“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward in March. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.” From social media to the guy who’s spent weeks hysterically ranting about mobs of anarchists burning down suburbs: “Take your didn’t-want-anyone-to-panic and shove it up your ass.”
He knew. He got multiple warnings this was a “once-in-a-lifetime health emergency,” the “biggest national security threat” of his so-called presidency, another influenza pandemic of 1918 in the making. “There was a duty to warn,” wrote Woodward – who’s culpable for sitting on proof in the name of making a buck.
Still, because Trump’s an unfit, inept, ignorant sociopath, he did nothing but lie and stall and gaslight. It was, says Carl Bernstein, “one of the great presidential felonies of all time.”
And right behind him are all the loathsome sycophants who’ve kept their mouths shut and carried his vile water: Mattis, Tillerson, McConnell, Press Barbie Kayleigh McEnany, who on Wednesday declared straight-faced Trump “never downplayed” the virus and “never lied to the American public.”
These people are monsters. May they all rot in prison.
“He let us get sick and die, because he thought it was better for him.” – CNN’s Chris Cuomo
“The President never downplayed the virus.” -Kayleigh McEnany
“I wanted to always play it down.” -President Donald Trump
We need to talk about anarchism.Once you get past the often misleading, negative, bomb-chucking stereotypes of the proceeding centuries, many of the ideas contained within the, by definition, very broad church of anarchist thought are quite sensible. Indeed, in many cases emphasizing balance and moderation. They also have the potential to provide at least part of the answer to society’s infinitely complex growing list of challenges, from political disenfranchisement to growing inequalities, aging populations, environmental degradation and shrinking public services.
Be it by necessity and by design, anarchic ideas, and practice, are increasingly evident all around us. While the wider anarchist “movement” intermittently flares up, burning hot and fast, but ultimately short-lived like a virus in the popular mind – in moments such as Occupy – a more sustained, transformative genera of anarchism is growing, more like mycelium through the forest of society day-by-day.
These aren’t quick, but they are steady and cumulative steps, and coming from both directions – from activists and government alike – politics and politicians know this is needed. From localism, devolution and cooperative councils to the increasing prevalence of self-managing, self-organising, agile, matrix managed businesses and civic organisations. Running all the way from subsidiary in European Union, right the way through to energetic indy-towns such as Frome and Buckfastleigh.
Leipzig. Germany. We look back on a long weekend full of determined struggle against the increasing displacement, against the revaluation and the unbearable cop siege in our neighbourhoods. After two squatted buildings had been evicted within a very short time, the anger about the social grievances in Leipzig came to a climax once again.
Originally published byIndymedia DE.Translated by Enough 14.
After the squatted house Luwi71 was evicted on Wednesday, a day X+1 demo was called for the following Thursday. Several hundred people joined the demonstration and expressed their anger about the eviction of the prospective social center near Eisenbahnstraße. Cops were attacked, barricades were erected and set on fire.
The clashes lasted for several hours, during which even a reoccupation attempt of the Luwi71 was started. The cops tried again and again to disperse the masses, but instead many smaller demonstrations were formed, which pushed the clashes forward. Many spectators joined the crowds that were repeatedly dispersed and yet found each other again.
The anger at the siege and criminalization of Eisenbahnstrasse, including the no weapons zone, was clearly felt. In the course of the clashes and after several failed attempts by the cops, they began to shoot at random with tear gas into the crowd. The fact that here as well as in the following evening ammunition forbidden according to the War Weapons Act was used, which was also fired at journalists, is probably no longer surprising in view of the conditions in the Saxony police force (1).
In the course of these clashes more than 20 people were arrested, we wish them a lot of power! (2)
Fortunately, another house in Leipzig-Connewitz was squatted directly the next day, Friday, September 4. But after a short time security guards and cops arrived and cleared the house again before a larger crowd could be mobilized. However, many seem to have found out about it, because for the spontaneous demo, which took place the same evening, more than 300 people came to Herderpark at short notice.
Climate Chaos is here today. Dr Masters explains how the melting of the Arctic is linked to the historic Asian heatwave, causing hotter seas to breed typhoons that penetrate far north. Maysak became a terrific extra tropical storm with a chaotic 320 kph jet-stream, in turn causing record ridges, exploding the Californian fire infernos, a winter storm in September, etc .
Meanwhile the US oligarchy and all its vassal States promote a Covid-19 recovery based on the exact same debt, consumption and fossil fuels formula that is causing our spiraling climate and biosphere collapse.
Extreme tropical cyclones can breed extreme jet stream behavior
As Typhoon Maysak plowed northwards towards Korea during the first two days of September, it was able to maintain its intensity unusually far to the north because of near record-warm ocean waters created by one of the greatest heat waves in east Asian history.
Ocean temperatures in late August south of Korea were 30 degrees Celsius (86°F) – more than two degrees Celsius (3.6°F) above average. The intense heat wave that helped create these unusually warm ocean waters also brought Japan its hottest day in recorded history – Hamamatsu, Japan, on August 17 tied the record set in 2018 for hottest temperature ever measured in Japan, with 41.1 degrees Celsius (106°F). The extreme heat has carried over into the first week of September, with Sanjo, Japan, setting the nation’s all-time September heat record on September 3, with 40.4 degrees Celsius (105°F).
Supercharged by this remarkable ocean heat, Maysak was able to make landfall in South Korea on September 2 as one of only five category 2 or stronger typhoons on record since 1945 to hit the nation.
Infrared image of Typhoon Haishen from the VIIRS instrument at 16:39 UTC September 3, 2020. At the time, Haishen was a rapidly intensifying category 4 storm with 145 mph winds. (Image credit: University of Wisconsin CIMSS)
When Maysak merged with the jet stream as a powerful extratropical storm on September 2nd and 3rd, the supercharged storm injected a tremendous amount of energy into the jet stream, helping accelerate the winds of that mighty river of air to nearly 200 mph – a wind speed nearly five standard deviations above average.
As shown in the tweet (click this link to animate and see the full explanation), the jet stream responded to Typhoon Maysak’s energy by contorting into a series of amplified ridges and troughs downstream from east Asia during Labor Day weekend.
That in turn led to formation of an unusually strong trough of low pressure over Alaska, development of a record-intensity ridge of high pressure over the western U.S., and an unusually strong trough of low pressure now taking shape over the Rocky Mountain states.
The ridge over the western U.S. brought all-time record heat and intense wildfire activity to many locations in California September 5 – 6. The intense trough of low pressure developing over the Rocky Mountain states is predicted to bring a startling case of weather whiplash to Colorado: places where it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday will get snows of 3 – 7 inches on Tuesday. In some locations, these may be the earliest snows on record for the season.
Figure 5. This personal weather station in Denver marked a rare feat on Sunday, September 6: a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit with a concurrent Winter Storm Watch. The official high at the Denver International Airport on Sunday was 97 degrees. (Image credit: Weather Underground, an IBM company)
The unusual jet stream behavior behind the current extreme U.S. weather was made more likely by global warming, as part of the ocean warmth that enabled Typhoon Maysak to penetrate so far to the north at high intensity occurred because the planet as a whole is on pace for its warmest or second-warmest year on record – behind only 2016.
As explained in a 2014 paper by Kossin et al., “The poleward migration of the location of tropical cyclone maximum intensity,” typhoons and hurricanes have been growing more intense farther to the north in recent decades, and this effect can be plausibly linked to the changes in global circulation that are causing an expansion of the tropics, which is thought to have a significant link to human-caused global warming.
Winter Storm Watch in effect, record lows forecast sept 6th 2020
The unusual jet stream behavior may also be linked to the near-record decline in Arctic sea ice currently underway. As of September 7, coverage of sea ice in the Arctic was the second-lowest on record, behind only 2012, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. This is an area of active research, but numerous studies in recent years have linked Arctic sea ice loss to unusual jet stream behavior of the type now occurring (see the excellent June 2020 summary at Carbon Brief).
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Michael Reinoehl has been criticized for giving the neo fascist rightwing a ‘martyr’ to ‘balance’ their own and police racist murders. Below we republish evidence that he fired in necessary self defense under immense provocation by heavily armed men enjoying police protection and immunity. Michael later paid for it with his own life in an illegal hail of police bullets. The way forward demands a lasting effort to expose and eliminate historical racism, control of the militias, and overthrow of the billionaire 1%. If not a new race war could break out, to the delight of the insane military/industrial rulers.
”Anti-fascist revolutionary Michael Reinoehl was assassinated by p0lice in Olympia, Washington on September 4 in retaliation for the shooting of a member of the fascist group Patriot Prayer.
Reinoehl claimed responsibility for the shooting as an act of self-defense against the fascist who threatened Reinoehl and a friend with mace and a knife. Reinoehl went to downtown Portland on Saturday night to provide security for revolutionaries who were threatened by a caravan of fascist Trump supporters who paraded through the city center”.
Biff McGruber@bmcgrub · Sep 1It appears Danielson had pulled out and extended his metal baton (illegal to carry in Portland), approached, and maced the shooter. Pappas was also equipped with multiple weapons, and approached the shooter.Show this thread
Biff McGruber@bmcgrub·Level 3:The pictures show Pappas had two cans of bear mace, a wood club, a small can of mace, a paintball gun. Pics show Danielson with a baton, bear mace, hard knuckle gloves. Zane in NYT states they had knives. They were heavily armed, any media not mentioning this is complicit.”
“Had I stepped forward, he would have Maced or stabbed me,” Reinoehl said in an interview. “I was confident that I did not hit anyone innocent and I made my exit… I feel it’s important that the world at least gets a little bit of what’s really going on. I had no choice. I mean, I, I had a choice. I could have sat there and watched them kill a friend of mine of color. But I wasn’t going to do that.”
“I’ve spoken with trusted comrades, and is known among us. He’d been seen doing real work opposing Fascists before the self-defense incident.
I’ve also seen eye-witness accounts of his murder, and that’s what it was. It was a targeted hit by a number of police agencies including US Marshalls special operations/high risk team, the same chuds who were playing at riot cop in Portland.
They had unmarked SUVs watching the street and they put around 25 rounds into him. He was unarmed, the person whose home he was killed in front of said he had no rifle or other visible gun.
It’s also notable that 10-15 minutes after his death, there was already a police statement and a New York Times article. The only explanation is that the police and NYT prepared their releases before Reinoehl was killed.
It was a stone cold hit job, and they want us to know it was. The terror message is “We can kill you in the street and get away with it. We can get to you”
I think this assassination served a few purposes: first as a revenge killing, since they consider Nazis friends and allies, and second as a chilling effect on armed Left community defense, especially those who speak out about it.
It appears they timed the kill to occur WHILE his Vice interview was airing and Trump was tweeting about it. They likely knew his self-defense claim would be upheld and they just couldn’t have that precedent out there, and there was likely high level support for the killing.
“There’s not a whole lot of ambiguity left in my mind about this. It doesn’t matter at this point whether Reinoehl wasn’t perfect. When push came to shove, he defended his community, wouldn’t be silent about it, and died for the cause.“ “This is not the first civil rights struggle where pigs did outright assassinations. May it be the last.” ”
“Every revolution needs people that are willing and ready to fight. There are many of us protesters that are just protesting without a clue of where that will lead. That’s just the beginning that’s where the fight starts. If that’s as far and you can take it thank you for your participation but please stand aside and support the ones that are willing to fight.
I am 100% ANTIFA all the way! I am willing to fight for my brothers and sisters! Even if some of them are too ignorant to realize what antifa truly stands for. We are currently living through a crucial point in Humanity’s evolution. We truly have an opportunity right now to fix everything. But it will be a fight like no other! It will be a war and like all wars there will be casualties.”
Rewilding is not about restoring the past, but about proactively seeking solutions for a world in environmental crisis.#EarthFirst #RisingTide #XR #Rewilding #ClimateCrisis #frontGreen
[Illustration by Jawahir al-Naimi/Al Jazeera]
There is something deeply heartening about an extinct native species being reintroduced to its former habitat. In the United Kingdom, there are several of those stories.
The last time storks were recorded breeding in the UK was way back in 1416 on top of a cathedral in Edinburgh. This year, nests on the Knepp Estate in West Sussex produced the first wild-born chicks in 600 years. The parent birds were bred in captivity and released into the wild as part of a reintroduction project started in South East England.
Another project that began 30 years ago in the Chiltern Hills in southern England is also reaping conservation rewards. In 1990, 13 red kites were flown in from Spain as part of a plan to reintroduce the species to the area after its population had all but disappeared across the UK. Today, nearly 2,000 breeding pairs – almost 10 percent of the entire global population – soar above virtually every English county, and in Ireland.
The U.S. is Saving the Financial Sector, not the Economy
Before juxtaposing the U.S. and alternative responses to the corona virus’s economic effects, I would like to step back in time to show how the pandemic has revealed a deep underlying problem. We are seeing the consequences of Western societies painting themselves into a debt corner by their creditor-oriented philosophy of law. Neoliberal anti-government (or more accurately, anti-democratic) ideology has centralized social planning and state power in “the market,” meaning specifically the financial market on Wall Street and in other financial centers.
At issue is who will lose when employment and business activity are disrupted. Will it be creditors and landlords at the top of the economic scale, or debtors and renters at the bottom? This age-old confrontation over how to deal with the unpaid rents, mortgages and other debt service is at the heart of today’s virus pandemic as large and small businesses, farms, restaurants and neighborhood stores have fallen into arrears, leaving businesses and households – along with their employees who have no wage income – to pay these carrying charges that accrue each month.
This is an age-old problem. It was solved in the ancient Near East simply by annulling these debt and rent charges. But the West, shaped as it still is by the legacy of the Roman Empire, has left itself prone to the massive unemployment, business closedowns and resulting arrears for these basic costs of living and doing business.
Western civilization distinguishes itself from its Near Eastern predecessors in the way it has responded to “acts of God” that disrupt the means of support and leave debts in their wake. The United States has taken the lead in rejecting the path by which China, and even social democratic European nations have prevented the corona virus from causing widespread insolvency and polarizing their economies. The U.S. corona virus lockdown is turning rent and debt arrears into an opportunity to impoverish the indebted economy and transfer mortgaged property and its income to creditors.
There is no inherent material need for this fate to occur. But it seems so natural and even inevitable that, as Margaret Thatcher would say, There Is No Alternative.
But of course there is, and always has been. However, resilience in the face of economic disruption always has required a central authority to override “market forces” to restore economic balance from “above.”
Individualistic economies cannot do that. To the extent that they have a strong state, they are not democratic but oligarchic, controlled by the financial sector in its own interest, in tandem with its symbiotic real estate sector and monopolized infrastructure. That is why every successful society since the Bronze Age has been a mixed economy. The determining factor in whether or not an economic disruption leaves a crippled economy in its wake turns out to be whether its financial sector is a public utility or is privatized from the debt-strapped public domain as a means to enrich bankers and money-lenders at the expense of debtors and overall economic balance.
![[Illustration by Jawahir al-Naimi/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/9/3/7d894c07379a43f49dfdd7f0f1ea92d4_18.jpg "Beavers, bison and returning beasts: Rewilding the UK")
The Free 