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"Superhero comic writers often envisioned variations on an evil nerd inventing some powerful technology and trying to use it to take over the world. Their work turns out to have been prophetic, except the technology is more boring, and there are no superheroes to stop them."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

This seems like generally good advice. I recommend the music section.

2020 Is Going To Get Much Crazier. Prioritize Your Mental Health.

The outrage over the Iowa caucus scandal has continued to burn white hot as more and more establishment manipulations against the Bernie Sanders campaign come into view.

At the beginning of a CNN town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg last night, immediately following the network’s town hall with Sanders, the event’s host Chris Cuomo announced that 100 percent of the caucus results were now in and the former South Bend mayor had narrowly won the contest. These results had been announced by the Iowa Democratic Party moments before Buttigieg’s town hall appearance.

There is no reason for anyone, let alone a major news outlet, to believe these results are legitimate. They are full of easily demonstrable errors and discrepancies which have been highlighted by both the Sanders campaign and The New York Times, and they have yet to be addressed. Furthermore, Sanders has a perfectly legitimate claim to the win given the undisputed fact that he received thousands more votes. This is without even getting into all the other extremely shady shenanigans with the now-infamous Shadow app whose crash has given the media days to sing Buttigeig’s praise, which has in turn given him a major polling bump for New Hampshire.

But Chris Cuomo (who is the brother of a Democratic New York governor and the son of another Democratic New York governor) declared Buttigieg (who because of his establishment grooming and alt-centrist ideology is beloved by billionaires and spooks) the winner anyway. In front of millions of people. While Buttigieg was standing right there in the spotlight. Immediately after the “results” were released.

We’re watching a major US election being rigged in real time, right in front of our eyes, and it’s intense. And it’s only just getting started.

In the 2016 race between Sanders and Hillary Clinton, the Iowa caucuses saw some suspicious activity and there was some controversy over improbable coin toss results, but nothing like the furor we’ve been seeing over Iowa for the last several days. It wasn’t until the Nevada caucus that things really started to get crazy in the 2016 race, and we’re still a couple of weeks out from that.

So we’re way ahead of schedule in terms of emotional intensity tied to this presidential primary race, and possibly at a more heated point after the very first 2020 primary contest than at any point in the 2016 race between Sanders and Clinton. And it’s only going to get crazier from here.

And that’s just looking at the US Democratic presidential primary. Later this month we’ve got the beginning of Julian Assange’s extradition trial, we’ve got the OPCW narrative managing its own scandal by smearing the whistleblowers who revealed that the US, UK and France almost certainly bombed Syria in 2018 under false pretenses, we’ve got continuing revelations that pretty much everything the Trump administration told the world to justify the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was a lie, we’ve got an escalating new cold war between the US and Russia, increasing establishment attempts to censor the internet, an increasing propaganda war against China, the general militaristic belligerence of the US-centralized empire, and God knows what else.

As I said back in November, things are going to get weirder and weirder throughout the foreseeable future. We’re coming to a point in history where the only reliable pattern is the disintegration of patterns, and 2020 has come storming out of its corner swinging for the fences working to establish this pattern with extreme aggression. We’re not going to hit a point of stability or normality this year, we’re going to see things get crazier and crazier and crazier. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know it’s going to be nuts.

In such an environment, it’s going to be absolutely essential to take exceptional care of your psychological health if you want to remain engaged with what’s going on in the world in a positive way. ...

And honestly this is something all activist types should be doing anyway. Believing you can help the world without doing serious inner work is like believing you can clean the house while covered in raw sewage. You can always spot the political activists who engage without doing any inner work by the chaotic, unskillful and frequently counterproductive form their actions take. They can’t see clearly enough to operate efficaciously, because their vision is clouded with unresolved suffering and conflict. Get in the shower and wash the yuck off yourself before trying to clean the house. ...

Above all, be gentle with yourself. We got a ways ahead of us, and we need you fresh and feeling good. You won’t be able to help wake the world up if you let the chaos and confusion drag you down. Know when to take a break from the information stream and all the babbling narratives trying to twist your perception of it. Use your tools to distance yourself from the narratives so that you can perceive them objectively. Ground yourself, find your center, then, when you’re ready, wade back in.

What do you know, even the Washington Post is feeling like something is rotten in Guantanamo. Took 'em long enough.

We need to start paying attention to the fate of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay

The details of the U.S. government’s descent into torture as an anti-terrorism tactic have been publicly rehearsed many times in the 18-plus years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Nevertheless, the mistreatment of alleged al-Qaeda detainees at CIA “black site” prisons around the world retain their power to shock. And so it was shocking to hear a retired Air Force psychologist describe it in his first public sworn statement, even though he has written a book and given many interviews. ...

What seems beyond debate, now, is that the Guantanamo Bay episode has gone on for too long and at too high a cost to the United States, both in damage to our international reputation and to our actual goals in the war against terrorism. There are 40 detainees left at the prison, of an original total of 780. Of these, only two have been convicted by military commissions; seven others have been charged and face trial; three have been recommended for trial; and the rest have not been charged but have been deemed impossible to transfer out for security or other reasons. And so dozens of men still live in limbo; unresolved, too, is the final accountability of Mr. Mohammed, who deserves judgment and punishment but whose case instead languishes in military commission purgatory.

Little or no attention is being paid to this situation at the highest levels in either Congress or the executive branch, which is headed by a man who ran on a promise to bring more prisoners to Guantanamo Bay and do "worse than waterboarding" if elected. As last week's chilling testimony reminds us, though, there is much unfinished business still left from 9/11. And attention must be paid.

Israel using civilian airliners as cover for bombing raids over Syria says Russia

Syrian missile defense systems nearly shot down a passenger plane with 172 people on board while responding to an attack near Damascus airport this week, Russian defense ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.

The Airbus 320 traveling from Tehran was preparing to land in Damascus early on Thursday, February 6 when Israeli F-16 fighter jets fired air-to-surface missiles at targets near the airport, Tass reported Konashenkov as saying.

The plane was “escorted out of the danger zone and assisted in landing” at Hmeimim airbase, he said.

Konashenkov accused the Israeli Air Force of using passenger jets for cover while carrying out operations in Syria.

Purge of reformists in Iran election could doom nuclear deal, say diplomats

Iran’s clerical establishment is so determined to fix this month’s parliamentary elections that hardliners are likely to sweep to power, bringing closer the final collapse of the Iran nuclear deal, according to western diplomats. Reformist candidates have been systematically purged from the elections due on 21 February after vetting by the Guardian Council, a 12-strong body of lawyers and religious leader appointed indirectly by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

More than 90 of the 290-strong parliament have been barred from running for re-election, often receiving short letters giving broad justification ranging from financial irregularities to not being faithful to Islam. Among the 16,000 people who applied to stand in the elections, about 9,000 have been disqualified. The process, enshrined in law, is justified on the grounds that Iran does not have permanent political parties to filter candidates. ...

It said that if the Guardian Council did not relent, reformists would have no candidates in 230 of the 290 seats, and in 160 constituencies there would be no competitor, turning the democratic process into an appointments process. In a further 70 seats there would be a form of competition, but only between strands of “principalists”, as hardliners are known. The figures are hard to verify independently. ...

Diplomats see the purge as confirmation of its prediction that Donald Trump’s policy of maximum pressure will not weaken the hardline regime but instead tilt politics away from reformists advocating limited engagement with the west.

Turkey threatens to hit back as Assad advances in northern Syria

Time is running out for three million civilians on Syria’s border with Turkey, caught in the crosshairs of a brutal regime offensive that has led Ankara to threaten military action against Bashar al-Assad if his forces do not pull back.

Yesterday Turkey’s defence ministry said it would strike back at regime troops and allied militias if its military posts in Syria’s northwest Idlib province were threatened, echoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ultimatum last week that Assad must withdraw to a previously agreed ceasefire line before the end of February.

Erdogan’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said the escalation in Idlib – which led to the deaths of eight Turkish military personnel on Monday – was unacceptable. “We cannot tolerate what has been unfolding in Idlib. We will seek accountability for our martyrs,” he told a Turkey-Syria media forum in Istanbul yesterday. “Bashar al-Assad’s place in the future ... is not the presidential palace but the international court of justice at The Hague.”

Turkey is seeking to shore up a de-escalation agreement for Idlib brokered in 2018 by Moscow – which backs Assad – and Ankara, which supports some rebel groups in the area. The ceasefire has been routinely broken by both sides, but an attritional campaign by Syria has escalated since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate, seized control of most of the area last year.

Hitman linked to Marielle Franco's murder killed by police

Friends and relatives of the murdered Brazilian politician Marielle Franco are demanding answers after Adriano da Nóbrega – a notorious hitman, whose gang of contract killers is suspected of involvement in her assassination – was gunned down by police in the north-east of the country.

Nóbrega, an ex-special forces police captain, also had close links to the family of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. Nóbrega was killed by police on Sunday in Bahia state where he had been on the run.

“Who gained from the death of ex-special forces captain Adriano Nóbrega,” tweeted Franco’s widow, Monica Benicio.

Franco’s leftist PSOL party said Nóbrega was a “key piece” in discovering who ordered Franco’s killing and called for a full investigation. “Witness elimination? Another attempt at obstruction of justice? Who ordered our companion killed? We demand answers,” tweeted Sâmia Bonfim, a PSOL congresswoman.

Police insisted that was not the case, claiming Nóbrega had opened fire on officers when they attempted to apprehend him in Esplanada – a small town 1,700km north of Rio.

Facebook and Twitter reject Pelosi's request to remove edited Trump video

Facebook and Twitter have refused House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s request to remove a video posted by Donald Trump that was misleadingly edited to show her repeatedly tearing a paper copy of his State of the Union address while he was honoring a Tuskegee Airman and other attendees.

“The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them – but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same,” Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s chief of staff, said on Twitter. “The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests.”

pic.twitter.com/QhTWvcY4Ke

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020

The five-minute video in question, which features the words “POWERFUL AMERICAN STORIES RIPPED TO SHREDS BY NANCY PELOSI” at the top, was tweeted by Trump on Thursday. The video shows Pelosi tearing a paper copy of Trump’s controversial address, but the ripping is interspersed with clips of Trump lauding honorees. In reality, Pelosi ripped Trump’s speech after the State of the Union address ended.

Their rejection of Pelosi’s request, which has spurred condemnation, comes amid heightened debate over tech titans’ responsibility to thwart the proliferation of misleading – or outright false – information during the 2020 presidential election.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduces bill that threatens end-to-end encryption

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is circulating a discussion draft bill that would use the enforcement of laws against distribution of child sex abuse material (CSAM) as a means of shutting down end-to-end encryption services provided by the big tech companies. The bill, which is also reportedly being worked on by Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat of Connecticut), would create a 15-member bipartisan National Commission on Child Exploitation Prevention that would be responsible for establishing the rules and overseeing the removal of CSAM content from the internet. The law would make the Attorney General the chairman of the commission and give him or her the authority to modify any of its recommendations.

Called the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act of 2019, the bill would make technology companies liable for state prosecution and civil lawsuits for child abuse and exploitation content unless they follow “best practices” outlined by the commission. On January 30, Bloomberg published a draft of the bill noting, “The draft bill from Graham, the South Carolina Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, mounts a double attack against encrypted services such as Apple Inc.’s iCloud and Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp chat. It jeopardizes technology companies’ immunity to lawsuits by victims for violating child exploitation and abuse statutes and it lowers the standard to bring such cases.”

At the heart of the proposed law is an attack on what is known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which protects providers of computing devices, apps and internet services from liability for content copied or posted by users onto their products. Companies that refuse to follow the commission’s best practices will lose their Section 230 protections for any content deemed to violate the content rules set by the commission. Although the draft bill does not specify any of the rules, it is transparently obvious that it would require law enforcement immediate and unfettered access to devices, communications and cloud accounts. As has been explained by technology experts, the bill’s references to law enforcement “identifying, categorizing, and reporting material related to child exploitation or child sexual abuse” would be impossible to do on devices and services with end-to-end encryption.

End-to-end encryption is the popular method used by the consumer technology corporations of protecting electronic communications and data stored on computer devices by using cryptographic keys to block eavesdropping, surveillance and interception of information. The use of end-to-end encryption by the public, corporations and other organizations has been on the rise since the exposures by Edward Snowden in 2013 that the US government was capturing and storing the mobile phone and email communications of the entire population in a massive and illegal electronic dragnet.

Big private big brother meets big government big brother.

ICE Is Using Location Data From Games and Apps to Track and Arrest Immigrants, Report Says

The federal government purchased access to a database that tracks millions of cell phones and is using the data as part of its ongoing crackdown on undocumented immigrants, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Department of Homeland Security began purchasing location data in 2017 from Venntel, a Virginia-based company which markets itself as a “pioneer in mobile location information,” according to the database of federal contracts. Since then, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has purchased $190,000 in Venntel licenses and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has spent over $1 million on the company’s products.

The data is drawn from inconspicuous cell phone apps, like games and weather apps, that ask the user’s permission to access their location. But the data has been used by DHS to “help identify immigrants who were later arrested,” and by CBP to identify cell activity in places such as remote desert areas on the Mexican border, according to the Journal, which said it both reviewed documents and spoke to people “familiar with the matter.” ...

The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that cellular data obtained from wireless carriers requires a warrant under the 4th Amendment. But by purchasing the data from firms such as Venntel like any private company would, the data has been approved for usage by government lawyers, according to the Journal.

“Our Very Existence Is the Resistance”: An Hour w/ AOC, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib & Ilhan Omar

Yes, a Progressive President Could Cancel Student Debt on Day One — by Following the Grassroots

On Friday,the group Debt Collective began its second mass student loan debt strike. The leftist organizers’ put student debt jubilee on the map during Occupy Wall Street and their legacy shines throughout progressive politics. ... The organizers with Debt Collective offer more than just grassroots support for debt forgiveness: The group has come up with an actionable legal blueprint for making it happen — and fast. “The next president can cancel all student debt on day one,” said a statement from the Debt Collective. “Congress built a self-destruct button into the heart of the student debt system. This means we could win a debt jubilee months from now!”

Debt Collective’s approach to erasing student debt is based on using a Department of Education legal authority, under the 1965 Higher Education Act, to “compromise, waive or release” any claims it has against student debtors. A willing president could, without new legislation, immediately enact the cancellation of at least all public student debt.

While supposed pragmatists deem such plans as impractical and idealistic, progressive candidates are taking notice: This year, Warren became the first presidential hopeful to vow to use this exact executive authority to wipe away the majority of U.S. student debt. ... While Warren has already pledged to use the authority, her debt forgiveness proposal is less robust than Sanders’s. In January, Sanders introduced a bill that would automatically cancel student loans that were made, insured, or guaranteed by the federal government. The different approaches are unsurprising; Warren has long supported a mode of governance through executive powers.

It’s nonetheless striking that a Democratic presidential candidate famed for detailed policy planning is proposing to use the little-known legal provision that the Debt Collective’s legal research helped bring to light. And the organizers are keen for Sanders to embrace a possible executive action plan, in recognition that a Republican majority in Congress will stymie progressive student debt legislation.

Joe Biden Is Trashing Pete Buttigieg Now

Joe Biden has had enough of Pete Buttigieg’s malarky and, folks, he’s about to show that young whippersnapper a thing or two about running for president. In a series of post-debate appearances, a meandering press conference and a withering new attack ad, Biden struck back at the South Bend upstart’s call for a new generation of leadership and wrapped himself in the legacy of former President Barack Obama.

It’s all part of the former vice president’s new, and somewhat uncomfortable, campaign trail look: Scrappy underdog.

“I have never been very comfortable attacking somebody else. I don't think we need a circular firing squad,” Biden told reporters Saturday at his Manchester campaign office. “When you get attacked, you’ve gotta respond. I've kept my mouth shut for a long time. I haven't responded at all — at all.”

Chants of #WallStreetPete drown out #Buttigieg when he takes a shot at #Bernie's grassroots movement.pic.twitter.com/UJ2gCcEnys

— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) February 9, 2020

Saagar Enjeti: 'Wall Street' Pete's sheer emptiness revealed day before New Hampshire primary

Democrats step up attacks against each other as New Hampshire primary looms

Leading Democratic presidential candidates have stepped up attacks against each other ahead of the New Hampshire primary, with Joe Biden saying Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialism would turn off voters in moderate states in a general election against Donald Trump. Sanders has maintained his lead over the other 10 candidates going into Tuesday’s vote, according to a CNN poll released on Sunday, with former mayor Pete Buttigieg in second, Biden in third and the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren in fourth. ...

On ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Biden was asked if he thought Democrats can’t defeat the president if they have to defend socialism. “I think it’s going to be incredibly more difficult. I’m not going to say – look, if I don’t get the nomination and Bernie gets it, I’m going to work like hell for him,” the former vice-president said of the Vermont senator. “But I’ll tell you what, it’s a bigger uphill climb running as a senator or a congressperson or as a governor on a ticket that calls itself a democratic socialist ticket.” ...

Appearing on CNN, Sanders was asked about Biden’s criticism that the Democratic socialist label would hurt candidates in other races. Sanders said that his agenda – a higher minimum wage and healthcare system for all – had “overwhelming” support. “Our agenda is the agenda of working-class and middle-class Americans,” Sanders said.

Sanders also addressed criticism of socialism on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, including Trump’s past allegations that Sanders is a “communist”.

“No 1, in many respects – in many respects, we are a socialist society today. We have a huge budget. It puts money into all areas,” Sanders responded, saying that Trump received hundreds of millions in subsidies and tax breaks for his businesses. “The difference between my socialism and Trump’s socialism is, I believe the government should help working families, not billionaires,” he said.

Krystal Ball: Voters reject media's Bernie bashing

NH CNN Poll:
"Who do you think has the best chance of winning in November?"

Sanders 29% (+9 Since Jan 23)
Biden 25% (-16)
Buttigieg 14% (+6)
Warren 6% (-1)
Bloomberg 3% (+1)
Klobuchar 2% (-)
Gabbard 2% (-)
Yang 2% (+1) https://t.co/TvyGcC8m1N

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) February 9, 2020

Krystal and Saagar: Sanders' campaign calls for Iowa recanvass

Chris Matthews Slammed for Spreading Misinformation About Sanders' Democratic Socialist Agenda on Post-Debate Panel

MSNBC host Chris Matthews drew rebukes on social media Friday night after suggesting that as a Democratic Socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders could lead a dictatorship in which establishment political figures would be "executed," should he win the presidency.

Following the Democratic primary debate, Matthews joined other MSNBC commentators including Joy Reid and Chris Hayes in a panel discussion in which Matthews expressed concerns about Sanders's democratic socialist ideals, which he claimed the Vermont senator has not clarified.

"I believe if Castro and the reds had won the Cold War there would have been executions in Central Park and I mght have been one of the ones getting executed," Matthews said, referring to former Cuban President Fidel Castro. "I don't know who Bernie Sanders supports over these years, I don't know what he means by socialism."

Here's the video of the moment... It really is something pic.twitter.com/uKS3vxuyX1

— Kombiz Lavasany (@kombiz) February 8, 2020

Matthews admitted that Sanders has suggested, "We're going to be like Denmark."

"Okay, that's harmless, that's basically a capitalist country with a lot of good social welfare programs. Denmark is harmless," he said, still appearing unconvinced that as president, Sanders aims to push the U.S. in the direction of many wealthy countries which offer universal healthcare, tuition-free public college, and other strong universal programs.

"It's pretty clearly in the Denmark category," Hayes replied. "I mean, that's what he says and that's what his agenda calls for, right?"

I’d say “at least Matthews is laughable,” but this is 100% how this shit ends up spreading through the “concerned” liberal quadrant of the party. You can’t say “blue no matter who” and also insinuate that Bernie might execute people in the streets. Come on. https://t.co/da0288Gzub

— austin walker (@austin_walker) February 8, 2020

Pete embraces Biden's deficit folly

Buttigieg Confirms Status as 'Austerity Candidate' With Call for Democrats to Prioritize Reducing Deficit

At a town hall in Nashua, New Hampshire Sunday, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg told drew criticism from progressives and economists when he told the audience he would prioritize reducing the deficit if he wins the presidency in November. "It's not fashionable in progressive circles to talk too much about the debt," Buttigieg said. "I think the time has come for my party to get a lot more comfortable owning this issue."

In embracing the frequent Republican talking point, Buttigieg was "not-so-subtly letting his billionaire donors know he'll cut Social Security and Medicaid," tweeted actor Rob Delaney, a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Republicans frequently portray large deficits as a Democratic phenomenon and blame the party for spending too much taxpayer money on social welfare programs, but as Sahil Kapur of NBC News pointed out, the national debt has risen under Republican presidents who cut taxes for corporations and raised military spending, while it fell under the two most recent Democratic presidents. 

"It's 'not fashionable in progressive circles' because progressives are rejecting the bogus arguments about debt and deficits that have been used to undermine the progressive agenda for decades," Stephanie Kelton, an economics professor at Stony Brook University and adviser to Sanders, told NBC.

I honestly can’t think of a worse platform for Democrats to run on.

It also betrays a deep economic illiteracy given how low interest rates are. https://t.co/Ki8mSreqOI

— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) February 9, 2020

Love how Buttigieg frames his billionaire donor suck up position on “deficits” (e.g. opening up space to gut Medicare and social security) as edgy truth telling https://t.co/nklHJFr4Jt

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) February 9, 2020

It would be great if a reporter would ask Buttigieg whether he is completely ignorant of the debates over deficit among progressives for the last dozen years or whether he is just saying this to curry favor with wealthy Wall Street types. https://t.co/izzneFdNpn

— Dean Baker (@DeanBaker13) February 9, 2020

Because Defeating NRA 'Takes a Movement,' March for Our Lives Co-Founder Joins Sanders Campaign as Gun Violence Prevention Advisor

A co-founder of March for Our Lives, the group formed by survivors of the Parkland, Florida school shooting in 2018, joined Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign Saturday, saying he believes a "movement" that has captured the support of young people across the country is what is needed to fight gun violence and the powerful gun lobby.

Matt Deitsch, who has led the national grassroots pro-gun control group's strategy, will serve as Sanders' gun violence prevention advisor, building on the senator's gun violence policy by working closely with other survivors, gun control advocates, and organizations.

"America's gun violence epidemic is a public health crisis that requires dedicated organizing. The military industrial complex has tainted our health across America and abroad," Deitsch said in a statement. "I am proud of Senator Sanders' growth and commitment to ending gun violence, and we won't win this fight for all of our safety unless we organize at a historic level. And that's what we are setting out to do with this effort."

Noting that Sanders has garnered some criticism over the years from anti-gun groups for not supporting mandatory background checks for gun purchases in the 1990s and supporting immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, other advocates joined Deitsch in applauding the senator for his evolution on the issue as gun violence in the U.S. has gained more national attention and lax regulations have made shootings more deadly.

"I appreciate Bernie Sanders' honest and thoughtful description of the evolution he's had on guns," tweeted Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, during Friday night's Democratic debate. "He would be a formidable adversary for the NRA as president." ...

In addition to organizing pro-gun control rallies and student walkouts and lobbying members of Congress, March for Our Lives has been active in registering young voters since it was formed in 2018.

"Young people are leading the fight against gun violence in this country, and I am proud that Matt will join us to help build this movement together," said Sanders as the campaign announced Deitsch's new role. "We must finally take on the enormous and corrupt power of the NRA and stop the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our country."

Lee Fang on Iowa Shadow App and Bloomberg's Political Machine, Plus the Whole World Sucks After Iowa

Klobuchar campaign says it has raised $2m in less than 24 hours since debate

Amy Klobuchar has raised $2m since Friday’s 2020 Democratic debate, her campaign said on Saturday, in the latest sign of her resilience in the presidential primary contest.

The hefty haul underscores the staying power of the Minnesota senator’s campaign, despite consistently polling well behind rivals Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, former vice-president Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

Klobuchar has been regularly outraised by those candidates. She has polled below the other top-tier candidates, and after doggedly campaigning in Iowa she came away with just 12% of the vote. ...

But Klobuchar’s path beyond New Hampshire is unclear. She is not expected to win the New Hampshire primary. A CNN/University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll found her with just 5% support in the state, well behind Sanders, Buttigieg and Biden. In the next primary contest, the Nevada caucuses, recent polls have found Klobuchar in the low single digits.

In South Carolina, a state with a large African American electorate that Biden is banking on, recent surveys have found her in a similar position. It’s also unclear how Klobuchar’s background as a tough-on-crime prosecutor will play there. In past elections she campaigned as on her record as a hard county prosecutor.

Ro Khanna Backs Nabilah Islam, Dubbed AOC of Atlanta, in Contested Georgia Primary

Nabilah Islam, the 30-year-old daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, is one of six Democratic candidates vying for the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Rob Woodall, a five-term GOP incumbent who entered office as part of the 2010 tea party wave. Islam is regularly touted in the press as “Atlanta’s AOC,” and is trying to demonstrate that a populist message can work in this working class district.

California Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is breaking with the party establishment and endorsing Islam, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to rally behind the young contender. And, despite previously working for establishment players like Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee, Islam has secured an endorsement from the Metro Atlanta chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Occupy Democrats and Matriarch, a political action committee dedicated to electing women from working-class and low-income backgrounds to Congress, have endorsed her as well. ...

Islam’s platform includes policies with growing popular support, such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. This week, about 6 in 10 Democrats at the Iowa caucuses reported supporting the elimination of private health insurance to establish a single-payer health care system, the Washington Post reported.

Her biggest opponent in the primary is Carolyn Bourdeaux, a college professor who narrowly lost to Woodall in 2018, and has previously expressed opposition to Medicare for All. During her 2018 campaign, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she said she believes in “fixing” the Affordable Care Act and “providing a public health insurance option.” Bourdeaux doesn’t currently list any policy positions on her campaign website.

Climate Justice and Indigenous Rights Advocates Rally in Solidarity With Wet'suwet'en People as RCMP Continue Raids

Indigenous rights supporters held solidarity actions across Canada over the weekend as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police continued their raids on Wet'suwet'en land in British Columbia.

The Unist'ot'en Camp reported on its official Facebook page Sunday that at least 21 people had been arrested since Thursday, when, as Common Dreams reported, the RCMP conducted a violent pre-dawn raid to fulfill an injunction on behalf of Coastal GasLink, which aims to build a pipeline in Wet'suwet'en territory in northern British Columbia. 

The camp uploaded several videos over the weekend of the resistance to the police, who were reportedly set to meet with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs Saturday to discuss reconciliation regarding the injunction, which was filed despite a long-standing Canadian Supreme Court decision stating the Wet'suwet'en had not given up their homeland in the province. The RCMP reportedly refused to attend the meeting after arriving late.

According to Ricochet, the RCMP expanded its "exclusion zone" Saturday, taking control of most of the territory of the Gidimt'en, one of the five clans of the Wet'suwet'en.

"The exclusion zone has been created by the RCMP to force Wet'suwet'en land defenders off our land," the Unist'ot'en Camp said in a statement. "It is a colonial and criminalizing tool to illegally and arbitrarily extend RCMP authority onto our lands. The massive exclusion zone, completely under RCMP authoritarian discretion, falls outside the injunction area. Chiefs and Wet'suwet'en people are illegally being denied access to their own territories."

The neighboring Gitxsan Nation led a solidarity action on Saturday, blocking a rail line in protest of the RCMP's actions, the injunction, and the Canadian government's failure to intervene on behalf of the Wet'suwet'en people's rights.

"The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and their house members have fought the forcible removal from their territories as they seek to protect their sovereign rights and protect the land, water and air," Gitxsan hereditary chief Norman Stephens told Richochet. "If their rights are being trampled, our rights are being trampled."

Other rail blockades were reported across the country, and solidarity actions took the form of rallies and protests at government buildings in Canada as well as in the United States.

New Report Details How Fossil Fuel Industry's Climate Destruction Also Exacerbates Human Rights Abuses

In addition to having a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities around the globe which have contributed the least to climate-warming fossil fuel emissions, the climate crisis has exacerbated the human rights violations already perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry, according to a new report.

The grassroots climate action group 350.org examined ten global communities which have suffered from heavy pollution, deforestation, displacement, and other violations as multinational corporations like Chevron and Shell—in addition to smaller fossil fuel entities and corrupt governments—have placed profits over human rights.

"The pollution and contamination often caused by fossil fuel industry activities mainly affect the poorest populations, as well as the climate crisis," said Aaron Packard, manager of the Climate Defenders program at 350.org, in a statement. "Vulnerable communities are being doubly exposed to losses or scarcity of land, fish stocks and water, for example."

350.org surveyed the region of Ogoniland in Nigeria, where Shell Oil has dumped an estimated nine to 13 million barrels of crude oil into the Niger Delta since 1958.

The company's activities in Ogoniland have led to polluted air and water as well as decimated natural habitats, violating the rights of the 832,000 people who live there.

The local government has also worked with Shell to suppress the right of people in Ogoniland to fight against the pollution.

"Protests against widespread and persistent oil pollution have been brutally repressed, with loss of life and a series of other egregious human rights violations," the report reads. "Victims of severe human rights abuses associated with oil extraction in the Niger Delta are still awaiting for remediation of the harm caused to their lands, water, and livelihood, in spite of multiple victories before courts and human rights bodies."

Shell's activities in the Niger Delta are just one example of how the fossil fuel industry has led to an estimated 45,000 premature deaths due to pollution, crop losses resulting from drought and other climate extremes, and other environmental results of the carbon emissions.

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Good Morning. It's 65 Degrees in Antarctica.

A record-breaking temperature reading taken at an Argentinian research station on the continent Thursday clocked in at 18.3 degrees Celsius — 65 degrees Fahrenheit — warmer than it is right now in Orlando, Florida, and the hottest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica.

The reading was from a station on Esperanza, the peninsula on the northern tip of Antarctica that’s been recording temperature data since 1961. As the planet heats, the poles are getting hotter way faster than the rest of the world. Hotter temperatures mean melting ice, which makes sea levels rise and threatens populations and economies around the world.

The U.N. is aiming to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. Already, the world has warmed by about 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But at the poles, things are heating up way faster. There, it’s warmed by more than 3 degrees. And records are continuously being broken at a rate that has even scientists alarmed.

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

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A Little Night Music

Floyd Dixon & His Band - Roll Baby Roll

Floyd Dixon - Wine Wine Wine

Floyd Dixon - Sad Journey Blues

Floyd Dixon - Change Your Mind

Floyd Dixon - Call Operator 210

Floyd Dixon - Rita

Floyd Dixon - Lovin'

Johnny Moore's Blazers w/ Floyd Dixon - Take Off My Wig

Floyd Dixon & His Band - OOH EEE! OOH EEE!

Floyd Dixon - Ooh Little Girl

Floyd Dixon - Hey Bartender