Tuesday, February 18, 2020
After 'Former GOP Oligarch' Bloomberg Airs Ad Criticizing Online Vulgarity, Progressives Point to Former Mayor's Long Record of Bigotry
"Speaking for myself, I'd rather be insulted on Twitter by random, anonymous users (something that has happened often from non-Sanders-supporters) than subjected to stop-and-frisk, workplace harassment, indiscriminate Israeli bombing, mass surveillance, and other Bloomberg policies."
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/17/after-former-gop-oligarch-bloomberg-airs-ad-criticizing-online-vulgarity?
Former New York City Mayor and current billionaire Mike Bloomberg's 2020 Democratic presidential campaign on Monday released a nearly minute-long ad decrying online behavior from ostensible supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign, a move that earned Bloomberg pushback from progressives who cited the businessman's long history of bigoted, offensive statements and behavior.
"I guess Bloomberg isn't done beating up on Black and Brown people," tweeted Sanders campaign press secretary Briahna Joy Gray in a reference to both the senator's multiracial coalition and Bloomberg's tenure as New York's mayor.
The ad targeted left-leaning social media users unhappy with Bloomberg's entry into the race and the billionaire's past.
Bloomberg has already spent over $350 million of his own money on the race—a pittance of the $61.8 billion Forbes estimates his wealth at. The billionaire is focusing his energy on the Super Tuesday contests and is pulling out all the stops for a good showing in the states in a scheme seen by observers as aimed more at stopping Sanders or fellow progressive White House hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) from raising taxes on the one percent.
"Michael, you are an oligarch investing $1 billion so you won't have to pay $3.56 billion in taxes under Warren and Sanders," said progressive radio host Benjamin Dixon. "You also know you're willing to lose to Trump and your run for president will still be a good investment."
Monday's ad came after excessive handwringing over Sanders supporters in the media as the Vermont senator racked up popular vote wins in Iowa and New Hampshire and drew record crowds around the country. On February 10, the day before the New Hampshire primary, MSNBC host Chuck Todd referred to supporters of Sanders, who lost family in the Holocaust, as "brown-shirts." The strategy may not be working, as at least one New Hampshire voter reported voting for Sanders as a direct result of MSNBC attacks.
In reality, said Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald, there's no comparison between mean tweets and the harm Bloomberg has done over his career.
"Speaking for myself, I'd rather be insulted on Twitter by random, anonymous users (something that has happened often from non-Sanders-supporters) than subjected to stop-and-frisk, workplace harassment, indiscriminate Israeli bombing, mass surveillance, and other Bloomberg policies," Greenwald said.
Social media users pointed to Bloomberg's history with women and abuse, noting that the billionaire has settled 40 cases of sexual harassment and discrimination from 64 women over the course of his career.
"This ad but instead it's 64 screenshots of all of Bloomberg's sexual harassment settlements," said progressive activist Alex Thorne.
New York Times opinion writer Liz Bruenig wondered about the relative scale of harassment.
"Mike Bloomberg allegedly told a pregnant woman to 'kill [her baby],' and suggested that a computer program that can perform oral sex could replace his female employees," tweeted Bruenig. "So sorry his comms team had to see some rude tweets, though. Must've been hard."
The former mayor's critics also noted Bloomberg's documented friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, and Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged "madame" who solicited children for Epstein and his wealthy friends to abuse. Bloomberg's personal information was in Epstein's "little black book" and the billionaire was photographed with Maxwell in 2013.
Center for Media and Democracy journalist Alex Kotch said that while Bloomberg represents a threat to progressives, ultimately his attempts to buy the election will fall flat.
"The bottom line is that Bloomberg is a former GOP oligarch who has said and implemented far worse things than the random Twitter accounts and Dems will not go for it," said Kotch.
'Must-Watch TV': Comedian John Oliver Makes Case for Medicare for All, Debunks Right-Wing Talking Points
"The American healthcare system gives you so many choices as to how you want to get f***ed. Under Medicare for All, that scenario would not happen."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
Comedian John Oliver used a 20-minute segment of his popular HBO show "Last Week Tonight" on Sunday to make the case for Medicare for All and ridiculed incremental alternatives like Pete Buttigieg's public option plan, which Oliver colorfully described as a "shit sandwich with guac."
"You can get fucked by taking an ambulance, you can get fucked by going to the wrong hospital, or you can get fucked by the going to the right hospital and getting the wrong surgeon," Oliver said of the current private insurance system. "The American healthcare system gives you so many choices as to how you want to get fucked. Under Medicare for All, that scenario would not happen."
Oliver described the Medicare for All plan proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, as not only "more generous than most private insurance plans," but "more generous than the policy of any single-payer country on Earth."
"And there is a good case to be made that even if national spending [on healthcare] wound up higher," Oliver added, "we might wind up wasting less" under Medicare for All.
Watch the full segment:
Oliver summarized and dismissed common objections to Medicare for All—from supposedly prohibitive costs to claims that single-payer would eliminate choice—and pointed out that Republican pundits and politicians are not the only ones attacking the proposal.
"Some Democrats have reservations too," said Oliver. "Pete Buttigieg, for instance, prefers a different concept to Medicare for All, but with a catchily similar name."
"What Buttigieg is referring to when he says 'Medicare for All Who Want It' is basically the public option," said Oliver. "It would definitely be an improvement over what we have now. The problem is it would leave so much of our current insurance infrastructure, with all of its problems, intact. So that's kind of like being offered either a shit sandwich or a slightly smaller shit sandwich with guac."
Oliver noted the major political obstacles to achieving Medicare for All but said the potential benefits of single-payer would far outweigh any risks.
"I get that big change is scary. It is human nature to prefer the devil you know over an uncertain alternative. But the devil you know is still a devil," said Oliver. "Since moving to America, I don't think I've met anyone who doesn't have at least one insurance industry horror story. At this point, the U.S. national anthem should just be everyone in a stadium yelling about their insurance company for two-and-a-half minutes."
'Victory for Farmers' as Jury Awards Grower $265 Million in Damages From Drift of Monsanto's Dicamba
"This verdict is just the tip of the iceberg."
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
13 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/17/victory-farmers-jury-awards-grower-265-million-damages-drift-monsantos-dicamba?
German chemicals giant Bayer announced Monday its intention to "swiftly appeal" a U.S. jury's decision to award a Missouri peach farmer over $265 million in compensation for years of crop losses as a result of drifting dicamba weedkiller.
The legal challenge was the first dicamba suit to go to trial and was brought forth by Bill and Denise Bader, owners of Bader farms. Dicamba is produced by Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018.
Mr. Bader's suit challenged (pdf) Monsanto's "willful and negligent release of a defective crop system—namely its genetically modified Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and Bollgard II Xtend cotton seeds ("Xtend crops")—without an accompanying, EPA-approved dicamba herbicide."
"Monsanto sold the seeds before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the herbicides for market," said the complaint.
The Baders, who did not use dicamba, said they lost over 30,000 trees due to Monsanto's actions, as journlist Carey Gillam wrote earlier this month:
Bader claims Monsanto sold GMO dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton seeds despite knowing the actions would trigger chemical damage to farm fields that were not planted with the new seeds. The intent, the Bader Farms' lawsuit alleges, was to induce farmers to buy the specialty seeds as a means to prevent crop damage from herbicide drift coming from neighboring farmers who were planting the GMO crops and spraying them with dicamba.
Testing showed that leaves of his dying peach trees carried traces of dicamba. The 5,000-acre family farm, which produced 5 million to 6 million pounds of peaches annually along with corn, soybeans, various berries, apples, and tomatoes, is now struggling to survive, according to Bader.
The jury sided with Bader Farms on Friday and awarded them $15 million in damages, as St. Louis Public Radio reported:
Monsanto and BASF were found liable for negligent design of the products and negligent failure to warn regarding the products. The jury also found that the two companies created a joint venture to manufacture and sell dicamba-resistant seed and low-volatility herbicides, and that they conspired to create an "ecological disaster" to increase profits.
The jury followed up Saturday with a determination that Monsanto and BASF pay $250 million in punitive damages.
The National Family Farm Coalition wondered if the verdict represented the "start of dicamba demise."
In a Saturday tweet, the group called the decision a "victory for farmers which courts will hopefully uphold. Bayer bought #Monsanto with knowledge of these issues and should pay for #dicamba damage."
Pesticide Action Network welcomed the development as well.
"This verdict is just the tip of the iceberg — there is a long queue of farmers who have been impacted by dicamba drift and deserve their day in court," said Linda Wells, Pesticide Action Network organizing director. "The internal Monsanto (now Bayer) documents uncovered in this case show that the company released a highly destructive and intentionally untested product onto the market, and used its influence to cheat the regulatory system."
"While farmers who don't use the Xtend system are hit with crop damage and yield loss from dicamba drift, Bayer and BASF are reaping the financial gains of an increase in acreage planted to dicamba resistant soybeans, and an increase in use of dicamba formulations," Wells continued. "Bader Farms' victory in this case signals a turning tide, and opens opportunities for farmers to hold Bayer and BASF legally accountable for the dicamba drift crisis more broadly."
As Bloomberg noted Monday, Bayer's legal woes continue "in the face of a hurricane of lawsuits claiming that best-selling weed killer Roundup causes cancer," over 140 cases related to dicamba, upcoming suits related to safety risks of its Essure birth control device, and challenges over PCB-contaminated waterways.
"This Thing Isn't Over Yet": Officials Warn Flooding in Mississippi and Tennessee to Continue
More rain is expected through Tuesday, leading officials to sound the alarm.
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/17/thing-isnt-over-yet-officials-warn-flooding-mississippi-and-tennessee-continue?
As rainfall burst the banks of rivers across the two states, officials in Mississippi and Tennessee warned residents they are still in the path of more flooding as rain continues to hammer the soaked American South.
"We have rain coming in between Sunday and Wednesday," said Rankin County, Mississippi emergency management director Mike Word. "The water is coming. It’s just slower than they said. We don't want the general public to lower their concern because this thing isn't over yet."
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency due to the flooding on Saturday.
Jackson, just to the west of Rankin County, has been hit hard by flooding from the Pearl River, which reached its third-highest mark in recorded history Sunday morning.
Further north, in Tennessee's Hardin County, floodwaters spilled over roadways and houses were swept away by swollen rivers.
"Spring flooding is already underway in the South," said climate journalist Eric Holthaus. "It's February."
"We are in a climate emergency," he added.
There are 10 million people in the South under flood warnings, according to NBC News.
"It's going to be a long spring across the country," tweeted meteorologist Dr. Samantha Montano.
Though the flood waters are expected to recede quickly after the current storm system clears out, those waters will present their own dangers.
The damage from the flooding could be catastrophic, Jackson resident Nate Green told MSN.
"One of the reasons people come and live down here is because they want to be close to the woods, close to the river, so they can ride four wheelers, hike, do that kind of stuff and this is part of what you pay," said Green. "It's going to be financially crushing to a lot of people."
'Done Playing by the Rules,' 20 Sunrise Activists Arrested at Capitol Protest Demanding Lawmakers Back Green New Deal
Over 150 middle- and high-schoolers gathered to demand senators "stand up or step aside" on the climate crisis.
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
20 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/17/done-playing-rules-20-sunrise-activists-arrested-capitol-protest-demanding-lawmakers?
Twenty teenagers were arrested Monday at the U.S. Capitol as they took part in a Sunrise Movement action demanding senators back the Green New Deal.
Those arrested, which included one 13-year-old, according to Sunrise, were part of larger climate action by more than 150 middle- and high-schoolers calling for the lawmakers to "step up or step aside."
"Instead of leaving our classrooms for our day off, we are bringing our classroom to the capitol because our government is failing to protect our generation, and we're terrified," said 17-year-old John Paul Mejia of Miami.
Video shared on the group's social media pages showed activists chanting "Which side are you on?" and holding "report cards" giving non-Green New Deal backers an F-. At least two participants took to the floor of lobby to give speeches about the importance of urgent climate action by lawmakers before police came and demanded they leave. A large group left and continued their protest outside Union Station while a smaller group remained and was ultimately escorted away by police.
Evan Weber, who heads political strategy for Sunrise, said that it was "Sad that this is what young people have to do to make our voices heard."
Don't expect the climate group to let up anytime soon. Among their upcoming agenda items are three consecutive days of "massive strikes" set to begin Earth Day, April 22.
"We're done playing by the rules," declared 18-year-old Selene Santiago-Lopez of Wake Forest, N.C., who was among those arrested Monday, in a press statement. "Our entire lives, we've seen politicians failing our generation and our communities. People are dying, I'm terrified about what my future will look like, and it's only going to get worse unless thousands take action and force those in power to listen to our generation. That's exactly what we're going to do."
"Building up to Earth Day this year," she added, "you can expect to see what happened today, but bigger and bolder."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who unveiled the Green New Deal legislation last year alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), vocally supported the young climate activists and their Monday action.
"Young people deserve a future free from the climate crisis," Markey said on Twitter. "They deserve a Green New Deal that will protect our planet and create millions of union jobs. I stand with Sunrise Movement activists who took action today at the Capitol and will always fight for their future."
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