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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Buddy Johnson

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features jazz and blues pianist and bandleader Buddy Johnson. Enjoy!

^{Buddy Johnson - Shufflin & Rollin'}

“The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”

-- Hunter S. Thompson

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News and Opinion

Russia will act if Nato countries cross Ukraine ‘red lines’, Putin says

Vladimir Putin has warned Nato countries that deploying weapons or soldiers to Ukraine would cross a “red line” for Russia and trigger a strong response, including a potential deployment of Russian missiles targeting Europe.

Nato countries have warned Putin against further aggression against Ukraine as foreign ministers gathered in Latvia to discuss the military alliance’s contingencies for a potential Russian invasion. Tensions have soared following a buildup of nearly 100,000 Russian troops, as well as tanks, artillery, and even short-range ballistic missiles, within striking distance of Ukraine’s borders. ...

In his most expansive comments on the crisis yet, the Russian president on Tuesday complained of Nato’s historical expansion to Russia’s borders and warned that substantial Nato military support for Ukraine would cross a “red line” for Russia. “You asked about Ukraine, where are these red lines?” he said in televised remarks during an investment conference. “They are above all in the creation of threats to us which could come from [Ukraine].”

In particular, he warned against the stationing in Ukraine of missile defence systems similar to those in Romania and Poland. Putin claimed they could serve as cover to deploy offensive weapons such as Tomahawk missiles capable of reaching Moscow in minutes.

“We would have to create a similar threat for those who are threatening us,” he said, warning that Russia could deploy hypersonic missiles. “And we can do that already now,” he added.

Ukraine-Russia tensions: NATO warns Moscow of "high price" for military action

Putin calls for a deal with NATO

Latvia Calls for Permanent U.S. Troops to Guard Against Russia Threat

Latvia needs a permanent U.S. military presence to deter Russia and wants to boost its defences with U.S. Patriot missiles, Defence Minister Artis Pabriks said on Monday as NATO's chief visited allied troops in the Baltic country.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to arrive in Latvia's capital Riga late on Monday before a meeting on Tuesday with 29 NATO counterparts. The alliance is alarmed by a Russian military build-up on Ukraine's borders.

"We need additional international assistance," Pabriks told Reuters. "We would like to have a permanent United States (military) presence in our country. And sea and air defence means basically going down to such systems as Patriot (surface-to-air missiles)."

NATO troops were rehearsing battle skills in a snowy Latvian woodland with camouflaged tanks and live rounds, with 1,500 troops seeking to stop an attack on Riga by disrupting and stalling the unidentified adversary's advance north of the city. ...

Moscow says it has no intention of invading the Baltics or Poland and accuses NATO of destabilising Europe by moving troops closer to Russia's borders. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said there was "no imminent threat" against NATO.

Craig Murray Is a Free Man

BREAKING: Former British ambassador Craig Murray finally released from prison #WelcomeHomeCraig pic.twitter.com/tze5CZz0Sm

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 30, 2021

Craig Murray was released from Saughton Prison on Tuesday, where he was imprisoned for his publications.

Senate GOP blocks defense bill, throwing it into limbo

Senate Republicans on Monday blocked a mammoth defense policy bill, throwing the legislation into limbo as Congress heads into a packed year-end schedule. The Senate voted 45-51 to start winding down debate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets spending levels and policy for the Pentagon. But that is short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the hurdle.

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) was the only Republican to vote with Democrats to advance the bill, while Democratic Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voted against moving forward along with 46 GOP senators.

The setback comes amid a stalemate on allowing votes on amendments to the bill. Leadership previously got a deal before the Thanksgiving recess to allow for 18 amendment votes, but that agreement was blocked by several Republicans who didn’t get their own proposals included.

Can you spot what's wrong with this Honduran election graphic from US-backed media organization La Prensa? #manufacturingconsent pic.twitter.com/8XyzS3CWC7

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) November 30, 2021

Ryan Grim: Pinochet-Loving Presidential Candidate Visits US, WATCH What's Happening In Chile

Biden has invited Venezuelan opposition figure (to say leader would be a stretch) Juan Guaidó to a virtual “summit of democracies”

Guaidó doesn’t hold any public office & competing opposition parties outperformed his coalition in recent elections https://t.co/iMn8IUSWQM

— Anya Parampil (@anyaparampil) November 30, 2021

“Farewell to British Colonial Rule”: Barbados Breaks From the Queen as Calls Grow For Reparations

As Executives Hike Prices, US Corporations Rake in Biggest Profits Since 1950

New data released by the Commerce Department shows that over the last two quarters of 2021, U.S. corporations outside the finance sector have raked in their largest profits since 1950—a windfall that belies CEO gripes about rising labor costs and broader inflationary pressures in the economy.

The Commerce Department figures, as Bloomberg reported Tuesday, show that overall corporate profits were up 37% from the previous year while employee compensation was up just 12%.

"Let's be clear. The problem is not the worker who got a small raise and a $1,400 check seven months ago," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, tweeted in response to the data. "The problem is corporations making record-breaking profits while 700 billionaires became $2 trillion richer during the pandemic."

"We need an economy that works for all," Sanders added, "not the 1%."

In recent months, a number of major U.S. companies including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Chipotle, and Dollar Tree have announced price hikes amid the coronavirus pandemic, claiming that the increases were made necessary by forces driving inflationary pressures in the U.S. and abroad.

But observers have pointed to corporations' record profits—as well as sky-high CEO pay—to argue that recent price hikes should be seen as an effort to pass higher labor and material costs onto consumers in order to further pad already-strong bottom lines.

In June, Chipotle—which handed its CEO a $24 million raise last year—said it hiked menu prices by around 4% to cover the costs of modest wage increases for employees, fueling the false narrative that worker pay raises are to blame for recent price jumps. Last week, Dollar Tree CEO Michael Witynski—who made around $11 million in total compensation last year—pointed to the current "inflationary environment" to justify bumping store prices up to $1.25.

As Bloomberg noted Tuesday, "U.S. consumer prices rose 6.2% in the 12 months through October, the most since 1990." But, the outlet added, "the new data on corporate earnings suggest business can comfortably pass on all its higher costs."

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) argued that "prices are high because corporations are raising them—so they can keep paying themselves with ever-larger executive bonuses and stock buybacks."

"Corporations could lower their prices," Brown, the chair of the committee, said during his opening statement at the hearing. "Executives could get a slightly smaller pay bump this year and stock buyback plans could be put on hold, instead of raising costs for customers. There’s no inexorable law that says profits for those at the top must continue to rise in perpetuity, even at the expense of everyone and everything else in the economy."

"Corporations can get away with it," he added, "because they have too much power in the economy."

This is an excellent interview:

Prof. Richard Wolff: The Truth About Inflation

Hmmm, not seeing this at the gas pump:

Yahoo Finance
Oil prices have tanked so hard traders are assuming planes won't fly for 3 months

Oil prices have come down way too fast on Omicron variant concerns, says Goldman Sachs oil strategist Damien Courvalin. ...

WTI crude oil prices have plunged 12% since Nov. 24 on worries the new variant will stunt global demand. As Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre notes, oil prices are now down about 23% from their recent high.

Shares of oil majors Exxon and BP have shed 7.2% and 9.8%, respectively, in the last five sessions, according to Yahoo Finance Plus data. The sell-off in oil comes amid a violent broader market pullback this past week, which continued on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 652 points in Tuesday trading, while the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 were also deeply in the red. All 30 Dow components were in the red for the session, except for Apple and Merck.

Congress 'Asleep at the Switch' as Biden Continues Trump-Era Ploy to Privatize Medicare

A Trump-era pilot program that could result in the complete privatization of traditional Medicare in a matter of years is moving ahead under the Biden administration, a development that—despite its potentially massive implications for patients across the U.S.—has received scant attention from the national press or Congress.

On Tuesday, a group of physicians from around the nation will try to grab the notice of lawmakers, the Biden White House, and the public by traveling to Washington, D.C. and demanding that the Health and Human Services Department immediately stop the Medicare experiment, which is known as Direct Contracting (DC).

The doctors plan to present HHS with a petition signed by more than 1,500 physicians who believe the DC pilot threatens "the future of Medicare as we know it."

Advocates have been publicly sounding the alarm about the DC program for months, warning that it could fully hand traditional Medicare over to Wall Street investors and other profit-seekers, resulting in higher costs for patients and lower-quality care.

"Everything we know about Direct Contracting should be cause to halt the pilot," Diane Archer, the founder of Just Care USA and the senior adviser on Medicare at Social Security Works, told Common Dreams in an email. "Direct Contracting effectively eliminates the more cost-effective traditional Medicare program designed to ensure that people with complex health conditions get the care they need."

"The Direct Contracting experiment is likely to be both a healthcare policy and a political nightmare," Archer argued. "We already know from the Medicare Advantage experiment that Direct Contracting won't save money, nor will it be able to show improved quality."

But healthcare campaigners' concerns have fallen largely on deaf ears in Congress and the Biden administration, which has allowed much of the pilot program to proceed as planned.

In a phone interview with Common Dreams ahead of Tuesday's demonstration at HHS headquarters, Dr. Ed Weisbart—chair of the Missouri chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP)—said that Congress is largely "asleep at the switch" as Wall Street-backed startups and private insurance giants close in on traditional Medicare, a 56-year-old program that covers tens of millions of U.S. seniors.

"People don't know that it's happening," Weisbart, one of the physicians traveling to the nation's capital, said of the DC experiment. "Most people in Congress don't know that it's happening. We've started having some of these conversations with congressional staff, and we're hoping to have many more of them next week when we're there, but it's not on their radar either."

"That's the disturbing part," he added. "How radical the transformation of Medicare is becoming under this new model, how widespread it will be—it'll be the entire book of business—and yet that's occurring with neither the awareness nor consent of Congress."

The DC program was established by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) during the waning months of the Trump administration, which included former pharmaceutical industry executives, Wall Street bankers, and right-wing policy consultants notorious for gashing public health programs.

Under the DC model, so-called Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) are paid monthly by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to cover a specified portion of a patient's medical care—a significant shift from traditional Medicare's direct reimbursement of providers.

DCEs are allowed to pocket the funding they don't spend on care, an arrangement that critics believe will incentivize the private middlemen to skimp on Medicare patients—many of whom could be auto-enrolled into DCEs without their knowledge or permission.

According to a policy brief released by PNHP, "Virtually any company can apply to be a DCE, including investor-backed startups that include primary care physicians, [Medicare Advantage] plans and other commercial insurers, accountable care organizations (ACOs) or ACO-like organizations, and for-profit hospital systems."

"Applicants are approved by CMS without input from Congress or other elected officials," the group notes.

At present, the pilot includes 53 DCEs in 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Drs. Richard Gilfillan and Donald Berwick pointed out in a September article for Health Affairs that 28 of the current DCEs are controlled by investors, not healthcare providers. A second tranche of DCEs is expected to debut in January 2022.

Dr. Ana Malinow, a physician from San Francisco who is taking part in Tuesday's petition delivery, said in a statement that "Medicare Advantage—the first wave of Medicare privatization—showed us that inserting a profit-seeking middleman into public coverage does not save money for taxpayers, but rather costs more money while also taking away care choices from seniors."

"If left unchecked, the Direct Contracting program will hand traditional Medicare off to Wall Street investors, without input from seniors, doctors, or even members of Congress," said Malinow. "Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has the power to stop this Trump-era program in its tracks, and must do so now."

Amazon Workers in Alabama Get New Shot at Union After NLRB Rules Company Broke the Law in 1st Vote

Google breached its own ‘don’t be evil’ motto, ex-employees’ lawsuit claims

A group of former Google employees have sued the company, alleging that it breached their employment contracts by not honoring its famous motto “don’t be evil”.

In the lawsuit filed in California state court, former Google employees Rebecca Rivers, Sophie Waldman and Paul Duke alleged that they were fired two years ago for fulfilling their contractual obligation to speak up if they saw Google violating its “don’t be evil” pledge. ...

The three former Google software engineers had raised concerns at town halls and other forums inside Google about the company potentially selling cloud technology to US immigration authorities. ...

The three former employees’ firings also have led to a National Labor Relations Board trial over whether the company engaged in unfair practices to stem growing worker organizing.

Kim Iversen: Roe V. Wade Under Attack? SCOTUS Considers Allowing STATES To Decide Abortion Laws

With SCOTUS Set to Hear Abortion Case, Anti-Choice Groups Prepare to Enact 'Post-Roe Strategy'

With the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear opening arguments Wednesday in a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade and threaten abortion rights for millions of people across the country, right-wing anti-choice groups are preparing to ensure that anyone who becomes pregnant in the U.S. is forced to continue the pregnancy.

The consideration of Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban represents a moment the anti-choice movement has been waiting for since 1973, when Roe v. Wade affirmed that pregnant people have the right to obtain abortion care until 24 weeks of pregnancy.

After a number of extreme forced-pregnancy laws passed by right-wing state legislatures were overturned by federal courts in recent years, Mississippi officials are asking the high court to overturn Roe v. Wade in addition to allowing their law—which includes no exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest—to stand.

Former Vice President Mike Pence called on the Supreme Court Tuesday to "make history" by overturning the ruling—a move that would swiftly put in place abortion bans in 12 states that have "trigger bans," including Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and in 14 other states that have severely restricted access to care.

Pence claimed in his remarks that "Americans are ready for an end to the judicial tyranny of Roe v. Wade"—despite the fact that only 27% of Americans back overturning the decision and 60% support upholding it, according to recent polling by ABC News/The Washington Post—and that the right to obtain abortion care should be left up to state legislatures.

Anti-choice groups including Students for Life of America and Americans United for Life are lobbying state-level lawmakers to pass new abortion restrictions and bans in the event that Roe is overturned.

"We've had a post-Roe strategy for the last 15 years," Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told Politico Tuesday.

The strategy includes launching a $5 million anti-choice ad campaign that will run in 20 U.S. cities and working with federal Republican lawmakers to ban online sales of pills used for medication abortions, which reproductive rights advocates say more and more people facing unwanted pregnancies may rely on if Roe is overturned.

With red states passing extreme forced-pregnancy bills in recent years, states including Louisiana and Mississippi have seen skyrocketing demand for abortion pills that can be accessed by mail, according to international nonprofit group Aid Access.

"This is a window into what the world will look like if the Mississippi and Texas bans are allowed to go into effect," Abigail Aiken, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and lead author of Aid Access's study, told Politico in May. "The people who are looking for abortions will not just suddenly say: 'Oh, I guess it's illegal now, so I won't get one.' They will look for whatever options they can find, including those outside the law."

Pregnant people in states that have passed bans—including Texas, where a six-week ban was allowed by the Supreme Court to stand in September—have increasingly traveled across state lines in recent months to access care, overwhelming clinics in states including Oklahoma and Kansas. According to the Guttmacher Institute, patients seeking care in Louisiana would have to drive an average of 666 miles, one way, to see a provider if americ is overturned.

With right-wing groups rallying to strip Americans of their right to obtain abortion care should Roe be overturned, pro-choice advocacy groups prepared to demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday, demanding not only that the law be upheld but also that the Senate pass the Women's Health Protection Act, which would keep abortion access free from medically unnecessary restrictions and create a statutory right for providers to provide abortion care.

"Abortion is healthcare, and the majority of Americans agree: We need to defend Roe v. Wade," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earlier this week. "Congress can do that by passing the Women's Health Protection Act to protect access to abortion for everyone—regardless of their zip code. Let's get it done."

Federal court upholds California ban on large-scale firearm magazines

A federal appeals court has upheld California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, overturning a previous ruling from a lower court and handing a victory to gun control advocates.

In a 7-4 vote on Tuesday, the ninth circuit court of appeals ruled that limits on large-scale magazines do not violate second amendment rights nor notably limit the ability to defend oneself. The ruling supports the constitutionality of California laws that ban magazines holding 10 or more rounds of ammunition.

The ruling noted that weapons with high-capacity ammunition magazines have frequently been used to commit mass shootings. “The ban on legal possession of large-capacity magazines reasonably supported California’s effort to reduce the devastating damage wrought by mass shootings,” the majority opinion wrote.

The decision reverses a 2020 ruling that said California’s ban violated second amendment rights. Tuesday’s decision split along partisan lines, with the seven judges in the majority all Democratic presidential appointees and the dissenting judges all appointed by Republican presidents. The case could head to the supreme court, which has a conservative majority.

Daunte Wright killing: police officer who shot Black motorist to testify

The suburban Minneapolis police officer who shot Daunte Wright will testify at her manslaughter trial, her attorney said on Tuesday as jury selection began with potential panelists being questioned closely about their attitudes on policing, protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. One of Kim Potter’s attorneys, Paul Engh, told a potential juror she would hear directly from Potter about the traffic stop that ended in the death of the 20-year-old Black motorist last April.

Potter has said she meant to use her Taser on Wright but grabbed her handgun by mistake. “Officer Potter will testify and tell you what she remembers happened, so you will know not just from the video but from the officers at the scene and Officer Potter herself what was occurring,” Engh said. “I think [you] should be quite interested in hearing what she had to say.”

The prospective jurors have responded to questionnaires similar to those used in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial for the killing of George Floyd. About 200 people were asked to provide extensive information on what they knew about the Potter case and whether they have positive or negative impressions about her and Wright.

Potter shot Wright as he tried to drive away from a traffic stop on 11 April – when Chauvin’s trial had begun and tensions were high. Wright’s death sparked several nights of protests in Brooklyn Center, echoing sometimes violent unrest after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in May 2020.

Tennessee declines to act on first complaint under new law banning critical race theory

The Tennessee education department declined to investigate the first complaint under a new state law that bans some teaching approaches to issues of race and bias – a complaint that included a book about the Rev Martin Luther King Jr and the March on Washington. ...

The Tennessee complaint was filed by Robin Steenman, chair of the Williamson county chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative parents group, the Tennesseean reported. The 11-page notice alleged that a literary curriculum, Wit and Wisdom, in use by Williamson county schools and at least 30 other districts, presented a “heavily biased agenda” that caused children to “hate their country, each other and/or themselves”.

The group took issue with several books adapted for younger readers on topics including King’s leadership of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the integration of schools in California by the activist Sylvia Mendez and the autobiography of Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to desegregate an all-white primary school in Louisiana. “The classroom books and teacher manuals reveal both explicit and implicit Anti-American, Anti-White and Anti-Mexican teaching,” the complaint claimed.

“The relentless nature of how these divisive stories are taught, the lack of historical context and difference in perspective, and the manipulative pedagogy all work together to amplify and sow feelings of resentment, shame of one’s skin color, and/or fear.” The complaint also alleged that the curriculum “implies to second-grade children that people of color continue to be oppressed by an oppressive ‘angry, vicious, scary, mean, loud, violent, [rude], and [hateful]’ white population”.

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Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to testify before Capitol attack committee

The former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows will testify before the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack as part of an initial cooperation agreement reached with his lawyer, the panel’s chairman, Bennie Thompson, announced on Tuesday. The agreement involves Meadows appearing for a deposition and providing documents that are not protected by executive privilege. The move is aimed at staving off the threat of criminal prosecution for defying a subpoena in its entirety. ...

The select committee is seeking to hear from Meadows since his role as White House chief of staff means he may hold the key to unlocking the extent of Trump’s involvement in efforts to stop the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

The select committee also believes that Meadows remained by Trump’s side for most of 6 January and was therefore in a unique position to know what the former president was privately thinking and doing at the White House as the deadly attack on the Capitol unfolded.

Andrew Yang Asked if He Would Work With White Supremacists

A new reason to move: politics

Blue states will get bluer, and red redder, in coming years, as more Americans factor political issues into their relocation decisions and head for places with like-minded tribes.

That’s the forecast from real-estate brokerage Redfin, which included “more migration for political reasons” in its outlook for the housing market in 2022. The deepening political polarization of the country includes new city- and statewide laws likely to attract adherents and repel detractors, driving political issues deeper into community life. Texas this year passed the nation’s strictest anti-abortion law, for instance. A Mississippi anti-abortion law could lead the Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal everywhere. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, states will once again be free to set their own abortion statutes, creating a drastic dividing line between permissive and restrictive states.

Another Supreme Court case, involving gun rights, could make it easier to carry concealed weapons in New York and 7 other states, eroding gun-control efforts propagated largely by Democratic governors and mayors. On the other hand, marijuana is now legal in 19 mostly blue and purple states. Cities such as Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York are experimenting with police reform meant to cut down on lower-level arrests. Public-school curricula is a new flash point between parents who want racial and social justice taught in schools, and traditionalists who feel threatened by “wokeness.” ...

An October Redfin survey of people who recently moved, for instance, found that 40% said they would prefer or insist on living in a place where abortion is fully legal. The portion taking the opposite view—saying they would prefer or refuse to live in an area where abortion is fully legal—was 32%. It’s not unusual for survey respondents to express strong opinions on abortion, but it may be new for people to factor such views into moving decisions. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe and more states ban or severely restrict abortion, it could become a bigger factor in relocation.

The Redfin survey of movers also gauged attitudes toward other touchy political topics. Larger percentages favored living in areas with liberal policies such as strong voter protections, gender anti-discrimination laws and legal weed.

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'Extractive Industries Everywhere Are Watching': 9 Democrats Urge DOJ to Free Steven Donziger

Nine U.S. House Democrats on Monday urged the Justice Department to "take immediate action" to secure the release of Steven Donziger, a human rights attorney who helped thousands of Ecuadorians win a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against oil giant Chevron and is now incarcerated on a contempt of court charge that experts say is retaliatory—and which followed two years of pre-trial house arrest, a violation of international law.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the progressive lawmakers—Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (Ill.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Cori Bush (Mo.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), and Raúl M. Grijalva (Ariz.)—wrote that Donziger's case "has shocked the worldwide community of environmental justice and human rights advocates and creates a distinct chilling effect on this type of advocacy going forward."

"Mr. Donziger," noted the lawmakers, "has done nothing but uphold the highest professional ethics in representing and protecting his clients but has since been thrown in federal prison for petty contempt charges, a first in United States history. Mr. Donziger began serving a six-month sentence for petty contempt of court at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut on October 27, 2021, despite the many calls from the international legal community that his pre-trial detention for over 800 days was a violation of international law."

"Mr. Donziger sits in a crowded federal prison because a Chevron attorney made it so, without Executive Branch supervision or ever seeing a jury of his peers," the lawmakers continued. "As the United States is a party to the District Court case against Mr. Donziger, we request that you act immediately to reclaim control of this case, dismiss the charges, and free Mr. Donziger from his imprisonment."

"The international legal community," they added, "is appalled by what has transpired in the Southern District of New York and the Department of Justice's commitment to a just rule of law requires immediate action." ...

In April of this year—prior to Donziger's trial, which began in May and ended in July when Judge Loretta Preska found him guilty—six House Democrats urged Garland to immediately review what they called "an unprecedented and unjust legal assault" on Donziger, pointing out that the DOJ had failed to exercise its oversight authority over the case even as a corporate law firm that represents Chevron was enlisted to prosecute him.

Earlier this month, however, the DOJ submitted a friend-of-the-court filing that encouraged the federal appeals court reviewing Donziger's contempt conviction to "reject his argument that his prosecution by private attorneys violated the U.S. Constitution's appointments clause," Reuters reported.

Donziger is not alone in objecting to the use of private prosecutors in the federal court system. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) echoed Donziger's concerns in a July letter sent to Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

In their new letter to Garland, the nine House Democrats pointed out that in September, the same week that Donziger was sentenced to six months in prison, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD)—made up of independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council—argued that Donziger's "deprivation of liberty is a violation of international law and that the trial against him and the judges involved, specifically Federal District Court Judges Lewis A. Kaplan and Loretta Preska, fail international fair trial standards, including the perception of impartiality of the courts."

"The WGAD also concluded that the deprivation of liberty appears to be in retaliation for Mr. Donziger's work as a legal representative of Indigenous communities in Ecuador, that he should be freed immediately, and that he is due compensation for these violations," the lawmakers added.

"When the U.N. and international environmental and human rights communities repeatedly call for immediate action," wrote the lawmakers, "the Biden administration must not remain silent." ...

A failure to "act immediately to rectify the unprecedented and unjust imprisonment of Mr. Donziger" is likely to cause long-lasting damage to the rule of law, democracy, and the planet, the group warned Garland.

"Extractive industries everywhere are watching this story to see if Chevron has just completed their proof of concept, that with enough money for lawyers and corporate-friendly judges, a polluting company can turn a judgment rendered against them into a RICO charge against the lawyers and the victims," says the letter. "Mr. Donziger is living proof that Chevron has succeeded, and other companies and industries will replicate this model, turning victims and their lawyers into fraudsters and criminals, culminating unbelievably in actual prison time."

"The DOJ must intervene in this case," the lawmakers stressed, "to show polluting companies that the Chevron model for avoiding responsibility for environmental catastrophe will not be tolerated by our justice system."

New Climate Study Predicting More Rain Than Snow in the Arctic 'Rings Alarm Bells'

Research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications suggests rainfall will become more common in the Arctic than snowfall, and decades sooner than previously thought—findings that elicited fresh warnings about the necessity of ambitious climate action.

"As the Arctic continues to warm faster than the rest of the planet, evidence mounts that the region is experiencing unprecedented environmental change," says the study, spearheaded by Michelle McCrystall, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba.

"The transition from a snow- to rain-dominated Arctic in the summer and autumn is projected to occur decades earlier and at a lower level of global warming, potentially under 1.5°C, with profound climatic, ecosystem, and socioeconomic impacts," the paper continues, referencing the Paris climate agreement's lower temperature target for the end of this century.

McCrystall detailed the anticipated consequences of this transition, which is happening because of rapid global heating, poleward moisture transport, greater Arctic amplification, sea-ice loss, and increased sensitivity of precipitation to regional warming.

"People might say, 'Well, what has that got to do with me?' Well, this is going to affect you, and in actual fact, it is affecting you now," McCrystall said in a statement. "For me, I think what people need to understand is, we live in a global society where everything is interconnected, and that's true of the climate. We have a global climate. So, what happens in one region, will affect what happens everywhere else."

"There are huge ramifications of these changes, which we note in the paper, such as a reduction of snow cover, increased permafrost melt, more rain-on-snow events, and greater flooding events from increased river discharge, all of which have implications on wildlife populations and human livelihoods," the lead researcher explained.

Her team was finalizing their paper this year when, in August, rain fell on the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet for the first time in recorded history.

"The fact that we're getting rainfall on the summit of Greenland right now, and that we're maybe going to get more rainfall into the future—it kind of staggers me," she said. "And when we talk about this happening in 2100, it seems like such a long time away, but it's only 80 years. That's the next generation. And if we continue the trajectory that we're going, a lot of issues might happen even faster than what we've projected."

As co-author James Screen at the University of Exeter put it: "The new models couldn't be clearer that unless global warming is stopped, the future Arctic will be wetter; once-frozen seas will be open water, rain will replace snow."

Have you thanked the fungi today?

A powerful and underappreciated ally in the climate crisis? Fungi

If we want to tackle the climate crisis, we need to address a global blindspot: the vast underground fungal networks that sequester carbon and sustain much of life on Earth. ... Through fungal activity, carbon floods into the soil, where it supports intricate food webs – about 25% of all of the planet’s species live underground. Much of it remains in the soil, making underground ecosystems the stable store of 75% of all terrestrial carbon. But climate change strategies, conservation agendas and restoration efforts overlook fungi and focus overwhelmingly on aboveground ecosystems. This is a problem: the destruction of underground fungal networks accelerates both climate change and biodiversity loss and interrupts vital global nutrient cycles. These networks should be regarded as a global public good to be mapped, protected and restored as a matter of urgency.

Fungi lie at the base of the food webs that support much of life on Earth. About 500m years ago, fungi facilitated the movement of aquatic plants on to land, fungal mycelium serving as plant root systems for tens of millions of years until plants could evolve their own. This association transformed the planet and its atmosphere – the evolution of plant-fungal partnerships coincided with a 90% reduction in the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Today, most plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi – from the Greek words for fungus (mykes) and root (rhiza) – which weave themselves through roots, provide plants with crucial nutrients, defend them from disease and link them in shared networks sometimes referred to as the “wood wide web”. These fungi are a more fundamental part of planthood than leaves, wood, fruit, flowers or even roots.

We are destroying the planet’s fungal networks at an alarming rate. Based on current trends, more than 90% of the Earth’s soil will be degraded by 2050. Modern industries, from agriculture to forestry, have failed to take account of the life in the soil. Despite the fact that mycorrhizal fungi supply as much as 80% of a plant’s nutrients, intensive farming practices – through a combination of ploughing and application of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides – severely reduce the abundance, diversity and physical integrity of fungal networks. Logging wreaks havoc below ground, decreasing the abundance of mycorrhizal fungi by as much as 95%, and the diversity of fungal communities by as much as 75%. A large study published in 2018 suggested that the “alarming deterioration” of the health of trees across Europe was caused by a disruption of their mycorrhizal relationships, brought about by nitrogen pollution from fossil fuel combustion and agricultural fertiliser.

Mycorrhizal fungal networks make up between a third and a half of the living mass of soils and are a major global carbon sink. When we destroy them, we sabotage our efforts to limit global heating. ... Globally, at least 5bn tons of carbon dioxide are sequestered within mycorrhizal networks each year, a quantity roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted annually by the US (unpublished data suggests this figure is closer to 17bn tons). Even small reductions in the prevalence of fungal networks have significant consequences: a release of just 0.1% of the carbon now stored in Europe’s soils is equal to the annual emissions from 100m cars.

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