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“I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.”

-- Jon Stewart

News and Opinion

This Thanksgiving, The Trump Administration Is Taking Land From The Tribe That Welcomed The Pilgrims

Few people who celebrate Thanksgiving know Squanto’s full name or the name of his tribe. But without Tisquantum or the Wampanoag, the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock surely would have died. And on this Thanksgiving, the United States government is in the process of terminating the reservation of the tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims.

On Sept. 7, Cedric Cromwell, the chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe received a letter from Tara Sweeney, the assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the Department of the Interior, informing him that his tribe no longer fit the legal definition of “Indian” and would be losing its reservation status. This is the first time that land held under special status for tribes has been taken out of trust since Harry Truman’s presidency. ...

“Because the Tribe was not ‘under federal jurisdiction’ in 1934, the Tribe does not qualify under the [Indian Reorganization Act’s] first definition of ‘Indian,’” Sweeney wrote in her letter. The sprawling 1934 Indian Reorganization Act gave the DOI the ability to take land into trust for tribes. Before 1934, tribes lost 90 million acres to allotment. Since then, tribes have been buying back stolen land within their treaty territories. But tribal ownership of a piece of land does not make it Indian Country. For the tribe to be able to exercise jurisdiction, practice self-governance or operate a casino there, the DOI has to put that land into trust.

For decades, the DOI put land into trust without hesitation and restored 9 million acres of lost tribal land. With the advent of Indian gaming in the 1990s, this long-established practice suddenly became controversial. Powerful gaming interests started fighting new trust lands to shut out tribes and corner the casino market.
In 1993, Trump, then a New York real estate mogul deeply invested in Atlantic City casinos, testified before Congress that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was unfair and hurting his business. “They don’t look like Indians to me,” he said. Now he and his administration are still arguing that contemporary tribes are not Indian enough for treaty rights and federal statutes to apply. Under the Obama administration, over 500,000 acres of land were taken into trust. Under Trump, the slow restoration of tribal lands has come to a dead stop. According to the DOI’s legal arguments, if the Mashpee Wampanoag are not Indian enough to have trust land, 128 of the 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States could lose their reservations as well.

Who is to blame for Khashoggi murder? Trump says 'vicious world' is at fault

House Democrats to investigate Trump's response to Khashoggi murder

Democrats on the US House intelligence committee will investigate Donald Trump’s response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as part of a “deep dive” into US-Saudi Arabia ties, the committee’s incoming head said in a report published on Friday.

The committee will investigate the US intelligence assessment of Khashoggi’s death as well as the war in Yemen, the stability of the Saudi royal family and the kingdom’s treatment of critics and the press, the California representative Adam Schiff told the Washington Post. ... Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat, is in line to become committee chairman in January when his party takes control of the House of Representatives following gains in this month’s congressional elections.

That will allow Democrats to exercise oversight of Trump and his administration, including the ability to issue subpoenas and hold hearings. “Certainly we will be delving further into the murder of Khashoggi,” Schiff told the Post. “We will certainly want to examine what the intelligence community knows about the murder.“

Trump has dismissed the CIA’s assessment that Khashoggi’s death was ordered directly by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler. On Thursday, Trump repeated his doubts, telling reporters the CIA “did not come to a conclusion. They have feelings certain ways.”

Schiff said his panel would examine the CIA’s findings as well as whether Trump’s private financial relationship with the Saudis influenced his response as president.

Turkey says Trump is “turning a blind eye” to murder after backing the Saudis over his own CIA

A top Turkish official accused Donald Trump Friday of “turning a blind eye” to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, after the president sided with Saudi Arabia over his own intelligence community. The criticism from Ankara was prompted by Trump’s comments Thursday, the president telling reporters he took the word of King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), who “vehemently” denied any involvement in the torture and killing of the dissident journalist.

“I hate the crime, I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, and they have vehemently denied it,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort where he spent Thanksgiving. "But whether he did or whether he didn't, he denies it vehemently. His father denies it, the king, vehemently.”

Addressing reports that the CIA concluded MBS orchestrated the assassination, Trump dismissed the analysis as nothing more than “feelings.”

"They have feelings certain ways,” he said. “I have the report, they have not concluded, I don't know if anyone's going to be able to conclude the crown prince did it." Asked who should be held accountable for the murder, Trump said the blame lies with the “vicious world.”

Nothing In Any Conspiracy Theory Is As Bad As What’s Being Done Out In The Open

Yesterday President Trump posted a statement on the White House website saying his administration will be standing with the House of Saud despite the CIA’s assertion that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was living and working in the United States. The statement reads like a long form version of one of Trump’s tweets, replete with gratuitous exclamation points and slogans like “America First!” and the lie that Iran is “the world’s leading sponsor of terror”, which will never be true no matter how many times this administration deliberately repeats it. The world’s leading sponsor of terrorism is of course Saudi Arabia, along with Israel and the United States.

Trump’s alleged opposition has responded with melodramatic outrage, as though a US president continuing to stand by Saudi Arabia in the face of horrific acts of violence is somehow new and unprecedented and not standard operating procedure for decades. Dismembering a journalist while he’s still alive would be a fairly typical Tuesday afternoon for the Saudi government and would not rank anywhere near the top ten most evil things this government has done, but because it involves America and a conspiracy it’s a sexy story that everyone laps up. Add in the fact that Trump is more blunt and forthcoming about American depravity and you’ve got yourself a yarn.

This has remained a hot story through to today, invigorated by a tweet by America’s WWE president in which he crowed about low gas prices and added “Thank you to Saudi Arabia” like a good little muppet. And amid all the fist-shaking and rending of garments about the killing of one man by the Saudi government, a far less magnetic story has been published saying that about 84,701 Yemeni children under the age of five were starved to death between April 2015 and October 2018. And I say “were starved to death” instead of “have starved to death” because their starvation is the direct result of a blockade and relentless violence by Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. wants to stop other countries from using Huawei — but it’s going to be a tough sell

The U.S. government is trying to persuade international allies against using Chinese technology giant Huawei to build out their next-generation 5G mobile networks over security concerns, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. However, experts say it’s going to be a tough sell. U.S. officials have reportedly briefed their government counterparts and telecom executives in friendly countries, including Germany, Italy, and Japan, where Huawei equipment is already in wide use. ...

Huawei has long been a boogeyman in the U.S. Congress. Earlier this year the NSA, FBI, and CIA all warned consumers not to buy electronics from the company over potential “backdoors” that would allow the Chinese government to spy on American users. However, the U.S. government has yet to provide any evidence of its allegations and Huawei and the Chinese government have always denied any collusion.

Many countries are currently planning for the next generation of mobile technology — known as 5G — and Huawei has positioned itself as a market leader, offering highly competitive pricing and cutting-edge technology.

“Huawei is in a unique position to challenge rivals on technology as well as cost,” Neil Shah, a telecoms analyst with CounterPoint Research, told VICE News. “Huawei is one of the key contributors for 5G architecture and standards, it will be not easy for some governments to ignore its IP contribution and growing clout in wireless space.”

Meet The Man Facebook Is So Afraid Of They Hired A Firm To Smear Him

Facebook’s outgoing policy chief takes the fall for smearing George Soros

Facebook offered up a departing executive Wednesday to shoulder the blame for hiring a Republican-leaning PR firm to dig up dirt on liberal billionaire donor George Soros. Elliot Schrage, the company’s Head of Communications and Policy, took the fall in a blog post, admitting he asked Definers Public Affairs to open a file on Soros after the philanthropist called Facebook “a menace to society” in a speech earlier this year.

“We had not heard such criticism from him before and wanted to determine if he had any financial motivation, Schrage wrote. “Definers researched this using public information.” Schrage also admitted Definers urged journalists to investigate Soros’ links to “Freedom from Facebook,” hoping to debunk activists’ claims that the campaign was a grassroots coalition.

“The team asked Definers to help understand the groups behind them,” Schrage wrote. “They learned that George Soros was funding several of the coalition members. They prepared documents and distributed these to the press to show that this was not simply a spontaneous grassroots movement.”

Schrage denied accusations made in The New York Times last week that Definers published fake news about Soros on behalf of Facebook. ...

Facebook posted the blog at 5pm the day before Thanksgiving, possibly as a way of limiting media coverage. The social network was accused of a similar news dump earlier this month when it published a critical report on its role in ethnic cleansing in Myanmar on the eve of the midterm elections.

'We Are Not Robots': Amazon Workers Across Europe Walk Out on Black Friday Over Low Wages and 'Inhuman Conditions'

Amazon workers across Europe staged a walkout on Black Friday—when retailers offer major deals to holiday season shoppers the day after Thanksgiving—to protest low wages as well as "inhuman conditions" at company warehouses.

Eduardo Hernandez, a 38-year-old employee at an Amazon logistics depot in Madrid, Spain—where about 90 percent of staff walked off the job—told the Associated Press that the action was intentionally scheduled on the popular shopping day to negatively impacting the company's profits. "It is one of the days that Amazon has most sales, and these are days when we can hurt more and make ourselves be heard because the company has not listened to us and does not want to reach any agreement," he said.

Protests were also planned for Amazon facilities in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Some 620 employees at Amazon distribution centers in Rheinberg and Bad Hersfeld, Germany joined the walkout to demand higher wages, while union members in the U.K. organized actions at five warehouses across the country to highlight safety concerns. As Tim Roache, head of the London-based GMB union explained: "The conditions our members at Amazon are working under are frankly inhuman. They are breaking bones, being knocked unconscious, and being taken away in ambulances."

Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes quits 'extremist' far-right group

In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes publicly claimed to have quit the far-right group. The move came two days after the Guardian exclusively revealed that the FBI had categorized the Proud Boys as “an extremist group with ties to white nationalism”, in a briefing to Washington state law enforcement.

In a sometimes rambling video, McInnes referenced the Guardian story and the prosecution of seven group members over a street brawl in New York city in October, as he offered reasons for resigning from the group. “As of today … I am officially disassociating myself from the Proud Boys,” he began. Referencing the New York group as the “NYC Nine”, McInnes said: “I am told by my legal team and law enforcement that this gesture could help alleviate their sentencing.” ...

Regarding white nationalists, McInnes said “such people don’t exist”. He also attacked the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has designated the Proud Boys as an extremist group; repeatedly blamed “lazy journalism” for the prosecution of members; and asked supporters to donate towards the legal defence of the Proud Boys in New York.

His recorded exhortations to violence, he said, had been taken out of context.

Noam Chomsky on Pittsburgh Attack: Revival of Hate Is Encouraged by Trump’s Rhetoric

Hillary Clinton wants europeans to pragmatically and boldy surrender their human decency in aiding the desperate refugees of bloodthirsty western capitalism led by the U.S. in order to calm down the growth of populist movements. What a gal!

Hillary Clinton: Europe must curb immigration to stop rightwing populists

Europe must get a handle on immigration to combat a growing threat from rightwing populists, Hillary Clinton has said, calling on the continent’s leaders to send out a stronger signal showing they are “not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support”.

In an interview with the Guardian, the former Democratic presidential candidate praised the generosity shown by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, but suggested immigration was inflaming voters and contributed to the election of Donald Trump and Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” Clinton said, speaking as part of a series of interviews with senior centrist political figures about the rise of populists, particularly on the right, in Europe and the Americas.

“I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message – ‘we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support’ – because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.”

“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame” of white nationalism there, said @HillaryClinton. That is a sickening capitulation on her part. You don’t stop racism by giving in to racists. https://t.co/UbsYvRDv5c

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) November 22, 2018

Europeans who think right wing populism can be "solved" by reductions in immigration should have a look at America - a country Clinton does not understand - where Trump was elected in the wake of a decline in illegal immigration by people in states with few illegal immigrants.

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) November 22, 2018

Climate change, a crisis created by the developed world, is going to force poor people across the globe to move in order to survive. The approach Clinton is advocating will be a death sentence for millions and millions of people, and we should be clear about that.

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) November 22, 2018

'I made a tremendous difference': Trump heaps Thanksgiving praise on himself

President Donald Trump used a Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back, and air a range of his favourite grievances. Asked what he was thankful for this year, Trump cited his “great family” … as well as himself. “I made a tremendous difference in this country,” he said. “This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office and you wouldn’t believe it and when you see it, we’ve gotten so much stronger people don’t even believe it.”

The US president also congratulated himself while congratulating the military, telling officers that the country was doing exceptionally well on his watch. “I hope that you’ll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well,” he said. “The nation’s doing well economically, better than anybody in the world.” He later told reporters “nobody’s done more for the military than me.”

He compared the migrant caravan in Mexico to the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan. “You probably see over the news what’s happening on our southern border,” Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: “I don’t have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who we’re letting in.”

Trump later threatened to close the US border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost “control” on its side. “If we find that it gets to a level where we lose control or people are going to start getting hurt, we’re going to close entry into the country for a period of time until we get it under control,” he said.

Noam Chomsky: Members of Migrant Caravan Are Fleeing from Misery & Horrors Created by the U.S.

Trump wants asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for processing — which usually takes six months

The Trump administration will force asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their claim is processed, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Under the new “Remain in Mexico” policy, only Central American migrants who can persuade U.S. immigration officials they have a “reasonable fear” of persecution in Mexico will be allowed to cross the border into the United States.

Those who fail to establish this will be denied entry while their asylum claims are processed, according to Department of Homeland Security officials and government planning documents — a process which takes an average of six months. The newspaper reported that the policy could take effect as soon as Friday, and that teams of asylum officers were being sent to ports of entry to implement the changes. ...

The move could imperil asylum seekers, as Mexican border cities have high rates of violence, and Mexican law does not allow people seeking asylum in third countries to stay. The planned changes would be a major departure from the current system, whereby asylum seekers are permitted to remain in the U.S. until their cases are heard by a judge. Donald Trump, who on Thursday reiterated his threats to close the border with Mexico and said he'd authorized U.S. troops there to use lethal force against the migrants if necessary, has repeatedly railed against the status quo, which he refers to as “catch and release.”

Richard Ojeda Comes Out Swinging on Abortion Rights

Former West Virginia congressional candidate and Democratic presidential hopeful Richard Ojeda, facing questions from reproductive rights advocates about his position on abortion, has fired off a 500-word statement framing the issue in terms of class and racial politics.

“There has been some confusion about where I stand on the issue of abortion access so let me clear this up. I wholeheartedly support a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body. Full stop,” he said. As president, Ojeda said, he would oppose any 20-week abortion ban or other such restrictions. Ojeda also committed to nominating only judges who were similarly invested in protecting women’s rights to make their own reproductive decisions, and vowed to oppose the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used for abortion. Globally, he committed to reinterpreting the Helms Amendment, which, as currently implemented, bars U.S. funds from being used to support abortion services in foreign countries, even in cases of rape or when the life of the pregnant woman is in jeopardy. ...

His statement framed the issue of choice forcefully in terms of class and race. “Throughout history, rich women have always had access to the care that they want or need and they always will. It’s only poor and working class women who have died in back alleys or been forced to use crude instruments like coat hangers,” he said.

That Ojeda is challenging the Helms Amendment this early in the presidential campaign is a signal of just how quickly reproductive freedom is advancing within the Democratic Party. In 2016, it wasn’t until February that both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders made a pledge to reinterpret Helms, and that was only after pressure from advocacy groups and repeated pestering by reporters.

[Ojeda's full statement available at link. - js]

Climate change 'will inflict substantial damages on US lives'

Climate change is already harming Americans’ lives with “substantial damages” set to occur as global temperatures threaten to surge beyond internationally agreed limits, a major US government report is set to warn. The influence of climate change is being felt across the US with increases in disastrous wildfires in the west, flooding on the east coast, soil loss in the midwest and coastal erosion in Alaska, a draft of the US national climate assessment states.

The draft outlines that “impacts of climate change are intensifying across the country, and that climate-related threats to Americans’ physical, social, and economic wellbeing are rising.” Climate change-related risks “will continue to grow without additional action”, it adds. The quadrennial report, the combined work of 13 federal agencies, is due to be released by the Trump administration on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Scientists who worked on the report said their research wasn’t watered down but claimed the release was timed to bury the findings during the holiday season.

Global temperatures could be limited to 2C above pre-industrial era if greenhouse gas emissions are slashed but “without significant reductions, annual average global temperatures could increase by 9F (5C) or more by the end of this century,” a previously released chapter states. Even 2C warming is likely to have major ramifications for societies, as the recent IPCC report spelled out. Heating the planet well beyond this would create a “totally different world,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University. “It would be indescribable, it would turn the world upside down in terms of its climate. There would be nothing like it in the history of civilization.”

Oppenheimer, along with many other scientists, have said warming of around 3C is more likely given the advance of renewable energy and expected emissions reductions in the future. “That is more of an economic, political and technology question,” said a report author, who wished to remain unnamed. “It’s hard to say what we are on track for right now.” The draft report warns that the current response is insufficient to stave off the worst impacts, stating that “neither global efforts to mitigate the causes of climate change nor regional efforts to adapt to the impacts currently approach the scales needed to avoid substantial damages to the US economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.”

[Here's the link to the report. - js]

Noam Chomsky: The Future of Organized Human Life Is At Risk Thanks to GOP’s Climate Change Denial

The climate activists who got arrested at Nancy Pelosi’s office are just getting started

The Sunrise Movement, a group of young environmental activists that organize throughout the United States, caused a stir last week when more than 150 of its members staged a sit-in at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office in Washington, D.C., to demand aggressive action against climate change. Ultimately, 51 young people were arrested. ... On its face, the Sunrise Movement is divisive; its tactics embolden Democrats’ younger, progressive wing while irritating the old guard who believe the party should unite against Republicans. ...

The movement is also already having a tangible effect. Later in the day of the sit-in at Pelosi’s office, Ocasio-Cortez unveiled her proposal for a select committee for a Green New Deal. Since then, 11 House Democrats have joined Ocasio-Cortez to pledge their support. The stunt made such waves that Pelosi had to release a statement urging police to release the demonstrators. “I believe we are in a fight for the soul of the Democratic party right now,” Claire Tacherra-Morrison, a 24-year-old activist with the group, told VICE News. ...

Climate policy experts say the Green New Deal is an achievable goal, but Sunrise faces a steep uphill political battle. Republicans still control the White House and the Senate, and most of the Democrats who have signed on to support the deal are hard-left progressives. Passing any hard policies this term might be a pipe dream, but if the movement can stir-up enough of an impression, the odds could be in its favor come 2020.

“Any plan that isn't this time-sensitive and justice-oriented, isn't responding to the crisis at hand,” Jesse Meisenhelter, Sunrise’s spokeswoman, told VICE News. At 24, Meisenhelter is older than many people working with the Sunrise Movement, which is largely made-up of students who apply for 6-month, $4,800 fellowships funded by grassroots donors. Sunrise raised $1 million in donations in its first operating year, which began in May of 2017. As part of the program, the young activists are placed in “critical states” like Michigan, Florida, and Pennsylvania to organize on the ground. ...

On Tuesday, activists representing the Sunrise Movement once again staged actions across the United States — about 300, to be specific, according to a spokeswoman for the initiative. Tuesday’s youngest activist, 12-year-old Haven Coleman, led an action at Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette’s office in Colorado. These actions range from large protests such as sit-ins or something as small as visiting a representative’s office to discuss the Green New Deal with staff. ...

Top Democrats have pointed to infrastructure as one their top priorities as they retake the House. The problem is that infrastructure isn’t a very “sexy” topic when you’re up against President Donald Trump, Fisher said. It didn’t even make the top 15 most important issues in the protesters she surveyed. But the Green New Deal — which includes plans for building a “smart” grid and “decarbonizing, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure” — takes an issue that young people are passionate about and ties it to infrastructure. “They did seem to get some attention from Pelosi,” Dana R. Fisher, a professor of sociology at University of Maryland and author an upcoming book The American Resistance, said. “Democracy has been reinvigorated in all these ways, and young people are paying a lot more attention to institutional politics.”

California wildfires: more rain to aid firefighters while raising flood risk

More rain is forecast for northern California over the weekend, boosting efforts to extinguish wildfires that have raged there for two weeks but raising the risk of flash floods and landslides. The weather is also expected to complicate efforts to locate victims of the Camp fire, which virtually obliterated the city of Paradise, 175 miles north-east of San Francisco.

Between 1in and 3in of rain is expected to fall between Friday and Sunday, adding to the 3in that already fell this week, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. “Flash floods and debris flows will be a particular threat in the wildfire burn areas,” the NWS said, warning of the risk of flash floods through late Friday. “Heavy rainfall at times is possible over the burn areas with the greatest threat expected today.” ...

The Woolsey fire, which killed three people and threatened the wealthy beachfront enclave of Malibu near Los Angeles, was declared 100% contained on Wednesday.

Also of Interest

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

A Thanksgiving bonfire at dawn: celebrating Native American resistance on Alcatraz

“It’s Killing the Student Movement”: Canary Mission’s Blacklist of Pro-Palestine Activists Is Taking a Toll

Where is the progressive interpretation of the US constitution?

Will Democrats Back a ‘Green New Deal’?

Landmark California Law Bars Prosecutors From Pursuing Murder Charges Against People Who Didn’t Commit Murder

Call Your Senators Now, Say Civil Rights Groups, to Stop 'Vote Suppressor-in-Chief' From Getting Lifetime Federal Judge Seat

A Little Night Music

The Upsetters w/Jimi Hendrix - Cabbage Greens

Buddy & Stacey with The Upsetters feat. Jimi Hendrix - Shotgun

The Upsetters w/Little Richard - Upsetter Rock

The Upsetters - Steppin' Out

Upsetters - Where You Goin', Sapphire?

The Upsetters - Jaywalking

Grady Gaines & The Texas Upsetters - Midnight Shuffle

Grady Gaines & The Texas Upsetters - Baby Work Out

Upsetters - The Upsetters Blues

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

Grady Gaines & his Blues Ramblers - Let Your Thing Hang Down

Upsetters - Tater Machine