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"The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting."

-- Charles Bukowski

News and Opinion

Worth a full read:

Bolivia is turning into a rightwing military dictatorship

Indian massacres have returned to Bolivia. There is a history — a blood feud, to be precise — behind this tragedy. The self-declared “presidency” of Jeanine Áñez has revived the old oligarchy’s race hatred and the barbaric practice of Indian killing, the collective punishment of the nation’s Indigenous majority for daring to defy a centuries-old racial order of apartheid and oppression. Since the ousting of Bolivia’s first Indigenous president Evo Morales, security forces have carried out at least two massacres of Indigenous people protesting the military coup.

Only two weeks since seizing state power, the evidence is clear: this is a rightwing, military dictatorship. The telltale sign for a country like Bolivia is the outright Indian killing.

On November 15, the army opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in Cochabamba, killing eight and wounding dozens more. On November 16, a day after the Cochabamba massacre, Áñez issued a decree exempting the police and military from criminal responsibility in operations for “the restoration of order and public stability.” A carte blanche to kill at will, security forces have obliged the directive with increasing cruelty. Last Tuesday, teargas and bullets rained down on a blockade at the Senkata gas plant in El Alto. Eight were killed, and dozens injured. And this was just the first week of Áñez’s presidency.

Two days later in La Paz, from behind armored vehicles, security forces showered a funeral procession with teargas and rubber bullets. The coffins of victims from the Senkata massacre fell to the ground as people scattered in panic, adding further humiliation to already grief-stricken families and communities. The official death toll since the protests began is estimated to be more than 30, with dozens missing, more than 700 injured, and nearly a thousand arrests. Bolivia’s Indigenous majority are the primary targets of this racist, state-sanctioned violence. ...

The United States’ role in fomenting the racial divisions is without question.

Although the legislative body approved new elections, the decision comes with serious compromises and little promise of diminishing Áñez’s grip on power. In short, the outlook of “free and fair elections” is slim under the current oversight of an authoritarian government that massacres Indigenous people with impunity, imprisons social movement leaders, and charges anyone opposed to it with sedition or terrorism. ... For 14 years, Bolivian Indigenous movements broke the spell of invulnerability surrounding colonial oligarchy and the European-descended elite — and they still pose a significant challenge. An Indigenous president was proof that humble people of the earth could rule. This is their unforgivable sin.

Bolivia appoints first ambassador to US in 11 years

Bolivia appointed its first ambassador to the United States in 11 years on Tuesday, officials said, as the interim government resets the country's foreign policy after the departure of Evo Morales. Walter Oscar Serrate Cuellar has been given the key posting, the foreign ministry announced on Twitter, filling a position left vacant since a diplomatic spat between La Paz and Washington in 2008.

The high-profile appointment, which has to be approved by the Senate, comes as the caretaker government prepares to hold new elections that exclude Morales. ...

Since declaring herself interim president, right-wing senator Jeanine Anez, who has been recognized by the United States, has wasted no time rewriting Bolivia's foreign policy. She broke ties with socialist Cuba and Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela.

Anez's first foreign policy decision was to recognize Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's president, joining a group of around 50 countries. Foreign Minister Karen Longaric announced Venezuelan diplomats would be sent home for "violating diplomatic norms." Bolivia also fired all its ambassadors except those to Peru and the Vatican.

Tuesday's announcement comes as some 20 former members of Morales' government are holed up in Mexico's embassy in La Paz, the foreign ministry said. Five of them -- including Morales' former top minister Juan Ramon Quintana -- are wanted for arrest. Both Morales and Quintana have been accused of sedition and terrorism.

Interesting. IACHR is an organ of the OAS, the jackasses who claimed without evidence that there were "irregularities" in Morales' electoral victory.

Reuters has some interesting ideas, too. Who knew that the fascist thug "Rightwing Antonio Camacho" was a "civic leader?."

Human rights violations in Bolivia merit outside probe - Americas commission head

Bolivia may need outside help to investigate a “massive” number of human rights violations amid post-election violence to ensure findings are seen as credible in the deeply divided country, the head of a regional human rights commission told Reuters on Tuesday.

After a three-day visit to Bolivia, Paulo Abrão, who heads the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), recommended Bolivia coordinate with an international panel of experts similar to one formed to investigate the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico. “Normally in these situations ... national institutions aren’t prepared to resolve such a massive grouping of violations” of human rights, Abrão said in an interview in Cochabamba, a region hard hit by the violence. ...

It was unclear when new elections might be held. The first appointee to the incoming electoral board has said it was technically impossible to organize them by Jan. 22, when the current executive and legislative terms end. A lawmaker in Áñez’ party said it could take four to five months, likely meaning she will be in office for at least six.

MAS has not yet announced possible election candidates. The runner-up in the now-anulled October vote, Carlos Mesa of the Citizen Community Party, has confirmed he will run again. Rightwing Antonio Camacho, who overshadowed Mesa in pressuring Morales to resign, said he would run on a ticket with fellow civic leader Marco Pumari, without saying who would be the candidate for the top job.

Bolivia’s Coup Government Schedules New Election While Persecuting Opposition

More at the link:

Media Wonder: Why Can’t Venezuela Be More Like Bolivia?

Western corporate media outlets have often cried foul when foreign elections don’t go the way the US empire wants them to, and find roundabout ways to label the violent attempts by vocal right-wing minorities to use military forces to overthrow leftist governments as “protests” rather than coups (FAIR.org, 5/16/18, 5/1/19). But it’s still rare to see them blatantly call for a right-wing coup without a hint of their usually subtler pretenses.

Reuters’ report, “Maduro’s Military Stands in the Way of a Bolivia Repeat in Venezuela” (11/11/19), noted that “Venezuelan opposition leaders looking to oust their country’s socialist government” can “take some hope” from the “resignation of its leftist ally in Bolivia, Evo Morales.” There’s just one problem:

But one key factor makes the Bolivia playbook a difficult one to carry out against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro: Venezuela’s armed forces have consistently refused to take the side of protesters as Bolivia’s military did on Sunday.

Reuters’ Brian Ellsworth and Vivian Sequera complained that “Venezuela’s barracks have stood by the ruling Socialist Party,” despite a “crippling economic meltdown,” “waves of major protests” and “broad condemnation of Maduro’s 2018 re-election that was widely described as fraudulent.” (Despite such descriptions, which are indeed widespread, there is no reason to question whether President Nicolás Maduro won the May 2018 election, which was largely boycotted by the opposition.) Reuters lamented that the unpopular US-backed Juan Guaidó’s unconstitutional efforts to “court the armed forces have not been enough to sway their allegiance to Maduro,” despite his being “recognized by more than 50 countries as Venezuela’s legitimate president.” (Note that this means that approximately 75% of the world’s countries don’t recognize Guaido, who lacks UN recognition.) The implication is that the Venezuelan military should stage a coup.

Michael Brooks breaks down global implications of Lula's release

Piñera asks for troops back on Chile's streets despite reports of 'grave' abuses

Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera has asked lawmakers to allow troops back on the streets to defend key public infrastructure, despite fresh reports of “grave” abuses by security forces over five weeks of riots. The continuing protests in Chile over inequality and a shortfall in some social services have left at least 26 dead and thousands injured. They have also hobbled the capital’s public transport system, once the envy of Latin America, and caused billions in losses for private business. ...

Piñera sent a bill to Congress on Tuesday morning to allow the military to protect transmission lines, electric plants, airports, hospitals and other public infrastructure in order to assure “basic services”. He said the move would “free up the police force … to protect the security of our citizens”.

Piñera’s announcement came shortly after the international rights group Human Rights Watch said in a report that police had brutally beaten protesters, shot teargas cartridges directly at them and run over some with official vehicles or motorcycles. “There are hundreds of worrying reports of excessive force on the streets and abuse of detainees,” said José Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, after meeting with Piñera on Tuesday.

The group stopped short of alleging the abuses had been systematic, but its conclusions were in line with a report last week by Amnesty International on the seriousness of many violations. More than 200 Chileans have suffered severe eye injuries alone in clashes with police using rubber bullets.

The Rising Fight Against Neo-Liberalism in Chile

So, how is it that in the face of so much violence, people in Chile have continued their mass protests? What started with a transit fare increase has led to a revolt against Chile’s neoliberal government and institutions – and even demands to change the constitution. As Alan Vicencio, a 25-year-old call-center worker told Time Magazine, “The whole constitution makes me angry, the constitution allowed the privatization of every aspect of our lives and it’s being doing it for more than 30 years.” Often hailed as “business friendly” and the prime example of the “success” of a free market system, Chile is the most unequal of the 36 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2017, the United Nations released a report “Unequal. Origins, changes and challenges in Chile’s social divide,” which explained how the richest 0.1% of the people in Chile control 19.5% of the wealth.

Privatization runs rampant in Chile through all sectors of life including water, roads, energy, healthcare and the pension system. Although some education is public, there is a great divide between the public and private school systems. ... Protestors in Chile are fighting for their dignity. They are fighting against inequality. They are fighting against police and military brutality. These are all symptoms of neoliberalism, which is the economic policy expression of the agenda of imperialism around the world.

One only must look towards to the United States’ relationship with the government of Chile to understand just how Chile has become such a good ally to the U.S. With regard to the violence against protestors, the White House stated that,” The United States stands with Chile, an important ally, as it works to peacefully restore national order,” and “President Trump denounced foreign efforts to undermine Chilean institutions, democracy, or society.” More broadly, as President Trump put it in a press conference a year ago, “There are so many issues that we have to discuss because Chile and the United States are likeminded countries. We share the most important things, which are values—democracy, human rights, freedom. But Chile is really something special. If you look at what they’ve done, how far they’ve come. You look at how well run the country is.” This is what is sounds like when a government in Latin America is following the orders of the U.S. government and their financial institutions.

Clearly, behind the repression in Chile is the support of the United States, but also the support of many of their imperialist allies, including the government of Canada. In fact, Prime Minister Trudeau had a phone call with Piñera in the midst of severe police and military repression and didn’t say one word to him – as reported by CTV News, “A summary from the Prime Minister’s Office of Trudeau’s phone call with Pinera made no direct mention of the ongoing turmoil in Chile, a thriving country with which Canada has negotiated a free trade agreement.”

This is no surprise given that, as reported by the government of Canada, 14% of Canada’s mining assets are in Chile including copper, gold and silver mines. This includes Barrick Gold, which had to shut down a $429 million gold mine earlier this year due to severe human rights and environmental violations. Both the governments of the U.S. and Canada also want to hold up the repressive Piñera government because having a neo-liberal “success story” and a staunch ally in Chile serves them well in their drive to re-establish imperialist hegemony in Latin America. Having a U.S.-supported government in Chile puts imperialists in a better position for their continued attacks against the sovereign and independent countries of Cuba and Venezuela.

Trump to list Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups

Trump says U.S. will designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorists

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups for their role in trafficking narcotics and people, prompting a speedy request for talks by Mexico. “They will be designated … I have been working on that for the last 90 days. ...

Soon afterwards, Mexico’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it would quickly seek a high-level meeting with U.S. State Department officials to address the legal designation as well as the flow of arms and money to organized crime. ...

Once a particular group is designated as a terrorist organization, under U.S. law it is illegal for people in the United States to knowingly offer support and its members cannot enter the country and may be deported. Financial institutions that become aware they have funds connected to the group must block the money and alert the U.S. Treasury Department.

US senator to investigate if foreign spyware used to target Americans

An influential US senator has told the Guardian he is examining the possible hacking of US citizens with technology sold by the NSO Group and other foreign surveillance companies, an issue he said raised “serious national security issues”.

Ron Wyden’s remarks come just weeks after a lawsuit was filed by WhatsApp against NSO, alleging that the Israeli company’s malware was used against 1,400 WhatsApp users in 20 countries over a 14-day period this year. The lawsuit says that more than 100 human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and academics were among those targeted, and that at least one US phone number with a Washington DC area code was among those potentially compromised.

In a rare move for a major US company, WhatsApp has also twice referred its complaints about NSO to the US Department of Justice. The Facebook-owned company alerted the DoJ in May, when it first became aware of the issue, and again in October. WhatsApp said it believed NSO had violated criminal laws, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a federal law that is used to prosecute hackers.

Democrats propose sweeping new online privacy laws to rein in tech giants

Top Democrats on Tuesday proposed tough new privacy laws to rein in the US’s tech companies after a series of scandals that have shaken confidence in the companies and exposed the personal data of millions of consumers. The effort, led by Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate commerce, science and transportation committee, aims to “provide consumers with foundational data privacy rights, create strong oversight mechanisms, and establish meaningful enforcement”.

The Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act (Copra) comes after a series of failed attempts to rein in the tech giants in the US.

The act resembles Europe’s sweeping General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation, passed in 2016. It would force tech companies to disclose the personal information they have collected, delete or correct inaccurate or incomplete information and allow consumers to block the sale of their information. If passed the act would also make it easier for US authorities to levy large fines on tech companies and make it easier for individuals to bring legal action against the companies that breach the privacy rules. It also includes tougher rules to protect teenagers and children. ...

Bipartisan support for tighter regulation of the tech companies has grown after scandals including Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy that harvested the personal data of millions of people’s Facebook profiles without consent. However, the bill will face stiff opposition, not least from the tech industry’s powerful lobbying arm which has successfully fought off other attempts to pass more meaningful regulation.

Amazon’s Ring Planned Neighborhood “Watch Lists” Built on Facial Recognition

Ring, Amazon’s crimefighting surveillance camera division, has crafted plans to use facial recognition software and its ever-expanding network of home security cameras to create AI-enabled neighborhood “watch lists,” according to internal documents reviewed by The Intercept. The planning materials envision a seamless system whereby a Ring owner would be automatically alerted when an individual deemed “suspicious” was captured in their camera’s frame, something described as a “suspicious activity prompt.”

It’s unclear who would have access to these neighborhood watch lists, if implemented, or how exactly they would be compiled, but the documents refer repeatedly to law enforcement, and Ring has forged partnerships with police departments throughout the U.S., raising the possibility that the lists could be used to aid local authorities. The documents indicate that the lists would be available in Ring’s Neighbors app, through which Ring camera owners discuss potential porch and garage security threats with others nearby.

Ring spokesperson Yassi Shahmiri told The Intercept that “the features described are not in development or in use and Ring does not use facial recognition technology,” but would not answer further questions.

This month, in response to continued pressure from news reports and a list of questions sent by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey, Amazon conceded that facial recognition has been a “contemplated but unreleased feature” for Ring, but would only be added with “thoughtful design including privacy, security and user control.” Now, we know what at least some of that contemplation looked like.

Trump Got Owned in Last Week's Impeachment Hearings. Voters Didn't Seem to Notice.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff wrapped up two weeks of explosive impeachment hearings with a simple message: The inquiry produced “overwhelming evidence” of Trump’s wrongdoing, and it's time to move forward.

But new polls suggest that Americans aren’t nearly as convinced.

A trio of surveys released Tuesday show almost no change in Americans’ views of whether President Trump should be impeached from a few weeks ago. Even independents, the key persuadable voting bloc, don’t appear to have shifted in any significant way. That’s troubling for Democrats who actually hope to remove Trump from office — though it doesn’t seem to be causing Democrats any real political problems, either.

A new CNN/SSRS poll found that voters supported impeaching and removing Trump from office by 50%-43%, numbers that are identical to their last poll, in late October. A Politico/Morning Consult weekly survey found similar numbers: Voters backed the inquiry 48%-43%, identical to their final poll in October.

Quinnipiac University found a similar lack of movement in voters’ views. Their new poll found 45% of voters supported removing Trump and 48% opposing it, nearly identical to their mid-October poll, which had a 46%-48% split. At that point, Democrats had fully committed to the impeachment inquiry — but most of the damning testimony from impeachment witnesses hadn’t yet become public knowledge, let alone broadcast live on national TV.

White House budget lawyer quit over Ukraine aid concerns, says witness

A lawyer for the White House’s budget office resigned partly because of concerns over Donald Trump’s freeze on military aid to Ukraine, a longtime career official from the office has testified to Congress behind closed doors. Mark Sandy of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) told the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry that an individual in the office’s legal division quit in part over issues with the suspension of security assistance to Ukraine, according to a transcript of his deposition released on Tuesday. ...

“Are you aware of any individual in the legal division resigning or leaving OMB … at least in part because of Ukraine security assistance,” Sandy was asked. “Oh. Yes, I am,” he replied. “This person expressed concerns to me about actions vis-a-vis the Impoundment Control Act” – a reference to 1974 legislation that forbids the withholding of congressionally-approved aid. ...

Sandy also recalled that he was told on 19 June the US president had raised questions about the military aid to Ukraine after reading a media report. He was then informed in an email on 12 July that Trump himself “is directing a hold on military support funding for Ukraine” but given no explanation or justification. When Sandy raised concerns that the aid suspension may be illegal, his authority was revoked and given to a political appointee, he continued. The OMB began the official process of suspending assistance to Ukraine on 25 July – the day of Trump’s now infamous phone call with Ukraine’s, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which discussed investigations of the 2016 election and former vice-president Joe Biden.

Only when the security assistance was unfrozen in September was Sandy given a reason: that Trump had concerns other countries were not paying their fair share in aid compared to America. Democrats argue this was a rationalisation conjured up after the fact in order to conceal the true political motivation.

“Don’t Hate the Media, Be the Media”: Reflections on 20 Years of Indymedia, a Radical Media Movement

The decade for the super-rich, recapped:
*Their wealth grew 136%
*Their tax rate dropped 15%

All while pay and tax rates for average Americans didn't budge.

Here's the thing: the way the system is set up, we're headed for another decade of thishttps://t.co/caOc6HC1yF

— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) November 26, 2019

20 Years After The Battle of Seattle: Vandana Shiva & Lori Wallach on Historic 1999 WTO Protests

Trump issues order to create taskforce on violence against indigenous women

Donald Trump has signed an executive order creating a White House taskforce on missing and murdered indigenous women. The task force will be overseen by Attorney General William Barr and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. It is tasked with developing protocols to apply to new and unsolved cases and creating a multi-jurisdictional team to review cold cases.

Trump on Tuesday called the scourge of violence facing Native American women and girls “sobering and heartbreaking”. However, the move comes as Republicans in the US Senate want to make it harder for tribes to put non-Native abusers behind bars.

The National Institute of Justice estimates that 1.5 million Native American women have experienced violence in their lifetime, including many who are victims of sexual violence. On some reservations, federal studies have shown women are killed at a rate over 10 times the national average. For years, when Native women were abused on reservations by non-Indians, no legal action would be taken.

Deborah Parker’s nation, Tulalip Tribes, was prohibited under federal law from prosecuting or even arresting non-Native perpetrators and the US attorneys who had jurisdiction declined the majority of cases. So in 2013, Parker, a board member of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center went to Washington DC, spoke with lawmakers, and helped pass legislation that finally meant non-Native abusers would face consequences on her reservation and across the US. ...

But last week, Iowa senator Joni Ernst introduced Senate Republicans’ version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization bill. While the legislation includes provisions to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW), advocates say it rolls back gains made in 2013. Ernst’s proposal, if adopted, would give non-Native abusers who don’t want to comply with tribal laws a way out. The law makes it easier for abusers facing prosecution in tribal court to skip the process and appeal to federal court. The bill also weakens sovereign immunity for tribes by allowing convicted abusers to sue if they feel their civil rights have been violated.

Krystal Ball: What will Obama do to stop Bernie Sanders

The audacity of nope! All that 1% cash must be really sweet.

Obama Privately Considered Leading 'Stop-Bernie Campaign' to Combat Sanders 2020 Surge: Report

Former President Barack Obama reportedly told advisers behind closed doors earlier this year that he would actively oppose Sen. Bernie Sanders if the progressive senator from Vermont opened up a big lead in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race.

"Publicly, [Obama] has been clear that he won't intervene in the primary for or against a candidate," Politico reported Tuesday. "There is one potential exception: Back when Sanders seemed like more of a threat than he does now, Obama said privately that if Bernie were running away with the nomination, Obama would speak up to stop him."

Progressives viewed Obama's comments as further evidence that the former president, who was elected in 2008 on the soaring promise of "hope and change," is now using his influence on the Democratic Party to undercut the grassroots push for transformational policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.

"Obama's post-presidency is grating and full of contradictions," tweeted David Klion, news editor at Jewish Currents. "He considers himself the leader of the party but refuses to lead. He considers himself a success but the mere fact of Trump's presidency belies this. He won on hope and counsels hopelessness."

One anonymous Obama adviser would not confirm to Politico that Obama "would really lay himself on the line to prevent a Sanders nomination."

"He hasn't said that directly to me," the adviser said. "The only reason I'm hesitating at all is because, yeah, if Bernie were running away with it, I think maybe we would all have to say something. But I don't think that's likely. It's not happening."

According to Politico, Obama plans to speak out more frequently about the state of U.S. politics in the coming weeks. Earlier this month, Obama told a roomful of rich donors that he is worried about "certain left-leaning Twitter feeds" and "the activist wing of our party," sparking outrage from progressives. ...

Obama's position on Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has also been antagonistic, according to Politico. "Back in early 2015, when Warren was considering running for president and started to excite progressives, Obama said privately that if Democrats rallied around her as their nominee it would be a repudiation of him—a clear sign that his economic decisions after the Great Recession had been seen as inadequate," Politico reported. "There are very few former senior Obama officials in Warren's campaign."

NH POLL: @BernieSanders leads #NewHampshire primary, followed by @PeteButtigieg https://t.co/CpRJCGRgBG pic.twitter.com/ZiF9KBT9gL

— Emerson Polling (@EmersonPolling) November 27, 2019

Bernie Sanders surges to first in NH, AOC beats Nancy Pelosi in fundraising

Literally the same 24 hour news cycle pic.twitter.com/1U6vsbMPyN

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 27, 2019

Without Dialing for Dollars or Lobbyist Meetings, Ocasio-Cortez Raised More Money Than Any Other House Democrat in Third Quarter

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised more money for reelection than any other House Democrat in the third quarter of 2019, an achievement the New York Democrat touted as a testament to the power of grassroots fundraising over schmoozing with corporate lobbyists and wealthy executives.

The New York Post reported late Tuesday that Ocasio-Cortez raised $1.42 million between July 1 through September 30 for her 2020 reelection campaign, topping all House Democrats including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose fundraising prowess is well known.

"While many try to belittle a progressive agenda that centers working people and the public good, in truth it's more powerful than ever," tweeted Ocasio-Cortez, the lead sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution in the House. "I haven't picked up a phone once this year to dial for dollars, and I don't meet with corporate lobbyists. That is the power of your grassroots support."

According to the Post, $1.1 million of the $1.42 million Ocasio-Cortez raised in the third quarter came from donations under $200. Running a campaign fueled by grassroots support instead of corporate buckraking, said Ocasio-Cortez, opens up "much more time for me to be fully present at my job."

"I intentionally built my campaign to rely on small-dollar grassroots support without any corporate money, because I felt that's the best way to be accountable to everyday people," said the New York Democrat. "It has impacted how I work in Congress in powerful ways—ways I couldn't fully appreciate until I got here."

"Our political system's reliance on huge sums of money has many negative impacts, but one of the largest is that it takes lawmakers' time away from lawmaking," Ocasio-Cortez added. "That's a feature, not a flaw—the less time lawmakers have, the more special interests can slip in harmful provisions."

Pete Buttigieg Says Marijuana Arrests Signify “Systemic Racism.” His South Bend Police Fit the Bill.

In July, at an event in Iowa, he shot down a racist question from an audience member by responding, “The fact that a black person is four times as likely as a white person to be incarcerated for the exact same crime is evidence of systemic racism.” When pressed by fact-checkers on his claim, he said that he was referring to the racial disparity in marijuana arrests nationwide, citing an American Civil Liberties Union study that found black people were 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for pot than whites.

The disparity in South Bend, Indiana, however, has been significantly worse than that under Buttigieg’s leadership.

Since Buttigieg became mayor in January 2012, taking charge of the South Bend Police Department, the city’s black residents have been far more likely to be arrested for marijuana offenses than its white residents. That disparity in South Bend under Buttigieg, in fact, is worse than in the rest of the country, or even the rest of Indiana. A black South Bend resident, under the Buttigieg administration, was 4.3 times more likely to be arrested for possessing marijuana between 2012 and 2018 than a white resident, according to data collected by the federal government. Meanwhile, in Indiana statewide during that time, according to data from reporting law enforcement agencies, black people were 3.5 times more at risk of a pot arrest; nationally, the disparity between the rates of black arrests and white arrests was 3 to 1. In the study Buttigieg cited to back up his claim in Iowa, the ACLU in 2013 found a 3.7 to 1 disparity nationally. ...

Jorden Giger, a 28-year-old South Bend activist with Black Lives Matter, agrees with the prominent criticism that Buttigieg ignores the concerns of black people in South Bend. “Mayor Pete is like, you know, he’s very calculating,” Giger said. The mayor’s focus on police accountability in his presidential campaign is puzzling, he continued, “because we don’t see that here in South Bend.”

Revealed: Buttigieg 2020 campaign took money from top Kavanaugh lawyers

Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign is returning thousands of dollars in donations from two top Washington lawyers who represented Brett Kavanaugh in his controversial confirmation hearing, saying it will not accept funds from people who helped secure the justice’s seat on the supreme court.

Buttigieg’s campaign received $7,200 from Alexandra Walsh – $3,150 of which had already been returned because it exceeded limits – and attended a fundraiser in July that was co-hosted by the Washington lawyer. Buttigieg also received $2,800 from Beth Wilkinson, Walsh’s law partner, who also represented Kavanaugh.

When asked by the Guardian about the donations, the campaign said it had overlooked the lawyers’ role in the Kavanaugh confirmation and had made a mistake in accepting the donations. ...

Walsh and Wilkinson are frequent donors to Democratic causes. During this 2020 election cycle, Wilkinson has donated $1,000 to the California senator Kamala Harris’s campaign and $2,800 to the Colorado senator Michael Bennet’s campaign. Wilkinson also gave $2,800 to the New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who has since dropped out of the race and has been an outspoken critic of Kavanaugh.

The Washington law firm Wilkinson Walsh Eskovitz represented the then nominee for the supreme court after Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexually assaulting her when both were high school students in suburban Maryland. Walsh and Wilkinson led the charge defending Kavanaugh, even as more accusations of sexual misconduct were unearthed, and painted the judge as the victim of an “outrageous” campaign.

UN calls for push to cut greenhouse gas levels to avoid climate chaos

Countries must make an unprecedented effort to cut their levels of greenhouse gases in the next decade to avoid climate chaos, the UN has warned, as it emerged that emissions hit a new high last year. ... Global emissions must fall by 7.6% every year from now until 2030 to stay within the 1.5C ceiling on temperature rises that scientists say is necessary to avoid disastrous consequences. The only time in recent history when emissions have fallen in any country at a similar rate came during the collapse of the Soviet Union. During the financial crisis and recession, emissions in the US and Japan fell briefly by about 6% but soon rebounded. ...

Postponing action could no longer be an option, said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP. “Our collective failure to act early and hard on climate change means we must now deliver deep cuts to emissions [of] over 7% each year, if we break it down evenly over the next decade. This shows that countries simply cannot wait.” Without such urgent action the world’s fate would be sealed within the next few years as carbon would rise to such a level as to make dangerous levels of warming inevitable, she said. “We need quick wins to reduce emissions as much as possible in 2020, then stronger [commitments under the Paris agreement] to kickstart the major transformations of economies and societies. We need to catch up on the years in which we procrastinated.”

The escalating heatwaves, droughts and extreme storms being seen across the world demonstrated the effects of failing to cut emissions fast enough, said Kelly Levin of the World Resources Institute, who joined the UN call for action. “While there have been examples of rapid change in specific technologies or sectors, there is no precedent in our documented history for the rate of change at the scale required for limiting warming to 1.5C [above pre-industrial levels]. We have never before witnessed such widespread rapid transitions, and they will need to be made across energy, land, industrial, urban and other systems. Achieving 1.5C will require unprecedented transformative efforts by all.”

#EmissionsGap Report:

Developed countries cannot just reduce emissions by exporting carbon pollution to emerging economies.
Footprints need to fall - this means lifestyle changes.
We need a clean energy transformation. #ClimateAction https://t.co/AQiWUdoCzi

— UN Environment Programme (@UNEP) November 26, 2019

Climate Expert Says UN Emissions Report Makes Clear Only Solution Is to 'Cut Off Supply of Fossil Fuels at Their Source'

An annual United Nations report published Tuesday on current and estimated future greenhouse gas emissions shows the "urgent need for supply-side action" to combat the climate emergency, according to the advocacy group Food & Water Action.

Mitch Jones, director of Food & Water Action's Climate & Energy Program, released a statement responding to the new Emissions Gap report from the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), which warned that global temperatures are on track to rise as much as 3.9°C by the end of the century.

"The most urgent task for policymakers, political leaders, and the global climate justice movement is to demand solutions that cut off the supply of fossil fuels at their source," said Jones. "We have no time left to waste on neoliberal market tweaks that only seek to saddle working families with paying the costs of climate action."

"The urgent, necessary solution is to stop the supply of fossil fuels by banning fracking and all other forms of fossil fuel drilling," he added. "Climate policy proposals that do not squarely confront the issue of supply are not making a serious attempt to avert catastrophe."

France farmer protest: Convoy of tractors clog highways around Paris

Police raid office of Brazil NGO linked to brigade that helped battle Amazon fires

The headquarters of an award-winning Brazilian NGO which works with remote communities in the Amazon has been raided by police, who also arrested four volunteer firefighters and accused them of starting wildfires to raise international funding. At dawn on Tuesday, heavily armed police raided the offices of the Health and Happiness Project, (known by its Portuguese initials as PSA) in Alter do Chão in the Amazon state of Pará, seizing computers and documents.

PSA has close links to the Alter do Chão volunteer fire brigade, which in September helped battle huge widfires raging through protected areas in this popular tourist region. The four arrested firefighters were members of the volunteer brigade, and one of them works for PSA. The arrests came three months after Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro sought to blame a surge in Amazon fires on NGOs, without providing any evidence.

“It is a Kafkaesque situation, we were all taken by surprise without understanding why,” said the Health and Happiness Project’s coordinator Caetano Scannavino. “If [the firefighters] were really criminals they must be Hollywood actors because they tricked us.” The Alter do Chão fire brigade also denied the accusations. “We are sure that whatever the accusation, their innocence will be made clear,” it said in a statement.

Also of Interest

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

With the right-wing coup in Bolivia nearly complete, the junta is hunting down the last remaining dissidents

Iran’s ‘Only Crime Is We Decided Not to Fold’

Turkish Invasion Forcing Syrian Kurds to Adopt Terror Tactics

Narrative Managers Faceplant In Hilarious OPCW Scandal Spin Job

The surveillance industry is assisting state suppression. It must be stopped

The Left Simply Can't Trust House Democrats

The Nature of the Hong Kong Protests

We Haven’t Done Enough to Ensure That America Never Tortures Again

What Obama Really Wants

Labour gets support from Bernie Sanders campaigners in US

Saagar Enjeti: Warren loses HALF her support after bungled M4A rollout

Biden's latino director RESIGNS at critical time

Surprise, surprise: billionaires far outspend rivals in race for president

The House Will Not Vote On Impeachment. It Will Censure Trump.

So-Called 'Army Built to Fight Medicare for All,' Says Healthcare Expert, Really 'Just Hired Guns Hired by Corporate Stooges'

“Intra-day Bankruptcy”: A 2008 Email from the Fed Provides Insight into Today’s Overnight Repo Scare

California: thousands flee from fire burning near Santa Barbara

Archaeologists fear Bolsonaro agenda will kill Amazon civilisation research

A Little Night Music

Johnny Young - Deal The Cards

Johnny Young - I'm Having A Ball

Johnny Young - I'm Doing All Right

Johnny Young - Number 12 Is At The Station

Johnny Young - One More Time

Johnny Young and Big Walter - Strange Girl

Johnny Young And His Friends - Whoop It Up

Johnny Young - Slam Hammer

Johnny Young - Lend Me Your Love

Johnny Young's South Side Blues Band - Stealin' Back

Johnny Young - Bumble Bee