---

---

The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Allen Toussaint

---

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features New Orleans singer, songwriter and piano player, Allen Toussaint. Enjoy!

^{Allen Toussaint - A Certain Girl}

“I don't believe that humans can be reduced to homo economicus, but as a group, government officials are remarkably sensitive to financial, political, and reputational costs. Thus, when new technologies appear to reduce the costs of using lethal force, their threshold for deciding to use lethal force correspondingly drops.

If killing a suspected terrorist in Yemen or Somalia or Libya will endanger expensive manned aircraft, the lives of U.S. troops, and/or the lives of many innocent civilians, officials will reserve such killings for situations of extreme urgency and gravity (stopping another 9/11, getting Osama bin Laden). But if all that appears to be at risk is a an easily replaceable drone, officials will be tempted to use lethal force more and more casually.”

-- Rosa Brooks

---

News and Opinion

Merry Christmas, America! Let’s Remember the Children Who Live in Fear of Our Killer Drones.

The truth is that, through a worldwide drone war we commenced two decades ago, we’ve invented a new form of terror for millions of people across the world. The truth is that we continued to escalate this war in 2019, yet there’s no way to say exactly how much, because the U.S. government refuses to tell its citizens the basic facts about it. The truth is that the best sources of information on this war are two underfunded outfits — the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Airwars— that aren’t even based in the United States. The truth is that these journalists can’t be sure which airstrikes are being carried out by drones and which by conventional manned aircraft. The truth is that our drone war is like some underseas leviathan, the nature and size of which we can only guess at when parts of it briefly surface.

The truth that is our fleet of killer drones is likely aloft on Christmas Day, right now, circling endlessly as intelligence analysts decide whether to pronounce a death sentence on people thousands of miles away. The truth is that, as we open presents, these death machines might as well — for all the space they occupy in our consciousness — not exist at all. The truth is that there have been six Democratic presidential debates this year, and during these six debates, the number of times our worldwide drone war was debated is zero.

It’s possible that you heard about a U.S. drone strike a few weeks ago in the Khost District in eastern Afghanistan. A 25-year-old Afghan woman there named Malana had recently given birth to her second child. When Malana developed postpartum complications at home, her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law took her in a car to a clinic. On their way back home, all four family members, plus the car’s driver, were killed by an American missile launched from a weaponized drone. All were burned to ashes. Al Jazeera reported that Malana’s father, Gulu, is now looking after her two young children. This was horrific enough to merit a brief article in the New York Times. It was so bad, in fact, that the article included Malana’s name. It was not bad enough for it to include the names of America’s four other victims.

Eighteen years after September 11, 2001, this is the pattern with our drone war: The worst of the atrocities briefly make an appearance in the media. ... Then for Americans, the murders subside into the electronic maelstrom, never to be heard of again. ...

Once upon a time, humans killed each other with rocks, close up. Then swords, then guns, then planes. But even with bombing campaigns of the past, there were humans up there, and eventually they had to fly away. Today, swaths of countries live under drones monitoring them around the clock. Their constant, distant humming quietly informs the people beneath them that they and everyone around them might be killed at any time by invisible strangers across an ocean.

France Just Became the Latest Country to Use Unmanned Combat Drones

Just weeks after a dozen French soldiers were killed in Mali, France joined a small number of countries using unmanned combat drones and killed seven Islamic extremists in the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced over the weekend that his government killed 33 people in a military operation in Mali. On Monday, the military added that, not only had it its ground forces killed a group of alleged insurgents, but that, in a follow-up operation that killed an additional seven people, it used a drone for the first time.

Just last week, France announced that it had successfully test fired a Reaper drone, and within two days of completing the test, the military had put it to use. ...

Before France’s drone strike this weekend, there were only 10 countries believed to have used drone strikes beyond their borders, according to a recent report from the Drone Center at Bard College.

But drones are proliferating. Nearly 100 countries are believed to have military drones on hand, even if they haven’t all used them. The U.S. and China are both among the countries actively exporting drones abroad.

A Space Force...

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” pic.twitter.com/Ai8FI8zcr9

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) December 22, 2019

Calling Trump's Space Force a Violation of Global Consensus, China Condemns US 'Weaponization of Outer Space'

China said Monday that the United States posed a "direct threat" to peace by "pursuing the weaponization of outer space" following President Donald Trump's newly-created Space Force.

"The relevant U.S. actions are a serious violation of the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, undermine global strategic balance and stability, and pose a direct threat to outer space peace and security," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a press briefing.

The international community, he added, should "adopt a cautious and responsible attitude to prevent outer space from becoming a new battlefield and work together to maintain lasting peace and tranquility in outer space."

Geng's comments came days after Trump's signature on the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a provision for the creation of the sixth branch of the military—an idea the president began floating early last year.

Lebanon heads for meltdown as protesters keep returning to streets

In mid-December, a month and a half into protests that have crippled Lebanon and placed its political class in the dock, a priest caused a stir by telling his congregation to start stockpiling food. The coming three years would be difficult, the cleric in the southern city of Sidon said. Citing the country’s Maronite Patriarch, he advised people to plant their own wheat. “His Holiness says the crisis will last for years, and famine is approaching.”

The words were quickly seized on by some who saw the sermon as fearmongering, and others who viewed it as a salient warning, as an economic collapse unlike anything since the Lebanese civil war.

Fragile even in a good year, Lebanon’s economy is disintegrating at an alarming rate, sparking a currency devaluation, a mass flight of money, restrictions on withdrawals, a grave threat to the country’s banking system and a guarantee that – without a foreign bailout – the country will default on its enormous debts by March at the latest. The extent of the economic collapse was on show across the country in the lead-up to Christmas, with close to 400 restaurants closing, malls that usually teemed with expatriates home for the holidays empty and local businesses reporting a plunge in trade of up to 80%. ...

So stark has the situation become that Lebanese who took to the streets – railing initially against a tax on the messaging application WhatsApp – have kept coming back. “There’s more to lose by going home,” said Fadi Abdullah, a student from Tripoli at a makeshift protest site in downtown Beirut. “This is either the end, or it’s the beginning. But at least we were all really Lebanese for a while.” ...

Western governments keenly backed the protests, using the momentum to call for an end to patronage networks that greased the wheels of one of the world’s most indebted and corrupt nations, but the power of the street has run headlong into a system so invested in entrenched graft and incompetence that its very survival depended on keeping it going.

France transport strike enters fourth week with no respite for the holidays

Evo Morales Says He Is 'Absolutely Convinced' US Led Coup in Bolivia to Exploit Lithium Reserves

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales said in an interview Tuesday that he is "absolutely convinced" the United States orchestrated the military coup that removed him from power last month with the goal of exploiting Bolivia's enormous lithium reserves.

Morales told AFP that he believes the U.S. had not "forgiven" him for pursuing lithium partnerships with China and Russia over Washington.

"It was a national and international coup d'etat," said Morales. "I'm absolutely convinced it's a coup against lithium. We as a state had begun industrializing lithium... As a small country of 10 million inhabitants, we were soon going to set the price of lithium. They know we have the greatest lithium reserves in the world of 16,000 square kilometers (over 6,100 square miles)."

U.S. President Donald Trump and officials in his administration have openly and enthusiastically celebrated the coup in Bolivia, but it is not yet clear whether the White House played a direct or indirect role in Morales' ouster, which brought to power a right-wing anti-indigenous government.

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazilian president says he briefly lost memory after fall

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, said on Tuesday night that he briefly lost his memory after falling at his presidential residence in Brasilia, the capital, earlier this week.

The president’s office disclosed on Monday that Bolsonaro, 64, had suffered a fall and was taken to a hospital Monday night for a brain scan, which detected no abnormalities. Bolsonaro spent the night in the hospital and was discharged on Tuesday.

“I had partial memory loss. This morning I managed to recover a lot of stuff,” Bolsonaro told the Band TV network Tuesday night. “Now I am fine. I did not know, for instance, what I had done in the previous day.”

Since September 2018, Bolsonaro has undergone four surgeries because of a knife attack he suffered during the election campaign.

Guardian FINALLY corrects fake Assange ‘escape plot’ to Russia article

Corrections and clarifications : Julian Assange

Last year, the Guardian reported on a plan to transfer Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London to Ecuador’s embassy in Moscow by making Assange a member of the Ecuadorian embassy staff, first in London and then in Russia. Giving Assange diplomatic status would have allowed him to leave the Ecuadorian embassy, where he was a fugitive from UK justice. Assange, Ecuador and Russia were all parties to the plan, which was abandoned after the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office refused to recognise Assange as a member of the embassy staff. Our report should have avoided the words “smuggle” and “plot” since they implied that diplomatic immunity in itself was illicit. The Guardian’s Review Panel has issued a ruling on this article, available online at gu.com/narvaez-decision (Revealed: Russia’s Christmas Eve plot to smuggle Assange out of UK, 22 September 2018, page 3).

Benjamin Netanyahu takes shelter after rocket launched from Gaza

A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at a southern Israeli city as it hosted a campaign rally prompted the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to take shelter briefly before resuming the event, Israeli TV stations have reported.

The Israeli military confirmed the launch on Wednesday against Ashkelon, which is 12km (7.5 miles) from the coastal Palestinian enclave, and said the rocket was shot down by an Iron Dome air defence interceptor.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility in Gaza, which is under the control of Hamas Islamists and where a smaller armed faction, Islamic Jihad, exchanged fire with Israel during a two-day surge of violence last month.

ON CONTACT: Afghanistan papers with Spenser Rapone

Michael Moore Pt. 2, Matt on the Afghanistan Papers | Useful Idiots

Trump boasts of Democrats’ backing for his assault on immigrants

With conditions facing immigrants and those seeking asylum in the US becoming increasingly horrific, US President Donald Trump gloated over the weekend that the Democratic Party has bowed to his rabid anti-immigrant policy by voting to approve billions of dollars in new funding for his border wall. In a speech to a meeting organized by the far-right student group Turning Point USA in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump boasted of the overwhelming bipartisan approval of the $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which, according to the White House, “enables more than the $8.6 billion amount included in the budget request to be dedicated for the President’s border wall, including nearly $1.4 billion in direct funding.”

While dropping opposition to Trump illegally diverting funds from the Pentagon budget for the border wall, the legislation was also stripped of a provision that would have limited the role of military troops in hunting down and imprisoning immigrants at the border. The Pentagon is maintaining a permanent deployment of 5,500 National Guard and active duty soldiers on the US southern border. “I got that one through as part of the defense bill, because you know what? The Democrats don’t like the issue anymore, because they know we’re right,” Trump told his right-wing audience. “When you see what’s happening over there, they know we’re right. They sort of let that one sail through.”

Indeed, even as it proceeds with its impeachment of Trump based on the narrow and reactionary charge that he has been insufficiently aggressive against Russia by delaying military funding for the right-wing Ukrainian government, the Democratic Party is marching in lock step with the White House on the buildup for war, the attacks on the working class and the brutal treatment of immigrants and refugees. As the Democrats and Republicans close ranks, conditions on the US-Mexico border and in detention centers for immigrants have become increasingly hellish, constituting a violation of international laws guaranteeing the right to asylum, and a shameful crime against humanity.

Rudy Giuliani Asks Not To Be Called Anti-Semitic Right Before Saying, "I'm More of a Jew Than [George] Soros"

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi in an interview published Monday that he was more Jewish than billionaire George Soros—who lost family in the Holocaust—and that Soros was a "horrible human being."

"Don't tell me I'm anti-Semitic if I oppose him," Giuliani said. "Soros is hardly a Jew. I'm more of a Jew than Soros is."

Giuliani, currently the personal attorney of President Donald Trump, made the comments during an afternoon with Nuzzi on Sunday, December 8. The pair drove around New York City, stopping at the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side for Bloody Marys, and discussed a number of issues including the former mayor's business dealings in Ukraine, which are under investigation.

"If they think I committed a crime, they're out of their minds," said Giuliani. "I've been doing this for 50 years. I know how not to commit crimes."

It was the topic of Soros, however, that got the mayor talking.

According to Nuzzi:

As we sped uptown, he spoke in monologue about the scandal he co-created, weaving one made-up talking point into another and another. He said former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, whom he calls Santa Maria Yovanovitch, is "controlled by" George Soros. "He put all four ambassadors there. And he's employing the FBI agents." I told him he sounded crazy, but he insisted he wasn't.

"Don't tell me I'm anti-Semitic if I oppose him," he said. "Soros is hardly a Jew. I'm more of a Jew than Soros is. I probably know more about—he doesn't go to church, he doesn't go to religion—synagogue. He doesn't belong to a synagogue, he doesn't support Israel, he's an enemy of Israel. He's elected eight anarchist DAs in the United States. He's a horrible human being."

That remarkable passage spurred a number of observers to note Giuliani's comments were overtly anti-Semitic.

"Giuliani arguing that he is 'more of a Jew' than a literal Holocaust survivor is the logical conclusion of Trumpist Jews' argument that liberal and left wing Jews (the majority of American Jews!) are not really Jewish," tweeted Atlantic writer Adam Serwer.

"Has Rudy Giuliani lost his mind?" wondered former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti.

Michael Brooks: Does this report show neo-liberalism's breaking point?

With Federal Minimum Stuck at $7.25, Report Shows 32 Jurisdictions Will Raise Wages to or Above $15 in 2020

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for more than a decade due to continued inaction by Congress, but a record 72 jurisdictions across the U.S. are raising their minimum wage floors in 2020 in response to grassroots pressure led by the Fight for $15 movement.

That's according to a report released Monday by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), which found that of the 72 total states, cities, and counties raising their minimum wages in 2020, 32 of them will reach or surpass $15 an hour at some point in the new year.

Yannet Lathrop, researcher and policy analyst with NELP and author of the new report (pdf), said the wage hikes around the nation are evidence of "the incredible momentum that the Fight for $15 movement has built up."

"We're seeing an unprecedented number of states, cities, and counties raise the minimum wage," Lathrop said in a statement. "Local communities all around the country strongly support raising the minimum wage, because people see their friends, neighbors, or themselves working hard but not getting ahead. People who work low-wage jobs need and deserve a raise—and companies can afford it. There's no excuse."

NELP found that 21 states and 26 cities and counties—including Illinois; Denver, Colorado; and Saint Paul, Minnesota—will hike their minimum wages on or around New Year's Day, bringing much-needed raises to hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers struggling to stay afloat amid soaring living costs.

Despite nationwide progress, NELP found that around 346,000 workers in a dozen cities and counties will not see the benefits of higher wages due to state laws invalidating local minimum wage increases. According to the report, state legislatures in Alabama, Kentucky, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin have preempted local minimum wage increases, depriving workers of an estimated $1.5 billion in wages each year.

French board game about class struggle and politics sells out in three weeks

'Cutting Social Security Is Murder': Flood of Public Outrage Greets Trump Proposal to Slash Benefits for Hundreds of Thousands

"This policy change is abhorrent and absolutely unjustifiable."

"We all know that the cruelty is the point with this administration, but this sinks to yet another low."

"This would be a crushing blow to me and my family."

Those are just a few of the more than 1,700 official comments members of the U.S. public have left on President Donald Trump's proposed Social Security rule change, which could strip lifesaving disability benefits from hundreds of thousands of people.

The proposal received hardly any media attention when it was first published in the Federal Register in November. But recent reporting on the proposed rule change, as well as outrage from progressive Social Security advocates, sparked a flood of public condemnation and calls for the Trump administration to reverse course.

Backlash against the proposal can be seen in the public comment section for the rule, where self-identified physicians, people with disabilities, social workers, and others have condemned the change as monstrous and potentially deadly. The number of public comments has ballooned in recent days, going from less than 200 to more than 1,700 in a week.

The public comment period ends on January 17, 2020. Comments can be submitted here.

---

---

Michael Moore on Impeachment, Trump's Chances in 2020 & Why He Supports Bernie Sanders

Mike Bloomberg Exploited Prison Labor to Make 2020 Presidential Campaign Phone Calls

Former New York City mayor and multibillionaire Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg used prison labor to make campaign calls. Through a third-party vendor, the Mike Bloomberg 2020 campaign contracted New Jersey-based call center company ProCom, which runs calls centers in New Jersey and Oklahoma. Two of the call centers in Oklahoma are operated out of state prisons. In at least one of the two prisons, incarcerated people were contracted to make calls on behalf of the Bloomberg campaign.

According to a source, who asked for anonymity for fear of retribution, people incarcerated at the Dr. Eddie Warrior Correctional Center, a minimum-security women’s prison with a capacity of more than 900, were making calls to California on behalf of Bloomberg. The people were required to end their calls by disclosing that the calls were paid for by the Bloomberg campaign. They did not disclose, however, that they were calling from behind bars.

The Bloomberg campaign confirmed the arrangement in an emailed statement to The Intercept. “We didn’t know about this and we never would have allowed it if we had,” said Bloomberg spokesperson Julie Wood. “We don’t believe in this practice and we’ve now ended our relationship with the subcontractor in question.” ...

“The use of prison labor is the continued exploitation of people who are locked up, who really have virtually no other opportunities to have employment or make money other than the opportunities given to them by prison officials,” said Alex Friedmann, managing editor of Prison Legal News and an advocate for incarcerated people’s rights. ...

Friedmann said that whether or not the Bloomberg campaign knew about the arrangement with ProCom, it was responsible. “It’s entirely possible they didn’t know,” Friedmann told me, “but that’s like saying department stores making clothes in southeast Asia don’t know that 5-year-olds are stitching together their soccer balls. Well, shouldn’t you know? Shouldn’t you have some idea of your supply stream, or what your downside supply stream is doing?”

Despite Vow Not to Probe Billionaire Owner's 2020 Rivals, Bloomberg News Runs 'Ridiculous Hit Piece' on Warren and Sanders

Bloomberg News on Monday was accused of violating its month-old vow not to investigate billionaire owner Michael Bloomberg or his 2020 Democratic presidential rivals after the outlet published an article criticizing Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for buying office supplies from Amazon—the retail behemoth both have criticized for low wages and poor working conditions.

The story, headlined "Sanders, Warren Campaigns Spend the Most on Amazon While Trashing It," was denounced as an absurd attack on two of the most vocal opponents of Bloomberg's candidacy.

"Less than a month after Bloomberg said a conflict of interest meant it wouldn't investigate 2020 Dem candidates, Bloomberg publishes a ridiculous hit piece on Mike Bloomberg's biggest critics in the race (and yes, the story is utterly ridiculous)," David Sirota, a speechwriter for the Sanders campaign, tweeted Monday.

Sirota was referring to Bloomberg News' pledge last month to not investigate Bloomberg or his 2020 Democratic primary opponents now that the former New York mayor is vying for the presidency.

Sanders and Warren have aggressive plans to cut back on carbon emissions, yet they both inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide https://t.co/7deBxRXxPY

— Leah Greenberg (@Leahgreenb) December 24, 2019

Bernie Sanders rails against greed in the for-profit health care system. Yet when he had a heart attack, he went to a hospital.

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) December 24, 2019

Sanders' Senior Advisor David Sirota: Lessons from 20 years of Bernie beating the establishment

---

---

Trump's EPA Goes to Bat for Bayer as Company Fights $25 Million Verdict in Roundup Cancer Case

President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency—already accused of being "pesticide cheerleader"—threw its weight behind chemical company Bayer AG on Friday when the agency asked a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court's ruling in favor of a man who said the company's Roundup weedkiller was responsible for his cancer.

The case centers on Edwin Hardeman of California, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2015 after using the glyphosate-based pesticide, made by Monsanto, for years on his property. Bayer acquired Monsanto last year.

A federal jury in July ordered the company to pay Hardeman roughly $25 million in damages, a lower amount than the $80 million a federal judge had ordered months earlier.

The EPA maintains—to the outrage of environmental and public health groups—that glyphosate is not a carcinogen. The federal decision notwithstanding, California in 2017 agreed with the World Health Organization's 2015 classification of glyphosate as a "probable carcinogen." Trump's EPA has pushed back on the state's finding and said that product labels informing users of that cancer risk would "misbranding" and announced in August of this year that the agency would not approve of labels carrying that warning.

In an amicus brief filed Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, attorneys with the EPA and Justice Department said,

EPA approved the label for the pesticide/herbicide at issue here, Roundup, through a registration process that did not require a cancer warning. In fact, EPA has never required a labeling warning of a cancer risk posed by Roundup, and such a warning would be inconsistent with the agency's scientific assessments of the carcinogenic potential of the product. Mr. Hardeman nevertheless sought damages under California common law, alleging that Monsanto had failed to adequately warn consumers of cancer risks posed by the active ingredient in Roundup. FIFRA therefore preempts Mr. Hardeman's claims to the extent that they are based on the lack of a warning on Roundup's labeling.

The filing from the federal government came the same week Bayer AG asked the appeals court to toss out the lower court's ruling and defended Roundup's safety.

Firefighters in Australia Say Situation 'Out of Control' as Prime Minister Denies Request for Emergency Aid

The ring of bushfires raging around Australia is "out of control," firefighters said Monday night, and the country's government appears unwilling—or unable—to take action to assist those battling the blazes despite the danger.

Volunteer Fire Firefighters Association president Mick Holton, in comments to Australian paper the Age, said that Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New South Wales (NSW) premier Gladys Berejiklian were ignoring the need for equipment and income support from firefighters on the front lines.

As the BBC reported, Morrison is standing firm against aiding the firefighters:

Public support for the "firies" is at an all-time high. In the swing of the Christmas season, shops and restaurants are donating profits to the NSW RFS. Online, there have been fundraisers to buy masks, food, and other supplies for the crews.

However, Australia's government has so far rejected the calls for compensation.

"Now is not the time to go into it. Let's get through this [bushfire crisis] first," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday.

"Basically, they [the government and RFS] are saying keep chewing smoke and we will have a look at it after the fire season," Holton told Age.

Making things worse, Holton said, was the fact that NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons appears unwilling to directly ask for assistance.

"The fact that they haven't asked for federal support indicates that they believe they have the situation in hand," said Holton. "That is definitely not the case."

"The situation is quite the opposite," Holton added. "It is out of control."

The perceived inaction by federal officials in Australia to comprehend the magnitude of the crisis was on display Monday when Morrison refused to consider curbing coal production. As Common Dreams reported, Morrison's statement was met with incredulity by green groups and advocates, who called the statement shortsighted. 

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg on Sunday tweeted her dismay over the situation in Australia.

"Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action," said Thunberg. "How is this possible?"

A reporter in Kentucky asked Mitch McConnell what the Senate is planning to do about global warming.

"I think climate change is real," McConnell said, but he suggested it shouldn't be tackled by "clamping down on the economy." He did not say what the Senate will do. pic.twitter.com/krya7xWDQe

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 23, 2019

‘I never understood wind’: Trump goes on bizarre tirade against wind turbines

He says he knows more about Isis than his generals, and claims to understand politicians “better than anybody”. Now there is another subject in which Donald Trump’s expert knowledge surpasses that of everybody else: wind turbines, though he calls them windmills.

“I’ve studied it better than anybody I know,” the president asserted in a bizarre segment from a weekend speech to young conservatives in West Palm Beach, Florida, close to his winter retreat at Mar-a-Lago where he is spending the holidays.

President Trump: "I never understood wind, you know I know windmills very much. I've studied it better than anybody." pic.twitter.com/0U432SgNA2

— The Hill (@thehill) December 22, 2019

“I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. They’re noisy. They kill the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard? Go under a windmill someday. You’ll see more birds than you’ve ever seen in your life.” ...

“They’re made in China and Germany mostly,” Trump said of wind turbines, of which there are more than 57,000 across the US, according to the American Wind Energy Association. “But they’re manufactured tremendous if you’re into this, tremendous fumes. Gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything.

“You talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right? Spewing. Whether it’s in China, Germany, it’s going into the air. It’s our air, their air, everything, right?”

Breeding program boosts endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow population

America’s bird populations may be facing an existential crisis but there is a glimmer of hope for one endangered species at least, with a breeding program helping dramatically boost the population of the endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow.

Around 50 of the birds, found in the prairies of south-central Florida, were estimated to be in the wild in 2018, down from 1,000 in little more than decade. But a conservation program has, for the first time, now successfully reared 100 Florida grasshopper sparrows and released them back into their natural environment.

The sparrow has been listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service since 1986 and has suffered steep declines in its population since then.

A shy, ground-nesting bird, the Florida grasshopper sparrow has experienced a huge reduction in its habitat, with vast tracts of its preferred grassland prairie turned into pastures for cattle. Altered flooding and fire regimes have also hurt the species, as well as the spread of the red fire ant, an invasive species that can attack the birds’ eggs.

---

Also of Interest

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

Trump and the Stock Market Are the Winners in the Fed’s Repo Loan Binge; Here’s the Losers

Paris Opera ballerinas perform in protest of Macron's pension reform plan

Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib: Trump's holiday menu: handouts for billionaires, hunger for the poor

'Bernie Blackout' Strikes Again? Despite Iowa Poll Average Showing Sanders in Solid 2nd, CNN Uses Old Poll to Show Him in 4th

Obama Insider Confirms Former President Ready to Back Whoever Wins 2020 Nomination—Even Bernie Sanders

Chris Hedges: The Impeachment's Moral Hypocrisy

Gabbard decries 'war budget' in Christmas Eve message

Bolivia’s free territory of Chapare has ousted the coup regime and is bracing for a bloody re-invasion

Red Lines: US sanctions 'carpet bombed Venezuela's economy': opposition advisor & economist Francisco Rodríguez

Israel says filing error to blame for strike that killed nine members of al-Sawarka family

Indigenous people outraged at Canada police's possible use of lethal force

‘My moment’: the activists fighting climate crisis and winning elections

Jimmy Dore: How Bernie should have handled Cenk Uygur

---

A Little Night Music

Allen Toussaint - Java

Allen Toussaint - We The People

Allen Toussaint - On Your Way Down

Allen Toussaint - Bright Mississippi

Champion Jack Dupree w/Allen Toussaint - Bring Me Flowers While I’m Living, Rub a Little Boogie

Allen Toussaint - Goin' Down

Allen Toussaint - Soul Sister

Allen Toussaint - Brickyard Blues (Play something sweet)

Allen Toussaint - Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley

Allen Toussaint - Cast Your Fate To The Wind

Elvis Costello and Alan Toussaint - Live in Montreal (July 3, 2006)

---