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This evening's music features blues and boogie woogie piano player Amos Milburn. Enjoy!

“But just take the jurists' side for a moment: why, in fact, should a trial be supposed to have two possible outcomes when our general elections are conducted on the basis of one candidate? An acquittal is, in fact, unthinkable from the economic point of view! It would mean that the informers, the Security officers, the Interrogators, the prosecutor's staff, the internal guard in the prison, and the convoy had all worked to no purpose.”

-- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

News and Opinion

Worth a click and a full read:

Hedges: Society of Spectacle

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, whose first of six televised hearings began last Thursday, is spectacle replacing politics. There is nothing substantially new in the accusations. The committee lacks prosecutorial power. No charges have been filed by Attorney General Merrick Garland against former President Donald Trump and none are expected. The choreographed hearings, like the two impeachment trials of Trump, will have no effect on Trump voters, other than to make them feel persecuted, especially with more than 860 people already charged (including 306 guilty pleas) for their role in storming the Capitol. The committee echoes back to Trump opponents what they already believe. It is designed to present inaction as action and substitute role-playing for politics. It perpetuates, as Guy Debord writes, our “empire of modern passivity.”

The committee, which most Republicans boycotted, hired James Goldston, a documentary producer and former president of ABC News, to turn the hearings into engaging television with slick packaging and an array of pithy sound bites. The result is, and was meant to be, politics as reality television, a media diversion that will change nothing in the dismal American landscape. What should have been a serious bipartisan inquiry into an array of constitutional violations by the Trump administration has been turned into a prime-time campaign commercial for a Democratic Party running on fumes. The epistemology of television is complete. So is its artifice.

The two established wings of the oligarchy, the old Republican Party represented by politicians such as Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the committee, and the Bush family, are now united with the Democratic Party elite into one ruling political entity. The ruling parties were already in lock step for decades on the major issues, including: war, trade deals, austerity, the militarization of police, prisons, government surveillance and assaults on civil liberties. They worked in tandem to pervert and destroy democratic institutions on behalf of the rich and corporations. They desperately work together now to stave off the revolt by enraged and betrayed white working men and women who support Donald Trump and the far right.

Committee members cloyingly seek to sanctify themselves and their hearings by holding up the Constitution, democracy, the Founding Fathers, due process, the consent of the governed and the electoral process. ...

There was no acknowledgement by committee members that the “will of the people” has been subverted by the three branches of government to serve the dictates of the billionaire class. No one brought up the armies of lobbyists who are daily permitted to storm the Capitol to fund the legalized bribery of our elections and write the pro-corporate legislation that it passes. No one spoke about the loss of constitutional rights, including the right to privacy, because of wholesale government surveillance. No one mentioned the disastrous trade deals that have deindustrialized the country and impoverished the working class. No one spoke of the military fiascos in the Middle East that cost taxpayers over $8 trillion, the for-profit health care system that gouges the public and prevents a rational response to the pandemic, already resulting in over a million deaths, or the privatization of institutions of government, including schools, prisons, water treatment, trash collection, parking meters, utilities and even intelligence gathering, to enrich the billionaire class at our expense.

The gaping hole between the reality of what we have become, and the fiction of who we are supposed to be, is why spectacle is all the ruling class has left. Spectacle takes the place of politics. It is a tacit admission that all social programs, whether the Build Back Better Plan, a ban on assault weapons, raising the minimum wage, ameliorating the ravages of inflation or instituting environmental reforms to stave off the climate emergency, will never be implemented. Those who occupy the “sacred space” of “our constitutional republic” are capable only of pouring money into war, allocating $54 billion to Ukraine, and passing ever higher military budgets to enrich the arms industry.

The wider the gap becomes between the ideal and the real, the more the proto fascists, who look set to take back the Congress in the fall, will be empowered. If the rational, factual world does not work, why not try one of the many conspiracy theories? If this is what democracy means, why support democracy?

Donetsk targeted, Elensky vows to 'liberate.' NATO clueless on Turkey. Scholz wheat plan.

Ukraine asks the west for huge rise in heavy artillery supply

Ukraine has called on the west to supply 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 1,000 howitzers before a key meeting on Wednesday amid concern in some quarters it is pushing its demands for Nato-standard weapons to the limit.

The maximalist request was made publicly by Mykhailo Podolyak, a key presidential adviser, on Twitter on Monday where he argued that Ukraine needed “heavy weapons parity” to defeat Russia and end the war.

That would require, he said, 300 of the multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) – vastly more than seven or so committed thus far by the US and UK – and greater than the 60 or more that other advisers have previously said would meet its needs.

Podolyak’s full list also included “1,000 howitzers” of the Nato 155mm standard, several times more than what has been dispatched so far. The US, the leading arms supplier, had delivered 109 by the end of May.

A special meeting of defence ministers takes place on Wednesday in Brussels, which will be chaired by Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, to discuss future weapons donations, the third such meeting since the war began. Ben Wallace, his UK counterpart, is among those scheduled to attend.

'People Over Pentagon' Proposal Would Take $100 Billion From Pentagon to Fund Social Programs

Progressive advocacy groups across the United States on Monday welcomed a new legislative proposal that would cut Pentagon spending for the next fiscal year by $100 billion and reallocate it toward top threats facing the nation that "are not military in nature."

Public Citizen president Robert Weissman thanked Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.)—co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus—for introducing the People Over Pentagon Act of 2022 to "advance our true national security interests."

"The Lee-Pocan bill disproves the claim that there's not money to feed the hungry, care for the sick, cut child poverty, or protect the planet," said Weissman, noting that "the Pentagon budget is racing toward $1 trillion annually, while free school lunch programs for 10 million children are set to expire in a few weeks."

EU poised to take legal action against UK over Northern Ireland protocol bill

The EU is poised to launch legal action against the UK after ministers controversially claimed an emergency loophole allowed them to scrap post-Brexit checks and standards in Northern Ireland. In a surprising admission, the UK government accepted that its new Northern Ireland protocol bill would mean it did not meet its obligations under international law.

It justified the move under a principle called the “doctrine of necessity”, claiming the protocol was causing “peril” to society and politics in Northern Ireland because of the threat to the Good Friday agreement. Johnson insisted the changes in the legislation were “relatively trivial” measures designed to ease trade disruption between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, as the bill was published on Monday.

But the EU said it would launch legal action for infringing the protocol and a majority of members of the Northern Ireland assembly accused Johnson of being the reckless one by destabilising the Good Friday agreement.

Pffffftttt!!!

Biden Says Saudi Visit About Israel, Not Gas Prices

President Joe Biden answered questions about his potential visit to Saudi Arabia. Biden said that a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) would be about Israeli security, not energy. While Axios reported the trip would come in mid-July, Biden did not commit to making the trip.

Speaking with reporters outside of Air Force One on Sunday, Biden said, "It happens to be a larger meeting taking place in Saudi Arabia. That’s the reason I’m going. And it has to do with national security for them – for Israelis." He continued, "I have a program, anyway. It has to do with much larger issues than having to do with the energy price."

‘Washington Post’ concludes that Israeli soldier killed Shireen Abu Akleh — building pressure on U.S. gov’t

The Washington Post today published an investigation of the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh a month ago and it concludes just what the AP, CNN, and Bellingcat investigations found, and that eyewitnesses said on May 11: An Israeli soldier likely killed Abu Akleh in the occupied territories.

The Post openly disputes the shifting Israeli “claims” about who killed Abu Akleh, and all but accuses the Israeli army of withholding evidence that its soldier killed her. The lengthy investigation will add pressure on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to actually demand an independent investigation and accountability. It will put Joe Biden on the hot seat with journalists when he visits Israel later this month (and surely embraces the prime minister and defense minister and foreign minister).

The Post cites interviews with “multiple eyewitnesses” and reviews of numerous videos and two independent analyses of audio/ballistic evidence to reach the exact same conclusion as CNN: that the gunman was about 600 feet away from Abu Akleh in Jenin, just where the Israeli convoy was that morning.

Biden Says Economy STRONGEST In 80 Years, Market COLLAPSES

US stocks plunge into bear market as S&P 500 and Dow Jones sink

Fears about a possible recession pounded stock markets worldwide on Monday, and Wall Street’s S&P 500 tumbled into the maw of what’s known as a bear market after sinking more than 20% below its record set early this year.

The S&P 500 dropped 3.9% to a new low for the year as investors resumed trading after the weekend and reflected on Friday’s stunning news that inflation is getting worse, not better.

The Dow Jones was down more than 875 points, or 2.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite crumpled 4.7% as investors continued to sour on once high-flying tech stocks.

The center of Wall Street’s focus was again on the Federal Reserve, which is scrambling to get inflation under control. Its main method is to raise interest rates in order to slow the economy, a blunt tool that risks a recession if used too aggressively.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the latest inflation news could lead the Fed to raise its short-term interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. That’s triple the usual amount and something the Fed hasn’t done since 1994. Traders now see a 34% probability of such a hike, up from just 3% a week ago, according to CME Group.

Amazon Pulls STOP THE STEAL To Overturn Union Vote

The Supreme Court may take territories off the map of the US

May the United States rule foreign territories without granting their inhabitants constitutional rights? Yes, according to landmark Supreme Court decisions in the “Insular Cases” more than a century ago. Without those decisions, our overseas territorial empire could not have existed. Suddenly that decision is under fierce attack from within the Court itself. The fate of America’s five populated colonies — Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands — may hang in the balance.

In April the Supreme Court decided what seemed to be an abstruse case about federal benefits owed to Puerto Ricans. But Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinion began with a startling passage. He asserted that the United States has no business deciding anything for Puerto Rico because our ownership of that island — and by extension other US colonies — is unconstitutional.

“A century ago in the Insular Cases, this Court held that the federal government could rule Puerto Rico and other territories largely without regard to the Constitution,” Gorsuch wrote. “It is past time to acknowledge the gravity of this error and admit what we know to be true: the Insular Cases have no foundation in the Constitution and rest instead on racial stereotypes. They deserve no place in our law. . . . And I hope the day comes soon when the Court squarely overrules them.”

Those strong words set off a flurry of activity. Three residents of American Samoa were already suing the US government for denying them full citizenship; like residents of other US territories, they cannot vote in presidential elections, are not represented in Congress, and may only pass laws of which the US government approves. Encouraged by what Gorsuch wrote, they have expanded their case and are now asking that the Insular Cases be reversed. ...

The Insular Cases were decided by a profoundly racist Supreme Court. Justice Henry Billings Brown, who wrote the majority opinion in the key Insular Case, had also written the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that legalized racial segregation. His logic was consistent: If the US government can legally deprive some Americans of their rights, it can do the same to people it governs overseas. The Plessy case has long since been condemned and overruled. The same could soon happen to the Insular Cases.

Libs Push LIZ CHENEY For President

Plastitar: mix of tar and microplastics is new form of pollution, say scientists

The discovery came as a team of researchers were combing the shores of the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canaries. Time and again, set against the sparkling waters that lapped the Playa Grande, they spotted clumps of hardened tar, dotted with tiny, colourful fragments of plastic. They swiftly realised that this combination of tar and microplastics – or “plastitar” as they named it – was unlike any other plastic pollution they had seen. ...

When it comes to plastitar, its formation is simple: as residue from oil spills in the ocean evaporates and weathers, it washes ashore as tar balls that cling to the rocky shores of the Canary Islands. “It acts like Play-Doh,” Hernández Borges said. “And when waves carrying microplastics or any other kind of marine debris crash on to the rocks, this debris sticks to the tar.”

As time goes on, the formation hardens, with everything from bits of discarded fishing gear to plastic pellets and remnants of polyester and nylon becoming fused to the tar.

The researchers found plastitar along the shorelines of several islands in the Canaries, including El Hierro and Lanzarote. It was widespread, in one case stretching across more than half of the area they were examining. The team linked its presence to the archipelago’s location along a key shipping route for oil tankers but they have little doubt that plastitar exists around the world.

Allergies in overdrive as extreme weather drives higher pollen count

Across North America and beyond, people with scratchy throats and puffy eyes are accusing the trees and grass of emitting more pollen than usual. Scientists say they’re not wrong: it is higher – and it’s likely to stay that way in the coming years. ...

At least some of the pollen gathering in drifts in British Columbia and the Pacific north-west is due to last summer’s heat dome – an extreme weather event between 25 June and 1 July 2021 that saw temperatures in the normally temperate region rise above 40C (104F).

In instances of drought and extreme heat, trees become more vulnerable to disease and pests, and as a result may go into a form of survival mode in which they amp up pollen production, said William Anderegg, an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Utah.

Anderegg is the co-author of a 2021 paper that found that the length of pollen season and the concentration of pollen are both increasing. Between 1990 and 2018, pollen production across North America has grown more than 20%, with notable rises in Texas and the midwest.

“When you have especially warm springs, which we’re getting more and more of, that favors these really bad and long allergy seasons,” he said. “And it’s not necessarily that things just have a big burst of pollen, and then they’re done. Many of these species will keep making pollen.” In the coming days, the yellow fog of pine pollen will travel east, sending allergy sufferers in Montreal, New York and Boston into sneezing fits.

It is only mid-June and the #SheepFire in SoCal is burning with an intensity more commonly seen in peak fire season.

Fuels are at/near record dry levels.

An ominous sign for later this summer/fall when vegetation dries out even further. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/MlrE9gdgv7

— US StormWatch (@US_Stormwatch) June 13, 2022

Blazes force evacuations in Arizona and California as another intense fire season begins

Scorching temperatures and desperately dry conditions set the stage for the rapid spread of several explosive wildfires that erupted over the weekend, forcing evacuations in California and Arizona. The blazes are a foreboding sign of what officials are warning will be another intense fire season across the American west.

The so-called Pipeline fire, burning to the north of Flagstaff, Arizona, grew to an estimated 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) after igniting on Sunday, fueled by gusty winds through the desiccated grasses and brush. The windy, warm conditions complicated containment efforts, according to officials, who added that the fire continues to be active on all sides. ...

Nearby, a separate blaze, named the Haywire fire, ignited early Monday morning – likely due to flying embers – and within hours had blackened more than 1,600 acres (650 hectares). The two fires are expected to combine, and are burning near where the Tunnel fire was recently contained in Coconino county.

The fires have forced many residents in the Flagstaff area to evacuate for a second time this season. ...

Meanwhile, in California, evacuation orders were in place Monday for remote homes near a wildfire that flared up over the weekend in mountains north-east of Los Angeles, authorities said. The Sheep Fire, which grew to more than 990 acres (400 hectares), was 18% contained as of Monday afternoon, according to officials, who also said 300 people had been evacuated from the area. ...

Nearly 2.5m acres (1m hectares) have already burned across the US this year, far more than double the amount for last year at this time and more than 128% above the 10-year average, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In preparation for an expected escalation in fire conditions, the agency has also elevated its preparedness to level 2, signifying that “several geographic areas are experiencing high to extreme fire danger”.

Also of Interest

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

Media Tune Down Ukraine Hysteria - Continue To Print Falsehoods

SCOTT RITTER: Turkey Rains on NATO’s Parade

Turkey’s Concerns About Finland and Sweden Joining NATO Are Legitimate: Stoltenberg

Bill Clinton Makes a Pathetic Attempt to Retroactively Justify His Decision to Expand NATO

‘Calibrated’ Dishonesty: Western Media Coverage of Venezuela Sanctions

The WTO, with its ‘market knows best’ ideology, has failed. It’s time to bury it

Ways Capitalism May Be Destroyed

To Fight Inflation, The Fed Declares War On Workers

Five U.S. Megabanks Have Lost $300 Billion in Market Cap in One Year; Crypto Is in Meltdown this Morning; and the Fed Will Hike Rates Further on Wednesday

Bernie Sanders skewers Republican critic of ‘full-on socialism’ in Fox debate

Rolling Stones cancel Amsterdam show after Mick Jagger tests positive for Covid

James Li: EXPOSING Hidden Forces Jacking Up Gas Prices

MARKETS CRASH, Household Wealth DROPS As Powell Says Fed Goal Is To 'Get Wages Down'

Never-Before-Seen Guantanamo Bay Photos RELEASED By NYT

A Little Night Music

Amos Milburn - I Done Done It

Amos Milburn - Let Me Go Home Whiskey

Charles Brown & Amos Milburn - I Want To Go Home

Amos Milburn - Amos' Boogie

Amos Milburn - Empty Arms Blues

Amos Milburn - Milk and Water

Amos Milburn - Bad, Bad Whiskey

Amos Milburn - Every Day Of The Week

Amos Milburn - Chicken Shack Boogie