The Evening Blues - 9-4-20



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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Eddie C. Campbell

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist and singer Eddie C. Campbell. Enjoy!

Eddie C. Campbell - Just Your Fool

“Everywhere the weak execrate the powerful, before whom they cringe; and the powerful beat them like sheep whose wool and flesh they sell.”

-- Voltaire


News and Opinion

The Fed Provides an Unlimited Money Lifeline to Wall Street; 30 Million Americans Facing Eviction Get a No-Money 4-Month Plan

Happy New Year – here’s your eviction notice. That’s how tens of millions of struggling Americans have been set up to fail as the one percent on Wall Street, propped up by unlimited money from the Fed, ring in the New Year with Tiffany flutes of Dom Perignon in their Greenwich mansions. According to a recent study published by The Aspen Institute, 30 to 40 million Americans will be at risk of eviction over the next several months.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been dragged into the eviction morass because Democrats and Republicans in Congress cannot find common ground on a meaningful plan. On Tuesday, the CDC issued an order that bans landlords from evicting tenants that cannot afford to pay rent due to a pandemic-related job loss or income reduction. The CDC action follows an executive action from President Donald Trump on August 8 that ordered the CDC to study the eviction issue. ...

The plan has a multitude of defects, including the following:

(1) It’s more of a Disney-themed band-aid instead of a plan. It lasts for just four months to December 31, 2020.

(2) It provides no monetary assistance to help the renter pay the piling up rent on December 31 – effectively guaranteeing eviction at the start of the year in millions of cases.

(3) It provides no assistance to the small landlord who may be facing foreclosure because he can’t pay his own mortgage on the building. According to a recent study published by The Aspen Institute “mom and pop landlords own 22.7 million out of 48.5 million rental units in the housing market, more than half (58%) do not have access to any lines of credit that might help them in an emergency.”

(4) It provides no help to out-of-work homeowners who are facing foreclosure. On June 29, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020 that provides $100 billion for emergency rental assistance programs and a $75 billion relief fund for homeowners. The Republican-controlled Senate has refused to pass the legislation.

(5) It does nothing to stop landlords from evicting tenants (who can’t afford a lawyer to challenge the eviction) on dubious charges of loud noise, damage to the premises, or other potentially false claims.

The CDC’s plan for struggling Americans falls strikingly short of the Federal Reserve’s instant outpouring of monetary support for Wall Street for the second time in 12 years. [See article for extensive details of the Fed's generosity to the 1%. -js]

How Fascism Works: Trump's "Law & Order" Is Lawlessness, Fueling Racist Violence & Chaos

Breadth of rightwing Portland protest network reveals energized Trump base

The recent deadly protest in Portland, where a far-right supporter was killed, was just one of many organized in recent weeks with the help of a network of pro-Trump, pro-police and anti-Black Lives Matter activists in a local Facebook-powered pro-police network in Oregon. That network’s ability to draw the support of far-right groups and more mainstream Republicans alike reveals an increasingly energized and militant grassroots Trumpist movement, which includes some members who are prepared to engage in violence, experts say.

The network is composed of like-minded activists in two overlapping groups, “Back the Blue PDX”, and “COPS NW”. Those activists are planning future events, and given the high tensions following the shooting death of one of its supporters – with the suspected shooter reportedly supportive of local leftwing anti-fascist groups – the prospect of more unrest is high. ...

Working mostly on Facebook, the small group of local activists have helped stage a series of recent events in or near the Portland metro area. Saturday’s “Trump cruise” saw a large number of participants stray from the highway-only protest route agreed with the Portland police bureau (PPB) and roll into the downtown area for a confrontation with leftwing protesters. There, reporters recorded rightwing protesters discharging pellet guns and Mace into the ranks of nearby protesters and media. ...

The events in Portland once again drew the attention of the far-right Proud Boys, who are promoting a rally in the city on 26 September. Further truck rallies are now advertised for 7 and 19 September.

Suspect In Portland Trump Supporter Murder Shot & Killed by Police During Arrest

New York police hunt car that drove into BLM protesters in Times Square

The New York police department says it is trying to find a car that drove through a group of Black Lives Matter protesters blocking a street in Times Square on Thursday night.

Video posted on social media showed the car jerking through the crowd with its horn blaring as demonstrators scream and scramble out of the way.


One video posted on Twitter by a user named DataInput, showed a dark sedan plowing into a crowd of people who were standing in front of the vehicle with bicycles.

Gwynne Hogan, a WNYC reporter, tweeted that the crowd appeared “rattled” but that “most people were able to jump out of the way.”

No one appeared to be seriously injured. The NYPD said on Twitter that the car was not a police vehicle.

The protesters had gathered after seven police officers involved in the suffocation death of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York, were suspended. Prude, 41, who was Black, died when he was taken off life support on 30 March, seven days after officers who encountered him running naked through the street put a hood over his head to stop him from spitting, then held him down for about two minutes until he stopped breathing.

"Death Is on the Ballot": Lessons for the US 50 Years After Allende's Socialist Revolution in Chile

Trump Ploy to Defund So-Called 'Anarchist Jurisdictions' Denounced as 'Illegal' Reelection Stunt

Democratic lawmakers and rights advocates voiced outrage and contempt overnight in response to a new five-page memo from the Justice Department sanctioned by President Donald Trump late Wednesday that would restrict federal funding to U.S. cities determined by Attorney General William Barr to be so-called "anarchist jurisdictions"—a term that made clear to critics the move is nothing short of an election-year canard designed to bolster the president's "law and order" campaign message.

According to the Washington Post's Jeff Stein—who characterized the move as an "extraordinary attack on political opponents just months ahead of the 2020 election" by Trump—the DOJ memo "directs the White House Office of Management and Budget [OMB] to give guidance to federal agencies on restricting funding to cities that 'defund' their police departments. The memo also directs the Justice Department within 14 days to come up with a list of localities that qualify as 'anarchist jurisdictions' and post that list publicly."

While Black Lives Matter protesters and others have called for "defunding" police departments in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and other victims this year, there has been little political purchase for the demand—which polls have shown remains largely unpopular—among most Democratic lawmakers. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has adamantly opposed cutting budgets as part of the solution to otherwise much-needed police and criminal justice reforms.

As Stein reports:

The memo comes as the president seeks to intensify his attacks on Democratic mayors of cities that have faced civil unrest amid protests against police brutality. It specifically calls for a review of federal funding that goes to Portland, Ore.; New York City; Seattle; and D.C. Legal experts said the White House maneuver to restrict funding would almost certainly be met by an immediate challenge in court.

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, was gobsmacked over the latest threat by the president—especially as it arrived directly through the Justice Department.

Gupta cited the DOJ's memo—which broadly defines "anarchist jurisdictions" as an area "that unreasonably refuses to accept offers of law enforcement assistance by the federal government" or "any other related factors the Attorney General deems appropriate"—to express disbelief.

"This is actually happening. On our watch," Gupta said. "I can't imagine what four more years of Trump-Barr would mean for our democracy."


Kanya Bennett, senior legislative counsel with the ACLU, said the president's order and the DOJ memo should be seen as deeply troubling and misguided.

"There is an urgent need to divest from programs like the Department of Defense 1033 program, which gives military weapons to local police and suggests it's okay to treat communities like war zones and their residents like enemies," said Bennett. "But instead, this president wants to broadly strip funding from those cities that may dare to resist his lawless agenda."

Trump, added Bennett, "should not hold hostage taxpayer funds as part of yet another campaign stunt that, at its core, seeks to suppress demands for racial justice and transformational changes to our policing institutions." She further vowed that the ACLU "will be closely monitoring any actions resulting from this unfounded and irresponsible memorandum, which accomplishes nothing more than to stoke the flames of racism and division across this country."

How Governments Try To Control People! with NSA Whistle-blower BILL BINNEY!

US sanctions on ICC prosecutor unacceptable, says EU

The European Union’s top diplomat has called for Washington to reverse its sanctions on the international criminal court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and another member of the ICC, calling the measures “unacceptable and unprecedented”. ...

“The sanctions ... are unacceptable and unprecedented measures that attempt to obstruct the court’s investigations and judicial proceedings,” Josep Borrell said. Washington should “reconsider its position and reverse the measures it has taken”, he added.

France’s foreign minister also condemned the sanctions and pledged his country’s unwavering support for the court and its staff.

“The measures announced are a grave attack against the court ... and put into question multilateralism and the independence of the judiciary,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian in a statement.

Portuguese Youth File 'Unprecedented' Climate Lawsuit Against 33 European Countries

Six Portuguese young people on Thursday filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against 33 European countries accusing them of violating their human rights by failing to take adequate action to combat catastrophic global heating.

Jornal de Noticias reports the youths' case was filed in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France.

The suit claims that the countries'—the 27 European Union member states plus Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom—climate policies are "too weak" to achieve the objectives of the Paris agreement, which mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 50% by the year 2030 in order to limit the warming of the planet to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.


The six plaintiffs in the case are 21-year-old Cláudia Agostinho, Catarina Mota (20), Martim Agostinho (17), Sofia Oliveira (15), André Oliveira (12), and Mariana Agostinho (8). They are supported by Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), a nonprofit advocacy group. Climate Home News reports it is the first-ever climate case brought before the ECHR, and could establish a precedent for future suits based on human rights arguments.

"It scares me to know that the record heatwaves that we have endured are just the beginning," Mota said at a Thursday press conference announcing the lawsuit. "With so little time to stop this situation, we have to do everything in our power to compel governments to protect us properly."

"I am very afraid for my future," Mota added. "I live with the feeling that every year my home becomes a more hostile place."

Mota, who lives in the central Portuguse city of Leiria, said it was so hot there that she could no longer exercise outdoors.

"If I have children, what kind of world shall I bring them up in?" she asked. "These are real concerns that I have every day. After the 2017 fires we realized that we must change and urgently stop climate change."

If the suit succeeds, the defendant nations—and their multinational corporations operating abroad—will be legally obligated to increase cuts in fossil fuel emissions.

GLAN legal officer Gerry Liston told Climate Home News that the new case will "seek to build on the truly historic precedent" set by a Dutch court ruling ordering that country's government to make immediate emissions reductions in the name of human rights, including under the European Convention on Human Rights.

While the ECHR does not have direct enforcement powers, Marc Wilpers QC, the lead counsel in the case, said that—if successful—it could "encourage domestic courts to take decisions that force European governments into taking the action needed to address the climate emergency."

Merkel pressured to end Nord Stream 2 support after Navalny poisoning

Angela Merkel is under growing domestic pressure to end her support for the joint German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project over the confirmed poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The German Green party called on the chancellor to use the nearly completed infrastructure project to press the Kremlin into answering allegations over what Merkel called the “silencing” of Navalny with a novichok nerve agent. “This openly attempted murder through the Kremlin’s mafia-like structures should not just worry us but needs to have real consequences,” said Katrin Göring-Eckardt, the co-chair of the Greens in the Bundestag.

“Nord Stream 2 is no longer something we can jointly pursue with Russia,” said the politician for the ecological party, currently second in polls to Merkel’s CDU and a likely contender for the next coalition government.

Russia insisted there was no reason for the west to accuse it over Navalny and said any response from Germany or other countries would be premature. The Kremlin claimed hospital tests carried out on Navalny inside Russia before he was flown to Berlin found nothing suspicious. “There are no grounds to accuse the Russian state. And we are not inclined to accept any accusations in this respect,” Vladimir Putin’s press spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said. ...

Calls to permanently halt the construction of the two 764-mile (1,230km) pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea, from the Narva Bay in Russia to the German town of Lubmin, were echoed within the German chancellor’s own party. Norbert Röttgen, the chairman of the Bundestag’s committee on foreign affairs and a candidate for the CDU leadership, told German media on Wednesday that completing the joint project would amount to encouraging Putin’s “inhuman and contemptuous politics”.

Matt Stoller: DOJ To File Anti-Trust Against GOOGLE, Is This The End For Monopolies?

Stock markets fall as investors sell off tech stock amid US job fears

Stock markets have lost some of their spectacular gains made over the past several months, as investors sold off high-flying tech companies and worried about the continuing crisis in the US jobs market. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 808 points, or 2.78%, after passing 29,000 for the first time since February on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was down 3.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 4.9%.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had set their latest record highs a day earlier, and the latter index is still up nearly 28% for the year. The S&P 500 had been up nine of the last 10 trading days and posted its fifth straight monthly gain in August.

Big tech companies have seen huge gains in their share price in recent months as investors bet the firms would continue posting huge profits even with many coronavirus restrictions still in place, as people might spend even more time online with their devices. Market watchers have questioned recently whether those gains were overdone. Apple’s 8% share price fall knocked $180bn off its value. Other hot stocks fell further with Tesla dropping 9% and video conferencing company Zoom falling 10%.

Stocks COLLAPSE In Wall Street Reckoning, Jobs Numbers Show Long Road Ahead

US stock markets fall for the second day amid tech selloff

US stock markets fell sharply again on Friday as investors soured on the high-flying tech companies that had driven markets to record highs.

The S&P 500 fell 2.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 440 points, or 1.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite retreated 4% as losses accelerated through the morning. All three indexes had dropped significantly on Thursday, their biggest one-day declines since June.

The falls in the US were led by the technology sector, whose share prices have soared during the coronavirus pandemic as investors have bet more business will move permanently online.

Shares of Apple fell 7%, while Facebook and Amazon slid more than 6%. Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft both fell at least 4%. Zoom, the video conferencing company whose shares were up 400% before the fall, lost another 4%. The share prices of all the companies still remain sharply up for the year and before Thursday the S&P 500 had been up in nine of the last 10 trading sessions.

US jobless claims drop sharply as government changes counting method

The number of people filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week as the US labor department switched to a new method of counting weekly jobless claims figures.

For the week ending 29 August, 881,000 claims for benefits were filed, down from just over 1m the previous week. It was only the second time since the pandemic hit the US economy that claims had dipped below 1m. ...

While the fall in the latest claims numbers suggests firings are slowing, the job market remains deeply troubled. The labor department said the total number of people claiming benefits in all programmes for the week ending 15 August was over 29 million, an increase of 2 million from the previous week.

GOP Under Fire for Offering 'Emaciated' Covid Relief Plan as Record Layoffs Continue and Mass Evictions Loom

As new Labor Department figures released Thursday morning confirmed mass layoffs continue at an unprecedented rate due to inaction from Congress and the ongoing pandemic, Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocacy groups ripped Senate Republicans for putting forth a woefully inadequate relief proposal that would neither restore the $600-per-week federal unemployment boost nor provide any funding for rental assistance.

The GOP's so-called "skinny" proposal—which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said should more accurately be described as "emaciated"—is, however, expected to propose sweeping liability protections for corporations that expose their workers and customers to Covid-19, a top priority of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that is widely opposed by consumer advocates and small businesses.

Senate Republicans are reportedly planning to unveil their legislation by the end of the week and hold a vote after Labor Day.

Kyle Herrig, president of watchdog group Accountable.US, said in a statement that "after weeks on taxpayer-paid vacation, Trump's Senate allies are returning to work to find a recession and health crisis in even worse shape than they left it."

"The best they could come up with in that time amounts to a band-aid as the economy continues to hemorrhage jobs—including deep cuts to unemployment benefits, no stimulus checks or serious housing aid, and more of the same mismanaged [Paycheck Protection Program] that abandoned communities of color," said Herrig. "Senators are under the mistaken impression that their 'skinny' bill will give them cover to continue shrugging off their responsibility."

According to Politico, which obtained a draft of the GOP plan, the legislation is expected to propose a $300-per-week federal unemployment supplement—just half of the $600 boost Republicans let expire at the end of July—a liability shield for businesses, $105 billion for schools, and additional funding for small businesses.

Politico reported that the bill will also propose direct funding for the U.S. Postal Service by converting an existing $10 billion loan into a grant—far less relief than the $25 billion in emergency funds that House Democrats approved late last month. The total price tag of the Republican stimulus package is expected to be somewhere between $500 and $700 billion, making the bill significantly smaller than the $1 trillion plan the GOP unveiled in late July. ...

Criticism of the GOP's latest meager Covid-19 proposal comes as relief talks between Democratic leaders and the Trump White House remain stalled even as the nation's economic conditions continue to deteriorate, leaving tens of millions of jobless, hungry, and eviction-prone Americans without desperately needed financial assistance.

Rochester police officers suspended over the death of Daniel Prude

Daniel Prude: police officers suspended after death of black man in spit hood

The Rochester mayor has suspended seven officers involved in the suffocation death of a black man earlier this year. Daniel Prude died on 30 March after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter with police in Rochester. ...

On Thursday, Rochester’s mayor, Lovely Warren, announced the suspension of the officers at a press conference. She said Prude was failed by the police department, the mental healthcare system, and society.

Warren said she had only become aware of the use of force on 4 August, and that the police chief, LaRon Singletary, had initially portrayed Prude’s death as a drug overdose, which was entirely different from what she witnessed on body-camera video. The mayor said she told the chief she was deeply, personally and professionally disappointed in his failure to accurately inform her of what had happened to Prude.

Warren said the seven officers would still be paid because of contract rules and that she was taking the action against the advice of counsel. “I understand that the union may sue the city for this. They shall feel free to do so,” she said.

"We Are the 99%": Occupy Wall Street Activist & Author David Graeber, Dead at 59, in His Own Words

RIP David Graeber.

David Graeber, anthropologist and author of Bullshit Jobs, dies aged 59

David Graeber, anthropologist and anarchist author of bestselling books on bureaucracy and economics including Bullshit Jobs: A Theory and Debt: The First 5,000 Years, has died aged 59.

On Thursday Graeber’s wife, the artist and writer Nika Dubrovsky, announced on Twitter that Graeber had died in hospital in Venice the previous day. The cause of death is not yet known. ...

Graeber was a leading figure in the Occupy Wall Street movement and professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics (LSE) at the time of his death. His final book, The Dawn of Everything: a New History of Humanity, written with David Wengrove, will be published in autumn 2021. ...

Born in New York in 1961 to two politically active parents – his father fought in the Spanish civil war with the International Brigades, while his mother was a member of the international Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union – Graeber first attracted academic attention for his teenage hobby of translating Mayan hieroglyphs. After studying anthropology at the State University of New York at Purchase and the University of Chicago, he won a prestigious Fulbright fellowship and spent two years doing anthropological fieldwork in Madagascar.

In 2005, Yale decided against renewing his contract a year before he would have secured tenure. Graeber suspected it was because of his politics; when more than 4,500 colleagues and students signed petitions supporting him, Yale instead offered him a year’s paid sabbatical, which he accepted and moved to the UK to work at Goldsmiths before joining LSE. “I guess I had two strikes against me,” he told the Guardian in 2015. “One, I seemed to be enjoying my work too much. Plus I’m from the wrong class: I come from a working-class background.”

His 2011 book Debt: The First 5,000 Years, made him famous. In it, Graeber explored the violence that lies behind all social relations based on money, and called for a wiping out of sovereign and consumer debts. While it divided critics, it attracted strong sales and praise from everyone from Thomas Piketty to Russell Brand.



the horse race



Markey Won. Morse Lost. What Happens Next?

The New York Times slanders left-wing opposition to Biden as “Russian propaganda”

The American intelligence agencies are at it again, instigating anti-Russian propaganda in the US media with reckless and entirely unsubstantiated claims that Moscow is intervening in the 2020 presidential election. As in previous such campaigns, going back to the 2016 elections, the leading role in the McCarthyite chorus is played by the New York Times. A front-page article in Wednesday’s print edition of the Times carries the headline, “Facebook and Twitter Warn of Russian Meddling.” The article which follows makes it clear that the source of these allegations is not the two social media giants, but rather the FBI, which was itself acting on behalf of the intelligence apparatus as a whole. The Times adds, “Two people familiar with the matter said the influence operation was first detected by American intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency.”

The article is written in the heavy-handed style typical of these slightly revised handouts from the CIA: ominous assertion is piled upon ominous assertion, without any evidence or even attribution. Thus, “Some American officials are worried about a broad effort by Russian intelligence to use fringe websites, spread conspiracy theories and sow division in the United States.” And again, “Russian intelligence agencies have used allies and operatives to place articles, including disinformation, into various fringe websites.”

The nature of the “influence operation” is remarkably slight. It supposedly consists of a news site called Peacedata, which has published critical commentaries on US and world events from a standpoint to the left of the Democratic Party, including criticism of the Biden-Harris presidential ticket. The site went live in October 2019, reprinting articles first posted elsewhere, and only began publishing new English-language content in March 2020. The site allegedly solicited written contributions and paid small sums for articles, hiring American freelancers who were themselves genuinely opposed to supporting Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination because of his long right-wing record. Peacedata even used a public job board for its hiring, certainly unusual tradecraft if the publication was a project of the Russian secret police.

According to the Times account, the Russians were “in the earliest stages of building an audience for the fake news site on Facebook. The group had created 13 fake accounts and two pages dedicated to promoting Peacedata, according to Facebook. The pages were followed by 14,000 people.” This paragraph is worth considering since it entirely demolishes the suggestion that the US intelligence agencies, Facebook and its security consultant Graphika have uncovered a major threat to American democracy, one so significant that it must be highlighted on the front page of the New York Times.

According to a detailed report by Graphika, Peacedata published a total of 500 items in English in about nine months, of which 25 concerned the US elections. Pages promoting the site had a total of 14,000 followers. How could this represent a significant factor in a country where 150 million people are expected to cast ballots in 2020? And what about the timing? It is only 60 days until the US presidential election. The first ballots for early and absentee voting are about to be mailed out. Yet the alleged Russian propaganda operation is only “in the earliest stages of building an audience.” Were the “Russians” not in possession of a calendar? Did they perhaps think the election had been postponed to 2021?

Centrist Opponent of Medicare for All Wins Primary to Replace Kennedy After Progressives Split Vote

A former Republican who pitched himself as a moderate in a fragmented Massachusetts race featuring nine candidates, including multiple progressives, was declared the winner Friday of the Fourth Congressional District's Democratic primary after garnering less than 23 percent of the vote.

The Associated Press reported the results early Friday morning, declaring Jake Auchincloss the winner.

According to the Boston Globe, the Marine veteran and current Newton city councilor, who became a Democrat after winning his city council seat in 2015, aligned himself with Charlie Baker, the state's Republican governor for whom Auchincloss had previously worked, describing himself as an "Obama-Baker" voter.

Auchincloss's closest competitor was Jesse Mermell, who had been endorsed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), several labor unions, and a number of social and environmenal justice groups, including 350 Mass Action as well as NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Throughout the race, Mermell and other challengers tried to portray Auchincloss—who does not support a single-payer healthcare system or ending qualified immunity for police—as "ill-suited for the solid-blue district," the Globe reported.

Auchincloss also received scrutiny for racist comments and social media posts made in the past, including statements that "seemed to justify the burning of the Quran" and that "mocked efforts by a local community to rename Columbus Day 'Indigenous Peoples' Day' in 2016," explained the New York Times.

Nonetheless, the self-described centrist was the beneficiary of a fractured field that split the electorate.

The "massive primary field" was opened up after outgoing Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act of 2019 in the House, chose to mount a primary challenge against progressive incumbent Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), co-author with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) of the Green New Deal resolution. ...

Although Auchincloss—who leads Mermell by 1,377 votes with more than 96% of precincts reporting—has been declared the winner, the recent discovery of 3,000 uncounted ballots, which were mail-in-votes that didn't make it to polling locations on election day, means that a "recount could be looming," the Boston Herald reported.

According to a campaign spokeswoman, Mermell has begun soliciting recount petition signatures "out of an abundance of caution."

Trump outrage du jour:




the evening greens


Trump seeks to fast-track dozens of fossil fuel projects during pandemic

The Trump administration has identified dozens of major fossil fuel, energy and water projects that could be fast-tracked by expediting environmental reviews amid the pandemic, according to internal government documents.

At least 19 of the projects are from companies that have spent a total of $16m lobbying the interior department since early 2017, according to an analysis by the conservation group the Center for Western Priorities. ConocoPhillips spent $11.2m of that amount lobbying the department, including on plans to drill for oil and gas within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, the group said.

Three of the companies that could potentially benefit have met with the interior secretary, David Bernhardt, personally. Another is the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District, which Bernhardt represented as a lawyer at the firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. The district is seeking to divert water from the Missouri River to supply the Red River Valley in North Dakota, a project environmental advocates oppose.

The list was obtained with a public records request by the Center for Biological Diversity and first reported by the Associated Press. It was written in response to an executive order Donald Trump signed in June directing agencies to use emergency authority to speed energy and infrastructure projects during the economic downturn from the coronavirus pandemic.

The administration had already prioritized the approval of many of the projects on the list before the executive order. Agencies are trying to finalize unfinished business before 20 January, in case Trump does not win re-election.

Unsustainable fishing worsens threats to Great Barrier Reef

Under-regulated fishing along the Great Barrier Reef is putting the world’s biggest coral reef system at further risk as it deals with repeated mass bleaching events, the Australia government’s marine park authority has found. Conservationists and recreational fishing groups have told Guardian Australia the Queensland government’s rollout of major fisheries reforms, designed to tackle the issues along the reef, has stalled.

Some recreational fishers have walked away from government-run working groups in frustration, saying they will not rejoin until the state government passes new regulations to cap the amounts and types of fish that can be caught.

Queensland’s fisheries minister, Mark Furner, said the government remained committed to the reforms and they were still “on track”.

The Great Barrier Reef has seen three major outbreaks of coral bleaching in the past five years – events driven by climate heating that can kill and weaken corals and severely disturb the ecosystem. The federal and state governments agree the reef’s greatest threat is from climate change, but there is also broad agreement that local impacts – including improving water quality and tackling unsustainable fishing – could buy the reef more time.

'Bold action is a winning message': climate advocates hail Ed Markey win

US climate advocates have their highest-profile evidence yet that putting the crisis first can win elections. And it arrived in an unlikely package: a 74-year-old Senate incumbent, who garnered intense grassroots support from young activists.

Ed Markey this week won a decisive victory in the Massachusetts Democratic primary election over Joe Kennedy who was challenging for his seat, the latest scion of the American political dynasty who had backing from the country’s top Democrat, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

John Podesta, who was Barack Obama’s climate adviser, said Markey’s win “sent a resounding message: the politics of climate have changed and embracing bold climate action is a winning message in tough races”.

Markey was trailing Kennedy earlier in the race, before the youth-led Sunrise Movement intervened to back him as one of their biggest allies in the Senate. Volunteers phone-banked and provided the content for a much-heralded campaign ad where Markey repurposed John F Kennedy’s historic phrase as president and told Americans to “start asking what your country can do for you”.

It came as no surprise that climate was the major focus of Markey’s campaign. He introduced the Green New Deal alongside the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez last year. And his name is on the Waxman-Markey climate bill of 2009, which is the closest Congress has ever come to taking significant action on climate change.

For years, polls have shown that a majority of Americans are concerned about climate change, and many rank it among their top issues. But few campaigns have sought to make virtually an entire campaign about the crisis as Markey did.


Also of Interest

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

On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant

A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged

Amid Coronavirus, Trump Moved to Expel Immigrants — But Border Patrol Didn’t Test Any of Them

Urging 'New Good Neighbor Policy,' 100 Groups Demand Biden End US Destructive Imperialist Approach to Latin America

California Dems Give Up On New Oil Safety Regulations

Armed With AR-15, QAnon-Believing GOP Candidate Threatens 'Offense' Against Progressive Squad

A Message to Senate Democrats: Tribal Lands Are Not Carbon Dumping Grounds

Krystal and Saagar: This Key DIFFERENCE Between Biden And Hillary Explains Trump's Struggles


A Little Night Music

Eddie C. Campbell - Red Light

Eddie C. Campbell - All Your Love

Eddie C. Campbell - Makin' Popcorn

Eddie C. Campbell - King of the Jungle

Eddie C. Campbell - She's Nineteen Years Old

Eddie C. Campbell - Five And A Half

Eddie C. Campbell - Sister Taught Me Guitar

Eddie C. Campbell & His Studio Band - Soup Bone

Eddie C. Campbell - Mellow Down Easy


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ggersh's picture

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10 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

thanks for the tune!

have a great weekend!

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snoopydawg's picture

This is why the Lincoln Project assholes and other republicans are backing Biden. Gawd I so want people who advocate for war would have to experience the might of our military.

People have their knickers in a twist because some anonymous sources said "Trump said this!", but they’re not upset about Biden voting to send them to war. Trump also apparently told his son that he would cut him out of his will if he joined the military. How many people who are calling Trump a draft dodger and a coward didn’t serve in the military either? Did Joe Biden serve? Anyone who can stay out of the military my hats off to them.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh, i think biden should fix (one of) obama's biggest foreign policy blunders (in syria), too. but to fix it would require construction crews and (actual) humanitarian workers (not intelligence agencies cosplaying as humanitarians) rather than military assaults.

but, you know, when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail.

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10 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Oh my what will the centrists think about this?

I got whiplash watching how Comey, Mueller, Mattis and a few others that they used to consider their enemies were treated by them.

There are a few who haven’t gone down the Lincoln Project rabbit hole.

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10 users have voted.

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

could the latest trump outrage be a tempest in a teapot?

i guess when you can't get worked up about the actual horrible things trump is doing, you have to look for yellow journalism to get you through.

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8 users have voted.
Unabashed Liberal's picture

touch base, and wish you and yours--and all C99'ers--a nice and safe Labor Day Weekend!

Due to Medicare Workshops, and, Mr M being ill--NOT with COVID, thank goodness!--sorta having to keep a low profile, lately. Hope to get back by with a Tweet or two that I'm going to post about Hidey-Hole Joe's "Doctor Death."

IIRC, posted a blurb about Emanuel's rationing plan in June or July, but, ran across several pieces that I had never seen or read, recently. He's even worse than I thought. Our '8' Medicare workshop facilitators--all under the age of 60--will probably resume workshops after Labor Day weekend, but, hope to change the venue. (more on that later)

COVID is totally complicating our plans to relocate. As it is, we are strongly considering trying to split our time between Whitehorse (Yukon) and Montevideo. It would be the ultimate in contrasts (IMO), and, a world away from all the 'BS' we're subjected to in the US. Sometimes I wish that Alaska was still a territory. What's complicating things is the COVID-related 'travel ban' for US citizens. At one time, US citizens were still welcome in Uruguay (with no restrictions). That's changed, temporarily. Maybe, if there's a vaccine soon, these restrictions will immediately fall away.

Just celebrated birthday and wedding anniversary. After 43 years, we celebrated a first--had our anniversary dinner delivered. Contactless, or course! Smile

Hope to post a couple links, if I don't get back with Tweets. Honestly, Medicare so-called 'reform' is pretty much the only issue that I'm following lately, Just got too much on my plate. As much as possible, I read EB--appreciate your hard work. Helps keep me current on many topics that I haven't had a chance to keep up with.

Joe, hope you and yours have a very enjoyable and safe holiday weekend. Give Indie an ear scritch for me, will ya! Biggrin

Bye Pleasantry

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

"I know, I know. All passion; no street smarts."
~~Captain West, 1992 Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin Movie, A Few Good Men

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)

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9 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

great to hear from you!

so sorry to hear that mr. m is under the weather, i hope that he recovers quickly and well.

heh, trump is doing such a great job with coronavirus americans are going to be pariahs all over the world, i guess. if trump ever builds the wall, it will be used to keep us in. mexico and canada might be happy to pitch in to build it by the time trump is done.

a vaccine would be great, but given trump's track record, anything that the government recommends, i'll be happy to wait a while before trying it myself.

happy birthday/anniversary! and have a great labor day weekend!

indy says thanks for the scritch. Smile

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5 users have voted.
Unabashed Liberal's picture

@joe shikspack @joe shikspack

heard! Seriously, it's really nice to be back kibitzing with you and the Gang. Appreciate the well wishes, too. (we won't talk about 'which' birthday just celebrated, except, considering the alternative, guess it was good to have one! Smile )

Regarding,

a vaccine would be great, but given trump's track record, anything that the government recommends, i'll be happy to wait a while before trying it myself.

Same here!

Of course, we're 'hoping' that a US vaccine will encourage countries to allow American citizens to travel (aside from emergency, to visit family, etc.). Canada requires both COVID testing and self-isolation/self-quarantine (today). Uruguay has tightened up, considerably, so, got to call the Embassy, again, to clarify. (don't trust just reading their website)

Heh, knew 'something' looked odd about Indy's name. Guess I picked up the spelling for political Independent--probably, because I used it on a Twitter account profile, yesterday. My apologies to that beautiful, glossy black furbaby! Biggrin

On a much less happy note--have you Guys noticed how much Zuckerberg and others are clamping down on free speech? Really very worrisome (to us).

All the more reason to be grateful for C99.

Mollie

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6 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

it's ok. indy can't tell the difference between indie and indy. and the scritches and treats feel exactly the same. Smile

zuckerberg now claims that his clamp down on speech is to protect his company against lawsuits, which, i suppose that you can't blame him too much for. nobody wants to get sued.

theoretically, section 230 of the communications decency act of '96 should protect facebook against suits for what others post, but there is a great deal of interest amongst legislators and others to change the law in ways that might be less than helpful to a wide variety of internet sites.

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6 users have voted.

@joe shikspack it drives me kind of bonkers when people write Indy and they mean Indie. It’s not just being a stickler, it’s just I’ve always lived here some when someone says Indy, I am thinking local. I always get confused, but that happens a lot anyway.

Now when it comes to dogs, I’ve yet to meet one who made the same distinction. As long as they received the attention they deserved, they can roll with whatever.

Good to see you back around Mollie.

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7 users have voted.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

good to be seen.

FWIW, even though you're a Gen Xer (IIRC), and Mr M and I are Boomers--your righteous rants often speak for us! Biggrin

Mollie

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3 users have voted.

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

@Unabashed Liberal Smile

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2 users have voted.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

joe shikspack's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

our intrepid dog indy was named by my daughter after the movie character indiana jones. she has been through indianapolis a couple of times and has undoubtedly made donations to the state of indiana on her travels through. Smile

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4 users have voted.

@joe shikspack Incidentally, all the locals got a big kick out of the “we named the dog Indy” line in the third movie. Those were so fun to see with an audience.

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1 user has voted.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Azazello's picture

So it looks like the Navalny incident is all about cancelling the pipeline, maybe.
What about Belarus ?
US-Russia Tensions Flare up on Multiple Fronts
Here's Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Russian MSM:
(Don't forget to click the cc button.)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo3FiNJaofg width:500 height:300]
Matt Taibbi: The Trump Era Sucks and Needs to Be Over

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8 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

heh, i've seen suggestions that the navalny incident is about the failure of the cia's color revolution in belarus as well as about nordstream. the timing fits both events.

to me, it's just one in a long chain of incidents that the media hyperventilate about and nobody ever gets to the bottom of. no clear evidence of culpability is ever presented and these events eventually enter the litany of presumptions made about the awesome authoritarian power of putin.

thanks for the taibbi link. there's some great stuff there:

The elite misread of Trump is egregious because he’s an easily familiar type to the rest of America. We’re a sales culture and Trump is a salesman. Moreover he’s not just any salesman; he might be the greatest salesman ever, considering the quality of the product, i.e. himself. He’s up to his eyes in balls, and the parts of the brain that hold most people back from selling schlock online degrees or tchotchkes door-to-door are absent. He has no shame, will say anything, and experiences morality the way the rest of us deal with indigestion. ...

With the election just a few months away, the country is coming apart at the seams. In addition to a pandemic, an economic disaster, and cities simmering on the edge of civil war, we’re nursing what feels like a broken culture. Life under Trump has been like an endless Twitter war: infuriating, depressing, filling us all with self-loathing, but also addictive. He is selling an experience that everyone is buying, even the people who think they oppose him the most.

My worry is with that last part. Institutional America is now organized around a Trump-led America. The news media will lose billions with him gone (and will be lost editorially). The Democratic Party has no message — literally none — apart from him. A surging activist movement will be deflated without him, along with a host of related fundraising groups and businesses (watch what happens to “dismantling white supremacy training” in a non-Trump context).

It feels like a co-dependent relationship, and the tightening poll numbers in battleground states make me wonder about self-sabotage. He’ll likely still lose, but this is all beginning to feel like a slow-motion rerun of the same car crash from four years ago, when resentment, rubbernecking, and lurid fascination pulled him just across the finish line. People claim to hate him, but they never turn off the show in time, not grasping that Trump always knows how to turn their negative attention into someone else’s vote.

have a great holiday weekend!

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9 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack
We had 110 today, an all-time record for the date and for the month of September. More of the same is expected tomorrow.
We'll probably celebrate on Wednesday, that's when the heat is supposed to end.

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8 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

that's too hot to go outside and bbq. gazpacho time!

have a good one and stay as cool as you can.

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6 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

People claim to hate him, but they never turn off the show in time

If people quit listening to Trump they would see their blood pressure go down. My uncle rants and raves about him all day long because he’s tuned to the news who are doing the same thing. Ignore him. Of course democrats and the media won’t do that. This last horror from Trump is ridiculous, but it’s all people were bitching about today.

43 years ago I crashed my motorcycle into the side of a hill with it landing on my face. This event changed my life in so many ways, but I’ve always felt that I was very lucky to survive it. Every year I offer up thanks to whoever saved my butt that day.

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8 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

trump always reminds of one of my favorite frank zappa tunes:

I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed

I am the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say

I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin' out
From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help...no one will heed you

Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

That's right, folks.. Don't touch that dial
Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livingroom floor
I am the slime from your video

Can't stop the slime, people, lookit me go

your bike accident sounds like an event that has put your life into perspective and gives you a sense of what is important, relevant and necessary in life. (happy anniversary?)

trump is part of a long-running bipartisan project to make government irrelevant to our lives. by removing even the appearance of democratic controls and refusing to care for the general welfare of the people, the government is becoming less and less relevant to average people - most of whom don't bother to waste their time voting.

as the years of this bipartisan project wear on people are more and more realizing that we are on our own to take care of ourselves and our world.

trump may finally create the tipping point. so he's a valuable slime in that way.

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8 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@joe shikspack @joe shikspack
tune sounds like (I am culturally in shocking distance to all of that and have no idea of Frank Zappa) and found this video.
[video:https://youtu.be/nRnNDkHb0MU]

The video made me want to stop it. But the lyrics kept me listening.

The quote by Bill Clinton at the end of the video gave me the rest.

Have you been a soldier in the Vietnam War?

I learned a lot from this interview of Frank Zappa.
[video:https://youtu.be/Eln3J6BxWN0]

As I learned a lot from the interview of Joan Baez.
[video:https://youtu.be/2M-nBa-vkiQ]

So, I wanted to know how the song of "The President sang Amazing Grace" sounded.
[video:https://youtu.be/YGidGXO_Cus]

I then had to look up how Obana sang Amazing Grace in real time.
[video:https://youtu.be/IN05jVNBs64]

I am culturally shocked right now and can't express my feelings. I know it would hurt other folk's feelings. So, I skip that.

I am left with lots of questions and no answers.

Who ordered Navalny's poisoning? Who puts pressure on whom? Did he ingest the poison in the plane or before that on the airport? Is it irritating to you that a lab of the hospital of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) confirmed the findings of the "Charité" in Berlin? How is Merkel and Poland used to choose sides against Russians? Both countries were always used to be cut into pieces between the US (Nato, Western Hemisphere) and Russia. It has only become worse since reunification of Germany. It is all a real hard to understand for me and an unexpected development.

I am irritated and have no desire to read or talk any more, right now.

Thanks for the EB. l would like to know more about your own bio. All I remember that you onces said you produced(?) and hosted (?) a music show on NPR for a long time. Then you didn't do it anymore(?) Why? What happened? I am so glad you host and produce the EB now.

PS: I don't expect you to answer my questions. They are too personal. Just telling you what goes around in my head.

Don't labor too much on the Labour Day weekend. Enjoy your good memories. Sometimes those good ones are hard to find, but I am sure they are there. Just dig for them.

Good Luck.

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2 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

your bike accident sounds like an event that has put your life into perspective and gives you a sense of what is important, relevant and necessary in life

It's not something I dwell on anymore except to remember it could have been worse. And I always remember my greatest accomplishment was becoming an ophthalmic photographer and learning anatomy and physiology of the eye while recovering from the head injury and having tons of memory problems. I got so self conscious about that because I would forget things I said the day before or even 5 minutes ago and keep asking the same question. It wasn't until I was in my 40's that a doctor explained how head injuries affect one's memory. DOH and why the f'ck wasn't I told earlier.

Happy holiday weekend folk. Thanks for another week of news and blues, Joe.

I am taking Charlie to the vet this morning on an urgent matter. Please wish us luck.

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3 users have voted.

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

Creosote.'s picture

@Azazello
after the one you posted concluded -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPR3iJhpleY&feature=emb_rel_end
many thanks.

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2 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

profit medical services delivery system is going to rush through several vaccines and deliver them before testing is completed. Any takers? These clowns were aghast when Russia claimed to have done such a thing but now that tweeter the monkey man (very prescient, Bob) needs one for his political purposes, hey, it's all cool. Uh huh, fer sure, fer sure. Step right up folks ... .

be well and have a good one. Also have a fantastic US "labor day"(tm) weekend.

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11 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 --

snoopydawg's picture

@enhydra lutris

Yep. Lots of the comments on this article here were about people happily saying they would get the vaccine even before it goes through trials. They want their lives back. Be careful for what you wish for.

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10 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

@enhydra lutris

yeah, i think that i'd rather wait a while for the vaccine testing to be complete. i guess if a lot of my fellow americans would like to be guinea pigs, that's their choice.

have a great holiday weekend!

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9 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

Great tunes JS! Great player, great sound. Is that a jazzmaster or jaguar he plays? I like the simplicity of his stuff, straightforward, always right on the money with the notes. That
J.B. Lenoir was great too. Old school real deal stuff.

Some world class disaster capitalism going on out there... whaddashitshow!

Have a great weekend!

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6 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

heh, my guess would be that he's playing a jazzmaster. the pickups are pretty large and jazzmasters are known for their soapbar pickups. the pickup covers are unusual, though. jaguars have much smaller pickups usually. his guitar is obviously customized, so, i'm just speculating.

he does have a nice, clean, simple style, kind of minimalist in a way as blues guitarists go.

jb is a great guitarist to listen to, his rhythms and his chord voicings are worth paying attention to.

have a great holiday weekend!

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3 users have voted.