The Evening Blues - 9-6-18



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Tommy McClennan

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features delta bluesman Tommy McClennan. Enjoy!

Tommy McClennan - Deep Blue Sea Blues (Catfish Blues)

“We Americans are not usually thought to be a submissive people, but of course we are. Why else would we allow our country to be destroyed? Why else would we be rewarding its destroyers? Why else would we all — by proxies we have given to greedy corporations and corrupt politicians — be participating in its destruction? Most of us are still too sane to piss in our own cistern, but we allow others to do so and we reward them for it. We reward them so well, in fact, that those who piss in our cistern are wealthier than the rest of us.”

-- Wendell Berry


News and Opinion

An excellent article worth reading in full:

Plutocracy Now!

Plutocracy literally means rule by the rich. ... The United States today qualifies as a plutocracy – on a number of grounds. Let’s look at some striking bits of evidence. Gross income redistribution upwards in the hierarchy has been a feature of American society for the past decades. ... In short, the overwhelming fraction of all the wealth created over two generations has gone to those at the very top of the income pyramid. That pattern has been markedly accelerated since the financial crisis hit in 2008. Between 2000 and 2012, the real net worth of 90 percent of Americans has declined by 25 percent.

Theoretically, there is the possibility that this change is due to structural economic features operating nationally and internationally. That argument won’t wash, though, for three reasons. First, there is every reason to think that such a process has accelerated over the past nine years during which disparities have widened at a faster rate. Second, other countries (many even more enmeshed in the world economy) have seen nothing like the drastic phenomenon occurring in the United States. Third, the readiness of the country’s political class to ignore what has been happening, and the absence of remedial action that could have been taken, in themselves are clear indicators of who shapes thinking and determines public policy.

In addition, several significant governmental actions have been taken that directly favor the moneyed interests. This includes the dismantling of the apparatus to regulate financial activities specifically and big business generally. ... Former Attorney General Eric Holder, let’s recall, went so far as to admit that the Department of Justice’s decisions on when to bring criminal charges against the biggest financial institutions will depend not on the question of legal violations alone but would include the hypothetical effects on economic stability of their prosecution. (Those adverse effects are greatly exaggerated). Earlier, Holder had extended blanket immunity to Bank of America and other mortgage lenders for their apparent criminality in forging through robo-signing of foreclosure documents on millions of home owners. In brief, equal protection and application of the law has been suspended. That is plutocracy. ...

FDR, it rightly is said, saved American capitalism. Barack Obama saved predatory financial capitalism. ... Nobody had to indoctrinate Barack Obama in 2008-2009 or intimidate him or bribe him. He came to the plutocrats on his own volition with his mind-set and values already in conformity with the plutocracy’s view of itself and of America. ... This was the man, after all, who cited Ronald Reagan as a model for what sort of presidency America needed. He has been living proof of how effectively Americans had been brought into line with the plutocratic vision.This is not to say that the plutocrats’ success was inevitable – or that they were diabolically clever in manipulating everything and everyone to their advantage. There has been a strong element of good fortune in their victory. Their most notable piece of luck has been the ineptitude and shortsightedness of their potential opposition – liberal Democrats, intellectuals, professional asociations and their like. The plutocrats pursued their goals in a disorganized, diffuse way. However, the absence of an opponent on the contested terrain ensured success. ...

Today, outrage has abated and politics is all about austerity and debts rather than the distribution of wealth, and the power that goes with it.The deep-seated sense of anxiety and grievance that pervades the populace manifests itself in outbreaks of hostile competition among groups who are in fact all victims themselves of the plutocrats’ grabbing most of the country’s wealth – leaving the rest of us to fight over scraps. So it’s private sector employees pitted against government employees because the latter have (some) health insurance, some pension and some security relative to the former who have been shorn of all three. It’s parents worried about their kids’ education against teachers. Both against cash-strapped local authorities. Municipalities vs states. It’s the small businessman against unions and health insurance requirements. It’s doctors against patients against administrators. It’s university administrators against faculty and against students, and faculty against students competing for much-reduced appropriations. It’s all of those against boards of regents and state governors. ... Meanwhile, the folks at the top wait confidently and expectantly above the fray that they have engineered – ever ready to swoop down to strip what remains by way of privatized public assets, no-bid contracts, tax and regulatory havens, commercially owned toll roads, student loan monopolies, rapacious buying of foreclosed properties with federal incentives, and myriad tax breaks.

UN issue report on possible war crimes in Yemen

Saudis admit error over deaths of second group of Yemeni children

The Saudi-led coalition fighting to defeat Houthi rebels in Yemen has again admitted that its bombing campaign may have hit civilians, the second time in a week it has made such a rare admission. Saudi Arabia is under pressure from the UK and the US both to improve its accuracy and to accept error if internal reviews find civilians have been hit. The Trump administration is required shortly to state if it is wiling to continue to sell arms to Saudi in the light of the repeated air attacks killing civilians.

The Spanish government this week ended arms sales to Saudi Arabia, including 400 laser-guided bombs.

The latest admission of Saudi error focuses on a strike on 23 August that the UN says killed 26 children south of the port of Hodeidah. UN humanitarian operations chief Mark Lowcock said the 26 children and four women killed were in Al-Durayhimi area. In a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said: “According to the results of the comprehensive review … there might have been collateral damage and civilian casualties. ...

Last Saturday, the Saudis admitted a bombing raid on 9 August that killed 51 people including 40 children in the rebel-held North was due to mistakes by the Saudi air force.

House Democrats Praised for New War Powers Resolution to End US Support for 'Catastrophic War in Yemen'

As the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition admitted for the second time this week that its bombing campaign in Yemen last month killed dozens of children and adult civilians, peace advocates praised a group of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday for announcing a new effort to revoke American support for the "catastrophic" conflict that has produced the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Led by Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), Reps. Adam Smith (Wash.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), Michael Capuano (Mass.), Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Ted Lieu (Calif.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), and Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.) revealed that they plan to invoke the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from all involvement in the war.


Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right presidential hopeful stabbed at campaign rally

Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate who is leading the polls in Brazil’s presidential race, has been stabbed campaigning in Minas Gerais state just a month before the election.

Bolsonaro was taken to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia hospital in the town of Juiz de Fora, where a spokeswoman confirmed he was in surgery. Bolsonaro's son Flavio had earlier tweeted that the injury was “only superficial,” but the G1 news site reported that doctors suspected the candidate's liver and intestine could have been injured.

Videos shared on social media showed the moment Bolsonaro was attacked as he was carried on the shoulders of supporters at an event in the city of Juiz de Fora, about 125 miles (200km) north of Rio de Janeiro, in Minas Gerais state. Bolsonaro was waving to the crowd when he suddenly clutched his abdomen and cried out in pain before falling backwards into the arms of those around him. O Globo newspaper reported that he was wearing a bulletproof vest, but was wounded just below it.

Sheryl Sandberg Misled Congress About Facebook’s Conscience

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., questioned Facebook Chief Operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about the fact that they are both ostensibly American companies, but also firms with users around the world — including in countries with legal systems and values that differ drastically from the United States. Rubio cited various governments that crack down on, say, pro-democracy activism and that criminalize such speech. How can a company like Facebook claim that it’s committed to free expression as a global value while maintaining its adherence to rule of law on a local level? When it comes to democratic values, Rubio asked, “Do you support them only in the United States or are these principles that you feel obligated to support around the world?”

Sandberg, as always, didn’t miss a beat: “We support these principles around the world.” Shortly thereafter she made the claim that Facebook simply would not do business in a country where these values couldn’t be maintained. Based on the information Facebook itself makes available, this is false. In its latest publicly available “transparency report,” Facebook says it helps block free expression as a matter of policy — so long as it’s technically legal in a given market. For instance, in the United Arab Emirates, a country that Human Rights Watch says “arbitrarily detains and in some cases forcibly disappears individuals who criticize the authorities,” Facebook does its part to help.

According to its most recent update on its compliance with UAE takedown requests — when a government or company requests that the social media giant remove content from its site — Facebook “restricted access to items in the UAE, all reported by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, a federal UAE government entity responsible for [information technology] sector in the UAE. The content was reported for hate speech and was attacking members of the royal family, which is against local laws.” It’s hard to imagine even Facebook’s legendary public relations team could construe censoring criticism of “the royal family” as anything resembling a democratic value. A similar entry from the report, on Pakistan, notes that Facebook “restricted access to items that were alleged to violate local laws prohibiting blasphemy and condemnation of the country’s independence.” ...

The easiest way to explain the apparent contradiction between “we would only operate in a country when we could do so in keeping with our values” and helping a royal family stifle criticism is that, yes, Facebook is a global company that sees the generation of profit as its number one obligation. Facebook’s values aren’t so much the promotion of global democracy, but the promotion of global Facebook.

Trump admin wants ability to hold migrant kids indefinitely, upending decades-old ban

The Trump administration announced a new rule Thursday that would allow immigrant children with their parents to be held in detention indefinitely, upending a ban on indefinite detention that has been in place for 20 years. The rule, proposed by the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, goes into effect in 60 days and will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to keep children with their mothers in detention facilities while their cases for asylum play out in court.

A DHS official said the average length of stay for adults with pending court cases is currently 39 days. However, court backlogs can drag out the time an immigrant must wait in detention for a court hearing. Until now, children have been released with their parents after 20 days. Earlier this year, the Trump administration sought to get around that rule by separating parents from their children and holding parents in detention while children were placed in the care of HHS.

A DHS official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the purpose of the rulemaking is to terminate the 1997 Flores settlement agreement that said children could not be held in detention longer than 20 days. The result may mean the issue is taken to appellate courts or even the Supreme Court.

The Kavanaugh Cover-up? Role in Torture & Domestic Spying Policy Remains Unknown As Papers Withheld

“I hope they bring charges against us”: Senator threatens to release confidential Kavanaugh documents

Democrats began threatening to risk their positions in the U.S. Senate by releasing privileged emails, as the third day of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing devolved into fighting. “Bring it,” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said early Thursday morning, a sentiment quickly backed by his fellow Democratic legislators.

Booker told the committee he intends to release “committee confidential” documents allegedly concerning racial profiling to the press, thereby willingly violating a committee rule and risking expulsion from the Senate. Other Democratic senators soon joined in and threatened to do the same.


Leaked Kavanaugh Documents Discuss Abortion and Affirmative Action

As a White House lawyer in the Bush administration, Judge Brett Kavanaugh challenged the accuracy of deeming the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to be “settled law of the land,” according to a secret March 2003 email obtained by The New York Times. ...

Judge Kavanaugh was considering a draft opinion piece that supporters of one of Mr. Bush’s conservative appeals court nominees hoped they could persuade anti-abortion women to submit under their names. It stated that “it is widely accepted by legal scholars across the board that Roe v. Wade and its progeny are the settled law of the land.” Judge Kavanaugh proposed deleting that line, writing: “I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so.” ... Still, his email stops short of saying whether he personally believed that the abortion rights precedent should be considered a settled legal issue.

Other documents provided to The Times included a document showing that in September 2001, after the terrorist attacks, Judge Kavanaugh engaged with a Justice Department lawyer about questions of warrantless surveillance at the time that lawyer wrote a memo an inspector general report later portrayed as the precursor to the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program.

On Wednesday, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, seemed to allude to the existence of such an email, grilling Judge Kavanaugh about whether his testimony at his May 2006 appeals court hearing that he had not seen or heard anything about the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program before its existence leaked the previous December was accurate.

Here Comes Tax Scam 2.0: As Worker Wages Fall and Corporate Profits Soar, GOP Readies $600 Billion Tax Giveaway for the Rich

Version one of the GOP's deeply unpopular tax scam produced results nearly everyone—including, in his rare moments of honesty, President Donald Trump himself—predicted: Record-shattering profits for Wall Street, massive pay-outs for the wealthiest Americans, and little to nothing for the working class, whose wages are either stagnant or falling.

But the most important class of Americans in the eyes of Trump and congressional Republicans—the donor class—loved the tax cuts, so the GOP is barreling ahead with Tax Scam 2.0 just in time for the upcoming midterm elections.

As The Hill reported on Thursday, House Republicans are expected to unveil the full text of their latest round of proposed tax breaks for the wealthy as early as next week, and a floor vote on the legislation could come as soon as the end of the month. While the full details of the plan are not yet known, The Hill notes that the bill is expected to consist primarily of "a permanent extension of tax changes for individuals that Republicans passed last year."

According to a Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) analysis released on Wednesday, such a move would result in another $627 billion in tax cuts, with the vast majority of benefits going to the wealthy. While the GOP has not explained how they plan to pay for this massive giveaway to the rich, some Republicans have been quite explicit about their desire to slash life-saving social programs like Medicare and Medicaid to offset the deficit-exploding effects of their tax cuts.

Progressives Denounce Pelosi for Obsession With 'Economically Illiterate and Politically Insane' Pay-Go Rule

Even as recent surveys, major congressional primary results, and leftward shifts within the Democratic caucus continue to demonstrate a widespread desire for progressive change within the party, House Democrats' newly revealed 2019 legislative strategy—spearheaded by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—shows that party leaders are planning to cripple any move toward bold policy goals like Medicare for All by reimposing the fiscally conservative pay-go rule.

Pay-go—which Pelosi first implemented in 2007 after becoming House Speaker—requires that all new spending be completely offset by budget cuts or tax hikes. According to Axios, which first reported on the outline of House Democrats' strategy on Monday, Pelosi is "committed" to reviving pay-go if Democrats take control of the House in November, despite strong progressive opposition to the rule.

Stephanie Kelton, an economist and former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), told The Intercept that "pay-go is a self-imposed, economically illiterate approach to budgeting," particularly as Republicans continue to disregard such restraints to deliver massive rewards to wealthy Americans and large corporations.

"Instead of vowing budget chastity, Democrats should be articulating an agenda that excites voters so that they can unleash the full power of the public purse on their behalf," Kelton argued.



the horse race



While Trump Clearly Horrible President, Critics Denounce Right-Wing 'Unelected Cabal' Represented by Anonymous Op-Ed

What's more troubling: That the grotesque liar and right-wing narcissist Donald Trump was elected by the American people to be President of the United States in 2016? Or that there is now apparently a secret cabal of unelected right-wing officials inside his White House—at least according to a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday afternoon—that is actively undermining his presidency from within and their own discretion? ...

The explosive admission detailed in the column, if true, would be historically unprecedented: someone described by the paper as a confirmed "senior official in the Trump administration" openly admitting to the American public that there is a coordinated effort afoot to sabotage the prerogatives—horrible and offensive as they might be—of the democratically-elected president they have been hired or appointed to serve.

The individual behind the op-ed is clear that the efforts of those opposing the president "is not the popular 'resistance' of the left," but rather right-wing operatives concerned that Trump's "amorality"—as they alone define it—is a threat to their perceived notions of what good governance should be.


We Are Being Played

As you doubtless already know by now, the New York Times has made the wildly controversial decision to publish an anonymous op-ed reportedly authored by “a senior official in the Trump administration.” The op-ed’s author claims to be part of a secret coalition of patriots who dislike Trump and are “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” ... I strongly encourage you to read the piece in its entirety, because for all the talk and drama it’s generating, it doesn’t actually make any sense. While you are reading it, I encourage you to keep the following question in mind: what could anyone possibly gain by authoring this and giving it to the New York Times?

Seriously, what could be gained? The op-ed says essentially nothing, other than to tell readers to relax and trust in anonymous administration insiders who are working against the bad guys on behalf of the people (which is interestingly the exact same message of the right-wing 8chan conspiracy phenomenon QAnon, just with the white hats and black hats reversed). Why would any senior official risk everything to publish something so utterly pointless? Why risk getting fired (or risk losing all political currency in the party if NYTAnon is Mike Pence, as has been theorized) just to communicate something to the public that doesn’t change or accomplish anything? Why publicly announce your undercover conspiracy to undermine the president in a major news outlet at all?

What are the results of this viral op-ed everyone’s talking about? So far it’s a bunch of Democratic partisans making a lot of excited whooping noises, and Trump loyalists feeling completely vindicated in the belief that all of their conspiracy theories have been proven correct. Many rank-and-file Trump haters are feeling a little more relaxed and complacent knowing that there are a bunch of McCain-loving “adults in the room” taking care of everything, and many rank-and-file Trump supporters are more convinced than ever that Donald Trump is a brave populist hero leading a covert 4-D chess insurgency against the Deep State. In other words, everyone’s been herded into their respective partisan stables and trusting the narratives that they are being fed there.

You don’t have to get into any deep conspiratorial rabbit hole to consider the possibility that all this drama and conflict is staged from top to bottom. ... Anyone with their eyes even part way open already knows that America’s two mainstream parties feign intense hatred for one another while working together to pace their respective bases into accepting more and more neoliberal exploitation at home and more and more neoconservative bloodshed abroad. They spit and snarl and shake their fists at each other, then cuddle up and share candy when it’s time for a public gathering. Why should this administration be any different? ...

The two-headed one party system exists to give Americans the illusion of choice while advancing the agendas of the plutocratic class which owns and operates both parties, yes, but even more importantly it’s a mechanism of narrative control. If you can separate the masses into two groups based on extremely broad ideological characteristics, you can then funnel streamlined “us vs them” narratives into each of the two stables, with the white hats and black hats reversed in each case. Now you’ve got Republicans cheering for the president and Democrats cheering for the CIA, for the FBI, and now for a platoon of covert John McCains alleged to be operating on the inside of Trump’s own administration. Everyone’s cheering for one aspect of the US power establishment or another.

Whom does this dynamic serve? Not you.

Trump demands New York Times reveal explosive op-ed author's identity

Donald Trump has called for the New York Times to reveal the identity of a senior administration official who the paper says is the author of a column revealing they are part of a “resistance” against the president’s “worst inclinations”.

The president vented his fury at the essay, which the newspaper said it had taken the rare step of running anonymously, saying the writer’s “identity is known to us” and their “job would be jeopardized by its disclosure”. Its publication has prompted a frenzied search for the author.

Then in a follow up tweet, he insisted: “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once.”

Brian Stelter, senior media correspondent at CNN, reported that the author of the piece had used an intermediary several days ago to make contact with the New York Times op-ed editor Jim Dao. ... Dao, Stelter reported, declined to comment on how senior the official was or reveal further nuances of the person’s role. It was unclear if the author worked in the White House or had direct contact with Trump.

No, You Are Not Part of the Resistance: A Response to Trump Official Who Penned Anonymous NYT Op-Ed

Bookies think Mike Pence wrote the anonymous New York Times op-ed

Offshore bookies are taking bets on the identity of the “senior official” who penned the New York Times opinion piece that revealed some Trump staffers are working to actively undermine the president and curb his “worst impulses.”

And the name on everyone’s lips is Vice President Mike Pence.

Costa Rica-based MyBookie lists Pence as the No. 1 choice, citing the use of the word “lodestar” in the op-ed published Wednesday. A Twitter user initially pointed out that Pence has previously used the word, which is defined as a star used to guide the course of a ship, several times during speeches in recent years.

“What tipped us off was ‘lodestar,’” MyBookie head oddsmaker David Strauss told the New York Post. “When you search members of the administration (who have used that word), only one name comes up – and that name is Mike Pence. He’s used it in multiple speeches this year.”

Top Trump officials deny writing explosive op-ed: 'Not mine', 'no', 'laughable'

Several top Trump administration officials have denied being the author of an explosive and anonymous opinion piece that detailed a “quiet resistance” at work in the White House, amid fevered speculation over the identity of the writer. ...

Vice-President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley were among a cast of senior officials and cabinet members to publicly reject responsibility for the anonymous account on Thursday.

The White House demanded that reporters abandon their “wild obsession” with unmasking the “senior administration official” who wrote the column.

“The media’s wild obsession with the identity of the anonymous coward is recklessly tarnishing the reputation of thousands of great Americans who proudly serve our country and work for the president,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.

Sanders directed reporters to call the “failing NYT” and provided a phone number to the opinion desk. “They are the only ones complicit in this deceitful act,” she added.

Florida Has Been Stealing Votes From Black People Since the Civil War. That Could Change in November.

One in 10 eligible voters in Florida are effectively disenfranchised, thanks to a draconian law that bars former felons from voting and a broken clemency system. When it comes to black voters, the numbers are even more grim: More than 20 percent of otherwise eligible black voters from Florida cannot cast a ballot. In total, more than a quarter of all disenfranchised felons in the entire country are in the Sunshine State. But this November, Florida voters will have a chance to reverse that by weighing in on Amendment 4, a constitutional ballot measure to restore voting rights to an estimated 1.5 million Floridians who have fully completed their felony sentences. Florida is just one of three states in the U.S. that indefinitely bans citizens with felony convictions from voting. ...

Constitutional amendments in Florida require least 60 percent approval to pass — no easy objective. ... But a slew of early polling bodes well for supporters of Amendment 4: In February, a Quinnipiac University poll found 67 percent of Florida voters supported the idea of restoring voting rights to individuals who have committed a felony and completed their sentences, while 27 percent opposed it. Another poll released in May found that 74 percent of voters say they’d back Amendment 4. However, a poll released in June by the Florida Chamber of Commerce found that just 40 percent of voters approved of Amendment 4, with 17 percent opposed and 43 percent undecided. ...

The amendment also has the full-throated support of Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor who won an insurgent victory in last week’s primary. (Floridians energized by Gillum’s nomination are likely to vote in favor of the amendment.) His Republican opponent, Rep. Ron DeSantis, stands in opposition.



the evening greens


Tribe Says Army Corps Stonewalling on Dakota Access Pipeline Report, Oil Spill Risk

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is defending its claim that the Dakota Access pipeline has no significant environmental impact, but it issued only a brief summary of its court-ordered reassessment while keeping the full analysis confidential. The delay in releasing the full report, including crucial details about potential oil spills, has incensed the Standing Rock Tribe, whose reservation sits a half-mile downstream from where the pipeline crosses the Missouri River.

The tribe said the Army Corps is stonewalling, and it said it will continue to oppose the pipeline. Meanwhile, oil continues to flow through the pipeline two years after opponents set up a desperate encampment to try to block the project.

In June 2017, a federal judge ordered the Corps to reassess the potential environmental harm posed by the pipeline, saying it had failed to "adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline's effects are likely to be highly controversial." The Corps responded in an Aug. 31 memo saying it sought additional information from Energy Transfer Partners, which owns and operates the Dakota Access pipeline, as well as from Standing Rock and other tribes, but did not find "significant new circumstance[s] or information relevant to environmental concerns."

Tribal leaders blasted the reassessment and could choose to challenge it in court. "The Army Corps' decision to rubber-stamp its illegal and flawed permit for DAPL will not stand," Mike Faith, Jr., chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said in a statement. "A federal judge declared the DAPL permits to be illegal, and ordered the Corps to take a fresh look at the risks of an oil spill and the impacts to the Tribe and its Treaty rights. That is not what the Army Corps did."

The tribe says it hasn't been able to view the Corps' full reassessment. Instead, the Corps released a two-page memo that mentions a larger analysis of potential environmental impacts, but that report is undergoing a confidentiality review prior to release. The Army Corps and the U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to requests for additional information.

Harvard economist: Protecting Boundary Waters will be better for economy than mining

Opening up Superior National Forest to more mining would harm northern Minnesota's economy in the long term, according to an economics professor at Harvard University. Professor James H. Stock and PhD student Jacob Bradt studied the positives and negatives of the U.S. Forest Service's proposal to withdraw 234,000 acres of federal land in northern Minnesota from consideration for future mining projects.

During a recent visit to Duluth, President Donald Trump said he intends to rescind this protection, opening up the forest to more copper-nickel mining exploration, though said "we will do it carefully." But the Harvard economists found that while the state of Minnesota and the Iron Range would see an economic benefit in the short-term from mining investment, it would be better in the long term to protect the forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

"If mining is commenced at TMM (Twin Metals Minnesota), there would likely be an initial but temporary net growth in employment and income associated with the mining activity. Over time, the economic benefits of mining would be outweighed by the negative impact of mining on the recreational industry and on in-migration."

Their study found that if the forest was protected, there would be 4,500 more jobs and up to $900 million more in personal income created over 20 years, compared to if the mining went ahead.


Also of Interest

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

Why Technology Favors Tyranny

IBM Used NYPD Surveillance Footage to Develop Technology That Lets Police Search by Skin Color

Dear Anonymous Trump Official, There Is No Redemption in Your Cowardly Op-Ed

Creeping Fascism No Problem for Trump’s Durable Base


A Little Night Music

Tommy McClennan - Whiskey Head Woman

Tommy McClennan It's Hard To Be Lonesome

Tommy McClennan - Roll Me Baby

Tommy McClennan - Cotton Patch Blues

Tommy McClennan - I Love My Baby

Tommy McClennan - She's Just Good Huggin' Size

Tommy McClennan - Cross Cut Saw Blues

Tommy McClennan - I Love My Baby

Tommy McClennan - Drop Down Mama

Tommy Mcclennan - New Shake Em On Down


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Like a lollipop for the soul.

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joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

have a good one!

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ggersh's picture

Comment from NC...I believe it's not fake news

dunning kroger
September 6, 2018 at 5:30 pm
everyone at the dailykos is literally retarded

Reply ↓

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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

heh. it's good to see that our erstwhile companions are winning friends and influencing people now that they have crashed the gates. Smile

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enhydra lutris's picture

@ggersh

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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 --

lotlizard's picture

@ggersh  
by a poster with the Naked Capitalism handle of Henry Moon Pie.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/09/200pm-water-cooler-9-6-2018.html...

Link to the TOPiary is in the comment.

A great political genius (LOL) and all-around fine fellow (LOL) thinks Democrat Party supermajorities are just around the corner:

Hence the anonymous op-ed trial balloon, and my gut prediction that Trump will be ousted sooner rather than later via the 25th Amendment. Definitely after November’s elections! But perhaps not much longer, and maybe even before the new Democratic congressional majorities get sworn in.

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ggersh's picture

@lotlizard

Jason Boxman
September 6, 2018 at 6:37 pm
I feel like I got smarter when I left that place a decade ago and started at NC.
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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

The Aspie Corner's picture

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

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

joe shikspack's picture

@The Aspie Corner

heh... they also made a four wheel drive that would make american rednecks pretty jealous. Smile

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Azazello's picture

@joe shikspack
You can buy one now. They have a new model out too, larger with more wheels.

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

snoopydawg's picture

You don’t have to get into any deep conspiratorial rabbit hole to consider the possibility that all this drama and conflict is staged from top to bottom. ... Anyone with their eyes even part way open already knows that America’s two mainstream parties feign intense hatred for one another while working together to pace their respective bases into accepting more and more neoliberal exploitation at home and more and more neoconservative bloodshed abroad. They spit and snarl and shake their fists at each other, then cuddle up and share candy when it’s time for a public gathering. Why should this administration be any different? ...

I think it's someone from the Atlantic Council that wrote it.

I'm not going to hold my breath for Booker and Harris to actually release the confidential information they have to the public. We are once again watching kabuki theater with the same cast.

Democrats can block Kavanaugh if they really want to. It's basically the same playbook that the republicans used every time they are not the majority. We've watched for decades how the democrats are unable to pass their legislation because the republicans put silent holds on them or just threaten to filibuster it while the democrats are always helpless to stop republicans. When is the rest of the country going to see through this farce?

I'm wondering what it's going to take for us to jump the Hell out of the pot of warming water? It's been obvious for a long time that congress does not do anything that will help the 99%, but people still continue to hope that next time the democrats are in power they will undo what the republicans did. They won't of course. Pelosi's pay-go proves that.

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

ggersh's picture

@snoopydawg [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAv1dHo2AdI]

and what's most amazing is trump is not really
doing anything the empty suit didn't do.

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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

lotlizard's picture

@ggersh  
and destabilizing the E.U. by opening the gates wide for North Africans to cross the Mediterranean into Europe or be drowned trying . . .

This along with wrecking Syria and destabilizing the E.U. by setting in motion an ongoing tsunami of migrants from that region.

Too bad the 25th Amendment doesn’t address emergency instant unseating of a POTUS for crimes against humanity.

Or I guess it would, except that our globalist and militarist elites take crimes against humanity as a token of gravitas and sanity — it’s calling out war crimes and trying to stop them that they deem dangerous, traitorous, and insane.

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ggersh's picture

@lotlizard

Or I guess it would, except that our globalist and militarist elites take crimes against humanity as a token of gravitas and sanity — it’s calling out war crimes and trying to stop them that they deem dangerous, traitorous, and insane.
up
0 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

@snoopydawg

yes, of course the democrats could stop kavanaugh if they wanted to. but what they'd rather do is look like they're putting up one hell of a fight (and lose).

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

to post Tweets for almost two hours--won't work. When I try, get the error:

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.

This is the same message I got in mid-August on several occasions, when I couldn't get them to post. Then, eventually, they posted correctly. Go figure.

Anyhoo, it's a shame, because I've gotten a case of 'Twitter Madness,' lately. Wink I've even decided to repurpose yet another old/dormant Twitter account--this one to be used to call out corporatist MSM disinformation/misinformation--starting with the ConspiracyNewsNetwork - CNN!

Biggrin

I'll swing back later this evening, and try again. I have several that I would like to share, and a 'link' is just not as effective, or appealing, IMO.

Thanks for tonight's EB, Joe. After a brief cooling off period, it's back to sweltering. We've been holding our breaths that southernmost residence wouldn't be in Gordon's path; luckily, narrowly missed. However, there were heavy electrical outages, countywide.

Everyone have a nice evening - stay cool!

Bye

Blue Onyx

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

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joe shikspack's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

testing:


edit: looks like it's working, i hope you are able to post your tweets.

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lotlizard's picture

@joe shikspack  
playing dice to see who gets the running shoes.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

Look to see if there are weird emojis in them such as flags or things like that. Remove them and then you should be able to post.

Thought of you when I saw this.

IMG_2542.JPG

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@snoopydawg @snoopydawg

and for the advice.

As a matter of fact, I've added a couple of heart emoji's both to my account profile (within the past 48 hours), and there are also a couple emojis in the body of the Tweet that I'm trying to post. I'll take you up on your advice, and post a Tweet without any emojis.

Appreciate the help!

Pleasantry

Fingers crossed!

Blue Onyx

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

“At the end of the day, people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
~~Maya Angelou

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

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

Blue Onyx

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

“At the end of the day, people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
~~Maya Angelou

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

@Unabashed Liberal
the culprit is the little red heart in the tweet. Look in the tweet code in the text editor and remove the string that starts with U+ followed by a series of alphanumerical characters. These are called unicode characters. Our database doesn't recognize them and will spit out an error message. Remove that character string and the tweet will post.

Twitter is run amok with unicode characters.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@JtC

Tweet that I was wanting to post would be pretty meaningful (I think) to most of our readership, since the man who recently passed away was the closest thing to a modern day 'Saint' in our society (that I know of).

I'll fetch the Tweet code, clean it up, and try to post it, now--without the heart emojis. Very much appreciate the help!

Pleasantry

Blue Onyx

“At the end of the day, people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
~~Maya Angelou

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

enhydra lutris's picture

5150, at least if she somehow gets the gavel.

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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

perhaps she and the orange menace can get a (padded) room together somewhere. (evil grin.)

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lotlizard's picture

@joe shikspack  
https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr02/cia.aspx

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to think our reps in congress, judiciary or executive (forget the military) would be inclined to listen our reasoned arguments about the advantage of continued survival. Cain't afford the counsel in these cases when it goes to court.

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joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

of course they aren't into that continued survival thing. all games have to have a terminal point, otherwise how would you know who won?

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@joe shikspack If this social experiment is hinged on the ability of robots to mate with humans, we might be screwed.

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Azazello's picture

Here's a couple good vids.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEkviNGiYAc width:500 height:300]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAv1dHo2AdI width:500 height:300]

Plutocracy Now! was a good article, have a nice night.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the vids, glad to see that somebody is paying attention to what varoufakis has been saying about the continuing predatory dissection of greece.

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mimi's picture

@Azazello @Azazello
as much I liked and understood what was said in the first one (Varoufakis and austerity in Greecs), the more confused I am about the second one, covering a former economist from the Worldbank.

I definitely think that lady needs to talk a little slower, needs to be translated for the lay person and all in all my guts told me without understanding anything she said that she is not trustworthy. May be Mr. Keiser could do a follow-up for dummies and explains what that was all about.

Tired of all that bitcoin stuff. My currency of the future will be peas, beans, lentils and peanuts. At least I could feed myself with those while you could virtually starve yourself to death in the meantime with those itty-bitty coins.

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Azazello's picture

@mimi
I rarely do, especially if it concerns bitcoin about which I have my doubts.

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

Unabashed Liberal's picture

Thankfully, his mission continues. Here's an excerpt and link to a piece about Stan Brock,

STAN BROCK: THE BRITISH COWBOY TURNED MOVIE STAR WHO RESCUED MILLIONS OF UNINSURED AMERICANS

The British-born Amazonian cowboy gave it all up to devote his life to providing free healthcare for millions of uninsured Americans. Simon Usborne hears his extraordinary story . . .

Stan Brock is nudging 80. His arms, hard as oak boughs, hint at the black belt he holds in taekwondo. His khakis and dust-stained shoes recall a previous life on horseback as a cowboy in the Upper Amazon. Carefully combed hair nods to a brief career as a movie star in films including Escape from Angola (from the man who brought you Flipper). And the epaulettes and badges signify his role as the flying founder of a charity that has earned him a reputation as, variously, a saint and a “medical monk”.

Brock is staying in a hotel during his first visit for decades to Britain, where he grew up, only to run away to Guyana in South America as a teenager. Back in Tennessee, where he now lives, he is homeless and penniless, rolling out his cowboy’s mat each night inside the offices of Remote Area Medical (RAM), which he established in 1985. He eats only rice, porridge, bananas and water, and rarely sits down. Yet a singular devotion to his cause has fuelled a mission to prop up the broken healthcare system of the world’s richest nation.

Trailed by a film crew, which is documenting his extraordinary life, Brock has been invited to London by the Royal Society of Medicine at a time when healthcare in Britain is emerging as a defining issue before the next general election. Politicians, medical professionals and charities all over the world are fascinated by his work. What began as a mission to parachute doctors and medicine into remotest Guyana, has mushroomed to become the largest operation of its kind in America. . . .

Rest In Peace, Mr. Brock.

Give rose

Blue Onyx

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

“At the end of the day, people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
~~Maya Angelou

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

Mark from Queens's picture

@Unabashed Liberal
Wonder if said film has been made and can be seen?

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Mark from Queens

poke around, and see if I can find out. And, if I manage to ferret out anything, I'll post it in this thread.

Glad you liked Mr Brock's story. He was truly a national treasure--for the ages, as they say.

Pleasantry

Blue Onyx

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

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
~~Lao Tzu

“At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
~~Maya Angelou

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Mark from Queens's picture

@Unabashed Liberal
did a segment on him.

Thanks Mollie. Found this.

When 60 Minutes met Stan Brock, the man who brought healthcare to the uninsured

Recently, 60 Minutes heard about an American relief organization that airdrops doctors and medicine into the jungles of the Amazon. It's called Remote Area Medical, or "RAM" for short.

As correspondent Scott Pelley first reported last March, Remote Area Medical sets up emergency clinics where the needs are greatest. But these days that's not the Amazon. This charity founded to help people who can't reach medical care finds itself throwing America a lifeline.

In a matter of hours, Remote Area Medical set up its massive clinic, for a weekend, in an exhibit hall in Knoxville, Tenn. Tools for dentists were laid out by the yard, optometrists prepared to make hundreds of pairs of glasses, general medical doctors set up for whatever might come though the door. Nearly everything is donated, and everyone is a volunteer. The care is free. But no one could say how many patients might show up.

The first clue came a little before midnight, when Stan Brock, the founder of Remote Area Medical, opened the gate outside. The clinic wouldn't open for seven hours, but people in pain didn't want to chance being left out. State guardsmen came in for crowd control. They handed out what would become precious slips of paper - numbered tickets to board what amounted to a medical lifeboat.

It was 27 degrees. The young and the old would spend the night in their cars, running the engine for heat, but not much - not at $3 a gallon. At 5 a.m., Pelley took a walk through the parking lot.

"We got up at three o'clock this morning and we got here about four. We've been out where a little while it's cold," Margaret Walls, a hopeful patient from
Tennessee, told Pelley.

"Why did you come so early?" Pelley asked.

"'Cause we wanted to be seen," Walls replied.

Marty Tankersley came with his wife and his daughter, asleep behind the front seats. Tankersley says he drove some 200 miles to get to the clinic and slept in the parking lot for hours.

"Just to have this done?" Pelley asked.

"Yes, sir. I've been in some very excruciating pain," he replied.

Tankersley had an infected tooth that had been killing him for weeks. Most of the people who filled the lot heard about the clinic on the news or by word of mouth, and they came by the hundreds.

I remember thinking a mainstream report like this would help pull the facade off of We Have The Greatest Healthcare In The World. I mean, shouldn't this have just shattered the myth when our countrymen watched theirs line up desperate in the dead of winter to get free attention, looking just like refugees from a war torn country?

Then two years later we would watch aghast as duped sr citizen zombies, courted and underfunded by the Koch Bros, would astorturf the healthcare debate at town halls across the country. Unbelievable.

Would still like to see a full film.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut