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 Delta bluesman, guitarist and gravedigger Son Thomas. Enjoy!
James 'Son' Thomas - Dust My Broom
"We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."
-- Lyndon B. Johnson
News and Opinion
US weighs 'Iraqi request for more advisers'
Senior US officials have said they are considering an Iraqi request for more American military advisers to help Iraqi security forces in their campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
The request came up in meetings that Antony Blinken, deputy national security adviser, and other US officials had with senior Iraqi officials last week on a trip to Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday.
The senior official, who briefed a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, did not say how many more advisers were requested.
The US has about 1,400 military advisers and diplomatic security personnel in Iraq.
Citizenfour: Inside Story of NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Captured in New Film by Laura Poitras
Blackwater Founder Remains Free and Rich While His Former Employees Go Down on Murder Charges
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., returned guilty verdicts against four Blackwater operatives charged with killing more than a dozen Iraqi civilians and wounding scores of others in Baghdad in 2007.
The jury found one guard, Nicholas Slatten, guilty of first-degree murder, while three other guards were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter: Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard. The jury is still deliberating on additional charges against the operatives, who faced a combined 33 counts, according to the Associated Press. A fifth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, had already pleaded guilty to lesser charges and cooperated with prosecutors in the case against his former colleagues. The trial lasted ten weeks and the jury has been in deliberations for 28 days.
The incident for which the men were tried was the single largest known massacre of Iraqi civilians at the hands of private U.S. security contractors. Known as “Baghdad’s bloody Sunday,” operatives from Blackwater gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians at a crowded intersection at Nisour Square on September 16, 2007. The company, founded by secretive right-wing Christian supremacist Erik Prince, pictured above, had deep ties to the Bush Administration and served as a sort of neoconservative Praetorian Guard for a borderless war launched in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
While Barack Obama pledged to reign in mercenary forces when he was a senator, once he became president he continued to employ a massive shadow army of private contractors. Blackwater — despite numerous scandals, congressional investigations, FBI probes and documented killings of civilians in both Iraq and Afghanistan — remained a central part of the Obama administration’s global war machine throughout his first term in office.
Just as with the systematic torture at Abu Ghraib, it is only the low level foot-soldiers of Blackwater that are being held accountable.
Jeremy Scahill: Blackwater Execs Remain Free as Guards Convicted for Killing 14 Iraqis in Massacre
[Infographic] The Torture Architects
Accountability for torture is a moral, ethical, and legal imperative, and it is necessary to prevent torture from ever happening in our names again. Although much has been revealed about the Bush administration's torture program, those in the upper echelons of the administration who crafted, approved, and oversaw the program have escaped legal accountability. The graphic below diagrams the participation of key high-level officials in the torture program based upon publicly available information.
Hover over a former government official below to learn more about their role in the torture program. Read more about how the Obama administration can ensure accountability for torture.
[Sadly, Daily Kos does not allow frames from the ACLU (notorious web bad actors) to open a frame here, so, i've embedded the background here to get your attention, but you'll have to click the link above for the content. - js]
Don’t Ask the Pentagon Where Its Money Goes
Every taxpayer, business, and government agency in America is supposed to be able to pass a financial audit by the feds, every year. It’s the law, so we do our duty. There’s one exception: the Pentagon.
Year after year, the nonpartisanGovernment Accountability Office (GAO) declares the Pentagon budget to be un-auditable. In 2013, for example, the GAO found that the Pentagon consistently fails to control its costs, measure its performance, or prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse.
Congress thankfully, did give the Pentagon a deadline to get itself in better financial shape – 25 years ago. Taxpayers are still waiting.
The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 requires every federal agency to pass a routine financial audit not once, not twice, but every year. All the other agencies do it.
What does the Pentagon deliver instead? Promises. The Defense Department always swears it will conduct an audit – and then requests five more years to do it.
How has Congress responded? By doubling the Pentagon’s budget between 2000 and 2010. Many members are now railing against “cuts” that will still keep military spending at stratospheric levels over the next decade.
Arms sales soar amid war against ISIS
Harper’s Pro-US Agenda Has Turned Canada into a Target – and Divided Society
The safest country in the world is no longer a safe place and many Canadians will be asking today whether this is because the Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper pushed Canada into joining the US-led war in the Middle East.
A multicultural society which prided itself on tolerance became divided when the Conservative government put a number of Muslims on a “watch list” in addition to announcing three weeks ago that it would send 600 special forces members along with fighter jets to support the US effort in their fight against Isis in Iraq. Two Canadian soldiers were hit by a car on Monday near Montreal – one of them died later. The attacker was shot dead and identified as a Muslim convert influenced by “radical Islamists”. ...
Canada refused to join the UK-US war in Iraq in 2003. As a bargain, then Canadian Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien offered to send troops to Afghanistan. Initially, Canadians were not told their soldiers were on a combat mission. Only when their bodies began to return home did it become clear that Canada was at war in a Muslim country. Canadians eventually forced Harper to withdraw their soldiers from Afghanistan.
But now he is sending them back to the Middle East. Canadians have been against joining wars on the basis that, historically, their country only sent peacekeepers abroad. However, Harper’s pro-American policies appear to have turned Canada – and indeed the seat of political power in the capital Ottawa – into a target.
Gunman and Victim Identified in Ottawa Shooting
One of the two people killed in the shootout in Ottawa this morning has been identified by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as Nathan Cirillo, a 24-year old Canadian soldier from Hamilton.
Ottawa police had confirmed at a press conference earlier this afternoon that two people died in the incidents early today, but did not identify either, only saying that a soldier had been killed and "a male suspect has also been confirmed deceased."
US officials later told CBS News the name of the dead Ottawa shooting suspect is Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian born in 1982. ...
The information that no shooting incidents took place after the shootout on Parliament Hill supports a lone gunman theory. Media outlets and law enforcement today were considering a multiple gunman theory with possible terrorist connections. For now, the number of shooters at the scene remains unclear. Ottawa police have asked the public to stay away from the downtown area.
Ottawa Soldier Shooting Comes as Canadian Jets Leave to Bomb Islamic State
On Tuesday, six Canadian CF-18 combat aircraft were deployed to Kuwait from an airbase in Cold Lake, Alberta, as part of Operation Impact, Canada's contribution to the growing air armada being arrayed against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and its first combat mission in Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
Whether omen, coincidence, or intentional, the departure of these jets has been ominously bracketed by the murder of two Canadian soldiers. A radicalized Muslim convert named Martin Couture-Rouleau ran down two soldiers in a parking lot on Monday morning. One of them, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, has since died from his injuries. Couture-Roleau was later shot and killed by police.
This morning, a gunman opened fire on a Canadian soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial in the Canadian capital of Ottawa. The gunman then went to the country's parliament building, where witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots inside. The suspect was killed after an exchange of fire with a parliamentary guard. Three different shootings were reported, but Ottawa police later confirmed only the incidents at the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill. ...
While it is also unclear to what degree the assaults are connected to the Islamic State's recent call for supporters to kill Canadians, among others, "in any manner or way however it may be," the incidents invite speculation that the Islamic State has attacked Canada before Canada has had a chance to strike the terrorist group.
Canada will not be intimidated by Ottawa shooting, declares prime minister
The prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, vowed a tough and uncompromising response to a brazen gun attack on the national parliament on Wednesday that left a soldier dead and a nation in shock.
As calm fell on Canada’s idyllic capital, where hours earlier Michael Zehaf-Bibeau had forced his way into the parliament building in a hail of gunfire before being killed by a ceremonial official, Harper delivered a sombre television address declaring that the country would not be cowed by terrorism.
It was the second time in two days that the country’s security forces had confronted an attack on the streets: on Monday a man described by authorities as having been radicalised ran down a soldier with his car in Quebec.
“This week’s events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world,” Harper said in his address to the nation. “We are also reminded that attacks on our security personnel and our institutions of governance are by their very nature attacks on our country, on our values, on our society, on us Canadians as a free and democratic people who embrace human dignity for all. But let there be no misunderstanding. We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated.”
‘Ottawa shooting shouldn’t be used as pretext for stripping away more civil liberties’
Blowback: Attack on Canadian Parliament Leaves Ottawa Stunned
Ottawa, a city of almost 900,000 people, has seen only five murders all year, and terror attacks in Canada are virtually unheard of. Yet Canada’s foreign policy, and particularly its role in NATO’s overseas operations have meant resentment was building, and this sort of blowback was only a matter of time.
There doesn’t seem to be any real dispute that the attack was ideological in nature, and Canadian Premier Stephen Harper says the shooter, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, was known to Canadian authorities already, and designated a “high-risk traveler” who could not travel abroad.
That must inevitably draw comparison to Monday’s hit-and-run attack in Quebec by Martin Couture-Rouleau, who ran over a pair of Canadian soldiers and sped off. He was also being tracked as a potentially “radicalized” citizen of Canada.
The incidents both come as Canada’s parliament is moving forward with more draconian anti-terror laws, aiming to dramatically increase the power of security agencies.
Unfortunately for Canadians, the very same policies that are triggering this blowback are likely to only get worse in the wake of the attacks, as officials are already talking up granting even more power to the CSIS spy agency.
Hedges & Wolin (2/8): Can Capitalism and Democracy Coexist?
Reporter quits Chicago newspaper, says governor candidate influenced paper
A veteran Illinois political reporter quit his job at the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday and accused the newspaper of bowing to pressure from Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner by removing him from the campaign beat.
Dave McKinney, a 19-year veteran of the paper who covered the state capital, said in his resignation letter that the paper reassigned him after the Rauner campaign accused him of a conflict of interest, which he denies.
The Rauner campaign had asked the Sun-Times to disclose McKinney's marriage to a Democratic party consultant when it ran the reporter's story on allegations Rauner, a wealthy businessman, threatened a former executive at one of his companies.
McKinney said in his resignation letter, posted on his personal blog, that his wife is contractually barred from consulting on the gubernatorial race. A disclosure of conflict of interest would have been untrue, he added.
New Michael Brown autopsy supports account of struggle with police officer
The government autopsy of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old whose death led to nights of unrest earlier this year in Ferguson, Missouri, discovered a gunshot wound that appears to support accounts of a struggle with the police officer who shot him dead.
An accompanying toxicology report also stated that Brown had marijuana in his body when he was killed.
The report of the post-mortem by the St Louis County medical examiner said that the largest gunshot wound found on Brown’s body was on his right hand, and that tissue from the wound appeared to contain gunpowder particles.
According to the autopsy report, Brown’s hand wound also showed no signs of stippling, a pattern of dots around the entry. Stippling tends to occur when someone is shot from relatively close range rather than in more immediate contact with a weapon.
Dr Michael Graham, the St Louis medical examiner, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, which obtained Brown’s autopsy report, that it “does support that there was a significant altercation at the car”. ...
Police have said that officer Darren Wilson shot Brown on 9 August following a struggle over Wilson’s handgun at his car after Wilson stopped him and a friend for jaywalking. They have alleged that Brown assaulted the officer and left him with injuries to his face.
George W. Bush's Revenge: A Federal Appeals Court Goes on the Rampage
As Bush has retreated to painting, federal judges he placed on the bench have been implementing a conservative vision in some of the most contentious areas of federal law. The best example of this is a string of recent decisions on hot-button issues from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which the ABA Journal has dubbed "the nation's most divisive, controversial and conservative appeals court."
The 5th Circuit handles appeals from federal courts in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and it has become increasingly powerful as the Supreme Court has been hearing fewer and fewer cases. ... After nearly six years of the Obama presidency, only 4 of the 13 federal appellate courts now have a majority of GOP appointees, and the 5th Circuit is one of them. ...
Obama has done little to restore balance on this court. He floated the names of a couple of potential candidates almost a year ago, but he has not nominated anyone to fill the two vacancies, one of which is two years old. The delay is not just his fault. The vacancies are reserved for nominees from Texas, and usually such judicial appointments need some support from the home-state senators. But Texas' two senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Republicans eager to oppose the president, have not been working with Obama to fill the two positions. Obama could nominate candidates without the backing of Cruz and Cornyn, but doing so would likely spark a partisan fight. Liberal judicial activists have criticized the president for being too deferential to Cruz and Cornyn. But whether that charge is true or not, Obama may end up not getting the chance to add any more judges to the 5th Circuit—especially if Republicans assume control of the Senate after the coming congressional elections. And Bush's legacy will stand for years to come.
UN Issues Statement on Human Rights Violations in Detroit
The Evening Greens
Texas Chief Toxicologist Says Stay Indoors to Avoid Ozone Pollution
In the latest iteration of a Texas public official denying the negative effects of harmful pollutants on people and the environment, the state's chief toxicologist, Dr. Michael Honeycutt, said that since people spend most of their time indoors there's no reason to be concerned about dangerous levels of ozone, a pollutant that contributes to the formation of smog.
"Ozone is an outdoor air pollutant, because systems such as air conditioning remove it from indoor air," he wrote in an article for the newsletter of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). "Since most people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, we (and the people in the epidemiology studies used to justify lowering the standard) are rarely exposed to significant levels of ozone."
TCEQ is the state agency responsible for safeguarding public health and protecting the environment.
Honeycutt's article comes in response to a recommendation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the allowable level of ozone be reduced from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to between 70 and 60 ppb. The agency's 597-page scientific report on ozone pollution cites studies that show even a 70 ppb concentration can be harmful to the respiratory system and decrease lung function.
Big Oil Spending Millions to Kill Local Anti-Fracking Measure
Fossil fuel energy companies have spent over $7.6 million to defeat a measure that would ban fracking in California's Santa Barbara County.
Measure P, which was brought forth by the Santa Barbara County Water Guardians, would ban "high-intensity petroleum operations," including fracking, acidizing and steam-injection methods.
Among those donating to the committee against the measure, Californians for Energy Independence, are Chevron, which contributed over $2.5 million, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, which gave $2 million, and Aera Energy, which donated over $2 million, as of October 6.
In contrast, the Yes on Measure P committee states that it has "raised about $300,000 from hundreds of mostly local individuals and volunteers including teachers, farmers, doctors, students, parents and other county residents." Those contributions are not posted by the California Secretary of State at this time.
Yes on P states that the vast industry spending makes the it "the most expensive local measure in the country."
Wind and Solar Create More Jobs When They’re Locally Owned, Report Finds
At last month’s People’s Climate March, among the most popular signs were ones supporting renewable energy like wind and solar as the best way to avoid a climate catastrophe. And because of the urgency of the situation, it’s easy to think that we should be building up renewables as much as we can.
But, from an economic point of view, it turns out that not all renewable energy is created equal.
One main difference is between energy generators that are locally owned and ones owned by some faraway entity, and a new report from the Institute of Self-Reliance presents the details. The report, written by Senior Researcher John Farrell, makes two main points: Locally owned renewable energy projects create more economic benefits than absentee-owned projects, and they are less likely to encounter community opposition. By enacting policies to support local renewables, Farrell argues, states and counties stand to gain thousands of jobs and millions of dollars. ...
Why do locally owned projects create more jobs per megawatt? The National Renewable Energy Laboratory gives three reasons: They are more likely to use local labor and materials, provide benefits to local shareholders, and borrow from local banks. ...
With all these benefits on the table, you would think local entrepreneurs would be starting up wind and solar projects across the country. Yet, in 2007, just 2 percent of wind projects in the United States were locally owned, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
It turns out that federal and state policies make it difficult for locally owned projects to get off the ground. The federal Solar Investment Tax Credit, for example, rewards developers of solar projects by lowering the amount they owe in taxes. But because the program doesn’t provide any money up-front, it essentially requires entrepreneurs to have access to large amounts of capital before beginning a project.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Reagan adviser Bruce Bartlett: Face it, Obama is a conservative
This year's hot new liberal strategy: just download the GOP hive mind!
A Story About Ben Bradlee That’s Not Fucking Charming
Officer Involved: Advocates Against Police Brutality Rally Across US For ‘October 22’ Day of Protest
In Search of the Keystone XL Pipeline — and Its Impact on the Midterm Elections
Can New Economic Model Save Detroit From Financial Collapse?
hat tip lotlizard:
James Risen vs. the American Psychological Association
hat tip lotlizard:
The Forgotten Coup -- How America and Britain Crushed the Government of Their "Ally," Australia
US Army loses landmark employment discrimination case
Victory photos/Students lined up and voting in the now famous Plemmons Student Union
To Be A Liberal is to Face Facts: Islam is Violent
A Little Night Music
James "Son" Thomas - Highway 61 Blues
James Son Thomas - Crawlin Kingsnake
James Son Thomas - Leland, Mississippi
James Son Thomas - Catfish Blues
James 'Son' Thomas - Beefsteak blues
James Son Thomas - Rock Me Mama
James Son Thomas - Cairo Blues
James 'Son' Thomas - Roll And Tumble
James Son Thomas - Standing at the crossroads
James Son Thomas In Concert
James Son Thomas - It Hurts Me Too
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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