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“To fight tyranny and oppression by using tyrannical and oppressive means, to combat a single-minded and ruthless fanaticism by becoming equally fanatical and ruthless, will not further the cause of justice or bring about a meaningful democracy. It can only prolong the cycle of violence.”

-- Tariq Ali

News and Opinion

George W. Obama's strategery is working great! All that victory in the Middle East and North Africa is opening lots of places for people radicalized by brutal US military action to gather, train and plan ways to show their love for western people's freedom!

High Profile Attacks Suggest An Increasingly Global Focus for Islamic State

In a statement issued Saturday morning, the terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the six coordinated attacks that hit Paris on Friday evening, stating that they had been conducted as retribution for France’s participation in an international military coalition targeting its forces in Iraq and Syria. In their statement, the group warned that the attacks would be “just the beginning” of the group’s retaliatory offensive. ...

Emile Nakhleh, a former CIA intelligence officer and director of the agency’s political Islam division, said that the attacks must be viewed in light of recent efforts by Islamic State to strike civilian targets globally. “In a short time there has been the bombing of the Russian airliner in Egypt, the suicide attacks in South Beirut, and the attacks in Paris. If it’s verified that all these were directed by Islamic State’s central leadership, that would be particularly alarming,” Nakhleh says. “A direct connection between these attacks would confirm to us that ISIS is not only expanding its scope of operations, but consciously developing the expertise needed to conduct sophisticated attacks outside of its heartland of Syria and Iraq.”

Despite ISIS’s claim of responsibility, Nakhleh believes the possibility still exists that the attack could have been the work of homegrown extremists inspired by the group, or even a franchise of Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen in particular has an established track record of carrying out such attacks against Western targets, including a February attack in Paris against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. “Both Islamic State and Al Qaeda have regional branches that have exploited disasters in failing states to give them a base for such attacks,” Nakhleh says, adding that both groups also have networks in North Africa that would be useful in organizing a relatively sophisticated assault such as this within France.

Also alarming was the use of suicide bombers in the deadly attacks on Friday. Although in recent years this tactic has become depressingly common in countries such as Iraq and Syria, wracked by civil war, such attacks have few precedents in Europe.

How Saudi/Gulf Money Fuels Terror

In the wake of the latest terrorist outrage in Paris, the big question is not which specific group is responsible for the attack, but who’s responsible for the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the first place. The answer that has grown increasingly clear in recent years is that it’s Western leaders who have used growing portions of the Muslim world as a playground for their military games and are now crying crocodile tears over the consequences.

This pattern had its beginnings in the 1980s in Afghanistan, where the Central Intelligence Agency and the Saudi royal family virtually invented modern jihadism in an effort to subject the Soviets to a Vietnam-style war in their own backyard. It was the case, too, in Iraq, which the United States and Great Britain invaded in 2003, triggering a vicious civil warfare between Shi‘ites and Sunnis.

Today, it’s the case in Yemen where the U.S. and France are helping Saudi Arabia in its massive air war against Houthi Shi‘ites. And it’s the case in Syria, the scene of the most destructive war game of them all, where Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states are channeling money and arms to Al Qaeda, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh), and similar forces with the full knowledge of the U.S.

Western leaders encourage this violence yet decry it in virtually the same breath. ... Yet despite countless promises to shut down such funding, the spigots have remained wide open. The U.S. has not only acquiesced in such activities, moreover, but has actively participated in them. In June 2012, the Times wrote that the C.I.A. was working with the Muslim Brotherhood to channel Turkish, Saudi and Qatari-supplied arms to anti-Assad rebels. ...

While vowing eternal enmity against Al Qaeda, the U.S. and its Gulf allies thus work hand-in-glove with the same forces in pursuit of other goals. Yet now leaders from Washington to Riyadh are beside themselves with grief that the same groups are biting the hand that feeds them.

"We Shouldn't Play into the Hands of ISIS": Vijay Prashad on Danger of Military Escalation in Syria

What We Know About the Alleged Mastermind Behind the Paris Attacks

This is not the first time that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged mastermind behind Friday's terrorist attack in Paris that left more than 130 people dead, has been linked to terror plots in Europe.

On Monday, French authorities embarked on a massive manhunt for Abaaoud, a 27-year-old Belgian national of Moroccan descent from the Brussels' suburb of Molenbeek, where at least three other suspects are also from. Early reports indicate that Abaaoud has already fled to Syria.

A source close to the French investigation told Reuters that "He appears to be the brains behind several planned attacks in Europe."

Abaaoud first became widely known as a terrorism suspect last January, after Belgian media reported that he was behind a foiled attack in Belgium which aimed to kill police officers.

Exploiting Emotions About Paris to Blame Snowden, Distract from Actual Culprits Who Empowered ISIS

Whistleblowers are always accused of helping America’s enemies (top Nixon aides accused Daniel Ellsberg of being a Soviet spy and causing the deaths of Americans with his leak); it’s just the tactical playbook that’s automatically used. So it’s of course unsurprising that ever since Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing enabled newspapers around the world to report on secretly implemented programs of mass surveillance, he has been accused by “officials” and their various media allies of Helping The Terrorists™.

Still, I was a bit surprised just by how quickly and blatantly — how shamelessly — some of them jumped to exploit the emotions prompted by the carnage in France to blame Snowden: doing so literally as the bodies still lay on the streets of Paris. At first, the tawdry exploiters were the likes of crazed ex-intelligence officials (former CIA chief James Woolsey, who once said Snowden “should be hanged by his neck until he is dead” and now has deep ties to private NSA contractors, along with Iran–obsessed Robert Baer); former Bush/Cheney apparatchiks (ex-White House spokesperson and current Fox personality Dana Perino); right-wing polemicists fired from BuzzFeed for plagiarism; and obscure Fox News comedians (Perino’s co-host). So it was worth ignoring save for the occasional Twitter retort.

But now we’ve entered the inevitable “U.S. Officials Say” stage of the “reporting” on the Paris attack — i.e., journalists mindlessly and uncritically repeat whatever U.S. officials whisper in their ear about what happened. So now credible news sites are regurgitating the claim that the Paris Terrorists were enabled by Snowden leaks — based on no evidence or specific proof of any kind, needless to say, but just the unverified, obviously self-serving assertions of government officials. But much of the U.S. media loves to repeat rather than scrutinize what government officials tell them to say. ...

One key premise here seems to be that prior to the Snowden reporting, The Terrorists helpfully and stupidly used telephones and unencrypted emails to plot, so Western governments were able to track their plotting and disrupt at least large-scale attacks. That would come as a massive surprise to the victims of the attacks of 2002 in Bali, 2004 in Madrid, 2005 in London, 2008 in Mumbai, and April 2013 at the Boston Marathon. How did the multiple perpetrators of those well-coordinated attacks — all of which were carried out prior to Snowden’s June 2013 revelations — hide their communications from detection? ...

For most major terror attacks, the perpetrators were either known to Western security agencies or they had ample reason to watch them. All three perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo massacre “were known to French authorities,” as was the thwarted train attacker in July and at least one of the Paris attackers. These agencies receive billions and billions of dollars every year and radical powers, all in the name of surveilling Bad People and stopping attacks.

So when they fail in their ostensible duty, and people die because of that failure, it’s a natural instinct to blame others: Don’t look to us; it’s Snowden’s fault, or the fault of Apple, or the fault of journalists, or the fault of encryption designers, or anyone’s fault other than ours. If you’re a security agency after a successful Terror attack, you want everyone looking elsewhere, finding all sorts of culprits other than those responsible for stopping such attacks.

"We are Scared, We are Grieving": Muslim Activist in Paris Condemns Attacks, Rising Islamophobia

G20: Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin agree to Syrian-led transition

Presidents of US and Russia meet at leaders’ conference and agree to have the UN negotiate a peace deal between the opposition and the Assad regime

The United States and Russia have reached consensus at the G20 on the need for “a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition” following a sidelines meeting between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

A White House official said Obama and Putin had agreed the United Nations would mediate negotiations between the Syrian opposition and the regime after a ceasefire.

The thaw between Obama and Putin came in the lead-up to the summit’s working dinner, where G20 leaders were due to focus on strategies to counter violent extremism.

Earlier in the day, the US president used his opening remarks at the summit to declare America would intensify efforts to “eliminate” Islamic State and also bring about a “peaceful transition” in Syria.

Iraqi Intelligence Warned France of ISIS Attack Day Before Paris Assault

Senior Iraqi intelligence officials warned coalition countries of imminent assaults by the Islamic State group just one day before last week's deadly attacks in Paris killed 132 people, The Associated Press has learned.

Iraqi intelligence sent a dispatch saying the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had ordered an attack on coalition countries fighting against them in Iraq and Syria, as well as on Iran and Russia, "through bombings or assassinations or hostage taking in the coming days."

The dispatch said the Iraqis had no specific details on when or where the attack would take place, and a senior French security official told the AP that French intelligence gets this kind of communication "all the time" and "every day."

However, six senior Iraqi officials corroborated the information in the dispatch, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, and four of these intelligence officials said they also warned France specifically of a potential attack. Two officials told the AP that France was warned beforehand of details that French authorities have yet to make public.

Among them: that the Paris attacks appear to have been planned in Raqqa, Syria — the Islamic State's de-facto capital — where the attackers were trained specifically for this operation and with the intention of sending them to France.

The officials also said a sleeper cell in France then met with the attackers after their training and helped them to execute the plan.

Israel Passed Intelligence to France on Attack

Intelligence in the lead-up to Friday evening’s terrorist attacks in Paris was not nearly so scarce as had initially been indicated, and several nations, including Iraq and Israel, appear to have been passing France intelligence on the matter in the days leading up to the attack.

According to the Times of Israel, French Jewish security officials were informed of an “impending large terrorist attack” in France on Friday morning, There was considerable speculation in the lead-up that France’s Jewish community would be among the targets.

US Urges Allies to Escalate ISIS War After Paris Attacks

With Friday night’s ISIS attacks in Paris grabbing headlines, US officials are scrambling to take advantage of the situation, both as a way to dramatically escalate their own war against ISIS, and to court various other nations in getting more deeply entrenched in the conflict.

US diplomats are making the rounds, urging European and Arab nations to add to their involvement in the war on the notion of keeping ISIS fighting in Iraq and Syria instead of attacking abroad. France, already one of the most heavily involved, is likely to be the first to announce massive increases in their commitment.

The US itself is also expected to use this occasion as an excuse to double-down on the conflict, with last week’s talk of “mission creep” because of US ground deployments into Syria now all but forgotten, and officials and advisers all insisting the attack proves the need for a “more aggressive” strategy.

Paris: You Don’t Want to Read This

Since that day in 2001, the one with those terrible sparkling blue skies in New York, we have spied on the world, Americans at home and foreigners abroad, yet no one detected anything that stopped the Paris attacks. We gave up much to that spying and got nothing in return.

Since 2001, the United States has led nations like Britain, France, Australia and others into wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, with drone attacks on people from the Philippines to Pakistan to all parts of Africa. We have little to nothing to show for all that.

Since 2001 the US has expended enormous efforts to kill a handful of men – bin Laden, al-Zarqawi, al-Awlaki, and this weekend, Jihadi John. Others, many without names, were killed outside of media attention, or were tortured to death, or are still rotting in the offshore penal colony of Guantanamo, or the dark hell of the Salt Pit in Afghanistan.

And it has not worked, and Paris this weekend, and the next one somewhere else sometime soon, are the proof.

We gave up many of our freedoms in America to defeat the terrorists. It did not work. We gave the lives of over 4,000 American men and women in Iraq, and thousands more in Afghanistan, to defeat the terrorists, and refuse to ask what they died for. We killed tens of thousands or more in those countries. It did not work. We went to war again in Iraq, and now in Syria, before in Libya, and only created more failed states and ungoverned spaces that provide havens for terrorists and spilled terror like dropped paint across borders. We harass and discriminate against our own Muslim populations and then stand slack-jawed as they become radicalized, and all we do then is blame ISIS for Tweeting. ...

The true test for France is how they respond to the terror attacks in the long-game. ... America failed this test post-9/11; yet it does not sound like France understands anything more than America. ...

Whack-a-mole is a game, not a plan. Leave the Middle East alone. Stop creating more failed states. Stop throwing away our freedoms at home on falsehoods. Stop disenfranchising the Muslims who live with us. Understand the war, such as it is, is against a set of ideas – religious, anti-western, anti-imperialist – and you cannot bomb an idea. Putting western soldiers on the ground in the MidEast and western planes overhead fans the flames. Vengeance does not and cannot extinguish an idea.

Islamic State threatens attack on Washington, other countries

Islamic State warned in a new video on Monday that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and threatened to attack in Washington.

The video, which appeared on a site used by Islamic State to post its messages, begins with news footage of the aftermath of Friday's Paris shootings in which at least 129 people were killed.

The message to countries involved in what it called the "crusader campaign" was delivered by a man dressed in fatigues and a turban, and identified in subtitles as Al Ghareeb the Algerian.

"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France's and by God, as we struck France in the centre of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its centre in Washington," the man said.

White House: ISIS Lacks Capability to Attack US

Though the ISIS attacks in Paris were used as a pretext to step up security across several major US cities, White House officials mocked the notion that ISIS posed any real threat to launch attacks inside US, saying the group wants to but doesn’t have the capability to launch attacks within America.

The dismissal of ISIS as a threat will inevitably draw some comparisons to President Obama’s high profile comments on Thursday that ISIS has been successfully “contained” by the US military, which followed almost immediately with major attacks in both Beirut and Paris.

Some Yazidis Hesitate to Return to Sinjar After Ousting of the Islamic State

The swift success of a Kurdish operation to drive Islamic State (IS) militants from the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar opens the way for its mostly Yazidi former residents to return to what's left of their homes 15 months after fleeing an onslaught of sectarian violence. But heavy fighting and cruelty inflicted on them by the jihadists has left lasting scars on both the area and its people, and not all of those who left are ready to go back.

IS overran Sinjar last August as fighters from the local Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), known as peshmerga, retreated in disarray. The extremist group regard the Yazidis, a small religious minority centred mostly around the town, as apostates and raped, enslaved or killed thousands. ...

"They have freed it, but a lot of our people have been killed and our women taken," one woman told VICE News at a dusty makeshift camp close to the peshmerga security perimeter. "Our houses are broken and destroyed, and we won't return unless there's a promise that there will not be another genocide."

She deplored her living conditions — a tent, with no access to clean water — but said she had little faith in the peshmerga to keep her and her family safe. "There was thousands of peshmerga in Sinjar before, but they didn't protect us, they left us, and we don't trust them not to do that again… we saw a lot of people die, and we want to be sure there's no repeat," she said.

The woman added that she would be more comfortable with a large PKK presence. "They helped us a lot before and we appreciate that," she said. "They are our people."

Yazidis Burn Muslim Homes in ‘Liberated’ Iraqi City of Sinjar

Over a year after ISIS captured the city of Sinjar, home to a significant chunk of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, the city was “liberated” by Kurdish forces. Just days later, Yazidis are rampaging through the streets, burning mosques and the homes of Muslims, who they accuse of being in league with ISIS.

ISIS carried out several bloody attacks against the Yazidis early in their takeover of the region, and labeled the homes of Sinjar’s Sunni residents as such, apparently to advise their forces to leave them alone in their various crackdowns. Now, the homes labeled Sunni are a target.

The Pentagon Just Transferred Five Yemeni Guantanamo Detainees to UAE

Five Yemeni Guantanamo detainees who have been held captive at the detention facility for nearly 14 years were transferred to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Department of Defense announced in a statement Sunday. ...

Four of the now former low value detainees— Khalid Abd-al-Jabbar Muhammad Uthman al-Qadasi, 47, Adil Said al-Hajj Ubayd al-Busays, 42, Sulayman Awad Bin Uqayl al-Nahdi, 40, and Fahmi Salem Said al-Asani—were approved for release or transfer in 2010 by a Guantanamo task force made up of six departments and government agencies set up by President Obama in 2009 to review the cases of detainees. The fifth detainee, Ali Ahmad Muhammad al-Razihi, 36, a suspected bodyguard for the late Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was previously deemed to dangerous to release but a parole board took another look at his case last year and determined he no longer posed a national security threat and could be transferred.

All five men, who were never charged with a crime, were captured in late 2001 at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. They were accused of being members of Al Qaeda, who attended a training camp, and then traveled to Afghanistan to fight against the US and coalition forces, according to US military intelligence assessment reports on the captives published by Wikileaks. (The integrity of the documents have been called into question by human rights groups and lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees.) ...

In an interview this week with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, Obama said he hopes "that by the end of this year we are seeing close to under 100 [Guantanamo] prisoners remaining and detainees remaining."

Spain could detain Netanyahu over Marmara raid if he enters country

Spanish judge finds legal loophole that allows to hold PM and six other Israeli officials for questioning in lawsuit against them filed by three Spanish nationals who were on Gaza-bound flotilla.

Judge Jose de la Mata of Spain's National Court (Audiencia Nacional) instructed Spanish police over the weekend to monitor the movements of Netanyahu and the six other ministers and former ministers who made up "The Seven" forum at the time of the raid.

The ministers and former ministers in question are Moshe Ya'alon, Dan Meridor, Eli Yishai, Avigdor Lieberman, Ehud Barak and Benny Begin.

The seven were sued in the past by three Spanish nationals who were aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla, where ten Turkish nationals, including one Turkish-American, were killed.

Contractors That Defraud the Government the Most Also Spend the Most on Lobbying

A relatively small handful of federal contractors are responsible for the lion’s share of the $92 billion in fines, settlements, and court judgements assessed  for defrauding taxpayers and other forms of contractor misconduct since 1995, according to a newly updated database published by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

An analysis by The Intercept finds that the companies responsible for the most instances of misconduct are also at the top of another list: They are among the biggest spenders on money in politics.

Boeing, an aircraft manufacturing firm that supplies the government with military equipment, has paid over $1.4 billion in penalties since 1995, according to POGO. ... POGO has identified over 60 resolved instances of Boeing committing fraud or violating the law, topped only by Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin and BP. But that doesn’t mean Boeing has fallen out of favor with lawmakers. Boeing spends a lot of money to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The firm ranks as the second biggest spender on lobbying Congress this year among individual companies — over $16 million for just the first nine months of 2015.

Minneapolis protests erupt after police shoot black man allegedly in handcuffs

Black Lives Matter protesters march through streets after witnesses said the man, who is now reportedly on life support, was handcuffed when he was shot

A Minnesota agency is investigating the shooting by a Minneapolis police officer of a black man suspected in an assault, an incident that sparked protests and prompted a community forum with the mayor and police chief.

Accounts from some witnesses that the man was handcuffed when he was shot early on Sunday morning led to outrage. Police said their preliminary investigation shows the man was not handcuffed, but the investigation is ongoing.

Jason Sole, chair of the Minneapolis NAACP’s criminal justice committee, said many black residents of north Minneapolis are upset.

“We have been saying for a significant amount of time that Minneapolis is one bullet away from Ferguson,” he said, referring to the police shooting of Michael Brown last year in the St Louis suburb that prompted nationwide protests. “That bullet was fired last night. We want justice immediately,” Sole told Minnesota Public Radio News.

The shooting happened after police said they were called to north Minneapolis around 12.45am on Sunday for a report of an assault. When they arrived, the man had returned and was interfering with paramedics who were assisting the victim, police said. Officers tried to calm him, but there was a struggle.

At some point, an officer fired at least once, hitting the man, police said. Witnesses told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that there was a big crowd at the scene, and bystanders became agitated as police pushed them back. Some witnesses said police used a chemical irritant on the crowd.

Warren Investigation Finds Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for $10 Trillion in Risky Derivatives

$5M Jury Award for One Foreclosure Fraud Makes U.S. Punishment Look Trivial

A Texas jury’s recent decision to award over $5 million in damages and fees for the fraudulent foreclosure of a single home suggests that the big banks could have been on the hook for as much as $32 trillion — before the Justice Department and state attorneys general settled for $25 billion, or less than on tenth of a penny on the dollar.

In the trial in Harris County district court, the jury awarded Houston foreclosure victims Mary Ellen and David Wolf $5.38 million on November 6, on the grounds that Wells Fargo Bank and Carrington Mortgage Services knowingly submitted false [robo-signed] documents to kick them out of their home. ...

With the jury award in the Wolf family case, we can now assess the true financial exposure on these banks and mortgage companies. There have been roughly 6 million foreclosures since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, and virtually all of them were completed with robo-signed, fabricated or fraudulent documents in one form or another. If we apply the $5.38 million jury award to all of those loans, you have a potential cost from the foreclosure fraud scandal of $32.28 trillion. ...

The $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement – and calling it that is extremely generous, since banks got credit to pay off the penalty through routine activities like bulldozing blighted properties and donating homes to charity – represents roughly 0.08 percent of the total possible exposure.

That barely qualifies as a slap on the wrist for breaking the centuries-old American property rights system, and fraudulently mocking up foreclosure documents to cover it up.

The Paris Attacks Are Already Starting to Shape the 2016 US Presidential Race

Last week, a CBS News/New York Times poll found that just 4 percent of Democratic primary voters would vote for a candidate based on foreign policy know-how and expertise on the Middle East, compared to 40 percent who said that economic issues would influence their decision. The fallout of the Paris attacks Friday has already begun to skew the importance of international conflict and security in the national consciousness. Early Saturday morning, CBS News announced the Democratic forum would shift its focus to address the Paris attacks, calling them "a tragic example of the kind of challenges American presidents face in today's world."

Sanders, who is a stated pacifist and against expanding military operations abroad, blamed the current situation on the "disastrous invasion of Iraq, something I strongly opposed," but that which Clinton voted for as a former New York senator, has "unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al Qaeda and ISIS."

"These toppling of governments — regime changes — have unintended consequences," he added. "I would say on this issue I'm a little more conservative than the secretary, and I'm not a great fan of regime change."

Clinton twice admitted that the Iraq invasion was "a mistake," but suggested Sanders might not grasp of the complexities of the issue, saying that the US must recognize that terrorism has "antecedents to what happened in Iraq."

Sanders: kill more
O'Malley: kill even more
Clinton: kill even more
GOP: Dems are soft on "terror."

— David Mizner (@DavidMizner) November 14, 2015

While she clearly demonstrated her expertise and experience throughout the segment, Clinton was forced to defend her direct involvement in foreign policy matters during her tenure as secretary of state, particularly the military intervention in Libya, which is now racked by a bloody civil conflict. She responded by saying the US and its European allies toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi, which led to "one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has ever had."

As for what happened next in Libya, Clinton placed blame on the "arc of instability from North Africa to Afghanistan" that has arisen as those countries deal with radicalism. It is "imperative we do more" to deal with such instability," she said, but did not elaborate.

Last Night’s Democratic Debate Took Place on a Different Planet

With the gruesome images of slaughter in Paris still dominating the media, it was also inevitable that this debate would be different. Foreign policy—specifically the danger posed by ISIS—was suddenly center stage, giving Hillary Clinton a home-field advantage the former secretary of state exploited fully. Bernie Sanders tried to make the (perfectly plausible) argument that America’s invasion of Iraq—which he opposed and Clinton supported—planted the seeds for the current chaos. And his invocation of the US role in installing the Shah in Iran in 1954 and deposing Allende in Chile was a reminder that it isn’t just economic policy that divides liberals from radicals. But Sanders was simply not focused enough, or ruthless enough, to drive home the point.

Which is not something you could say about Hillary Clinton. Though there was a breathtaking cynicism in the way Clinton took a question about Wall Street’s influence on her and turned it into a trifecta of righteousness—not only claiming that her efforts on behalf of finance capital were really part of the fightback against 9/11, and suggesting that any suggestion to the contrary was anti–New York and pro-terrorist, but also using her high proportion of female donors to deflect any further question about what her corporate funders think they’re buying—there was also something almost beautiful about the sheer chutzpah of the move. ...

It was left to Andy Grewal, a law professor in Iowa City, to tweet a reality check that briefly called Clinton to account—further proof, if it were needed, that this is not your father’s media universe anymore.

Hillary Says It’s OK That She Takes Wall Street Money Because of Women and 9/11

Bernie Sanders pointed out (fairly) at Saturday night’s CBS Democratic presidential debate that Hillary Clinton raises a substantial amount of campaign money from Wall Street, while moderator (and Slate columnist) John Dickerson alluded to the millions of dollars in paid speeches that the former New York senator has given to major banks. Pressed on whether this would compromise her ability as president to properly regulate the financial industry, Clinton answered with a non sequitur, citing her female donors and alluding to 9/11:

The transcript:

Oh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small, and I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60%. [Cheers and applause.] So I— I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked.

Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy, and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country.

Viewers Tune Out, Voters Lose Out as DNC Buries Democratic Debate

Democratic party heads face renewed criticism as Republican candidates, with millions more tuning in, are dominating the conversation

The record low viewership of Saturday's Democratic debate has voters, particularly Bernie Sanders supporters, once again castigating the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for what many believe is a blatant attempt to shield establishment candidate Hillary Clinton and, in turn, relinquish important political ground to the Republican candidates.

Saturday night's CBS debate drew an audience of just 8.5 million viewers, 7 million less than the first Democratic debate last month, making it the lowest-rated primary debate this campaign season from either party, according to Nielsen ratings.

Given that Saturday's are known for having the lowest weekly TV ratings—particularly among people 18-35 years old, a key Democratic voting bloc—the DNC is facing renewed criticism for its debate schedule, which critics say is a clear attempt to protect the democratic frontrunner.

"Look, there was a clear intent to bury these debates to the benefit of Clinton,” a Democratic campaign official told Politico on Sunday. "And it is doing a disservice to the Democratic Party. The GOP is blowing out numbers—and we are protecting Hillary Clinton." ...

What's more, the next two debates are also scheduled for potentially low-viewership weekends: the Saturday night before Christmas, and the Sunday night of the Martin Luther King Day weekend, during the National Football League playoffs. ...

According to social media engagement metrics, Sen. Bernie Sanders was declared the winner of Saturday's debate.

On Eve of G20 Summit, Global Climate Actions Say: 'Stop Funding the Problem'

Ahead of G20 meetings starting Sunday in Turkey, more than 60 organizations representing millions of people from around the world mobilized to demand world leaders "stop funding the problem" and put an end to fossil fuel subsidies.

Happening on and offline, the Stop Funding Fossil Fuels day of action targets G20 countries for doling out over $450 billion USD per year to oil, gas, and coal companies for the exploration and production of fossil fuels—despite having vowed to stop doing so.

"It is outrageous that despite years of promises, G20 countries are still handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in public money every year to some of the richest, most polluting companies on the planet," said David Turnbull, campaigns director of Oil Change International, which just this week released a report showing that the U.S. government alone is providing more than $20 billion a year to prop up fossil fuels industry. "It is time to stop paying polluters to fuel the climate crisis and instead focus on supporting safe, clean, and renewable energy."

Big Oil Lines Up Against Kids Waging Legal Battle for Climate Future

Representatives of nearly the entire U.S. fossil fuels industry lined up on Thursday to help the federal government wage a legal battle against a group of young people—aged 8 to 19—who are demanding climate policies that respect the rights of current and future generations

The 21 young plaintiffs filed a landmark lawsuit against the federal government in August, in which they charged that, by permitting the ongoing extraction and burning of fossil fuels at an astronomical pace, the administration of President Barack Obama is violating the constitutional rights of current and future generations—and failing to protect the public trust. ...

Lining up against the children is the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and the American Petroleum Institute (API)—which together represent nearly every Big Oil company in the country, including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, and Koch Industries.

The industry lobbyist groups explained their interest in the case by charging the lawsuit could "impair" their members. ... By levying these claims, say the youth involved in the lawsuit, the fossil fuels industry is actually making their case for them.

"Seeing giant fossil fuel corporations inject themselves into this case, which is about our future, really demonstrates the problem we are trying to fix," declared Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh Martinez, a 15-year-old plaintiff from Colorado, in a press statement released Thursday. "The Federal government has been making decisions in the best interest of multinational corporations and their profits, but not in the best interest of my generation and those to come."

"Instead of changing their business model to meet the scientific reality of climate change, these companies are demanding we adapt to an uninhabitable world that supports their profits," Martinez continued. "When you compare the two, I think it’s clear that our right to clean air and a healthy atmosphere, is more important than their 'need' to make money off destroying our future."

Gates Foundation would be $1.9bn better off if it had divested from fossil fuels

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would have had $1.9bn (£1.3bn) more to spend on its lifesaving health projects if it had divested from fossil fuels and instead invested in greener companies, according to a new analysis.

The Canadian research company Corporate Knights examined the stock holdings of 14 funds, worth a combined $1tn, and calculated how they would have performed if they had dumped shares in oil, coal and gas companies three years ago.

Overall, the funds would have been $23bn better off with fossil fuel divestment. The Wellcome Trust, which is the world’s biggest health charity after the Gates Foundation, would have been $353m better off. The huge Dutch pension fund ABP would have had $9bn in higher returns, while Canada’s CPP would have had $7bn more.

“There are billions of dollars potentially being left on the table by these large funds as a result of hanging on to fossil fuel stocks and being underexposed to the $3tn [environmental] sector,” said Toby Heaps, chief executive of Corporate Knights. Separately, a fossil free index from one of the world’s largest providers of financial indexes, MSCI, has just completed its first year with returns 60% greater than its parent index.

El Niño: food shortages, floods, disease and droughts set to put millions at risk

The UN has warned of months of extreme weather in many of the world’s most vulnerable countries with intense storms, droughts and floods triggered by one of the strongest El Niño weather events recorded in 50 years, which is expected to continue until spring 2016.

El Niño is a natural climatic phenomenon that sees equatorial waters in the eastern Pacific ocean warm every few years. This disrupts regular weather patterns such as monsoons and trade winds, and increases the risk of food shortages, floods, disease and forest fires.

This year, a strong El Niño has been building since March and its effects are already being seen in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Malawi, Indonesia and across Central America, according to the World Meteorological Organisation. The phenomenon is also being held responsible for uncontrolled fires in forests in Indonesia and in the Amazon rainforest. ...

WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud said the impact of the naturally occurring El Niño event was being exacerbated by global warming, which had already led to record temperatures this year. “This event is playing out in uncharted territory. Our planet has altered dramatically because of climate change,” he said. “So this El Niño event and human-induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways which we have never before experienced. El Niño is turning up the heat even further.”

Also of Interest

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

What would the world look like if we defeated Isis?

Let’s not get it wrong this time: The terrorists won after 9/11 because we chose to invade Iraq, shred our Constitution

One Night in Kunduz, One Morning in New York

In UK, Corbyn Warns Against Cycle of War That Brings "More Mayhem... More Loss'

Paris Attack Will Foster an Orwellian Police State

The Dark Money Behind the Elizabeth Warren “Commie” Ad

Hillary Clinton Appeal to 9/11 to Defend Wall Street Donations Was Bad, But This Was Worse

Michigan Prosecutors Pressured Lab on Medical Marijuana Results

A Little Night Music

Big Bill Broonzy - Baby Please Don't Go

Big Bill Broonzy - Banker's Blues

Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown and White

Big Bill Broonzy - Long Tall Mama

Big Bill Broonzy - Stove Pipe Stomp

Big Bill Broonzy - Pig Meat Strut

Big Bill Broonzy - Backwater Blues

Big Bill Broonzy - Diggin My Potatoes

Big Bill Broonzy - Key to the Highway

Big Bill Broonzy - Trouble In Mind

Big Bill Broonzy - Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down

Big Bill Broonzy - Unemployment Stomp

Big Bill Broonzy - I Feel So Good

Big Bill Broonzy - John Henry

Big Bill Broonzy - When do I get to be called a man