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"There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press."

-- Mark Twain

News and Opinion

The plot against America and the world: How the US government and the media suppressed the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic

On Wednesday, senior Washington Post reporter and establishment insider Bob Woodward released recordings of telephone calls with US President Donald Trump, making clear that the White House, despite its public efforts to downplay the threat of COVID-19, was fully aware in January of the massive danger posed by the deadly new disease. The tapes establish that the Trump administration lied to the public about the threat while it deliberately implemented a policy that has led to the deaths of nearly 200,000 people. ...

On January 28, according to Woodward's account, Trump was told by his national security adviser, Robert C. O’Brien, “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency... This is going to be the roughest thing you face." ...

The fact that Woodward, who made his career publishing the results of the Washington Post's Watergate investigation day by day as it was occurring, withheld information that could have saved tens of thousands of lives, makes him, for all intents and purposes, an accessory to the crime committed by the White House. If Woodward has released these tapes now, after concealing them for six months, it is because the crisis over the upcoming election has massively exacerbated divisions within the state. But in choosing to release this information, Trump’s factional opponents have implicated themselves as accomplices in a massive cover-up.

Trump and his cabinet would not have been the only ones to receive intelligence briefings on the pandemic. It is well known that high-ranking senators and members of the House of Representatives of both parties regularly receive briefings from the US intelligence agencies, and former presidents continue to receive access to intelligence information. These briefings, through the “anonymous sources” so often cited by the New York Times and Washington Post, would have become known to the editors of the leading US newspapers. Moreover, it is inconceivable that Woodward, having in his possession tapes that would have meant life or death for tens of thousands of people, would not have discussed them with his colleagues at the Post and other major news outlets.

In other words, Trump was not the only party to this conspiracy. The tapes constitute direct evidence that the media was aware of the dangers but refused to alert the American people. The questions fundamental to the Watergate scandal, “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” have become expanded to “What did the government, Congress and the media know, and when did they know it?”

David Sirota: Bob Woodward Sacrificed Public Health For Book Sales

Trump supporters asked why they're not wearing masks at rally

Woodward Is Now Trump’s Human Shield To Help Him Win The Election

Bob Woodward had my quotes for many months. If he thought they were so bad or dangerous, why didn’t he immediately report them in an effort to save lives? Didn’t he have an obligation to do so? No, because he knew they were good and proper answers. Calm, no panic!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020

Yesterday, we published an essay stating what should be the obvious: Bob Woodward aided Donald Trump’s crime against humanity by suppressing an audio tape definitively proving Trump was misleading the country about the danger of coronavirus.

If you are an MSNBC-watching liberal sitting there denying Woodward’s aiding and abetting -- if you are still somehow humming the West Wing theme-song to yourself defending the honor of the country’s most famous establishment journalist -- then you should take a look at Trump’s Twitter feed this morning. With 200,000 people dead, Trump is now using Woodward’s decision to suppress the tape as a means of defending himself in advance of the 2020 election. Put another way: Woodward has become Trump’s human shield protecting the president on the pandemic — the issue on which he’s most politically vulnerable. ...

Trump committed a crime against humanity that he should be held accountable for, and the nation’s most famous journalist knowingly helped him. If you aren’t mad about both things, then you have decided to lobotomize yourself and become part of the problem. ...

Anyone defending this behavior is not only an apologist for 200,000 coronavirus deaths, they are complicit in the ongoing downfall of our democracy.

Assange Extradition and the War on Journalism

ASSANGE HEARING DAY FOUR: Hearing Adjourned to Monday While Lawyer Who Was in Court is Tested for Covid-19

Judge Vanessa Baraitser has adjourned the hearing of Julian Assange until next Monday while a Covid-19 test result is awaited for a lawyer who appeared in the courtroom on Wednesday. ...

Baraitser said after hearing from both sides that she’d agree to an adjournment until Monday, but reserved the right to continue the hearing via remote access, despite Fitzgerald’s and Lewis’ concerns. The judge said the test would take place on Thursday and the result would be known on Friday.

Court News UK is reporting that the husband of one of the U.S. lawyers in court has “Covid-like symptoms” and Judge Vanessa Baraitser will determine how to proceed after he is tested.

Assange: The trial of the century | George Galloway

US demands hinder Spanish probe into alleged CIA ties to security firm that spied on Assange

There will be no judicial cooperation forthcoming from the United States unless a Spanish judge reveals his information sources in an investigation into alleged espionage against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange while he was living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

Judge José de la Mata of Spain’s High Court (Audiencia Nacional) has sent a request for judicial cooperation to US authorities as part of his probe into a Spanish private security company named UC Global S.L. and its owner David Morales, on allegations that this firm secretly recorded Assange’s private meetings with lawyers, politicians, relatives and journalists at the embassy, where he took refuge in 2012 to avoid separate legal proceedings against him in Sweden. ...

Judge De la Mata, who is heading the probe into UC Global, has asked US prosecutors for the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of the computers or other networked devices that allegedly connected from American soil to a server held by the private security firm at its headquarters in the southern Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera. That server stored all the recordings made by cameras at the embassy, where UC Global was in charge of security, as well as reports drafted by company employees detailing each visit that Assange received, images of the visitors' passports, and photographs of their cellphones and electronic devices. According to testimony by several ex-workers as well as e-mails used as evidence in the investigation, US intelligence services allegedly had access to this central server.

US prosecutors have now sent a letter to María de las Heras, a liaison judge for Spain in the US, asking her to convey their demands to De la Mata. These include showing proof that the requested IP addresses are “relevant and substantial to the investigation.” The document requests further details about the Spanish probe, including the sources of information for most of the assertions made in the request for judicial cooperation. The Spanish judge has been asked to answer a long list of questions regarding every aspect of his investigation, including who he believes that Morales was providing information to, or whether the judge thinks Morales was working for a foreign information service or as an agent for a foreign power – or whether it was simply a case of bribery.

FBI’s “Hamas” Sting Against Boogaloo Boys Was So Absurd That Even Hamas Spoke Out Against It

On August 29, in a Minnesota hotel room, Michael Solomon, a pudgy 30-year-old man with a brown scraggly beard, and his pimply faced 22-year-old friend Benjamin Teeter handed over a “drop-in auto sear”: a special part used to convert a gun to fully automatic fire. Solomon and Teeter were accompanied by two men they believed were members of Hamas, a Palestinian political and militant organization that the U.S. government has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Solomon and Teeter, who had been on the streets of Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd by police, claimed to be members of a group called Boojahideen — part of the so-called Boogaloo movement, a loosely organized collection of far-right, pro-gun extremists who advocate for civil war and the overthrow of the U.S. government.

The Hamas operatives had enlisted the two men to build parts that could modify weapons. ... About a week later, Solomon and Teeter discovered that their new colleagues weren’t Hamas members. One was an FBI informant, the other an undercover agent. On September 9, the Justice Department announced an indictment against Solomon and Teeter, charging them with attempting to provide material support to Hamas.

Now Hamas, the group FBI agents were pretending to represent, is publicly denouncing the prosecution and its supposed connection to the two Boogaloo members. “When we read about this, it was really shocking to connect our movement with such extremists,” said Basem Naim, a Hamas member who is the head of the Council on International Relations in Gaza, in an interview with The Intercept. ... “First of all, Hamas is a Palestinian national movement, and we have limited our struggle for freedom and independence within the boundaries of Palestine, and we have nothing to do outside these geographical territories,” Naim said. “The second thing, we have nothing planned and we are not intending to plan anything against the United States.”

FBI stings such as this are part of a well-worn counterterrorism tactic. Since the September 11 attacks, the FBI has arrested more than 340 defendants who were caught up in counterterrorism stings in which they believed they were supporting the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, or another foreign terrorist organization. The Boojahideen case did something rare: Over the years, the FBI usually uses foreign terror plots to coax would-be adherents of these foreign groups, whereas in the Boojahideen case, the FBI linked up domestic extremists with a foreign terror group. ...

Michael German, a former FBI special agent and now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice, has been a critic of these sting operations. While German didn’t want to pre-judge the Boojahideen case without all the facts at hand, he nonetheless expressed concern that the use of these tactics on far-right terrorists had the same shortcomings. “I fear that the bureau is throwing a lot of effort into resource-intensive sting operations that target only the most gullible individuals in the movement,” German said, “rather than investigating the multiple examples of far-right violence that are happening in plain sight.”

Costs of War: After 9/11 Attacks, U.S. Wars Displaced at Least 37 Million People Around the World

After 'Disgraceful' GOP Coronavirus Package Defeated, Progressives Demand McConnell 'Get Serious' About Relief

After Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's attempt to pass the so-called "skinny" coronavirus relief plan—prioritizing corporations over the health, safety, and livelihoods of working families—failed on Thursday, advocacy groups denounced the GOP and demanded the Senate "get serious" about providing relief to Americans.

Six months into the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis, Americans have seen only a single, means-tested $1,200 direct payment and a temporary $600 unemployment benefit, which the GOP allowed to expire in July before leaving Washington for Congress' August recess.

The "skinny" bill required 60 votes to proceed to the Senate floor, and lawmakers voted 52-47 against the motion. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the only Republican who joined the Democratic Party in rejecting the bill.

The bill was condemned as "pathetic," "emaciated," and "insulting" by critics including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rev. Dr. William Barber of the Poor People's Campaign, respectively.

After taking a vacation for over a month, Senate Republicans released a "skinny relief" bill that provides $0 for working families, $0 for the uninsured, $0 for food, $0 for rent and $0 for mortgages. But they were able to find $740 billion for the Pentagon in July. Disgraceful.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 9, 2020

While McConnell prioritized the inclusion of liability protection for corporations whose employees or customers might become ill from the virus, the skinny bill did not include any direct relief for Americans and included only $300 in enhanced unemployment benefits.

Barber and other observers posited that McConnell never believed the bill would proceed to a final vote, but rather aimed to use the procedural vote as a re-election tool for Republicans in competitive races—as 13.6 million Americans face unemployment and about 10% of the population reports struggling to afford food.

'Autocrats Deliver?' US Joins Brazil and Hungary as Only Countries Where Quality of Life Is Getting Worse, Social Progress Index Finds

The United States found itself in the company of Brazil and Hungary—two countries run by leaders who, like President Donald Trump, have alarmed international observers with their autocratic tendencies—on the 2020 Social Progress Index, an annual ranking of quality of life in nations around the world.

The three countries are the only ones, according to the Social Progress Imperative, which has compiled the index since 2011, where quality of life has declined over the last decade.

Autocrats deliver? Under the latest social progress index, "out of 163 countries assessed...the United States, Brazil and Hungary are the only ones in which people are worse off than when the index began in 2011." Trump, Bolsonaro and Orban. @NickKristof https://t.co/QBoZts5IBr pic.twitter.com/OyXusuFO17

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) September 10, 2020

At number 28 on the list, the U.S. is also alone among other wealthy countries in the G7 where people's personal safety, access to basic healthcare, personal rights and freedoms, and other measures of quality of life are on the decline.

"The data paint an alarming picture of the state of our nation, and we hope it will be a call to action," Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor and the chair of the advisory panel for the Social Progress Index, told Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times. "It's like we're a developing country."

The index ranks countries according to their performance in three key areas: basic human needs, foundation of wellbeing, and opprtunity—breaking those categories down into sub-categories including:

• nutrition and basic medical care,
• personal safety,
• health and wellness,
• environmental quality,
• personal rights, and
• inclusiveness.

Tier One on the index is populated by countries whose wealth is comparable to that of the United States. Norway was ranked as number one, followed by Denmark and Finland. New Zealand, which this year has won international praise for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, also ranked high, as well as Japan, Iceland, Canada, and Sweden.

A number of countries with GDPs lower than that of the U.S.—including Greece, Estonia, and Cyprus—rank ahead of the country in the bottom half of Tier Two. ...

With a lower GDP per capita than the U.S., the chart shows, New Zealand's government funds a universal healthcare program, spends a greater percentage of its GDP on education than any other country in the world, and was able to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus by allowing residents to stay at home with a major relief package, offering subsidies to businesses to continue paying employees and covering the wages of employees that had to self-isolate.

The U.S. government has so far offered a one-time, means-tested direct payment of $1,200 to some American households—as the crisis stretches into its sixth month—and allowed its enhanced unemployment benefit to expire in July even as more than 10% of workers were jobless.

Well before the pandemic, the index shows, quality of life was rapidly declining in a number of areas in the U.S. In 2011, when the country was in 19th place on the list, the U.S. earned 93.25 points for meeting basic human needs such as healthcare and personal safety.

The uninsured rate is lower than it was in 2011, but has steadily climbed since 2016 and skyrocketed in a matter of weeks when the coronavirus pandemic hit, forcing an estimated 12 million Americans off their employer-based health coverage.

Gun violence has also increased in the U.S. over the past six years, according to Giffords Law Center.

The United States' starkest decline since 2011 has been in the area of opportunity; in terms of inclusiveness, access to education, and personal rights, the U.S. was given 81.89 points this year, contrasting with its score of 85.17 in 2011.

Kristof noted that while the U.S. is fully capable of delivering high-quality healthcare and education to everyone in the country, the federal government keeps many Americans from accessing necessities—operating as a nation with far fewer resources in terms of its approach to the wellbeing of the public, while lavishing the wealthiest Americans and corporations with tax breaks.

"The United States ranks No. 1 in the world in quality of universities, but No. 91 in access to quality basic education," Kristof wrote. "The U.S. leads the world in medical technology, yet we are No. 97 in access to quality healthcare. The Social Progress Index finds that Americans have health statistics similar to those of people in Chile, Jordan, and Albania, while kids in the United States get an education roughly on par with what children get in Uzbekistan and Mongolia."

Stimulus DEAD In Congress, Recovery Backslides, Millions At Risk

Trump claims US is 'rounding the final turn' as Fauci urges Americans to 'hunker down'

Trump wrapped up his press conference after taking just a few questions, including one from an employee of the conservative website Newsmax that was not about the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Despite the country’s mounting coronavirus death toll, Trump sent an upbeat message that the crisis was coming to a close in the US. “We’re rounding the final turn,” Trump said.

In comparison, Dr Anthony Fauci said earlier today, “We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter, because it’s not going to be easy.”

Trump also insisted Woodward should have released the tapes of their conversations sooner if he was concerned, echoing recent criticisms of the legendary journalist. ...

A Washington Post reporter replied, “Bob Woodward is not the president.”

You know how Trump said coronavirus was like the flu and we knew it was bulls**t? Well, turns out he secretly knew it was bulls**t, too. pic.twitter.com/NIPeogFaht

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) September 10, 2020

US Schools Reopen Amid Worrying Lack of Covid-19 Resources for Students, Educators

While millions of students, teachers, and other staff return to school this week—many online but some for in-person learning despite coronavirus infection rates remaining at unsafe levels in their communities—it was revealed Tuesday that half a million children have been diagnosed with Covid-19, leading progressive advocates to ask: Where are the tests?

According to a new Rockefeller Foundation report (pdf) published Wednesday, "the U.S. may need up to 193 million coronavirus tests each month in order to safely reopen schools and fortify nursing homes." A minimum of 175 million tests would be required for teachers and students alone, the report notes.

Those figures are far higher than current testing capacity in the U.S., which the Covid Tracking Project estimates is 21 million tests per month.

"We've known since the start of the pandemic crisis that testing is critical for keeping the public safe. Sending kids back to school without adequate testing available for them or their younger family members is a recipe for disaster," said Kyle Herrig, president of watchdog group Accountable.US. "The public health crisis isn't over. Trump and his administration need to ensure that quick, affordable testing is available to everyone who needs it."

Unfortunately, according to reporting by the New York Times, it is especially challenging to obtain tests for children.

"Even in large cities with dozens of test sites, parents are driving long distances and calling multiple centers to track down one accepting children," the Times wrote. "The age policies at testing sites reflect a range of concerns, including differences in health insurance, medical privacy rules, holes in test approval, and fears of squirmy or shrieking children."

Now, with kids returning to school, the inadequate testing infrastructure for children is being described by some health policy experts as "a blind spot... interfering with school reopening plans and with efforts to understand" transmission of the virus.

In some districts where in-person learning resumed, coronavirus cases surged, causing temporary school closures. In Florida, the rapid spike in cases among school-age children provoked the state to order some counties to hide data from the public. 

"Want to Know What a Worker's Life Is Worth in America?" Trump's OSHA Fines Meat Company Just $13,494 for Infecting 1,294 Employees With Covid

The Trump Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday announced a fine of just $13,494 against a major meat processing company whose persistent and egregious failure to protect South Dakota factory employees from Covid-19 caused at least 1,294 infections, 43 hospitalizations, and four deaths.

"Want to know what a worker's life is worth in America?" HuffPost labor reporter Dave Jamieson tweeted in response to the meager fine against Smithfield Foods, whose Sioux Falls, South Dakota plant was in April dubbed "the country's biggest coronavirus hot spot."

The fine against Smithfield amounts to around $10 per infected employee, a penalty the Democrat-controlled House Committee on Education and Labor denounced as "a total failure to protect workers."

As Jamieson pointed out, "$13,494 is the maximum OSHA can issue for a 'serious' violation. The max for a 'willful' or 'repeated' violation is $134,937. Of course, those amounts are rounding errors for a company of Smithfield's size."

"Many companies routinely fight OSHA citations even when the fines are this small, with the litigation dragging on for years," Jamieson noted. "Decent chance the final tab gets negotiated down or wiped out entirely."

Matt Pearce, national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, tweeted that "$13,494 is a bug splat on the windshield for this massive company, apparently just like those workers' lives were."

Outrage as USPS Board Issues Gushing Praise for DeJoy Amid Mail Slowdowns, Medicine Delays, and Straw-Donor Scandal

Brushing aside widespread alarm over mail slowdowns, prescription medicine delays, potential election sabotage, and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's reported role in an illegal straw-donor scheme, members of the Republican-dominated U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors on Wednesday said they are "thrilled" by DeJoy's performance thus far as the head of America's most popular government institution.

After meeting with DeJoy behind closed doors to discuss several ongoing congressional investigations into his actions as USPS chief and previous work as a GOP fundraising powerhouse, two Republican board members gushingly praised the postmaster general and said there are no plans to discipline him over his destructive policy changes or possible criminal actions.

"The board is tickled pink, every single board member, with the impact he's having," board member John Barger—who, like DeJoy, is a Republican donor—told the Washington Post in an interview following the private meeting. "He's an excellent leader. He's an excellent supply-chain logistics savant. And I'm very, very pleased with his performance since coming on board."

William Zollars, another GOP member of the board, said DeJoy has the full support of the panel, which currently consists of four Republicans and two Democrats—all appointed by President Donald Trump. Zollars told the Post that DeJoy insisted during the closed-door meeting that "he feels like he has done nothing wrong."

"From a logistics and operations standpoint, Louis DeJoy is as good as it gets," said Zollars. "He has support on both sides of the aisle."

The board members' comments drew outrage from lawmakers and watchdogs who have been urging the body to exercise its authority to remove—or, at the very least, suspend—DeJoy over policy changes that have significantly disrupted Postal Service operations just weeks ahead of an election that could be decided by mail-in ballots.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations, tweeted late Wednesday that "when given the opportunity to restore confidence in the USPS, the Board of Governors today chose instead to continue their dereliction of duty."

What BIDEN tells WALL STREET Behind Closed Doors!

Biden SPEWS LIES When Pressed On NAFTA, China Trade

Trump’s spotty record on manufacturing jobs

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is visiting swing-state manufacturing regions to bash President Trump’s record on factory jobs. “President Trump has broken just about every promise he’s ever made to American workers and he has failed our economy and our country,” Biden said in Warren, Mich., on Sept. 9. Voters will hear a lot more of that. Biden specifically points to a manufacturing recession in 2019, the increased offshoring of jobs under Trump, and a slower pace of job creation under Trump than under the last three years of the Obama administration.

While running for president in 2016, Trump promised to “bring back manufacturing,” which may have helped him win crucial Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. Did he bring it back? The answer could very well determine who wins those states—and the White House—in 2020.

Business shutdowns associated with the coronavirus recession have hammered manufacturing, like many other sectors. Manufacturers have lost 720,000 jobs since February, though employers have been slowly rehiring since May. But some voters may give Trump a pass on the coronavirus and try to assess his record on manufacturing during the first three years of his presidency, before the virus upended things.

From that perspective, Biden’s criticism largely holds up. Trump claims to have created the “greatest economy ever” before the coronavirus arrived, which is a comical exaggeration. In many respects, the U.S. economy grew at a similar pace from the last three years of the Obama administration into early 2020. Overall employment growth slowed a bit under Trump, but wages rose, which is typical of an expansion moving from middle to later stages. On manufacturing, however, one factor—Trump’s trade disputes with China and other countries, and the protectionist tariffs he imposed on many imports—may have caused a manufacturing slowdown and undermined the promises Trump made in 2016. ...

Biden says he’ll do better than Trump, through tax incentives meant to punish companies sending work overseas and reward those reopening closed factories here at home. Biden also says he’ll establish more muscular Buy America policies for the federal government than Trump has. Factory workers hear these types of promises every four years, and sometimes decide to give the promiser a shot. That helped Trump in 2016, but now he’s the one who has to prove he kept those promises.

Wildfires kill eight and displace thousands in Oregon, California and Washington

Wildfires searing through the American west have killed at least eight people, leveled entire neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands, forcing stretched firefighting crews to make tough decisions about where to deploy. In Oregon, fire conditions not seen in three decades fueled huge blazes that have killed at least three people, destroyed at least five towns and forced the evacuation of communities from the southern border to the Portland suburbs. In Washington state, a one-year-old boy died after his family was apparently overrun by flames trying to flee a wildfire.

And in northern California’s Butte county, where the town of Paradise was devastated by the deadly Camp fire in 2018, at least three people have died and 12 are missing amid the North Complex fire currently burning through the region. More than 17,000 firefighters are involved in battling the blazes.

Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, on Wednesday warned her state may see more hardship, warning of what could be “the greatest loss of life and structures due to wildfire in state history”. On Thursday, Brown said more than 900,000 acres have burned across the state in the last several days – nearly double the amount of land that usually burns in a typical year. ...

Even in the midst of its dry, hot, windy fire season, California has experienced wildfires advancing with unprecedented speed and ferocity. Since the middle of August, fires in California have killed 12 people, destroyed more than 3,600 buildings, burned old growth redwoods, charred chaparral and forced evacuations in communities near the coast, in wine country north of San Francisco and along the Sierra Nevada. Authorities said the August Complex fire is now officially the largest fire on record in the state’s history, having scorched more than 736 square miles (1,906 square km).

In some areas of the San Francisco Bay Area and to the east in the Sacramento Valley, smoke blocked out so much sunlight on Wednesday that it dropped the temperature by 20 to 30 degrees over the previous day, according to the National Weather Service.

Half a million flee forest fires in US West Coast

Dems Urged to Embrace Bold Climate Action as West Burns

Leading Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are facing heightened demands to back the Green New Deal as wildfires continue to scorch western states, causing apocalyptic-looking orange skies and "catastrophic" damage.

"The sky is literally the wrong color and they're still asking how we can afford a Green New Deal," tweeted Georgia Parke, digital communications director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign.

It's the Green New Deal or the blood red apocalypse. Your choice. pic.twitter.com/Os6wUb0PqQ

— Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) September 10, 2020

The National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday that 96 large fires have now burned over 3.4 million acres across the nation, mostly in the west. "Fires in California, Oregon, and Washington burned tens of thousands of acres yesterday, causing evacuation orders for many residents near these fires," the agency said.

The fires have been blamed for the deaths of seven people while smoke from the flames stretches as far as Ohio. While remaining residents experience rolling power shutoffs, evacuees face further burdens of finding shelter because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. ...

With those threats in mind, advocates for climate action pointed fingers at Democrats including Pelosi, who's been in the crosshairs of activists including Sunrise Movement youth over her failure to back the Green New Deal and whose congressional constituents are now looking up at orange-tinted skies.

Other Democrats singled out on social media included Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California—who notably brushed off youth activists demanding a Green New Deal; presidential nominee Joe Biden, who hasn't fully endorsed the legislation; and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who recently approved a slew of new permits for fracking.

i will never forget being apart of the sit-in in @SpeakerPelosi's office 2 years ago and watching scenes of the then California wildfires play on CNN on her office TV. Two years later and she still hasn't supported the Green New Deal. https://t.co/E3DyMouQl5

— Erin Bridges (@erin_bridges_94) September 9, 2020

“But how will we pay for a Green New Deal? It’s just too expensive!” pic.twitter.com/t9l0MaHNnj

— Jamie Margolin (@Jamie_Margolin) September 10, 2020

He was president for 8 years. https://t.co/xpbDDyfzTq pic.twitter.com/1IlQIvd4CU

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) September 10, 2020

Faced With Rising Seas and Other Consequences of Climate Crisis, Low-Lying Delaware Sues 31 Fossil Fuel Companies

Joining the trend of city, county, and state governments trying to make polluters pay for their significant contributions to the climate crisis, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings on Thursday announced a lawsuit against 31 fossil fuel companies on behalf of her state's residents and businesses.

"Delawareans are already paying for the malfeasance of the world's biggest fossil fuel companies," Jennings said in a statement. "Exxon, Chevron, and other mega-corporations knew exactly what kind of sacrifices the world would make to support their profits, and they deceived the public for decades."

"Now we are staring down a crisis at our shores, and taxpayers are once again footing the bill for damage to our roads, our beaches, our environment, and our economy," she explained. "We are seeking accountability from some of the world's most powerful businesses to pay for the mess they've made."

Defendants named in the suit (pdf), filed in Delaware Superior Court, include BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxonmobil, and Royal Dutch Shell as well as the oil and gas industry trade association American Petroleum Institute (API). The complaint details each of their "misleading and deceptive greenwashing campaigns."

Defendants knew for decades that fossil fuel products drive global heating, "that climate change impacts could be catastrophic, and that only a narrow window existed to take action before the consequences would be irreversible," the complaint says. Despite that, they "engaged in a coordinated, multi-front effort to conceal and deny their own knowledge of those threats, to discredit the growing body of publicly available scientific evidence, and to persistently create doubt in the minds of customers, consumers, regulators, the media, journalists, teachers, and the public about the reality and consequences of the impacts of their fossil fuel products."

On top of those efforts to "target and influence the public and consumers, including in Delaware," defendants "have promoted and profited from a massive increase in the extraction, production, and consumption of oil, coal, and natural gas, which has in turn caused an enormous, foreseeable, and avoidable increase in global greenhouse gas pollution," the complaint adds. That pollution has contributed to "a wide range of dire climate-related effects, including, but not limited to, global atmospheric and ocean warming, ocean acidification, melting polar ice caps and glaciers, more extreme and volatile weather, drought, and sea-level rise."

Delaware is especially threatened by sea-level rise, as the state with the lowest average elevation. The complaint claims more than 22,000 Delawareans are currently threatened by coastal flooding, which is expected to negatively impact the state's tourism and agriculture industries. The suit also raises concerns about how residents will be affected by future extreme weather events, noting that temperatures are rising over 20,000 people in the state are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat.

"Delaware and our residents are suffering from sea-level rise, increased temperatures, heavy precipitation, and flooding due to climate change, and that is adversely impacting our public health, environment and economy," Shawn Garvin, secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said Thursday. "The science is clear that these climate impacts are directly attributable to the products produced by fossil fuel companies."

Over the past few years, at least 22 communities have pursued lawsuits that aim to make polluters pay, according to the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI). Delaware is the fourth state to file this type of suit, after Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. As CCI executive director Richard Wiles put it: "Delaware joins a growing wave of communities that rightly seek to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for lying about the climate change disasters they knew their products would cause."

"The climate crisis Big Oil caused is engulfing the nation, and it is costing communities billions of dollars. With more than 20 climate lawsuits filed against them, and three in just the last eight days, it is clear that Big Oil is facing its 'Big Tobacco moment,' and accountability is coming for them," added Wiles, whose group supports suits and policy changes to make polluters pay. "When the fossil fuel industry innocently claims they did nothing wrong, keep in mind why they are being sued: because they lie."

Also of Interest

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

Once a Police Union Ally, Democratic House Candidate Pitches Herself as a Reformer

Connecticut Small-Dollar Campaign Program a Model for Restoring Power to the People

Lawmakers, Progressive Coalition Unveil Framework to Create 'Thriving' Fair and Green Economy in Pandemic Recovery

Florida Is Full Of Sh*t

The American West Is Burning But Trump Hasn't Mentioned Historic Wildfires in 'Any Way, Shape, or Form' for Nearly 3 Weeks

Western wildfires rage in California, Oregon and Washington – in pictures

Democracy Now - Barbara Smith: The U.S. "Functions with White Supremacy as Its Engine."

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A Little Night Music

A. C. Reed - Talkin 'bout My Friends

A.C. Reed & His Band - My baby's been cheating

A. C. Reed - I Wanna Be Free

A. C. Reed - I Got Money To Burn

A. C. Reed - Come On Home

A C Reed - I Stay Mad

A. C. Reed - I'm In The Wrong Business

A.C. Reed & The Spark Plugs - She's Fine

A. C. Reed w/Albert Collins - Roadhouse Blues

A C Reed - I ain´t doin´ too bad

A C Reed - Going To New York

A.C. Reed - Boogie all night