22 January 20
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22 January 20
Matt Taibbi | Media Stupidity Is Uniting Left and Right
Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
Taibbi writes: "After CNN's debate ambush and MSNBC's body-language analysis, loathing of media is becoming a crossover phenomenon."
Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
Taibbi writes: "After CNN's debate ambush and MSNBC's body-language analysis, loathing of media is becoming a crossover phenomenon."
EXCERPT:
The reason people are abandoning traditional political solutions on both sides of the political aisle is that most people can see how easy it is to put a thumb on the scale of such rosy Adam Smith market theory. They know companies buy regulatory and tax relief through political donations, offshore profits, export labor to unfree political zones like China, use central banking mechanisms to obtain heavily subsidized capital, and dominate debate through investment in media.
About that last point: One of the areas where systematic unfairness is most visible is through the aggressive suckage of the establishment press.
If inequality – not just in income but in influence as well as regulatory and criminal accountability – is a problem, the average media consumer knows by instinct what side of that problem the owners of major media companies represent. The average person, who is probably an illness away from bankruptcy, sees that Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos makes the median Amazon salary every nine seconds, the CEO of Disney makes 1,424 times what his line worker earns, Google has been parking profits in Ireland, and CNN busts its unions.
When a politician rises by talking about ending the rigged game, only to get a uniformly negative response in media outlets owned by some of the riggers, people make that obvious connection, even when the rhetoric is coming from someone like Donald Trump.
When Trump jumped into the presidential race in 2015, it would have been easy enough for members of the media to decry his ignorance, personal and professional venality, and racism.
But they couldn’t help themselves, declaring every word out of his mouth a Satanic lie. This made the occasional things that he said that were true, like that Jeb Bush was a puppet for corporate donors or NATO was a bloated and outdated organization, pack significantly more punch.
The transparent full-of-shitness of the corporate press reaction to Trump was probably the leading argument for his credibility. Trump wrongly pushed voters to blame minorities and foreigners, and when he did identify correct targets for public opprobrium, like Goldman Sachs, it wasn’t believable that he would oppose them in office. But media figures gave his “drain the swamp” message a huge boost by scoffing at it with their inimical obnoxiousness.
Mitch McConnell. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump Impeachment: GOP Senators Kill Democratic Efforts to Subpoena More Evidence
Lauren Gambino and Tom McCarthy, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "In seven consecutive votes split precisely along party lines, the Senate voted down Democratic proposals to subpoena testimony from four potential witnesses and documents from multiple government agencies."
Lauren Gambino and Tom McCarthy, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "In seven consecutive votes split precisely along party lines, the Senate voted down Democratic proposals to subpoena testimony from four potential witnesses and documents from multiple government agencies."
EXCERPTS:
In seven consecutive votes split precisely along party lines, the Senate voted down Democratic proposals to subpoena testimony from four potential witnesses and documents from multiple government agencies. Four additional votes defeated proposals to ease the admission of documents and testimony and to relax related time restrictions.
“I know it’s late, but it doesn’t have to be late,” Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment “manager”, or prosecutor in the case, said as the proceedings entered their 12th hour.
“We don’t control the schedule. There is a reason why we are still here at five minutes till midnight, and that’s because they don’t want the American people to see what’s going on here.”
Democrats fruitlessly called for testimony and documents from the former national security adviser John Bolton; the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney; Mulvaney’s aide Robert Blair; the budget official Michael Duffey; the White House; the state department; the defense department; and the budget office relevant to an alleged scheme by Trump to twist the powers of the presidency to extract personal political favors from Ukraine.
Each of the proposed subpoenas was defeated by a 53-47 vote. Only one procedural amendment garnered a single Republican vote, from Susan Collins of Maine. The 13-hour session came to an end just before 2am local time, with yet another straight party-line vote to approve guidelines for the trial unveiled by the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, just a day earlier.
Democrats accused Republicans of failing to commit to a fair impeachment trial and of engaging in a “cover-up” of misconduct by the president.
“The president is engaged in this cover-up because he is guilty, and he knows it,” said Representative Val Demings of Florida, one of the impeachment managers .
“They’re not here to steal one election, they’re here to steal two elections,” said Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel. “They won’t tell you that. They don’t have the guts to say it directly. But that’s exactly what they’re here to do.”
The trial was scheduled to continue with late-night sessions starting on Wednesday afternoon and running into the weekend. A long-shot two-thirds majority of senators present would be required to remove Trump from office.
The supreme court’s chief justice, John Roberts, gaveled the trial to order shortly after 1pm.
“The Senate will convene as a court of impeachment,” Roberts said, proceeding to swear in one senator, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who missed the group swearing-in last week.
Over the next 12 hours, Roberts stepped out of a strictly procedural role only once, after the manager Jerry Nadler accused any senator who voted against hearing from Bolton of casting a “treacherous vote” and Cipollone demanded that Nadler apologize to Trump and his family.
Admonishing both sides, Roberts noted that Senate rules and tradition required civil discourse. “I do think that those addressing the Senate should remember where they are,” he said.
Voting in Ohio. (photo: David Goldman/AP)
10 Years After Citizens United Supreme Court Decision, Super PACs Have Flooded Federal Elections With $2.9 Billion
Devin Dwyer, ABC News
Dwyer writes: "American elections have long been awash in cash, but a decade after the Supreme Court eliminated limits on political spending by outside groups, watchdogs say the system is drowning in it."
Devin Dwyer, ABC News
Dwyer writes: "American elections have long been awash in cash, but a decade after the Supreme Court eliminated limits on political spending by outside groups, watchdogs say the system is drowning in it."
The 2010 case cleared the way for creation of Super PACs, the political entities which can raise and spend unlimited sums to influence elections, so long as they don’t explicitly coordinate with a candidate.
During the 2016 campaign, more than 2,300 Super PACs spent $1.1 billion – nearly 17% the $6.5 billion amount spent by all parties involved in the election cycle at all levels. Most of that money came from just 100 donors, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics.
By comparison, in 2010, there were just 83 active Super PACs, spending a combined $63 million during the cycle, the group said.
Super PACs have spent more than $2.9 billion in federal elections between 2010 and 2018, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. That's just over 11%.
All outside groups, including Super PACs, labor unions, trade associations, corporations and others, spent a combined $5.6 billion in federal elections between 2010 and 2018. That's just over 21% of all spending in federal elections over the same period.
Corporations, unions and many of the nation’s wealthiest donors -- reluctant to draw negative attention for direct contributions to candidates or campaigns -- have poured funds into Super PACs, which are less well known and harder for the public to track.
Protesters gathering outside the US Supreme Court, while court justices consider case regarding presidential powers on the legality of President Donald Trump's latest travel ban. (photo: Yuri Gripas/Reuters)
Trump Confirms Plans to Expand Controversial Travel Ban
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "US President Donald Trump has confirmed that his administration plans on expanding his administration's controversial travel ban, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday."
READ MORE
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "US President Donald Trump has confirmed that his administration plans on expanding his administration's controversial travel ban, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday."
READ MORE
Unemployment. (photo: Reuters)
Study: Nearly 500 Million People Worldwide Struggle to Find Adequate Work
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Almost half a billion people around the world are stuck in poverty as they struggle to find work or a job that is adequately paid, an International Labour Organization report published Monday found."
teleSUR
Excerpt: "Almost half a billion people around the world are stuck in poverty as they struggle to find work or a job that is adequately paid, an International Labour Organization report published Monday found."
“For millions of ordinary people, it’s increasingly difficult to build better lives through work,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.
“Persisting and substantial work-related inequalities and exclusion are preventing them from finding decent work and better futures. That’s an extremely serious finding that has profound and worrying implications for social cohesion.”
The labor organization noted that more than 470 million people in the world are affected by insufficiently paid work, and lack the employment opportunities that would meet their needs
Out of a working-age population of 5.7 billion individuals around the world, as much as 165 million people are employed but unable to find work with an adequate amount of paid hours.
The report also said a further 119 million had either abandoned actively searching for work or could not access to the jobs market because of their personal situations.
In addition, the United Nations’ agency observed that unemployment is projected to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020.
Global unemployment has been relatively stable over almost a decade, but weaker levels of economic growth mean that “as the global labor force increases, not enough new jobs are being generated to absorb new entrants to the labor market,” the researchers wrote.
ILO’s study was released as global political and business elites are heading to the Swiss ski resort of Davos where the World Economic Forum (WEF) will be held from Jan. 21 to 24.
A malnourished lion lies in its cage in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, where conditions have been deteriorating for weeks. (photo: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images)
Lions Are Starving to Death in a Sudan Park. A Worldwide Campaign Is Underway to Save Them.
Reis Thebault, The Washington Post
Thebault writes: "In the wild, African lions are strapping animals. They prowl in prides - the males, with their distinctive manes, defend their territory with thunderous roars; the females, the primary hunters, work together to stalk and ambush their prey."
Reis Thebault, The Washington Post
Thebault writes: "In the wild, African lions are strapping animals. They prowl in prides - the males, with their distinctive manes, defend their territory with thunderous roars; the females, the primary hunters, work together to stalk and ambush their prey."
Measuring roughly four feet tall and several hundred pounds, the species is known as “the king of cats.”
But in a set of unnerving images publicized in recent days, five lions are pictured caged, emaciated and dying, held behind bars in a Khartoum park and stripped of all natural stateliness. The photographs were first shared Saturday by Osman Salih, a concerned advocate in the Sudanese capital. Since then, they’ve attracted an audience of thousands, spreading across social media feeds around the world and prompting an online campaign that has adopted the hashtag #SudanAnimalRescue.
But those pleas for help were already too late for at least one lioness, which died Monday, Salih said in a Facebook post that was illustrated with a photo of the animal — eyes closed, frail body curled and ribs visible beneath its patchy fur.
“Seeing these animals caged and be treated this way made my blood boil,” Salih wrote in another post.
Salih watched as some of the lions limped, so malnourished that their spines and hip bones looked like they may poke out of their skin. Others lay on concrete floors, next to rotting meat, as swarms of flies landed on their faces.
The scene was especially hard to see, he said, after he learned about thousands of animals perishing in Australia’s wildfires this month.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the lions ended up in the cages, but they’re located in Al-Qureshi Park, managed by the city government and funded in part by private donors, according to the news service Agence France-Presse, which sent its journalists to see the lions and published more photographs of them.
“Food is not always available, so often we buy it from our own money to feed them,” park manager Essamelddine Hajjar told the outlet.
Officials estimated some of them have lost nearly two-thirds of their body weight. Park administrators have blamed Sudan’s wildlife officials for the lions’ worsening health, Salih said.
“The income of the park for a month is not enough to feed one lion for a week,” he wrote.
Salih said he has worked with a group to contact veterinarians and wildlife specialists, and has arranged meetings with government officials. He wants to offer help — both monetary and manpower — at a time when the country has seen economic crisis and political upheaval.
“The issue is not simply food but most importantly the animals need detailed and special treatment to rid them of infections and issues probably brought about from infested meat and poor diet,” Salih wrote.
But as of Monday, Salih hadn’t yet formed a plan for collecting the donations that many on social media were eagerly offering. Wary of fraudsters, Salih asked anyone interested in giving money to hold off until there is an organized system in place to receive it.
“Too often these situations are exploited and people are scammed,” he wrote in a Sunday post.
In that post, he also said the animal charity and rescue group Four Paws International had agreed to send a team to rehabilitate the animals and train wildlife officials. A spokesperson for the organization said it was “closely monitoring the situation and working hard to get access to the country and the zoo.”
“We are in frequent contact with the responsible national authorities in Sudan,” Martin Bauer, head of public relations for Four Paws, told The Washington Post. “As soon as we get their approval, Four Paws will send a team, consisting of veterinarians and wildlife experts, to Khartoum to provide the urgently needed care for the lions. We hope we can help soon but the final decision for a rescue mission depends on the approval from the national authorities.”
But the problem is probably much larger than Al-Qureshi Park. It’s unclear how many lions are held in captivity in Sudan, but their population is declining worldwide. In the past 21 years, their numbers have dwindled by 43 percent, according to the African Wildlife Foundation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers them “vulnerable.”
Salih said there could be parks across Sudan holding lions, and other animals, in similar conditions.
“It is extremely important to note that after this post it has come to our attention that many other parks are in the same poor state,” Salih wrote. “So we hope this initiative can reach out to all wildlife parks and sanctuaries.”
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