The Evening Blues - 9-14-22



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues violinist and steel guitar player L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson. Enjoy!

L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson - Clean Your House

"Security is the chief enemy of mortals."

-- William Shakespeare


News and Opinion

The global resetters are busy, busy, busy!

Long-term military guarantees from west would protect Ukraine – report

Ukraine’s allies should commit to legally binding large-scale weapons transfers and multi-decade investment in the country’s defences, according to a report that looked at alternatives to Kyiv’s long-term aspirations to join the Nato alliance. The report was commissioned by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and co-authored by the former Nato secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.

The purpose of the report was to provide a security structure for Ukraine that guarantees Russia does not seek to invade again, and is separate from calls by Zelenskiy for the west to step up arms supplies to drive home the sudden advance by Ukrainian troops. ...

The report, the subject of wide diplomatic consultations, does not propose that Nato countries collectively should be required to offer their troops in defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty, but says there should be no restriction on the military diplomatic and economic help provided by Nato member countries through bilateral agreements. The level of support could be scalable according to the level of threat and should apply to all of Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.

The report argues the “strongest security guarantee for Ukraine lies in its capacity to defend itself against an aggressor … To do so, Ukraine needs the resources to maintain a significant defensive force capable of withstanding the Russian Federation’s armed forces and paramilitaries. “This requires a multi-decade effort of sustained investment in Ukraine’s defence industrial base, scalable weapons transfers and intelligence support from allies, intensive training missions and joint exercises under the European Union and Nato flags”. ...

Critics of the report will question the enforceability of the proposed legal guarantees, the scale of financial support required, and the threat that such a powerful army might not only act in self-defence.

Congressional Democrats shun Ukraine peace campaign

NYT: US, Ukraine Increased Intelligence Sharing Ahead of Kharkiv Counteroffensive

Ukraine had stepped up intelligence sharing with the US ahead of its northeast counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region that has seen significant success, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The report cited unnamed US officials who said Ukraine started sharing more information with the US on its planned operations. The officials said this allowed the US to give advice and share intelligence for the counteroffensive, although the details of how exactly Washington helped are not clear. ...

The US claims on how much the intelligence sharing has helped Ukraine aren’t confirmed, but it demonstrates how intimately involved Washington is in Kyiv’s war against Russia. US officials have previously bragged to the media about how intelligence sharing helped sink Russian ships and kill Russian generals, but the claims were later downplayed, with Pentagon officials insisting they don’t pick targets for Kyiv.

Calm in the Kremlin, SMO plan for now. ATO remains on the table

Is the World Weary of War in Ukraine?

Though it seems world leaders are not trying to end the war, there is some evidence that the world is beginning to weary of it. According to data collected by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, shipments of military aid to Ukraine from European countries have been trending down since April. In July, Europe’s six largest countries made no new military commitments for the first time since the war started. The data includes arms shipments from the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Poland. The Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker reported that “the flow of new international support for Ukraine has dried up in July. No large EU country like Germany, France or Italy, has made significant new pledges.”

But while Europe’s arms shipments to Ukraine are down, its trade with Russia is up. It has been no secret that Russia’s oil exports have lost little to the U.S.-led sanctions. China’s and India’s increases in Russian oil imports alone have balanced losses to Western sanctions. China has increased imports of Russian oil by 55 percent, and Russia is now the second largest exporter of oil to India. Even Saudi Arabia has more than doubled its imports of Russian oil, while Russian oil now accounts for almost half of Turkey’s energy requirements.

A better kept secret is that the same countries that are decreasing their arms exports to Ukraine are increasing their goods exports to Russia. According to analysis of the 39 countries that accounted for 72 percent of Russian imports prior to the war, as the sanctions kicked in, exports to Russia dropped by 57 percent. In April—the same month arms exports started trending down—exports of goods started trending up. By June, exports were nearly back to pre-war levels, climbing back up by 47 percent. And here’s the secret: most of that increase in exports to Russia was attributable to countries, including European countries, who signed up for sanctions.

And that trade trend is continuing. Chinese exports to Russia in July went up by 35 percent over June, lifting them above pre-war levels. Turkey is exporting more to Russia—40 percent more—than before the war. And Turkey is doing more than sending goods to Russia, strengthening bonds not only in trade but even in tourism. This month, Erdogan and Putin met, agreeing to increase energy, economic, and other ties. At present, Russia is helping Turkey build its first nuclear power plant.

The world’s weariness is showing, not only in military commitment and trade, but in diplomacy too. After the initial wave of U.N. condemnations of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the tide has turned to a trickle. Western diplomats have lost their momentum in pushing against Russia. It is not just that “it has become harder to find meaningful ways to penalize Russia," as Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the independent International Crisis Group put it. It is also that “Western countries are shying away from some specific moves, fearing tepid support,” as Reuters recently reported. Recent moves have found “rising vote abstentions” and “growing unwillingness to publicly oppose Moscow, diplomats and observers said.”

What could possibly go wrong?

NATO Kicks Off Naval War Games Near Group of Russian Ships

The United States and 11 NATO members have started large-scale military drills in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Dubbed “Dynamic Mariner,” the war games will put several NATO ships in a region with a major Russian military presence, at a time of soaring tensions between Moscow and the West. The war games are led by NATO Allied Maritime Command, or MARCOM, and will begin Tuesday and run through September 22. It is unclear how many American soldiers are a part of the 1,500 NATO sailors taking part. At least the USS Forrest Sherman is participating.

Dynamic Mariner includes 50 surface ships, five submarines, five patrol planes and helicopters from the United States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey. MARCOM Deputy Commander French Navy Vice Admiral Didier Piaton said this year’s war games are the largest in the Dynamic Mariner series. “This year’s event includes more assets than ever before, facilitating increased interoperability between our nations and enhancing operational readiness,” he said. ...

The war games put dozens of NATO vessels in a region with a heavy Russian naval presence. Tensions between Brussels and Moscow are soaring as the West attempts to weaken Russia in Ukraine. The alliance’s provocative war games last year played a significant role in the escalation spiral which ultimately led to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Some of the largest war drills seen since the previous Cold War era were held for months throughout eastern Europe, including on Russia’s doorstep. Most critically, Kiev became a de facto NATO state and hosted major alliance exercises. Washington was deliberately crossing Moscow’s “brightest of all redlines.”

About 100 troops killed in clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has killed about 100 troops as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries.

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

The escalation of decades-old bloodshed between the south Caucasus countries has fuelled fears that a second fully-fledged war could break out in the post-Soviet world in addition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Armenia said several towns near the border with Azerbaijan, including Jermuk, Goris and Kapan, were shelled in the early hours of Tuesday, and that it had responded to what it called a “large-scale provocation” by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry in turn said it was responding to a “large-scale provocation” by Armenian troops who it accused of planting mines and firing on Azerbaijani military positions.

German Jews file war crimes charges against Israeli leaders

A Jewish group in Germany has filed criminal charges against Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and defense minister Benny Gantz over the bombardment they ordered in Gaza this summer.

The Israeli surprise attack from 5-8 August left some 50 Palestinians dead, including 17 children. At least 360 people were injured.

“This was a supposed preemptive strike that was carried out without a concrete threat,” Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East said on Sunday.

“In public, this excessive attack was largely portrayed as self-defense against Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who in fact only fired rockets in response to the Israeli bombardment,” the group added. “But even in the opposite case, there would be no justification for such a scale of civilian suffering and destruction.” ...

By filing charges against Lapid and Gantz at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice, the group is seeking “consequences for the two men who are responsible for this suffering above all others.” ... The charges were timed to coincide with a two-day visit to Germany by Lapid to promote the weapons trade between Berlin and Tel Aviv.

Twitter whistleblower tells Senate of ‘egregious’ security failings by company

A Twitter whistleblower who accused the company of “egregious” security deficiencies testified in front of Congress on Tuesday, alleging those failures made the platform vulnerable to exploitation, including by foreign agents. Former hacker Peiter “Mudge” Zatko worked as head of security at Twitter from 2020 until he was fired in 2022, and says in that time he witnessed “extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter in every area of his mandate”.

“I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors,” Zatko said as he began his sworn testimony. “They don’t know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they can’t protect it,” Zatko said. “It doesn’t matter who has keys if there are no locks.”

Zatko filed a whistleblower complaint in July with Congress, the justice department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that Twitter mislead regulators and the public about its safety practices.

At the hearing on Tuesday, he detailed those claims, saying that Twitter runs out-of-date and vulnerable software on more than half of its data center servers. He summarized concerns into two main categories: the company does not know enough about its own data, and employees have too much access to data. “It’s not an exaggeration that any employee could take over the accounts of any senator in this room,” he said.

Zatko alleged that Twitter was breached by foreign intelligence agencies in “multiple episodes”.

Nearly 100 Members of Congress Reported Stock Trades That Overlap With Committee Work

A leading government ethics watchdog on Tuesday renewed calls to ban members of Congress from trading stocks during their terms in office after The New York Times published a major investigation revealing that nearly 100 U.S. lawmakers reported trades in companies influenced by their committees.

"We need more action on legislation that would ban congressional stock trading. And fewer members of Congress in violation of the rules already on the books," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) tweeted in response to the report. "It's time we ban them from buying and trading stocks while in office."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) agreed, tweeting that "it's long past time to ban members of Congress and their spouses from owning and trading individual stocks."

The Times report detailed how at least 97 members of the House and Senate "bought or sold stock, bonds, or other financial assets that intersected with their congressional work or reported similar transactions by their spouse or a dependent child."

"The potential for conflicts in stock trading by members of Congress—and their choice so far not to impose stricter limits on themselves—has long drawn criticism, especially when particularly blatant cases emerge," Kate Kelly, Adam Playford, and Alicia Parlapiano wrote in their report.

"But the Times analysis demonstrates the scale of the issue," the reporters added. "Over the three-year period, more than 3,700 trades reported by lawmakers from both parties posed potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and private finances."

Supply Chain CATASTROPHE Looms As Rail Workers Near STRIKE

Millionaires’ Congress threatens to intervene against potential US railroad strike

Congress intends to intervene to prevent a national rail strike and unilaterally impose a concessions contract, Steny Hoyer, the second highest ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, told Bloomberg News on Monday. ... While not unexpected, Hoyer’s remarks are a significant escalation of the state’s efforts to impose a pro-company contract. They follow Biden’s appointment of a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), which proposed a settlement including wage increases below inflation, increased health care costs and no changes to the hated attendance policies that leave train crews on call 24/7.

Since 1926, railroaders have been under the discipline of the reactionary Railway Labor Act, which is designed to all but abolish strikes. But for even longer than this, the US government has not hesitated to use injunctions as well as direct violence against the threat of strikes on the railroads. Eugene Debs, the early 20th century socialist leader and a railroader who led the 1894 Pullman Strike, described the state response to strikes as “government by injunction.” The last Congressional intervention into a railroad strike came in 1991, when the House voted by 400 to 5 to ban a national strike less than 24 hours after it began.

Hoyer’s claim that Congress would act to defend “our economy” is drenched with hypocrisy. While Wall Street and its political agents cynically use the prospect of shortages to try to whip up public opinion against a strike, American corporations have profited immensely from spiraling cost increases during the pandemic, which they would lose out on in the event of a strike. The Federal Reserve, with their approval, is jacking up interest rates in order to suppress wage growth, which is considered too high even though it does not come close to matching the rising cost of living.

Congress itself, which opinion polls show is one of the most widely hated institutions in the country, is comprised largely of millionaires. In 2020, half of the members across both the House and Senate were millionaires, and median net worth was approximately $1 million. In trying to block a strike they would also be pursuing their own naked self-interest. Berkshire Hathaway, the majority owner of BNSF Railway, is the eighth-most traded stock by members of Congress, according to capitoltrades.com. Since 2018, 32 members across both parties have conducted 236 total trades, valued at nearly $9 million, in the Warren Buffett-owned investment firm.

Railroaders are determined to strike against decades of declining wages and working conditions. In particular, they are incensed by the PEB’s proposal, which Congress would likely seek to unilaterally impose if it intervenes.

Railway Companies Engage In 'CORPORATE TERRORISM' Ahead of Strike

Manchin Calls in Big Oil CEOs to Help Ram Through Dirty Deal as Backlash Grows

Facing mounting opposition from environmentalists, frontline communities, and fellow Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Joe Manchin is reportedly asking oil and gas executives to help him build Republican support for permitting legislation that aims to weaken bedrock environmental laws and ease the review process for dirty energy projects.

Bloomberg reported Monday that Manchin's outreach "has included companies in the mining, utilities, and oil and gas industry," all of which stand to benefit from a federal permitting overhaul—and all of which donate to the West Virginia Democrat's political campaigns.

"Passing the legislation would mark a big win for the industry and its long-sought efforts to accelerate permitting and scale back environmental reviews that can take years," Bloomberg noted. "Among projects that could benefit is a stalled $6.6 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline—which would help to unlock more supplies of the fuel from the Marcellus shale."

"Manchin is set to address chief executive officers at the Washington-based Business Roundtable's quarterly meeting later this week," the outlet added, citing a person familiar with the senator's plans.

While changes to federal permitting laws could also help expedite clean energy projects, environmentalists and the dozens of members of the Democratic caucus say the acceleration of pipeline approvals and other fossil fuel infrastructure would undermine U.S. climate goals and harm local communities, negating the potential benefits.

"A leaked draft of a side deal to weaken and truncate environmental reviews is nothing more than the wishlist for all extractive industries," reads a letter that more than 160 advocacy groups sent to Democratic leaders Monday. "There is no way to mitigate the damage that would be done by this side deal, it must be unequivocally rejected."

As part of a deal to secure Manchin's support for the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, Democratic leaders agreed to hold a vote on permitting reforms that the senator and his industry allies have long demanded.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are expected to attach a permitting reform bill to a government funding measure that must pass by the end of the month to avoid a shutdown. The White House said Monday that President Joe Biden is committed to advancing permitting reforms.

Depending on how many Senate Democrats oppose the permitting deal, Manchin may need to win more than 10 Republican votes. Thus far, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is the only member of the Senate Democratic caucus to vow to vote against a government funding package that includes permitting reforms.

As Manchin enlists fossil fuel executives to get the GOP on board with his yet-to-be-released bill amid growing pushback from members of his own party, dozens of Republicans led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) are pursuing their own permitting legislation that climate groups warn would be even more damaging to the environment.

According to a summary released by Capito's office Monday, the GOP bill would codify former President Donald Trump's attacks on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act and bar the adoption of the Biden administration's "social cost of greenhouse gases" estimate.

"This so-called 'permitting reform' bill is nothing more than a shameless attempt to make it easier for fossil fuel companies to steamroll communities and fast-track their polluting projects," said Mahyar Sorour, Sierra Club's deputy legislative director. "Efforts to weaken NEPA and limit the public's ability to weigh in on pipelines and other infrastructure that would affect them would be devastating for our communities, especially in places like Appalachia and the Gulf South that have already been treated as fossil fuel sacrifice zones for far too long."

While Manchin didn't explicitly endorse Capito's bill, he told reporters Monday that it is "wonderful that we're all on the same page—we all know that we need to have permitting reform."

Many of Manchin's Democratic colleagues disagree. On Friday, 72 House Democrats released a letter expressing opposition to the proposed federal permitting overhaul and denounced plans to attach it to must-pass government funding legislation.

Since Friday, five additional House Democrats have signed the letter.

"I don't know how a [continuing resolution] vote will go if it includes the permitting rider, but the opposition is loud and only getting louder," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the letter's chief organizer, said Monday.

"I encourage leadership to listen to its caucus and keep us out of a shutdown standoff that nobody wants," he added. "Give us a clean CR and let these dirty permitting provisions stand up to congressional scrutiny on their own. Now is not the time to roll the dice on a government shutdown."

National Abortion BAN? Sen. Graham Proposes FEDERAL Bill W/ 15 Week Cutoff, Rape & Incest Exceptions

Republican Lindsey Graham proposes nationwide 15-week abortion ban

Senator Lindsey Graham proposed legislation on Tuesday for a nationwide 15-week abortion ban, a politically risky strategy as a backlash grows to the US supreme court ruling earlier this summer overturning federal protections for the procedure.

Polling shows that 57% of Americans disapproved of the court’s June reversal of the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling guaranteeing access to abortion, and 62% say the procedure should be legal in all or most cases.

The proposal by Graham, a hardline South Carolina Republican, will be called the “Protecting Pain-capable Unborn Children from Late-term Abortions Act”. It stands almost no chance of becoming law, but is seen by analysts as an attempt to frame the discussion around abortion, with fewer than 60 days until the midterms.

The White House and top Democrats promptly decried Graham’s efforts.



the evening greens


Another climate report for our deeply corrupt political leaders to pointedly ignore as they stuff their pockets with graft:

World heading into ‘uncharted territory of destruction’, says climate report

The world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take the actions needed to stave off catastrophe, leading scientists have said.

Despite intensifying warnings in recent years, governments and businesses have not been changing fast enough, according to the United in Science report published on Tuesday. The consequences are already being seen in increasingly extreme weather around the world, and we are in danger of provoking “tipping points” in the climate system that will mean more rapid and in some cases irreversible shifts.

Recent flooding in Pakistan, which the country’s climate minister claimed had covered a third of the country in water, is the latest example of extreme weather that is devastating swathes of the globe. The heatwave across Europe including the UK this summer, prolonged drought in China, a megadrought in the US and near-famine conditions in parts of Africa also reflect increasingly prevalent extremes of weather.

The secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, said: “There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters. They are the price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction. This year’s United in Science report shows climate impacts heading into uncharted territory of destruction.”

The world is as likely as not to see temperatures more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, within the next five years, the report found. Governments agreed to focus on holding temperatures within the 1.5C limit at the landmark UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last November, but their pledges and actions to cut emissions fell short of what was needed, the report found.

Line 3 Water Defenders Win Protective Ruling

Indigenous water defenders and their allies on Tuesday celebrated a Minnesota court ruling protecting a Line 3 protest camp from illegal government repression.

Hubbard County District Judge Jana Austad issued a ruling shielding the Indigenous-led Giniw Collective's Camp Namewag—where opponents organize resistance to Enbridge's Line 3 tar sands pipeline—from local law enforcement's unlawful blockades and harassment.

The ruling follows months of litigation on behalf of Indigenous water protectors, whose legal team last year secured a temporary restraining order issued by Austad against Hubbard County, Sheriff Cory Aukes, and the local land commissioner for illegally blocking access to Camp Namewag.

"Today David beat Goliath in a legal victory for people protecting the climate from rapacious corporate destruction," Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, director of the Center for Protest Law & Litigation at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, said in a statement.

"The outrageous blockade and repression of an Indigenous-led water protector camp were fueled by massive sums of money flowing from the Enbridge corporation to the sheriff's department as it acted against water protectors challenging Enbridge's destruction of Native lands," she added.

Indigenous activist and Giniw Collective founder Tara Houska, who is a plaintiff in the case, said that "15 months ago, I was woken up at 6:00 am and walked down my driveway to a grinning sheriff holding a notice to vacate my yearslong home."

"That day turned into 50 squad cars on a dirt road and a riot line blocking my driveway," she recalled. "Twelve people—guests from all over who came to protect the rivers and wild rice from Line 3 tar sands—were arrested and thrown into the dirt."

Houska continued:

Today's ruling is a testament to the lengths Hubbard County was willing to go to criminalize and harass Native women, land defenders, and anyone associated with us—spending unknown amounts of taxpayer dollars and countless hours trying to convince the court that the driveway to Namewag camp wasn't a driveway. It's also a testament to steadfast commitment to resisting oppression. This is a piece in the long game and we aren't afraid. We haven't forgotten the harms to us and the harms to the Earth. Onward.

Winona LaDuke, co-founder and executive director of Honor the Earth and a former Green Party vice presidential candidate, stated that "we are grateful to Judge Austad for recognizing how Hubbard County exceeded its authority and violated our rights."

"Today's ruling shows that Hubbard County cannot repress Native people for the benefit of Enbridge by circumventing the law," she added. "This is also an important victory for all people of the North reinforcing that a repressive police force should not be able to stop you from accessing your land upon which you hunt or live."

EarthRights general counsel Marco Simons asserted that "the court's ruling is a major rebuke to police efforts to unlawfully target water protectors and to interfere with their activities protesting the Line 3 pipeline."

"Blocking access to the Namewag camp exemplifies a pattern of unlawful and discriminatory police conduct incentivized by an Enbridge-funded account from which the police can seek reimbursement for Line 3-related activities," he continued.

"Police forces should protect the public interest, not private companies," Simons added. "Cases like this highlight the dangers of allowing the police to act as a private security arm for pipeline companies."

Mudslides hit Los Angeles mountain area as thousands told to evacuate

A major cleanup effort and damage assessment was under way on Tuesday in southern California after heavy rains unleashed mudslides that inundated towns with boulders and debris and put thousands under evacuation orders.

The mudslides hit a mountainous region east of Los Angeles that was scorched by a wildfire two years ago. Multiple homes and other structures saw varying degrees of destruction, officials said, including a commercial building where the mud was so high it collapsed the roof. Rocks, dead trees and other debris surged down slopes and across roads with astonishing force in the towns of Forest Falls, Oak Glen and Yucaipa.

The mudslides came after a week of extreme weather patterns in California. The state endured a record-long heatwave, with temperatures in many regions rocketing past 100F (38C). Amid the extreme heat, several wildfires broke out, including the Fairview fire in southern California and the Mosquite fire burning east of Sacramento.

Then, a tropical storm hit parts of the south of the state.

While the remnants of tropical storm Kay have aided fire crews, multiple blazes are still burning including the the Fairview fire, which was at 44 sq miles (114 sq km) and 56% contained by late Monday, and the Mosquito fire, which has has grown to 76 sq miles, with 16% containment, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection (CalFire).


Also of Interest

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

Political Violence Is on the Rise Again in South America

It’s A Big Club, And You Ain’t In It: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Europe's Energy System Is a Scam Against Its Own People

Anti-Royal Protester: Even Police Doubted Arrest Legal

UK authorities protected Prince Andrew from US Epstein investigation, book says

Ken Starr, who investigated Bill Clinton over Monica Lewinsky affair, dies at 76

France caps energy bills again amid price surge

California McDonald’s Workers Could Make $22 An Hour?! Really???


A Little Night Music

L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson - L.C. 's Shuffle

L.C. 'Good Rockin' Robinson - Summerville Blues

L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson - Train Time Blues

L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson - I've Got To Go

L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson - Ups And Downs

L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson - Bringin' My Baby Back Home

L. C. Good Rockin' Robinson - Across The Bay Blues

L. C. Good Rockin' Robinson - Jesus, Did I Know

L. C. Good Rockin' Robinson - Things' So Bad In California

L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson - She Got It from the Start

L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson - Standin' In Line

L.C. Good Rockin' Robinson - Mojo In My Hand


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19 users have voted.

Comments

I think lots of people know the story about frogs who will not jump out of water as it heats up before it is too late. Well, I am here to say the water is boiling. Nothing new I know. I understand the cyclical nature of long term weather patterns, but what we see is outside those patterns. The impression I had and I think others is that we had enough time to do something, anything positive. I am not sure anymore if we have time.

Sorry to be so optimistic mid-week.

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10 users have voted.

@MrWebster

To do something major about fixing the mess we have made to the environment.
Congress muddles, as they are employed by the energy sector, to muddle.
Seems the same in other countries. "It is not economically feasible" to alter the
path we are on. BS

In other news ..

US to disburse $3.5bn of frozen Afghan funds

Washington is set to transfer part of the country’s central bank reserves to a fund in Switzerland

The move was announced on Wednesday by the US Treasury, which stated that the $3.5 billion would be placed in a so-called ‘Afghan Fund’ set up at Switzerland’s Bank for International Settlements, and that the funds would be used to bolster Afghanistan’s macroeconomic stability by paying for things such as electricity imports and covering arrears at international financial institutions.

https://www.rt.com/news/562790-us-seized-afghan-funds/

So we give half of the money back to the country we stole it from with strings attached.

Such a generous gesture ;-(

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13 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@MrWebster

yep, if you pull out occam's razor, it seems that global elites are members of a death cult.

we seem to be beyond some points of no return and steaming full speed ahead at others.

it's been nice while it lasted.

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10 users have voted.

I have to agree with MrWebster “the water is boiling”. Manchin’s side deal and Schumer and Pelosi going along with adding the “permitting rider” to the must pass budget resolution seems criminal to me. I have been reading too many articles outlining what could happen to the communities that would be affected by this. Easing of the regulations and permitting process is not going to cool down the water.

Doing my small part to do what I can to keep the waters around me from boiling in my daily life.

Have a good evening. Will listen to the music while I fix dinner. Should help some!

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12 users have voted.

Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

joe shikspack's picture

@jakkalbessie

yep, it's pretty hard to ignore the effects of climate change, though some people seem to be able to do it.

i wonder if the progressives are employing the best strategy. perhaps they ought to demand that pelosi and schumer put in a bill to codify roe in the must pass legislation. that would keep republicans from voting for it and at the last minute they would only have to find 5 dem reps to vote against the bill to kill it - well really 4 since cuellar wouldn't vote for it.

have a great evening!

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9 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

The report argues the “strongest security guarantee for Ukraine Palestine lies in its capacity to defend itself against an aggressor (Israel)… To do so, Ukraine Palestine needs the resources to maintain a significant defensive force capable of withstanding the Russian Israeli Federation’s armed forces and paramilitaries.

Or maybe we can do that for Yemen or any other country that is being subjected to murderous intent by one that is more powerful. Imagine if the world had reacted with horror at Israel mowing the lawn in Gaza in 2014. Or maybe it should have reacted to the brutal coup in Ukraine in 2014 by those that say they are a good and decent country. Or maybe they should have been horrified that Ukraine was killing Ukrainians in the Donbas and arming and training the actual Nazis from WW2 that the world fought against! This double standard crap drives me nuts. And imagine if America spent $228 million on its own citizens that have dire need of help.

And where was the world’s fcking outrage when America invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and gawd only knows how many other countries? Russia at least had self defense for an excuse whilst what we did was to steal resources and overthrow elected governments because they wouldn’t do our bidding.

Tickling the tiger. Or is that the bear?

The war games put dozens of NATO vessels in a region with a heavy Russian naval presence.

This type of irresponsible behavior is why Russia put its nuclear weapons on alert. NATO could launch bombs or gawd forbid nukes during the war games and hit Russia within minutes. I’m betting that the nuclear clock is set at a few seconds before midnight.

Russia bad, Israel can do no wrong.

The Israeli surprise attack from 5-8 August left some 50 Palestinians dead, including 17 children. At least 360 people were injured.

Do any of the European leaders own a mirror? If so do they dare look into it and see that they are nothing but hypocrites?

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16 users have voted.

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

excellent rewrite!

heh, perhaps the europeans have the same problem with mirrors that antony blinken does, when they look in it there is no reflection.

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11 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Something about apologist for empire is rattling around in my brain. Thou shalt not insult men who commit sex crimes! Especially if they are in the royal family.

Epic Caitlin:

My critics are like, “You’re not a REAL anti-imperialist, if you were you’d be assisting the propaganda campaigns of the most powerful empire that has ever existed to help it subvert and conquer the nations who disobey its commands.”

I will not mitigate my criticisms of the empire I live in by equating them with the lesser crimes of other countries. Why would you even want me to do that? The only honest reason I can think of is that you want me to go easy on your cognitive dissonance. No. Fuck off. Face it. Turn and face the horror our empire inflicts on the world.

Of course it would be easier to shake my fist at foreigners rather than demand change in the empire that my country is a part of. Duh. That’s why you do it. I will not.

People want me to equate the full magnitude of the murderous butchery and weaponized starvation that our western empire is engaged in with these piddling crimes of other countries so they don’t feel bad. Fuck that. Feel bad. Feeling bad means you’ll need/want to change it.

Totally UNPROVOKED.

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12 users have voted.

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

that rand corporation always seems to be a couple of steps ahead of american policy.

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12 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

Hi all, Hey Joe! Hope it's all good out there!

I love L.C. Robinson's style of playing, right up my alley. Good sheet mon.

In California the natural seasonal progression is for the mudslides to put out the fires. Before the earthquakes.

Looks like they want to make sure in Ukraine to avoid the Afghan error of leaving the gravy train.

On the weekend albums, that Buddy Guy and Junior Wells was awesome. What an ecclectic bunch in the studio on that record! Amazing stuff. I saw J. Geils once, loved 'em, they were awesome.

Thanks for the great soundscape Joe! As for the news, well, good thing they don't shoot the messenger around here! Wink Clearly the blues are more important.

P.S. a link: Eagle-eyed Delaware hunter chances upon ‘holy grail’ of tree lovers — full-grown American chestnut https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-american-chestnut-tree/

Be well and have fun all!

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10 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

joe shikspack's picture

@dystopian

wow, a real chestnut tree! that's pretty amazing. i haven't seen one since i was a kid.

glad you dug the tunes, have a great evening!

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5 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@dystopian

What an exciting find, and lucky tree. I wonder how it managed to overcome its formidable obstacles. Like your Einstein quotes say, it has something to teach us. I am thankful that you and others are observing, learning, and teaching us. It's life enhancing ; ).

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4 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

It is my understanding that it is a myth about the frog in the pot and that they will bail if gets warm or otherwise uncomfortable enough. This is projection on the part of humans who seem ferociously disinclined to do anything to save their asses. I understand that when the black death was ravaging europe, those who could, threw masked balls and partied their asses off because "tomorrow we may die", so perhaps what we are seeing is some sort of attempt at enjoying the ride, each in their own way.

be well and have a good one

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9 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

glad to hear that frogs have worked out that boiling pot thing. perhaps we humans will eventually. or we can throw hurricane parties or something.

have a great evening!

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6 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@enhydra lutris

that you have performed the frog experiment. It makes perfect sense that frogs are naturally smarter than many humans ; ). Thanks for pointing that out.

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6 users have voted.

Not sure who he was talking to.

Of course there are no nazis in Ukraine.

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7 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

heh, you'd think that zelensky would be more careful about the images he posts. or, perhaps he figures that it doesn't matter, the west doesn't care about nazis as long as they are fighting russians.

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8 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Yves Smith has an interesting essay on the recent events in Ukraine. Ukraine supporters are giddy with excitement for Ukraine kicking Russian butt, but I reminded of the saying: he who laughs last…

BTW how do you pronounce her name?

I too believe that frogs are much smarter than we give them credit for. Most animals are whilst we humans have been taking whatever the parasite class dishes out to us.

Heh…Bernie killed the railroad deal that was being shoved down the worker’s throat because of how bad it was and republicans are pissed. Weird how it’s democrats who hold congress and yet they let republicans push the sellout deal for the workers. If they get screwed I hope they strike anyway. Union leaders have been selling people out long enough.

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4 users have voted.

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

yves seems to be in agreement with alexander mercouris and bernhard who also put up stories about a russian withdrawl prior to the ukronazi "whirlwind" advance.

i believe that it is pronounced "eves" the y is pronounced as a long e. the last name, as george carlin would tell you, is pronounced "genofsky" - they're all silent. Smile

have a great evening and please give sam a scritch for me.

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6 users have voted.
janis b's picture

I found Diana Johnstone’s historical perspective on the militarisation of Germany very revealing. It was an item you posted in yesterday’s EBs. Thank you.

I haven’t gotten to today's news yet, but I am enjoying Mr. Robinson.

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6 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@janis b

heh, i got about halfway through reading johnstone's piece and thought that it was really quite good and put it in. i've got to finish it up this weekend.

have a great evening!

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6 users have voted.

Rounding up the news, all bad, except for the miracle tree, is somewhere on the scale of angering and depressing, but we need to know. You can't prepare for the onslaught if you do not know it is coming.
Hope you and yours are doing great!
East Texas decided weather-wise to turn down the heat a bit, although this is not the September of my youth. As I sat on the porch, I heard a guy singing with guitar, he had some PA system. He was good!
Sometimes, I hear mariachi from the immigrant workers a mile away, then I hear burros across the country road, and coyotes yipping. Glad it is not the sound of bomb, and guns. Yet.
Thanks so much for all you do, joe. Sincerely.
Let there be music.

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9 users have voted.

"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

glad to hear that the weather is taking a turn for the pleasant and that there is music in the air.

have a great day!

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3 users have voted.
janis b's picture

Thank you for the flitting glimpse of your local atmosphere.

"Let there be music" ...

[video:https://youtu.be/dwc1jImPzoA]

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6 users have voted.

@janis b

The picture reminds me of the last visual hecate left us with ..

Who I am

who i am_0.jpg
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4 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@QMS

I thought it was a beautiful piece. The lyrics are also very beautiful and sad.

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-llorona-llorona-weeping-woman.html-0

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4 users have voted.