Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 7:00 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!
Today's music is provided by women. Women were the first popular blues perfomers, Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Memphis Minnie among many and here are some of the next generations of women that have carried on the tradition and bring it into the present time. There were so many fine youtube videos available, this will run into another night.
Big Maybelle - I Ain't Mad at You
"Money is the worst currency that ever grew among mankind. This sacks cities, this drives men from their homes, this teaches and corrupts the worthiest minds to turn base deeds."
-- Sophocles
News
Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises
A critical document from President Barack Obama's free trade negotiations with eight Pacific nations was leaked online early Wednesday morning, revealing that the administration intends to bestow radical new political powers upon multinational corporations, contradicting prior promises. ...
The newly leaked document is one of the most controversial of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. It addresses a broad sweep of regulations governing international investment and reveals the Obama administration's advocacy for policies that environmental activists, financial reform advocates and labor unions have long rejected for eroding key protections currently in domestic laws.
Under the agreement currently being advocated by the Obama administration, American corporations would continue to be subject to domestic laws and regulations on the environment, banking and other issues. But foreign corporations operating within the U.S. would be permitted to appeal key American legal or regulatory rulings to an international tribunal. That international tribunal would be granted the power to overrule American law and impose trade sanctions on the United States for failing to abide by its rulings.
Will Military Budget Cuts Weaken Defence and Lose Jobs?
Fed Board Member Conflicts Detailed by GAO: Banks and Businesses Took $4 Trillion in Bailouts
More than $4 trillion in near zero-interest Federal Reserve loans and other financial assistance went to the banks and businesses of at least 18 current and former Federal Reserve regional bank directors in the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse, according to Government Accountability Office records made public for the first time today by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
On the eve of Senate testimony by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Sanders (I-Vt.) released the detailed findings on Dimon and other Fed board members whose banks and businesses benefited from Fed actions.
A Sanders provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act required the Government Accountability Office to investigate potential conflicts of interest. The Oct. 19, 2011 report by the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress laid out the findings, but did not name names. Sanders today released the names.
Quebec Students Spark Mass Protests Against Austerity
An atmosphere of defiance now cloaks Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city, as people of all ages don red squares—the symbol of solidarity with the strike, originating from French expression of being ‘squarely in the red’ financially. The balconies of the city’s distinctive townhouses are dotted with red banners, and nightly pots-and-pans protests ring out through Montreal neighborhoods as they bring thousands into the streets.
Inspired by the protests against austerity measures during Argentina’s 2001 economic collapse, these casseroles are the latest form of protest by a movement that has taken inspiration from the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and Spain’s Indignados. ...
As social unrest continues with raucous nightly protests, the thousands of people clogging downtown Montreal have been joined by local casseroles. In turn the casseroles have given birth to their own local neighborhood committees run by general assemblies across Montreal. Nadeau-Dubois said that most students are so disillusioned with electoral prospects that they see little hope in elections. Now it increasingly appears that the showdown between the government and students in Canada’s largest fight against austerity will be decided in the streets.
Did Eric Holder Lie to Congress?
Thursday morning, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was questioned in a House Judiciary Committee hearing about the Obama Administration's policy on medical marijuana. What he said to our Congressional representatives should be alarming not only to medical cannabis patients, but also to policy makers and the general public, because, based on all of the available information we have, it surely must be a lie.
In response to a question on Justice Department enforcement in medical marijuana states, Attorney General Holder said:
We limit our enforcement efforts to those individuals, organizations that are acting out of conformity with state law.
There is no way to characterize that statement except as false. The administration can say they respect state compassionate use laws, but the reality is a stark contrast to their words.
How Wall Street Hustles America's Cities and States Out of Billions
We all know that America’s cities and towns are in the throes of a deep financial crisis. And are told, over and over, what’s supposedly behind it: unreasonable demands by grasping state and municipal workers for pay and pensions. The diagnosis is a grotesque cartoon. Many of the biggest budget busters are on Wall Street, not Main Street. ...
In the bad old days of pre-2008 deregulated finance, bankers started pedaling hot new “structured finance” products that they claimed were perfect for the needs of clients who had thrived for decades using cheaper, plain vanilla bonds and loans. The new marvels – swaps and other forms of so-called “derivatives” whose values changed as other securities they referenced fluctuated in value – were often complex and frequently not priced in any actual market. Their buyers thus had difficulty understanding how they really worked or how they might be hurt by purchasing them. ...
The result, for years now, has been literally billions of dollars of losses for cities, states, and other local authorities, including school boards and state college loan agencies. Locked in by the termination fees, they can stay in the swaps and pay and pay as the banks’ payments to them dwindle. Or they can buy their way out of the swaps at preposterous prices – Morgenson indicated that New York State recently paid $243 million dollars to get out of some swaps, of which $191 million had to be borrowed.
New Archive of Vintage Wartime Propaganda Online - thanks National Archives!
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
What Might Cause Another 9/11?
Obama to Skip Rio Earth Summit
The Obama Administration Is Criminalizing Investigative Reporting
A Little Night Music
Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle
Big Maybelle~ Whole 'Lotta Shakin Goin On
Koko Taylor - Ernestine
Big Time Sarah - They Call Me Fannie Mae
Koko Taylor - I'm Ready
Koko Taylor - Mother Nature
For further listening:
Koko Taylor & Muddy Waters - I Got What It Takes
Koko Taylor - Fish In Dirty Water
Big Maybelle - That's A Pretty Good Love