Week of February 3, 2020

We cannot keep publishing without your help. We have no paywalls or ads. Nor do we receive corporate or foundation funding. All we have is you to keep us publishing. We rely on you to help us pay our monthly expenses. So please Donate  Monday A well-known liberal professor who is expert on digital matters says Google and social media can easily throw elections to the candidates preferred by the elite By Paul Craig Roberts Dr. Robert Epstein, a Hillary Clinton supporter who happens also to be an honest expert, told Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last Tuesday that Google and social media can manipulate votes by using tools that they have at their disposal exclusively. In the absence of regulation, no one can counteract Google and social media or even know that they have reversed an election outcome. In wake of Trump-Netanyahu proposal, Palestinian Authority cuts ties with US The move came days after the White House announced the deal, which allows Israel the right to continue settlements and annexation while leaving Palestinians with vague promises of statehood at an undetermined future date. By Eoin Higgins The Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, announced on Saturday that it would act immediately to cut ties with the U.S. after President Donald Trump unveiled a so-called peace plan that effectively allows Israel carte blanche to continue the occupation and theft of Palestinian land. Israel-Palestine: It’s time for Russia to step up to the plate By Eric Walberg Is Israel US property? In many ways, yes. Despite its willful ways, Israel is always pushing the envelope with the US. It has been getting away with murder since it was founded, abetted and funded by the US. But the US has failed, and Jared Kushner is the perfect envoy for this latest ultimatum, crafted by Netanyahu for his buddy Donald and his Orthodox Jewish son-in-law. The system nearing financial and climate collapse: Capitalism By Frank Scott Having just recently celebrated the annual reductive canonization of Martin Luther King by deservedly extolling his work for human solidarity but with hardly anyone quoting his criticisms of capitalism, his fellow revolutionary Malcolm’s words are still timely as well in going far beyond current identity group divisions and addressing humanity as a whole. At the time, Malcolm was played as the divisive force by racists and protectors of the system he was most critical of, and in unity with MLK about. That system they were working against—and why they were murdered—has not changed in essence since Marx analyzed it in the 19th century, but the 21st has brought it, and us, closer to disaster than at any previous point. While billions of the colonized, enslaved and class diminished have suffered over the ages, now all are threatened as never before. Iraq-raping neocon upset that people keep bringing up the Iraq thing By Caitlin Johnstone There’s so much going on in US politics right now that it’s hard to know what to write about. With all the shouting about the election, impeachment, Trump’s bogus Palestine “deal” and so many other important political issues competing for airtime with Kobe Bryant’s death and coronavirus fear porn, it feels like we’re already at white noise information saturation. Things are going to get a whole lot noisier this month when the Democratic presidential primaries (and all the establishment manipulations that will necessarily accompany them) get underway, and Julian Assange’s extradition trial begins. Tuesday At a church and on Capitol Hill, the battle for democracy In Washington, two events on the same day show the promise of American democracy–and the mortal danger to it. By Michael Winship On Friday, I was in Washington, DC. No, not to witness the final throes of the Senate’s impeachment trial of Donald Trump, but to be at the memorial service for a former colleague, newsman Jim Lehrer. One-sided official Western and establishment media support for Israel By Stephen Lendman Since Harry Truman in May 1948 was first among world leaders to recognize the new Jewish state on stolen Palestinian land, the US, other Western nations, and their establishment media one-sidedly supported its ruling regimes—ignoring their high crimes of war, against humanity, and persecution of long-suffering Palestinians. It should be easy to defeat Trump, but corporate Democrats look ready and willing to blow it Trump should be the most defeatable president in history. By Ralph Nader It is remarkable how the Democratic presidential candidates allow themselves to be pigeon-holed by the media as “moderate,” “centrist,” “extreme,” “left-wing,” and other abstract fact-deprived nomenclature. Black boxes: health warning or profit warning? By Martha Rosenberg “Boxed warnings” or “black boxes” are the strictest FDA label warnings. They appear on cigarettes, fluoroquinolones (for tendon rupture), Lamictal (for SJS and TEN), Accutane (birth defects), and other products with well-known risks. The primary mechanism of your oppression is not hidden at all By Caitlin Johnstone I write a lot about government secrecy and the importance of whistleblowers, leakers and leak publishers, and for good reason: governments which can hide their wicked deeds from public accountability will do so whenever possible. It’s impossible for the public to use democracy for ensuring their government behaves in the way they desire if they aren’t allowed to be informed about what that behavior even is. Wednesday ‘An appalling act of industrial vandalism’: Japanese officials do PR for plan to dump Fukushima water into ocean The Japanese government told embassy officials from nearly two dozen countries that releasing the water into the ocean was a "feasible" approach that could be done ‘with certainty.’ By Andrea Germanos As cleanup of the 2011 Fukushima disaster continues, the Japanese government made its case to embassy officials from 23 countries Monday that dumping contaminated water from the nuclear power plant into the ocean is the best course of action. Iowa fiasco raises stakes for New Hampshire, where Sanders could win big Monday night's collapse of the caucus vote-counting process in Iowa has amped up the spotlight on—and political consequences of—what will happen in the New Hampshire primary. By Norman Solomon While journalists pick through the ashes of the Iowa caucuses meltdown, thousands of progressive activists are moving forward to make election history in New Hampshire. In sharp contrast to the prattle of mainstream punditry, the movements behind Bernie Sanders are propelled by people who engage with politics as a collective struggle because the future of humanity and the planet is at stake. As a result, the Granite State’s primary election on Feb. 11 could be a political earthquake. After epic ‘nightmare’ in Iowa, Democratic app built by secretive firm Shadow Inc. comes under scrutiny ‘This outfit is inexcusably secretive.’ By Jake Johnson Amid all the finger-pointing and anger that followed the nightmarish Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses Monday night, many journalists and progressive observers honed in on the smartphone app the state Democratic Party used—with disastrous consequences—to record and report the results of the highly anticipated contest. More about Trump’s Ukraine connections By Brian Cloughley Hardly a day passes but some new and usually disturbing light is cast on President Donald Trump, and a recent illuminating glimpse came from publication of a recording that showed yet more of his expansive bluster. The video/sound evidence of his performance showed him at a dinner table “in a private suite in his Washington hotel with a group of donors, including two men at the centre of the impeachment inquiry, talking about golf, trade, politics, and removing the United States ambassador to Ukraine.” How Obama’s Mid-East policy led to Nazi rebirth in today’s Germany By Eric Zuesse On January 12, Deutsche Welle (Germany’s public broadcaster like BBC, PBS, NPR, and RT) headlined “Mayor’s resignation highlights threat to German leaders: Arnd Focke, the Social Democratic mayor of a town in Lower Saxony, was regularly threatened by nationalists. Now he has resigned. Regional officials have repeatedly faced threats across Germany.” He quit for his safety, because carrying out Germany’s compassionate policies toward the flood of mainly Middle-Eastern refugees has produced a backlash that is becoming increasingly organized and dangerous to Germany’s democracy. Thursday Iowa should be a warning—it’s time to switch to paper ballots By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman The chaos in Iowa’s Democratic primary is nothing new. Trump reportedly compiling Nixonian ‘Enemies List’ as he seeks revenge for impeachment ‘McConnell hasn't even held the final vote to launch the post-checks and balances era, and already the would-be authoritarian is escalating his abuses of power.’ By Jake Johnson President Donald Trump is reportedly compiling a Nixonian “enemies list” that includes former national security adviser John Bolton and top House Democrats as he seeks to retaliate for the congressional impeachment process, which is expected to come to a close as early as Wednesday with a Senate vote to acquit. Yes, these drugs are in US meat By Martha Rosenberg Thanks to animal welfare groups, most people are now aware of “factory farms.” Concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs abuse workers, animals, the environment, human consumers and even our tax dollars. (How? Price supports and government bailouts when diseases occur.) Thanks to greedy CAFOs crowding, diseases killed one-tenth of all US pigs and millions of chickens and turkeys a few years ago. Freedom Rider: Prejudential: Black America and the presidents US presidents range from very bad to less bad, but none were ‘good’ for Black people—including the first Black one. By Margaret Kimberley Ten of the first twelve presidents of the United States were slave holders. This is just one of many historical facts that this columnist discovered while researching and writing Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents . The newly published book is an exploration of black American history viewed through the prism of the presidency. The real State of the Union By Robert Reich I wasn’t going to comment on Trump’s lie-filled State of the Union message but the whoppers were so big—especially on the economy—that I feel compelled. Friday The pornification of America: How young girls are being groomed by sexual predators By John W. Whitehead What can we do to protect America’s young people from sexual predators? Crisis and opportunity: The ‘Deal of the Century’ challenge for Palestinians By Ramzy Baroud After several postponements, US President, Donald Trump, has finally revealed the details of his Middle East plan, dubbed ‘Deal of the Century’, in a press conference in Washington on January 28. An American drama: Republican senators sabotaged Donald Trump’s impeachment trial By Dr. Rodrigue Tremblay The die is cast. History will record that Republican senators in the U.S. Senate used their majority to sabotage the impeachment trial of Donald Trump and, in so doing, de facto exonerated him of abuse of power and of obstruction of Congress. Donald Trump’s State of the Mighty Me A speech not worth the paper Nancy Pelosi tore apart. By Michael Winship As Dear Leader wound up his State of the Union, and Nancy Pelosi tore its pages in quarters as she stood behind him, I had the same reaction that many colleagues out in the Twitter universe had. We all instantly recalled George W. Bush’s words at the end of Donald Trump’s inaugural address in 2017: “Well, that was some weird shit.” The truth about corporate philanthropists If they can ‘give back’ so much, it’s probably because they’ve been taking too much. By Jim Hightower Our society has coined expressions like “philanthropist” to encourage and hail people’s charitable spirit.

Trump is still attacking Adam Schiff -- we need you to stand

Adam Schiff: “If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost.    “Framers couldn’t protect us from ourselves, if right and truth don’t matter.    “And you know that what he did was not right. You know, that’s what they do in the old country, that Colonel Vindman’s father came from. Or the old country that my great grandfather came from, or the old countries that your ancestors came from, or maybe you came from. But here, right is supposed to matter. It’s what’s made us the greatest nation on earth. No constitution can protect us if right doesn’t matter anymore.    “And you know you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump.    “He’ll do it now. He’s done it before. He’ll do it for the next several months.    “He’ll do it in the election if he’s allowed to.    “This is why, if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because right matters, and the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost.”         Thank you for your response, The WDTO Team

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GREEN NEW DEAL

One year ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal — our only shot at a just, sustainable future for our children.

In that short time, we’ve fundamentally shifted the conversation about the climate crisis. Thanks to the incredible work of organizations like the Sunrise Movement, we’ve mobilized thousands of climate activists across the world in this existential fight.

But our work is not done. Powerful fossil fuel companies and special interests are stepping up to stop us. Can you split a donation between Alexandria and Ed Markey to ensure their reelections?

Alexandria and Senator Markey are both facing primary challenges from moderate alternatives in their own party, but it won’t scare them into backing down.

The Green New Deal is our chance to start a clean energy revolution that will create millions of union jobs and revitalize communities across the country that have been left behind. It is the only plan that rises to the severity of the reality we face.

But Republicans and corporate Democrats in Congress are doing everything in their power to block it. Can you chip in $15 to support Alexandria and Senator Markey, and keep them in this fight ?

Time has already run out. People across the world are suffering from the effects of the climate crisis, and any further delay means that people will die from our inaction.

That’s why having climate leaders like Alexandria and Senator Markey is so important — because they’re not fighting to preserve the profits of fossil fuel companies or energy billionaires. They’re fighting for us.

In solidarity,

Team AOC

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FOCUS: Frank Rich | Iowa Is Just the Latest Chapter in a Rolling Democratic Calamity

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FOCUS: Frank Rich | Iowa Is Just the Latest Chapter in a Rolling Democratic Calamity

Frank Rich, New York Magazine
Rich writes: "The Iowa debacle was not just a gift to Donald Trump but to Vladimir Putin, whose army of Vichy Republicans and social-media bots can now blame Russia's 2020 election interference on the Democrats as well as Ukraine."

 

ost weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today, the fallout from the Iowa caucus delay, Trump’s post-impeachment presidency, and the rule change that allows Michael Bloomberg into the next Democratic debate.

One of the big hopes of the Iowa caucus was for it to bring clarity to a divided campaign season. Instead, it brought what one former Iowa party chairman has called “a systemwide disaster,” with results still delayed as of this morning. How does this affect the Democratic primary going forward?

The Iowa debacle was not just a gift to Donald Trump but to Vladimir Putin, whose army of Vichy Republicans and social-media bots can now blame Russia’s 2020 election interference on the Democrats as well as Ukraine. And for those who are thinking, oh, this is a one-off disaster that is contained in Iowa that will soon be forgotten, I say, think again. Iowa is but the latest chapter in a rolling Democratic calamity.

Before we get to the broader problem, let’s not absolve the state that sent Joni Ernst to Washington after she ran campaign ads showcasing her agrarian expertise at castrating hogs. And while I as much as anyone enjoy the unintended camp of those massive butter sculptures at the state fair, let’s not forget that the state’s main contribution to civic discourse is its quadrennial hawking of the benefits of ethanol and whose most prized political institution, the Des Moines Register poll, also botched its count this year. Iowa’s signature cultural representation is The Music Man, in which a fast-talking con man bamboozles an entire town without breaking a sweat.

But at least The Music Man has a happy ending. What makes yesterday’s disaster even more depressing is that it is entirely consistent with a national Democratic primary process that, as I have been arguing for months, has been botched from the start. While we may never have trusted numbers for yesterday’s caucuses — or know which of the promised “three sets of numbers” (if any) we should care about — we do have the hard ratings numbers for the televised debates. Voters started tuning out in droves after having had their fill of overpopulated and undernourished formats too often hijacked by the also-rans. Then there is the unreformed primary calendar itself. It remains a mystery that a party which prides itself on offering an alternative to the old white GOP still kicks off its race for the presidency in a state whose electorate is nearly all white. None of the three states next to come — New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — is demographically representative of America either. Yet for all the Democrats’ rightful rage about minority vote suppression and the anti-democratic tilt toward rural red states in the Senate and Electoral College, they failed to bring meaningful change to their own blatantly anti-democratic electoral process.

The last time the Democrats ran against a criminally corrupt president, the yet-to-be-impeached Richard Nixon, was in 1972. What people most recall about that Democratic Waterloo is how divided the Democrats were and how easily their standard-bearer, George McGovern, could be caricatured as a lefty flake. But what is at least as resonant now is just how plain incompetent the party was in that election year. McGovern’s biggest chance to win over the nation, his convention acceptance speech, was seen by almost no one because Democratic bungling assured that it didn’t air until nearly 3 a.m. His vice-presidential nominee, Thomas Eagleton, was replaced less than three weeks later, after it was belatedly discovered he had been treated for mental illness. It was all downhill from there. The Republican ticket won 49 out of 50 states, four and a half months after the Watergate break-in.

It was in the early going of the 20th century that the homespun American sage Will Rogers famously said, “I don’t belong to any organized political party, I’m a Democrat.” Does anyone remember when that line was still funny?

Republicans have voted to block witnesses from testifying in the Senate impeachment trial, leading to an all-but-certain acquittal for Trump this week. Will the impeachment end up changing anything about the Trump presidency?

For sure. As everyone has said, the ease with which Trump and Mitch McConnell were able to execute a sham trial and acquittal in the Senate will now supercharge Trump’s authoritarian crime spree. As Adam Schiff has repeatedly stated, more past transgressions will keep coming out, but we may not be able to keep track of them as the new outrages mount. They will all be enabled by a collaborationist cadre that includes not just outright thugs like William Barr and Mike Pompeo but supposed “wise men” like Lamar Alexander, the senator who found Trump’s Ukraine shakedown “inappropriate” but not worthy of a trial with evidence and witnesses, let alone illegal.

My guess is that most Americans had not heard of this soon-to-retire Tennessee senator until last week, so let’s take a moment to remember his failed presidential run of 1996. His gimmick was to wear a plaid flannel shirt on the campaign trail to advertise his down-home folksiness — a fraudulent pose that was unmasked when he could not answer a question about the price of milk. When campaigning for the Republican Iowa caucuses 24 Februaries ago, he joined virtually every other GOP presidential contender (the sole exception was Richard Lugar) in endorsing a C-Span–televised, gay-bashing, religious-right rally in Des Moines that vowed to “send this evil lifestyle back to Satan where it came from!” Then and now, Alexander epitomizes the kind of spineless cipher who has passed for a “moderate” Republican over the quarter-century that led the party into the cult of Donald Trump.

The Democratic National Committee unexpectedly changed the qualification requirements for its next debate, making it more likely that Michael Bloomberg will join the other candidates onstage for the first time. Last December, the DNC declined to make changes that would have helped Cory Booker and Julián Castro — is it a mistake to make these changes now?

I think we can assume as a rule of thumb that every DNC decision is a mistake. They wouldn’t be in this mess had they not started with debate rules, impenetrable to most voters, that benefited a deep-pocketed clown like Tom Steyer while penalizing Booker and Castro. At this point, the Democrats need all the resources they can muster, and a new cast member like Bloomberg, an enigma or curiosity to many voters beyond the New York area, might coax voters into taking another look at the surviving field and actually tune in. Perhaps the DNC might further drum up attention by branding the subsequent debates as “The Last Debates.” There’s no law requiring Trump to show up to face his Democratic adversary onstage in the fall — not that a law would matter to him anyway. More emboldened than ever post-impeachment, he might well blow off the debates entirely and offer counterprogramming of his own on Fox state television.

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