Daily Archives: August 29, 2019

2019-08-29: News Headlines

Norman Solomon (2019-08-29). Wall Street's Worst Nightmare for 2020 Is Coming True. truthdig.com For the plutocrats who see Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as the greatest threat to their bottom line, this summer has gotten a bit scary.

Manuel García, Jr. (2019-08-29). Night and Day, Being and Nonbeing. counterpunch.org Matter, energy, space and time: the entirety of physical existence. Einstein unravelled their truth: they are all entwined, a four dimensional yin-yang, the image of gravity. But, what gave him pause that he could never fully overcome was the yin-yang of existence and nonexistence: quantum reality. And that is what we live within and are: More

Aída Chávez (2019-08-29). Senate Democrats' Campaign Arm Is Pressuring Consultants Not to Work With Leading Progressive Candidate in Colorado. theintercept.com Andrew Romanoff said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee pressured a number of firms not to work with his Senate campaign.

Suyapa Portillo Villeda (2019-08-29). Under the U.S. Eye: When is the Time for Honduran Democracy? counterpunch.org A U.S. Federal court released documents in which a known narcotrafficker, Don H, implicated Honduran elites and politicians in the drug business. Most untenable is the revelation that the sitting president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, took drug money as bribes for himself and the Nationalist party. More

RT (2019-08-29). #Resistance goes nuts over Trump axing automatic citizenship for kids born overseas. Only he didn't. rt.com Mainstream media, Democrats, and #Resistance Twitter have united to eviscerate a change to citizenship policy regarding children of overseas-deployed military members. The only problem is, they're all reading the policy wrong. | US Citizenship and Immigration Services released an update to its policies on how citizenship is assigned to children of American citizens born overseas on Wednesday. The admittedly confusing document centered on the definition of the term 'residence' and how it figures in the transmission of citizenship from parents to child — a potentially thorny subject, given the Trump adminis…

Tim Libretti (2019-08-29). Is socialism really about "free stuff"? peoplesworld.org We hear a lot about progressive Democrats campaigning on platforms promising "free stuff" to voters: free healthcare, free college, free childcare, and so on. Critics love to take these progressives to task, as if it's some kind of "gotcha" moment, pointing out that obviously none of this stuff will be "free." Or else they take progressives …

H. Claire Brown (2019-08-29). How Ohio's Chamber of Commerce Killed an Anti-Pollution Bill of Rights. theintercept.com Emails reveal that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce enlisted a key Republican lawmaker in a successful effort to nullify the Lake Erie Bill of Rights.

George Ochenski (2019-08-29). Environmental Collaborators, Hang Your Heads in Shame. counterpunch.org The so-called "collaborative" movement in Montana was launched as the Consensus Council about 25 years ago during the administration of Republican Gov. Marc Racicot. Its task, supposedly, was to find solutions to thorny natural resource issues. Its members were hand-picked by Racicot to represent industry and other "stakeholders," and of course the outcomes were predictably More

Eds. (2019-08-29). The quiet death of the "white Bernie bro" attack. mronline.org A majority of Sanders supporters are non-white, in contrast to all the other top tier candidates, including Kamala Harris. | Source

Norman Solomon (2019-08-29). With Sanders and Warren Surging, Is Wall Street's 2020 Nightmare Coming True? commondreams.org In this file photo taken on July 30, 2019 Democratic presidential hopefuls US Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders (L) and US Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren hug after participating in the first round of the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/sanders_warren.jpg

Norman Solomon (2019-08-29). The Primary Contradiction: Corporate Power vs. Progressive Populism. indybay.org Political investors worry about Biden…

Ronnie Cummins (2019-08-29). Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal is a Game-Changer for Food & Farming. commondreams.org Bernie will lead our country to enact the Green New Deal and bring the world together to defeat the existential threat of climate change. (Photo: Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/sunflower_sunset_landscape_1200x630_0.jpeg

Philip Giraldi (2019-08-29). Lying for Israel: Why Nearly Everyone in Washington Does It. globalresearch.ca It is not often that one hears anything like the truth in today's Washington, a city where the art of dissimulation has reached new heights among both Democrats and Republicans. Everyone who has not been asleep like Rip Van Winkle …

Graham Vanbergen (2019-08-29). Authoritarianism in Britain: Johnson's Attempt to Whittle away Democracy. globalresearch.ca I've been warning about this for a few years now. Authoritarianism in Britain is now the new norm and people are not calling out for what it really is. | Britain, exuding all the pomposity of a tolerant, strong and stable …

commondreams (2019-08-29). Vicious Attack Against Pro-Democracy Protest Organizer in Hong Kong. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Pamela Sexton (2019-08-29). Timor-Leste (East Timor): From Genocide to Democracy. indybay.org Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060…

Anna Massoglia and Karl Evers-Hillstrom (2019-08-29). New 'dark money' group devotes multi-million dollar budget to ads helping Democrats. nationofchange.org A new "dark money" group funded by secret donors plans to spend almost all of its $10.4 million budget on ads helping Democrats in House races heading into 2020. House Majority Forward was quietly incorporated in March but operated under the radar until its public launch in July as a new 501(c)(4) arm of House Majority …

WSWS (2019-08-29). Italy's Five Star populists and social democrats try to form shaky coalition government. wsws.org The alliance is an attempt to prevent early elections and clear the way for an austerity budget to impose deeper cuts on the working class.

Emily Apple (2019-08-29). Radio 4 might have you reaching for the sick bucket. But John Mcdonnell nails why it's done us a favour. thecanary.co Radio 4's Today programme on 29 August might have had people reaching for the sick bucket. John Humphrys held a sycophantic interview with Jacob Rees-Mogg where the MP dismissed the outrage people are feeling at the suspension of parliament as a "candyfloss of outrage". | Luckily, shadow chancellor John McDonnell was on hand to point out why the interview might have done us all a favour: | Let me thank Boris Johnson or Cummings or whoever decided to put up Jacob Rees Mogg for the BBC's Today programme. He displayed their arrogant, "born to rule", contempt for our Parliament democracy, for many of his colleagues a…

Staff (2019-08-29). "Pan-African Social Ecology" Illustrates Liberation in Direct Democracy. truthout.org | | History is made in the "nooks, crannies, and margins of empire," writes Modibo Kadalie, a lifelong organizer, grassroots historian and author of the forthcoming book, Pan-African Social Ecology from On Our Own Authority! Publishing. | Kadalie and editor Andrew Zonneveld have compiled a short book of speeches, conversations and essays on pan-Africanism, national liberation and environmental movements. The collection of Kadalie's work is vast in…

teleSUR (2019-08-29). Italy's President Allows 5-Star's Conte to Form New Gov't With PD. telesurenglish.net Italy's President asked Giuseppe Conte to head up a coalition of the 5-Star Movement and opposition Democratic Party (PD) Thursday, a move could that could improve Italy's fractious relations with the European Union. | RELATED: | Italy: 'Mare Jonio' Vessel Rescues a Hundred African Migrants | Markets welcomed the prospect of a quick end to a three-week-l…

Eloise Todd (2019-08-29). A Pro-Democracy Movement Against Boris Johnson Has Been Born—Are You With Us? commondreams.org Boris Johnson thinks he can trample over the little people in the country like he's falling out of an Oxford Union bar trussed up in full Bullingdon gear, giddy with the power he has always expected to wield. (Photo: BackBoris2012/cc/flickr) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/boooris.jpeg

teleSUR (2019-08-29). Belarus Wants to Reset Diplomatic Ties With US: Lukashenko. telesurenglish.net The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, met with the U.S. National Security Official, John Bolton, in the capital city of Minsk Thursday as the two nations seek to strengthen their diplomatic ties. | RELATED: | Bolton Bemoans Venezuela's Upcoming Democratic Elections | During Bolton's visit, Lukashenko expressed Belarus' desire to 'reset' relations with the United States, despite Minsk's close ties with Russia. | "Despite all the noise around your visit, there is a lot of pos…

Sarah Abed (2019-08-29). Syrian Army Liberates Entire Hama Governorate and Idlib's Khan Sheikhoun. globalresearch.ca Last week the town of Khan Sheikhoun was finally liberated by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), led by the Tiger Forces and Republican Guard. Earlier this month a truce was entered into force in Idlib. It was understood that if …

Staff (2019-08-29). Sanders and Warren Back Legalization of Injection Sites for Drug Users. truthout.org | | Ryan Hampton has a message for politicians and the rest of us: He would have entered recovery much earlier if there were a safe consumption site in Los Angeles, where he struggled with heroin addiction for years. | Safe consumption sites, also known as overdose prevention sites, safe injection sites and supervised consumption services, are clinical but community-oriented spaces where people are provided clean supplies to use drugs, typically by injection, under the supervision of medical sta…

Network in Defense of Humanity (2019-08-29). Let's Save the Amazon! Let's Save the Planet! globalresearch.ca "Tomorrow will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago." Fidel Castro Ruz, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 12, 1992 | The Network in Defense of Humanity joins the …

Joan Walsh (2019-08-29). Kirsten Gillibrand Leaves the 2020 Race With No Apologies. thenation.com Kirsten Gillibrand Leaves the 2020 Race With No Apologies…

Staff (2019-08-29). Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Arrives in NYC to Fight "Biggest Crisis Humanity Has Ever Faced" democracynow.org Following weeks of anticipation, Swedish climate justice activist Greta Thunberg arrived on the shores of Lower Manhattan Wednesday afternoon after a 15-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in an emissions-free yacht. She was welcomed on land by hundreds of supporters at the North Cove Marina. As Thunberg's yacht sailed over the horizon and past the Statue of Liberty, youth climate activists chanted "The sea levels are rising, and so are we!" and "We are unstoppable! Another world is possible!" The 16-year-old climate activist is kickstarting a months-long tour of the Americas. For her first action, she will be j…

Staff (2019-08-29). Remembering Legendary Peace Activist Frances Crowe, Who Died at 100 After Decades of Resisting War. democracynow.org The legendary peace activist Frances Crowe died this week at the age of 100 in Northampton, Massachusetts. Over the past seven decades, Frances had been arrested countless times while protesting war, nuclear weapons, nuclear power and the construction of new pipelines. She is survived by her two sons, a daughter and an international community of peace activists. We revisit a 2005 interview of Francis Crowe by Amy Goodman, and recognize her lifetime of advocacy.

Staff (2019-08-29). Boris Johnson Suspends Parliament Ahead of Brexit in "Shameless and Brazen Attack" on U.K. Democracy. democracynow.org The United Kingdom is in uproar after Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked the queen to prorogue, or suspend, Parliament from mid-September to mid-October, leaving little time for lawmakers to avoid a disastrous no-deal Brexit when the country exits the European Union on October 31. Thousands took to the streets in London and across the country Wednesday to protest the move. We speak with Ash Sarkar, senior editor at Novara Media, who describes Johnson's latest move as unprecedented, calling it "the most shameless and brazen attack on the British democratic process" in decades. "The unspoken rule of the British con…

Staff (2019-08-29). Headlines for August 29, 2019. democracynow.org EPA to Roll Back Methane Regulations in Blow to Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Trump Moves to Allow Logging in World's Largest Intact Temperate Rainforest, Hurricane Dorian Gains Strength, Threatens Bahamas & Florida, Swedish Youth Climate Justice Activist Greta Thunberg Arrives in NYC After 15-Day Boat Trip, Gillibrand Drops Out of 2020 Race as Just 10 Dems Qualify for Sept. Debate, Thousands Protest "Coup" in U.K. as Boris Johnson Suspends Parliament Ahead of Brexit, New Coalition Government May Be Formed in Italy, Italian Humanitarian Ship Rescues 100 Migrants Off Coast of Libya, Separatists & Government-B…

Staff (2019-08-29). Boris Johnson Suspends Parliament Ahead of Brexit in Attack on UK Democracy. truthout.org | | The United Kingdom is in uproar after Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked the queen to prorogue, or suspend, Parliament from mid-September to mid-October, leaving little time for lawmakers to avoid a disastrous no-deal Brexit when the country exits the European Union on October 31. Thousands took to the streets in London and across the country Wednesday to protest the move. We speak with Ash Sarkar, senior editor at Novara Media, who describes Johnson's latest move as unprecedented, calling…

WSWS (2019-08-29). Johnson to suspend UK parliament to push through Brexit in a major assault on democratic rule. wsws.org Johnson's efforts to bypass parliament and govern by executive fiat are part of an international turn toward dictatorial forms of rule throughout the world.

Ed Sykes (2019-08-29). Unelected UK leaders make a mockery of global posturing about 'democracy'. thecanary.co By moving to suspend parliament, the UK's unelected prime minister Boris Johnson is making a mockery of the country's global posturing about 'democracy'. | One journalist summed this up perfectly, saying: | Boris Johnson unlike @NicolasMaduro has never been elected to lead any country & as he was…

Christine Owens (2019-08-29). Democracy Needs Unions. commondreams.org We've seen what happens when huge corporations, and the politicians beholden to them, wield all the political power. (Photo: Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2019-08-29_at_10.36.57_am.png

Carlos Figueroa (2019-08-29). The Puerto Rico Crisis: A Reflection of a Flawed US Democracy. commondreams.org San Juan, Puerto Rico/USA in July 2019 (Photo: © Osvaldo Olmos / Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2019-08-29_at_10.29.58_am.png

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2019-08-29). 'Stain on Public Service': Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out Fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer for Helping Lyft Fight Against California Labor Bill. commondreams.org New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out former Sen. Barbara Boxer on Twitter Thursday for helping the ride-hailing company Lyft fight against a proposed state-level bill in California that aims to expand workers' benefits and rights. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/ocasio_cortez_0_0_1.png

Mehdi Hasan (2019-08-28). When Ilhan Omar Is Accused of Anti-Semitism, It's News. When a Republican Smears Muslims, There's Silence. theintercept.com Rep. Ilhan Omar participates in a panel discussion during the Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy Conference and Presidential Forum at the National Housing Center in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 2019. | the Benjamins, baby." | That is, of course, what Rep. Ilhan Omar famously tweeted on February 10, in response to a tweet from my colleague Glenn Greenwald decrying "how much time U.S. political leaders spend defending a foreign nation" — namely, the state of Israel. Then, when a journalist followed up by asking Omar w…

Chauncey K. Robinson (2019-08-28). 'Seducing and Killing Nazis' challenges us to resist, not adapt to, fascism. peoplesworld.org The book Seducing and Killing Nazis is essential reading because there's nothing "normal" about Nazis. From past to present, they are a group of people who support the genocide of others based on hate and the idea of "white pride." There's nothing "normal" about fascist regimes; they stamp out democracy and encourage suppression. Yet, in …

Fidel Castro Ruz (2019-08-28). Fidel Castro's prescient warning on climate change. liberationnews.org Fidel Castro Ruz, historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, warned almost 30 years ago that collective and urgent action was needed to combat the destruction of the Earth's environment.

teleSUR (2019-08-28). Gabbard Doesn't Qualify for 3rd Democratic Presidential Debate. telesurenglish.net United States Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard fell short to qualify for the third Democratic presidential debate which will take place on Sept. 12 -13 in Texas, a campaign spokesperson informed Wednesday. | RELATED: | Sanders, Warren Surge to Tie Biden Atop Dem 2020 Primary: Poll | However, and despite missing the mark, the spokesperson said Gabbard will not fall out of the Democratic presidential nomination. | "I would have liked to have been on that stage, but that'

Ramzy Baroud (2019-08-28). Humanity Denied: What Is Missing from the Omar, Tlaib Story. dissidentvoice.org Israel's decision to bar two United States Democratic Representatives, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, from entering Israel and visiting Palestine has further exposed the belligerent, racist nature of the Israeli government. But our understanding of the Israeli decision, and the massive controversy and discussion it generated, should not stop there. Palestinians, who have been at …

WSWS (2019-08-28). Sri Lankan PM backs Indian repression in Kashmir. wsws.org The support for New Delhi's anti-democratic measures in J&K reflects the fact that all factions of Sri Lanka's ruling elite are moving towards the imposition of dictatorial rule.

Fréa Lockley (2019-08-28). Corbyn slams Johnson's 'threat to our democracy'. thecanary.co Jeremy Corbyn has slammed Boris Johnson's "reckless" government as a "threat to our democracy". | "This is an outrage": | On 28 August, Johnson triggered a process to suspend parliament. MPs return from summer recess on 3 September. But with Johnson's call for a Queen's Speech to take place on 1…

United Nations (2019-08-28). Corruption undermines democracy and contributes to instability, warns senior UN anti-crime official. un.org Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability, Mirella Dummar-Frahi, Civil Society Team Leader at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned at the UN Civil Society Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Fight Back (2019-08-28). Israeli drone attack on Beirut suburb. fightbacknews.org Washington, DC – Israel launched a drone attack in Beirut's southern suburb, Dahiyeh, August 24, targeting the media offices of the national democratic political party Hezbollah. Lebanese politicians denounced the attacks as "acts of war," and Hezbollah stated it will respond. | Hezbollah reports that one of the Israelis drones exploded and the other did not – due to a technical failure. Of the drone that failed to blow up, Hezbollah stated "it was laden with a bomb which was professionally wrapped and isolated," made up of C4 explosives. | In recent days, Israel has launched attacks on Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and ea…

John Nichols (2019-08-28). How Democrats Can Win Back Rural Wisconsin. thenation.com How Democrats Can Win Back Rural Wisconsin…

Julie Kohler (2019-08-28). The Republican Party's White Women Problem. thenation.com The Republican Party's White Women Problem…

Staff (2019-08-28). How Bolsonaro's Climate Change Denial & Anti-Indigenous Policies Led to Massive Fires in the Amazon. democracynow.org In Brazil, fires continue to rage in the Amazon, and new drone footage shows the smoke and flames gathering strength. A vast plume of smoke has spread across South America and the Atlantic Ocean and is visible from space. The fires are also destroying large swaths of land in Bolivia. The fires are unprecedented in recorded history, and environmentalists say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers. So far this year, there have been nearly 73,000 fires in Brazil, with over half of them in the Amazon region — an 83% increase from the same period last year. Far-right Brazil…

Staff (2019-08-28). "We're in a Crisis of Deaths": Migrant Death Toll Tops 900 in Mediterranean as 40 Die Off Libya. democracynow.org At least 40 refugees and migrants are feared dead off of the coast of Libya after a boat carrying dozens of people en route to Europe capsized Tuesday morning in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Libyan coast guard, some 65 migrants and refugees, mostly from Sudan, were rescued with the help of local fishermen. With Tuesday's tragedy, the number of migrants and refugees who have lost their lives this year in the Mediterranean en route to Europe is up to 900. Meanwhile, far-right European leaders like Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini continue to criminalize refugees and migrants, as well as humanitar…

Staff (2019-08-28). Airstrikes in Lebanon, Syria & Iraq Mark Dangerous Escalation in Decades-Long Israeli Aggression. democracynow.org Tensions are mounting across the Middle East following a series of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Lebanese President Michel Aoun likened the recent Israeli attacks to a "declaration of war." Israeli drones bombed targets in Lebanon on both Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, some Iraqi lawmakers are calling on the United States to fully withdraw its troops following a series of Israeli air raids conducted by Israel. Israel has only claimed responsibility for an attack on Syria Saturday, which they said targeted an Iranian-operated base that was preparing to launch a drone assault on Israel. We speak wi…

Al Neal (2019-08-28). Democratic crisis: U.K. parliament forced to shut down. peoplesworld.org British Prime Minister Boris Johnson schemed and outflanked anti-Brexit lawmakers and political opponents Wednesday by cutting down their time to block a no-deal Brexit before the Oct. 31 withdrawal deadline, winning Queen Elizabeth II's approval to suspend Parliament. The maneuver effectively shuts down the U.K. government, similar to what occurs when U.S. lawmakers fail to …

WSWS (2019-08-28). Washington invokes "domestic terrorism" to justify police state rule. wsws.org Trump and the Democrats' threats to create a new apparatus to combat "domestic terrorism" is part of renewed plans to violently strangle the class struggle.

Ryan Grim (2019-08-27). A Top Financier of Trump and McConnell Is a Driving Force Behind Amazon Deforestation. theintercept.com Steve Schwarzman is the CEO of the Blackstone Group, which partially owns a Brazilian firm that is helping transform the Amazon from jungle to farmland.

Makasi Motema (2019-08-27). Protesters tell Greyhound, ICE off our buses! workers.org About 200 demonstrators gathered Aug. 23 outside Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal, demanding an end to collaboration between Greyhound Lines, Inc. and Customs and Border Patrol agents, who have been illegally boarding buses to racially profile and detain migrants. The protest was the result of a month of planning by . . . | Continue reading Protesters tell Greyhound, ICE off our buses! at Workers.org

ACLU (2019-08-27). New Resource Tool Sheds Light on Government's Prepublication Review System. aclu.org Millions of current and former government employees are subjected to this far-reaching censorship system. | This piece was originally published in Just Security. | For more than three years, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University have been litigating a series of Freedom of Information Act requests relating to "prepublication review." Under this far-reaching censorship system, millions of current and former government employees, con…

Staff (2019-08-27). "This Ruling Is Huge": Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $572 Million for Fueling Opioid Epidemic. democracynow.org In a landmark ruling, an Oklahoma judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for contributing to the state's opioid crisis. It marks the first time a drug company has been held responsible for the opioid crisis, though it fell far short of the $17 billion judgment sought by the state. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 400,000 people died from an overdose involving opioids from 1999 to 2017, including from prescription and illicit opioids. Court documents say more than 6,000 people have died of painkiller overdoses in Oklahoma alone. The Oklahoma ruling sets the stage…

Staff (2019-08-27). "Kochland": How David Koch Helped Build an Empire to Shape U.S. Politics & Thwart Climate Action. democracynow.org Billionaire conservative donor David Koch died Friday at the age of 79 from prostate cancer. David Koch — who was worth some $42 billion — and his brother Charles poured massive amounts of money into funding climate change denial through conservative think tanks and politicians. The Koch brothers founded the political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity in 2004, which is credited with turning the "tea party" into a full-fledged political movement. They also backed "right-to-work" efforts, which aim to weaken labor rights and quash union membership. The brothers made their fortune running Koch Indu…

Staff (2019-08-27). Headlines for August 27, 2019. democracynow.org Oklahoma Wins Case Against Johnson & Johnson as Court Finds Pharma Giant Fueled State's Opioid Crisis, Brazil Rejects G7 Amazon Aid Amid Mounting Environmental Disaster, Prosecutors Investigate After Gov't Ignored Warnings About Planned Amazon Fires, Trump Dismisses Wind Power Again at G7 as WH Walks Back Comments on Kim Jong-un, Lebanon Says Air Attacks Over Weekend Amount to "Declaration of War" from Israel, U.N. Says Floods in Sudan a "Humanitarian Emergency" as Death Toll Tops 60 People, Iran Sentences Journalist and Activist Marzieh Amiri to 10 Years & 148 Lashes, 19 States and D.C. Sue to Block Trump's Term…

Ken Freeland (2019-08-26). Rogues' Gallery: A Sober Look at the "Progressive" Democratic Presidential Candidates. mintpressnews.com Unless someone new enters the race or one of the existing candidates is stricken on the road to Damascus, there will be no genuinely progressive foreign policy offered by either of the two major political parties in the 2020 presidential election.

Akela Lacy (2019-08-26). Before Kamala Harris Soured on Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All Bill, She Grew Her Email List From It. theintercept.com Kamala Harris distanced herself from Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All bill at an event with large-dollar donors two weeks after her campaign ran those ads.

Staff (2019-08-26). Unreported Deaths, Child Cancer & Radioactive Meat: The Untold Story of Chernobyl. democracynow.org Following a mysterious nuclear accident in Russia that left seven dead, we look back at the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. It sent a cloud of radioactive fallout into Russia, Belarus and over a large portion of Europe, but the death toll from Chernobyl remains unknown. Chernobyl is considered the worst nuclear accident in history, but Kate Brown, an MIT professor of science, technology and society, says much of what we understand about the disaster is inaccurate. Her new book, "Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future," chronicles the devastating and underreported impact of radiation on tens of t…

Staff (2019-08-26). Mysterious Russian Nuclear Missile Accident Sparks Fears of Cover-Up & "Chernobyl Redux" democracynow.org Questions are swirling over a mysterious nuclear accident in northern Russia on August 8. Seven people, including five nuclear scientists, died in an explosion, which caused a radiation spike in the surrounding area — and possibly as far as Scandinavia. U.S. experts suspect the explosion was caused during a test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Russia initially denied a radiation leak, but earlier today its state weather agency confirmed radioactive isotopes have been found in test samples in the city of Severodvinsk near the military test range. Norway's nuclear test ban monitor now believes two explos…

Staff (2019-08-26). "The Situation Was Very Bad": Feminist Activist Kavita Krishnan on What She Saw in Kashmir. democracynow.org In Kashmir, residents have entered their fourth week of a severe lockdown after India revoked the special status of the Indian-controlled part of the Muslim-majority territory. On August 5, India imposed a curfew and cut off all communications to the region. More than 4,000 people, including many political leaders, have been detained, while local residents report facing increasing shortages of food and medicine. Over the weekend, India blocked a delegation of Indian opposition politicians from visiting Kashmir, including Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Indian National Congress. India's actions have led…

Staff (2019-08-26). Headlines for August 26, 2019. democracynow.org World Leaders Pledge Amazon Help as Trump Sends Mixed Signals About China at G7 Summit, Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif Makes Surprise Appearance at G7 to Hold Talks with European Officials, Protesters Call Out G7 Leaders over Corporate Ties, Climate Inaction and Inequality, Wildfires Continue to Consume Amazon as Public Outrage Grows, Police Deploy Water Cannons, Fire a Live Warning Shot at Hong Kong Protesters, Attacks in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq Add to Mounting Tensions in Middle East, EU Countries Say They Will Relocate Migrants Stranded on Ship After 2-Week Standoff, 200,000 Rohingya Refugees March for "Genocid…

Staff (2019-08-25). Why is the Far-Right Rising Globally? (1/2). therealnews.com Walden Bello, author of "Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far-Right," argues that the far-right is in ascendancy at the moment not only in reaction to the failures of neoliberalism, but also because of the failures of liberal democracy…

unitedEditor (2019-08-25). Qatar pulls its Turkish investments. uwidata.com Erdoƒüan Toprak, the chief adviser to the chairman of the People's Republican Party (CHP) and the parliamentary deputy from the province of Istanbul, prepared a report on the issue of Qatari investments, which, in recent years, have been increasingly discussed throughout Turkey. According to the Turkish Ministry of Economy, from 2002 to March 2017, Qatar …

Jason Hirthler (2019-08-25). Lies of the Victors. dissidentvoice.org Julian Barnes' Man Booker Prize winning novel, The Sense of an Ending, reads as a meditation on the reliability of memory. Or even as a bill of indictments against the self-serving selectivity of memory. The book beautifully, if kaleidoscopically, reveals how an older man misremembers events of his youth, how his memories cast him in …

Aída Chávez (2019-08-24). National Democrats Endorse John Hickenlooper, a Proponent of Fracking, in Competitive Colorado Primary. theintercept.com In Colorado, nearly a dozen Democrats are vying for the opportunity to take on Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020 — a race widely seen as the party's most promising pick-up in the Senate. One of the leading contenders, former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, is running on a platform that includes Medicare for All and an aggressive plan to combat the climate crisis — and his campaign has already topped $1 million in fundraising. | But the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has thrown its weight behind former Gov. John Hickenlooper, a pro-fracking moderate. After months of rejecting calls…

Rachel M. Cohen (2019-08-23). How Democrats Plan to Win Wisconsin in 2020. theintercept.com Democrats, labor unions, and progressive groups are investing heavily in new organizing techniques in Wisconsin, where electoral victory is considered crucial to the party's path to the White House. They are hoping to boost voter turnout in a state that the national party took for granted in 2016. | The efforts, spearheaded by Wisconsin leaders and liberal donors across the country, include massive new investments in field organizing, a targeted focus on communities of color, and capitalizing on the Democratic Party convention that will be held in Milwaukee next July. | "I think the whole country recognizes that…

Staff (2019-08-23). Sen. Merkley on the Dangers of a New Nuclear Arms Race & Why He Backs the Green New Deal. democracynow.org Fallout from the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is mounting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to prepare for what he called a "symmetrical response" after the U.S. tested what it said was a nonnuclear cruise missile earlier this week. The U.S. launch was the first test of its kind since the Trump administration withdrew from the INF. We speak to Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon about U.S. nuclear policy, as well as the Green New Deal, President Trump's wish to buy Greenland and more.

Staff (2019-08-23). Sen. Merkley Condemns Trump's War Against Migrant Families as U.S. Moves to Indefinitely Jail Kids. democracynow.org The Trump administration is moving to indefinitely detain migrant children and their families, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to issue a new rule today to withdraw from a 1997 federal court settlement known as the Flores agreement, which put a 20-day limit on migrant family detentions. We speak with Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who made headlines last year when he was barred from entering an old Walmart where the government was detaining about 1,500 immigrant children in Brownsville, Texas.

Staff (2019-08-23). "Our House Is On Fire": Brazil Faces Global Outrage as Massive Fires Spread in Amazon Rainforest. democracynow.org The United Nations is calling for the protection of the Amazon amid fears that thousands of fires raging across Brazil and some parts of Bolivia are rapidly destroying the world's largest rainforest and paving the way for a climate catastrophe. The fires have spread a vast plume of smoke across South America and the Atlantic Ocean that's visible from space. They're unprecedented in recorded history, and environmentalists say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers. Indigenous people in Brazil have accused far-right President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the destruction. Bols…

Staff (2019-08-23). Headlines for August 23, 2019. democracynow.org U.N. Calls for Protection of the Amazon as Rainforest Burns at Record Pace, Indigenous Communities Say Brazil's President Is Encouraging Destruction of Forests, Bernie Sanders Unveils Ambitious Green New Deal to Avert Climate Catastrophe, Democratic Leaders Reject Resolution Calling for Candidate Climate Debate, French Authorities to Crack Down on Protest as 13,000 Police Mobilize for G7 Summit, Syrian Forces Encircle Last Major Rebel-Held Stronghold in Hama Province, U.N.: Burmese Troops Had "Genocidal Intent" in Targeting Rohingya for Sexual Violence, Indonesia Deploys Troops to Quell Independence Protests in W…

Kate Aronoff (2019-08-22). Bernie Sanders's Climate Plan Is More Radical Than His Opponents' — And More Likely to Succeed. theintercept.com The $16.3 trillion plan would not only transition American society away from fossil fuels but renegotiate decades-old nostrums about the government's role in the economy.

Staff (2019-08-22). DNC Rejects Call for a Climate Debate. therealnews.com Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials reversed the previous ban on candidates participating in non-sanctioned climate forums, but Carmen Bouquin of the Sunrise Movement says that's not enough…

Staff (2019-08-22). Warren Apologizes to Native Americans; Sanders Backs Rescinding Medals for Wounded Knee Massacre. democracynow.org This week 10 Democratic candidates and one independent in the 2020 presidential race, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, addressed indigenous communities at the first-ever Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa. During the two-day event, candidates individually answered questions from a panel of tribal leaders and Native American youth and elders on issues including treaty rights, voter suppression, and murdered and missing indigenous women.

Staff (2019-08-22). 2020 Candidates Address Historical Trauma, Missing Indigenous Women & More at Native American Forum. democracynow.org Following this week's historic Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, we speak with Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today and moderator of the Native American voter forum; Christine Nobiss, director of Seeding Sovereignty's SHIFT project; and Mark Charles, independent candidate for president, Native American activist and writer. They respond to the candidates' proposals to tackle issues affecting the Native American community, including the chronic murder and disappearance of Native American girls and women, land sovereignty, and generational trauma caused by colonialism.

Staff (2019-08-22). Headlines for August 22, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Administration Proposes Jailing Migrant Families Indefinitely, Federal Budget Deficit to Top $1 Trillion in 2020, Satellite Data Show Brazilian Amazon Burning at Record Pace, Brazilian President Bolsonaro Blames Environmentalists for Amazon Fires, Wildfires Rage in Alaska, Canary Islands, Siberia and Greenland, Gov. Jay Inslee, Champion of Climate Fight, Drops 2020 Presidential Bid, Activists Disrupt Event Honoring House Speaker Pelosi to Demand Trump's Impeachment, Abdalla Hamdok Sworn In as Sudan's Prime Minister, Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activists Mark Anniversary of Subway Attack, Mexico's Zapatistas Exp…

Alan MacLeod (2019-08-21). 'Pragmatic': How Corporate Media Praise Dems Who Abandon Progressive Values. fair.org Pragmatic (adjective): solving problems in a sensible way that suits the conditions that really exist now, rather than obeying fixed theories, ideas or rules. | — The battle for the Democratic presidential nomination is dominating the news cycle, and two of the three clear frontrunners in polls, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, d…

Naomi Klein (2019-08-21). Why the Democratic National Committee Must Change the Rules and Hold a Climate Debate. theintercept.com A girl holds a sign that reads "pull the emergency brake" at a ceremony to commemorate the Okjà∂kull glacier in Iceland, on Aug. 18, 2019. | recorded in human history. You are meeting on the same week that smoke from a record number of wildfires in the Amazon rainforest turned day into night in the Brazilian megapolis of Sà£o Paulo. And you are meeting just days after Iceland's prime minister led her country in its first ACLU (2019-08-21). An Arizona Law Requires Surveillance of People Who Are Presumed Innocent. aclu.org The government cannot take shortcuts around constitutional rights. | A pillar of our democracy is the presumption of innocence: before a person has been convicted of a crime, they are considered completely innocent under the law. Yet across the country, people who have not been convicted are punished—both explicitly and implicitly—based on the mistaken assumption that they are dangerous, purely on the basis of an accusation. We do not live in a society where you can be incarcerated or monitored simply because you have been accused of a crime. Doing so violates constitutional rights, fuels mass incarce…

Staff (2019-08-21). Meet Alvaro Enciso, the Artist Placing Crosses in Sonoran Desert to Memorialize Migrant Deaths. democracynow.org More than 3,000 human remains have been found in the Sonoran Desert, most of them of migrants fleeing their home countries to embark on an uncertain and perilous journey to the United States. On a recent visit to the Arizona borderlands, Democracy Now! accompanied Tucson-based artist Alvaro Enciso into the desert at the site where he placed four unique markers to honor four immigrants killed in a car accident years ago as they fled from Border Patrol. In the past five years, Enciso, who is originally from Colombia, has built and installed over 900 crosses across the treacherous Sonoran Desert in Arizona as part o…

Staff (2019-08-21). Over 500 Lawsuits Already Filed Days After Child Victims Act in New York Goes into Effect. democracynow.org This is Part 2 of our conversation with two New York state legislators, Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, who helped pass the Child Victims Act in New York. The state law, which went into effect last week, extends the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse and includes a "lookback period," giving survivors of any age a year to take legal action even if their cases had expired under the old statute of limitations. Over 500 lawsuits have already been filed. Both Biaggi and Niou are sexual abuse survivors, and they have spoken about the importance of the Child Victims Act in personal…

Staff (2019-08-21). Headlines for August 21, 2019. democracynow.org Amazon Wildfires Spark Fears of Environmental Disaster as Sà£o Paulo Goes Dark from Smoke, Trump Expected to End Flores Agreement, Slashing Protections for Child Migrants, CBP Will Not Vaccinate Jailed Migrants as Doctors Say At Least 3 Detained Children Died from Flu, Lawsuits Allege "Torture" in Migrant Jails and Child Abuse in Foster Care, Italy in Turmoil as Prime Minister Resigns, Migrants Disembark from Rescue Ship in Italy After Being Stranded at Sea for 3 Weeks, Trump Cancels Denmark Visit over Refusal to Discuss Selling Greenland, Trump Attacks Tlaib & Omar, Says Jews Are "Disloyal" If They Vote De…

unitedEditor (2019-08-20). Hong Kong: Flashpoint of Class Struggle in China. uwidata.com What began as isolated protests against a standard criminal-extradition law has somehow erupted into a violent fury throughout Hong Kong. The Chinese city's American-and-British-flag-waving protesters are, on the one hand, calling for "freedom, human rights, and democracy" while, on the other, assaulting police and even random bystanders alike. Western media have already been on the …

Brad Bennett (2019-08-20). Maryland teacher incorporates hard lessons about slavery into public school curriculum. splcenter.org At a workshop for teachers about educating children on American slavery, one instructor grew angry and insisted that Thomas Jefferson — who fathered biracial children with an enslaved woman on one of his plantations — was an advocate for racial equality.

Common Dreams (2019-08-20). Joe Biden's Wife Says Vote for Husband Even If You Like Other Candidates More. theantimedia.com "Jill Biden may have settled for her husband, but I'm not sure why anyone else should."

Eoin Higgins (2019-08-01). Kamala Harris Team Accused of "Inventing Conspiracies" About Tulsi Gabbard. theantimedia.com The Kamala Harris' campaign jumped to tie Gabbard and her campaign to a nebulously defined and unclear Russian conspiracy.

2019-08-29: Social Media Postees

With Sanders and Warren Surging, Is Wall Street's 2020 Nightmare Coming True?
Norman Solomon | commondreams.org | 2019-08-29
In this file photo taken on July 30, 2019 Democratic presidential hopefuls US Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders (L) and US Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren hug after participating in the first round of the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/sanders_warren.jpg
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/29/sanders-and-warren-surging-wall-streets-2020-nightmare-coming-true?cd-origin=rss

Wall Street's Worst Nightmare for 2020 Is Coming True
Norman Solomon | truthdig.com | 2019-08-29
For the plutocrats who see Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as the greatest threat to their bottom line, this summer has gotten a bit scary.
truthdig.com/articles/wall-streets-worst-2020-nightmare-is-coming-true/

The Primary Contradiction: Corporate Power vs. Progressive Populism
Norman Solomon | indybay.org | 2019-08-29
Political investors worry about Biden…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/08/29/18825800.php

Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal is a Game-Changer for Food & Farming
Ronnie Cummins | commondreams.org | 2019-08-29
Bernie will lead our country to enact the Green New Deal and bring the world together to defeat the existential threat of climate change. (Photo: Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/sunflower_sunset_landscape_1200x630_0.jpeg
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/29/bernie-sanders-green-new-deal-game-changer-food-farming?cd-origin=rss

Lying for Israel: Why Nearly Everyone in Washington Does It
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-29
It is not often that one hears anything like the truth in today's Washington, a city where the art of dissimulation has reached new heights among both Democrats and Republicans. Everyone who has not been asleep like Rip Van Winkle …
globalresearch.ca/lying-israel-nearly-everyone-washington-does-it/5687524

Night and Day, Being and Nonbeing
Manuel García, Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-29
Matter, energy, space and time: the entirety of physical existence. Einstein unravelled their truth: they are all entwined, a four dimensional yin-yang, the image of gravity. But, what gave him pause that he could never fully overcome was the yin-yang of existence and nonexistence: quantum reality. And that is what we live within and are:…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/29/night-and-day-being-and-nonbeing/

Unelected UK leaders make a mockery of global posturing about 'democracy'
Ed Sykes | thecanary.co | 2019-08-29
By moving to suspend parliament, the UK's unelected prime minister Boris Johnson is making a mockery of the country's global posturing about 'democracy'. | One journalist summed this up perfectly, saying: | Boris Johnson unlike @NicolasMaduro has never been elected to lead any country & as he was…
thecanary.co/trending/2019/08/29/unelected-uk-leaders-make-a-mockery-of-global-posturing-about-democracy/

The Puerto Rico Crisis: A Reflection of a Flawed US Democracy
Carlos Figueroa | commondreams.org | 2019-08-29
San Juan, Puerto Rico/USA in July 2019 (Photo: © Osvaldo Olmos / Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2019-08-29_at_10.29.58_am.png
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/29/puerto-rico-crisis-reflection-flawed-us-democracy?cd-origin=rss

"Pan-African Social Ecology" Illustrates Liberation in Direct Democracy
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-29
| History is made in the "nooks, crannies, and margins of empire," writes Modibo Kadalie, a lifelong organizer, grassroots historian and author of the forthcoming book, Pan-African Social Ecology from On Our Own Authority! Publishing. | Kadalie and editor Andrew Zonneveld have compiled a short book of speeches, conversations and essays on pan-Africanism, national liberation and environmental movements. The collection of Kadalie's work is vast in…
truthout.org/articles/pan-african-social-ecology-illustrates-liberation-in-direct-democracy/

A Pro-Democracy Movement Against Boris Johnson Has Been Born—Are You With Us?
Eloise Todd | commondreams.org | 2019-08-29
Boris Johnson thinks he can trample over the little people in the country like he's falling out of an Oxford Union bar trussed up in full Bullingdon gear, giddy with the power he has always expected to wield. (Photo: BackBoris2012/cc/flickr) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/boooris.jpeg
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/29/pro-democracy-movement-against-boris-johnson-has-been-born-are-you-us?cd-origin=rss

Democracy Needs Unions
Christine Owens | commondreams.org | 2019-08-29
We've seen what happens when huge corporations, and the politicians beholden to them, wield all the political power. (Photo: Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2019-08-29_at_10.36.57_am.png
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/29/democracy-needs-unions?cd-origin=rss

New 'dark money' group devotes multi-million dollar budget to ads helping Democrats
Anna Massoglia and Karl Evers-Hillstrom | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-29
A new "dark money" group funded by secret donors plans to spend almost all of its $10.4 million budget on ads helping Democrats in House races heading into 2020. House Majority Forward was quietly incorporated in March but operated under the radar until its public launch in July as a new 501(c)(4) arm of House Majority …
nationofchange.org/2019/08/29/new-dark-money-group-devotes-multi-million-dollar-budget-to-ads-helping-democrats/

Is socialism really about "free stuff"?
Tim Libretti | peoplesworld.org | 2019-08-29
We hear a lot about progressive Democrats campaigning on platforms promising "free stuff" to voters: free healthcare, free college, free childcare, and so on. Critics love to take these progressives to task, as if it's some kind of "gotcha" moment, pointing out that obviously none of this stuff will be "free." Or else they take progressives …
peoplesworld.org/article/is-socialism-really-about-free-stuff/

Authoritarianism in Britain: Johnson's Attempt to Whittle away Democracy
Graham Vanbergen | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-29
I've been warning about this for a few years now. Authoritarianism in Britain is now the new norm and people are not calling out for what it really is. | Britain, exuding all the pomposity of a tolerant, strong and stable …
globalresearch.ca/uncivil-war-prorogue-state/5687520

Under the U.S. Eye: When is the Time for Honduran Democracy?
Suyapa Portillo Villeda | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-29
A U.S. Federal court released documents in which a known narcotrafficker, Don H, implicated Honduran elites and politicians in the drug business. Most untenable is the revelation that the sitting president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, took drug money as bribes for himself and the Nationalist party.
counterpunch.org/2019/08/29/under-the-u-s-eye-when-is-the-time-for-honduran-democracy/

Timor-Leste (East Timor): From Genocide to Democracy
Pamela Sexton | indybay.org | 2019-08-29
Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/08/26/18825734.php

Italy's President Allows 5-Star's Conte to Form New Gov't With PD
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-29
Italy's President asked Giuseppe Conte to head up a coalition of the 5-Star Movement and opposition Democratic Party (PD) Thursday, a move could that could improve Italy's fractious relations with the European Union. | RELATED: | Italy: 'Mare Jonio' Vessel Rescues a Hundred African Migrants | Markets welcomed the prospect of a quick end to a three-week-l…
telesurenglish.net/news/Italys-President-Allows-5-Stars-Conte-to-Form-New-Govt-With-PD–20190829-0019.html

Vicious Attack Against Pro-Democracy Protest Organizer in Hong Kong
commondreams.org | 2019-08-29
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2019/08/29/vicious-attack-against-pro-democracy-protest-organizer-hong-kong?cd-origin=rss

Radio 4 might have you reaching for the sick bucket. But John Mcdonnell nails why it's done us a favour
Emily Apple | thecanary.co | 2019-08-29
Radio 4's Today programme on 29 August might have had people reaching for the sick bucket. John Humphrys held a sycophantic interview with Jacob Rees-Mogg where the MP dismissed the outrage people are feeling at the suspension of parliament as a "candyfloss of outrage". | Luckily, shadow chancellor John McDonnell was on hand to point out why the interview might have done us all a favour: | Let me thank Boris Johnson or Cummings or whoever decided to put up Jacob Rees Mogg for the BBC's Today programme. He displayed their arrogant, "born to rule", contempt for our Parliament democracy, for many of his colleagues a…
thecanary.co/trending/2019/08/29/radio-4-might-have-you-reaching-for-the-sick-bucket-but-john-mcdonnell-nails-why-its-done-us-a-favour/

Italy's Five Star populists and social democrats try to form shaky coalition government
wsws.org | 2019-08-29
The alliance is an attempt to prevent early elections and clear the way for an austerity budget to impose deeper cuts on the working class.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/29/ital-a29.html

Belarus Wants to Reset Diplomatic Ties With US: Lukashenko
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-29
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, met with the U.S. National Security Official, John Bolton, in the capital city of Minsk Thursday as the two nations seek to strengthen their diplomatic ties. | RELATED: | Bolton Bemoans Venezuela's Upcoming Democratic Elections | During Bolton's visit, Lukashenko expressed Belarus' desire to 'reset' relations with the United States, despite Minsk's close ties with Russia. | "Despite all the noise around your visit, there is a lot of pos…
telesurenglish.net/news/Belarus-Wants-to-Reset-Diplomatic-Ties-With-US-Lukashenko-20190829-0003.html

#Resistance goes nuts over Trump axing automatic citizenship for kids born overseas. Only he didn't
rt.com | 2019-08-29
Mainstream media, Democrats, and #Resistance Twitter have united to eviscerate a change to citizenship policy regarding children of overseas-deployed military members. The only problem is, they're all reading the policy wrong. | US Citizenship and Immigration Services released an update to its policies on how citizenship is assigned to children of American citizens born overseas on Wednesday. The admittedly confusing document centered on the definition of the term 'residence' and how it figures in the transmission of citizenship from parents to child — a potentially thorny subject, given the Trump adminis…
rt.com/usa/467511-trump-attack-citizenship-military-mccain/

Senate Democrats' Campaign Arm Is Pressuring Consultants Not to Work With Leading Progressive Candidate in Colorado
Aída Chávez | theintercept.com | 2019-08-29
Andrew Romanoff said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee pressured a number of firms not to work with his Senate campaign.
theintercept.com/2019/08/29/dscc-colorado-senate-democrats/

How Ohio's Chamber of Commerce Killed an Anti-Pollution Bill of Rights
H. Claire Brown | theintercept.com | 2019-08-29
Emails reveal that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce enlisted a key Republican lawmaker in a successful effort to nullify the Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
theintercept.com/2019/08/29/lake-erie-bill-of-rights-ohio/

Syrian Army Liberates Entire Hama Governorate and Idlib's Khan Sheikhoun
Sarah Abed | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-29
Last week the town of Khan Sheikhoun was finally liberated by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), led by the Tiger Forces and Republican Guard. Earlier this month a truce was entered into force in Idlib. It was understood that if …
globalresearch.ca/syrian-army-liberates-hama-governorate-idlib-khan-sheikhoun/5687548

Environmental Collaborators, Hang Your Heads in Shame
George Ochenski | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-29
The so-called "collaborative" movement in Montana was launched as the Consensus Council about 25 years ago during the administration of Republican Gov. Marc Racicot. Its task, supposedly, was to find solutions to thorny natural resource issues. Its members were hand-picked by Racicot to represent industry and other "stakeholders," and of course the outcomes were predictably…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/29/environmental-collaborators-hang-your-heads-in-shame/

Sanders and Warren Back Legalization of Injection Sites for Drug Users
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-29
| Ryan Hampton has a message for politicians and the rest of us: He would have entered recovery much earlier if there were a safe consumption site in Los Angeles, where he struggled with heroin addiction for years. | Safe consumption sites, also known as overdose prevention sites, safe injection sites and supervised consumption services, are clinical but community-oriented spaces where people are provided clean supplies to use drugs, typically by injection, under the supervision of medical sta…
truthout.org/articles/sanders-and-warren-back-legalization-of-injection-sites-for-drug-users/

The quiet death of the "white Bernie bro" attack
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-08-29
A majority of Sanders supporters are non-white, in contrast to all the other top tier candidates, including Kamala Harris. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/08/29/the-quiet-death-of-the-white-bernie-bro-attack/

Let's Save the Amazon! Let's Save the Planet!
Network in Defense of Humanity | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-29
"Tomorrow will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago." Fidel Castro Ruz, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 12, 1992 | The Network in Defense of Humanity joins the …
globalresearch.ca/save-amazon-save-planet/5687505

Kirsten Gillibrand Leaves the 2020 Race With No Apologies
Joan Walsh | thenation.com | 2019-08-29
Kirsten Gillibrand Leaves the 2020 Race With No Apologies…
thenation.com/article/kirsten-gillibrand-leaves-race/

Remembering Legendary Peace Activist Frances Crowe, Who Died at 100 After Decades of Resisting War
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-29
The legendary peace activist Frances Crowe died this week at the age of 100 in Northampton, Massachusetts. Over the past seven decades, Frances had been arrested countless times while protesting war, nuclear weapons, nuclear power and the construction of new pipelines. She is survived by her two sons, a daughter and an international community of peace activists. We revisit a 2005 interview of Francis Crowe by Amy Goodman, and recognize her lifetime of advocacy.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/29/remembering_legendary_peace_activist_frances_crowe

Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Arrives in NYC to Fight "Biggest Crisis Humanity Has Ever Faced"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-29
Following weeks of anticipation, Swedish climate justice activist Greta Thunberg arrived on the shores of Lower Manhattan Wednesday afternoon after a 15-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in an emissions-free yacht. She was welcomed on land by hundreds of supporters at the North Cove Marina. As Thunberg's yacht sailed over the horizon and past the Statue of Liberty, youth climate activists chanted "The sea levels are rising, and so are we!" and "We are unstoppable! Another world is possible!" The 16-year-old climate activist is kickstarting a months-long tour of the Americas. For her first action, she will be j…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/29/greta_thunberg_nyc_climate_activists

Boris Johnson Suspends Parliament Ahead of Brexit in "Shameless and Brazen Attack" on U.K. Democracy
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-29
The United Kingdom is in uproar after Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked the queen to prorogue, or suspend, Parliament from mid-September to mid-October, leaving little time for lawmakers to avoid a disastrous no-deal Brexit when the country exits the European Union on October 31. Thousands took to the streets in London and across the country Wednesday to protest the move. We speak with Ash Sarkar, senior editor at Novara Media, who describes Johnson's latest move as unprecedented, calling it "the most shameless and brazen attack on the British democratic process" in decades. "The unspoken rule of the British con…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/29/ash_sarkar_boris_johnson_prorogation_brexit

Boris Johnson Suspends Parliament Ahead of Brexit in Attack on UK Democracy
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-29
| The United Kingdom is in uproar after Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked the queen to prorogue, or suspend, Parliament from mid-September to mid-October, leaving little time for lawmakers to avoid a disastrous no-deal Brexit when the country exits the European Union on October 31. Thousands took to the streets in London and across the country Wednesday to protest the move. We speak with Ash Sarkar, senior editor at Novara Media, who describes Johnson's latest move as unprecedented, calling…
truthout.org/video/boris-johnson-suspends-parliament-ahead-of-brexit-in-attack-on-uk-democracy/

Johnson to suspend UK parliament to push through Brexit in a major assault on democratic rule
wsws.org | 2019-08-29
Johnson's efforts to bypass parliament and govern by executive fiat are part of an international turn toward dictatorial forms of rule throughout the world.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/29/bori-a29.html

'Stain on Public Service': Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out Fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer for Helping Lyft Fight Against California Labor Bill
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-08-29
New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out former Sen. Barbara Boxer on Twitter Thursday for helping the ride-hailing company Lyft fight against a proposed state-level bill in California that aims to expand workers' benefits and rights. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/ocasio_cortez_0_0_1.png
commondreams.org/news/2019/08/29/stain-public-service-ocasio-cortez-calls-out-fellow-democrat-barbara-boxer-helping?cd-origin=rss

Gabbard Doesn't Qualify for 3rd Democratic Presidential Debate
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-28
United States Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard fell short to qualify for the third Democratic presidential debate which will take place on Sept. 12 -13 in Texas, a campaign spokesperson informed Wednesday. | RELATED: | Sanders, Warren Surge to Tie Biden Atop Dem 2020 Primary: Poll | However, and despite missing the mark, the spokesperson said Gabbard will not fall out of the Democratic presidential nomination. | "I would have liked to have been on that stage, but that'…
telesurenglish.net/news/Gabbard-Doesnt-Qualify-for-3rd-Democratic-Presidential-Debate-20190828-0029.html

Humanity Denied: What Is Missing from the Omar, Tlaib Story
Ramzy Baroud | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-28
Israel's decision to bar two United States Democratic Representatives, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, from entering Israel and visiting Palestine has further exposed the belligerent, racist nature of the Israeli government. But our understanding of the Israeli decision, and the massive controversy and discussion it generated, should not stop there. Palestinians, who have been at …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/humanity-denied-what-is-missing-from-the-omar-tlaib-story/

When Ilhan Omar Is Accused of Anti-Semitism, It's News. When a Republican Smears Muslims, There's Silence
Mehdi Hasan | theintercept.com | 2019-08-28
Rep. Ilhan Omar participates in a panel discussion during the Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy Conference and Presidential Forum at the National Housing Center in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 2019. | the Benjamins, baby." | That is, of course, what Rep. Ilhan Omar famously tweeted on February 10, in response to a tweet from my colleague Glenn Greenwald decrying "how much time U.S. political leaders spend defending a foreign nation" — namely, the state of Israel. Then, when a journalist followed up by asking Omar w…
theintercept.com/2019/08/28/when-ilhan-omar-is-accused-of-anti-semitism-its-news-when-a-republican-smears-muslims-theres-silence/

Corbyn slams Johnson's 'threat to our democracy'
Fréa Lockley | thecanary.co | 2019-08-28
Jeremy Corbyn has slammed Boris Johnson's "reckless" government as a "threat to our democracy". | "This is an outrage": | On 28 August, Johnson triggered a process to suspend parliament. MPs return from summer recess on 3 September. But with Johnson's call for a Queen's Speech to take place on 1…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/08/28/corbyn-slams-johnsons-threat-to-our-democracy/

Sri Lankan PM backs Indian repression in Kashmir
wsws.org | 2019-08-28
The support for New Delhi's anti-democratic measures in J&K reflects the fact that all factions of Sri Lanka's ruling elite are moving towards the imposition of dictatorial rule.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/28/kash-a28.html

Israeli drone attack on Beirut suburb
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-08-28
Washington, DC – Israel launched a drone attack in Beirut's southern suburb, Dahiyeh, August 24, targeting the media offices of the national democratic political party Hezbollah. Lebanese politicians denounced the attacks as "acts of war," and Hezbollah stated it will respond. | Hezbollah reports that one of the Israelis drones exploded and the other did not – due to a technical failure. Of the drone that failed to blow up, Hezbollah stated "it was laden with a bomb which was professionally wrapped and isolated," made up of C4 explosives. | In recent days, Israel has launched attacks on Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and ea…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/28/israeli-drone-attack-beirut-suburb

'Seducing and Killing Nazis' challenges us to resist, not adapt to, fascism
Chauncey K. Robinson | peoplesworld.org | 2019-08-28
The book Seducing and Killing Nazis is essential reading because there's nothing "normal" about Nazis. From past to present, they are a group of people who support the genocide of others based on hate and the idea of "white pride." There's nothing "normal" about fascist regimes; they stamp out democracy and encourage suppression. Yet, in …
peoplesworld.org/article/seducing-and-killing-nazis-challenges-us-to-resist-not-adapt-to-fascism/

Corruption undermines democracy and contributes to instability, warns senior UN anti-crime official
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-28
Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability, Mirella Dummar-Frahi, Civil Society Team Leader at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned at the UN Civil Society Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1045081

Fidel Castro's prescient warning on climate change
Fidel Castro Ruz | liberationnews.org | 2019-08-28
Fidel Castro Ruz, historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, warned almost 30 years ago that collective and urgent action was needed to combat the destruction of the Earth's environment.
liberationnews.org/fidel-castros-prescient-warning-on-climate-change/

How Democrats Can Win Back Rural Wisconsin
John Nichols | thenation.com | 2019-08-28
How Democrats Can Win Back Rural Wisconsin…
thenation.com/article/democrats-can-win-wisconsin-2020/

The Republican Party's White Women Problem
Julie Kohler | thenation.com | 2019-08-28
The Republican Party's White Women Problem…
thenation.com/article/republican-women-candidates-gender-gap/

"We're in a Crisis of Deaths": Migrant Death Toll Tops 900 in Mediterranean as 40 Die Off Libya
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-28
At least 40 refugees and migrants are feared dead off of the coast of Libya after a boat carrying dozens of people en route to Europe capsized Tuesday morning in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Libyan coast guard, some 65 migrants and refugees, mostly from Sudan, were rescued with the help of local fishermen. With Tuesday's tragedy, the number of migrants and refugees who have lost their lives this year in the Mediterranean en route to Europe is up to 900. Meanwhile, far-right European leaders like Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini continue to criminalize refugees and migrants, as well as humanitar…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/28/migrant_deaths_mediterranean_unhcr_charlie_yaxley

How Bolsonaro's Climate Change Denial & Anti-Indigenous Policies Led to Massive Fires in the Amazon
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-28
In Brazil, fires continue to rage in the Amazon, and new drone footage shows the smoke and flames gathering strength. A vast plume of smoke has spread across South America and the Atlantic Ocean and is visible from space. The fires are also destroying large swaths of land in Bolivia. The fires are unprecedented in recorded history, and environmentalists say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers. So far this year, there have been nearly 73,000 fires in Brazil, with over half of them in the Amazon region — an 83% increase from the same period last year. Far-right Brazil…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/28/brazil_jair_bolsonaro_unprecedented_amazon_fires

Airstrikes in Lebanon, Syria & Iraq Mark Dangerous Escalation in Decades-Long Israeli Aggression
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-28
Tensions are mounting across the Middle East following a series of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Lebanese President Michel Aoun likened the recent Israeli attacks to a "declaration of war." Israeli drones bombed targets in Lebanon on both Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, some Iraqi lawmakers are calling on the United States to fully withdraw its troops following a series of Israeli air raids conducted by Israel. Israel has only claimed responsibility for an attack on Syria Saturday, which they said targeted an Iranian-operated base that was preparing to launch a drone assault on Israel. We speak wi…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/28/israel_airstrikes_lebanon_syria_iraq

Democratic crisis: U.K. parliament forced to shut down
Al Neal | peoplesworld.org | 2019-08-28
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson schemed and outflanked anti-Brexit lawmakers and political opponents Wednesday by cutting down their time to block a no-deal Brexit before the Oct. 31 withdrawal deadline, winning Queen Elizabeth II's approval to suspend Parliament. The maneuver effectively shuts down the U.K. government, similar to what occurs when U.S. lawmakers fail to …
peoplesworld.org/article/democratic-crisis-u-k-parliament-forced-to-shut-down/

Washington invokes "domestic terrorism" to justify police state rule
wsws.org | 2019-08-28
Trump and the Democrats' threats to create a new apparatus to combat "domestic terrorism" is part of renewed plans to violently strangle the class struggle.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/28/pers-a28.html

Corporate Media Take the Trump Line on Trade
Dean Baker | fair.org | 2019-08-27
The New York Times ( 8/10/19) takes a Trumpian approach to trade. | The New York Times ( 8/10/19) ran an article this month with a headline saying that the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders faced a major problem: "How to Be Tougher on Trade Than Trump." Serious readers might have struggled with the idea of getting "tough on trade." After all, trade is a tool, like a shovel. How is it possible to get tough on a shovel? | While this hea…
fair.org/home/corporate-media-take-the-trump-line-on-trade/

New Resource Tool Sheds Light on Government's Prepublication Review System
aclu.org | 2019-08-27
Millions of current and former government employees are subjected to this far-reaching censorship system. | This piece was originally published in Just Security. | For more than three years, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University have been litigating a series of Freedom of Information Act requests relating to "prepublication review." Under this far-reaching censorship system, millions of current and former government employees, con…
aclu.org/blog/free-speech/employee-speech-and-whistleblowers/new-resource-tool-sheds-light-governments

A Top Financier of Trump and McConnell Is a Driving Force Behind Amazon Deforestation
Ryan Grim | theintercept.com | 2019-08-27
Steve Schwarzman is the CEO of the Blackstone Group, which partially owns a Brazilian firm that is helping transform the Amazon from jungle to farmland.
theintercept.com/2019/08/27/amazon-rainforest-fire-blackstone/

"This Ruling Is Huge": Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $572 Million for Fueling Opioid Epidemic
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-27
In a landmark ruling, an Oklahoma judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for contributing to the state's opioid crisis. It marks the first time a drug company has been held responsible for the opioid crisis, though it fell far short of the $17 billion judgment sought by the state. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 400,000 people died from an overdose involving opioids from 1999 to 2017, including from prescription and illicit opioids. Court documents say more than 6,000 people have died of painkiller overdoses in Oklahoma alone. The Oklahoma ruling sets the stage…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/27/oklahoma_johnson_and_johnson_572_million

"Kochland": How David Koch Helped Build an Empire to Shape U.S. Politics & Thwart Climate Action
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-27
Billionaire conservative donor David Koch died Friday at the age of 79 from prostate cancer. David Koch — who was worth some $42 billion — and his brother Charles poured massive amounts of money into funding climate change denial through conservative think tanks and politicians. The Koch brothers founded the political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity in 2004, which is credited with turning the "tea party" into a full-fledged political movement. They also backed "right-to-work" efforts, which aim to weaken labor rights and quash union membership. The brothers made their fortune running Koch Indu…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/27/christopher_leonard_kochland_koch_brothers

Before Kamala Harris Soured on Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All Bill, She Grew Her Email List From It
Akela Lacy | theintercept.com | 2019-08-26
Kamala Harris distanced herself from Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All bill at an event with large-dollar donors two weeks after her campaign ran those ads.
theintercept.com/2019/08/26/kamala-harris-medicare-for-all-sanders/

Rogues' Gallery: A Sober Look at the "Progressive" Democratic Presidential Candidates
Ken Freeland | mintpressnews.com | 2019-08-26
Unless someone new enters the race or one of the existing candidates is stricken on the road to Damascus, there will be no genuinely progressive foreign policy offered by either of the two major political parties in the 2020 presidential election.
mintpressnews.com/rogues-gallery-sober-look-progressive-democratic-presidential-candidates/261498/

Mysterious Russian Nuclear Missile Accident Sparks Fears of Cover-Up & "Chernobyl Redux"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-26
Questions are swirling over a mysterious nuclear accident in northern Russia on August 8. Seven people, including five nuclear scientists, died in an explosion, which caused a radiation spike in the surrounding area — and possibly as far as Scandinavia. U.S. experts suspect the explosion was caused during a test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Russia initially denied a radiation leak, but earlier today its state weather agency confirmed radioactive isotopes have been found in test samples in the city of Severodvinsk near the military test range. Norway's nuclear test ban monitor now believes two explos…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/26/aug_8_russia_nuclear_accident

"The Situation Was Very Bad": Feminist Activist Kavita Krishnan on What She Saw in Kashmir
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-26
In Kashmir, residents have entered their fourth week of a severe lockdown after India revoked the special status of the Indian-controlled part of the Muslim-majority territory. On August 5, India imposed a curfew and cut off all communications to the region. More than 4,000 people, including many political leaders, have been detained, while local residents report facing increasing shortages of food and medicine. Over the weekend, India blocked a delegation of Indian opposition politicians from visiting Kashmir, including Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Indian National Congress. India's actions have led…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/26/kavita_krishnan_india_kashmir_special_status

Unreported Deaths, Child Cancer & Radioactive Meat: The Untold Story of Chernobyl
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-26
Following a mysterious nuclear accident in Russia that left seven dead, we look back at the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. It sent a cloud of radioactive fallout into Russia, Belarus and over a large portion of Europe, but the death toll from Chernobyl remains unknown. Chernobyl is considered the worst nuclear accident in history, but Kate Brown, an MIT professor of science, technology and society, says much of what we understand about the disaster is inaccurate. Her new book, "Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future," chronicles the devastating and underreported impact of radiation on tens of t…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/26/kate_brown_chernobyl_manual_for_survival

Why is the Far-Right Rising Globally? (1/2)
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-25
Walden Bello, author of "Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far-Right," argues that the far-right is in ascendancy at the moment not only in reaction to the failures of neoliberalism, but also because of the failures of liberal democracy…
therealnews.com/stories/why-is-the-far-right-rising-globally-1-2

Qatar pulls its Turkish investments
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-08-25
Erdoƒüan Toprak, the chief adviser to the chairman of the People's Republican Party (CHP) and the parliamentary deputy from the province of Istanbul, prepared a report on the issue of Qatari investments, which, in recent years, have been increasingly discussed throughout Turkey. According to the Turkish Ministry of Economy, from 2002 to March 2017, Qatar …
uwidata.com/5052-qatar-pulls-its-turkish-investments/

Lies of the Victors
Jason Hirthler | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-25
Julian Barnes' Man Booker Prize winning novel, The Sense of an Ending, reads as a meditation on the reliability of memory. Or even as a bill of indictments against the self-serving selectivity of memory. The book beautifully, if kaleidoscopically, reveals how an older man misremembers events of his youth, how his memories cast him in …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/lies-of-the-victors/

National Democrats Endorse John Hickenlooper, a Proponent of Fracking, in Competitive Colorado Primary
Aída Chávez | theintercept.com | 2019-08-24
In Colorado, nearly a dozen Democrats are vying for the opportunity to take on Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in 2020 — a race widely seen as the party's most promising pick-up in the Senate. One of the leading contenders, former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, is running on a platform that includes Medicare for All and an aggressive plan to combat the climate crisis — and his campaign has already topped $1 million in fundraising. | But the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has thrown its weight behind former Gov. John Hickenlooper, a pro-fracking moderate. After months of rejecting calls…
theintercept.com/2019/08/24/dscc-john-hickenlooper-andrew-romanoff-colorado-senate/

How Democrats Plan to Win Wisconsin in 2020
Rachel M. Cohen | theintercept.com | 2019-08-23
Democrats, labor unions, and progressive groups are investing heavily in new organizing techniques in Wisconsin, where electoral victory is considered crucial to the party's path to the White House. They are hoping to boost voter turnout in a state that the national party took for granted in 2016. | The efforts, spearheaded by Wisconsin leaders and liberal donors across the country, include massive new investments in field organizing, a targeted focus on communities of color, and capitalizing on the Democratic Party convention that will be held in Milwaukee next July. | "I think the whole country recognizes that…
theintercept.com/2019/08/23/democrats-wisconsin-2020/

"Our House Is On Fire": Brazil Faces Global Outrage as Massive Fires Spread in Amazon Rainforest
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-23
The United Nations is calling for the protection of the Amazon amid fears that thousands of fires raging across Brazil and some parts of Bolivia are rapidly destroying the world's largest rainforest and paving the way for a climate catastrophe. The fires have spread a vast plume of smoke across South America and the Atlantic Ocean that's visible from space. They're unprecedented in recorded history, and environmentalists say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers. Indigenous people in Brazil have accused far-right President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the destruction. Bols…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/23/jeff_merkley_us_nuclear_policy_green

Sen. Merkley Condemns Trump's War Against Migrant Families as U.S. Moves to Indefinitely Jail Kids
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-23
The Trump administration is moving to indefinitely detain migrant children and their families, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to issue a new rule today to withdraw from a 1997 federal court settlement known as the Flores agreement, which put a 20-day limit on migrant family detentions. We speak with Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who made headlines last year when he was barred from entering an old Walmart where the government was detaining about 1,500 immigrant children in Brownsville, Texas.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/23/jeff_merkley_trump_administration_child_separation

Sen. Merkley on the Dangers of a New Nuclear Arms Race & Why He Backs the Green New Deal
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-23
Fallout from the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is mounting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to prepare for what he called a "symmetrical response" after the U.S. tested what it said was a nonnuclear cruise missile earlier this week. The U.S. launch was the first test of its kind since the Trump administration withdrew from the INF. We speak to Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon about U.S. nuclear policy, as well as the Green New Deal, President Trump's wish to buy Greenland and…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/23/amazon_fires_brazil_andrew_miller

Bernie Sanders's Climate Plan Is More Radical Than His Opponents' — And More Likely to Succeed
Kate Aronoff | theintercept.com | 2019-08-22
The $16.3 trillion plan would not only transition American society away from fossil fuels but renegotiate decades-old nostrums about the government's role in the economy.
theintercept.com/2019/08/22/bernie-sanders-climate-policy/

DNC Rejects Call for a Climate Debate
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-22
Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials reversed the previous ban on candidates participating in non-sanctioned climate forums, but Carmen Bouquin of the Sunrise Movement says that's not enough…
therealnews.com/stories/dnc-rejects-call-for-a-climate-debate

Warren Apologizes to Native Americans; Sanders Backs Rescinding Medals for Wounded Knee Massacre
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-22
This week 10 Democratic candidates and one independent in the 2020 presidential race, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, addressed indigenous communities at the first-ever Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa. During the two-day event, candidates individually answered questions from a panel of tribal leaders and Native American youth and elders on issues including treaty rights, voter suppression, and murdered and missing indigenous women.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/22/frank_lamere_native_american_presidential_forum

2020 Candidates Address Historical Trauma, Missing Indigenous Women & More at Native American Forum
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-22
Following this week's historic Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, we speak with Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today and moderator of the Native American voter forum; Christine Nobiss, director of Seeding Sovereignty's SHIFT project; and Mark Charles, independent candidate for president, Native American activist and writer. They respond to the candidates' proposals to tackle issues affecting the Native American community, including the chronic murder and disappearance of Native American girls and women, land sovereignty, and generational trauma caused by colonialism.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/22/mark_trahant_christine_nobiss_mark_charles

'Pragmatic': How Corporate Media Praise Dems Who Abandon Progressive Values
Alan MacLeod | fair.org | 2019-08-21
Pragmatic (adjective): solving problems in a sensible way that suits the conditions that really exist now, rather than obeying fixed theories, ideas or rules. | — The battle for the Democratic presidential nomination is dominating the news cycle, and two of the three clear frontrunners in polls, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, d…
fair.org/home/pragmatic-how-corporate-media-praise-dems-who-abandon-progressive-values/

An Arizona Law Requires Surveillance of People Who Are Presumed Innocent
aclu.org | 2019-08-21
The government cannot take shortcuts around constitutional rights. | A pillar of our democracy is the presumption of innocence: before a person has been convicted of a crime, they are considered completely innocent under the law. Yet across the country, people who have not been convicted are punished–both explicitly and implicitly–based on the mistaken assumption that they are dangerous, purely on the basis of an accusation. We do not live in a society where you can be incarcerated or monitored simply because you have been accused of a crime. Doing so violates constitutional rights, fuels mass incarce…
aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/arizona-law-requires-surveillance-people-who-are

Meet Alvaro Enciso, the Artist Placing Crosses in Sonoran Desert to Memorialize Migrant Deaths
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-21
More than 3,000 human remains have been found in the Sonoran Desert, most of them of migrants fleeing their home countries to embark on an uncertain and perilous journey to the United States. On a recent visit to the Arizona borderlands, Democracy Now! accompanied Tucson-based artist Alvaro Enciso into the desert at the site where he placed four unique markers to honor four immigrants killed in a car accident years ago as they fled from Border Patrol. In the past five years, Enciso, who is originally from Colombia, has built and installed over 900 crosses across the treacherous Sonoran Desert in Arizona as part o…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/21/alvaro_enciso_unique_crosses_sonoran_desert

Over 500 Lawsuits Already Filed Days After Child Victims Act in New York Goes into Effect
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-21
This is Part 2 of our conversation with two New York state legislators, Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, who helped pass the Child Victims Act in New York. The state law, which went into effect last week, extends the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse and includes a "lookback period," giving survivors of any age a year to take legal action even if their cases had expired under the old statute of limitations. Over 500 lawsuits have already been filed. Both Biaggi and Niou are sexual abuse survivors, and they have spoken about the importance of the Child Victims Act in personal…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/21/child_victims_act_biaggi_niou

Hong Kong: Flashpoint of Class Struggle in China
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-08-20
What began as isolated protests against a standard criminal-extradition law has somehow erupted into a violent fury throughout Hong Kong. The Chinese city's American-and-British-flag-waving protesters are, on the one hand, calling for "freedom, human rights, and democracy" while, on the other, assaulting police and even random bystanders alike. Western media have already been on the …
uwidata.com/4966-hong-kong-flashpoint-of-class-struggle-in-china/

Maryland teacher incorporates hard lessons about slavery into public school curriculum
Brad Bennett | splcenter.org | 2019-08-20
At a workshop for teachers about educating children on American slavery, one instructor grew angry and insisted that Thomas Jefferson — who fathered biracial children with an enslaved woman on one of his plantations — was an advocate for racial equality.
splcenter.org/news/2019/08/20/maryland-teacher-incorporates-hard-lessons-about-slavery-public-school-curriculum

Joe Biden's Wife Says Vote for Husband Even If You Like Other Candidates More
Common Dreams | theantimedia.com | 2019-08-20
"Jill Biden may have settled for her husband, but I'm not sure why anyone else should."

Joe Biden's Wife Says Vote for Husband Even If You Like Other Candidates More

Kamala Harris Team Accused of "Inventing Conspiracies" About Tulsi Gabbard
Eoin Higgins | theantimedia.com | 2019-08-01
The Kamala Harris' campaign jumped to tie Gabbard and her campaign to a nebulously defined and unclear Russian conspiracy.

Kamala Harris Team Accused of "Inventing Conspiracies" About Tulsi Gabbard