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!
Tonight's music features Eddie Taylor who, sadly is probably best known as the 2nd guitarist on many of Jimmy Reed's big hits. Taylor taught Reed how to play guitar and was instrumental in developing the sound that Reed was known for.
Clip from movie: Antone's: Home of the Blues
"As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests."
-- Gore Vidal
News
Gore Vidal Remembered: 2003 Interview With Late Iconoclastic Writer & Longtime Critic of U.S. Empire
Charles Glass: With Annan’s Exit & Influx of Foreign Arms, Syria’s Violence "Seems the Only Way Out"
Obama authorizes secret support for Syrian rebels
President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, sources familiar with the matter said.
Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad. ...
A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.
Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad's opponents
UN assembly set to vote on Syria resolution
The UN prepared on Friday to denounce Syria for unleashing tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes on the people of Aleppo and Damascus. The resolution will reportedly demand that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad keep its chemical and biological weapons warehoused and under strict control.
The anti-Syria resolution was expected to easily pass in the 193-member General Assembly after its Arab sponsors were forced to drop two key provisions in the original draft: a demand that Assad resign, and a call for other nations to place sanctions on Syria over its civil war. ...
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council on Thursday that UN military observers in Aleppo are seeing “a considerable buildup of military means, where we have reason to believe that the main battle is about to start”.
The rebels have commandeered tanks, and are bringing them into combat as Syrian warplanes strike back.
Putin suggests leniency for Pussy Riot punk band protesters
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he did not favour a tough punishment in the trial of an all-girl punk band which performed a song against his rule in Moscow’s biggest church.
“There is nothing good in what they did,” news agencies quoted Putin as saying about the three Pussy Riot members. “Nevertheless, I do not think that they should be judged too severely for this.” ...
Putin told reporters in London following talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron that he hoped that the Pussy Riot members “will draw their own conclusions” and learn from their mistakes.
The dominant Russian leader has developed a history of issuing carefully phrased comments about high-profile hearings that end up coinciding with the final verdict issued by the court.
Immigrants prove big business for prison companies
The U.S. is locking up more illegal immigrants than ever, generating lucrative profits for the nation's largest prison companies, and an Associated Press review shows the businesses have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers and contributing to campaigns.
The cost to American taxpayers is on track to top $2 billion for this year, and the companies are expecting their biggest cut of that yet in the next few years thanks to government plans for new facilities to house the 400,000 immigrants detained annually.
After a decade of expansion, the sprawling, private system runs detention centers everywhere from a Denver suburb to an industrial area flanking Newark's airport, and is largely controlled by just three companies.
Climate change the cause of summer's extreme weather, Congress told - IPCC scientists tell Senate committee drought, wildfires and hurricanes are becoming normal because of climate change
"It is critical to understand that the link between climate change and the kinds of extremes that lead to disaster is clear," Christopher Field, a lead author of the IPCC report and director of global ecology at the Carnegie Institute for Science, said in testimony. ...
"The US experienced 14 billion-dollar disasters in 2011, a record that surpasses the previous maximum of 9," he said. "The 2011 disasters included a blizzard, tornadoes, floods, severe weather, a hurricane, a tropical storm, drought and heatwaves, and wildfires. In 2012, we have already experienced horrifying wildfires, a powerful windstorm that hit Washington DC, heat waves in much of the country, and a massive drought."
He went on to make a point of warning Texans that the future of farming and ranching could be put in jeopardy because of climate change.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin'
America's Top Officials Are Dangerously Clueless About The Military
9 Real Economic Reforms - by gjohnsit
Does a Corporation Have Buddha Nature?
A Little Night Music
Blind John Davis & Eddie Taylor - Walking Groundhog
Eddie Taylor - Ride 'Em On Down
Eddie Taylor - Bad Boy
Eddie Taylor - Kansas City
Eddie Taylor - Peach Tree Blues
Eddie Taylor - Bigtown Playboy
Billy Boy Arnold, Eddie Taylor, Blind John Davis
We are ready for some serious change. We are ready to take up the tools of a free and analytic press to peacefully undermine the stranglehold of the kleptocrats on our battered democracy. We are ready to expose and publicize their greed, lies and illegal machinations and hold their enablers in government and the media to account. Are you in?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
~ Margaret Mead
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