Dam It All to Hell!

DamNation | The Problem with Hydropower 

by CP Editor - CounterPunch

November 13, 2020 

 

 

Trump's Last Kick at the Persian Can?

Is Trump Plotting a War Against Iran?

by Bill van Auk - WSWS

November 14, 2020

Is the Trump White House preparing to launch a war of aggression against Iran as part of its attempted coup to nullify the results of the 2020 elections and establish a presidential dictatorship?

Trump meets Netanyahu Jan. 2020 [Credit: The White House]

This is question that is being asked with increasing urgency in both Washington’s and Israel’s military-intelligence circles, as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarks on a seven-nation trip centered on Israel and the Arab Gulf oil monarchies, which comprise the anti-Iranian axis cultivated by the Trump administration.

Deep State in the Shallows: America's Syria Troop "Withdrawal"

Unelected Officials Override The President To Continue Wars (But Only Kooks Believe In The Deep State)

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist

November 13, 2020

Outgoing US envoy to Syria James Jeffrey stated in a recent interview with Defense One that US officials have been “playing shell games” about the number of troops in the region to deceive the Trump administration into thinking there has been a military withdrawal. 

Here are some excerpts:

“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said in an interview. The actual number of troops in northeast Syria is “a lot more than” the two hundred troops Trump agreed to leave there in 2019.
…
“What Syria withdrawal? There was never a Syria withdrawal,” Jeffrey said. “When the situation in northeast Syria had been fairly stable after we defeated ISIS, [Trump] was inclined to pull out. In each case, we then decided to come up with five better arguments for why we needed to stay. And we succeeded both times. That’s the story.”
…
Officially, Trump last year agreed to keep about 200 U.S. troops stationed in northeast Syria to “secure” oil fields held by the United States’ Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS. It is generally accepted that the actual number is now higher than that — anonymous officials put the number at about 900 today — but the precise figure is classified and remains unknown even, it appears, to members of Trump’s administration keen to end the so-called “forever wars.”

Why He Won't Leave

Trump's Crime Wave Continues: Requires Biden Special Prosectuor

by Ralph Nader

November 13, 2020

There are many reasons why loser Trump refuses to concede. Yes, delusion has been the counterfeit coin of his fantasy realm – “I won this election by a lot” he tweeted with all caps last Saturday. In his fevered mind – nourished by a bullying career – all victories are his triumphs, and all losses are fake due to fraud or theft. Unfortunately, for decades he has gotten away with all sorts of abuses, violations, and exaggerations.

Trump is now being told that the courts don’t agree with his desperate lawsuits brought by firms such as Jones Day, whose lawyers can’t resist the lucrative billings that client Trump generates. Trump is also seeing that Republican Senators are starting to distance themselves from their roles as dittohead minions. Even puppet Mike Pence is not parroting Trump’s wild, flailing fictions. 

Media & the Assange Prosecution: A Farce in Two Parts

 

 


 

Farcical Coverage of Julian Assange’s Farcical Hearing

by Joshua Cho - FAIR

November 13, 2020

US corporate media have buried coverage of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing in the UK, despite its being the media “Trial of the Century” (FAIR.org, 9/25/20). 

 

But even in the scarce coverage that does exist of this unprecedented case with immense implications for freedom of expression, one would hardly get the impression that the US and British governments are involved in an illegal conspiracy—in violation of their own laws—to punish Assange for the “crime” of journalism. 

 

Playing in Pandemic Time: The Musician's Plagues

Campus Pandemics, Then and Now

by David Yearsley - CounterPunch

November 13, 2020

I’ve been teaching a music journalism class here at Cornell this semester. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings over the past eleven weeks I’ve joined eight students for an hour-and-a-quarter in a windowless rehearsal room in the basement of the music building. 

No other classes meet in the building during our sessions or for several hours before or after. The chairs, assigned to individuals for the semester, are placed six feet apart and everyone wears a mask. Hand sanitizer and wipes flank the doorway. Another three students Zoom in to the proceedings: two from their apartments off-campus in Ithaca, and one from Singapore, which is thirteen hours ahead of New York time.

Terrorists "Win" in Europe: Countries Declare Police State Measures

European governments seize upon terrorist attacks in France and Vienna to build a police state

by Johannes Stern - WSWS

November 12, 2020

European governments are responding to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Nice, Dresden and Vienna by adopting the political agenda of the far right. 

Under the pretext of the “war on terror,” EU leaders and European leaders on Tuesday agreed on a massive expansion of “Fortress Europe,” the de facto abolition of the right of asylum, and the creation of what amounts to a Europe-wide police state.

Reframing the 'Great Reset': Vandana Shiva Speaks Out

Brave Vandana Shiva speaks out against the Great Reset

by Organic Radicals

November 12, 2020

Organic radical inspiration Vandana Shiva has been couragely speaking out against the insidious ‘Great Reset’ being sprung on us by Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates and the rest of the global capitalist elite.

She warns in a new interview that “The Great Reset is about maintaining and empowering a corporate extraction machine and the private ownership of life”. (1)

 

Misinformation v. Disinformation: QAnon Takes on Tech Media Giants in Supreme Court

QAnon Legal Battle Against YouTube Could Transform Free Speech Online

by Raul Diego - MintPress News

 

November 11, 2020

 

A lawsuit brought against YouTube and parent company Google by 15 QAnon social media stars could end up in the Supreme Court and transform the meaning of online free speech in America.

The welding of American politics with social media may be the defining moment of a sea change that is taking place at the very top echelons of power in the United States and the world. 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Swanson, Ron Ridenour, Janine Bandcroft November 12, 2020

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

November 12, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition, recorded live-to-tape via Skype on this date, November 10th, 2020.

It’s that week again, when the citizenry is bidden to bow in remembrance to sacrifices made at the various altars to empire and nationalism of this terrible last century of slaughter. 

For some that observation is a sombre duty, for others an opportunity to propagandize a pyramidal power construct relegating those at its base to suffer penury, servitude, systemic oppression, and to be periodically pitched into the maw of mechanized warfare.

This vicious cycle may seem eternal, even the natural order of things for we who have no living experience of Peace. 

But that is the lie of our time, and the abomination we’re called to celebrate on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of this eleventh month.

 

 Listen. Hear.

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and broadcaster. He’s the executive director of World BEYOND War, campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org, and a past Nobel Peace Prize Nominee whose book titles include: ‘War Is A Lie’, ‘When the World Outlawed War’, and ‘Leaving WWII Behind’. David blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org, and he’s the host of Talk Nation Radio.

David Swanson in the first half.

And; while last week’s election carnival is yet to come to a head, what happens over the months following is anyone’s guess; there’s less uncertainty for the Julian Assange extradition hearings in London’s Old Bailey where presiding magistrate, Vanessa Baraitser adjourned proceedings saying, “One way or another, my decision is likely to go after the US elections.”

The hearing will resume January 4th, and Baraitser will assuredly rule as bidden to by whomever will reside on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ron Ridenour is a journalist, author, editor, and peace and social justice activist. Some of Ridenour’s many book titles include: ‘The Russian Peace Threat: Pentagon on Alert’, ‘Cuba: Revolution in Action’, ‘Backfire: The CIA’s Biggest Burn’, and his latest, still in progress, ‘Winding Brook Stories’. Ron’s articles feature at numerous online sites, including on This Can’t Be Happening.net, where his ‘A Horror Story in Two Parts: Will England Send Assange-the-Messenger to America’s Dungeons?’ and ‘A Travesty of Justice: UK Caters to the US Government’s Desire to Crush Assange’ appear.

Ron Ridenour and coming out of the trenches for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks in the second half.

And: CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town, and virtually too, in the coming week.

But first, David Swanson and rejecting war as business as usual.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Passing: Robert Fisk, Journalist

Robert Fisk – Death Of A ‘Controversial’ Journalist

by Media Lens

November 10, 2020

Robert Fisk, the Independent’s Middle East correspondent, died on 30 October aged 74. In reviewing his life and career, the newspaper for which he worked for more than two decades wrote of their star reporter:

‘Much of what Fisk wrote was controversial…’

As John Pilger noted, in describing Fisk’s journalism as ‘controversial’ the Independent was using a ‘weasel word’. 

Rise of the Biden Right

While Trump continues to deny election defeat Biden, Democrats prepare right-wing administration

by Patrick Martin - WSWS

November 8, 2020

Vote counting in a half dozen states is continuing into Monday, adding to the lead in both the Electoral College and the popular vote that compelled all of the major media organizations to announce Saturday that Democratic candidate Joe Biden had won the 2020 US presidential election. Donald Trump is the first US president in 28 years to be defeated for reelection.

Biden’s lead continued to grow in Pennsylvania, the state that put him over the top in the Electoral College, as well as in Nevada and Georgia. As of this writing, the former vice president’s lead is 43,194 votes in Pennsylvania, 31,464 in Nevada, and 10,353 in Georgia. The first two states were called for Biden on Saturday, while the final outcome in Georgia awaits the counting of some provisional and military ballots, followed by a recount.

Seizing the Momentum: Austria Levers Vienna Shooting to Crack Encryption Protocols

In Blow to Online Privacy EU Seizes on Vienna Attack to Enact Long-Desired Ban on Encryption

by Alan Macleod  - MintPress News

November 9, 2020

If the EU is successful, users will no longer enjoy protection from the prying eyes of government and criminals on popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal.

The European Union is rushing through new legislation to get rid of end to end digital encryption. This would mean the end of privacy for users of popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal.

None Laughing at Dutch MH17 Shootdown Clown Show

DEFENCE TURNS THE MH17 SHOW TRIAL INTO A CIRCUS

by John Helmer, Moscow 
  @bears_with

Dutch and Russian state officials combined last week to turn the trial of the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 into a farce.

Two Rotterdam police defenders, Sabine ten Doesschate and Boudewijn van Eijck, engaged by a Russian foundation to represent Lieutenant-Colonel Oleg Pulatov, one of the four accused,  pretended to investigate evidence the prosecutors have rejected, and the presiding judge, Hendrik Steenhuis, together with an investigating magistrate whose name is kept secret, have already dismissed.  

Changing Fundamentals: Defying Biden's Promise of Business As Usual

Everything Will Fundamentally Change

by David Swanson - Lets Try Democracy

November 8, 2020

In June 2019, Joe Biden promised wealthy so-called donors that nothing would fundamentally change. At this moment hundreds of millions of people — from those shooting off fireworks to those ranting as though they will soon shoot up public places in their MAGA hats — seem convinced that everything will fundamentally change. Biden was wrong. Everybody else is right. Either everything will change for the better or one or both of the twin dangers of environmental and nuclear apocalypse will change everything for the worse.

What should someone who cares about ending war think? How can we get from the euphoria of electing a warmonger to mobilizing people to end war? How should we talk with the people who are celebrating? And how with the people who are outraged?

Why Canada Refuses to Refute Nuclear Weapons

Canadian military support for nukes must be met with popular resistance

by Yves Engler

November 7, 2020

“Why hasn’t Canada signed the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty?” is the title of an upcoming webinar featuring Liberal MP Hedy Fry, Green Party MP Elizabeth May, NDP deputy foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson, Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, as well as Setsuko Thurlow, who accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

This is an important and timely question in light of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) recently reaching the threshold required to enter into law. On October 24 Honduras became the 50^th country to ratify the TPNW, meaning it will enter into force for those states in 90 days.

Gorilla Radio's Election 2020 Post Mortem Special with Chris Cook & Dave Lindorff

Gorilla Radio Election 2020 Post Mortem Special 

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

November 5, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition Election 2020 Aftermath Special, recorded live-to-tape via Skype on this date, November 5th, 2020.

 

Most will be aware the US elections were and are a razor-thin affair, with vote counting continuing, despite the best efforts of one side of the contest. 

Why you may ask would anyone NOT want votes counted? 

Likely the same reason that party would want to limit the numbers of those eligible to vote in the first place; because they fear the popular political will. 

Why else?

Dave Lindorff is an award-winning journalist, author, and founding member of the media collective, ThisCantBeHappening.net. 

Listen. Hear.

Lindorff’s book titles include, ‘The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office’ and ‘This Can’t Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy.’ 

Dave lives just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the very place some believe could decide the next president, (if the Supreme Court doesn’t get there first!) and he’s following the situation there.

Today, Dave Lindorff and can this be happening, again?!