emissions from oil and gas wells, the EPA would stay the rule for 90 days. During that time, the regulation — meant to help curb the effects of climate change — would be “reconsidered,” freeing energy companies from having to comply with it. ...

Ironically, critics have pointed to this methane rule as proof of Pruitt’s warm friendship with the oil and gas industry before: In 2013, while Pruitt was still Oklahoma’s attorney general, one of his deputies sent an Oklahoma-based oil and natural gas company a letter challenging the rule. Pruitt planned to send the letter to the EPA, the deputy explained, and the deputy wanted the company’s input. Within hours, the company sent back an edited version of the letter. And just a day later, Pruitt sent that letter — without making a single change.

Rivers vanishing into thin air: this is what the climate crisis looks like

The Slims river in northern Canada gained infamy, not for its fishing or pristine waters, but for vanishing in a matter of four days in May 2016. This week we learned that it fell victim to “river piracy” – and climate change was almost certainly to blame. ... The melting of Yukon’s massive Kaskawulsh glacier – known to the local Southern Tutchone First Nation as Tänshī – caused the drainage gradient to tip in favour of the second river, redirecting the meltwater to the Gulf of Alaska, thousands of miles from its original destination. ...

Such a rapid transformation of the river alters more than just the physical geography and ecosystems of one of Canada’s most majestic and ecologically sensitive regions. It also affects local Indigenous communities. Residents near Kluane Lake, which the Slims river used to feed, reported water level changes immediately after the river’s disappearance. The lake is now about three meters lower than normal, and is in jeopardy of being cut off from its own outflows — making traditional food for the Kluane people, such as trout and whitefish, much harder to find.

When nature’s thresholds are passed, everything changes. Landscapes are radically transformed in the blink of an eye. In this case, river piracy is a dramatic reminder that the consequences of climate change are often unpredictable. It’s also proof that climate change isn’t a problem of the future. It’s happening now. We’re seeing the increasing effects of climate change every day. ...

Making deep reductions in carbon emissions can’t wait until 2050. Humans are the dominant force on the planet, and we’re causing unprecedented impacts. Human-caused climate change is making events like hurricanes, floods and droughts stronger and more frequent. ... So who are the pirates? In the case of the Slims, certainly not the second river, and certainly not nature. We are the pirates, and we’re robbing ourselves.

Also of Interest

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

The Nerve Agent Attack that Did Not Occur: Analysis of the Times and Locations of Critical Events in the Alleged Nerve Agent Attack at 7 AM on April 4, 2017 in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria

MOAB: More Obama and Bush

Arkansas Fights to Execute Two Men Without Testing DNA Evidence That Could Exonerate Them

More Than 400 People Convicted of Terrorism in the U.S. Have Been Released Since 9/11

Energy Transfer's Latest Pipeline Woe Is a 50,000-Barrel Spill

A Little Night Music

Albert King - Personal Manager

Albert King - I Can't Hear Nothing But The Blues

Albert King - Funk-Shun

Albert King - I Believe to My Soul

Albert King - Overall Junction

Albert King - Down Don't Bother Me

Albert King - Let's Have A Natural Ball

Albert King live in Sweden 1980