Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Creole blues singer Lizzie Miles. Enjoy!

"Social reform is the desperate decision to remove corns from a person suffering from cancer."

-- Karl Kraus

News and Opinion

Worth a click and a full read:

'It's not about bad apples': how US police reforms have failed to stop brutality and violence

New York banned chokeholds. Seattle required de-escalation training. Los Angeles restricted shooting at moving vehicles. But those reforms did not stop police from killing Eric Garner, Charleena Lyles or Ryan Twyman, who died when officers used the very tactics that the changes were supposed to prevent. Since the early days of Black Lives Matter protests six years ago, lawmakers and criminal justice groups have pushed reforms aimed at curtailing discriminatory and deadly police conduct. Some mayors and police chiefs mandated the use of body cameras for police officers. Other local governments passed regulations that banned controversial policing tactics. Departments hired more officers of color, and African American officers took over troubled departments.

But as the death of George Floyd continues to spark a national reckoning over police violence and an avalanche of videos has shown militarized officers brutalizing protesters, city leaders are facing mounting pressure to recognize that those incremental reforms have not addressed systemic harms and, as some studies show, have not diminished bad behavior by police. Activists say those realizations have created unprecedented momentum for the more radical ideas they have long promoted, like defunding and abolishing police, and reinvesting in services.

“We’re watching in real time all these alleged ‘reforms’ failing,” said Phoenix Calida, a sex worker rights activist in Chicago. “None of it is doing what it’s supposed to. De-escalation isn’t working. Using ‘less violent’ methods isn’t working. Having cameras for accountability isn’t working. So why did we dump all of this money into ‘reforms’?”

A growing body of research suggests that some of the most widely adopted reform efforts have not succeeded at curbing police violence in the ways the policies intended. Research into the use of body cameras by police officers has shown no statistical difference in behaviors or reduction in force when the cameras are on. Body cameras also haven’t stopped egregious killings, have rarely led to discipline or termination, and have almost never yielded charges or convictions. ...

Efforts to train officers to more frequently use non-lethal force have also not stopped tragic killings. ... There is also minimal evidence that implicit bias trainings affect officers’ prejudiced behavior on the job, and some research suggesting they could even be counterproductive, making officers resentful and more entrenched in racist viewpoints. ...

“The issue is not a ‘bad apples’ problem,” said Alisa Bierria, an organizer with Survived and Punished, a prison abolition group. “There is something specific about the institution of policing that is intrinsically violent.”

Disbanding Notorious NYPD Anti-Crime Unit Is a “Shell Game,” Critics Say

Facing massive ongoing protests against police brutality, the New York City Police Department announced on Monday that it is disbanding a hyperaggressive and notoriously trigger-happy plainclothes unit. A majority of the roughly 600 officers in the department’s “anti-crime” units would be immediately moved to other assignments, NYPD Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said in a press conference, though a portion would continue to patrol the city’s subways. The reassigned officers will take up positions in the detective’s bureau and the department’s community policing efforts, Shea said, as the NYPD replaced its prior emphasis on “brute force” with an embrace of intelligence and technology-driven policing. ...

But it was hardly the first time the NYPD had promised change, and the announcement was met with a great deal of skepticism by advocates wary of empty talk of reform. Monifa Bandele, vice president of criminal justice campaigns at MomsRising and a member of the policy leadership team for the Movement for Black Lives, called the move a “shell game” and a “distraction,” aimed at diverting New Yorkers’ attention from growing calls to defund the NYPD. “It’s moving around resources and actual police officers, shuffling them around within the department to make it look like what we’re asking for, but we’re actually calling for a much larger systemic shift,” Bandele told The Intercept. “We’re not talking about shuffling resources and people within the police department. We’re talking about moving around resources within the citywide budget in a way that makes our communities safer. That means actually moving money out of the NYPD budget, and moving those resources into education, housing, mental health services, homelessness services.”

“Internal personnel changes don’t really address the fact that our communities are over-policed and under-resourced.”

Albert Cahn, director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, called the move to disband the unit “a publicity stunt.”

“They tried this same tactic before,” Cahn told The Intercept. “It’s simply an easy way for them to take a page out of the NYPD PR handbook and avoid real structural reform. And if these officers are simply doubling down on the NYPD bias and broken surveillance of communities of color, it’s going to result in more police violence.”

In Authoritarian Tirade, Trump Claims Americans 'Want Law and Order' Policing Whether They Know It or Not

Prior to signing an executive order approving law enforcement reforms that civil rights groups criticized as severely tone-deaf and inadequate, President Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered a rambling and authoritarian speech in which he defended U.S. police, attacked racial justice demonstrators, and proclaimed that Americans "want law and order" whether they know it or not.

"They demand law and order," Trump said of the U.S. public. "They may not say it, they may not be talking about it, but that's what they want. Some of them don't even know that's what they want, but that's what they want."

Speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House to an audience filled with law enforcement officials and members of Congress, Trump downplayed the police violence that killed George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others as the bad behavior of a "very tiny" number of officers.

The president was far less charitable when discussing the historic demonstrations against police violence that have spread across the United States and around the world since Floyd's killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on May 25.

"There will be no more looting or arson, and the penalty will be very grave for those who get caught," Trump said, zeroing in on property destruction by a small number of demonstrators. "Violence and destruction will not be tolerated. We cannot do that... Every day police officers make great sacrifices to make our communities secure and safe."

Trump also made a thinly-veiled and disapproving reference to the toppling of Confederate monuments by demonstrators in recent days. "We must build upon our heritage," the president said, "not tear it down."

Following his speech, Trump signed what the White House labeled an "Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities" that authorizes several limited reforms, including a ban on law enforcement use of chokeholds—"except if an officer's life is at risk"—and incentives for police departments to increase training for officers.

The measure falls far short of what civil rights activists and demonstrators have been demanding since Floyd's killing. Amnesty International's Kristina Roth immediately slammed the order as "a band-aid for a bullet wound."

NBC News tries to team up with Google to DESTROY independent media

On Maintaining Perspective In The Year 20 Fucking 20

Just today there are news stories about major escalations between India and China and between North and South Korea. A novel virus with bizarre worldwide lockdowns and protests against the police state sweeping the most powerful nation in the world have almost eclipsed from memory the major news events from earlier in the year like dangerous escalations with Iran, Australia burning to a crisp, and a wildly corrupt US presidential primary. And it seems a safe bet at this point that all of this will soon be eclipsed by far more significant events.

For better or for worse, we are at a time of great change from which the world will likely never return. We are heading into what is probably the most significant period in human history to date, and it would be wise to pay attention.

But when I look at what people are talking about in my social media feeds, even relatively awake and tuned-in people, I see a lot of chatter about the same-old, same-old. People are still yammering on about the same old electoral politics they’ve been on about for years, still babbling about PC culture being out of control and how crazy some people’s gender pronouns are, still dunking on shitlibs for likes and retweets. Even my own articles I notice get a lot more shares and attention if they involve something that tickles mainstream partisan interests like criticizing Trump or bashing the Democrats.

And I just cannot for the life of me imagine continuing to hold such priorities halfway through the year 20 fucking 20.

At this time we need to drastically change our perspectives and seriously re-evaluate our priorities. We’re all standing on a precipice together and we have no idea what the plunge will look like, and people are still babbling about whether or not you should wear a face mask at the grocery store. This, to me, is a nonsensical approach to our current predicament.

All the stuff that used to consume so much of our attention in the analysis of establishment power structures has been rendered far less important by recent developments. All these recent developments will probably be rendered less relevant by whatever major events are coming next. The only consistent pattern this year has been a greater and greater deviation from old patterns.

For that reason, it makes sense to do two things:

Shift toward emphasizing a bigger-picture perspective of what’s going on. Fixate less on smaller occurrences and pay more attention to broader overall trends. It doesn’t mean ignore the smaller things, it just means view them in the proper context of a world that’s moving into more and more unfamiliar territory in bigger and bigger ways.

Pay attention. Big things are happening right now, and it would be a damn shame to miss them.

Meet the Activists Inside Seattle’s Police-Free Zone

Inside Chaz, Seattle's police-free zone: 'We're proving the world can change'

A Right-Wing Militia Showed Up at a Statue Protest and a Protester Got Shot

A protest over a statue in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Monday turned violent after a protester was shot during a scuffle with a counterprotester, sending the protester to the hospital. A video of the shooting, obtained by local TV station KOB4, shows a scuffle breaking out between protesters and a man in a blue shirt, who’s then chased and tackled by protesters. As he gets up, he appears to pull out a gun and fire it four times, sending a crowd of protesters running.

Following the shooting, the man was surrounded for protection by armed members of a right-wing militia calling itself the New Mexico Civil Guard, which has been active against Black Lives Matter protests in the state. Eventually, the man in the blue shirt and “five or six men dressed in military fatigues” were taken into custody by police, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

Albuquerque police have not yet identified the alleged shooter or the victim, though a police spokesperson said the latter was in “critical but stable condition,” according to the Albuquerque Journal. Multiple videos taken at the scene show the man shoving and throwing protesters to the ground.

The statue, called La Jornada, memorializes Juan de Oñate, a 16th-century Spanish conquistador who served as the first colonial governor of New Mexico. Oñate was responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Acoma men, women, and children in 1599, and afterwards ordered survivors sold into slavery as had the right foot cut off every surviving man. Oñate eventually faced trial for his crimes of “excessive force” against the Acoma people and was banished from New Mexico for the rest of his life.

Protester shoved by Buffalo police is unable to walk, attorney says

Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old activist whom Buffalo, N.Y., police knocked to the ground and hospitalized, is unable to walk after his injury, his attorney said Tuesday.

“I am not at liberty to elaborate at this time other than to confirm that his skull was fractured. While he is not able to walk yet, we were able to have a short conversation before he became too tired. He is appreciative of all of the concern about him but he is still focused on the issues rather than himself,” Kelly Zarcone told CNN in a statement. ...

“Barring something unusual and unforeseen, I don't expect much change at all this week” in Gugino’s condition, Zarcone added.

Manuel Ellis: new video appears to show officer using chokehold on black man

New video released on Monday shows a police officer using a neck restraint on Manuel Ellis, in the crucial moments leading up to the African American man’s death in Tacoma, Washington. The silent video, taken by a man on 3 March in a car directly across the street from the scene, appears to show Ellis in a chokehold, struggling on the ground, when a second officer uses a Taser on him. Ellis is then turned on to his stomach, and at least one officer’s knee is put on his neck or back. ...

“The level of force that the officers used was remarkable,” said James Bible, the lawyer for Ellis’s family. “And there’s nothing that suggests that any portion of what they did was OK at all, including approaching him in any way.” ...

The footage contradicts accounts from the Pierce county sheriff’s office that said the officers did not put Ellis in a chokehold and no Tasers were used. The sheriff’s office was initially leading the investigation into Ellis’s death. But last week, Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, ordered a new investigation, in response to questions over the independence of the investigation. ...

Ellis’s death, which has been ruled a homicide, has become part of the protests over police brutality that have spread across the nation following the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer while pleading “I can’t breathe”.

Steroid found to help prevent deaths of sickest coronavirus patients

A cheap steroid has become the first life-saving treatment in the Covid-19 pandemic, described by scientists as “a major breakthrough” and raising hopes for the survival of thousands of the most seriously ill.

Dexamethasone is available from any pharmacy, and easily obtainable anywhere in the world. Investigators said the drug was responsible for the survival of one in eight of the sickest patients – those who were on ventilators – in the Recovery trial, the biggest randomised, controlled trial of coronavirus treatments in the world.

The government announced immediate approval for the use of the drug in Covid-19 patients. The UK was leading the way, said the health secretary, Matt Hancock. “This astounding breakthrough is testament to the incredible work being done by our scientists behind the scenes.

“From today the standard treatment for Covid-19 will include dexamethasone, helping save thousands of lives while we deal with this terrible virus.”

Modi: Deaths of Indian soldiers "will not be in vain"

India says 20 soldiers killed on disputed Himalayan border with China

Twenty members of India’s armed forces have been killed in a “violent face-off” with Chinese soldiers on their disputed Himalayan border in the worst military crisis between the two countries in nearly 60 years. The deaths are the first loss of life in the border area since 1975, and come amid a renewed dispute between the two countries in recent weeks. Indian and Chinese soldiers, who often do not carry weapons in the area to avoid escalating conflicts, have brawled, detained each other and deployed forces and equipment in the western Himalayas in recent weeks.

“During the de-escalation process under way in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday [Monday] night with casualties on both sides,” the Indian army said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon Delhi-time, initially confirming three deaths.

It said in a later statement a that further 17 Indian troops “critically injured in the line of duty at the stand-off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in high altitude terrain [had] succumbed to their injuries.” The army said “senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation” and it was “firmly committed to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation.”

Indian government sources said several troops were still missing and the death toll was likely to grow. The Guardian understands that fighting broke out at dusk on Monday when an Indian patrol unexpectedly encountered Chinese forces on a narrow ridge while on a patrol. An Indian commanding officer was pushed and fell into the river gorge, sources said, leading to reinforcements being called and up to 600 troops from both armies fighting hand-to-hand, with stones and iron rods as weapons, until late in the night, with several men from both sides falling to their deaths. No shots were fired.

Barbara Lee Unveils Plan to Cut Up to $350 Billion From Pentagon

Demanding that Congress "prioritize our safety and our future, not more war," Rep. Barbara Lee on Monday unveiled a resolution proposing up to $350 billion in cuts to the Pentagon budget by closing U.S. military bases overseas, ending ongoing conflicts, scrapping weapons programs, and eliminating President Donald Trump's Space Force.

"Redundant nuclear weapons, off-books spending accounts, and endless wars in the Middle East don't keep us safe," the California Democrat said in a statement. "Especially at a time when families across the country are struggling to pay the bills—including more than 16,000 military families on food stamps—we need to take a hard look at every dollar and reinvest in people. It's time to cut weapons of war and prioritize the well-being of our troops, anti-poverty programs, public health initiatives, and diplomacy."

Lee's resolution (pdf) comes as the House of Representatives is scheduled to begin marking up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2021 next week. The Senate version of the NDAA calls for $740.5 billion in military spending, a budget Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has proposed cutting by 10%.

"We cannot continue to prioritize funding for a department known for its waste, fraud, abuse, and failure to pass an audit," said Lee, "especially when the money to 'protect national security' is failing to protect our most vulnerable citizens."

The California Democrat's measure proposes saving:

• $68 billion by eliminating the Overseas Contingency Operations account;
• $90 billion by shuttering 60% of U.S. military bases overseas;
• $66 billion by ending funding for ongoing U.S. wars;
• $57.9 billion by eliminating "obsolete,  excessive, and dangerous" weapons;
• $38 billion by cutting military overhead by 15%;
• $26 billion by slashing private service contracting by 15%;
• $2.6 billion by dashing Trump's Space Force proposal;
• $18 billion by "ending use-it-or-lose-it contract spending";
• $6 billion by freezing operations and maintenance budgets; and
• $23 billion by cutting U.S. presence in Afghanistan in half.

"Congress supports moves to reduce the priority given to war in our foreign policy and our current war-based national economy by using significant cuts, up to $350,000,000,000 as detailed above, from current budget plans, while using the funds to increase our diplomatic capacity and for domestic programs that will keep our Nation and our people safer," the resolution reads.

Lee's office noted in a press release that the Pentagon's budget for fiscal year 2020—$738 billion—was the "largest on record" and came "at the expense of healthcare, education, infrastructure spending, and public health research."

"For years, our government has failed to invest in programs that actually keep our country safe and healthy," said Lee. "By over-prioritizing the Pentagon and military solutions, our country is drastically underprepared for any crisis that needs a non-military solution."

Fed chair says US economy faces ‘significant uncertainty’ and fears wider income inequality

The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, warned on Tuesday that the US economy faces “significant uncertainty” in the months ahead, and that the recession that has followed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic could widen income inequality for minorities and those on lower incomes.

Powell said in testimony presented to the Senate banking committee: “Much of that economic uncertainty comes from uncertainty about the path of the disease and the effects of measures to contain it. Until the public is confident that the disease is contained, a full recovery is unlikely.”

Powell said recent job losses had fallen hardest on low-income workers, minorities and women and the current downturn further exacerbate income inequality. ...

Congress is weighing further temporary relief for businesses and unemployed workers following its approval of the nearly $3tn Cares Act emergency bailout.

Powell warned that without that aid, the long-term consequences for the economy could be severe.

Members of Congress REVEALED to have taken coronavirus loans

Businesses Linked to 4 Congress Members Got Millions in Emergency Pandemic Loans

Companies with family ties to at least four Congress members have received small business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, and critics suspect there’s more — but the Trump administration’s resisting making the list public. ... The four members who’ve confirmed receiving the loans are Republican Reps. Roger Williams of Texas and Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, as well as Democratic Reps. Susie Lee of Nevada and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida, according to Politico. Only the company tied to Mucarsel-Powell has returned the loan so far.

Mucarsel-Powell’s husband is an executive at the Florida-based Pollo Tropical restaurant chain, whose parent company, Fiesta, received $15 million in PPP loans, as the Miami Herald reported in April. The company later returned those loans amid a backlash against larger companies, such as Shake Shack and the Los Angeles Lakers, applying for and receiving loans meant for true small businesses.

Lee lobbied for changes to the PPP to help the gaming industry, and afterward, the casino company where her husband serves as chief executive received $5.6 million in two PPP loans, the Daily Beast reported last week.

The family of Williams — one of the richest members of the House with a net worth of nearly $28 million as of last year — owns a chain of auto dealerships, one of which reportedly employs his wife and received an “undisclosed sum” in a loan through the PPP, according to the Dallas Morning News. Hartzler’s family owns “multiple farms and equipment suppliers across the Midwest,” Politico said, and an undisclosed number of businesses owned by Hartzler and her husband received undisclosed sums of loan money, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.

We only know this, however, because these four fessed up to taking the money: There’s nothing in the legislation mandating transparency from the people receiving the loans, and the Trump administration so far hasn’t handed it over. (Aides and lawmakers told Politico that there are “almost certainly more” lawmakers who have ties to companies that took the money.)

Sirota has yet another excellent piece up at his new site, TMI. It's worth a full read.

They Had the Medicare-For-All Money All Along

In recent weeks, we’ve seen health care industry CEOs report paying themselves $2.4 billion as 27 million people were thrown off their health care coverage. We’ve also seen Americans being charged anywhere from $400,000 to $1.1 million for COVID treatment, and facing $2,000 bills for coronavirus tests. In response, polls show Americans remain deeply concerned about the current health care system, and support for Medicare for All has surged. And yet, despite data showing that a single-payer system would save big money, surveys still indicate some popular trepidation about the price tag of government-sponsored health care.

That reflects, in part, a Democratic primary season that saw most candidates, the press corps and the Washington political class try to pretend that the planet’s wealthiest nation cannot possibly afford the kind of Medicare for All system that other less-wealthy nations have had for decades. “No matter how you cut the numbers, there is absolutely no way to pay for Medicare for all without tax increases -- or spending cuts -- on the middle class,” one pro-austerity group told Politico in a story breathlessly touted by the health care industry’s dark money group.

But here’s what few seem to have noticed: As of the last few months, we just definitively proved we actually did have the money all along -- and we had it even if we never hiked taxes to raise new revenues. Somehow, this astounding fact was never granted any of the same giant boldfaced headlines that all the anti-Medicare-for-All fearmongering generated during the presidential primary.

Under our current system, America is on track to spend roughly $52 trillion on health care in the next decade. That includes both government programs (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) and household spending (insurance premiums, out-of-pocket costs etc.). Medicare for All would consolidate all that spending under one program. Experts estimate that this would require the government to come up with an additional $20 trillion and $36 trillion -- money that would cover the out-of-pocket spending that households and employers would otherwise pay to insurance companies, drug companies and other parts of the corporate-run health care system.

Well guess what? That happens to be almost exactly the amount of money our government committed to corporate bailouts since 2008:

After the 2008 financial crisis, lawmakers gave $700 billion of grants to big banks. 

Depending on how you count, the Federal Reserve additionally committed somewhere between $16 trillion and $29 trillion to large financial institutions.

A decade later amid the coronavirus outbreak, lawmakers passed a bailout bill that will funnel $4 trillion to large corporations. 

So again: the same government that says we cannot afford $20-$35 trillion over a decade to finance a Medicare for All program just gave Corporate America between $20 trillion and $35 trillion since the financial crisis roughly a decade ago. And that money was funneled to Corporate America not just in absence of tax increases -- it was delivered while the government was actually cutting taxes.

Meet Jamaal Bowman, the Bronx Principal Challenging One of the Most Powerful Dems in Congress

Philadelphia Bungled Its Vote Count, and Republicans Took Note

Philadelphia County had barely counted any mail-in votes from its June 2 primary when Salena Zito, a writer known for her loose relationship with reality, jumped out with a story on June 6 proclaiming that President Donald Trump had gotten more votes than former Vice President Joe Biden in the Pennsylvania primary — a phenomenon she suggested should hearten Republicans for the fall. The story turned out to be 180 degrees wrong. Once the votes were actually counted in Philadelphia, where a delay was caused by a large volume of mail-in ballot requests and mail-in votes, it turned out that Biden had pulled more than Trump statewide, even as Sen. Bernie Sanders gobbled 18 percent of the vote. The internet had a good laugh at Zito, and the world moved on.

Still, the story had gone viral on the right and helped set a narrative of a lack of Democratic enthusiasm. Even more troubling for Democrats, it was a preview of how Republicans will respond to election night results in November. If the same pattern holds, Trump could carry a massive lead in Pennsylvania when America wakes up the morning after the election. Every day that goes on heightens the chances of the courts getting involved to settle the matter — a U.S. Supreme Court, it shouldn’t be forgotten, that is controlled by conservatives and, just 20 years ago, threw a contested election to the Republican candidate. ...

In the days following the primary, election officials told Philadelphia candidates that it could take more than 30 days to finish counting mail-in ballots, where thousands of voters who had applied for mail-in ballots also showed up to vote in person. Tens of thousands of mail-in ballots were turned in after the deadline, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. ...

While enthusiasm and raw vote totals have been lopsided toward Democrats in every election since 2017, including the most recent primary, the capacity to distribute and count ballots is a weak spot. States across the country have already struggled to rapidly scale up decrepit mail-in voting programs for elections taking place during the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans are watching closely, particularly in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, which already bungled distribution of mail-in ballots in a number of counties. If that lack of organization persists in November, Republicans will have an upper hand in what’s expected to be a tight race between Trump and Biden.

“Disruptor on Road to Reconciliation”: Trump Doubles Down on Rally in Tulsa, Site of 1921 Massacre

PG&E confesses to killing 84 people in 2018 California fire as part of guilty plea

Pacific Gas & Electric confessed on Tuesday to killing 84 people in a devastating 2018 wildfire that wiped out the northern California town of Paradise in November 2018. Bill Johnson, PG&E’s CEO, entered guilty pleas on behalf of the company for 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the fire, which was blamed on the company’s crumbling electrical grid.

“Our equipment started that fire,” said Johnson, who apologized directly to the victims’ families. “PG&E will never forget the Camp fire and all that it took away from the region.”

Although the admission was part of a plea deal, it came during a dramatic court hearing designed to publicly shame the nation’s largest utility for neglecting its infrastructure. Judge Michael Deems of Butte county superior court, read the name of each victim aloud in the courtroom while the images of the dead were shown on a large screen as Johnson entered a plea for each of the counts. Johnson also pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to one felony count of unlawfully starting a fire.

The Camp fire killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings, including 14,000 homes. The disaster has been devastating, particularly for residents without means. About 90% of Paradise’s population of 27,000 remains dispersed into nearby valley towns and cities across the US. The estimated 3,000 who remain, living in homes that survived the fire or in trailers on burnt-out lots, are still trying to figure out how to move on. ...

PG&E has agreed to pay a maximum fine of $3.5m for its crimes in addition to $500,000 for the cost of the investigation. The San Francisco company will not be placed on criminal probation. ... The company has agreed to pay $25.5bn for losses from the 2018 fire and other blazes in 2017 blamed on its crumbling equipment.

No Oversight of $1.5 Billion Electric Project Raises Alarm over Privatization of Puerto Rico’s Power

'Our Fight Is Not Over,' Say Green Groups After Supreme Court Clears Hurdle for Fracked Gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Environmental campaigners on Monday reiterated their opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline after a U.S. Supreme Court decision removing a hurdle for the "climate-wrecking" fracked gas infrastructure project.

The high court's Monday decision (pdf) was 7-2, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer joining the court's conservative majority. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented. 

"At the heart of the case," NPR reported, "was a technical legal question about which federal agency, if any, had the authority to grant the permit for the pipeline."

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2018 that the U.S. Forest Service didn't have the authority to issue the permit for the behind schedule and over-budget Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) pipeline, which is owned by Dominion Energy and Duke Energy and would cross the Appalachian Trail on federal land. The Appalachian Trail is administered by the National Park Service, an agency of the Interior Department.

The new ruling overturns that lower court's decision. From Reuters:

In Monday's ruling, the Supreme Court agreed with the Trump administration that the Forest Service retained the authority to approve rights of way across the trail.

The park service's authority over the trail "did not transform the land over which the trail passes into land within the National Park System," [conservative Justice Clarence] Thomas wrote.

"It's been six years since this pipeline was proposed, we didn't need it then and we certainly don't need it now," said Dick Brooks of the Cowpasture River Preservation, one of the local organizations fighting the pipeline. "Today's decision doesn't change the fact that Dominion chose a risky route through protected federal lands, steep mountains, and vulnerable communities," he added.

Kelly Martin, director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign, said that the pipeline's future is still uncertain.

"With the ACP still lacking eight permits, this decision is just plugging just one hole on a sinking ship," said Martin. "Nothing in today's ruling changes the fact that the fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a dirty, dangerous threat to our health, climate, and communities, and nothing about the ruling changes our intention to fight it."

The new ruling from the Supreme Court, said Donna Chavis, senior fossil fuel campaigner Friends of the Earth, goes beyond the ACP.

"It was about the integrity of our national forests and parks and how they are protected," said Chavis, claiming that "the court chose to ignore our communities and our environment in favor of the fossil fuel industry and this unnecessary and risky project that reeks of environmental racism."

"But our fight is not over, and we will push to ensure that this climate-wrecking project is never completed," she continued. "We will take it to the courts, to the halls of power, and to the streets. The court of public opinion will be heard, and that opinion differs from the U.S. Supreme Court."

Independent Probe Finds NOAA Officials Violated Ethics Rules by Bowing to Trump Foolishness During 'Sharpiegate'

An independent investigation found Monday that the Trump-appointed leader of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and another former official violated the agency's scientific integrity policy last year when they released a statement backing up the president's claim that Hurricane Dorian was expected to hit Alabama. 

Last September, Trump claimed Alabama would "most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated" by the Category 5 hurricane, contradicting meteorologists' projections that the storm would mainly affect Florida. 

After the National Weather Service's Birmingham, Alabama office tweeted that the president's claim was inaccurate, the president appeared in the Oval Office to display a map altered with a black marker to show the storm's path extended to include Alabama, in an incident widely derided as "Sharpiegate."

According to the report Monday from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), acting administrator Neil Jacobs and then-deputy chief of staff and communications director Julie Kay Roberts bowed to political pressure two days after the president's Oval Office appearance when they released a statement rebuking the National Weather Service.

"The Birmingham National Weather Service's Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time," said the statement.

NOAA's scientific integrity policy prohibits political interference in the agency's communications about its scientific findings. NAPA found that Roberts and Jacobs, a Trump appointee, violated the agency's code for science supervision and management by releasing the statement, which "compromised NOAA's integrity and reputation as an independent scientific agency." ...

The report did not recommend any consequences for Jacobs and Roberts, instead recommending "scientific integrity training" at the agency and calling on the Commerce Department's inspector general to investigate such violations.

Also of Interest

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

Trump’s New Favorite Channel, OAN, Keeps Lying About Buffalo Protester Assaulted by Police

Riots helped elect Nixon in 1968. Can Trump benefit from fear and loathing too?

'This Is Mass Murder': Covid-19 Deaths in US Prisons Have Risen by 73% the Past Month

“We Need Protein” — Coronavirus Pandemic Deepens New York’s Hunger Crisis

A $1.1m hospital bill after surviving the coronavirus? That's America for you

No, We Don’t Need to Place Our Faith in Downloading Some Untested, Privacy-Infringing App as the Only Possible COVID-19 Slayer; Why Don’t We Look to Places that Have Successfully Limited Disease Spread and Copy Their Policies?

Failed For-Profit Healthcare 'Will Continue to Compound Pandemic's Effect' in US, Warns Nobel Economist

2 Men Linked to 'Boogaloo' Movement Were Just Charged in the Murder of a Federal Officer

Feds Are ‘Actively Reviewing’ the Hanging Deaths of 2 Black Men in California

Julian Assange in Limbo

Julian Assange Just Called. To Talk About the Pandemic’s Effect on Capitalism & Politics

Dirty Details Emerge as to Why Mnuchin Is Fighting Congress Over Releasing the Names of Recipients of PPP Loans

Leading US Retirees 'Like Lambs to the Slaughter,' Trump Labor Dept. Quietly Offers Up 401k Plans to Private Equity Vultures

Deadly heat is killing Americans: A decade of inaction on climate puts lives at risk

Krystal Ball: Twitter FREAKS over Van Jones' Trump order comments, here's the truth

Krystal and Saagar: McConnell vows he's going NOWHERE if R's lose Senate

Krystal and Saagar: Polls show record unhappiness, optimism for the future

A Little Night Music

Lizzie Miles and her New Orleans Rhythm Boys - Basin Street Blues

Lizzie Miles - Some of These Days

Lizzie Miles - Electrician Blues

Lizzie Miles - My Man O' War

Lizzie Miles and her New Orleans Rhythm Boys - Careless Love

Lizzie Miles - Louisiana

Lizzie Miles - Darkness on the Delta

Lizzie Miles - Keep Yourself Together Sweet Papa (Mama's Got Her Eyes On You)

Lizzie Miles - Eh la bas