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 Solomon Burke, "The King of Rock and Soul." Burke was a singer and songwriter who, like Ray Charles, merged post World War II blues and r&b with gospel music and could fairly be called one of the inventors of soul music. Enjoy!
Solomon Burke - Cry To Me
“The ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger.”
-- Fidel Castro
News and Opinion
US, Israel Cancel Mid East Talks on Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone
A NWFZ has been repeatedly proposed, only to have Israel, the region's only nuclear-armed state, reject it
High-level talks between Israel and its Muslim neighbors regarding a nuclear weapons-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East have been canceled by the US and Israel.
A nuclear weapons-free zone has been repeatedly proposed, only to have Israel – the only state in the region with nuclear weapons – reject it in favor of maintaining this nuclear monopoly, further destabilizing the region, and keeping the threat of others’ nukes as a primary excuse for its militarism. ...
While Iran is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has publicly pledged its opposition to nuclear weapons development, has subjected itself to thorough international inspections, and in fact has exactly zero nuclear weapons, Israel has done none of the above and has approximately 200 nuclear warheads. Iran is being severely punished and threatened with attack, Israel is supported with unparalleled economic, military, and diplomatic support.
If Israel agreed to dismantling its vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons and to a deal enforcing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East – a deal Iran and Israel’s Arab neighbors have repeatedly proposed – the supposed threats Israel faces in the region would disappear.
Israel fires warning shots into Syria as violence escalates in Gaza
Israeli troops are engaged on two of the country's borders, firing warning shots into Syria after a mortar shell hit an Israeli army post on the Golan Heights and targeting militants in Gaza in an escalating round of violence over the weekend. Four Palestinian civilians were reported killed in air strikes on Gaza.
In the north, the Israeli Defence Forces' (IDF) response came amid concerns that the civil war in Syria could spill across the boundary into the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967. In the past week, four shells fired from within Syria have landed in the Golan, although none have caused damage or injuries. Eight days ago, three Syrian tanks briefly entered the buffer zone between Syria and the Golan Heights.
The Israeli military lodged a complaint through United Nations forces operating in the area, stating that "fire emanating from Syria into Israel will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity".
The Obama Drone Doctrine
Gosh, I wonder if the United States' sudden, heated interest in retaining a seat on the UN Human Rights Council could have anything to do with the fact that the Council will be launching a war crimes investigation into President Obama's use of drones shortly...
U.S. on edge over Human Rights Council election
The United States has launched a last-minute scramble for votes to secure its spot on the UN Human Rights Council in an election Monday.
US diplomats are said to be “nervous” as they compete with Germany, Greece, Ireland and Sweden for three seats among 18 on the panel to be picked by the United Nations General Assembly.
The 47-member council has taken on a steadily higher profile since it was created six years ago, but the Western nations group is the only one that will hold a competitive poll for seats. ...
The Geneva-based council’s new importance could be seen by the stepped up lobbying for spots.
Golden Dawn - Fasicsts Rising In Greece
Manning Offers to Plead To A Lesser Charge
Juan Cole: Real Petraeus Failure Was Counter-Insurgency in Iraq, Afghanistan
CIA director David Petraeus has resigned following revelations of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, a married U.S. Army reservist. “This personal issue that cropped up and ruined his career in the end, I think it’s very much a minor thing ... compared to his big exploits in Iraq and Afghanistan,” says historian Juan Cole.
Exposé: Veterans Administration Battles Backlog of Claims For Wounded Soldiers
Gov. Brown tells the Obama administration to back off on marijuana
California Gov. Jerry Brown said Sunday on CNN that the Obama administration should respect states that choose to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes.
“It’s time for the Justice Department to recognize the sovereignty of the states,” Brown said, noting that a number of states had medical marijuana laws. “I believe the president and the Department of Justice ought to respect the will of these separate states.”
Colorado and Washington state both legalized the recreational use of marijuana on Election Day. However, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies marijuana as a schedule I drug: the most restrictive classification, reserved drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medicinal value.
Brown said that federal law shouldn’t “nullify reasonable state measures” like regulated marijuana legalization.
“We are capable of self-government,” he added. “We don’t need some federal gendarme to come and tell us what to do. I believe in comity toward the states, that’s a decent respect.”
After Historic Votes Legalizing Marijuana, Colorado & Washington Prepare for Federal Gov’t Showdown
NY Governor: Utility Companies Failed in Sandy
Protests on Long Island as residents are left in the dark
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
Petraeus Scandal is Reported with Compelled Veneration of All Things Military
The Sins Of General David Petraeus
A Little Night Music
Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
Solomon Burke - If you need me
Solomon Burke - Got To Get You Off My Mind
Solomon Burke - Down In The Valley
Rolling Stones-Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke - Proud Mary
Solomon Burke - Keep A Light In The Window Till I Come Home
Solomon Burke - Beautiful Brown Eyes
Solomon Burke - Stupidity
Solomon Burke - Turn On Your Love Light
Solomon Burke - I got the blues
Solomon Burke - Meet me in church
Solomon Burke - Can't Nobody Love You
Solomon Burke - You're Good for Me
Jerry Lee Lewis & Solomon Burke - Who Will The Next Fool Be
Solomon Burke - Get Out Of My Life Woman
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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