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 guitarist and singer Johnny B. Moore. Enjoy!
Johnny B. Moore - King Bee
“It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order - and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order.”
-- Douglas R. Hofstadter
News and Opinion
Libya, ISIS and the Unaffordable Luxury of Hindsight
Gaddafi called them drug-addicted, Islamic fundamentalists; we know them as ISIS… it doesn’t seem much of a joke now, does it? And ISIS is what had been in store for us all along; the “revolutionary” lynching and sodomization of Muammar Gaddafi amid manic chants of “Allahu Akbar”, lauded by many at the time as some sort of a warped triumph of the good of popular will (read: NATO-sponsored mob rule) over the evil of dictatorship (sovereign state), was nothing but a gory precursor for the future of the country and the region; mass lynching of entire populations in Libya, Syria and Iraq and the breakup of key Arab states into feuding mini-statelets. The gruesome video of Colonel Gaddafi’s murder, which puts to shame the majority of ISIS videos in terms of unhinged brutality and gore, did not invoke the merest of condemnations back then, on the contrary; everyone seemed perfectly fine with the grotesque end of the Libyan “tyrant”… except that it was only the beginning of a new and unprecedented reign of terror courtesy of NATO’s foot-soldiers and GCC-backed Islamic insurgents.
The rapid proliferation of trigger-happy terrorist groups and Jihadi factions drenched in petrodollars in Libya was not some sort of an intelligence failure on the part of western governments or a mere by-product of the power vacuum left by a slain Gaddafi; it was a deliberate, calculated policy sought after and implemented by NATO and its allies in the Gulf under the cringe-inducing moniker “Friends of Libya” (currently known as the International Coalition against ISIS) to turn the north-African country into the world’s largest ungovernable dumpster of weapons, al-Qaida militants and illegal oil trading.
So it is safe to say that UNSC resolution 1973, which practically gave free rein for NATO to bomb Libya into smithereens, has finally borne fruit…
Proponents of Humanitarian Interventions must be patting themselves on the back these days; now that Libya has completed its democratic makeover from a country with the highest standard of living in Africa under Gaddafi’s rule into a textbook definition of a failed state; a godless wasteland of religious fanaticism, internal bloodletting and wholesale head-chopping, in fact Libya became so “democratic” that there are now two parliaments and two (warring) governments; each with its own (criminal) army and supported with money and caches of weapons from competing foreign powers, not to mention the myriad of secessionist movements and militias which the illegal coup against Gaddafi has spawned all over the country while free health care, education and electricity, which the Libyans took for granted under Gaddafi’s regime, are all now but relics of the past; that’s the “Odyssey Dawn” the Libyans were promised; a sanitized version of Iraq sans the public outrage, neatly re-packaged in a “responsibility to protect” caveat and delivered via aerial bombing campaigns where even the West’s overzealous Gulf Co-conspirators Club (GCC), driven by nothing beyond petty personal vendettas against Gaddafi, got to test the lethality of its rusted, American-made military aircrafts alongside NATO on the people of Tripoli and Sirte.
What is a famous "humanitarian interventionist" and supporter of
democracy demockery to do when faced with the fact that he has killed hundreds of thousands of people, created the vacuum of power for violent extremists to destroy civil societies and liquidate populations while assisting some of the most brutal and (undemocratic) dictators to manage their public relations? Deny, deny, deny!
Tony Blair Is Terrible at Promoting Human Rights, Great at Enriching Himself
After serving nearly eight years as special peace envoy for the “Quartet” powers mediating the Israel-Palestine conflict, Tony Blair is resigning, reportedly “over his poor relations with senior Palestinian Authority figures and [his] sprawling business interests.”
After almost a decade as envoy, it’s hard to see anything Blair has done to bring Israelis and Palestinians any closer to peace. ... But although he failed to broker peace, Blair did manage during his time as special envoy to transform himself into a well-paid and outspoken apologist for some of the most brutal autocracies in the world. The former prime minister, who once positioned himself as a principled supporter of democracy, even famously waging a war to bring democracy to Iraq, now leads a consulting firm that has reportedly received tens of millions of dollars doing advisory work for dictatorial governments in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Blair’s well-remunerated consulting work seems to have eroded his idealism when it comes to human rights. As prime minister, Blair characterized himself as a committed opponent of dictatorial regimes, even waging a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people for the supposed purpose of spreading democracy. But speaking last week at a conference in the Egyptian coastal resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh, Blair said it was important to be “realistic” that developing countries will lack “100% Western-style democracy.” As for helping lead the charge into Iraq, and as for that country’s postwar descent into chaos and religious extremism, Blair recently said that “we have to liberate ourselves from the notion that ‘we’ have caused this,” while at the same time advocating even broader military action in the region as a solution.
Since leaving office, Blair has continued to advocate for even more military adventurism, saying that “a substantial and not fringe minority” of Muslims support terrorism, and that military force must be deployed in a “generational struggle” against such people. Blair has also responded to criticism that his previous wars may have contributed to the rise of religious extremism by saying that terrorism has “very strong causes within the religion of Islam,” and has not been driven by any foreign policy decisions he may have made as prime minister. ...
Though Blair is now resigning from his role as a Middle Eastern “peace envoy,” it seems like a twisted irony that someone who played such an integral and unapologetic role in setting that region ablaze would have ever been selected for such a position in the first place. Despite a long history of what can only be described as folly and disgrace, Blair inexplicably continues to be rewarded with prestigious diplomatic posts, high-profile speaking engagements and lucrative contractual arrangements with foreign governments.
The Big Dick School of American Patriotism
Let’s face it: we live in a state of pervasive national security anxiety. There are various possible responses to this low-grade fever that saps resolve, but first we have to face the basis for that anxiety -- what I’ve come to think of as the Big Dick School of Patriotism, or (since anything having to do with our present version of national security, even a critique of it, has to have an acronym) the BDSP. ...
The BDSP is good citizenship conflated with JROTC, hosannas to sniper kills, the Pentagon’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War -- what are we celebrating there anyway? -- Rudolph Giuliani pining for a president who loves America in Reaganesque fashion, and the organizers of South Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day, who wouldn’t let the local chapter of Veterans For Peace march with their banners because, so the story goes, they didn’t want the word “peace” associated with veterans. ...
The National Security Strategy lists terrorism, cyber-vulnerability, climate change, and infectious diseases as rising threats to global security. That’s a frightening enough quartet and hardly a complete list of actual dangers. Amid them, our headlines fill regularly with “threats” that are nightmarish, but soon dissolve like bad dreams in the morning light. The latest, from a video by the Somali terrorist organization al-Shabab, was to the Mall of America in Minnesota and, farfetched as it was, the media and the political class ran with it. I found the Mall of America pretty scary on a regular shopping day, but such endless threats and the hysteria that surrounds them do make our self-protective instincts kick in. Jeh Johnson, the head of Homeland Security, even warned mall-goers to be particularly careful because, he said, “it's the environment we’re in, frankly.”
Is it? It’s increasingly hard to tell in BDSP America. Fear can be a useful political tool because people who believe they’re surrounded by enemies are primed to accept almost anything. When you feel you’re losing control, the response is often to try to get more control, which is part of the appeal of the BDSP crew, with their exaltation of swarms of people in uniforms equipped with tanks and guns.
A Family Broken Up: Freed After 8 Years at Guantánamo, a Father & Son Are Still Kept Apart
Iraqi Forces Looted and Burned Villages After Routing Islamic State, Rights Group Reports
Iraqi security forces and allied militias burned and looted homes and destroyed entire villages in territory retaken from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
These violations took place after government troops and militias broke a siege on the town of Amerli in August last year with the help of US and Iraqi airstrikes. Businesses, residences, public buildings and even mosques in the area were subsequently razed, possessions of Sunni residents looted and entire properties and villages destroyed using explosives and demolition equipment, according to evidence gathered by HRW.
Shia militias have played a major part in the Iraqi fight against IS, filling the gaps after the spectacular collapse of a significant part of the regular armed forces during IS's June offensive. ... Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi has previously pledged to bring all armed groups under state control or oversight.
HRW deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork called on him to make good on his promise. "Iraq can't win the fight against ISIS's atrocities with attacks on civilians that violate the laws of war and fly in the face of human decency," he said, using the alternative name for the Islamic State. "Militia abuses are wreaking havoc among some of Iraq's most vulnerable people and exacerbating sectarian hostilities."
He added that countries providing assistance to the Iraqi government, including the US and Iran, should back these calls. "Iraq clearly faces serious threats in its conflict with ISIS, but the abuses committed by forces fighting ISIS are so rampant and egregious that they are threatening Iraq long term." Stork said. "Iraqis are caught between the horrors ISIS commits and abusive behavior by militias, and ordinary Iraqis are paying the price."
Afghan Militia Leaders, Empowered by U.S. to Fight Taliban, Inspire Fear in Villages
Rahimullah used to be a farmer — just a “normal person living an ordinary life,” as he put it. Then he formed his own militia last year and found himself swept up in America’s exit strategy from Afghanistan.
With about 20 men loyal to him, Rahimullah, 56, soon discovered a patron in the United States Special Forces, who provided everything he needed: rifles, ammunition, cash, even sandbags for a guard post in Aghu Jan, a remote village in Ghazni Province.
Then the Americans pulled out, leaving Rahimullah behind as the local strongman, and as his village’s only defense against a Taliban takeover.
“We are shivering with fear,” said one resident, Abdul Ahad. Then he explained: He and his neighbors did not fear the Taliban nearly as much as they did their protectors, Rahimullah’s militiamen, who have turned to kidnappings and extortion.
Mr. Ahad ran afoul of them in January, he said in a telephone interview. Militiamen hauled him to a guard station and beat him so badly that neighbors had to use a wheelbarrow to get him home.
Scattered across Afghanistan, men like Rahimullah continue to hold ground and rule villages. They are a significant part of the legacy of the American war here, brought to power amid a Special Operations counterinsurgency strategy that mobilized anti-Taliban militias in areas beyond the grasp of the Afghan Army.
Pentagon loses track of $500 million in weapons, equipment given to Yemen
The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen, amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials.
With Yemen in turmoil and its government splintering, the Defense Department has lost its ability to monitor the whereabouts of small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies donated by the United States. The situation has grown worse since the United States closed its embassy in Sanaa, the capital, last month and withdrew many of its military advisers.
In recent weeks, members of Congress have held closed-door meetings with U.S. military officials to press for an accounting of the arms and equipment. Pentagon officials have said that they have little information to go on and that there is little they can do at this point to prevent the weapons and gear from falling into the wrong hands.
“We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” said a legislative aide on Capitol Hill who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Corker may move on anti-Iran deal bill next week
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is planning to act as soon as next week on a bipartisan bill that would allow Congress to approve or reject any nuclear agreement that President Barack Obama reaches with Iran.
The panel’s chairman, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), said Monday he hopes to move forward on the measure as early as March 25, one day after a rough deadline set by the White House for a deal to wind down Iran’s nuclear program. The move would be a stern rebuke to the president: In a letter released last weekend, Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told Corker that moving on his Iran legislation would “potentially prevent any deal from succeeding.”
“That is my hope, yes,” Corker said when asked if he will move forward next week. “I just think waiting until the 25th certainly should accommodate many of the Democrats’ … concern. I would hope to mark it up next Tuesday or Wednesday.”
After Netanyahu Wins Israel Vote with Racism & Vow of Permanent Occupation, How Will World Respond?
Binyamin Netanyahu victory causes international concern
Two-state solution to Israel-Palestine conflict appears to slip further away after prime minister’s Likud party wins election
Binyamin Netanyahu’s sweeping victory in Israel’s general election is causing dismay internationally because it appears to be another nail in the coffin of already fading hopes for a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s eve-of-poll pledge that he would not agree to the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel and his scaremongering about Arab citizens voting “in droves” showed him at his most manipulative and implacable.
The coalition government he looks set to form will likely include nationalist extremists such as Naftali Bennett, of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party, as well as ultraorthodox parties that lean to the right. Concessions to centre parties will be on domestic and economic issues rather than the core questions of territory, borders and peace.
Netanyahu deserves the Israeli people, and they deserve him
The first conclusion that arose just minutes after the announcement of the exit polls was particularly discouraging: The nation must be replaced. Not another election for the country's leadership, but general elections to choose a new Israeli people – immediately. The country urgently needs that. It won’t be able to stand another term for Benjamin Netanyahu, who emerged last night as the man who will form the next government. ...
Netanyahu deserves the Israeli people and they deserve him. The results are indicative of the direction the country is headed: A significant proportion of Israelis has finally grown detached from reality. This is the result of years' worth of brainwashing and incitement. These Israelis voted for the man who will lead the United States to adopt harsh measures against Israel, for the man whom the world long ago grew sick of. They voted for the man who admitted to having duped half the world during his Bar-Ilan speech; now he has torn off his mask and disavowed those words once and for all. Israel said "yes" to the man who said "no" to a Palestinian state. Dear Likud voters, what the hell do you say "yes" to? Another 50 years of occupation and ostracism? Do you really believe in that?
On Tuesday the foundations were laid for the apartheid state that is to come. If Netanyahu succeeds in forming the next government in his spirit and image, then the two-state solution will finally be buried and the struggle over the character of a binational state will begin. If Netanyahu is the next prime minister, then Israel has not only divorced the peace process, but also the world. Piss off, dear world, we're on our own. Please don't interfere, we're asleep, the people are with Netanyahu. The Palestinians can warm the benches at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, the Israel boycotters can swing into high gear and Gaza can wait for the next cruel attack by the Israeli army.
"Arabs Voting in Droves": Netanyahu's Fear Materializes as Joint List Wins 3rd in Israeli Election
Russia says Ukraine law on autonomy violates peace deal
Russia on Wednesday condemned Ukraine for ratifying two bills on greater autonomy for the rebel-held east, saying they "grossly violated" a fragile peace deal.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the adoption of the legislation by Ukraine's parliament "in essence rewrites the agreements or, more simply put, grossly violates them" despite Kiev arguing it is in line with the February peace pact.
He objected to Kiev's requirement that before autonomy is granted, the separatists must hold local elections under Ukrainian law, with international monitoring.
Lavrov said this made the "liberation of the territories that they say are occupied" a prerequisite of the law.
"Kiev is looking to replace practically all elected officials with someone else," he said in reference to the self-proclaimed leaders of the rebel-held areas.
"Only when these territories are headed by people suitable for Kiev will the law come into force."
Russia rules out handing back Crimea, expands war games
Russia ruled out handing Crimea back to Ukraine on Tuesday and a Defence Ministry official said nuclear-capable long-range bombers were being sent to the Black Sea peninsula as part of war games.
The huge military exercises, in which the Northern Fleet was put on full alert on Monday and will range from the Arctic to the Black Sea, appear to be a show of force and defiance on the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea.
Russia's parliament approved the annexation on March 21 last year after Russian forces took control of the peninsula, which is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, and residents backed joining the Russian Federation in a referendum.
Dismissing a U.S. pledge to keep economic sanctions in place on Russia over the annexation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Crimea is a region of the Russian Federation and of course the subject of our regions is not up for discussion."
Russia announced the start of military drills on Monday involving more than 45,000 troops as well as war planes and submarines.
FBI Plan to Expand Hacking Powers Moves Forward
A judiciary panel on Monday quietly approved a rule change that would increase the Federal Bureau of Investigation's surveillance powers, despite concerns over privacy and constitutional rights.
The Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules voted 11-1 to modify a rule that gives federal judges more flexibility in approving search warrants for electronic data. If passed, it will allow judges to approve warrants for computers that are outside their judicial district, or when the location of the computer is unknown.
Opponents of the rule—which include tech giants alongside privacy advocates—have previously warned of the risks of expanding the FBI's hacking powers. The Department of Justice first requested the modification last October.
The proposed new policy "substantively expands the government’s current authority," and "raises a number of monumental and highly complex constitutional, legal and geopolitical concerns," according to Google, which filed comment with the committee last month. ... Google points out in its comments, the change risks violating the Fourth Amendment, as it could authorize searches on thousands of internet users whose traffic is routed through a targeted server.
What’s Scarier: Terrorism, or Governments Blocking Websites in its Name?
The French Interior Ministry on Monday ordered that five websites be blocked on the grounds that they promote or advocate terrorism. “I do not want to see sites that could lead people to take up arms on the Internet,” proclaimed Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
When the block functions properly, visitors to those banned sites, rather than accessing the content of the sites they chose to visit, will be automatically redirected to the Interior Ministry website. There, they will be greeted by a graphic of a large red hand, and text informing them that they were attempting to access a site that causes or promotes terrorism: “you are being redirected to this official website since your computer was about to connect with a page that provokes terrorist acts or condones terrorism publicly.”
No judge reviews the Interior Ministry’s decisions. The minister first requests that the website owner voluntarily remove the content he deems transgressive; upon disobedience, the minister unilaterally issues the order to Internet service providers for the sites to be blocked. This censorship power is vested pursuant to a law recently enacted in France empowering the interior minister to block websites. ...
Punishing people for their speech deemed extremist or dangerous has been a vibrant practice in both the U.K. and U.S. for some time now, as I detailed (coincidentally) just a couple days before free speech marches broke out in the West after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Those criminalization-of-speech attacks overwhelmingly target Muslims, and have resulted in the punishment of such classic free speech activities as posting anti-war commentary on Facebook, tweeting links to “extremist” videos, translating and posting “radicalizing” videos to the Internet, writing scholarly articles in defense of Palestinian groups and expressing harsh criticism of Israel, and even including a Hezbollah channel in a cable package. ...
But the comical futility of these efforts is exceeded by their profound dangers. Who wants governments to be able to unilaterally block websites? Isn’t the exercise of this website-blocking power what has long been cited as reasons we should regard the Bad Countries — such as China and Iran — as tyrannies (which also usually cite “counterterrorism” to justify their censorship efforts)?
Obama wants us to believe he's been transparent. But don't look behind the curtain
The administration is shielding itself from Foia requests and threatening members of Congress who want to increase openness while lauding its own transparency initiatives
The Obama administration publicly patted itself on the back this week for their supposed unmatched commitment to openness and accountability. But if you want to understand the White House’s actual commitment to transparency, don’t listen to their speeches or press releases - look at what they were doing quietly, off stage.
On the very same day as the administration was hailing its non-existent transparency achievements during an event for Sunshine Week, it was also permanently shielding a key White House office from the Freedom of Information Act (Foia). The White House Office of Administration, which is in charge of archiving White House emails, had accepted Foia requests for 30 years, until the Bush administration convinced a court they didn’t have to in 2007. Open government groups are up in arms that the Obama White House is making Bush’s secrecy policy permanent and declaring the entire office off-limits to the public. (This week, in another event that also shows their true colors, the administration threatened to prosecute any members of Congress who reveal details of a controversial trade deal draft that many public interest groups want to be made public.)
The Justice Department - where the administration held its Sunshine “celebrations” - is tasked with enforcing Obama’s now-notorious pledge to be the Most Transparent Administration in History™. (A detailed study by the Associated Press last year found the Obama administration, five years after its pledge, was more secretive than ever.) Their celebration of “progress” each year around this time is usually accompanied by eye rolls from observers, given that the Justice Department has continually been singled out as one of the worst agencies when it comes to complying with Obama’s transparency directive.
US sets new record for denying federal files under Freedom of Information Act
Obama administration redacted and denied government files in record numbers for the second consecutive year, AP analysis finds
The US has set a new record for denying and censoring federal files under the Freedom of Information Act, analysis by the Associated Press reveals.
For the second consecutive year, the Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them under the open-government legislation.
The government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn’t find documents, and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy.
It also acknowledged in nearly one in three cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records were improper under the law – but only when it was challenged.
Its backlog of unanswered requests at year’s end grew remarkably by 55% to more than 200,000.
America Tests Out a New Whining Offensive In Asia
Anti-globalization protestors will soon have a new world capital to which they can travel and get their heads kicked in by riot police: Beijing.
That's because China is well on its way to establishing an Asian rival to the World Bank. Though groups of protestors have yet to descend, there is at least one voice already being raised against the new $50 billion dollar Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The voice of the Obama administration.
Washington's protest came last week after a British announcement that the UK would join the AIIB as a founding member. (France and Germany confirmed today they would also join.) American concerns about such things would ordinarily have been discussed privately with London, so America's unusually public outburst is as surprising to many as the UK's involvement in the AIIB was to the US. An unnamed White House official was quoted in the Financial Times last Thursday accusing the UK of "constant accommodation of China," and of making the decision to join the AIIB with "virtually no consultation with the US." The UK Treasury responded by pointing out that the British had had at least a month of consultations with G7 partners in general, and in particular with US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
The White House attributed its outburst toward the UK, its closest international ally, to its concerns that the AIIB would not meet international standards of "governance and environmental and social safeguards," and might not play nicely alongside other international financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
This being diplomacy, America isn't necessarily saying what this is actually all about. The US isn't exactly a stickler for basing economic partnerships on shared social standards (see: Saudi Arabia). And China now has the second largest economy in the world, the largest military, and the fourth-largest nuclear stockpile. So American concerns about the AIIB are as much geopolitical as environmental or social.
The uncounted: why the US can't keep track of people killed by police
A year ago, in a bureaucratic shift that went unremarked in the somnolent days before Michael Brown was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri, the US government admitted a disturbing failure. The top crime-data experts in Washington had determined that they could not properly count how many Americans die each year at the hands of police. So they stopped.
The move did not make headlines. Before Brown was killed, a major government effort to count people killed by police could be mothballed without anybody noticing. The program was never fully funded, and no one involved was accustomed to their technical daily work drawing a spotlight.
But it had been a major effort. For the better part of a decade, a specialized team of statisticians within the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) – number-crunchers working several nesting dolls deep inside the Justice Department – had been collecting data on what they called arrest-related deaths. The ARD tally was more than a count of killings by police. It was meant to be the elusive key to a problem that seemed easy to understand but difficult to define. The program set out to track any death, of anyone, that happened in the presence of a local or state law enforcement officer. ...
With some states never participating, and major police departments such as the NYPD failing to report for some years, the Bureau of Justice (BJS) statisticians were never satisfied with their data pool. In March of last year, the bureau pulled the plug on the project, leaving the truth about the most high-profile year for police killings in US history – the truth about fatal police violence – to discarded spreadsheets, bad numbers and acronymed taskforces with little to show.
Body Cam Footage Shows Dallas Cops Shooting Mentally Ill Man Holding Screwdriver
Footage from a Dallas police officer's body camera shows the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man who was holding a screwdriver, raising questions about the use of deadly force by police in such encounters.
Geoff Henley, the Harrison family's lawyer, told VICE News that Harrison had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and was in the middle of a mental breakdown when police arrived on the scene, a scenario that had unfolded several times in the past. ...
In the video, Harrison's mother, Shirley Marshall Harrison, exits the family's home a few moments after police arrive on the scene. She can be heard telling the officers that her son is "bipolar and schizo" and acting "off the chain."
Harrison emerges a few moments later and stands in the doorframe twirling a screwdriver in his hands. The officers can be heard asking, "Can you drop that for me guy?" before quickly drawing their guns and repeatedly shouting for Harrison to put down the screwdriver. Seconds later, Harrison appears to take a step forward before the officers open fire. Harrison then stumbles and falls facedown on the ground near the wall of an adjacent garage. ...
According to Henley, the two officers fired a total of five shots. The attorney said Harrison was not provoking the police. "We believe he was trying to avoid a confrontation, not pursue one of the officers, when this first happened the tape was never released and one officer said he [Harrison] lunged at the other officer," he said. "What you can tell is that he did not lunge at the guy that had the body cam, you don't see that on tape, that's one of the first things we found suspicious about the account," he added.
Missouri executes mentally disabled prisoner Cecil Clayton, state's oldest death-row inmate
The state of Missouri executed its oldest death row inmate on Tuesday – a man who was mentally impaired from a work accident that removed a large portion of his brain – after his final appeals failed at the US supreme court.
The execution of Cecil Clayton, 74, was delayed for several hours, while the supreme court weighed appeals from Clayton’s defense attorneys. ...
Clayton lost about a fifth of his frontal lobe in 1972 when a splinter from a log he was working on in a sawmill in Purdy, Missouri, dislodged and slammed into his skull. The damage has had a long-term impact on his character and behavior, with a succession of medical experts chronicling problems ranging from uncontrolled rage to hallucinations and depression.
In 1996 Clayton murdered a police officer, Christopher Castetter, who was called to a house where Clayton had broken in. There was no dispute about his guilt, though there was intense debate about whether he should have been protected from the gurney.
Dr. Cornel West Interview - David Letterman
Greece on the agenda - again
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras prevailed after all: it looks like he's being given the opportunity to address the Greek debt crisis at the upcoming EU summit on Thursday and Friday.
Current EU Council President Donald Tusk had previously refused to put the issue on the agenda, but after a flurry of phone calls between Tsipras, Tusk and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, there might very well be a special meeting on the sidelines of the summit. According to Greek Radio, it would include Tsipras, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, ECB chief Mario Draghi and Jean-Claude Juncker. ...
Athens and the Euro Group had agreed on February 20 to extend the bailout for Greece, while the country is scheduled to prove by the end of April that it is implementing reforms. Talks between the Greek Finance Ministry and representatives of European and international lenders - collectively known as the troika - have been stalled, the Greek Ekathimerini newspaper says. The EU Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are puzzled at Greece's true financial status. Finance Minister Varoufakis is adamant the country will meet all its requirements, calling the liquidity problems "insignificant."
"The situation is serious," European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas warned, adding that it's time to work toward fulfilling last month's agreement with the Euro Group. Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper quoted Greek media as reporting the Greek government failed to pay 200 million euros ($210 million) in EU subsidies to Greek cotton farmers, diverting the funds into the general state budget instead. The Athens government is also tapping into reserves in state pension funds in order to stay solvent.
At least 350 people arrested in protest at ECB HQ in Frankfurt
Dozens of police officers have been injured and hundreds of people detained after anti-austerity protesters clashed with riot police near the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt.
At least seven police cars were set on fire as streets were barricaded at the “Blockupy” demonstration to mark the opening of the billion-euro building on Wednesday morning.
Some protesters said they were injured when police used pepper spray. At least 350 people were held by police, according to the German news site Deutsche Welle.
Police used water cannon to try to make a path through the mass of black-clad protesters to the entrance of the building. The new building was targeted because the ECB has come to symbolise spending cuts and market reforms of the kind being forced on Greece. ...
The Blockupy alliance estimated that about 10,000 demonstrators were at the rally. They included trade unions and Germany’s Left party.
'People over profit': Report from Frankfurt Blockupy protest frontline
Federal Reserve expected to signal end of zero interest rate era
Federal Reserve officials have begun a two-day meeting, which is expected to pave the way for the first rise in interest rates since the 2008 financial crisis.
US policymakers meeting in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to remove the word “patient” when they put out a statement about when to raise interest rates from their current record low.
If they drop the “patient” policy, which Wall Street widely expects, it will put the world on notice that the era of zero interest rates is nearly over.
It would mean that from June officials would be making rate decisions meeting-by-meeting, based on economic data and not committing themselves to keeping borrowing rates artificially low. Dealers have already pencilled in 17 June as the date when rates may rise.
Almost 90% of economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict the Fed officials will drop the “patient” pledge from their statement released after the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting ends on Wednesday. Some 45% of the 49 economists polled predicted rates would rise in June, 37% said they expected a September rate hike.
Hedge Fund-Backed Castellan Real Estate Group Intimidates NYC Tenants to Vacate Rent-Stabilized Apts
Hellraiser Preview
Sherman, set the time machine for tomorrow's Hellraisers Journal which will feature reports indicating that Rockefeller is, at long last and after the deaths so many men, women, and children, showing some interest for the miners who dig up his coal in Colorado.
Tune in at 2pm!
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The People's Budget: Progressive Proposal Aims to Un-Rig Failed Economic System
Offering a sustainable alternative to regressive federal budget proposals put forth this week by the Republican majorities on Capitol Hill, the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Wednesday released The People's Budget: A Raise for America, which aims to "level the playing field" for low- and middle-income Americans.
The CPC budget (pdf), in turn, attempts to un-rig that system by:
- creating new jobs
- increasing the minimum wage
- reversing harmful cuts to safety net programs (and then bolstering those same supports)
- implementing new tax brackets for those who earn more than $1 million annually
- providing debt-free college to every student
- enacting a price on carbon pollution and investing in renewable energy
- allowing states to transition to single-payer health care systems
- funding public financing of campaigns to curb special interest influence in politics.
Among other things, the proposal would allocate $820 billion for infrastructure and transportation improvements and enact short-term economic stimulus measures that would create 4.7 million jobs in 2015.
The Evening Greens
NASA: California Has One Year of Water Left
Plagued by prolonged drought, California now has only enough water to get it through the next year, according to NASA.
In an op-ed published Thursday by the Los Angeles Times, Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, painted a dire picture of the state's water crisis. California, he writes, has lost around 12 million acre-feet of stored water every year since 2011. In the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins, the combined water sources of snow, rivers, reservoirs, soil water and groundwater amounted to a volume that was 34 million acre-feet below normal levels in 2014. And there is no relief in sight.
"As our 'wet' season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows" Famiglietti writes. "We're not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we're losing the creek too."
San Diego Sues Monsanto for Polluting Bay With Banned Carcinogenic Chemicals
Lawsuit says toxins manufactured by agrochemical giant 'have been found in Bay sediments and water and have been identified in tissues of fish, lobsters, and other marine life'
San Diego authorities filed a lawsuit on Monday against the agrochemical giant Monsanto, accusing the corporation of polluting the city's bay with carcinogenic chemicals that are so dangerous to human health they were banned in the U.S. more than 30 years ago.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court by City of San Diego and San Diego Unified Port District and focuses on Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). "PCBs manufactured by Monsanto have been found in bay sediments and water and have been identified in tissues of fish, lobsters, and other marine life in the Bay," the complaint reads. ...
As the San Diego Reader notes, the city's lawsuit charges that "the risks did not deter Monsanto from trying to protect profits and prolong the use of PCB compounds such as Aroclor, as shown in a report from an ad hoc committee that Monsanto formed in 1969."
Asking if Cyclone Pam Was Caused by Climate Change Is the Wrong Question, Say Scientists
The exact impact of climate change on cyclones in the South Pacific remains uncertain. But scientists say that warming ocean temperatures are likely boosting storm intensity.
"We've really altered the atmosphere, we've altered the radiative balance, I'm sure we've altered these storms," Andrew Dessler, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University, told VICE News. ... Asking if Cyclone Pam was caused by climate change, say scientists, elides a more important question: What is the probability of future extreme weather events occurring, whether tropical storms or droughts?
"An individual event is more difficult to ascribe or attribute to climate change, but when you step back and look at the how the probability of these events is changing, that's a much stronger argument," James Kossin, a tropical cyclone specialist with NOAA, told VICE News. "These events are consistent with what we expect with climate change, and the probability of this type of event will likely increase."
Focusing on that larger picture, and the shifting risk from intense storms, may ultimately be more useful for public discussion and developing strategies for addressing climate change than assigning a cause to any single catastrophic event, Kossin said. That's especially true in a political climate where politicians purposefully conflate climate with weather in order to claim climate change isn't happening, as Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe recently did when throwing a snowball on the floor of the US Senate.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Huxley to Orwell: My Hellish Vision of the Future is Better Than Yours (1949)
'Everything Here Is a Teaching Moment': College Students Head to Ferguson for Alternative Spring Break
Rage against the ECB: What's Blockupy against?
Opposing Two States, Netanyahu Unmasks GOP-Likud Agenda of Fake Diplomacy
Dick Cheney’s Foggy Memory on Bush’s Plausible Deniability for Torture
A Little Night Music
Johnny B. Moore - Help Me
Johnny B. Moore - Lonesome Blues
Johnny B. Moore - Kiss You In The Morning
Johnny B. Moore - Sittin' Here Thinkin'
Johnny B. Moore - Crazy Over You
Johnny B. Moore - Liquor Store Blues
Johnny B Moore - Sacrifice
Johnny B. Moore - Mean Mistreater
Johnny B. Moore - Rockin' In The Same Old Boat
Johnny B Moore - Memphis Bound
Johnny B Moore - Cut you loose
Johnny B Moore - Lookin' Good
Johnny B. Moore - Baby Please Don't Go
Johnny B. Moore - Black Coffee Drinkin' Woman
Barrelhouse Chuck, Willie Kent & Johnny B. Moore - Mama Told Me
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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