Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features jump blues and r&b singer Jimmy "T99" Nelson. Enjoy!

“I say, they [those at the top] don't have to conspire, because they all think alike. The president of General Motors and the president of Chase Manhattan Bank really are not going to disagree much on anything, nor would the editor of the New York Times disagree with them. They all tend to think quite alike, otherwise they would not be in those jobs.”

-- Gore Vidal

News and Opinion

You might want to read this article, it's very good. A key to the abbreviations, ATOE = Anonymous New York Times Op-Ed, AA = Anonymous Author.

The Establishment’s ‘Fear’ Is Different From Yours

The ATOE [Anonymous New York Times Op-Ed] reflects a standard neoliberal, establishment Republican perspective, one that seeks to align itself with traditionally Republican victories attained under Trump while distancing itself from the malevolent stink of associating with him. The AA [Anonymous Author] writes that “[w]e want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.” He praises Trump’s presidency for “effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.”

Consistent with the Republican Party establishment’s long and noxious embrace of racist-nativist dog-whistling and climate denial, the ATOE says nothing about the Trump administration’s two most egregious sins beyond its shocking and relentless hyper-Orwellian practice of the “permanent lie” (the constant and maddening distortion of facts and truth): (1) its racist and even creeping fascist rhetoric and actions regarding immigrants and people of color and others, and (2) its zealous carbon-capitalist acceleration of the Greenhouse Gassing-to-Death of Life on Earth, a crime that promises to make even the Nazis look like small-time criminals. The second problem—state-capitalist ecocide—is being advanced with noteworthy efficiency by the Trump administration. ...

The AA fears and loathes Trump for ruling-class and imperialist reasons, not for ones that ought to most concern people who care about democracy, social justice and prospects for a decent future. ... The main wealth and power elite policy complaints are that the “populist,” “isolationist” and “protectionist” president is woefully ignorant about, and even strangely opposed to, the standard institutional structures of U.S. empire and of U.S.-dominated global trade and investment. ... Properly restrained divide-and-rule racism has long been OK for the ruling class, but Trump is far too seriously invested in toxic racial bigotry for an American elite that has learned to cloak persistent white supremacism in the flags of diversity and tolerance. Standard “imperial presidency” authoritarianism has always been fine with the establishment, but Trump takes it to preposterous levels by transparently attacking the rule of law and the independence of the corporate media. The U.S. establishment has long tolerated and even cultivated fascism in Third World client states but not in the “homeland” itself, the supposed exceptional headquarters and beacon of so-called capitalist democracy and liberty.

Presidential lying has long been tolerated and even applauded in the national media-political culture, but Trump goes far beyond acceptable elite norms with his wild and shameless advance of untruth. ... The U.S. remains a patriarchal and sexist nation, but the beauty pageant pussy-grabber-in-chief is a disturbing embarrassment. Standard presidential narcissism (i.e., Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) is fine, but Trump’s constant Twitter-weaponized shame-fest and his endless reality-television drama are just too nationally humiliating. ... It’s OK for the president to be stupid as far as the ruling class is concerned. Look at George W. Bush. He was an abject dolt who thought God had told him to invade Iraq. But “Du[m]bya” had the decency to know that he was a figurehead for purportedly smarter establishment actors and let himself be managed by ruling class “adults” like Cheney and Robert Gates. ... Above all, perhaps, Trump is just too unpredictable and impulsive for the ruling class. It’s hard to make decent investment decisions when the White House is a fickle and capricious horror show that might (for example) impose (or roll back) a whole new set of tariffs or insult a “valued trading and investment partner” on a foolish tyrant’s bizarre whim from one day to the next. ...

Trump is a dangerous monster who needs to be removed from the White House and the nation’s political life. On that all decent people can agree. But we can’t stop there. The Fake Resistance and Inauthentic Opposition Party (the Democrats and some traditional Republicans) seek the removal of Trump, to be sold as a great victory for popular democracy while preserving the reign of the nation’s unelected and interrelated juntas of capital, empire, race and militarized police-state repression. And that’s not good enough, not with the species teetering on the edge of full environmental catastrophe under the soulless command of the profits system. We need a rebellion, indeed a revolution (and not just a political one) that goes much deeper than merely the amputation of the malignant symptom of Amerikan cruelty, plutocracy, sexism, racism and stupidity that is Trump. ... The “real issue to be faced,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his final essay, “is the radical reconstruction of society itself.” That’s the last thing you’ll hear from establishment elites. They have a simple fake-fix: Vote for Democrats in the midterms.

Trump is a laughingstock. But if we weren't laughing, we'd be crying

For the rest of the world, President Donald Trump’s America is a laughingstock, not a leader. That was the takeaway from Trump’s speech to the 2018 United Nations general assembly. Trump opened his speech the same way he opens his campaign rallies, TV interviews, and probably conversations with every visitor he meets: “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” The response from the leaders assembled in the room? Laughter. The entire world literally laughed at the US president – and they weren’t laughing with him. Even Trump himself was taken aback: “I did not expect that reaction …”

And while reporters and foreign policy experts could not recall another leader ever before drawing derisive laughter at a UN speech, it did not end there. When Trump made another claim – “Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy …” – the cameras revealed the German delegation laughing and snickering to one another. With Trump’s own behavior and policies as a backdrop, the substance of Trump’s speech merited laughter – it was an incomprehensible joke.

The main theme of Trump’s speech was protecting US “sovereignty” and he said that all countries should do likewise. He claimed: “The United States will not tell you how to live, work or worship. We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.” But shortly thereafter Trump spent portions of his speech telling Iran and Venezuela what to do at home. ... On Iran, Trump outlined policies that portend only more conflict. As America’s allies France, Germany and the United Kingdom work with Russia, China and Iran to preserve the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program that are now in jeopardy because of America’s withdrawal and sanctions, Trump is stoking a regional Sunni-Shia conflict and imposing more sanctions on Iran. The nuclear deal made conflict with Iran less likely; Trump’s actions are making violence and war more likely. ...

Perhaps the laughter in the room during Trump’s speech was a tinged with a sense of anxiety and dread. Perhaps it was the response that comes from those who recognize they are listening to a reckless, dangerous vision from the leader of the world’s most powerful country. And all one can do is muster is a despondent chuckle.

World Laughs at Trump as He Boasts About Himself in U.N. Address Threatening Iran, Venezuela

Trump says Venezuela 'could be toppled very quickly' by military coup

Donald Trump has suggested that Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro could be easily toppled by a military coup as the US stepped up financial pressure with fresh sanctions on Maduro’s inner circle.Trump declined to respond to questions about whether a US-led military intervention in the crisis-stricken country was possible, but on the sidelines of the UN general assembly he said: “It’s a regime that, frankly, could be toppled very quickly by the military if the military decides to do that. ...

His comments came after the US slapped financial sanctions on Maduro’s wife, vice-president and other senior Venezuelan figures. ... Over the past two years the Trump administration has sanctioned dozens of individuals, including Maduro himself, on allegations of corruption, drug trafficking and human rights abuses. But until now it had spared key leaders such as Delcy Rodríguez, as well as the US-trained Padrino, believing they occupy seats of power and could play a key role in an eventual transition.

David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who has spent more than two decades living and working in Venezuela, said Tuesday’s actions would seem to suggest the US has given up trying to sow division within the government in the hopes it could force a democratic transition from within. “This clearly breaks from that strategy,” said Smilde. “If everyone is sanctioned then it could end up uniting the government.”

John Bolton warns Iran not to cross the US or allies: 'There will be hell to pay'

The Trump administration has warned Tehran that there would be “hell to pay” if it continued to “cross” the US and its allies. The threat was delivered by the national security adviser, John Bolton, a longtime Iran hawk who told an audience of anti-Tehran activists: “The murderous regime and its supporters will face significant consequences if they do not change their behaviour”.

“Let my message today be clear: we are watching, and we will come after you,” Bolton said, according to early excerpts from his speech obtained by the Axios news website. He added: “If you cross us, our allies, or our partners; if you harm our citizens; if you continue to lie, cheat, and deceive, yes, there will indeed be hell to pay.”

The bellicose tone was in striking contrast to an early morning tweet from Donald Trump saying he was sure that the Iranian president was an “absolutely lovely man”. Later in the day, however, Trump toughened his language, blaming “the corrupt regime” for the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, and for embezzling billions of dollars of the Iranian people’s money.

US European allies however, refused to abandon a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in the face of intense pressure to do so by Washington. Mike Pompeo expressed disappointment that European states had organised a parallel payments system as a way of bypassing US anti-Iran sanctions. “This is one of most counterproductive measures imaginable for regional and global peace and security,” the US secretary of state said. ....

Shortly before he was due to address the UN general assembly, Trump qualified his complimentary remarks about Rouhani, saying: “I’m not meeting with them until they change their tune. It will happen. I believe they have no choice. We look forward to having a great relationship with Iran, but it won’t happen now.”

EU, China and Russia in move to sidestep US sanctions on Iran

The European Union, Iran, China and Russia have set out a plan to sidestep unilateral US sanctions designed to cripple the Iranian economy and force the Iranians to renegotiate the nuclear deal signed in 2015. European diplomats hope the proposed measure – known as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) – will help persuade an increasingly reluctant Iran to stay inside the deal in the hope of rescuing its economy.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, Federica Mogherini, the EU external affairs chief, said the SPV was designed to facilitate payments related to Iran’s exports – including oil – and imports, so long as the firms involved were carrying out legitimate business under EU law. The aim is to make the SPV available not just to EU firms but to others, she added.

In his address to the United Nations general assembly, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, stressed Tehran’s continued commitment to the deal and accused the US of pressurising other countries into violating the nuclear agreement. “Confronting multilateralism is not a sign of strength,” he said. “Rather, it is a symptom of the weakness of intellect. It betrays an inability in understanding a complex and interconnected world.”

But the US president Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, addressing an anti-Iran pressure group, said he was “disturbed and indeed deeply disappointed” by the EU plan. “This is one of the of the most counterproductive measures imaginable for regional and global peace and security,” Pompeo said.

Trump accuses China of interfering in 2018 election — offers no evidence

President Donald Trump accused China of trying to interfere in the midterm elections because its angry with his trade policies — without offering a single shred of evidence.

“Regrettably, China has been caught trying to interfere in our 2018 election. They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade,” Trump said during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday in New York. “We are winning on trade. We are winning at every level. We don't want them to meddle or interfere in our upcoming election.”

Trump failed to provide any more details on how China is trying to interfere in the midterms and provided no evidence to back up his claim.

WaPo Cartoon Urges Trump To Bomb More

House Resolution Directs Trump to End U.S. Support for Yemen War

In Congress, frustration with the U.S. role in Yemen is nearing a breaking point. Sen. Bob Menendez — the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — is holding up a $2 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over concerns that the two countries routinely bomb civilian targets. Meanwhile, in the House, U.S. assistance to the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition is about to face another major hurdle.

On Wednesday, California Democrat Ro Khanna introduced a resolution invoking the 1973 War Powers Act, declaring that Congress never authorized U.S. support for the coalition in Yemen and directing President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. troops from “hostilities” against the Houthis, the Iranian-backed rebel group at war with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The resolution would not affect U.S. forces who are on the ground in Yemen fighting Al Qaeda.

The legislation closely resembles a similar measure Khanna introduced last year, but now has 23 other co-sponsors, including Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the minority whip, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee. As a “privileged” resolution under House rules, the bill can bypass a committee vote and is overwhelmingly likely to receive a vote on the floor.

“This time around, our coalition to end the war has expanded and the call for withdrawing U.S. involvement is louder,” Khanna said in a statement. The resolution’s support base represents a major shift in congressional opposition to the war. In the past, attempts to restrict support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE were considered fringe proposals within the Democratic caucus, and were resisted by top Democrats. But Wednesday’s resolution has the support of key Democrats, setting up a major legislative confrontation in the coming months.

A relatively short piece worthy of a full read. Here's a teaser:

The Battle for Our Minds

After reading The New York Times piece “The Plot to Subvert an Election” I put the paper down with a single question. Why, after two years of allegations, indictments, and claims to proof of this, that, and the other did the newspaper of record—well, once the newspaper of record—see any need to publish such a piece? My answer is simple: The orthodox account of Russia-gate has not taken hold: It has failed in its effort to establish a consensus of certainty among Americans. My conclusion matches this observation: The orthodox narrative is never going to achieve this objective. There are too many holes in it. ...

There are battlefields in Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and elsewhere, but perhaps the most consequential battle now being fought is for our minds.

Those who dispense with honest intellectual inquiry, healthy skepticism of all media, and an insistence that assertions require supporting evidence should not win this war. The Times piece by Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti — two of the paper’s top-tier reporters — is a case in point: If the Russia-gate narrative were so widely accepted as their report purports, there would have been no need to publish such a piece at this late date.

UK Labour Alarms Elites With Plan to Democratize Workplace, Public Ownership

NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Was Held in Isolation for a Week and No One Has Explained Why

National Security Agency whistleblower Reality Winner was kept in isolation for a week in a Florida county jail, a move that left her “hysterical,” according to an advocate who visited her in the facility. On Monday, Winner was moved from her isolated cell into the jail’s general population, according to advocates.

Charged under the Espionage Act and facing up to 10 years in prison, Winner, a 26-year-old former defense contractor and Air Force veteran, pleaded guilty in June to retaining and transmitting a document to a news organization. On her way to serve out the remainder of the five-year term spelled out in the plea deal, she was transferred in the middle of the night a week ago from the small rural county jail in Georgia where she has spent more than a year in custody. But, rather than being sent to a federal facility for processing, she was taken to yet another county jail in Florida for reasons that remain unclear.

At Baker County jail in Macclenny, Florida — a facility that also holds immigrant detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — Winner was kept alone in what appeared to be a booking cell, according to the advocate who visited her, Wendy Meer. The isolation was particularly distressing for Winner who, just last month, received an endorsement from a federal judge to serve her remaining prison sentence at a federal medical facility to treat her mental illnesses, which she told a courtroom include depression and bulimia.

Key House Democrat Pledges Investigation of Brett Kavanaugh If Confirmed

Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, plans to open an investigation into the background of Brett Kavanaugh if he is confirmed to the Supreme Court, Johnson told The Intercept. If Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, which prognosticators believe is increasingly likely, Johnson would become chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. The subcommittee would have authority to subpoena witnesses, documents, and emails related to Kavanaugh.

“This whole process has stunk to high heaven. This confirmation process that has been run by [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell out of his office, over and above what [Sen. Chuck] Grassley purports to be doing, is just strictly political,” Johnson said in an interview. “Their aim is to get Kavanaugh confirmed regardless of his background.”

Kavanaugh’s history as a high school and college student has become increasingly relevant to his nomination to the Supreme Court in light of accusations of sexual assault by two women, Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez. On Wednesday, a third woman,Julie Swetnick, came forward with a sworn affidavit alleging that Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present when she was drugged and raped in the early 1980s, when the duo were classmates at Georgetown Preparatory School in suburban Maryland. She witnessed inappropriate behavior from Kavanaugh multiple times, said Swetnick, who holds multiple security clearances in Washington. Her security clearances are relevant because she stands to lose them — along with her career — if she is found to be committing perjury. In her sworn affidavit, she said there are multiple other people who can corroborate her story. Swetnick and those witnesses could be called in connection with Johnson’s probe.

“His background is fair for consideration, both before he is confirmed and, if he should be confirmed, we would be duty-bound to follow-up on any blemishes on his record that were not fully discovered prior to his confirmation. We would owe that to the American people,” said Johnson.

Attorney for second Kavanaugh accuser: Republicans won’t take my call

The second woman to publicly accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct wants to testify before the Senate — but Republicans have reportedly refused. That is according to her lawyer, Jon Clune, who told Anderson Cooper Tuesday that GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to show up to a scheduled call with him earlier that day.

“The difficulty is every time we try to set up a phone call, the majority party either changes the rules of the phone call or they want additional information as a condition of even having a phone call with us,” Clune said. “We finally had a phone call scheduled for 7 o'clock Eastern this evening, we got on the phone, and only the minority party showed," Clune said. “So, feels like there's a lot of game-playing that's going on right now by the majority party.”

"This has to be done by FBI...with the threat of perjury. Our client's willing to do that. I'd be very interested to see whichever witnesses Judge Kavanaugh actually has remaining...if they'd be willing to do the same" Deborah Ramirez's attorney John Clune https://t.co/lAiz171zy2 pic.twitter.com/iaL41SdSt8

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) September 26, 2018

Third woman comes forward with Kavanaugh abuse claims

Woman says she was gang raped at a party in high school that Kavanaugh attended

A woman and career government employee has stepped forward to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of being present at a party in the '80s where she says she was gang raped by a “train” of boys when she was incapacitated, an incident she claims was commonplace at boozy high school parties attended by Kavanaugh and longtime friend Mark Judge. Michael Avenatti released a three-page sworn statement from his client, Julie Swetnick, on Twitter Wednesday after teasing on social media this week that he had more incriminating information against Kavanaugh.

Swetnick, who went to Gaithersburg High School, said she was introduced to Kavanaugh and Judge and subsequently attended 10 parties in the Washington, D.C., area where they were present. At one of those parties, Swetnick says she was the victim of a gang rape where she believes she had been incapacitated by grain alcohol or a drug such as quaaludes and could not fight off her attackers.

Swetnick does not accuse Kavanaugh of participating in her rape, but she alleges that she saw Kavanaugh and Judge standing in line outside a room where another woman was being raped. “I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh,” she alleges.

The White House issued a statement from Kavanaugh calling Swetnick's account "ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone."

"I don’t know who this is and this never happened," Kavanaugh said, according to the statement.

Swetnick does not accuse Kavanaugh or Judge of doing anything directly to her; rather she's describing alleged behavior at parties in high school, which included targeting certain women they deemed vulnerable, grinding against them, or touching them without consent. She also said Kavanaugh and his friends would "spike" punch with grain alcohol “to cause women to lose their inhibitions.” She described him as a “mean drunk.”

Trump Admin Targets Immigrants Using Food Stamps & Medicaid & Puts Millions of Children at Risk

Trump’s Plan to Deny Green Cards to People on Medicaid or Food Stamps Is a Full-Blown Attack on the Immigrant Poor

Over the weekend, the Trump administration announced new and cruel immigration rules. ... As with the draconian “zero-tolerance” policies President Donald Trump imposed on the border, the administration is presenting this latest assault as merely an extension and thorough application of existing legislation. But the proposal is one of the most radical overhauls in immigration standards in decades. It makes clear that, for this administration, immigration policy is a matter of white supremacist social engineering aimed at excluding and decimating poor, predominantly nonwhite immigrants. Even those who have followed every U.S. law — people here with full legal authorization, abiding by all criminal statutes — are now at risk for having used social services to which they are entitled.

The plan functions by dramatically expanding the category of “public charge,” a concept that has been a part of immigration determinations since 1882, when the Immigration Act enshrined the exclusion of “undesirables” as a tenet of U.S. immigration policy. If a person is a “public charge” or deemed likely to be a “public charge” by the immigration authorities, that person can be denied temporary visas and permanent resident status. ... What has changed is the definition of a “public charge.” For decades, the classification has been narrow: Under current law, established since 1999, an immigrant is only a “public charge” if they receive most of their income from state assistance or live long term in an institution funded by the government. Health and food benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) have never before come into consideration.

Under the new rules, crafted by the impossibly villainous White House adviser Stephen Miller, low-income immigrants may be forced to choose between health care and food provisions, on the one hand, and the ability to live and work with authorization in the U.S., on the other. Current legal immigrants seeking change or renewal of immigration status, as well as those applying to move to the U.S. from abroad, will both be assessed for their potential to become “public charges” by these new, harsh standards.

The new system will thus punish individuals for making use of public benefits, even in the past, to which they were and are legally entitled, and never before would have disqualified them from remaining in the country.

American nuns win victory holding Smith & Wesson accountable

A group of American nuns has won a second victory in their battle to force gun manufacturers to do more to prevent gun violence, convincing shareholders of American Outdoor Brands – formerly known as Smith & Wesson – to require the company to report on what it’s doing to advance gun safety.

Shareholders of the gun company formerly known as Smith & Wesson voted on Tuesday to approve a shareholder resolution introduced by a coalition of nuns that will require the company to report on what it’s doing to monitor how its guns are used in violence, as well as what it’s doing to make its products safer. Shareholders of Sturm Ruger, another major gun manufacturer, approved a similar resolution by an overwhelming 69% majority in May, just three months after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that left 17 people dead.

On Monday, Sister Judy Byron, who introduced the resolution during Tuesday’s virtual shareholder meeting, said she was not sure if the political will to hold gun companies accountable had dissipated in the seven months since the Parkland shooting. The approval of the resolution suggests that concern over gun violence – and shareholders’ worries about what long-term impact America’s escalating mass shooting problem might have on gun companies – is holding strong.

Both American Outdoor Brands and Sturm Ruger have bristled at the shareholder activism from religious groups, even though the resolution American Outdoor Brands shareholders approved simply requested that the companies report to shareholders about what the company is doing to advance “gun safety measures and the mitigation of harm associated with gun products”, as well as what reputational and financial risks the company faces as a result of gun violence.

"See the USA in your Chevrolet right away..."

Vanishing Joshua trees: climate change will ravage US national parks, study says

America’s national parks have warmed twice as fast as the US average and could see some of the worst effects of climate change, according to a new study. Most of Joshua Tree national park could become uninhabitable for its eponymous trees, glaciers will continue to melt away at Glacier national park, and many other of America’s most treasured beauty spots could be rendered virtually unrecognizable by climate change, Patrick Gonzalez, the lead author of the study, writes in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Even the tiniest of creatures are at risk in the worst-case predictions: the American pika, a small alpine mammal, may no longer be able to survive on park land. “We are preserving the most remarkable ecosystems, and they happen to be in extreme environments,” said Gonzalez, a climate scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. Gonzalez is also the principal climate change scientist for the US National Park Service but conducted and spoke about the research in his university capacity.

The study finds that temperatures in national parks could go up 3 to 9C by 2100, under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s worst-case scenario, which shows what could happen without policies to decrease greenhouse gas pollution. With lower emissions, temperatures could still exceed 2C (3.6F) for 58% of park land, compared to 22% of the US as a whole, according to the study. They are particularly vulnerable because most US park land is in areas that are heating up quicker: in the mountains, the Arctic and the dry south-west.

Alaska parks would see the most extreme heat increases, and the US Virgin Islands parks face 28% less rainfall by the end of the century. In Glacier Bay national park, the Muir Glacier melted 640 meters between 1948 and 2000. In Yellowstone national park, trees are dying because bark beetles are thriving in warmer winters. Yellowstone will also become far more vulnerable to wildfires. The area burned could be up to three to 10 times higher by 2100. Joshua Tree national park in California could lose up to 90% of the habitat suitable for its namesake trees.

Gonzalez explained that parks at a higher elevation have a thinner atmosphere that warms faster. Higher temperatures are also melting snow cover and making the ground darker so that it absorbs more heat. Parks in California and the south-west US have seen both high temperatures and record-low rainfall, he said. The research is the first comprehensive look at climate change impacts on national parks, Gonzalez said.

Climate gentrification: the rich can afford to move – what about the poor?

Only half-jokingly, some residents of a progressive city 300 miles north of the Mexican border have adopted the “build the wall” slogan in the face of a wave of newcomers. But these perceived interlopers are starkly different from Donald Trump’s imagination. They are American, mainly white and are fleeing the unlivable heat. ... Flagstaff, population 70,000, has long been a destination for people in southern Arizona looking for a cooling respite in summer or a spot of skiing on the nearby San Francisco Peaks in winter. But rising temperatures, driven by human-induced climate change, mean that many in Flagstaff fret they are now being overrun by those fleeing sweltering cities such as Phoenix and Tucson. A pattern of climate-driven gentrification is taking hold across the US, as those who are able to retreat from floods, storms, heatwaves and wildfires shift to safer areas, bringing soaring property and rental values with them.

“As it gets hotter, we are getting a lot of climate refugees,” said Coral Evans, Flagstaff’s mayor. “We don’t mind people moving to Flagstaff at all. But about 25% of our housing is now second homes. The cost of living is our number one issue. “We don’t talk much about what climate change means for social justice. But where are low-income people going to live? How can they afford to stay in this city?” There are usually a tangle of reasons – jobs, love, education – as to why people decide to move, but Flagstaff’s agreeable climate is jostling towards the front. Last summer, Phoenix was so hot that road signs and mailboxes melted. Planes couldn’t take off or land. On a recent July day this year, when Phoenix hit 116F (47C), Flagstaff, a two-hour drive and a world away, was 80F (27C).

It will get worse – Phoenix, the fastest-warming large city in the US, could spend close to half of its year in over 100F (37C) heat within 30 years. Phoenicians able to move, or even vacation, in cooler climes such as Flagstaff are usually older and wealthier. Those who still work can often do so remotely. The influx has aroused concerns in Flagstaff, where rents and property values have soared. “The tenor in the town is ‘Stop building. Build a wall,’” said Jenny Niemann, a climate and energy specialist at the city of Flagstaff. “People joke about that. But I think it’s fair to say the town feels incredibly stressed by the increasing prices, as well as the development.”

While the western US is increasingly baked by heatwaves and choked by smoke from wildfires, the pressing concern in eastern states is that their coasts are being redrawn by sea level rise and pummeled by ever-stronger hurricanes. More than 300,000 homes near US coasts face being chronically flooded within 30 years. This unfolding scenario is reshaping previous lines of segregation in coastal cities. As investors shift capital to higher ground and shoreline properties become costlier in terms of insurance and repairs, low- to middle-income people are squeezed out from both areas. A recent study of the greater Miami area shows this process is already under way – properties at high elevations are experiencing rising values, while those situated just 3ft above sea level have declined in value, even when other factors are accounted for. This trend has largely taken hold since 2000. ...

The hand of climate change is everywhere – from water availability to insurance markets to housing pricing – while rarely being identified as a culprit. As temperatures continue to escalate, prior inequities are likely to be exacerbated, injustices risk deepening. “Whether it’s happening already is unclear but I think more and more people are going to be moving because of climate change,” said Brian Petersen, a climate change and planning academic at Northern Arizona University. “The people marginalized already in society will bear the brunt of this. Poor people in Las Vegas or Phoenix who can’t get away from the heat are not going to be leaving to go to beautiful, expensive mountain towns.” Even those who do make it to Flagstaff and other refuges, such as Oregon or near the Great Lakes, won’t be shielded from the transforming climate. Enough future warming has been locked into the world’s climate system to touch everywhere on Earth.

Canadian MP says Trudeau 'doesn't give a fuck' about indigenous rights

A Canadian member of parliament has said that Justin Trudeau “doesn’t give a fuck” about the rights of indigenous people, amid mounting tensions between the country’s First Nations and at the federal government. Romeo Saganash, a Cree lawmaker, made the comments in parliament during a discussion of the the Trans Mountain pipeline project that was recently halted after the federal court of appeals ruled that the government had failed to adequately address the concerns of some First Nations.

The Liberal government insists that the pipeline will go ahead.

“When the prime minister says that this pipeline expansion will be done no matter what, and his minister adds that Canada will not be able to accommodate all indigenous concerns, what that means is that they have decided to willfully violate their constitutional duties and obligations,” said Saganash. “Mr Speaker, sounds like a most important relationship, doesn’t it? Why doesn’t the prime minister just say the truth and tell indigenous peoples that he doesn’t give a fuck about their rights?”

'Shameless': Trump Repeals Rule Meant to Prevent Oil-Carrying 'Bomb Trains' From Derailing and Exploding

In a move that outraged environmentalists and increased the chances of deadly and destructive accidents, the Trump administration's Department of Transportation (DOT) has repealed an Obama-era rule that mandated safety upgrades for "dangerous" oil tanker trains to reduce the possibility of derailments, explosions, and spills. "This commonsense rule was put in place in response to a series of deadly accidents, and this shameless decision to repeal it will mean more workers and communities are put at risk," declared Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin.

The rule required trains carrying oil and other flammable materials—sometimes called "bomb trains"—to install electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes that decrease the likelihood of derailment by 2021. While it was initially criticized by green groups that said it did not go far enough to protect communities, the Monday reversal was regarded as yet another move by the administration to appease polluters at the expense of the public.

"Apparently there's no limit to the lengths the Trump administration will go," Martin said, "to prioritize the desires of polluting industries over the health and safety of the American people." The repeal was initially proposed in December of 2017, but finalized by the DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on Monday. PHMSA claimed that a congressionally-mandated analysis concluded "that the expected costs of requiring ECP brakes would be significantly higher than the expected benefits of the requirement." The change does not prevent railroads from using ECP brakes but the safety upgrade is no longer mandated.

Also of Interest

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

Intercepted Podcast: Noam Chomsky on the State of the Empire

The Closer You Look, the Worse Brett Kavanaugh’s Relationship with Mark Judge Appears

Former Google Scientist Tells Senate to Act Over Company’s “Unethical and Unaccountable” China Censorship Plan

How the Koch brothers built the most powerful rightwing group you've never heard of

After the Hurricane Comes the Deluge on South Carolina Coast

Demons and armageddon: details emerge in naked kidnapping case

A Little Night Music

Jimmy "T99" Nelson - I Sat And Cried

Jimmy "T99" Nelson - She Moves Me

Jimmy "T-99" Nelson - Sweetest Little Girl

Jimmy "T-99" Nelson - Little Miss Teasin' Brown

Jimmy Nelson & his Orch. - Bad Habit Blues

Jimmy Nelson - Mean Poor Girl

Jimmy Nelson - Meet Me With Your Black Dress On

Jimmie Nelson - Rain Drop Blues

Jimmie Nelson - Tell Me Who