Bill Barr Is Running an October-Surprise Factory at Justice
Vanity Fair – July 10, 2020 – Chris Smith
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/bill-barr-is-running-an-october-surprise-factory-at-justice
The attorney general’s probe of the Russia probes will inevitably arrive in the midst of campaign season—just one small detail of the Justice Department’s ugly politicization under Barr… I think there has been a radical reorientation of what the office’s purpose is and what the purpose of the attorneys who work there is. Bill Barr has articulated a view of the president as king, and so loyalty is to this president rather than to the Constitution, which is the oath we all take. Phenomenon number two is a culture of fear that has permeated the department since Trump came into office. Fear of the president’s tweets—people saw Bruce Ohr and Andy McCabe having their professional lives destroyed, and that had a strong silencing effect.”
Naomi Klein: ‘We must not return to the pre-Covid status quo, only worse’
The Guardian – July 13, 2020 – interview by Katharine Viner
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/13/naomi-klein-we-must-not-return-to-the-pre-covid-status-quo-only-worse
Instead of pouring all of our money into a Screen New Deal and trying to solve problems in a way that diminishes our quality of life, why do we not go on a teacher-hiring spree? Why do we not have twice as many teachers with half-the-size classrooms and figure out a way to do outdoor education? There are so many ways we can think about responding to this crisis that do not accept this idea that we have to return to the pre-Covid status quo, only worse, only with more surveillance, more screens and less human contact… From its very beginning, the virus has forced us to think about interdependencies and relationships. The first thing you are thinking about is: everything I touch, what has somebody else touched? The food I am eating, the package that was just delivered, the food on the shelves. These are connections that capitalism teaches us not to think about. I think that being forced to think in more interconnected ways may have softened more of us up to think about these racist atrocities, and not say they are somebody else’s issue.
Think Covid-19 Disrupted the Food Chain? Wait and See What Climate Change Will Do
Inside Climate News – July 7, 2020 – Georgina Gustin
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06072020/coronavirus-agriculture-food-chain-future-climate-change
The pandemic disrupted global supply chains, induced panic buying and cleared supermarket shelves… It also revealed a glaring problem: Though researchers have known for decades that climate change will roil farming and food systems, there exists no clear global strategy for building resilience and managing risks in the world’s food supply, nor a coherent way to tackle the challenge of feeding a growing global population, on a warming planet where food crises are projected to intensify… “The disruptions caused by this terrible pandemic have at least awakened the world to the fact that our food systems are far more vulnerable than many realized,” said Bruce Campbell, a director with the group [https://ccafs.cgiar.org/] that crafted the blueprint. “Climate change is already compounding these problems, but the solutions we present—which seek bold transformations in everything from farming to trade, diets and government policies—offer an opportunity to pursue a much brighter future for people and our planet.”
Fracking Firms Fail, Rewarding Executives and Raising Climate Fears
The New York Times – July 12, 2020 – Hiroko Tabuchi
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/climate/oil-fracking-bankruptcy-methane-executive-pay.html
Oil and gas companies are hurtling toward bankruptcy, raising fears that wells will be left leaking planet-warming pollutants, with cleanup costs left to taxpayers.
Methane levels have hit a scary record high, new studies say
The Grist – July 14, 2020 – Shannon Osaka
https://grist.org/climate/methane-levels-have-hit-a-scary-new-high-researchers-say/
While the world has been focused on a global pandemic and widespread protests, another crisis is gathering in the atmosphere. And no, it isn’t carbon dioxide: It’s that other planet-warmer, methane, a colorless, odorless gas which traps 86 times as much heat as CO2. According to two new studies out Tuesday, a combination of agriculture and fossil fuel burning has boosted methane to a record-high 1,875 parts per billion in the atmosphere. If unabated, the researchers warn, methane emissions could push the planet toward a world heated up by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, one of the worst-case scenarios for global warming.
Could This City Hold the Key to the Future of Policing in America?
The New York Times – July 12, 2020 – Joseph Goldstein and Kevin Armstrong
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/nyregion/camden-police.html
As protesters across the country call for police departments to be defunded and dismantled, Camden’s experience offers some lessons… The Camden Police Department’s efforts to reduce its use of force have made it one of the most compelling turnaround stories in U.S. law enforcement. The changes have led to a stark reduction in the number of excessive-force complaints against the police and have helped drive down the murder rate in what was once one of America’s most dangerous cities… Mr. Thomson, the former police chief, said the changes were possible because he was effectively handed a blank canvas. “I no longer had the challenge of changing culture,” he said, “but I had the opportunity of building one.”
Sound of the police: how US law enforcement uses noise as a weapon
The Guardian – July 14, 2020 – Luke Ottenhof
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/14/us-police-sound-weapon-protests
Potentially harmful military-grade weapons such as flashbangs are being utilized with accelerating regularity at US protests… Sound is useful as a tool of social control because it isn’t just perceived by the ears, but by the whole body. “It’s difficult to describe in physical terms what sound can do,” he says. A siren’s warble, for example, is not intrinsically connected to fear, but given its use over time as a sound that often precedes violence, it causes a fear reaction.
Partially blinded by police
The Washington Times – July 14, 2020 – Meg Kelly, Joyce Sohyun Lee and Jon Swaine
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/07/14/george-floyd-protests-police-blinding/
The Washington Post found that eight people lost vision in one eye after being struck by police projectiles, including lead pellets packed in cloth pouches that were fired from shotguns. They were among 12 people who were partially blinded by police during a week of national unrest. Of the eight who lost sight that day, six were protesters, one was a photojournalist, and another was a passerby. Drawing on cellphone and surveillance videos, along with other records, The Post reconstructed the circumstances of three of those incidents in detail.
The Invention of the Police
The New Yorker – July 13, 2020 – Jill Lepore
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/the-invention-of-the-police
To police is to maintain law and order, but the word derives from polis—the Greek for “city,” or “polity”—by way of politia, the Latin for “citizenship,” and it entered English from the Middle French police, which meant not constables but government. “The police,” as a civil force charged with deterring crime, came to the United States from England and is generally associated with monarchy—“keeping the king’s peace”—which makes it surprising that, in the antimonarchical United States, it got so big, so fast. The reason is, mainly, slavery.
The Halted Progress of Criminal-Justice Reform
The New Yorker – July 12, 2020 – Jeffrey Toobin
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/the-halted-progress-of-criminal-justice-reform
Prosecutors are charging protesters with federal crimes, exposing them to long prison sentences, in another example of the Justice Department’s grotesque overreach under Attorney General William Barr.
Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets
Oregon Public Broadcasting – July 16, 2020 – Jonathan Levinson and Conrad Wilson
https://www.opb.org/news/article/federal-law-enforcement-unmarked-vehicles-portland-protesters/
Federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least July 14. Personal accounts and multiple videos posted online show the officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation of why they are being arrested, and driving off. The tactic appears to be another escalation in federal force deployed on Portland city streets, as federal officials and President Donald Trump have said they plan to “quell” nightly protests outside the federal courthouse and Multnomah County Justice Center that have lasted for more than six weeks.
The Authoritarian Operation in Portland Is Only a Dress Rehearsal
Esquire Magazine – July 18, 2020 – Charles P. Pierce
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a33347230/portland-oregon-protesters-detained/
Why in the hell is this not a bigger story? A major American city is being softly Pinochet’ed in broad daylight. And, if we know one thing, if this president* and his administration* get away with this, it will only get worse. You’d have to be out of your mind—or comatose since the Fall of 2016—not to suspect that this could be a dry run for the kind of general urban mobilization at which the president* has been hinting since this summer’s protests began. On Thursday, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf came to Portland largely, it seems, to rave about “anarchists” and slap the police on the back… Portland may be a dumbshow for dummies, but it also looks like a dress rehearsal. This is not an “authoritarian impulse.” This is authoritarian government—straight, no chaser. And this administration has a powerful thirst for it. It will do anything if it thinks it can get away with it in order to benefit a president* who wants to bring the Republic down on his head. Unmarked vehicles, disappearing people off the streets? We need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission now, before the dress rehearsal becomes a road show.
In historic move, North Carolina city approves reparations for Black residents
Asheville Citizen Times – July 15, 2020 – Joel Burgess
https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/07/18/reparations-and-why-they-make-sense-boyle-column/5458431002/
The Asheville City Council has apologized for the North Carolina city’s historic role in slavery, discrimination and denial of basic liberties to Black residents and voted to provide reparations to them and their descendants. The 7-0 vote came the night of July 14. “Hundreds of years of Black blood spilled that basically fills the cup we drink from today,” said Councilman Keith Young, one of two African American members of the body and the measure’s chief proponent. “It is simply not enough to remove statutes. Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature… In short, the game was rigged, and the American Dream of getting a solid job, saving money, buying a house and raising a family was often out of reach for African Americans. Try as they may to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” through hard work, they kept hitting that ceiling put in place by White society. Often, they lived through atrocities and terror we didn’t read about in our high school U.S. history classes.
We Are Barreling Towards a Food and Housing Crisis Unlike Anything Since the Great Depression
Reader Supported News – Robert Reich’s Facebook Page – July 13, 2020
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/63988-focus-we-are-barreling-towards-a-food-and-housing-crisis-unlike-anything-since-the-great-depression
Folks, this is bad. The temporary relief provided by the one-time stimulus checks has long evaporated, and the expanded unemployment benefits giving people a lifeline are set to expire at the end of this month. Local and state eviction and foreclosure protections will begin to expire sporadically across the country — some already have. We are barreling towards a food and housing crisis unlike anything America has seen since the Great Depression. The Senate must take up the House-passed HEROES Act and get Americans emergency relief, before it’s too late.
The Next Disaster Is Just a Few Days Away
The New York Times – July 16, 2020 – Paul Krugman
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/opinion/coronavirus-economy-unemployment.html
Maybe the prospect of catastrophe will concentrate Republican minds, but it seems more likely that we’re heading for weeks if not months of extreme financial distress for millions of Americans, distress that will hobble the economy as a whole. This disaster didn’t need to happen; but you can say the same thing about most of what has gone wrong in this country lately.
How to Save a Half-Open Economy
The New York Times – July 17, 2020 – Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/business/economy/how-to-save-economy.html
Mr. Wilcox of the Peterson Institute has recommended a more expansive — and expensive — approach, essentially having the government fill in the revenue shortfall created by the pandemic through direct grants to businesses. The government has effectively forced business owners to take a hit, he said, so it should help them survive. “Start from a social agreement that the government is going to take onto its shoulders the cost of sustaining businesses through the period of intense public health crisis,” he said.
States That Have Expanded Medicaid Better Positioned to Address COVID-19 & Recession
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – July 14, 2020 – Jesse Cross-Call and Matt Broaddus
https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/states-that-have-expanded-medicaid-are-better-positioned-to-address-covid-19-and
Expansion states entered the crisis with much lower uninsured rates than non-expansion states, due in large part to expansion. That’s important for public health because people who are uninsured may forgo testing or treatment for COVID-19 due to concerns that they cannot afford it, endangering their health while slowing detection of the virus’ spread. Expansion — which provides coverage to non-elderly adults with incomes below 138 percent of the poverty line (about $17,600 for a single adult) — has given Medicaid coverage to over 12 million people. At least 4 million uninsured adults would become eligible for Medicaid coverage if the remaining states expanded, a number likely to increase due to the recession.
How Trump Is Helping Tycoons Exploit the Pandemic
The New Yorker – July 13, 2020 – Jane Maye r
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/how-trump-is-helping-tycoons-exploit-the-pandemic
The secretive titan behind one of America’s largest poultry companies, who is also one of the President’s top donors, is ruthlessly leveraging the coronavirus crisis—and his vast fortune—to strip workers of protections… In the past four decades, the single largest driver of income inequality in America has been the decline in worker power, much of it stemming from the collapse of membership in private-sector unions. Since the fifties, the percentage of private-sector workers who belong to unions has declined from thirty-three per cent to six per cent. As a result, there has been an upward redistribution of income to high-income executives, owners, and shareholders. The economists argue that this decline in worker power, more than any other structural change in the economy, accounts for nearly all the gains in the share of income made by America’s wealthiest one per cent.
Indians, Braves and Chiefs: what now for US sports’ other Native American names?
The Guardian – July 13, 2020 – Tom Lutz
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/13/indians-braves-chiefs-us-sports-teams-name-changes-native-americans
Leaders at Washington’s NFL team say they are changing the franchise’s name. But other teams in similar situations are in no rush to follow their example.
Dear IRS: We cannot in conscience pay for war
Metta Center for Nonviolence – July 13, 2020 – David Hartsough and Jan Hartsough
https://wagingnonviolence.org/metta/2020/07/dear-irs-we-cannot-in-conscience-pay-for-war/
We are Quakers and cannot in conscience pay for the killing of other human beings, or pay for war and preparations for war. Human life is too precious to drop bombs on people because we do not like their governments. Developing a new generation of nuclear weapons which could put an end to life on our beautiful planet is immoral and insane. Giving the Pentagon hundreds of billions of dollars does not increase the security of our people when we are cutting funds for schools, libraries, job training, diplomacy work at the State Dept. and now even the EPA and the transition to a renewable energy future. The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, and increased use of drones have NOT increased our security, but rather have created more enemies of the United States. Our tax dollars are also being used to prepare for wars with Russia, Iran, North Korea and China which could easily, by accident or intention, become a nuclear war which could kill billions of people. Let’s end the “war on terror” and all wars and bring our tax dollars home to meet the needs of the American people.
Where Is the Outrage Over Anti-Semitism in Sports and Hollywood?
The Hollywood Reporter – July 14, 2020 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-is-outrage-anti-semitism-sports-hollywood-1303210
The lesson never changes, so why is it so hard for some people to learn: No one is free until everyone is free. As Martin Luther King Jr. explained: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” So, let’s act like it. If we’re going to be outraged by injustice, let’s be outraged by injustice against anyone.
Trump, DeVos, Scalia, and the Depraved Indifference Presidency
The American Prospect – July 14, 2020 – Harold Meyerson
https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/trump-devos-scalia-and-the-depraved-indifference-presidency/
As the United States plunges ever deeper into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration’s response consists chiefly of denial of the pandemic’s severity and failure to develop policies to keep Americans safe. Not just Trump himself but two of his Cabinet secretaries have played central roles in what amounts to a national policy of depraved indifference to the lives of their fellow citizens… While Trump is plainly a sociopath, Scalia is merely a believer in the sanctity of laissez-faire, and DeVos a sworn foe of public schools. Though coming from different places, all are guilty of depraved indifference to the deaths of their fellow Americans.
A New State Department Report Cements Mike Pompeo’s Twisted View of Human Rights
Mother Jones – July 16, 2020 – Dan Spinelli
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/07/pompeo-commission-on-unalienable-rights-religious-freedoms/
Last July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched an advisory panel to help the US practice “a moral foreign policy … grounded in [a] conception of human rights.” Crucially, its mission, Pompeo explained, would include reining in a dangerous proliferation of “new” human rights… It didn’t take long for human rights experts to read between the lines. Pompeo, whose leadership of the State Department has become in many ways an experiment in how quickly he can orient American foreign policy toward his evangelical Christian faith, stocked the commission with academics and diplomats best known for defending religious freedom while opposing reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality.
Fauci Is Honest and Competent – so Naturally, Trump Hates Him
The Daily Beast – July 16, 2020 – Matt Lewis
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fauci-is-honest-and-competentso-naturally-trump-hates-him
Trump punishes the real heroes and rewards the villains. Instead of survival of the fittest, it’s survival of the (morally) sickest.
‘Double defence’: Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine’s early trial results raise hopes
Hindustan Times – July 16, 2020 – Anubha Rohatgi
https://www.hindustantimes.com/science/double-defence-oxford-university-covid-19-vaccine-s-early-trial-results-raise-hopes/story-fr87wUMFFW5GGWzRh64A0H.html
Researchers at the University of Oxford believe they may have a breakthrough in their search for a Covid-19 vaccine after the team discovered that the jab could provide “double protection” against the deadly coronavirus following early stage human trials, according to media reports in the UK. Blood samples taken from a group of UK volunteers given a dose of the vaccine showed that it stimulated the body to produce both antibodies and “killer T-cells”, a senior source from the trial was quoted by ‘The Daily Telegraph’ as saying. The discovery is promising because separate studies have suggested that antibodies may fade away within months while T-cells can stay in circulation for years.
Global Warming. Inequality. Covid-19. And Al Gore Is … Optimistic?
Wired Magazine – July 8, 2020 – Lauren Goode and Adam Rogers
https://www.wired.com/story/global-warming-inequality-covid-19-and-al-gore-is-optimistic/
As vice president, he looked for big policy answers to hard global problems. Now he says all our crises are speeding us toward real solutions… in responding to the pandemic there has been a growing recognition around the world of the new political and social realities that give us a generational obligation to shift to a more sustainable world. Governments have to play a role, investors have to play a role, and businesses have to play a role, all to ensure that the short-term emergency and recovery measures lead to a better and more resilient future.
Ending the Pandemic Will Take Global Access to COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccines – Which Means Putting Ethics Before Profits
Portside – The Conversation – July 17, 2020 – Nicole Hassoun
https://www.portside.org/2020-07-17/ending-pandemic-will-take-global-access-covid-19-treatment-and-vaccines-which-means
Access to medicines, in other words, is usually an ethical problem – not a scientific one. And that’s going to complicate the global coronavirus fight. Experts worry that any COVID-19 vaccine is likely to have a high price tag and, as a result, be unequally distributed according to countries’ purchasing power, not need. With a little imagination, this challenge can be overcome. My new book “Global Health Impact: Extending Access to Essential Medicines” documents how in past epidemics, from polio and Ebola to HIV, the international community managed to get lifesaving drugs to patients – no matter where they lived or how much they earned.
Prolonged Siberian heat “almost impossible without climate change”
World Meteorological Organization – July 16, 2020
https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/prolonged-siberian-heat-almost-impossible-without-climate-change
The researchers from international universities and meteorological services from the Russian Federation, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom also found that temperatures were more than 2°C hotter than they would have been if humans had not influenced the climate by releasing greenhouse gas emissions.
C.T. Vivian, civil rights hero and intellectual, dies at 95 years old
Justice Initiative – July 17, 2020 – Heather Gray
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/C-T–Vivian–civil-rights-hero-and-intellectual–dies-at-95-years-old.html?soid=1109359583686&aid=uZH32lhC02s
Much of the progress America has made in civil, voting and human rights can be attributed to the work, training and advocacy by Reverend C.T. Vivian. If he could have done so, he would also be marching in the streets and promoting the ‘Black Lives Matter’ demands for justice. We in America have been blessed to have the esteemed Reverend C.T. Vivian in our midst. Below is the excellent article about Reverend Vivian by writer Ernie Suggs in today’s July 17, 2020 issue of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Civil rights icon John Lewis remembered in Massachusetts
The Boston Globe – July 18, 2020 – Laura Crimaldi
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/18/metro/civil-rights-icon-john-lewis-remembered-massachusetts/
“They were saying if you want to celebrate the legacy of John Lewis, vote,” said Bell, who also mourned the death of the Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, who died Friday as well. “Now is time for us to go to the polls on September 1st and November 3rd, so we can create this new normal. This normal that people that want to go back to wasn’t normal for Black people.” [John Lewis said…] “We must not give up. We must not give in. We must keep the faith and be hopeful,”… “Be optimistic. Be inspired. When you see something that’s not right, not fair not just, Do something. Say something.”
John Lewis Is What Patriotism and Courage Look Like
Reader Supported News – July 18, 2020 – Jesse Jackson
https://migrate.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/64080-focus-john-lewis-is-what-patriotism-and-courage-look-like
We met as fellow protesters in 1960. Two weeks ago, John agreed to co-chair this year’s voter registration drive. He was the gift that kept on giving. This has been a difficult season. First, Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, Dr. King’s Chairman of SCLC’s Board for 27 years, an now we have lost Rev. C.T. Vivian and John Lewis, on the same day. In the 1960s, we broke out of the bubble of segregation. John became the valedictorian of our class. John Lewis is what patriotism and courage look like. He sacrificed and personifies a New Testament prophet. Andrew Young and I prayed for John Lewis and C.T. Vivian on Thursday as we convened those who I went to jail with in 1960.
My Statement on the Passing of Rep. John Lewis
Reader Supported News – July 18, 2020 – Barack Obama
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/64077-focus-my-statement-on-the-passing-of-rep-john-lewis
America is a constant work in progress. What gives each new generation purpose is to take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further — to speak out for what’s right, to challenge an unjust status quo, and to imagine a better world. John Lewis — one of the original Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, leader of the march from Selma to Montgomery, Member of Congress representing the people of Georgia for 33 years — not only assumed that responsibility, he made it his life’s work. He loved this country so much that he risked his life and his blood so that it might live up to its promise. And through the decades, he not only gave all of himself to the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired generations that followed to try to live up to his example… Thanks to him, we now all have our marching orders — to keep believing in the possibility of remaking this country we love until it lives up to its full promise.
Wall Street Is Deeply Grateful for the Supreme Court’s Recent Little-Noticed Ruling
Jacobin – July 16, 2020 – David Sirota
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/07/john-roberts-supreme-court-wall-street
Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has been praised recently as a heroic force for moderation. But his court’s recent ruling just helped Wall Street giants stomp on thousands of public-sector workers and retirees in one of America’s poorest states… Indeed, one of the Supreme Court’s least-noticed rulings in the last few months just helped the planet’s most rapacious financial firms — and one of Donald Trump’s billionaire pals — stomp on thousands of public-sector workers and retirees in one of America’s poorest states. It also helped Wall Street avoid a full public examination of schemes that fleece investors. As one industry trade publication put it: “Hedge fund managers slept a little bit easier” after the events that unfolded last week.
The Left Is Remaking the World
The New York Times – July 11, 2020 – Amna A. Akbar
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/11/opinion/sunday/defund-police-cancel-rent.html
These movements are in conversation with one another, cross-endorsing demands as they expand their grass-roots bases. Cancel the rent campaigns have joined the call to defund the police. This month, racial, climate and economic justice organizations are hosting a four-day crash course on defunding the police. Each demand demonstrates a new attitude among leftist social movements. They don’t want to reduce police violence, or sidestep our environmentally unsustainable global supply chain, or create grace periods for late rent. These are the responses of reformers and policy elites. Instead, the people making these demands want a new society.