Welcome! "The Evening Blues - Weekend Edition" is a casual community diary (published Saturday & Sunday, 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 greatest and most beloved singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of all time, the inimitable Jerry Garcia sans the Grateful Dead. Enjoy!
Jerry Garcia - Sugaree
In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals, for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beast, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and moon should man learn.. all things tell of Tirawa. All things in the world are two. In our mind we are two -- good and evil. With our eyes we see two things -- things that are fair and things that are ugly ... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good. So are all things two, all two.
Eagle Chief (Letakots-Lesa) Pawnee
News and Opinion
The Evening Blues
We dig up what the MSM buries.
Contributors:
NCTim
enhydra lutris
Elizabeth Warren Tells Obama To Put Up Or Shut Up On Trade
'We respectfully suggest,' reads a letter from Sens. Warren and Sherrod Brown to President Obama, 'that characterizing the assessments of labor unions, journalists, Members of Congress, and others who disagree with your approach to transparency on trade issues as 'dishonest' is both untrue and unlikely to serve the best interests of the American people.'
WASHINGTON -- Progressive Democrats have been hoping to see a showdown between Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton for years. Instead, they're getting a public feud between the senator from Massachusetts and President Barack Obama.
Obama accused Warren and congressional Democrats on Friday of being "dishonest" and spreading "misinformation" about the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a trade pact the administration is negotiating among 12 nations. The overwhelming majority of Democrats in Congress oppose TPP, while Republican leaders support it.
It was an unusually aggressive attack for the president -- accusing members of his own party not of having misplaced priorities, but of actively working to deceive the public. Obama is rarely so severe even with his Republican opponents. Obama said that the Democratic criticism that "gets on [his] nerves the most" is the notion that his TPP pact is "secret," and went on to insist that the terms of TPP will help American workers.
On Saturday, Warren and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) responded with a letter essentially telling Obama to put up or shut up. If the deal is so great, Warren and Brown wrote, the administration should make the full negotiation texts public before Congress votes on a "fast track" bill that would strip the legislative branch of its authority to amend it.
TPP Proponents Close to Clinton Remain Optimistic About Her Support
Submitted by: NCTim
Although Hillary Clinton went into great detail extolling the virtures of President Obama’s proposed trade agreements while serving as secretary of state, as a candidate for president Clinton has only offered vague statements about her current position on the deals.
So how would a President Clinton decide on the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership? On Wednesday, White House spokesperson Eric Schultz said he had not “seen anything to suggest any distance” between Clinton’s position and the Obama administration on the deals. And trade consultants close to Clinton remain optimistic about her support.
Asked about Clinton’s TPP position at a recent Bloomberg News conference, Jim Bacchus, former Democratic congressman from Florida, said he is “sure Hillary will get to all of these things and I think she has a good sense to be for trade as part of her overall approach to America’s economic future.”
Later at the same conference, Bob Hormats, who served as Clinton’s under secretary of state, said he could not speak on behalf of Clinton, but emphasized that his former boss “understands very clearly that there are enormous trade opportunities in Asia and creating jobs.”
Syria conflict: Islamists capture Jisr al-Shughur
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Islamist rebels in Syria have taken over the key north-western town of Jisr al-Shughur, activists say.
It was the last major town under government control in Idlib province. Correspondents say it may give rebels a route to the ruling elite's heartland.
The Islamist forces, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, began the assault on Thursday.
State media said the army had redeployed outside the town "to avoid civilian casualties".
U.S.-backed rebels team with Islamists to capture strategic Syrian city
ISTANBUL — Rebels, including members of U.S.-backed groups and al Qaida’s Nusra Front, captured the strategic town of Jisr al Shughur in northwest Syria on Saturday, the second major setback for the government of President Bashar Assad in Idlib province in a month.
The loss of Jisr al Shugur all but closes the government’s land supply routes to two major bases in the west of Idlib, Mastuma and Ariha, both of which are surrounded by rebel forces and can now be supplied only by air. Rebels captured the provincial capital, Idlib city, on March 28.
The latest rebel victory came surprisingly quickly, apparently aided by U.S.-supplied TOW anti-tank missiles. Islamist groups announced the battle only Wednesday. The government troops fled to the neighboring provinces of Latakia and Hama.
Gen. Ahmad Rahhal, who defected from the Syrian army and now works with the moderate rebels, called it a strategic victory for the anti-Assad forces that would strengthen their ability to move their own supplies between three provinces – Idlib, Hama and Latakia. But he told McClatchy the forces “still have a lot of work to do” and noted the government still has hundreds of troops in the two bases under siege.
Chechen strongman defies efforts to curb his power
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
MOSCOW — In defiance of those in Moscow eager to curb his powers, Chechnya’s strongman leader told his security forces to open fire on Russian federal troops if they tried to operate in the region without his approval.
Russian law enforcement agencies have been increasingly dismayed by the growing ambitions of Ramzan Kadyrov, who in exchange for the relative calm he has installed in Chechnya after two separatist wars has been allowed to maintain his own feared security forces.
A statement from the Russian Interior Ministry, which runs the country’s police, said Kadyrov’s order was “unacceptable.”
Since taking over after the 2004 assassination of his father, Kadyrov has ruled under the personal protection of President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader has continued to stand by Kadyrov even as hostility to him grows in some Moscow power centers.
Warren Weinstein was Not an “Aid Worker”: He Worked for the CIA through USAID on Behalf of Big Business
Submitted by: NCTim
Suddenly, a lot is being made about the reported killing of U.S. citizen and al Qaeda “hostage” Warren Weinstein in Pakistan a couple months ago during a drone strike carried out by the CIA (see here, here, here and here).
President Obama through a statement has claimed his death was accidental and that they didn’t know he and a fellow hostage were being held in that building they targeted back in January. He says he is deeply sorry for the mistake.
I covered this story a couple days ago because at the same time they reported this “mistake” the White House also mentioned they killed a fake al Qaeda spokesman, a Jewish man by the name of Adam Gadahn who was born Adam Pearlman and lived with his paternal grandfather, a member of the ADL and a rabid Zionist.
So who was this “aid worker” who really worked as a contractor for USAID in Pakistan trying to bring the marvels of neoliberal economic austerity and fascism to the people of that country and why was he killed by the CIA?
When Will Obama Apologize for All the Other Innocent Victims of Drone Strikes?
In the fall of 2013, Rafiq ur Rehman, a school teacher from the remote tribal region of North Waziristan, in Pakistan, stood with his 12-year-old son, Zubair, and 9-year-old daughter, Nabila, in Washington, D.C., preparing to challenge one of the U.S. government’s most secretive means of killing.
The Rehmans say a missile fired from a U.S. drone killed 68-year-old Momina Bibi — Rehman’s mother, and grandmother to the two young children — in an October 2012 airstrike. Both Zubair and Nabila were present when the attack happened and suffered injuries. The missile had struck their grandmother straight on, obliterating her completely. There were no others killed in the attack and no substantiated reports of terrorists at the scene.
According to the family’s account, Bibi was killed tending okra while her grandkids played nearby.
The family came to the U.S. to demand answers. They were treated as honored guests among the human rights community in New York City, but when they met with lawmakers on October 20, 2013, a total of five members of Congress showed up.
Inside Obama's drone panopticon: a secret machine with no accountability
An apparatus of official secrecy, built over decades and zealously enforced by Obama, prevents meaningful open scrutiny of ‘signature strikes’
Of all the reactions to the deaths of two hostages from a missile fired from a US drone, Congressman Adam Schiff provided the deepest insight into the logic underpinning the endless, secret US campaign of global killing.
“To demand a higher standard of proof than they had here could be the end of these types of counter-terrorism operations,” said Schiff, a California Democrat and one of the most senior legislators overseeing those operations.
The standard of proof in the January strike in tribal Pakistan was outlined by the White House press secretary in the aftermath of Barack Obama’s admission about the deaths. An agency that went formally unnamed – likely the CIA, though the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) also conducts drone strikes – identified what Josh Earnest called an “al-Qaida compound” and marked the building, rather than particular terrorists, for destruction.
Thanks to Obama’s rare admission on Thursday, the realities of what are commonly known as “signature strikes” are belatedly and partially on display. Signature strikes, a key aspect for years of what the administration likes to call its “targeted killing” program, permit the CIA and JSOC to kill without requiring them to know who they kill.
TSA Warns of Possible ISIS Attack on U.S. Soil
The Transportation Security Administration has issued a classified warning about a potential attack by the Islamic State today against a target in the United States.
The Intercept reviewed a notice of the classified alert, which was sent out Friday afternoon by TSA’s Transportation Security Operations Center. A source, who reviewed the classified intelligence warning, described the threat as very general, with no specifics about location or type of attack — just the timing.
The essence of the warning, according to a source, is that “ISIS plans an attack on U.S. soil.”
In response, the TSA deployed its recently formed Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams, or VIPR for short, to various locations. The VIPR teams have expanded in recent years, moving beyond airports to train stations and other busy transportation sites.
Saudi Arabia and 3 non-Arab musketeers
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
My good friend Graham Fuller, formerly top CIA hand and a superb Middle East expert, sent to me a blog he posted lately on the changing geopolitics of that region. Graham is an original thinker and presents an unusual hypothesis that a “Northern Tier” of three non-Arab states who played a pivotal role in the US’ cold-war era strategies against the former Soviet Union – Turkey, Iran and Pakistan – are once again appearing on the geopolitical landscape as a “significantly more progressive, moderate and forward-looking coalition than the present Saudi-driven ‘Sunni coalition’ that is divisive, ideological, destructive and sectarian.” Graham’s writings are densely packed with ideas and indeed it is futile to try to sum up his narrative. You must read it, here, yourself.
To my mind, there are many sub-plots involved and some of them could be even more important than the main narrative. Take, for instance, the recent Russian-Iranian bonhomie. Their estrangement over Moscow’s earlier refusal to fulfill the S-300 missile deal doesn’t need a recap. Russia today claims that the UN sanctions against Iran do not cover a defensive system such as S-300. Wait a minute. Moscow had advanced precisely the contrarian argument four years ago to freeze the deal.
Unsurprisingly, Tehran is not exactly jumping with joy over Russia’s rethink now. Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif gave a measured reaction, complimenting Moscow for returning to the “right path.” Tehran claims that the S-300 is not really such a big deal, either. Meanwhile, both Tehran and Washington are sequestering their bilateral engagement from the S-300 fallouts.
The point is, as Zarif recently noted in an op-Ed in the New York Times, Tehran hopes to expand the engagement with the US into a seamless vista of regional cooperation. Washington also sees merit in consulting Tehran behind the scenesbefore getting Saudi Arabia to suspend its attacks on Yemen
Embracing the Saudi War on Yemen
Exclusive: Fearful of further offending the powerful Saudi-Israeli alliance, President Obama is deploying the U.S. Navy to seal off poverty-stricken Yemen so the Saudi air force has free rein to pummel its regional rivals from the air while the population faces a humanitarian crisis on the ground, reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
As the humanitarian crisis in Yemen worsens, the Obama administration seems less concerned about the plight of the desperate Yemeni people than the feelings of the Saudi royals who have spent the last month indiscriminately bombing a nearly defenseless Yemen, using high-tech U.S. jets and bombs to reportedly kill hundreds of civilians and damage its ancient cities.
On Friday, the Obama administration took credit for blocking nine Iranian ships from reaching Yemen with relief supplies, claiming that the ships may have carried weapons that the Yemenis could use in their civil war or to defend against Saudi attacks. President Barack Obama had dispatched a U.S. aircraft carrier fleet to the Yemeni coast to enforce an embargo that has helped the Saudis seal off the country from outside help.
A person closely involved with the Yemen crisis told me that the Iranian ships carried food and medicine, not weapons, but turned back to avoid the risk and humiliation of being boarded by the U.S. Navy. Meanwhile, Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, is facing shortages of basic supplies since the Saudis have cut off normal trade routes into Yemen.
Has Yemen reshaped the Middle East geopolitical map?
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Does anybody remember the old Cold War geopolitical concept of the “Northern Tier states?” They consisted of three countries—Turkey, Iran and Pakistan (sometimes Afghanistan) that lay along the southern border of the Soviet Union; they were perceived in the West as a potential bulwark against Soviet aggression southwards into the Middle East. Is it just possible that we are witnessing today the possible recrudescence of a “Northern Tier” bloc? But this time it would not be united against Russia at all. On the contrary these three states demonstrate warming geopolitical congeniality with many aspects of Russian, Chinese, and “Eurasian” geopolitical views.
The ongoing crisis in Yemen may have become the midwife to such a development. If so, it is Iran that seems to be pulling the pieces together of a new loose power coalition in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia’s much publicized creation of a supposed ten-nation Sunni coalition to fight “the Iranian and Shi’ite threat” in Yemen and the Gulf recently took two major body blows: the unexpected defection of both Turkey and Pakistan from the Saudi camp as active partners in the military campaign in Yemen—after having initially indicated they would join in.
Yes, it’s notable that Turkey, Iran and Pakistan are all three non-Arab states in the Middle East. But in speaking of a new “Northern Tier” we’re not really talking about an Arab vs non-Arab bloc. The differences are more ideological and geopolitical; they involve differing visions of the future that may reorder the geopolitical map in the Middle East. The “Northern Tier states” could come to constitute a new informal power bloc that challenges Riyadh’s bold new—and reactionary—ambitions in the region.
Results, Causes, and US Media Deceptions About Iran
After the announcement of a possible agreement regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program and the economic sanctions imposed on the country by the United States, the US media has escalated its confused and distorted coverage of the Middle East. Falsehoods, half-truths, and incomplete presentations of events in the region are being promoted by the major voices in US political discourse.
For example, when it was announced that Russia would formally end its ban on selling sophisticated military hardware to the Islamic Republic of Iran, US media went into a frenzy of condemnation. The implication was that somehow Russia was committing an outrageously immoral act by “arming Iran.”
In all the media reports, the context of this change in Russian government policy is being overlooked. Iran is preparing to defend itself. It is purchasing Russian weapons in the context of increasing hostility from neighboring states already locked and loaded with huge arsenals of weapons from the United States. The US-aligned Gulf states have exponentially increased their military capabilities over the last decade, presenting a great threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies.
Right now, US-made missiles are raining over Yemen, killing civilians by the thousands. The media admits that US military officials are directing and overseeing the Saudi attacks. The weapons that this repressive, autocratic kingdom has been stockpiling — and is now unleashing against civilians in Yemen — have been purchased exclusively from the United States. The Saudi regime now has the fourth largest military budget in the world.
Germany reacts to allegations it helped U.S. spy on Europeans
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
BERLIN — The German government acknowledged “shortcomings” at the country’s foreign intelligence agency Thursday, following allegations that it may have helped the United States spy on Europeans.
German weekly Der Spiegel reported on its website Thursday that the Federal Intelligence Agency for years monitored telecommunications traffic using filters provided by the U.S. National Security Agency. The magazine reports that by 2008 German intelligence agents had discovered that some of the filters — known as selectors — related to European arms companies and French authorities. But spy chiefs reportedly failed to inform the government for several more years until the agency, known by its acronym BND, came under parliamentary investigation over its links to the NSA in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement that the agency, which answers directly to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office, had been asked to “thoroughly clarify this complex matter.”
“Technical and organizational shortcomings have been identified at the BND,” he added, but said the government had no evidence of “massive eavesdropping against German or European citizens.”
Pakistan enters the New Silk Road
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
By Pepe Escobar
Now how do you top this as a geopolitical entrance? Eight JF-17 Thunder fighter jets escorting Chinese President Xi Jinping on board an Air China Boeing as he enters Pakistani air space. And these JF-17s are built as a China-Pakistan joint project.
Silk Road? Better yet; silk skyway.
Just to drive the point home – and into everyone’s homes – a little further, Xi penned a column widely distributed to Pakistani media before his first overseas trip in 2015.
He stressed, “We need to form a ‘1+4′ cooperation structure with the Economic Corridor at the center and the Gwadar Port, energy, infrastructure and industrial cooperation being the four key areas to drive development across Pakistan and deliver tangible benefits to its people.”
Pakistani human rights activist shot dead in Karachi
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Gunmen shot dead a Pakistani human rights activist on Friday after she hosted a talk on the politics of Baluchistan province, where security forces are fighting a separatist insurgency, police and associates said.
Sabeen Mahmud was leaving her Karachi bookstore and cafe, The Second Floor — which also holds exhibitions and talks — when gunman attacked her in her car. Her mother, who was with her, was wounded, police said.
"Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot her. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead," senior police official Tariq Dharejo said, adding police were investigating the killing.
Mahmud had just hosted a seminar called "Unsilencing Baluchistan," focusing on the disappearance of political activists in the southwestern province. The talk was originally due to be held early this month at a university in Lahore but authorities blocked it, media reported at the time.
Brzezinski Bye, Bye: Eurasia as the US Knew It Is Over Forever
It is a question how Germany will line up, but regardless of that, the Chinese-Russian embrace has changed the geopolitical equation so much that the tiniest prospect of US hegemony in Eurasia is finished forever.
By Pepe Escobar
Move over, Cold War 2.0. The real story, now and for the foreseeable future, in its myriad declinations, and of course, ruling out too many bumps in the road, is a new, integrated Eurasia forging ahead.
China’s immensely ambitious New Silk Road project will keep intersecting with the Russia-led Eurasia Economic Union (EEC). And that will be the day when the EU wakes up and finds a booming trade/commerce axis stretching from St. Petersburg to Shanghai. It’s always pertinent to remember that Vladimir Putin sold a similar, and even more encompassing, vision in Germany a few years ago – stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok.
It will take time – and troubled times - but Eurasia’s radical face lift is inexorable. This implies an exceptionalist dream – the U.S. as Eurasia hegemon, something that still looked feasible at the turn of the millennium – fast dissolving right before anyone’s eyes.
Russia pivots East, China pivots West
A few sound minds in the U.S. remain essential as they fully deconstruct the negatives, pointing to the dangers of Cold War 2.0. The Carnegie Moscow Center’s Dmitri Trenin, meanwhile, is more concerned with the positives, proposing a road map for Eurasian convergence.
Russia and China to increase finance cooperation - minister
Russia is interested in developing Chinese investment and cooperation, according to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Cooperation has been recently growing, as Western markets are now closed for Russia.
“Now we are in a situation when Western markets are closed for us and we are getting closer and closer to joint actions and cooperation with China. We’re talking about mutual financial actions, not just the possibility of interaction of financial markets, but also attracting Chinese investments into our economy,” Siluanov said on Friday during a lecture in St. Petersburg.
The minister supported China’s initiative to create an economic belt known as the ‘Silk Road’ that envisages serious investments in infrastructure projects that will ease trade between China and Europe.
"Trade between Asia and Europe runs right through Russia and the creation of conditions for the transit of goods and cargoes may very well boost Russia’s economy. We support the‘Silk Road’ initiative so as to set up deeper ties between our countries,” Siluanov said.
US troops in Europe request bigger guns amid Russia anxieties
The US regiment involved in a much-publicized ‘Dragoon Ride’ mechanized tour across Eastern Europe in a gesture of support against ‘Russian aggression’ has asked for 30-mm cannons as new addition to its arsenal.
The Germany-based 2nd Cavalry is to have 81 of its Stryker infantry carrier vehicles fitted with 30-mm automatic cannons, according to the website Breaking Defense, citing a Department of Defense memo. The Army officially approved the urgent upgrade and the House Armed Services Committee is already setting aside money for it.
The cannons would be twice the caliber of the standard .50 BMG (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machineguns that the vehicles are normally armed with and would give the American vehicles a significantly greater punch.
The M1126 Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) variant of the Stryker family vehicles is equipped with a Protector Remote Weapon Station, which can have a machinegun or a grenade launcher mounted on it.
Baltimore Rally Aims to Ensure Latest Death of Black Man at Hands of Police Won't 'Be in Vain'
Largest rally yet expected to demand justice for Freddie Gray and call attention to relentless examples of police brutality in Baltimore and across the nation
The largest protest yet over the recent death of Freddie Grayis expected to take place in Baltimore on Saturday, with community members and a coalition of racial justice and civil rights groups planning to take to the streets in force as they demand justice for the 25-year-old black man who was killed while in police custody earlier this month. The demonstrators also will also call attention to a longer pattern of abuse by the Baltimore Police Department which fits into increasingly larger and widespread concerns over how minority communities are treated by law enforcement nationwide.
Organizers for the march said residents will rally at 3 PM on Saturday near the Western District police station and also near where Gray was arrested before a march to City Hall for a rally scheduled for 5 PM.
"This tide, this wave will roll downtown to City Hall," said Malik Z. Shabazz, one of the protest organizers and an attorney with the Washington D.C.-based Black Lawyers for Justice. "There will be some thousands in the streets demanding justice. We are in solidarity with them."
He added, "It cannot be business as usual with that man's spine broken, with his back broken, with no justice on the scene."
Petraeus Gets Leniency for Leaking — And Risen’s CIA Source Should Too, His Lawyers Say
Submitted by: NCTim
Lawyers for Jeffrey Sterling, convicted earlier this year of leaking classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen, urged today that Sterling “not receive a different form of justice” than David Petraeus, the former general and CIA director who has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for leaking classified information to his biographer.
While Petraeus will not go to jail — yesterday a judge sentenced him to two years probation and a $100,000 fine — prosecutors have asked for a “severe” sentence against Sterling within federal guidelines of 19 to 24 years in prison. In January, a jury convicted Sterling, a former CIA agent, on nine counts related to leaking information to Risen, a Times reporter who in 2006 wrote a book that revealed the agency had mishandled a program to disrupt Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
Sterling’s lawyers, Edward MacMahon Jr. and Barry Pollack, filed their sentencing memorandum today, arguing that their client “should be treated no more harshly than any other person who has been charged and convicted of ‘leaking’ to the press.” In addition to Petraeus, they cited the cases of John Kiriakou, a former CIA agent who was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and Stephen Kim, who received a 13-month sentence. Unlike Petraeus, Kiriakou and Kim, who reached plea agreements, Sterling took his case to a jury. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 11.
“He should be treated similarly to others convicted for the same crimes and not singled out for a long prison sentence because he elected to exercise his right to trial,” the lawyers stated. “[T]he court cannot turn a blind eye to the positions the government has taken in similar cases.”
Nepal earthquake: Hundreds die, many feared trapped
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Nearly 1,000 are known to have died in a powerful earthquake in Nepal, with many more feared trapped under rubble, officials say.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck an area between the capital, Kathmandu, and the city of Pokhara, the US Geological Survey said.
Tremors were felt across the region, with further loss of life in India, Bangladesh, Tibet and on Mount Everest.
The government has declared a state of emergency in the affected areas.
Kazakhstan votes for continuity while keeping eye on Ukraine
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — As oil-rich Kazakhstan votes for a president Sunday, the governing elite is pounding home a mantra of stability as fears percolate about the country's massive Russian minority taking inspiration from the Moscow-backed insurgency in Ukraine.
With authorities clamping down on all opposition, Nursultan Nazarbayev's re-election is a done deal. The former Communist party boss' two rivals — a trade union leader and a Communist politician— have negligible public profiles and are standing only to create the illusion of competition.
Instead of electioneering in the traditional sense, the 74-year-old Nazarbayev's team is rehearsing well-worn refrains on social and ethnic harmony.
Kazakhstan's vast diversity of peoples — from Uzbeks to Koreans and Chechens to Tatars — is a source of both pride and anxiety.
Democrat Introduces Bill Called The ‘Restrain Steve King From Legislating Act’
Submitted by: NCTim
It appears one Democrat in the House of Representatives has had enough of Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King. Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the bill, mocking King’s anti-gay marriage proposal which was titled ‘Restrain the Judges on Marriage Act.’ Polis is openly gay, and in a statement said that King has perverted the Constitution with legislation aimed to block judges from doing their jobs:
“For too long, Steve King has overstepped his constitutionally nonexistent judicial authority. Mr. King has perverted the Constitution to create rights to things such as discrimination, bullying, and disparate treatment. These efforts to enshrine these appalling values as constitutional rights were not envisioned by the voters, or by King’s colleagues who must currently try to restrain his attempts to single-handedly rewrite the nation’s founding principles on a bill-by-bill basis.”
Knowing that the bill is indeed meant to be taken as satire, Polis hopes that his chide remark will strike a nerve with the Congressman from Iowa. The intent of the bill, more specifically, is to “preserve the right of millions of voters in all 50 states who would prefer that Steve King refrain from legislating a role for himself in their marriage decisions.”
King’s bill says, “No court created by an Act of Congress shall have any jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court shall have no appellate jurisdiction, to hear or decide any question pertaining to the interpretation of, or the validity under the Constitution of, any type of marriage.”
Republican Senator’s Staffer Caught Smuggling Date Rape Drug Into The Country
Submitted by: NCTim
A U.S. Senate staffer has been arrested by Washington, D.C. police for allegedly smuggling a massive quantity of a controlled substance used as a party drug, and even more disturbingly, as a date rape drug, into the country from China.
Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran’s office manager, Fred Pagan, was charged with the drug distribution crime after his Washington, D.C. home was raided and police found around 181.5 grams of crystal meth. However, officers were only tipped off to Pagan’s foray into drug smuggling because they had earlier this month discovered a Chinese package sitting in a shipping center in Ohio with over a kilo of the drug GBL also addressed to Pagan.
GBL is commonly cited as an alternative to GHB and interacts with the body in similar ways. According to a report by the World Health Organization, the drug has many industrial applications, but when ingested produces intoxication similar to alcohol. Some people have used it as a party drug; however it’s nearly undetectable, appearing clear and having no odor, so it can be placed in drinks or on food without a person being aware. A small dose may render a person unconscious, and a large one has the ability to kill them.
According to Pagan’s confession, he did not intend to use the drugs personally, but instead he planned to hand out doses of the drug in exchange for “sexual favors.” Court filings cited by the Washington City Paper don’t make it clear as to whom he intended to make this transaction. Apparently, the idea that after the drugs had left his possession (and he had gotten his rocks off), they may be used in a rape doesn’t appear to have concerned Pagan.
Progressives can’t trust Hillary Clinton: What’s behind her bizarre alliance with the Christian right?
Clinton's mixed record on social and cultural issues might be explained by surprising views on faith and politics
As Hillary Clinton launched her 2016 presidential bid, there were rumblings of concern about how progressive she would really be on economic issues, particularly given her wealthy donor base. Seemingly conscious of these concerns, Clinton herself stressed a populist message in her video announcement, as well as in the form of her initial road-trip foray to Iowa. She even said that “We need to fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all—even if it takes a constitutional amendment.”
John Nichols of The Nation is right to argue this is still too cautious, and Clinton has barely addressed the fight for a $15 minimum wage (outside of a vague tweet), which has already galvanized a growing movement for economic justice. But at least there are challenges being raised which hold out the prospect of moving Clinton in a more progressive direction.
In contrast, there other areas in which Clinton’s politics leave much to be desired by progressives, which haven’t gotten as much attention—or de facto acknowledgment from Clinton. Truthout columnist Joseph Mulkerin summarized the con side, covering foreign policy, the environment, civil liberties and the culture wars, in addition to the economy in “Five Reasons No Progressive Should Support Hillary Clinton.”
Democracy Now! featured a spirited debate, with author/journalist Robert Scheer and socialist Seattle councilwoman Kshama Sawant (who spearheaded the $15 minimum-wage fight) taking the critical side, and journalists Joe Conason and Michelle Goldberg taking the “realist” position. Goldberg called Clinton “a kind of chameleon-like candidate,” which may usually seem negative, but, she said, “opens a potential opportunity for progressives… if they get organized…[to] exert pressure on her from the other direction.”
United States seeks access to Philippine bases as part of Asia pivot
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
(Reuters) - The United States has asked for access to Philippine military bases in eight locations to rotate troops, aircraft, and ships as Washington shifts its forces to Asia and as China expands its military presence in the South China Sea.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, in a speech in Arizona, has outlined Washington's next phase in its Asia "pivot", deploying its most sophisticated destroyers, bombers and fighters to the region.
The Asia "pivot" has already seen U.S. Marines rotating through the Australian tropical city of Darwin, the country's closest city to Asia, for training.
At least eight locations in the Philippines have been identified as possible sites where U.S. troops, planes and ships will be rotated through a series of military training and exercises, Philippine General Gregorio Catapang, military chief, told local television network ABS-CBN.
Big Bank 'Crime of the Century' Results in Guess What? No Jail Time for Anyone
Despite severity of offenses, 'the government concluded that these crimes should be punished only through a financial penalty,' says Public Citizen
While corporate watchdogs hailed the record $2.5 billion settlement paid by Deutsche Bank to U.S. and U.K. authorities for its rate-rigging role in the massive LIBOR scandal, some noted that the fine—while large—suggests that some institutions are still considered "too big to jail."
Authorities announced Thursday that Germany's biggest bank would pay $2.5 billion in penalties, a record for cases involving interest rate fraud, which have already targeted banking behemoths like Barclays and UBS. Officials said the wrongdoing at Deutsche Bank lasted from 2005 to 2011 and touched employees in London, Frankfurt, New York, and Tokyo.
The New York Times reports that Deutsche Bank "also agreed to accept a criminal guilty plea for the British subsidiary at the center of the case. It is the most significant banking unit to accept a criminal plea in the long-running investigation into the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR."
The LIBOR rate is an average of what banks charge for lending to each other. In addition, it sets a benchmark for interest rates for trillions of dollars' worth of loans around the world—from mortgages and student loans to credit cards and complex derivatives.
HSBC warns of economic risks of UK pulling out of Europe
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
HSBC Britain’s biggest bank, has issued a stark warning about the economic risks of the UK pulling out of the European Union as it revealed it was considering moving its headquarters out of London.
The unexpected announcement of a full-blown review into where the bank should base its operations, just two week before the general election, was seized on by politicians on the campaign trail.
HSBC said “regulatory and structural reforms” in the wake of the banking crisis had led to the decision.
The chairman, Douglas Flint, also highlighted the economic uncertainty created by the risk of the UK leaving Europe – a blow to the Conservatives, who have pledged to hold an “in-out” referendum on the EU if they win the general election.
Hellraiser Preview
Sherman, set the time machine for tomorrow's Hellraisers Journal, which will feature news from the Colorado murder trial: Lieutenant K. E. Linderfelt, Butcher of Ludlow, gives testimony against John R Lawson, Hero of Ludlow.
Tune in at 2pm!
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Togo votes as president seeks to continue family dynasty
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
LOME, Togo (AP) — Togo's president, whose family has ruled this small West African nation for nearly 50 years, appealed for peace as he vied for re-election Saturday against four other candidates.
President Faure Gnassingbe cast his ballot in the morning in the capital, Lome. Gnassingbe's father ruled Togo for 38 years before dying of a heart attack in 2005. The son assumed power and later that year won an election that was widely viewed as violent and flawed. He won another election in 2010.
"Now it is the duty of each Togolese to make a choice," Gnassingbe said at his polling station. "I hope this choice will be made in peace."
Some 3.5 million people have registered to vote, representing about half of Togo's population of 6.8 million.
The Republican Party’s imperial rebirth: How Dick Cheney’s twisted worldview became the guiding light of the GOP
For a fleeting moment, it seemed like the nightmares of the Bush administration might be behind us. Not anymore...
One of the more disturbing quotes of recent days (and that’s saying something) is this one:
Obviously, the idea that any insight can be gleaned from the freshman senator — who famously made the Republican caucus look like a bunch of bumbling fools when they signed on to his embarrassing letter to Iran — is the disturbing part of that comment. When I described Cotton as “a leading light on the right in foreign policy and national security,” back in February, I thought I was making a little joke. But this man, who has been in the Senate for about three months, really has become the go-to expert on all things related to foreign boogeymen.
But as Ed Kilgore noted in an interesting article last week, this is about more than just Tom Cotton. It is part of an overall GOP turn backwards on national security, which was signaled pretty clearly in the 2014 midterms.
“Pagan statism”: The frightening corporate/Christian alliance that invented “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God”
We think of One Nation Under God as a phrase dating back to our founding. The real history is newer -- and scarier
In 1949, some of the country’s top advertising executives launched a national marketing campaign. They weren’t selling a physical product. They were selling religion. Before long, the Religion in American Life campaign was placing close to 10,000 newspaper ads per year, coordinating national radio marketing, and putting up thousands of billboards, all intended “to accent the importance of all religious institutions as the basis of American life.” Major corporations bankrolled the effort.
We tend to imagine public expressions of faith as rising spontaneously from the American people, for good or for ill. When a politician says “God bless America,” she’s trying to sound like a populist, not like a corporate pawn. But as Princeton historian Kevin Kruse details in a new book, “One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America,” our country’s religious slogans owe more to corporate campaigns than they do to grassroots work.
As Kruse argues, in the wake of the New Deal, business leaders linked Christianity, Republican politics and libertarian economics, helping drive a wave of public piety in the 1950s. The decade gave us our national motto, In God We Trust (born in 1956), and a new line in the Pledge of Allegiance, “one nation under God” (dating to 1954, this American tradition is as old as Burger King and Denzel Washington).
Reached by phone, Kruse spoke with Salon about the red scare, Billy Graham and why the fiercest opponents of school prayer tend to be religious.
Our Financial Future: Infinite Greed Meets a Funny Thing Called Karma
All those angered by the mere question of the viability of this predatory pillaging in the name of capitalism are incapable of even admitting this cultural crisis exists.
Somewhere along the line, we lost the ability to distinguish between earning a profit and maximizing private gain by any means, i.e. Infinite Greed. If you insist on making this distinction now, you anger a lot of people, as it blows the capitalist cover of Infinite Greed.
The distinction between earning a profit and maximizing private gain by any means angers not just the few benefiting from the useful delusionthat Infinite Greed is simply profit on overdrive; it seems to anger everyone who believes the Status Quo of burning mountains of coal to power towel warmers, sitting in traffic burning petrol two hours a day and central banks enriching the already wealthy is not just sustainable but gol-darned good.
If you make the distinction betweenearning a profit and maximizing private gain by any means, then you realize the status quo is neither sustainable nor good: it is unsustainable and evil. This angers everyone who has rationalized their investment in (and defense of) an evil system, because, well, it’s hard to feel all warm and fuzzy about your choices if the phony facade falls and the evil of the system you’ve defended is starkly revealed.
11 Signs That We Are Entering The Next Phase Of The Global Economic Crisis
Well, the Nasdaq finally did it. It has climbed all the way back to where it was at the peak of the dotcom bubble. Back in March 2000, the Nasdaq set an all-time record high of 5,048.62. On Thursday, after all these years, that all-time record was finally eclipsed. The Nasdaq closed at 5056.06, and Wall Street greatly rejoiced. So if you invested in the Nasdaq at the peak of the dotcom bubble, you are just finally breaking even 15 years later. Unfortunately, the truth is that stocks have not been soaring because the U.S. economy is fundamentally strong. Just like the last two times, what we are witnessing is an irrational financial bubble. Sometimes these irrational bubbles can last for a surprisingly long time, but in the end they always burst. And even now there are signs of economic trouble bubbling to the surface all around us. The following are 11 signs that we are entering the next phase of the global economic crisis…
#1 It is being projected that half of all fracking companies in the United States will be “dead or sold” by the end of this year.
#2 The rig count just continues to fall as the U.S. oil industry implodes. Incredibly, the number of rigs in operation in the United States has fallen for 19 weeks in a row.
#3 McDonald’s has announced that it will be closing 700 “poor performing” restaurants in 2015. Why would McDonald’s be doing this if the economy was actually getting better?
American Politics: A House of Mirrors
April 25, 2015 (Ulson Gunnar - NEO) - A house of mirrors is an immersive, highly distorted and intentionally confusing version of reality. Those walking its corridors are sometimes amused and sometimes frightened by the disorienting experience, but luckily for them, it is only temporary. There is an exit, and they will walk through it, back to reality.
But what if one existed their entire lives in such a distorted reality and knew of no exits? Would they convince themselves that these distorted images reflected back at them were in fact reality no matter how unnatural they appeared? Could they convince themselves to enjoy and even embrace this distorted reality?
One ponders such questions when looking from the outside-in on American politics. It too is a house of mirrors reflecting back a reality entirely distorted. Also like a house of mirrors, American politics have been intentionally constructed this way, to confuse, disorient and even frighten the American people when necessary to exercise mass persuasion over them. The final result is perpetual impunity granted to the powers that truly be, hiding behind the powers that allegedly were "elected," and powers whose authority only exists in this house of mirrors and no further.
New Leaders, Old Wars
Consider US President George Bush Sr. He launched the inaugural war of what he himself called a "New World Order." Operation Desert Storm included multiple nations comprising of nearly a million soldiers who swept from the map one of the largest conventional armies (4th largest) in the world. Bush Sr., however, paused just ahead of sweeping the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power. His successor, US President William Jefferson Clinton would keep Iraq subdued with periodic bombing campaigns and the imposition of both crippling sanctions and no-fly zones in the north and south of Iraq.
Quicksilver trail: Liquid mercury could lead to king’s tomb in mysterious pre-Aztec city
An archaeologist has made the startling discovery of liquid mercury beneath an ancient pyramid in Mexico, which predates the Aztecs. This could mean the presence of a royal tomb right below one of the most cryptic cities in the Americas.
Local researcher Sergio Gomez announced the discovery on Friday of “large quantities” of the element underneath the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent – the third largest in the ancient ruined city of Teotihuacan, which is shrouded in mystery and was once one of the largest in the hemisphere.
"It's something that completely surprised us," he told Reuters, standing at the entrance to the ancient pyramid, located about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Mexico City.
What makes the find more exciting is the city itself, believed to come from the same period as the great Mayan city-states, but even less explored – even its inhabitants have no name, and there used to be 200,000 of them, living amongst gargantuan stone pyramids some 1,300 to 1,900 years ago.
The Evening Greens
The Evening Greens Weekend Editor: enhydra lutris
EU to put Thailand’s fishing industry on 6-month probation
LUXEMBOURG (AP) — The European Union is to give Thailand six months to drastically change its policies on illegal and unregulated fishing or face an EU seafood import ban by the end of the year.
Two people with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press Monday the 28-nation bloc will give Thailand an ultimate warning or it could face export losses of over half a billion euros a year.
The move is to be officially announced on Tuesday.
The sources, including one EU official, spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has yet to be made. They said Thailand now has six months to come forward with a new approach to stave off the ban.
Thailand is a major seafood exporter and an EU ban would seriously affect its industry.
Update: EU puts Thai fishing industry on 6-month probation; threatens import ban
Diabetes drug found in freshwater is a potential cause of intersex fish
A medication commonly taken for Type II diabetes, which is being found in freshwater systems worldwide, has been shown to cause intersex in fish -male fish that produce eggs.
A study by Rebecca Klaper at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee determined exposure to the diabetes medicine metformin causes physical changes in male fish exposed to doses similar to the amount in wastewater effluent.
In addition to intersex conditions, fish exposed to metformin were smaller in size than those not exposed, said Klaper, a professor in UWM's School of Freshwater Sciences.
The study, co-authored by Nicholas Niemuth, a researcher in Klaper's lab, was recently published in the journal Chemosphere.
Mountains warming faster than expected
High elevation environments around the world may be warming much faster than previously thought, according to members of an international research team including Raymond Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. They call for more aggressive monitoring of temperature changes in mountain regions and more attention to the potential consequences of warming.
“Elevation-dependent warming is a poorly observed phenomenon that requires urgent attention to ensure that potentially important changes in high mountain environments are adequately monitored by the global observational network,” say members of the Mountain Research Initiative Working Group in the current issue of Nature Climate Change.
High mountains are the major water source for large numbers of people living at lower elevations, so the social and economic consequences of enhanced warming in mountain regions could be large, the researchers add. “This alone requires that close attention be paid to the issue. In addition, mountains provide habitat for many of the world’s rare and endangered species, and the presence of many different ecosystems in close proximity enhances the ecological sensitivity of mountains to environmental change.”
Lead author Nick Pepin of the University of Portsmouth, U.K., says, “There is growing evidence that high mountain regions are warming faster than lower elevations and such warming can accelerate many other environmental changes such as glacial melt and vegetation change, but scientists urgently need more and better data to confirm this. If we are right and mountains are warming more rapidly than other environments, the social and economic consequences could be serious, and we could see more dramatic changes much sooner than previously thought.”
First infant frogs released in Presidio lake
Twenty-four infant chorus frogs, still a bit wobbly on their legs, were introduced to the clear shoreline water of Mountain Lake in the Presidio this week as biologists took another step toward restoring the once-polluted urban lake to its pristine state as a home for native wildlife.
Day by day this spring, ecologist Jonathan Young will be releasing more than 2,500 young “froglets” into the lake as they mature from tadpoles safely protected inside wire mesh cages that have served as their underwater nurseries in a shallow section of the lake.
But the baby frogs are still barely able to make it on their own as their diets change from shoreline vegetation to animal prey, and they face the hazards of city life, Young said.
“People are asking what kind of frogs they can buy in pet stores to introduce in the lake and help our re-population efforts along,” Young said, “but it would be heartbreaking if uninformed folks do that without understanding the ecological damage they’d be creating.”
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
How Corporate America Invented Christian America
President Obama Attempts to Defend the Administration's Latest Drone Disaster
Strikes Against Morality
Joe Shikspack: I'm a Nobody, and you can be, too
c99p: Is it the 1% or the .01% or the .001%?
The morning after
The most popular candidate in the swing states is...marijuana
Hellraisers Journal: Family of Tenant Farmers So Poor That They Are Offering to Give Children Away
Overcoming the Culture of Fears
A Little Night Music
Jerry Garcia - Deal
Jerry Garcia - The Wheel
Jerry Garcia - Bird Song
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman Whiskey In The Jar
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman & Tony Rice - Man of Constant Sorrow
Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders - Someday Baby
Jerry Garcia - Loser
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman - Shady Grove
Jerry Garcia - To Lay Me Down
Jerry Garcia - Visions of Johanna
Jerry Garcia - High Time (solo acoustic studio)
Jerry Garcia - Amazing Grace
Jerry Garcia Band - Magnificent Sanctuary Band
Jerry Garcia - Knockin on Heaven's Door (Acoustic)
Jerry Garcia - Cigarettes and Coffee
Jerry Garcia - Cats Under The Stars
Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders - After Midnight
Jerry Garcia, Tony Rice, David Grisman - So What
Jerry Garcia Band - How Sweet It Is
Jerry Garcia - Summertime (acoustic)
Jerry Garcia - So What
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Hesitation Blues
Jerry Garcia, Tony Rice, David Grisman - Long Black Veil
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Louis Collins