The Evening Blues - 6-1-21



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: William "Piano Red" Perryman

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues piano player William "Piano Red" Perryman. Enjoy!

Piano Red - Red's Boogie

"It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character."

-- Joseph Heller


News and Opinion

Chris Hedges: “Dying for an iPhone”

Global capitalists have turned back the clock to the early days of the Industrial Revolution. The working class is increasingly bereft of rights, blocked from forming unions, paid starvation wages, subject to wage theft, under constant surveillance, fired for minor infractions, exposed to dangerous carcinogens, forced to work overtime, given punishing quotas and abandoned when they are sick and old. Workers have become, here and abroad, disposable cogs to corporate oligarchs, who wallow in obscene personal wealth that dwarfs the worst excesses of the Robber Barons.

In fashionable liberal circles there are, as Noam Chomsky notes, worthy and unworthy victims. Nancy Pelosi has called on global leaders not to attend the Winter Olympics, scheduled to be held in Beijing in February, because of what she called a “genocide” being carried out by the Chinese government against the Uyghur minority. New York Times columnist Nick Kristof in a column rattled off a list of human rights violations overseen by China’s leader Xi Jinping, writing “[Xi] eviscerates Hong Kong freedoms, jails lawyers and journalists, seizes Canadian hostages, threatens Taiwan and, most horrifying, presides over crimes against humanity in the far western region of Xinjiang that is home to several Muslim minorities.”

Not a word about the millions of workers in China who are treated little better than serfs. They live separated from their families, including their children, and housed in overcrowded company dormitories, which sees rent deducted from their paychecks, next to factories that have round-the-clock production, often making products for U.S. corporations. Workers are abused, underpaid and sickened from exposure to chemicals and toxins such as aluminum dust. The suffering of the working class, within and outside the United States, is as ignored by our corporatized media as the suffering of the Palestinians. And yet, I would argue, it is one of the most important human rights issues of our era, since once workers are empowered, they can fend off other human rights violations. Unless workers can organize, here and in countries such as China, and achieve basic rights and living wages, it will cement into place a global serfdom that will leave workers trapped in the appalling conditions described by Friedrich Engels in his 1845 book “The Conditions of the Working Class in England” or  Émile Zola‘s 1885 masterpiece “Germinal.”

As long as China can pay slave wages it will be impossible to raise wages anywhere else. Any trade agreement has to include the right of workers to organize, otherwise all the promises by Joe Biden to rebuild the American middle class is a lie. Between 2001-2011, 2.7 million jobs were lost to China with 2.1 million in manufacturing. None are coming back if workers in China and other countries that allow corporations to exploit labor and skirt basic environmental and labor regulations are locked in corporate servitude. And while we can chastise China for its labor policies, the United States has crushed its own union movement, allowed its corporations to move manufacturing overseas to profit from the Chinese manufacturing models, suppressed wages, passed anti-labor right-to-work laws, and demolished regulations that once protected workers. The war on workers is not a Chinese phenomenon. It is a global one. And U.S. corporations are complicit. Apple has 46 percent of its suppliers in China. Walmart has 80 percent of its suppliers in China. Amazon has 63 percent of its suppliers in China.

The largest U.S. corporations are full partners in the exploitation of Chinese labor, and the abandonment and impoverishment of the American working class. U.S. corporations and Chinese manufacturers kept millions of Chinese workers crammed into factories at the height of a global pandemic. Their health was of no concern. Apple’s profits more than doubled to $23.6 billion in the most recent quarter. Its revenues rose by 54 percent to $89.6 billion, which meant Apple sold more than $1 billion on average each day. Until these corporations are held accountable, which the Biden administration will not do, nothing will change for workers here or in China. Economic justice is global or it does not exist.

Iran nuclear program: UN watchdog unable to access data since February

The United Nations’ atomic watchdog hasn’t been able to access data important to monitoring Iran’s nuclear program since late February when the Islamic Republic started restricting international inspections of its facilities, the agency has said. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Monday in a confidential document distributed to member countries and seen by the Associated Press that it has “not had access to the data from its online enrichment monitors and electronic seals, or had access to the measurement recordings registered by its installed measurement devices” since 23 February.

While the IAEA and Iran earlier acknowledged the restrictions limited access to surveillance cameras at Iranian facilities, Monday’s report indicated they went much further. The IAEA acknowledged it could provide only an estimate of Iran’s overall nuclear material stockpile as it continues to enrich uranium at its highest ever level.

Last week, the UN’s nuclear inspectorate said Iran’s failure to provide credible explanations for traces of uranium found at two undeclared sites was “a big problem” that was affecting the country’s credibility. Rafael Grossi, the director general of the IAEA, said: “We know that something happened here. There is no way round it. We have found this. There was material here. When was this? What has happened with this equipment? Where is the material. They have to answer.”

He said it was not his job to give an ultimatum to Iran to explain the cause of the unexplained uranium found at three sites, one of which Iran said was a carpet cleaning facility, but to report the technical truth. “They know they have to provide explanations. We are asking them to come clean with all these things because it can only help them.”

Joe Biden Is Filling Top Pentagon Positions With Defense Contractors

The prospect of another retired general becoming secretary of defense before finishing the mandatory seven-year, post-service waiting period wasn’t the only problem looming over President Joe Biden’s nomination of Lloyd Austin for the Cabinet position. The former four-star head of U.S. Central Command also sat on the board of Raytheon, a multibillion-dollar defense contractor that would be vying for the Pentagon’s most lucrative deals, raising questions about the military’s impartiality when issuing awards.

Austin’s nomination arrived on the heels of a corporate-ridden Defense Department under the Trump administration. ... After the abundant conflicts of interest in Trump’s White House, some in Biden’s party pushed for someone without industry ties to lead the Defense Department. ... Biden ignored their call. Whatever differences he has from Trump, a rejection of the revolving door between industry and the Pentagon is not one of them. In addition to Austin, the new White House has nominated or appointed a slew of corporate executives to serve at the upper echelons of a federal department whose enormous budget funnels billions of dollars to private companies every year.

Jack Poulson, executive director of the accountability nonprofit Tech Inquiry, which tracks tech and defense contractor influence in government, noted that there seemed to be a bipartisan consensus on the cozy relationship between the private and public sectors. The pattern of Biden appointments of high-level Pentagon officials straight from consulting firms and corporations seeking influence with the government, said Poulson, risks “something close to pay-to-play in the tech national security arena.”

[See article for extensive information on Biden's corporate choices. -js]

Uh oh, something is rotten in Denmark.

France's Macron says US spying on European allies is not acceptable

Denmark helped US spy on Angela Merkel and European allies – report

Reports that Denmark’s military intelligence agency helped the US to spy on leading European politicians, including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, have sparked concern – and demands for an explanation – in EU capitals.

Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio said the US National Security Agency (NSA), whose alleged tapping of Merkel’s phone was disclosed by Edward Snowden in 2013, also used the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) to spy on officials in Sweden, Norway and France.
The allegations are contained in an internal classified report on the FE’s role in the surveillance partnership agreement with the NSA from 2012 to 2014, the broadcaster said, citing nine unidentified sources familiar with the investigation.

It said the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials including the former German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the then opposition leader Peer Steinbrück. It was not clear whether the Danish government authorised the taps.

The Danish defence minister, Trine Bramsen, who took over the defence portfolio in June 2019, was reportedly informed of the espionage in August last year. She told Danmarks Radio that “systematic eavesdropping of close allies” was “clearly unacceptable”. ...

Snowden on Sunday accused Joe Biden, who was US vice-president at the time, of being “deeply involved … the first time around”. Snowden called on Twitter for “full public disclosure not only from Denmark, but their senior partner as well”.

New report says Denmark helped US NSA spy on German politicians

Macron, Merkel demand answers from US, Denmark on spying report

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday they expected the US and Danish governments to present explanations over allegations Washington spied on European allies with Copenhagen’s aid.

“This is not acceptable amongst allies,” Macron told a news conference after a virtual Franco-German meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“I am attached to the bond of trust that unites Europeans and Americans,” Macron said, adding that “there is no room for suspicion between us.”

“That is why what we are waiting for complete clarity. We requested that our Danish and American partners provide all the information on these revelations and on these past facts. We are awaiting these answers,” he said.

Giving her position, Merkel said she “could only agree” with the comments of the French leader.

Jewish and Palestinian Mobs Dueled in Israeli Towns — but the Crackdown Came for One Side

As the world fixated on the exchange of rocket fire and airstrikes over the Gaza-Israel barrier, violence was escalating inside Israel proper. Palestinian protests, in support of their kin, erupted on both sides of the Green Line that separates the occupied Palestinian territories from internationally recognized Israeli territory. In Israel’s “mixed” cities, clashes between Palestinian and Jewish citizens intensified, exposing existing internal fault lines. Mob violence and rioting spread to places like Lod, Haifa, and Yafa. The latest round of escalations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen an unusual surge in intercommunal violence between Palestinians and Jews inside Israel. Videos captured groups of Palestinians in mixed Israeli cities protesting and even rioting on a scale unseen since the Second Intifada in 2000.

Israeli leaders began to fear the worst: “There is no greater threat now than these riots,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Taking the cue, right-wing Jewish Israelis, many of whom came into the Israeli cities from radical West Bank settlements, formed bands that roamed the streets looking for Palestinians. Both sides were accused of mob violence: burning businesses and vehicles, carrying out home invasions, assaults, and even murder. Social media videos surfaced appearing to show lynch mobs. Only one side, though, boasted the support of the state: Journalists and amateur videographers showed right-wing Jewish Israelis as they engaged in various forms of rampage.

Now, with the dust beginning to settle on the worst of the violence, the very discrimination that gave rise to Palestinian discontent is again becoming apparent. Over the past several days, Israel launched a campaign of mass arrests against Palestinians in mixed cities who were accused, often without specific evidence, of rioting. No such sweeps were made to arrest Jewish Israelis accused of mob violence. “If we talk about the current campaign that they” — the police — “launched, they have arrested dozens of people, and all of them are Palestinian protesters and political activists,” said Amir Toumie, a graduate student who is a member of the Haifa Youth Movement, a Palestinian activist group. “Hardly any of them are Jewish citizens. You can see that the police campaign is political when it comes to combating crime. They’re trying to scare us from doing protests.”

Some 1,600 Palestinians have been arrested since the campaign began, according to Sami Abou Shehadeh, member of the Israeli Parliament for the Palestinian and leftist bloc, the Joint List. A police spokesperson claimed that “the majority of incidents that took place were carried out by Arab Israelis who took to the streets and attacked Jewish civilians and police officers.” Abou Shehadeh refuted the claim, saying that Palestinians were detained even while standing on the streets on the sidelines — a testament affirmed by Toumie.

Shir Hever: As Palestinians Unite, Israel Is More Divided Than Ever

Far-right politician would be Israel’s next PM in proposed deal

The far-right Israeli politician Naftali Bennett will be the country’s next prime minister under a proposed power-sharing deal intended to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the opposition has confirmed. Yair Lapid said in a speech on Monday that his efforts to forge a coalition of ideologically opposed parties could lead to a new government within days, and with it, Netanyahu’s removal from office after 12 years in power.

“We can end this next week,” Lapid said. “In a week the state of Israel can be in a new era with a different prime minister.”

In his speech and for the first time, Lapid referred to Bennett, a far-right religious nationalist and strong advocate for the settler movement in the Palestinian territories, as the “intended prime minister”. A source in Lapid’s Yesh Atid party confirmed that the deal would lead to Bennett becoming prime minister first, and later handing power to Lapid. The source said an agreement on how they would split a four-year term was not final.

Netanyahu’s political rivals are rushing to cement a deal to oust him before a Wednesday deadline, as the prime minister and Israel’s longest-serving leader scrambles to frustrate their attempts. ...

If the deal is successful, it could end both a political deadlock that has brought four snap elections since 2019 and Netanyahu’s stretch as prime minister.


Rise of armed civilian groups in Myanmar fuels fears of civil war

Myanmar is on the verge of a new civil war, a spokesperson for the country’s parallel government has warned, as communities increasingly take up arms to protect themselves from a relentless campaign of military violence.

Conflict has raged for decades in Myanmar’s borderlands, where myriad ethnic armed groups are fighting with the military for greater autonomy. Since February’s coup, however, dozens of new, grassroots people’s defence forces have emerged to oppose the junta, with battles occurring in areas of the country that were previously peaceful.

“The people of Myanmar have been left with no other choice. They just have no other option left,” said Dr Sasa, spokesperson for Myanmar’s national unity government (NUG), which was set up by pro-democracy politicians.

The constant threat of military raids, arrests, torture and killings had pushed communities to take up arms, he said. ...

At least 58 defence forces have formed across the country, of which 12 are active, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), a non-profit that tracks conflict. These groups are formed at a local level and are not necessarily officially linked to the NUG. Groups have revealed little about the nature of their training, but their resources and intensity vary.

China announces three-child limit in major policy shift

China has announced that couples will be permitted to have up to three children in a major policy shift from the existing two-child limit, after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world’s most populous country.

“To actively respond to the ageing of the population … a couple can have three children,” state media Xinhua reported on Monday, citing a meeting of China’s elite politburo leadership committee hosted by President Xi Jinping.

China’s fertility rate stands at 1.3 – below the level needed to maintain a stable population. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there were officially 12 million babies born in 2020, 2.65 million fewer than were born in 2019, an 18% fall. Preliminary data released earlier this year, based on registered births, had indicated a year-on-year drop of 15%.

Earlier this month, China reported the slowest population growth since the early 1960s, despite scrapping its one-child policy in 2015 to encourage more births and stave off a looming demographic crisis.

For more than 35 years, China enforced a controversial one-child policy initially imposed to halt a population explosion. Its replacement, a two-child limit, failed to result in a sustained surge in the number of births as the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities deterred many couples from starting families.

World's Richest Man Gets Bail Out From Government

Digital forensics experts prone to bias, study shows

Devices such as phones, laptops and flash drives are becoming increasingly central to police investigations, but the reliability of digital forensics experts’ evidence has been called into question. A study found that experts tended to find more or less evidence on a suspect’s computer hard drive to implicate or exonerate them depending on the contextual information about the investigation that they were given. Even those presented with the same information often reached different conclusions about the evidence.

Such biases are known to be a problem in other forensic disciplines including fingerprint analysis, but this is the first time it has been demonstrated in digital forensics. ...

Digital evidence now features in around 90% of criminal cases. Digital examiners working in police and private laboratories use specialised software and other techniques to secure, retrieve and analyse data from suspects’ communications, photos and other digital interactions that could shed light on their activities.

However, the field’s rapid growth means that has not been subjected to the same scientific scrutiny as other forensic techniques. “It has been described as the wild west because it wasn’t developed systematically and scientifically before it went into the criminal justice system,” said Dr Itiel Dror, an expert in cognitive bias at University College London who carried out the study.

“There Are Many Others”: 215 Bodies Found at Canadian Residential School for Indigenous Children

Calls to find all Canada’s Indigenous mass graves after grim residential school discovery

Indigenous groups in Canada are calling for a nationwide search for mass graves at residential school sites after the discovery of the remains of more than 200 children at one former school last week shocked the country. Prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that searching for more mass graves was “an important part of discovering the truth” but did not make specific commitments. “As prime minister, I am appalled by the shameful policy that stole Indigenous children from their communities,” Trudeau said.

“Sadly, this is not an exception or an isolated incident,’’ he said. “We’re not going to hide from that. We have to acknowledge the truth. Residential schools were a reality – a tragedy that existed here, in our country, and we have to own up to it. Kids were taken from their families, returned damaged or not returned at all.”

Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc people said last week they had found the remains of 215 children, some as young as three, buried on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian residential school, once Canada’s largest such school, with the help of ground-penetrating radar. She described the discovery as “an unthinkable loss that was spoken about but never documented”. ...

Between 1831 and 1996, Canada’s residential school system forcibly separated more than 150,000 First Nations children from their families as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society. They were subjected to abuse, malnutrition and rape in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission tasked with investigating the system called “cultural genocide” in 2015. They were forced to convert to Christianity and not allowed to speak their native languages.

Report Documents 32,542 Police Killings in U.S. Since 2000 with Vast Undercount of People of Color

Imprisoned Anti-Fascist Activist Says Federal Guards Let White Supremacists Beat Him

One morning in early 2018, Eric King was awoken at 5 a.m. and taken out of his solitary confinement cell by prison guards at the federal United States Penitentiary, McCreary, in Kentucky. King didn’t know the correctional officers by name, having been recently transferred to the facility for unexplained reasons. That morning, the guards had something to tell King, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed this week on his behalf against the federal Bureau of Prisons and over 40 of its correctional officers. Members of a national white supremacist gang active in the prison had, the guards allegedly said, made threats on his life.

King is a known anti-fascist activist and anarchist. He is serving a 10-year federal sentence for throwing Molotov cocktails at an empty government office in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2014. He said throwing the Molotov cocktails, which he did not light, was in solidarity with the Ferguson rebellion that year, part of the Black liberation struggle against police violence.

That day in 2018, in prison in Kentucky, the guards warned King that the white supremacists wanted to gravely harm him. They asked him if he felt safe. King chose the answer that he believed would come with fewest repercussions. “Yes, I feel safe,” he said, according to the lawsuit. “At that point,” the lawsuit claims, the correctional officers told King “he could leave, but directed him to exit through a different door than the one through which he entered.” King walked through the door. “[H]e realized that, rather than being in a hallway or a public space on his way back to his cell, he had entered into an enclosed, locked outdoor area. Inside this room was a prisoner known to be a member of the aforementioned gang.”

The white supremacist — who dwarfed the 5-foot-7, slightly built King — attacked the anti-fascist. The guards did nothing to intervene. King had, he felt, been trapped by correctional officers colluding with white supremacist gang members. Following the reported assault, King received a disciplinary citation for fighting. King claims the incident was a part of an ongoing pattern of harassment and violence that he has endured in recent years at the hands of the Bureau of Prisons. The Civil Liberties Defense Center, a legal nonprofit organization, filed the civil suit on his behalf, alleging that his “constitutional rights have been continually violated since 2018 in retaliation for his political and anti-racist actions while incarcerated.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Are Leaving Rising. Here’s What’s Next



the horse race



Walk Out: Texas Democrats Block Passage of Voter Suppression Bill by Leaving Capitol Ahead of Vote

Texas Republicans plot to resurrect restrictive voting bill after Democrats’ walkout

Republicans in Texas are already plotting to resurrect their fight for sweeping voting restrictions after Democratic lawmakers walked out of the state capitol and blocked an 11th-hour attempt to ram through legislation that would have made it harder to cast a ballot.

Texas governor Greg Abbott – who leads the state’s domineering Republican majority – has announced he will include the high-stakes issue on his agenda when he reconvenes the legislature for a rapid-fire special session. He called the failure of the bill “deeply disappointing”.

Abbott, who says “election integrity” remains an emergency in Texas, wields control over what is essentially legislative overtime, where lawmakers consider issues on a sped-up timeline. When the session will begin remains unclear.

But advocates are still painting last night’s historic show of force as an inflection point for the Texas legislature and America, when Democrats shirked business as usual for aggressive tactics that matched the urgency of a teetering democracy. ...

The Texas bill drew ire from business leaders, voting rights advocates and left-leaning politicians, some of whom dubbed it “Jim Crow 2.0” and noted the disproportionate impact it would likely have on voters of color. But Republican lawmakers still strong-armed their way through procedural maneuvers and overnight votes, relying on backroom dealings and avoiding public scrutiny while advancing the legislation.

Schumer Says Vote on For the People Act Coming Next Month

"In the last week of the June work period, the Senate will vote on S. 1, the For the People Act."

So said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday, finally committing to the legislative calendar a sweeping, popular voting rights and campaign finance reform bill that progressives argue is necessary to protect U.S. democracy in the face of the GOP's nationwide assault on the franchise and the rule of law.

In a letter to the Democratic caucus, Schumer called the For the People Act "essential to defending our democracy, reducing the influence of dark money and powerful special interests, and stopping the wave of Republican voter suppression happening in the states across the country in service of President [Donald] Trump's Big Lie."

Schumer's announcement about next month's vote on S. 1, which is expected to happen between June 21 and June 25, came immediately after Senate Republicans employed the legislative filibuster to block the establishment of an independent commission to probe the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of then-President Trump's supporters.

The near-unanimous opposition of Senate Republicans to an investigation of the deadly insurrection provided some of the strongest evidence yet of the GOP's growing antagonism to democracy and prompted additional calls to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster rule, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has threatened to use to undermine "100%" of President Joe Biden's agenda. ...

As of May 14, Republican lawmakers in 49 states had introduced at least 389 bills that would either make it harder for millions of Americans, especially Democratic-leaning constituencies, to vote, or empower right-wing state legislatures to overturn election results they don't like, according to the Brennan Center for Justice's latest tally.



the evening greens


Sharp rise in Florida manatee deaths as algal blooms hasten food depletion

Environmental groups in Florida are warning that unusually high numbers of manatee deaths in the first five months of the year, blamed in part on resurgent algal blooms contaminating and destroying food sources, could threaten the long-term future of the species. The 749 fatalities recorded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to 21 May surpassed 637 from the whole of 2020, the agency said. The total is on course to exceed the high of 804, set in 2018.

The dying off of substantial areas of seagrass, the favoured food source for the slow-moving aquatic mammals, has caused starvation. The situation has been exacerbated by the recurrence of inland blue-green algal blooms and phytoplankton blooms in Florida waterways.

Offshore, the recent leak and discharge of toxic wastewater into Tampa Bay from the abandoned Piney Point fertilizer plant and the return of the red tide algal menace has poisoned waters. FWC says 12 manatee deaths so far this year were from confirmed or suspected red tide blooms, but the real figure could be far higher because not every dead manatee is necropsied.

In the 150-mile Indian River Lagoon, an inland estuary that as many as a third of the estimated remaining 7,500 manatees visit each year, 58% of seagrass has disappeared since 2009, according to the St Johns river water management district. The agency says too much nutrient run-off, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, is either killing the seagrass outright or forming blooms that block sunlight. ...

Meanwhile, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) expressed its concern over a March study that showed traces of pesticides in more than 55% of manatees tested. “Our beloved chubby sea cows are dodging boat strikes, reeling from red tide and starving in the Indian River Lagoon because of water pollution,” said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director for the CBD. “It’s heartbreaking to add chronic glyphosate exposure to the list of factors threatening manatee survival.

Human-induced global heating ‘causes over a third of heat deaths’

More than a third of all heat-related deaths around the world between 1991 and 2018 can be attributed to human-induced global heating, research has found. Climate breakdown has a range of effects ranging from wildfires to extreme weather. As the temperatures rise, more intense and frequent heatwaves disproportionately affect elderly people and those with underlying chronic conditions such as asthma, making them more vulnerable to disease and premature death.

A study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, used data from 732 locations in 43 countries to calculate the number of deaths attributed to heat levels higher than the ideal temperature for human health, which varies across locations. ...

Overall, they found 37% of all heat-related deaths in the locations studied were attributable to human activity – but the largest climate change-induced contributions (more than 50%) were in southern and western Asia (Iran and Kuwait), south-east Asia (the Philippines and Thailand) and Central and South America.

This data suggests the health effects of rapid warming are already being felt even at these relatively early stages of potential catastrophic changes in climate, said the senior study author, Prof Antonio Gasparrini of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

“It’s a kind of call to action to prevent or try to attenuate potential effects which, of course, will be much higher in the future as long as global warming goes on. The main message is … you don’t have to wait until 2050 to see increases in heat-related deaths.”

Sri Lanka faces disaster as burning ship spills chemicals on beaches

Sri Lanka is facing the worst environmental disaster in its history after a cargo ship carrying chemicals caught fire off its coast, spilling microplastics across the country’s pristine beaches and killing marine life. The fire on MV X-Press Pearl, a Singapore-registered ship, broke out on 20 May and has been burning ever since. The Sri Lankan navy and Indian coastguard have been trying to reduce the flames for more than 10 days.

The 25-person crew was evacuated but the firefighting operation has been complicated by monsoon winds and the highly flammable and poisonous cargo. The ship was carrying 25 tonnes of nitric acid, sodium hydroxide and other dangerous chemicals as well as 28 containers of raw materials used to make plastic bags. It also had more than 300 tonnes of fuel in its tanks. ...

It is feared the chemical spill has already caused untold damage to Sri Lanka’s coastline, including the popular tourist resorts of Negombo and Kalutara, with beaches thickly coated in microplastics and an oil slick visible in the surrounding ocean. The plastic pellets used to make plastic bags can be fatal to marine life and dead sea turtles, fish and birds have already begun washing up on beaches. ...

“With the available information so far, this can be described as the worst disaster in my lifetime,” said Dharshani Lahandapura, the chair of the Marine Environment Protection Authority. The MEPA said the chemicals had leaked into the sea and contaminated the water, probably causing ecological damage to coral reefs, lagoons and mangroves that could take decades to repair.


Also of Interest

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

Ryanair Bomb Threat In Belarus - 'Western' Media Narrative Disagrees With The Facts

Microwave Weapon Concerns Spread to Department of Homeland Security

Why Proposed New Israeli PM—Extreme-Right Naftali "I've Killed a Lot of Arabs" Bennett—Is Even Worse for Palestinians Than Netanyahu

Israeli Official Rolls Back Army Chief Comments on AP Gaza

The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid review – a devastating analysis

Appellate Court Strikes Down Racial and Gender Preferences in Biden's COVID Relief Law

Does the U.S. Really Need Another Oil Pipeline?

In big tech’s dystopia, cat videos earn millions while real artists beg for tips

Jeff Bezos thinks our cultural heritage is just ‘intellectual property’

Keiser Report | The Inflation Mindset is Here

Jimmy Dore: Obama's Labor Secretary Joins Union Busters

Jimmy Dore: Democracy Now Called Out By Own Viewers

Matt Stoller REVEALS Cheerleading Monopoly, What It Says About America

Ryan and Emily: Here's WHY The Lab Leak Theory MATTERS


A Little Night Music

Piano Red - Right String Wrong Yoyo

Piano Red - Rockin' With Red

Dr Feelgood (aka Piano Red) - Mr Moonlight

Piano Red - Big Rock Joe From Kokomo

Piano Red - Whisky

Piano Red - Diggin' The Boogie

Piano Red - Goodbye

Piano Red - I'm Gonna Rock Some More

Piano Red - Wild Fire

Dr Feelgood & The Interns - Doctor Feel-good


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The deadline is Midnight Wednesday, Israeli time. That is 5:00 pm EST. 8:00 PST.

Until then what we have is mostly guesswork.

Some numbers to consider. The Magic number is 61 votes for a majority. Bibi and the RW have only 4 Parties with them at this moment. The Left group has 6 parties locked-in and 2 more parties likely. The numbers favor the Left. We will see.

The Israeli newspapers and TV are holding out threats for a Capitol 1/6 insurrection, and hopes that Bibi can challenge something, anything legally. IDK

Be back soon to post a clip or 2
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-his-rule-slipping-away-neta...

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NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

heh, i guess israel is having interesting times. hopefully they won't resonate here. that haaretz article make bibi out to be even more desperate, entitled and whiny than trump. cripes, the world is run by 4 year olds.

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@joe shikspack sadly true

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NYCVG

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

when somebody like biden says he's going to press a competitor on human rights, it only means that he'd like to send a bouquet of missiles but really has no excuse.

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9 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

bad timing for big meat. as western cattle operations are starting to look at a sell-off because of the drought, meat packing goes offline.

sounds like a recipe for bad things to happen.

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5 users have voted.

She gets a new assignment.

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

you gotta admit, that joe is a great delegator of shit jobs. Smile

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janis b's picture

Thank you joe for the news, blues and quotes.

"It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character."

-- Joseph Heller

What happens to the innocent, expansive character we are all born with?

I’m not really looking for answers. I think it’s the questions that can provide the opportunity for orienting oneself in the world. We are often diverted from questioning the means to living well. Tragically, too many are compromised by a lack of love or essential human needs of protection and support to find room for reflection/questioning.

"Heller’s message is that it is risky and costly to take the honourable action; to take the choice that is ‘the path less travelled.’ The choice that may not be the best for us individually, and yet it the best for us as moral beings – the choice that shows our character."
https://lossofgenerality.org/2019/12/01/character/

Thanks for Piano Red’s blues (Mister Moonlight). it was interesting to read about him, and be reminded of the potential for overcoming adversity.

Early life[edit]
Perryman was born on a farm near Hampton, Georgia, United States,[3] where his parents, Ada and Henry Perryman, were sharecroppers. He was part of a large family, though sources differ on exactly how many brothers and sisters he had. Perryman was an albino African American, as was his older brother Rufus, who also had a blues piano career as "Speckled Red".[2]

When Perryman was six years old, his father gave up farming and moved the family to Atlanta, where he worked in a factory. Not much is known about Perryman's education or early life, but he recalled that his mother bought a piano for her two albino sons. Both brothers had very poor vision, an effect of their albinism, so neither took formal music lessons, but they developed their barrelhouse style through playing by ear. Perryman sometimes recalled imitating Rufus's style after watching him play, but it is doubtful that his brother was a major influence. Rufus, nineteen years older than Perryman, left Georgia in 1925 and did not return until a 1960 visit. Another influence that Perryman cited in interviews was Fats Waller, whose records his mother brought home. Other influences were likely the local blues pianists playing at "house" or "rent" parties, which were common community fund-raisers of that era.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Red

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joe shikspack's picture

@janis b

What happens to the innocent, expansive character we are all born with?

heh, i blame society.

heller was incredibly gifted at conveying the ironies of our culture, that quote came to mind after reading hedges' lead article.

there are certainly a lot of inspiring stories of resolve and resilience among blues artists; i've often thought that somebody should have done a serious biography of champion jack dupree.

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janis b's picture

@joe shikspack

I know that Germany was more receptive to American Jazz than American’s were at times. I didn’t realise how early (1959) an African American musician chose to live and work in Europe - 30 years before Nina Simone moved to Europe, wow.

Dupree died in the city that my former husband was born and grew up in, and where his mother still lives, and I lived for the first 6 months of my 8 years in Germany.

Here’s a discography in case you haven’t come across it …
https://www.wirz.de/music/duprefrm.htm

Maybe in your spare time you can start that biography ; ).

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before I throw up my hands and go to bed.
I managed to crank out a will and 3 deeds for a man just out of the hospital. Seems he doesn't have the months expected, more like hours. He told me via phone what he wanted, is lucid, and his family rushed to the office to retrieve the documents. And don't get me started on the divorce client days away from being banned from contact with his kids for 2 years unless we beat back the accusation he committed family violence. I find out today he is in jail for allegedly assaulting his neighbor last night, might not be able to come to court because nobody will make his bond. I guess I can run and play Friday afternoon, instead of going to trial.
Thanks for posting Hedges. Always great, always important.
Take good care, joe.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

joe shikspack's picture

@on the cusp

happy reading!

sounds like you had a full day of reading already. good luck with your friday gig. it's a sad way to get a day off, but i guess that's the nature of luck.

have a good one!

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@joe shikspack PTSD. He might be a danger to himself and others.
I may just get out of the damn case for my own safety.
I could write a book about the behaviors of PTSD vets, from Nam thru the other "actions" to present, and how dangerous those vets are when under pressure of divorce court.
Sad, and fucking Patton slapped that traumatized soldier with his clean white gloves, doncha know.
No more war.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981