 22 October 19 It’s Amazing What Our Core Supporters Do
RSN exists because we have rock-solid core of dedicated supporters. That’s the reason RSN has not been broken. It’s only a few hundred small donors but they are the backbone of the organization.
We need a few more.
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Marc Ash
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21 October 19
Kate Aronoff, Guardian UK
Aronoff writes: "Zuckerberg's plea for the billionaire class is above all else deeply anti-democratic, casting doubt on the huddled masses' ability to decide what's best for themselves while repeating myths that the public sector is doomed to be wasteful and stagnant."
Moreover, billionaires’ extravagant wealth is by and large not spent, as Zuckerberg suggests, on cutting edge research and philanthropic efforts. After they’ve bought up enough yachts and private jets they mainly invest in making themselves richer through casino-style financial speculation and in luxury real estate in starkly unequal cities like San Francisco, Miami and New York, where mostly vacant homes act as safety deposit boxes to shield wealth from taxation. Their money might also end up in tax havens like the Cayman Islands, where it can sit undisturbed by the long arm of the state. Very little of that ever trickles down to the 99%, where inequality has skyrocketed and wages have stagnated.
An American soldier stands guard during a joint patrol with Turkish troops in the Syrian village of al-Hashisha. (photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images)
Juan Cole, Informed Comment
Cole writes: "Although Trump keeps talking about bringing the troops home from the Middle East, that isn't what he is doing."
There are some 60,000 US troops in and around the Middle East. There is no prospect of any significant number of them “coming home” any time soon.
In fact, Trump just sent nearly 2,000 troops to Saudi Arabia after the attack, attributed by many to Iran, on the Abqaiq oil processing facility.
I guess the difference between Syrian Kurds, whom he abandoned, and Saudi Arabia, to which he’s sending more troops, is about 9 million barrels a day of oil.
Moreover, Trump implies that there are cost savings to bringing the troops home, but he put up spending on the Department of Defense $130 billion a year. The 2015 Defense budget was $586 billion and that in 2019 was $716 billion. Trump wants to go on up to $750 billion. So there is no peace dividend, no extra investment in American infrastructure or bringing factory jobs back. There is just squandering of money on the military. Money invested in the Defense Department produces relatively few jobs compared to what would happen if you invested it in something useful.
Sil Lai Abrams. (photo: Daily Beast/Getty Images)
Sil Lai Abrams, The Daily Beast
Abrams writes: "NBC threw Joy-Ann Reid and me under the bus. It killed her story and - at least temporarily - silenced me."
When I approached Joy, I had no idea that NBC had a reputation for not breaking news about men accused of sexual assault. Therefore, I had no reason to believe my story would be derailed by the network. After going through a thorough vetting process, an on-camera interview with Joy was taped on Jan. 7, 2018. While she’s a host on MSNBC, I was told that NBC was not taping it for the cable network but NBC itself, in order to get it a larger audience beyond Joy’s weekend show; also, it was to be paired with a lengthy print piece written by Joy for New York magazine. I was told the TV portion was scheduled to air on Jan. 13, 2018, but I received an email the day before from Joy asking me to reach out to her.
When we spoke a few hours later, she informed me that Russell Simmons’ attorney had gone ballistic and NBC was not going to air the segment, and the New York magazine story was also on hold since they were paired. She assured me the story wasn’t dead, but that NBC simply needed more vetting done in order to feel comfortable with moving forward.
Recently, however, there has been a spate of stories about sexual misconduct in the upper echelons of the company: Noah Oppenheim’s misogynistic Harvard Crimson pieces, Andy Lack’s predation of underlings, MSNBC head Phil Griffin showing a photo of Maria Menounos’ genitalia in a staff meeting. The issue at NBC is larger than what I’d feared about its reporting policies on assaults committed against women of color. What we have seen over and over again with NBC is its use of its power to protect those in power. This entire sordid mess is solely about power and NBC’s choice to side with those in possession of it. NBC is a media conglomerate with tentacles that extend around the globe. It has the power to make or break careers and lives. It has shown that when it comes down to breaking news on the sexual abuse of women by men who also have power, it will protect assailants under the guise of “not meeting standards and practices.”
Gordon Sondland, center, arrives at the US Capitol in Washington DC, on 17 October. (photo: Oliver Douliery/Getty)
Lisa Lambert and Patricia Zengerle, Reuters
Excerpt: "House Democrats released a fact sheet and video to try to make their case for impeachment, drawing on information about the Ukraine scandal."
PIVOTAL TESTIMONY
Diplomat Taylor could be one of the most important witnesses yet. Taylor’s text messages with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland have surfaced as a central thread in the probe.
Before making his requests to Zelenskiy, Trump had withheld the congressionally approved U.S. security aid to Ukraine to help Kiev deal with Russia-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. Zelenskiy agreed to Trump’s requests. Trump later provided the aid.
“I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” Taylor, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Ukraine, said in a text to Sondland.
“The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind,” Sondland responded by text after speaking to Trump. Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase meaning a favor for a favor.
Sondland said in written testimony last week that Trump in May told senior U.S. officials to deal directly with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, about U.S. policy on Ukraine, raising concern that American foreign policy was being outsourced to a private citizen and conducted for the president’s personal political benefit.
Also scheduled to testify in a closed session on Wednesday is Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe. Laura Cooper, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, and Alexander Vindman, a Europe adviser on the National Security Council, are scheduled to testify on Thursday, an official involved in the inquiry said.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts after an event at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, on Sunday. (photo: Demetrius Freeman/NYT)
Warren's Education Plan Promises Billions for Low-Income Schools and Desegregation
Dana Goldstein and Thomas Kaplan, The New York Times
Excerpt: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts had released dozens of policy plans before tackling K-12 education, making her the last leading Democratic primary contender to do so."
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Demonstrators take part in an anti-government protest in Tripoli, Lebanon, on Sunday. (photo: Omar Ibrahim/Reuters)
Dana Goldstein and Thomas Kaplan, The New York Times
Excerpt: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts had released dozens of policy plans before tackling K-12 education, making her the last leading Democratic primary contender to do so."
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Demonstrators take part in an anti-government protest in Tripoli, Lebanon, on Sunday. (photo: Omar Ibrahim/Reuters)
Lebanon's Hariri Vows Reforms in Speech That Falls Flat Among Protesters
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "A nationwide general strike has been called across Lebanon for Monday as protests, demanding an end to economic woes and perceived government corruption, are set to continue for a fifth day."
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Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "A nationwide general strike has been called across Lebanon for Monday as protests, demanding an end to economic woes and perceived government corruption, are set to continue for a fifth day."
READ MORE
A ghost forest in the Chesapeake Bay. (photo: Gabriella Demczuk/NYT)
Ghost Forests Are Visceral Examples of the Advance of Climate Change
Tik Root, Time
Root writes: "The first descriptions of ghost forests date back to about 1910. The phenomenon can now be seen all along the Atlantic seaboard of North America, from Louisiana up to southern Canada."
Tik Root, Time
Root writes: "The first descriptions of ghost forests date back to about 1910. The phenomenon can now be seen all along the Atlantic seaboard of North America, from Louisiana up to southern Canada."
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