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“On January 17, 1991 and for the 43 days that followed, I watched CNN’s live coverage of SCUD missiles and bombs fall over Baghdad like rain; then the 12 ½ years of unjust sanctions that killed approximately a million Iraqis, half of which were children under the age of five; then an unjust attack in 2003 that opened the borders to terrorists from all over the world and reduced the cradle of civilization to piles of rubble. The gov. asked us to support their plan or else be considered anti-American and undemocratic and they ask of us the same today, 25 years later, even though history proved they were pro-profit not pro-life.”

-- Weam Namou

News and Opinion

Economists Warn Trump's Sanctions Targeting Venezuela 'A Death Sentence for Tens of Thousands of People'

Two American economists warn that U.S. sanctions targeting Venezuela "are a death sentence for tens of thousands of people" and that the nation's humanitarian crisis will worsen as long as the sanctions continue. Since August of 2017, President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions that "have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018," write Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs.

Their paper—entitled Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela (pdf)—was published Thursday by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), and comes as Trump continues to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó's effort to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

New Report: US #sanctions on #Venezuela are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. “The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports,” said @MarkWeisbrot.https://t.co/uLpe6CJzqj pic.twitter.com/aIFN7RYQ6M

— CEPR (@ceprdc) April 25, 2019

The broad sanctions Trump imposed in 2017 fueled a sharp decline in oil production that impeded the Maduro government's ability to "import medicine, food, medical equipment, spare parts and equipment needed for electricity generation, water systems, or transportation," and the U.S. president has ramped up economic pressure since offering his support to Guaidó earlier this year. ... Overall, Trump's sanctions have "exacerbated Venezuela's economic crisis and made it nearly impossible to stabilize the economy, contributing further to excess deaths," write Weisbrot and Sachs. "All of these impacts disproportionately harmed the poorest and most vulnerable Venezuelans."

"These sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions, to which the U.S. is a signatory," the economists say. "They are also illegal under international law and treaties which the U.S. has signed, and would appear to violate U.S. law as well." ...

As Sachs put it, "Venezuela's economic crisis is routinely blamed all on Venezuela... But it is much more than that."

"American sanctions are deliberately aiming to wreck Venezuela's economy and thereby lead to regime change," he said. "It's a fruitless, heartless, illegal, and failed policy, causing grave harm to the Venezuelan people."

This should be the biggest story in the country right now: https://t.co/Q3fBxEdCSC

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) April 25, 2019

Trump Has Murdered Over 40,000 Venezuelans With Sanctions

To be clear, this unforgivable atrocity rests predominantly on the shoulders of the Trump administration. It is true that Venezuela has had deep economic troubles for years due to declining oil prices and other issues, and it is true that the sanctions in question follow a longstanding agenda of previous administrations and were built on the foundation of an Obama policy declaring the Venezuelan government an “extraordinary threat to national security”. But the report is clear in its assessment that what took the nation’s economy from a state of high inflation to hyperinflation was the August 2017 sanctions, and that’s what’s been causing these high numbers of deaths which will get even worse due to the January 2019 sanctions.

To put this in perspective for Trump supporters, 40,000 is also the number of people estimated to have died as a result of the disastrous Obama/Clinton interventionism in Libya. And, again, that number only covers 2017 and 2018, and death tolls are predicted to accelerate this year.

This would be the same President Trump, by the way, who recently vetoed a congressional bill to end the role of the United States in facilitating Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen. Research from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project indicates that up to 80,000 people had been killed in this war as of the end of last year. This number applies to deaths by military violence only, not to the other untold tens of thousands who have died of starvation and cholera as a result of Saudi Arabia’s inhuman blockades on imports and its deliberate targeting of farms, fishing boats, marketplaces, food storage sites and cholera treatment centers with airstrikes. Just for children under the age of five, the death toll due to starvation alone is believed to be over 85,000.

Is America great yet?

Sanctions are the only form of warfare where it’s considered perfectly acceptable and legitimate to deliberately target a nation’s civilian population with lethal force. The human corpses it creates are just as dead as the human corpses created by overt military violence, but because this form of violence happens in slow motion it’s not treated like the same kind of horrific assault as if Trump had ordered the carpet bombing of Caracas. The distinction makes no difference to the dead and no difference to their loved ones, but it makes all the difference in the world when it comes to manufacturing public consent for murderous acts of interventionism. ... Sanctions are an act of war which kill civilians just as dead as any other, and this latest report helps make that a stark and undeniable reality for us all.

Pompeo’s Truth About Lies

"When I was a cadet -- What’s the cadet motto at West Point? You will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do. I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It’s – it was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” -- Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State

It is rare for an enemy to give a gift the way Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did in a recent public speech. Pompeo said what anyone who has ever paid attention already knew. The intelligence agencies of the United States government are masters of deception and one should always assume that they are lying, cheating, and or stealing. When they say that a foreign leader is a “brutal dictator” the charge proves just one thing. The person in question is being targeted by the United States. The individual labeled a dictator is said to rule over people who want the U.S. to drop bombs on them or destroy their economy with sanctions. But as Pompeo pointed out, the spooks and other deep state functionaries are always lying.

It is all to the good that Pompeo is too stupid to keep his mouth shut. In spilling the beans he made the definitive case for opposing U.S. foreign policy dictates. It is especially fortuitous that Pompeo contracted foot in mouth disease at this moment in history. For those foolish enough to believe that this country has the right to decide who runs Venezuela or Cuba or Iran or Syria or Haiti, Pompeo’s words ought to ring in their ears. ...

Having realized that he had said too much he fell back on the evils of American exceptionalism as a defense. “The glory of the American experiment” is a typical call to savagery that resonates with millions of people. ... Pompeo is the ugliest American, boasting and gloating about his plans to make millions of people suffer all over the world. He brags about starving Iranians with sanctions. “Iran’s leaders must decide if they want their people to eat,” is but one example. Starving Iranians and denying them medicine is collective punishment, a war crime by definition. That is also a glory of the American experiment.

It was already obvious that Pompeo is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But this stupidity cannot be laughed at or taken lightly. Pompeo really believed that the U.S. could easily remove Nicolas Maduro from the Venezuelan presidency. For now all he can do is make life miserable for Venezuelans. Likewise there will be no regime change in Iran. This long held fantasy is dangerous for many reasons. But now we know that Pompeo really believes what he has been selling. He thinks the U.S. can make war on a nation that is allied with China and Russia without paying a price.

The Secretary of State and his partner in crime, National Security Adviser John Bolton, are on a rampage trying to maintain an empire that is still very dangerous yet in a period of decline. United States foreign policy decisions were always intended to punish those targeted as enemies, keep friends as vassal states, and disregard international law. Now it is doing so as its power is on the wane, and more overreach as in Venezuela, is the result. ... Pompeo’s speech was entitled, “Why Diplomacy Matters.” But he couldn’t help himself and blurted out that diplomacy is of no importance to the United States. Pompeo didn’t tell the truth until he admitted how often he lies.

Venezuelan opposition reps throw temper tantrums when confronted about lack of legitimacy, interventionist plans at OAS

On April 23, the Venezuelan lawyer and opposition activist Gustavo Tarre stood outside the Simon Bolivar room inside the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington DC and fielded friendly questions from reporters. It was a rare day of celebration for the Venezuelan opposition, which had been deprived of concrete victories since launching their coup with US backing in January. Having just been installed with as Venezuela’s “ambassador” at the OAS, Tarre controlled little more than the chair he sat in. But as he was trotted out into the hall by a young handler in order to hold his first press-conference as “ambassador,” he beamed with pride.

As soon as I approached Tarre and another key figure in Juan Guaido’s coup administration with critical questions about their legitimacy – and about their apparent participation in a closed door meeting to discuss a US military assault on Venezuela – their ebullience turned to rage. In an exclusive report on April 13, The Grayzone exposed a private roundtable that gathered a who’s who of Trump advisors, right-wing Latin American officials, and Venezuelan opposition figures to discuss “Assessing the Use of Military Force in Venezuela.” The meeting was hosted on April 10 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank where Tarre had been employed as a fellow. And the newly installed ambassador’s name appeared on the meeting check-in list.

.@AnyaParampil asked questions the new OAS rep for Venezuela's US-backed coup regime, @TarreBriceno, is not used to hearing.

He took off his glasses and tried to give them to her, claiming "You did not see anyone in the streets [of Venezuela]!" (where he has not been in 5 years) pic.twitter.com/Hh8ZzPgc57

— The Grayzone (@GrayzoneProject) April 24, 2019

I asked @dsmolansky about his participation in a @CSIS meeting “assessing military options for VZLA” & if it was appropriate for someone working on migrant issues at the OAS to attend such an event.

He replied by accusing me of supporting Cuban agents torturing Venezuelans pic.twitter.com/cn0dJLWwQh

— Anya Parampil (@anyaparampil) April 23, 2019

Footage shows refugees hiding as Libyan militia attack detention centre

Young refugees held in a detention centre in Libya have described being shot at indiscriminately by militias advancing on Tripoli, in an attack that reportedly left at least two people dead and up to 20 injured. Phone footage smuggled out of the camp and passed to the Guardian highlights the deepening humanitarian crisis in the centres set up to prevent refugees and migrants from making the sea crossing from the north African coast to Europe.

The footage shows people cowering in terror in the corners of a hangar while gunshots can be heard and others who appear to have been wounded lying on makeshift stretchers. The shooting on Tuesday at the Qasr bin Ghashir detention centre, 12 miles (20km) south of Tripoli, is thought to be the first time a militia has raided such a building and opened fire.

Witnesses said men, women and children were praying together when soldiers they believe to be part of the forces of the military strongman Khalifa Haftar, which are advancing on the Libyan capital to try to bring down the UN-backed government, stormed into the detention centre and demanded people hand over their phones. ...

Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into the incident. “This incident demonstrates the urgent need for all refugees and migrants to be immediately released from these horrific detention centres,” said the organisation’s spokeswoman, Magdalena Mughrabi.

U.S. airstrikes on Syria "wiped out" entire families, says Amnesty war crimes investigator

Brazil must not become a 'gay tourism paradise', says Bolsonaro

Brazil’s far-right president, the self-declared homophobe Jair Bolsonaro, has been accused of inciting hatred towards LGBT people after declaring the South American country should not become a “gay tourism paradise”.

“If you want to come here and have sex with a woman, go for your life,” Bolsonaro reportedly told journalists in the capital, Brasília. “But we can’t let this place become known as a gay tourism paradise. Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families,” Bolsonaro added, according to the Brazilian magazine Exame.

The comments – made during a breakfast meeting with Brazilian reporters – sparked an immediate reaction from LGBT campaigners.

“This is not a head of state – this is a national disgrace,” said David Miranda, a leftist congressman and LGBT activist. Miranda said the president’s remarks simultaneously endangered members of Brazil’s LGBT community by “putting a target on their backs” and promoted the sexual exploitation of Brazilian women. “He is staining the image of our country in every imaginable way,” Miranda said.

Jeremy Corbyn declines invitation to state banquet for Donald Trump

Jeremy Corbyn has declined an invitation to attend a state dinner with Donald Trump when the US president visits the UK in June.

Trump has accepted an invitation to a long-delayed state visit, including a formal white-tie dinner hosted by the Queen.

In a statement, the Labour leader said he disagreed with the prime minister’s decision to offer a formal visit to the US leader and confirmed he would not attend any state dinner. “Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honour a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” said Corbyn. “Maintaining an important relationship with the United States does not require the pomp and ceremony of a state visit. It is disappointing that the prime minister has again opted to kowtow to this US administration.” ...

His statement follows similar refusals from the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, and the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Vince Cable. As leader of the opposition, Corbyn is invited to formal state dinners and attended a banquet in honour of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, shortly after becoming Labour leader in 2015. During the last state visit of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, he was represented by the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry.

Yellow Vests disappointed after Macron's announcements on Thursday

Will Macron's promises end Yellow Vests protests?

Worth a full read:

In Case Brought by School Speech Pathologist, Texas Federal Court Becomes the Third to Strike Down Pro-Israel Oath as Unconstitutional

A federal court in Texas issued a ruling on Thursday afternoon preliminarily enjoining enforcement of Texas’ law banning contractors from boycotting Israel. The court ruled that the law plainly violates the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment. Following similar decisions by federal courts in Kansas and Arizona, the ruling becomes the third judicial finding – out of three who have evaluated the constitutionality of such laws – to conclude that they are unconstitutional attacks on the free speech rights of Americans.

The case was brought by Bahia Amawi, a longtime elementary school speech pathologist in Austin, Texas, whose contract renewal was denied due to her refusal to sign an oath certifying that she does not participate in any boycotts of Israel. ... Amawi, a U.S. citizen and mother of four U.S.-born children, was required to sign the pro-Israel oath due to a new law enacted with almost no dissent by the Texas State Legislature in May 2017, and signed into law two days later by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. When signing the bill, Gov. Abbott proclaimed: “Any anti-Israel policy is an anti-Texas policy.” But this was precisely the mentality, along with the virtually unanimous pro-Israel sentiment in the Texas State Legislature, that the Texas federal judge identified when explaining why the pro-Israel oath so blatantly violates the free speech guarantees of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment:

In Texas, only five legislators voted against H.B. 89. (Texas Resp. Mots. Prelim. Inj., Dkt. 25, at 4). Texas touts these numbers as the statute’s strength. They are, rather, its weakness. “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” W. Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 642 (1943). “[T]he purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular[,]” is “to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation—and their ideas from suppression—at the hands of an intolerant society.” McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm’n, 514 U.S. 334, 357 (1995).

Thus, “our citizens must tolerate insulting, and even outrageous, speech” in public debate. Boos, 485 U.S. at 322. They must do so “in order to provide ‘adequate breathing space’ to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.” Id. (citing Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 56 (1988)). With H.B. 89, Texas compresses this space. The statute threatens “to suppress unpopular ideas” and “manipulate the public debate through coercion rather than persuasion.” Turner, 512 U.S. at 641. This the First Amendment does not allow.

The ruling, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman, categorically rejected each of Texas’ justifications for the law. Judge Pitman was particularly emphatic that the law was not merely “government speech” in defense of Israel, but rather a classic embodiment of what the First Amendment, at its core, was designed to prevent: punishment imposed on those who disagree with the majority’s political opinions on hotly contested political topics.

Washington Becomes First State to Approve Publicly Funded Long-Term Care

Washington state lawmakers on Tuesday passed the nation’s first long-term care benefit program, which would provide residents with up to $36,500 to pay for costs like caregiving, wheelchair ramps, meal deliveries, and nursing home fees. Jay Inslee, Democratic governor and 2020 presidential candidate, has said he intends to sign the Long-Term Care Trust Act into law.

The measure is hailed as a monumental achievement not only for Washingtonians, but also for advocates working nationally to tackle the rising and formidable costs of care work and old age, something that’s become only more pressing as the baby boomer generation heads into retirement. The Long-Term Care Trust Act comes on the heels of a novel cash benefit program Hawaii launched in 2017 that distributes $70 a day for up to 365 days to family caregivers. A growing number of states have passed paid sick leave policies over the last five years, and more presidential candidates are elevating the issue of child care and how to afford it. Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s new Medicare for All bill even includes coverage of long-term care, something not currently provided by the federal insurance program. ...

With the Long-Term Care Trust Act, taxpayers expect to save $3.9 billion in state Medicaid costs by 2052. The bill had bipartisan support early on, including three Republican co-sponsors, but it was approved largely along party lines in the Democratic-controlled legislature. Advocates for the bill said that Republicans voted against it for political reasons amid heated budget negotiations, and not because they disagreed with it in substance.

Progressives Raise Alarm Over Lack of Single Payer Supporters Chosen to Testify at Historic Medicare for All Hearing

After the House Rules Committee released the full list of witnesses who will testify at the first-ever congressional hearing on Medicare for All next week, progressives raised alarm over the lack of single-payer proponents chosen for the panel and worried that what is supposed to be a substantive discussion of Medicare for All could turn out to be a "farce."

As HuffPost reported Thursday, just one of the four witnesses—Dr. Farzon Nahvi, a New York City emergency physician and professor—is "actually an advocate for Medicare for All, the single-payer healthcare system."

"And even then," the outlet reported, "sources tell HuffPost that Nahvi's testimony is supposed to be limited to how patient experience would change. That means that when the Rules Committee convenes this hearing on Tuesday, there may not be any witness testifying who will make the case for Medicare for All over other healthcare plans."

Witnesses for the House Rules Committee Medicare for all hearing next week:

(Charles Blahous is the author of the study finding Medicare for all cost $32 trillion over 10 years) pic.twitter.com/Z4rxcOaId0

— Peter Sullivan (@PeterSullivan4) April 24, 2019

Dr. Adam Gaffney, president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), was recommended to Democrats by single-payer proponents as a possible witness, but the Rules Committee "nixed his appearance, along with those of more than a dozen other suggested witnesses," HuffPost reported. "There is a heated debate right now about what is this best way forward," Gaffney told HuffPost. "Medicare for All is one proposal. Medicare for All is the best proposal. Is someone going to make that case?"

What Dem leadership seems to have done with this Medicare for All hearing is assemble a group of witnesses who won't really make the case for Medicare for All, leaving the impression that the ACA, Medicare Buy-In, they're all good approaches!https://t.co/gxHkztVPN9

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) April 25, 2019

Dems in Congress can’t decide if they should impeach Trump

The people who'll really decide this are the Democrats in the House of Representatives. And right now, they’re struggling with the question that Democrats always seems to be struggling with: What’s more important: principles or politics?

Trump administration’s plan to slash Planned Parenthood funding just got halted by a federal judge

After months of rumors, the Trump administration announced in February that it would no longer allow organizations that offer abortion or refer patients for abortion to receive funding from Title X, a $286 million program that provides contraception and cancer and STD screenings to low-income people. (It’s already illegal for Title X money to pay for abortions.) ...

But within weeks of the announcement, more than 20 states filed lawsuits over the changes. In Washington, Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued that changing Title X would leave 21 Washington counties without a single Title X provider. Judge Stanley Bastian, in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Washington, heard arguments in the Washington case Thursday and ruled shortly afterward.

“Today’s decision sends a message to this administration that it will not get away with making harmful changes to the nation’s family planning program, at the expense of people’s health care,” the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which joined Washington’s lawsuit, said in a statement. “However, today is just the beginning of a long road to fight back against the largest attack on contraception in a generation.”

Trump renews threat to close Mexican border, send more troops

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday again threatened to close part of the southern border and send more “armed soldiers” to defend it if Mexico did not block a new caravan of migrants travelling toward the United States.

“A very big Caravan of over 20,000 people started up through Mexico,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “It has been reduced in size by Mexico but is still coming. Mexico must apprehend the remainder or we will be forced to close that section of the Border & call up the Military.”

Trump also said, without offering details, that Mexican soldiers recently had “pulled guns” on U.S. troops in what he suggested was “a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers.”

“Better not happen again! We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border. Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!” Trump tweeted.

It was not clear what Trump meant by “armed soldiers” since at least some of the troops on the border already are armed. It also was unclear what specific caravan Trump was alluding to.

A judge is facing 20 years for kicking ICE out of her courtroom

A Boston-area judge and her trial court officer are facing up to 20 years in prison after they helped an undocumented immigrant escape the grasp of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April 2018, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

A federal immigration cop was waiting in District Court Judge Shelley M. Joseph’s public gallery for an undocumented Dominican man due in court when he was asked to leave. Joseph requested that the officer wait in the lobby and said she would release the undocumented man into the lobby later, according to court documents. Joseph and a trial court officer, Wesley MacGregor, instead helped the Dominican immigrant evade the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and sneak out the court building’s back door. Joseph and MacGregor were indicted on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and obstruction through aiding and abetting for helping the immigrant escape, according to court documents.

At the time of the immigrant’s escape, he was facing an outstanding fugitive warrant for a drunk driving arrest and drug charges. ...

The Dominican immigrant, identified as A.S. in court documents but previously known as Jose Medina-Perez, was arrested after the April 2018 courtroom escape, released on bond, and now faces deportation.

Maryland governor calls on Baltimore mayor to resign following FBI raid

Maryland’s governor has called on the mayor of Baltimore to resign. The state’s governor, Larry Hogan, a Republican, called on Thursday morning for Catherine Pugh to leave office “for the good of the city”.

Agents with the FBI and Internal Revenue Service carried out a raid on Baltimore city hall and two homes belonging to the mayor on Thursday morning, amid widening investigations to determine whether she used sales of her children’s books to disguise government kickbacks.

“Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust” and was “clearly not fit to lead”, Hogan added. ... Pugh had previously stepped aside temporarily following a growing scandal involving her sales of self-published children’s books, and amid declining public confidence.

The troubled city is still embroiled in the fallout of shattered trust between many neighborhoods in the city and the police department following the death of a young African American man, Freddie Gray, after being transported in a police van in 2015.

Stop Sanders: The Year of the Corporate Long Knives

In a compact and effective video that appeared in leftish publications last week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivers an uplifting “Message from the Future” projecting a decade of sweeping social democratic legislation following a Democratic capture of the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2020. A succession of progressive-dominated Congresses passes Medicare for All; a federal jobs bill “guaranteeing dignified living wages” for all workers; a Universal Child Care Initiative “that started paying real money to teachers, domestic workers and home health aides”; and, of course, the Green New Deal, which AOC’s voice from the future explained, “didn’t just change the infrastructure” of the nation, but also showed that America could be “not only modern and wealthy but dignified and humane, too.” ...

Ocasio-Cortez’s “Message from the Future” is flawed from the start, because it fails to tell us how the "progressives" defeat the corporate wing of her own party, personified by Nancy Pelosi, who is about right in her estimation that there are only one or two handfuls of Ocasio-Cortez type leftists in Congress. The party’s corporate leadership is determined to make AOC and her left-Democrat colleagues an endangered species on Capitol Hill. That’s why the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee imposed a new rule, blacklisting political consultants that back challengers to Democratic incumbents. “Let’s be clear, said Rep. Ro Khanna, a leftish Democrat from California. “If this policy remains in place, it will mean that we will not allow new Ayanna Pressleys or AOCs to emerge. It’s simply wrong.”

No, it’s simply the job of corporate Democrats to defend corporate interests, especially when Medicare for All is supported by 85 percent of Democrats (and even 52 percent of Republicans), and an amazing 92 percent of Democrats (and 64 percent of Republicans) support a Green New Deal. The Democratic Party is the first line of defense of corporate America, the place where progressive legislation can be smothered in its crib and supermajorities are corralled and neutered. ...

Maybe Ocasio-Cortez and Naomi Klein don’t want to scare the children, but they have painted a scenario in which the rich roll over and accept the wishes of the majority without shedding oceans of blood. The U.S. empire is now engaged in a desperate bid to restrain and contain the rising forces of global majorities determined to throw off the shackles of half a millennium of racist, Euro-American dictatorship. Since its rise to superpower after World War Two, the U.S. has caused the deaths of tens of millions and held the planet hostage to nuclear annihilation. The U.S. and European ruling classes have tried to exterminate every government and movement in the formerly colonized world that attempted to address the needs and aspirations of popular majorities. The same people that organized this carnage also bankroll and buttress Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and their Republican counterparts.

Ocasio-Cortez’s favored candidate for president is unacceptable to the ruling class, and therefore to the leaders of the Democratic Party. Never in U.S. history has a candidate of a duopoly party run on a promise to wipe out a major sector of the ruling class. But that is what Sanders is pledging to do with Medicare for All, which would smash the trillion dollar health insurance industry. ... Bernie Sanders, in whose 2016 campaign AOC became an activist, is an austerity-buster, and therefore beyond the pale for the imperial ruling class. Austerity is the universal global policy of late stage capitalism. It is designed to cap any expectations the lower classes might have of a better standard of life in the future, and to squelch notions that society should be organized for the betterment of the masses of people. Under austerity, there is never any money to even think about that. Medicare for All would not only bust austerity wide open (even while lowering overall health costs), but would be a death sentence for a trillion dollar section of finance capital -- the holy sanctum of the ruling class. Therefore, as the Wall Street Journal should know, the Lords of Capital have decreed: Stop Bernie -- the corporate Democrats’ assignment from on-high.

“I Was Ready To Prostitute Myself!” - Biden

Trump just defended the Charlottesville white nationalists again

President Trump has once again defended the white supremacists who marched violently on Charlottesville in August 2017.

Speaking outside the White House on Friday morning, Trump told reporters that everyone knew when he said there were some “very fine people on both sides” in the clashes on the UVa campus, he was not defending the neo-Nazis and white nationalists who rallied with torches and led to the murder of Heather Heyer, a peaceful counterprotester. He was simply talking about Civil War enthusiasts.

“I was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general,” Trump said of the Confederate general in the Civil War, who fought to preserve slavery in the continental United States. “Whether you like it or not, he was one of the great generals. I’ve spoken to many generals here right at the White House and many people thought — of the generals — they think he was maybe their favorite general. People were there protesting the taking-down of the monument of Robert E. Lee.”

Joe Biden didn’t call Heather Heyer’s mother until after his campaign video launched

Joe Biden did not call Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, before he invoked Heyer’s death in his 2020 presidential campaign-launch video. But he did call her after the fact.

Charlottesville attack victim Heather Heyer's mother @SusanBro7 spoke to Joe Biden after he made the attack a focus of his 2020 launch.

"I think it has to be part of the political dialogue,” she says when asked about him highlighting her daughter’s death. https://t.co/Sy1XOJzyGh pic.twitter.com/okXqF3X5RA

— New Day (@NewDay) April 26, 2019

Joe Biden is the Hillary Clinton of 2020 – and it won't end well this time either

Joe Biden wants to make America straight again. “America’s coming back like we used to be,” the former vice-president told reporters in Delaware on Thursday, shortly after he released a video officially announcing his 2020 campaign. “Ethical, straight, telling the truth … All those good things.” It was unfortunate phrasing, but what else would you expect from a man whose foot always seems to be hovering somewhere near his mouth? Gaffes are part of Biden’s brand and, we will, no doubt see a lot more of them in the coming months. ...

Biden’s answer to Trump isn’t systemic change that will make America a more equitable place. He’s not offering progressive policies like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. His is the vaguest and most centrist of battle cries: let’s go back to, you know, “all those good things”. Let’s go back to a time where racism was a little more polite and white people could pretend America was a post-racial society. Let’s fight for the soul of America by pretending that Trump is the problem, not just a symptom of the problem. Let’s pretend that Charlottesville was a direct result of Trump – an aberration – and not a product of a racism that has always existed in America. Let’s rewind the clock a few years to when everything was just fine and dandy.

What’s really frustrating about Biden is the fact that, even though he is another version of Clinton, and seems to be getting set to run a carbon copy of Clinton’s campaign, we’re going to be told ad nauseum that he’s our best bet at beating Trump. We’re going to be told that he’s the only Democrat that can win the white working class over – forget the fact that Sanders is currently the candidate best connecting with that demographic, gaining cheers and enthusiasm at a Fox town hall with his vision for universal healthcare. We’re going to be told that candidates offering real change, like Sanders and Warren, are too progressive for America. That they’re not “electable”. We’re going to be told that we should repeat the mistakes of 2016 all over again. We’re going to be told that it will work out this time.

Why Joe Biden's poll numbers could "come down in a hurry" now that he's officially running

Michigan's voting maps illegally gerrymandered, judges rule

A three-judge federal panel ruled Thursday that Michigan’s congressional and legislative maps are unconstitutionally gerrymandered, ordering the state legislature to redraw at least 34 districts for the 2020 election.

The decision also requires special state senate elections to be held in 2020, instead of 2022 as scheduled.

The judges said 34 of the 162 congressional and legislative districts drawn by Republicans in 2011 violate Democratic voters’ constitutional rights, including by diluting the weight of their votes.

They gave the GOP-led legislature until 1 August to submit new maps, which would need the signature of the Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer.

An appeal is likely.

California Democratic Party Openly Cheating Progressives Again

North American drilling boom threatens big blow to climate efforts, study finds

More than half of the world’s new oil and gas pipelines are located in North America, with a boom in US oil and gas drilling set to deliver a major blow to efforts to slow climate change, a new report has found. Of a total 302 pipelines in some stage of development around the world, 51% are in North America, according to Global Energy Monitor, which tracks fossil fuel activity. A total of $232.5bn in capital spending has been funneled into these North American pipeline projects, with more than $1tn committed towards all oil and gas infrastructure.

If built, these projects would increase the global number of pipelines by nearly a third and mark out a path of several decades of substantial oil and gas use. In the US alone, the natural-gas output enabled by the pipelines would result in an additional 559m tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide each year by 2040, above 2017 levels, according to Global Energy Monitor, citing International Energy Agency figures. ...

New gas pipelines outnumber oil pipelines by about four to one, bolstered by a glut of abundant natural gas that is swiftly replacing coal as the leading electricity source for US homes and businesses. The most active area for pipelines is the Permian basin in west Texas, a sprawling formation that contains huge deposits of oil and gas. Other active zones include the shale formations in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and the Canadian tar sands of Alberta.

While domestic energy use increased last year – Americans consumed 4% more energy than in 2017, according to US government figures – the boom in oil and gas pipelines is largely set to cater for the US’s increasing role as an energy exporter. Nace said there are “unrealistic expectations” over exports of liquified natural gas to Asia, in particular, due to an increase in gas production there and concerns over climate change.

Trump halts plans to expand offshore drilling after legal setback

The Trump administration has shelved plans to vastly expand offshore oil and gas drilling in the wake of a recent court decision that blocked fossil fuel activity in swaths of the Arctic. The administration had opened up almost all US waters to companies seeking to drill oil or gas deposits but this expansion has been halted due to a legal setback, according to David Bernhardt, the interior secretary.

Bernhardt told the Wall Street Journal that a federal court decision to support president Barack Obama’s ban on Arctic drilling had complicated the Trump administration’s attempts to ramp up fossil fuel extraction off America’s coastline. “By the time the court rules, that may be discombobulating to our plan,” Bernhardt told the WSJ. “What if you guess wrong? … I’m not sure that’s a very satisfactory and responsible use of resources.”

Last month, Sharon Gleason, a federal judge in Alaska, ruled in agreement with environmental groups that a US president could remove waters from drilling but could not overturn a prior president’s ban on drilling in a certain area. These developments mean that Obama’s blanket ban on drilling in almost all of the Arctic, as well as the Atlantic seaboard, will likely remain in place unless Congress decides to overturn it.

Groups Warn Against Trump Effort to Unleash 'Fracking Frenzy' by Unlocking Million+ Acres of Public Land for Drilling

Over 1 million acres of California land will be opened to fracking if Donald Trump has his way according to a plan released just hours after his administration shelved efforts to expand offshore drilling. The president announced the plans in a draft released by the administration on Thursday afternoon. The proposal calls for opening 1,011,470 acres of public holdings in California to oil drilling and fracking.

The new proposal comes on the same day as the administration pulled out of a controversial plan to expand offshore drilling was thrown out by a federal judge in Alaska. ...

"Trump's plan would unleash a fracking frenzy that puts California's people and wildlife in harm's way," said Clare Lakewood, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. "This administration is dead set on letting oil and gas companies dig up every last drop of dirty fuel."

The decision, if it goes through, would be the first time in six years that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issues a land lease since a judge ruled the agency's issuance of fracking certificates violated the National Environmental Policy Act.

‘Death by a thousand cuts’: vast expanse of rainforest lost in 2018

Millions of hectares of pristine tropical rainforest were destroyed in 2018, according to satellite analysis, with beef, chocolate and palm oil among the main causes. ...

Clearcutting of primary forest by loggers and cattle ranchers in Brazil dominated the destruction, including invasions into indigenous lands where uncontacted tribes live. Losses were also high in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Indonesia. Indonesia is the only major country where government protections appear to be significantly reducing the losses. Ghana and Ivory Coast recorded the biggest percentage rises in rainforest destruction, driven by gold mining and cocoa farming.

“We are nowhere near winning this battle,” said Frances Seymour from the World Resources Institute, part of the Global Forest Watch (GFW) network, which produced the analysis. “It is really tempting to celebrate a second year of decline since peak tree cover loss in 2016 but, if you look back over the last 18 years, it is clear that the overall trend is still upwards.” ...

More than 3.6m hectares (8.9m acres) of pristine rainforest was cut down in 2018, according to the data. “Most of the 2018 loss [1.3m hectares] is clearcutting in the Amazon,” said Mikaela Weisse, a GFW manager. “Shockingly we are also seeing some invasions into indigenous lands that have been immune to deforestation for years.”

Also of Interest

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

Dare to declare capitalism dead – before it takes us all down with it

The Largest Gang Raid in NYC History Swept Up Dozens of Young People Who Weren’t In Gangs

UK Israel Lobby Adds Muscle as US Counterpart Weakens

'I am a gaffe machine': a history of Joe Biden's biggest blunders

5 ghosts from Biden’s past that could haunt him during the primaries

Joe Biden Joins Crowded Primaries

Bernie Sanders booed as Democratic hopefuls try to woo women of color

Here's one thing Democrats can do to win rural voters: Fight factory farms

Global Climate Coalition: Documents Reveal How Secretive Fossil Fuel Lobby Group Manipulated UN Climate Programs

World's oceans are becoming stormier, researchers discover

A pod of orcas is starving to death. A tribe has a radical plan to feed them

Euan Myles's best photograph: The secret to happiness? Your own windmill

A Little Night Music

Little Milton - More And More

Little Milton - I Feel So Bad

Little Milton - Saving My Love For You

Little Milton - Stormy Monday

Little Milton - So Mean To Me

Little Milton - I Can't Quit You Baby

Little Milton - We're Gonna Make It

Little Milton - Poke Salad Annie

Little Milton - (Hey, hey) The Blues is Allright!