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“One man to live in pleasure and wealth, whiles all other weap and smart for it, that is the part not of a king, but of a jailor.”

-- Sir Thomas More

News and Opinion

Australian bushfire catastrophe exposes the contempt of the ruling elites for working people

The duration and extent of the fires raging across Australia have shocked millions of people not only in the country itself, but around the world. ... Politically, however, the most significant and enduring aspect of the 2019–2020 fire crisis is that it has laid bare the gulf between the working class majority and the minuscule financial and corporate oligarchy that controls the productive forces and dictates the policies of government. ... Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will go down in history as the political leader who secretly went on holiday to Hawaii last month while the country burned. Morrison epitomises the political type that has emerged to impose the dictates of the capitalist oligarchs. Like his counterparts internationally—from Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Shinzo Abe, to Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi—he tries to portray himself as a man of the people while ensuring that the wealthy few continue to amass their obscene riches. Morrison has built his political credentials with the Australian ruling elite through right-wing demands for corporate and personal income tax cuts, the abolition of social programs, and the slashing of wages and working conditions.

For at least three decades, climate scientists have documented, with increasing alarm, how global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions is fundamentally altering world weather patterns. In regard to Australia, warning after warning has been issued that the further drying out of large tracts of what was already the driest continent would vastly increase the regularity, scope and intensity of fire events. Yet Morrison is notorious for dismissing these concerns and denying the need to reduce fossil-fuel use so as to protect the vested corporate interests of the coal and associated energy industries. For months, he continued to dismiss the fires as the natural cycle in Australia with no relationship to global warming. On his return from his holiday in Hawaii, Morrison denounced a tweet by teenager Greta Thunberg calling for greater emissions reductions as “reckless” and not in Australia’s economic interests—that is, the interests of the mining conglomerates and the banks that underwrite their vast operations.

On January 2, however, Morrison was brought face-to-face with the mass popular anger that is burgeoning over the inaction and indifference of his government and the entire political establishment towards the bushfire catastrophe. Working class residents in the fire-devastated town of Cobargo refused to shake his hand, shouted abuse and demanded that he leave. The encounter in Cobargo revealed the state of class relations in Australia. The fire crisis is triggering the type of shift in popular consciousness that has led to mass struggles and protests in country after country—from France and North Africa to Chile and India—demanding the removal of governments and an end to the relentless attacks on the social position of the working class. Trust in the official establishment is collapsing.

In the days since Cobargo, Morrison has gone into damage control to try to shore up the credibility and authority of the government. He now claims to take the threat of climate change seriously and has promised to meet “whatever costs we need” to assist devastated communities. Most ominously, his discredited government has mobilised thousands of military personnel to try and take control of disaster relief in the most affected areas, where anger is the greatest and ordinary people have concluded they need to organise for themselves.

The political situation, however, has changed permanently. In the eyes of millions of workers and young people, Morrison and his government are not fit to rule. The opposition Labor Party has held power for 19 of the past 37 years and has proven it is just as beholden to corporate profit interests as the Coalition. It is just as culpable for the lack of any serious action on climate change and the rundown of essential services, including those involved in firefighting. ... A crisis always lays bare the essential character of class relations. The disdain and indifference of the Australian political establishment towards the lives and well-being of ordinary working people amid the flames engulfing entire communities finds it reflection around the world. It recalls President’s Trump’s attitude to hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico in 2017, which he initially dismissed as not being a real catastrophe, before flying in for a photo-op and tossing what he called “beautiful, soft paper towels” to desperate onlookers. The capitalist elite everywhere, with the short-sightedness and indifference of outmoded and reactionary ruling classes throughout history, has insisted that their narrow, national profit interests must take priority over the interests of society as a whole.

Andrew Bacevich: Trump Sparked “Unnecessary Crisis” by Killing Soleimani, Barely Avoiding War

Trump Administration Failed to Convince Members of Congress Its Assassination of Suleimani Was Justified

Following classified briefings in the House and Senate, members of Congress said the Trump administration had failed to present evidence that the assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani had averted an “imminent threat” to Americans in the Middle East. “We did not get information inside that briefing that there was a specific, imminent threat that we were halting through the operation conducted last Thursday night,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters. “And I can say I was surprised and saddened to not have that information before us, I think it is likely because it doesn’t exist.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that 97 senators attended the briefing, and 15 got to ask questions. “There were so many important questions that they did not answer,” said Schumer of Wednesday’s briefers, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CIA director Gina Haspel, and Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “As the questions began to get tough, they walked out,” Schumer said. “I’ve asked for a commitment that they all come back within a week; we have not gotten that commitment.” ...

Reactions from Democrats in the House were similarly critical of the lack of evidence Trump apparently had before ordering the assassination. “Every time we were told, ‘Absolutely, there was an imminent threat you should just see the information, it’s really imminent.’ And nothing was shown to us,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., at a news conference following the House briefing. “Over and over and over the question was asked. And nothing more was given to us about this.” Following the House briefing, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Trump “had no evidence of an imminent threat or attack, and we say that coming from a classified briefing. Where again, there was no raw evidence presented that there was an imminent threat.”

Tulsi Gabbard: How I tried to stop Trump's Iran actions

Team Trump's Secret Iran Briefing Was so Bad These GOP Senators Are Turning on the President

Sens. Mike Lee and Rand Paul have had enough. The pair of libertarian-leaning Republican senators stormed out after a classified briefing with top Trump administration officials and declared they’d back a Democratic bill that would force Trump to go to Congress before any further military escalations towards Iran.

Lee (R-Utah) called the briefing “insulting and demeaning” to the assembled senators and the U.S. Constitution, saying it was “insane” and “unacceptable” that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other Trump officials only stayed for 75 minutes and repeatedly ducked questions from the assembled senators.

Paul (R-Ky.) wasn’t any happier, calling the briefing “absurd” and “an insult.”

Lee said the classified briefing to justify the rationale for killing a top Iranian general “probably the worst briefing I’ve seen, at least on a military issues, in the nine years I’ve served in the United States Senate.”

GOP Sen. Mike Lee goes off on the Trump briefing: "They had to leave after 75 minutes, while they’re in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane. I think it’s unacceptable." pic.twitter.com/rs6LOimfAm

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 8, 2020

He said he went into the briefing undecided, but told reporters in the Capitol that the briefers’ inability or unwillingness to answer questions had convinced him to throw his support behind the measure, pending some changes he has worked out with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)

Democratic Congressman: Why Progressives have been pushing for War Powers resolution for months

Milley: We'll provide evidence of an imminent Iranian attack one day, somehow

Eventually, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will disclose the evidence that shows Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani was planning an imminent attack against U.S. forces – but he did not say when.

"I will be happy, when the appropriate time comes in front of the proper committees and anybody else, through history and every — I'll stand by the intelligence I saw, that — that was compelling, it was imminent, and it was very, very clear in scale, scope," Army Gen. Mark Milley told reporters on Monday.

U.S. government officials have repeatedly claimed that Soleimani, the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was in the final stages of plotting deadly attacks against U.S. troops when he was killed by an American airstrike. Yet no official has offered any proof to back up their assertion that killing Soleimani saved American lives.

The issue gets to the heart of the Defense Department's credibility, which has been strained by military officials' consistent over-optimistic assessments of progress in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially after the Washington Post published the "Afghanistan papers," which showed top U.S. officials admitted privately that the military's strategy in Afghanistan was not working.

National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien last week declined to say what evidence the Trump administration has that Soleimani was planning such attacks.

US and Iran avoid war, but Trump's war-mongering goes on

Trump pulls back for now but game of chicken with Tehran far from over

The safety net that prevented a new Middle East catastrophe overnight has always been there. Neither the US nor Iran wants to go to war with each other. But it is a failsafe that has been tested too fecklessly too many times – and there is no reason to assume it will continue to hold indefinitely. The fact there have been no confirmed reports of casualties from Iran’s missile strikes on military bases in Iraq may be due to early warning systems or the fact that Iraq’s government was tipped off so Americans and Iraqis had enough time to take cover. But the intention seems to have been to keep the strike limited and proportional. ..

The relief and triumph with which Trump drove down the off-ramp Iran had provided was evident in his Wednesday morning speech. ... Looking at the satellite photos of the damage, it seems only a matter of good luck and good precautions that soldiers in Iraq were not killed. If there had been US casualties, Trump would almost certainly have retaliated, and the cycle of escalation could easily have spun out of control.

In any case, it seems unlikely even this round of tit-for-tat retaliation is really over. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said the missiles were just a “slap in the face” and insufficient remedy for the loss of Suleimani. It is a safe bet there is more to come, most likely from Iran’s allies and proxies in Iraq, whose leaders were killed by the same drone strike that killed the Iranian general. The desire for revenge will supercharge the Iraqi militias’ central mission: to drive US forces out of Iraq, a goal that Suleimani pursued in life, and has come close to achieving with his death.

Iran has a wide choice of other fronts on which it can plot revenge, including the Persian Gulf oil shipping lanes, Saudi and Emirati infrastructure, and cyberwarfare. Past experience suggests that real revenge will be served cold, in a manner that makes its provenance clear to the intelligence services but impossible to prove to the public and US allies.

More importantly, both sides are still set on the same paths that lead straight to the brink. The fact that they managed to stop themselves falling over the edge this time is of small comfort if they are going to dust themselves off and race down the same course again.

The Miracle of Kindness (Chris Hedges)

After Biden Offers 'No Comment' Response to Middle East Escalation, Critics Suggest: How About 'No War With Iran'

While peace advocates and his more progressive 2020 rivals remain outspoken in their demand for deescalation and telling President Donald Trump to end his reckless march to war, former Vice President Joe Biden is being chided for issuing a weak-tea response after Iranian missiles hit U.S. military bases in Iraq Tuesday night—a direct retaliatory strike following last week's U.S. assassination of top military leader Qasem Soleimani.

"I'm going to hold off on commenting on the news tonight until we know more," Biden tweeted shortly after the Iranian attack was reported, "but there is one thing I will say: Jill and I are keeping our troops and Americans overseas in our prayers. We hope you'll keep them in yours."

Compared to Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have both spoken out repeatedly and forcefully in recent days against Trump's aggression and the threat of war, Biden's remarks were taken as a troubling signal that he has yet to learn key lessons since he voted in favor of the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving in the U.S. Senate. ...

If your candidate right now is saying anything other than "the US cannot go to war with Iran and should de-escalate immediately," they shouldn't be your candidate https://t.co/ds4RqGbBSI

— Kate Aronoff (@KateAronoff) January 8, 2020

At a campaign rally in New York, Biden's advice to Trump was not to immediately halt hostilities but rather to express hope that the president is "listening to his military commanders for the first time because so far that's not been the case."

While calling for a vague deescalation, Biden suggested the president's biggest issue was not the war crimes he is committing or threatening to commit, but that Trump "refuses to level with the American people" about the dangers he has created. As numerous critics have noted, Biden—as well as former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg—have largely criticized Trump not for his war-mongering, but for being not very good at it.

As Meagan Day wrote for Jacobin magazine last week, "Biden would like you to believe that he has seen the light when it comes to the folly of imperialist adventures abroad, that he has found redemption post-Iraq. But his response to the assassination of Soleimani suggests that the old Biden is alive and well."

The American people do not want war with Iran. They want to invest in health care, education, housing, and good jobs.

Congress cannot stand by. It must act now to pass our legislation to uphold the Constitution and prevent Trump from spending trillions more on endless war.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 8, 2020

Confusion clouds international efforts to reach Libya ceasefire

An unprecedented drive involving Europe, Russia and Turkey has been launched to broker a Libyan ceasefire, and end the risk of the country collapsing into total all-out war. However, it is unclear to which extent the joint Russian-Turkish call for a ceasefire by 12 January should be seen as complementary or in competition to an intensified Italian-led European push to end the fighting.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin – who have each backed opposing sides in the Libyan conflict – together called for a ceasefire by midnight on 12 January. At the same time, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, hosted the two warring leaders – Fayez al-Sarraj, the prime minister of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, and General Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the eastern military forces – in a summit in Rome.

But it appeared the initiative was running into difficulties even before it had begun: late on Wednesday it was reported that Sarraj refused to meet Conte because the Italian prime minister had previously met his rival, Haftar. ...

Italy, which has historically been seen as a leading player in Libya where it has substantial energy interests, has been caught out by the unexpected Turkish intervention. Rome is facing criticism over its inability in more than two years to bring about a settlement in a country that has been ravaged by political and military disputes between east and west of the country ever since the western intervention to remove Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The Italian and Russian initiatives are not necessarily in conflict, but reflect the extent to which outside parties are intervening in the country, and are probably making it more difficult for the two internal warring parties to reach a settlement.

The end of Juan Guaidó: Venezuelan coup leader rejected by country’s opposition

Millions Flood Streets Across India as General Strike Takes Aim at Modi Government

Millions of Indians on Wednesday flooded the country's streets in a general strike against the economic and social policies of the right-wing government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah.

"The attitude of the government is that of contempt towards labour," said the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.

The strike, known in India as Bharat Bandh, was projected by organizers from 10 of the country's trade unions to turn out around 250 million people, making the action the largest of its kind in Indian history.

"The Modi-Shah government's anti people, anti labour policies have created catastrophic unemployment and are weakening our PSUs to justify their sale to Modi's crony capitalist friends," tweeted opposition politican Rahul Gandhi. "Today, over [250 million] Indian workers have called for Bharat Bandh 2020 in protest. I salute them."

Photos from the strike show Indians across the world's largest democracy demonstrating in the streets, shutting down transportation and industry across the country.

Anger, frustration and distrust as French strikes enter their 36th day

MPs vote to drop child refugee protections from Brexit bill

The Commons has rejected proposals to keep protections for child refugees in the redrafted EU withdrawal agreement bill, triggering dismay from campaigners.

Alf Dubs, the Labour peer who successfully campaigned for this protection for refugee children in 2016, said it was a “very depressing” development.

“It is very disappointing that the first real act of the new Boris Johnson government is to kick these children in the teeth. It is a betrayal of Britain’s humanitarian tradition and will leave children who are very vulnerable existing in danger in northern France and in the Greek islands,” he said.

MPs voted 348 to 252 against the amendment, which had previously been accepted by Theresa May’s government and which would have guaranteed the right of unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with family members living in the UK after Brexit.

Dubs, whose campaigning work on this issue was inspired by his experience of being welcomed to Britain after fleeing the Nazis on the Kindertransport, said he would continue to fight for the rights of refugee children in the House of Lords next week.

World Bank warns of global debt crisis amid borrowing buildup

The World Bank has highlighted the risk of a fresh global debt crisis after warning of the biggest buildup in borrowing in the past 50 years. In its half-yearly Global Economic Prospects (GEP), the Washington-based organisation said of the four waves of debt accumulation since the 1970s, the latest was the largest, fastest and most broad-based.

The World Bank, which provides loans and grants to developing and emerging economies to help tackle poverty, said there could still be a financial crisis even though historically low interest rates were making debts more manageable.

“Low global interest rates provide only a precarious protection against financial crises,” said Ayhan Kose, a World Bank official. “The history of past waves of debt accumulation shows that these waves tend to have unhappy endings. In a fragile global environment, policy improvements are critical to minimise the risks associated with the current debt wave.”

Total emerging and developing economy debt reached almost 170% of gross domestic product in 2018 – or $55tn (£42tn) – an increase of 54 percentage points of GDP since 2010. China accounted for the bulk of the increase – in part due to its size – but the build-up was broad-based, and included other big emerging economies such as Brazil. ...

In about 80% of emerging and developing economies total debt was higher in 2018 than in 2010 and the World Bank said they had been “navigating dangerous waters” because the current wave of borrowing had coincided with a decade of repeated growth disappointments. Heavily indebted countries were now confronted by weaker growth prospects in a fragile global economy.

Keiser Report: Vietnam for a ‘Decent Standard of Living’

'Trump Said He Wouldn't Cut Social Security. He Lied': Sanders Vows to Reverse President's Attack on Disability Benefits

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday accused President Donald Trump of breaking his repeated 2016 campaign promise to protect Social Security from cuts, pointing to a proposed rule change that could terminate disability benefits for hundreds of thousands of low-income and vulnerable people.

"Trump said he wouldn't cut Social Security. He lied," tweeted Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. "He is working to stop Americans from getting the benefits they paid for and need."

In a separate series of tweets Tuesday afternoon, Sanders vowed that if elected president he would immediately reverse Trump's attack on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), programs that serve as lifelines for millions of people who are unable to work due to severe injuries, mental illness, and other ailments.

"Ten thousand Americans died waiting for Social Security Disability Insurance in 2017," Sanders said. "Instead of addressing this crisis, Trump wants to make it harder for people with disabilities to get the help they need to get by. Unacceptable."

"I will reverse this disastrous rule on day one of my presidency," the Vermont senator added. "Together, we will guarantee every person with a disability the right to live in the community with dignity and independence."

10,000 Americans died waiting for Social Security Disability Insurance in 2017. Instead of addressing this crisis, Trump wants to make it harder for people with disabilities to get the help they need to get by.

Unacceptable. We must protect and expand SSDI and SSI. https://t.co/B0XX76AARE

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 7, 2020

HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reported Tuesday that the Trump administration estimated its proposal would "save" $2 billion over a decade. But, Delaney pointed out, the administration has also said "there would be 2.6 million more reviews" under its proposal "at an anticipated cost of $1.8 billion - almost wiping out the $2 billion worth of savings on benefits." ...

The proposal has garnered more than 5,000 public comments with just over a week left before the comment period ends on Jan. 17. Comments can be submitted here.

Sanders gets some mainstream airtime. Mainstream still apparently nervous that Sanders will go third party on them.

Bernie Sanders on Iran, health care and Democratic electability

'A Stopped Rolex Is Right Twice a Day': Bernie Campaign Affirms Billionaire's Warning That President Sanders Is Coming

Billionaire Jeff Gundlach told fellow wealthy investors late Tuesday that Sen. Bernie Sanders is the "odds-on favorite" to win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination—and warned the senator's potential general election victory could pose a serious threat to Wall Street profits.

"Bernie is stronger than people think," Gundlach, who correctly predicted Donald Trump's defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, said during his annual "Just Markets" webcast.

Gundlach, CEO of investment firm DoubleLine Capital, said Sanders' possible win over Trump in November represents the "biggest risk" to financial markets.

"I think it's Bernie Sanders becoming more believed in as a real force, and we have to start taking him more seriously," Gundlach said. "If people get more worried about Bernie Sanders and they start to price in his spending programs, then you could really start to see trouble in both [long-term Treasury] bonds and stocks, which could really be on a rough ride."

Asked by CNN reporter Ryan Nobles  about Gundlach's assessment of the 2020 race, Sanders' communications director Mike Casca offered a snappy response: "A stopped Rolex is right twice a day."

Billionaire Jeff Gundlach is warning Wall Street investors that @BernieSanders could win the Democratic nomination and the Presidency.

Sanders campaign spox @cascamike responded to his prediction by saying:
"A stopped Rolex is right twice a day."https://t.co/iFpgushYka

— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) January 8, 2020

Gundlach's remarks came as the Democratic establishment is reportedly growing increasingly concerned about the prospect of a Sanders nomination as the Vermont senator outraises his primary opponents and gains ground in early-state polls.

Krystal Ball: Obamaworld moves on Bernie

Dream Defenders Says Movement Behind Bernie Sanders 'Will Change This Country'

Praising the "visionary agenda" of Sen. Bernie Sanders and decrying the corporate media's treatment of him as a "fringe candidate" in the Democratic presidential primary race, the Florida-based social justice group Dream Defenders on Wednesday joined the massive grassroots movement Sanders is building for his second presidential run.

Dream Defenders initially formed to fight for justice for Trayvon Martin but has since blossomed into a broader "movement for freedom and liberation in Florida." A lengthy statement from the group's Fight PAC endorsing Sanders spotlighted his campaign slogan ("Not Me, Us") and explained that "Bernie is not our political savior. It is the movement behind him that will change this country."

"Our people believe in Bernie and his vision for building power with us," the statement said. "He has the most diverse, the youngest, and the most working class base of any candidate. He has more donations from students, Walmart Workers, Amazon workers and teachers than anyone else—at an average of $18."

"The mainstream media is afraid of this," the group added, condemning how some major media outlets have regarded Sanders' campaign. "That's why they've attempted to paint Bernie as some fringe candidate and his support base as comprised of only 'white Bernie bros' and erase the millions of black, brown, and immigrant youth and women at the helm of his campaign."

Welcoming the group's support in a tweet, Sanders thanked Dream Defenders for its "incredible" work in Florida, emphasized the power of young people, and reiterated his commitment to working with his movement "to create a nation where every person is able to live with justice and dignity."

We endorse @BernieSanders for president. More coming soon! https://t.co/EuTu1mZqLD

— SocialistAlternative (@SocialistAlt) January 8, 2020

Oh my, I am shocked, shocked to find that one of Biden's campaign chairs is deep in the pockets of the chemical industry which is killing people in his district with impunity.

Democrat takes first public stance on air pollution in Cancer Alley after Guardian report

Louisiana’s lone Democratic congressman Cedric Richmond has taken his first public stance on air pollution in the town of Reserve and has committed to holding a public meeting with residents later in the year, following a report in the Guardian examining his track record on local environmental issues.

Richmond, a senior House Democrat who co-chairs Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, has held Louisiana’s second congressional district since 2010. The area covers some of the most polluted air in America, along a corridor of industrial facilities between New Orleans and Baton Rouge known colloquially as “Cancer Alley”.

Richmond, one of the highest recipients of oil, gas and chemicals industry donations in the Democratic House caucus, had made scant public remarks about pollution in Reserve, the subject of a year-long Guardian series “Cancer Town”.

In one census tract in Reserve the risk of cancer due to air pollution is 50 times the national average. The primary cause of this risk is a pollutant named chloroprene, listed by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen, which is emitted by a synthetic rubber plant operated by the Japanese chemicals company Denka since 2015 and by chemicals giant DuPont from 1967.

Did Bloomberg buy a Stacey Abrams photo-op?

Mike Bloomberg Says He’s Immune to Corporate Influence. His Campaign Is Managed by Lobbyists.

Mike Bloomberg, whose pitch to Democratic voters is that he remains untouched by special interests, has invited a team of special-influence peddlers to manage his campaign. ...

Bloomberg spokesperson Stu Loeser, before joining the campaign, was retained by Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin, to combat widespread criticism that the company had fueled the opioid addiction crisis. Mitch Stewart, the campaign’s senior adviser on campaign strategy, runs a firm called 270 Strategies, which has provided lobbying and consulting work for a number of corporate clients, including the Coalition for Investor Choice, a group seeking carve-outs from financial regulations passed under the Obama administration. Stewart’s firm previously courted controversy when it created an anonymously funded group to lobby Democrats in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Campaign manager Kevin Sheekey previously helped lead lobbying strategies for Bloomberg LP, the business founded by the candidate. ... Bradley Tusk, an adviser to Bloomberg’s campaign and his former mayoral campaign manager, previously worked as a lobbyist for Uber, helping the ride-hailing company beat back New York limits on for-hire vehicles. He later worked to win passage of laws in seven states designed to exempt gig-economy workers from labor rights such as minimum wage and the right to organize a union. Tusk Strategies, his consulting firm, is currently registered to represent the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, the powerful police union; internet payday loan provider MoneyLion; and Bird Rides, among other clients.

Many of the recently hired staff to Bloomberg’s presidential campaign have previously worked as business lobbyists or government affairs officials, including political staff tapped to run local campaign operations in Georgia, Arizona, Maine, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Mississippi.

The U.S. experienced 14 #BillionDollarDisasters in 2019: @NOAANCEIclimate https://t.co/xepop9Rmnk #StateOfClimate pic.twitter.com/hh0Er7eGgY

— NOAA (@NOAA) January 8, 2020

Infuriating. Worth a full read, but if you do, you will probably want to invest in rope as demand for it will spike sooner or later.

Imperial Oil, Canada’s Exxon Subsidiary, Ignored Its Own Climate Change Research for Decades, Archive Shows

Record droughts, raging forest fires, crop failures, and disappearing glaciers: It has become undeniable that the planet is in the early stages of a climate crisis with dire implications. As terrifying as it is, this unfolding disaster has not come as a surprise to everyone — especially not the people who have been profiting off fomenting the climate emergency. It has come to light in recent years that major fossil fuel companies knew well in advance that their activities were gravely distorting the climate, even as they waged a relentless campaign to confuse public opinion and prevent regulatory action. A flood of cases are now making their way through the courts against Exxon Mobil and other companies accused of concealing the truth of a calamity now slowly enveloping the world.

Imperial Oil, Exxon’s Canadian subsidiary, is a household name in Canada thanks to its ubiquitous Esso gas stations. Exxon owns 70 percent of the company, which is a major holder of reserves in the controversial Alberta oil sands. Like its parent company, Imperial has been accused of climate denialism and efforts to stall meaningful regulation needed to prevent today’s crisis. In a 1998 article published in Imperial’s in-house magazine, former Imperial CEO Robert Peterson wrote that there is “absolutely no agreement among climatologists on whether or not the planet is getting warmer or, if it is, on whether the warming is the result of man-made factors or natural variations in the climate.” He added that “carbon dioxide is not a pollutant but an essential ingredient of life on this planet.”

Peterson’s paeans to the benefits of carbon dioxide notwithstanding, experts at his company knew with confidence not only that climate change was real, but also that Imperial’s activities were causing crippling harm to the environment. That knowledge was recorded in company documents that were recently revealed to the public and reviewed by The Intercept.

The cache of documents shows that as far back as the 1960s, Imperial had begun hiring consultants to help them manage a future public backlash over its environmental record, as well as conducting surveillance on its public critics. The documents also show that, as the company began to accept the implications of a warming planet, instead of acting decisively to change its business model, it began considering how a melting Arctic might open up new business opportunities. Even as the fossil fuel industry continued to fight against renewables in public and its CEO worked to confuse public opinion on this critical issue, in private Imperial’s experts recognized the urgency of switching to sustainable energy.

All of this took place decades ago, when the climate crisis was still largely avoidable and its deadly contours had yet to take shape.

.@NOAA has released a summary of its 2019 climate data (full report slated for Jan. 14). One clear 10,000-foot takeaway? The Southeast, including parts of Virginia, saw some of its hottest temperatures ever in 2019. pic.twitter.com/Gf6mkCq6yT

— Sarah Vogelsong (@SarahVogelsong) January 8, 2020

Australia bushfires trigger another evacuation

Worth a full read, here's a taste to get you started:

How the oil industry has spent billions to control the climate change conversation

America’s oil companies are trying to rebrand themselves as part of the solution to the climate crisis, launching a campaign to counter top Democrats’ proposals to rapidly cut pollution from the power plants and cars that run on the industry’s petroleum and natural gas.

They say natural gas – a fossil fuel that emits heat-trapping carbon dioxide – is helping to slow climate disruption by providing an alternative to coal. “We’re taking our message of energy progress to every corner of the country to show just what’s at stake in Washington and in state capitols around the country,” said Mike Sommers, CEO of the oil trade group the American Petroleum Institute (API), on a press call announcing the plan.

The campaign is part of a strategy in which the oil industry has funneled billions of dollars into its defense, threatening to outpace climate action advocates, say frustrated environmental activists who are increasingly calling on Democrats in Congress to take a tougher line on the sector. But Sommers depicted a dark future if a presidential candidate who wants to ban fracking for natural gas wins the 2020 election: millions of jobs lost, hundreds of billions of dollars more for household energy costs and a global recession.

However, opponents of the industry say the only path to significant US climate action is through legislation and that lawmakers won’t be able to legislate unless they reveal how the industry has controlled the public dialogue around climate change and put a stop to its misdeeds. Geoffrey Supran, a research associate who studies global warming politics at Harvard University, is urging House committees to demand more information from oil companies about their influence over public policy. Supran said obtaining corporate documents is “one of the most important actions Congress could take to address the climate crisis”.

“The reality is that as much as we know about fossil fuel interests’ denial and delay, we’ve really found those skeletons in the closet just by looking through a tiny keyhole – everything we know is based on just a few hundred documents scrounged from various sources,” Supran said. “From my perspective every indication of this evidence is once that closet door gets blown open, the skeletons are going to come tumbling out.”

Our new report, “Greenhouse Gases from Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Production,” finds that oil, natural gas and petrochemical companies could release up to 30% more greenhouse gas pollution by 2025 than they did in 2018. https://t.co/IOz4HQTIbb

— Environmental Integrity Project (@EnviroIntegrity) January 8, 2020

Interesting. Worth a full read.

Lab-grown food will soon destroy farming – and save the planet

It sounds like a miracle, but no great technological leaps were required. In a commercial lab on the outskirts of Helsinki, I watched scientists turn water into food. Through a porthole in a metal tank, I could see a yellow froth churning. It’s a primordial soup of bacteria, taken from the soil and multiplied in the laboratory, using hydrogen extracted from water as its energy source. When the froth was siphoned through a tangle of pipes and squirted on to heated rollers, it turned into a rich yellow flour.

This flour is not yet licensed for sale. But the scientists, working for a company called Solar Foods, were allowed to give me some while filming our documentary Apocalypse Cow. I asked them to make me a pancake: I would be the first person on Earth, beyond the lab staff, to eat such a thing. They set up a frying pan in the lab, mixed the flour with oat milk, and I took my small step for man. It tasted … just like a pancake.

But pancakes are not the intended product. Such flours are likely soon to become the feedstock for almost everything. In their raw state, they can replace the fillers now used in thousands of food products. When the bacteria are modified they will create the specific proteins needed for lab-grown meat, milk and eggs. Other tweaks will produce lauric acid – goodbye palm oil – and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids – hello lab-grown fish. The carbohydrates that remain when proteins and fats have been extracted could replace everything from pasta flour to potato crisps. The first commercial factory built by Solar Foods should be running next year. ...

We are on the cusp of the biggest economic transformation, of any kind, for 200 years. While arguments rage about plant- versus meat-based diets, new technologies will soon make them irrelevant. Before long, most of our food will come neither from animals nor plants, but from unicellular life. After 12,000 years of feeding humankind, all farming except fruit and veg production is likely to be replaced by ferming: brewing microbes through precision fermentation. This means multiplying particular micro-organisms, to produce particular products, in factories. I know some people will be horrified by this prospect. I can see some drawbacks. But I believe it comes in the nick of time. ...

Not only will food be cheaper, it will also be healthier. Because farmfree foods will be built up from simple ingredients, rather than broken down from complex ones, allergens, hard fats and other unhealthy components can be screened out. Meat will still be meat, though it will be grown in factories on collagen scaffolds, rather than in the bodies of animals. Starch will still be starch, fats will still be fats. But food is likely to be better, cheaper and much less damaging to the living planet. ... If governments regulate this properly, they could break the hegemony of the massive companies that now control global food commodities. If they don’t, they could reinforce it. In this sector, as in all others, we need strong anti-trust laws. We must also ensure that the new foods always have lower carbon footprints than the old ones: farmfree producers should power their operations entirely from low-carbon sources. This is a time of momentous choices, and we should make them together.

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A Little Night Music

Sam Cooke - Chain Gang

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Sam Cooke - It's Alright

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Sam Cooke - These Foolish Things Remind Me

Sam Cooke - That's Where It's At

Sam Cooke - Keep Movin' On Everyday

Sam Cooke - Soothe Me

Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come