30 September 20
September Has Been a Nightmare for Donations
Some of our donors are doing the the best that they can but overall we are down 25% from one month ago. For RSN that’s a huge chunk of our already very limited budget.
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30 September 20
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Jeffrey Toobin | Ending Trump's Assault on the Rule of Law
Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker
Excerpt: "Protecting voting rights is an essential step that Biden must take to repair our democracy. But it is only the first one."
onald Trump, both in his own behavior and in the policies of his Administration, has waged war on the rule of law. The tragedy of the coronavirus pandemic has absorbed the nation’s attention for most of 2020, so it’s easy to forget that Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives less than a year ago––and that he deserved to be. Trump’s withholding of congressionally appropriated assistance to Ukraine, in an attempt to extract from its government damaging information and propaganda about the Biden family, was precisely the kind of offense that the Framers intended impeachment to address. Trump’s defiance of Congress’s right to investigate his wrongdoing was another proper ground for his removal.
Trump’s Ukraine misadventure followed the conduct that the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III detailed in his report about the 2016 campaign and its aftermath. The Mueller report, now an even more distant memory, suggested that the President committed repeated acts of criminal obstruction of justice, which were at least as serious as those which led to Richard Nixon’s resignation. The failure of the Ukraine scandal or the Mueller investigation to bring about Trump’s removal speaks more to the craven state of the contemporary Republican Party, which has blindly supported its leader, than to the evident merits of the case against him.
Chris Wallace faced harsh reviews on social media as the debate on Tuesday night grew unruly through repeated interruptions by President Trump. (photo: Ruth Fremson/NYT)
Trump Refuses to Denounce White Supremacy in Chaotic Debate
Ivan Pereira, ABC News
Excerpt: "Trump called on Proud Boys to 'stand by,' when pressed by the moderator."
resident Donald Trump was given a chance during the first presidential debate to denounce white supremacists and militias that have been responsible for incidents of violence and death at rallies during the last few months.
Instead, he deflected and told one of those groups to, "stand back and stand by."
Moderator Chris Wallace brought up the militias and hate groups during the part of the debate focused on "law and order," and asked the president if he would call on those groups to end their violence. During an Aug. 25 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the shooting of Jacob Blake, an Illinois teen who was allegedly part of a militia, shot three protesters, killing two, according to police.
Militia groups have also been accused of attacking protesters in Portland, Oregon, over the summer.
Trump repeatedly didn't answer the question, and contended, with no citation, that the violence came from left-wing groups, but Wallace kept pressing.
"Who would you like me to condemn? Who? Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Trump said, referring to the far-right group that has been linked to violent attacks across the country. "Somebody has got to do something about antifa."
Biden countered the Trump's own FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that white supremacists are a serious threat and antifa was an idea, not an organization.
During a Sept. 17 hearing before the Homeland Security Committee, Wray testified that "racially motivated violent extremism," particularly those subscribing to "white supremacist-type ideology" was the "biggest chunk" of the domestic terrorism category.
"Lately, we've been having about 1,000 domestic terrorism cases each year. It is higher this year. I know we’ve had about 120 arrests for domestic terrorism this year," he told the committee.
Trump's refusal to disavow the hate groups sparked heavy criticism from minority advocacy groups and hate-watch organizations.
Southern Poverty Law Center president Margaret Huang tweeted that the president should not ask extremists to “stand by.”
"These are not 'fine people' and the Proud Boys should be rejected," she tweeted.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson also tweeted out his frustration with the president.
"We must never stop being outraged by this," he tweeted with the hashtag #wearedonedying.
Biden later retweeted a screenshot taken by New York Times reporter Mike Baker that allegedly showed Proud Boys members gloating on social media Trump's callout.
"This. This is Donald Trump's America," he tweeted.
Earlier in the debate, the former vice president criticized Trump's handling of the 2017 unite the right rally, where hundreds of right-wing groups and militias marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, and shouted hateful speeches against Jews and minorities.
Heather Heyer, 32, was killed during those protests when a car driven by one of the right-wing supporters hit her and other counter-protesters.
"They asked the president what he thought. He said, 'There were very fine people on both sides.' No president has ever said anything like that," Biden said.
Trump has repeatedly defended his comments about the rally and shown support for controversial Confederate monuments that have been at the center of some of those rallies.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during an operation last year in Escondido, Calif. (photo: Gregory Bull/AP)
ICE Preparing Targeted Arrests in 'Sanctuary Cities'
Nick Miroff and Devlin Barrett, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "The Trump administration is preparing an immigration enforcement blitz next month that would target arrests in U.S. cities and jurisdictions that have adopted 'sanctuary' policies, according to three U.S. officials who described a plan with public messaging that echoes the president's law-and-order campaign rhetoric."
READ MORE
Joe Biden speaks during the first of three planned presidential debates. (photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
It's True: 1 in 1,000 Black Americans Have Died in the Covid-19 Pandemic
Dylan Scott, Vox
Scott writes: "Biden cited a horrific statistic to make his case against Trump. The worst part is it's true."
uring a discussion on race in America in the first presidential debate, former Vice President Joe Biden cited a horrific statistic to punctuate his case that President Donald Trump has not been good for Black Americans: 1 in 1,000 Black Americans have died in the Covid-19 pandemic.
“You talk about helping African Americans — 1 in 1,000 African Americans has been killed because of the coronavirus,” the Democratic nominee said Tuesday. “And if he doesn’t do something quickly, by the end of the year, 1 in 500 will have been killed. 1 in 500 African Americans.”
“This man is the savior of African Americans? This man cares at all? This man’s done virtually nothing,” Biden continued. “Look, the fact is, you have to look at what he talks about. You have to look at what he did, and what he did has been disastrous for the African American community.”
The most remarkable thing about Biden’s statement? It was true.
According to the APM Research Lab, as of mid-September, “1 in 1,020 Black Americans has died (or 97.9 deaths per 100,000).” More than 200,000 Americans are confirmed dead from Covid-19, and a disproportionate number of them are Black. It’s that simple. (Biden’s statement that 1 in 500 could die by the end of the year without swift action would appear to reflect the estimates that the US death toll could grow to 400,000 by January 1.)
There are several reasons why. Black Americans have disproportionately higher rates of preexisting conditions, including heart disease and cancer, which are associated with more deaths and hospitalizations from Covid-19. Black Americans are also more likely to work in jobs that are considered “essential,” which requires them to go into work and risk exposure to the coronavirus.
Housing segregation has also led to Black Americans having less access to clean water and created many longstanding health disparities. Race, place, income, and health, as should be obvious by now, are inextricably linked. And the health consequences of these inequities have been especially evident during the pandemic, as David Williams, a professor of public health and sociology at Harvard, wrote in a May 2020 editorial for JAMA:
Economic status matters profoundly for reducing the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Lower-income and minority workers are overrepresented among essential service workers who must work outside the home when shelter-in-place directives are given. Many must travel to work on buses and subways.
But the bottom line is, due to both systemic racism and factors particular to Covid-19 and the accompanying economic crisis, Black Americans have died at disproportionately high rates during the pandemic. The Trump campaign has feinted during the 2020 campaign toward appealing to Black Americans, or at least assuaging their white supporters that the Republican Party is not racist. Trump’s support has grown slightly among predominantly Black men, but Biden is still expected to overwhelmingly carry Black voters.
But Biden, as he did throughout the debate, brought the issue back to Covid-19. America’s failures, in the past six months but also throughout its history, have led to that tragic outcome.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Supreme Justice Brett Kavanaugh on February 4, 2020 in Washington, DC. (photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
We Still Don't Know Who Is Paying for Trump's Supreme Court Seats
Andrew Perez, Jacobin
Excerpt: "The conservative front group backing Amy Coney Barrett's nomination already spent million to remake the Supreme Court. We have no idea where the money came from."
aving already spent tens of millions of dollars to install two of President Donald Trump’s justices on the Supreme Court, a conservative dark money group now says it plans to spend millions more to confirm Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett, who has issued rulings favorable to corporate interests.
The money raised by the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN) comes from untraceable sources — and Barrett previously rebuffed a Democratic senator’s request that she ask outside groups to refrain from spending big money to try to influence a congressional review of her appellate court nomination.
JCN previously spent as much as $27 million to block President Barack Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court pick and place conservative jurists Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the high court. As the Daily Poster previously reported, JCN received $15.9 million from a single anonymous donor between July 2018 and June 2019, the tax period covering the Kavanaugh fight.
Now, JCN says it will spend at least $10 million supporting Barrett’s confirmation. That’s in addition to astroturf lobbying campaigns by the Koch Network’s Americans for Prosperity and the US Chamber of Commerce. The chamber plans to encourage its members to “elevate Barrett’s platform and explain why her confirmation is aligned with the business community’s priorities,” according to Axios.
JCN is the darkest of dark money groups. While nonprofits aren’t required to publicly reveal their donors, some contributor names generally drip out over time — usually in tax returns filed by other nonprofits or in voluntary political contribution disclosures by big corporations. That hasn’t happened with JCN.
Despite its massive spending, the group’s funding sources remain a total mystery. JCN’s doesn’t show up in the corporate contribution database compiled by the Center for Political Accountability. A thorough review of Internal Revenue Service nonprofit data by the Daily Poster did not turn up any donations to JCN, either.
Barrett Silent on Dark Money Spending
JCN is closely tied to Trump’s top judicial adviser Leonard Leo, a longtime executive at the Federalist Society, the conservative lawyers’ network based in Washington, DC. The Daily Beast reported in 2018 that Leo “effectively controls the Judicial Crisis Network.” Since 2017, the group has reported paying more than $1.4 million to a Virginia LLC linked to Leo.
Shortly after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, JCN announced it was launching a $2.2 million ad campaign calling on the Senate to “follow precedent” and “confirm the nominee,” who hadn’t been named yet. On Saturday, JCN said it was spending $3 million on ads promoting Trump’s pick, Amy Coney Barrett, and ultimately “expects to spend at least $10 million on the effort.”
JCN’s first TV buy supporting Barrett is a slick candidate-style ad that makes it look like she’s running for office.
In 2017, after Barrett was nominated by Trump to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked her: “Do you want outside groups or special interests to make undisclosed donations to front organizations like the Judicial Crisis Network in support of your nomination?”
Barrett responded: “I am unaware of any outside groups or special interests having made donations on my behalf. I have not and will not solicit donations from anyone. Indeed, doing so would be a violation of my ethical responsibilities as a judicial nominee.”
Pressed about whether she would “discourage donors from making such undisclosed donations” or “call for the donors to make their donations public,” Barrett referred Durbin to her previous answer.
In 2018, liberals formed their own dark money group, Demand Justice, to be Democrats’ counterweight to JCN. Although the group has pledged to spend $10 million to block Barrett’s nomination, its influence doesn’t compare to the right-wing courts’ network.
JCN has the benefit of working with a party and conservative outside groups that are firmly committed to stacking the courts by all means necessary, while some Democratic lawmakers have signaled preemptive surrender and others appear more interested in demonstrating their respect for apolitical norms.
Durbin, for example, said on Saturday that Senate Democrats won’t be able to prevent Barrett’s confirmation: “We can slow it down perhaps a matter of hours — maybe days at the most — but we can’t stop the outcome.”
“Special Interests Scheming”
For years, much of the money raised by JCN was funneled through a dark money group called the Wellspring Committee. The group is basically another black hole — its donors are completely unknown, too. The group shut down in late 2018 and only sent $35,000 to JCN that year.
Although JCN’s funding sources remain secret, it’s clear that the group deals in huge dollars. The group brought in six anonymous seven-figure donations between mid-2018 and 2019, including the $15.9 million gift. In 2016, the Wellspring Committee received nearly 90 percent of its revenue from a single $28.5 million donation and passed $23.5 million to JCN.
All of these massive, anonymous donations have been used to help install deeply conservative judges on the high court for the rest of their lifetimes. Much of the media focus on the court battles has revolved around the potential of future abortion restrictions, for good reason.
But the John Roberts–led Supreme Court has been churning out victory after victory for corporate interests since 2006, siding with the US Chamber, the nation’s top business lobby, in 70 percent of cases. Corporate influence over the court will likely only become more pronounced with a six-to-three conservative majority.
“A baked-in bias within the federal judiciary for special interests scheming behind dark money front groups is a rotten situation,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tweeted on Monday. “It inflicts long-term harm on our judiciary.
Wesley Barnes, who works in Thailand, was arrested by police and is being sued for defamation. (photo: Alamy)
American Faces Prison in Thailand Over Bad Hotel Review
Rebecca Ratcliffe, Guardian UK
Ratcliffe writes: "An American man is facing two years in prison in Thailand after posting negative online reviews of a hotel resort."
Wesley Barnes sued by resort owner after posting negative comments on Tripadvisor
The Sea View Resort in Koh Chang accused Wesley Barnes of “a slanderous campaign” over the reviews, and filed a police complaint under the country’s harsh defamation laws.
Barnes was arrested this month and held in a jail for two nights, before being freed on bail.
He had stayed at the resort in June and had disagreed with staff who tried to charge a corkage fee for alcohol he and a friend had brought on to the premises. He told the Guardian that he felt the hotel’s manager was aggressive.
Barnes later submitted negative reviews of the hotel online, including one that said the resort’s foreign management “treat the staff like slaves”. Barnes, however, maintains that the review, which compared the resort to “modern day slavery”, was never published. He said he received an email from Tripadvisor stating “we cannot publish your contribution as it does not meet our review guidelines”.
Another review, which can be seen online on Tripadvisor, said staff “act like they don’t want anyone there”.
The resort said that it had initially tried to reach Barnes directly to resolve the matter, but took legal action because multiple reviews had been posted across different platforms, weeks apart.
“We have no problem with honest reviews, as you can see, many negative reviews are still published. It’s the malicious defamation ones that are a problem,” the Sea View Resort said in a statement. “We chose to file a complaint to serve as a deterrent, as we understood he may continue to write reviews week after week for the near future.”
Koh Chang police confirmed that a complaint had been filed and that Barnes was accused of causing “damage to the reputation of the hotel”, and of quarrelling with staff over not paying a corkage fee.
Barnes, who works in Thailand, said he was arrested by immigration police and that his passport had been taken away. He is due to return to court on 6 October.
Barnes said he fears going to prison and that he had lost his job as a result of the publicity surrounding his arrest.
The resort said that coverage of the case has caused it to be hit by further hostile online reviews, and prompted intimidation of its staff.
The incident comes as Thailand’s tourism industry grapples with the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The country has managed to avoid a major outbreak, but its borders remain shut to foreign visitors, who are crucial to the tourism sector.
Defamation is a criminal offence in Thailand, carrying a maximum sentence of two years in prison, along with a 200,000 baht (£4,915) fine. Rights groups have long warned that the law is draconian, and that it has been abused to silence activists and journalists. Unlike in many other countries, truth cannot automatically be relied upon as a defence.
Last year, media groups criticised a decision to sentence journalist Suchanee Cloitre to two years in jail for sending a tweet about a legal dispute over working conditions at the Thammakaset farm.
Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits. (photo: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Fast-Moving Fires Killed Nearly Half of These Endangered Washington Rabbits
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "The wildfires that roared through Eastern Washington in September had a devastating impact on an extremely endangered species of rabbit."
The fast-moving Pearl Hill and Cold Springs fires scorched a habitat for Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits on Sept. 7, wiping out around half of the species' recovering population, High Country News reported Monday.
"The sun was blotted out, it was just red from the fire glare and the smoke and all you saw was rocks and sand and dust, there was just nothing," Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Biologist Jon Gallie told The Wenatchee World after the fire. "I have not seen a sagebrush fire that hot in my 13 years out here."
Gallie leads a recovery program for North America's smallest rabbits, which are about the size of a grapefruit, according to High Country News. Their population was devastated during the 20th century by development, agriculture and wildfires and, in 2001, the last 16 were gathered from the wild for a captive breeding program. Scientists bred the Washington rabbits with pygmy rabbits from the Great Basin of the intermountain West and began to reintroduce them to the wild in 2011, according to The Wenatchee World.
To defend against wildfires, the rabbits were released in three different locations: Jameson Lake, Beezley Hills and Sagebrush Flats. It was the Jameson Lake population that was lost to September's flames.
"We have pygmy rabbits well distributed on the landscape in two other areas, so not all is lost," Gallie told High Country News. "We will just have to chart a now more challenging path to recovery."
However, WDFW manager of wildlife diversity Hannah Anderson told The Seattle Times that the department had been focusing on the Jameson Lake population and had expected it to increase.
"It's devastating," Anderson said. "A catastrophic loss and a significant loss in recovery."
The rabbits aren't the only endangered species that were harmed by the fires. The Pearl Fire may also have reduced the state's sage grouse population by 30 to 70 percent, according to The Seattle Times.
The fires also damaged the sagebrush ecosystem these and other species depend upon. This unique, biodiverse shrub-steppe environment once covered 10.4 million acres of Washington state, but has declined by 80 percent since the mid-19th century. The fires wiped out thousands more acres within days.
While sagebrush ecosystems are used to fires, invasive species of weeds have taken root that dry out early and encourage hotter, larger fires. It takes sagebrush steppe 10 to 20 years to recover from such blazes.
"Truly, now preserving what we have left is going to be the challenge," WDFW habitat program director Margen Carlson told The Seattle Times.
The climate crisis is also fueling larger, more extreme fires in Washington and around the world.
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