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30 Sunday Jun 2019
30 Sunday Jun 2019
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in≈ Comments Off on Volume XXVII – Number 26
The “Center” of American Politics Is on the Left
Robert Reich’s Website – June 23, 2019
https://robertreich.org/post/185752335140
Just remember: the “center” is not halfway between what most Americans want and what big corporations, Wall Street, and the super-wealthy want. The “center” is what the vast majority of Americans want.
Notes on Excessive Wealth Disorder
New York Times – June 22, 2019 – Paul Krugman
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/opinion/notes-on-excessive-wealth-disorder.html
Focusing on the political and policy distortions high inequality creates… The 0.1 percent has an extraordinary ability to set the agenda for policy discussion, in ways that can be sharply at odds with both a reasonable assessment of priorities and public opinion more generally… Extreme wealth really has degraded the ability of our political system to deal with real problems… Reducing the extreme concentration of income and wealth isn’t just a desirable thing on social and economic grounds. It’s also a necessary step toward a healthier political system.
Americans’ plastic recycling is dumped in landfills, investigation shows
The Guardian – June 21, 2019 – Erin McCormick and Charlotte Simmonds in San Francisco, Jessica Glenza in New York, and Katharine Gammon in Los Angeles
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-recycling-landfills
As municipalities are forced to deal with their own trash instead of exporting it, they are discovering a dismaying fact: much of this plastic is completely unrecyclable.
The Insanity in Oregon Is a Glimpse of Our Very Dark Future
Esquire Magazine – June 25, 2019 – Charles Pierce
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28168996/oregon-republican-senators-militia/
People with guns have involved themselves in a legislative dispute while the officials of one political party cheer them on… There has been a wildness in the land for a while now and, at this moment, at the top of the government, we have a president* who’s more than willing to give that wildness a purpose and a focus.
Arizona prison officials overturn ban on book that critiques criminal justice system
Arizona Republic – June 19, 2019 – Maria Polletta
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2019/06/19/arizona-prisons-overturn-ban-chokehold-book-paul-butler-after-aclu-threat/1506748001/
The Arizona Department of Corrections has reversed its ban on inmates’ ability to read “Chokehold,” a critically-acclaimed critique of the American criminal justice system and its treatment of black men. The American Civil Liberties Union — which in May had threatened the agency with a First Amendment lawsuit over the ban — announced the decision Wednesday via Twitter. “People in prison have the right to read and educate themselves about the criminal justice system,” the post on Twitter said. “We will remain vigilant in our efforts to protect that right.”
Under Trump, Manufacturing Job Growth Slows to a Trickle
Truth Out – June 24, 2019 – Dean Baker
https://truthout.org/articles/under-trump-manufacturing-job-growth-slows-to-a-trickle/
We can speculate as to the motivations of current or former manufacturing workers who voted for Trump, but if they expected that his presidency was going to bring back good-paying jobs in the sector, they were badly mistaken. It’s not clear that they will see their MAGA hats as much compensation.
Here’s what you need to know about the Wayfair walkout
The Boston Globe – June 26, 2019 – Abbi Matheson
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/06/26/here-what-you-need-know-about-wayfair-walkout/6JX9hZ8moWVbI2RR2LWjoJ/story.html
On June 19, employees at Wayfair [Boston-based online housewares giant] learned BCFS — a government contractor that has been managing facilities for migrant children detained at the southern US border — ordered $200,000 worth of bedroom furniture to be shipped to the site of a future 1,600-bed shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas. In response, more than 500 employees signed a letter of protest and sent it to company executives, including cofounders Niraj Shah and Steve Conine and the entire board. When Wayfair refused to change course, employees at the company’s Back Bay headquarters organized a walkout for Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know about the Wayfair walkout:
This Photo Is About Bodies – Migrant Bodies, and Our Body Politic. Don’t Look Away
The Guardian – June 26, 2019 – Sabrina Vourvoulias
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/26/us-mexico-border-migrant-father-toddler-photo-haunt-change-us
Monday’s image of a drowned two-year-old and her father will haunt us. I hope it changes us, too… You cannot step into the same river twice, but you can step into the same story again and again and again. A story of desperate need and desperate hope that drives people to risk everything in uncertain and unfamiliar waters… This is a story about bodies – but not just Valeria’s body, and Martínez’s. It is a story about the body politic. About how we, the people of this nation, react to a photo that illuminates the lethal consequences of the manipulation and damage that has been done to the asylum process.
“Block Grant” Medicaid Waivers Would Pose Serious Risks
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – June 27, 2019 – Judith Solomon and Jessica Schubel
https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/block-grant-guidance-will-likely-invite-medicaid-waivers-that-pose-serious-risks-to
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma has said she wants to use Medicaid waivers to let states ignore various federal standards and beneficiary protections — and avoid federal oversight — in exchange for agreeing to caps on the federal Medicaid funding they receive. As explained below, such “block grant” waivers would pose serious risks to beneficiaries, health providers, and states.
US Generates More Electricity From Renewables Than Coal for First Time Ever
The Guardian – June 26, 2019 – Oliver Milman
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/26/energy-renewable-electricity-coal-power
In April, renewables provided 23% compared to coal’s 20%… “The fate of coal has been sealed, the market has spoken,” said Michael Webber, an energy expert at the University of Texas. “The trend is irreversible now, the decline of coal is unstoppable despite Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
‘What’s Been Missing Is Courage’: Elizabeth Warren Throws Down the Gauntlet
The Guardian – June 27, 2019 – Richard Wolffe
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/27/whats-been-missing-is-courage-elizabeth-warren-throws-down-the-gauntlet
Yes, she has a plan for everything. But more than policy proposals, she has the rare ability – especially for a senator – to talk about the big complex stuff in simple and direct ways.
The Second Democratic Debate Proved That Bernie Really Has Transformed the Party
The Nation – June 28, 2019 – Robert L. Borosage
https://www.thenation.com/article/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-kamala-harris-biden/
Sanders’s ideas now frame the debate in the Democratic Party—an extraordinary victory for progressives. Even Joe Biden now endorses a $15 minimum wage, tuition-free college, a Green New Deal, and—in reaction to Sanders’s call for Medicare for All—a public option in Obamacare… As Warren put it, “When you’ve got a government, when you’ve got an economy that does great for those with money and isn’t doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple. We need to call it out. We need to attack it head on. And we need to make structural change in our government, in our economy, and in our country.”
Trump Is the Worst Kind of Socialist
Reader Supported News – The Wall Street Journal – June 28, 2019 – Bernie Sanders
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/57332-focus-trump-is-the-worst-kind-of-socialist
“America will never be a socialist country,” President Trump said as he launched his bid for re-election last week… That declaration was an effort to frighten Americans and undermine growing support for expanding Medicare and Social Security—two popular programs that have long been derided as “socialist.” Mr. Trump’s declaration hypocritically ignores that he and his Republican colleagues are the nation’s leading purveyors of an insidious form of corporate socialism, which uses government power and taxpayer resources to enrich Mr. Trump and his billionaire friends… Mr. Trump believes in corporate socialism to protect the wealth and power of the rich. I believe the U.S. must end corporate socialism and instead fulfill President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vision of enshrining basic economic rights for all Americans.
Jimmy Carter: ‘Illegitimate’ Trump Only President Because of Russian Meddling
The Guardian – June 28, 2019 – Amanda Holpuch
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/28/jimmy-carter-trump-illegitimate-president-russia
Jimmy Carter has called Donald Trump an “illegitimate president” who was helped into office by Russian interference in the 2016 election. At a conference for his human rights organization the Carter Center, the former president said a full investigation “would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016”. “He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf,” Carter added.
Fever Pitch [Medicare for All movement]
Portside – Public Citizen – June 29, 2019 – Craig Sandler
https://portside.org/2019-06-29/fever-pitch
With Democrats in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, a significant number of U.S. senators co-sponsoring the strongest Medicare for All legislation ever introduced in the Senate, and powerful polling in support of the proposal, single-payer health care is at the center of the public debate like never before… The diverse and powerful array of trade groups, conservative activist organizations, GOP-linked establishment groups and health care industry interests launching an all-out advertising blitz against Medicare for All further reinforces this reality… The momentum is so powerful that even the health care sector’s most well-funded lobbying organizations may be unable to stop it. The only thing that’s certain is that they’ll make every effort to do so.
The Green New Deal is More Than a Climate Plan, It’s a Model for Building Worker Power
Portside – Newsweek – June 27, 2019 – Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union
https://portside.org/2019-06-27/green-new-deal-more-climate-plan-its-model-building-worker-power
At the heart of the Green New Deal is a recognition that shifting to clean energy could leave many behind. That’s why the plan protects workers’ right to organize, calls for universal health care, retirement security and union jobs at a living wage… By guaranteeing more workers the right to join unions, we can transform our economy and our democracy. The Green New Deal has opened the door to bigger and bolder ideas. It’s up to us to follow.
The Debates Were a Mess—but Big Progressive Ideas Were on Stage
Yes! Magazine – June 28, 2019 – Chris Winters
https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/democratic-debate-primary-progressive-ideas-20190628
The frame of the debate is now firmly in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and even some of the more-centrist candidates on the stage would have been considered hardcore liberals just 20 years ago… Author Marianne Williamson was able to point out that we’re fighting against the idea of Trump: “Make America Great Again” as a message of hate. Those are starting points. There may be some coalescing of this over the next 17 months into a coherent vision for America.
Ideological Manipulation: Attacking Progressive Ideas and Policies, Misrepresenting Socialism
Global Research – June 29, 2019 – Dr. Jack Rasmus
https://www.globalresearch.ca/ideological-manipulation-attacking-progressive-ideas-and-policies-misrepresenting-socialism/5682043
What used to be accepted social programs in the 50s, 60s and 70s, designed to provide income for the middle class and working class (really the same folks), is now painted with the broad brush of ‘socialism’. Invest in alternative energy, that’s socialism. Provide relief to the tens of millions of students in debt to the tune of $1.5 trillion, that’s socialism too. Medicare? That’s really socialism. No tuition at public colleges…socialism… The fundamental message of their ideological offensive is: Socialism for the rich: good; socialism for the rest of us: bad. Tax cuts for the rich and their corporations: good; tax cuts for the rest: bad. Subsidy checks to profitable corporations: good; subsidizing of health care or education: bad.
Lessons for the Climate Emergency
Global Research – The Bullet [https://socialistproject.ca] – June 28, 2019 – Judith Deutsch
https://www.globalresearch.ca/lessons-climate-emergency/5681987
Current reports are awakening an urgent climate movement, but the questions raised in this article are what replaces capitalism, how to urgently eliminate GHG [greenhouse gases] emissions, and whether the new green plans, though a remarkable advance, are dangerously inadequate in scope…. The crux of this crisis is energy and the opening at this time, indeed the necessity, of demonetizing it. [Barely any news has been reported about the failed monsoon in India, affecting 43% of the country.]
Water Not Oil: Battle Cry of the “Blue Planet”
Global Research – June 28, 2019 – Irwin Jerome
https://www.globalresearch.ca/water-not-oil-battle-cry-of-the-blue-planet/5682066
No truthful dialogue is occurring to come up with immediate, workable solutions for the planet because it would require a complete and utter re-definition, re-calibration and re-tooling of modern human civilization’s entire raison d’etre. It won’t ever happen until what eventually will happen, finally happens. Until then humanity’s modern civilization will continue to whistle in the dark while applying whatever band aids to wherever the hurt is greatest while paying lip service to all the rest.
23 Sunday Jun 2019
23 Sunday Jun 2019
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IPCC report: The vast majority of global greenhouse gas emissions come from just a handful of corporations
Clean Technica – June 12, 2019 – Steve Hanley
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/06/12/confessions-of-a-climate-activist-dont-blame-yourself-go-after-the-criminals-who-sold-out-humanity-for-profit/
Out of all the hundreds of thousands of companies in the world, just 100 of them have been responsible for 71% of the global emissions that cause global warming since 1998, according to The Carbon Majors Database published by the Carbon Disclosure Project. Many of them are owned or controlled by governments.
A Global Green Party?
OpEdNews – June 12, 2019 – Dan Corjescu
https://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Global-Green-Party-by-Dan-Corjescu-Green_Green-Energy_Green-Housing_Green-New-Deal-190612-419.html
The Green party has all the potential elements of a world political party focused on the environment and social justice. One of the key questions now is: will such a party be able to take effective root in, at least, two of the world’s greatest polluters: China and the USA? Without the participation of these two nations (regions?), the Green party movement will ultimately prove ineffectual… For now, we must agitate, advocate, and assist by all reasonable means the necessary birth of this potential global instrument of collective salvation.
Oil companies double down on plastics as public outcry grows
Axios – June 17, 2019 – Amy Harder
https://www.axios.com/oil-companies-double-down-on-plastics-as-public-outcry-grows-1dcb68ce-5559-47e3-8745-a192a0a106e7.html
Most people associate oil companies’ products mainly with gasoline. But they also generate plastics that are interwoven into all facets of our lives. This durable material is, more and more, leaving waste virtually everywhere on Earth… “They could address it in very fundamental ways, by making commitments to reduce the amount of plastics being produced and reduce what it’s being used for,” said Carroll Muffett, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, an environmental nonprofit.
The persistence of fossil fuel subsidies
Axios – June 18, 2019 – Ben Geman
https://www.axios.com/fossil-fuel-subsidies-climate-change-a4cbbc79-8828-40af-bf7c-dacdb51c927d.html
“The continued prevalence of these subsidies — more than double the estimated subsidies to renewables — greatly complicates the task of achieving an early peak in global emissions,” IEA analysts said in a June 13 report.
Elizabeth Warren’s Rise Is a Plus for Issue Politics – and a Bad Sign for Billionaires
Rolling Stone – June 13, 2019 – Matt Taibbi
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/elizabeth-warren-2020-election-issue-politics-bad-billionaires-847816/
The strength of Warren’s campaign is a series of detailed policy proposals aimed at correcting a series of corrupting inequities in American life. The first major proposal she released, on January 24th, was aimed at perhaps the biggest problem in American society: the wealth gap… She [lays out] a series of plans that create “aggressive intervention on behalf of American workers,” create a “Department of Economic Development” and put an end to practices like corporations using public money for R&D, then eating the benefits in stock buybacks while exporting jobs. Her plan would give taxpayers an equity stake in publicly developed enterprises.
The Supreme Court Defends the Death Penalty, Again
The Atlantic – June 17, 2019 – Garrett Epps
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/supreme-court-defends-death-penalty-again/591682/
This term, members of the new conservative majority have been in high dudgeon about death appeals. The conservatives’ complaints home in on a specific point: Capital punishment in the U.S. would go off smoothly if lawyers would just stop making up claims at the last minute. Having looked at the record in these cases, I wonder whether their anger represents judicial pique more than sober legal critique.
How gerrymandering paved the way for the US’s anti-abortion backlash
The Guardian – June 18, 2019 – Adrian Horton , Tom McCarthy and Jessica Glenza
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/18/us-anti-abortion-bans-backlash-gerrymandering
Legislators realize what some voters do not: in many places in the US, voters don’t choose politicians – politicians choose voters… Thanks to gerrymandering, by which political insiders draw distorted legislative districts to ensure that one party will hold that district, the only elections many seated officials have to worry about are primary challenges from opponents more extreme than they are, creating a kind of ideological arms race that is producing increasingly distorted policy, analysts say.
Trump Admin’s Poverty Line Proposal Would Cut Health, Food Assistance for Millions Over Time
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – June 18, 2019 – Aviva Aron-Dine, Matt Broaddus, Zoë Neuberger and Arloc Sherman
https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/administrations-poverty-line-proposal-would-cut-health-food
This analysis focuses on the impact on health coverage and food assistance programs, but the change would also affect eligibility for more than a dozen other programs including Head Start, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and legal aid.
GI Suicide: Maybe It’s the Job?
Lobe Log – June 11, 2019 – Lawrence Wilkerson
https://lobelog.com/gi-suicide-maybe-its-the-job/
Let’s look at a few of the likely reasons for high GI suicide rates that such leaders are either too stupid to detect or too afraid to call out…. GIs know that, on account of many of these lies, they are killing people, wounding people, destroying their homes, bombing their towns and villages, and generally wreaking havoc for “God and country.” They know this is a lie. But what are they to do about it? Some of them kill themselves—in fact, an increasing number of them.
What to Know as House Hears Debate on Reparations on Slavery
Time Magazine – June 18, 2019 – Arica L. Coleman
https://time.com/5609044/reparations-hearing-history/
The House Hearing on Slavery Reparations Is Part of a Long History. Here’s What to Know on the Idea’s Tireless Early Advocates… The debate about reparations for slavery is not a new one — and the history of the idea shows just how many roadblocks there are to a meaningful conversation about the topic. In fact, around the turn of the 20th century, the federal government exercised its power to silence the voices of thousands of formerly enslaved African Americans who sought restitution for their two and a half centuries of legalized enslavement.
Forty Acres and a Mule
Justice Initiative – June 21, 2019 – Heather Gray
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/40-Acres-and-a-Mule—Sherman.html?soid=1109359583686&aid=N2rhqlQp9zs
I realized when watching the 3-hour hearing that some of the Congressional Representatives where not familiar with the details of the ‘ 40 acres and a mule’ decision by General Sherman. [background story unfolds in excellent multi-part account]
We Have a Trump Because We Have an Empire
Reader Supported News – June 20, 2019 – Harvey Wasserman
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/57197-rsn-we-have-a-trump-because-we-have-an-empire
Think of Trump as the ultimate payback, the balloon payment on the Empire. He is the eternal imperial mobster, a composite of exactly who we’ve foisted on so many other innocents throughout history… Donald Trump rolls along as the ultimate composite of all we’ve done to the rest of the world. He’s not an accident, an aberration, or an outlier. He comes from the core of our multi-century global assault on all things social democratic. Until we get on top of that, and rid ourselves of the “exceptional” arrogance that tells us we can impose such hell on so many innocent people, the cancer that is Donald Trump will continue to grow ever more lethal, with each escalating imperial day.
The Greenland Ice Sheet could be lost without emissions cuts
Axios – June 21, 209 – Andrew Freedman
https://www.axios.com/greenland-ice-sheet-melting-sea-level-rise-carbon-emissions-0dd81be7-0b6b-4f23-9e82-e37c1b2538af.html
For the study, published in Science Advances, researchers used an open source computer model that captures how outlet glaciers, large rivers of ice ending in the sea, will respond to various amounts of climate warming… “While sea-level rise in the next decades may be considered small by some people, the next decades will determine the mid and long-term future of our planet. It will not only affect our children but many generations down the road,” study lead author Andy Aschwanden tells Axios.
My Grandmother’s 20-Year Fight for Prison Phone Justice
Truth Out – June 21, 2019 – Ulandis Forte
https://truthout.org/articles/my-grandmothers-20-year-fight-for-prison-phone-justice/
The fight for prison phone justice is critical to the larger prison reform movement because our ability to communicate with our loved ones is essential to our success when we come home after incarceration.
The Trump economy house of cards collapses
The Washington Post – June 21, 2019 – Dana Milbank
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-trump-economy-house-of-cards-collapses/2019/06/21/00412398-9429-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html?noredirect=on
Perhaps the public has been swayed by Trump’s P.T. Barnum routine, but business leaders see a more troubling reality… After the “sugar-high,” the economy has returned to relative stagnation. But it’s worse than the status quo ante. The wasteful stimulus, applied at a peak of the business cycle, added trillions to the deficit… The roaring headaches caused by Trump’s “roaring” economy will be with us for some time.
Can Over-the-Counter Birth Control Become a Bipartisan Issue
Time Magazine – June 21, 2019 – Abigail Abrams
https://time.com/5609049/over-counter-birth-control-bipartisan/
Women seeking contraceptive care shouldn’t find they have to pay extra, ask permission, or hurdle barriers put up by politicians who think their ideology is more important than a woman’s personal health care decisions.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Unimaginable Reality of American Concentration Camps
The New Yorker – June 21, 2019 – Masha Gessen
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-unimaginable-reality-of-american-concentration-camps
The full text of Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet was “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying. This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis.”… In crafting the story of something that should never have been allowed to happen, we forge the story of something that couldn’t possibly have happened. Or, to use a phrase only slightly out of context, something that can’t happen here.
Confronting Politicians With the Reality of Poverty
Portside – The American Prospect – June 21, 2019 – Kalena Thomhave
https://portside.org/2019-06-21/confronting-politicians-reality-poverty
The Campaign, chaired by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, was born last year, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s original Poor People’s Campaign. At that time, it released an agenda highlighting demands to improve the lives of low-income people; this week’s new budget pays for them.
The Green New Deal: Whither Capitalism?
Portside – Developing Economics – June 22, 2019 – Güney Isikara and Ying Chen
https://portside.org/2019-06-22/green-new-deal-whither-capitalism
The idea of a Green New Deal is not new. It goes back at least to 2008, when a group of influential people who referred to themselves as The Green New Deal Group called the UK Government to adopt a program of massive investment in renewable energy and provision of the green economic transformation with low-cost capital, creation of green jobs, and the like… No reaction that falls short of initiating a radical, all-embracing, and unprecedented transformation, which is very likely to run counter to the very logic of commodification and accumulation defining our capitalist economies, and hence disrupts them, will not be anywhere close to sufficient.
What’s Next for the Youth Climate Lawsuit
Yes! Magazine – June 20, 2019 – Fran Korten
https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/youth-climate-movement-lawsuit-activists-20190620
They’re suing the United States government for endangering their future by supporting a fossil fuel-based energy system, despite knowledge of how that would contribute to the current climate disaster… Youth today are so aware of what other youth are doing that these movements build off of one another—the students fighting gun violence and [racism] and so much more. They’re having these conversations about the world that they want to live in and that they believe that they’re entitled to as a matter of law. So it’s exciting to see that. As an adult, you want kids who are active in the democratic process. And this is such an important part of that.
22 Saturday Jun 2019
16 Sunday Jun 2019
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CNN ran a ‘climate justice’ segment and this is progress
The Grist – May 31, 2019 – Justine Calma
https://grist.org/article/cnn-ran-a-climate-justice-segment-and-this-is-progress/
Better late than never. Opening the door to climate justice means we might be seeing a lot more interesting environmental stories on networks like CNN.
Mobil sought to fight environmental regulation, documents show
The Guardian – June 12, 2019 – Sharon Kelly
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/12/mobil-tax-exempt-donations-promote-interests-environmental-regulation-documents
Oil giant looked to make tax-exempt donations to universities and civic groups in the early 1990s to promote the company’s interests… Corporate watchdogs said issues associated with private industry’s use of not-for-profits to influence American policy have become more pronounced since the 1990s, particularly in the wake of the supreme court’s Citizens United decision, which protected political spending by corporations and which critics say fuelled a rapid expansion of so-called “dark money” advocacy groups whose funding is more difficult to trace.
Danville Prison In IL. Removed 200 Books From Library, Most About the Black Experience in USA
The Daily Kos – June 9, 2019
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/9/1863642/-Danville-Prison-In-IL-Removed-200-Books-From-Its-Library-Most-About-the-Black-Experience-in-USA
When she found out that staff at the Danville Correctional Center had removed more than 200 books from a library inside the prison’s education wing, Rebecca Ginsburg said she felt a pit in her stomach. “I felt sick,” she said. Ginsburg directs the Education Justice Project, a college in prison program that offers University of Illinois classes to men incarcerated at the Danville prison in east-central Illinois… among the removed books are… “Up From Slavery” by Booker T. Washington, and “Mapping Your Future: A Guide to Successful Reentry 2017-2018” written by the college in prison program’s reentry team.
Chernobyl is still horrifyingly relevant – the lessons have not been learned
The Guardian – June 10. 2019 – Natalia Antonova
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/10/political-expediency-chernobyl-catastrophic-continues-today
It was a tragedy compounded further by official cruelty and incompetence, by secrecy and the state’s inability to tell the full dark tale of what happened to a vulnerable populace… Whether it’s the demagogue sitting in the White House, the people who engineered Brexit, or the chorus on the right and corporate interests telling us that the climate crisis is nothing but an alarmist hoax, there are people who do the expedient thing for their own ends all around us. Many are powerful enough to decide our collective fates.
Single-Use Plastic Bans: Good for Our Food, Water and Planet
Common Dreams – June 10, 2019 – Food & Water Watch
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/06/10/single-use-plastic-bans-good-our-food-water-and-planet
There is a symbiotic relationship between plastic manufacturing and the fracking industry. Any regulation that curbs one industry will help decrease pollution from the other. Plastics and fossil fuels go hand in hand.
E-cig companies use cartoon characters as logos, and new study shows it works
The Conversation – June 11, 2019 – Jon-Patrick Allem
http://theconversation.com/e-cig-companies-use-cartoon-characters-as-logos-and-new-study-shows-it-works-116484
Electronic cigarette use, or vaping, is unsafe for children, adolescents and young adults. Electronic cigarettes often contain nicotine and other harmful substances. Nicotine is addictive and can curb adolescent brain development, which continues into young adulthood… Restrictions on cartoon marketing for combustible cigarettes and chewing tobacco have been in place since 1999. However, no such restrictions apply to electronic cigarettes… We believe that our findings could motivate policies aimed at reducing cartoon-based electronic cigarette marketing similar to those for combustible cigarettes and chewing tobacco.
Trump Administration to Hold Migrant Children at Fort Still
Time Magazine – June 11, 2019 – W.J. Hennigan
https://time.com/5605120/trump-migrant-children-fort-sill/
Fort Sill, located southwest of Oklahoma City, was one of several internment camps where Japanese-Americans were held during World War II. Between 1942 and 1946, the U.S. government forcibly removed an estimated 120,000 men, women and children from their homes and incarcerated them across the country. Fort Sill was later used to hold German prisoners of war.
Peace Is a Word That the West Has Taken From the Afghans
Common Dreams – June 11, 2019 – Vijay Prashad
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/06/11/peace-word-west-has-taken-afghans
Death is one consequence of war. Starvation is another. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan said that half of the population would need food assistance over the course of this year. These 3.3 million people will starve as a result of crop failures and dry irrigation channels. Drought in western Afghanistan sent an additional 275,000 people in search of food, walking across the country, bewildered. Hunger will intensify malnutrition and illness. There is little sign of any help for these people…. Afghanistan is damaged beyond belief, its own future less important to the external parties than their own petty gains.
Pro-Peace Coalition Delivers Petition Urging Congress to Block Trump’s Path to War With Iran
Common Dreams – June 11, 2019 – NIAC Action
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/06/11/pro-peace-coalition-delivers-petition-urging-congress-block-trumps-path-war-iran
Today, NIAC Action, Win Without War, MoveOn, J Street, Daily Kos, and CODEPINK delivered 249,000 petition signatures to the House Armed Services Committee members ahead of tomorrow’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) markup. The organizations called for the addition of an amendment to the NDAA that would prevent funding for a war with Iran without Congressional approval… It’s time for the Trump administration to listen to American people, the Iranians and the world community. All want to find a peaceful resolution and prevent another disastrous war in the Middle East,” said Lily Tajaddini, Iran Campaign Coordinator at CODEPINK.
At White House Gates, Hundreds of Religious Leaders Demand Trump and His Enablers “Repent of Their Sins”
Common Dreams – June 12, 2019 – Andrea Germanos
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/12/white-house-gates-hundreds-religious-leaders-demand-trump-and-his-enablers-repent
The march and rally, dubbed Moral Witness Wednesday, was organized to denounce the President Donald Trump administration’s cruel and unjust policies including the detaining of migrant children and attacks on healthcare access. Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center, initially conceived of the action.
If There Was Ever a Moment … This Is That Time
Vox – June 12, 2019 – Bernie Sanders [remarks on democratic socialism at George Washington University]
https://www.vox.com/2019/6/12/18663217/bernie-sanders-democratic-socialism-speech-transcript
In the year 2019 the United States and the rest of the world face two very different political paths. On one hand, there is a growing movement towards oligarchy and authoritarianism in which a small number of incredibly wealthy and powerful billionaires own and control a significant part of the economy and exert enormous influence over the political life of our country. On the other hand, in opposition to oligarchy, there is a movement of working people and young people who, in ever increasing numbers, are fighting for justice… We must recognize that in the 21st century, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, economic rights are human rights. That is what I mean by democratic socialism.
The Republican Party Is Waging War Against Free and Fair Elections in This Country
Esquire Magazine – June 14, 2019 – Charles Pierce
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28034350/voter-fraud-commission-kris-kobach-lawsuit/
There is a fascinating lawsuit playing out in New York… In brief, Matt Dunlap, Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State, is suing the president*’s phony, and now defunct, “voter-security” commission in order to obtain internal commission documents that Dunlap claims were withheld from him… What we already have learned from Dunlap’s lawsuit is proof enough that the commission was an important weapon in the Republican Party’s war against free and fair elections in this country.
American Medical Association Is Warming Up to Single Payer After Decades-Long Opposition
Think Progress – June 12, 2019 – Amanda Michelle Gomez
https://thinkprogress.org/american-medical-association-single-payer-public-option-vote-activism-b222ccd1cca1/
Given its influence, single-payer activists have been trying to change its mind for years. There have been some signs suggesting that change is beginning to manifest. For example, the The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published its first positive opinion piece on single payer in more than 15 years… The conversations within AMA about single payer and public options bespeak a remarkable sea change. And that shift also appears to track with public sentiment. There’s a growing support among everyday people for Medicare for All. Public option approaches also poll well.
If Climate Goals Aren’t Met, Extreme Heat Will Kill Thousands in U.S. Cities
City Lab – June 5, 2019 – Linda Poon
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/06/extreme-heat-wave-data-deaths-health-risks-climate-change/590941/
The first seriously scary heat wave of the Northern Hemisphere’s summer is a good time to remember that extreme heat in the U.S. already causes more deaths than any other severe weather event, killing an estimated 1,500 people each year. And the future looks dangerously hotter: The United Nations warned last November that global temperatures are on track to rise by at least 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, soaring past the two-degree goal that nearly 200 cities signed onto in 2015 as part of the Paris Agreement.
New Report Exposes Pentagon’s Massive Contributions to Climate Crisis Post-9/11
Common Dreams – June 12, 2019 – Jessica Corbett
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/12/new-report-exposes-pentagons-massive-contributions-climate-crisis-post-911
Failing to curb the U.S. military’s fossil fuel use, Costs of War Project co-director warns, “will help guarantee the nightmare scenarios” forecast by scientists… The U.S. military’s energy consumption drives total U.S. government energy consumption… The DOD is the single largest consumer of energy in the U.S., and in fact, the world’s single largest institutional consumer of petroleum… We’re going to have to deal with the socially sanctioned, institutionalized violence perpetrated by U.S. foreign policy that is pouring fuel on the fire of global warming.
Bosses pocket Trump tax windfall as workers see job promises vanish
The Guardian – June 16, 2019 – Michael Sainato
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/15/job-losses-trump-tax-cut-at-t-general-motors-wells-fargo
“The evidence continues to mount that the Trump-GOP tax cuts were a scam, a giant bait-and-switch that promised workers big pay raises, a lot more jobs and new investments, but they largely enriched CEOs and the already wealthy,” said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness.
Elizabeth Warren’s Economic Nationalism Vision Shows There’s a Better Way
The Guardian – June 9, 2019 – Robert Reich
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/09/elizabeth-warren-economics-2020-robert-reich
There’s a third alternative: “industrial policy” – which means putting national resources (government spending on research and development, along with tax subsidies and export incentives) behind emerging industries, while making sure the nation’s workers get the resulting experience and jobs… Warren understands globalization can be a positive force if focused on improving the conditions of a nation’s workforce rather than on maximizing returns to capital… Her Green Manufacturing Plan proposes allocating $150bn annually for the next decade to renewable, green, American-made energy products, along with a dramatic expansion of worker training to ensure Americans have the skills for the anticipated new jobs. It’s a national investment in our future.
Capitalism Isn’t ‘Broken’. It’s Working All Too Well
Portside – The Guardian – June 15, 2019 – Maria Svart
https://portside.org/2019-06-15/capitalism-isnt-broken-its-working-all-too-well
Runaway climate change, war, mass migration, widespread poverty and ever-increasing authoritarianism are the inevitable results of an economic system that rewards corporate actors for their absolute commitment to profit, regardless of the broader consequences… Exploitation is not a bug in capitalism, it is a feature. That giant sucking sound we can all hear is capital benefiting from decades of political, economic and ideological war against the rest of us… We must invest in public health and education infrastructure at home and abroad to increase community resiliency in a climate-fractured world, and build a global economy based on democratic control of production… Desperate times call for radical measures. This starts with upending a system that was built to redistribute wealth and power from the many to the few. Working people and our families will not only survive, but thrive, from the jobs created by massive public investment in restructuring our energy grid and transforming our world.
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism [review of book by Shoshana Zuboff]
Portside – Diggit Magazine – June 12, 2019 – Ico Maly
https://portside.org/2019-06-12/age-surveillance-capitalism
Her main argument is as simple as it is elusive, relevant and scary: the Googles and Facebooks of this world are shaping an antidemocratic world, in which every little detail of our online and offline lives becomes raw material in the production of predictive products that eliminate our freedom. These products not only produce huge profits and unlimited surveillance; they also provoke modification and manipulation of our behavior in order to produce “guaranteed outcomes” and thus even larger profits. What we end up with, thus, is a massive and invasive, but largely opaque infrastructure dedicated to “behavioral modification” not by repression, but through “tuning”, modelling and suggesting. Surveillance capitalism is “profoundly antidemocratic” and “its remarkable power” is the result “of its consistent and successful logic of accumulation” and the quest for profit.
13 Thursday Jun 2019
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Fire & fury, Inside the tRump Whitehouse, Michael Wolff https://tfthinkspeak.blogspot.com/
09 Sunday Jun 2019
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Digital Privacy Is a Class Issue
The New Republic – May 30, 2019 – Lizzie O’Shea
https://newrepublic.com/article/154026/digital-privacy-class-issue
As we move around the web, leaving a trail of data, it gets swept up and sold in all sorts of covert and unexpected ways… The digital age has given rise to industrialized data mining, content curation, and automated decision-making, all of which undermine democracy and intensify social divisions… These practices particularly affect poor people, who are more dependent on cheap or free online services. The services appear to cost nothing, but payment is in data rather than dollars. Such a transaction renders the user into a source to be mined for information and—in a way that is not obvious to the web consumer—transforms the experience of online life into one saturated by the logic of the market. As Michael Fertik, the founder of reputation.com, bluntly put it: “The rich see a different Internet than the poor.”… A positive vision of privacy treats it as a communal right—one that the poor, rather than the rich, have the greatest stake…
Mueller’s Seething Message: This Isn’t a Hoax, This Is a Crime
The Daily Beast – May 29, 2019 – Barbara McQuade
https://www.thedailybeast.com/muellers-seething-message-this-isnt-a-hoax-this-is-a-crime
The special counsel is too reserved to say what he really means: Russia attacked America and Trump broke the law… “Obstruction is a big deal. We did not clear the president of obstruction, but we did not think we could charge a president. You know who can? Congress! So we preserved the evidence for Congress to consider impeachment.”
Trump Rules by Crisis, and Now He Wants a War. Can We Stop It Before It Starts?
The Sacramento Bee – June 3, 2019 – George Lakoff and Gil Duran
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article230867274.html
One day soon, we could wake up to find our nation mired in a war even more disastrous than the Iraq invasion of 2003. If the United States attacks Iran, it will be for one reason: President Trump desperately wants a war… Why is Trump pushing confrontation? It’s likely because he views war as key to his re-election in 2020. If he succeeds in starting one, it will be the most dangerous power grab in American history… We must take the threat seriously. We must also remember that, if Trump gets his war, it won’t just be Iran in the crosshairs. American democracy, already under siege, is the real target.
The US Cult of Bombing and Endless War
Truth Out – June 4, 2019 – William J. Astore, Tom Dispatch [retired lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Air Force, He has taught at the Air Force Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School.]
https://truthout.org/articles/the-us-cult-of-bombing-and-endless-war/
America’s wars are increasingly waged from the air, not on the ground, a reality that makes the prospect of ending them ever more daunting. The question is: What’s driving this process?… Here, then, is the question of the day: Why is it that, despite all the “precision” talk about it, air power so regularly proves at best a blunt instrument of destruction? As a start, intelligence is often faulty… If I had to reduce these tenets to a single maxim, it would be this: all the happy talk about the techno-wonders of modern air power obscures its darker facets, especially its ability to lock America into what are effectively one-way wars with dead-end results. For this reason, precision warfare is truly an oxymoron. War isn’t precise. It’s nasty, bloody, and murderous.
Arctic Is Thawing So Fast Scientists Are Losing Their Measuring Tools
Truth Out – June 3, 2019 – Dahr Jamail
https://truthout.org/articles/arctic-is-thawing-so-fast-scientists-are-losing-their-measuring-tools/
We’ve never experienced anything like this: We are living with the full knowledge of our collapsing biosphere and watching huge portions of it vanishing before our very eyes. Meanwhile, the industrial growth society (as eco-philosopher, author and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy calls it) continues to grind on, and this veneer of normalcy persists one more day. Yet simultaneously, a great awakening is occurring. Millions of people around the world are rising to protect what remains, working to mitigate the damage and to adapt to the drastically changing world. They are working to hold space for that which, despite seemingly overwhelming odds, may continue in the wake of this great collapse.
The Climate Crisis Is Our Third World War. It Needs a Bold Response
The Guardian – June 4, 2019 – Joseph Stiglitz
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/04/climate-change-world-war-iii-green-new-deal
Yes, we can afford it, with the right fiscal policies and collective will. But more importantly, we must afford it… Our lives and civilization as we know it are at stake, just as they were in the second world war… The war on the climate emergency, if correctly waged, would actually be good for the economy – just as the second world war set the stage for America’s golden economic era , with the fastest rate of growth in its history amidst shared prosperity… There is absolutely no reason the innovative and green economy of the 21st century has to follow the economic and social models of the 20th-century manufacturing economy based on fossil fuels, just as there was no reason that that economy had to follow the economic and social models of the agrarian and rural economies of earlier centuries.
Proposed Change to ACA Enrollment Policies Would Boost Insured Rate, Improve Continuity of Coverage
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – June 5, 2019 – Sarah Lueck
https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/proposed-change-to-aca-enrollment-policies-would-boost-insured-rate-improve
A bill recently introduced in the Senate, the Consumer Health Insurance Protection Act (S. 1213), includes a provision similar to a policy already in place in Massachusetts that would allow lower-income people to enroll in marketplace coverage at any time during the year. Evidence suggests that in Massachusetts, making it easier for people to enroll in the marketplace (in combination with other policies the state has adopted) has helped boost enrollment, prevent coverage gaps, and reduce uninsured rates, all without causing significant adverse selection.
The West Is Complicit in the 30-Year Cover-Up of Tiananmen
The Guardian – June 4, 2019 – Ai Weiwei
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/04/china-tiananmen-square-beijing
The events of 4 June 1989, when the Chinese government deployed the full might of its military to purge Tiananmen Square of students who’d been peacefully protesting there, have become known in China as the “June Fourth Incident”… Why does a political power attempt to suppress reality? I have always wondered about totalitarian regimes’ fear of facts. As a political dissident, I insist on seeking the truth and resist attempts to change my memory of events. Because facts constitute the foundation of my understanding of the world. Upholding reality is a precondition for the mind to function. Otherwise, the world before us is disordered and chaotic; a world gone mad… The tolerance of injustice and distorted information is an act of encouragement and complicity. Such tolerance allows authoritarian regimes to transgress any red lines. This is exactly what happened after “June Fourth”, when the west bought into the excuse that Chinese society would become more democratic after it became richer.
Hershey, Nestle and Mars broke their pledges to end child labor in chocolate production
The Washington Post – June 5, 2019 – Peter Whoriskey and Rachel Siegel
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/business/hershey-nestle-mars-chocolate-child-labor-west-africa/?noredirect=on
Mars, Nestlé and Hershey pledged nearly two decades ago to stop using cocoa harvested by children. Yet much of the chocolate you buy still starts with child labor… Nearly 20 years after pledging to eradicate child labor, chocolate companies still cannot identify the farms where all their cocoa comes from, let alone whether child labor was used in producing it… What makes the eradication of child labor such a daunting task is that, by most accounts, its roots lie in poverty.
The New Trove of Secret Gerrymandering Files Will Be a Nightmare for the GOP
Slate – May 31, 2019 – Mark Joseph Stern
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/thomas-hofeller-secret-gerrymandering-files-north-carolina.html
The lawyers had asked Stephanie Hofeller Lizon to provide “any storage device” containing redistricting-related documents left by her estranged father, Thomas Hofeller, a Republican consultant who specialized in gerrymandering… The voting rights attorneys had uncovered a vast trove of information exposing the inner workings of GOP gerrymandering across the country… Racial gerrymandering is generally illegal, and Hofeller’s work might include smoking guns proving that maps relied on impermissible racial data. Moreover, while the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet outlawed partisan gerrymandering, state Supreme Courts, including North Carolina’s, are moving in that direction. Hofeller’s files may contain more proof that legislators drew districts along partisan lines.
New report details millions spent by Catholic Church lobbying against survivors of clergy abuse
The Daily Kos – June 6, 2019 – Walter Einenkel
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/6/1863173/-New-report-details-millions-spent-by-Catholic-Church-lobbying-against-survivors-of-clergy-abuse
The report, titled “Church Influencing State: How the Catholic Church Spent Millions Against Survivors of Clergy Abuse,” paints a picture of an organization waging millions against survivors in order to save millions in survivor litigations.
Uncovering Pre-Stonewall Violence Against Queer People
Time Magaxine – June 4, 2019 – James Polchin
https://time.com/5600232/lgbt-crime-history/
The history of queer true-crime stories is a history of the criminalization of queer citizens. Resistance to that situation was at the heart of the early gay rights movements in the 1950s and 1960s, and on into what happened at the Stonewall Inn in June of 1969. When patrons dared to push back against police raids, it was a reaction not just to the political consciousness of the late 1960s, but also to the overt forces that had criminalized queer people in the press and the courtroom for decades.
Poll: Majority want to keep abortion legal, but they also want restrictions
WHYY – NPR – June 8, 2019 – Domenico Montanaro
https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/poll-majority-want-to-keep-abortion-legal-but-they-also-want-restrictions/
“What it speaks to is the fact that the debate is dominated by the extreme positions on both sides,” said Barbara Carvalho, director of the Marist Poll, which conducted the survey. “People do see the issue as very complicated, very complex. Their positions don’t fall along one side or the other. … The debate is about the extremes, and that’s not where the public is.”
Russia’s Social Media Campaign Was Far Larger, and Vastly More Effective, Than Previously Reported
Portside – The Daily Kos – June 7, 2019 – Mark Sumner
https://portside.org/2019-06-07/russias-social-media-campaign-was-far-larger-and-vastly-more-effective-previously
The social media efforts directed by Russia’s quasi-military Internet Research Agency both reached more people, and had a larger impact, than previously reported according to a new report from cybersecurity firm Symantec. … Every element of the Symantec report is staggering. It reflected both extensive knowledge, extensive planning, and a hands-on flexibility that shows adaptation and innovation over the course of the campaign. It also shows that, in an election that turned on just 100,000 votes across a handful of states, Russia’s social media campaign could easily have been a tipping point…
How the ‘Good Guy With a Gun’ Became a Deadly American Fantasy
Portside – The Conversation – June 7, 2019 – Susanna Lee
https://portside.org/2019-06-07/how-good-guy-gun-became-deadly-american-fantasy
Other cultures have their detective fiction. But it was specifically in America that the “good guy with a gun” became a heroic figure and a cultural fantasy… In an era of Prohibition, organized crime, government corruption and rising populism, the public was drawn to the idea of a well-armed, well-meaning maverick – someone who could heroically come to the defense of regular people. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, stories that featured these characters became wildly popular… What started as entertainment has turned into a durable American fantasy. Maintaining it has become a deadly American obsession.
What the Gun Control Movement Can Learn From Marriage Equality
Yes! Magazine – June 7, 2019 – Igor Volsky
https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/for-gun-control-a-lesson-from-the-fight-for-marriage-equality
Clear goals, consistent strategy, and a sense of personal connection can change public opinion — and the law… A growing number of families now [see] themselves as part of the push for marriage equality. Heterosexuals began to see themselves as part of the movement for the sake of people they love—their families, friends, neighbors, and community members. A similar phenomenon has led to gradual de-prohibition of cannabis, and the same thing could now be happening with guns… That dynamic of familiarity allowed the LGBT equality movement to achieve its goal faster than anyone could have predicted. If we build our movement and pair it with successful strategies, we can start moving toward a future with fewer guns sooner rather than later.
Why Do We Think We Own the Earth?
Global Research – June 8, 2019 – Lesley Docksey
https://www.globalresearch.ca/why-do-we-think-we-own-earth/5679981
Ecology is the way things work; it is how all life combines to support itself; it is true biodiversity, the balancing of living systems to the benefit of those systems. It is a whole thing, or it should be, but we keep destroying bits here, there and everywhere. Then [we] wonder why the whole doesn’t seem to work any more… For far too long, humanity has regarded itself as ‘outside’ Nature. We think we are exceptional… There is only one thing that makes humanity truly exceptional; our desire to own and control everything, partnered by our horrible ability to destroy what we try to control… Can we, before our much-vaunted ‘civilisation’ crashes and we die, learn instead to live kindly with this earth?
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Iraq All Over Again? And Where Is Katharine Gun?
Reader Supported News – May 26, 2019 – Marcia Mitchell
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/56756-rsn-iraq-all-over-again-and-where-is-katharine-gun
She blew the whistle ultimately revealing the truth behind the build-up to the Iraq War — regime change, disguised as terrifying threats of weapons of mass destruction. Exaggerating threats to provoke a war? Sound familiar? Never mind that invading another country for the purpose of regime change is illegal according to international laws to which the United States is a signatory. The team of hawks circling George Bush had long wanted to take out Saddam Hussein, as did Bush. Some of those same birds are still flapping wings in the skies above Washington. The concern among many Americans is that claims of an unprovoked, deadly attack by Iran are exaggerated. The issue is provocation. Who, one must ask, is provoking whom?
Punching Iran Over Its Foreign Policy Could Lead to a Faster Path to War
The New York Times – May 29, 2019 – Edward Wong
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/world/middleeast/iran-us-war.html
“We could get into a shooting war with Iran,” said Representative Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona and a former Marine who served in Iraq. “That’s the danger over what Bolton is doing and what the administration is doing right now.” Mr. Gallego, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said he had been briefed on intelligence on Iran. He said Trump administration officials were “hearing what they want to hear, and they’re being fed what they want to be fed, in order to push us closer to war.”
After Neoliberalism
Project Syndicate – May 30, 2019 – Joseph E. Stiglitz [author of “People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent”]
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/after-neoliberalism-progressive-capitalism-by-joseph-e-stiglitz-2019-05
For the past 40 years, the United States and other advanced economies have been pursuing a free-market agenda of low taxes, deregulation, and cuts to social programs. There can no longer be any doubt that this approach has failed spectacularly; the only question is what will – and should – come next… As the US moves ever closer to a fundamentally undemocratic system of “one dollar, one vote,” the system of checks and balances so necessary for democracy likely cannot hold: nothing will be able to constrain the power of the wealthy… Progressive capitalism is not an oxymoron. Rather, it is the most viable and vibrant alternative to an ideology that has clearly failed. As such, it represents the best chance we have of escaping our current economic and political malaise.
What Does Oligarchy Mean?
Robert Reich’s Blog – May 28, 2019
https://robertreich.org/post/185209385250
Modern-day Russia is an oligarchy, where a handful of billionaires who control most major industries dominate politics and the economy. What about the United States? According to a study published in 2014 by Princeton Professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern Professor Benjamin Page, although Americans enjoy many features of democratic governance, such as regular elections, and freedom of speech and association, American policy making has become dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans. The typical American has no influence at all. This is largely due to the increasing concentration of wealth.
Noam Chomsky: We Must Confront the “Ultranationalist, Reactionary” Movements Growing Across Globe
Democracy Now! – May 27, 2019 – interview by Amy Goodman
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/27/noam_chomsky_we_must_confront_the
I’d like to start with a brief reminiscence of a period which is eerily similar to today in many unpleasant respects. I’m thinking of exactly 80 years ago, almost to the day… Barcelona fell. That was the end of the Spanish Republic. The remarkable popular revolution, anarchist revolution, of 1936, ’37, ’38, had already been crushed by force. It looked as if fascism was going to spread without end. It’s not exactly what’s happening today, but, if we can borrow Mark Twain’s famous phrase, “History doesn’t repeat but sometimes rhymes.” Too many similarities to overlook… At the level of states, the balance looks overwhelmingly in the wrong direction. But states aren’t the only entities. At the level of people, it’s quite different. And that could make the difference. That means a need to protect the functioning democracies, to enhance them, to make use of the opportunities they provide, for the kinds of activism that have led to significant progress in the past could save us in the future.
Trump’s Wrecking Ball Assaults American Government. Luckily, It Is Strongly Built
The Guardian – May 26, 2019 – Robert Reich
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/26/trump-wrecking-ball-american-government
Americans don’t always like what government does but they overwhelmingly support the American system of government. They want to improve it, not destroy it. Enter Donald Trump, who has turned this how-what distinction on its head. In order to get what he wants, Trump rides roughshod over how we decide. He is the great destroyer. His directive to his lapdog attorney general, William Barr, to find evidence of “treason” against specific people who investigated him threatens the neutrality of our entire system of justice, as does Barr’s assertion of “no limit” on the president’s authority to direct law enforcement investigations, including those he’s personally interested in. The way to beat him is to defend the institutions he would smash.
Happy ever after: 25 ways to live well into old age
The Guardian – May 26, 2019 – Susan Saunders and Annabel Streets
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/26/happy-ever-after-25-ways-to-live-well-into-old-age
Determined to enjoy longer and healthier lives, two women researched the science to find the key. Here, they share what they discovered.
Green Parties Surge in EU Parliamentary Elections
Truth Out – May 27, 2019 – Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
https://truthout.org/articles/green-parties-surge-in-eu-parliamentary-elections/
Projections Sunday indicated that, overall, Greens secured 71 seats in the European Parliament—up from 52 seats five years ago. According to exit polling, the Greens’ surge was bolstered by strong support from young voters… Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org, said the European election results make Green parties important leaders in the global fight for a livable future. “A substantial share of the world has finally decided climate action is necessary now,” McKibben tweeted.
How the indictment of Julian Assange could criminalize investigative journalism
The Washington Post – May 27, 2019 – Deanna Paul
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/05/27/how-indictment-julian-assange-could-criminalize-investigative-journalism/?noredirect=on
“Once we start down the road of applying the Espionage Act where newsworthy but harmful information is acquired from government sources, some of the most important journalistic efforts may be put at risk,” Abrams said. [First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, who represented the New York Times in the landmark Pentagon Papers case New York Times Co. v. United States.]
GOP Tax Law Doing Little For The Economy, Even Less For Workers
Huffpost – May 28, 2019 – Arthur Delaney and Matt Fuller
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-tax-law-bonuses_n_5ced9ad0e4b0ae6710585605
The sweeping tax law Republicans enacted in late 2017 is definitely not paying for itself and has not significantly boosted the economy or increased wages, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service said in a report. But in line with what critics cautioned, the measure triggered a wave of corporate stock buybacks that benefited investors more than anybody else, according to the new study. “While evidence does indicate significant repurchases of shares, either from tax cuts or repatriated revenues, relatively little was directed to paying worker bonuses, which had been announced by some firms,” CRS economic policy experts Jane Gravelle and Donald Marples wrote in their report.
US energy department rebrands fossil fuels as ‘molecules of freedom’
The Guardian – May 29, 2019 – Luke O’Neil
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/29/energy-department-molecules-freedom-fossil-fuel-rebranding
It’s unclear if members of the Trump administration attempting to assign patriotic intentions to natural gas are aware of the silliness of the concept, but Rick Perry seems to believe in it. “Seventy-five years after liberating Europe from Nazi Germany occupation, the United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent,” the energy secretary said earlier this month, according to EURACTV. “And rather than in the form of young American soldiers, it’s in the form of liquefied natural gas.”
The Energy 202: Green New Deal is alive and well in liberal cities and states
The Washington Post – May 28, 2019 – Dino Grandoni
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2019/05/28/the-energy-202-green-new-deal-is-alive-and-well-in-liberal-cities-and-states/5cecc28b1ad2e52231e8e812/
From Maine to California, Democratic politicians have begun adopt the Green New Deal brand — a progressive movement to dramatically tackle climate change over the next decade — to describe their own contributions to address global warming… All told, lawmakers in at least seven states have proposed various pieces of local legislation explicitly under the Green New Deal banner, according to the environmental group the Sierra Club, which is tracking the proposals. So, too, have the Democratic mayors of the nation’s two biggest cities, Bill de Blasio of New York and Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, taken up the Green New Deal mantle to push their own climate proposals.
Geothermal Power? The Ticket to 100% Renewable Energy Might Be Underneath Our Feet
Grist – May 28, 2019 – Nathanael Johnson
https://grist.org/article/the-ticket-to-100-renewable-power-is-under-our-feet/
Research suggests that geothermal energy could be the key to running the country on purely renewable power. A recent memo from the conservative clean-energy think tank ClearPath estimates that geothermal energy could supply as much as 20 percent of the country’s electricity. That would put the United States nearly on par with Iceland, which gets roughly a quarter of its power from underground heat.
Socialist Strategy and the Capitalist Democratic State
Portside – Socialist Project – June 1, 2019 – Stephen Maher and Rafael Khachaturian
https://portside.org/2019-06-01/socialist-strategy-and-capitalist-democratic-state
Running socialist candidates for office, mobilizing social struggles from below, and building the institutional infrastructure of working class power can be mutually reinforcing… We believe that breaking the power of the capitalist class by democratizing the economy and transitioning to a social system organized for the common good rather than private accumulation – in other words, democratic socialism – is possible only by waging a struggle on the terrain of the state linked with a broader ‘political ecology of movements and forces’.
Traditional Measures of Unemployment Are Missing the Mark
Portside – Dollars and Sense – May 27, 2019 – Mark Paul
https://portside.org/2019-05-27/traditional-measures-unemployment-are-missing-mark
Mainstream measurements create an artificially low unemployment number. Alternative methods are necessary to get a better picture of what is really going on in the labor market… Looking across a broad span of labor market data, it’s clear that many people remain on the sidelines, ready and willing to work if a decent paying job were available. The relationship between unemployment and wages hasn’t totally broken, but the same can’t be said for our measure of unemployment.
The Bankers’ “Power Revolution”: How the Government Got Shackled by Debt
Global Research – May 31, 2019 – Ellen Brown [This article is excerpted from my new book ‘Banking on the People: Democratizing Money in the Digital Age.”]
https://www.globalresearch.ca/bankers-power-revolution-government-got-shackled-debt/5679159
In fact it is the interest, not the debt itself, that is the problem with a burgeoning federal debt. The principal just gets rolled over from year to year. But the interest must be paid to private bondholders annually by the taxpayers and constitutes one of the biggest items in the federal budget… The irony is that the United States does not need to carry a debt to bondholders at all. It has been financially sovereign ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the dollar off the gold standard domestically in 1933… We need a new model, one designed to serve the needs of the public and the economy rather than to maximize shareholder profits at public expense.
Agricultural Memory and Sustainability
The Ecologist – May 29, 2019 – Kelly Reed
https://theecologist.org/2019/may/29/agricultural-memory-and-sustainability
A significant overhaul of the current global food system is needed to meet the challenges of feeding a growing world population and many stress that this is only achievable by changing diets, food production and reducing food waste. How do we mitigate the ‘climate crisis’ while delivering productive, resilient, nutritious and sustainable food and farming? A new paper in World Archaeology weighs into this debate, suggesting that looking to the past can offer important insights for future agricultural and food security.strategies.
Do We Face a Global Food Disaster?
Global Research – June 2, 2019 – F. William Engdahl
https://www.globalresearch.ca/do-we-face-global-food-disaster/5679267
A look at unusual weather disasters in several key growing regions from the USA to Australia, the Philippines and beyond that could dramatically affect food availability and prices in the coming year. That in turn could have major political implications depending on how the rest of the growing season develops.