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“They ran their heads very hard against wrong ideas, and persisted in trying to fit the circumstances to the ideas instead of trying to extract ideas from the circumstances.”

-- Charles Dickens

News and Opinion

Neoliberalism in Collapse = Fascism?!

Nazi-Normalizing Barf Journalism: A Brief History

In the beginning was the profile of the Nazi next door, an inexplicable decision by the New York Times (11/25/17) to profile a right-wing extremist in the most sympathetic light possible. It was the most outrageous example of an outrageous genre of MSM—and particularly NYT—reporting: the never-ending effort to profile, study, explain, excuse and rationalize Trump voters. Without, of course, referring to them as racists. White men are always news that’s fit to print.

The article was met with howls of protest across Twitter, but among the many apt responses, Bess Kalb’s description (11/25/17) captured my heart and gave me the single most useful phrase of the Trump era: “Nazi-normalizing barf journalism.”

I don't mean to sound intolerant or coarse, but fuck this Nazi and fuck the gentle, inquisitive tone of this Nazi normalizing barf journalism, and fuck the photographer for not just throwing the camera at this Nazi's head and laughing. https://t.co/Pxfx2KU9AN

— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) November 25, 2017

Again and again during Trump’s presidency, corporate media have fallen over themselves to find acceptable ways to describe utterly unacceptable behavior, policies and decisions—none more so than the New York Times. In every era, the Times’ center of gravity has been the legitimation of power, and the Trump era is no different. The paper’s obvious disdain for Donald Trump is continually cloaked in rationalizing headlines and descriptions. It’s as if they can’t help themselves—the stability of US institutions is more important than their integrity, and so they must normalize what should never be normalized.

Just three examples:

• “Trump’s Embrace of Racially Charged Past Puts Republicans in Crisis” (8/16/17): This headline refers to Trump’s “very fine people” defense of neo-Nazis at the Charlottesville white supremacist rally where James Fields drove a car into a crowd of protesters, killing one (Heather Heyer) and injuring dozens, many seriously. “Racially charged past” = Confederate monuments celebrating the defense of chattel slavery.
• “Ocasio-Cortez Calls Migrant Detention Centers ‘Concentration Camps,’ Eliciting Backlash” (6/18/19): The headline suggests that the veracity of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s description is up for debate, when, in fact, it is simply accurate terminology. Indeed, the subsequent rise of #JewsAgainstICE underscored that truth with the particular credibility that Jewish people bring to conversations about ethnic cleansing. The Times chose to cover the moment as a “she said, she said” debate between liberal Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez and Republicans like Liz Cheney.
• After a Green Bay rally (4/27/19) in which Trump called the media “sick people” and the officials he’s forced out of government “scum,” and accused Democrats of supporting infanticide (Vox, 4/29/19), the Times put out a tweet (4/28/19) saying that with the infanticide charge, “Trump revived an inaccurate refrain.”

You get the idea.

All of it is Nazi-normalizing barf journalism. In wrapping human rights abuses, lawbreaking, lies, corruption, cruelty, racism, misogyny and other abhorrent dimensions of the Trump administration in the familiar language and themes of Washington politics, the Times is actively helping stabilize the regime. We read these headlines and think “business as usual” rather than “this is intolerable, I must act.”

Remembering the Greensboro Massacre of 1979, When KKK & Nazis Killed 5 People in Broad Daylight

Syria's Assad: Trump is 'the best' because he's 'most transparent president'

Syrian President Bashar Assad has said President Trump is the "best" U.S. president because he is "transparent."

"He's the best American president," said Assad in a recent interview, according to an NBC News translation."Not because his policies are good, but because he's the most transparent president."

Referring to other U.S. presidents, Assad said "all they are is a group of criminals who only represent the interest of American lobbies of large corporations in weapons, oil and others."

"Trump speaks with transparency to say 'we want the oil,'" he said.

“What do we want more than a transparent foe?” added the foreign leader.

US Needs To Occupy Syria Because Of Kurds Or Iran Or Chemical Weapons Or Oil Or Whatever

We were told that the US must intervene in Syria because the Syrian government was massacring its people. We were told that the US must intervene in Syria in order to promote freedom and democracy in the Middle East. We were told that the US must intervene in Syria because Assad used chemical weapons. We were told that the US must occupy Syria to fight ISIS. We were told that the US must continue to occupy Syria to counter Iranian influence. We were told the US must continue to occupy Syria to protect the Kurds. Now the US must continue to occupy Syria because of oil.

These wildly different reasons the public has been given for America’s need to forcibly insert a military presence into Syria all have only one thing in common, and that’s America forcibly inserting a military presence into Syria. This is because they are not reasons, but excuses. The US forcibly inserted a military presence into Syria with the full intention of keeping it there, and then started diddling a bunch of completely different narratives in order to justify the thing it already wanted to do long before any of those excuses arose.

For eight years we’ve been spoonfed an assortment of radically different narratives explaining why the US needs to control Syria militarily, and it turns out that the US and its allies have been plotting to control Syria since long before then. This is because Syria occupies an extremely geostrategically valuable location that is in no way limited to its oil fields. In 2004 Assad launched his “Five Seas Vision“, a plan to use Syria’s supreme location to place itself at the center of a regional energy and transportation system and become an economic superpower. The nation was then plunged into chaos seven years later, but whoever manages to secure control over this location will be able to achieve the same lucrative energy and transportation control for themselves. The dispute over pipeline routes that many have highlighted is just one small example of this. There’s also the illegally occupied Golan Heights which the extremely shady Genie Energy corporation has a vested interest in, and which provides a third of Israel’s water supply, and which the US has decided to officially regard as Israeli property.

So it’s a geostrategically crucial region, and it happens to have no interest at all in allowing itself to be absorbed into the blob of the US-centralized power alliance, allying itself instead with the unabsorbed nations of Russia and Iran. This has made it the epicenter of a giant global imperialist struggle the implications of which stretch far beyond its borders to the rest of the world. This is the real reason why half a million Syrians have died in an imperialist proxy war, and why many more Syrians continue to suffer under US-led sanctions and the deprivation of their nation’s valuable natural resources. Not because of humanitarianism, not because of democracy, not because of chemical weapons, not because of ISIS, not because of Iran, not because of Kurds, and not even really just because of oil, but because there’s a globe-spanning oligarchic empire to which Syria has refused to submit. Everything else is empty narrative.

Whenever you see anyone arguing for keeping troops in Syria that aren’t there with the permission of the Syrian government, this is all they’re really supporting: a campaign to annex a strategically valuable location into the US-centralized empire. This is true regardless of whatever reason they are offering for that support. And notice how all the different reasons we’ve been inundated with all appeal to different political sectors: the oil and Iran narratives appeal to rank-and-file Republicans, the humanitarian arguments appeal to liberals, and the Kurds narrative appeals to many leftists and anarchists like Noam Chomsky. But the end result is always the same: keeping military force in a location that the empire has long sought to absorb.

By providing many different narratives as to why the military presence must continue, the propagandists get us all arguing over which narratives are the correct ones rather than whether or not there should be an illegal military occupation of a sovereign nation at all. This is just one of many examples of how the incredibly shrinking Overton window of acceptable debate is used to keep us arguing not over whether the empire should be doing evil things, but how and why it should do them them.

Iraqis pour into streets for biggest protest day since Saddam

Tens of thousands of Iraqis thronged central Baghdad on Friday demanding the root-and-branch downfall of the political elite in the biggest day of mass anti-government demonstrations since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

One woman died after she was struck in the head by a tear gas canister, Iraq's Human Rights Commission said, and at least 155 people were wounded on Friday as security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters camped out in the capital's Tahrir Square.

Five people died on Thursday night from similar injuries.

Protests have accelerated dramatically in recent days, drawing huge crowds from across Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divides to reject the political parties in power since 2003.

Friday, the Muslim main day of prayer, drew the biggest crowds yet, with many taking to the streets after worship. ...

At least 250 people have been killed over the past month.

French Rafale jets strike ISIS tunnels in northeastern Iraq

French Rafale fighter aircraft conducted a strike on a number of Islamic State tunnels in northeastern Iraq, the French defense ministry said in a Friday release.

The strikes were conducted on Thursday, October 31 as part of Operation Chammal, France’s contribution to Operation Inherent Resolve, the multinational Coalition military effort against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

“The operation was conducted jointly and coordinated with other elements of the international Coalition. The aim was to destroy several tunnels used by Daesh as a rear base for its actions, and to degrade its logistical and military capabilities in this region,” the release said.

Footage leaked of Israeli officer shooting Palestinian in the back

Israel has completed an investigation into the case of a former police officer who shot an unarmed Palestinian in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet. The incident, which took place more than a year ago, was revisited over the weekend when a domestic television channel aired leaked footage of it.

Channel 13 News reported that the man was stopped as he tried to enter Israel from the occupied West Bank. In what appears to be a cameraphone video, published on Saturday evening, the unidentified man is seen being ordered by a female border police officer to leave. He promptly walks away along an empty road with his hands up as other Israeli officers shout “Go!” in Arabic. Almost 20 seconds later he is shot in the back, and he screams in pain as he collapses. The officers then turn and leave.

Israel’s justice ministry said on Sunday that it had held four hearings into the case. It did not say when it would announce its decision on whether to file charges. ... Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on the woman’s arrest last year. At her bail hearing at Jerusalem magistrates court, the judge Elad Persky said the suspect apparently shot the Palestinian “as a dubious form of entertainment”.

Trump's Attempt to Boost Boris Johnson Just Backfired Spectacularly

President Donald Trump has waded into Britain’s election campaign, lavishing praise on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and savaging the main rival facing Johnson in his Dec. 12 snap election, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. But we're not so sure Trump's comments did his “friend” any favors. In a wide-ranging interview Thursday with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, a friend of the U.S. president, Trump slammed Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal with the European Union, saying it would mean the U.S. wouldn’t be able to negotiate a trade deal with Britain. ...

His comments, which directly contradicted Johnson’s pledge to negotiate a free trade agreement with the U.S. after leaving the EU, prompted Downing Street to issue a rebuttal Friday.

In further comments that likely had Johnson’s campaign team wincing, Trump — who is hugely unpopular in the UK — described the UK prime minister as a “fantastic man” and said they had “a great friendship.”

“When he was running, they were saying, 'He’s the Trump, he’s the Trump.' We have a lot of the same things going,” he said. He also urged Johnson and Farage to team up and form an “unstoppable force” to win the election.

Analysts predict Farage’s Brexit Party will draw some voters away from Johnson’s Conservatives in the December election, potentially costing the Tories vital seats unless they can reach a deal with Farage not to contest marginal electorates. Farage said Friday that he wanted to form a “Leave alliance” with the Conservatives but that it would require Johnson to tear up the EU withdrawal agreement he reached with the EU, which Farage said was “not Brexit.” If Johnson didn’t agree to a pact, Farage said his party would run candidates in every seat in England, Scotland, and Wales.

Donald Trump is trying to interfere in Britain’s election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected.

It was Trump who said in June the NHS is “on the table”. And he knows if Labour wins US corporations won’t get their hands on it.

Our NHS is not for sale.pic.twitter.com/AUhht3pCgL

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 31, 2019

Keiser Report: What is the Fed hiding?

Ady Barkan: Elizabeth Warren’s Plan Is a Massive Win for the Medicare for All Movement

The movement for single-payer health care has taken some big strides forward in recent years. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., put the issue at the center of the Democratic Party’s debate with his run for president in 2016. In partnership with the nurses union and other champions, he then got 19 senators to co-sponsor his bill in 2017. After Democrats took back the House of Representatives, we demanded and got hearings in multiple powerful committees on the fantastic bill spearheaded by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. (The successor to that of the progressive hero and former Michigan Rep. John Conyers, who died this week.) These were our victories, earned by a movement that has been fighting for many decades.

The plan that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren just released is another enormous win for us. It will help persuade our friends and families and neighbors to support Medicare for All, and in the not-too-distant future, to convince Congress too. Here’s why.

To begin, her plan covers everybody, with zero out-of-pocket expenses. “Medicare for All” is a great brand. So is “Free Healthcare for Everybody.” And that’s the central promise of the Sanders and Jayapal bills, and the Warren proposal as well. You get the doctors and caregivers and treatments you need, for free. That’s it. It is a deeply appealing vision (as evidenced by the enthusiasm that Bernie generates among the working class) that we can use to drive enormous turnout from voters who often stay home out of cynicism about what either party will do for them. ...

Her plan doesn’t raise taxes on working families. Lately, debate moderators have been salivating at the idea of getting Warren to admit that her plan will be paid for by creating a new employer-side tax. (Bernie has already said as much — because he’s a no-bullshit, courageous guy, and everyone has been assuming that it would be necessary.) And her debate-stage admission would then be the subject of a billion dollars in Republican advertisements. This was the trap that was being set for Warren, according smart observers like Paul Krugman and Zach Carter, and it could have disastrous political consequences. (They even had me worried. Honestly.)

But then Warren did what she does best: her fucking homework. She consulted the experts, she double-checked the numbers, and she dropped a codex of wisdom right in the middle of the teacher’s desk. And the political reverberations may be felt for decades. Just imagine what will happen when the debate moderators ask her next time how she’ll pay for her plan. She can answer honestly and with authority that Medicare for All will mean zero health care costs and no increases in taxes for all but the wealthiest Americans.

Elizabeth Warren Town Hall - SNL

Looks like all sorts of Obama-era turds are rising to the top of the bowl just now. Click the article link for greater detail.

Joe Biden Campaign Pointing Reporters to Larry Summers for Comment on Elizabeth Warren’s Health Care Plan

As the Joe Biden campaign mounts its opposition to a new Medicare for All financing plan rolled out by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, it is directing reporters to former Obama adviser Larry Summers for his bits of wisdom, according to an email obtained by The Intercept.

Summers, if he takes the calls, will be joining several other Obama administration veterans who have recently attacked Warren over Medicare for All, including former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy Ann Deparle, a lead player in push for the Affordable Care Act. Both are now involved in the private health care industry.

Summers’s lifelong dream of chairing the Federal Reserve — a position he was promised in exchange for agreeing to serve as a senior economic adviser — was thwarted in 2013 by a bloc of progressive-populist senators on the Banking Committee, with Warren playing a lead role internally. Warren helped organize an outside coalition of Summers opponents, including organized labor and women’s groups, while her ally, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., made the public case against him. Once Merkley and Warren locked up five votes on the committee, Summers had no path to confirmation and withdrew his name. He may be most well-known as an advocate of financial deregulation while serving in the Clinton administration. ...

The Biden campaign’s suggestion to contact Summers follows an assault Summers made recently on the wealth tax proposed by Warren. Summers is a valuable voice for Biden because he is treated by the press as an elder dispensing wisdom, rather than a spurned rival out to settle scores. CNBC, in reporting his wealth tax criticism, called him “one of the economic pillars of the Democratic establishment.” At a panel hosted by the Peterson Institute, funded by the late billionaire Pete Peterson, a longtime advocate of slashing public spending to the bone, CNBC reported that Summers “lashed out at the idea of a wealth tax, saying it was bad economics, bad policy, and built on bad data.”

Neoliberalism kills.

The Latest Stats on American Men's Lifespan Are Alarming

American men are dying younger and younger.

Their life expectancy has dropped for the third straight year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The newly released data shows that in 2017, the average male lifespan dropped to 76.1 years, down from 76.2 in 2016 and 76.5 just in 2014.

The lifespan for women, meanwhile, held steady at 81.1 years — the exact same as it was in 2016 and 2015.

In 2017, the life expectancy at birth for males was 76.1 years. Life expectancy at birth for males has decreased each year since 2014. For more data on life expectancy #HealthUS #lifeexpectancy https://t.co/lKhXRC5GvK pic.twitter.com/W4bpfoED1B

— NCHS (@NCHStats) October 30, 2019

'Not a Big Fan of Medicare for All': Pelosi Attacks Plan Backed by Leading 2020 Democrats, Majority of Party

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview Friday that she is "not a big fan of Medicare for All" despite support for the ambitious proposal among the majority of her caucus, three-quarters of Democratic voters, and two leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. "It is expensive," Pelosi told Bloomberg, without mentioning that studies show Medicare for All would save the U.S. trillions of dollars while providing comprehensive coverage to all.

"Who pays is very important," continued Pelosi. "What are the benefits that come in there? So I would think that hopefully as we emerge into the election year, the mantra would be more 'Healthcare for All Americans.'" The Speaker added that "there is a comfort level that some people have with their current private insurance that they have, and if that is to be phased out, let's talk about it."

Progressive activist Jonathan Cohn denounced Pelosi's comments as "sabotage" of two of the Democratic Party's presidential frontrunners, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Pelosi's remarks came just hours after Warren released a Medicare for All financing plan that she says would deliver a major tax cut for most families in the U.S. while also reducing national healthcare spending compared to the current for-profit system.

The #Nurses and activists for #MedicareForAll are working on it by having a die-in in front of @SpeakerPelosi ‘s office pic.twitter.com/KMu3qnLT6W

— Tina Rufo (@RufoTina) November 3, 2019

Hundreds of Nurses Stage Die-In in Front of Speaker Pelosi’s San Francisco Office

On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview that she is "not a big fan of Medicare for All" despite strong support for the proposal among the majority of her caucus, three-quarters of Democratic voters, and two leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.

On Saturday afternoon, hundreds of nurses and activists took to the streets of San Francisco to demand that Speaker Pelosi fight for the Medicare for All Act, H.R. 1384.

Pelosi: 'I'm not a big fan of #MedicareforAll'

Me: I’m not a big fan of @SpeakerPelosi https://t.co/aYUrZtW58s

— RoseAnn DeMoro (@RoseAnnDeMoro) November 1, 2019

CIA Whistleblower outed

Real Clear Investigations' Paul Sperry is pointing the finger at an Obama Administration holdover in the National Security Council, Eric Ciaramella, as the until now unidentified "whistleblower" with regards to President Trump's call to Ukraine, in which he was alleged to have pressured the eastern European nation to reopen an investigation into the questionable Burisma Energy business dealings.

Ciaramella is also a colleague of two of House Intel chairman Adam Schiff's (D-California) staffers Sean Misko and Abigail Grace. Misko was hired by Schiff in August, the same month Ciaramella reportedly raised concerns about Trump's call to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Schiff retained the services of Grace in February of 2018.

Ciaramella, Grace and Misko all worked together as aides at the NSC (National Security Council). ...

Rep. Schiff has stated that neither he, his staff or any on the House Intelligence Committee "ever met directly with the whistleblower", now identified as a pal of two of Schiff's staffers.

The Washington Post accused Schiff of "clearly making a statement that was false." ...

It has been reported that Ciaramella was fired from the National Security Council under the Trump Administration in June or July of this year (a month before he allegedly accused Trump of making the quid pro quo call).

Whistleblower's lawyer says CIA official will answer Republican questions

A lawyer for the whistleblower who raised alarms about Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine said on Sunday his client is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans.

The surprise offer, made to Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower, who spurred the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry, without having to go through committee chairman Adam Schiff.

Attorney Mark Zaid tweeted that the whistleblower would answer questions directly from Republican members “in writing, under oath & penalty of perjury”, as part of an attempt to stem efforts by Trump and his GOP allies to unmask the person’s identity. Only queries seeking the person’s identity would not be answered, Zaid said. ...

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday he had not yet discussed the whistleblower’s offer with Nunes, but stressed that the person should answer questions in a public appearance before the committee.

“When you’re talking about the removal of the president of the United States, undoing democracy, undoing what the American public had voted for, I think that individual should come before the committee,” McCarthy told CBS’ Face the Nation.

Pushed Out, Attacked & Criminalized: San Francisco’s Unhoused People Speak Out Amid Housing Crisis

Judge blocks Trump's rule requiring immigrants show they have healthcare

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, has put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas. US district judge Michael Simon granted a temporary restraining order that prevented the rule from going into effect Sunday. It was not clear when he would rule on the merits of the case.

Seven US citizens and a non-profit organization filed the federal lawsuit on Wednesday, contending the rule would block nearly two-thirds of all prospective legal immigrants. The lawsuit also said the rule would greatly reduce or eliminate the number of immigrants who enter the US with family sponsored visas.

“We’re very grateful that the court recognized the need to block the healthcare ban immediately,” said Justice Action Center senior litigator Esther Sung, who argued at a hearing on Saturday on behalf of the plaintiffs. “The ban would separate families and cut two-thirds of green-card-based immigration starting tonight, were the ban not stopped.”

The proclamation signed by Donald Trump in early October applies to people seeking immigrant visas from abroad, not those in the US already. It does not affect lawful permanent residents. It does not apply to asylum seekers, refugees or children.

Journalist Max Blumenthal arrested on false charge in DC

FBI and San Francisco Police Have Been Lying About Scope of Joint Counterterrorism Investigations, Document Suggests

San Francisco police officers working on an FBI counterterrorism task force were routinely given low-level assignments that would invite violations of local San Francisco law and policy, according to an internal FBI legal analysis obtained by The Intercept.

The FBI’s San Francisco office has long assured the public that its relationship to the city’s police officers could be trusted, especially when it came to officers assigned to the bureau’s secretive counterterrorism teams. In January, for example, John F. Bennett, the special agent in charge of the office, wrote to Mayor London Breed to correct the “inaccurate information promulgated” by the media concerning its Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF, which the San Francisco Police Department chose to remove its officers from more than two years ago.

The split was the extension of an inherent tension: Police officers on the teams operated under both the rules of the FBI and the rules of their department, and the rules of the department — created to protect the civil and First Amendment rights of San Franciscans and enforced under a local San Francisco ordinance — prohibit or strictly regulate much of the core activities FBI agents routinely engage in. Bennett downplayed the issue in his letter to the mayor, pointing to an agreement between the two agencies, which had held that police officers on the task force would follow local departmental rules when working with the FBI. ...

An FBI white paper authored before Bennett sent his letter to the mayor, shows that the bureau’s San Francisco office considered the city’s laws and policies regarding civil rights and free speech to be a major problem. The document stated that the bulk of what police officers did on the San Francisco JTTF were inquiries that would typically be prohibited under SFPD rules and local law, calling into question nearly 120 operations that task force officers participated in over a three-year period.

The internal analysis described a legal catch-22 for San Francisco police officers: They were on one hand required to describe their work for the JTTF to SFPD supervisors and faced potential discipline or removal if they didn’t. At the same time, the work they did for the FBI involved classified matters — and sharing that information, even with a supervisor, exposed officers to federal criminal liability. The document presented several potential solutions to the conflicting rules. The only ones the FBI appeared to endorse were those that would water down or weaken the local civil rights and First Amendment protections SFPD officers are required uphold.

Labor, Ever So Gingerly, Tiptoes Into the Insurgency

Ever since 26-year-old Jessica Cisneros announced that she would be challenging Rep. Henry Cuellar in the primary for Texas’s 28th District with the support of Justice Democrats, the primary unfolded about as well as Cisneros could have expected. The Cuellar campaign dismissed her as an out-of-touch leftist with few roots in her community. Cisneros plowed ahead, swore off corporate PAC and lobbyist money, and began putting together her volunteer operation. The national press, perpetually on the hunt for “the next AOC,” breathed life into her campaign. Local media, not wanting to miss the upset, took her seriously too. Fundraising was robust.

But then the race took an unusual turn: On October 23, Cisneros picked up a key union endorsement, Communication Workers of America District 6, and on Saturday, she’ll be speaking in Austin at a political rally hosted by AFSCME Local 1624. The event is being held to gin up excitement for 2020, and Cuellar was not invited. ... Organized labor, which typically allies with the party establishment in the face of ongoing insurgency, has company in opposing the incumbent Democrat. Cisneros has scored endorsements from Sen. Elizabeth Warren; the Working Families Party; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; and even EMILY’s List, all betting that the deep-blue district, which went for Hillary Clinton by nearly 20 points, is tired of an anti-choice Democrat who often votes with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. ...

Unions have good reason to be interested in this race. While Cuellar is more commonly known for voting to support a 20-week abortion ban and funding a Mexican border wall in his own southern Texas district, his record on labor issues has driven worker advocates crazy for years.

SHOCK POLL: 73% of young voters back Bernie in Michigan

Pete Buttigieg: race is between me and Warren – as new poll puts him fourth

Pete Buttigieg is fourth in a four-strong pack clear of the Democratic presidential field, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But he thinks the final choice of who will challenge Donald Trump will be between him and Elizabeth Warren.

In an interview to be broadcast on Showtime on Sunday, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said the race is “getting to be a two-way” between him and the Massachusetts senator. “A world where we’re getting somewhere is that world,” he said, “where it’s coming down to the two of us”.

According to the Post-ABC poll, former vice-president Joe Biden leads nationally among likely primary voters, with 28% support, from Warren in second on 23%, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders on 17% and Buttigieg on 9%. Asked on ABC’s This Week if this is really a two-way race, Buttigieg said: “Not yet, no. There is a tremendous amount of energy for a range of candidates who are extremely capable. I’m proud to be part of I think the most diverse field ever in Democratic politics and some formidable competition.

“But what I will say is there is amazing energy behind our campaign right now. We’re seeing it on the ground here in Iowa, we’re seeing it pick up in a lot of places. And I think voters are really narrowing down their choices instead of just getting to know us.” Buttigieg has surged to second in Iowa, the first state to vote. According to the realclearpolitics.com average, Warren leads there with 22.3% from Buttigieg on 17%, Biden on 15.7% and Sanders on 15.3%.

Krystal Ball: CNN relentlessly mocked for Pete Buttigieg fluff piece

'Landmark New Research' Links Neonics With Collapse of Fisheries

A new study out this week provides more evidence of harm caused by a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, with researchers linking use of the chemicals on a Japanese lake with impacts to an entire food web that resulted in the collapse of two fisheries.

"No surprise," tweeted former UK Green Party leader leader Natalie Bennett, "soaking our planet in pesticides has broad systemic effects on biodiversity and bioabundance."

For the study, published in the November 1 issue of the journal Science, the researchers looked at Lake Shinji and analyzed over two decades of data. They found cascading impacts that appeared to stem from the first use of neonicotinoids on nearby rice paddies.

"Since the application of neonicotinoids to agricultural fields began in the 1990s, zooplankton biomass has plummeted in a Japanese lake surrounded by these fields," the researchers wrote. "This decline has led to shifts in food web structure and a collapse of two commercially harvested freshwater fish species."

"Using data on zooplankton, water quality, and annual fishery yields of eel and smelt," the paper says, "we show that neonicotinoid application to watersheds since 1993 coincided with an 83% decrease in average zooplankton biomass in spring, causing the smelt harvest to collapse from 240 to 22 tons in Lake Shinji, Shimane Prefecture, Japan."

Emboldened by Bolsonaro, Illegal Loggers in Amazon Kill Indigenous Leader Paulo Paulino Guajajara

Oil Companies Must Cut Production by 35% to Meet Paris Climate Accord Numbers by 2040

A new report released Friday claims that if fossil fuel companies want to have any chance of hitting Paris Climate Accord numbers by 2040, they will have to cut production by over a third.

"Oil and gas companies seem to be operating under a business as usual mindset in which they can grow without limit, while taking minimal steps to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions they are responsible for," said environmental advocacy group As You Sow energy program manager Lila Holzman. "This report emphasizes that no company is taking sufficient action to reduce the risk of climate breakdown."

Carbon Tracker's "Balancing the Budget" details the long road for extractive industries "to keep emissions within international climate targets and protect shareholder value."

As @ExxonMobil & @Chevron announce their quarterly earnings, our new report, Balancing the Budget, shows they must cut production 55% & 35% to meet the #ParisAgreement & protect investors https://t.co/QGYmQw58GI

— Carbon Tracker (@CarbonBubble) November 1, 2019

"We estimate that as a group, the major oil and gas companies need to reduce production by 35% to 2040 to stay within their B2DS budgets," the report explains. "Within this decline there is significant variation, from Shell (-10%) to ConocoPhillips (-85%) reflecting current and future project mix."

Australian PM Morrison Pledges to Outlaw Climate Boycotts

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attacked environmental activists in a speech Friday, warning of a “new breed of radical activism” that was “apocalyptic in tone” and pledging to outlaw boycott campaigns that he argued could hurt the country’s mining industry.

“We are working to identify mechanisms that can successfully outlaw these indulgent and selfish practices that threaten the livelihoods of fellow Australians, especially in rural and regional areas,” Morrison said. “New threats to the future of the resources sector have emerged,” he said. “A new breed of radical activism is on the march. Apocalyptic in tone. It brooks no compromise. It’s all or nothing.”

Morrison claimed that “progressivism” – which he labeled a “new-speak type term”, invoking George Orwell – intends “to get in under the radar, but at its heart would deny the liberties of Australians”.

The remarks were made in a speech to the Queensland Resources Council, an organization representing mining interests in the northeastern Australian state. The Human Rights Law Center, the Australian Conservation Foundation, and the Greens immediately attacked the proposal as undemocratic and an attempt to undermine people’s rights to protest, often at the behest of big corporations. ...

Green party leader Adam Bandt called Morrison “a direct threat to Australian democracy and freedom of speech. The prime minister’s commitment to outlaw the peaceful, legal protest of Australian individuals and community groups reads like a move straight from the totalitarian’s playbook,” he said. “Instead of getting tough on the climate crisis, Scott Morrison is dismantling democracy.”

PM Morrison is an evangelical Christian and a very vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump.

California wildfire: evacuation orders lifted as Trump blasts Newsom

As authorities lifted all evacuation orders imposed by a wildfire that caused thousands to flee their homes north-west of Los Angeles, Donald Trump threatened to cut federal funding for aid during the kind of blazes that have hit California hard this fall.

Governor Gavin Newsom has done a “terrible job of forest management”, Trump tweeted. “When fires rage, the governor comes to the federal government for help. No more.”

Neither of the two major fires presently burning in California are on forest land. California controls a small percentage of forest land. The federal government manages most of it.

Last year Trump made a similar threat as wildfires devastated Malibu and Paradise, California, accusing the state of “gross mismanagement” of forests. At the time Newsom defended California’s wildfire prevention efforts while criticizing the federal government for not doing enough to help protect the state.

He replied on Sunday with a tweet of his own: “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation.”

Also of Interest

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

Bernie Sanders Says Denying Aid Because of Hamas Is “Part of an Effort to Dehumanize Palestinians”

Fed Loans: These Charts Hold a Big Clue to the Liquidity Squeeze on Wall Street

Impeachment Theater

Cable News in Glare of Its Own Russiagate Gaslight

The Incredible Shrinking Overton Window

Top Kentucky Democrat breaks with Pelosi's M4A criticism

Elizabeth Warren Releases #MedicareForAll “Pay For” Plan, with “No New Taxes” on the “Middle Class”

WATCH LIVE (recorded): Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar Rally Forces in Minneapolis

A Group of Progressive Women Just Launched a Working-Class Version of EMILY’s List

A Little Night Music

Peetie Wheatstraw - The Last Dime

Peetie Wheatstraw - Crazy With The Blues

Peetie Wheatstraw - Working On The Project

Peetie Wheatstraw - Peetie Wheatstraw Stomp

Peetie Wheatstraw - More Good Whiskey Blues

Peetie Wheatstraw - Tennessee Peaches Blues

Peetie Wheatstraw - Long Time Ago Blues

Peetie Wheatstraw - When I Get My Bonus

Peetie Wheatstraw - Bring Me Flowers While I'm Living