Tuesday, February 4, 2020
"It's Okay, Chris": MSNBC's Matthews Mocked for Fearing Sanders Nomination
"The Bernie surge has Chris Matthews on the verge of tears."
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/03/its-okay-chris-msnbcs-matthews-mocked-fearing-sanders-nomination
Chris Matthews was roundly derided by progressives Monday morning after the MSNBC host delivered a two-minute diatribe against 2020 Democratic presidential primary frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders, claiming that the Vermont senator would lose to President Donald Trump in a general election matchup.
"The Bernie surge has Chris Matthews on the verge of tears," tweeted Sanders supporter Samuel Finklestein. "It's okay, Chris."
Matthews appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" as part of a panel discussing the primary. Arms crossed and looking upset, the "Hardball" host claimed that while all of the candidates in the primary contest were flawed, Sanders was one of the worst.
"I'm not happy," said Matthews. "I'm not happy with this field."
The longtime newsman and onetime Democratic congressional aide said that Sanders reminded him of George McGovern, whose 1972 bid for the White House against incumbent Richard Nixon was a disaster for the party.
Journalist Rob Rousseau hit back on Twitter.
"Moronic cable tv millionaires like Chris Matthews truly believe nothing good can ever happen in America because of an election that happened 50 goddamn years ago," said Rousseau. "Cry more, Chris, we love to see it."
Despite his concerns, Matthews admitted that Sanders is likely headed to a strong showing in Iowa's Monday night caucuses.
"I think he's gonna win big tonight, real big," said Matthews.
The cable news host also disparaged Sanders as analogous to the kind of older activists manning anti-war tables at rallies—a comment that echoed Trump's red-baiting attacks against Sanders in a Super Bowl interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
As the Outline's Shuja Haider pointed out, that's not necessarily a knock on Sanders.
"Chris Matthews says Bernie is like an old guy distributing socialist literature at an antiwar rally, as though that's a bad thing," said Haider.
Sportswriter Lauren Walker agreed.
"Old people at protests from CodePink, Vets for Peace, etc., are some of the most authentic people you will ever talk to," said Walker. "Chris Matthews thinks they're kooks because they spend their time giving a shit about our foreign policy instead of going to brunch because he's a pig."
Bloc of Muslim Nations Warns Trump Israel-Palestine Plan 'Destroys the Foundations of Peace'
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation emphasized that "peace and security in the Middle East region, as a strategic option, will only be achieved with the end of the Israeli occupation."
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/03/bloc-muslim-nations-warns-trump-israel-palestine-plan-destroys-foundations-peace
Joining global critics of a plan that President Donald Trump unveiled last week to address the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Monday rejected the "biased" proposal and urged members states not to cooperate with U.S. efforts to enforce it.
At a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the OIC executive committee adopted a resolution which decried Trump's so-called "Deal of the Century," reaffirmed support for the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization headed by Mahmoud Abbas, and emphasized that "peace and security in the Middle East region, as a strategic option, will only be achieved with the end of the Israeli occupation."
The 57-member body of Muslim-majority countries declared that Trump's plan "lacks the minimum requirements of justice and destroys the foundations of peace, including the agreed legal and international terms of reference for a peaceful solution and the need to respect and recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to national independence and of Palestine refugees to return."
The resolution expressed "regret at the biased approach of the 'plan' that fully adopts the Israeli narrative and endorses the annexation of vast areas of the occupied land of the State of Palestine, under the pretext of security for Israel, the illegal occupying power, in flagrant violation of the principles of international law, the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, the United Nations Charter, and relevant international resolutions."
According to the resolution, Israel is "responsible for the deterioration of the situation on the ground because of its denial of relevant agreements, its defiance of international legitimacy and the continuation of the policies of colonization, annexation, settlement expansion, discrimination and ethnic cleansing, which have been perpetrated against the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem."
Along with warning Israel against making any further moves "to consolidate its colonial occupation in the territory of the State of Palestine," the OIC called on the international community to reject and confront "any action or proposal that is inconsistent with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions."
The resolution came just two days after the Arab League also rejected Trump's proposal, concluding that "it does not meet the minimum rights and aspirations of Palestinian people," and vowed to not cooperate with the U.S. efforts to implement the plan.
Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, announced at the Arab League meeting that in the wake of the plan's unveiling, "we've informed the Israeli side ... that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States including security ties." The Palestinian leader has declined to communicate with Trump by phone or letter.
Other critics of the proposal—which Trump introduced at the White House week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side—have denounced it as an "annexation plan." Last week, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called it "shameful and disingenuous" while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 White House hopeful, warned that the plan "will only perpetuate the conflict."
The OIC resolution also came as Agence-France Presse reported that the United States requested a closed-door United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday for a presentation by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, who oversaw the development of the administration's plan.
That meeting would occur just days before Abbas is set to arrive at the U.N. on Feb. 11 "to express opposition to the U.S. plan and to demand adherence to international law," AFP noted. "On the occasion of Abbas' visit, the Palestinians have indicated they plan to submit a draft resolution to the Security Council, through Tunisia, a non-permanent member of the council."
Catholic Social Justice Group Calls McConnell-Run Senate's 2019 Record a 'Shocking' and 'Immoral' Failure
"The Senate is broken, and only a change in leadership can fix it."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/03/catholic-social-justice-group-calls-mcconnell-run-senates-2019-record-shocking-and
The Republican-controlled Senate "brought new meaning to the idea of a do-nothing Congress" in 2019 by not taking a single vote the entire year on legislation to advance social or economic justice in the United States.
That's according to a new analysis (pdf) by the Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, which announced Monday that for the first time in nearly 50 years the group couldn't create its annual scorecard for the Senate in 2019 because the chamber "did not cast enough votes on legislation... to compile an adequate voting record."
The group's scorecard on the Democrat-controlled House's 2019 voting record found that the chamber passed more than 400 bills, most of which died in what critics have called the "legislative graveyard" of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)."This is shocking," Sister Simone Campbell, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "In Network's 47-year history, we have never seen a Senate take absolutely no votes on issues of economic justice that could be scored on our Catholic Social Justice Voting Record."
"McConnell's Senate Graveyard is a shocking failure in leadership and an immoral act of partisanship," said Campbell. "This obstruction will not be forgotten in the 2020 election."
Network cited a number of examples of House-passed legislation that would advance economic and social justice in the U.S. if signed into law, including:
The Raise the Wage Act (H.R. 582), which would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025;
The For the People Act (H.R. 1), a slate of democracy reforms that would institute automatic voter registration nationwide and establish a small-donor matching system;
The Equality Act (H.R. 5), which would establish strong anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community; and
The Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4), which would restore and expand the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
McConnell, who has dubbed himself the "grim reaper" of progressive policies, has not allowed any of the above bills to reach the Senate floor for a vote.
"The Democrat-led House has paved the way for the economic and social transformation that our nation so desperately needs," said Campbell. "The House has passed bills that support employment rights, reduce drug prices, protect Dreamers, and secure our democracy. If passed into law, these bills will help create a society that faithfully promotes justice and the dignity of all."
By contrast, Campbell said, "the Senate is broken, and only a change in leadership can fix it."
"That's why Network will mobilize our Catholic membership in 2020 to elect new leaders who support economic justice," said Campbell. "We know the path forward. The only way to see it through is to vote."
Divestment Fever Spreads as 'Eco Radicals at Goldman Sachs' Downgrade Exxon Stock to 'Sell' Status
"The best reason to divest fossil fuel stock is that you'd like to help preserve a livable planet. Another reason is so that you won't lose your money."
Julia Conley, staff writer
32 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/03/divestment-fever-spreads-eco-radicals-goldman-sachs-downgrade-exxon-stock-sell
Three days after CNBC host Jim Cramer pronounced fossil fuel investments as being "in the death knell phase," Goldman Sachs on Monday downgraded its stock assessment for ExxonMobil, advising investors to sell their shares of the oil and gas giant.
The Wall Street firm changed its "neutral" rating to "sell" following its fourth quarter earnings reports which showed Exxon's earnings falling from $6 billion in 2018 to $5.6 billion last year.
The firm found no "compelling case" for holding on to Exxon's stocks, according to CNBC, and advised investors that "more compelling returns opportunities exist both among the global majors and global large cap stocks outside of energy."
As author and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben tweeted, Goldman Sachs' decision confirms that aside from helping to "preserve a livable planet," another reason to divest fossil fuel stocks is "so that you won't lose your money."
Goldman Sachs predicted that Exxon will meet just half of its targeted returns by 2025.
The firm's prediction is just the latest indication that the financial sector and other profit-driven entities are beginning to see fossil fuels as an impractical investment.
As Common Dreams reported last November, analysts at Toronto-based firm Corporate Knights found that investing in fossil fuels cost pension funds in California and Colorado cost retirees $19 billion collectively over a decade.
A number of cities have divested from Wells Fargo for its funding of fossil fuel projects, and as Common Dreams reported Friday, Cramer announced on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that he is "done" with fossil fuel investments, suggesting oil, gas, and coal have become relics of the past.
"The world's changed," Cramer said. "New money managers want to appease younger people who believe that you can't ever make a fossil fuel company sustainable... You can tell that the world's turned on them, and it's actually kind of happening very quickly."
Mary Sweeters, outreach manager for Insure Our Future, a campaign calling on insurance companies to divest from fossil fuels, was among those who noted Cramer's comments and Goldman Sachs' analysis on Monday.
Environmental policy researcher Nathan Lemphers jokingly referred to Goldman Sachs analysts running from Exxon stocks as "eco-radicals" as he noted on Twitter that other investment banks appear to be following suit.
"It's time for a strategy that's better for the climate and shareholders alike," wrote Edward Mason, head of responsible investment for the Church of England, which voted nearly two years ago to divest from fossil fuels by 2023.
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