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“The men and women of the CIA are a national treasure."

-- John O. Brennan

News and Opinion

The CIA has a long history of torture. Gina Haspel will be perfect for the job

In the coming days, Gina Haspel will testify before the Senate in connection with her nomination by Donald Trump to direct the Central Intelligence Agency. Much has been written about whether someone who oversaw a secret CIA detention site where detainees were tortured should be eligible to head the nation’s leading intelligence agency. At first blush, this may appear to be the central debate. What ethical transgressions are inconsistent with an agency-level directorship in the United States government? Certainly, participation in torture should render a candidate unqualified. Yet, on further inspection, the focus on whether Haspel’s abusive conduct disqualifies her from CIA leadership cloaks a far more important and revealing debate. Judging candidates to direct the CIA presupposes knowledge of the history of the CIA and a vision for its role – if any – in a society that purports to be democratic. ...

[See article for short recitation of some of the lowlights of CIA history. - js]

My guess is that none of this bleak history will be raised when Gina Haspel appears before the Senate. Since 9/11, we have witnessed a national, collective effort to rehabilitate the CIA and champion its role as a noble protector of the US. Our post-9/11 reverence for all those tasked with defending us against real and perceived terrorist threats has crippled our ability to assess the actions and role of agencies like the CIA critically. This collective amnesia regarding the agency’s abuses, including its pattern of interference in democratic processes, is particularly stark today, as our nation grapples with the consequences of Russian efforts to undermine our elections and those of other nations.

Given its sordid history, the question to ask might not be whether Haspel rises to the caliber of the CIA. The question might be whether Haspel descends to the level of instigator of torture, murder and interference in foreign governments that has marked the history of the CIA. Unless and until we examine the difficult questions about the past and future of the CIA, Haspel may just be perfect for the job.

White House expecting 'close' vote for CIA pick

The White House is bracing for a heated fight over CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel’s nomination to lead the agency, as she prepares to head to Capitol Hill next week. “I think that unfortunately in this environment we accept that every vote is close. ... It’s just the dynamic we face,” Marc Short, the director of legislative affairs, told reporters during a conference call. He added that he hoped some Democrats would be “courageous enough” to support Haspel despite engrained opposition from progressives and allied outside groups.

Haspel is poised to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee next week to testify as part of the confirmation process. She is expected to be grilled over her past involvement with enhanced interrogation techniques, among other things. ...

GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), a key moderate and member of the panel, has said she is waiting until Haspel’s hearing to make her decision. ... With GOP Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) currently opposed to her nomination, Haspel will need to win over at least one Democratic senator to be confirmed. No Democrats have stepped forward yet.

Guantánamo prisoner released in surprise move by Trump administration

The Trump administration has made its first major move relating to prisoners at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, surprising observers by doing the exact opposite of the president’s proclaimed intention: instead of bringing in new detainees it has transferred an inmate off the island to Saudi Arabia.

The unexpected news came in a Pentagon announcement that it had completed the transfer of Ahmed al-Darbi, 43, a self-confessed al-Qaida member who pleaded guilty in 2014. According to McClatchy, the prisoner was picked up by a Saudi government plane on Tuesday night and taken to a detention center in the kingdom where he is likely to remain until he has finished his full 13-year sentence in 2027.

Al-Darbi’s removal reduces the total number of Guantánamo detainees to 40, down from a total of about 780 men who have been held at the controversial site since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2002.

The transfer was all the more extraordinary in that it came on the same day that the Pentagon delivered what it described as an “updated policy” setting out the conditions for the transfer of new detainees to Guantánamo. James Mattis, the defense secretary, handed over the policy on Wednesday, saying that it would give “warfighters guidance on nominating detainees for transfer to Guantánamo detention should that person present a continuing, significant threat to the security of the United States”.

Pompeo sworn in as top diplomat: 'Doesn't look like he'll be moderating force'

Iran on Trump's nuclear decision: If the US leaves, there's 'no deal left'

In the first major interview by a representative of the Iranian government since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's broadside on the Iran nuclear deal, Iran's Ambassador to the UK told CNN that if the United States pulls out of the agreement, "it means that there is no deal left."

"The consequence would be that Iran would in fact be ready to go back to the previous situation," Hamid Baeidinejad told Christiane Amanpour in London on Wednesday.

"It could be enriching uranium, it could be redefining our cooperation with the agency [IAEA], and some other activities that are under consideration."

South Korea says it wants US troops to stay regardless of any treaty with North Korea

South Korea said on Wednesday the issue of U.S. troops stationed in the South is unrelated to any future peace treaty with North Korea and that American forces should stay even if such an agreement is signed. "U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are an issue regarding the alliance between South Korea and the United States. It has nothing to do with signing peace treaties," said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House, citing President Moon Jae-in.

The Blue House was responding to media questions about a column written by South Korean presidential adviser and academic Moon Chung-in that was published earlier this week. Moon Chung-in said it would be difficult to justify the presence of U.S. forces in South Korea if a peace treaty was signed after the two Koreas agreed at an historic summit last week to put an end to the Korean conflict.

However, Seoul wants the troops to stay because U.S. forces in South Korea play the role of a mediator in military confrontations between neighboring superpowers like China and Japan, another presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity earlier on Wednesday.

Massive military base buildup suggests the U.S. shadow war in Somalia is only getting bigger

The U.S. military is dramatically expanding its operations at a former Soviet air strip in Somalia, constructing more than 800 beds at the Baledogle base, VICE News has learned. The construction at the secretive base marks the latest example of America’s growing and controversial shadow war in Africa. Baledogle’s expansion is one part of what appears to be a massive U.S. military infrastructure development project in the Horn of Africa country that will see at least six new U.S. outposts built this year, according to multiple defense contractors who spoke to VICE News.

The buildup coincides with an aggressive escalation by U.S. forces in their fight against al Qaida-linked al-Shabaab. U.S. Africa Command (known as AFRICOM) now has more than 500 U.S. military personnel in Somalia, according to a spokeswoman, a dramatic increase from 2016, when AFRICOM only acknowledged 50 American troops on the ground. And since January 2017, U.S. forces have conducted at least 48 airstrikes in Somalia, compared to 14 in 2016 and 11 in 2015, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a London-based watchdog organization.

Access to Baledogle is highly restricted, but American contractors and Somali security officials with knowledge of the project told VICE News the construction work began last June, soon after Somalia officially declared war on the insurgency group al-Shabaab. AFRICOM wouldn’t comment on specific base sizes, but it confirmed that Somalia now has the third-largest concentration of U.S. DOD personnel on the continent, after Djibouti and Niger.

Arundhati Roy’s Latest Novel Takes on Fascism, Rising Hindu Nationalism in India & Abuses in Kashmir

Amid National Uprising, Teachers Just Took a Major Step Toward Organizing Charter Schools

The fight over charter schools is often just as much a battle over unions. Charter school operators and funders take relatively clear anti-union positions, and the absence of organized labor is often a selling point for charters, which boast flexible hours and pay schedules as paths toward quality education. Teacher unions, meanwhile, tend to oppose charter schools as a drain on needed resources for traditional schools and as centers of educator exploitation. In the 2016-2017 academic year, just 11 percent of charter schools were unionized. Yet in Los Angeles, teachers just took a big step toward reversing that trend.

For more than three years, teachers at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, Los Angeles’s largest network of charter schools, have been fighting a contentious and high-profile battle to unionize with the Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA. On Wednesday morning, a legal representative for a majority of teachers at three of the network’s 25 campuses filed union authorization cards at the state’s Public Employment Relations Board. Once the signatures are verified, the new Alliance Educators United union will be official.

The Alliance news marks a turning point not only for educators in Los Angeles, but also for scores of non-union teachers across the country, many of whom are engaged in or considering their own organizing campaigns. It also comes amid nationwide teacher uprisings, as Arizona educators continue their statewide strike for the fifth day in a row, and other educator movements take shape in states like Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Colorado.

No Financial Protection from Trump Admin, But States Can Help

White supremacist who beat black man in Charlottesville was just convicted

A white supremacist who brutally beat a black man in one of the defining scenes of the deadly Unite the Right rally last summer has been found guilty of malicious wounding. He’s now facing up to 10 years in prison. During closing arguments at the Charlottesville Circuit Court Tuesday evening, the attorney for Jacob Scott Goodwin said his client was being unfairly maligned because he was white.

Goodwin went to the Charlottesville rally from Ward, Arkansas, clad in khakis, decked out in neo-Nazi symbology, and dressed for war, among hundreds of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, anti-Semites who descended on the college town in an event intended to unify the white nationalist movement in the United States. ...

Goodwin was in a group of six white supremacists who confronted DeAndre Harris, 20, in a parking garage and beat him with sticks, leaving him bloodied and lying on the floor. Video of the clash went viral and became a defining moment of last August’s violent events in the Virginia college town. Goodwin was in a group of six white supremacists who confronted DeAndre Harris, 20, in a parking garage and beat him with sticks, leaving him bloodied and lying on the floor. Video of the clash went viral and became a defining moment of last August’s violent events in the Virginia college town.

Harris sustained serious injuries, including a head laceration that required 10 staples, a spinal injury, a broken wrist, and a chipped tooth. In the wake of that attack, Harris also withstood efforts by white supremacists turned online sleuths to discredit his account of events.

New York Times Feature Seriously Ponders Whether We Should Let People Addicted to Drugs Die

Over the weekend, as the journalism world fiercely debated whether it’s OK to make fun of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the New York Times — without stirring much controversy — asked if doctors should let people die if they’re addicted to drugs. “Injecting Drugs Can Ruin a Heart. How Many Second Chances Should a User Get?” the headline of a large feature piece wonders. The article details the frustrations doctors face dealing with the fallout from the opioid crisis. That includes having patients doing drugs in the hospital, a phenomenon one doctor likens to “trying to do a liver transplant on someone who’s drinking a fifth of vodka on the stretcher.”

People who inject drugs are susceptible to blood infections, which can lead to endocarditis, a catastrophic condition that requires a surgeon to patch a heart back together with one or more artificial valves. The procedures are expensive, and doctors or hospitals are not happy to do them on repeat for people who continue to do drugs. So the piece seems to ask, in all earnestness, whether it makes sense to deny people with a deadly condition treatment if they seem likely to relapse.

The piece centers around 28- year-old Jerika Whitefield, a Tennessee mother who lands in the hospital half-dead from endocarditis after injecting meth. “Her whispered appeal to a skeptical nurse: “Please don’t let me die. I promise, I won’t ever do it again.”’ The article goes on to explain that doctors tell her this would be the last time they would operate on her if she keeps shooting up. Her step-father recalls that one doctor admitted he would not try very hard to save her life. “He said once someone’s been shooting up, you go through all this money and surgery and they go right back to shooting up again, so it’s not worth it,” Mr. Mignogna recalled. “I was just dumbfounded,” the article notes. ...

Widney Brown, Managing Director at the Drug Policy Alliance, points out how irrational it is to deny people treatment as some sort of tough love approach to addiction, when there policies that work to help people. ... America’s war on drugs continues to rely on judgmental, punitive approaches, rather than public health strategies—with poor outcomes. “So you drive people underground, and you’ve got them using drugs in the most dangerous way—at the same time you’re not funding treatment. In that context of doing nothing to ensure people are making good choices about drugs—whether to do them in a safer way or to quit — and then we decide not to save this person’s life because they do drugs?”

Michael Cohen’s call to the White House was reportedly tapped by the feds

Federal investigators wiretapped Michael Cohen’s phones, including at least one conversation he had with the White House, two people close to the investigation told NBC News on Thursday. ...

His emails have been read, and under that kind of investigation, it’s likely that his phones were tapped and his meetings were monitored, too. This is the first confirmation of that, NBC News reported.

It isn’t clear how long federal investigators had been wiretapping Cohen, but NBC News reported that it was in place at least since the beginning of April when investigators raided Cohen’s offices, hotel room, and home.

Rudy Giuliani just admitted Trump lied about the Stormy Daniels payment

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor drafted into President Trump's legal team, may have placed the president in considerable legal jeopardy Wednesday, confirming that his boss lied last month about the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Giuliani told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Trump did know about the $130,000 “hush money” payment to the adult film actress made days before the 2016 election, and that he had repaid his private lawyer Michael Cohen from his own pocket. ...

On Hannity’s show, Giuliani was attempting to show that the payment did not breach campaign financing laws. Hannity asked the former New York mayor if Cohen had made the payment through his own law practice. “It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation, [they] funneled it through the law firm,” Giuliani said, “and the president repaid it.” ...

When pressed on whether Trump knew what the payment was for, Giuliani said: “He didn’t know about the specifics as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement. Michael would take care of things like this.”

Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation

In the United States, Paul J. Manafort is facing prosecution on charges of money laundering and financial fraud stemming from his decade of work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. But in Ukraine, where officials are wary of offending President Trump, four meandering cases that involve Mr. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, have been effectively frozen by Ukraine’s chief prosecutor.

The cases are just too sensitive for a government deeply reliant on United States financial and military aid, and keenly aware of Mr. Trump’s distaste for the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say. The decision to halt the investigations by an anticorruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles, called Javelins.

The State Department issued an export license for the missiles on Dec. 22, and on March 2 the Pentagon announced final approval for the sale of 210 Javelins and 35 launching units. The order to halt investigations into Mr. Manafort came in early April.
Continue reading the main story Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Parliament who is an ally of President Petro O. Poroshenko, readily acknowledged that the intention in Kiev was to put investigations into Mr. Manafort’s activities “in the long-term box.”

“In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials,” Mr. Ariev said in an interview. “We shouldn’t spoil relations with the administration.”

World May Hit 2 Degrees of Warming in 10-15 Years Thanks to Fracking, Says Cornell Scientist

In 2011, a Cornell University research team first made the groundbreaking discovery that leaking methane from the shale gas fracking boom could make burning fracked gas worse for the climate than coal. In a sobering lecture released this month, a member of that team, Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, Professor of Engineering Emeritus at Cornell University, outlined more precisely the role U.S. fracking is playing in changing the world's climate.

The most recent climate data suggests that the world is on track to cross the two degrees of warming threshold set in the Paris accord in just 10 to 15 years, says Ingraffea in a 13-minute lecture titled “Shale Gas: The Technological Gamble That Should Not Have Been Taken,” which was posted online on April 4. That's if American energy policy follows the track predicted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which expects 1 million natural gas wells will be producing gas in the U.S. in 2050, up from roughly 100,000 today.

An average global temperature increase of 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) will bring catastrophic changes — even as compared against a change of 1.5° C (2.7° F). “Heat waves would last around a third longer, rain storms would be about a third more intense, the increase in sea level would be approximately that much higher and the percentage of tropical coral reefs at risk of severe degradation would be roughly that much greater,” with just that half-degree difference, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained in a 2016 post about climate change.

Zinke and Lamar Alexander's Big Plan? We Must Kill the Planet to Save the National Parks

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke joined with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to argue that the best way to fix the national parks is by pillaging public lands for fossil fuels.

Their CNN op-ed published Wednesday focuses on the $11.6 billion repair backlog the parks face—"our parks are being loved to death," they write. They say revenue to address the infrastructure repairs can come through their proposed legislation, the National Park Restoration Act (S.2509). Lamar is the sponsor of the bipartisan legislation, which he introduced at the behest of Zinke, and as the Interior Department noted in a press release, it "follows the blueprint laid out in Secretary Zinke and President Trump's budget proposal, the Public Lands Infrastructure Fund.​"

As Zinke and Lamar, lay out:

These revenues will come from energy leases on all onshore and offshore sources of energy production on federal land: oil, gas, coal, renewables, and alternative energy. The fund would receive 50 percent of onshore and offshore revenues from energy production on federal lands over expected amounts that are not already allocated to other purposes.

Environmental groups have long cautioned against fueling the climate crisis with fossil fuel extraction on public lands—producton Zinke is pushing to make easier. 

These two idiots plan to sell off the parks, pollute them from the inside while giving profits to their fossil fuel masters. This must be oppossed. #Resist #ImpeachTrump #VoteThemOut Zinke and Alexander: How to protect America's 'best idea' @CNN https://t.co/Baw0e9Vxzf

— Jerry McNutt (@Jerrymcnutt) May 2, 2018

As for the $18 billion the Zinke-pushed plan would supposedly would generate, that's "a fantasy number,” Aaron Weiss, media director for the Center for Western Priorities, told ThinkProgress. "The idea that you could spark a giant stampede of new production while oil prices are where they are today, it's just fantasy land.

'Freak' dust storms in northern India kill more than 100 people

Severe dust storms across northern India have killed more than 100 people, destroyed homes and left hundreds without electricity. Billowing clouds of thick dust and sand frequently blow across the region during the dry season, but the death toll from this week’s storms has been unusually high. There were 73 confirmed deaths in Uttar Pradesh state, most in Agra district where the Taj Mahal is located. Another 36 died in Rajasthan and two each in Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. The death toll in all four states could still rise. ...

The dust storms are created by a rapid ascent of warm air, which creates a vacuum that air closer to the ground rushes to fill, taking sand and dust with it. Meteorologists said abnormally high temperatures in past weeks had contributed to the disaster. “It can be called a freak accident,” Mahesh Palawat, a meteorologist at the private forecaster Skymet Weather told the Hindustan Times. “Dust storms are usually not this intense nor do these systems cover such a large area.”

Also of Interest

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

James Comey’s Forgotten Rescue of Bush-Era Torture

Beware of Bolton Undermining Korean Peace

Israel Is Trying To Manufacture Support For Iran Sanctions To Effect Regime Change

The ‘Values,’ ‘Vision,’ and ‘Democracy’ of an Inauthentic Opposition

Outrage grows over union effort to shut down Arizona teachers strike

A Little Night Music

Cousin Joe - Hard Work

Cousin Joe Pleasant - Beggin Woman Blues

Cousin Joe & Sam Price Trio - Boxcar Shorty's Confession

Cousin Joe w/ Leonard Feather's Hiptet - Just Another Woman

Cousin Joe - Post War Future Blues

Cousin Joe - Looking For My Baby

Cousin Joe - Living on Borrowed Time

Cousin Joe - Bachelor's Blues

Smilin' Joe - Misery

Cousin Joe - Take A Lesson From Your Teacher

Cousin Joe from New Orleans - Hannah From Savannah