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"The mythology of the Reagan presidency is that he induced the collapse of the Soviet Union by luring it into unsustainable military spending and wars: should there come a point when we think about applying that lesson to ourselves?"

-- Glenn Greenwald

News and Opinion

40 Senate Democrats Join GOP to Send $717 Billion Military Spending Bill to Trump's Desk

In a late afternoon vote that garnered very little attention in the corporate media—and predictably didn't spark any of the handwringing about costs that pundits typically apply to social programs for the poor and working class—40 Democrats and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) joined nearly every Senate Republican on Wednesday to send a $717 billion military spending bill to President Donald Trump's desk.

the Senate just passed a $717 billion defense bill and not one op-ed or editorial or talking head on cable newe will ask “how will we pay for it”. Funding for bombs, guns, military bases, warships, fighter jets is simply factored in. Like gravity or entropy, it just *is*.

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) August 1, 2018

The legislation—formally titled the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019—is now "on track to become law before the start of the fiscal year for the first time since the fiscal 1997 bill," The Hill reported. Trump is expected to sign the measure before the end of the week.

Here are the ten senators who voted against the spending measure: Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mike Lee (R-Utah.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Democrats Join GOP To Pass $708.1B Defence Budget 2019

FBI Told Former Agent Not to Help 9/11 Victims Build Case Against Saudi Arabia

A retired FBI counterterrorism agent with a notable role in the story of 9/11 says the FBI’s Office of the General Counsel told him not to cooperate with attorneys representing 9/11 victims in their suit against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, because it could harm U.S.-Saudi relations.

In an exclusive interview with , Kenneth Williams, author of an ignored July 2001 memo warning that Osama bin Laden may be training pilots in the United States, explains why he has now decided to ignore the FBI’s instructions, and illustrates how the failure to share critical information continued into the 9/11 investigation—possibly to the benefit of the kingdom. ...

After being contacted by [9/11 plaintiffs] attorneys in October of last year, Williams notified the FBI legal counsel in Phoenix, where he spent his career. Days later, he received a call from an attorney at the Office of the General Counsel whose name he does not recall. “She said they didn’t want me to cooperate with the plaintiffs’ attorneys because it could impact other pending litigation involving the United States government…and because…the Trump administration was trying to develop good relations with the Saudi government,” he says. ...

“How in the world did we, the 9/11 families, become the enemy of the FBI?” asks Kathy Owens, whose husband Peter was killed in the attack on the World Trade Center. Owens, a plaintiff in the suit against Saudi Arabia, says news of the FBI’s obstructionism in her case “confirms what we’ve been suspecting all along—that the government, through three administrations, has decided that staying friends with Saudi Arabia is more important than holding accountable the sponsors of the 9/11 attacks.”

Former Senate intelligence committee chairman Bob Graham tells 28Pages.org that the FBI’s opposition to an agent helping 9/11 victims is only the newest facet of a well-established pattern. “I think they’ve just thrown the biggest blanket they can find over everything that has to do with the Saudi role in 9/11,” he says.

Trump's offer to meet with Iran's President Rouhani won't get us a better deal. We had our chance and lost it.

After withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and threatening Iran with "consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before," President Trump announced on Monday that he wants to meet with President Rouhani without preconditions to craft a new deal. Trump thinks he can achieve this by sanctioning Iran until the rulers in Tehran beg for mercy. But if history is a guide, there will be no such capitulation by Iran: With the Iranians, one of the most costly things to do, both culturally and politically, would be to show Trump the respect and deference he desires after his aggressive string of insults.

So I am skeptical about Trump’s ability to pivot to diplomacy with Iran, but that is not to say that a better deal cannot be achieved. Indeed, better deals have often been on the table — but the United States rejected them at the time.

In March 2003, the Iranians sent a comprehensive negotiation proposal to the George W. Bush Administration through the Swiss ambassador in Tehran. Unlike the Iran nuclear deal, this proposal was not solely focused on nuclear matters: The Iranians offered to help stabilize Iraq, disarm Hezbollah and collaborate against all terrorist organizations (especially al Qaeda). They even offered to sign on to the 2002 Beirut Declaration, recognizing Israeli statehood in return for Israel’s recognition of a Palestinian state. And, of course, Tehran offered to open their nuclear program for full transparency. But the Bush administration believed — much like Trump — that it could secure a better outcome by just continuing to pressure Iran and didn't even dignify Iran with a response. Instead, the State Department reprimanded the Swiss for having delivered the proposal in the first place. ...

There are many similar examples; what they all have in common is that the United States usually believes that it is too strong to ever offer Tehran any concessions and doing so would ultimately undermine America’s standing. After all, Iran — unlike North Korea — doesn't even have nuclear weapons, the thinking seems to go. Reality is, of course, quite different. Whenever the U.S. has managed to change Iranian policies, it has been as a result of offering valuable incentives and concessions. ...

The bottom line is that a better, bigger deal invariable will entail both American and Iranian concessions. If Trump isn’t willing to recognize this, he should stop pretending that his reckless rhetoric and Twitter threats are aimed at paving the way for diplomacy.

Russia says Iranian forces pulled back from Golan in Syria; Israel unsatisfied

Iranian forces have withdrawn their heavy weapons in Syria to a distance of 85 km (53 miles) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, TASS quoted a Russian envoy as saying on Wednesday, but Israel deemed the pullback inadequate. ... Moscow has sought to reassure Israel by saying it wants only Syrian forces to deploy on or near the Syrian-held Golan. Israel, however, insists that forces controlled by Iran, its arch-foe, exit Syria entirely now the civil war there is ending. ...

“What we have laid down as a red line is military intervention and entrenchment by Iran in Syria, and not necessarily on our border,” Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel Radio, citing the longer-range threat posed by Iranian missiles or drones positioned in Syria.

“There’ll be no compromises nor concessions on this matter.” ...

Russia’s ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, said on Monday that Moscow could not compel Iran to leave Syria. But Viktorov also signaled that Russia would continue to turn a blind eye to Israeli air strikes against suspected Iranian and Hezbollah arms transfers or emplacements in Syria.

Claims of violence as Israel deports crew of Gaza aid vessel

Activists who attempted to sail a fishing boat carrying aid to Gaza but were intercepted by the Israeli navy have complained of violence during a boarding operation. Israel held the 20 foreigners and the boat after they arrived several dozen miles off the coast of Gaza on Sunday and were in the process of releasing and deporting the crew, the group said.

Most of those on board Al Awda, which means The Return in Arabic, were held in prison, while two Israelis on the vessel were released on bail. Freedom Flotilla said the Norwegian-flagged boat had been surrounded by “12 military vessels with hundreds of armed soldiers”.

“Some participants were repeatedly tasered, including in the head. Others were punched or had their head beaten against a wall by IOF soldiers. Zip-cuffs were used in a manner which cut off circulation,” Freedom Flotilla said, referring to Israeli troops as Israel Occupation Forces. ...

On Thursday, the military said its forces “used proportional force in order to constrain the provocateurs on board the ship”. It did not say how many activists it had deported or if any remained in custody.

Mexico’s Next President Will Pour Billions Into Oil

Mexico’s national oil company is about to receive an injection of cash. Incoming President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, has promised to invest around 175 billion pesos ($9.4 billion) into the state-owned energy companies. One of the goals is to reverse the decade and a half of declining oil production. “Fourteen years ago, oil production was 3.4 million barrels a day. Now it’s 1.9 million barrels a day,” AMLO said at a news conference. “In 14 years, we’ve lost 1.5 million barrels a day in production, a downward trend because the oil industry was abandoned.”

The plan is a shaky one, perhaps because when it comes to the specifics, AMLO has only articulated a muddled notion of what he wants to do.

Outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto ended more than seven decades of state-run monopoly over Mexico’s energy sector, opening up the country to private control and investment from international companies. The bid to partially-privatize the energy sector has led to a series of auctions, dozens of awarded licenses and tens of billions of dollars in commitments from some of the largest oil companies in the world. AMLO staged fierce opposition to those reforms several years ago as they were implemented. His opposition softened during the presidential campaign, although he still threatened to revisit awarded contracts and/or suspend further auctions, at a minimum.

He has vowed to reverse declining oil production but he has not articulated how that can be achieved. Presumably, he wants that done through state-controlled Pemex, long considered a pillar of national pride. AMLO’s promise to inject more than $9 billion into state-owned energy companies is likely a signal that that’s the course he wants to take. He also confirmed that he would appoint Rocio Nahle as energy minister, who was his top energy adviser during the campaign. She has favored a nationalist approach to energy policy – she tweeted a message of support for stiff local content rules for energy projects a few months ago.

Apple becomes world's first trillion dollar company

Apple became the world’s first trillion-dollar company on Thursday, as a rise in its share price pushed it past the landmark before its closest rival for the honour, retail giant Amazon.

The iMac to iPhone company, co-founded to sell personal computers by the late Steve Jobs in 1976, reached the historic milestone as its shares hit $207.05, the day after it posted strong financial results. Apple’s share price has grown 2,000% since Tim Cook replaced Jobs at chief executive in 2011.

The company hit a $1tn market capitalisation 42 years after it was founded and 117 years after US Steel became the first company to be valued at $1bn in 1901.

Libertarians Admit Medicare-For-All Saves TRILLION$!

Pope Francis finally convinced the Catholic Church that the death penalty is wrong

After decades of debating the topic, the Catholic Church has finally made up its mind on the death penalty: it’s wrong. The death penalty is inadmissible in all cases, the Vatican officially announced on Thursday.

Pope Francis has been outspoken in his opposition to the death penalty since at least 2015 when he addressed Congress and pleaded against capital punishment. On Thursday the Vatican made his position official, shifting the Roman Catholic position, according to the New York Times. U.S. Catholics are far less certain on the issue, however: 53 percent of U.S. Catholics favor the death penalty and 42 percent oppose it, according to a 2018 Pew Research poll.

The Privatization of Puerto Rico’s Public Schools Has Begun

Smith College employee calls cops on student eating lunch

A black student was sitting in a common room at Smith College on Tuesday when an employee called the police and reported her as “out of place.” The student, however, said she’s working over the summer at the private women’s liberal arts school and was just reading and eating lunch.

In a video posted to be Facebook, the campus police officer who responded to the call can be heard asking the student what she was doing in the common room. “Stuff like this happens way too often, where people just feel, like, threatened,” the student tells the officer in the video, which has since been shared by 1,300 Facebook users.

The student said the officer apologized on behalf of the person who called the police on her. The officer was unarmed, like all Smith College campus police, according to the Boston Globe. ...

“No student of color should have to explain why they belong at prestigious white institutions. I worked my hardest to get into Smith, and I deserve to feel safe on my campus,” the student said in a Facebook post.

Wife of decorated US marine deported to Mexico

All Estela Juarez wanted for her ninth birthday was for her family to be allowed to stay together. The gift from Donald Trump’s administration, however, was fully in keeping with its zero-tolerance stance on immigration. On Friday, Juarez, an American citizen, will leave the only country she has ever known and board a plane to Mexico as US officials enforce a deportation order against her mother, Alejandra. Her father, a former US marine, national guardsman and decorated combat veteran, will stay in Florida with Juarez’s 16-year-old sister, Pamela. The breaking apart of American military families marks a new low point in Trump’s war on immigration, some White House critics believe, while Alejandra Juarez – who is being expelled 20 years after she entered the US illegally from Mexico as a teenager – says it is a “slap in the face”. ...

“They try and punish me for something that happened a long time ago, but they’re not punishing me, they’re punishing my husband, my kids. It makes you think if it’s really worth fighting for this country when it comes down to this, putting your life at risk for a country that doesn’t take your service into consideration.” Juarez, 39, and her 41-year-old husband, Cuauhtemoc – known as Temo – were both born in Mexico. But while he came to the US legally as a child and became a naturalised citizen in 2002, shortly before a 16-month deployment in Iraq, Alejandra has spent their entire 18-year marriage as an undocumented immigrant.

Even so, until Trump took office in 2017, she was not at risk of deportation. “For the last four years I have been told that I wasn’t a priority, I have no criminal record, I’m a military spouse, I’m untouchable, don’t worry, you’re fine,” she said, recalling her twice-yearly check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) since a 2013 traffic stop flagged her as illegal. “However, when this administration took over things changed. Obama didn’t fix this situation but he didn’t deport people like me. Immigration knew I was here and said under the Obama rules I wasn’t a priority. Now this administration is deporting people with no criminal record. Before, if you had citizen kids or an American husband you wouldn’t be deported, but now they don’t care.

Trump Order on 'Sanctuary Cities' Is Illegal, Court Says

President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening to withhold funding from “sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation with immigration authorities is unconstitutional, but a judge went too far when he blocked its enforcement nationwide, a U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday. In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the order exceeded the president’s authority.

“Absent congressional authorization, the administration may not redistribute or withhold properly appropriated funds in order to effectuate its own policy goals,” Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote for the majority. But he also said there wasn’t enough evidence to support a nationwide ban on the order and sent the case back to the lower court for more hearings on that question. ...

U.S. District Judge William Orrick said in November that the order threatened all federal funding and that the president did not have the authority to attach new conditions to spending that was approved by Congress. The ruling came in lawsuits filed by two California counties — San Francisco and Santa Clara. The executive order potentially jeopardized hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the two counties, Orrick said, citing comments by Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions as evidence of the order’s scope.

Migrant child died after release from detention, attorneys group alleges

The American Immigration Lawyers Association said Wednesday that a migrant toddler died shortly after being released from an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Dilley, Tex.

“AILA has learned that a toddler died soon after release from the Dilley South Texas Family Residential Center,” Gregory Z. Chen, director of government relations for the 15,000-member association, said in a statement. “We do not have information on the cause of death or information that confirms a connection between medical treatment at STFRC and this death.”

Chen did not name the child or say when the alleged death occurred, and The Washington Post was unable to independently verify the death.

ICE said Wednesday that it could not investigate the situation without the child’s name or other information. However the agency made clear that no child died while in its care.

Chen said the association’s lawyers have “seen ongoing inadequacies in the standard of care provided to mothers and children in Dilley, and have filed complaints with the government raising these concerns.” ...

Hundreds of separated families have been reunited in recent days at Dilley and at least one other ICE family detention center. Those centers also house families taken into custody at the border but not separated by the government. Because there is so little information available about the child who reportedly died, it is impossible to say whether that child was among the minors who had been separated.

Health Care Lobbyists Secretly Secure Democrats’ Opposition to “Medicare for All,” Internal Documents Show

The 1st Congressional District of Hawaii is about as far from Washington, D.C.’s pitched political battles as you can get — not typically seen as a national bellwether. Yet the race for the congressional district, centered in southern Oahu, is one of several competitive elections that has attracted the attention of big-money lobbyists seeking to influence the direction of American health care policy. Hawaii’s 1st District seat, which was vacated by incumbent Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who is running for governor, has attracted six serious candidates to the Democratic primary in this reliably blue district. According to documents obtained by The Intercept, at least three of the candidates took time out from their schedules to talk to a consultant dispatched by the Healthcare Leadership Council, a lobbying group that seeks to advance the goals of the largest players in the private health care industry.

Now, the 1st District candidates working with the Healthcare Leadership Council — former state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Doug Chin, and Honolulu City Council Member Ernest Martin — are taking heat from their opponents for talking to an industry-friendly group, even as public opinion is increasingly rallying to positions opposed by giant health care companies. “Democrats running in a primary election will say they support ‘Medicare for All,’ but what do they say to lobbyists behind the scenes?” said Kaniela Ing, a state lawmaker vying for the 1st District seat on a democratic socialist platform, warning of Democrats who make progressive promises when campaigning, but then work hand in hand with industries when in office. “We need health care champions, not puppets.”

One of the leading candidates has campaigned on a promise to crack down on over-priced pharmaceuticals and promote single payer health care, but told the consultant dispatched by the Healthcare Leadership Council that he would maintain drug industry-friendly pricing policies and views Medicare for All with skepticism.

Keiser Report: Data vs Ratings

Last year was warmest ever that didn't feature an El Niño

Last year was the warmest ever recorded on Earth that didn’t feature an El Niño, a periodic climatic event that warms the Pacific Ocean, according to the annual state of the climate report by 500 climate scientists from around the world, overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and released by the American Meteorological Society.

Climate change cast a long shadow in 2017, with the planet experiencing soaring temperatures, retreating sea ice, a record high sea level, shrinking glaciers and the most destructive coral bleaching event on record.

Overall, 2017 was third warmest year on record, Noaa said, behind 2016 and 2015. Countries including Spain, Bulgaria, Mexico and Argentina all broke their annual high temperature records. Puerto Madryn in Argentina reached 43.4C (110.12F), the warmest temperature ever recorded so far south in the world, while Turbat in Pakistan baked in 53.5C (128.3F), the global record temperature for May.

Concentrations of planet-warming carbon dioxide continued on an upward march, reaching 405 parts per million in the atmosphere. This is 2.2ppm greater than 2016 and is the highest level discernible in modern records, as well as ice cores that show CO2 levels back as far as 800,000 years. The growth rate of CO2 has quadrupled since the early 1960s.

In May of last year, ice extent in the Arctic reached its lowest maximum level in the 37-year satellite record, covering 8% less area than the long-term average. The Arctic experienced the sort of warmth that scientists say hasn’t been been present in the region for the last 2,000 years, with some regions 3 or 4 degrees Celsius hotter than an average recorded since 1982. Antarctic sea ice was also below average throughout 2017. Land-based ice mirrored these reversals, with the world’s glaciers losing mass for the 38th consecutive year on record. According to the report, the total ice loss since 1980 is the equivalent to slicing 22 metres off the top of the average glacier.

Gov’t Inaction on Climate Change Is “Slow Violence” That Hits World’s Poor the Hardest

Hottest July Ever Recorded in United States: California's Death Valley Busts Own Record

Amid predictions that the year could go down as one of the warmest on the books, Death Valley, California just beat its own record for the hottest month ever measured in the United States.

According to data compiled by the Washington Post, the average July temperature there averaged 108.1°F (42.3°C), topping the record the same location "set a year ago by about a half-degree."

The new record temperature, according to weather records expert Maximiliano Herrera, comes in just below the world record for hottest monthly temperature anywhere—108.5°F (42.5°C)—which was recorded in July 2000 at Dehloran, Iran. 

"Searing heat in Death Valley in July, is of course, the norm," the Post reports. "So it might be hard to contemplate it being unusually hot in such a place. But this July's temperature has averaged nearly six degrees above the average of 102.2."

Climate Scientist: California Wildfires Are Faster, Stronger, Deadlier & Will Continue to Intensify

NYT Magazine's #LosingEarth Receives Scathing Reviews From Climate Action Movement

Experts and activists on Wednesday are responding to The New York Times Magazine's full-issue article on the global climate crisis with a combination of fury and frustration, arguing that the piece "suppresses important facts, covering up how organized climate denial created our current predicament."

The magazine published a heavily promoted narrative by Nathaniel Rich entitled "Losing Earth: the Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change," which focuses on the period from 1979 to 1989 and aims to track "the efforts of a small group of American scientists, activists, and politicians to raise the alarm and stave off catastrophe."

Many scientists, journalists, and activists criticized Rich for suggestions that it is too late to take impactful action to address the crisis—he writes, "Long-term disaster is now the best-case scenario," and "we failed to solve this problem when we had the chance"—and "human nature has brought us to this place," rather than placing the blame for fossil fuel emissions on wealthy industry executives and politicians who deny the reality of man-made climate change.

The environmental group 350.org tweeted:

Let's be clear, since @NYTmag wasn't:

just "human nature" didn't "bring us to this place." It was the willful efforts (many detailed in the magazine!) of fossil fuel executives & the politicians they've bought to obstruct climate policy & spread misinformation. #LosingEarth pic.twitter.com/ydw224XWov

— 350 dot org (@350) August 1, 2018

"This piece falls short in holding the companies and executives responsible for climate destruction accountable in the present day," declared 350.org executive director May Boeve. "With the window for action quickly closing, it's up to all of us to keep fossil fuel billionaires and our elected officials on the hook for meaningful action on climate justice."

And yet, as Robinson Meyer wrote for The Atlantic in an early response to the piece, "By portraying the early years of climate politics as a tragedy, the magazine lets Republicans and the fossil-fuel industry off the hook." "Sadly, unfortunately, frustratingly, the article misses the mark. It's a missed opportunity to tell a full, nuanced story about a critical time in the climate story, and it risks [leaving] readers throwing their hands up in hopelessness," responded David Turnbull, board chair of the U.S. Climate Action Network (USCAN) and the strategic communications director at Oil Change International and ClimateTruth.org Action.

"The premise that a few (well-intentioned!) mostly white men could have solved the climate crisis in some back rooms on their own is simply a flawed premise," Turbull added. "Further, it absolves some of the worst actors in this story of blame... The fossil fuel industry and their friends in Congress have stalled progress on climate change and there's simply no denying that."

@nytimes, you must #EndClimateSilence & tell the truth about politicians who serve the interests of climate-denier donors over the interests of the people.

Without that truth, your journalism carries water for those same climate deniers in the service of profit & death.

/fin

— Dr. Genevieve Guenther (@DoctorVive) August 1, 2018

Court Agrees With Oglala Sioux Tribe on Uranium Mine

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled to stop the planned Dewey-Burdock uranium mine in its tracks. On Friday, July 20, 2018, the Court ruled in Oglala Sioux Tribe vs. Nuclear Regulatory Committee that the committee failed to consider the potential impacts the mine would have on the environment. The Oglala Sioux Tribe had argued that the proposed 10,000-acre mine would permanently damage its resources including, water, cultural artifacts, and historical sites. The mine, if allowed to go forward, would use in-situ leach method of mining. This process involves the drilling of holes into the ore deposit. Explosive or Hydraulic fracturing may be used to create open pathways in the deposit for the solution to penetrate. Leaching solution is then pumped into the deposit where it makes contact with the ore. The solution bearing the dissolved ore content is then pumped to the surface and processed. The process has been believed to endanger ground water.

The Court did not revoke the company’s license as desired by Water Protectors. It did, however, force the case back to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for further consideration in light of its discussion in the decision. It also prevented the company behind the mine from conducting any work that disturbs the ground. ...

Tribes across the Great Plains have been vehemently opposed to the construction of the mine. These pleas, however, were ignored at every level of state government leading up to last week’s legal decision. It has taken 12-years for backers of the mine to get to this point. The ruling from the court endangers its completion.

Also of Interest

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

U.S.-Backed Saudi Airstrike on Family With Nine Children Shows “Clear Violations” of the Laws of War

After 23 Years on Death Row, Barry Jones Sees His Conviction Overturned: Arizona Must Retry or Release Him Immediately

A Little Night Music

Stick McGhee - One Monkey Don't Stop No Show

Stick McGhee & Sonny Terry - Dirty Mistreater, Don´t You Know

Stick McGhee, J.C. Burris & Sonny Terry - You Keep On Doggin' Me

Sticks McGee - Doin All This Time

Stick McGhee - Blues Mixture

Stick McGhee - Six To Eight

Stick McGhee - Blues in my Heart and Tears in my Eyes

Stick McGhee - Venus Blues

Stick McGhee - Whiskey, Women and Loaded Dice

Stick McGhee - Housewarmin' Boogie

Stick McGhee - Money Fever

Stick McGhee - My Baby's Comin' Back