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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: The Champions

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features doo wop group The Champions. Enjoy!

^{Champions - The Same Old Story / Pay Me Some Attention}

"Not long ago, if you wanted to seize political power in a country you had merely to control the army and the police. Today it is only in the most backward countries that fascist generals, in carrying out a coup d'état, still use tanks. If a country has reached a high degree of industrialization the whole scene changes.... Today a country belongs to the person who controls communications."

-- Umberto Eco

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News and Opinion

As Venezuela Coup Attempt Fails to Overthrow Maduro, Guaidó Calls for More Street Protests

Venezuela crisis: Maduro claims victory over 'deranged' coup attempt

Nicolás Maduro claimed his troops have thwarted a botched attempt to topple him masterminded by Venezuela’s “coup-mongering far right” and Donald Trump’s deranged imperialist “gang” – while on Wednesday morning the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said US military action in the country was a possibility “if required”.

Maduro gave an hour-long address to the Venezuelan nation on Tuesday night – his first since the pre-dawn uprising began – in which he accused the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, and his political mentor, Leopoldo López, of seeking to spark an armed confrontation that might be used as a pretext for a foreign military intervention.

However, “loyal and obedient” members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian armed forces had put down the mutiny within hours of it starting shortly after 4am on Tuesday, Maduro claimed, in direct contradiction to Guaidó’s earlier remark that the president no longer had military backing. ...

“Military action is possible. If that’s what’s required, that’s what the United States will do,” Pompeo said in an interview with Fox Business Network. Meanwhile Guaidó has insisted that “a peaceful rebellion”, not an attempted military coup, was under way and urged supporters to return to the streets on Wednesday to continue what he called the final stage of “Operation Freedom”. ...

Maduro said the plotters would “not go unpunished” and said they would face criminal prosecutions “for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace”.

“They failed in their plan. They failed in their call, because the people of Venezuela want peace,” Maduro said, surrounded by Venezuela’s military and political elite. “We will continue to emerge victorious … in the months and years ahead. I have no doubt about it.”

If this isn’t an ‘armed coup,’ then what the hell is?! #HandsOffVenezuela https://t.co/mb1fvtRCZ7

— CODEPINK (@codepink) April 30, 2019

Worth a full read, there's much more:

Zero Percent of Elite Commentators Oppose Regime Change in Venezuela

A FAIR survey of US opinion journalism on Venezuela found no voices in elite corporate media that opposed regime change in that country. Over a three-month period (1/15/19–4/15/19), zero opinion pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post took an anti–regime change or pro-Maduro/Chavista position. Not a single commentator on the big three Sunday morning talkshows or PBS NewsHour came out against President Nicolás Maduro stepping down from the Venezuelan government.

Of the 76 total articles, opinion videos or TV commentator segments that centered on or gave more than passing attention to Venezuela, 54 (72 percent) expressed explicit support for the Maduro administration’s ouster. Eleven (14 percent) were ambiguous, but were only classified as such for lack of explicit language. Reading between the lines, most of these were clearly also pro–regime change. Another 11 (14 percent) took no position, but many similarly offered ideological ammo for those in support.

The Times published 22 pro–regime change commentaries, three ambiguous and five without a position. The Post also spared no space for the pro-Chavista camp: 22 of its articles expressed support for the end to Maduro’s administration, eight were ambiguous and four took no position. Of the 12 TV opinions surveyed, 10 were pro-regime change and two took no position. ...

Corporate news coverage of Venezuela can only be described as a full-scale marketing campaign for regime change. If you’ve been reading FAIR recently (1/25/19, 2/9/19, 3/16/19)—or, indeed, since the early 2000s (4/18/02; Extra!, 11–12/05)—the anti-Maduro unanimity espoused in the most influential US media should come as no surprise.

This comes despite the existence of millions of Venezuelans who support Maduro—who was democratically elected twice by the same electoral system that won Juan Guaidó his seat in the National Assembly—and oppose US/foreign intervention. FAIR (2/20/19) has pointed out corporate media’s willful erasure of vast improvements to Venezuelan life under Chavismo, particularly for the oppressed poor, black, indigenous and mestizo populations. FAIR has also noted the lack of discussion of US-imposed sanctions, which have killed at least 40,000 Venezuelans between 2017–18 alone, and continue to devastate the Venezuelan economy.

Maduro speaking now, surrounded by political and military top brass. He claims Guaidó's coup-attempt has been defeated and calls for applause for the brave and obedient Bolivarian armed forces pic.twitter.com/IZmKWVVF5L

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 1, 2019

Maduro says the uprising was detected at about 415am and was led by Leopoldo Lopez “the fascist”. Claims his government responded with “nerves of steel, maximum serenity and effective action”

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 1, 2019

Maduro says those behind the ‘event’ are being interrogated. “This cannot go unpunished ... all of those involved must surrender”

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 1, 2019

Maduro claims that by noon today 80pc of troops involved in mutiny attempt had abandoned Guaidó. Only a small group of about 20 was left having “handed over their souls to the coup-mongering far right”

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 1, 2019

Maduro says the action was an attempt to spark an armed confrontation between Venezuelans that cd be used to justify a foreign intervention “so the empire could get its claws into Venezuela”

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 1, 2019

Maduro denies @SecPompeo claim he was preparing to flee to Cuba until Russia said no. “Señor Pompeo, please!”

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 1, 2019

Coup fizzles? Guaido’s mentor takes refuge in Chilean embassy as 25 military seek asylum in Brazil’s

Venezuelan opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez has sought refuge in Chile’s embassy in Caracas, while at least 25 pro-Juan Guaido troops asked Brazil for refuge. The news all but points to the failure of the US-backed coup attempt.

Lopez had been under house arrest since 2017, but was seen at the side of Guaido – who had declared himself “interim president” of Venezuela in January – on Tuesday morning, as supporters of the US-backed opposition sought to take control of Caracas by force. At least 50 people were injured and 11 arrested during the unrest on Tuesday.

By the afternoon, however, Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero tweeted that Lopez, his wife Lilian Tintori, and their daughter were “guests” of the Chilean diplomatic mission in Caracas, adding that “Chile reaffirms commitment to Venezuelan democrats.”

Economist Jeffrey Sachs: U.S. Sanctions Have Devastated Venezuela & Killed Over 40,000 Since 2017

Trump Threatens Cuba as Maduro Cracks Down

U.S. President Donald Trump surveyed the events in Caracas today and saw Cuba as the antagonist. The Caribbean island’s socialist government has long had a presence in Venezuela, supplying the regime with personnel ranging from doctors to intelligence officers. Many in the opposition blame Cuba for humanitarian crimes inflicted on dissidents.

Trump said on Twitter:

“If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!” ...

Guaido, Lopez and their supporters attempted to reach the city center of Caracas, the symbolic stronghold of the government, but were blocked even before leaving the eastern district of Chacao. National police, guardsmen and armored vehicles blocked a main artery and turned back crowds with volleys of tear gas and plastic buckshot.

Skirmishes continued throughout Tuesday afternoon, and the deep boom of tear-gas canisters being fired could be heard across town.

Many of Guaido’s backers left the streets, some filling the few open restaurants for a lunch break. ...

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez took to the airwaves to warn that armed forces would use weapons to defend “sovereignty and independence.” Accompanied by his top lieutenants, Lopez called those involved in the uprising “ridiculous” and insisted that Venezuela continued to operate normally. “A mediocre coup d’etat attempt has failed,” he said, adding that the high command remains loyal to Maduro.

Ilhan Omar Speaks Out Against U.S. Sanctions & Bipartisan Support for Regime Change in Venezuela

Pentagon fires Guantanamo prison commander for calling attention to US crimes

The Pentagon has announced the abrupt firing of the commander of the infamous US prison camp at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. In a statement released Sunday, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees the extra-legal detention center, claimed that Rear Adm. John C. Ring, the camp commandant, had been relieved of his command because of a “loss of confidence in his ability” to lead. ... The timing suggests retaliation by the top brass over what it sees as the rear admiral’s overly frank statements to the media.

Last December, he gave an interview at one of Guantanamo’s detention centers to NBC News in which he complained about the deterioration of the camp facilities and the failure of Congress to appropriate funds for their replacement or repair. He also warned that the aging of the prisoners could soon turn the notorious site of torture, rendition and illegal detention into something resembling a nursing home. ... His firing came on the same day that the New York Times published a lengthy article titled “Guantánamo Bay as Nursing Home: Military Envisions Hospice Care as Terrorism Suspects Age.” Written by Carol Rosenberg, who has reported from Guantanamo since 2002, previously for the Miami Herald, the article included extensive statements made by Ring during a recent press trip to the prison camp.

“Unless America’s policy changes, at some point we’ll be doing some sort of end of life care here,” the Times quoted the commander as saying. “A lot of my guys are pre-diabetic… Am I going to need dialysis down here? I don’t know. Someone’s got to tell me that. Are we going to do complex cancer care down here? I don’t know. Someone’s got to tell me that.” ... Defense One quoted Ring as stating: “I’m sort of caught between a rock and a hard place. The Geneva Conventions’ Article III, that says that I have to give the detainees equivalent medical care that I would give to a trooper. But if a trooper got sick, I’d send him home to the United States. And so I’m stuck.

Any US military personnel with serious health problems are airlifted to the US Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. Laws passed by Congress, however, bar any Guantanamo detainees from being brought onto US soil for any purpose whatsoever. As a result, detainees who suffer serious medical conditions, in many cases the result of systematic torture, receive either inadequate care or none whatsoever. ... No doubt Ring’s statements to the media rankled both the Trump administration and the Pentagon’s senior command on two scores. First, they gave the lie to the continuous claims made that Guantanamo is needed to house the “worst of the worst,” rather than an aging and infirm population, and, second, they exposed the fact that Washington is continuing to carry out war crimes against those it subjected to torture, denying them the level of medical treatment required under the Geneva Conventions.

'No coherent policy': Trump’s scattergun approach plunges Libya deeper into peril

Egyptian and Emirati influence on Donald Trump has thrown US policy on Libya into turmoil at a moment when Tripoli is under attack and the country is on the brink of a full-scale war once again. The state department went from encouraging a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire and an end to an offensive on the capital by the eastern Libyan warlord, Khalifa Haftar, to threatening to veto the same resolution a few days later.

The sudden change of policy followed a Trump meeting with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and a phone conversation with the Abu Dhabi crown prince, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Haftar’s principal backers. They persuaded him to call Haftar and to then issue a statement praising him, diplomats and a former official said. According to Bloomberg news, Trump and his national security adviser, John Bolton, expressed support for Haftar’s offensive, directly contradicting a formal statement a few days earlier from the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo. ...

Trump is reported by European diplomats to have abandoned the official US position of supporting the beleaguered UN-backed government in Tripoli and to urge UN-brokered mediation, in order to please Haftar’s Egyptian and UAE backers. The US president is seeking to garner support from both states for a long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan being championed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, due to be unveiled after the end of Ramadan in June. ...

Jonathan Winer, a former US special envoy for Libya, said a switch to a US policy supporting Haftar in the belief that he would be a reliable counter-terrorist ally, would have disastrous consequences. “The risk here is that Libya winds up looking more like Syria with a broadening civil conflict, a large number of people fleeing, a humanitarian crisis and resurgent terrorism,” Winer said. “We need a political solution, not a military one.”

Scuffles break out in May Day protests in Paris

Ahead of Key Hearing on US Extradition, Assange Gets 50 Weeks in Prison for UK Bail Violation

The day before a court hearing planned for Thursday on the U.S. Justice Department's request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, a British judge sentenced him to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago, when he first took refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

The sentencing on Wednesday came nearly three weeks after the Ecuadorian government revoked the journalist and publisher's asylum status, and allowed British authorities to arrest Assange and forcibly drag him out of the embassy—moves that were immediately criticized by rights advocates, reporters, political leaders, and whistleblowers across the globe.

Assange, who is being held in London's Belmarsh Prison, submitted a letter of apology to the Southwark Crown Court that was read aloud by his attorney Mark Summers.

The letter detailed the decision Assange had to make in 2012, when he faced possible extradition to Sweden—which dropped its request last year—or the United States.

I apologize unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended.

I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done—which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears.

I regret the course that this took; the difficulties were instead compounded and impacted upon very many others. While the difficulties I now face may have become even greater, nevertheless it is right for me to say this now.

Despite Assange's apology, Judge Deborah Taylor handed down nearly the maximum sentence allowed.

"Whilst you may have had fears as to what may happen to you, nonetheless you had a choice," Taylor reportedly told the 47-year-old Australian. "It is difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offense."

As his sentence was read, "Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped," reported The Associated Press. "His supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court cheered for him as he left and chanted 'Shame on you' at the judge as Assange was led away. He raised his fist in a show of defiance."

Assange's extradition hearing is a question of 'life or death' - WikiLeaks editor-in-chief

U.S. extradition request for Julian Assange to be heard on Thursday

A request by the United States to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information will be heard by a London court on Thursday.

“Julian Assange will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at 1030 tomorrow for ‘violating his bail conditions’ whilst seeking & obtaining political asylum,” WikiLeaks said.

“On Thursday at 10AM there will be a hearing in Westminster Magistrate Court on the US extradition request,” it said.

Jewish students sue to oust pro-Palestinian panel from UMass

A group of Jewish students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is asking a judge to order a panel discussion about Palestinian human rights off campus because it is anti-Semitic.

The panel, titled "Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech, and the Battle for Palestinian Human Rights" is scheduled for Saturday and features Roger Waters, a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. The panelists are expected to argue that pro-Israel groups have tried to silence Palestinian points of view.

A Superior Court judge heard arguments Monday but did not rule.

While Corporate Profits and Tax-Dodging Soared, Analysis Shows Just 6% of GOP 'Tax Scam' Benefits Went to Workers

A new six-month analysis of President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts details how workers received little benefit from the plan, despite the savings many of their powerful corporate employers received. The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) interviewed independent tax analysts and officials who were involved in the Republican Party's effort to sell the so-called American Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to the public—and within their own party ranks. Progressive critics have consistently called the law nothing nothing more than a "tax scam."

The GOP's insistence on a tax law which included the largest corporate tax cut in U.S. history—from 35 to 21 percent—resulted in companies saving about $150 billion in the first year after the passage in December 2017. Trump and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan had spent months telling Americans they stood to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in taxes, with Trump telling one crowd that the average family would see a pay raise of about $4,000, a benefit that would "trickle down" from employers' corporate tax cuts.

In fact, CPI reporters Peter Cary and Allan Holmes wrote in The Guardian, companies instead distributed their savings amongst the few Americans who hold stock in their corporations:

The bulk of the $150 billion the tax cut put into the hands of corporations in 2018 went into shareholder dividends and stock buy-backs, both of which line the pockets of the 10 percent of Americans who own 84 percent of the stocks.

Just 6 percent of the tax savings was spent on workers, according to Just Capital, a not-for-profit that tracks the Russell 1000 index.

Far from the $4,000 raises Trump alluded to, CPI found, the average paycheck went up about $6, or $233 per year.

The report also detailed how Republicans pushed through a proposal which would force the government to borrow trillions of dollars, despite the GOP's frequent claims of opposition to adding to the federal deficit:

In a meeting that was the key turning point in the entire process, the Senate's most vocal deficit hawk, Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee,who wanted to create no new debt, sat down with the Senate's most strident supply-sider, Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who wanted to borrow $2.5 trillion to pay for the tax cuts. They agreed on borrowing $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The meeting lasted all of 10 minutes.

CPI drew three main conclusions from their extensive research into the effects of the tax cuts: that the law "was first and foremost a gift to multinationals;" that Republicans' claims that they aimed to "reform" the tax code without adding to the deficit were "meaningless;" and that it left the tax system vulnerable to abuse by corporations committed to tax avoidance.

Performing abortions in Alabama could soon be punishable by up to 99 years in prison

Alabama state legislators want to ban almost all abortions — and impose criminal penalties for doctors who perform them. The state House is expected to vote Tuesday on a bill that would outlaw abortion in all circumstances, except when the pregnancy will lead to a “serious health risk” to the mother. Should the bill pass, the law would make no exceptions for rape or incest. And if an Alabama physician performs a successful abortion, they could be charged with a Class A felony and face up to 99 years in jail. A woman seeking an abortion would not be criminally or civilly responsible.

If the bill becomes law, it would be one of the strictest anti-abortion restrictions in the United States. The legislation already has 67 co-sponsors in the 105-member House. In the 35-member, Republican-dominated Senate, which still needs to vote, 11 senators have co-sponsored a version of the bill.

The proposed law would also undoubtedly unleash a wave of litigation, since its restrictions clearly conflict with Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. But that’s kind of the point: Republicans want the Supreme Court to eventually take up the case.

US police officer found guilty of third-degree murder of Justine Damond

The former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor has been found guilty of third-degree murder for the shooting death of the Australian life coach Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who approached his squad car minutes after calling 911 to report a possible rape behind her home.

Mohamed Noor was convicted of third-degree murder as well as manslaughter for the July 2017 death Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the US and Australia. He wasn’t convicted of the most serious charge of intentional second-degree murder. ...

Noor and his partner were rolling down the alley behind Damond’s home and checking out the 911 call just before the shooting. Noor testified that a loud bang on the squad car had scared his partner and that he had seen a woman raising her arm appear at his partner’s window. He said he had fired to protect his partner’s life.

Prosecutors attacked Noor for shooting without seeing a weapon or Damond’s hands. They also questioned whether the loud bang was real. Neither Noor nor his partner, Matthew Harrity, had mentioned it to investigators at the scene, with Harrity first mentioning it three days later in an interview with state investigators. Noor refused to talk to investigators. ...

The death of Damond, a life coach from Sydney who was engaged to be married a month after the shooting, sparked outrage in the US and Australia. It also cost Minneapolis’ police chief her job and contributed to the electoral defeat of the city’s mayor a few months later.

Elizabeth Warren Calls for Investigation Into Monitoring of Family Separation Protests

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling on the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General to open an internal investigation following revelations that a private intelligence firm provided the law enforcement agency with information on hundreds of protests against the Trump administration’s policy of family separation.

“This most recent reporting raises questions about the government surveillance of Americans exercising their constitutional rights to organize peacefully and protest a cruel and unjust policy that does not make America safer or improve our immigration system and asylum process,” Warren wrote in a letter to DHS Acting Inspector General John V. Kelly and shared with The Intercept on Tuesday.

Documents published by The Intercept on Monday showed that LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, a Virginia-based firm, provided DHS with a list of more than 600 family separation protests across the country last June, pulling together the Facebook IDs and physical addresses of the demonstrations. A “Threat Analyst” shared the information with a network of state-level law enforcement fusion centers. It was also picked up by DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, which then disseminated to staff, allowing the information to filter down to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the field.

“I am very concerned about the nature of this surveillance and the potentially dangerous mischaracterization of peaceful and lawful public dissent and political demonstration as a national security threat requiring government monitoring and intelligence gathering via social media,” Warren, a presidential hopeful, added in her letter.

DHS is finally getting rid of those cages for kids it says were totally not cages

If a single word could describe the fenced-in holding pens for undocumented immigrants at processing facilities, some might choose “cages.” Ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen liked to call them “sub parts.” Her replacement, Kevin McAleenan, dubbed them “the chain-link.”

Regardless of the nomenclature, acting DHS secretary McAleenan told Congress Tuesday that the controversial cells are on their way out at the largest immigration processing center in the U.S.

“We are gonna take out the chain-link,” McAleenan said of the McAllen, Texas, processing center in his first congressional hearing before the House Appropriations Committee. “We’re going to have partitions that are more appropriate in terms of appearance as we protect families in our custody.”

McAleenan took over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Customs and Border Protection (CBP), three weeks ago after Nielsen abruptly resigned following increasing disagreements with President Trump’s immigration agenda.

Trump Moves to Impose Fees on Asylum Seekers

In a move immigrant rights groups decried as the White House's latest inhumane attack on those fleeing violence and persecution, President Donald Trump late Monday ordered sweeping changes to the U.S. asylum system, including restriction of work permits and a fee for asylum applications. ...

Under Trump's directive, detailed in a presidential memorandum released Monday night, asylum seekers who come to the U.S. outside of official ports of entry would be denied work permits. Trump also moved to impose fees on asylum applicants and ordered that all asylum cases be settled within 180 days.

Trump now wants asylum seekers to pay fees to apply for asylum.

Trump's party, the GOP, is against taxes unless waged against poor people fleeing for their lives. https://t.co/gMcHTZaVt7

— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) April 30, 2019

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Clinton-era politics refuses to die. Joe Biden is its zombie that staggers on

You cannot understand politics in America until you understand that in the Democratic party, which ostensibly represents the left side of our nation’s political spectrum, there are a significant number of people who genuinely believe that Joe Biden is the best possible presidential nominee. Their belief is not cynical, or at least not wholly cynical. His constituency is real. It is not illuminating to think of them just as centrists, arguing for the gentlest sprinkling of sugar over the top of America’s poison. It’s better to think of them as zombies: the product of three decades of self-serving, triangulating brainwashing. They are the Democrats who had their eyelids propped open and were forced to watch the Clinton era, year after year after year. It is not so much that they do not, deep down, harbor a vague wish for a better world; it is that, like stray dogs dining exclusively on garbage, life has taught them that this is the best that they will ever get.

Consider what it says about the state of America’s political system that in the left party, the presumptive frontrunner for the presidential nomination did not think twice about kicking off his campaign with a fundraiser hosted by the founder of a union-busting law firm, days before appearing at a major union-hosted rally. And why should he? He gets the money, and then he gets the union support. He knows his audience well. This is how Democratic politics has been done in Joe Biden’s lifetime. This is how it works. ... And all of the pundits will say that he is the man to beat, and all of the money will come flooding in, and the corporate executives will wink at him even as the firefighters union gives him that big labor endorsement. He is well on his way to uniting everyone who likes to watch the world burn.

I am not mad at Joe Biden. He is a type. His type is “The Old Way of Doing Things.” Now that he is in the race, his type is represented. He rounds out the field. Now, Democratic voters truly have the entire buffet of choices, from “True Leftist Insurgent” to “Bland, Winning Young Résumé-Polisher” to “Indistinguishable Ambitious Congresspersons” to “The Same Old Kind of White Guy As Always”. ...

Joe Biden, the avatar of the past, believes that he’s well positioned because after the shock of the Trump years, people want to go back to where we were.

More Than 90% of Democratic Voters Want 2020 Candidate to Make Climate Action and Medicare for All Top Priorities

The global climate crisis and Medicare for All are top issues for a large majority of Democratic voters, according to new polling results published Tuesday by CNN. The survey (pdf), conducted last week, asked Democrats and left-leaning Independents how important they considered certain policy items.

Most people polled said it is somewhat or very important that the Democratic candidate for president in 2020 support party priorities like stricter gun laws, tuition-free public college, impeaching President Donald Trump, paying reparations to slaves' descendants, and restoring voting rights for all convicted felons.

But two issues stood out at the top.

Ninety-six percent of respondents want whichever Democrat runs for the White House to support "taking aggressive action to slow the effects of climate change."

In the second spot, 91 percent want the candidate to back "providing health insurance for all Americans through the government, a plan sometimes called 'Medicare for All.'"

.@CNN poll out today. 82% of Dem voters say it's very important for Pres candidate to talk about aggressive climate action.

If politicians want to be taken seriously on it, they've got to back the #GreenNewDeal + sign #NoFossilFuelMoney pledge. pic.twitter.com/VRWWCGs7oK

— Sunrise Movement (@sunrisemvmt) April 30, 2019

As Bernie Sanders Says 'No Apologies' for His Position, 70+ Groups Back Call for Prisoner Voting Rights

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday unequivocally doubled down on his position that prisoners should have the right to vote—as dozens of civil rights groups urged every other 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to adopt the same stance.

In an op-ed for USA Today, the Vermont senator noted that prisoner disenfranchisement disproportionately harms poor people of color and is rooted in the "legacy of slavery and continuing racist attitudes post-Jim Crow."

"Indeed, our present-day crisis of mass incarceration has become a tool of voter suppression," Sanders wrote. "Today, over 4.5 million Americans... have lost their right to vote because they have served time in jail or prison for a felony conviction."

Sanders has faced continued backlash from right-wing media outlets, Republican lawmakers, and fellow Democratic presidential candidates since he expressed support for allowing prisoners to vote in a CNN town hall earlier this month. But in his op-ed Tuesday, the senator from Vermont—a state that allows inmates to vote from prison—said he makes "no apologies for that position" because "voting rights for all citizens is a basic principle of democracy." ...

Every 2020 presidential candidate should join Sanders in taking a stand for the right of prisoners and felons to vote, a coalition of more than 70 rights groups including the ACLU, the Drug Policy Alliance, and Color of Change said in an open letter on Tuesday.

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Ahead of Key Parliament Vote, Poll Shows Two-Thirds of UK Voters Agree With Extinction Rebellion on Climate Emergency

A day before British Parliament is set to vote on whether to join a growing number of governments that have declared climate emergencies, a new poll showed unprecedented demand from the U.K. public to treat the crisis as a top legislative priority.

Greenpeace released a survey Tuesday showing that two-thirds of the British public believe the planet is facing a climate emergency. Under pressure from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Parliament is expected to vote on the issue Wednesday.

An official declaration would send a "clear signal that we are in a crisis" and force lawmakers to treat the climate with urgency, 16-year-old climate action leader Greta Thunberg said after Corbyn announced he would seek the vote last week.

The Greenpeace poll was released two weeks after mass demonstrations throughout London began, with the global grassroots movement Extinction Rebellion leading the occupation of several major landmarks as it called on policymakers to stem the climate crisis by ending fossil fuel projects.

Extinction Rebellion is calling on the government to "tell the truth" about the climate crisis by declaring a climate and ecological emergency.

Green Groups Say Trump EPA Backing Monsanto's Claim Glyphosate Not a Health Threat 'Completely Ignores Science'

Environmentalists swiftly slammed the Trump administration Tuesday for reaffirming the federal government's position that the world's most widely used herbicide poses no threat to public health—despite other global experts tying it to cancer.

After conducting a safety review of the weed killer, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement Tuesday that "EPA continues to find that there are no risks to public health when glyphosate is used in accordance with its current label and that glyphosate is not a carcinogen."

"There’s no risk to public health from the application of glyphosate," said @EPA official Alexandra Dunn. Didn't they say the same thing at one time about DDT? And chlorpyrifos? https://t.co/uJNhj7xC7D via @DMRegister

— carey gillam (@careygillam) April 30, 2019

The agency did, however, identify ecological risks associated with glyphosate—the active ingredient in Monsanto's RoundUp—and proposed some new management measures designed to protect pollinators and reduce the problem of weeds becoming resistant to the herbicide.

The EPA's conclusion Tuesday contradicts that of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) that classifies glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. The American agrochemical company Monsanto—which merged with the German pharmaceutical giant Bayer last year—has faced multiple lawsuits brought by people who say their illnesses were caused by exposure to RoundUp. The company, like the EPA, maintains that glyphosate is safe when used as instructed. ...

"EPA's pesticide office is out on a limb here—with Monsanto and Bayer and virtually nobody else," Dr. Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist with the Healthy People and Thriving Communities Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

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Also of Interest

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

Venezuela - Random Guyaidó's New Coup Attempt Turns Out to Be A Dangerous Joke

If The Agenda To Oust Maduro Was Honest Instead Of Dishonest

VIPS: Extradition of Julian Assange Threatens Us All

The First-Ever Medicare-for-All Hearing Was Strangely Collegial

The Secretary of the Navy Lied to Congress

Wisconsin Gave Foxconn Millions for a Factory and Jobs That Never Came

New Report Names Nearly 4,000 Companies Profiting Off of Private Prison Industry

High Levels of Toxic PFAS Chemicals Pollute Breast Milk Around the World

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A Little Night Music

The Champions w/Sonny Thompson - Mexico Bound

Champions - Big Bad Beulah

The Champions w/Sonny Thompson - Come On

Champions - Annie Met Henry / Keep A-Rockin'

Champions - Cute Little Baby

The Champions - I'm So Blue

Champions - No Good Woman

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