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This evening's music features r&b and jump blues group The Treniers. Enjoy!

“Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good as well as by evil men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon but at other times and places the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. . . . Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

It seems trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to our Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings. There is no mysticism in the American concept of the State or of the nature or origin of its authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

-- Robert H. Jackson

News and Opinion

Senate Accused of Endorsing 'McCarthy-Era Tactics' as 25 Democrats Join GOP to Pass Anti-Boycott Bill

After 25 Democratic senators joined the GOP on Tuesday to pass legislation that would empower states to punish companies and individuals who boycott Israel to protest its occupation of Palestinian territories, rights groups and civil libertarians condemned the Senate for voting to "trample on the First Amendment" and urged the House to block the bill.

[See how your Congressworm voted here. - js]

"The Senate just passed a bill that would encourage states to adopt unconstitutional laws aimed at suppressing boycotts of Israel. It's a sad day when the Senate chooses politics over the Constitution," the ACLU declared following the 77-23 vote. "Senators who voted for the bill: we encourage you to read the Constitution, which protects against the McCarthy-era tactics this bill endorses."

"The anti-boycott bill is an attack on Americans' First Amendment rights," added The Institute for Middle East Understanding. "Political boycotts have always played a pivotal role in US history: From the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the campaign to divest from apartheid South Africa."

Ugly day for the Senate, but something important happened here: All serious 2020 candidates (Harris, Sanders, Warren, Gillibrand and Booker) bucked AIPAC and voted against this anti-BDS bill.

That tells you a LOT about the politics of Israel in the Democratic Party rn https://t.co/LQu38TBqqW

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) February 5, 2019

Evenly Matched Pro- and Anti-Government Marches in Venezuela

In Venezuela, US Forgets What Century It Is

Little of what Washington has done in the weeks since it recognized an opposition legislator, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s “interim president” has any basis in international law. But there is much worse to come and much more at risk if the U.S. follows through with its recently disclosed plans to reshape Latin American politics to its neoliberal liking. Administration officials now advertise the effort to depose the government of Nicolás Maduro as merely the first step in a plan to reassert American influence among our southerly neighbors. The next two targets, Cuba and Nicaragua, are what John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, calls the continent’s “troika of tyranny.” ...

In effect, Trump and his policy minders intend to revive the Monroe Doctrine, in which the fifth U.S. president effectively declared the Western Hemisphere America’s to manage however it wished. But it is 2019, not 1823, when James Monroe made his case in a State of the Union speech to Congress. It is frequently remarkable how blind Washington is to the limits the 21stcentury imposes on its power, and we are about to watch it crash into two of them. For one thing, the long era of U.S.-cultivated coups— “regime changes” for those who cannot quite face this aspect of America’s conduct abroad—is over. First in Ukraine and a year later in Syria, Moscow has put Washington on notice: Destabilizing other nations in gross violation of international law will no longer go unopposed. One way or another, this will again prove true in Venezuela. ...

It is stunning, in the context of these two events, that the U.S. now proposes to embark on a series of three coup operations in Latin America, the first of which unfolds as we speak. But learning from past errors has never been among Washington’s strong suits, to put the point too mildly. The Maduro government warns the U.S. of “another Vietnam” if it intervenes militarily in Venezuela. Moscow warns of “catastrophic consequences.” Let us not misread this last remark. It is highly unlikely, if not unimaginable, that Russia would counter direct U.S. intervention in Venezuela through military support. Moscow has all but said as much, indeed.

But we now come to the second limitation on American power in the 21stcentury. In an era of virtually unlimited economic interdependence, Russia and China have considerable interests in Venezuela, and you can bet your last ruble or renminbi that they will exert themselves to protect them. ... Logically enough, both Moscow and Beijing question whether a post–Maduro government would honor these obligations. ... Two days after Washington recognized Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim leader, reports surfaced that Moscow had dispatched a team of private contractors—read: mercenaries — to support the Maduro government. ... No, this is not likely to resemble the Cold War in its superficial aspects. While Washington appears likely to fight it with hunger-inducing sanctions, semi-covert subterfuge, and possibly armed interventions, Russia and China will rely on diplomatic and possibly military support, economic aid, and investment.

‘Is Venezuela your state?’ Erdogan slams US & EU over Guaido endorsement

Maduro issues threat to jail Venezuela’s opposition leader

Nicolás Maduro has issued a thinly veiled threat to the young opposition leader trying to force him from power, hinting that Juan Guaidó could soon be imprisoned as a result of his challenge. Addressing a meeting of supporters on Monday night, Maduro questioned how long Guaidó – who declared himself Venezuela’s rightful interim president on 23 January – would persist with his “virtual term”.

“Until 2025, too?” Maduro said, referring to the six-year term he recently assumed to a storm of international condemnation. “Or until he ends up in jail by order of the supreme court of justice.”

Western diplomats have expressed surprise that, nearly two weeks after he threw the gauntlet down to the incumbent leader, Guaidó remained a free man. Many attributed that fact to warnings from his key backer, the United States, that any move against him would have consequences. Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, has said that violence against or intimidation of Guaidó or other opposition leaders “would represent a grave assault on the rule of law and will be met with a significant response”.

Venezuelan state media have intensified their campaign against Guaidó and his growing list of international backers in recent days, claiming that they risked plunging the country into war.

Venezuelan troops blockade bridge to stop aid from Colombia

Venezuelan troops have barricaded a bridge on the country’s western border with Colombia in an apparent attempt to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid sent by opposition leaders trying to force Nicolás Maduro from power. On Wednesday at lunchtime, a fuel tanker and two shipping containers blocked the Tienditas international bridge, which connects the two countries and has become a staging ground for the planned relief effort. Members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian national guard could also be seen at the bridge.

A convoy carrying the aid, which was donated by the US, left Bogotá at 11am on Wednesday and was making its way along winding mountain rounds to Cúcuta, a Colombian government official said. The earliest it will reach the border is Thursday morning.

The attempt by his political rival, Juan Guaidó, to push aid in through Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and Brazil represents the latest attempt to weaken Maduro’s embattled regime by forcing members of the military to disobey his orders and allow the aid to pass. “The main goal now is to look to break the military – and the humanitarian aid is basically the Trojan horse to try to do that,” said Maryhen Jiménez Morales, an Oxford University specialist in Venezuelan politics. ...

The United Nations warned against using aid as a political tool. “Humanitarian action needs to be independent of political, military or other objectives,” said a spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric. “When we see the present standoff it becomes even more clear that serious political negotiations between the parties are necessary to find a solution leading to lasting peace for the people of Venezuela.”

France condemns Italy's meeting with gilets jaunes leader

France’s foreign ministry has accused the Italian deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, of undermining relations between the two countries after he met with leaders of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement. Di Maio, who also leads the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), and Alessandro Di Battista, a prominent M5S member, met Christophe Chalençon, as well as candidates the protest movement has put forward for the European elections in May, on the outskirts of Paris on Tuesday.

“This new provocation is not acceptable between neighbouring countries and partners in the European Union,” a foreign ministry spokesman said in a daily online briefing. “Mr Di Maio, who holds government responsibilities, must take care not to undermine, through his repeated interferences, our bilateral relations, in the interest of both France and Italy.” ...

Posting a photo of the group on Facebook, Di Maio described it as a “beautiful” meeting. “The wind of change has crossed the Alps. I repeat. The wind of change has crossed the Alps,” he wrote. ... Di Maio had previously expressed his admiration for the gilets jaunes, who have been holding at times violent anti-government protests each week across France for the past few months. He urged the movement not to “give up” and said the demonstrations reminded him of the spirit that gave birth to the M5S in 2009.

On Tuesday he said the two groups shared “many common positions and values that focus on the battles for citizens, social rights, direct democracy and the environment”. Chalençon said while both sides “practically agree on everything”, there was no talk yet about whether they would form an alliance for the elections to the European parliament. Italian media reported that Ingrid Levavasseur, who heads the gilets jaunes’ list of 10 candidates for the elections, would meet M5S officials again in Rome next week. ...

Opinion polls in France have suggested that the main impact of one or more gilets jaunes parties running in the European elections would be to reduce support for the far-right party of Marine Le Pen and the far left, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The Davos set are cosying up to the far right – and scared of the left

Last week, the World Economic Forum (WEF) brought thousands of neoliberal elites – as well as an army of feted journalists and scholars – to the popular Swiss ski resort of Davos. There, the emerging relationship between the Davos set and far-right populists was plain to see. And it is far rosier than either party would like to admit. In the absence of Donald Trump, the spotlight was on Jair Bolsonaro, the newly minted president of Brazil, who was also the keynote speaker at the WEF. Attendees were initially somewhat uneasy with the far-right president, who openly praised military dictatorship, and therefore mostly held their applause before his speech. But after he had touted “a new Brazil … that’s open to business”, the room warmed up rapidly.

Francesco Starace, chief executive at the Italian electricity multinational Enel, probably spoke for most people in the room when he said: “If it is populist or not populist, we don’t care – it is a reform agenda that we think is good for the country” – and for WEF attendees, obviously. In addition, the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, one of the most vocal supporters of the normalization of the populist radical right in Europe, was given a full panel to lay out his vision of a “new global architecture”. ... In fact, the reception of the likes of Kurz – and especially Bolsonaro – at WEF is chillingly similar to the way that neoliberal elites have responded to Trump, who was initially received with hesitation, but was quickly normalized and is increasingly embraced. ...

Meanwhile, elites are railing against the kind of “populism” that actually threatens their interests: so-called “leftwing populism”, which in most cases is just old-school social democracy. Take, for example, former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz. Schulz likes to present himself as being against both the far right and the left, but most of his critique is directed at Democrats, not Trump. In particular, his ire is focused at new Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose proposal for a maximum tax bracket of 70% he described as “not American”. His main political enemy is clearly on the left, not the right. ...

In short, neoliberal elites from Davos to Seattle do not oppose the rightwing populist agenda. They are trying to shape the post-Trump world, in which big business can amass profits unopposed by largely privatized and underfunded states. Liberals should not be seduced by their money, or scared by their propaganda. To defend, or reinstate, liberal democracy, they have to not only fight rightwing populists, but also their neoliberal enablers. Social justice can only be achieved when the perverse privileges and wealth of the neoliberal elites are significantly limited. And the Davos class will be no ally in that fight. They have made it abundantly clear: they will take a rightwing populist over a leftwing one any day.

“Liar-in-Chief”: Rep. Ilhan Omar Slams Trump’s SOTU Remarks on Border, Venezuela, Israel & More

GOP Leadership Instructs Lawmakers to Play Up Gruesome Murders and Rapes by Immigrants

House Republican lawmakers are being encouraged by their party’s leadership to play up gruesome murders, rapes, and other crimes committed by undocumented immigrants in the United States. In a newsletter sent on Friday, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., provided the caucus and staff with a messaging update that compiled immigrant crimes by date and congressional district. The newsletter is used by the GOP caucus to provide talking points and messaging guidance. ...

The congressional document mirrors recent tweets by President Donald Trump linking crimes committed by immigrants to the need to expand the wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico. ... Studies have consistently shown that crime rates are actually lower among foreign immigrants than among native-born Americans. But the strategy does not appear to be a fair-minded discussion of immigration policy — or crime, for that matter.

Across the world, demagogues have deftly exploited bigotry to whip up anger using incidents of murder and rape. Increasingly, social media has become an effective way to weaponize tragic acts and use them for partisan political goals. In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany party has singularly focused on several cases of murders committed by refugees to intensify hatred of Middle Eastern immigrants. In Myanmar, lurid stories posted on Facebook detailing purported acts of rape and murder by the Muslim Rohingya minority against the Buddhist majority were used to justify a brutal ethnic cleaning in the northwest Rakhine State. In some cases, the stories were false. Viral stories that focus on the identity of killers to stoke ethnic tension can also be found in India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and beyond.

In the U.S., there is a long history of racist violence following politicians’ focus on crimes — real or imagined — by particular minority groups. Across the ideological spectrum, many on social media continue to fixate on the racial or ethnic identity of criminals. Trump’s embrace of the strategy now appears to have reverberated across the Republican Party, with GOP lawmakers now openly encouraged to stoke fear over immigrant crime.

New Mexico pulls most national guard troops from border in rebuke to Trump

The governor of New Mexico ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state’s national guard troops from the US border with Mexico on Tuesday, in a move that challenges Donald Trump’s description of a security crisis. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the partial withdrawal shortly before Trump’s State of the Union address. Her Republican predecessor deployed national guard troops to the border in April 2018 at Trump’s suggestion, and 118 remained there before Tuesday’s reversal.

“New Mexico will not take part in the president’s charade of border fearmongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.

At the same time, the governor said a small contingent – about a dozen guardsmen – would remain in the south-western corner of the state to assist with humanitarian needs in a remote corridor for cross-border immigration. She also mobilized state police to assist local law enforcement. “I recognize and appreciate the legitimate concerns of residents and officials in south-western New Mexico, particularly Hidalgo county, who have asked for our assistance, as migrants and asylum-seekers continue to appear at their doorstep,” the governor said. ...

On Tuesday, she also directed 25 troops from other states – Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Wisconsin – to withdraw from the New Mexico border.

Alabama officer won't be charged for killing black man during mall shooting

An Alabama police officer will not face charges for killing a man he mistook for the gunman in a mall shooting, the state attorney general announced on Tuesday. The announcement drew outrage from the dead man’s family, who said the officer jumped to conclusions when he saw a young black man with a gun. The officer shot 21-year-old Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr while responding to an earlier shooting on Thanksgiving night at a mall in Hoover, Alabama.

The Alabama attorney general, Steve Marshall, said his investigation concluded “the officer did not commit a crime” and that he would not present the case to a grand jury. Marshall said he considered the matter closed. ... A 26-page report released by Marshall’s office said the officer mistakenly believed Bradford fired the earlier shots. But the report also said the Hoover officer, whose name has not been released, was justified in shooting him because of the threat he posed.

The report said the officer saw Bradford running toward the scene with a gun and believed he was trying to kill the wounded shooting victim or harm others. The victim was actually Bradford’s friend, with whom he had been at the mall. “A reasonable person could have assumed that the only person with a gun who was running toward the victim of a shooting that occurred just three seconds earlier fired the shots,” the report found. The report also stated that Bradford, who had a gun drawn, “posed an immediate deadly threat to persons in the area”. ...

Ben Crump, an attorney representing the family, said his clients “will have their day in court”.

“The police shot, we believe, because they feared a black man with a gun,” Crump said. ...

Dillon Nettles, a policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said in a statement Marshall’s “characterization of EJ Bradford as a ‘threat’ that needed ‘eliminating’ reveals how little regard [he] has for the life of this black man.

The Power Is Back on at Brooklyn Jail, but a Visiting Federal Judge Found Untreated Gunshot Wound, “Black Blotchy Mold,” and Ongoing Crisis

The power is back on and the heat has been turned up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where incarcerated people endured freezing temperatures, dark cells, and deprivation of access to legal counsel for the past week, prompting outcry and the intervention of federal legislators. While many celebrated the moment the lights came back on in the federal jail Sunday evening and looked forward to the hearings promised by concerned legislators, cases in federal court over the past two days have made it impossible to ignore the fact that the humanitarian crisis at the federal detention facility extend far beyond the electrical fire that shut down primary power to much of the facility on January 27.

Federal court hearings this week have revealed a staggering pattern of neglect — incarcerated people left on their own, in the dark and cold, to deal with medical crises and mental breakdowns. One incarcerated person had to physically stop their cellmate from hanging themselves. People housed at the federal jail reported that as many as nine incarcerated people were left without potentially lifesaving medical equipment because of the power shut down. Another incarcerated patient was left with an untreated gunshot wound.

The revelations have left federal judges in a slate of cases to hold the federal officials running the jail — as well as the U.S. Attorney’s offices stonewalling to defend the jail’s conduct — to account. Several of the judges have been openly incredulous as they dealt with the cases — evincing frustration with the federal lawyers as well as the Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, which runs the facility. ...

One of the first of those hearings took place Tuesday in Manhattan before Judge Analisa Torres. Across more than four hours of testimony by incarcerated people, employees, and observers, it became difficult to draw any conclusion other than that federal prison officials — including Metropolitan Detention Center Warden Herman Quay — had lied about conditions in the jail. ... Torres took the remarkable step of moving her hearing from the courtroom to the jail itself, touring the facility personally, and bringing along the lawyers arguing before her. She also brought along a court reporter to record what happened. The transcript of her narration of the conditions she observed, and of her conversations with incarcerated people, reveals a shocking level of negligence. ...

Torres’s visit, transcribed word-for-word and published on the record, peeled back the lid of secrecy on the prison even more vividly than the accounts powerful politicians gave to the media of their own inspections over the weekend.

Louisiana Tests the New Supreme Court on Abortion

The Supreme Court will decide this week whether to intervene in a case that could lead to the closure of all but one abortion clinic in Louisiana, potentially leaving tens of thousands of women without meaningful access to care. It is the first of more than a dozen abortion-related cases that are moving through the system and toward the high court. Unless the court takes action, two of Louisiana’s three remaining clinics would likely shutter operations.

At issue is a state law passed in 2014 that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinics where they practice. It is identical to a law passed a year earlier in Texas — a law that was stuck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 2016 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

The admitting privileges law is what is known as a targeted restriction on abortion providers, or TRAP law. Theoretically, it is designed to ensure a continuum of care in the exceedingly rare event that serious complications arise from an abortion procedure. The problem, however, is that it can be nearly impossible for abortionists to obtain admitting privileges — for example, some hospitals require a certain number of admissions as a requisite for granting privileges, but because abortion is so safe, doctors are unable to meet that threshold. (Serious complications requiring hospitalization occur in just .05 percent of first-trimester abortions.) The requirements for obtaining admitting privileges vary from hospital to hospital and can be decided based on politics alone. In Louisiana, two doctors were denied privileges precisely because they provide abortion care, according to court documents filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is challenging the state law.

Take One Leave One – A New Way to Help the Homeless

This week, as Arctic winds bring snow and sub-zero temperatures to British shores, a new community-led initiative was launched in London to try and help rough sleepers.

On bitterly cold Tuesday morning, a clothes rail was set up outside the Holy Redeemer church on London’s bustling Exmouth Market beneath a sign that read: “If you are cold, take one. If you can help, leave one.” By the afternoon, the rail was filled with warm clothes – jackets, coats, hats, gloves, blankets and scarves – and homeless people were stopping by to take whatever they needed. “Actions like these make me feel hope” one woman tweeted alongside before and after photos of the rail.

Left picture: yesterday.
Right picture: today.

Actions like these make me hope and feel positive.#London#TakeOneLeaveOne#Homelessness

Amazing work @Take1_Leave1 pic.twitter.com/9VdLVYt8OD

— Chiara Fiorillo (@ChiaraFiorillo1) January 30, 2019

As well as the clothes rail, a string of ‘pledge cards’ offer homeless people free food, drinks and other services. The pledge cards are either bought by locals from shops at a discounted price or donated by shopkeepers . More than a dozen businesses on the street have got involved and almost 100 meals and hot drinks were donated in the first day alone, in the form of pledges. “This is a brilliantly simple idea and one we are excited to be a part of,” said Ellie Pamphilon who runs a barbershop on the street and has donated several haircuts and beard trims. “After their cut and blow-dry, our customers can buy a discounted pledge card to give a homeless person a haircut that they hang by the Take One Leave One Rail.” ...

Whilst Take One, Leave One may offer some respite for rough sleepers in the coming weeks, initiatives such as this can only have a small, short-term impact. What is needed is government action. In Finland, homelessness was eliminated through its “housing first” policy which offers people who need them permanent places to call home.

Ocasio-Cortez Says Trump Attack on Socialism Shows President 'Scared' of Popular Progressive Policies

While Republicans and many Democrats rose and enthusiastically applauded President Donald Trump's attack on socialism during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)—who, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), remained seated—said the president's remarks showed he's "scared" of the progressive policies that most Americans are embracing.

Speaking to reporters after Trump proclaimed that "America will never be a socialist country," Ocasio-Cortez said the president felt the need to lash out at socialism because bold progressives have gotten "under his skin."

"I think he's scared," said Ocasio-Cortez, a self-identified democratic socialist. "He sees that everything is closing in on him. And he knows he's losing the battle of public opinion when it comes to the actual substantive proposals that we're advancing."

.@HardballChris asked @AOC about Trump tying the "notion of socialism" to the Maduro regime.

"He feels like he feels himself losing on the issues. Every single policy proposal that we've adopted and presented to the American public has been overwhelmingly popular." @AOC pic.twitter.com/b8zdRuJZ6A

— Hardball (@hardball) February 6, 2019

In an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews late Tuesday following Trump's address, Ocasio-Cortez argued Trump's swipe at socialism demonstrates that he's "losing on the issues."

"Every single policy proposal that we have adopted and presented to the American public has been overwhelmingly popular, even some with the majority of Republican voters," said the New York congresswoman. "When we talk about a 70 percent marginal tax rate on incomes over $10 million, 60 percent of Americans approve it."

"Seventy percent of Americans believe in improved and expanded Medicare for All. A very large amount of Americans believe that we need to do something about climate change, and that it is an existential threat to ourselves and to our children," she continued. "What we really need to realize...is that this is an issue of [an] authoritarian regime versus democracy."

The killing of large species is pushing them towards extinction, study finds

The vast majority of the world’s largest species are being pushed towards extinction, with the killing of the heftiest animals for meat and body parts the leading cause of decline, according to a new study. While habitat loss, pollution and other threats pose a significant menace to large species, also known as megafauna, intentional and unintentional trapping, poaching and slaughter is the single biggest factor in their decline, researchers found.

An analysis of 362 megafauna species found that 70% of them are in decline, with 59% classed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Direct killing by humans is the leading cause across all classes of animals, the study states. A range of maladies including intensive agriculture, toxins and invasive competitors are also helping to trigger these declines.

This situation adds to the “mounting evidence that humans are poised to cause a sixth mass extinction event”, according to the research, published in Conservation Letters. It adds that “minimizing the direct killing of the world’s largest vertebrates is a priority conservation strategy that might save many of these iconic species and the functions and services they provide.” ...

The crisis in the natural world has been laid bare by recent research, which illustrated that only 4% of the world’s mammals, by weight, are wild, with the other 96% made up of humans and livestock. Since 1970, populations of wild mammals, birds fish and amphibians have, on average, slumped by 60%. Conservationists have called for a radical overhaul that would require an end to mass deforestation and the setting aside of a third, or maybe even half, of the world to nature. Looming challenges posed by climate change and a rapidly increasing human population will also have to be met if the losses are to be stemmed.

After losing their homes, Paradise residents are being pushed off their land

Survivors of a wildfire that obliterated an entire California town have been told they cannot continue to camp on their burnt-out lots and must leave. Officials in Paradise, which was swept by a blaze that killed at least 86 in November, passed an ordinance on Monday that will make it illegal for residents to live on property that hasn’t been cleared of burned debris. Crews began cleaning up the remnants of more than 14,000 destroyed homes last week, and the process could take at least a year. More than 100 residents who returned to the town in December and January will have to relocate. ...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) recently warned the town that if it allowed people to live on properties that had not been cleared of debris and hazardous material it could lose the $1.7bn allocated toward cleanup costs. Fema said its decision to fund the cleanup was based on a warning from the Butte county health department over the potential for widespread toxic exposures and threats to public health.

“It was a terrible position to be put in,” said Jody Jones, the town’s mayor. “We can’t give up billions of dollars in cleanup money or our town will look like a war zone for 20 years.” ...

The mayor said the town was not trying to criminalize people for living on their own properties, and is working to find a place for residents to take their RVs and trailers. It hopes to prioritize cleaning their lots first so they can return as quickly as possible. The town’s police chief, Eric Reinbold, said his department has no plans to participate in enforcement related to the new ordinance. Paradise had no choice, said councilman Michael Zuccolillo. “I felt like we had a financial gun to our heads.”

Also of Interest

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

Trump’s State of the Union Address Reveals His Growing Anxiety Over Encroaching Left-Wing Populism

2 Reasons 2019 Could Be the Planet's Worst Year Yet

Trump State of the Union speech: what climate change experts say

May's pledge on Irish border threatens to reopen Tory rift

Tusk warns of 'special place in hell' for those who backed Brexit without a plan

Disaster Capitalism in Brazil: Mining Greed Produces a Horrific Death Toll

A Little Night Music

The Treniers in "Don't Knock The Rock"

The Treniers - Hadacole That's All

The Treniers - Old Women Blues

The Treniers - Cheatin' On Me

The Treniers - Everybody Get Together

The Treniers - Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie

The Treniers - Hey, Little Girl

The Treniers - Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)

The Treniers - Rock and Roll Call

The Treniers - Rocking is our business