Garrison Keillor | Thoughts From the Back Row of the Memorial

21 December 19 Right Now We Don't Have a Prayer of Finishing Based on where we are at this point in the month and the pace at which the donations are coming in, we have no chance of meeting our budget for December. It is absolutely critical that we find a way to get the flow of contributions moving. In earnest. Marc Ash Founder, Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! Update My Monthly Donation If you would prefer to send a check: Reader Supported News PO Box 2043 Citrus Hts, CA 95611

21 December 19 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News FEED THE GREEDY CORPORATION, STARVE THE TRUTH-TELLER: The vast majority of our readers are far more likely to hand their money to the very Corporations whose abuses they rely on us to monitor than they are to give us - any money at all - to monitor them. It's not that you do not come to RSN, it's that most of you do not help out. As a result the abusive corporate entities thrive while smaller honest organizations are left without means. Stop funding the problem and start funding the solution! Now would be a good time. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! Garrison Keillor | Thoughts From the Back Row of the Memorial Garrison Keillor, Garrison Keillor's Website Keillor writes: "I learned a new word last week: 'anonymized.' It means just what it says, 'made anonymous,' and was used in reference to government reports obtained by the Washington Post that contained truthful revelations about our 18-year war in Afghanistan that the government was lying to the American people about while spending a trillion dollars to achieve something that nobody in the Pentagon could quite define." READ MORE Voters at a polling precinct. (photo: KTLA) Trump Adviser Caught on Tape: Voter Suppression Key to GOP Battleground Efforts Scott Bauer, Associated Press Bauer writes: "One of President Donald Trump's top reelection advisers told influential Republicans in swing state Wisconsin that the party has 'traditionally' relied on voter suppression to compete in battleground states, according to an audio recording of a private event obtained by The Associated Press." READ MORE Activists rallying to defend DACA in Washington, D.C. (photo: Andrew Stefan/RSN) ICE Reopening Long-Closed Deportation Cases Against Dreamers Bob Ortega, CNN Ortega writes: "The letter this fall from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement turned Zoila Pelayo's life on end. Stunned, she read that the agency was filing to reopen a deportation case against her that had been closed nearly eight years ago." READ MORE Hands typing on a computer keyboard. (photo: hamburg_berlin/Shutterstock) Over 267 Million Facebook Users Have Account Info Exposed on Dark Web in Massive Data Breach CBS New York Excerpt: "Over 267 million Facebook users have had their personal information exposed by another massive data breach." READ MORE Stephen Miller. (photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) 25 Jewish House Democrats Call on Trump to Fire Stephen Miller Josefin Dolsten, The Times of Israel Dolsten writes: "Lawmakers send letter to US president saying his senior policy adviser has 'no place in our government' because of emails promoting white nationalist materials." In a letter sent to the president on Friday, the Congress members focused on Miller’s hardline views on immigration and referenced recently leaked emails in which he promoted white nationalist materials to the right-wing Breitbart News website. “With America experiencing historic levels of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism, and white supremacy, there should be no place in our government and on any President’s staff for people propagating such views,” the letter says. In the emails, published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Miller sent a Breitbart reporter links to VDare, a news website popular with white nationalists, and recommended that she read “The Camp of the Saints,” a racist French novel by Jean Raspail from the 1970s that has become an ideological foundation document for white nationalists. He also railed against the removal of Confederate monuments and flags after a white nationalist, Dylann Roof, opened fire at a South Carolina church and killed nine worshipers. Miller has helped craft the president’s controversial immigration policies, including the ban on citizens of certain Muslim majority countries and the family separation policy on the southern border. Miller is Jewish and his ancestors were immigrants to the United States. The signatories also took issue with a response by White House spokesman Hogan Gidley to the leaked emails in which Gidley implied that criticism of Miller was anti-Semitic. “Weaponizing anti-Semitism is incredibly dangerous – by muddying the waters, we are no longer able to see and fight against the real anti-Semites in our midst,” the letter reads. Representatives Brad Schneider of Illinois and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida organized the letter. READ MORE Relatives and friends place flowers at Berta Cáceres's grave in La Esperanza, Honduras, March 3, 2018. (photo: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images) Inside the Plot to Murder Honduran Activist Berta Cáceres Danielle Mackey and Chiara Eisner, The Intercept Excerpt: "Cáceres was a 44-year-old activist, mother of four, and an international celebrity - she won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for leading a grassroots campaign to prevent a private energy company, Desarrollos Energéticos Sociedad Anónima, from building a hydroelectric dam on Indigenous land." READ MORE A bushfire in Australia. (photo: Getty Images) Australia Is on Fire, Literally - and So Are Its Climate Politics Denise Chow, NBC News Chow writes: "More than 100 bushfires are raging in Australia as the continent swelters under record heat, a double whammy of extremes that has amplified scrutiny of what experts say is stark inaction from the government on climate change." EXCERPTS: Blazes across New South Wales and Queensland have scorched almost 7 million acres, and Australia experienced its hottest day on record Wednesday, when the average temperature across the country hit 105 degrees. The nation's woes are unfolding as Australia faces criticism for what have been described as its inadequate climate policies, including the role of federal officials in thwarting negotiations at a recent U.N. summit on climate change. Richie Merzian, director of the climate and energy program at the Australia Institute, a Canberra-based think tank that conducts public policy research, called the 2019 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change a letdown. The summit ended Sunday in a stalemate, with countries largely delaying major decisions on plans to cut carbon emissions until next year's conference. "It was terribly disappointing," Merzian said. "Australia is literally on fire right now, and it's clearly linked to climate change in terms of its severity and duration. But instead of going there to rally the world behind the need for greater climate action, Australia was lobbying to do as little as possible." Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal and its third-largest exporter of fossil fuels, after Russia and Saudi Arabia. Merzian, who worked as a climate negotiator for the government for almost a decade, said those economic ties have shaped the country's climate policies for decades — and invite international criticism. "You can't be the largest exporter of coal, which is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions when consumed, and not take any responsibility for that," Merzian said. In 2012, Australia's Labor Government introduced a carbon tax that helped the country reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 1.4 percent by the end of its second year. But the policy was unpopular, and in 2014, the newly elected government repealed the tax. "Any new tax is unpopular, but unfortunately, by the time it was dismantled, we could see that it was working," Merzian said. "It was reducing emissions, but it just didn't have enough momentum to survive quite a strong negative campaign." As one of the countries that ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement, a global pact aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change, Australia will join 187 other countries in pledging to meet its reduction goals next year. Pitman said Australia has much at stake, with fragile ecosystems, such as the Great Barrier Reef, under severe threat from warming oceans and the country's bushfires. Still, he added, it's difficult to be optimistic about the country's direction. "The Great Barrier Reef is a multibillion-dollar asset to Australia, and it's being sacrificed at the altar of carbon dioxide emissions," he said. "It's really important to understand that decisions that need to be made on carbon emission are politically painful, and there is no one more skilled at avoiding difficult political decisions than politicians." READ MORE Contribute to RSN Update My Monthly Donation