Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 7:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Hey! Good Evening!
Tonight's music features Paul Geremia a fine acoustic guitarist who performs traditional blues and folk music. Geremia rubbed shoulders with many first generation bluesmen and clearly learned a great deal from them.
Paul Geremia - I Got Mine
"Most commonly revolt is born of material circumstances; but insurrection is always a moral phenomenon. Revolt is Masaniello, who led the Neapolitan insurgents in 1647; but insurrection is Spartacus. Insurrection is a thing of the spirit, revolt is a thing of the stomach."
-- Victor Hugo
News
Longtime Critic of U.S. Empire, Iconoclastic Writer Gore Vidal Dies at 86
Congressional Probe: Cover-Up of "Auschwitz-like" Conditions at U.S.-Funded Afghan Hospital
Check out this quote:
"Now, one of General Caldwell’s things is he’s obsessed with the idea of messaging. He’s obsessed with public affairs. One of the things he’s wanted to do is tear down the traditional wall between public affairs and information operations—which public affairs are for the Americans, information operations are for the enemy—and combine it into one sort of global strategic communication strategy. So, when he was presented with these allegations, these abuses, these photos, this testimony, his response was, "Well, how do we message this? You know, this is not the kind of news we want to get out of here."
And now General Caldwell is the head of U.S. Army North, so he’s back in the United States. And he’s in charge of—in case there’s a catastrophe or martial law or whatever, he would be the guy who would be in charge from the Army side of things."
‘Pepper Spray Cop’ loses his job
A spokesperson for the University of California-Davis, where John Pike was captured pepper-spraying a group of seated protesters last November, said Pike was no longer employed with the school as of Tuesday, but did not specify whether Pike was fired or if he resigned, citing campus privacy rules.
Pike and his supervisor, campus police chief Annette Spicuzza, had been on paid administrative leave since the Nov. 18 incident. Spicuzza resigned in April, saying she did not want it to become a “defining moment” in her career. According to The Bee, Pike’s 2010 salary was reportedly just over $110,000.
Burlington, Vermont - Peaceful Protesters Put Down by Militarized Police Force
Unprovoked, the Burlington Police Department opened fire on unarmed civilians with pepper spray, rubber bullets, and brutal force in order to crush dissent and political opposition to the Northeast Governor’s Conference in Burlington. In addition to Gov. Shumlin, the Conference was composed of Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec Province; and the Governors of New Hampshire, and Maine as well as numerous other delegates who gathered in Burlington to discuss regional economic and security issues. ...
Among the issues raised at the gathering of activists is the alarming fact that over 80% of Vermonters can’t afford a median priced home, that much of our state’s energy solutions are derived from “Green Capitalism” that strips many of the First Nations people of northern Quebec of their rights and culture, and the increasingly crippling amount of student debt facing many who seek higher education. The overall message: We are in crisis and our concerns must be addressed. ...
In an unprecedented display of force in Vermont, about 30 heavily armed black-clad riot police used brute force to clear away the unarmed protesters: plexi-glass riot shields were thrust outward, gloved hands squeezed around throats, the air was filled with projectiles, and a small section of College Street in Burlington resembled a war zone as the police fired their weapons and civilians scrambled for their lives.
First Amendment, Meet Paramilitary Police
Congress Wants to See Obama's "License to Kill" - But if they get it, they won't be allowed to show it to you.
Congress is finally standing up to President Barack Obama on targeted killing. Almost a year after three American citizens were killed in US drone strikes, legislators are pushing the administration to explain why it believes it's legal to kill American terror suspects overseas.
Congress is considering two measures that would compel the Obama administration to show members of Congress what Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) calls Obama's "license to kill": internal memos outlining the legal justification for killing Americans overseas without charge or trial. Legislators have been asking administration officials to release the documents for nearly a year, raising the issue multiple times in hearings and letters. But the new proposals, including one from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) first flagged by blogger Marcy Wheeler and another in a separate intelligence bill, aren't requests—they would mandate disclosure. That shift shows both Republicans and Democrats are growing impatient with the lack of transparency on targeted killings. ...
Now that legislators on both sides of the aisle are pushing for more disclosure, the chances the public will learn about the contents of the targeted killing memos has increased dramatically. Still, Anders says, it's easy to see a difference between how hard Congress pushed for George W. Bush-era memos authorizing torture and the deferential stance Congress adopted during the first three and a half years of the Obama administration.
"When it was Bush, it was much easier to get [legislators] to demand public disclosure," Anders says.
Despite complications, Shell optimistic about Arctic oil drilling plans
Shell recently approached the U.S. Department of the Interior to see if it could begin some pre-drilling work in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas before the barge arrives. ...
Shell's novel oil spill containment barge, a critical vessel that regulators say must be in the Arctic for drilling to begin, remains under construction at a shipyard in Bellingham, Wash. Shell, through its contractor Superior Energy Services, is retrofitting a 38-year-old barge, now called the Arctic Challenger. ...
Federal officials declined to discuss that request but say Shell won't get its drilling permits until the containment system has been tested in the water. ...
Greenpeace's icebreaker ship, the Esperanza, also is in Chukchi near where Shell hopes to drill, researching the sea beforehand. ... "Extreme conditions here in the Arctic mean that an oil spill could not be cleaned up and would devastate this pristine environment," Jackie Dragon, Greenpeace's lead Arctic campaigner, said in an email from the ship.
Greenpeace Discovers Sensitive Coral at Shell's Arctic Drill Site
Exploration vessels deployed by Greenpeace have discovered several coral species thriving on the ocean floor right where Shell is set to begin drilling in the Chukchi Sea.
Environmental groups have being fighting hard to prevent the oil company from starting its drilling operation, saying that the threat to the fragile arctic ecosystem is imperiled by the rush for offshore oil deposits.
“Discovering abundant corals in the Arctic waters right where Shell plans to drill this summer shows just how little is known about this fragile and unique region. Melting sea ice is not an invitation for offshore drilling in the Arctic, it’s a warning that this pristine environment should be protected and dedicated to science,” said John Hocevar, marine biologist and Oceans Campaign Director for Greenpeace USA.
Court rules for towns in Pennsylvania fracking suit
A Pennsylvania court overturned key parts of the state's new natural gas development law that would have stripped municipalities of zoning rights and handed state agencies sole authority to determine where the controversial practice of high-volume hydraulic fracturing should occur.
Critics of the law, Act 13, argued that it would have compelled municipalities to allow hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, almost anywhere a company requested, without taking into account surroundings such as nearby schools, homes and waterways. ...
The issue of who has control over fracking - localities or the state - is playing out almost everywhere that the technique is being used to produce natural gas, and some experts expect this decision to resonate beyond Pennsylvania.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
Extremism Normalized: How Americans Now Acquiesce to Once Unthinkable Ideas
by Glenn Greenwald
Chick-Fil-A story is about so much more than just 'marriage' and 'speech' - by Scott Wooledge
Oakland PD: The Convenient Incompetents
A Little Night Music
Paul Geremia - Tootie Blues
Paul Geremia - Candy Man
Paul Geremia - Statesboro Blues
Paul Geremia - Pony Blues
Paul Geremia - Shuckin' Sugar Blues
Paul Geremia - Meet Me In The Bottom, Good Mornin' Blues
Paul Geremia -- Crazy about a woman that lives in my neighborhood
Paul Geremia - Rising River Blues
Paul Geremia noodles around on a cool old guitar
Paul Geremia@Caffe Lena
We are ready for some serious change. We are ready to take up the tools of a free and analytic press to peacefully undermine the stranglehold of the kleptocrats on our battered democracy. We are ready to expose and publicize their greed, lies and illegal machinations and hold their enablers in government and the media to account. Are you in?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
~ Margaret Mead
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