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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Ruth Brown

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features r&b singer Ruth Brown. Enjoy!

^{Ruth Brown - Lucky Lips}

"No treaty is ever an impediment to a cheat."

-- Sophocles

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News and Opinion

Trump and Netanyahu Dictate Terms of Palestinian Surrender to Israel and Call It Peace

Flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but no Palestinian leader, President Donald Trump unveiled “a vision for peace” in the Middle East on Tuesday which permits Israel to annex much of the occupied West Bank immediately, offering the Palestinians only local control in isolated Bantustans surrounded by Israeli territory. ... The release of the 180-page plan — which was drafted by aides to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and an old family friend of Netanyahu — was staged as a celebration, and acted as a dual campaign rally, with the American president and the Israeli prime minister boasting of all they had achieved for Israel to a room filled with far-right supporters of the Jewish state, including Sheldon Adelson, the Republican and Likud megadonor who spent millions of dollars to elect both leaders.

Trump, who intervened in a previous Israeli election campaigns on Netanyahu’s behalf — by recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights last year — gave the embattled prime minister a podium at the White House to detail conditions imposed on the Palestinians which sounded like terms of surrender. To start with, Netanyahu said, the Palestinians would be required to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, cede the entire Jordan Valley, disarm Hamas, and abandon the hope for both the return of refugees who fled homes in what is now Israel and for a capital in Jerusalem’s Old City. ...

In fact, as the Crisis Group analyst Tareq Baconi observed, “The plan sets out parameters that are impossible for Palestinians to accept, and effectively provides Israel with a blueprint to sustain the one-state reality that exists on the ground.” That sentiment was echoed by Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group that monitors the occupation. “What the Palestinians are being ‘offered’ now is not rights or a state, but a permanent state of Apartheid. No amount of marketing can erase this disgrace or blur the facts,” El-Ad wrote. “The reality on the ground is already one of full Israeli control over the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and everyone living in it. It is a reality of one, inherently undemocratic, state.”

This map is verrrrry generously shaded to give appearance of contiguity.

100% final map will appear closer to archipelago map on the right. pic.twitter.com/pLcaWak4R2

— Ben Silverstein (@bensilverstein) January 28, 2020

“Yet Another Declaration of War on Palestinians”: Rashid Khalidi on Trump’s Middle East “Peace” Plan

Where once there was fury, Palestinian issue now stirs up apathy

For much of the last 70 years the cause of Palestine stirred the Arab street. From Yemen to Morocco and all points in between, laments were sung in song and enshrined in poetry as the decades mounted without a Palestinian state. Regional statesmen built careers by standing by a people without a land. Wars were fought and lost in their name. ... The unveiling of the US president’s much-delayed Middle East “peace plan” has generated neither enthusiasm nor anger – only apathy – in a region that no longer views the fate of the Palestinians as a lynchpin, or – in some cases – even a cause worth championing loudly.

So far has the pendulum swung that ambassadors from Oman, Bahrain and the UAE were present when Trump unveiled the plan in the White House. This was no longer whispered support from the shadows – instead it marked a very public endorsement.

Even in Jordan and Lebanon, which are more tied than other countries to what may come next, the lead-up brought little outrage. As Trump spoke, south Beirut, long a bastion of resistance to Israel, was adorned with posters of the slain Iranian general, Qassem Suleimani and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah said the US plan would not have happened without the “complicity and betrayal” of several Arab states. The rest of the city felt weighed down by its more pressing concerns – how to outride an economic meltdown.

Riyadh, which once drew much of its regional clout from defending the Palestinians, was mute as the hour drew near. So too, Abu Dhabi, which shares its larger neighbour’s focus on Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, and rails at the latter’s links to the Palestinian group Hamas. In Cairo, a bedrock of the earlier years of Palestinian struggles, there was little talk of a plan set to shred the scope of deals put to earlier leaders. ...

Where this leaves the Palestinians, or a cause that had galvanised the region for so long, remains of great alarm to many who see no enduring peace as long as grievances from the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 are left unaddressed. There will be pro forma protests from the countries that have underwritten such a profound historical shift, and claims that a two-state solution remains essential. But this announcement seems very much like the death-knell for the formula once envisaged by Trump’s predecessors.

This is not a peace plan, it is a war plan.

A war on peace
A war on justice
A war on freedom
A war on equality

A war on Palestinian existence

— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) January 28, 2020

'The two-state solution is a prolonged negotiation that buys Israel time'

Netanyahu indicted in court after removing immunity request

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been formally indicted in court on corruption charges after he withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution.

Netanyahu was in Washington for meetings with the US president, Donald Trump, ahead of the release of the long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan when Israel’s attorney general filed the charges in a Jerusalem court.

The attempt to obtain immunity seemed doomed to fail from the start since Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, lacked sufficient votes in the legislature for approval.

The request for protection from prosecution had effectively blocked the filing of the indictment until now.

As proceedings move toward trial, the timeline remains unclear and it could take months or years.

It’s fitting that the @realDonaldTrump-@netanyahu "plan" was released by a forever impeached President on the same day that Netanyahu was indicted for corruption.

This political stunt gets us no closer to peace or justice. As a member of Congress, I consider it a non-starter. https://t.co/PIYYZ75PWc

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) January 28, 2020

Trump's fake 'peace plan' is permanent apartheid for Palestine

Lockheed Has Best Year Ever, And Expects a Better 2020

Lockheed Martin booked nearly $60 billion in 2019 sales, the best year on record for the world’s largest defense contractor. And its executives are predicting even higher sales this year. ...

Lockheed predicts that demand from the Pentagon and U.S. allies will generate between $62.75 billion and $64.25 billion in 2020 sales.

The company grew 11 percent from 2018 to 2019. All four of its divisions increased their sales, earnings, and backlog.

The largest growth came in Lockheed’s Missiles and Fire Control business, which grew 20 percent on tactical weapons, Patriot interceptors, and work on new hypersonic missiles.

CrossTalk: Bipartisan Stranglehold

US dropped record number of bombs on Afghanistan last year

The US dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than any other year since the Pentagon began keeping a tally in 2006, reflecting an apparent effort to force concessions from the Taliban at the negotiating table. According to new figures released by US central command, US warplanes dropped 7,423 bombs and other munitions on Afghanistan, a nearly eightfold increase from 2015.

The increasing intensity of the air campaign has been accompanied by an increase in civilian casualties attributed to US forces. According to UN data, the US accounted for half the 1,149 civilian deaths attributed to pro-government forces in Afghanistan over the first three-quarters of 2019. ...

“This is the US military mistakenly thinking that they’re somehow going to change the political dynamics by dropping more ordnance on Afghanistan,” said Laurel Miller, former US acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who is now director of the International Crisis Group’s Asia programme. “The argument that is made in favor what they’re doing is that this will somehow change the political dynamics and in a way that makes the Taliban more likely to come to favorable terms at the peace table, but I have no expectation that this is going to have that kind of effect,” Miller said.

White House threatens veto of House Iran bills

The White House has threatened to veto a pair of bills the House plans to vote on this week aimed at restricting President Trump's ability to wage war on Iran. ...

The House is expected to vote Thursday on a bill from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to block funding for military action against Iran and another bill from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force (AUMF).

Iran missile strike: 50 US troops now diagnosed with brain injuries

The Pentagon said on Tuesday 50 US service members were now diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after missile strikes by Iran on a base in Iraq earlier this month, 16 more than the military had previously announced.

Donald Trump and other top officials initially said Iran’s 8 January attack had not killed or injured any US service members.

“As of today, 50 US service members have been diagnosed” with traumatic brain injury, the Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Campbell said in a statement about injuries in the attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq. ...

Thirty-one of the 50 were treated in Iraq and returned to duty, including 15 of those diagnosed most recently, Campbell said.

Eighteen of the total have been sent to Germany for further evaluation and treatment, and one was sent to Kuwait and has since returned to duty, he said.

French protesters take to the streets in 8th protest day against pension reform

Disabled man starved to death after UK government stopped his benefits

MPs and campaigners have called for an independent inquiry after it emerged a disabled man with a long history of mental illness starved to death just months after welfare officials stopped his out-of-work and housing benefits.

Errol Graham, a 57-year-old grandfather, and in his younger days a keen amateur footballer, weighed just four and a half stone (28.5kg) when his emaciated body was discovered by bailiffs who had broken down his front door to evict him for non-payment of rent.

A coroner’s report into the tragedy found that Graham, who suffered from severe social anxiety and had cut himself off from family and friends, had died of starvation. When he was found, his Nottingham flat had no gas or electricity supply. There was no food in the property apart from two tins of fish that were four years out of date.

Graham’s family this week blamed the Department for Work and Pensions for his death in June 2018, saying it should not have cut off the financial lifeline of a man it knew to be highly vulnerable. “He would still be alive. He’d be ill but he’d still be alive,” said his daughter-in-law Alison Turner.

The findings of an inquest into Graham’s death in June 2019 were brought to light by Turner via the independent website Disability News Service. The inquest found that DWP and NHS staff had missed opportunities to save Graham. “The safety net that should surround vulnerable people like Errol in our society had holes within it,” said the coroner, Elizabeth Didcock.

McConnell Says He Doesn’t Have the Votes to Stop Impeachment Witnesses

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told GOP senators he does not yet have the votes to block witnesses from appearing in President Trump’s impeachment trial, sources told VICE News after a closed-door meeting of senators Tuesday evening. A failure by McConnell to deny Democrats’ attempts to bring fresh testimony and documents into the trial would mark a serious setback for President Trump, who’s so far refused to allow his top aides to appear in the impeachment proceedings.

But the question isn’t settled yet. And McConnell, the wily GOP leader who’s shown great skill in vote-counting among his caucus in the past, remains optimistic that he’ll eventually rally enough votes to ultimately block any new testimony. ...

The debate is now laser-focused on one former close Trump aide in particular: former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who’s said he would appear if he receives a subpoena. News of Bolton’s book exploded like a bombshell in Washington on Sunday night, scrambling Republican plans to clear Trump in the impeachment trial as soon as Friday. Now, even some stalwart Trump defenders, like South Carolina GOP senator Lindsey Graham, are saying they want to at least read Bolton’s book to find out what’s in there.

Citibank, Which Foreclosed on Homes Under an Alias, Illegally Held Homes Off the Market for More than Five Years Says Regulator

On October 11 of last year, in a bland press release that drew little mainstream media attention, the Federal regulator of national banks, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, announced that Citibank had agreed to pay a $30 million fine over charges that it held homes on which it had foreclosed off the market for more than the statutory holding period of five years. Citibank is the federally-insured, deposit-taking bank that is part of the serially-miscreant Wall Street mega bank, Citigroup.

The action comes at a time when rents are rising dramatically across the U.S. as a result of a shortage of affordable homes to purchase.

What is extremely troublesome about the OCC’s action, and which continues a trend among federal bank regulators in the Trump administration, is just how little the regulators are willing to share with the American people in terms of facts about the continuing illegal conduct of these mega Wall Street banks. That obfuscation comes simultaneously with the Trump administration’s efforts to further deregulate these serially-charged behemoths.

The OCC Consent Order in this case says only that it involved “over 200 violations alone between April 4, 2017 and August 14, 2019.” But Citigroup/Citibank foreclosed on thousands of homes during and after the financial crash in 2008, often using an alias of Liquidation Properties, Inc., which it hid its connections to. The OCC Consent Order suggests that the bank only held hundreds of homes illegally off the market. But if the OCC had gone back further in time, would the number be in the thousands? And just how long were the homes kept off the market after Citibank foreclosed? Was it six years or ten years or 15 years? The OCC is silent on these critical points.

A Cop Was Just Charged With Murder Less Than 24 Hours After He Shot and Killed a Black Man Handcuffed in a Police Cruiser

The Maryland police officer who killed a handcuffed black man Monday night has been taken into custody and charged with second degree murder — less than 24 hours after the incident. ...

“Here are the facts: I am unable to come to our community this evening and provide you with a reasonable explanation for the events that occurred last night,” Chief Henry P. Stawinski III said at a press conference. ... “I have concluded that what happened last night is a crime. There are no circumstances under which this outcome is acceptable.” ...

Police responded to reports of a driver who had rammed his vehicle into several other cars at around 8 p.m. Monday. They told reporters later that night that they suspected Green was high, and smelled PCP coming from his car. Stawinski no longer thinks that’s the case.

An officer then cuffed Green with his arms behind his back and strapped him into the passenger seat of the police cruiser. About 20 minutes later, Officer Michael Owen then got into the driver’s seat and shot him. According to ABC, Green had asked the officer if he could use the bathroom — then the officer shot him seven times. Officers at the scene attempted lifesaving measures on him before transporting him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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Why the two-party system is destroying America

Amid Social Security Fight, Joe Biden Is Losing Ground Among Middle-Aged and Older Voters

Amid an ongoing debate over Joe Biden’s record on Social Security, the former vice president’s support among middle-aged and older Americans is eroding, as his chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, is seeing the first gains among this demographic since he announced his run for president, according to a review of six recently released surveys. Voters over the age of 65 have long formed the bulk of Biden’s support, while he has done poorly with voters under the age of 30, who lean toward Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Though Biden continues to be older voters’ candidate of choice, that support is beginning to wane. The most recent Siena College/New York Times survey of likely Iowa caucus-goers found a 17-point swing away from Biden and toward Sanders among those age 45 to 64. Emerson’s survey, meanwhile, found an 11-point swing among voters over 50. The new Fox poll found a 10-point swing nationally to Sanders among voters over 45, and the Monmouth survey found a swing of 9 among voters over 50. WBUR, in New Hampshire, found a 5-point swing toward Sanders with voters over 50 there. A new poll in California, by the LA Times and the University of California, Berkeley, found Biden flat at 22 percent among those 65 and up, but Sanders jumped from 6 to 14 percent since December.

In each individual survey, the sample sizes in such subgroups are small and unreliable, but the consistency and extent of the swings suggests that pollsters are catching something real. The Social Security conversation — in which Biden has repeatedly lied and said that he did not support cuts to the program, despite years of evidence to the contrary — has been so damaging to Biden that his allies in Iowa urged him to move past it at the end of last week. But Biden continued the feud in an interview in New Hampshire this weekend. The New York Times weighed in on Sunday, dubbing Biden’s Social Security claims “false.” ...

Voters age 65 and older are expected to make up close to a quarter of the 2020 electorate, according to Pew Research Center, the highest share since 1970. They will likely play an important role in the February 3 Iowa caucuses: While younger voters in the Siena/Times poll were more likely to say they would participate in the Democratic caucus, 85 percent of respondents over the age of 65 voted in 2018, compared to 58 percent of 18-to-29-year-old Democrats.

Ryan Grim and Saagar: Bernie bursts Biden's bubble

New Poll Shows Bernie Sanders With More Than Double the Support of Joe Biden in New Hampshire

A new poll out of the key early voting state of New Hampshire on Tuesday showed that Sen. Bernie Sanders now has double the support of his next closest rival, former vice president Joe Biden, less than two week's before the first-in-the-nation primary on February 11.

According to the American Research Group survey, conducted between Jan. 24 and Jan. 27, Sanders has the support of 28% of likely Democratic primary voters, compared to Biden's 13%. Coming in third and fourth place in the poll were former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg with 12% and Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 11%.

Among voters aged 18 to 44, Sanders received 43% of support compared to Biden. Broken down by gender, Biden garnered 6% from women voters while Sanders recieved 25% and Warren recieved 15%.

With a 15-point lead over Biden overall, The Hill notes that the new ARG poll "shows Sanders with a larger lead than other recent polls have found"—though it does comport with an overall surge seen in numerous states and nationally over recent weeks. "Sanders leads by 8 points in New Hampshire in the RealClearPolitics average," The Hill reported, "with the other most recent surveys finding him ahead by between 5 points and 12 points."

Sanders attacked by dark money group linked to Paul Begala

Worth a full read:

It’s Media—Not Bernie Sanders—That Have an Antisemitism Problem

Have you heard the news? Democratic presidential frontrunner Bernie Sanders is antisemitic. Yes, yes, he’s Jewish, and has a long history of anti-racist activism—but that doesn’t matter. So goes the story in several prominent media outlets, who accuse him of leading “the most antisemitic [campaign] in decades” (Washington Examiner, 12/13/19). While unable to point to Sanders’ own actions or words, the national press has associated him with hatred of Jews by attacking those around him. Throughout 2019, for example, Sanders supporter Rep. Ilhan Omar was constantly labeled antisemitic across the media for comments she made about the undue influence of the US/Israeli lobbying group AIPAC on American politics (e.g., New York Times, 3/7/19; Wall Street Journal, 7/12/19; Washington Post, 8/20/19).

Fox News (1/9/20) claimed Sanders would be “the most anti-Israel” president ever, conflating criticism of Israel and/or the Netanyahu administration with antisemitism:

It’s disgraceful that instead of taking a stand, instead of taking this opportunity to change people’s minds about the dangers of antisemitism, Sanders enables and endorses the anti-Zionist rhetoric of his base.

The National Review (12/17/19) claimed that the “ugly characteristics” of Bernie’s campaign, “already normalizing anti-Jewish antagonism,” were “appalling.” Commentary (12/13/19) agreed, claiming Sanders was “tolerating” the antisemitic “indulgences” of his followers. At times, conservative outlets seemed to be trying to replicate the success that the British press had had in tarring Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite—a smear that certainly contributed to his decisive 2019 loss (FAIR.org, 12/21/19). ...

While media express concern about the use of antisemitic tropes by the left, they seem oblivious that their own discussions of the Sanders campaign might evoke them. One analogy that appears frequently in Sanders profiles is associating the Vermont senator with the Old Testament, what Christians call the Jewish holy scriptures. The Washington Post (8/29/19) claimed that Sanders is “content to thunder against evildoers like an Old Testament prophet,” while the New York Times (8/2/19) described him as “wild-eyed, scowling and angry as an Old Testament prophet on the downside of the prediction racket.” The Detroit News (7/30/19) wrote that Sanders “presents as an Old Testament prophet of doom, a zealot shouting at the immovable mountain.” For some reason, this particular metaphor comes to the minds of a great number of journalists covering Sanders: e.g., Washington Post, 9/24/19; Newsday, 9/17/19; London Independent, 1/24/16; New Yorker, 10/5/15; Bulwark, 1/8/20). The New Yorker (10/19/19) wrote that Bernie’s tone is “equal parts old Brooklyn grandpa and Old Testament preacher,” managing to squeeze two stereotypes into one sentence.

Corporate media have also made some highly questionable graphic choices while discussing Sanders. Numerous cartoonists have chosen to make a hooked nose—prominent in anti-Jewish stereotypes, not so prominent on Sanders’ actual face—a hallmark of their caricatures of the candidate. ... On the news that his campaign had brought in over $34 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Huffington Post (1/2/20) and a number of NPR affiliates decided to illustrate their stories with an image of Sanders rubbing his hands together and smiling. In case you think the symbolism was accidental, the Washington Post (1/2/20) covered the same story about a Jew amassing a great fortune with a different image of Sanders rubbing his hands in happy merchant style, changing it only after a public outcry. ...

A media so sensitive to antisemitism that they could see the word “bedbug” as an anti-Jewish trope (as the New York Times’ Bret Stephens did) cannot claim ignorance at all the antisemitic dog whistles it is blowing with regard to Sanders.

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Pacific Ocean’s rising acidity causes Dungeness crabs’ shells to dissolve

The Pacific Ocean is becoming so acidic it is starting to dissolve the shells of a key species of crab, according to a new US study. Scientists found that the Dungeness crab, one of the most valuable species for recreational and commercial fisheries, is starting to weaken as its larvae are affected by rising ocean acidity.

The study was published in the Science of the Total Environment academic journal and funded by the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It found that acidity is affecting the shells of crab larvae, making them more vulnerable to predators and limiting shell effectiveness in supporting the growth of muscles. Lower pH levels have also helped destabilize the larvae’s mechanoreceptors, increasing the possibility of loss of important sensory and behavioral functions.

The effect of acidity on adult Dungeness crabs is still unknown. The researchers hypothesized that “aberrant behavioral patterns found across various crustacean species … such as slower movement, less tactile, prolonged searching time, as well as impaired swimming” could be due to increased acidity.

'Like Handing Out Blankets Affected With Smallpox': US Called to End Oil Exports to Thwart Climate Crisis

A new report released Tuesday by Oil Change International and Greenpeace USA found that reinstating the U.S. crude oil export ban Congress lifted in 2015 would slash global carbon emissions by up to 181 million tons of CO2-equivalent each year—a reduction comparable to shuttering dozens of coal-fired power plants.

Given the significant impact it would have in the fight against the global climate crisis, Oil Change and Greenpeace demanded that the next president and Congress commit to reviving the crude oil export ban as part of a broad and just transition away from fossil fuel production, which the Trump administration has worked to increase.

The next president, the groups note, has the "legal authority to reinstate crude oil export restrictions by declaring a national climate emergency." Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, have both committed to ending crude oil exports if elected.

"Lifting the crude oil export ban has triggered out of control expansion in U.S. oil production, primarily in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico," Rebecca Concepcion Apostol, U.S. program director at Oil Change, said in a statement. "Expansion in oil production has sparked a crisis of local air and water pollution, and an epidemic of gas flaring and venting that is accelerating climate change in real time." ...

In their 18-page report (pdf), the groups detail how U.S. crude oil production and exports exploded in the wake of Congress' decision to lift the decades-old ban—smuggling it into an end-of-year omnibus spending bill—following intensive lobbying from the fossil fuel industry. "Since December 2015, exports have grown over 750 percent, from roughly 400,000 [barrels per day] in 2015 to 3.4 million bpd in October 2019," the report notes. "This is an all-time monthly high, a record currently being broken every few months."

Juan Mancias, tribal chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Nation of Texas, said his state is the "head of the snake" of U.S. crude oil production. "Without an export ban in place private companies have been in a free for all at the expense of our Sacred Sites and healthy ecosystems," Mancias said in a statement. "By lifting the ban it is much like handing out blankets that are affected with smallpox."

Largely Driven by Climate Crisis, 9 Out of 10 Least-Reported Humanitarian Crises of 2019 Were in Africa

Out of the top 10 most under-reported humanitarian crises in the world last year—many of them climate-related—nine were on the African continent, according to a new report.

Madagascar had the least-reported crisis in the study—entitled "Suffering in Silence" (pdf)—released Tuesday by CARE International, as 2.6 million people in the country are affected by chronic drought which has left more than 900,000 in immediate need of food assistance.

Out of 24 million online media articles examined by CARE International, just 612 reports were about the humanitarian emergency in Madagascar—and the country was just the most extreme example of the international community's neglect of the world's second-most populous continent.

"In 2019, over 51 million people suffered in 10 crises away from the public eye," the report reads. "Although for the average person on earth, life is better today than ever before, around 2% of the global population (160 million people) will require $28.8 billion in humanitarian assistance to survive. This is a fivefold increase of needs since 2007."

With 80% of Madagascar's population engaged in agriculture, the climate crisis and resulting drought has caused damage to many families' livelihoods. The food shortages brought on by chronic drought conditions also led to Madagascar having the fourth-highest rate of malnutrition in the world, making it easier for diseases like measles to infect over 100,000 people in 2019. ...

Other crises in Africa that have been intensified by the climate crisis include Zambia's droughts, which left 2.3 million people in need of food assistance, and a mix of extreme drought and flooding in Kenya.

In southern Africa, where Zambia lies, temperatures are rising at two times the global rate. The pattern has contributed to a sharp drop in wheat and maize crops as well as in safe drinking water in much of the country. ...

North Korea is the only country on CARE's list that isn't in Africa; other under-reported emergencies are taking place in Eritrea, Central African Republic, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and the countries of the Lake Chad Basin—made up of Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon.

None of the countries on the list were covered in more than about 9,000 media articles all over the world throughout 2019.

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Also of Interest

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

What the El Mozote Massacre Can Teach Us About Trump’s War on the Press

The Holocaust, BBC & Anti-Semitism Smears

Democrats' Dubious Impeachment Subtext of Treason

A New Type of Conflict: France’s Ongoing Struggle for Pensions

Chris Hedges: The Disaster of Utopian Engineering

#Resistance Hero John Bolton: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

How the 'Venice of Africa' is losing its battle against the rising ocean

Denouncing Trump Plan as 'Unacceptable,' Sanders Declares It Is Time to 'End the Israeli Occupation'

I thought Bernie's Iowa numbers seemed unrealistically high. Then I saw his rallies

Sunrise Movement to Host Nationwide House Parties to Boost Sanders, Demand Green Green New Deal

Ryan Grim: Trump is very worried about Bernie Sanders

Rising: Dave Chappelle scorches Don Lemon's view at Andrew Yang event

Rising: Biden scrambles for allies against Sanders in Iowa

Ryan and Saagar expose Hillary's Bernie blame game

Is CNN colluding with Dem establishment to suppress Tulsi?

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A Little Night Music

Ruth Brown - (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean

Ruth Brown - Why Don't You Do Right

Ruth Brown - He tells me with his eyes

Ruth Brown - Oh What A Dream

Ruth Brown - Teardrops From My Eyes

Ruth Brown - Sweet Baby Of Mine

Ruth Brown - This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'

Ruth Brown - Jim Dandy

Ruth Brown - Somebody Touched Me

Ruth Brown - Too Many Men

Ruth Brown - Mambo Baby

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