22 September 20
Anger Can Be Good, and Necessary
If ever anger were justified by the events that shape our lives now would be the moment.
We ask you to channel that anger into action. We ask you to support our ongoing efforts to confront injustice each and every day.
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22 September 20
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RSN: Marc Ash | A Trump Court Appointee Could Help Him Maintain His Grip on Power
Marc Ash, Reader Supported News
Ash writes: "In an election year where the odds of the US Supreme Court deciding the outcome of the presidential contest are unusually high, a balance-shifting court appointment in the run-up to the election or shortly thereafter could easily tilt the scales in Trump's favor."
That new hand-picked justice could determine whether Trump or Biden is sworn in on January 21st.
However, for Trump to truly be successful in holding onto power in the face of an electoral loss, he would need to hold the Senate as well.
If the Democrats wrest the Senate from the Republicans, new impeachment proceedings could be brought against Trump, and with a Democratic Senate they might well succeed. From there it gets complicated. Next in line for the presidency would be Vice President Mike Pence. He too would be impeachable as would members of the Supreme Court.
In years and decades gone by, these types of train-wreck-level confrontations have been avoided by grownup behavior. However with that behavior conspicuously absent at this stage, all forms of insanity are on the table.
As of this writing, it appears more likely than less likely that any attempt by Senate Republicans to push through a Trump appointee would include a confirmation vote after the November 3rd election. One thing is certain: if Joe Biden wins the election by a clear margin and the Democrats take the Senate, the American political landscape shifts seismically.
In that landscape, Mitch McConnell would be cast in the role of the deer and Chuck Schumer would be playing the part of the lion. Good news for the deer – it can run fast, and may well.
Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper. (photo: Amber I. Smith)
Pentagon Used Taxpayer Money Meant for Masks and Swabs to Make Jet Engine Parts and Body Armor
Aaron Gregg and Yeganeh Torbati, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "A $1 billion fund Congress gave the Pentagon in March to build up the country's supplies of medical equipment has instead been mostly funneled to defense contractors and used for making things such as jet engine parts, body armor and dress uniforms."
READ MORE
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (photo: Getty Images)
AOC Rallies Liberals Over Supreme Court Battle: 'This Is Not the Time to Give Up'
Daniel Strauss, Guardian UK
Strauss writes: "New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has emerged as one of the high-profile faces of the Democratic response to Republicans' plan to quickly seat a new, conservative supreme court justice."
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A firefighter observes a fire tornado from an overpass above the 101 freeway in Ventura, California. (photo: Wally Skalij/Getty Images)
Tom Engelhardt | Fire and Fury Like the World Has Never Seen, 2020 Version
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch
Engelhardt writes: "In the wake of the hottest summer on record in the Northern Hemisphere, we are, in other words, talking about the sort of apocalyptic conditions that the president undoubtedly had in mind for North Korea back in 2017."
READ MORE
The J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York City. (photo: Amr Alfiky/Reuters)
JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank Named in Money Laundering Report
Rob Lenihan, The Street
Lenihan writes: "Bank shares were reeling Monday morning following a report charging that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) - Get Report, Deutsche Bank (DB) - Get Report and other financial services companies had defied money laundering crackdowns even after being fined by U.S. authorities."
READ MORE
Homeless people waiting to receive food baskets get their hands sanitized in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. (photo: Jerome Delay/AP)
As Rich Nations Struggle, Africa's Virus Response Is Praised
Cara Anna, Associated Press
Anna writes: "The coronavirus pandemic has fractured global relationships. But as director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nkengasong has helped to steer Africa's 54 countries into an alliance praised as responding better than some richer countries, including the United States."
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Activists during a youth climate rally in Washington, D.C. (photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)
Facebook Suspends Environmental Groups Despite Vow to Fight Misinformation
Oliver Milman, Guardian UK
Milman writes: "Groups such as Greenpeace USA, Climate Hawks Vote and Rainforest Action Network were among those blocked from posting or sending messages on Facebook over the weekend."
Facebook blames mistake in system for restrictions on groups including Greenpeace USA
acebook has suspended the accounts of several environmental organizations less than a week after launching an initiative it said would counter a tide of misinformation over climate science on the platform.
Groups such as Greenpeace USA, Climate Hawks Vote and Rainforest Action Network were among those blocked from posting or sending messages on Facebook over the weekend. Activists say hundreds of other individual accounts linked to indigenous, climate and social justice groups were also suspended for an alleged “intellectual property rights violation”.
The suspended people and groups were all involved in a Facebook event from May last year that targeted KKR & Co, a US investment firm that is backing the Coastal GasLink pipeline, a 670km-long gas development being built in northern British Columbia, Canada.
The suspensions, the day before another online action aimed at KKR & Co, has enraged activists who oppose the pipeline for its climate impact and for cutting through the land of the Wetʼsuwetʼen, a First Nations people.
“Videos of extreme violence, alt-right views and calls for violence by militias in Kenosha, Wisconsin, are allowed to persist on Facebook,” said Delee Nikal, a Wet’suwet’en community member. “Yet we are banned and receive threats for permanent removal, for posting an online petition.”
Many of the accounts have now been restored, but a handful are still blocked, with no fuller explanation coming from Facebook.
In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said: “Our systems mistakenly removed these accounts and content. They have since been restored and we’ve lifted any limits imposed on identified profiles.”
The suspensions came just a few days after the social media giant said it was launching a “climate science information center” to counter widely shared but misleading posts that reject the established science of the climate crisis.
“We’re committed to tackling climate misinformation,” Facebook said in a statement that also outlined its own efforts to reduce its own net greenhouse gas emissions to zero this year. The information center will include posts from trusted scientific sources, rated by fact-checkers.
“As with all types of claims debunked by our fact-checkers, we reduce the distribution of these posts in News Feed and apply a warning label on top of these posts both on Facebook and Instagram so people understand that the content has been rated false,” the company said.
But climate organizations have questioned whether Facebook is doing enough to cut down on untruths about the climate crisis that are spread across the site. In 2018, for example, a video that denied that human activity was driving the climate crisis was shared on Facebook and viewed 5m times.
Articles and videos about climate change can be deemed opinion, meaning under Facebook guidelines they can’t be blocked by its factcheckers. This loophole meant that that this month the CO2 Coalition, a group that argues more carbon dioxide is good for the planet, managed to overturn a factcheck on an article that attacked the accuracy of climate models. A factcheck rated the piece as “false” but it was published by Facebook when labelled as opinion.
“Actions speak louder than words and once again Facebook has taken actions that are in stark contrast to public statements from the company,” said Elizabeth Jardim, senior corporate campaigner at Greenpeace USA.
“The recent bans targeting people fighting to save their communities from climate change and the continued exploitation of fossil fuel companies show us that when push comes to shove, Facebook will side with polluters at the cost of their users’ trying to organize.”
Facebook was contacted for comment.
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