The Evening Blues - 9-7-18



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Odds and ends

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features odds and ends that I ran across while putting together other features. Enjoy!

The Maskman and The Agents - Wigs

"Oh, sure, we have another world war coming, and another great depression, but where are the leaders this time?"

-- Kurt Vonnegut


News and Opinion

Email Marked 'Confidential' by GOP Shows Kavanaugh Pushed for John Yoo, Legal Architect of Bush Torture Program, to Be a Federal Judge

Included in the Judge Brett Kavanaugh-related documents the Senate Judiciary Committee strived to keep hidden from the public this week by marking them "committee confidential" are a series of emails in which the U.S. Supreme Court nominee pushed to make one of the country's biggest proponents of torture a federal judge.

Emails released by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in defiance of the committee's Republicans showed Kavanaugh calling John Yoo, the lawyer who authored many of the George W. Bush administration's torture memos, his "magic bullet" and his choice for a vacant seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kavanaugh first sent an email saying he wanted Yoo on the appeals court in November 2001. Upon learning that the attorney was more interested in a job as the CIA's general counsel, Kavanaugh suggested he work in that position for a year before serving as a judge. The conversations regarding Yoo's future representing the CIA in legal matters and judging cases in the nation's largest appeals court were taking place as he was authoring the torture memos. ...


The emails showing Kavanaugh's support of Yoo surfaced shortly after Democrats argued that he also supported the use of torture during his time in the Bush administration.

War in Syria: there are "still some serious differences to work out"

Trump Protects Al Qaeda, "The Resistance” Applauds, Cursing “Russians”

The Trump administration, just like the Obama regime, is willing to start World War III to protect the largest al Qaeda outfit in the world from annihilation by the Syrian government and its Russian, Iranian and Lebanese allies. The New York Times and the rest of the corporate media have also chosen sides in the struggle against terror in Syria; they prefer the sons and daughters of Osama bin Laden to the internationally recognized government in Damascus. The same goes for most of the so-called “resistance” -- the world’s phoniest “left,” who direct their righteous anger at the victims of U.S. imperialism and take their political cues from the corporate rag on 42nd Street, oligarch Jeff Bezo’s propaganda sheet in Washington, and Rachel Maddow, the MS-DNC’s 8 Million Dollar Woman.

The Times today (Wednesday) spent more than 800 words warning that a Syrian-Russian air offensive against “densely populated,” “rebel-held” Idlib Province could result in a “bloodbath,” without once informing its readers that Idlib Province is almost entirely controlled, militarily and civilly, by al Qaeda, now operating as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. Donald Trump, who two years ago accused President Obama of having “founded” ISIS , along with Hillary Clinton -- an essentially correct assessment-- is now all-in with the al Qaeda defense team. “President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province,” Trump tweeted. “The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!”

Just in case the al Qaeda/White Helmets don’t get the message -- that the U.S. is eager to “retaliate” against Syria for chemical weapons use, no proof required -- the White House issued this statement: “Let us be clear. It remains our firm stance that if President Bashar al-Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its allies will respond swiftly and appropriately.” It is an invitation to al Qaeda to stage another “sarin” attack, as the jihadists did on April 4 of last year, resulting in a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian airbase.

Idlib Province is al Qaeda’s last bastion, the place where the Syrian government has allowed defeated Islamist jihadists to retreat, along with their families, so that battles to-the-last-man could be avoided. But al Qaeda cannot be allowed to continue its de facto “caliphate” in Idlib. Not only is the Syrian government entitled to exercise legal authority over all of its territory, but the U.S. is bound by a unanimous United Nations Security Council Resolution to take all steps necessary to destroy al Qaeda and its off-shoot, ISIS, wherever these terrorists raise their heads. Instead, Trump is threatening war to protect al Qaeda’s shrunken realm, while the remaining ISIS strongholds in Syria are located within the U.S. military sphere of influence, from which they have been allowed to stage attacks against Syrian Arab Army units and civilians.

With Turkey reassessing its position, the only allies the U.S. has on the ground in Syria are the Kurds and al Qaeda/ISIS. That’s why Trump is drawing a defensive line around the de facto caliphate in Idlib Province. An anonymous administration official told the Washington Post’s David Ignatius: “Right now, our job is to help create quagmires [for Russia and the Syrian regime] until we get what we want.” What Washington wants is to prevent the reunification of Syria after seven years of U.S. proxy warfare against that nation, at the cost of possibly half a million lives. Every single Syrian death in this conflict is, legally, the fault of the aggressors: the United States and its allies, who spent billions to deploy as many as 100,000 jihadists to wage war against a sovereign nation -- a crime against peace, the highest crime under international law, for which Obama, Clinton and other ranking U.S. civilian and military officials deserve the most extreme punishment. Donald Trump is now guilty of the same crime – the one that ten Nazis were hanged for at Nuremburg.

US warns of Idlib chemical attack as leaders meet on Syria in Tehran

The US has said there is significant evidence that chemical weapons are being prepared by Syrian government forces in Idlib, as Russia, Iran and Turkey meet in Tehran to decide the fate of the region. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is pressing Russia to order the Syrian regime to back off from an assault on the final large opposition enclave, saying it could lead to a bloodbath or mass influx of refugees into Turkey and perhaps elsewhere in Europe.

Erdogan, who proposes a plan whereby rebel groups are given the chance to leave Idlib, is meeting Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani in the Iranian capital. Although the three leaders are also discussing plans for reconstruction, the return of refugees and the fate of Kurds in Syria, the focus is Russia’s determination to oversee a capture of Idlib by force.

“The illegal presence and interference of America in Syria which has led to the continuation of insecurity in that country, must end quickly,” Rouhani said at the beginning of the meeting.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is also urging Russia to hold off and to return to talks in Geneva that he has prepared for next week on a future constitution for Syria.

The warning of evidence of an imminent chemical attack was made by the new US envoy for Syria, Jim Jeffrey. The US has repeatedly said it will not tolerate a chemical attack but has not said how it would respond. Jeffrey said: “I am very sure that we have very, very good grounds to be making these warnings. Any offensive is to us objectionable as a reckless escalation. There is lots of evidence that chemical weapons are being prepared.”

Brazilian politician stabbed: Bolsonaro "may benefit from a martyr effect"

Jair Bolsonaro stabbed: knife attack plunges Brazil's election into disarray

The most acrimonious and unpredictable presidential election campaign in Brazil's recent history has plummeted into fresh turmoil after a leading candidate was stabbed while campaigning. Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right lawmaker and retired army officer, was recovering from surgery in a hospital in São Paulo on Friday morning after he was transferred from the town of Juiz de Fora, where he was stabbed during a campaign event the previous afternoon.

The suspect was arrested within moments of the attack, and told police that he was “on a mission from God”.

Doctors said Bolsonaro will spend at least a week in hospital and could take weeks to recover from life-threatening injuries. Meanwhile his main rival, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is campaigning from behind bars, even though he has been barred from running because of a criminal conviction for corruption.

The election's first round is to take place on 7 October.

German spy chief contradicts Merkel over Chemnitz clashes

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has voiced doubts about claims that far-right mobs chased non-Germans during recent violent demonstrations in Chemnitz, clashing directly with Angela Merkel’s version of events. Hans-Georg Maaßen said in an interview with the tabloid newspaper Bild that he had reason to believe “deliberate misinformation” had been spread.

“I share the scepticism towards media reports of rightwing extremists chasing down foreigners in Chemnitz,” he said. He had “no evidence to suggest that the video of this alleged incident circulating online is authentic”. He did not identify the video in question.

Officers from his Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) are reported to be trawling through evidence of the events in Chemnitz in late August, including hundreds of hours of film footage.

Far-right extremist groups rallied in Chemnitz after the fatal stabbing of a local man, allegedly by two refugees who are in police custody. The groups were joined by thousands of local people. Numerous participants shouted anti-foreigner slogans and held up their arms in illegal Nazi salutes. Non-German citizens, police and reporters were among those injured in the ensuing clashes.

German politicians accused Maaßen of downplaying a large amount of evidence, including witness accounts and video footage.

In Senate hearing, Facebook pledges to replace “bad speech” with “alternative facts”

Wednesday’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was a milestone in the transformation of the social media companies into an advanced system of censorship and propaganda. If one were to judge by Sandberg’s public statements before the Senate, the world’s largest social network has dissolved itself into the American state intelligence apparatus, and vice versa.

“When we find bad actors, we will block them,” Sandberg threatened. “When we find content that violates our policies, we will take it down…We are even more determined than our adversaries… This is an arms race, and that means we need to be ever more vigilant.” Facebook’s goal, Sandberg implied, is to stop “bad” speech, and to promote “good” speech. But throughout two and a half hours of testimony, no one saw fit to ask one basic question: How does this drive to suppress “bad actors” relate to the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects not just “good” speech, but all speech?

This question was never asked, because what Sandberg, Dorsey, Democratic Party Senator Mark Warner and the assembled congressmen are doing is flagrantly unconstitutional.

Sandberg said that when content is “marked as false,” by Facebook’s fact-checkers, “we dramatically decrease the distribution on our site, we warn you if you’re about to share it, we warn you if you have shared it, and importantly, we show related articles next to that so people can see alternative facts.” ...

Sandberg’s use of the term “alternative facts,” no doubt inadvertent, is nonetheless significant. The phrase gained notoriety after a 2017 television interview with Trump administration aide Kellyanne Conway in which “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd demanded to know why the White House would “utter a provable falsehood.” In response, Conway declared the White House was presenting “alternative facts.” Todd memorably pushed back, “Look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”

Sandberg’s “alternative facts” are also “not facts.” They are state propaganda. She is describing a machine that detects when its users make a statement that Facebook deems unacceptable and replaces “bad speech” with “good speech” and “alternative facts.”

Wall Street Journal Plays Dumb About Amazon Poverty Wages

Billionaires v teachers: the Koch brothers' plan to starve public education

Arizona has become the hotbed for an experiment rightwing activists hope will redefine America’s schools – an experiment that has pitched the conservative billionaires the Koch brothers and Donald Trump’s controversial education secretary, Betsy DeVos, against teachers’ unions, teachers and parents. Neither side is giving up without a fight. With groups funded by the Koch brothers and DeVos nudging things along, Arizona lawmakers enacted the nation’s broadest school vouchers law, state-funded vouchers that are supposed to give parents more school choice and can be spent on private or religiously affiliated schools. For opponents, the system is not about choice but about further weakening the public school system. A half-dozen women who had battled for months against the legislation were angry as hell. ...

We walked outside the Capitol Building, and we looked at each other, and said, ‘What now?” said one of the women, Dawn Penich-Thacker, a mother of two boys in public school and a former army public information officer. “We had been fighting this for four months. We realized that there’s something we can do about it. It’s called a citizens’ referendum. We said, ‘Let’s do it.’” Little did they know the challenges ahead. They would need 75,321 signatures to get their referendum on the ballot to overturn the law. They formed a group, Save Our Schools, and set out to collect the needed signatures. Opposing lobbyists sneered, saying no way could they do that.

The six women inspired a statewide movement and got hundreds of volunteers to brave Arizona’s torrid summer heat to collect signatures – in parks and parking lots, at baseball games and shopping malls. ... Save our Schools submitted 111,540 signatures to the secretary of state in August 2017, but the Koch brothers’ political arm, Americans for Prosperity, sued to block the referendum. A judge dismissed the lawsuit and approved the referendum for 6 November – it’s called Proposition 305. The vote will be closely watched by people on both sides of the debate as the Kochs and DeVos hope to spread the voucher scheme and opponents look to Arizona for clues on how to stop them. ...

The teachers’ union strongly backs Save Our Schools’ effort to overturn the law. “The Koch brothers and DeVos are trying to do everything they can to divert money that should go to the public-school system, where 90%-plus of students go,” said Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association. Last April, tens of thousands of Arizona teachers went on strike for six days to demand higher pay and school funding. Ducey promised them a 20% raise by 2020, but convinced that he did not put enough money into the budget to finance those raises, the teachers’ union got a second referendum on the ballot that would increase income taxes on richer households to raise over $600m a year for education. The Arizona Supreme Court threw it off the ballot last Wednesday, with the union calling it a Ducey-backed “low blow” that cheats voters out of the opportunity to increase education funding.

Owned: Chuck Todd’s Conspiracy Tweet - Epic Fail

Michael Moore is warming up a new narrative. The note on his website suggests that the cure for Trump and Trumpism that he proposes has something to do with voting (in large numbers, of course).

'The Symptom, Not the Disease:' Michael Moore's New Film Shows How Deep Political Dysfunction—and Failure of Democrats—Set Stage for Trump

With the premiere of his latest documentary film, "Fahrenheit 11/9," receiving a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, filmmaker and activist Michael Moore issued a plea to audiences to come away from the movie with an understanding that simply removing President Donald Trump from office won't do away with the circumstances which led to him being there. "Donald J. Trump did not just fall from the sky," wrote Moore in a statement on his website. "His rise to the presidency was not an aberration and should not have come as a shock."

The feature-length documentary will be released in theaters nationwide on September 21, with the message, as Sophia McClennen wrote at Salon, that Trump is "the symptom" of deep dysfunction within U.S. democracy—"not the disease." ...

In addition to Trump, Moore takes aim at Obama for his administration's insufficient response to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, as well as Democratic establishment leaders including Nancy Pelosi and the Clintons for driving the party to become increasingly beholden to corporate interests while ignoring the needs of working class families and the common good.

"This film is the moment of truth we've all needed for some time," Moore wrote on his website, "and I believe its release in theaters nationwide on September 21 may well be the real beginning of the end for Donald J Trump (and perhaps, more importantly, the eventual end of the rotten, corrupt system that gave us Trump in the first place)."

"It's a story about hope—and what false hope has done to us. It's a story about deception and betrayal," he continued. "It's a story about what happens to a nation when it hits rock bottom. It's the story about who we are as a people and what it means to be an American in the era of Trump."

Centrist stink-tanks are working up a new narrative, too. Worth reading in full:

The Establishment’s Bi-Partisan Fear of Popular Revolt

The two most powerful think tanks in Washington, representing center-left and center-right political elites, have responded to the populist shocks of the 2016 presidential election by trying to reposition themselves and the Democratic and Republican Parties as more sympathetic to populist concerns even while maintaining their attachments to the interests of big business and the complex of war-making. The Center for American Progress (CAP), linked to the Democratic Party establishment, and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which is close to the Republican Party, have issued two long papers in recent months reflecting their high anxiety over the rapid growth of populism on both sides of the Atlantic — especially in light of the shocking success of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton and mainstream Republicans during the 2016 presidential election cycle.

But the papers suggest that neither organization is ready to depart from the economic and military policies preferred by the powerful elites that still control the two major parties. And the more recent paper attacks Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders for being insufficiently hawkish in regard to Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). An initial joint paper published on May 10 urged the two parties to make far-reaching changes in policy and operations, citing their “need to recognize that they are in a moment of crisis — a moment that could portend a long-term realignment — and develop a strategy for managing change.” It also warned that they “got into the current crisis by seeming indifferent to the concerns that drive constituencies drawn to extreme populists.”

The authors of that paper further identified a series of “striking commonalities” between left-wing and right-wing populism in the United States regarding attitudes toward key issues: “deep suspicion of America’s overseas military actions; alarm about the rise of a surveillance state; mistrust of major institutions; and suspicion of global elites.” They pointedly warned, “Much of this cynicism is borne from the endless wars since the beginning of the 21st century as well as the experience of the Great Recession — ascribed by many to the misdeeds of an elite that avoided accountability.”

But none of the 31 top executives and vice-presidents of CAP were involved in the writing or approved the text. It was co-written by Vikram Singh, CAP’s former vice president for national security and international policy and now a senior fellow; Liz Kennedy, CAP’s senior director for democracy and government reform, and Dalibor Rohac, a research fellow on European political and economic trends at AEI.

Roe v. Wade in Danger: Released Docs Reveal Kavanaugh Thinks Abortion Decision Is Not “Settled Law”

'Kavanaugh Committed Perjury': New Documents Appear to Show Trump Supreme Court Pick Lied Under Oath

"How much perjury is too much perjury from a Supreme Court nominee?" That was how one commentator responded to a flurry of new documents and emails released on Thursday by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that appear to show President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath during hearings for his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2004 and 2006.

In 2004—after a Senate sergeant-at-arms report found that Republican staffer Manuel Miranda had stolen confidential communications and documents from Democratic senators—Kavanaugh told the Senate that he never received "documents that appeared...to have been drafted or prepared by Democratic staff members." But new emails made public by Leahy on Thursday appear to show that Kavanaugh "got 8 pages of material taken verbatim from [the Vermont senator's] files, obviously written by Dem staff, labeled 'not [for] distribution." The stolen material detailed Democrats' efforts to oppose President George W. Bush's judicial nominees.


During Wednesday's confirmation hearing, Leahy confronted Kavanaugh over the apparent contradiction between these emails and the judge's 2004 testimony, but Leahy said he was not permitted to make the emails public because they were deemed "committee confidential." The documents were released on Thursday, however, and they show that Kavanaugh received an email that detailed information gathered by a "mole for us on the left"—an indication that the information was acquired improperly.

"Kavanaugh committed perjury, [Iowa Sen. Chuck] Grassley knows that he committed perjury, and tried to keep the proof of Kavanaugh’s commission of perjury confidential," noted Dante Atkins, communications director for Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.). "This is horrid and unconscionable."



the horse race



Who could resist a headline like this?

Trump defends his own mental health — then compares his ramblings to the Gettysburg Address

After a roughing-up from Bob Woodward and a bruising ambush by the New York Times, Trump rolled into Billings, Montana, Thursday to deliver a rally speech so unhinged that even his supporters appeared bemused.

During a barely coherent address before a subdued, often silent crowd, Trump repeatedly defended his own mental health, warned against his own impeachment and struggled to pronounce words.


The rebel official within his administration who penned the anonymous New York Times op-ed was clearly on his mind. But he couldn't articulate that.


In a wild flourish, Trump compared himself to one of the greatest presidents in American history, saying the Gettysburg Address had also been excoriated by the “fake news media” back in 1863.




the evening greens


Worldwide #RiseForClimate Events Kick Off to Demand Action on Crisis of Warming Planet

Building up to a mass mobilization planned for hundreds of cities across the globe on Saturday, campaigners have already kicked off #RiseForClimate demonstrations that aim to raise awareness about the climate crisis, encourage urgent action from policymakers to keep fossil fuels in the ground, and call for a full transition to renewable energy.

More than 800 actions are planned throughout the world and in the United States, from smaller towns and cities like Portland, Maine, to the Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice event San Francisco—expected to draw thousands for the West Coast's largest ever climate march. Those interested in participating can locate events using the movement's map and searchable database. ...

"We are bringing people from frontline and communities of color, union members, environmental activists, people of faith, and young people together for both a moment...and a movement," noted People's Climate Movement national director Paul Getsos. He emphasized the importance of "connecting the actions"—which include community forums, rallies, and vigils—"to building power at the local and state level, and from the mid-terms to 2020 and beyond."

"This weekend Rise for Climate will demonstrate the growing strength and diversity of the climate movement," which is "made stronger by its sister movements: for human rights, economic justice, democracy, and much more," declared 350.org executive director May Boeve.

ACLU Fears Protest Crackdowns, Surveillance Already Being Planned for Keystone XL

The Keystone XL pipeline is expected to draw protests from indigenous and environmental activists when construction begins, and many activists are worried law enforcement agencies may be planning surveillance and a militarized response. Now, the American Civil Liberties Union is accusing federal agencies of trying to hide the extent of these preparations, which the group says are clearly underway. The ACLU and its Montana affiliate sued several federal agencies this week, including the Departments of Justice, Defense and Homeland Security, saying the agencies are withholding documents that discuss planning for the expected protests and any coordination among state and local authorities and private security contractors.

Fears about the law enforcement response follow the 2016 armed crackdown on people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, where authorities used tear gas and turned water cannons on protesters in freezing temperatures. Since then, dozens of bills and executive orders have been introduced in at least 31 states to clamp down on protests. Activists say the bills are part of a concerted campaign by energy companies and their allies in government to suppress these protests by increasing criminal penalties for minor violations and in some cases trying to use anti-terrorism laws against activists.

The ACLU says documents it obtained from state agencies in Montana suggest law enforcement agencies have begun extensive trainings in preparation for the Keystone XL project, and that federal agencies are involved. The records raise concerns that law enforcement agencies are preparing to stifle any protests even before they've begun, said Alex Rate, legal director of the ACLU in Montana.

"What we're concerned about is the surveillance and crackdown on peaceful protesters," Rate said. The records suggest law enforcement officers were given anti-terrorism and social media trainings in preparation for anticipated construction of Keystone XL and any related protests. "I think it would come as news to many people that the government is doing this to prepare for environmental protests about legitimate issues," he said.

Documents that have been released suggest federal and state agencies have created an interagency team and have been conducting trainings for local law enforcement on how to handle the protests. One email from an intelligence specialist in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana to a state official said the office would be hosting an anti-terrorism training event in August.


Also of Interest

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

We Love the CIA!—Or How the Left Lost its Mind

How Bill Clinton Paved the Way for Trump's War on Immigrants

‘Voters Have to Remain Vigilant to Make Sure They Are on the List’

Kavanaugh says he sometimes sides with environmentalists. They disagree.


A Little Night Music

Jimmy Hughes - It Ain't What You Got

Anna King - Mama's Got A Bag of Her Own

Jimmy Hughes - Neighbor Neighbor

The Mask Man and The Agents - Roaches

The Contours - Whole Lotta Woman

Vernon Harrel - Slick Chick

The Maskman & The Agents - One Eye Open

Johnny Nash - I'm Moving On

Don Gardner - My Baby Likes To Boogaloo


Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

snoopydawg's picture

I bet no one ever excepted to read this sentence

the only allies the U.S. has on the ground in Syria are the Kurds and al Qaeda/ISIS.

The Center for American Progress is Hillary's new gig and Markos was working with it at one time. This time just happened to be when she was running for pres ... just a coincidence right?

With all the evidence against Kavanaugh it's simply amazing how the republicans are still set on putting him on the SC isn't it? And even though the information about his past deeds is being exposed by the democrats they still aren't taking the avenues that they can to stop his confirmation.

Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

And yet 31 states have done just that. Allowing private mercenary companies to have access to people's personal information is unconstitutional, but that gawd-damn piece of paper has long been nullified. Our government that swears an oath to protect it has p*ssed all over it again and again.

I swear that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; ... and then turning around and arming and funding those foreign enemies. smh

Thanks for another week of news and blues, joe.

up
0 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

With all the evidence against Kavanaugh it's simply amazing how the republicans are still set on putting him on the SC isn't it?

frankly, it doesn't surprise me at all. republicans are pretty much shameless, both personally (scandals don't seem to drive them from office in the same way that they drive out democrats) and in their party's exercise of power (think merrick garland) note that democrats are generally unwilling to press whatever advantages that they are able to obtain.

up
0 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

I caught the last part of Democracy Now! today and I think Amy "White Helmets" Goodman may be on the verge of an epiphany. From today's show, Idlib on Brink of “Humanitarian Catastrophe” ...

AMY GOODMAN: Your book takes us both deep inside Assad’s prisons to covert meetings where foreign states and organizations manipulate the rebels, and to the highest levels of the Islamic militancy and the formation of ISIS. Just give us a sense of this.

RANIA ABOUZEID: I wanted to show—so often, we see people for a moment in time. We see them in news reports—I’m thinking, for example, of the young toddler, Alan Kurdi, who washed up on a beach as his family tried to escape, to cross the Mediterranean to safety.
We saw that young child’s lifeless body on the beach, but that was it. We didn’t really know what happened before the family got on the boat and what happened to the family afterwards. So in my book, I wanted to present a longer spectrum. I wanted to show real people in a place over six years, so that you could understand something of their motivations and get a broader spectrum of their experience.

At the same time, I also went back and investigated many of the key sort of moments, in terms of the arming and the later Islamization of the uprising. I wanted to talk to people who were in the room with the Saudis and the Qataris and the Turks and the Americans and the British, to see what was being promised, what was being said—the arms that were supplied, when that happened, where they came through—and to map out the trajectory, on an investigative level, not just a human level, of what happened in Syria over the past six years.

I hope Amy gives that book a good, close read. Maybe she'll start to figure out just who these "rebels" are, where they come from and why they're in Syria.
Arizona Report:

up
0 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

i don't know, amy sure seems to have the religion these days on a number of topics. an epiphany on syria would be quite welcome. it's hard to have a credible "war and peace report," when you can't even-handedly assess the players.

i hope that the arizona teachers' referendum action is going well.

have a great weekend!

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Looks like retaking Idlib is not going to happen yet.

'Hope they come to their senses': Tehran summit ends with call for Idlib terrorists to lay down arms

Turkey seems to have prevailed during tripartite talks with Russia and Iran, convincing the other parties that a major offensive in Syria's Idlib governorate would not be the wisest move at the moment.
The situation in Syria was discussed in Tehran on Friday by Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Iran's Hassan Rouhani as part of the so-called "Astana process." The leaders of Iran and Turkey disagreed on what action should be taken in Syria's Idlib, the last major stronghold of armed groups in the country, which is dominated by hardcore jihadists.
....
Erdogan reiterated his government's concern over the potential death toll of an offensive in highly populated Idlib, where an estimated 3.5 million people are currently living. Turkey, which borders the Syrian governorate, is also objecting to a major operation there because it would likely cause a major exodus of refugees across the border, with extremists potentially sneaking in with refugees.
....
At Erdogan's suggestion, the final communique of the summit was amended to include a call for all armed groups in Idlib to lay down arms and seek a political transition in the country. Putin and Rouhani agreed, which may indicate that a major offensive in Idlib is not likely to be launched in the immediate future, unless some major development happens on the ground.

I didn't understand why Syria and Russia allowed the terrorists (and their families) were allowed to leave one city and go to live in Idlib in the first place. Less civilian casualties of course, but what about the civilians who are now living with them in Idlib? Oh well. I'm thinking that the false flag isn't going to happen now. ISIS doesn't need its buddies to protect them.

This is a sad article about what happened to Libya.

Libya in chaos seven years after NATO's 'liberation', but who cares?

I damn well do. Damn this country for its brutal arrogance!

up
0 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

I didn't understand why Syria and Russia allowed the terrorists (and their families) were allowed to leave one city and go to live in Idlib in the first place.

this is my understanding. as assad's troops took cities, they allowed the militants and their families/supporters to move to other strongholds. presumably this was done to limit the carnage in the various cities that assad retook. now that the jihadis are down to one last holdout, there's really nowhere for them to go unless some other country would like to host a bunch of heavily-armed, war-hardened jihadis. one would guess that saudi arabia isn't all that interested in taking back their jihadi nationals.

so, really at this point it's a question of whether a political solution can be crafted that will satisfy all parties or if hostilities are the only mutually satisfactory solution.

up
0 users have voted.
The Aspie Corner's picture

up
0 users have voted.

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

it's a tough choice between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dim. Smile

up
0 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

Thanks for all your great work JS! Great music tonight... One day we will regret what we did in Iraq, Lybia, Syria, Yemen, but not soon enough, or yet unfortunately. Kavanaugh is another nightmare waiting to happen. As bad as the was it 7 or 17 they just approved without hearings !?!?!?!(*(**%&$%! Some judicial process they have to maintain jurisprudence. But the perks are great, socialized medical!

Have a great weekend!

up
0 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

One question: did anyone ever get the chance to ask Kavanaugh about his connection to Yoo and what he meant by his "ace in the hole" ?
Besides everything else about this guy, that is some scary shit.

For a second: the Michael Moore thing sounds interesting: I've been kind of 80/20 on him to be honest, often neolibrul, but I'll excuse it given Michigan and Detroit/Flint etc.

He says about the film:

"It's a story about hope—and what false hope has done to us. It's a story about deception and betrayal," he continued. "It's a story about what happens to a nation when it hits rock bottom...."

This is also to say: That would be a great name for a band: Rock Bottom.
Seriously. Someone ought to trademark that one. Wink

up
0 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@peachcreek

i don't know about the "ace in the hole" comment, but leahy did ask kavanaugh a question about working with yoo.

heh, i have mixed feelings about moore. i appreciate his genuine concern for the people of flint and the working class in general. i appreciate his sense of humor and his willingness to confront the powerful.

on the other hand, i think that he is somewhat naive about what it is going to take to wrest power from the hands of those who control it now. his solutions always seem to revolve around organizing to vote. that would be fine if we really lived in a democracy, but of course we don't.

his apparent failure to grasp what it is going to take and advocate for it makes his speaking truth to power an exercise that they can deal with, since it is really pretty non-threatening.

up
0 users have voted.
Unabashed Liberal's picture

to see that I failed to post a comment earlier this evening. Forgetting that Chrome won't allow me to post Tweets, I typed my comment in the wrong browser. It appears that after I retyped it in Firefox, I failed to actually post it (too many windows open, I suppose).

Anyhoo, here's a USA Today article, and a link to O's speech--if anyone cares,

Read transcript of former President Obama's speech, blasting President Trump

USA TODAY Published 3:34 p.m. ET Sept. 7, 2018 | Updated 8:56 p.m. ET Sept. 7, 2018

Former President Barack Obama on Friday launched a direct and blistering attack on President Donald Trump and Republicans and called on Americans to get to the ballot box in November to "restore some semblance of sanity to our politics."

At one point referencing the "crazy stuff coming out of this White House," Obama told students and others gathered at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that even if they don't agree with Democrats on certain issues, they should still want to see a "restoration of honesty and decency and lawfulness in government."

Here is a transcript of Obama's speech as provided by his office . . .

Finally, repurposed a defunct Twitter account that I'll be using to take on 'ConservaDems.' This will be my "in your face" account, compared to my other one, which I've kept relatively low key, since I interact with a few 'dog people,' and, don't want to freak them out. Biggrin

Anyhoo, found a few cool posters/charts online, one of which is attached to this 'one word' reply,

Hope you and yours have a nice weekend. Should cool off in our neck-of-the-woods, but, since we have to travel (relatively short trips) to two medical centers this coming week, haven't a clue what we'll be dealing with, weather-wise.

Bye

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

up
0 users have voted.

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

Good morning Evening Blues people. I say Michael Moore is not helping anyone or anything by regurgitating yet another Bradury title. D-Retread, hope he goes away now that he's done jumping the shark twice. Just Go Away

Could ya BE any more dystopian?
lol
JPMorgan Is Thinking Pitchforks and Fed Stock Buying in the Next Financial Crash

If you thought the U.S. outlook could not get any more dystopian, think again. JPMorgan Chase issued a report earlier this week to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Wall Street crash and provide its outlook for what’s ahead. JPMorgan suggests that the next financial crash may be so cataclysmic that the Federal Reserve may have to enter the market to buy up stocks – something which the central bank has never done before in the U.S. or, at least, acknowledged doing, because stock ownership is heavily skewed to the one percent.

JPMorgan further suggests that if the Fed did take this unprecedented step, it might lead to pitchforks in the street (our phrase) as a class war breaks out. (Imagine the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011 and 2012 and then amplify that by years of pent up anger.)

WTF? So it's already been planned, the wretched tech mafia will get bailed out by the central banks printing more money for stock buybacks. Because what would the world do now without Bezos trillion dollar baby? D-Value campaign: "Not for Trillionaires", but millions and billions are fine! ROI
---
I think Trump's mental healthcare symptoms are a reflection of diseased society, the pHarma is not helping enough. In fact, it is harming (connect the shooter dots why not) but p$ychiatrists won't admit it because insurance liability. Psychiatrists who teach government workers how to torture human beings, that is what our society became again under George Bush. Nothing has changed. Obama made it worse in 2012, approving PsyOps, psychological operations on US citizens, instead of just everyone else. He built this cesspool, now he floats around whining about it. meh

peace

up
0 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@eyo

of course jp morgan is thinking about a bigger crisis this time than last. the bigger the better, since the fed will hallucinate a bonus for wall street and give them an enormous number of 1's and 0's while giving the rest of us another, larger dose of austerity dee-luxe.

up
0 users have voted.