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 Motown musician Stevie Wonder. Since Stevie Wonder is such a prolific artist with a long career, tonight's music is from his early work up to the early 1970's. Enjoy!
Little Stevie Wonder - Fingertips
“Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a bad war.”
-- Norman Mailer
News and Opinion
Snowden asks Russia for asylum
Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport
Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.
It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.
I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."
Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.
That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.
Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement – the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president’s plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.
Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.
I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela’s President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.
This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.
If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.
Thank you.
Edward Snowden has not replied to asylum offer: Venezuela
US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has yet to reply to Venezuela’s offer of asylum, Venezuelan foreign Minister Elias Jaua told AFP on Thursday.
“Not yet,” Jaua said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Mercosur trade bloc in Montevideo when asked if Caracas had received a response to the offer.
He added that his government has had no contact with Snowden, who is believed to have been stranded at Moscow’s international airport since June 23.
CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou’s Open Letter to Edward Snowden
Dear Ed:
Thank you for your revelations of government wrong-doing over the past week. You have done the country a great public service. I know that it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders right now, but as Americans begin to realize that we are devolving into a police state, with the loss of civil liberties that entails, they will see your actions for what they are: heroic. Remember the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” That is what’s happening to our country now. Your whistleblowing will help to save us.
I wanted to offer you the benefit of my own whistleblowing experience and aftermath so that you don’t make the same mistakes that I made.
First, find the best national security attorneys money can buy. I was blessed to be represented by legal titans and, although I was forced to take a plea in the end, the shortness of my sentence is a testament to their expertise.
Second, establish a website so that your supporters can follow your case, get your side of the story, and most importantly, make donations to support your defense.
Third, you’re going to need the support of prominent Americans and groups who can explain to the public why what you did is so important. Although most members of Congress are mindless lemmings following our national security leadership over a cliff, there are several clear thinkers on The Hill who could be important sources of support. Cultivate them. Reach out to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Government Accountability Project and others like them who value our individual freedoms and who can advise you.
Finally, and this is the most important advice that I can offer, DO NOT, under any circumstances, cooperate with the FBI. FBI agents will lie, trick, and deceive you. They will twist your words and play on your patriotism to entrap you. They will pretend to be people they are not – supporters, well-wishers, and friends – all the while wearing wires to record your out-of-context statements to use against you. The FBI is the enemy; it’s a part of the problem, not the solution.
I wish you the very best of luck. I hope you can get to Iceland quickly and safely. There you will find a people and a government who care about the freedoms that we hold dear and for which our forefathers and veterans fought and died.
Sincerely,
John Kiriakou
MP Clare Daly: World kowtowing to US over Snowden asylum
In 'Chilling' Ruling, Chevron Granted Access to Activists' Private Internet Data
"Sweeping" subpoena violates rights of those who spoke out against oil giant's devastating actions in Ecuador
The US government is not the only entity who, with judicial approval, is amassing massive amounts of personal information against their so-called enemies.
A federal judge has ruled to allow Chevron, through a subpoena to Microsoft, to collect the IP usage records and identity information for email accounts owned by over 100 environmental activists, journalists and attorneys.
The oil giant is demanding the records in an attempt to cull together a lawsuit which alleges that the company was the victim of a conspiracy in the $18.2 billion judgment against it for dumping 18.5 billion gallons of oil waste in the Ecuadorean Amazon, causing untold damage to the rainforest.
The "sweeping" subpoena was one of three issued to Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. ...
According to ERI, the subpoena demands the personal information about each account holder as well as the IP addresses associated with every login to each account over a nine-year period. "This could allow Chevron to determine the countries, states, cities or even buildings where the account-holders were checking their email," they write, "so as to 'infer the movements of the users over the relevant period and might permit Chevron to makes inferences about some of the user’s professional and personal relationships.'"
Verizon, AT&T get most bucks from feds for wiretaps
In the era of intense government surveillance and secret court orders, a murky multimillion-dollar market has emerged. Paid for by U.S. tax dollars, but with little public scrutiny, surveillance fees charged in secret by technology and phone companies can vary wildly.
AT&T, for example, imposes a $325 "activation fee" for each wiretap and $10 a day to maintain it. Smaller carriers Cricket and U.S. Cellular charge only about $250 per wiretap. But snoop on a Verizon customer? That costs the government $775 for the first month and $500 each month after that, according to industry disclosures made last year to Congressman Edward Markey. ...
AT&T ... said it devotes roughly 100 employees to review each request and hand over data. Likewise, Verizon said its team of 70 employees works around the clock, seven days a week to handle the quarter-million requests it gets each year. ...
In its letter to Markey, AT&T estimated that it collected $24 million in government reimbursements between 2007 and 2011. Verizon, which had the highest fees but says it doesn't charge in every case, reported a similar amount, collecting between $3 million and $5 million a year during the same period.
A Hunger Strike Against Solitary Confinement: Shane Bauer on Inhuman Prisons From California to Iran
Australia’s largest telco stored data for FBI
Telstra, Australia’s largest phone company, stored emails and phone calls to be handed over to US intelligence upon request, according to an agreement it signed in 2001 with the FBI and US Department of Justice.
The copy of the 12-year-old agreement, which was posted online on Friday by news website Crikey, is in confirmation of this week’s earlier leak by Edward Snowden, revealing that large amounts of communication data sent around the world via undersea cables could be intercepted by the US, based on the agreements federal agents signed with foreign corporations.
According to the leaked document, undersea cabling company Reach – a joint venture of Telstra (then 50.1 percent-owned by the Australian Government) and PCCW, a Hong Kong corporation – had to send all communications to or from US to a storage facility “physically located in the United States, from which Electronic Surveillance can be conducted pursuant to Lawful US Process.” The document also specifies the facility should be run exclusively by US staff.
The US demanded the ability to have access to all emails and phone calls between the US and other countries, meaning foreign citizens also had their data landing in America. Apart from the content of communications, Reach was supposed to supply call associated data, subscriber information and billing records.
Writing on the wall? 'United Stasi of America' artist under police scrutiny
German artist Oliver Bienkowski, who projected the words ‘United Stasi of America’ together with a picture of Kim Dotcom on to the wall of the US embassy in Berlin, may face criminal charges.
Investigation has been launched into whether Bienkowski’s action falls under the category of “slander against the organizations and representatives of a foreign state,” Berlin-based Der Tagesspiegel newspaper reports. ...
The message likening the United States to the Cold War-era East Germany intelligence agency was projected on to the wall on Sunday night. ... The image stayed on the US embassy wall for no longer than 30 seconds. What helped the event resonate with the public was its YouTube video, which has already garnered more than 80,000 views.
Glass-Steagall Act Would Be Revived In New Bill From Elizabeth Warren, Bipartisan Coalition
A bipartisan group of four senators that includes Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced an updated version of the landmark Glass-Steagall Act on Thursday, aimed at reining in risk at America's largest Wall Street banks.
The legislation is unlikely to be signed into law, but underscores a deepening rift between the House and Senate over financial accountability. While bipartisan coalitions in the House have been moving legislation to deregulate swaps -- the complex financial products at the heart of the 2008 banking collapse -- a host of Senate bills cracking down on Wall Street risk have garnered Democratic and GOP support.
The new bill, which is also cosponsored by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Angus King (I-Maine), would require banks that accept federally insured deposits to focus on traditional lending and would bar them from engaging in risky securities trading. The separation between lending and trading was originally imposed in 1933 by the Glass-Steagall Act. Cantwell and McCain previously introduced the plan as an amendment to the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, but the largely symbolic bill was never approved. The legislation introduced today would also bar banks that accept insured deposits from dealing swaps or operating hedge funds and private equity enterprises.
Thousands on streets in Brazil protests
Violence erupts at Rio demonstrations after unions try to spark national strike over employment laws, health and education
Violence broke out in central Rio de Janeiro at rush hour following a march by trade unionists estimated at up to 20,000 people. The protest was part of a union-organised national day of action in which demonstrations were held and roads blocked in all 27 Brazilian states.
Police used teargas and stun bombs on demonstrators in central Rio. Protests were intended to be peaceful but one flashpoint erupted after the discovery of a cardboard box full of homemade molotov cocktails made of beer bottles as the march reached the central Floriano Square.
As a demonstrator smashed the molotov cocktails underfoot police began firing teargas – and panic and violence rapidly ensued. A group of masked protesters threw rocks and fireworks at police while others wrapped scarves around their faces as gas filled the air. In the middle of running battles a soundtrack continued playing the national anthem while a speaker urged calm. ...
[T]here was also suspicion that the discovery of the molotov cocktails near press and TV crews meant they could have been planted. "There are excesses on both sides," said João Medeiros, one of a group of lawyers from the Brazilian Bar Association volunteering to help arrested demonstrators. "With the teargas bombs, the way police arrive and push people back, we are all victims."
Al Jazeera's Daniel Lak reports from Quebec
Quebec's Lac-Mégantic oil train disaster not just tragedy, but corporate crime
At the root of the explosion is deregulation and an energy rush driving companies to take ever greater risks
The crude carried on the rail-line of US-based company Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway – "fracked" shale oil from North Dakota – would not have passed through Lac-Mégantic five years ago. That's because it's part of a boom in dirty, unconventional energy, as fossil fuel companies seek to supplant the depletion of easy oil and gas with new sources – sources that are harder to find, nastier to extract, and more complicated to ship. ...
Oil-by-rail has also proved a form of insurance against companies' worst nightmare: a burgeoning, continent-wide movement to block pipelines from the Alberta tar sands. A group of Canadian businessmen is pursuing the construction of a 2,400-kilometre rail line that could ship 5m barrels of tar sands oil from Alberta to Alaska. Companies are also trucking it and entertaining the idea of barging it down waterways. This is the creed of the new energy era: by any means necessary.
The recklessness of these corporations is no accident. Under the reign of neoliberalism over the last 30 years, governments in Canada and elsewhere have freed them from environmental, labour and safety standards and oversight, while opening up increasingly more of the public sphere for private profit-seeking.
The railway in Canada has hardly been exempt. Up until the mid 1980s, the industry, publicly-run, was under serious regulation. By the time the Thatcherite Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney was finished with his reforms, it was deregulated, and companies had rewritten the safety rules. ... The Liberal government completed the job by turning over what regulation remained to rail companies themselves. A report issued in 2007 by a safety group spelled out the result: Canada's rail system was a disaster in the waiting.
Josh Fox on Gasland Part 2, the Fracking-Earthquake Link & the Natural Gas Industry’s Use of Psyops
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
ENDA: Doom in the future
'You're never going to get pure socialism."
A Little Night Music
Stevie Wonder - Uptight!
Little Stevie Wonder - I call it pretty music, but the old people call it the blues
Stevie Wonder - Happy street
Little Stevie Wonder - Contract On Love
Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Stevie Wonder - Kiss Me Baby
Stevie Wonder - You Met Your Match
Stevie Wonder - Money
Stevie Wonder - We can work it out
Stevie Wonder - Superstition
Stevie Wonder - Free
Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground
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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