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 Chicago blues harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold. Enjoy!
Billy Boy Arnold w/ Phil Alvin - I Wish You Would
"Ours is a government of checks and balances. The Mafia and crooked businessmen make out checks, and the politicians and other compromised officials improve their bank balances."
-- Steve Allen
News and Opinion
Yay! Another useless appendage prepares to enter the golden revolving door to receive his reward for protecting his former Wall Street fat-cat clients.
U.S. Attorney General Holder to resign
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce his resignation at the White House on Thursday, Justice Department and White House officials said.
The officials, speaking on background, said Holder will formally announce his plans to leave his post in the Obama administration but will stay on as the nation's top lawyer until his successor is confirmed.
In a statement, the White House said President Barack Obama would make a personnel announcement at 4:30 p.m. ...
Holder "has no immediate plans once he steps down," the Justice Department official said, adding that Holder had discussed his plans to leave over the past few months and had finalized his decision earlier this month.
How Imminent Is an 'Imminent' Attack Threat
Smart people in the administration have spent the last two days telling the American people that U.S. strikes against the Khorasan Group were necessary to disrupt "imminent attack plotting" against U.S. and Western interests.
They warned that members of the shadowy Khorasan Group, an al-Qaida offshoot, were "nearing the execution phase" of an attack in the U.S. or Europe.
They spoke of "active plotting that posed an imminent threat."
People may have come away with the impression that the terror group was on the brink of pulling off something awful.
Perhaps not. ...
Dictionary.com defines imminent as "likely to occur at any moment."
But a Justice Department white paper released in February 2013 gives a more nuanced view.
"An 'imminent' threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future," the memo reads. ...
In the case of the Khorasan Group, two U.S. officials told the AP that U.S. officials aren't aware of the terrorists identifying any particular location or target for an attack in the near future.
Obama trots out the language of fear. I hope that we're all shaking in our boots now.
On Day Two of 'Illegal' US-Led Bombing of Syria, Obama Asks for Help Fighting 'Network of Death'
In a 40-minute address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, President Barack Obama described the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (or ISIS) as "a network of death" and called on world leaders to join the U.S. in taking "concrete steps to address the danger posed by religiously motivated fanatics, and the trends that fuel their recruitment."
"There can be no reasoning, no negotiation, with this brand of evil," Obama told the General Assembly. He said force is the only language the militants understand, and warned those who have joined ISIS's cause to "leave the battlefield while they can."
Obama Bombs Syria without Congressional Approval
US Airstrikes in Syria Don’t Slow ISIS Offensive
US and coalition airstrikes continue to pound ISIS in Syria, with the latest attacks focusing on ISIS fighters advancing into the Kurdish area around Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria.
Despite that area being the new focus of the airstrikes, the attacks do not appear to be slowing ISIS even a little, as the group continues to press ahead into more Kurdish villages, and civilians continue to flee into neighboring Turkey.
“Those air strikes are not important,” noted one of the refugees, who called for US troops on the ground to retake the villages for the Kurdish factions there.
Obama gives you, the coalition of the chilling, as in, chill out and look involved while Obama does most of the bombing:
U.S. Is Carrying Out Vast Majority of Strikes on ISIS, Military Officials Say
The vast majority of airstrikes launched against Sunni militant targets in Syria have been carried out by American war planes and ship-based Tomahawk cruise missiles, military officials said Tuesday, in what they described as the successful beginning of a long campaign to degrade and destroy the Islamic State.
In disclosing the identities of the five Sunni Arab nations that joined or supported the attacks in Syria — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Qatar — the Obama administration sought to paint a picture of an international coalition resolute in its determination to take on the Sunni militant group. ...
But Lt. Gen. William C. Mayville Jr., the director of operations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the majority of strikes were carried out by American warplanes and cruise missiles, with the aim of hindering the ability of the Islamic State to cross the border into Iraq and attack Iraqi forces.
US air strikes target Islamic State oil infrastructure
A third night of US air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) targets inside Syria focused on oil infrastructure controlled by the militant group, observer groups say, in an apparent attempt to cut off its funding supply.
The attacks on a series of oil installations around the town of Mayadeen, in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, reportedly killed 19 people, including five civilians, believed to be women and children related to the 14 militants who died, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local activist groups.
Other strikes hit checkpoints, compounds and vehicles in Isis-held territory in northern and eastern Syria and along the Turkish and Iraqi borders. The US has been waging air raids against Isis targets inside Iraq for more than a month.
The group captured most of Syria’s largest oilfields this year. It is believed to be raising money for its fighting by selling the oil on the black market. It is thought to control 11 oilfields in Iraq and Syria, contributing to income of more than $3m (£1.85m) a day in oil smuggling and other activities.
Obama's comments at the UN are aimed at appeasing liberal unease
PRASHAD: Funny thing for the American president to talk about adhering to international laws. Also, Mr. Obama at the UN said that the large nations should not trample small ones in pursuit of what he called "territorial ambition". These are curious statements coming from the American president at this time. There's no UN resolution that allows the United States to carry out operations in Syria. You'll remember that in Libya in 2011 there was a great hoopla made about the importance of getting a UN resolution. Here there was no attempt to get any resolution. They simply bombed in Syria. The question of international norms or international resolutions, you know, coming from Mr. Obama is not really about whether there are international norms or resolutions to uphold.
But why is Mr. Obama saying this? What is his audience? It's plain that the American right wing, the Republicans and some sections of the Democratic Party, don't really care about international norms. They believe in the executive authority of the president. They don't even believe the United Nations or international law should play any role vis-à-vis American policymaking.
And then you have the world community. You know, when they hear things like big countries shouldn't trample small countries, people keep thinking of Iraq. I mean, from 1991 till the present, Iraq sovereignty has been trampled by the United States. However you define territorial ambitions, it need not be a country that's right next to the U.S. for it to exercise its extraterritorial or territorial ambitions. So most people around the world would not see the credibility of that statement.
I think this particular gesture comes towards the liberal wing of the American population that's maybe a little anxious about this escalation into warfare. You know, there are people who are saying that they voted twice for Mr. Obama and they are now feeling a great sense of regret, not only over Guantanamo, etc., but now perhaps the entry into a new war in West Asia.
Obama sends Russia a cold war blast and seeks distance from ‘war on terror’
Barack Obama sought to strike a delicate balance at the UN general assembly on Wednesday. He had come to New York to rally the world for a new struggle against Islamic extremism – but at the same time he had to reassure his global audience it was not about to witness a replay of George W Bush’s “war on terror”.
Moreover, the president had to achieve that feat at a time when the Security Council is at its most divided for over a decade, with deep rifts between the West and Russia over Ukraine and Syria. The tone of Obama’s remarks addressed towards Moscow were as stern as anything heard from an American president since well before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In an echo of the language of the cold war, he portrayed Russia as the very antithesis of everything America stood for, and invited the world to choose between the two very models they represented. ...
Obama addressed head-on the deep divide between the West and Russia that has threatened to paralyse the work of the UN Security Council. He laid out the details of Moscow’s intervention in Crimea and eastern Ukraine saying its actions in Ukraine represented a threat to the international order established after the second world war and symbolised by the UN.
“This is a vision of the world in which might makes right – a world in which one nation’s borders can be redrawn by another, and civilised people are not allowed to recover the remains of their loved ones because of the truth that might be revealed,” Obama said. “America stands for something different. We believe that right makes might – that bigger nations should not be able to bully smaller ones; that people should be able to choose their own future.”
Obama stressed that the US was willing to cooperate with Moscow on the pressing global challenges of the day, such as climate change and the spread of the Ebola virus, but only “if Russia changes course."
Israeli Government Eventually Admits that Mohammed Is the Top Baby Name
By their nature, babies are generally uninterested in politics. But in Israel’s highly-charged political environment, even infants are imbued with broader significance. For having the temerity to be born, Palestinian babies have been referred to by Israeli politicians as “demographic threats” and even “time-bombs.” ...
It was against that political backdrop that the government released a list of popular baby names this week that included only Hebrew names. After publishing the initial rankings, the Haaretz newspaper asked government officials why there weren’t any Arab names on the list. It turns out they had been excluded, and a new list was given to Haaretz. The Israeli government told the publication that its original decision to effectively exclude Palestinian babies from its list, released just ahead of the Jewish new year, was not done with any ideological intention in mind and that, “contrary to the assumptions of the Haaretz newspaper, there is no plot to deliberately hide information.”
Ukraine leader sees country applying for EU membership 'in 6 years time'
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said he would present a broad plan of social and economic reforms on Thursday which would allow the former Soviet republic to apply for membership of the European Union in six years.
Ukraine's parliament ratified a landmark agreement on closer ties with the EU on Sept. 16, though implementation of the trade part of the accord has been delayed until January 2016 to appease Russia, which says the pact will hurt its markets.
Poroshenko, speaking to Ukrainian judges, also said that for the first time in many months no deaths or wounded had been reported in the past 24 hours in a conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, indicating that a ceasefire struck on Sept. 5 "has finally begun working".
"I will present my vision of Ukraine's development, our strategy for the period up to 2020," Poroshenko said, referring to a news conference set for later on Thursday.
No Charges in Ohio Police Killing of John Crawford as Wal-Mart Video Contradicts 911 Caller Account
Surveillance Video Released as Jury Decides Not to Indict in Ohio Walmart Shooting
A video was released by officials today in which a young black man is shot by police at an Ohio Walmart store while carrying a toy gun. The video's release came the same day that a grand jury decided not to press charges against anyone involved in the fatal shooting.
Following the decision today the US Department of Justice also announced it would review the incident, which took place at a Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart on August 5.
In the distant surveillance footage from inside the store the victim, 22-year-old John Crawford, III, is seen walking through the store and grabbing the toy pellet rifle from the shelf. Later, he is seen with the pellet rifle at his waist and hoisting it up to his shoulder at attention, while standing in the corner of an aisle. It's unclear exactly how the events play out in the final moments of the video, but Crawford appears to lose control of the gun and lunge forward. Police officers are then seen rushing down the aisle towards Crawford.
According to police, Crawford ignored orders to put down the pellet gun.
Ohio Walmart video reveals moments before officer killed man on cellphone
A grand jury in Greene County declined on Wednesday to indict Sean Williams, the police officer who shot Crawford, on charges of murder, reckless homicide or negligent homicide. ... An attorney for Crawford’s family described their decision as “absolutely incomprehensible”. The US department of justice quickly announced that it would review the case with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into the possibility of federal criminal charges.
Mark Piepmeier, the special prosecutor for the case, told a press conference that Crawford was the victim of “a perfect storm of circumstances” and “didn’t do anything wrong”. However, enough of the grand jurors “decided that the police officers, and the police officer in particular that fired the shots, was justified in doing what he did”.
The officers believed that they were dealing with a so-called “active shooter situation”, Piepmeier said, and had just two weeks earlier been trained to “engage the active threat upon arrival”. He added: “Were the police facing such a situation here? No. Did they know that? No. They’re told ‘we’ve got a guy in here with a rifle, he’s holding the rifle, and he’s pointing it at people’.”
The 911 caller, Ronald Ritchie, later clarified to the Guardian in an interview that “at no point did he shoulder the rifle and point it at somebody”, stressing instead that Crawford had been “waving it around” and that the muzzle had moved in the direction of other shoppers. Ritchie told the dispatcher that Crawford pointed the rifle at two children, which the footage disproves. ...
“He’s, like, pointing it at people,” Ritchie, 100ft away, told the 911 dispatcher, shortly after 8.22pm. The dispatcher relayed this to officers on the scene. Piepmeier disclosed on Wednesday that one officer actually called back to check and confirm this. “Yes, that’s what the caller says, he’s pointing it at people,” the dispatcher replied, according to Piepmeier.
US pays Navajo Nation $554m for mishandling resources held in trust
The Obama administration has agreed to pay the Navajo Nation a record $554m to settle longstanding claims by the largest native American tribe that its funds and natural resources were mishandled for decades by the US government.
The accord, resolving claims that date back as far as 50 years and marking the biggest US legal settlement with a single tribe, will be formally signed at a ceremony on Friday in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the sprawling Navajo reservation.
The deal stems from litigation accusing the government of mismanaging Navajo trust accounts and resources on more than 14m acres (5.7m hectares) of land held in trust for the tribe and leased for such purposes as farming, energy development, logging and mining.
In return for the money, the Navajo agreed to dismiss its lawsuit and forgo further litigation over previous US management of Navajo funds and resources held in trust by the federal government.
The deal does not preclude the tribe from pursuing future trust claims, or any separate claims over water and uranium pollution on its reservation, Navajo attorney general Harrison Tsosie said.
Told They Cannot Learn About Social Movements, Colorado Students Take To the Streets
Right wingers on school board try to ban history of "social strife" in the United States
Hundreds of students from high schools across Colorado's Jefferson County school district walked out of classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week, protesting attempts by rightwing members of the school board to amp up what they consider the "positive aspects of the United States and its heritage" within the district's history curriculum while minimizing focus on more progressive aspects of history such as people's movements, the history of struggle, and "social strife."
Carrying signs that read, "Don't make history a mystery;" "There is nothing more patriotic than protest;" and "It’s world history, not white history," students came out in opposition to a proposal—since put on hold—that would establish a committee to regularly review texts and course plans. For example, that plan would look at Advanced Placement history courses to make sure materials "promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights" and don't "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law."
"It's chilling," school board member Lesley Dahlkemper, who has previously clashed with the conservative majority, told the Denver Post. "Does it mean [Jefferson County students] will no longer study the civil rights movement, the Boston Tea Party or women's suffrage?"
A new version of the College Board's AP History course places an increased focus on women and minorities, which some conservatives have charged is "revisionist."
"There are things we may not be proud of as Americans," Jefferson County school board member Julie Williams, who proposed the review committee, told Chalkbeat Colorado. "But we shouldn’t be encouraging our kids to think that America is a bad place. When [the course questions] our American values and leaves out so many of our founding fathers, that’s concerning to me."
[The twitter feed for #JeffCoSchoolBoardHistory is pretty hilarious! - js]
Golly, it looks like austerity imposes costs on job creators...
Bad U.S. roads force "just in time" manufacturers to plan for 'just in case'
Some of America’s leanest manufacturers share a fat secret.
Companies like Whirlpool and Caterpillar are making costly additions to their otherwise sinewy supply chains to compensate for aging U.S. roads that are too potholed and congested for "just in time" delivery.
Some opt to keep more trucks and inventory on the road. Others are leasing huge "just in case" warehouses and guarded parking lots on the edges of big cities. All that activity raises costs, which are expected to increase even more if roads are allowed to deteriorate further and an improving economy boosts traffic. ...
Overall, U.S. companies face billions of dollars in costs due to the limitations of the creaking, overcrowded transportation network, which earned a D+ grade in the most recent report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute estimates that road congestion alone costs shippers $27 billion a year – and that is only the value of wasted driver time and extra fuel.
“What it doesn’t take into account is the cost of all the extra trucks and all the extra inventory in transit that manufacturers have to roll out to make sure their deliveries get there on time,” said Bill Eisele, a senior research engineer at Texas A&M
The Evening Greens
Obama's Pitiful Pledge Epitomizes Failure of UN Summit: Climate Campaigners
Historic crowds gathered in New York City this week to demand drastic action in the face of the ever worsening climate crisis. But at Tuesday's Climate Summit at the United Nations headquarters, heads of state—most notably President Obama—did not come close to heeding the urgent calls for concrete action, say climate justice campaigners.
The summit was convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to showcase "government, finance, business, and civil society" solutions to the climate crisis, according to a UN announcement. Politicians, corporations, and token civil society groups were invited to participate, while social movement organizations were excluded from the summit. Perhaps the most notable thing about this year's meeting, which follows a similar gathering in Copenhagen in 2009, was the large role played by corporations in the day's events and plenaries. Justin Gillis pointing out in the New York Times that "companies are playing a larger role than at any such gathering in the past." ...
President Barack Obama gave a speech to the UN that was heavy on passionate rhetoric. "The alarm bells keep ringing. Our citizens keep marching. We cannot pretend we do not hear them. We have to answer the call," he declared. However, his address provided few details on how these intentions translate into action and did not address the critical question of new U.S. emissions targets. Furthermore, Obama made no mention of sending money to developing countries dealing with the impacts of climate change. Obama's announcement of an executive order to consider climate change in international development programs was met with caution due to the Obama administration's continued support of the fossil fuel industry. ...
Obama's announcement of an Oil and Gas Methane Partnership, which is a corporate alliance led by extractive industries and not beholden to binding commitments, was slammed by critics. “President Obama’s executive order today, that hinges on the voluntary initiative, the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership, is more evidence that his administration is not serious about reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch. "One does not solve the greatest environmental crisis in our lifetime with half measures and by running interference for the petroleum industry."
Listen to the People, Not the Polluters: Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace on the Global Climate Uprising
UN Climate Change Summit Yields Announcements on Deforestation
Among the few commitments to emerge from a one-day climate summit — held at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday and attended by over 100 heads of state — was a promise to end destruction of the world's forests by 2030 and funnel over $1 billion in aid to countries where forest conservation is most needed.
Conservation groups, however, say the moratorium — the New York Declaration on Forests — fails to act quickly enough to halt deforestation and that past financial commitments, particularly in Indonesia, were poorly planned and implemented.
"The New York Declaration is missing ambitious targets and tangible actions," said Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo. "Halting the global loss of natural forests by 2030 and eliminating deforestation from agricultural commodities by 2020 at the latest would mean that years of continued forest clearance still lie ahead of us." ...
The declaration was endorsed by 27 nations, including the US, and subnational governments in Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Mexico, and Peru — areas comprising the world's largest intact tropical rainforests.
Deforestation accounts for at least 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — roughly the same amount generated by all the world's cars, trucks, trains, boats, and planes combined. The cultivation of just four agricultural commodities — soy, palm oil, beef and paper — accounts for around half of global deforestation.
Obama "Takes the Wind Out of the Sails" of a Legally Binding Climate Agreement
REDMAN: I found his solutions to be quite lacking. He talked about driving cleaner cars, for example. He spoke about helping entrepreneurs in Africa with clean energy. But he didn't really get into the content of what he has been doing domestically, what his administration has been doing domestically here, or the kinds of projects and programs that the Obama administration has been supporting abroad or is planning to support abroad. I think most importantly he took a lot of the wind out of the sails of a call that many of us have been making for a legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction agreement by the end of next year in Paris, in 2015, as part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He's been saying things like we need flexibility so every country can react according to its own circumstances, when in fact what we really need is every country to come on board in a legally binding way to reduce their emissions quickly and deeply, as the science demands. And that was missing from his speech yesterday.
Climate-Smart Agriculture is Corporate Green-Washing, Warn NGOs
On the sidelines of the U.N.’s heavily hyped Climate Summit, the newly-launched Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture announced plans to protect some 500 million farmers worldwide from climate change and “help achieve sustainable and equitable increases in agricultural productivity and incomes.”
But the announcement by the Global Alliance, which includes more than 20 governments, 30 organisations and corporations, including Fortune 500 companies McDonald’s and Kelloggs, was greeted with apprehension by a coalition of over 100 civil society organisations (CSOs).
It is a backhanded gesture, warned the coalition, which “rejected” the announcement as “a deceptive and deeply contradictory initiative.”
“The Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture will not deliver the solutions that we so urgently need. Instead, climate-smart agriculture provides a dangerous platform for corporations to implement the very activities we oppose,” the coalition said. ...
The coalition also pointed out that companies with activities resulting in dire social impacts on farmers and communities, such as those driving land grabbing or promoting genetically modified (GM) seeds, already claim they are climate-smart.
Yara (the world’s largest fertiliser manufacturer), Syngenta (GM seeds), McDonald’s, and Walmart are all at the climate-smart table, it added. “Climate-smart agriculture will serve as a new promotional space for the planet’s worst social and environmental offenders in agriculture.
Judge orders BP to stick by Deepwater Horizon payouts agreement
BP wanted its money back – hundreds of millions of dollars of it – but a federal judge said Wednesday that the oil giant must stick by its agreement with the companies it compensated for business losses due to the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
BP argued that a flawed funding formula in their settlement with alleged victims of the spill enabled many businesses to collect on questionable claims, and that they should be forced to return the money.
US District Judge Carl Barbier agreed several weeks ago to change the formula for any future payments, but he ruled Wednesday that a deal is a deal when it comes to the money BP has already paid out. Under that deal, claimants agreed not to sue the oil company, and BP company agreed that no future court action could change their payments.
The ruling thwarts BP’s latest attempt to control its soaring liability from the spill, which may be nearing $50bn.
Barbier said he would rule later on the issue of compensation for cleanup workers whose chronic medical problems weren’t diagnosed until after the deal’s cutoff date of 16 April, 2012.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
ISIS’ Harsh Brand of Islam Is Rooted in Austere Saudi Creed
Obama Bombs Syria and Threatens Wider War in Violation of the UN Charter
Argentina v. the Hedge Funds
Chelsea Manning files Federal Lawsuit seeking medical treatment
US Bombing Kills Children, Should Be Opposed
A Little Night Music
Billy Boy Arnold, Tony McPhee & The Groundhogs - Dirty Mother Fuyer
Billy Boy Arnold - My Little Machine
Billy Boy Arnold - Squeeze Me Tight
Billy Boy Arnold & The Aces - She Fooled Me
Billy Boy Arnold - Catfish
Billy Boy Arnold - I Ain't Got You
Billy Boy Arnold - Shake Your Hips
Billy Boy Arnold - Sunny Road
Billy Boy Arnold, Matt Guitar Murphy & Joe Louis Walker I Wanna Love You
Billy Boy Arnold - You're So Fine
Billy Boy Arnold - Don't Stay Out All Night
Billy Boy Arnold - Just Your Fool
Billy Boy Arnold - Shake The Boogie
Billy Boy Arnold - She's A Sweet Old Lady
Billy Boy Arnold - I Wish You Would (original)
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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