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"We are killing each other and our ecosystem over an economy made of debt books and imagination."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

Worst polluting countries must make drastic carbon cuts, says Cop26 chief

The world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases must produce clear plans to cut their carbon output drastically, the president of vital UN climate talks has urged, after scientists warned there was only a small chance of escaping the worst ravages of climate breakdown.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change set out the starkest warning yet on the widespread and “unprecedented” changes to the climate that are “unequivocally” the result of human actions. Extreme weather resulting from these changes was already seen around the world and growing worse, in the form of rising temperatures, more frequent and fiercer storms, heatwaves, droughts, floods and sea level rises, according to the biggest assessment of climate science in eight years.

Global temperatures were likely to top 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in the next two decades, the threshold set as the ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the world’s climate science authority said. Only sharp and immediate cuts in greenhouse gases this decade could stabilise the climate system.

Remember:

1. The oceans are being killed.
2. Forests will soon be gone.
3. Fertile soil is disappearing.
4. Megafauna risk extermination.
5. Insects are vanishing.
6. Climate chaos is inevitable.
7. Extinction is now.
8. Plastic is in our blood.

None of this is front page news.

— Ben See (@ClimateBen) March 9, 2019

Blinken vows no 'impunity' for Iran following deadly attack on Israeli-owned ship

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed a pledge on Monday to punish Iran for allegedly attacking an Israeli-linked tanker, saying the world cannot allow "impunity". Speaking at a UN Security Council session on maritime security, Blinken said the attack on the MT Mercer Street was "part of a pattern of attacks and other provocative behaviour". ...

Last week, US Central Command released a report claiming the Mercer had come under attack three separate times from Iranian drones between 29 July and 30 July. The third attack blew a six diameter hole in the ship and resulted in the death of the British security officer and the ship’s Romanian captain.

According to US Central Command, drone fragments recovered from the attack "were identical to [components in] previously identified Iranian unmanned one-way attack systems", and the distance between the Iranian coast and the site of the attack was within range of the capabilities of Iranian drones.

Iran denies it was responsible for the attack on the tanker Mercer Street that killed two crew members

Speaking at the UN Security Council Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed a call for a collective response against Iran for the July 30th attack on the Israeli-linked tanker Mercer Street. The US has blamed Iran for the drone attack, which killed a Romanian and a British citizen, but Tehran denies the charge. ...

While denying responsibility for the attack, Iranian officials have pointed out the hypocrisy of Western countries who never call out Israel for its attacks on ships in the region. In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had attacked at least a dozen ships that were either Iranian or carrying Iranian fuel since 2019. The US also never condemns Israel for its covert attacks and assassinations inside Iran.

If all US troops do not leave Iraq, there will be an 'appropriate response': militia spox

The recent agreement between the US and Iraq to withdraw American combat troops is insufficient, the spokesperson of an Iran-backed militia group told Rudaw, promising an “appropriate response” should all US forces not withdraw.

“The talks that took place between Baghdad and Washington, and the outcomes they produced, did not achieve the Iraqi ambition, which is the exit of all US forces,” Sheikh Kadhim al-Fartousi, spokesperson for Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, a militia part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) told Rudaw on Sunday.

“Changing clothes and appearance is not a withdrawal … the US and foreign forces withdrawal from Iraq has to be in full,” Fartousi said, adding that if that is not achieved there will be an “appropriate response.”

US sends Afghanistan envoy to Doha for talks as Taliban take more cities

Taliban capture sixth provincial capital in northern Afghanistan

The Taliban captured another provincial capital on Monday and were pressing on the biggest city in the region, Mazar-i-Sharif, following a stunning weekend offensive in which the insurgents have overrun a series of urban centres across northern Afghanistan.

Armed fighters swept into the city of Aibak without meeting any resistance. The deputy chief of Samangan province confirmed that the local governor had withdrawn his soldiers in order to protect the civilian population. The Taliban were in “full control”, Sefatullah Samangani said. ... The city is a key route for the supply of goods to northern Afghanistan. Its capture leaves pro-government forces in the region increasingly cut off.

The Taliban have now overrun six provincial capitals in mere days. On Sunday the group claimed a huge symbolic victory when its fighters seized Kunduz, a strategic city close to the border with Tajikistan and an important political and military hub. It has also claimed Sheberghan, the capital of the northern Jawzjan province, and neighbouring Taloqan. On Monday its forces were advancing toward Pul-e Khomri, another provincial capital in the north.

German election frontrunners fail to impress with flood response

Germany is bracing itself for complex coalition negotiations following September’s national elections, after the leaders of the two strongest parties failed to impress voters with their response to last month’s devastating floods and boosted the confidence of smaller parties. A two-way coalition between the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of the outgoing chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the German Greens has long looked the most likely outcome when the country votes in seven weeks’ time, with polls showing a consistent governing majority between the two parties.

However, the floods that brought catastrophic damage and loss of life to Germany’s western states just over a month ago have put the CDU and Greens’ lead candidates under increased scrutiny, from which neither has emerged with their standing improved.

Despite several visits to affected towns, Merkel’s designated continuity candidate, Armin Laschet, has struggled to build up an image as a competent crisis manager: clownish jokes in the background of a press conference and hostile reactions from locals rendered homeless by the floods have accentuated rather than closed the gap between the outgoing chancellor and her aspiring successor. ...

In the four weeks since the floods hit, the CDU’s lead has fallen from a polling average of 29% to 26%. Laschet’s closest competitor, the Green candidate Annalena Baerbock, deliberately visited flood-hit areas without a press pack in tow, mindful that being seen to overtly politicise the loss of human life could backfire.

The Greens’ polling figures have since rallied but only marginally so, especially when considering that record rainfall and forest fires around the globe have brought the party’s core subject to the top of the agenda. The party had briefly led the polls in the weeks after Baerbock was declared its candidate for chancellor. According to a survey by Infratest Dimap, Laschet and Baerbock are now their parties’ candidates with the lowest approval ratings since the pollster started asking the question in 1998.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Bernie's Reconciliation Package

Senate Dems’ $3.5T budget proposes small increases to defense spending

Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint that proposes limited increases for defense budgets through 2031.

While non-binding, the numbers are politically symbolic, and it’s unclear whether the roughly flat top-lines for national defense will repel centrist Democrats or not, especially given the other Democratic priorities in the bill. Party leaders will need all 50 of their members to stay unified to pass the budget blueprint, focused on expanding America’s social safety net, without any Republican votes.

For the national defense budget category “050,” which includes Department of Energy weapons programs and the Pentagon budget, the blueprint proposes $765.7 billion in budget authority for fiscal 2022. The number, which includes mandatory spending, tracks with the administration’s fiscal 2022 budget request for $753 billion in discretionary defense spending, according to a Senate aide.

In the out-years, the blueprint proposes 2 percent annual increases through 2026 and then 1 percent increases per year through 2031, its final year.

That could rankle Republicans and some Democrats who have said annual increases for defense of 3 to 5 percent above inflation are needed to counter a rising China and other global threats. Some have argued that defense budget boosts that lag inflation are not flat but in fact cuts.

Gov. Abbott Is a “Direct Threat” to the Children of Texas: Houston Doctor on Mask Bans, Kids & COVID

Austin warns of ‘catastrophe’ as Texas again becomes center of pandemic

With Covid-19 cases skyrocketing exponentially and intensive care unit capacity in hospitals dwindling to single digits, officials in the Austin area are warning of “catastrophe” as Texas again becomes an center of the pandemic.

Austin’s local governments issued an urgent message through their emergency notification system Saturday, imploring residents to stay home, mask up and get vaccinated.

The entreaty comes mere days after Austin Public Health elevated its risk-based guidance to stage 5, the highest possible tier.

“The situation is critical,” Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis county’s health authority, said in a statement. “Our hospitals are severely stressed and there is little we can do to alleviate their burden with the surging cases.” ...

In Austin’s metropolitan statistical area, 510 Covid patients are currently hospitalized, 184 are in the ICU, and 102 are on ventilators. About a third of recent hospitalizations have been among patients younger than 50, underscoring the Delta variant’s serious threat to younger Texans who have opted against vaccination. ...

As a whole, Texas currently ranks second behind Florida for the highest daily average Covid-19 cases, with infections up 134% over the last 14 days. And between early February and mid-July, roughly 99.5% of Texans who died from the virus were unvaccinated, the Texas Tribune reported.

The Working Class is WAKING UP - Prof. Richard Wolff

California promised 100% rent forgiveness for struggling tenants. Most are still waiting

California’s ambitious program to provide rent relief to every low-income tenant struggling during the pandemic has been plagued by delays and challenges, and some renters who are waiting for the aid to arrive say they are now facing eviction threats.

California officials have been working since March to distribute funds to landlords whose tenants fell behind on rent during the pandemic, and in June authorities promised that the state would pay off the entirety of the rent debt of qualifying tenants. But the program has been slow to roll out, with eligible tenants across the state having difficulties applying while others say they’ve had to wait months for funds.

Tenant groups fear that if problems persist, hundreds of thousands of renters could be vulnerable to displacement when California’s eviction protections expire at the end of September. As of last week, the majority of applicants haven’t received any rent relief yet, according to state data. The city of Los Angeles has run out of money and closed its program, saying it is unable to meet demands. Meanwhile, renters’ debts are increasing as the spread of the Delta variant prompts further economic hardships.

Corporate Liberalism Is No Match for Trumpism

Jane Mayer's article in The New Yorker last week, "The Big Money Behind the Big Lie," starkly illuminates how forces aligned with Donald Trump have been upping the ante all year with hyperactive strategies that could enable Republican leaders to choke off democracy, ensuring that Trump or another GOP candidate captures the presidency in 2024. The piece runs close to 10,000 words, but the main takeaway could be summed up in just a few: Wake up! Core elements of U.S. democracy really could disappear soon.

Anti-democratic ducks are being lined up in Republican-run state legislatures to deliver the White House to the party nominee. Driven by Trumpian mindsets, it's a scenario that could become a dystopian reality.

In early June, the New America organization issued a Statement of Concern, signed by 199 eminent "scholars of democracy" in the United States, warning that "Republican-led state legislatures across the country have in recent months proposed or implemented what we consider radical changes to core electoral procedures in response to unproven and intentionally destructive allegations of a stolen election. Collectively, these initiatives are transforming several states into political systems that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections. Hence, our entire democracy is now at risk."

The statement included a sentence that flagged an ominous, even fascistic, cloud on the horizon: "Statutory changes in large key electoral battleground states are dangerously politicizing the process of electoral administration, with Republican-controlled legislatures giving themselves the power to override electoral outcomes on unproven allegations should Democrats win more votes."

New America, which calls itself "a think and action tank," deserves praise for issuing the statement. Yet, overall, the organization typifies a political establishment that arguably does more to fuel Trumpism than hinder it.

The CEO of New America, Anne-Marie Slaughter, did her part to oil the Democratic Party's machinery of neoliberalism as the State Department's director of policy planning for the first two years of the Obama administration. Later, she wrote and spoke widely to call for U.S. warfare in Syria. Like Hillary Clinton, who was her patron as secretary of state, Slaughter has been a prominent promoter of what is sometimes glibly labeled a "muscular" foreign policy.

Slaughter's zeal for U.S. military intervention—boosting Pentagon budgets that enrich war contractors while shortchanging domestic social programs—fits neatly with an overall neoliberal model of reverence for maximizing corporate profits. It's a sensibility that Slaughter presumably brought to her stint on the board of directors of the McDonald's Corporation before getting to the State Department.

Members of New America's board of directors, such as media foreign-policy darling Fareed Zakaria and ubiquitous pundit David Brooks, have long echoed pro-war conventional wisdom. But hawkishness from elites has worn thin for working-class communities in the wake of combat deaths, injuries and psychological traumas. Research indicates that Clinton's militaristic persona helped Trump to defeat her in 2016, with "a significant and meaningful relationship between a community's rate of military sacrifice and its support for Trump." More than four years later, the liberal establishment's support for endless war is unabated as the U.S. continues to routinely bomb several countries.

As for the ongoing class war at home, the current Democratic brand of mild liberalism still refuses to forthrightly answer a pivotal question: "Which side are you on?" The party's usual answer, in effect, is "both sides"—or, more commonly, to pretend that class war isn't really happening. ("Can't we all just get along?")

Certainly the Biden administration has taken some important steps—such as expansion of the child tax credit and regulatory moves against corporate monopolies—to reduce extremes of economic unfairness. And it's true that Biden has turned to Keynesian public investment. But the structures of neoliberalism are still largely in place, and the inroads against it have been incremental. With a closely divided Congress and a very likely GOP takeover of the House in 17 months, the advances are temporary and precarious.

An affirmative program for progressive change—to substantially improve the economic and social conditions of people's daily lives—will be essential for mobilizing voter turnout and preventing the Republican Party from seizing control of the federal government. GOP obstructionism on Capitol Hill is no excuse when Democratic leaders, as happens all too often, fail to clearly set imperative goals and go all-out to achieve them in tandem with grassroots movements. A prime example is Biden's refusal to use his authority to cancel student loan debt.

Meanwhile, Trump and associates are raising plenty of cash. During the spring, some news reports claimed that Trump was losing his hold on devotees—a Washington Post headline in May flatly declared that "Trump is sliding toward online irrelevance"—but such wishful thinking has been eclipsed by recent information. Trump's online fundraising brought in $56 million during the first half of this year, and his political committees report having $102 million in the bank. Those figures "underscore the profound reach of Trump's fundraising power," Politico reported as this month began. Trump is maintaining "a massive online donor network that he could lean on should he wage a 2024 comeback bid."

A vital challenge for progressives is to not only block Republican agendas but also to effectively campaign for policy changes that go far beyond the talking points of current Democratic leaders offering to tinker with the status quo. Merely promising a kinder, gentler version of grim social realities just won't be enough to counter the faux populism of a neofascist Republican Party.

“Unfit to Lead”: NY State Sen. Biaggi Says Gov. Cuomo Impeachment Proceedings Should Start Now

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s top aide resigns amid sexual harassment scandal

A senior aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned on Sunday in the wake of a state attorney general’s report that the governor sexually harassed 11 women. Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, was linked in the report to efforts to cover up the governor’s actions and retaliate against one of his accusers. ...

The report described DeRosa as a central figure in Cuomo’s office’s retaliation against one of the women, Lindsey Boylan, after she became the first person to speak out publicly.

DeRosa, who often defended Cuomo when he faced public criticism, had been with the administration since 2013. She was given the title “secretary to the governor” in 2017, and was probably the most recognizable face in the administration after Cuomo. She appeared by his side in most of his news briefings and often fielded policy questions from reporters.

Cuomo Called OBAMA Admin To SQUASH 2014 Investigation, History Of Meddling REVEALED

IPCC report shows ‘possible loss of entire countries within the century’

Global heating above 1.5C will be “catastrophic” for Pacific island nations and could lead to the loss of entire countries due to sea level rise within the century, experts have warned.

The Pacific has long been seen as the “canary in the coalmine” for the climate crisis, as the region has suffered from king tides, catastrophic cyclones, increasing salinity in water tables making growing crops impossible, sustained droughts, and the loss of low-lying islands to sea level rise. These crises are expected to increase in frequency and severity as the world heats. ...

“The [IPCC] report is very alarming,” Satyendra Prasad, Fiji’s ambassador and permanent representative to United Nations, said. “It comes out exceeding where we all thought the estimates were … it brings forward some of the catastrophic scenarios that we have been thinking about in the Pacific of sea level rise, loss of low-lying lands, and possible loss of entire countries within the century. The timelines for these things will certainly be brought much closer.”

A new report by Greenpeace Australia Pacific has highlighted the stark climate injustice faced by the Pacific region, which is one of the lowest carbon-emitting regions in the world, responsible for just 0.23% of global emissions, yet has suffered some of the earliest and most severe impacts of rising global temperatures.

“If we look at what those impacts are, probably more than anywhere else, the Pacific is most hit,” said Dr Nikola Casule, head of research and investigations at Greenpeace Australia Pacific. “We’re going to see more salinity, we’re going to see sea level rise … [that] would mean that significant parts of places like Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, just become uninhabitable.”

Thousands of fish killed by toxic red tide wash ashore on Florida beaches

Hundreds of tons of dead marine life have washed ashore and wafted a putrid stench along Florida’s beaches in recent weeks amid a toxic red tide bloom spreading in its waters. ...

While red tides occur naturally in the Gulf of Mexico, experts feared a large bloom was imminent after a toxic breach at the Piney Point phosphate plant in late May. In order to prevent a devastating collapse of the site’s reservoir - which held some 480 million gallons of wastewater - state officials pumped wastewater out of the reservoir and into storage containers and a local seaport, according to the Tampa Bay Times. On Thursday, the state’s environmental agency filed a lawsuit against the former phosphate mining facility’s owner over the breach. “Today, the department took a pivotal step to ensure this is the final chapter for the Piney Point site,” according to a statement by the agency’s secretary.

The massive spill threatened nearby residents with a 20-foot wall of water and led to the evacuation of nearby residents and businesses. Experts now believe the wastewater that was dumped into Port Manatee, which leads into Tampa Bay, could be supplying a buffet of nutrients for bacteria to feast on, which could have caused the algae bloom. Warming waters due to climate change are also making red tides worse, according to experts. ...

A coordinated state response has been slow. So far, the state has given $1m towards cleanup efforts for the fish killed by the red tide. Patarek and his group organized a protest calling for the state’s governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, to declare a state of emergency that would free up more resources to clean up the fish-clogged bay. The city council of St. Petersburg, one of the areas hardest hit by the scourge, also pushed for a state of emergency declaration to coordinate a state and federal response.

DeSantis has not been receptive to their appeals. While the governor argues that declaring a state of emergency would hurt tourism across the state, residents have been left to deal with the damage, and argue that the algae bloom is a massive ecological crisis that could have been avoided.

Fire-friendly weather returns as second largest blaze in California history burns

Firefighters battling the second largest wildfire in California history faced a return of fire-friendly weather, as the thick smoke that held down winds and temperatures from the scenic forestlands picked up. The changing weather conditions near the Dixie fire, which is burning the state’s far north, concerned firefighters working in unprecedented conditions to protect thousands of threatened homes in rural communities of the Sierra Nevada.

“The live trees that are out there now have a lower fuel moisture than you would find when you go to a hardware store or a lumber yard and get that piece of lumber that’s kiln dried,” Mark Brunton, operations section chief for the California department of forestry and fire protection, said in an online briefing Sunday morning. “It’s that dry, so it doesn’t take much for any sort of embers, sparks or small flaming front to get that going.” ...

The fire, named for the road where it started nearly four weeks ago, grew to an area of 765 sq miles (1,980 sq km) by Sunday evening and was just 21% contained, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection. It grew by more than 40 sq miles Sunday and in about a month has scorched an area more than twice the size of New York City.

The winds weren’t expected to reach the ferocious speeds that helped the fire explode in size last week. But with smoke clearing out on eastern portions of the fire, crews that had been directly attacking the front lines would be forced to retreat and build containment lines farther back, said Dan McKeague, a fire information officer from the US Forest Service. On the plus side, better visibility should allow planes and helicopters to return to the firefight and make it safer for ground crews to maneuver. “As soon as that air clears, we can fly again,” McKeague said.

Also of Interest

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

When the FBI entraps: the forgotten case of the Liberty City Seven

John Kiriakou: Prosecutors

America shouldn’t be sending unvaccinated kids back to school

The infrastructure bill is being lauded as a victory for bipartisanship – but is it?

Arithmetic

New movement of religious extremists push ultra-conservative vision in US

We’re Destroying Our World Over Imaginary Nonsense: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

African Faith Leaders to Gates Foundation: Drop African 'Green Revolution'

AOC's CHUMMY CNN Interview is Hard to Watch

Kyle Kulinski: Media IGNORES Health Insurance Mafia

Ryan Grim: New Census Numbers Could THROTTLE Dems In Midterms

A Little Night Music

Mable John - Who Wouldn't Love A Man Like That

Mable John - Your Good Thing (is about to end)

Mable John - Running Out

Mable John - That Woman Will Give It A Try

Mable John - Shouldn't I Love Him

Mable John - You Made A Fool Out Of Me

Mable John - Stay Out Of The Kitchen

Mable John - Problems

Mable John - Wait You Dog

Mable John - Able Mable