The Evening Blues - 8-30-18



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Ann Cole

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b singer Ann Cole. Enjoy!

Ann Cole - Got My Mojo Working

"No government fights fascism to destroy it. When the bourgeoisie sees that power is slipping out of its hands, it brings up fascism to hold onto their privileges."

-- Buenaventura Durruti


News and Opinion

WaPo Uses Photo of John McCain Next to Nazi to Praise His ‘Human Rights’ Work

The Washington Post (8/27/18) published an op-ed by conservative staff opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin praising the late Sen. John McCain for his supposed commitment to “human rights.” Rubin waxed poetic on the ostensible “lost champion” of human rights, who “model[ed] for others the behavior of a free society.” She declared, quite paradoxically, “With the possible exception of the US military…no group was more indebted to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) than the human rights community.”

There was an, er, optical problem, however: For the header image on this column, the Washington Post used a photo of McCain speaking next to the notorious Ukrainian neo-Nazi leader Oleh Tyahnybok. Tyahnybok, a longtime fascist, has called for a war on the so-called “Muscovite-Jewish mafia” (BBC, 12/26/12). The far-right leader has attacked the role of “Jews-Bolsheviks” in his country’s history, and claims that there is still today a cabal of “Jewish oligarchs who control Ukraine” (JTA, 3/25/09).


John McCain met with Tyahnybok and stood next to him as the senator gave a speech in Ukraine in late 2013, as Business Insider (12/16/13) reported at the time. The Washington Post indicated in the caption on its header image that McCain was “wav[ing] to protesters during a mass rally of the opposition in Kiev, Ukraine, on December 15, 2013.” But it failed to identify the man standing next to the Arizona senator—or his extremist politics, which are the antithesis of human rights. McCain was in the Eastern European nation—along with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy — to cheer on the ongoing right-wing protest movement. In February 2014, this movement was successful: Ukraine’s democratically elected, pro-Russian government was overthrown in a coup, in which fascist forces played a significant role (FAIR.org, 3/7/14).

Tyahnybok is far from a minor player in Ukraine. ... Tyahnybok has been the leader of the fascist, ultra-nationalist Ukrainian political party Svoboda since its founding in 2004. Svoboda has its origins in the explicitly neo-Nazi Social-National Party of Ukraine, which proclaimed, “We are the last hope of the white race, of humankind as such.”

[See article for more links between John McCain and Nazi politicians. - js]

Even Israeli Officials Are Warning That Trump’s Moves Against Palestinians May Backfire

Jared Kushner has yet to formally unveil his highly touted peace plan for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict. But in the past weeks and months, its outlines have become increasingly clear. Recent moves by the United States to recognize Israel’s capital in Jerusalem and deprive Palestinians of refugee status have taken key issues off the table before any future peace negotiation even begins. The Trump administration has announced a steady stream of cuts in aid for Palestinians, including reported plans to stop all funding for the United National Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the agency which provides healthcare and schooling for Palestinian refugees, as well as cutting $200 million in economic aid to the West Bank and Gaza. These moves are helping clarify the Trump administration’s strategy for getting to peace in the region: imposing maximum pain on the Palestinians as a means of bullying them into submission.

But this strategy may backfire, including against a Netanyahu government that has enthusiastically supported Trump’s get-tough approach. Even former Israeli military officials have begun raising the alarm that the Trump administration’s punitive actions against the Palestinians, rather than bringing peace, are leading the region toward a new era of conflict. In an article this week in Ha’aretz, former Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Peter Lerner criticized the administration’s attempts to “blackmail” the Palestinians, stating that such a strategy would lead to a power vacuum in the West Bank, warning that “hardballing the Palestinian into submission is likely to blow up on Israel’s doorstep.” Lerner’s warning echoes previous reports from Israeli military officials that funding cuts are likely to lead to a humanitarian crisis and further unrest in the occupied territories.

The Trump administration’s unapologetically anti-Palestinian posture, famously symbolized this May by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley walking out of a U.N. Security Council meeting to avoid even hearing a speech by the Palestinian envoy, is in many ways something new in the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. While the United States has never been seen as a neutral arbiter on the conflict — famously characterized as “Israel’s lawyer” even by U.S. officials who have taken part in negotiations — the Trump administration’s actions have risen to a new level of overt hostility to Palestinian claims. Going back to the administrations of Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman, successive U.S. presidents have shown a willingness to downplay the right of self-determination for the Arab people living in Palestine, while supporting Israeli expansion.

But experts say that even weighed against this shabby historical standard, the Trump administration’s approach is unique for its single-minded focus on satisfying short-term Israeli goals and political constituencies in the U.S., even at the cost of U.S. interests.

Facebook & Google Play the Censor: Are our Civil Liberties Endangered?

FBI arrests man who threatened to kill Boston Globe staff for criticizing Trump

A man has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill employees of the Boston Globe newspaper, in messages repeating Donald Trump’s claims that journalists are the “enemy of the people” and “fake news”. Robert Chain called the Globe’s newsroom and claimed he would shoot staff members in the head, according to the FBI, which said Chain later specified that he was retaliating against the newspaper’s criticism of Trump’s attacks on the news media.

Chain, of Encino, California, owns several firearms and was found to have purchased a new 9mm carbine rifle in May this year, according to US authorities.

Andrew Lelling, the US attorney for Massachusetts, said in a statement: “In a time of increasing political polarisation, and amid the increasing incidence of mass shootings, members of the public must police their own political rhetoric. Or we will.” ...

Chain allegedly called the Globe from a blocked number on 16 August and said: “You’re the enemy of the people, and we’re going to kill every fucking one of you.” After suggesting that staff call special counsel Robert Mueller for help, Chain allegedly said: “I’m going to shoot you in the fucking head later today, at four o’clock.” Telephone records traced the call back to Chain’s home landline, the FBI said. That morning, Trump had posted several attacks on the media to Twitter, complaining about “fake news” and declaring that the media was “opposition party” and “very bad for our great country”. ...

When asked by a Globe employee why he was calling, Chain allegedly said: “Because you are the enemy of the people.” Chain allegedly continued: “As long as you keep attacking the president, the duly elected president of the United States, in the continuation of your treasonous and seditious acts, I will continue to threat, harass, and annoy the Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times, the other fake news.”

“How To Win A Grassroots Media Rebellion“ - Caitlin Johnstone At Ron Paul Institute Conference

Argentina seeks emergency release of $50bn in IMF funds amid financial crisis

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri has asked the International Monetary Fund for an early release of funds from a $50bn deal to ease concerns that the country will not be able to meet its debt obligations for 2019. Macri said in a televised address that Argentina had agreed with the IMF “to advance all necessary funds to guarantee compliance with next year’s financial programme”.

Macri said that in the past week there had been “expressions of a lack of trust in the markets” about Argentina. He said the decision sought to dispel any uncertainty, but he did not specify the amount or when the funds would be released.

Argentina was forced to strike a deal with the IMF earlier this year after a sharp depreciation of its currency and a run on the peso. The three-year standby financing deal is aimed at strengthening its weak economy and helping it fight inflation, which at 30% per year is one of the highest rates in the world.

The Argentinian currency fell again Wednesday to close at an all-time low of 34.2 pesos per US dollar.

''Change-resistant Gauls'': Macron under fire for ''mocking'' French

Macron galls French with 'change-resistant Gauls' comment

in part inspired Macron’s loosening of French labour laws and his planned overhaul of French unemployment benefits.

But Macron said cultural differences between the “Lutheran” Danes and the French “Gauls” made it difficult to adopt the system in France. “Let’s not be naive, what is possible is linked to a culture, to a people who are the product of their history,” he said. “These Lutheran people, who have experienced transformations in recent years, are not like the Gauls who are resistant to change,” he said, using a term for the ancient tribespeople that roamed France more than 2,000 years ago.

Keiser Report: Knowledge Economy

Sanders vs. Amazon Intensifies

After Amazon issued a rare blog post on Wednesday denouncing Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) recent criticism of the retail behemoth as "inaccurate," Sanders quickly responded with a statement accusing Amazon of being "less than forthcoming" about how much it actually pays its workers and highlighting the fact that Amazon warehouses are considered some of the "most dangerous places to work in the United States."

While Amazon boasted in its public response to Sanders that it provides a "climate controlled, safe workplace" for its employees, the Vermont senator highlighted the fact that the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health—a workers' rights advocacy group—placed Amazon on its "Dirty Dozen" list of companies with unsafe working conditions earlier this year. "I will be asking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate unsafe working conditions at Amazon fulfillment centers," Sanders wrote in his statement, which provides a small sample of stories current and former Amazon employees have submitted to Sanders' office in response to a request he put out on Monday. ...

In a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Sanders wondered why Amazon would have to pay workers to sing the company's praises online if its working conditions are so great:


In its blog post—which one journalist described as "entirely misleading"—Amazon insisted that its pay is "highly competitive" and asserted that "the average hourly wage for a full-time associate in our fulfillment centers, including cash, stock, and incentive bonuses, is over $15/hour before overtime." But as Gizmodo's Bryan Menegus noted on Wednesday, Amazon is "sneakily inflating its average hourly wage with stock options that require two years to vest and incentive bonuses individual workers have no direct control over."

"Compared to its warehousing competitors, Amazon is the same or worse in terms of pay, with hard caps on raises, and far more punishing in terms of the productivity it extracts from its workers," Menegus added, citing an analysis from earlier this year. As Sanders observed in his statement, "Amazon's median employee pay is only $28,446—nine percent less than the industry average and well below what constitutes a living wage in the United States."

Update on Prison Strike Demanding End of “Slave Labor”: After 10 Days, Protests Spread to 11 States

Italy's call for France and Spain to open ports to migrants is rejected

A call by Italy for France and Spain to offer up their ports for the disembarkation of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean has failed to garner the backing of EU member states, despite Rome’s threat to pull the plug on the EU’s Operation Sophia rescue mission.

Hijacking a meeting of defence ministers in Vienna, the Italian representative, Elisabetta Trenta, called the ports where rescue ships dock to be rotated to lift the burden on her country.

Italy became the main route into Europe for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers arriving by sea since the other main route from Turkey to Greece was largely shut in 2016. While numbers have dropped over the past year, the new populist Italian government has made shutting down the route a policy pillar. ...

About 650,000 people, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, have landed on Italian shores since 2014. The Italian demand follows diplomatic rows in which rescue ships were not allowed to dock in Italy unless other states agreed to take in the people on board.

'Ethnic Cleansing by Bureaucracy': Trump Administration Denying Passports, Accusing Latino Citizens of Having Fake Birth Certificates

Offering the latest proof that its assault on immigrants' rights is based in racism rather than a concern for citizens' safety, the Trump administration has accused hundreds—if not thousands—of Latino Americans of having fraudulent birth certificates and has refused to issue passports to many, while detaining and threatening deportation for others.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that hundreds of Latinos living near the U.S.-Mexico border have been denied passports and passport renewals and have been refused reentry into the U.S. after traveling south of the border, with the State Department alleging that they had been born outside the U.S. even though they have American birth certificates.

One citizen was detained for three days after presenting his passport while attempting to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. A deportation hearing is scheduled for 2019. Another was denied a passport renewal and asked to provide his parents' rental agreement from when he was a baby and evidence of his mother's prenatal care to prove his citizenship—but was again denied after he sent the documentation to the State Department. The department claims South Texas is rife with residents who have been posing as U.S. citizens since they were babies, issuing a statement to the Post that there is a "significant number of fraudulent citizens along border."

As evidence, the Trump administration has pointed to decades-old federal cases in which midwives in the region admitted to selling U.S. birth certificates to some families who needed citizenship—but it has no proof that those who have been targeted are not U.S. citizens.

Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama also denied passports to people who had been born in the Rio Grande Valley, for the same reason. But passport denials were nearly eliminated after 2009, when the ACLU challenged the practice. Now, according to attorneys in South Texas, cases of the State Department questioning Hispanics' citizenship have gone up again. "We're seeing these kind of cases skyrocketing," Jennifer Correro, an attorney in Houston, told the Post.


Texas Congressman demands answers from ICE in toddler’s death

Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro wants answers on what Immigration and Customs Enforcement knew about the case of a toddler from Guatemala who died after leaving federal custody earlier this year.

Castro, a Democrat, said Wednesday he will ask ICE what the agency knew about the medical condition of 18-month-old Mariee during the time she and her mother were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, in March. A VICE News investigation published Monday found that Mariee entered the center healthy, and was first diagnosed with a viral infection while inside. She died in May at a Philadelphia hospital six weeks after leaving Dilley.

“I want to know what our government knew about this child,” Castro said in an interview with VICE News. “They knew that she was sick, and what did they do to prevent it? I want to know whether anyone or the facility will be held accountable for creating the conditions that led to her passing.”

Texas: ex-officer who killed unarmed black teen sentenced to 15 years

A former Texas police officer has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for murdering unarmed teenager Jordan Edwards last year.

But Edwards’s family criticized the sentence, saying they had hoped for 25 to 30 years or more.

“We’re thankful for the verdict that we received, although we wanted more years,” Jordan’s stepmother, Charmaine Edwards, said after the sentencing on Wednesday.

Roy Oliver was found guilty on Tuesday of murder for fatally shooting the 15-year-old as he was leaving a house party in a car full of other youngsters. ...

Charmaine Edwards said of Oliver’s sentence: “He actually can see life again after 15 years. And that’s not enough because Jordan can’t see life again.”



the horse race



Democrats CAVE AGAIN & Fast Track Trump’s Judges

In Oklahoma and Arizona, Primary Voters Rewarded Candidates Who Stood With Teachers

Oklahoma voters continued a red-state trend Tuesday night by throwing out half a dozen incumbent Republican lawmakers who voted against a tax hike to fund teacher pay increases. In Arizona, educators made a number of electoral gains in Democratic Party primaries.



the evening greens



Climate change: local efforts won't be enough to undo Trump's inaction, study says

Individual cities, regions and businesses across the globe are banding together determinedly to confront climate change - but their emissions reductions are relatively small and don’t fully compensate for a recalcitrant US under the Trump administration, a new study has found. A cavalcade of city mayors, regional government representatives and business executives from around the world will convene in San Francisco next month for a major summit touting the role of action beyond national governments to stave off the worst impacts of climate change.

But the greenhouse gas cuts offered up by these entities are relatively modest, according to new research, placing the onus on nations to raise their ambitions even as the US, the world’s second largest emitter, looks to exit the landmark Paris climate agreement.

An evaluation of climate change pledges by nearly 6,000 cities, states and regions, representing 7% of the global population, and more than 2,000 companies that have a combined revenue comparable to the size of the US economy, found a total projected reduction of between 1.5bn to 2.2bn tons of greenhouse gases by 2030. In some places this action will be significant, such as in the US, where shifts to cleaner energy and energy efficiency by cities and states are on track to contribute half of the emissions reductions promised by the country in the Paris agreement. But globally these emissions cuts fall short of enabling countries to avoid breaching agreed thresholds for dangerous warming that will trigger increased heatwaves, mightier storms, rising seas and displacement of people.

Even if every Paris commitment is fully implemented, the world is on track to warm by around 3.3C by the end of the century. Pledges by the likes of Berlin, the Coca-Cola company or even an economic powerhouse like California “while welcome, are not sufficient”, said John Sterman, the director of the MIT system dynamics group. “The world is in a desperate race between accelerating climate change and the innovation needed to cut emissions before it’s too late,” said Sterman. “Cities, states, and business are in the lead, but they face stiff headwinds from weak national policies and the continued efforts of fossil fuel interests to undermine the innovation we need.”

Canadian Court Rescinds Trans Mountain Approval

Indigenous peoples and climate campaigners scored a major victory in Canada on Thursday as the Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the government's review of the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline, a project of Kinder Morgan, did not adequately consult with First Nations before greenlighting the project. The ruling comes after ongoing and mass opposition to the project, and members of the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam First Nations—committed to fight the pipeline with every means necessary—have said they never consented to the pipeline passing through their lands and amid vital waterways.

In a statement on Twitter, the Sacred Trust of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation said it was glad the FCA  "has recognized our inherent governance rights."


Though the widely criticized effort by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to purchase the pipeline from Kinder Morgan has not been completed, company shareholders officially approved the sale barely an hour after the Federal Court of Appeals ruling was made public. And as Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said in response, "No matter who owns this pipeline and tanker project, it will be stopped."

Detroit schools are shutting off drinking water 5 days before kids come back

The Detroit public school system likely won’t have drinking water on tap in any of its 106 schools when students return to classes next week.

The district has now shut off water in a total of 34 schools — including 16 announced on Wednesday after testing found elevated levels of copper or lead — due to water-quality issues, according to the Detroit Free Press. By Tuesday’s start of the school year, the district will have shut down drinking water across all 106 of its schools as a precaution. Officials now plan to create a task force to determine the root cause behind the elevated levels but aren’t planning to test students for any potential health effects. It’s also not clear when the water will be turned back on.

So far, the city has delivered water bottles to the 16 schools that showed elevated lead and copper levels until it can send water coolers, according to the Free Press. But city health officials have yet to release the detailed results of the testing, which they said they’ve been conducting since the spring.

Humanity Can Be Saved If We Listen to the Indigenous Peoples

Climate activists should stop saying “the world will end, and we’re beyond the turning point,” said Macarena Gomez-Barris, author of The Extraction Zone: Social Ecologies and Decolonial Perspectives. Indigenous people have shown there are “other ways of being in the word” that can allow the biosphere to survive, said Gomez-Barris. Talk of the inevitability of doomsday allows the rich to continue their plunder under the ideology of “disposability.”


Also of Interest

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

How To Get Your Dissident Ideas Heard In The New Media Environment

New Study Details Why Rubio's Paid Family Leave Plan, Endorsed by Ivanka Trump, Is a Scam to Undermine Social Security

15 Ways the Democrats Can Lose the November Elections

Rocky Road for the Corporate Duopoly if Blacks Back Bernie in 2020

The fight to save clean water on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation

How America's 'most reckless' billionaire created the fracking boom


A Little Night Music

Ann Cole - I've Got A Little Boy

Ann Cole - Each Day

Ann Cole - Easy Easy Baby

Ann Cole - I´ve Got Nothing Working Now

Ann Cole - Darling, Don`t Hurt Me

Ann Cole - You´re Mine

Ann Cole - I'm waiting for you

Ann Cole - Don't Stop the Wedding

Ann Cole - Are You Satisfied

Ann Cole - Plain As The Nose On Your Face


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not for workers

President Donald Trump says he plans to freeze automatic pay raises for civilian federal employees in 2019, citing the need for government belt-tightening.

In a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Trump said he is zeroing out both across-the-board pay increases as well as locality pay raises that are based on where federal employees live. The scheduled pay raises were set to go into effect in January 2019.

“We must maintain efforts to put our nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases,” Trump said in the letter.

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joe shikspack's picture

@gjohnsit

yep, by the time trump and the bipartisans are finished, the government will consist of one department, the department of war.

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JekyllnHyde's picture

Class Name: Politics 101.
Class Description: an excellent primer towards understanding the nature of domestic politics in 2018.
Tuition: $1 million donation to the Democratic Party. More would be appreciated. Includes personal meeting and photograph with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
Purpose: Guaranteed to promote the interests of the 99%.

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A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

joe shikspack's picture

@JekyllnHyde

excellent cartoon! Smile

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Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 11 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2018 to clarify that Californians for Jobs & a Strong Economy does not give to Republican candidates, just moderate Democrats. It was updated at noon with Brulte’s comments.

Pfft! Good thing I wasn't drinking something when I read that, and thank you twitterverse. My mouth was watering toward the end of this nooz, because well... I have been to In N Out burger and I have animal style munchies right now. Good luck boycotting the best fast food wages in California Baumann! omg what a donor doofus. Because Trump. lmao
‘Stop eating In-N-Out like yesterday.’ California Democrats call for boycott
Like, what?

In addition to its $25,000 this week, it donated $30,000 to the GOP in 2017 and $30,000 to the in 2016. It has also contributed to the California pro-business political action committee, “Californians for Jobs & A Strong Economy,” which helps elect moderate Democrats. Most recently, it gave the PAC $80,000 in 2017.

wut? lol

Thanks for the Evening Blues too, they go great with comedy. "Special Formula 45" lmao What a tragedy.

peace

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joe shikspack's picture

@eyo

heh, so they give to republicans and dinos.

last time i was i california i ate at one of their stores. the burger was pretty decent.

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mimi's picture

because my German eyes read it as "Gaul", which is an old tired horse in German. Coming to think of it may be Macron is a true Gaul...who knows... Wink

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joe shikspack's picture

@mimi

i think of macron as more of a horse's ass - well, i suppose he's really more of a pretty boy neoliberal like obama or trudeau, i guess.

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lotlizard's picture

@mimi  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_Knef

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mimi's picture

each others brother's keeper all the way. As a humanitarian gesture from both, let the Trump employees work at Amazon's packaging distribution centers, and the Amazon employees at Trump towers restaurants as waiters or kitchen aids. I am sure they'll find the "Cain" in both men's enterprises.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

joe shikspack's picture

@The Aspie Corner

what a surprise, an obama appointee is corrupt as sin itself.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Unabashed Liberal's picture

Earlier today, had to turn off Biden's so-called eulogy. Looks like the Deep State, along with the Dem Party Leadership, decided to take full advantage of McCain's passing--apparently, with his consent. Suppose it goes back to the old Rahm adage,

"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
~~Rahm Emanuel

From the git-go, I found it very curious that, even though Beau Biden and McCain died of same condition, McCain chose to select Biden as a top eulogizer. Is that even a word? Wink Now, I understand 'why.' When we get back, I'll post a bit of the bipartisan corporatist 'BS' blather that Biden spouted. IMO, it's proof (as if we need it) that a bipartisan 'fix' is in for 2018.

Help

Also, it's extremely concerning (to me) that so many bright shiny objects are distracting the Dem Party Base, while the Dem Leadership--lead by their Blue Dog 'Mafia' (their words, not mine)/Caucus--is setting up a conservadem House coup, to be carried out by a bunch of former/retired military candidates--all of whom have pledged a bipartisan approach to lawmaking. IOW, they're budget hawks who will "hold hands and jump together," in order to strike a Grand Bargain. If fully successful, it will put Rahm's efforts to shame! Bad

Thanks for tonight's EB, Joe. If I'm able, will see you Guys tomorrow. In case we're traveling until late, I'll go ahead and wish Everyone a nice and safe long holiday weekend! This is a very special weekend/week for us, so, looking forward to it.

To end on a happier note, here's a Tweet that made me smile,

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Bye

Blue Onyx

"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

yep, it looks like the democrats are up to what they are always up to, figuring out ways to enact "republican policies" (well, really .1% policies) while not tipping off the base that they are doing so. they have the base so bamboozled with russiagate that they might get away with it this time.

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snoopydawg's picture

They aren't caving, they are helping republicans get their agendas passed and have been doing this for decades if not longer. I'm still seeing people saying, "if democrats want to win then they need to do this ..." or telling them to grow a spine, etc.

I didn't bother reading the article on the 15 ways that they can lose because it doesn't matter if they win. We saw this in 2006 when Pelosi became speaker and 2009 when Obama won and they held all 3 branches.

The article you posted last night on Russia Gate was great. This part of it has slipped off people's radar. That DHS is taking over elections is not a good sign for making them more fair, but then that's the point isn't it?

IMG_2522.JPG

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

you're right. the use of "caved" does imply that the democrats are something other than wholly-owned subsidiaries of the dark corporate overlords.

it is probably time that anybody with a lick of sense stopped using that terminology. perhaps somebody ought to alert jimmy dore. Smile

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snoopydawg's picture

I just don't understand how people can be so damned stupid! I'm betting that they are the ones that gripe about their money going to people who rely on social programs and here's Bernie trying to get Bezos, Walmart and other corporations who get corporate welfare to either start paying their workers a living wage or start paying the government for each employee who are on the program and people have a problem with it. Silly me for thinking that boycotts would work. Starting with Amazon.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

louise mensch sped past stupidville long ago and has been motoring around the tropic of delusion for quite a while.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

when I read the article gj linked to, I decided to Google to refresh my memory of the terms of O's civilian salary freeze. One thing lead to another, and I discovered that he also discontinued the practice of paying federal employees--who live/work in very high cost non-foreign areas--a COLA.

IOW, for years while living in Interior Alaska, I received a federal salary that included a 25% COLA--which was not taxable. Under 'O,' this system was nixed, replaced by something called 'locality pay'--which is taxable for both federal income tax, and social insurance programs (Social Security, not sure about Medicare). Now, our COLA did not count toward our retirement annuity--only our base pay did. Still, IMO, it was a better deal.

Blue Onyx

"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Pricknick's picture

It's no wonder there's so much poison in state of Michigan.
Hint: Flint and Detroit were major dumping grounds for chemicals used in the production of cars.
Then the creators of said mess, bailed. They didn't move the graves they continue to create.
Walk around either city and try not to find abandoned manufacturing.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

joe shikspack's picture

@Pricknick

yep, we have been allowing capitalist exploiters to externalize the costs of cleaning up after themselves for so long that even efforts to recapture some of the costs have been woefully short of adequate (emphasis mine).

Approximately 70% of Superfund cleanup activities historically have been paid for by parties responsible (PRPs) for the cleanup of contamination. The exceptions occur when the responsible party either cannot be found or is unable to pay for the cleanup. Until the mid-1990s, most of the funding came from a tax on the petroleum and chemical industries, reflecting the polluter pays principle, but since 2001, most of the funding for cleanups of hazardous waste sites has come from taxpayers. Despite the name, the program has suffered from under-funding, and Superfund cleanups have decreased to a mere 8 in 2014, out of over 1,200. As a result, the EPA typically negotiates consent orders with PRPs to study sites and develop cleanup alternatives, subject to EPA oversight and approval of all such activities.

efforts to hold polluters accountable seem to have little deterrent effect.

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@Pricknick us coolies that came up in the deep south of destroy it understood long time ago how the scam of building a metal car like thing over a salt mine would produce wonderful profits for the state when said metal cars require said salt to get traction on icy roads. Said destruction of the peeps wheels. Musta got lost.

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GreatLakeSailor's picture

At the Veterans For Peace Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S., on August 26, 2018, the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation awarded its 2018 Peace Prize to David Swanson, director of World BEYOND War.

Michael Knox, Chair of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation, remarked: “We have a culture of war in the U.S. Americans who oppose a war are often labeled traitors, unpatriotic, un-American, and antimilitary. As you know, to work for peace you must be brave and make great personal sacrifices. . . .

“Previous Peace Prize recipients over the past ten years are the honorable Ann Wright, Veterans for Peace, Kathy Kelly, CODEPINK, Chelsea Manning, Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Dennis Kucinich, and Cindy Sheehan.

“I am very pleased to announce that our 2018 Peace Prize is awarded to the honorable David Swanson – For his inspiring antiwar leadership, writings, strategies, and organizations which help to create a culture of peace.

“Thank you David for dedicating your life to ending wars. You are one of the most prolific writers, speakers, activists, and organizers for peace. The breadth of your work is staggering. You have enlightened us with books that are in the forefront of modern antiwar thought; and with speeches, debates, conferences, blogs, billboards, radio shows, online courses, videos, websites, and more innovative ideas than we can name. We want you to know that your efforts are greatly appreciated here and around the world.”

Swanson is a good human.

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Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.

joe shikspack's picture

@GreatLakeSailor

that's great! swanson deserves all the pats on the back and attaboys that he gets and more.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZT8B7fRwqE]

This has already been happening in Flawer'Duh. Don't have a drivers' license? You're fucked.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

joe shikspack's picture

@The Aspie Corner

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lotlizard's picture

@The Aspie Corner  
“and then they asked to see my driver’s license” stories.

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