Robert Reich | The American Oligarchy Purrs
Robert Reich, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "The president is the best thing that ever happened to the corporate elite, a distraction on the lines of the old Jim Crow."
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Robert Reich, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "The president is the best thing that ever happened to the corporate elite, a distraction on the lines of the old Jim Crow."
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Organizers Refocus Message at Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Vanessa Misciagna, King5
Misciagna writes: "Thousands of protesters came to the so-called 'Capitol Hill Organized Protest,' or 'CHOP,' in Seattle on Sunday. The area was originally called the 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,' or 'CHAZ,' by protesters."
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Vanessa Misciagna, King5
Misciagna writes: "Thousands of protesters came to the so-called 'Capitol Hill Organized Protest,' or 'CHOP,' in Seattle on Sunday. The area was originally called the 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,' or 'CHAZ,' by protesters."
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Sanders Proposes 10% Cut to Pentagon Budget for Social Programs
teleSUR
Excerpt: "United States Senator Bernie Sanders announced Friday he will introduce an amendment in the coming days to cut the Department of Defense's US$740 billion budget by 10 percent and redirect that money toward healthcare, housing, and education in the poorest communities."
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teleSUR
Excerpt: "United States Senator Bernie Sanders announced Friday he will introduce an amendment in the coming days to cut the Department of Defense's US$740 billion budget by 10 percent and redirect that money toward healthcare, housing, and education in the poorest communities."
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A man was shot during a protest in Albuquerque on June 15 while a crowd attempted to pull down a statue of conquistador Juan de Oñate. (photo: Adolphe Pierre-Louis/AP)
Police Detain Armed Militia Members After Man Is Shot at Albuquerque Protest
Katie Shepherd, The Washington Post
Shepherd writes: "Protesters in Albuquerque wrapped a chain around the neck of a bronze statue and began tugging, chanting 'Tear it down.'"
Katie Shepherd, The Washington Post
Shepherd writes: "Protesters in Albuquerque wrapped a chain around the neck of a bronze statue and began tugging, chanting 'Tear it down.'"
Their efforts to pull down a monument of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate suddenly stopped as four shots rang out.
Most people instinctively turned toward the noise, videos from the scene show. A few screamed. Just yards away, a group of militia men sporting militarylike garb and carrying semiautomatic rifles formed a protective circle around the gunman.
The gunshots, which left one man in critical but stable condition, have set off a cascade of public outcry denouncing the unregulated militia’s presence and the shooting, although police have yet to announce an arrest or describe exactly what happened. The victim is also unidentified.
“The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a ‘civil guard,’ were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said in a statement. “To menace the people of New Mexico with weaponry — with an implicit threat of violence — is on its face unacceptable; that violence did indeed occur is unspeakable.”
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller (D) said the statue would now be speedily removed as an “urgent matter of public safety” until authorities determine a next step.
“The shooting tonight was a tragic, outrageous and unacceptable act of violence and it has no place in our city,” Keller said in a statement. “Our diverse community will not be deterred by acts meant to divide or silence us. Our hearts go out [to] the victim, his family and witnesses whose lives were needlessly threatened tonight.”
Recent protests against Oñate statues in New Mexico mirror similar calls to tear down Confederate monuments amid a rise in Black Lives Matter demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, the man killed after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.
In the hours leading up to the violence on Monday, protesters faced off with members of an armed militia that calls itself the New Mexico Civil Guard and counterprotesters toting “All lives matter” signs.
One group sought to tear down a monument to Oñate, a 16th-century despot who massacred indigenous people. The other set out as self-designated protectors of the statue, creating a heavily armed presence at the park in Albuquerque’s historic Old Town. Aside from a few small scuffles over signs near the monument, the protest had largely been peaceful, though tense at times.
Then, a white man in a blue T-shirt appeared to rile the crowd, according to video obtained by KOB4. People erupted in shouts, and the man took a few steps back. A masked protester swung a skateboard and struck him in the shoulder. The man back-pedaled out of the crowd but continued to exchange shouts with protesters.
Someone in the video encouraged people to follow the man and get his license plate number. Several people followed him, and one tackled him to the ground. As he tried to stand back up and three people tried to hit him again, the man in blue pulled a gun and fired four shots, striking one man and scattering the crowd.
In a second video that captured the moments following the shooting, the gunman sat in the middle of a road as the New Mexico Civil Guard militia members formed a circle around him. One man carrying a semiautomatic rifle, camouflage fatigues and a military-style helmet kicked the handgun away from the man and stood with his foot on top of the weapon.
Police responded to the scene with tear gas and stun grenades to force the crowd back. Officers detained several members of the militia group, according to reporters and witnesses at the scene. Video showed officers placing the apparent gunman into a cruiser.
Police have not released any information about the suspected shooter or said whether they believe he has any connection to the armed militia.
The militia, which identified itself to a New York Times reporter covering the protest Monday, has a controversial history. The right-wing group has repeatedly shown up at Black Lives Matter protests in recent weeks with guns and militarylike garb.
On Facebook, the group has shared materials encouraging people to arm themselves, promoted military training on infantry tactics and “ambushing,” and shared multiple posts opposing the leveling of monuments to Confederate figures in the South and Oñate in New Mexico. Members of the group recently told the Eastern New Mexico News their aim was to protect businesses from damage during protests. They claimed they had been in contact with police and were following guidance given to them by officials.
Militias like the New Mexico Civil Guard and other armed, far-right counterprotesters have been a controversial presence at Black Lives Matter protests across the United States. At an Albuquerque protest earlier this month, video of police talking to an armed militia group spurred allegations that officers were coordinating with the group in an official capacity, although police denied the claim.
At least one New Mexico lawmaker viewed the militia’s consistent presence at protests as suspicious enough to warrant further inquiry. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) called on the Justice Department to investigate the shooting Monday night.
“This is not the first report of heavily armed civilian militias appearing at protests around New Mexico in recent weeks. These extremists cannot be allowed to silence peaceful protests or inflict violence,” Heinrich said on Twitter on Monday night
Some critics have drawn contrasts between police response to largely peaceful and unarmed Black Lives Matter protests and the heavily armed, militia-led demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions in April and May. Monday’s shooting also led some critics to note that the armed militia members and alleged shooter were taken into custody by police without incident, but the Black Lives Matter protests are responding to incidents where police have shot and killed unarmed black men.
“Notice how calmly they’re all being detained,” former housing secretary Julián Castro tweeted Monday night. “Don’t tell me George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks and Eric Garner — who did not harm anybody — couldn’t be treated differently.”
Meanwhile, the chief of police vowed to investigate any group that sought to stoke violence at the protest.
“We are receiving reports about vigilante groups possibly instigating this violence,” Albuquerque Police Chief Michael Geier said in a statement. “If this is true [we] will be holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law, including federal hate group designation and prosecution.”
Two police stand at their vehicle. (photo: Guardian Liberty Voice)
Calling the Cops on Someone With Mental Illness Can Go Terribly Wrong. Here's a Better Idea.
Sigal Samuel, Vox
Samuel writes: "In the US, at least one in four people killed by the police has a serious mental health problem."
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Sigal Samuel, Vox
Samuel writes: "In the US, at least one in four people killed by the police has a serious mental health problem."
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A local volunteer disinfects a home with a chlorine solution, in Zapotal, Ecuador. (photo: Santiago Arcos/Reuters)
Latin America Reels as Coronavirus Pandemic Gains Pace
Natalie Alcoba, Al Jazeera
Alcoba writes: "Hilda Benavides cooks for 100 people now in Puente Alto, one of the poorest areas around the Chilean capital of Santiago, and among the hardest hit by the novel coronavirus."
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Natalie Alcoba, Al Jazeera
Alcoba writes: "Hilda Benavides cooks for 100 people now in Puente Alto, one of the poorest areas around the Chilean capital of Santiago, and among the hardest hit by the novel coronavirus."
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'As the world slowly returns to something resembling 'normal,' traffic is on the rise.' (photo: Al Seib/Getty Images)
What Lockdown? Traffic Returns, and so Do Carbon Emissions
Shannon Osaka, Grist
Osaka writes: "It turns out even a global pandemic can't keep humans from spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."
Shannon Osaka, Grist
Osaka writes: "It turns out even a global pandemic can't keep humans from spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."
The COVID-19 outbreak is far from over, but countries around the world are reopening anyway — and triggering a global surge in carbon emissions. The main reason? People are taking refuge from the coronavirus in their cars.
According to a recent update of a study originally published in Nature Climate Change, fossil fuel pollution has bounced back rapidly as lockdowns have started to lift around the world. In early April, when billions of people were sheltering in place, global daily carbon dioxide emissions were 17 percent lower than they were in 2019; now, it’s almost as if the lockdowns never happened.
“We’ve already come pretty close to where we would have been last year,” said Rob Jackson, chair of the Global Carbon Project and one of the co-authors of the study. He said daily global emissions are now just 5 percent less than the daily average in 2019 — and will likely continue to climb.
It’s all because of traffic, Jackson said. The dip in emissions during the lockdowns mostly came from transportation, as people stopped driving to work and taking flights. (Other emissions, like those from electricity, heat, and industry, continued apace.)
But as the world slowly returns to something resembling “normal,” traffic is on the rise. In the U.S., passenger vehicle travel dropped by almost 50 percent in early April; now it’s back to 90 percent of February levels.
Fear of the coronavirus is also pushing people to get in their cars, instead of taking public transit. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines encouraging people to drive to work solo, instead of taking the bus or the subway. (They quietly revised those guidelines two weeks later to also encourage biking or walking.) Last Monday, 800,000 people rode the New York City subway, the highest number since March — but that’s still only 15 percent of normal.
The researchers still expect emissions for the whole of 2020 to be down 4 to 7 percent compared with last year, depending on the pace of reopening. But that’s not even close to enough to slow down climate change. Keeping global warming below dangerous levels would require a 7.5 percent drop in emissions every year.
Jackson said he hopes that there will be some lingering positive effects from the shutdown, like cities making streets more pedestrian-friendly or workplaces incorporating more telecommuting. But, he said, scientists always knew the drop in emissions wouldn’t last.
“People want to move on with their lives,” Jackson said. “We can’t reduce emissions just by locking people at home.”
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