The Evening Blues - 4-27-17
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features serious honker Big Jay McNeely. Enjoy!
Big Jay McNeely - Road House Boogie
“Whether the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus—the bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as our brothers' enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and makes us its slaves. No matter what the circumstances, the worst betrayal will always be to subordinate ourselves to this apparatus and to trample underfoot, in its service, all human values in ourselves and in others.”
-- Simone Weil
News and Opinion
Surely nothing could go wrong with loosening civilian control of the military. As the kids say, "OMFG!"
The Pentagon Will Now Get To Decide How Many Troops To Send To Fight ISIS
After years of tight White House management, the Pentagon will now have a freer hand in deciding how many of its troops are deployed in the war against ISIS and when they are sent there, BuzzFeed News has exclusively learned.
President Donald Trump has delegated new authorities to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to determine the maximum number of forces to be deployed to a conflict, known as the Force Management Level, or FML, in Iraq and Syria. That number is sent to Congress, which is updated anytime there are major force deployments.
Mattis, after receiving the delegation of authority from the White House on April 20, drafted a classified memo, dated April 26th, to the department ordering a review of FML. That review will include an audit of current force accounting to determine how the military will define force levels, what the department will release to the public, and how. The secretary requested the change, in part because he wants a more transparent process, defense officials said. ...
The criticism from military commanders under the Obama administration, where the White House determined the FML, was that the bureaucratic process slowed their ability to deploy troops in the midst of the wars in Iraq, and later, Syria. While the White House also set that number under the George W Bush administration, the Pentagon did not face as much resistance to its suggestions as it later would under Obama. ...
The FML had been presented as a means to inform the public about troop deployments, but there are numerous exceptions that have allowed the military to not give an accurate figure. Troops listed as serving in a temporary assignment (under 180 days), certain Special Forces and troops assigned to other government agencies are departments are not currently counted in the FML. In Syria, for example, the maximum troop level is set to just over 503, but currently there are actually more than 1,000 troops deployed there.
Israel Strikes Iran-Backed Base In Syria
Israel struck an arms supply hub operated by the Lebanese group Hezbollah near Damascus airport on Thursday, Syrian rebel and regional sources said, targeting weapons regularly sent from Iran via commercial and military cargo planes.
Video carried on Lebanese TV and shared on social media sites showed the pre-dawn airstrikes caused a fire around the airport east of Damascus, suggesting fuel sources or weapons containing explosives were hit.
Turkey Claims Mortar Fire From Syrian Government-Controlled Area Hits Turkish Base
Mortar fire from an area assessed to be under the control of Syrian government forces hit a military outpost in Turkey's southeastern province of Hatay, the Turkish army said on Wednesday, adding it had retaliated in kind after the attack.
In a statement, the army said a separate cross-border mortar attack had been carried out on a different military outpost, also in Hatay, by members of the Kurdish militant YPG earlier on Wednesday.
Pentagon: Turkey put US troops in danger with surprise airstrikes
Turkey did not give U.S. coalition forces adequate advance notice before it bombed terrorist targets near U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday.
The Turkish military bombed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets unexpectedly in an attack that also killed Kurdish fighters who are working with the United States fighting against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“There was less than an hour of notification time before the strikes were conducted," said U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.“That's not enough time. And this was notification, certainly, not coordination as you would expect from a partner and an ally in the fight against ISIS."
The White House held a pointless security briefing on North Korea
With its much-touted “100 days in office” deadline looming ahead, the Trump administration summoned almost every U.S. senator to the White House Wednesday, ostensibly for an urgent meeting on North Korea. But the pomp and circumstance couldn’t conceal a simple fact: The meeting was pointless. ...
The meeting failed to clarify the administration’s policy on North Korea and its intercontinental ballistic missile testing, a Republican senator told the Washington Post — a strategy that remains murky thanks to President Donald Trump’s inarticulate stance on the hermit kingdom and its close ally China. The White House also recently incorrectly announced that an aircraft carrier was bound for the Sea of Japan as a deterrent, when it was actually headed toward the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away.
GOP senator on N. Korea briefing: Briefing lacked "even straight answers on what the policy is regarding N. Korea and its testing of ICBMs"
— Ed O'Keefe (@edatpost) April 26, 2017
North Korea: Washington and Seoul pledge 'swift punitive measures'
The US has signalled sanctions and diplomatic pressure are its priorities for dealing with North Korea as senators who attended a White House briefing said they had not been presented with “a specific military option”. ...
A statement on Thursday from the South Korean president’s office said Seoul and Washington had agreed “to swiftly take punitive measures” against North Korea in the event of more provocation, following a telephone conversation between the US national security adviser, HR McMaster, and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Kwan-jin.
“The two sides pledged that in the event of additional strategic provocation by the North to swiftly take punitive measures, including a new UN security council resolution, that are unbearable for the North,” the statement said.
It followed Wedensday’s joint statement from the US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, secretary of defence James Mattis, and director of national intelligence Dan Coats, that said President Trump would pressure Pyongyang “by tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures with our allies and regional partners” – an approach adopted by the past three US administrations.
Hawaii threatened by North Korea now, U.S. commander tells Congress
The Pentagon needs to consider deploying new anti-ballistic missile systems and a defensive radar to Hawaii to protect against a growing threat from North Korea, the top U.S. military officer in the Pacific told Congress on Wednesday.
“Kim Jong-Un is clearly in a position to threaten Hawaii today, in my opinion,” Adm. Harry Harris, the chief of U.S. Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee. “I have suggested that we consider putting interceptors in Hawaii that . . . defend (it) directly, and that we look at a defensive Hawaii radar.” ...
Harris warned that North Korea’s testing is picking up speed and becoming more aggressive; the country conducted more than 20 ballistic missile tests last year.
“North Korea vigorously pursued a strategic strike capability in 2016,” he told lawmakers on Wednesday. “Kim’s strategic capabilities are not yet an existential threat to the U.S., but if left unchecked, he will gain the capability to match his rhetoric.”
NYT’s ‘Impossible to Verify’ North Korea Nuke Claim Spreads Unchecked by Media
Buoyed by a total of 18 speculative verb forms—five “mays,” eight “woulds” and five “coulds”—New York Times reporters David E. Sanger and William J. Broad (4/24/17) painted a dire picture of a Trump administration forced to react to the growing and impending doom of North Korea nuclear weapons. ...
From the beginning, the Times frames any potential bombing by Trump as the product of a “stark calculus” coldly and objectively arrived at by a “growing body of expert[s].” ... The most spectacular claim—that North Korea is, at present, “capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks”—is backed up entirely by an anonymous blob of “expert studies and classified intelligence reports.” To add another red flag, Sanger and Broad qualify it in the very next sentence as a figure that is “impossible to verify.” Which is another way of saying it’s an unverified claim. When asked on Twitter if he could say who, specifically, in the US government is providing this figure, Broad did not immediately respond. ...
But from whence did this meme come? Who, exactly, made this claim? Is there any dissent within the community of “experts” on this prediction? Is there an official document somewhere with people’s names on it who can later be held accountable if it turns out to be bogus? Once again, the essential antecedents of war are being established based on anonymous “experts” and “officials,” and hardly anyone notices, much less pushes back.
Should North Korea (or Russia or China...) be upset by this test and threaten retaliation? How about a meeting of the UN Security Council and sanctions? Oops, no, can't do that the US is "exceptional."
US test-fires ICBM traveling 4,000 miles to South Pacific
The U.S. Air Force test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile which traveled over 4,000 miles before splashing down in the South Pacific after launching early Wednesday from a base in California.
The nuclear-capable missile was unarmed, according to the Air Force, and comes amid increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The Minuteman III missile blasted off at 12:03 a.m. Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. ...
The U.S. Air Force has 450 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles in underground silos across three bases in Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana. This number will be reduced to 400 in the coming years, according to a senior U.S. military official.
Keiser Report: Fed Balancing Sheet
Heh, the American political system could use a tool like this:
Brazilians fight back against corruption– with the help of a purple plug-in
In an age of epic corruption and political cynicism in Brazil, a new browser plug-in aims to attract and inform voters about the extent of their representatives’ involvement in graft. Released before what is expected to be the biggest general strike in decades, Colour of Corruption is an online political scorecard that details criminal allegations against members of the cabinet, the upper and lower houses of parliament, state governors, their deputies – and even the president.
It comes in the midst of the biggest bribery investigation in Brazil’s history. Operação Lava Jato, or Operation Carwash, which started in 2014, has revealed a massive system of kickbacks and corruption involving almost all of the major political parties and dozens of leading companies, including the state oil giant Petrobras. The latest revelations – detailed with shocking nonchalance by executives from the Odebrecht construction conglomerate – have prompted the supreme court to authorise investigations into eight ministers from President Michel Temer’s cabinet, as well as five former presidents.
Launched this week, the Google Chrome plug-in paints a vivid purple band over the name of any senior politician facing any kind of investigation. A click then reveals legal processes the politician is facing.
'Neither Macron, nor Le Pen': Protesters march against French presidential candidates in Paris
Marine Le Pen Can Win, if She Campaigns “à la Trump,” Her Father Says
Jean-Marie Le Pen is eager to offer his daughter some advice, whether she wants it or not: to win, she needs to drop the facade of moderation and “campaign à la Trump,” by channeling the anger of disaffected working-class voters who have abandoned mainstream parties for the far-left as well as the far-right. “I think that her campaign was too ‘cool,'” Le Pen told France Inter radio. “If I’d been in her place, I would have had a campaign like Trump’s,” he explained. “That’s to say, a wide-open campaign, very aggressive against those who are responsible for the decay of the country, whether right or left.” ...
Far from welcoming her father back into the fold, Marine Le Pen has spent the past few days doing everything she can to distance herself from his toxic legacy, even temporarily stepping aside as the leader of the party he founded. She then declared, “I am not the candidate of the National Front,” during a live television interview on Tuesday night.
By making it to the run-off with 21.3 percent of the vote in the first round this year, Marine has improved on her father’s showing in 2002, when he advanced to the second round with 16.9 percent. But she is well aware of what happened next that year: Jean-Marie lost the run-off in a landslide, as anti-fascist voters from every other party rallied around the unpopular incumbent, Jacques Chirac, even though he was suspected of corruption. ...
To keep the same thing from happening again, Marine Le Pen’s supporters, including her father, are trying to split apart the unified front against her before it can form by praising Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left critic of the “rigged system” who won 19.6 percent of the first round vote. Mélenchon, who blames the neoliberal economic policies Macron wants to continue for the rise of the far-right, has refused to endorse the former investment banker. On Tuesday, Jean-Marie Le Pen called that stance “very dignified." ...
On Wednesday morning, a spokesman for Mélenchon, Alexis Corbière, said that even though the leader of the “France Unsubjugated” movement would not tell his supporters what to do in the second round, the only possible options were to vote for Macron, abstain or cast a blank ballot. “No one should vote for the National Front,” Corbière said. “I repeat: not one vote for the National Front.”
Macron's route to victory might be slightly more uphill than most would like. Telling quote here. https://t.co/AkF2wnXYgm pic.twitter.com/1a043ZmvFr
— Evan Hill (@evanchill) April 25, 2017
It looks like the French establishment has its own sort of somewhat left-democrat surrogates beating the bushes for lesser-of-two-evils voting, which always advantages the establishment who are thus encouraged to run crappy candidates of the elite class and disregard the other classes. I think you'll find much in the arguments presented that remind you of Clinton's allegedly left surrogates.
French voters must choose between the lesser of two evils: Macron or Le Pen
The presidential run-off between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen poses a dilemma for many French progressive voters: the former is seen as one of the main architects of François Hollande’s most unpopular pro-market and antisocial policies, such as the labour law reforms, which dismantled vital workers’ rights. If elected, Macron promises a hardened version of those reforms which have destroyed the Socialist party. Le Pen, no less neoliberal than her opponent (she has a similar socio-economic platform to Donald Trump’s), proposes an authoritarian regime in which the old obsessions of French fascism could thrive: bashing Muslims, anti-immigration, as well as curbing civil liberties.
Between two evils, which one should the left choose? The answer seems deceivingly straightforward: how could a leftwinger choose the Front National? ... Leftwing abstention is the greatest threat of all. In social media, the slogan “Neither Macron nor Le Pen” is gaining momentum; hashtags such as “#SansMoiLe7Mai” (Without me on 7 May) are popular. These are signs of extreme political confusion and evidence of the Front National’s “de-demonisation” in voters’ minds. Some leftwingers claim that “neoliberalism is as bad if not worse than fascism” or that “neoliberalism feeds in fascism”. Others argue that a Macron presidency will guarantee a Le Pen victory in 2022. They forget that abstention might make a Le Pen victory possible as early as 2017.
A poll this week showed that though 50% of Mélenchon’s voters would transfer their vote to Macron, 20% would prefer Le Pen. This is worrying, and a warning to complacent politicians and media. ... Most prominent politicians, parties of the left and trade unions have said that “not a single vote should go to Le Pen”. This is fine, but it could still encourage abstention. Of all the leftwing candidates, only Benoît Hamon clearly endorsed Macron on Sunday evening. But Mélenchon has kept quiet until now and might not say what he will do in the second round. ...
This is indeed a dilemma, but it is a choice between two evils, and the left should not hesitate to choose the lesser. First, defeat emphatically the fascist candidate by using the only means at its disposal – a Macron vote. Then start opposing President Macron by giving the left a majority in the National Assembly. The left would have a chance to make a political comeback with a neoliberal president in office, but it would be trashed for good if it let the far right come to power.
Heh, Bush's poodle doesn't like the idea of a real Labour candidate for PM. Tony talks a lot about accountability for others, but doesn't want to deal with the orange jumpsuit that he ought to be sporting for his war crimes.
Tony Blair refuses to back Jeremy Corbyn for prime minister
Tony Blair has refused once again to say he thinks Jeremy Corbyn would be the best prime minister, arguing that people should vote Labour to make sure Theresa May has a strong opposition. The former prime minister, who has been a vocal critic of Corbyn from the start, said the real issue in the campaign was not who was going to be prime minister, but making sure the government was held to account over Brexit.
Asked if he was saying hand on heart that Corbyn would be the best prime minister, Blair told Sky News: “If the polls are right, we know who’s going to be prime minister on 9 June. That’s not the issue. It’ll be Theresa May if the polls are right. “I think the real issue is blank cheque. It’s what mandate does she claim, on Brexit and on the health service and all the other things.
“I think the most powerful argument for Labour in this election because of the way the polls are, and the way the opinion polls are and the leadership issue, the most powerful argument for Labour is to say it’s important for our democracy that the government is held to account and needs a strong opposition.”
"A Land Grab by the Ruling Elites": Trump's Tax Plan Derided for Benefiting the Rich
Trump's “massive” tax plan was a single page of bulleted ideas
Trump administration officials laid out broad-brush ideas for a tax overhaul Wednesday, asserting that large tax cuts focused heavily on businesses and affluent American households would pay for themselves through a burst of economic growth.
Despite the day’s announcement being billed by President Trump as “massive tax reform,” Wednesday’s proposal contained almost no detail, consisting of a single-page of bulleted ideas sent out moments before a brief press conference held by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and top Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn. Cohn called the announcement a “broad-brush overview” stressing that administration officials were still in discussions on the details of the plan, which would have to be translated into legislation and passed by Congress before taking effect.
The White House document contained the most specifics on steep tax cuts for business, which seemed in-line with previously reported aspects of the proposals. (Though without all the details it’s not possible to say.) The lack of details also makes determining the cost of those proposed tax cuts difficult. But the best guess of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is that Trump’s proposals could cost $5.5 trillion.
This isn't a plan. It's a skimpy press release. They got us again. pic.twitter.com/xI3A9vokSC
— Matt Phillips (@MatthewPhillips) April 26, 2017
Trumpcare is back from the dead after House Republicans push it even further to the right
The stubbornly ideological members of the House Freedom Caucus found a way to say yes to President Donald Trump’s second attempt to overhaul Obamacare weeks after the ultraconservatives helped sink his first one. ...
The proposed Obamacare replacement would permit states to opt out of Obamacare regulations that make insurance companies cover people with pre-existing conditions and procedures deemed “essential health benefits.” States would create high-risk pools to provide coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, but it’s unclear if those pools would be properly funded or save money compared to the current system. States would also have to propose an alternative system that would lower premiums, increase the number of insured people, or foster more competition among health insurance companies — an ambiguous goal.
Allowing states to remove protections for pre-existing conditions would break Trump’s long-standing promise to keep the popular provision. That fact, along with the possible removal of the essential health benefits, which include things like maternity and ambulatory care, may alienate too many moderate Republicans to guarantee passage of a new bill.
'The Time is Golden and Now': Single-Payer Bill Advances in California
With close to 1,000 supporters rallying outside, California's Senate Health Committee on Wednesday advanced a single-payer healthcare bill that has been described as a potential "catalyst for the nation."
The Healthy California Act (SB562) would create a universal health system (covering inpatient, outpatient, emergency care, dental, vision, mental health, and nursing home care) for every California resident. Unveiled last month, the bill has the support of National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association, who held a rally at the Sacramento Convention Center Wednesday followed by a march to the state capitol and a presence in the committee room. ...
Supporters got one step closer to [the] goal on Wednesday, when the Health Committee approved the bill 5-2 after a nearly three-hour hearing. State Sen. Richard Roth said his office had gotten more than 1,000 calls from constituents on the single-payer plan.
The opposition has also reared its head. Courthouse News Service reported: "Several of the groups that have lined up against SB 562 have made political contributions to current members of the Senate Health Committee, including chair Ed Hernandez (D-Montebello), Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), and Richard Roth (D-Riverside). Each member voted in favor of the bill Wednesday."
Still, according to the Los Angeles Times, "Democrats and Republicans alike signaled unease with the major question still unanswered in the legislation: how the program would be paid for."
But Democratic state Sen. Ricardo Lara, the bill's co-author, said a detailed financial study would be completed in May, before the bill is heard in the Appropriations Committee—its next stop, having cleared the Health Committee hurdle. Lara chairs that committee.
"With today's vote we are closer to being able to say, once and for all, that healthcare is not a privilege, it's a human right," Lara declared. "Every family, every child, every senior deserves healthcare that costs less and covers more, and California has a chance to lead the rest of the nation toward universal care."
Mar 27, 2017 vs. Apr 27, 2017. 32 reps in 32 days. #tbt pic.twitter.com/0Rs3G8tCGo
— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) April 27, 2017
“Innocent People Have Been Sentenced to Death in Oklahoma,” Commission Concludes
The Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission after more than a year of work has recommended that a moratorium on carrying out capital punishment in the state be continued indefinitely. “It is undeniable that innocent people have been sentenced to death in Oklahoma,” the report concludes.
The bipartisan commission’s findings span nearly 300 pages, covering every stage of the state’s death penalty system. It addresses such issues as the problematic interrogation of suspects, overworked defense attorneys in capital cases, and an execution process with a disastrous track record. Headed by former Gov. Brad Henry, former federal magistrate Judge Andy Lester, and Judge Reta Strubhar, the first woman to sit on the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals, the commission urges the state to correct the “systemic flaws” in its death penalty system before seeking to restart executions, or sentencing any new defendants to death row.
The commission was formed in the fall of 2015, not long after the state attempted to kill Richard Glossip on September 30 of that year. It was his third date with death. Only after courts had cleared the way for Glossip’s execution — and as witnesses were waiting to be brought to the viewing chamber — did state officials discover they had procured the wrong drug with which to kill him, impermissibly substituting an untested drug in place of one that was specified in the official execution protocol. In a dramatic 11th-hour stay by Gov. Mary Fallin, the state called off the execution.
The high-profile mistake — the latest in a series of ugly incidents casting negative attention on Oklahoma executions — prompted then Attorney General Scott Pruitt to impose the current, indefinite moratorium in order to give officials a chance to sort out what “had transpired” leading up to Glossip’s failed execution. ... As The Intercept reported following the release of the grand jury report in May 2016, its findings showed dizzying incompetence and disregard for protocol in the run-up to Glossip’s planned execution, as well as deceit on the part of state officials, who afterward lied to the public about key aspects of what happened.
Most Trump voters believe Obama spied on Trump’s campaign
A majority of Trump voters believe the Obama administration spied on Trump and his aides during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Wednesday.
The poll, which surveyed just over 1000 people in April, shows a sharply divided country where political affiliation in large part determines how Americans understand the news. For example, while 64 percent of Trump voters believe Obama spied on their candidate’s campaign, only 10 percent of Clinton voters believe anything of the sort. ...
Additionally, the poll found that a majority of Americans, at 56 percent, believe that Russia tried to intervene in last year’s U.S. presidential election and that 39 percent of voters believe Trump’s campaign tried to help Russia do it.
"Superspy" behind lurid Trump-Russia allegations says he has no idea if the "raw intelligence" in it is true https://t.co/6iywAniDs2
— max seddon (@maxseddon) April 26, 2017
Thomas Frank: The Midwest is longing for populism. Can Democrats offer that in 2018?
I am a Midwesterner too, and I like to think I share the values and outlook of that part of the country. I have spent many of the last 15 years trying to understand my region’s gradual drift to the political right. And I have spent the last three weeks driving around the deindustrialized Midwest, visiting 13 different cities to talk about the appeal of Donald Trump and what ails the Democratic Party. I met labor leaders and progressive politicians; average people and rank-and-file union members; senior citizens and Millennials; sages and cranks. ... And what I am here to say is that the Midwest is not an exotic place. It isn’t a benighted region of unknowable people and mysterious urges. It isn’t backward or hopelessly superstitious or hostile to learning. It is solid, familiar, ordinary America, and Democrats can have no excuse for not seeing the wave of heartland rage that swamped them last November.
Another thing that is inexcusable from Democrats: surprise at the economic disasters that have befallen the Midwestern cities and states that they used to represent. The wreckage that you see every day as you tour this part of the country is the utterly predictable fruit of the Democratic party’s neoliberal turn. Every time our liberal leaders signed off on some lousy trade deal, figuring that working-class people had “nowhere else to go,” they were making what happened last November a little more likely. Every time our liberal leaders deregulated banks and then turned around and told working-class people that their misfortunes were all attributable to their poor education, that the only answer for them was a lot of student loans and the right sort of college degree ... every time they did this they made the disaster a little more inevitable. ...
Tell people about how the Russians stole the election for Trump and everyone knows you’re just reiterating a Beltway talking point. Mention how the Democrats betrayed working people over the years, however, and the radio station’s board immediately lights up with enthusiastic callers. Remind people of the ways in which the Democrats have reoriented themselves around affluent, tasteful white-collar people and you hear a chorus of angry yesses; talk about how the Democrats live to serve the so-called “creative class” and a murmur of recognition sweeps the room. ...
The way I see it, the critical test for our system will come late next year. The billionaire great-maker in the Oval Office has already turned out to be an incompetent buffoon, and his greatest failures are no doubt yet to come. By November 2018, the winds of change will be in full hurricane shriek, and unless the Democratic Party’s incompetence is even more profound than it appears to be, the D’s will sweep to some sort of mid-term triumph. But when “the resistance” comes into power in Washington, it will face this question: this time around, will Democrats serve the 80% of us that this modern economy has left behind? Will they stand up to the money power? Or will we be invited once again to feast on inspiring speeches while the tasteful gentlemen from JP Morgan foreclose on the world?
Donald Trump Is Slashing Programs Linking Climate Change to U.S. National Security
Over the last several decades, top government officials and even military brass have come to view climate change as a national security issue. Under President Barack Obama, the notion was codified through recognition of the link by the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department, the State Department, and the National Intelligence Council. Now, President Donald Trump, with nearly all the government’s climate change work in his crosshairs, is poised to dramatically scale back environmental security programs — perhaps eliminating many entirely — through dramatic budget cuts.
Many of these programs help cities cope with water emergencies. ... At the federal level, the task of helping cities like New Orleans and Camden deal with ... water crises falls in part to Homeland Security. It’s not one of the department’s flashiest mandates, but the work, in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency, helps to secure public health by stopping toilet water from entering streets, homes, and waterways during extreme weather events. ...
The Trump administration, however, has focused on security in purely military and law enforcement terms, whether through $54 billion in new Defense Department spending or increased funding for immigration enforcement and border protection. Those efforts are likely to come at the expense of environmental security. Despite his defense chief James Mattis’s public statements endorsing the links, Trump already issued an order canceling Obama’s push to consider climate change in national security planning. And Trump’s budget outline portends even more drastic moves away from protecting the nation against climate-related threats.
Among the most draconian proposed cuts, the EPA stands to have about a third of its budget eliminated. EPA programs targeted for wholesale cuts include those designed to protect critical water infrastructure from terror attacks, accidents, pandemics, and extreme weather caused by climate change. A March 21 itemized 2018 EPA budget proposal, first released by the Washington Post, suggested eliminating EPA’s $7.7 million “critical infrastructure protection” program. Although the budget is expected to change dramatically as Congress weighs in, the draft version provides an insight into Trump’s conception of security.
Ha! Trump is not a plant of the Russians, he's clearly China's patsy:
Trump’s Next Most Dangerous Possibility
With the wide path of destruction that Donald Trump has been cutting — in which the damage is affecting matters ranging from principles of nondiscrimination to ethical integrity of government officials to reliable health care for Americans — it is easy to lose sight of what ultimately would be the most consequential destruction of all: the damage to a habitable planet. The consequences may not be as immediately apparent, during the first 100 days or even during four years, as some of the other carnage, but the importance to humanity is even greater. As with many other Trump policies, it is not yet clear exactly what the administration will do regarding a specific initiative such as the Paris accord on climate change, but the overall thrust of opposing any serious effort to retard global warming is all too obvious.
The recent demonstrations known as the march for science, although ostensibly not aimed at any one leader, were a salutary expression of concern, given that denial of climate change and the associated opposition against efforts to slow global warming represent one of the most glaring rejections of science, right along with the Seventeenth Century inquisition of Galileo. The rejection is of a piece with Trump’s contempt for truth on most any topic. ... And the problem goes far beyond Donald Trump. It extends to much of the Republican Party. As the Post editorialists observe, the GOP is “a once-great American political party embracing rank reality-denial.” James Inhofe was throwing snowballs in the Senate well before Trump was elected.
The loss of U.S. leadership is especially evident in comparison with the other of the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases: China. Although several years ago China had a backward view of the issue of climate change, seeing it as a Western excuse for trying to retard China’s economy — a notion that Donald Trump would later adopt in the reverse direction by describing climate change as a Chinese “hoax” — Beijing is now making a concerted effort to do something about the problem. ... Besides revamping its own energy structure, China has become a global leader on the issue. And besides being persuaded by the scientific research that describes how vulnerable China is to damage from climate change, Beijing also sees its progressive posture on the subject as a further way to exercise soft power in the sense of international influence.
Trump’s retrograde attitude toward many aspects of the international order that have served the United States well has already meant surrendering much global leadership to China. His backward attitude on climate change means surrendering still more.
Can IVF save the last white rhinos?
Bones show humans arrived in North America over 100,000 years earlier than previously thought
The history of the people of America, a story that dates back to the last ice age, has been upended by the battered bones of a mastodon found under a freeway construction site in California. Archaeological sites in North America have led most researchers to believe that the continent was first reached by humans like us, Homo sapiens, about 15,000 years ago. But inspection of the broken mastodon bones, and large stones lying with them, point to a radical new date for the arrival of ancient humans. If the claim stands up, humans arrived in the New World 130,000 years ago. ...
The results of the investigation, reported in the journal Nature, build a case for the mastodon bones being “processed”, a term that translates into more frank terms such as smashed, cracked and snapped. Unlike the wolf and horse bones found in other layers at the site, the ends of some of the mastodon bones had been broken off, as if to extract nutritious bone marrow. Others had been battered. One of the animal’s tusks poked upright in the ground, perhaps by chance, or perhaps to serve as a marker for the remains.
If the scientists are right and the bones were broken by humans while fresh – rather than by other animals, natural processes or bulldozers building roads – and the dating is sound, it raises major questions about the peopling of the Americas. Who were these pioneers? How did they get there? What happened to them? There is little to suggest that Homo sapiens had dispersed from Africa 130,000 years ago, but Homo erectus, the Neanderthals and the little-known Denisovans had reached Eurasia.
The usual assumption is that humans came to America from eastern Asia across the Bering strait. The crossing itself would have been easiest in the cold period that ended 130,000 years ago when sea levels were low and a land bridge formed. But could these early humans have survived the harsh conditions at that latitude? “It’d be bloody cold up there,” said John McNabb, a palaeolithic archaeologist at Southampton University. Emboldened by claims that human ancestors reached Indonesian and Mediterranean islands by raft more than 100,000 years ago, the authors suggest that instead of walking to America, the humans, perhaps archaic Homo sapiens, arrived from east Asia on “watercraft” and followed south what is now the coastline of California.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
If Progressives Don’t Wake Up To How Awful Obama Was, Their Movement Will Fail
Julian Assange: The CIA director is waging war on truth-tellers like WikiLeaks
Trump is trying to expand his immunity from lawsuits while he’s president
Intel Vets Voice Doubts on Syrian Crisis
Why Anti-War Purity Tests Are Not Sound Political Strategy
More black women are learning to use guns
Trump's immigration crackdown is silencing domestic violence victims
Why Are Leftists Targeting Troll Columnists Like Ann Coulter Instead of Institutions?
How a Daughter’s Search for Her Biological Father Led Her to an Execution in Arkansas
Clinton Feminists Are Not Feminists
A Little Night Music
Big Jay McNeely - Honky Tonk
Big Jay McNeely - Nervous Man Nervous
Big Jay McNeely - Texas Turkey
Big Jay McNeely and Band w/Little Sonny - Back... Shack... Track
Big Jay McNeely - Wild Wig
Big Jay Mcneely - Just Crazy
Big Jay McNeely - There Is Something On Your Mind
Big Jay McNeely - The Deacon's Hop
Big Jay McNeely - Deacon In Minor
Big Jay McNeely - Blow Your Brains Out
Comments
Evening all ...
Glen Ford weighs in on Obama's new gig: BAR
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
it's kind of funny that the first president who had a clue about the internet is now bemoaning the death of corporate media:
if the corporate media had actually presented the facts, instead of the establishment propaganda, when the sudden availability of significant bandwidth appeared, the corporate media would not have been disparaged as they are now.
Yep. The originator of Fake News
was the US foreign policy establishment.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
heh...
before it was called "fake news," i used to call it "transparent bullshit."
Msm continues trying to spin and distort
the complexity of reality into a single narrative, a sort of fairy tale or fable that is favorable to entrenched political and economic structures. Any interpretation of events that might contradict or somehow refute the validity of the msm's analysis, they either resolutely ignore or ridicule. At the same time, alternative sources of information proliferate (many of them factual and well-documented, many of them absurd) providing a host of conflicting counter-narratives, while msm continues to present "The News" from its own singular, strictly controlled, and often highly manipulative viewpoint.
As a result, much of the public is losing faith in the integrity and objectivity of the nation's central information-distribution system. Instead of pining for the good old days when everyone was more or less "on the same page", Obama might better be taking a hard look at the nature of what is now being offered as "truth" on that page.
native
That Simone Weil quote you open with reaches deep.
Thanks for the pithy lineup tonight, joe.
You know… that first story, in any other country, would be notification of a Deep State coup.
I assume that's how the rest of the world sees it. There's no other explanation for the US spastic lurching across the world stage since April Fools Day..
I wish I could be a fly on the wall when the US war criminals first notice that they no longer have allies in the region. They are in a no fly zone.
Carry a flame and share the light.
.
evening pluto...
i've been wondering how long it would take for the common wisdom to be that trump had capitulated to the deep state, starting with his considerable loosening of the leash on the military as evidenced by the raid in yemen which trump had delegated the decision-making to the military and the incrementally larger delegations that have occurred since.
i was sure that the topic of a deep state takeover would have become a common discussion at the point of the whiplash-inducing media coverage turnaround after trump's "beautiful babies" cruise-missile tantrum in syria, but it didn't happen.
i think that it may be because trump is still being allowed to appear to have some say in domestic policy that the conventional wisdom has not caught up to the fact that a deep state junta is in charge.
I'm sure you're aware of this...
But three weeks ago, Google sanitized its News search engine so that it would no longer return "fake news" to American users.
If you type "deep state coup" into Google News, you get two stories that have nothing to do with anything.
But if you type "deep state coup" into DuckDuckGo, it returns information. Pages and pages and pages of cites.
And, if you type "deep state coup" into Yandex.com, you're going to get … interesting information.
Generally speaking, no newspapers are leading with "Deep State Coup" in the titles of articles, even though many articles are about exactly that. My focus is on the foreign press, where there is some speculation in high places. It's discussed. There is some velocity. As for International summits, which are going on everywhere all the time, there is no doubt that's a venue for private conversations that would include this topic. It is, after all, one of the more obvious coups, with the dramatic and shocking foreign policy reversals in April.
Carry a flame and share the light.
.
a lot of beating around the bush out there...
i have read a number of discussions of the deep state coup, but not couched in explicit terms that way. probably the most explicit discussions of it in my usual haunts has been at consortium news. i'd be interested in seeing what you're finding in foreign press, especially in terms of the loss of allies.
The Alt-Right recognized immediately what had happened.
To their credit, they’re not like Democrats who will back war, any war, as long as someone with a D label is in the White House.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=alt-right+deep+state+trump+syria&t=ffsb&ia=web
Good evening Joe. That early man site is very contentious
and will no doubt remain so for many decades unless there is much more eivdence turned up in the area.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening el...
yep, there is a determined bunch of academics that are really sure that there were no humans in the americas before about 13,000 years ago. they are a cantankerous bunch and seem to be fairly hostile to any evidence to the contrary.
Well, most of they have finally conceded to the 20,000
year old contingent, but that's it, and no further.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
You don't suppose it was...Bigfoot? ;-)
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Good evening Joe and all...
Received a notice from BCBS today announcing my Medigap insurance will rise $26/month, beginning in June. Fuck-a-duck; this is the second monthly premium increase in 16 months of Medicare coverage.
Following up on Pirsig conversation:
Thanks, Joe, for working outward with the news and blues.
evening smiley...
sorry to hear that your health insurance costs are going up. hopefully there will be a cola to help offset the rise. but i'm really glad that you have coverage.
excellent advice from robert pirsig!
Caitlyn Johnstone hit this out of the park
Starting with this description of his presidency.
She then talks about how Citibank chose his cabinet for him and he was still telling us that he was going to go after them. Gawd what balls he has for doing that.
Remember that after every time he told us what he was going to do and say Yes. We. Can. he'd smile? Watching the videos of his speeches now I see that smile as a smirk and he's basically saying that he can't believe that we believe that he is actually going to do any of those things.
Then she nails him with this.
How true is this? I know that members here don't feel that way about him, but just the fact that he had an 80% approval rating leaving office shows the hypocrisy of some people who considered themselves progressives. The same people who despised Bush and some that despised Hillary are the ones who need to take their blinders off.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
evening snoopy...
it's not just obama and clinton, the whole party establishment is littered with people just as amoral as those two, all pulling for the same goals. it's time for people to understand that the democratic party needs to be purged or failing the ability to do that, demolished.
Nobody was thinking about a third Party
in 2008, or even in 2012. Obama seemed by far the best thing on offer in 08. He got liberals all fired up with his wonderful rhetoric, he was not at all like Dubya, and of course, he was black. How refreshing! And how believable, because people so wanted to believe.
Nobody knew right away, that he was lying through his teeth. Well, hardly anybody. Certainly not I, at least. Look, the guy is a very smooth talker, and smart as a whip. I'm not gonna kick myself for supporting him, because what the fuck else was there to support? It wasn't until the advent of Bernie Sanders that a whole lot of people saw through the con, and started thinking outside the R/D box.
native
I'd call Trump a cocksucker...
but I don't want to denigrate a rather enjoyable activity.
Don't know if people saw this, and apologies since I heard about this TODAY, but looks like that whole Net Neutrality thing will be soon under corporate control.
http://fortune.com/2017/04/25/trump-fcc-net-neutrality/
Which of course means that the common is being auctioned off AGAIN.
Was a nice civilization while we had it. I do not look forward to the collapse. Time to invest in print media, methinks.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
evening dmw...
it's not just trump. the captains of industry have been hot to destroy the internet for ages to maximize their profits and install a dominant narrative. trump is just all too willing to play along.
if i might make a suggestion, before you start stocking up on newsprint, ink and 26 lead soldiers, there is a means for a large group of people to make their own networks. a mesh might be a citizen-created alternative to a net.
Very, very important to actively discuss Plan B.
This connection is so vulnerable. There will always be Facebook, where folks are happily engaged in building their NSA dossiers. Actually, that is a good thing. There should be a detailed record of this important time.
Carry a flame and share the light.
.
Hey, Guys! Whew--went out to feed our yard critters,
and ran into a part-time neighbor (this is their second residence) that I don't get to see very often.
Anyhoo, I had wanted to post on DT's Executive Order that he was to sign at the Department of VA mid-afternoon, but haven't had a chance to search for it. I'll try to get something on it, later. What concerns me the most is the further evisceration of federal employee rights that it would mandate. Of course, I'm fine with additional protections for 'Whistle Blowers,' but I suspect that this is window dressing, mostly.
I'm thinking that I posted the piece a while back about O's own Justice Department ruling the portion of the 2014 Veterans Choice Act 'unconstitutional,' as it applied to dismantling employee's rights/protections under the MSPB (Merit System Protection Board). Between that Act, and the so-called 2.0 version of the Act that Dr Shulkin is planning to trot out this Fall, I suspect that we'll see the entire federal personnel system--a merit system that for decades has been devoid of rampant cronyism--mostly dismantled within a decade, or so. It is so important that civilian employees not be drug into politics, and the decades old merit system has provided one avenue to avoid that problem.
As much as I enjoyed my federal career, if the upcoming legislation shakes out to be as bad as I understand, in good conscience, don't think that I could recommend federal service to anyone. Apparently, Shulkin's stated intent is to transform the VA civilian personnel system into one that is virtually indistinguishable from that of a private corporation. *Sigh*
(Have a feeling that this blurb will be chock full of typos, so I'll apologize in advance.)
Hey, gotta run and order some dinner (pizza). Got to travel a couple hundred miles tomorrow, so just in case I can't make it by here, hope Everyone has a nice evening, and a nice and safe weekend!
And, here's hoping that you all enjoy the same lovely weather that we're slated to have over the weekend--mid-70's!
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
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
"mostly dismantled within a decade" Glub glub!
and they been so damned good at "dismantling within a decade", it seems we are done now. Thanks Grover, and all the private/public people. Turns out we're not so public as much as private now are we, hmm?
Thanks for your testimony, and I hope you are wrong. Yesterday I experienced quite an attitude adjustment from a young person delivering my medicine, he doesn't have much clue about politics and government. It is people with your experience who can help build alternatives for his future, I hope you can share everything you know, just in case we really do end up with virtually no government. Or, only virtual government? I don't know. Thanks for your regular posts in the EB, after a while I started seeking them out. Funny how that works.
Back to giving thumbs up around here, but it feels lazy compared to a word reply. Sometimes it's better to stay quiet, that can be good too. Clickety-click!
Peace & Love
Thank you, eyo, for your super kind words. I hope
that I'm wrong, too.
After I posted the comment, I debated changing the time frame to a decade or two, since it would probably be difficult to convert all federal agencies/departments over to a private system in the span of just ten years (after I thought about it a little more). Regardless of the time frame, it's what one Cabinet Secretary, Dr Shulkin of the VA, is planning to do. I just relocated the CNN transcript of him describing his push for a new VA 'accountability' bill. I'm tired after making a short trip, so think I'll post it next week.
Glad to see you regularly visiting EB, now.
Have a nice weekend!
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
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went."--Will Rogers
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
United buries atrocity under secret payoff
Per several news sources today (MSN, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, et al), United Airlines has reached an "amicable" out of court settlement with brutalized passenger Dr. David Dao.
Any bets on how much money they had to cough up in order to get him to shut up and go quietly away?
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
I was going to impart a precautionary tale
of Captain One-Eye after the first canonball took the wrist, but shall digress immediately into the shithouse political realm.
When both political parties are challenged, there will be some honest words, but seldom, seemingly at random, and other non-negotiable, self-negating factors may be present, and some intangibles(call it guts and stamina). Bring your A game, the moment you change your opponent's reality.
Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever
I have a new favorite word...
I actually met the head of Uber at a party a couple years ago. He was so convinced of his own disruptive brilliance that he was almost messianic.
The problem, of course, is that societal disruption doesn't automatically result in societal improvement any more than regime change results in more responsive government. Quite the opposite actually.
I tried to make that point to him, but needless to say he wasn't interested in hearing it.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Who cares about the
bs regurgitated as 'news'. Sorry folks but I do believe I've had enough including this site. I'm done. Wallowing in the insanity does nothing but give this madness credibility. Not my world not my view of whats going down. I have been radicalized by years/decades of following this absolute bs. Sure it's easy if you are stupid enough to think this is the only alternative available. This to me is some kind of brain short circuit wherein people cannot or don't want to deal with the reality were facing as humans. Why are we stuck in this mode? Too much monkey business for me to bother with. Get a grip people it's Chinatown and I want nothing to do with enabling it as reality. Goodbye good luck and keep the bs. rolling.
No argument, here.
You have always maintained the sharpest filters, quick to spot when people are sitting around grinding over and over again that which is already powder.
Carry a flame and share the light.
.
I surprise people in Germany when I tell them
to go ahead and vote for an extreme right or left populist party if they feel like it.
This system isn’t working for ordinary folks and hasn’t for decades, so why shouldn’t they vote against it — though it won’t make any difference; the central bankers, NATO, Brussels, the established parties are all beyond listening to mere voters.
Maybe a lot more votes for the extremes would slow the Establishment down and cramp their neolib-neocon style for just a teeny bit? It seems to be the only thing that does, nowadays.
Edited to add:
That’s from a comment taking issue with an Yves Smith post on Naked Capitalism titled “Why anti-war political purity tests are not sound political strategy.”
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/04/anti-war-political-purity-tests-n...
I think all democracies come to realize
— early on — that the people shouldn't be voting, because they're just going to screw it up. God knows, that was in the minds of all the FounderBros, back in the day.
I couldn't agree more with the passage you highlighted:
Democracy has always been completely incompatible with capitalism. Even Plato knew that politicians would have to spend all their valuable time lying to the people. And the privatization of public assets and public works and utilities stabs a knife through the heart of democracy and completely undermines the People's ability to self-govern and protect themselves from being pecked to death by ducks.
This is simple reality that anyone with two neurons to rub together can see with their own eyes. So why isn't it on the final exam? Anyway, I think democracy is a really lousy system for a complex world — really lousy. And it's guaranteed suicide with a uninformed electorate who have zero logic skills. Humans can do much, much better for themselves. I was greatly relieved to read that only 46 percent of nations have democracies and the number is starting to shrink.
Carry a flame and share the light.
.
Just out of curiosity
what do you think is a better system of governance? I'm stuck in the Western Civ. mind set of democracy = equality and representation of people. What in your estimation would be better? I keep thinking that democracy as it stands is not democratic and just retains the name/brand to get the consent of the masses to be governed by these anti-democratic dicks who rule the world. Monarchy? Nah. Socialism as practiced by the totalitarian states of the USA, China and the Soviet Union.
All of these forms of governance seem to end up being exactly what the people overthrew and installed to replace the oppressive regimes that governed before them. Ask me any form of government that gets centralized and empirical and starts eating other nation states under the guise of whatever world domination bs. they pump out, is not democratic regardless of using that handle get consent from the populist. Me I don't denigrate the populist, the people globally. They are not as stupid as the owners of the universe would have you believe.
Perhaps there is a better system then democracy but I guess my imagination cannot stretch far enough to envision it. One thing I often think would at least help is smaller units of power. In my dreams, I wax on about the breakdown of the USA into bio-regions. The Pacific Northwest, Cascadia being unhooked from the giant vampire squid that rules the world. I don't know But I do know that this 'world as we find it' is not inevitable or static and people globally throughout history have and will continue to bring these fuckers down. Something better beginning? Well hell it's a process that has been going on as long as people have. Things falling apart is not always a bad thing.
So it begins on the west coast, of course /sarc
Sarcastic remark about California leading the country... down where now? (flushing sound) This is already happening in my proximity, the mechanical pickers I mean, for wine-grapes.
Orchard owners look to robots as labor shortage worsens
Pretty long article, I didn't want to overquote. I don't know about Oregon and Washington, but the transformation envisioned is going to be stunning
ifwhen it happens here in California the next decade or two, I think. And Mexico and Canada of course. Welcome our new Robot FactoryFarm Overlords! Huh! Something just made me remember "abbotoirs in space" again. lolThanks
Edit: Oops posted in wrong place, sorry. Day late, dollar short.