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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Sy Oliver

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features jazz singer, trumpeter and bandleader Sy Oliver. Enjoy!

^{Sy Oliver – Well Git It}

“I was astonished, bewildered. This was America, a country where, whatever its faults, people could speak, write, assemble, demonstrate without fear. It was in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. We were a democracy...

But I knew it wasn't a dream; there was a painful lump on the side of my head...

The state and its police were not neutral referees in a society of contending interests. They were on the side of the rich and powerful. Free speech? Try it and the police will be there with their horses, their clubs, their guns, to stop you.

From that moment on, I was no longer a liberal, a believer in the self-correcting character of American democracy. I was a radical, believing that something fundamental was wrong in this country--not just the existence of poverty amidst great wealth, not just the horrible treatment of black people, but something rotten at the root. The situation required not just a new president or new laws, but an uprooting of the old order, the introduction of a new kind of society--cooperative, peaceful, egalitarian.”

-- Howard Zinn

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News and Opinion

Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal arrested

Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal has been arrested on false charges after reporting on Venezuelan opposition violence outside the DC embassy. He describes the manufactured case as part of a wider campaign of political persecution.

Max Blumenthal, the editor of the news site The Grayzone, was arrested on the morning of October 25 on a fabricated charge related to the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC that took place between April and May. A team of DC police officers appeared at Blumenthal’s door at just after 9 AM, demanding entry and threatening to break his door down. A number of officers had taken positions on the side of his home as though they were prepared for a SWAT-style raid.

Blumenthal was hauled into a police van and ultimately taken to DC central jail, where he was held for two days in various cells and cages. He was shackled by his hands and ankles for over five hours in one such cage along with other inmates. His request for a phone call was denied by DC police and corrections officers, effectively denying him access to the outside world.

Blumenthal was informed that he was accused of simple assault by a Venezuelan opposition member. He declared the charge completely baseless. “This charge is a 100 percent false, fabricated, bogus, untrue, and malicious lie,” Blumenthal declared. “It is clearly part of a campaign of political persecution designed to silence me and the The Grayzone for our factual journalism exposing the deceptions, corruption and violence of the far-right Venezuelan opposition.”

The arrest warrant was five months old. According to an individual familiar with the case, the warrant for Blumenthal’s arrest was initially rejected. Strangely, this false charge was revived months later without the defendant’s knowledge.

“If the government had at least told me I had a warrant I could have voluntarily surrendered and appeared at my own arraignment. I have nothing to fear because I’m completely innocent of this bogus charge,” Blumenthal stated. “Instead, the federal government essentially enlisted the DC police to SWAT me, ensuring that I would be subjected to an early morning raid and then languish in prison for days without even the ability to call an attorney.”

'The Terrorists We're Killing Today Are the Terrorists We Created Yesterday'

Following news that the infamous leader of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest, killing himself along with three of his children, over the weekend during a clandestine raid by U.S. Special Forces (also infamous) in northwest Syria, critics of the U.S. global war on terrorism are highlighting how Baghdadi's death exemplifies the endless and cyclical nature of a global conflict that perpetuates the very terrorism it claims as its mission to destroy.

"Nobody is better than the U.S. at killing terrorists. Nobody is better than the U.S. at creating terrorists," tweeted author and peace activist Medea Benjamin on Sunday. "The cycle continues. The weapons companies get rich. Children—yes, including Bagdadi's children—die."

Writing for The Week on Monday, freelance columnist Joel Mathis argues that al-Baghdadi's "grisly demise"—though greeted with cheers by many in the U.S., the western world, and across Middle East—should be viewed neither as triumph nor a victory.

Don't misunderstand: Baghdadi was evil. Under his leadership the Islamic State beheaded hostages and violently imposed the worst sort of theocratic rule wherever its caliphate could be established. He kept sex slaves for his personal gratification—including, reportedly, U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller. It is impossible to mourn him.

But while Americans celebrate Baghdadi's death, they should also think critically about his life — and see it as a cautionary tale against U.S. meddling in Middle East affairs.

According to Mathis, the story of this latest terrorist leader should be a "reminder that when America ventures abroad, we sometimes help create the monsters we later feel compelled to destroy, starting a loop of self-justification that results in an endless string of 'forever wars.'"

Baghdadi Is Dead. The War on Terror Will Create Another.

After U.S. special operations forces dealt a violent end to the leader of the premier jihadist group in Iraq, the president hailed the importance of the moment. The man was a monster, the president declared, responsible for a regional campaign of devastation, even the beheadings of American hostages. True, the killing would not mean the end of the broader war, the president noted, but the U.S. had dealt “a severe blow” to the jihadists.

George W. Bush said this in 2006, following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. ... True, the killing would not mean the end of the broader war, the president noted, but the U.S. had reaped “the most significant achievement to date” against the jihadists.

Barack Obama said this in 2011, following the killing of Osama bin Laden. ... True, the killing would not mean the end of the broader war, the president noted, but it showed that “these savage monsters will never escape their fate.”

These three fatal milestones all point to the strategic incoherence within a global war that has now lasted an entire generation. No one, not the Trump administration nor its critics, believes that the so-called Islamic State is finished because Baghdadi is dead. As proficient as U.S. special operators have become at manhunting these past 18 years, and as central as manhunting has been during that time, there is no campaign plan, not even a theory, by which the killings of jihadist leaders knit up into a lasting victory. Asking for one would require reckoning with the catastrophic failure represented by a war that only perpetuates itself.

Trump’s pullback from northeastern Syria, like from the Forever War more broadly, was never total. Like Obama before him, Trump’s rhetoric about wishing to be done with endless wars obscures the reality of how he prosecutes them. Trump escalated drone strikes in the undeclared regions of the war on terrorism and, in Afghanistan, escalated air strikes, with a commensurate rise in civilian deaths. Syria has long displayed the decadence of a strategically exhausted war on terrorism: Obama invaded without congressional approval—to no real congressional outrage—and Trump has made the residual mission one of plundering oil and, in the background, threatening Iran. Trump made clear last week that he expects “Turkey, Syria and others in the region” to do the work of preventing an ISIS return. 

All that means ISIS, in whatever future form, has a new lease on life.

https://t.co/LYPUnb3YGI pic.twitter.com/fbJApvdm6v

— Bob Sykes (@BobSykes12) October 27, 2019

U.S. Military Envisions Broad Defense of Syrian Oilfields

The United States will repel any attempt to take Syria's oil fields away from U.S.-backed Syrian militia with "overwhelming force," whether the opponent is Islamic State or even forces backed by Russia or Syria, the Pentagon said on Monday. ...

"U.S. troops will remain positioned in this strategic area to deny ISIS access those vital resources. And we will respond with overwhelming military force against any group that threatens the safety of our forces there," Esper told reporters at the Pentagon.

Pressed on whether the U.S. military mission included denying any Russian or Syrian government forces access to the oilfields, Esper said: "The short answer is, yes, it presently does."

He noted that the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, relied on that oil income to fund its fighters, including the ones guarding prisons that hold captured Islamic State fighters.

"We want to make sure that SDF does have access to resources in order to guard the prisons, in order to arm their own troops, in order to assist us with the defeat-ISIS mission," he said, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Trump's Stated Plan to Loot Syria's Oil Reserves 'Would Be a War Crime,' Critics Say

While announcing that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed over the weekend, President Donald Trump made explicit the longstanding U.S. military policy of securing oil reserves in the Middle East regardless of the human lives that are lost in the process, a number of critics said Monday.

Trump told reporters in his Sunday press conference that the U.S. is entitled to Syria's oil following the withdrawal of troops from the northeastern region of the country bordering Turkey. ... On Monday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told the press that the United States' current objective in eastern Syria is "to secure the oil fields," but did not share how many troops would be deployed. ...

"He's pulling back that curtain and just telling you the truth," journalist Jordan Chariton of Status Coup said. "Just to be clear: despite Trump's statements, oil in Syria does not belong to the United States or to Donald Trump," tweeted political scientist Brian Klaas. "International law seeks to protect against exactly this sort of exploitation," Emory University professor Laurie Blank told Reuters Sunday. ...

Trump wants to colonize parts of Syria and steal their oil. If Trump does that the UN must condemn it and sanction the Trump regime. If not, the UN should disband.

— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) October 28, 2019

At the New Republic, Adam Weinstein wrote that peace advocates in the U.S. are all too familiar with the perennial U.S. quest for oil reserves being wrapped up in military operations. ... "The United States is now officially the globe's hired muscle for commodities protection; its explicit foreign policy is now 'Yes, blood for oil!'" Weinstein wrote. "To Trump, it's great personal and international leverage, more valuable than values; more valuable, in fact, than Syrian or American lives."

To be clear, OPCW didn't directly accuse Syrian gov't of responsibility, but the conclusion they released (suppressing countervailing evidence, these whistleblowers allege) effectively pinned blame on Syrian gov't.

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) October 27, 2019

Lebanon's PM Saad Hariri resigns as protesters come under attack

Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, has announced his resignation, in a move set to spark further uncertainty in a country paralysed by political dysfunction and nationwide protests. Hariri’s announcement came several hours after hundreds of youths overran protest sites in downtown Beirut, ransacking tents and stalls set up by demonstrators who, for the past 13 days, have demanded an overhaul of the ruling class and an end to rampant corruption.

The embattled leader said he intended to make a “positive shock” by quitting, claiming that doing so served “the country’s dignity and safety”. Over the past fortnight, he has tabled reforms, including the abolition of several cabinet positions and some cuts to spending, but the moves have fallen short of the structural changes demanded by protesters.

The protests have left politicians scrambling unsuccessfully to react and have exposed the depth of feeling in Lebanon, where an imminent economic collapse threatens to cripple the country’s banking system and social fabric.

The depth of the crisis and lack of political solutions have galvanised Lebanese citizens from all political persuasions and walks of life, leading to a movement that shows little sign of slowing down, even after the main protest site was ransacked on Tuesday. The assault was blamed by demonstrators on two factions, Hezbollah and Amal, whose political leaders do not support a change in government. The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, the most powerful figure in Lebanon despite not holding an official position, has warned of chaos if protests were allowed to continue.

Over the past fortnight, the streets of central Beirut have become a forum for debate and defiant demands for change. Emboldened by the cross-sectarian movement and sensing there is more to lose by staying home, protesters have been unusually strident in their criticism of leaders, including Hariri and Nasrallah and dynasties that have run the country since the end of the civil war. Much of the country’s political leadership remains invested in a status quo of a weak central government and institutions being run as political fiefdoms.

As Death Toll Tops 220, Iraqi Protesters Stay in Streets Calling For End to Corrupt Government

Chile: protesters light bonfires and clash with police despite cabinet reshuffle

Fresh street battles and fires have broken out in downtown Santiago just hours after Chile’s embattled president, Sebastían Piñera, fired hardline members of his cabinet in an attempt to defuse the country’s biggest political crisis since the return to democracy in 1990. Bands of protesters lit bonfires along the central Alameda Avenue and clashed with riot police as clouds of teargas and smoke engulfed the centre of the city.

Earlier on Monday, Piñera announced that the interior minister, Andres Chadwick – an outspoken supporter of Augusto Pinochet during the 1973-1990 regime – would be replaced by Gonzalo Blumel, a young lawyer. Blumel immediately declared that “something has broken in our country” and called for a nationwide dialogue to heal the deep divisions. The finance minister Felipe Larrain was replaced by Ignacio Briones, an economics professor. ...

But after more than a week of often violent unrest over economic inequality, few expected that the reshuffle would end the upheaval: even as the president spoke, fumes from tear gas rolled into courtyards of the presidential palace, as protesters outside called for Piñera to resign. ...

Fresh demonstrations have already been called for Tuesday, but in addition to public fury, Piñera now faces efforts by opposition lawmakers to charge him for violating the constitution and permitting human rights violations during the street protests which have left least 17 dead, and led to the arrest of more than 7,000 people. On Monday, Piñera deplored the loss of lives and welcomed the arrival of a UN human rights team to Chile. “We have nothing to hide,” he said.

Protests in Chile Were Sparked By a Subway Fare Hike, But Come After “30 Years of a Social Crisis”

Keiser Report: So Sleepy

Bolivia election protests block roads and shutter shops in capital

Protesters in the Bolivian capital have blocked roads and shop owners kept their stores in a strike called by the opposition to protest against what they say is fraud at elections giving President Evo Morales a fourth term. Bolivia has been convulsed by protests since 20 October, when its supreme electoral tribunal abruptly suspended the publication of results from an electronic count.

With 84% of votes counted, polling showed Morales was probably headed to a run-off with his chief rival and ex-president Carlos Mesa. But when reporting of the count resumed after a nearly 24-hour pause, Morales had pulled off a razor-thin victory. The final, legally binding vote tally gave him 47.08% of votes to Mesa’s 35.51%, less than a percentage point over the 10-point lead needed to avoid a run-off and giving Morales another five-year term.

The streets of La Paz, which has a million residents, were half-empty on Monday morning, with many shops and schools shuttered. The opposition-controlled mayor’s office was also closed. Road blockades mounted by residents using cars, wood planks, rope and even dumpsters were visible in both the middle-class south and working-class north of the city, according to Reuters witnesses.

UK's opposition Labour party agrees to December election

Boris Johnson abandons Brexit bill in new push for December election

Boris Johnson will abandon attempts to push his Brexit bill through this parliament in a bid to get the Liberal Democrats and the SNP to agree to an election before Christmas – although the parties are still in dispute over the potential date. The prime minister failed on Monday to get the votes of two-thirds of MPs he needed to secure an election under existing laws, after opposition parties largely abstained.

However, he said he would table a short bill on Tuesday that would change the law in order to hold a poll on 12 December. He would only need a simple majority for this plan, so an election could be achieved with the backing of the Lib Dems or the Scottish National party. ...

Earlier Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, said she was not happy with Johnson’s proposed date of 12 December, which is after many universities have broken up for Christmas and students have returned to their home towns. ...

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, also suggested his party could be persuaded to back the idea, with the shadow cabinet convening on Tuesday to discuss its position.

“We will consider carefully any legislation on an early election,” he said. But Corbyn added that a date needed to be locked down in law to prevent Johnson trying to move it for his own advantage and also suggested he would want it to be earlier than 12 December,saying any plan would need to “protect the voting rights of all of our citizens”.

Centrist Democrats, Led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, to Fundraise With Corporate Lobby Group Seeking to Defeat Democratic Agenda

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest lobbying group representing corporate interests in the world, has worked furiously to defeat Democratic policies, from playing a key role in battling the Affordable Care Act, to spreading climate change denial, to more recent efforts to block H.R. 1, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s signature campaign reform and voting rights bill.

Now a group of centrist Democrats, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., is scheduled to join with the Chamber in a bid to raise money. A fundraiser invite obtained by The Intercept shows that Gottheimer and Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., are scheduled to appear at the Chamber PAC’s town house on Capitol Hill on October 29. The event honors the “Problem Solvers Caucus,” an offshoot of the centrist project No Labels. Contributions will benefit the affiliate centrist Democrat fundraising committee known as Across the Aisles PAC. ...

The Chamber was one of the largest beneficiaries of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, funneling tens of millions of dollars of undisclosed corporate money into congressional elections, largely to elect Republican lawmakers. Democrats have long courted the “voice of business,” only to see the Chamber work tirelessly to boost GOP campaigns.

The Intercept has previously documented the role of GOP billionaires in financing an array of PACs that played a pivotal role in electing centrist Democrats during the 2018 midterm elections. Gottheimer has also earned the ire of Democrats by working to undermine party unity on votes to constrain the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen and to mandate better conditions for those detained at the border. Gottheimer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ...

The Chamber’s political donations still tilt overwhelmingly to the Republican Party, though in recent years, the group has sought to boost centrist Democrats. Last year, the Chamber’s PAC money gave about 80 percent of funds to GOP candidates and committees, while also donating to centrists such as Gottheimer, Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

CNN/MSNBC gaslight on impeachment

House Democrats Just Announced the First Impeachment Inquiry Vote

Democrats will have their first vote related to their ongoing impeachment inquiry on Thursday, reversing course after insisting that such a vote was unnecessary.

President Trump and his congressional allies have repeatedly slammed the impeachment inquiry as a “witch hunt,” in part due to the lack of a formal House-wide vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the vote in a “dear colleague” letter to House Democrats.

“We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump Administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives,” Pelosi said in the letter. “Nobody is above the law.” ...

The last two congressional impeachment investigations have held a vote, had open hearings and gave the minority the same investigative rights as the majority. Democrats are now doing two of those three things, though they have yet to commit to give Republicans subpoena power once they’re through the initial phase of the investigation. None of those things are constitutionally required, however.

Flynn hearing dropped after claims FBI edited testimony

Worth a full read:

The Fed Fears an Explosion on Wall Street: Here’s How JPMorgan Lit the Fuse

JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States with $1.6 trillion in deposits from more than 5,000 retail bank branches spread across the country. When it withdraws liquidity from the U.S. financial system, that has a reverberating impact. According to the filings that JPMorgan Chase makes annually with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), since 2013 JPMorgan Chase has spent $77 billion buying back its own stock. That includes the whopping $17.01 billion it has spent in just the first nine months of this year buying back its stock.

But here’s the shocking news. According to its SEC filings, JPMorgan Chase is partly using Federally insured deposits made by moms and pops across the country in its more than 5,000 branches to prop up its share price with buybacks. ...

Had JPMorgan Chase not spent $77 billion propping up its share price with stock buybacks, it would have $77 billion more in cash to loan to businesses and consumers – the actual job of its commercial bank. Add in the tens of billions of dollars that other mega banks on Wall Street have used to buy back their own stock and it’s clear why there is a liquidity crisis on Wall Street that is forcing the Federal Reserve to hurl hundreds of billions of dollars a week at the problem. ...

Millions of moms and pops across America who are going into their local branch of Chase to deposit some part of their paycheck each week for a rainy-day fund are doing so because they know the money is Federally-insured. Most have no idea that Chase is part of the sprawling global investment bank JPMorgan or that their deposits helped to make Jamie Dimon, the bank’s CEO, a billionaire through stock grants to him personally, stock buybacks to prop up the share price, and the bank’s own internal dark pool that trades in the stock of the bank — all while the Securities and Exchange Commission looks the other way.

What is particularly interesting about JPMorgan Chase’s stock buybacks is that the dollar amount increases consistently each year, almost guaranteeing a nice bump in the share price. That helps to explain why Jamie Dimon is the only CEO of a major Wall Street bank still at the helm of his bank since the financial crisis and despite the bank’s guilty pleas to three criminal felony counts leveled at the bank during his tenure by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Reagan Official Says Cut Military Spending! Panel SCREAMS!

Poll Sponsored by Anti-Communists Discovers 70% of US Millennials Ready to Ditch Capitalism for Socialism

A survey released Monday revealed that 70 percent of U.S. millennials—those between the ages of 23 and 38 in 2019—would support a socialist candidate for president, a result which a number of progressives viewed as an outgrowth of the damage wrought in recent decades by neoliberal capitalism and the ruling corporate order.

Among those slightly younger, voters between the ages of 16 and 22, the sentiment was almost as high with nearly two-thirds of Generation Z saying the same.

The poll was taken by YouGov and paid for by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), which surveyed 2,100 people about their views of capitalism and the U.S. economic system, socialism, and inequality in the United States.

Young Americans continue to lose faith in capitalism and embrace socialism, according to a new YouGov/Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation survey of more than 2,000 Americans 16 years and older. https://t.co/gbPuIesgmy

— Jess Newman (@OrganizerJess36) October 28, 2019

Half of millennials and 51 percent of Generation Z respondents reported negative views of capitalism while the two groups had more favorable views of the term "socialism" than the Generation X, Baby Boomers, and Silent Generation members—people born roughly between 1925 and 1980—who answered the poll.

The survey was released five months after a Gallup poll revealed that 43 percent of Americans embrace some form of socialism.

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Bernie Sanders contrasts with Elizabeth Warren on past corporate work

Joe Biden - not exactly a man of his word.

Biden to Host High-Dollar Fundraiser With Pittsburgh-Area Real Estate Moguls

Former Vice President Joe Biden is holding a high-dollar fundraiser next month in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, co-chaired by two of the area’s biggest real estate moguls. Also co-hosting the fundraiser is a health insurance industry executive, three prominent attorneys, and a former Democratic House candidate-turned-writer.

The fundraiser, which the campaign has not publicized, takes place on November 5 at a location the campaign has not disclosed. Individuals can sponsor the event for $2,800 or give at levels of $1,000, $500, or $250. The event’s co-chairs will each help raise $25,000 for the campaign. Co-hosts will help raise $15,000. The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment. ...

Biden entered the race pledging not to take money from lobbyists, but has held numerous fundraisers with them. He pledged not to take fossil fuel money, but recently held a fundraiser in New York hosted by a fossil fuel executive. And last week, Biden’s campaign reversed its pledge to reject money from super PACs, appearing to endorse a move by several of his prominent supporters to mobilize to establish a political action committee, Bloomberg reported.

Host of Tulsi Gabbard's 'Wall Street' event: Why I support Tulsi

Sanders Agrees He Poses 'Existential Threat to the Democratic Party'

White House hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday agreed with centrist group Third Way that he poses an "existential threat" to the Democratic Party and called for transforming it to serve working-class people in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC's John Harwood.

After Sanders, a democratic socialist, said that "what I am trying to do, in many ways, is pick up where Franklin Delano Roosevelt left off," Harwood asked, "Do you also embrace the part of FDR that said adversaries hate me and I welcome their hatred?"

"Absolutely," the senator responded. "You can judge a person by the friends they have. You can judge a candidate for president by the enemies they have."

Sanders caucuses with Senate Democrats—and is seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination—but has represented Vermont as an Independent in Congress since his first term in the House in 1991. In the interview, he added:

There was a guy who was head of Third Way, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party. He said, "Bernie Sanders is an existential threat to the Democratic Party." I agree with him. I am. I want to convert the Democratic Party, to break its dependency on big money and corporate interests, and make it a party of working-class people, of young people, of all people who believe in justice.

Watch:

Sanders' comment to CNBC came in response to remarks from Jon Cowan, president of the centrist think tank Third Way, published by The Guardian in June. At a gathering of a couple hundred "moderates" in South Carolina, Cowan reportedly said, "I don't believe a self-described democratic socialist can win" the White House.

Cowan told The Guardian that Sanders "has made it his mission to either get the nomination or to remake the party in his image as a democratic socialist" and "that is an existential threat to the future of the Democratic Party for the next generation."

'Potentially Seismic for Control of Congress': Court Strikes Down North Carolina GOP's Gerrymandered Map

In a ruling that could have major implications for next year's congressional elections, a North Carolina court late Monday struck down the state GOP's 2020 legislative district map on the grounds that it was unlawfully gerrymandered to favor the Republican Party.

"Extreme partisan gerrymandering—namely redistricting plans that entrench politicians in power, that evince a fundamental distrust of voters by serving the self-interest of political parties over the public good, and that dilute and devalue votes of some citizens compared to others—is contrary to the fundamental right of North Carolina citizens to have elections conducted freely and honestly to ascertain, fairly and truthfully, the will of the people,” the three-judge panel wrote in its 20-page ruling (pdf).

Politico reporter Jake Sherman said the decision is "potentially seismic for control of Congress."

The North Carolina court's ruling came months after the right-wing Supreme Court ruled in June that partisan gerrymandering is beyond the constitutional reach of federal courts, a decision voting rights advocates decried as an abdication of responsibility that could open the door to more extreme partisan gerrymandering in the future.

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Fueled by Climate Change, California’s Raging Wildfires Are Threatening Vulnerable Communities First

California’s Governor Wants Berkshire to Bid for Bankrupt PG&E

California Governor Gavin Newsom wants Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to make a takeover bid for bankrupt utility giant PG&E Corp. ...

“We would love to see that interest materialize, and in a more proactive, public effort,” he said in an interview. “That would be encouraging to see. They are one of the few that are in a position to make a significant run at this.” ...

Berkshire has been raised as a possible suitor since PG&E’s collapse, but the most vocal group seeking to take control of the utility is a collection of creditors led by Pacific Investment Management Co. and activist investor Elliott Management Corp. Newsom said Saturday that he’d like to see more than just hedge funds vying for the company and has been talking to mayors of cities including San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland about possible bids. ...

Newsom didn’t say whether he has discussed a bid with Berkshire. “We’re having a lot of conversations with a lot of people,” he said. “My hope is that those that are interested really step up those efforts because we are running out of time.”

It is time to begin thinking about public ownership of major utilities.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 27, 2019

California wildfires: how bad are they and is the climate crisis linked?

Wildfires are a regular part of life in California and a natural part of the ecosystem, and autumn is the traditional high-risk season for fires to break out. However experts broadly agree that the climate crisis is making the conditions for wildfires worse, and extending the season for longer.

Since 1970, temperatures in the western US have increased by about double the global average, lengthening the western wildfire season by several months and drying out large tracts of forests, making them more fire-prone. “Climate change is increasing the vulnerability of many forests to ecosystem changes and tree mortality through fire, insect infestations, drought and disease outbreaks,” a major climate assessment by the US government states.

Cal Fire, the state’s wildfire disaster agency, says that “while wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape, the fire season in California and across the west is starting earlier and ending later each year. Climate change is considered a key driver of this trend.” ...

The 2017 and 2018 were the two deadliest wildfire years on record. The Kincade fire is still only a fraction of the size of the 2017 northern California fires, which killed 44, and there have been no fatalities linked to the fires yet. But in a state still reeling from the aftermath of the 2017 fires, as well as the 2018 Camp fire in Paradise, which left 86 dead, the shadow of previous disasters is looming large. Rebuilding in places like Paradise has only begun, while some people have only recently returned home now face having to leave again. And from northern California to Los Angeles, residents are grappling with the sinking sense of that their state has become unlivable amid a “new normal” of debilitating heat, an endless fire season, mandatory mass evacuations and forced power shutdowns to prevent new blazes.

California wildfires: violent winds fuel Kincade blaze as Getty fire burns in LA

California firefighters raced against time on Monday to bring a raging wine country wildfire under control amid a lull in the weather, with warnings that the extreme winds fueling fires across the state could pick up again soon. Violent winds of up to 100mph helped the Kincade fire, currently the largest burning in the state, to double in size over the weekend. The fire has scorched more than 66,000 acres, destroyed nearly 100 structures, and forced an unprecedented evacuation of more than 185,000 people in the area.

In the south of the state, a blaze broke out in the early morning near the Getty art museum in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, hailed “a lot of amazing heroes” while warning residents to heed evacuation warnings. ... No deaths from either blaze were reported, but a firefighter was seriously injured in the wine country fire in Sonoma county.

The winds wound down Monday morning but forecasters predicted the respite would be brief. The Weather Channel reported that the state would see a third round of fire danger on Tuesday and southern California could see its highest winds yet.

Meanwhile, more than 2 million people remained without electricity, after the state’s largest utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric, shut off power over the weekend to prevent its equipment from sparking blazes. PG&E said it was slowly restoring power to customers, but it warned that more deliberate blackouts were possible in the coming days because of the new round of high winds in the forecast. Roughly 741,000 homes or businesses were still without power on Monday afternoon, according to the company. ...

There are more than a dozen fires burning across the state, and with no rain in the forecast and more winds, the outlook in the coming days is grim. “This is when we have the most potential for large and damaging fires,” said Thom Porter, chief of the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire). “All of California is in play right now.”

Flint is just the tip of the iceberg, the EPA is asleep at the switch

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Also of Interest

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

Endorsing The Deep State Endangers Democracy

Another whistleblower says Syria 'chemical attack' may have been staged - rare BBC interview

Hat tip to Great Lake Sailor for this story:

NLG IC statement on the arrest of Max Blumenthal, the attack on Venezuela and the repression of dissent

OPCW Losing Credibility As Even More Revelations Surface On Douma

A Sudden-Seeming Power Shift in the Middle East

Dangers and Possibilities in the Chile Protests

Armenian Genocide recognition set for vote on House floor

Bolsonaro says he's fighting corruption. So why is he surrounded by scandal?

James Comey says he will move to New Zealand if Trump wins in 2020

'Look at My Record, Child,' Biden Tells Adult Climate Campaigner in Condescending Response to Super PAC Question

Joe Biden belittles Sunrise Activist, organizer responds on Rising

Yang plays to win with new campaign ad

Ancestral home of modern humans is in Botswana, study finds

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A Little Night Music

Sy Oliver - One O'Clock Jump

Tommy Dorsey/Sy Oliver - Loose Lid Special

Sy Oliver - Rhythm Is Our Business

Sy Oliver & His Orchestra - House Party

Sy Oliver - Castle Rock

Sy Oliver - Slow Burn

Sy Oliver & Jo Stafford w/Tommy Dorsey - Yes Indeed

Sy Oliver & Jim Brown - I want you to be my baby

Sy Oliver And His Orchestra - Dragnet

Sy Oliver - Zonky

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