Saturday, August 3, 2019
Canada, U.S. working to move EU toward sanctions on Venezuela, says top U.S. official
Brennan MacDonald, Katie
Simpson. CBC News. August 1, 2019
Donald Trump's special
representative for Venezuela says Canada and the U.S. are strategizing on how
to move the European Union toward imposing sanctions on the Nicolás Maduro
regime.
"We both agreed that it
would be really helpful if the EU would follow Canada and the U.S. in imposing
sanctions on the Maduro regime," said Elliott Abrams in an interview on
CBC News Network's Power & Politics.
"Europe is a kind of
playground for people from the regime and their families — where their money
is, they have houses there, they live the high life there — which is really
disgraceful. So we strategized a bit about how, with the help of the Latin
American democracies, to move the EU in that direction," Abrams told guest
host Katie Simpson.
When asked for comment, Global
Affairs Canada did not directly address the remarks made by Abrams.
"Canadian government
officials discussed how Canada and the U.S. can work with the broader
international community to return democracy to the people of Venezuela,"
said Barbara Harvey, a spokesperson for Global Affairs.
"For some time, the Lima
Group has been engaging its partners around the world in support of sanctions
and other measures to pressure the Maduro regime," said Harvey.
Abrams was in Ottawa Thursday
to meet with Canadian officials ahead of next week's meeting on Venezuela in
Lima.
Trump says U.S. blockade or quarantine of Venezuela under consideration
Reuters. August 1, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was considering a quarantine or
blockade of Venezuela, as the United States steps up pressure on President
Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power.
Trump did not elaborate on
when or how such a blockade could be imposed, and his administration has so far
focused on diplomatic and economic pressure against Maduro while steering clear
of any military action.
Asked by a reporter whether he
was considering such a measure, given the amount of involvement by China and
Iran in Venezuela, Trump said: “Yes, I am.” He gave no details.
Venezuela’s Information
Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States and most Western countries recognize opposition politician Juan Guaido as the rightful leader of Venezuela.
Trump has slapped a series of
escalating sanctions on Venezuela to pressure Maduro to step down and has
previously declined to rule out military action. But U.S. officials have made
clear that they are focused on economic and diplomatic measures and have shown
no significant signs of taking up military options.
Washington’s Latin American
allies have also cautioned against U.S. military intervention.
Russia, China and Iran have expressed support for Maduro and Russia has dispatched small numbers of troops to the South American country.
Bernie Sanders Dominates as Analyses of Fundraising Data Show Vermont Senator With Widespread Support Across Nation
The data "contradicts
both the mainstream narrative and some national polling data that suggest that
only a centrist Democrat could succeed in this political environment."
Individual donors to
Democratic candidates for the party's 2020 presidential nomination
overwhelmingly gave to Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to analyses released
Friday.
The New York Times, in a map
produced by the paper's reporters, found that Sanders, an Independent from
Vermont, dominates most of the country as the primary or secondary recipient of
nearly all donations from Americans in all states—though his support is
strongest in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, the eastern
Great Plains, and the West.
"The movement is so
strong that NYT has to create a separate map that excludes @BernieSanders from
it," tweeted Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir.
The L.A. Times went
into further detail in a piece which
allows readers to zero in on their zip codes for hard numbers. The
Wall Street Journal showed who
had the most small dollar donations across the country (unsurprisingly, the
majority of the country went to Sanders in that regard).
And a study from The
Center for Public Integrity and FiveThirtyEight demonstrated that
the senator is the recipient of donations from one out of every three Democrats
donating to primary candidates, irrespective of how many other candidates
they're donating to.
The mappable data from
the Times, said independent researcher Kristin Johnson, whose work on
localized donations helped predict the upset win of Rep. Ayanna Pressley
(D-Mass.) in her 2018 primary against then-incumbent Mike Capuano,
"contradicts both the mainstream narrative and some national polling data
that suggest that only a centrist Democrat could succeed in this political
environment."
"Sanders clearly has an
advantage from the supporter database and name recognition he amassed during
his 2016 presidential campaign," added Johnson.
Progressives immediately
pounced on the Times report as an indication of the strength of
Sanders' support.
"Total number of donors
would seem to me to be the most relevant (and least classist) way of gauging
enthusiasm, rather than the cash totals CNN et al gush over every
quarter," said journalist
Adam Johnson.
Sanders' donor advantage was
so overwhelming in the Times data that the paper "had to make
two maps—one excluding Bernie Sanders—because Bernie had too many donors
to show other candidates donation patterns," as Greenpeace International's
Matt Browner Hamlin pointed out on Twitter.
The breadth of Sanders'
appeal, especially through the middle of the country, spurred the senator's
Iowa communications director to challenge the conventional wisdom that
"the Midwest doesn't want or support progressive policies."
The report also showed
strength for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) across the country, though not as
robust as that for Sanders.
Of other Democrats, South
Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a relative political unknown before this
year's breakout presidential run, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sen.
Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) all dominated the country's wealthier hotspots. Former
Rep. Beto O'Rourke dominated Texas and Sen. Amy Klobuchar her native
Minnesota.
Sanders' strength may be even
greater than the maps show, however, as the Times admitted that
"information about donors giving $200 or less directly to a campaign is
not available."
The senator is raking it in
from a plurality of Democrats contributing to campaigns, according to a study
by The Center for Public Integrity and FiveThirtyEight:
Nearly one out of every three
donors who have given to any presidential campaign have donated to Sen. Bernie
Sanders, a Vermont Democrat who has by far the largest number of donors of any
of the Democratic candidates. (That doesn't mean they gave exclusively to
Sanders — many people have given money to multiple Democratic
candidates.)
The study also found that
"Democrats are far from wearing their donors out" and have more to
give.
"At least 2.4 million
people have together pumped about $209 million into the campaigns of major
Democratic presidential contenders during the first half of 2019," the
report said.
'This Is a Huge Deal': Majority of House Democrats Have Signed on to Medicare for All
"Amazing what a little
bold leadership can do."
Progressives celebrated a
"huge
landmark" in the fight for a humane healthcare system in the United
States after news broke Thursday that a majority of the House Democratic
caucus has
signed on to the comprehensive and bold Medicare
for All Act of 2019.
"Medicare for All is now
the official Democratic Party position in the U.S. House, as the legislation
now has 118 sponsors—an official majority of the House Democratic
caucus," tweeted David
Sirota, speechwriter for Sen. Bernie Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential
candidate and the lead sponsor of the Medicare for All Act in the Senate.
"This is a huge
deal," tweeted activist
Shaun King.
Single-payer advocates
applauded both the persistent
grassroots organizing by nurses and others and the leadership of
Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—the lead sponsor of the Medicare for
All Act in the House—for making the achievement possible.
The milestone comes after
Medicare for All featured
prominently during both nights of the 2020 Democratic presidential
debates in Detroit this week.
Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth
Warren (D-Mass.) made forceful arguments in support of Medicare for All in the
face of attacks from right-wing Democrats and disingenuous
questions by CNN moderators.
In an op-ed for
the Washington Post Thursday, Jayapal hit back at Democratic
opponents of Medicare for All, accusing them of distorting the facts and
"using one-liners from industry front groups and Republican
playbooks."
"As the debates continue,
I hope that my fellow Democrats will take a good look at our bill and get the
facts right," wrote Jayapal. "The Medicare for All movement has
overwhelming public support, unprecedented grassroots organization, and a
serious plan that is ready to change our healthcare system right now."
As Common Dreams reported Wednesday,
Jayapal expressed her frustration with fellow Democrats who she said are using
the Medicare for All label, which has widespread appeal, to push plans that
fall far short of the fundamental goals and principles of Medicare for All.
Though she didn't mention Sen.
Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) by name, Jayapal's criticism appeared to be directed
at the California Democrat's healthcare
plan, which would preserve a significant role for private insurance.
"For-profit industry does
not have a role in determining one's right to healthcare," Jayapal
tweeted. "Anything less is not Medicare for All."
In her Washington Post op-ed,
Jayapal also took aim at other half-measures "such as a public
option," which "might sound appealing but would still leave more than
10 million people without coverage while keeping in place a costly
private-insurance middleman that eats up 25 to 30 percent in administrative
waste and profits."
"If we want to achieve
true universal healthcare while containing costs," Jayapal wrote,
"Medicare for All is the only answer."
A Record-Breaking Tornado Season Is Pummeling Mobile Home Residents
July 30, 2019 | Bobbi Dempsey
“Our home is a 28×80
four-bedroom, two-bath that we got used three years ago. It was in like-new
condition for a 15-year-old home,” said David Kelley, who lives in
Beauregard, a town in Lee County, Alabama, that suffered major losses during a
cluster of 34 tornadoes that caused 23 deaths on March 3, 2019. His mobile home
sustained significant damage. “The storm knocked it off its foundation and
cracked some of the metal piers underneath the house. It destroyed the roof and
rafters and busted some of the floor joists,” he said.
That storm was one of a record
1,263 tornadoes in the U.S. tracked by the National Weather Service in the
first half of 2019. Many of those storms have been concentrated in the
Southeastern part of the country, in a region dubbed “Dixie Alley.”
Tornadoes in the South can be
particularly deadly because there’s a relatively high percentage of the population
there living in mobile homes — and most of those homes are spread out in rural
areas, meaning lots of people with few options to escape the path of powerful
tornadoes.
Bottom of Form
Alabama and the Carolinas are consistently
among the top five states with the most residents living in mobile
homes — as well as in modular or manufactured housing, which is intended to be
in a fixed location, but is similarly dangerous in severe storms. According to
the Manufactured
Housing Institute, residents of manufactured housing have a median
household income of just under $30,000 per year.
Protecting these low-income,
far-flung populations with limited resources from major storms isn’t easy. That
made them a subject of particular interest to researchers involved in a recent University
of Maryland studyexamining mobile homes.
The first challenge people
face is receiving critical information in time to allow them to take action.
The researchers found standard tornado warnings are falling short in protecting
residents. In particular, mobile home residents were less accessible on social
media and more dependent on their local TV meteorologist.
Researchers also found the
majority of mobile home residents had incorrect assumptions about what they
should do during a storm, with many believing myths and misconceptions that
could be dangerous like “if you’re driving, you should take shelter under a
bridge during a tornado.”
The researchers recommended
that National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices should work more closely
with local newscasters to address this information gap. Similarly, forecasters
could prioritize actions that mobile home residents can take to deal with
limited physical supplies and inadequate shelter.
But educational campaigns
can’t solve the problem completely, because residents (and the communities
where they live) face significant planning challenges due to lack of resources
and available services.
“Mobile home residents in our
study reported statistically significantly lower perceived access to shelter and
self-efficacy to take shelter compared to fixed home residents,” the
researchers noted. Developing emergency evacuation plans is challenging in
areas where many residents may lack reliable vehicles or other resources, or
may be reluctant to leave their homes and belongings unattended for what may
turn out to be a false alarm. It’s also hard to assemble an emergency kit when
you can’t afford things like weather radios, hand tools, back-up batteries and
chargers, or extra quantities of medications — let alone bigger items like
generators.
Kelley said that in rural
areas like his, residents often lack the time — and sometimes the
transportation or ability — to get to a community shelter, even if they know
where one is. “I wish every rural home had to have a storm shelter of
some sort. We had four and a half minutes warning with this storm,” he said.
We had four and a half minutes
warning with this storm.
“It’s great to have community
shelters available, but if people don’t have transportation to get there, or
wait till they have confirmation of an approaching tornado before they move,
the shelters are not effective,” said David Roueche, an assistant professor of
structural engineering at Auburn University — located in Lee County. He
specializes in researching wind damage and ways to make structures better
protected from high winds.
He led
a team that analyzed the impact of the March 3 storm, and specifically
looked at the 19 out of 23 victims who lived in manufactured homes. Their
investigation revealed that all of the manufactured homes involved either had
degraded anchors, had anchorage systems that apparently didn’t meet state code,
or lacked ground anchors entirely. Anchors are devices – generally made of
metal, sometimes coupled with concrete – that are used in conjunction with
straps or tie-downs to secure the structure to the ground.
“We know it’s a problem. What
can these people do? We can enforce stricter building standards to give people
a much better chance of survival in their home. We can install
micro-community storm shelters — as in, smaller shelters that serve a street,
or a cluster of relatives — but this all takes money that the residents don’t
have. So how do we prioritize the limited pre-event mitigation funding from
FEMA or other groups? What other funding mechanisms can we use? These are the
questions we’re asking right now,” he said.
While progress has admittedly
been slow, Roueche said he is encouraged by results seen in communities such as
Moore, Oklahoma, which adopted enhanced building codes to strengthen their
homes, with minimal impact on home prices. He is also a proponent of
storm-vulnerable inland areas adopting the same Department of Housing and Urban
Development building standards recommended in Florida and coastal regions,
since climate change and unusual weather patterns have increased the incidence
of extreme storms in a wider range of locations.
With nowhere else to go,
Kelley said his family has no choice but to stay in their home while it is
being repaired. “It is coming along slow but steady,” he said. He created a
memorial area on a section of his property, where he will plant 23 fruit trees
— one for each of the lives lost in the storm. The memorial also has a pond and
chairs where people can come and remember the victims or just enjoy some
peaceful solitude.
Kelley said he hopes it will
provide some comfort to local residents.
'July Has Re-Written Climate History': Month Could Go Down as Planet's Hottest Ever
"As temperatures rise, so
will we," says 350.org.
The World Meteorological
Organization said Thursday
that July 2019 may go down as the hottest month the planet has seen thus far in
recorded history.
"July has re-written
climate history, with dozens of new temperature records at local, national, and
global level," said WMO chief Petteri Taalas.
Using data from Europe's
Copernicus Climate Change Program from the first 29 days of the month, the WMO
said that July at least equaled—and may have broken—the dubious record set in
July 2016.
2016, however, was marked by
the occurrence of an El Niño phenomenon, which can contribute to
warmer temperatures. 2019 is not.
July's warmth followed the
planet's warmest June ever recorded, according
to global scientists. What's more, said the WMO, 2015 to 2019 are on
track to be the warmest five years on the books.
WMO's Taalas, in his
statement, noted the string of recent events that coincided with the warmer
temperatures.
"The extraordinary heat
was accompanied by dramatic ice melt in Greenland, in the Arctic, and on
European glaciers," he said. "Unprecedented wildfires raged in the
Arctic for the second consecutive month, devastating once pristine forests
which used to absorb carbon dioxide and instead turning them into fiery sources
of greenhouse gases."
The WMO also pointed to the
July heatwave that gripped Europe, during which cities like Paris notched new
record highs. The countries of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and the
Netherlands broke national records for warmest temperatures.
"This is not science
fiction," said Taalas. "It is the reality of climate change. It is
happening now and it will worsen in the future without urgent climate
action."
Groups including 350.org,
Fridays for Future, and Extinction Rebellion are ready to deliver that message
with a bullhorn in global climate actions scheduled
for September 20 and 27.
"As temperatures rise, so
will we," said 350.org
on Twitter Friday.
"The hottest month in
human history means it's time for the boldest climate action possible from our
leaders," added the group.
UN Secretary-General António
Guterres echoed the call for swift action.
"This year alone, we have
seen temperature records shattered from New Delhi to Anchorage, from Paris to
Santiago, from Adelaide and to the Arctic Circle. If we do not take action on
climate change now," he said, "these extreme weather events are just
the tip of the iceberg. And, indeed, the iceberg is also rapidly melting."
"Preventing irreversible
climate disruption is the race of our lives, and for our lives," said
Guterres. "It is a race that we can and must win."
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