The Evening Blues - 7-17-20
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Chicago blues guitarist Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson. Enjoy!
Luther 'Guitar Jr.' Johnson - Walkin' The Dog
“Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.”
-- Joseph Stalin
News and Opinion
Andrew Cuomo goes full-on Joe Stalin:
New York Could Throw Out 1 in 5 Mail-in Ballots in One District, Disproportionately Hitting Brooklyn
As part of the effort to mitigate the exploding pandemic in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed voters toward casting their ballots by mail, which New Yorkers did in record numbers. But while hundreds of thousands of ballots were cast, there has been significantly less energy invested in counting those votes. The election was held on June 23, but more than three weeks later the state is nowhere near a final tally and is disenfranchising an extraordinary number of voters along the way.
The fate of several critical elections hangs in the balance. Board of Election documents obtained by The Intercept show that in New York’s 12th Congressional District, which covers Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, 20 percent of mail-in ballots will be thrown out for a variety of reasons. The documents represent a “preliminary staff review” of ballots, and official decisions are ongoing.
A 1-in-5 disenfranchisement rate is far too high for a developed democracy, but the rate was worse in the Brooklyn part of the district, where the rejection rate in the staff review was a staggering 28 percent, according to an analysis of the documents. Across the city, nearly 400,000 absentee ballots were cast, meaning Cuomo’s handling of the election could throw out some 100,000 votes. That’s roughly the number California disqualified, a number considered scandalously high though it represented just 1.5 percent of mail ballots.
Good government groups have called on Cuomo to step in and treat the vote-by-mail he ordered as more than just a public relations victory he quickly put behind himself. But Cuomo has so far declined to do so. In the process, he could be establishing a precedent for President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Supreme Court to use in the fall to similarly invalidate absentee ballots. The crisis could easily intersect with the new directive the Trump administration sent to the postal service to delay first-class mail rather than deliver it if doing so required working overtime. Unless it’s reversed, the order will lead to a delay in voters receiving mail-in ballots and a delay in getting them returned. If they come in late, the Court could use Cuomo’s precedent to throw out millions of ballots.
Pompeo claims private property and religious freedom are 'foremost' human rights
Mike Pompeo has sought to redefine the US approach to human rights by giving preference to private property and religious freedom as the foremost “unalienable rights” laid down by America’s Founding Fathers.
Pompeo, launching a draft report by a Commission on Unalienable Rights he established a year ago, also claimed that a proliferation of human rights asserted by different US and international institutions had the effect of diluting those rights he viewed as the most important.
“Many are worth defending in light of our founding; others aren’t,” Pompeo said at a launch ceremony in Philadelphia. He did not specify which rights he thought were superfluous, but the state department during his tenure has been aggressive in opposing references to reproductive and gender rights in UN and other multilateral documents.
In the report launched on Thursday, the authors – a mix of academics and activists – said they could not agree on the application of human rights standards to issues like “abortion, affirmative action, and capital punishment, to name a few”.
The state department presentation was quickly criticised by human rights activists for seeking to establish a hierarchy of human rights, in which some were more important than others, and for presenting human rights advocacy as distinctively American.
Sonia Shah: “It’s Time to Tell a New Story About Coronavirus — Our Lives Depend on It”
'The Science Should Not Stand in the Way' of Reopening US Schools, Says White House Press Secretary
President Donald Trump's White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany raised eyebrows Thursday after claiming stating that scientific data "should not stand in the way of" reopening schools and falsely claiming that scientific consensus currently backs a full reopening.
"The science should not stand in the way of this," said McEnany, noting that Trump had expressed his wish that schools reopen, and that "when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day."
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on school reopenings:
"The science should not stand in the way of this.” pic.twitter.com/w6H9DM0uTV
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 16, 2020
McEnany continued by claiming that a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association of 46 pediatricians proved that "the science is on our side here" on reopening and that the U.S. would be following the example of all other western nations which are planning on reopening schools.
Critics fired back that McEnany was not being entirely truthful.
"As you're misinterpreting the science, you are making the opposite point," tweeted writer Sarah Hutto.
The U.S is nowhere near getting the virus under control—due in large part to the president's handling of the crisis—making the comparison with other industrialized countries a flawed one.
The press secretary is not the first White House official in recent days to claim that reopening schools is a major priority for the president. On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence declared that the administration does not want Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance "to be a reason why people don't reopen their schools."
As the Washington Post reported, assurances from the White House are not having their intended effect:
Despite the administration's urging, municipalities across the country have delayed or canceled in-person classes for the fall, citing the recent spike in coronavirus cases and the ongoing risk to students, parents, teachers, and other staff.
Safety concerns around reopening schools continue to cause controversy as teachers and concerned parents are increasingly at odds with federal, state, and local leaders who are urging a return to the classroom. As Common Dreams reported, the National Academy of Sciences released a report Wednesday calling for "significant resources" committed by the federal government to reopen schools around the country.
Progressive activist Doug Garrison suggested solidarity between parents and teachers in the face of unsafe reopening plans.
"Teachers should strike," Garrison tweeted. "Parents should stand with them."
New @washingtonpost poll shows a big drop in Trump's job rating on handling the cornoravirus going from -7 in May to -22 now -- 38% approve and 60% disapprove. https://t.co/UDHWpbexI2 pic.twitter.com/of2t1C8ZyK
— John Anzalone (@JohnAnzo) July 17, 2020
Trump and GOP Weighing Plan to 'Punish' Schools That Don't Reopen by Withholding Covid-19 Funds
The Trump administration and Senate Republicans are reportedly considering a plan to pressure U.S. schools to reopen in the fall by attaching conditions or incentives to desperately needed Covid-19 relief funds as educators and parents warn that—in addition to being unpopular—the White House push to send children back to the classroom without an adequate safety strategy is reckless and dangerous.
With school districts across the nation in need of billions of dollars in funding to prepare for potential reopenings, the Washington Post reported Wednesday that "the White House and Republicans are debating whether to take a carrot or a stick approach with the aid."
"Some White House officials are pushing for conditioning the aid on schools reopening partly or fully, but others involved prefer to offer incentives to schools to take steps to reopen," according to the Post. One anonymous Senate GOP aide told the Post that "there are those who would rather incentivize good behavior, and others want to punish bad behavior."
While talks between the Senate and White House over education funding are ongoing and the figures could change, the Post reported that "Republican officials familiar with the negotiations said the bill may include somewhere between $50 billion and $100 billion for elementary and secondary schools, with one person familiar with the talks saying the target was about $70 billion."
Teachers and public health experts have voiced alarm at the Trump administration's aggressive push to reopen schools as states across the U.S. see a surge in Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, cautioning that sending children back to full in-person classes without adequate precautions in place could endanger students and faculty—a warning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has echoed.
The White House's reported effort to attach conditions to education funding that will be necessary for schools to safely reopen comes after President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos publicly threatened to withhold federal assistance from schools that refuse to resume in-person classes out of fear of spreading Covid-19.
“This Is Trump’s War”: U.S.-Backed Saudi Bombing in Yemen Continues as Coronavirus Spreads
$11.3bn in IMF Covid-19 money is being used to service debt, says group
The International Monetary Fund has allowed some of the world’s poorest countries to use almost £9bn of Covid-19 bailout cash to pay private sector lenders in breach of its own rules, according to a leading anti-poverty campaign group. Hard-pressed countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia that went into the crisis with high levels of debt have used IMF funds intended for health budgets and food imports on loan interest payments, the Jubilee Debt Campaign said.
In a report before a meeting of G20 finance ministers this weekend, the group said private lenders should be forced to reduce loan payments as the price of bailout funds to prevent poor countries from becoming caught in a cycle of debt. G20 finance ministers, including the UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are to discuss at their online meeting how to reduce developing world debt and as a result increase the level of IMF support directed to vital services.
Under its own rules, the IMF must refuse to lend funds to countries it believes have unsustainably high levels of debts unless private sector lenders agree to take a financial “haircut” that reduces the size of outstanding loans. Tim Jones, the head of policy at the Jubilee Debt Campaign, said 28 countries at high risk of debt default had received $11.3bn (£8.9bn) that would be used to meet private sector debt commitments.
He said IMF funding was effectively bailing out private lenders by enabling poor countries to maintain payments.
Trump Condemned for Authoritarian 'Abuse of Power' as Secret Federal Police Snatch Protesters Off Portland Streets
Oregon's Democratic governor and other state lawmakers are demanding that President Donald Trump immediately remove all federal law enforcement officials from the streets of Portland after alarming video footage posted online late Thursday showed unidentified officers dressed in combat fatigues arresting Black Lives Matter protesters without explanation and throwing them into unmarked vehicles.
"This political theater from President Trump has nothing to do with public safety," Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement. "The president is failing to lead this nation. Now he is deploying federal officers to patrol the streets of Portland in a blatant abuse of power by the federal government."
Brown said she told Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to "remove all federal officers from our streets" but he refused, claiming that Portland "has been under siege for 47 straight days by a violent mob."
Wolf's response, said Brown, shows "he is on a mission to provoke confrontation for political purposes. He is putting both Oregonians and local law enforcement officers in harm's way."
"This, coming from the same President who used tear gas to clear out peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C. to engineer a photo opportunity," she added.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Thursday that "federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least July 14."
"Personal accounts and multiple videos posted online show the officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation of why they are being arrested, and driving off," OPB reported.
In response to one such video, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) tweeted that "authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters."
"These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end," Merkley added.
Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters. These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end. pic.twitter.com/PE4YfZ9Vqd
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 16, 2020
On Thursday night, federal law enforcement officials fired tear gas and impact munitions into crowds of demonstrators gathered in Portland to protest the police killing of George Floyd.
During protests over the weekend, a federal agent shot a 26-year-old peaceful demonstrator in the head with a munition, fracturing his skull.
"Federal forces shot an unarmed protester in the face," Merkley tweeted Thursday. "These shadowy forces have been escalating, not preventing, violence. If Wolf is coming here to inflame the situation so Donald Trump can look like a tough guy, he should turn around and leave our city now."
In response to the incident, Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined Oregon Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici in demanding an full investigation and accountability for the officer who fired the munition.
If our democracy were healthy, @USAGBarr would feel compelled to respond to this first thing Friday morning. Or is disappearing ppl off the streets now acceptable federal law enforcement practice? https://t.co/j0drkuk3kl
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) July 17, 2020
Congress Just Got an Earful About the Threat of the Boogaloo Movement
Members of Congress just got a stark warning about the potential national security threats posed by the Boogaloo Bois and other insurgent extremist movements. The consensus among the experts who testified before the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism on Thursday was that more violence from these groups was inevitable, and that Congress needs to act now by providing more oversight.
The Boogaloo movement, in particular, was a hot topic of discussion, and Thursday’s hearing was the first time it’s been discussed publicly by Congress. The loosely organized movement, which has pulled in libertarian anarchists, anti-government extremists, online shitposters, and a few white supremacists, started as a meme on weapons boards on 4chan and Reddit. In recent months, it’s made its way into the real world, and has been linked to several acts or plots of violence. Adherents of the movement, often called Boogaloo Bois, have shown up at protests against lockdowns and police brutality, typically armed to the teeth. Boogaloo is code for civil war.
Supporters of the Boogaloo movement are generally very anti-law enforcement and have tried to position themselves as allies to Black Lives Matter. But critics have warned that they’re looking to exploit the racial justice protest movement to advance their own agenda, which is civil war.
“Supporters started wearing Hawaiian shirts under their body armor and weapons, and the look went viral,” JJ MacNab, a fellow from the Program on Extremism at George Washington University and an expert on militia movements, told the committee Thursday. ...
But MacNab said that the obsession around antifa and the left was leaving law enforcement vulnerable to violence from the right. “I think police have a bit of a blind spot for right-wing that they don’t have for the left,” she said. “If you look at any video of a street protest, for example in Portland or Seattle, you have a line of police officers separating left-wing protesters and right-wing protesters. If you watch, the police have their back to heavily-armed people standing behind them. They’re facing left-wing with the assumption that left-wing is what’s going to harm them. Whereas the people standing behind them have some pretty rabid anti-police ideas as well.”
AOC, Jumaane, Ramos, De La Rosa & Niou Call on Cuomo to Tax Billionaires & Fund Excluded Workers
1.3m more file for unemployment as US economy continues to reel
1.3 million more Americans filed for unemployment in the US last week as the economy continues to reel from. the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of new claims has dropped over the past 16 weeks, decreasing 10,000 last week compared to the week before, though the number has hovered above 1 million over the last month.
Those who have just started to receive unemployment may only get a few weeks of the additional $600 the federal government gives to those claiming unemployment insurance. The extra money, given on top of what states give through their own programs, is set to expire at the end of the month. Without the additional cash, the average unemployment check is about $350 a week.
Lawmakers will return to Congress to negotiate a possible extension on 20 July, but they will have less than two weeks to come to a compromise before the extra cash is scheduled to stop. In the meanwhile, the Trump administration unveiled its solution to relieve the millions who are unemployed: a campaign telling them to find a new job.
Trump Threatens to Veto Any Covid-19 Bill That Doesn't Cut Social Security
With President Donald Trump reportedly telling Republican lawmakers in private he will not sign Covid-19 relief legislation that doesn't include a cut to the payroll tax—the primary funding mechanism for Social Security—advocacy groups urged Congress to "call Trump's bluff" and pass a stimulus bill free of any stealth attacks on the New Deal program.
"Cutting Social Security contributions advances a longstanding right-wing ideological goal: Weakening our Social Security system," Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said in a statement late Thursday. "Congress must not give into Trump's hostage-taking."
"The coronavirus pandemic is raging across America," Altman said. "Essential workers are in desperate need of tests and personal protective equipment (PPE). Millions of Americans are at risk of eviction. Over 57,000 nursing home residents and workers are dead. Hospitals are in danger of becoming overwhelmed. Donald Trump is doing nothing to address any of this."
Trump's veto threat comes days before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is set to kick off formal negotiations with his Democratic counterparts and the White House over the next coronavirus stimulus package. McConnell, whose office is writing the relief bill, has not said whether he supports the inclusion of a payroll tax cut, which Politico characterized as a "new red line from the White House."
White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement Thursday that Trump believes a payroll tax holiday "must be part of any phase four package."
The talks will begin less than a week before the $600-per-week boost in unemployment benefits enacted by previous stimulus legislation is set to expire, causing a rapid and massive fall in income for more than 30 million Americans.
Economists have repeatedly pointed out that cutting the payroll tax—an idea Trump has been obsessed with for months—would do nothing for the unemployed and very little to stimulate the economy, which remains in deep recession. During a press briefing in April, Trump said he "would love to see a payroll tax cut" and added that "there are many people who would like to see it as a permanent tax cut."
"A payroll tax cut would do nothing to help the 20 million workers who have lost their jobs, and little for those working significantly reduced hours," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told the Washington Post. "Another payroll tax cut for employers would also shower the country's wealthiest corporations with billions of dollars."
As the Post reported Thursday, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other Democrats have repeatedly voiced opposition to a payroll tax cut."
"If included in McConnell's bill, or demanded by the White House, it would become just one more point of contention between the two parties," the Post noted. "Democrats and Republicans are already at odds over multiple issues, including liability protections for businesses and others that McConnell says must be in the bill; enhanced unemployment insurance that is expiring in late July; whether to send more aid to cities and states; and how much funding for education to include and whether to tie it to schools reopening."
Homeland Security Worries Covid-19 Masks Are Breaking Facial Recognition, Leaked Document Shows
While doctors and politicians still struggle to convince Americans to take the barest of precautions against Covid-19 by wearing a mask, the Department of Homeland Security has an opposite concern, according to an “intelligence note” found among the BlueLeaks trove of law enforcement documents: Masks are breaking police facial recognition.
The rapid global spread and persistent threat of the coronavirus has presented an obvious roadblock to facial recognition’s similar global expansion. Suddenly everyone is covering their faces. Even in ideal conditions, facial recognition technologies often struggle with accuracy and have a particularly dismal track record when it comes to identifying faces that aren’t white or male. Some municipalities, startled by the civil liberties implications of inaccurate and opaque software in the hands of unaccountable and overly aggressive police, have begun banning facial recognition software outright. But the global pandemic may have inadvertently provided a privacy fix of its own — or for police, a brand new crisis.
A Homeland Security intelligence note dated May 22 expresses this law enforcement anxiety, as public health wisdom clashes with the prerogatives of local and federal police who increasingly rely on artificial intelligence tools. The bulletin, drafted by the DHS Intelligence Enterprise Counterterrorism Mission Center in conjunction with a variety of other agencies, including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “examines the potential impacts that widespread use of protective masks could have on security operations that incorporate face recognition systems — such as video cameras, image processing hardware and software, and image recognition algorithms — to monitor public spaces during the ongoing Covid-19 public health emergency and in the months after the pandemic subsides.”
The Minnesota Fusion Center, a post-9/11 intelligence agency that is part of a controversial national network, distributed the notice on May 26, as protests were forming over the killing of George Floyd. ...
Curiously, the bulletin fixates on a strange scenario: “violent adversaries” of U.S. law enforcement evading facial recognition by cynically exploiting the current public health guidelines about mask usage. “We assess violent extremists and other criminals who have historically maintained an interest in avoiding face recognition,” the bulletin reads, “are likely to opportunistically seize upon public safety measures recommending the wearing of face masks to hinder the effectiveness of face recognition systems in public spaces by security partners.” The notice concedes that “while we have no specific information that violent extremists or other criminals in the United States are using protective face coverings to conduct attacks, some of these entities have previously expressed interest in avoiding face recognition and promulgated simple instructions to conceal one’s identity, both prior to and during the current Covid-19 pandemic.” This claim is supported by a single reference to a member of an unnamed “white supremacist extremist online forum” who suggested attacks on critical infrastructure sites “while wearing a breathing mask to hide a perpetrators [sic] identity.” The only other evidence given is internet chatter from before the pandemic.
There Are 127,000 Coronavirus Cases in Georgia, and the Governor Just Overruled Mask Mandates
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has signed an executive order overruling local mask requirements from more than 15 local governments, as the state’s coronavirus cases continue to pile up.
Officials in several of Georgia’s largest cities, including Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, and Athens have issued executive orders or passed ordinances mandating masks since June. The 41-page order executive order Kemp signed late Wednesday says that Georgians are “strongly encouraged to wear face coverings as practicable,” but makes clear that any local ordinances or orders requiring face coverings “are suspended to the extent that they are more restrictive than this executive order." ...
At least one of the mayors whose orders were overruled was furious at the decision. “It is officially official,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson tweeted. “Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us.”
Coronavirus cases rising in 41 states as Republicans scale back convention
Covid-19 infections are rising in 41 US states, with some southern hotspots taking crisis measures on Thursday, including calling in military medics and parking mobile morgue trucks outside hospitals, echoing scenes in New York City when it became the center of the world outbreak in the spring.
The spread of the virus has resulted in almost 56,000 hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the US currently. A month ago hospitalizations were rising in 11 states; now they are rising in 33 states.
Several states have broken records on many days in the last week as numbers rise. Florida reported a record of 156 deaths on Thursday as it became the focus of attention of the southern surge in Covid-19.
In other developments, Georgia governor Brian Kemp suspended local mask mandates on Wednesday, and early on Thursday, the Republican National Committee announced plans to scale back its national convention next month in Jacksonville, Florida, which it had moved from North Carolina before the surge of cases in Florida, hoping for fewer restrictions on crowds.
North Carolina town votes to pay reparations to Black residents
Asheville, a small city in western North Carolina, has voted to pay reparations to Black residents, as the US continues to grapple with stark racial inequality. The Asheville city council voted 7-0 in favor of issuing what the city considered reparations, issuing a formal apology “for its participation in and sanctioning of the enslavement of Black people”. ...
As part of the resolution, city leaders in Asheville have also called on North Carolina and the federal government to provide funding for reparations. The “resulting budgetary and programmatic priorities” will include “strategies to grow equity and generational wealth, closing the gaps in healthcare, education, employment and pay, neighborhood safety, and fairness within criminal justice”.
“It is simply not enough to remove statutes,” said Young of the city council. “Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature”.
Some supporters of federal legislation to atone for US slavery have called out the city’s measure, however, questioning it being labeled reparations considering they are typically made via direct cash payments to individuals. Instead, retribution for the Asheville’s Black population will come in the form of direct funds to programs designed to increase minority home ownership, business ownership, and improving education and neighborhoods instead.
The Honolulu Cop Who Forced a Homeless Man to Lick a Urinal Is Going to Prison
A Honolulu police officer who humiliated a homeless man by forcing him to lick a public urinal to get out of an arrest is going to prison for the federal civil rights crime.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi on Wednesday sentenced 44-year-old John Rabago to four years behind bars, bringing the more than two-year-long federal court case to an end.
“You took from him his only possession: his dignity as a human being,” Kobayashi said to Rabago during his sentencing.
True Anon's Liz & Brace on Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein, Plus the Harper's Letter | Useful Idiots
Nancy Pelosi, leader of corporate Democrats, challenged by leftist Shahid Buttar
David Sirota: How Schumer, Dems Spent MILLIONS To Crush Progressives In Primaries
North Atlantic right whales now officially 'one step from extinction'
With their population still struggling to recover from over three centuries of whaling, the North Atlantic right whale is now just “one step from extinction”, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN last week moved the whale’s status on their Red List from “endangered” to “critically endangered” – the last stop before the species is considered extinct in the wild.
The status change reflects the fact that fewer than 250 mature individuals probably remain in a population of roughly 400. While grim, scientists and conservationists expressed hope that this move may help speed up protections for these dwindling giants. ...
Often found leisurely filtering plankton at the ocean surface, the right whale species was once highly targeted by whalers: their slow speed made them easy to hunt, and they float when killed, thanks to thick blubber. That slow surface feeding today leads to these whales being struck by boat propellers or becoming fatally snarled in fishing gear. According to the IUCN, of the 30 deaths or serious injuries to North Atlantic right whales recorded between 2012 and 2016, 26 were caused by fishing gear entanglement.
Judge Blocks Trump Attempt to Gut Methane Restrictions
Green groups celebrated a "resounding victory for taxpayers, public health, and the environment" late Wednesday after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from rolling back an Obama-era rule designed to limit planet-warming methane emissions.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Rogers of the Northern District of California said the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) 2018 rescission of the Waste Prevention Rule without "thoroughly and thoughtfully" considering potential environmental impacts was unlawful.
"Instead, in its zeal, BLM simply engineered a process to ensure a preordained conclusion," Rogers wrote in her 57-page decision (pdf). "Where a court has found such widespread violations, the court must fulfill its duties in striking the defectively promulgated rule."
Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center, applauded the "forceful repudiation" of BLM's rollback.
"The Trump administration has abused every opportunity—legal or otherwise—to maximize the oil and gas industry's profits at the expense of taxpayers, public health, and the climate," Schlenker-Goodrich said in a statement.
Rogers' decision means the rule requiring oil and gas companies to prevent wasteful venting and leaking of methane on public lands will go back into effect in 90 days. Given that methane can cause over 80 times more warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, environmentalists celebrated the ruling as a significant victory for the climate.
"The judge basically rejected every attempt by the Trump administration to gut these common-sense waste prevention measures on behalf of their oil and gas industry cronies," Earthjustice attorney Robin Cooley said in a statement. "Most importantly, the judge said the administration cannot ignore the impacts on health and well-being of the people who live near oil and gas facilities."
'Massive Floating Time Bomb': Warnings of Ecological, Humanitarian Disaster as Tanker Risks Dumping Four Times More Oil Than Exxon Valdez
A United Nations official raised alarm Wednesday about the potential threat of a major oil spill off the coast of Yemen, warning that an aging supertanker off the country's coast could dump four times more oil into the Red Sea than the Exxon Valdez oil disaster of 1989.
The remarks from U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Inger Andersen to the U.N. Security Council paint a frightening picture of the environmental and humanitarian consequences posed by the oil in the FSO Safer.
Should a spill occur, it would "directly affect millions of people in a country that is already enduring the world's largest humanitarian emergency," said Andersen.
The 45-year-old vessel, under control of Houthi rebels since 2015, holds more than 1 million barrels of crude oil and has been described as a "massive floating time bomb" that "is corroding away rapidly as we speak."
The Associated Press reported last month that "seawater has entered the engine compartment of the tanker, which hasn't been maintained for over five years," and the Houthis have so far blocked U.N. inspectors access to the ship.
"Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases, has leaked out," AP reported. "Experts say maintenance is no longer possible because the damage to the ship is irreversible."
Andersen, in her comments to the Security Council, pointed to "increasingly likely" scenarios of either a spill or explosion on the tanker, either of which would unleash "a serious, long-lasting environmental impact." Andersen further noted that the Red Sea is "one of the most important repositories of biodiversity on the planet" and said an oil disaster from the FSO Safer has the potential to impact 28 million people who rely on the sea and its coastal area for their livelihoods.
"If the SAFER leaks, potentially spilling four times more oil into the Red Sea than the Exxon Valdez oil spill," Andersen said, "ecosystems and fisheries would be damaged for an extended period into the future."
The UNEP chief pointed to a recent study analyzing potential threats of a spill. Among the worst case scenarios—which would happen if the spill took place between July and September—include that all of Yemen's fisheries would be affected, there would be a months-long closure of the crucial port causing a 200% spike in fuel prices in Yemen for several months and a doubling in food prices, and over 8,000 water wells would be at risk of contamination.
Even if a spill was immediately followed by actions to recover the oil and clean up the shoreline, "it would nonetheless take years for the ecosystems and the economies to recover," said Anderson. But immediate spill response could be marred by the fact that Yemen and its neighboring countries lack capacity for such action. The ongoing conflict in Yemen would be an additional obstacle to immediate remediation efforts, she said.
Efforts to prevent an oil spill or explosion are therefore paramount, said Andersen, pointing to the need to offload the oil and move the tanker. But, she stressed, plans to address a spill must still be in place.
"If the SAFER leaks, potentially spilling four times more oil into the Red Sea than the Exxon Valdez oil spill," Andersen said, "ecosystems and fisheries would be damaged for an extended period into the future."
Efforts to stave off the looming disaster can't wait any longer, she said.
"Time is running out for us to act in a coordinated manner to prevent a looming environmental, economic, and humanitarian catastrophe," Andersen said, calling for a U.N. team to have access to the vessel to assess the situation.
U.N. humanitarian affairs chief Mark Lowcock also addressed the impending diaster at the Security Council and urged Houthis to seize the "important opportunity here to take steps that will spare millions of their fellow citizens from yet another tragedy."
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
“Putin Hacked Our Coronavirus Vaccine” Is The Dumbest Story Yet
Corporate Media Give Trump Powers He Doesn’t Actually Possess
White people are killed by cops, too. But that doesn't undermine Black Lives Matter
French police officers charged over death of man put in chokehold
Freedom Rider: Propaganda Won’t Get Rid of Trump
'Big Win for Our Climate and for Communities' as Federal Panel Rejects Attack on Rooftop Solar in US
Alexander Hamilton Wasn’t a “Cool” Guy, He Was More of a “REALLY, REALLY BAD” Guy
Philadelphia Delays Unhoused Encampment Eviction as CDC Says “Let Them Remain” & Stop COVID Spread
Krystal and Saagar: MSNBC ENRICHES Never Trump Grifters, Mary Trump Book Sales EXPLODE
Krystal and Saagar: Joy Reid Comes Out For M4A After TRASHING Bernie For It In Primary
A Little Night Music
Luther 'Guitar Jr.' Johnson - I'm A King Bee
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson - Come On Back To Me
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson - Call Me Guitar Junior
The Muddy Waters Tribute Band - Honey Bee
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson - If The Blues Was Whiskey
Luther 'Guitar Jr Johnson & Ron Levy - Doin the Sugar Too
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson - Nobody Wants To Lose
Luther 'Guitar Jr Johnson & Ron Levy - Flippin' and Floppin'
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson - I Need Some Air & Time To Make My Getaway
Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson - Red Beans
Comments
Good evening Joe
Alexander Hamilton Wasn’t a “Cool” Guy, He Was More of a “REALLY, REALLY BAD” Guy.
I always wondered where the hell this came from. Like, why is a Latin American playwright making a musical about a man whose dream was to reduce all men to slaves of corporate power. And why is it hip?
Stoller's explanation makes a lot of sense, and it certainly explains a lot of the 'woke capitalism' bullshit you see as the latest hotness. He says that it's the one thing Obama and Dick Cheney could agree on. What he means is that it's the one thing they agree on publicly. The fact that they can agree Hamilton is worth celebrating, tells you all you need to know.
evening konundrum...
yeah, when i saw the rehabilitation of hamilton happening i chalked it up to miranda only encountering air-brushed, perfumed hagiographies of hamilton. i mean, yeah, i understand why robert rubin and his ilk see hamilton as a hero, but average people who have access to a library should not.
stoller's take seems pretty good. perhaps it doesn't account for everybody's motives but it's a good stab at it.
an excellent idea for the housing crisis
Go Catalonia!
evening gj...
it's a great idea and a great start.
most american cities have scads of abandoned houses that they are trying to get people to fix up and occupy. failing that, many just mow them down. rehabilitating those properties could be a step forward, which could be followed by the catalonian idea.
there are also abandoned small farms all over the country that need attention. land reform is seriously needed.
Good evening Joe. Thanks. So Cuomo's push for mail-in
voting is revealed as just another form of voter fraud, like any other voter disenfranchisement tactic. Very cagey caging so to speak. Why am not surprised. And while ordinary, open, caging is technically illegal, this will no doubt be found to be perfectly legal.
Meanwhile, on the other coast, the full on police state is finally stepping into the sunlight and showing its true colors (camo, it appears). Watch all the Dems claim that this is some Trumpish aberration and not really the system they helped build at work as it was built to work.
I remember waaay back when it was new being asked if we had seen Hamilton yet. I replied that I preferred not to get my history from musical farce. It seems that many prefer it the other way. Maybe they all need to be reminded that the medium in question gave us "Springtime for Hitler".
Poor poor DHS. Maybe we should photoprint all N95 style masks with likenesses of a porcine Jedgar Hoopla or Maggie T and all cloth surgical style one with a pic of Barr or DeVoss.
Nice blues.
be well, have a good one and have a wonderful weekend.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Here in Oregon there's been universal vote-by-mail
since 1998. Is that a fraud too? Or is there something different about the Cuomo proposal?
"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama
Cuomo intends to selectively count as few as 72% of
the votes per the article in Joe's column. Even CA does way better than that.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening cass...
vote-by-mail is a great idea and quite viable.
sadly, we live in a failed state where democratic norms are under attack and joe stalin's observation that the people who count the votes decide elections is quite germane.
i suppose that one could say that it doesn't really matter if you vote by mail or in-person in a failed state - if they are going to rig the elections, the people that run the election process will find a way to do it.
evening el...
cuomo disgusts me. i suppose that there are plenty of other corrupt political slimebags just ready to jump into his shoes, so, new york should not fear a discontinuity of maladministration.
i am both pissed and amused about what's going on in oregon. this part is the amusing part:
it is funny that the conservatives are the ones who have been for years pushing a state's rights agenda. it seems to me that a sovereign state that is not in a state of secession has the absolute authority to tell a federal agency to withdraw its troops from its territory.
if i were gov. brown, i would highlight this by calling out the national guard to remove and escort the dhs paramilitaries out of the state.
if they refuse, she should order the state police to do so.
if you think about it there are a lot of chips to be played.
have a great weekend!
Democracy American style
Boy if the fiasco in NYC as well as all of the shenanigans during the primary doesn’t show how much a farce our elections are I don’t know what would.
As were the exit polls that were higher than 4-8% in many states.
This will just give republicans an excuse to continue doing what they’ve been doing for decades. Making it more difficult for people to vote. Democrats do it by not giving districts enough voting machines so people have to wait hours to vote. Or not if they close before they can.
Plus Florida Supreme Court has ruled that any ex felon who wants to vote must pay off any of the money that they owe. Nice democracy we got here huh?
I’m seeing so many people saying that even though Biden isn’t the ideal candidate we still have to vote for him anyway because Trump is so bad.
Lots of people are freaking out about the federal goon squad in Portland, but they seem to have forgotten the president’s before him that have done the same thing. Obama used private mercenaries to do his dirty work.
Heh.. I’ve been posting this in tweets that say Trump is breaking the constitution.
Have a hot weekend y’all. It’s 100 here today. Cooling down to 95 tomorrow. Yippee.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
evening snoopy...
i think that americans are finally being treated to an unobstructed view of the brick wall at the back of the theatre.
phew, it was in the mid 90's here today (and humid) - the current heat wave is ramping up every day and is supposed to peak sunday close to 100 degrees and slowly drop into the mid 90's daily next week.
i'm ready for fall now.
Great quote!
Too bad it won’t fit on a tweet. Too many people still think that history started the day Trump became president without remembering all the times the things he does were done by other presidents. I’m still bewildered by the anti government folks who have watched as our rights have been stripped. They sit by and watch as the goons break up protests mainly because they don’t like the issues people are protesting against. They see how their protests are allowed without interference from the police.
Yes every day it’s this hot I am thankful that our humidity is low. It’s 11 here now. I won’t complain about the heat when I know it can be worse.
I love that Biden tweet. Now people want blacks to vote for the guy who is responsible for a lot of them being thrown in prison. Short memories syndrome.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
heh...
boy i miss frank zappa. i'd love to hear the sort of stuff that he would be making in response to current events.
maybe i'll pull out my copy of joe's garage and give it a spin this weekend. the central scrutinizer surely has something to say.
the central scrutinizer!?!?!?
Oh no, not the central scrutinizer! OMG I can't imagine what Frank would have to say now... from the slime oozing out of your TV set... I listen to Watermelon in Easter Hay far more than my wife would prefer I am sure.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
I saw this on MoA yesterday
It gets the point across.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
heh...
pretty good. i may steal that to send to some folks.
I'm thinking we need a pamphlet:
Masks for Dummies
In my area, mask mandate compliance is at or near 100% and used in conjunction with social distancing of six or more feet, even among the homeless population. Yet, people are still ill informed.
The Sis (a retired RN) showed up last week wearing a mask and gloves. I declined to let her come in until she took off her mask and put on the surgical mask that I handed her. She honestly didn't know that a N-95 mask with a release valve endangers others.
FL dad infected by son
A cloth mask, which I'm sure is what this young man was told to wear, is nearly useless if all his friends decline to wear a mask. Teens/young adults come by their defiance naturally and not surprising that they see masks as uncool. The parents of kids that leave the home to party would do better by requiring the kid to wear a mask and gloves at home. Better still, quarantine/isolate them in a backyard tent for two weeks after every party.
It's not intuitively obvious to people being told to wear a face covering that it protects others should one be unknowingly infected. IOW - it's a protect thy neighbor proposition. And requires 100% compliance for everyone to be at least 95% protected.
Too many people also find it difficult to understand risk under various conditions. For example, enclosed spaces with human traffic, even if nobody is present at the moment, are high risk unless nobody has been in the space without wearing a cloth mask or a N-95 without a release valve. Outdoors and not nearer than fifteen feet to anyone else, very low risk. As the incidence of COVID-19 increases it becomes more important to assess risks.
As there is no zero risk, unless one totally isolates, self-monitoring for COVID-19 through daily temperature checks has featured in all the countries that have limited the spread. Oddly little is heard about this in the US.
Evening all ...
I don't have much to add this evening, maybe this, from Yahoo news:
As COVID-19 Toll Soars, Trump Brags About Bringing 'Back' Incandescent Light Bulbs
Tonight's knife pattern is the Sodbuster. This is Case's name for the knife, there are others. This is a sturdy, working knife with no bolsters and, usually, a brass reinforced, "birds-eye" pin.
I have one made in Pakistan that I got years ago at the swap-meet. The guy had a big box full of them, $1 each. I opened and closed about a dozen of them 'til I found one with a nice, tight action. Best dollar I ever spent.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
thank goodness the incandescent light bulb is back, now we can have incandescent rage at the idiots who are causing americans to die due to the administration's failure to organize a reasonable response.
heh, i was out looking for a belt clip to hold my pocket knife and happened across a bunch of foreign-made knives at a flea market that had nice leather belt pouches. they were cheap, so i figured i'd just throw the knife away, but it turned out to be sturdier and of better quality than i expected for a couple of bucks. it worked out well because i have no need to carry around more than one knife at a time.
great tunes JS!
Great sounds JS! Love that Chicago sound, and Guitar Junior nailed right. He was good.
I sure wish I had seen a Right Whale when I lived on the east coast ('82-85). They were almost never seen back then. Such a neat beast. With a lifestyle not very compatible with mans.
That Yemeni oil tanker is a ticking time bomb that could wipe out a lot of good fishing. Just waiting to hear about it blowing.
We had record heat in central Texas this week, Del Rio 112, lots of sites were 108. Brutal.
be well!
livin' la vida quarantina!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
evening dystopian...
luther in his 80's is one of the best chicago blues players still going. at least before covid he was touring still. he played a lot in the northeast, but he was still getting around. catch him if you can.
heh, i've lived on the east coast almost all of my life and i've never been fortunate enough to see a right whale. i'd sure like to before they are all gone. heh, i'll add it to my bucket list.
it's hot as hell here, but it sounds worse where you are.
have a great weekend!
John Lewis has died
and my first thought was (assuming...which I don't but for argument's sake...that there is a
Pearly Gate 'up there') that St. Peter would greet him with "funny...when it came time to do something for the good of the country, I didn't see you there. I saw Bernie. I didn't see you" and whoosh, down he goes!
evening shahryar...
heh, yep, he certainly had his failings, especially in later years.
still, early in his life he had courage and convictions and his service at that time was praiseworthy.
i view him as someone who got co-opted by the democrats and re-oriented to serve a corporate party's agenda.
It's a shame
that he left a late legacy that could have been so much better.
religion
can be so co-optedly destructive.
I agree
I have been holding my tongue on his death and his history. Yes his history on fighting for civil rights was awesome, but once he got into congress it seemed that he didn’t live up to his reputation and continuing the fight for them for those who came after him. When’s the last time that the congressional black caucus stood against what democrats were doing
People elevate Barbara Lee for not voting for the Iraq war, but then she did vote to fund numerous times. As did many others in the CBC.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Well I knew I couldn't say that on Facebook
I thought about it. I'd get a pretty bad reaction. Maybe I should or should have. Maybe people should be able to hear different opinions.
Still, I felt people here would understand why I feel this way about the guy.
You are not alone in thinking that
I only clicked on this article to read the comments on Lewis and I was happy to see that people there don't buy into the hype that Lewis was all that when he was once, but then changed once he got into congress.
https://commons.commondreams.org/t/the-world-has-lost-a-legend-civil-rig...
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.