"Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented." -- Julian Assange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poaiEFl1J-Y

One progressive movement, one party: a New Left International.

Trump is a threat to global stability—only a new Left international can beat him.


This is what has to be done today: the only way to really defeat Trump and to redeem what is worth saving in liberal democracy is to perform a sectarian split from liberal democracy’s main corpse. 

(What follows is an excerpt from:

“We Must Rise from the Ashes of Liberal Democracy,” by Slavoj Žižek)

The only way to defeat Trump— and to redeem what is worth saving in liberal democracy—is to detach ourselves from liberal democracy’s corpse and establish a new Left.

Elements of the program for this new Left are easy to imagine.

Trump promises the cancellation of the big free trade agreements supported by Clinton, and the left alternative to both should be a project of new and different international agreements.

Such agreements would establish public control of the banks, ecological standards, workers rights, universal healthcare, protections of sexual and ethnic minorities, etc.

The big lesson of global capitalism is that nation states alone cannot do the job—only a new political international has a chance of bridling global capital.

http://inthesetimes.com/article/19918/slavoj-zizek-from-the-ashes-of-liberal-democracy

Cornel West: Bernie Sanders is wrong; Democratic party cannot be reformed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyyrs5q333I

USA needs a new progressive party

Despite Medicare for All Support 'Spreading Like Wildfire,' Pelosi Shrugs, Says Dems Will 'Evaluate'... If They Win

One critic offered this translation: "My pharmaceutical and health insurance donors hate the idea of Medicare for All, but just vote me back in and, honest, we'll 'look' at it."

by Julia Conley, staff writer

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/06/07/despite-medicare-all-support-spreading-wildfire-pelosi-shrugs-says-dems-will

Despite mounting evidence that support for Medicare for All is "spreading like wildfire" and has become a winning issue for Democratic candidates, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is drawing ire from progressives following a press conference on Thursday where she told reporters that she is open only to "evaluating" the idea if the party wins control of Congress in the mid-terms.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Pelosi has taken more than $200,000 in donations from the health sector in the 2017-2018 election cycle.

Far from being a fringe issue, Medicare for All now has the support of 51 percent of Americans polled by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation.

Several Democratic candidates running for congressional seats throughout the country—in both blue and red districts—have won elections in recent months on platforms that proudly support Medicare for All.

Deb Haaland is considered likely to win a congressional seat in New Mexico's 1st district after winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday with a platform that called for Medicare for All. In Texas and Illinois last month, universal healthcare proponents Gina Ortiz-Jones and Sean Casten also won their Democratic primaries for House seats. 

And after sharing with voters the story of her mother's inability to afford prescriptions while suffering from cancer, and winning the endorsements of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Medicare for All advocate Kara Eastman beat Brad Ashford for the Democratic nomination in Nebraska's 2nd district—even as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) threw its support behind Ashford.

Several Democratic lawmakers who are considered potential 2020 presidential candidates have also announced their support for Medicare for All, with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joining Sanders in co-sponsoring his Medicare for All bill.

"I've always been for a public option so I'm always eager to talk about that," Pelosi said at a press conference. "Some of the other issues that have been proposed have to be evaluated in terms of the access that they give, the affordability of it and how we would pay for it, but again it's all on the table."

Pelosi's statement echoed her support for reinstating  rules, aimed at avoiding legislation that adds to budget deficits, which progressives say undermines ambitious, innovative new policies. 

Pelosi's statement coincides with her support this week for reinstating pay-as-you-go rules—a move progressives warn is a direct attack on the kind of bold and inspiring policies that voters are demanding.

Contrary to Pelosi's suggestion that Medicare for All would be prohibitively expensive, Sanders estimates that his plan would cost Americans $6 trillion less than the current for-profit insurance system over the next decade.

The Democratic Party Cannot Be Reformed

Seen as Undermining Bold Agenda, Progressives Rip Dem Leaders' Embrace of 'Absurd' Pay-Go Rule

"The old guard of this pathetic, impotent party needs to retire or be voted out."

by Jake Johnson, staff writer

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/06/07/seen-undermining-bold-agenda-progressives-rip-dem-leaders-embrace-absurd-pay-go-rule

Embracing the kind of deficit phobia frequently deployed by the GOP and corporate Democrats to undercut ambitious goals like Medicare for All, free public college, and a transformative green energy plan, Democratic leaders are vowing to reinstitute"fiscally hawkish" pay-as-you go rules if they retake control of the House in 2018—a move progressives denounced as severely wrongheaded and "actively harmful."

"The pay-go thing is an absurd idea," argued Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in response to The Hill's report on Wednesday that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are putting the so-called pay-go policy at the top of their party's agenda for 2019.

"It would be, I think, irresponsible to try to tie up Congress's ability to respond to economic downturns or, in the current discussion, to slash programs," Grijalva added.

Putting the matter more bluntly in an analysis on Wednesday, Splinter's Paul Blest artfully argued Democratic leaders' embrace of the pay-go rule—which would require all spending that adds to the deficit to be offset by program cuts or tax hikes—is a strong indication that "they'll do fuck all to put forward a positive vision for the country they want to run" if they retake the House in 2018.

Others echoed Blest's sharp critique, declaring that the renewed push for pay-go in the midst of growing calls for a bold agenda show that "the old guard of this pathetic, impotent party needs to retire or be voted out."

While pay-go has long been an obsession of the Democratic Party's right-wing Blue Dog Caucus, progressives argue the rule would hamstring the possibility of achieving ambitious and morally necessary policies like Medicare for All, which is soaring in popularity among the American public.

"Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer remain 100 percent committed to losing, and if against all odds they somehow win, doing nothing good with their power," wrote The Intercept's Jon Schwartz, noting that support for a regressive policy like pay-go is a serious strategic mistake.

As Blest notes, pay-go is a particularly absurd policy for Democrats given that Republicans just completely ditched their deficit fearmongering—which was never genuine in the first place—to ram through massive tax breaks for the rich and massive corporations.

"There really is no better time to push bold ideas that actually make a material difference in the lives of people who the government and business have left behind," Blest concluded. "No one gives a sh*t about the deficit anymore, if they ever did at all. It’s long past time for Democrats to stop letting this albatross hang around their necks."

Opioids Are Responsible For 20% Of Millennial Deaths, "Crisis Will Impact US For Generations

by Tyler Durden

Wed, 06/06/2018 - 23:00

The opioid crisis has become a significant public health emergency for many Americans, especially for millennials, so much so that one out of every five deaths among young adults is related to opioids, suggested a new report.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-06/opioids-are-responsible-20-millennial-deaths-crisis-will-impact-us-generations

The study is called “The Burden of Opioid-Related Mortality in the United States," published Friday in JAMA. Researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, found that all opiate deaths — which accounts for natural opiates, semi-synthetic/ humanmade opioids, and fully synthetic/ humanmade opioids — have increased a mindboggling 292 percent from 2001 through 2016, with one in every 65 deaths related to opioids by 2016. Men represented 70 percent of all opioid-related deaths by 2016, and the number was astronomically higher for millennials (24 and 35 years of age).

According to the study, one out of every five deaths among millennials in the United States is related to opioids. In contrast, opioid-related deaths for the same cohort accounted for 4 percent of all deaths in 2001.

Moreover, it gets worse; the second most impacted group was 15 to 24-year-olds, which suggests, the opioid epidemic is now ripping through Generation Z (born after 1995). In 2016, nearly 12.4 percent of all deaths in this age group were attributed to opioids.

“Despite the amount of attention that has been placed on this public health issue, we are increasingly seeing the devastating impact that early loss of life from opioids is having across the United States,” said Dr. Tara Gomes, a scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s.

“In the absence of a multidisciplinary approach to this issue that combines access to treatment, harm reduction and education, this crisis will impact the U.S. for generations,” she added.

Over the 15-year period, more than 335,000 opioid-related deaths were recorded in the United States that met the study’s criteria. Researchers said this number is an increase of 345 percent from 9,489 in 2001 (33.3 deaths per million population) to 42, 245 in 2016 (130.7 deaths per million population).

“By 2014, Canada and the United States had the highest per capita opioid consumption in the world and deaths related to opioid use have increased dramatically in both countries,” the study stated, which also said, “opioid-related death rates are increasing most quickly among adults aged 25 to 44 years in the United States. Consequently, the public health burden resulting from early loss of life is substantial.”

 

“These numbers show us the dramatic impact of opioid-related harms across all demographics in the U.S.,” said Dr. Tara Gomes, a scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s. “We know this is not an isolated public health issue – it is one that spans across North America.”

All in all, the opioid crisis is much worse than we imagined, as millennials are craving, not just avocados these days - but, vast amounts of opioids inducing a tidal wave of fatal overdoses.

A 1,000-year flood in Maryland shows the big problem with so much asphalt

By Greta Jochem on Jun 5, 2018

https://grist.org/article/a-1000-year-flood-in-maryland-shows-the-big-problem-with-so-much-asphalt/

The rain started to fall in Ellicott City, Maryland on the afternoon of May 27. Nearby tributaries of the Patapsco River were already dangerously swollen from last month’s steady precipitation. The storm intensified, and floodwaters soon tore through Ellicott City’s main street, submerging the first floors of buildings, sweeping away cars, and killing at least one person.

The storm was a so-called “1,000 year flood,” meaning it had a 0.1 percent chance of occurring this year. But this “exceptionally rare” event is deja vu for residents — they’re still picking up the pieces from a similar flood that destroyed the area back in July 2016.

After that big flood, Robin Holliday spent months rebuilding her business, HorseSpirit Arts Gallery. She didn’t expect a flood like that to happen again, but she also didn’t think the proposed watershed management plan was strong enough. Discouraged, she started to think about leaving. The recent flood solidified her decision.

So what’s behind the propensity for floods in Ellicott City? Part of the problem is its vulnerable location: the town lies at the foot of a hill where river branches meet the Patapsco River. And, of course, climate change makes storms wetter and increases the frequency of severe, record-breaking weather. But there’s another thing people are pointing out: concrete.

When hard, impermeable concrete replaces absorbent green spaces, it’s much easier for floodwaters to overwhelm stormwater drainage. “That’s what happened in Ellicott City,” says Marccus Hendricks, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

In Ellicott City, development has flourished.

“Nearly one-third of the Tiber-Hudson sub-watershed that feeds into historic Ellicott City is now covered by roads, rooftops, sidewalks and other hard surfaces that don’t absorb water,” the Baltimore Sun wrote in 2016.

In a press release, the Sierra Club’s Maryland Chapter called for a stop to development in the Tiber-Hudson watershed: “We may not have control over severe weather events (except by fighting climate change), [but] we can take ownership over the role that development played in this disaster.”

At a recent press conference, a local county official said that Howard County, home to Ellicott City, has been taking steps to prepare for more floods.

“We’re focusing on making sure that what has been approved is being done by the code and by law, making sure that stormwater regulations are being abided by,” said Allan Kittleman, the Howard County executive. Since the flood in 2016, he said the county has designed and engineered more stormwater retention facilities, but larger projects will take time.

This is far from the first time that development and asphalt have had a violent run-in with climate change. Last summer, Hurricane Harvey drenched sprawling Houston with trillions of gallons of water and caused $125 billion in damage. The area saw a 25 percent increase in paved surfaces between 1996 and 2011, according to Texas A&M professor Samuel Brody. Brody found that every square meter of Houston’s pavement cost about $4,000 more in flood damage.

And, rapidly developing or not, our cities are full of these paved surfaces. In the majority of the country, surfaces like pavement or brick make up just 1 percent of the land. Yet in cities, hardscapes account for upwards of 40 percent of land area.

Environmental change coupled with development will likely make this issue one of major national importance, Brody tells Grist.

“Every week, there’s some urbanized area that floods. We look up and say, ‘Oh that’s never happened before and it’s never going to happen again.’ But if you look at the big picture, it’s happening all the time with increasing severity.”