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!
This evening's music features one of the "three kings" of the blues guitar Albert King. Enjoy!
Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign
“Throughout the world what remains of the vast public spaces are now only the stuff of legends: Robin Hood’s forest, the Great Plains of the Amerindians, the steppes of the nomadic tribes, and so forth… Rousseau said that the first person who wanted a piece of nature as his or her own exclusive possession and transformed it into the transcendent form of private property was the one who invented evil. Good, on the contrary, is what is common.”
-- Antonio Negri
News and Opinion
The Prosecution and Persecution of Bradley Manning
The desire to strip Manning of careful intent has been a tactic of the government that is prosecuting him and the mainstream media who parrot their propaganda from the start. Manning did not make “discrete targeted disclosures of classified information”, they claim, instead he “systematically harvested” thousands of documents and “literally dumped” the documents “into the hands of the enemy.” They want us to see him not as a careful, logical man who desired to expose war crimes and criminals. Instead, they tell us, he lashed out because he was a mad homosexual in the military. Instead of portraying Manning as a man with a strong morality, as someone who risked his own safety to expose wrongdoing, they portray him as a frustrated gay man who was bullied and thus illegally released a flood of information without consideration.
Now the prosecution has taken that a step further: not only was he a frustrated homosexual with pent-up anger, but he was an arrogant young man looking for notoriety. ...
In Manning’s own statement in February, he spoke specifically of the Collateral Murder video. He recalled his horror at watching as the men in the helicopter gunned down civilians without regard to human life.
“They dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life, and referred to them as quote-unquote “dead bastards,” and congratulated each other on their ability to kill in large numbers. At one point in the video there is an individual on the ground attempting to crawl to safety. The individual is seriously wounded. Instead of calling for medical attention to the location, one of the aerial weapons team crew members verbally asks for the wounded person to pick up a weapon so that he can have a reason to engage. For me, this seemed similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass.”
And this is why Manning has been made an example of. It is not permitted to expose The Empire for what it is. It is not permitted to pull back the curtain on the rampant greed and disregard for human life that fuels U.S. hegemony. It is not permitted to question the oligarchy. We must buy the line that says that our wars are just, clean, and efficient. We must accept the decrees of the ruling class when they tell us that our involvements abroad in country after country are for our own safety. Fear mongering is essential to keeping the masses under control.
Are you Bradley Manning? High-profile Americans take to YouTube to back Nobel petition
The protesters who descended on Fort Meade military base in Maryland to express frustration with the trial of Bradley Manning have been joined by major American celebrities and journalists, who are also rallying support for the Army whistleblower. ...
The “I Am Bradley Manning” campaign, featuring a video trailer of A-list celebrities and public thinkers voicing support for Manning, pushed viewers to consider if they themselves would have the courage to disclose military video footage in order to stop the carnage.
Actors Russell Brand, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Wallace Shawn join Oliver Stone, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, and journalists Chris Hedges, Matt Taibbi and a slew of others who lend Manning their support. Daniel Ellsberg, the former US Defense Department employee who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War, is also featured.
Elite Enrichment and Police Repression: The Sparks That Lead to the Turkish Rebellion
The plan to destroy one of Istanbul's last green spaces is part of a globally tested neoliberal plan to clear the way for economic enrichment at the top.
The recent spark in Istanbul was provided by a small group of very young environmentalists organizing a peaceful sit-in, Occupy-style, in Taksim Square to protest the planned destruction of one of the city center's few remaining public green spaces, Gezi park.
Gezi park's destruction follows a globally tested neoliberalism racket; it will be replaced by a simulacrum - in this case a replica of the Ottoman Artillery Barracks - housing, what else, yet another shopping mall. It's crucial to note that the mayor of Istanbul, also from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), owns a retail chain that will make a killing out of the mall. And the man holding the contract for this "redevelopment" is no less than Erdogan's son-in-law.
Predictably harsh police repression led to the protesters being joined by top cadres from Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP). And sooner rather than later, the Taksim Square green theme morphed into a Tahrir square-style "Down with the dictator". ...
The behavior of a mostly cowed Turkish broadcast media was predictably appalling - perhaps not surprising when 76 journalists are in jail accused of supporting "terror" and other unspecified "crimes"
Turkish Deputy PM Apologizes as Mass Protests Continue
Ankara's Assault on Dissent: Arrested for Tweeting in Turkey
An apology from Turkey's deputy prime minister saying the violent police crackdown against protesters was "wrong and unjust" may be too little, too late as anti-government protesters brushed off the remarks and continued their demand for reforms on Wednesday.
“They turned this innocent demo into violence… We will never surrender to the police. We want government to step down,” one protester in Istanbul told EuroNews.
“They have no mercy. The police are attacking as if they want to kill us. We don’t trust the police. We only trust ourselves.” said another supporter of Turkey's new social movement. ...
Despite a relative calm in Istanbul, the government crackdown continued aggressively in Ankara and other cities overnight as dozens of youth activists were detained for posting information about the protests on social media outlets and accused of “spreading untrue information,” according to the state news agency Anadolu.
Turkey imported 628 tons of teargas and pepper spray in 12 years – report
Turkey has bought $21 million in tear gas and pepper spray – mainly from US and Brazil – over the past 12 years, Turkish media reported. The US is known for its exports of crowd control munitions to countries rocked by widespread protest.
In total, Turkey imported 628 tons of tear gas and pepper spray between 2000 and 2012, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported quoting Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici.
Turkey is currently being rocked by its biggest wave of anti-government protests in years. At least two people have been killed and thousands injured from clashes with police since the protests began on Friday. Videos and images have emerged on social media showing police in riot gear firing tear gas, using pepper spray and physically beating demonstrators. ...
The US has a history of selling tear gas and other crowd control munitions to countries wracked by widespread protest. Amnesty International harshly criticized the US State Department for approving export licenses for the shipment of crowd control munitions and tear gas to Egypt amidst the violent and often lethal crackdowns on protesters by security forces in 2011.
Pakistan's New Prime Minister: US Drone Attacks 'Must End'
In a speech before the Pakistan parliament on Wednesday, newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif received overwhelming applause when he declared that forcing the US government to end its drone bombing campaign in the nation's tribal areas would be one of his top priorities.
"This daily routine of drone attacks, this chapter shall now be closed," Sharif said to widespread applause in the parliament hall. "We do respect others' sovereignty. It is mandatory on others that they respect our sovereignty." ...
The deadly US drone strikes in the tribal areas have been a source of consistent and widespread outrage in Pakistan, but the US government under President Obama has continued the practice despite popular popular and government warnings saying that they undermine stability in the country and generate more anti-Americanism throughout the region.
As U.S. Deploys Patriot Missiles and F-16s to Jordan, Could Syrian Conflict Engulf the Middle East?
Afghans protest against US forces after discovery of mutilated bodies
When relatives identified three mutilated bodies dug up near a former US special forces base as their missing family members, they decided to take the corpses to the capital of restive Wardak province and organise a protest to spread word of their loss.
By noon on Tuesday, hundreds of people had flooded the streets of Maidan Shar town, blocking the main road to Kandahar and Kabul and shouting "Death to America" and "Death to special forces". By early afternoon two more men were dead and one seriously injured after police opened fire to control what they said was an increasingly violent crowd.
The three bodies were just the latest grisly discovery in the troubled Nerkh district, where locals say a string of civilians disappeared into a military base housing US special forces. They claim they were then tortured and killed. Their families blame American forces, although the base was shared with Afghan troops and a US military spokesman strongly denied any abuses by foreign soldiers.
But locals have continued to blame US forces. "We have found 10 bodies of people killed by Americans in total, seven before and three more today, on the west side of the US base," said Sediqullah, a de-miner whose brother's body was one of the three found on Monday.
Afghan colonel arrested amid probe into alleged US torture – report
The Afghan government has reportedly arrested an army colonel suspected of handing over civilians to one of Afghanistan’s most-wanted criminals. Kabul claims the culprit worked for the US Special Forces, torturing and killing on their behalf.
Afghan authorities are investigating the disappearances and killings of locals in Wardak Province, where at least 11 people have been found dead and seven others remain unaccounted for. Local residents claimed that the victims had all been arrested by US Special Forces. The Karzai government has ordered all Western troops out of Nerkh district, where the disappearances occurred.
Investigators have accused Zakaria Kandahari of leading a death squad that terrorized, tortured and killed Afghans suspected of having links with insurgents. The accusations are based on forensic evidence, witness reports and footage of one torture session.
Kabul believes that Kandahari has US citizenship. The US confirmed that the man worked as an interpreter for the US Special Forces, but says he was no longer employed at the time the alleged crimes were committed.
Joblessness Shortens Lifespan of Least Educated White Women, Research Says
Researchers have known for some time that life expectancy is declining for the country’s least educated white women, but they have not been able to explain why. A new study has found that the two factors most strongly associated with higher death rates were smoking and not having a job.
The aim of the study, which is being published Thursday in The Journal of Health and Social Behavior, was to explain the growing gap in mortality between white women without a high school diploma and those with a high school diploma or more.
The study found that the odds of dying for the least educated women were 37 percent greater than for their more educated peers in any given year in the period of 1997 to 2001. The odds had risen to 66 percent by the period of 2002 to 2006. The authors controlled for age. ... The study weighed more than a dozen factors to see which were causing the divergence in mortality rates. Poverty, obesity, homeownership, marital status and alcohol consumption were among the factors investigated.
But they mattered little. As it turned out, smoking was important, as had long been established, but researchers were surprised that joblessness had a dramatic effect, even after controlling for factors that employment would have generated, like income and health insurance.
North Carolina Peaceful Uprising Continues
Doubling the number of people arrested overall in a single day, 151 people were arrested at this week's 'Moral Monday' protest as they tried to enter the Senate chamber at the state house in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Yesterday's protest, according to local outlet WRAL, was the largest demonstration yet since the state chapter of the NAACP and other civil rights groups began protesting "GOP policies on social programs, education, criminal justice and taxes" more than five weeks ago. Smaller groups of people had been arrested at previous actions, but each time the number grows as more people attend and the group's energy increases. ...
Welcoming the comparison of the populist energy in North Carolina to that witnessed previously in Wisconsin in 2011, Barber said there were also differences. "This ain’t Wisconsin,” he told the crowd. “This is the South, where justice was hammered out.”
Debate: Supreme Court OKs Unfettered DNA Collection — An Invasion of Privacy or a Blow to Crime?
Meet the ‘Lizard King’: Giant 40 million year-old reptile named after Jim Morrison
A giant lizard that lived 40 million years ago at a time when Earth was a hothouse has been named in honour of rock singer Jim Morrison, palaeontologists said on Wednesday.
Around 1.80m (six feet) from snout to tail and tipping the scales at up to 27 kilos (60 pounds), the plant-eating reptile is one of the biggest-known lizards ever to have lived on land.
It competed with mammals for food in the humid tropical forests of Southeast Asia. ...
The palaeontologists have named the long-extinct species Barbaturex morrisoni.
“Barbaturex” means “bearded king,” after the team found ridges on the underside of the jaw that give lizards a beard-like appearance. “Morrisoni” is in tribute to Doors frontman Morrison, famed for his fascination with reptiles and shamanism.
How to destroy the future
What is the future likely to bring? A reasonable stance might be to try to look at the human species from the outside. So imagine that you're an extraterrestrial observer who is trying to figure out what's happening here or, for that matter, imagine you're an historian 100 years from now – assuming there are any historians 100 years from now, which is not obvious – and you're looking back at what's happening today. You'd see something quite remarkable.
For the first time in the history of the human species, we have clearly developed the capacity to destroy ourselves. That's been true since 1945. It's now being finally recognized that there are more long-term processes like environmental destruction leading in the same direction, maybe not to total destruction, but at least to the destruction of the capacity for a decent existence. ...
There have been a range of reactions. There are those who are trying hard to do something about these threats, and others who are acting to escalate them. If you look at who they are, this future historian or extraterrestrial observer would see something strange indeed. Trying to mitigate or overcome these threats are the least developed societies, the indigenous populations, or the remnants of them, tribal societies and first nations in Canada. They're not talking about nuclear war but environmental disaster, and they're really trying to do something about it.
In fact, all over the world – Australia, India, South America – there are battles going on, sometimes wars. In India, it's a major war over direct environmental destruction, with tribal societies trying to resist resource extraction operations that are extremely harmful locally, but also in their general consequences. In societies where indigenous populations have an influence, many are taking a strong stand. ... So, at one extreme you have indigenous, tribal societies trying to stem the race to disaster. At the other extreme, the richest, most powerful societies in world history, like the United States and Canada, are racing full-speed ahead to destroy the environment as quickly as possible. ...
Both political parties, President Obama, the media, and the international press seem to be looking forward with great enthusiasm to what they call "a century of energy independence" for the United States. Energy independence is an almost meaningless concept, but put that aside. What they mean is: we'll have a century in which to maximize the use of fossil fuels and contribute to destroying the world.
Alberta First Nations band wins right to trial over oil sands’ effect on treaty rights
A small First Nations band in Alberta has racked up a big win against the energy industry, clearing the way for a trial over whether its treaty rights are being infringed upon as industrial development such as the oil sands expands.
The Beaver Lake Cree Nation argues the so-called cumulative effects of oil sands and other industries such as mining and forestry violated their treaty rights. The provincial and federal governments grant permits which allow for development. Beaver Lake Cree Nation launched a legal battle five years ago and now Edmonton and Ottawa have lost their attempt to have it tossed out.
The cumulative effects argument is a touchy topic in Alberta and if the Beaver Lake Cree Nation comes out on top, it could force the governments to revamp the way they review and approve industrial projects – namely the oil sands. In short, it could put a damper on a key driver of the Canadian economy.
“This case is about limiting the development of the tar sands,” lawyer Drew Mildon, who represents Beaver Lake Cree Nation, said in an interview.
Energy, mining and forestry projects are typically judged case-by-case, but Beaver Lake Cree Nation argues the overall effect of numerous projects hinders their traditional way of life. The Beaver Lake Cree Nation believes its ability to hunt, fish, and trap have been dented because of roughly 300 projects in which about 19,000 permits have been granted, according to a judgement from the Court of Appeal of Alberta delivered April 30.
Uncertain Future for U.S. Oil Industry
Another Major Tar Sands Pipeline Seeking U.S. Permit
Canadian energy giant Enbridge is quietly building a 5,000-mile network of new and expanded pipelines that would achieve the same goal as the Keystone.
While all eyes are on TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, another Canadian company is quietly building a 5,000-mile network of new and expanded pipelines that would achieve the same goal as the Keystone. In fact, the project by Enbridge, Inc., Canada's largest transporter of crude oil, would bring even more Canadian oil into the U.S. than the much-debated Keystone project. ...
The linchpin of Enbridge's Canadian oil transport system is its proposal to increase the capacity of Line 67 (often referred to as the Alberta Clipper pipeline) to bring an additional 430,000 barrels a day of oil into the United States. Line 67 runs from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisc. and currently ships up to 450,000 barrels of oil a day. Enbridge wants to expand the line’s capacity to 570,000 barrels a day, with the possibility of future growth to 880,000 barrels a day. That's larger than the Keystone XL's proposed daily capacity of 830,000 barrels.
Scientists: Key Parts of State Dept Keystone Review Are 'Without Merit'
Dozens of leading scientists in the fields of climate change, public health and ecology have told the State Department that the findings of its draft assessment of the impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline are "without merit in many critical areas."
In unusually blunt advice, they urged the Obama administration to reject the pipeline as not being in the U.S. national interest.
"How is importing the world's highest carbon content crude consistent with national policy goals?" they asked. "Now is the time to make a serious commitment to place the United States on a lower carbon trajectory. If not now, when? If not here, where?" ...
On April 29, the 29 scientists filed formal comments on the EIS, and declared that "the XL pipeline project poses a number of environmental and human health threats, in addition to exacerbating climate change."
This letter, coming from a group with strong credentials in science, health and environmental policy circles, is one of the more striking criticisms of the EIS to emerge from the bulging docket of more than a million public comments, which are being posted online by the State Department while it considers whether to adjust its findings.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
How Elite Economic Hucksters Drive America’s Biggest Fraud Epidemics
Michael Hayden's DIY Transparency Makeover: FAIL
Former Bradley Manning boss to testify on his ‘erratic behavior’
Bradley Manning Is Guilty of “Aiding the Enemy”—If the Enemy Is Democracy
Inside the Country's Insidious Covert Military Ops in Dirty Wars: Drone Dirt Cheap
Dangerous Lives
we always just called him "Bobby"
A Little Night Music
Albert King Live - I'll Play The BLues For You
Albert King - "As The Years Go Passing By"
Albert King - Feel Like Breakin' Up Somebody's Home
Albert King - Oh Pretty Woman
Albert King - Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven
Albert King - Angel Of Mercy
Albert King - Killing Floor
Albert King - Crosscut Saw
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Albert King - Texas Flood
BB King, Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan- The Sky is Crying
Albert King - Blues At Sunrise
Albert King - Maintenance Shop Blues
It's National Pie Day!
The election is over, it's a new year and it's time to work on real change in new ways... and it's National Pie Day. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to tell you a little more about our new site and to start getting people signed up.
Come on over and sign up so that we can send you announcements about the site, the launch, and information about participating in our public beta testing.
Why is National Pie Day the perfect opportunity to tell you more about us? Well you'll see why very soon. So what are you waiting for?! Head on over now and be one of the first!
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