Paul Krugman | Warren Versus the Petty Plutocrats

01 October 19

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Paul Krugman | Warren Versus the Petty Plutocrats

Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "Remember when pundits used to argue that Elizabeth Warren wasn't likable enough to be president? It was always a lazy take, with a strong element of sexism."
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller. (photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Trump May Have Lied to Mueller, House Democrats Say in Filing for Grand-Jury Materials
Andrew Desiderio, Politico
Desiderio writes: "Lawyers for the House of Representatives revealed on Monday that they have reason to believe that the grand-jury redactions in special counsel Robert Mueller's report show that President Donald Trump lied about his knowledge of his campaign's contacts with WikiLeaks."
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Fired Dallas police officer Amber Guyger leaves the courtroom after a jury found her guilty of murder Tuesday. Guyger shot and killed Botham Jean, an unarmed 26-year-old neighbor, in his own apartment last year. She told police she thought his apartment was her own and that he was an intruder. (photo: Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News/AP)

Amber Guyger, Police Officer Who Shot a Man to Death in His Apartment, Found Guilty of Murder
Bobby Allyn, NPR
Allyn writes: "A Dallas jury has found former police Officer Amber Guyger guilty of murder for fatally shooting a neighbor who lived in the apartment directly above hers last year. She had testified that she entered Botham Jean's unit after a long day at work, thinking it was her own home and that he was an intruder."
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Since 2016, as the Democratic field has expanded, Bernie Sanders has maintained a significant fund-raising advantage among college students in Iowa. (photo: Michael B. Thomas/AFP/Getty Images)

Bernie Sanders' Fund-Raising Haul: $25.3 Million in Third Quarter
Paul Blest, Splinter
Blest writes: "In recent weeks, the Democratic primary for president has essentially turned into a three-person race between Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders. But while Sanders' campaign is already being written off by some pundits, fundraising totals released on Tuesday indicate he's not anywhere close to finished."
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Mike Pompeo. (photo: Drew Angerer/NYT)

Pompeo Says State Department Officials Won't Show Up for Impeachment Depositions
Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post
DeYoung writes: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fired a broadside at House Democrats on Tuesday, saying State Department officials scheduled to appear this week before committees conducting the impeachment inquiry would not be made available until 'we obtain further clarity on these matters.'"
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The FCC's cancellation of Obama-era rules on net neutrality sparked demonstrations in 2017. (photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)

Appeals Court Upholds Trump Admin's Canceling of Net Neutrality Rules
Brian Fung, CNN
Fung writes: "A federal appeals court has largely upheld the Federal Communications Commission's controversial repeal of its net neutrality rules for internet providers, finding the agency didn't overreach when it decided in 2018 to deregulate companies such as Comcast (CCZ) and Verizon (VZ)."
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A protestor participates in a demonstration in Washington against the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. (photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Revealed: How the FBI Targeted Environmental Activists in Domestic Terror Investigations
Adam Federman, Guardian UK
Federman writes: "Protesters were characterized as a threat to national security in what one calls an attempt to criminalize their actions."
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Monsanto's 'Intelligence Center' Targeted Neil Young, Journalists, and Activists

09 August 19

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09 August 19

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

YES WE ARE SERIOUS, BELIEVE IT : We are serious a powerful voice social justice, we are serious about fighting for economic justice and we are serious about real meaningful reform. We are also serious about maintaining a stable organization. To do that we need dependable funding. And, yes we are absolutely serious about funding as well. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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Monsanto's 'Intelligence Center' Targeted Neil Young, Journalists, and Activists 

Sam Levin, Guardian UK
Levin writes: "Monsanto operated a 'fusion center' to monitor and discredit journalists and activists, and targeted a reporter who wrote a critical book on the company, documents reveal. The agrochemical corporation also investigated the singer Neil Young and wrote an internal memo on his social media activity and music."
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Andrew McCabe Sues FBI Over Firing, Alleges Plot by Trump to Oust Those Disloyal to the President
Matt Zapotosky, The Washington Post
Zapotosky writes: "Andrew McCabe, the acting FBI director who authorized an investigation into President Trump for ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice, filed a lawsuit against the bureau and the Justice Department on Wednesday, alleging he was illegally demoted and fired as part of a plot by Trump to remove those who were not politically loyal to him."
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Trump Supporter With Knife, Loaded Gun Arrested Outside Migrant Center in El Paso
Alfredo Corchado, Dallas News
Corchado writes: "Days after the massacre directed at Latinos across the country, a supporter of President Donald J. Trump allegedly armed with a gun and knife was briefly detained in front of a migrant community center, putting an already grieving city further on edge."
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Explosion of an Interracial Couple's Ohio Home Being Investigated as a Hate Crime After Swastikas Found at Scene
Darran Simon, CNN
Simon writes: "Racial slurs and a swastika were found spray-painted on a garage at the scene of a house explosion in Ohio, officials said Wednesday."
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Revealed: FBI and Police Monitoring Oregon Anti-Pipeline Activists
Jason Wilson and Will Parrish, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "Law enforcement groups, including the FBI, have been monitoring opponents of a natural gas infrastructure project in Oregon and circulated intelligence to an email list that included a Republican-aligned anti-environmental PR operative, emails obtained by the Guardian show."
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Food Shipment Destined for Venezuela Seized Due to US Blockade
teleSUR
Excerpt: "The shipment seizure comes just days after Trump signed an executive order Monday that imposes a near-total blockade on government assets in that country, which includes an embargo against food suppliers, among other basic inputs."
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Trump EPA Appoints Former Oil Executive to Oversee the Fracking Heartland
Neela Banerjee, InsideClimate News
Banerjee writes: "The Trump administration named a former oil executive who has voiced doubts about man-made global warming as the top Environmental Protection Agency official in the South-Central United States, a hub of the fossil fuel industry as well as the site of recent climate-driven disasters such as Hurricane Harvey."
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‘The FBI Appears to Be Engaged in a Modern-Day Version of COINTELPRO’ - CounterSpin interview with Nusrat Choudhury on FBI targeting of black activists view post on FAIR.org Janine Jackson interviewed Nusrat Choudhury about FBI targeting of black activists for the April 12, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. An FBI intelligence assessment fabricated a new domestic terrorism threat category: “Black Identity Extremists.” Janine Jackson: In the summer of 2017, as demonstrations roiled St. Louis, Missouri, in response to the acquittal of yet another police officer who killed yet another black person, the FBI issued an intelligence assessment that purported to designate a new domestic terror threat: “Black Identity Extremists.” And they predicted that perceptions of unjust treatment of African Americans and the perceived unchallenged illegitimate actions of law enforcement will inspire premeditated attacks against law enforcement. Does that sound like a bizarre and dangerously imprecise targeting of people of color engaged in righteous and constitutionally protected protest? It sure does. But as we discussed at the time with our next guest, a tool in the hands of the country’s most powerful law enforcement need not be precise to be used to do tremendous damage. Nusrat Choudhury is deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program. She joins us now by phone from here in town. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Nusrat Choudhury. NC: Thank you so much for having me. JJ: When we spoke with you in the fall of 2017, the FBI Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit had just issued this weird and disturbing threat assessment, with this new fabricated category of “Black Identity Extremists.” And the ACLU and other groups were working to see just what they were doing—how was this being used? And the FBI wasn’t all that keen for the sunshine. What has happened, or not happened, since then, such that now the ACLU, along with the Center for Media Justice, have filed a lawsuit against the FBI? Rep. Karen Bass challenges then-US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the “Black Identity Extremists” FBI assessment in 2017. NC: As you said, we requested, under the Freedom of Information Act, records about what appears to be a highly disturbing surveillance program, targeting a fictitious threat of so-called “Black Identity Extremists,” which we and civil rights groups, black-led organizations, black activists and even members of Congress have said raises a red flag that there may be racial profiling and the targeting of black protesters for their First Amendment–protected activity. After sending that Freedom of Information Act request, what we got back from the FBI were two letters, refusing to even search for certain categories of records that we had requested, and a number of documents, several hundred pages of highly redacted FBI emails, in response to one of the three categories of requested records. And the FBI, to the extent that it has disclosed any information, hasn’t explained why it’s keeping that information secret with any reliable justifications. So we don’t really know what else is even out there, as well as information from the emails that they’ve redacted. And this refusal to search is barring the public from getting the information that we need to find out how this surveillance program, targeting this fictitious group that even some law enforcement have said doesn’t exist, is operating and impacting people on the ground. And that’s why we need a lawsuit. And we the ACLU are standing with our partners at the Center for Media Justice to demand information on behalf of ourselves and the public. JJ: You’re describing it as a surveillance program. I was going to ask, what sorts of activities do we think that this designation is trying to justify, or is trying to encourage? I mean, it sounds like it could be almost anything. Once you’ve designated something a domestic terrorist threat, it sort of greenlights all kinds of activities, mightn’t it? COINTELPRO targeted civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King, Jr.  NC: The FBI appears to be engaged in a modern-day version of COINTELPRO, and many of us remember, COINTELPRO took place in the last century, in the ’50s and ’60s, targeting covert activities against civil rights leaders and black people who had the courage to protest racial discrimination and to advocate for full equality and racial equity in this country. It looks like it’s version 2.0. And when we look at this document, this FBI intelligence assessment, from August 2017 that creates this label of “Black Identity Extremists,” it’s based on nothing; there’s no credible evidence that such a movement or group even exists. But what that report shows is that the FBI is looking at First Amendment–protected activity to determine who is a so-called “Black Identity Extremist.” That report shows a focus at the FBI on social media activity, on the online search terms that people use, and what kind of internet content a person may like, as well as their associations with certain groups. The Center for Media Justice announced a lawsuit in 2019 against the FBI for “hiding its surveillance of Black activists and organizations.” A lot of that activity is protected by the First Amendment. And this is precisely why the Center for Media Justice and the ACLU are concerned that this creation of this label was simply to justify surveillance of black people who are protesting police violence and state-sanctioned violence against black people. JJ: Yeah, even, I think, law enforcement—a former FBI agent, I seem to remember, giving a quote saying, basically, “It’s just black people who scare them”; they’re just working backwards from that. There’s so many levels to this, but to imagine that various groups would only be fighting back against police racist brutality if they were part of a unified ideological project, and an inherently violent ideological project, that outrage at racist policing is not a motivation that anyone with eyes could have…. I mean, even if you thought that was their sincere belief, that would reflect a lack of intelligence that’s so painful it’s almost unbearable. But that would be the idea, that all of these groups must somehow be linked in an ideological project, otherwise, why would they be engaged in this resistance? NC: And the assessment itself, this FBI report that creates this label of a “Black Identity Extremist” boogeyman, if you look at the text of it, it’s talking about these six incidents of violence or threatened violence against police. And it doesn’t even link them and, in points, actually says that some of the people involved in these incidents have divergent views. The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives issued a press release that “expresses concern over the Black Identity Extremists FBI assessment.” So it’s circular logic; it undermines itself. There’s really no basis; former law enforcement have criticized it as being a flawed intelligence product. And even current law enforcement, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, has called on the FBI to withdraw this assessment, because it is so faulty, and they’ve asked to eliminate the “Black Identity Extremist” threat classification. That means something, when even law enforcement are looking at this and saying, “This doesn’t make sense.” Members of Congress have also articulated a concern that it looks like it’s directed at people who are protesting police killing of black people, and that includes the Movement for Black Lives. And this is why this effort, through the lawsuit and through advocacy, to get information about this surveillance program, this effort by the ACLU and the Center for Media Justice, is so important. Racial justice in this country comes about when people protest, and black people have been critical to these movements that have brought about a better protection and realization of rights to equality and fairness that has benefited all of us. The Movement for Black Lives So these modern-day protest movements are critical to realizing the full potential of American democracy and promises to equality and racial justice. Those movements should not be surveilled. The law enforcement resources of this country should be directed towards real threats to public safety, not for targeting people because of their race and their protected beliefs. JJ: Just finally, we’re talking about it as though it’s a potential tool, or as though it’s something that is on paper. We have to recognize that just the existence of this designation is already having a real effect on the ground, and putting folks in danger. NC: Absolutely. When the FBI disseminates an intelligence assessment, and this one was disseminated to at least 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, when it does that, it risks inciting police fear of black people, particularly black activists. That is the real, tangible result. And despite the calls by members of Congress, as well as the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, to withdraw this flawed intelligence product, the FBI hasn’t done that. And so we have no reason to believe that that kind of incitement and harassment at the local and state level isn’t already happening. JJ: We’ve been speaking with Nusrat Choudhury; she’s deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program. You can find more information on their work and on this lawsuit online at ACLU.org. Nusrat Choudhury, thank you so much for joining us this week on CounterSpin. NC: Thank you for having me.

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