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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: The Holmes Brothers

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features blues, soul and gospel trio The Holmes Brothers. Enjoy!

^{Holmes Brothers - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?}

"In nuclear war all men are cremated equal."

-- Dexter Gordon

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News and Opinion

Washington’s ultimatum on INF treaty heightens threat of nuclear war

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a blunt ultimatum to Moscow Tuesday, vowing that the US will unilaterally abrogate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, one of the last remaining arms control agreements from the Cold War, within 60 days unless Russia submits to what Washington defines as compliance with the pact. The move represents a major escalation of the threat of global nuclear war. The 60-day period was a concession of sorts to the European powers and in particular Germany, whose Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed US President Donald Trump at the recent G20 summit in Buenos Aires not to follow through with plans to summarily upend the INF Treaty. ...

According to the Washington Post, Merkel and other European officials told Trump that an immediate withdrawal from the treaty would “not give them enough time to explain the policy change to domestic audiences.”

“European leaders fear that their voters could be sympathetic to a Kremlin argument that the United States is tearing up one international agreement after another, after Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal,” the Post reported. In other words, European leaders fear that their populations will see the move for what it is, a ratcheting up of US imperialist aggression, and popular antiwar sentiment will become fused with already escalating class tensions like the ones that have played out in clashes across France in recent weeks. ...

In announcing the US decision to a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Secretary of State Pompeo made it clear that Washington’s scrapping of the accord is aimed not at punishing some alleged Russian transgression, but rather at bolstering US strategic advantage in any future war with both Russia and China. “There is no reason the United States should continue to cede this crucial military advantage to revisionist powers like China,” Pompeo said. China, which was not a party to the bilateral 1987 treaty, has developed its own land-based short- and medium-range missiles to counter US attempts to militarily encircle the country in its “Pivot to Asia,” which has included a massive redeployment of US armed forces to the Pacific and East Asia.

There is an element of madness in Washington’s headlong rush toward deployment, which would effectively place nuclear conflagration on a hair trigger by relying on weapons that take only minutes to reach their targets.

Paris braces for violent protests as yellow vests are accused of “creating a monster”

The yellow vests protest movement has “created a monster,” the French Interior Minister said Friday as Paris braced for more violence in protests planned for Saturday. Speaking to reporters, Christophe Castaner said that the street demonstrations that have convulsed France for three weeks “created a monster that escaped from its creators,” with the movement originally protesting a fuel tax and morphing into broad anti-government anger. Now, he said, it was “time for the Republic,” as he vowed that authorities would respond decisively to any violent elements this weekend.

An official from his ministry told AFP that the government was anticipating “significant violence,” with far-right and far-left agitators expected to converge on the capital Paris. “I will have no tolerance of those who capitalize on the distress of our citizens,” he said.

President Emmanuel Macron’s concessions to the so-called yellow vest movement in the wake of last Saturday’s unrest— such as scrapping an unpopular “green tax” on diesel and petrol — have failed to placate the protesters. Castaner said that 89,000 security officers will be deployed Saturday across France — including 8,000, supported by a dozen armored vehicles, in Paris — in a massive deployment to rein in the extremist fringe who he said had been "radicalized and fallen into violence and hate.” ...

Despite the growing calls for restraint coming from unions, politicians, and members of the yellow vest movement itself, the protesters appear to have strong public support, with about 70 percent of the public backing the movement. Meanwhile Macron’s approval ratings have slumped to just 23 percent.

Armoured vehicles to be deployed in Paris

French security forces will deploy armoured vehicles in Paris on Saturday in anticipation of more violence and rioting by fringe elements of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement. A government official said 89,000 police and gendarmes would be mobilised across the country, 8,000 of them in the capital, alongside a dozen VBRG armoured vehicles. “We are facing people who are not there to demonstrate but are there to smash things up and we want to make sure we’re not leaving them to do what they want,” said the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, attempting to justify the use of the VBRG, which are capable of firing teargas grenades and clearing barricades and are rarely used in city areas.

Paris went into lockdown on Friday as the city prepared for a fourth weekend of protests. There was a sense of impending attack in the city centre as banks, shops, restaurants and businesses rushed to board up windows to protect their premises from looters. At Place de la Bastille, which has been undergoing pedestrianisation, workers cleared away metal and concrete barriers and carried off anything that could be thrown. The windows of the Banque de France were being boarded up on Friday morning. Staff at the Bastille Opéra were reported to have locked the orchestra’s instruments somewhere safe fearing an assault on the building. ...

The vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, their anger directed at a president perceived as aloof and out of touch and a government seen to represent a political elite that has no idea how la France d’en bas – the less well-off – live. Outside of the capital, tax offices have been boarded up, though the association of rural mayors has asked local councillors to keep town halls open to allow “each citizen to verbally express their anger”.

Ministers have repeated calls for calm and asked protesters to stay away from the capital, as have union leaders, opposition parties and Roman Catholic clergy. On Friday French media reported that the president, Emmanuel Macron, had refused a demand to meet “moderate” gilets jaunes at the Elysée. Benjamin Cauchy, an unofficial spokesman, said representatives of the movement had asked to see the president because “insurrection is at the gates of France and we don’t want any deaths this weekend”. The Elysée responded that the prime minister’s door “remained open”.

French media quoted officials as saying the president was anxious not to inflame the situation by addressing the country before Saturday’s demonstrations. He is expected to give a televised address at the beginning of next week.

'Macron took the wrong lessons from Obama'

All US Presidents, Living and Dead, are War Criminals

The daily whitewashing of imperial crimes that masquerades as “news” on corporate media becomes high ceremony when a Genocider-in-Chief dies. Now it is George Herbert Walker Bush’s turn to be canonized for bringing “'a ‘thousand points of light’ illuminating the greatness, hope, and opportunity of America to the world," in the words of the current CEO of Empire, Donald Trump. Former White House denizens Obama, Clinton and Carter also lauded the life and works of their accomplice in global predation, as did the son-of-a-Bush, George W., the under-achiever who wound up out-doing his daddy in mass murder. As high priests of American Exceptionalism, corporate news anchors absolve the dead leader of culpability for the mega-deaths inflicted on those countries targeted for invasion, drone strikes, regime change, proxy wars, or crippling economic sanctions under his watch -- an easy task for the media glib-makers, since their colleagues sanitized those crimes while they were in progress, decades ago. But the whitewasher’s job is never done; the bodies keep piling up, “regimes” go “rogue,” meaning they disobey American dictat or otherwise get in the way of the imperial project, or run afoul of vital U.S. allies, as with the unfortunate Yemenis and Palestinians. ...

Most Americans would be shocked – or feign surprise -- if told that their country had caused the deaths of 20 to 30 million people since World War Two, a level of carnage approaching that inflicted on Europe by Hitler. But they do know the U.S. leaves dead bodies in its wake all around the planet -- Americans are not clueless, and that which they don’t know is due as much to deliberate, determined ignorance as it is to the failings of the news media. A nation born in genocide and slavery does not change its nature without undergoing a revolution, and the United States has not experienced such a transformation. At least half the population sees the death of millions of non-whites as “collateral damage” from America’s civilizing mission in the world: it’s “worth it.” ...

The current occupant of the White House has so far committed less carnage in the world than his peers, although the so-called “Resisters” that seek his ouster from office behave as if Trump is a greater criminal and threat than any of his predecessors. They applaud Trump only when he launches military attacks. Since he loves applause, it is certain that Trump will increase his body count before the election season begins in earnest.

The state funeral for George H. W. Bush and the ritual of oligarchy

The memorial service for former President George H. W. Bush, held in Washington DC’s National Cathedral, was attended by Trump and every living former president, as well as hundreds of members of Congress, federal officials, judges, generals and corporate bosses. It was a lugubrious affair, culminating in the maudlin remarks of former President George W. Bush, with its inevitable conclusion about his father now being reunited in heaven with his wife Barbara and baby daughter Robin, who died of leukemia more than 60 years ago. ... The Bush funeral continues a pattern of outlandishly elaborate ceremonies and hypocritical eulogizing of reactionary political figures, in which the celebration of their lives and characters bears no relation either to their actions in office or their standing with the public. This began with the funeral of Richard Nixon in 1994, continued with Ronald Reagan (2004) and Gerald Ford (2006), and resumed again with John McCain earlier this year, and now George H. W. Bush. Not only political figures have been accorded such treatment. Ten years ago, it was Tim Russert, the now long forgotten moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press.” ...

There is an undercurrent in the media coverage, as well as the pronouncements of political figures like Clinton and Obama, aimed at contrasting the crudeness and viciousness of Trump with the supposed decency and noblesse oblige of George H. W. Bush. This is largely wishful thinking, since there is little in the government of Donald Trump that would have been out of place in the administration of the elder Bush, and even less in the administration of his son. The elder Bush, after all, used his term in the White House to invade Panama and carry out a mass slaughter of conscript troops in Iraq, ushering in more than a quarter-century of unending war aimed at using Washington’s military supremacy to offset its economic decline. His son came to office in a stolen election and proceeded to launch an unprovoked war in Afghanistan and an invasion and occupation of Iraq, based on lies, which killed over a million people. As part of the same fraudulent “war on terror,” he introduced indefinite detention, mass surveillance, and torture, policies that were either whitewashed or continued and expanded by Obama.

The suggestion of a supposedly vast contrast between George H. W. Bush and Trump is an exercise in self-deception. What the bourgeoisie mourns in the transition from George H. W. Bush to Trump is the dramatic decline in the world position of American capitalism, from the illusions of the “unipolar moment,” the “new world order” and even “the end of history” that followed the dissolution of the USSR, to the grim reality of the United States as a declining world hegemon facing challenges from new rivals like China and allies turned potential threats like Germany.

Media Wets Itself Over Michelle & W Bush Candy Exchange

The Senate can’t agree on what to do about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi

There’s no shortage of outrage over the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi in the U.S. Senate. But the same senators can’t agree how far to go in sanctioning the regime of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and time is running out.

The main driver behind the effort to punish the kingdom — Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee — leaves office in January, and senators are slated to be in town only two more weeks before the end of the 115th Congress. In that time, they have to muster enough votes in their chamber, convince the House to follow suit, and then get President Trump to sign any sanctions into law. It’s a tall order, especially for scolding a key U.S. ally that the president remains fully behind.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s brutal intervention in Yemen’s civil war continues to inflict death and famine on the Yemeni people.

“We have three different efforts underway, all of which have a lot of momentum,” Corker, the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters after hosting a bipartisan meeting on the best way to forge ahead with such a limited window of time to act. Most U.S. senators would love to send the Saudi regime a sharp message before heading out of Washington for the holidays, but with each passing day, that looks less likely.

Progressive International: Yanis Varoufakis & Bernie Sanders Launch New Global Mvt Against Far Right

Ecuador struck a deal with the U.K. to get Assange out of its embassy — but he still won’t go

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange rejected a deal between Ecuador and Britain Thursday that Ecuador’s president said would allow him to finally leave the embassy, according to reports. President Lenin Moreno said in a radio interview Thursday that his government had reached an understanding with British authorities that would clear the way for Assange to exit the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been living since June 2012.

Moreno, who has made no secret of his desire to get the 47-year-old Australian out of the building, said Britain had agreed not to deport Assange to any country where he could face the death penalty, and that it was in Assange’s best interest to turn himself in. “The way has been cleared for Mr. Assange to take the decision to leave in near-liberty,” he said.

But Assange’s lawyer Barry Pollack, who has long maintained his client will not accept any deal that risks his extradition to the United States, said the proposal was a non-starter. “The suggestion that as long as the death penalty is off the table, Mr Assange need not fear persecution is obviously wrong," Pollack told the Telegraph newspaper.

"No one should have to face criminal charges for publishing truthful information. Since such charges appear to have been brought against Mr. Assange in the United States, Ecuador should continue to provide him asylum.”

Assange rejects ‘no death penalty’ deal between Ecuador and Britain

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer elected Merkel's successor as CDU leader

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a staunchly Catholic conservative career politician, has been elected as the successor to Angela Merkel as leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats. Kramp-Karrenbauer won by just 25 votes following a nail-biting second round run-off against her main opponent, the multi-millionaire businessman Friedrich Merz.

Wiping away tears, Kramp-Karrenbauer said she would accept the post, and thanked the party for its support and trust in her, insisting she would give new impetus to the party as it seeks to claw back the millions of voters it has lost to rightwing populists and the Greens in recent years. “We should harness the boost this competition has given us, and use it to propel the party’s success,” she said.

Dubbed a mini-Merkel - a title she is determined to discard - Kramp-Karrenbauer was not officially endorsed by the chancellor, but was clearly her favourite, having been propelled by her to the position of the party’s general secretary in February. But in a veiled sign of her support earlier in the day, Merkel made a point of praising Kramp-Karrenbauer for her contribution to the CDU’s electoral success during a valedictory speech to the party on Friday morning.

The result is seen as making it more likely that Merkel will be able to see out her fourth term until 2021. She has expressed her determination to stay on as chancellor for the remaining three years of her term in office and 56% of Germans support her decision to do so, polls show.

Bolsonaro abolishes human rights ministry in favour of family values

Brazil’s far-right president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, will abolish the country’s human rights ministry and has named a conservative evangelical pastor to run a newly created ministry which will oversee women, family and human rights – and also the country’s 900,000 indigenous people. The plan, announced on Thursday, has prompted outcry from feminist groups, indigenous activists and LGBT campaigners, who fear it indicates that human rights will be downgraded under the incoming government.

The new minister, Damares Alves, is a lawyer, evangelical preacher and congressional aide, who co-founded a group that rescues indigenous children from situations of danger and evangelises in indigenous communities. She opposes abortion – illegal in Brazil in most cases – believes that women were born to be mothers, and said she plans to work for the “invisible” people in society, such as Gypsies and women who cut sugar cane and tap rubber.

In 2016, she told an evangelical congregation: “It is time for the church to tell the nation that we have come … It is time for the church to govern.” ...

The new president wants to permit commercial mining and farming on indigenous reserves, which make up around 13% of Brazilian territory and include some of the Amazon’s best protected areas. Last week he compared indigenous people to zoo animals.

Charlottesville jury begins deliberations in James Fields murder trial

A jury has begun deliberating in the murder trial of an Ohio man accused of intentionally driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally, killing one woman and injuring dozens. A prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments on Thursday that 21-year-old James Alex Fields Jr had hate and violence on his mind when he plunged the car into the crowd. Defense attorneys argued Fields had plowed into the crowd out of fear.

The jury, which consists of seven women and five men, got the case on Friday morning.

Fields is charged with first-degree murder and other felonies for the August 2017 crash that killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Her death came after police forced a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville to disband after participants had clashed with counter-demonstrators earlier.

18 Dems Block Reinstating Net Neutrality For Cable $

Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez Pull Back Curtain on Corporate-Sponsored Freshman Orientation

Pulling back the curtain on the ostensibly "bipartisan" orientation for newly elected members of Congress at Harvard's Kennedy School in Boston, Reps.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) informed the public through live social media updates on Thursday that—contrary to the ideologically neutral advertising—the private conference featured a heavy dose of speeches by corporate CEOs and completely shut out organized labor and members of the progressive community.

"Our 'bipartisan' congressional orientation is co-hosted by a corporate lobbyist group," Ocasio-Cortez noted, likely referring to the Koch-funded American Enterprise Institute, which is co-sponsoring the event. "Other members have quietly expressed to me their concern that this wasn't told to us in advance. Lobbyists are here. Goldman Sachs is here. Where's labor? Activists? Frontline community leaders?"

Right now Freshman members of Congress are at a “Bipartisan” orientation w/ briefings on issues.

Invited panelists offer insights to inform new Congressmembers‘ views as they prepare to legislate.

# of Corporate CEOs we’ve listened to here: 4
# of Labor leaders: 0

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) December 6, 2018

"Democratic leadership signs off on these events," observed Huffington Post reporter Zach Carter. "The new class isn't having it." According to the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics (IOP), which is hosting the orientation, the event is designed to give newly elected members of Congress "insights on governing from former elected office holders, current and former senior White House and administration officials, diplomats, economists, business leaders, lobbyists, and academics."

Below is a list of speakers who are participating in the event. Conspicuously absent, as Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, are any representatives of organized labor, environmental groups, other public interest advocates, or anyone who could reasonably be considered a progressive:

• Hon. Elaine Chao, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, former Secretary of Labor and Director of the Peace Corps
• Hon. Ash Carter, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Belfer Professor of Technology and Global Affairs
• Hon. Mitch Landrieu, former Mayor of New Orleans, IOP Visiting Fellow
• Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.
• Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors
• Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute, Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School
• Gary Cohn, former Director of the National Economic Council
• Douglas Elmendorf, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Dean of Harvard Kennedy School
• David Gergen, former Presidential adviser, Public Service Professor of Public Leadership, Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School
• Alex Gorsky, Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson

Uber and Lyft are being forced to pay their New York City drivers a livable wage

Unionized Uber and Lyft drivers in New York City just won a huge victory in the form of more-livable wages, but the ride-sharing companies are warning that it will probably drive up fares.

Uber and Lyft, both multibillion-dollar companies, released distressed statements shortly after New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission voted to increase the wages for app-based drivers after a two-year labor union campaign. Uber said the move will "lead to higher-than-necessary fare increases for riders," and Lyft said “the rules would be a step backward for New Yorkers.”

The commission voted this week to enact a new minimum pay standard for ride-sharing app drivers, meaning drivers will get an hourly-rate boost to about $17 (after expenses) from their current rate of $11.90. Drivers are also getting “out of town rate” and “shared ride” bonuses. Altogether, drivers should see an average annual salary bump of $9,600, according to the proposal to increase wages. The average Uber driver — currently makes about $48,000 per year, according to Glassdoor. ...

A 2018 city-commissioned study said that 40 percent of ride-sharing drivers are on Medicaid, and about one-fifth of them are on food stamps.

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Might be worth a full read if you enjoy watching the horse race:

The Progressive Case Against Beto O'Rourke for President

Anxious Democrats had barely recovered from their post-midterm election-night hangovers before pundits began breathlessly pontificating over the potential field of 2020 presidential candidates. Democrat Beto O’Rourke lost his Texas Senate race to Republican Ted Cruz, but that didn’t stop multiple outlets from pondering whether he could run. He enjoys a national profile, a positive message, even punk rock roots, and lost his race by a mere three points, but some progressives aren’t convinced he’s the one to beat Trump, should the president run in 2020.

Washington Post columnist Elizabeth Bruenig is one of them. She writes on Thursday that despite her being from Texas, appreciating O’Rourke’s appeal and having “hoped as much as anyone for Cruz’s defeat,” America doesn’t need another Democrat in the Obama mold. Instead, she argues, “I think the times both call for and allow for a left-populist candidate with uncompromising progressive principles. I don’t see that in O’Rourke.”

Despite O’Rourke’s hiring a team of former Bernie Sanders organizers that helped him build “a grassroots army” of field operators, Bruenig finds his voting record and campaign priorities to be out of step with a leftist base eager for “Medicare for all” tuition free-college, stronger limits on corporate power, and other policies to level the economic playing field for Americans of all backgrounds. She notes that he never joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus, instead opting for the New Democratic Coalition, which she calls “a centrist caucus with Clintonian views on health care, education and trade.”

She further writes that O’Rourke has waffled on Medicare for all, and is not impressed at how, as a July Politico article pointed out, he avoids using the terms “single payer” and “Medicare for all,” opting instead for the more amorphous, “universal, guaranteed, high-quality health care for all.” Even his campaign website was vague, stating, as Bruenig says, “that he aims for achieving universal health-care coverage ‘whether it be through a single payer system, a dual system, or otherwise.’ ” ...

Read the full column here.

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Trump rolls back climate change rule that restricted new coal plants

The Trump administration is rolling back a climate change regulation that restricted new coal plants. The change is mostly symbolic – but nevertheless sends a strong signal. Companies in the US are not building plants that burn coal because burning natural gas is cheaper and creates less pollution. Renewable power has also eaten into coal’s market share.

But the Obama-era rule for new coal plants has long been a target of the industry. It would have effectively required technology to capture the carbon dioxide that traps heat on earth and causes climate change. That technology is not in use on a commercial scale. A draft replacement rule would allow new coal plants that meet certain efficiency requirements.

The acting Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Andrew Wheeler, said the Obama administration was “disingenuous” when it decided coal-plant carbon capture technologies were adequately demonstrated. He said the change to require efficiency efforts instead of carbon capture will encourage “clean coal” in the US and worldwide through technology exports. “You will see a decrease in emissions worldwide because of an increase in investments in new energy technologies,” Wheeler argued.

The EPA’s own economic analysis contradicts him. It concludes that the rollback will not do anything to boost coal power in the US because any new fossil fuel plants will burn natural gas, not coal.

Trump administration plans to weaken protections for sage grouse

The Trump administration has unveiled plans to weaken environmental protections for sprawling areas of the western US considered important habitat for the sage grouse, a chicken-like bird known for its flamboyant courtship displays. The proposals, put forward by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), essentially dismantle much of a landmark 2015 compromise struck between states, oil drilling companies and environmentalists to create a network of protected areas for the sage grouse across 11 western states.

Under the new plan, the sage grouse’s protected area would shrink by around 9m acres to span just 1.8m acres. The plan also removes habitat conservation standards for grazing activities and makes it easier for federal officials to waive protective buffers around sage grouse mating areas, called leks. An estimated 16 million sage grouse once roamed a vast area of sagebrush in the US west but years of development and the spread of agriculture has razed much of its habitat, causing a 90% population drop from historic levels. Sage grouse require large areas of intact sagebrush to feed and mate.

Today, sage grouse are found in 11 states, with the new Trump administration plan unwinding protection plans in seven of them – north-eastern California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.

Winona LaDuke Calls for Indigenous-Led “Green New Deal” as She Fights Minnesota Pipeline Expansion

The 'great dying': rapid warming caused largest extinction event ever, report says

Up to 96% of all marine species and more than two-thirds of terrestrial species perished 252m years ago

Rapid global warming caused the largest extinction event in the Earth’s history, which wiped out the vast majority of marine and terrestrial animals on the planet, scientists have found. The mass extinction, known as the “great dying”, occurred around 252m years ago and marked the end of the Permian geologic period. The study of sediments and fossilized creatures show the event was the single greatest calamity ever to befall life on Earth, eclipsing even the extinction of the dinosaurs 65m years ago.

Up to 96% of all marine species perished while more than two-thirds of terrestrial species disappeared. The cataclysm was so severe it wiped out most of the planet’s trees, insects, plants, lizards and even microbes. Scientists have theorized causes for the extinction, such as a giant asteroid impact. But US researchers now say they have pinpointed the demise of marine life to a spike in Earth’s temperatures, warning that present-day global warming will also have severe ramifications for life on the planet.

“It was a huge event. In the last half a billion years of life on the planet, it was the worst extinction,” said Curtis Deutsch, an oceanography expert who co-authored the research, published on Thursday, with his University of Washington colleague Justin Penn along with Stanford University scientists Jonathan Payne and Erik Sperling. The researchers used paleoceanographic records and built a model to analyse changes in animal metabolism, ocean and climate conditions. When they used the model to mimic conditions at the end of the Permian period, they found it matched the extinction records.

According to the study, this suggests that marine animals essentially suffocated as warming waters lacked the oxygen required for survival. “For the first time, we’ve got a whole lot of confidence that this is what happened,” said Deutsch. “It’s a very strong argument that rising temperatures and oxygen depletion were to blame.” The great dying event, which occurred over an uncertain timeframe of possibly hundreds of years, saw Earth’s temperatures increase by around 10C (18F). Oceans lost around 80% of their oxygen, with parts of the seafloor becoming completely oxygen-free. Scientists believe this warming was caused by a huge spike in greenhouse gas emissions, potentially caused by volcanic activity.

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Also of Interest

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

Let’s Talk About George H.W. Bush’s Role in the Iran-Contra Scandal

Former US State and Defense Department officials discuss prospects for nuclear war

Jeremy Corbyn: Labour could do a better Brexit deal. Give us the chance

‘Macron’s arrogance unites us’ – on the barricades with France’s gilets jaunes

Amazon's HQ2 deal represents what's wrong with American politics

Buried in Wisconsin Republicans’ Lame-Duck Legislation: Drug Testing Requirements for Food Stamp Applicants

How US billionaires are fuelling the hard-right cause in Britain

EPA’s New Water Rule Will Gut the Clean Water Act

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A Little Night Music

The Holmes Brothers - Run Myself Out Of Town

Willie Nelson and the Holmes Brothers - Opportunity To Cry

The Holmes Brothers - You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond

The Holmes Brothers - Pledging My Love

The Holmes Brothers - Squeal Like An Eel

The Holmes Brothers - The Love You Save

The Holmes Brothers - There's a train

Holmes Brothers - Big Boss Man

The Holmes Brothers - Down In Virginia

The Holmes Brothers - Tiny Desk Concert

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