Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Houston r&b singer and piano player Connie Mack Booker. Enjoy!

“I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens.”

-- Woody Allen

News and Opinion

Worth a full read:

What Trump and John Bolton Don’t Understand About Nuclear War

The INF treaty was signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. It required both countries to forgo any land-based missiles, nuclear or otherwise, with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. In concrete terms, the treaty was a huge success. The U.S. destroyed almost 1,000 of its own missiles, and the Soviets destroyed almost 2,000 of theirs. But arms control treaties are never about weapons and numbers alone. They can help enemy nations create virtuous circles, both between them and within themselves. Verification requires constant communication and the establishment of trust; it creates constituencies for peace inside governments and in the general public; this reduces on both sides the power of the paranoid, reactionary wing that exists in every country; this creates space for further progress; and so on.

The long negotiation of the INF treaty, and the post-signing environment it helped create, was part of an extraordinary collapse of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the 1980s. When Reagan took office, the Soviets genuinely believed that the U.S. might engage in a nuclear first strike against them. This, in turn, led to two separate moments in 1983 in which the two countries came terrifyingly close to accidental nuclear war — closer than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis. Instead, the INF treaty was part of an era of good feelings that contributed to one of the most remarkable events of the past 100 years: the largely peaceful implosion of the Soviet Empire. Empires generally do not go quietly, and the dynamics of imperial collapse often contribute to huge conflagrations. ...

It is almost certainly these more diffuse effects that concern the smarter members of the Trump administration, such as national security adviser John Bolton, who’s yearned for decades to decommission the treaty. Russians may be cheating on the treaty in a modest way, while China is not bound by it at all and is developing intermediate-range missiles. But it’s hard to see how this will affect legitimate U.S. security interests. On the other hand, exiting the treaty will do more than just lead to an arms race in which all three countries throw themselves into building new weapons. It will also create an atmosphere in which any rational modus vivendi between the U.S. and Russia, or the U.S. and China, will be far more difficult. This is the prize for Bolton and his allies, who can imagine only one world order: One in which they give orders, and everyone else submits. ...

If people like Trump and Bolton had been in charge in 1962, then today there would be no discussion of the INF treaty — because there would be no treaty and no one to discuss it. It’s also certain that on our current trajectory, the day will come when the world will face a similar crisis. That time we won’t get the same roll of the dice.

Wow. This just pegged the delusional ideation meter.

Saudi Arabia says it is a beacon of light fighting ‘dark’ Iran

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has described the kingdom as a “vision of light” in the region as it tries to control the fallout from Jamal Khashoggi’s killing – its biggest diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks.

After more than two weeks of international outrage over the journalist and dissident’s death, Adel al-Jubeir sought to portray the country as the moral beacon of the Middle East, in stark opposition to Iran, Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival.

“We are now dealing with two visions in the Middle East,” Jubeir told a security summit in Bahrain on Saturday. “One is a [Saudi] vision of light … One is [an Iranian] vision of darkness which seeks to spread sectarianism throughout the region. History tells us that light always wins out against the dark.”

Condemning the media coverage of Khashoggi’s killing as “hysterical”, Jubeir rejected a call from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, to try the 18 suspects in Turkey, stressing that they would be “held accountable” on Saudi soil.

Turkey refuses to share all Khashoggi evidence with Saudis

Turkish investigators have refused to share with Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor all the evidence they have compiled on Saudi complicity in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb held talks with the Istanbul chief prosecutor on Monday morning in Istanbul, but the lack of trust between the two countries led to a relatively brief meeting of only 75 minutes.

Turkey had wanted confirmation on the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s remains, the identity of the local cooperator that the Saudis claim disposed of the body, and an update on the progress of a Saudi investigation of the 15 Saudi operatives who visited the Istanbul consulate at the time of the murder on 2 October. Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT Haber said Saudi officials asked for the whole investigation folder, including evidence, statements and footage, to be given to them. TRT said the Saudi request was denied.

Saudi Arabia has admitted that a premeditated plan was made to kill Khashoggi, but say it was set up by a group of rogue operators without the knowledge of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. ...

Western powers believe Erdogan is still holding back evidence in a bid to back Prince Mohammed into a corner. Turkey has yet to release an audio tape which was allegedly a recording of the killing of Khashoggi, or evidence to show that the 15 Saudi operatives inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul made four phone calls to the crown prince’s office, as pro-government Turkish media have claimed, based on leaked information.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will not seek re-election in 2021

After dominating European politics for well over a decade, Angela Merkel has said her fourth term as Germany’s chancellor will be her last. Speaking after disastrous regional elections in Hesse and Bavaria for her Christian Democrats and its Bavaria-only sister party, Merkel on Monday said she saw the results as a “clear signal that things can’t go on as they are”.

She said she would not be standing as party leader at the CDU conference in December nor seek another term as chancellor at Germany’s next federal elections, due in 2021, adding that she would withdraw completely from politics after that date. She also stated she would also not run for chancellor if snap elections were called before 2021.

Often hailed as the world’s most powerful woman and the de facto leader of Europe, Merkel long enjoyed German voters’ support as a guarantor of the country’s stability and prosperity. But her authority has been severely weakened since her decision to keep Germany’s borders open at the height of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015. The subsequent arrival of more than one million asylum seekers left the country deeply polarised and fuelled the rise of the far-right. Merkel said she hoped her planned departure would end bitter fighting in her weak and fractious right-left coalition and allow it to focus on governing, declaring that “the picture the government is sending out is unacceptable”.

Glenn Greenwald on Bolsonaro: Brazil Has Elected “Most Extremist Leader in the Democratic World”

Jair Bolsonaro Is Elected President of Brazil

Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil on Sunday evening. The far-right candidate received more than 55 percent of valid votes. His opponent, Fernando Haddad of the Workers’ Party, received less than 45 percent. In a country with compulsory voting, almost 29 percent of adults preferred to annul or not cast their ballot.

Across Brazil, city streets echoed with fireworks, shouts, and car horns as preliminary election results came in. Thousands of supporters, many dressed in green and yellow, assembled outside the president-elect’s beach-front residence in Rio de Janeiro. On São Paulo’s main street, Avenida Paulista, police used tear gas to separate Haddad and Bolsonaro voters.

Bolsonaro, who has taken aim at the media throughout his campaign, chose to make his first statement after the election via Facebook Live, rather than a press conference. “We could not continue to flirt with socialism, communism, populism, and the extremism of the left,” he said. The broadcast was picked up by major TV networks, but repeatedly froze due to connection issues. “All of the promises made to political groups and the people will be kept,” he added. Soon after, he stepped outside, made a brief statement to the media, and asked a key supporter, senator Magno Malta, to lead the group in prayer. He then read a prepared statement and took questions from a representative of the press. ...

This year’s elections were particularly fraught, marked by dramatic polarization, political violence, and massive disinformation campaigns on social media, in a country that has been roiled by years of social, economic, and political crises. Since 2013, millions of people of all political stripes have repeatedly taken to the streets in protest; Brazil has struggled to climb out of the worst recession in history; massive corruption scandals have destabilized political institutions and major economic players; former president Dilma Rousseff (also from the Workers’ Party) was impeached on dubious grounds; her successor, president Michel Temer (the most despised leader in Brazil’s democratic history), has pushed through a series of unpopular austerity measures; and Lula was jailed, a process which has exposed the judiciary to relentless criticism for perceived partisanship. ...

Riding the wave of public discontent, Bolsonaro campaigned against the Workers’ Party, corruption, politicians, crime, “cultural Marxism,” communists, leftists, secularism, and “privileges” for historically marginalized groups. Instead, he favored “traditional family values,” “patriotism,” nationalism, the military, a Christian nation, guns, increased police violence, and neoliberal economics that he promises will revitalize the economy. Despite his actual political platform being short on specific proposals, the energy around his candidacy was enough to win the presidency and turn his previously insignificant Social Liberal Party into the second-largest bloc in Congress.

Bolsonaro election: "The majority of society today is worried about getting through the day alive"

Trump joy over Bolsonaro suggests new rightwing axis in Americas and beyond

A new axis in the Americas looked possible on Monday as Donald Trump expressed his delight at the victory of the extreme rightwing politician Jair Bolsonaro in the Brazilian presidential election. The US leader said he had had an “excellent call” with the former army captain who openly admires dictatorship and torture. “We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else!” he tweeted.

The remarks suggest an affinity that could reshape politics in the region and beyond. The US and Brazil already have a cordial relationship, but the suggestion of more military collaboration is likely to be viewed with concern in Venezuela, where Trump has threatened intervention. Any change in trade relations would also alarm China, which is Brazil’s main source of exports as well as a target of sanctions threats by the US president.

Nationalist politicians from the US to Europe celebrated the rise to power of an avowed admirer of dictatorship, while there was a muted acceptance by democratic governments and trade partners, many of which are weakened by internal division.

Trump is trying to use the migrant caravan as an excuse to shut down the border

President Trump is reportedly weighing proposals to effectively close the U.S. southern border to Central American migrants, including those attempting to use their legal right to asylum. Numerous media reports have cited anonymous government sources saying that Trump plans to take executive action or push regulatory changes that would make it more difficult for a caravan of about 3,000 Central American migrants to seek entry to the United States if they reach the border — even if they’re seeking refuge from violence or abuse.

The caravan is more than 1,000 miles south of the U.S., and it’s unclear when migrants might arrive. But already, Trump has said he’ll deploy up to 1,000 active-duty Army troops to help secure the border. "The administration is considering a wide range of administrative, legal and legislative options to address the Democrat-created crisis of mass illegal immigration," an anonymous senior administration official told ABC News and Politico. "No decisions have been made at this time. Nor will we forecast to smugglers or caravans what precise strategies will or will not be deployed."

A proclamation on the plan could come as soon as Tuesday, according to the New York Times, and could cite national security reasons as the foundation for barring foreigners from entering the country. Under current rules, people are legally able to seek asylum if they can demonstrate a “credible fear” of going back to their home country. The administration, however, could consider enacting rules that would disqualify some migrants from claiming asylum, according to the Times.

New group of migrants heads for US after leaving El Salvador

A new group of migrants bound for the US has set off from El Salvador, following thousands of other Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence who have taken similar journeys in recent weeks. The group of more than 300 Salvadorans left the capital San Salvador on Sunday. A larger group of mostly Hondurans, estimated to number at least 3,500, left that country in mid-October and is now in southern Mexico. That group has become a key issue in US midterm elections.

A third group has been moving through Guatemala, at one point numbering more than 1,000 before beginning to fragment. Hundreds broke through a Guatemala border gate in Tecun Umanand on Sunday afternoon were on the bridge into Mexico. Migrants say joining a large group offers a measure of protection against police officers and bandits.

What are Americans' biggest fears?

Chris Hedges: The Cult of Trump

Donald Trump has transformed the decayed carcass of the Republican Party into a cult. ... Trump did not create the yearning for a cult leader. Huge segments of the population, betrayed by the established elites, were conditioned for a cult leader. They were desperately looking for someone to rescue them and solve their problems. They found their cult leader in the New York real estate developer and reality television show star. Only when we recognize Trump as a cult leader, and many of those who support him as cult followers, will we understand where we are headed and how we must resist. ...

George Orwell understood that cult leaders manipulate followers primarily through language, not force. This linguistic manipulation is a gradual process. It is rooted in continual mental chaos and verbal confusion. Lies, conspiracy theories, outlandish ideas and contradictory statements that defy reality and fact soon paralyze the opposition. The opposition, with every attempt to counter this absurdism with the rational—such as the decision by Barack Obama to make his birth certificate public or by Sen. Elizabeth Warren to release the results of her DNA test to prove she has Native American ancestry—plays to the cult leader. The cult leader does not take his or her statements seriously and often denies ever making them, even when they are documented. Lies and truth do not matter. The language of the cult leader is designed exclusively to appeal to the emotional needs of those in the cult. ... The cult leader constantly paints a picture of an existential threat, often invented, that puts the cult followers in danger. Trump is doing this by demonizing the caravan of some 4,000 immigrants, most from Honduras, moving through southern Mexico. ... Trump, aided by nearly nonstop coverage by Fox News and Christian broadcasting, is using the caravan to terrify his followers, just as he, along with these media outlets, portrayed the protesters who flooded the U.S. capital to oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as unruly mobs. Trump claims the Democrats want to open the border to these “criminals” and to “unknown Middle Easterners” who are, he suggests, radical jihadists. Christian broadcasting operations, such as Pat Robertson’s The 700 Club, splice pictures of marching jihadists in black uniforms cradling automatic weapons into the video shots of the caravan.

The fear mongering and rhetoric of hate and violence, as I saw in the former Yugoslavia, eventually lead to widespread acts of violence against those the cult leader defines as the enemy. The 13 explosive devices sent last week to Trump critics and leaders of the Democratic Party, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, along with George Soros, James Clapper and CNN, allegedly by Cesar Sayoc, an ex-stripper and fanatic Trump supporter who was living out of his van, herald more violence. Trump, tossing gasoline on the flames, used this assault against much of the leadership of the Democratic Party to again attack the press, or, as he calls it, “the enemy of the people.” ... The efforts by the Democratic Party and much of the press, including CNN and The New York Times, to discredit Trump, as if our problems are embodied in him, are futile. The smug, self-righteousness of this crusade against Trump only contributes to the national reality television show that has replaced journalism and politics. This crusade attempts to reduce a social, economic and political crisis to the personality of Trump. It is accompanied by a refusal to confront and name the corporate forces responsible for our failed democracy. This collusion with the forces of corporate oppression neuters the press and Trump’s mainstream critics.

Our only hope is to organize the overthrow of the corporate state that vomited up Trump. ... By turning our ire on the corporate state, we name the true sources of power and abuse. We expose the absurdity of blaming our demise on demonized groups such as undocumented workers, Muslims, African-Americans, Latinos, liberals, feminists, gays and others. We give people an alternative to a Democratic Party that refuses to confront the corporate forces of oppression and cannot be rehabilitated. We make possible the restoration of an open society. If we fail to embrace this militancy, which alone has the ability to destroy cult leaders, we will continue the march toward tyranny.

Glenn Greenwald: Violence Like Pittsburgh Shooting Is “Inevitable Outcome” of Racist Scapegoating

Accused Bomber Cesar Sayoc Was a Fervent Trump Supporter

Cesar Sayoc was a broke and marginalized man until President Donald Trump gave him a purpose, court records and online archives suggest. The FBI arrested Sayoc in Florida today and charged him with five counts for his alleged role in mailing pipe bombs to an array of Democratic Party politicians and Trump critics, including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, and former Attorney General Eric Holder, among others. Pipe bombs addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were addressed to CNN’s headquarters in New York. ...

Sayoc’s online activity suggests that he was a fervent Trump supporter, who in recent weeks was unafraid to taunt and even threaten Trump’s critics on social media. ... How and why Sayoc went from online troll — he has posted dozens of tweets per day for months — to the accused serial bomber who grabbed the world’s attention are still unknown. But if his bombs, none of which detonated, were sent because he was inspired by Trump’s violent rhetoric at campaign rallies, Sayoc would not be the first domestic terrorist inspired by conspiracy theories associated with Trump.

Three men in August 2017 bombed a mosque in Minnesota. Their de facto leader, Michael Hari, believed that Trump was engaged in a secret war with the deep state. In July of this year, a Nevada man named Matthew P. Wright, an unemployed Marine veteran, blocked traffic on the Hoover Dam using an armored vehicle. Armed with an AR-15 rifle, handgun, and a flash-bang device, Wright had sent letters to Trump and other elected officials, in which he referred to “QAnon,” a conspiracy theory that suggests that Trump and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are secretly working together to expose a sex trafficking ring operated by Democrats and Hollywood celebrities.

Trump is upset “this ‘Bomb’ stuff” is interfering with Republicans’ TV coverage

President Donald Trump complained Friday on Twitter that “this ‘Bomb’ stuff” was interfering with Republicans’ shot at winning big in the midterms. Trump worried that heavy news coverage of the now 12 mail bombs and other suspicious packages meant for prominent Democrats — including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Maxine Waters — throughout the United States was distracting from the midterm elections.

“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking politics,” the president tweeted. “Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!”

There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018

Rabbi: Trump & GOP Have Blood on Their Hands for Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting & Hateful Violence

Trump, 'purveyor of hate speech', not welcome in Pittsburgh, says former synagogue leader

A former president of the synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 people were murdered on Saturday has said Donald Trump would not be welcome in the city and labelled the president a “purveyor of hate speech”. Lynette Lederman, of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, told CNN on Monday she would rely on local political leadership in the aftermath of the mass shooting and did not want the president to visit the city.

“We have people who stand by us, who believe in values – not just Jewish – but believe in values, and those are not the values of this president and I do not welcome him to Pittsburgh,” she said. The comments followed an open letter signed by a coalition of local Jewish leaders and published by the Pittsburgh chapter of Bend The Arc, a progressive advocacy group, that also called for the president to avoid the city. “President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism,” the letter states.

Trump, who labelled the shooting an “evil antisemitic attack”, has said he will visit but a trip has not yet been confirmed. As the administration continues to face criticism over the president’s polarizing rhetoric in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh shooting and a series of attempted bombings against prominent Democrats and critics of Trump last week, Trump used Twitter again on Monday morning to label the media as “the true Enemy of the People”.

The Anti-Defamation League [ADL] said the shooting was the most deadly attack against Jewish people in America and came amid an increase in antisemitic attacks in the US. The ADL reported a 57% rise in reported incidents of antisemitic harassment and violence in 2017. “We are seeing an environment in which antisemitism has moved from the margins to the mainstream as political candidates and people in public life literally repeat the rhetoric of white supremacists,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL chief executive, told ABC News on Sunday.

Chuck Todd Pushes Crazy Conspiracy Theory About Mail Bombs

As GOP Moves to Cut Medicare and Social Security, 60% of Americans Say Repeal Trump Tax Scam Instead

As President Donald Trump and Republican leaders make clear that they intend to enact deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security after next month's midterms in a supposed effort to rein in the soaring deficit—which has ballooned largely due to Trump's $1.5 trillion tax law—a survey published on Friday found that nearly two-thirds of Americans would prefer repealing the Republican tax cuts over slashing the safety net.

Conducted by NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marist, the poll found that 60 percent of Americans would rather eliminate Trump's tax cuts than gut safety net programs to reduce the federal budget deficit. Just 21 percent of Americans said they would rather slash the safety net than repeal Trump's tax cuts, which have overwhelmingly benefited the rich and corporations.

The new survey comes just over a week after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blamed the nation's rising budget deficit on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and declared that these programs must be cut to bring federal spending under control. Trump echoed McConnell just 24 hours later, promising "a lot" of spending cuts after the midterm elections.

Working families shouldn't have to pay for the #GOPTaxScam's bill. The rich and big corporations must pay their fair share of taxes! https://t.co/c1O6O5TQHm

— For Tax Fairness (@4TaxFairness) October 26, 2018

Are the Democrats planning to take a dive again? Sure looks it.

Democrats Are Panicked That Latinos Won’t Turn Out to Vote — but Not Enough to Talk to Them About It

On June 28, Democratic Party Chair Tom Perez joined a protest in Brownsville, Texas, the site of a former Walmart turned into the largest child immigrant detention center in the country. “This is unconscionable,” Perez said of the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents, in a video produced by the Democratic Party. “I wanted to make sure we were down here because Democrats believe that families should be united with their children.” Later that day, Perez hopped on a private plane to Los Angeles for a lavish Democratic National Committee fundraiser, where a $100,000 ticket came with dinner and a photo opportunity with former President Barack Obama. Perez’s travel mate — and the owner of the private jet — was DNC donor Albert Dwoskin, a landlord who’s currently engaged in high-profile litigation over accusations that he violated federal civil rights laws by evicting Latino immigrant families from their homes. (The DNC did not respond to requests for comment on Perez’s flight.)

While the details of Perez’s flight haven’t previously been reported, the anecdote in general is unlikely to surprise many potential Latino voters, whose experience with governments in Latin America, either directly or passed down through parents, has engendered a well-earned skepticism about politicians. Now with midterm elections less than two weeks away, Democratic operatives are kept awake at night, as one strategist put it, by the question of Latino voter turnout, which is critical to the party’s chances of retaking the House or the Senate. That existential fear, however, has not been matched by an equally robust effort to reach voters.

More than half of Latinos nationwide haven’t been contacted by a political party or campaign about voting or registering to vote, according to an NALEO Education Fund/Latino Decisions poll. Sixty-four percent reported not being sure what the Democratic Party stands for. Matt Barreto, co-founder of Latino Decisions, said the polling firm has never seen higher levels of anger in the Latino community but that Democrats can’t expect anger alone to mobilize voters. ... Latino voter turnout [...] has historically been low, and Democrats have not done much over the years to court the diverse political force of at least 29 million eligible voters. This year, conventional wisdom says that the rage that exists within Latino communities over the Trump administration’s virulently anti-immigrant policies and racist rhetoric will be enough — but if that does not translate to votes, Democrats will only have themselves to blame.

How a Democrat can win in Trumpland: 'The dirt poor will eat the filthy rich'

Blue Wave of Money Propels 2018 Election to Record-Breaking $5.2 Billion in Spending

The Center for Responsive Politics projects that more than $5.2 billion will be spent this election cycle, making it the most expensive midterm election ever by a wide margin. With less than two weeks before election day, $4.7 billion has already been spent by candidates, political parties and other groups such as PACs, super PACs and nonprofits. Prior to this election cycle, no midterm election had surpassed more than $4.1 billion in spending when adjusted for inflation.

The overall estimated cost of the 2018 election would represent a 35 percent increase over the 2014 cycle in nominal dollars, the largest increase in at least two decades. “The significance of this election is clear. But whether it’s a blue wave or a red wave, one thing is certain: A wave of money is surging toward Election Day, much of it coming from the wealthiest donors targeting this year’s most competitive races,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

While Republican candidates are raising funds at record levels, the huge uptick in spending is driven primarily by unprecedented Democratic fundraising. Democratic candidates are projected to spend more than $2.5 billion this cycle, while Republicans are expected to spend approximately $2.2 billion. Democratic House hopefuls have raised more than $951 million, crushing their Republican opponents’ $637 million haul. Things are closer in the Senate—$513 million to $361 million—but Democrats are still ahead. In every kind of competitive race—even those in red districts—Democrats are either outraising Republicans or keeping pace.

Calling on Brian Kemp to Resign, Jimmy Carter Says Being a Candidate While Also Controlling Election Process Violates 'Most Fundamental Principle' of Democracy

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has also spearheaded election monitor in countries across the world for decades, has called on Brian Kemp—the Georgia Republican who is running for governor while also serving as Secretary of State—to resign from his post in order to ensure integrity of the state's upcoming election.

With major purges of registered voters from the state's roles sparking widespread condemnation and suppression efforts being challenged in court, Carter warned that Kemp operating as both a candidate and the top election authority is a violation of the "most fundamental principle of democratic elections."

Carter issued his request to Kemp in a letter sent last week, but the Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter and published it Monday.

"In order to foster voter confidence in the upcoming election, which will be especially important if the race ends up very close," the letter states, "I urge you to step aside and hand over to a neutral authority the responsibility of overseeing the governor’s election. This would not address every concern, but it would be a sign that you recognize the importance of this key democratic principle and want to ensure the confidence of our citizens in the outcome."

'Warning Bells Going Off' as NOAA Forecasts Entire Great Barrier Reef at Risk of Coral Bleaching and Death

Delivering yet another "wake-up call" after recent studies have shown that heat stress from anthropogenic global warming has killed half of the Great Barrier Reef's corals since 2016, a new analysis from U.S. scientists warns that the entirety of world's largest coral system is at risk of bleaching and death as Australia enters it summer months. The forecast from U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for November 2018 to February 2019 indicates that the whole reef has a 60 percent chance of reaching "alert level one," under which bleaching is "likely."

When coral is exposed to warm water or pollution, it expels the algae living in its tissues—its main source of food—and turns completely white. Although bleached coral is still alive, the reaction makes it more susceptible to disease and death.
"This is really the first warning bells going off that we are heading for an extraordinarily warm summer and there's a very good chance that we'll lose parts of the reef that we didn't lose in the past couple of years," marine biologist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia, told the Guardian. "These are not good predictions and this is a wake-up call."

Hoegh-Guldberg expressed concern that the analysis shows bleaching could occur before March, which historically has been the main month for such events. "To really have the full picture we're going to have to wait for those projections that cover the main part of bleaching season," he said. "Given sea temperatures usually increase as we get towards March, this is probably conservative."

New forecast shows mass bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef is likely this summer.
https://t.co/FMyajLyxEp pic.twitter.com/Dd5XkzhgKQ

— Michael Slezak (@MikeySlezak) October 25, 2018

While NOAA's predictions provoked alarm, Mark Eakin, head of the agency's Coral Reef Watch, noted that "lots of things, including major weather patterns, can change the probabilities over the next three months." Although "it's much too early to predict that with any certainty," Eakin told Australia's ABC that "depending on what happens with the El Niño," or the warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, "we could see another global bleaching event in 2019" that would impact not only the Great Barrier Reef but also other coral systems across the globe.

90% of world's children are breathing toxic air, WHO study finds

Poisonous air is having a devastating impact on billions of children around the world, damaging their intelligence and leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to a report from the World Health Organization. The study found that more than 90% of the world’s young people – 1.8 billion children – are breathing toxic air, storing up a public health time bomb for the next generation.

The WHO said medical experts in almost every field of children’s health are uncovering new evidence of the scale of the crisis in both rich and poor countries – from low birth weight to poor neurodevelopment, asthma to heart disease. Dr Tedros Adhanom, WHO director general, said: “Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives. This is inexcusable – every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfil their potential.”

The findings coincide with the start of the first global conference on air pollution and health in Geneva, including a high-level action day at which nations and cities are expected to make new commitments to cut air pollution.

The WHO study found that children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution because pollutants are often more concentrated nearer to ground level. It added that their developing organs and nervous system are also more susceptible to long-term damage than those of adults. “Air pollution is stunting our children’s brains, affecting their health in more ways than we suspected,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO director of public health and the environment. ...

Tedros, writing in the Guardian on Saturday, described air pollution as the “new tobacco”, saying the simple act of breathing is killing 7 million people a year and harming billions more.

Thousands of ships could dump pollutants at sea to avoid dirty fuel ban

Thousands of ships are set to install “emissions cheat” systems that pump pollutants into the ocean to beat new international rules banning dirty fuel. The global shipping fleet is rushing to meet a 2020 deadline imposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reduce air pollution by forcing vessels to use cleaner fuel with a lower sulphur content of 0.5%, compared with 3.5% as currently used.

The move comes after growing concerns about the health impacts of shipping emissions. A report in Nature this year said 400,000 premature deaths a year are caused by emissions from dirty shipping fuel, which also account for 14 million childhood asthma cases per year.

But the move to cleaner fuel could see harmful pollutants increasingly dumped at sea. According to industry analysis seen by the Guardian, between 2,300 and 4,500 ships are likely to install an exhaust gas cleaning system known as a scrubber to meet the regulations on low-sulphur fuel instead of buying the more expensive clean fuel. The scrubbers allow ship owners to continue buying cheaper high-sulphur fuel, which is washed onboard in the scrubber. In the case of the most used system, known as open loop, the waste water is discharged into the ocean.

Ned Molloy, an independent shipping analyst, said that although the scrubbers were allowed by the IMO as a way to meet the lower-sulphur emissions rules, they were little more than an “environmental dodge”. Molloy said the scrubbers that had so far been fitted on the global fleet in advance of the 2020 deadline were mostly open-loop systems, which discharge into the sea, rather than the more expensive closed-loop systems, which require storage of waste water to be discharged into a facility on shore.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Here Is a List of Far-Right Attackers Trump Inspired. Cesar Sayoc Wasn’t the First — and Won’t Be the Last.

Tax Havens and Other Dirty Tricks Let U.S. Corporations Steal $180 Billion From the Rest of the World Every Year

Czechoslovakia ramped up spying on Trump in late 1980s, seeking US intel

Trump sometimes doesn’t start his work day until 1 p.m. and has tons of free time

A Little Night Music

Connie Mack Booker - All Alone

Connie McBooker - Shout Baby Boogie

Connie Mack Booker - I'll Soon Be Travelling

Connie Mack Booker - I Want To Tell You I Love You

Connie Mack Booker - Body Full Of Heartache

Connie Mack Booker - You're Trying To Bring Me Down

Bobby Blue Bland w/Connie Mack Booker (pno) - Don't Want No Woman

Bobby Blue Bland w/Connie Mack Booker (pno) - I Smell Trouble

Bobby Blue Bland w/Connie Mack Booker (pno) - Woke Up Screaming

Babe Johnson w/Conney's Combo - Shout It Out