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"Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."

-- Homer

News and Opinion

World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points

The climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study. It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating caused by humanity to date.

These include the collapse of Greenland’s ice cap, eventually producing a huge sea level rise, the collapse of a key current in the north Atlantic, disrupting rain upon which billions of people depend for food, and an abrupt melting of carbon-rich permafrost. At 1.5C of heating, the minimum rise now expected, four of the five tipping points move from being possible to likely, the analysis said. Also at 1.5C, an additional five tipping points become possible, including changes to vast northern forests and the loss of almost all mountain glaciers.

In total, the researchers found evidence for 16 tipping points, with the final six requiring global heating of at least 2C to be triggered, according to the scientists’ estimations. The tipping points would take effect on timescales varying from a few years to centuries. “The Earth may have left a ‘safe’ climate state beyond 1C global warming,” the researchers concluded, with the whole of human civilisation having developed in temperatures below this level. Passing one tipping point is often likely to help trigger others, producing cascades. But this is still being studied and was not included, meaning the analysis may present the minimum danger. ...

Recent research has shown signs of destabilisation in the Amazon rainforest, the loss of which would have “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity, as well as the Greenland ice sheet and the Gulf Stream currents that scientists call the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc). ... The analysis, published in the journal Science, assessed more than 200 previous studies on past tipping points, climate observations and modelling studies. A tipping point is when a temperature threshold is passed, leading to unstoppable change in a climate system, even if global heating ends.

Ursula, flatten energy curve, cap US LNG. Habeck-onomics. Vladivostok fair world order.

Resistance is growing across Europe

Resistance is growing across Europe to the massive price hikes being used to pass the costs of the proxy war that the US and NATO are waging against Russia in Ukraine onto working people. A poll conducted by YouGov in France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom concludes that the rise in the cost of living has become the most important issue in all four countries. One in five respondents says he or she is having to dip into savings to survive. One in 10 is skipping meals. More than half expect to be unable to heat their homes adequately in the winter. The majority expect social unrest in the coming months. In France, four out of 10 respondents wish the Yellow Vest protest movement would return.

Even financial advisers are now warning of social unrest. “There are many headwinds ahead for the rest of this year that could impact investor returns,” writes Nigel Green of deVere Group. “One of the biggest—and most overlooked—is the rising risk of large-scale social unrest. The global cost of living crisis is the major contributing factor.” According to the civil unrest index of the global risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, more than 50 percent of the nearly 200 countries covered experienced an increase in mass mobilizations risk between the second and the third quarters of 2022, the largest number of nations since the firm released the index in 2016. At the top of the list are countries as poor as Bosnia-Herzegovina and as rich as the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The claim that Russia is to blame for everything is increasingly losing ground, according to the YouGov survey. In the meantime, many see the responsibility also with the energy companies and their own government. The massive attack on their own standard of living, while the energy companies are raking in record profits and are compensated for losses by the state with sums in the billions, has opened the eyes of many. The propaganda according to which NATO is defending democracy, freedom and independence in Ukraine is being believed less and less. The gigantic arms deliveries with which it is fueling the war despite the danger of nuclear escalation are meeting with rejection. The same is true of the sanctions, which in Russia, as in Europe, primarily affect the working class. ...

The so-called “relief packages” that many European governments are currently adopting to cushion the social impact are no more than the proverbial drop in the bucket, designed to buy some time. Much of the money is being used to support large energy companies that have agreed to long-term supply contracts at fixed prices and are now making losses.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in a guest editorial for the Financial Times, threatened anyone who questions NATO’s war policy. “We face a difficult six months, with the threat of energy cuts, disruptions and perhaps even civil unrest,” he writes. “But we must stay the course and stand up to tyranny—for Ukraine’s sake and for ours.” Stoltenberg openly admitted in the Financial Times that NATO has been preparing for this war for years and will not let up until it has defeated Russia militarily, ruined it economically and subjugated it to its domination.

US military trained Ukrainians days before they sank two Russian ships

U.S.-trained Ukrainian soldiers sank two Russian ships in June, according to Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top acquisitions official. The incident came just two months after Washington gave Ukraine intelligence that helped it sink the Moskva, then Russia’s most powerful warship in the Black Sea.

Washington trained the combatants on how to use Harpoon anti-ship missiles over Memorial Day weekend earlier this year. “The next week, two Russian ships were sunk,” LaPlante said during an interview with Defense News. 

The revelation emerged less than a week after news broke that Washington conducted war games with Kyiv in order to plan for its counter-offensive in Kherson, highlighting the close operational ties between the U.S. and Ukrainian militaries. The news adds to concerns that the United States is engaged in a full-scale proxy war with Russia, as Kelley Vlahos recently argued in Responsible Statecraft.

“As usual it appears that the administration wants to have it both ways: assure the American people that it is being ‘restrained’ and that we are not ‘at war’ with the Russians, but doing everything but planting a U.S. soldier and a flag inside Ukraine,” Vlahos wrote.

Ukraine claims responsibility for Crimea attacks

Ukraine’s top military chief has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Russian airbases on the occupied peninsula of Crimea, including one that caused devastation at the Saky military facility last month.

In an article co-authored by lawmaker Mykhailo Zabrodskyi and published on state news agency Ukrinform on Wednesday, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the Ukrainian army’s commander-in-chief, said the attacks had been carried out by missiles or rockets, without elaborating.

Ukraine has until now only hinted at its involvement in the Crimea blasts, with one senior official anonymously telling the news agency Reuters that the airbase explosions were the work of Ukrainian saboteurs on the ground.

Writing about Ukraine’s response to what the op-ed said was Moscow’s strategy of “distancing” the war from Russian citizens, Zaluzhnyi and Zaborodskyi wrote of “the successful efforts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to physically transfer hostilities to … Crimea. ...

Russia has long warned Ukraine that any attack on Crimea would trigger massive retaliation, including attacks on “decision-making centres” in Kyiv.

Nuclear deal with Iran off the table for time being, US has indicated to Israel

A new nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is off the table and will not be signed in the foreseeable future, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael has learned. This is the message that was conveyed to Prime Minister Yair Lapid in his recent conversations with US President Joe Biden and other administration officials.

This emerging outcome of the nuclear negotiations, which would have major international implications, is likely to be touted by Lapid in the coming election campaign, particularly against opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly attacked the premier on the issue.

The potential new nuclear deal was at the center of Israel’s diplomatic and security consultations over the past year, with a concerned Jerusalem tracking the negotiations between Iran and representatives of the world powers in Vienna, as well as the exchange of draft agreements between the sides in recent weeks.

Israel Firmly Rebukes White House’s Request to Review Policies After Death of American Journalist

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid issued a stern response to a request from the Joe Biden administration. After the murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, on Tuesday the State Department asked Tel Aviv to review its rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank. On Wednesday, Lapid fired back saying, “no one will dictate our rules of engagement to us.” ...

As Washington is Israel’s most important benefactor – providing it some $3.8 billion in military aid annually – and because Abu Akleh is a dual American citizen, the journalist’s family and rights groups have urged the White House to take action. While the Biden administration has said the death is tragic, it has not condemned Tel Aviv or pressed for accountability for Abu Akleh’s killers.

Latest US delegation to Taiwan includes eight members of Congress

Another US congressional delegation has arrived in Taiwan on a previously unannounced visit certain to irk Beijing.

Representative Stephanie Murphy, a Florida Democrat who is vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on intelligence and special operations led an eight-member group to Taiwan late on Wednesday.

Murphy is leading the sixth US political delegation – and the fourth congressional delegation – to have visited Taiwan since August 2, when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived with one.

Unlike previous visits by congressional colleagues who flew on US military administrative aircraft, Murphy and her group boarded a commercial flight from South Korea, landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

GOP Turned DC Into A 'BORDER TOWN': Local DC Councilmember Slams TX, Arizona Migrant Bus Ploy

Washington DC declares emergency over migrants bussed in by Republican governors

The mayor of Washington DC declared a 15-day public emergency on Thursday over the buses of migrants and refugees being sent to the city by the Republican governors from the border states of Arizona and Texas.

Muriel Bowser announced plans to create an office of migrant affairs to coordinate the “humanitarian crisis” instigated by Republicans, and which appears to be aimed at embarrassing Joe Biden’s administration in the run-up to the midterms.

The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has sent at least 9,400 migrants to Washington since April in an effort to push responsibility for border crossers to Democrats. Thousands more people have been bussed to New York City and Chicago. Following suit, Arizona’s Doug Ducey has sent at least 1,500 people to the capital since mid-August.

Bowser, a Democrat, said at a press conference that the new office would provide basic needs to arriving migrants and refugees, including food, transportation, urgent medical care and transportation to connect people to resettlement services. Bowser will allocate $10m to establish the new office and to support non-profits already helping the new arrivals. ...

At least 250 buses have so far arrived in Washington. The policy is costing taxpayers in Arizona and Texas tens of millions of dollars and has converted the US capital into a de facto border state.

Los Angeles county is home to more than 69,000 unhoused people, count finds

Los Angeles has experienced a 4% increase in its homeless population during the pandemic, with 69,144 unhoused people counted across the county this year, according to government data released on Thursday.

The Los Angeles homeless services authority (Lahsa), which conducted the count in February 2022 after skipping a year during the pandemic, said the growth of the unhoused population had slowed in the last two years, in part due to pandemic programs and funding. The previous count, conducted in January 2020, showed a 13% jump from 2019.

The new figures are a rough estimate from a single day and are believed to be an undercount. While the count suggests some progress compared to previous spikes, 70% of the county’s unhoused population are still living outside, with 48,548 people considered unsheltered – rates that are significantly higher than other US cities with homelessness crises.

The humanitarian disaster in the largest county in the US has pushed unhoused people to live outside in tents, encampments, cars, RVs and makeshift structures, scattered under freeways and bridges, in major city parks and beach communities, on streets and sidewalks, and in remote desert terrain. An average of five unhoused people now die every day in LA county, some due to extreme summer heat or hypothermia in the winter.

While cities across the US are grappling with worsening housing crises and inequality, LA and California have faced particularly intense scrutiny over a problem that seems intractable despite the state having the fifth-largest economy in the world, a budget surplus and some of the nation’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

US soldier who posted about killing Black people given top security pass

A former paratrooper who enlisted in the army to become more proficient at killing Black people was given top security clearance despite ties to white supremacist organizations and Nazi ideology. Killian Ryan was arrested on 26 August and charged with making a false statement on his army application for the secret security clearance, and then discharged on the same day for multiple drink-driving violations.

But the criminal investigation uncovered violent and racist remarks on multiple social media accounts, which had apparently eluded the agency which authorised his army credentials. ...

The case raises further questions about the extent of racist extremism in the armed forces, and the apparent ease by which service members seem able to hoodwink security officials and processes.

BLM Leader Accused of STEALING $10 Million

FBI tracked Aretha Franklin’s civil rights activism, declassified file shows

The FBI has declassified its file on Aretha Franklin, the late “Queen of Soul” who died in 2018 at age 76. The 270-page document, which includes reports from over a dozen states, shows the bureau extensively tracked the singer’s civil rights activism and her friendships with Martin Luther King Jr and Angela Davis. ...

The file, requested via the Freedom of Information Act by journalist Jenn Dize, who posted excerpts in a lengthy Twitter thread, and reported by Pitchfork, includes close documentation of Franklin’s performances for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), of which King was president.

The FBI labeled these shows, held in Memphis and Atlanta in 1967 and 1968, as “communist infiltration” events. The FBI also noted that Franklin was alleged to be involved in a “huge memorial concert” following King’s assassination in 1968 that a source claimed “would provide emotional spark which could ignite racial disturbance this area”. ...

The FBI also tracked a performance by Franklin at a 1972 fundraiser for Davis in Los Angeles. The file noted that Davis was “facing murder-kidnapping charges in California” and that the concert’s sponsors, the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis, was “an organization founded by the Communist party, United States of America”.

On several occasions, the FBI identified Franklin as a potential performer at events deemed suspicious that she did not actually attend, including a 1971 benefit event for Davis held by the Boston chapter of the Young Workers Liberation League and a Black Panther Party event in Los Angeles.

Justice department appeals special master ruling for Trump documents

The US justice department has demanded that a federal judge restore its access to documents seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort that carried classification markings, saying that if not, it would appeal to a higher court.

The demands came in a three-page notice of appeal filed by the justice department on Thursday in the case involving Trump’s request for a so-called special master, and paves the way for the government to submit a detailed appeals brief to the US court of appeals for the 11th circuit.

But the justice department indicated in a motion for a stay that it would not appeal the decision, if the order for a special master to review classified materials that stopped the investigation into Trump’s unauthorised retention of government secrets was reversed.

'Abhorrent and Anti-Democratic': Outrage as DNC Panel Blocks Vote on Dark Money Ban

A Democratic National Committee panel on Thursday refused to allow a vote on a resolution aimed at banning dark money from the party's primary process, a decision that sparked outrage from progressive DNC members and others who backed the proposal.

Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, a DNC member who faced an onslaught of dark money during her recent campaigns for a U.S. House seat, told Common Dreams that "it's really a sad state of affairs" for the DNC Resolutions Committee to "not even bring this to the floor so that the members of the DNC can weigh in."

"This should be judged through the lens of right and wrong," said Turner. "It is wrong to allow dark money to enter any primary in any state, in any race. What it does is it suffocates the will of the people in those districts. Let's take my district, for example: Do you think the dark money that came in after me cares that Cleveland is the poorest city of its size in the nation? Do they care that 50% of the children who live in Cleveland live in poverty? No, they don't give a damn."

"Dark money taints the will of the people of these communities because dark money is doing the bidding of the elites and the oligarchs who don't give a damn about the conditions people are living in," she added. "The Democratic Party, by not allowing this resolution to come to the floor, is complicit in the railroading of democracy itself."

Led by Nevada Democratic Party Chair Judith Whitmer, the resolution would have prohibited dark money funding "during any and all Democratic primary elections" and established "procedures for the investigation of 'dark money' use by candidate committees as well as possible disciplinary action."

Dark money refers to spending whose source isn't disclosed and is often untraceable.

Supporters of the ban cited the torrent of dark money that poured into Democratic primary races across the country this year in an effort to defeat progressive candidates and bolster powerful incumbents—a strategy that, in a number of high-profile cases, succeeded.

During her argument in favor of a vote on the proposed ban, which was backed by dozens of DNC members and progressive members of Congress, Whitmer said dark money has allowed "our elections to devolve into auctions."

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution, called the DNC panel's decision to block a vote on Whitmer's resolution "abhorrent and anti-democratic."

"Democrats can't be the party of democracy in one breath and then let an astronomical sum of money from Republican megadonors and corporate interests flood Democratic primaries," Geevarghese added.

The proposed dark money ban's path forward is uncertain. Our Revolution said in an email to supporters Thursday that two of its board members, Larry Cohen and Jane Kleeb, are planning to "lead a coalition of 33 progressive DNC members to get this resolution to the full floor" despite the party panel's obstruction.

"The 33 of us are not going to stand down just because the resolution committee pulled a fast one," Turner told Common Dreams.

The Democratic Party's 2020 platform includes an explicit rebuke of dark money, which has surged in the years following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC.

The platform states that Democrats "will bring an end to 'dark money' by requiring full disclosure of contributors to any group that advocates for or against candidates, and bar 501(c)(4) organizations from spending money on elections."

"Democrats will ban corporate PACs from donating to candidates and bar lobbyists from donating, fundraising, or bundling for anyone they lobby," the document adds.

Shortly before refusing to allow a vote on the proposed dark money ban, the resolutions committee approved a separate, toothless measure that "condemns the use of 'dark money' that runs contrary to the values and principles of donors."

James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a longtime DNC member, tweeted Thursday that he is "furious" about Thursday's outcome and "all Dems should be too."

"The last time party leaders did this was on my February 2003 resolution to oppose the Iraq War," Zogby added. "Wrong then, wrong now!"

In recent months, prominent progressive lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have called on the Democratic leadership to support a dark money ban to prevent anonymous donors from manipulating the primary process and stacking the deck against candidates who rely on grassroots support.

"It is well beyond time for the Democratic Party to practice what we preach and ban super PAC spending from our primaries," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in May after progressive Summer Lee narrowly overcame millions in opposition spending. "Dark money should have no role in deciding elections."

Bernie Sanders Vows To BLOCK Schumer's Massive GIFT To Fossil Industry Donors: David Sirota

Most Dems Mum On Blocking Manchin’s Pipeline Deal

As vast swaths of the country are being battered by climate-intensified droughts and heatwaves, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind-Vt.) just threw a wrench into Democrats’ reported plans to fast track approval of oil and gas pipelines as part of an unrelated spending bill: On Thursday, he pledged to vote against the proposal, even if it is included in legislation required to avert a partial government shutdown.

The open question now is whether enough other Democrats will use their power to block — rather than merely complain about — a pipeline deal that environmental groups say could detonate a climate bomb amid the intensifying ecological crisis.

Soon after Sanders’ announcement, one Democrat — Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) — told The Lever that he would similarly vote no on a spending bill if it includes the pipeline measure. However, House progressives have not committed to providing a bloc of no votes in the lower chamber.

The pipeline deal was originally negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who are respectively Congress’ top recipients of fossil fuel and utilities industry campaign cash. One utility and pipeline company that could benefit from the deal has funneled more than $400,000 to Democrats’ Senate and House campaign committees.

Schumer said Wednesday he intends to attach the permitting deal to a so-called continuing resolution needed to keep the government running. Presuming that Republicans will vote against any Democratic spending bill, it would only take five Democratic no votes to block the legislation in the narrowly divided House.

Appalachians Protest Manchin's Mountain Valley Pipeline Plan; Sanders Decries "Disastrous Side Deal"

US lobster put on ‘red list’ to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales

Lobster nets and pots have become such a threat to the survival of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales that the crustaceans have been “red-listed” as seafood to avoid by a major fish sustainability guide. Fewer than 340 of these whales exist today, including only 80 breeding females. The population is estimated to have dwindled by 28% over the past decade.

Seafood Watch, a sustainability guide for consumers and businesses issued by Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, has downgraded Atlantic lobster caught by pot and gillnet fisheries in the whales’ range to “avoid”, its lowest rating. The new assessment reflects the lack of “timely, effective management” to mitigate “significant risks” of entanglement and promote recovery of the species. The US lobster fishery is worth about $500m (£430m) a year.

Entanglement in the fishing gear used to catch lobster, crab and other species is one of the two leading threats to right whales (the other being ship strikes). The whales’ migration route – from their calving grounds in Florida to feed in Canada – is littered with more than 1m vertical lines from pots and traps, with 622,000 of these in US waters. When a whale is entangled in fishing gear, the ropes can become embedded in its skin, weighing it down and leaving it unable to swim or feed properly. More than 80% of right whales have been entangled in fishing gear at least once.

In June, a court ruled that a US federal agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), violated both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act by failing to quickly reduce impacts of lobster fishing gear on the North Atlantic right whale.

Pennsylvania community halts largest sewer privatisation deal in US history

A community in Pennsylvania has stopped the privatisation of its public water and sewer system, scuppering a corporate takeover that residents feared would have led to higher bills. A $1.1bn bid by Aqua for the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority (BCWSA) system would have been the largest sewer privatisation deal in American history. The company’s bid for the water service has already failed, but now the county commissioners have shut the door completely after siding with residents who opposed privatisation.

It’s a major victory for local and national campaigners opposed to the predatory takeover of public services like water and sewerage, as a growing number – like in Jackson, Mississippi – are buckling under climate shocks after years of neglect, institutional racism and underinvestment. ...

Local circumstances differ, but the privatisation playbook is often the same.

Aqua Pennsylvania submitted an unsolicited proposal for BCWSA in late 2020 and has since been attending closed board meetings. In July, the board announced an “exclusivity” deal with the company, despite the utility being financially robust and widespread community opposition. Local residents and community groups accused the board of conducting backroom deals, and called on the county commissioners to stop the sale – which they did on Tuesday. Shortly after, the board announced that the proposal was off the table.

Fires, heat … a hurricane? California’s ‘most unusual’ week of extreme weather

A collision of extreme weather events is bearing down on California as wildfires threaten communities, a record-setting heatwave is adding stress to the electrical grid, and moisture from a hurricane is expected to bring thunderstorms and flash floods.

Hurricane Kay, swirling off the coast of Mexico, is on its way north, bringing with it the chance of strong winds, severe rainstorms, and possibly dry lightning that could increase risks for new fire starts. It also could bring some welcome relief to the week of brutally hot weather.

“This is perhaps the singularly most unusual and extreme weather week in quite some time in California – and that is saying something,” wrote Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles, in an analysis on Wednesday.

Although it remains uncertain how, exactly, Kay will develop, models show the storm will slow before hitting southern California, Swain said. “But it is quite possible that portions of southern California will see heavy rainfall and strong winds” he said, adding that even an indirect impact from Kay could result in tropical storm force gusts. Those winds increase the risk of new wildfire initiations, especially in San Diego county, he said.

The outer bands of the big storm could also bring heavy rain and possibly flash floods to parts of scorched southern California and south-western Arizona on Friday night and Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center warned. Farther north, where rain is less likely, the chance of dry lighting influenced by the hurricane is also causing concern.

Also of Interest

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

Sanctions are Destructive, Illegitimate, and Totally Bipartisan

Our Entire Civilization Is Fake And Stupid

Chokepoint Capitalism Strangles Us All

New Report Debunks Manchin's Lies About the Mountain Valley Fracked Gas Pipeline

We Could See The First Great “Flood” In A Few Years

Nine million people in a city 170km long; will the world ever be ready for a linear metropolis?

Study reveals striking differences in brains of modern humans and Neanderthals

A Little Night Music

Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters - Jumbo

Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters - Stomp House Blues

Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters w/Joe Medwick - If I Don't Get Involved

Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters - Hard Time Blues

Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters - G.G. Shuffle

Grady Gaines & the Longhorn Sound - Who-She-Ku-She

The Upsetters w/Jimi Hendrix - Cabbage Greens

The Upsetters w/Jimi Hendrix - K.P.

Grady Gaines and The Texas Upsetters - Let Your Thing Hang Down