Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 8:00 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 r&b singer, bandleader and composer Tiny Bradshaw. Enjoy!
Tiny Bradshaw - I'm gonna have myself a ball
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
-- Albert Camus
News and Opinion
Ban on Protest, Massive Police Force in Greece for Merkel Visit
An "unprecedented" security force, protest bans and public anger over EU-imposed austerity measures are set to greet German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she visits Greece on Tuesday.
Thousands have planned to protest the draconian austerity during Merkel's 6-hour visit when she'll meet with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and President Karolos Papoulias.
Opposition party Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras scoffed at Merkel's visit. "She does not come to support Greece, which her policies have brought to the brink. She comes to save the corrupt, disgraced and servile political system," said Tsipras. "We will give her the welcome she deserves." ...
Greek officials have responded by issuing a protest ban and organizing an "unprecedented" security force that involves as least 7000 police and other security forces. ... In addition, public gatherings and marches will be banned between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Ekathimerini reports.
Greek anti-fascist protesters tortured by police
Fifteen anti-fascist protesters arrested in Athens during a clash with supporters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have said they were tortured in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA) – the Athens equivalent of Scotland Yard – and subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation.
Members of a second group of 25 who were arrested after demonstrating in support of their fellow anti-fascists the next day said they were beaten and made to strip naked and bend over in front of officers and other protesters inside the same police station.
Several of the protesters arrested after the first demonstration on Sunday 30 September told the Guardian they were slapped and hit by a police officer while five or six others watched, were spat on and "used as ashtrays" because they "stank", and were kept awake all night with torches and lasers being shone in their eyes.
Some said they were burned on the arms with a cigarette lighter, and they said police officers videoed them on their mobile phones and threatened to post the pictures on the internet and give their home addresses to Golden Dawn, which has a track record of political violence.
Record Venezuela Turnout Hands Chávez Convincing Mandate to Continue Social Agenda
Wow! Now that he works for Obama, Harold Koh thinks it's ok for us to send in drones to kill people in another country for "acting suspicious" (see: "
signature strikes") if the other country's government doesn't complain too much or get in the way.
Obama’s drone war is "probably illegal"
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on debates within the Obama administration about the legality of the drone war in Pakistan. State Department legal adviser Harold Koh, the former dean of Yale Law School and even more former darling of the left for his criticisms of the Bush administration’s aggressive theories of executive power, plays a prominent role in them. Koh apparently concluded that the drone war “veers near the edge” of illegality but does not quite tumble over it.
That is a questionable judgment. The U.N. Charter permits countries to use military force abroad only with the approval of the U.N. Security Council, in self-defense, or with the permission of the country in which military force is to be used. The U.N. Security Council never authorized the drone war in Pakistan. Self-defense, traditionally defined to mean the use of force against an “imminent” armed attack by a nation-state, does not apply either, because no one thinks that Pakistan plans to invade the United States. That leaves consent as the only possible legal theory.
But Pakistan has never consented to the drone war. Publicly and officially the country has opposed it. Before the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, the CIA sent a fax every month to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency that would identify the airspace in which drones would be sent. The ISI would send back an acknowledgment that it had received the fax, and the U.S. government inferred consent on the basis of the acknowledgments. But after the raid, the ISI stopped sending back the acknowledgments.
The Pauperization of America
Half of Wall Street Employees Expect Bigger Bonuses
Almost half of Wall Street employees expect their year-end bonuses to be higher this year than they were a year ago, according to an eFinancialCareers.com survey.
Of the 911 U.S. financial professionals who responded to the e-mailed survey, 48 percent anticipate a higher payout, up from 41 percent in a similar survey last year, the job-search website said today in a statement. Employees of hedge funds and other asset managers were more optimistic than those at banks and broker-dealers, according the statement. Of the respondents, 82 percent work for U.S.-based companies.
“The mood is better, some people will be happier, but we still have another quarter to go,” Constance Melrose, eFinancialCareers.com’s managing director in the Americas, said in a telephone interview. “People are less pessimistic than they were a year ago.”
Occupy members join police in bid to save Ga. home
Less than a year after Occupy Atlanta members clashed with police in riot gear in a downtown park, they're now protesting alongside officers to help a retired detective avoid losing her home to foreclosure.
Activists joined current and retired Atlanta police Monday for a demonstration and discussion at the home of retired Atlanta police Det. Jaqueline Barber in Fayetteville, south of the city.
"The police are in the 99 percent and when it comes down to their economic struggles, we're going to be there to shine a light on those and organize around those," said Tim Franzen. He and others who were involved with Occupy Atlanta are now part of a group called Occupy Our Homes ATL, which focuses on the housing crisis.
Barber said she is under threat of eviction after her medical bills mounted, partly because of a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cell cancer.
Counting the Cost - The giants of commodity trading
Climate Campaigner Tim DeChristopher Released From Prison
Activist Tim DeChristopher, who was jailed for the past 18 months for disrupting a leasing auction for federal oil and gas exploration, has been released from prison. He is due to serve the remaining six months of his sentence at a halfway house in Salt Lake City, reports Deseret News. ...
Although his attorneys have been fighting the conviction arguing that DeChristopher acted out of a greater necessity to protect the environment, that defense was dismissed and the greater environmental implications never became an issue during his trial or subsequent appeals.
Following is an excerpt from a statement released by Tim DeCristopher:
Throughout every stage of this legal process, it has been a predetermined conclusion that I should be punished for standing up to the collusion between government and corporations. Any potential discussion of ethics, justice or the role of citizens has been banished from the court. The government insisted on this back in 2009 when they wrote that such discussions should be relegated to “the public square, not a court of law.” The first development in this case was a preemptive motion by the government to limit our defense, setting the stage for the trivialities which followed. As a result, our defense team has been restricted to debating a narrow range of technicalities rather than the critical issues of the case.
When a conviction is overturned, it is often reported that the conviction was overturned “on a technicality.” Yet is almost never mentioned that every conviction is obtained and upheld on a technicality. Technicalities are the entire foundation of a legal system which has closed itself off to questions of morality and justice. Weighing these questions is the function of a jury, whose role as designed by our founding fathers is to protect fellow citizens from the government. But Judge Benson and the US Attorney’s Office insisted on preventing the jury from fulfilling their duty.
During the voir dire, the US Attorney’s Office was nearly apoplectic when it was suggested to potential jurors that they should use their conscience. After telling jurors that it was not their job to think about what is right or wrong, Judge Benson blocked evidence of government wrongdoing on the grounds that it would “confuse the jury.” That kind of contempt and fear of citizen participation in government is the hallmark of tyranny and the pathway to oppression.
To continue debating technicalities through further appeals would only serve as a distraction from the critical discussion of how citizens should hold their government accountable. If there is any hope of this country ever getting a justice system worthy of the name, that hope lies in fully informed juries of ordinary citizens, not in judges protecting the interests of the powerful.
As Texas Pipeline Blockade Continues, Activists Challenge First U.S. Tar Sands Strip Mine in Utah
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
US Delegation's Message of Peace Received Warmly in Pakistan - by Medea Benjamin and Robert Naiman
Obama Campaign Makes Sure You Know Obama Plans to Cut Social Security
Listen to kos Mr. President - by divineorder
Transgender Health Tales: One movie and two websites
A Little Night Music
Tiny Bradshaw- Free For All
Tiny Bradshaw - The Train Kept A'Rollin'
Tiny Bradshaw - Mailman's Shack
Tiny Bradshaw - Soft
Tiny Bradshaw - Bradshaw Boogie
Tiny Bradshaw - Well Oh Well
Tiny Bradshaw - Bride and Groom Boogie
Tiny Bradshaw - Heavy Juice
Tiny Bradshaw And His Orchestra - Gravy Train
Tiny Bradshaw - I'm A Hi-Ballin' Daddy
Tiny Bradshaw - Walk That Mess
Tiny Bradshaw - The Blues Came Pouring Down
Tiny Bradshaw - Boodie Green
Remember when progressive debate was about our values and not about a "progressive" candidate? Remember when progressive websites championed progressive values and didn't tell progressives to shut up about values so that "progressive" candidates can get elected?
Come to where the debate is not constrained by oaths of fealty to persons or parties.
Come to where the pie is served in a variety of flavors.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." ~ Noam Chomsky
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