NOVEMBER 18 THROUGH 20, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trump-said-raking-prevents-forest-fires-in-finland-finns-baffled-and-bemused-1.4182831
Trump said raking prevents forest fires in Finland; Finns baffled and bemused
Jeremiah Rodriguez, CTVNews.ca
Published Monday, November 19, 2018 9:32AM EST

Finnish people, including their president, were baffled after U.S. President Donald Trump said wildfires weren't a problem in Finland because crews there "spend a lot of time on raking.”

Trump made the comments as he visited Northern California to see the wildfire damage on Saturday,and by the next day, droves of Finns were ridiculing him online. Even the Nordic country’s leader weighed in.

On Sunday, Finnish leader Sauli Niinisto told the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper he had briefly spoken with Trump about forest management earlier this month in Paris,but he wasn’t sure where Trump had picked up on his supposed beliefs about raking.

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PHOTOS
Trump Fire
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he visits a neighborhood impacted by the Wolsey Fire, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, in Malibu, Calif. At right is California Gov. Jerry Brown. (AP / Evan Vucci)

Rescue crews have spent the past several days searching for the remains of victims from the devastating wildfires which have killed at least 77 people so far.

Watch: Pictures from Paradise: Before and after the wildfire
The Nordic country’s leader recalled telling Trump "we take care of our forests," but couldn't recall any specific mention of raking.

But Finns were less diplomatic online, with many of them creating memes about Trump’s comments.Some joked that Trump should “Rake America Great Again,” others called his comments “Rake News” while others simply said: “We don't rake our forests here in Finland.”

Trump’s critics might have reason to speak up: over 70 per cent of Finland is covered in forests with the country being home to some of the world’s largest paper and pulp companies.


But for advice on raking, a tongue-in-cheek column in the New York Times earlier this month, might be helpful to anyone thinking about raking, including apparently Donald Trump.

This isn’t the first time that Trump has metaphorically put his foot in his mouth when it came to the California wildfires. His initial tweet seemed to blame local officials and even threatened to take away federal funding.

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Aleksi Valavuori
@Valavuori
Welcome back to Finland President Donald Trump! Rake America Great Again! #raking #trump #finland #fiskars

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Jani Salokangas
@janisalokangas
Finland in the eyes of USA right now #rakefinlandgreatagain #cansomeonerakemybackyard #Rake #rakenews

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6:50 PM - Nov 17, 2018 · Jyväskylä, Suomi
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Anders Furu
@ATFuru
In Finland even small kids rake forests.#raking #finland #forestrake #rakefinlandgreatagain

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5:36 AM - Nov 18, 2018
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VeryFinnishProblems
@SoVeryFinnish
When @realDonaldTrump thinks Finns rake forest - Sorry. That's #RakeNews. According to a Yale Uni study, there are an estimated 22 billion trees in #Finland or 4500 trees per person. Nobody rakes them.

Contemptor
@TheContemptor
Trump: "You gotta take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forest, very important... I was with the President of Finland... he called it a forest nation and they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things and they don't have any problem."

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Aki Heikkinen
@akihheikkinen
We don't rake our forests here in #Finland.

Contemptor
@TheContemptor
Trump: "You gotta take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forest, very important... I was with the President of Finland... he called it a forest nation and they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things and they don't have any problem."

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Somemuija
@somemuija
Rake Finland Great again ! #finland #RakeTheForest

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THE WAY WE HUMANS OPERATE MENTALLY IS A COMBINATION OF SOMETIMES HIGHLY DEVELOPED INTELLIGENCE AND THE ASSUMED VERY LOW IQ BEHAVIOR POPULARLY ASCRIBED TO “THE MASSES.” WE NEED EDUCATION FOR THOSE “MASSES” TO THE GREATEST DEGREE THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO ACHIEVE INDIVIDUALLY, AND POLITE TREATMENT TO ALL. DEGRADING ONE GROUP IS NOT NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE BALANCE, AND HUMILIATING PEOPLE DOESN’T WORK TOWARD MAKING THEM “BETTER CITIZENS.” IN FACT, THE RESULTS ARE EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE, IT JUST MAKES THEM BE RULED BY THAT COMBINATION OF FEARFULNESS AND DEEPLY SEATED ANGER THAT MIGRATES ACROSS THE LINE TO BLIND HATRED.

ALL SOCIETY HAS TO DO TO STOP HAZING IS TO MAKE CLEAR THAT IT IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE, AND IS GROUNDS FOR CRIMINAL ASSAULT CHARGES, WITH POSSIBLE JAIL TERMS TO BE SERVED CONCURRENTLY WITH MANDATORY MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING. MOST OF WHAT CAUSES VIOLENCE IS A MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM, AND NOT USUALLY ONE THAT GOES TO THE LEVEL OF “INSANITY.” AS FOR THESE CASES WHEN HAZING BECOMES A SEXUAL ASSAULT, THAT SHOULD BE CLASSED AS A CRIME NO MATTER WHAT THE AGE OF THE CHILD, OR HOW WEALTHY THE PARENTS. IF SUCH PEOPLE HAD TO REGISTER AS SEXUAL ABUSERS, THEY MIGHT POSSIBLY THINK ABOUT REFRAINING FROM THE BULLYING ENTIRELY. LIKEWISE, IF THEY ARE NOT PERSONALLY PUNISHED – GROUP PUNISHMENTS DON’T DO ANY GOOD IN MY VIEW – THEY WILL CONTINUE TO BE ABUSIVE TO THOSE WHOM THEY FEEL CANNOT DEFEND THEMSELVES EFFECTIVELY.

BY THAT I MEAN THAT NO “GROUP” SHOULD BE SET ASIDE TO BE TREATED IN A DEMEANING WAY, NOR PUT UP ABOVE OTHERS AS A SUPERIOR STATUS RANK EITHER. LIKEWISE, NO INDIVIDUAL SHOULD BE ABUSED OVER HIS OR HER MENTAL/PHYSICAL/CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS, NOR BE HELD HIGH ABOVE THE OTHERS IN A STATE OF PRIVILEGE. SO, WHETHER THE HAZING IS INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP BASED, IT IS UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR IN A HALFWAY CIVILIZED SETTING. OF COURSE, IF WE DIG BELOW THE CLEANED UP AND BEAUTIFUL SURFACE OF THINGS, WHAT SOCIETY DO WE HAVE THAT CAN BE CALLED “CIVILIZED?” BE HONEST IN YOUR ANSWER.

THE VERY MOST PRIMITIVE OF THE GROUP CRIMES, IN MY VIEW, IS HAZING, FOR ITS’ SHEER STUPIDITY, AND IT IS VERY DAMAGING PSYCHOLOGICALLY; BESIDES, IF THE GOAL OF HAZING IS TO MAKE PEOPLE FEEL THEMSELVES TO BE AN ACCEPTED AND APPRECIATED PART OF THE GROUP, WHY NOT TRY A KIND AND RESPECTFUL TREATMENT METHOD INSTEAD? I THEORIZE THAT THE POINT OF HAZING IS TO PROVE INSTEAD THAT THERE IS A GROUP DOMINANCE OVER INDIVIDUALS AND FORCE AN ACCEPTANCE OF STATUS RANKING WITHIN THE GROUP. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW MUCH THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL POSITION OF THE PARENTS HAS TO DO WITH WHO WILL BE TREATED MOST BRUTALLY. THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS ABOUT PHYSICAL HAZING THAT INCLUDED SEXUAL TOUCHING.

THIS ISN’T THE FIRST I’VE HEARD OF THAT EITHER, BUT WHAT I HEARD EARLIER DID NOT INVOLVE SOMETHING AS TRULY HORRIFIC AS RAPE WITH A WOODEN HANDLE IN A HAZING SITUATION. THAT DID HAPPEN IN A POLICE DEPARTMENT IN THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, MAYBE IN NEW ORLEANS, LA., BUT THE PERSON RAPED WAS A BLACK MAN WHO WAS I THINK FROM THE CARIBBEAN AND SPOKE LITTLE ENGLISH. THE DEPTH OF HUMAN EVIL IS UNKNOWN BECAUSE IT GOES DOWN TOO FAR FOR ANY TOOL TO REACH INSIDE WHAT WE LIKE TO CALL OUR SOULS.

IN THE LAST TWO YEARS THERE WAS A NEWS REPORT OF THIS KIND OF THING ABOUT A FOOTBALL TEAM. THE MORE MASCULINE, THE MORE MILITARISTIC, AND THE MORE RIGIDLY RANKED AND AUTHORITARIAN A GROUP IS, THE MORE LIKELY THEY ARE TO DO THESE THINGS, I BELIEVE. SIMILAR STORIES FROM THE MILITARY – TAILHOOK, ESPECIALLY -- AND ANOTHER ONE WHICH CAME TO LIGHT PIECEMEAL AS STORIES OF FEMALE MILITARY MEMBERS BEING RAPED BY THEIR SUPERIOR OFFICERS, INCLUDING THE ONE OFFICER TO WHOM THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO APPEAL THEIR CASE FOR HELP. “GOING ABOVE HIS HEAD” IN RANK IS NOT ALLOWED. THEREFORE, THEY WERE ABLE TO GET NO JUSTICE, AND THEY WERE DISCOURAGED (IN WHAT WAY, I DON’T REMEMBER, THREAT OF DEMOTION I THINK) FROM REPORTING THE RAPIST UP THE CHAIN OF COMMAND. OF COURSE, THE MILITARY IS THE MOST DEGRADED HUMAN INTERACTION THAT COMES TO MY MIND. SHOCKINGLY THERE WAS A COLLEGE BAND IN THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS WHOSE MEMBERS ASSAULTED AND ACTUALLY KILLED ONE OF THEIR MEMBERS. MARCHING BANDS ARE PSEUDO-MILITARY IN THEIR STRUCTURE.

THE PRIVATE VS PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THIS CTVNEWS.CA REPORT SHOW ONE THING WHICH REMINDS ME OF THE CASE OF MILITARY ABUSE OF POWER SITUATIONS, COLLEGE CAMPUS RAPES, AND FRATERNITY MISBEHAVIOR INCLUDING RAPE. WHEREVER A HIGHLY HONORED INSTITUTION IS INVOLVED, THE INDIVIDUAL IS LESS LIKELY TO GET ANY JUSTICE THAN THEY ARE IF THEY ARE RAPED ON THE STREET SOMEWHERE. POWER STRUCTURES ARE MORE INTO CONTROL THAN EVEN THE ORDINARY POLICE FORCES OF CITIES. THIS SITUATION AT ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE SCHOOL, A CATHOLIC CHURCH OPERATED SCHOOL, HAS THE WORST RECORD OF SEXUAL ABUSES LINKED TO HAZING IN THE AREA, ACCORDING TO THIS ARTICLE.

I HAVE A THEORY ABOUT THAT, TOO. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, FOR ALL THE GOOD THAT IT DOES, STRESSES SEXUAL SINS (SUCH AS HETEROSEXUAL ACTIVITY WITH A WILLING PERSON OF THE OPPOSITE SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE) ABOVE THE MORE TRULY DEGRADING SINS LIKE CRUELTY, PHYSICAL ABUSE, AND EVEN THE SINS OF HONOR SUCH AS THEFT AND LYING. I THINK THAT IS WHY AS A SOCIETY WE ARE SO CRUEL AND DEGRADED IN SO MANY OF OUR SEXUAL ACTIVITIES.

IF “NORMAL,” HEALTHY SEX WERE NOT PUNISHED SO HIGHLY, PERHAPS TEENAGED BOYS WOULD NOT EVEN BE INTERESTED IN SOMETHING LIKE RAPING WITH A BROOM HANDLE. THAT IS REALLY A FRIGHTENING TURN OF MIND. AND TO THINK THAT AFTER THAT, THE KIDS GO TO COLLEGE AND BECOME LAWYERS TO RULE THE LAND, PERHAPS EVEN TO SIT ON THE SUPREME COURT.

IT MAY SEEM TO SOME THAT I AM REFERRING TO A RECENT CASE IN THE NEWS OF A GRADUATE OF SUCH A SCHOOL GOING ON TO BE NOMINATED FOR OUR SUPREME COURT DESPITE MANY REASONS WHY HE SHOULDN’T BE, BUT OF COURSE, I’M NOT REFERRING TO THAT. WHAT SHOCKS ME IS THAT THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOR IS NOT UNCOMMON, AT ALL, AND ESPECIALLY AMONG THE PRIVILEGED. I WONDER IF THERE IS A NATION ANYWHERE THAT DOESN’T ALLOW PRIVILEGE TO CUSHION THE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO DO THESE THINGS FROM THEIR DESERVED PUNISHMENT? IF WE WERE TO BAN DRINKING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, IT WOULD REALLY HELP THE SITUATION, I THINK. PEOPLE WILL STILL MISBEHAVE WITHOUT A DRUG, BUT NOT AS FREQUENTLY. SEE THE ADVICE OF TORONTO POLICE INSP. DOMINIC SINOPOLI OF THE TORONTO POLICE TO SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AND PARENTS OF SUCH ABUSED KIDS.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/public-vs-private-who-has-to-report-sex-assault-allegations-at-schools-1.4184845
Public vs. private: Who has to report sex assault allegations at schools?
St. Michael's scandal prompts concerns over hazing
From CTV News Channel: Author Jay Johnson puts the argument forward that sexual assault is embedded in the 'hazing' ritual.
Ryan Flanagan, Web Journalist, CTVNews.ca @flanaganryan
Published Tuesday, November 20, 2018 12:26PM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, November 20, 2018 8:08PM EST

When a sexual assault is reported at a public school in Toronto, schools are required to inform police.

Ontario requires all school boards to have protocols in place covering police involvement in schools. The arrangement between Toronto police and the city’s public school boards mandates that police must be contacted about all suspicions of sexual assault and several other crimes.

Additionally, provincial law requires cases of child abuse to be reported to the Children’s Aid Society when they come to the attention of professionals such as doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers and principals.

RELATED STORIES
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PHOTOS
St. Michael's College School

PHOTOGRAPH -- A police car is parked outside St. Michael's College School in Toronto on Thursday, November 15, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Frank Gunn)

“It has to be done immediately, and it’s not done through the principal. The teacher picks up the phone and calls CAS,” Marvin Zuker, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Studies in Education, told CTVNews.ca via telephone Tuesday.

Private schools, however, do not answer to school boards – and on the subject of reporting abuse to CAS, they have argued that the requirement does not apply to their personnel.

“The lawyers for private schools … say that they do not have an obligation to report, and children’s rights lawyers say that they still do, but that hasn’t been decided by a judge,” John Schuman, a Toronto-based family lawyer, said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

Private school teachers are not required to be certified by the province, which could further add to confusion around their duty to report, Zuker said – even though the law does not draw any distinction there.

“If I’m a teacher at a private school, I have a duty to report just like a teacher in the public school system,” he said.

These discrepancies have come to the fore this week following eight expulsions and six arrests of students at St. Michael’s College School. The students are accused of sexually assaulting one of their classmates with a broom handle. Police have said they are also investigating five other incidents involving the all-boys Catholic school, including one alleged sexual assault.

School principal Greg Reeves has been criticized for his handling of the incident that led to the arrests, including not reporting the incident until nearly two days after he first learned of it – and only when police officers showed up at the school on an unrelated matter.

“There wasn’t a rationale in my mind to say ‘Don’t call the police.’ I intended to call the police the entire time,” he said Monday at a press conference.

Reeves said he had told parents that he would be contacting the police, and planned to do so after having expulsion meetings with the students and their families.

“I made the decision in the best interest of that boy,” he said.

Toronto Police Insp. Domenic Sinopoli said Monday that Reeves should have contacted police as soon as he learned of the video. Schuman says that would have happened at a public school.

“The things that are on the videotape absolutely fall into the things that principals are required to report,” he said.

“If you’re a teacher who has got a kid who’s been sexually abused, you as a teacher have probably got no training on how to deal with that whatsoever – but assistance for how to deal with that is a phone call away, by calling the police.”

St. Michael’s addresses allegations of violent conduct through its bullying policy, which lays out many disciplinary options for bullying activity, including police reporting. Staff members are told to report all incidents of bullying to the school principal and to contact police “if necessary.”

Schuman, who often handles cases involving school bullying, said he has received far more complaints about alleged bullying at St. Michael’s than at any other school in the city.

In the wake of the expulsions and arrests, St. Michael’s has established a hotline for anonymous tips. An app through which tips can be submitted is also under development.

Sinopoli said Tuesday that the school has been forwarding all potentially relevant information it receives to police investigators, and that Reeves seemed to have learned a lesson from his delay in reporting the initial allegations.

“I think if he could walk this back, he would likely do this very differently,” Sinopoli told reporters.

Schuman told CTV Toronto on Monday that he does not expect students to use the app to report being the victims of serious abuse.

“That’s never going to happen. You’re never going to get kids to say ‘I’ve been sexually abused’ or ‘I’ve been hazed’ or that stuff,” he said.

“It’s just not the way … boys in that environment are going to act.”

With files from CTV Toronto and The Canadian Press


PERMANENT CLIMATE DISASTER, HUMANITARIAN CRISIS, A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/a-humanitarian-crisis-unfolds-in-california-1376473667662
MAY BOEVE, EXC DIR OF 350.ORG
The wildfires in California signal that in the era of climate catastrophe no one will be untouched.
Nov. 20, 2018

*SMOKE FROM THE CAMP FIRE IS ALREADY APPEARING OVER THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES.
*THE SUNRISE MOVEMENT – A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT LED BY YOUNG PEOPLE

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/mayor-morgan-talks-about-wildfire-resettlement-plan-in-chico-1374313027662
Chico, California mayor on biggest task ahead after wildfires
MSNBC’s Scott Cohn talks to Chico, California mayor Sean Morgan who says the biggest challenge ahead is figuring out what to do with all the displaced people, who Morgan calls “refugees.” MSNBC’s Richard Lui also talks to Carroll Wills, communications director for the California Professional Firefighters.
Nov. 18, 2018


TRUMP MAY HAVE PUSHED HIS LUCK

https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/bombshell-trump-ordered-hillary-clinton-james-comey-prosecution-1376364099642?v=railb&
THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER
Bombshell: Trump ordered Hillary Clinton, James Comey prosecution
A New York Times report reveals President Trump wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecutor two of his biggest political adversaries: Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The report alleges Trump told White House Counsel Don McGahn to order the prosecutions and McGahn reportedly refused, warning the consequences could be damaging and could include impeachment.
Nov. 20, 2018


SOUTHERN FEMALE POLITICIAN HYDE-SMITH ON BEING WILLING TO “BE IN THE FRONT ROW AT A PUBLIC HANGING” IS PROBABLY THE WORST THING OF A RACIST NATURE THAT I’VE EVER HEARD AN AMERICAN WHITE UTTER IN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN. HER OTHER SUGGESTION, TO “MAKE IT HARDER FOR LIBERAL FOLK TO VOTE,” IS ANTI-AMERICAN THINKING PATTERN THAT IS TYPICAL OF OUR FAR-RIGHT POLITICIANS. I’M AFRAID THAT BOTH OF THOSE STATEMENTS ON HER PART SHOW HOW PRECARIOUSLY OUR COUNTRY IS BALANCED THESE DAYS. OF COURSE, I DIDN’T GROW UP IN MISSISSIPPI, EITHER. WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE USED TO HEARING DOWN THERE. THE NBC VIDEO IS FOLLOWED BY A PRINT ARTICLE FROM POLITICO.

VIDEO ONLY
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-live-hyde-smith-espy-square-off-at-mississippi-senate-debate-1376045123917?v=raila&

HYDE-SMITH IN MORE DETAIL, AND THE SPONTANEOUS STRENGTH OF THE (SHOCKING) LIBERALS EVEN DOWN THERE IN THE DEEP, DEEP SOUTH.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/20/mississippi-senate-race-cindy-hyde-smith-mike-espy-1002739
ELECTIONS
Mississippi Senate race devolves into racial melee
One ad showed Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith with black men in nooses.
By DANIEL STRAUSS 11/20/2018 05:05 AM EST

PHOTOGRAPH -- Protesters assembled Friday outside Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith's offices in Jackson, Miss., to express concerns over her comments on "public hanging" and voting rights. | Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo

Republicans hoped to spend the final days of the special election in Mississippi coronating Cindy Hyde-Smith as the first woman to represent the state in the Senate.

Instead, the race has become a bare-knuckle brawl infused with ugly racial politics.

Hyde-Smith’s comments about attending a public hanging and suppressing liberal votes — remarks she maintained were made in jest — have upended a contest that a week ago was seen as a mere formality for the GOP. Democrats and allied outside groups have seized on Hyde Smith’s musings to spur black voters to the polls and paint her as an embarrassment to the state. They’re trying to crack open a narrow path for Democrat Mike Espy — a Cabinet secretary under Bill Clinton who would be the first African-American to represent Mississippi in the Senate since Reconstruction — as a viable alternative.

The California-based PowerPACPlus political action committee released an ad featuring images of Hyde-Smith and hanged black men in nooses. The Black Voters Matter Fund, a get-out-the-vote group, has been organizing in the state to boost Espy. The Senate Majority PAC, a pro-Democratic Senate super PAC, is pouring $500,000 into the state to help Espy.

Hyde-Smith’s remarks “created a lot of indignation among the progressive white community in Mississippi — which is a small but growing group — and it has caused a lot of indignation among African-Americans as well," said Rickey Cole, a former chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party.

"Our hope is that contrary to popular belief, instead of turnout going down in this runoff, that black turnout will actually go up," added Black Voters Matter Fund co-founder Cliff Albright.

Cindy Hyde-Smith speaks to an audience.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed in March to succeed retiring Sen. Thad Cochran. She is the Republican candidate in the special election to fill the rest of his term. | Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo

In a sign that Republicans are taking the threat seriously, President Donald Trump is set to travel to Mississippi on Monday to campaign for Hyde-Smith. The incumbent senator was appointed in April to succeed Thad Cochran and is running to fill out his term.

Democrats are working to keep Hyde-Smith's comments in the spotlight while Espy stays mostly above the fray, campaigning on pocketbook issues like health care and college affordability. Hyde-Smith is the undisputed favorite to prevail in the Nov. 27 runoff, but the GOP’s stunning loss in a special election for Senate last year showed nothing is guaranteed.

Hyde-Smith’s comments — she was caught on video telling a supporter she’d be in the "front row" of a public hanging if he invited her, and that perhaps Mississippi should make it harder for “liberal folks” to vote — are expected to be front and center Tuesday during the only debate between Espy and Hyde-Smith. Her campaign has released statements denying ill intent with either remark.

Though they’re under no illusion about the odds, Democrats say winning in a deep-red state like Mississippi is a bit more realistic after last year’s Senate race in Alabama, when Democrat Doug Jones, buoyed by African-American support, defeated Republican Roy Moore. Mississippi has a larger African-American population than Alabama, and arguably a more active one. African-Americans helped Cochran fend off state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the runoff of a Republican primary for Senate in 2014, allowing Cochran to coast to reelection.

Democrats estimate that Espy needs at least a quarter of white voters to back him, plus high turnout among African-American voters, to win the race. But according to voter survey data during the first round of voting on Nov. 6, Hyde-Smith had 57 percent of the white vote vs. 21 percent for Espy and 18 percent for McDaniel. Among black voters, Espy had 83 percent backing, while Hyde-Smith received 8 percent and McDaniel had 3 percent. Those figures were based on an analysis by Fox News conducted in partnership with The Associated Press.

The Democratic brigade isn’t limited to outside groups. In recent days, some of the party’s most popular surrogates to the black community have moved to help Espy. Over the weekend, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) campaigned for Espy in Mississippi. Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu did the same. Next up was Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who came to the state on Monday, the same day former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Espy. All of those figures are mulling presidential bids in 2020.

Mike Espy speaks at a town hall.
Democrat Mike Espy, a former Cabinet secretary under Bill Clinton, could be the first African-American to represent Mississippi in the Senate since Reconstruction. | Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo

The surrogates have used the comments to frame Hyde-Smith as divisive, in contrast to Espy.

Landrieu stumped for Espy among mostly African-American audiences and said it was clear that they were aware of Hyde-Smith's remarks and were offended by them.

"It reminded them of what the stakes are," Landrieu said in an interview Monday. "It certainly made [the race] a little more high profile than it originally was."

Harris, during her swing through the state, said "racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, these issues are real in this country. … Let's speak those truths so we can deal with that."

When pressed, Espy said Hyde-Smith's comments exposed her as a relic of the past.

"This is 2018. Mississippi is going into the third decade of the 21st century, and we've got to have a senator that will unite everybody, such as myself, not divide," Espy said in an interview with Sirius XM. Espy added that "her comments are hurtful to all of those in Mississippi, white or black."

Cindy Hyde-Smith and Donald Trump
WHITE HOUSE

Trump tries to shore up Hyde-Smith as controversy swirls around her Senate bid
By REBECCA MORIN

Republicans remain bullish on the race, but private polling has shown the margin between Espy and Hyde-Smith shrinking.

Hyde-Smith's comments, Trump's visit and the recent visits by Democrats popular among African-Americans have both Republicans and Democrats expecting a higher turnout than is typically seen in a special election.

"That's why Trump's coming in," former Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, a top Republican leader before he left the chamber, said in an interview on Sunday. Lott, now a lobbyist, has raised money for Hyde-Smith. He said Trump “will get massive attention, and it will really make people aware this election is a week from this coming Tuesday and it's big, so don't forget to come out and vote.'"

For most of this year, the Mississippi Senate race has been an afterthought for Democrats aiming to elect African-Americans to prominent offices. Their focus was on higher-profile races like Democrat Andrew Gillum's campaign for governor in Florida and Stacey Abrams' gubernatorial bid in Georgia.

But after Hyde-Smith's comments, Landrieu said, attention has shifted to Mississippi.

"The elections across the country were winding down. We had the recounts going on," Landrieu said. "I think in Mississippi, certainly African-Americans who were watching the Gillum race or the Abrams race, all of the sudden said, 'We've got one more thing to do here before we finish.'"


https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/19/bernie-sanders-progressive-leaders-vermont-1005505
ELECTIONS
Bernie Sanders to huddle with progressive leaders in Burlington
By DAVID SIDERS and NATASHA KORECKI 11/19/2018 04:21 PM EST

Photograph -- The Sanders Institute event coincides with the release of Sen. Bernie Sanders' new book "Where We Go from Here: Two Years in the Resistance." | Patrick Semansky, File/AP Photo

The Sanders Institute, the Vermont-based think tank formed by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wife, Jane, in 2017, has quietly lined up progressive activists from across the country for a three-day gathering next week in Burlington, assembling a speaker lineup billed as “thought leaders from across the country and around the world.”

Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, is expected to speak at the event’s opening but will not make any announcement about his plans for a potential 2020 campaign, sources familiar with the events said.

Listed speakers include New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Our Revolution President Nina Turner, intellectual and activist Cornel West, “The Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur, environmentalist Bill McKibben, writer and activist Naomi Klein, and Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

RoseAnn DeMoro, former executive director of National Nurses United, the powerful union that supported Sanders in his unsuccessful 2016 presidential run, is listed as a speaker. So is Peter Knowlton, national president of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, whose union also endorsed Sanders against Hillary Clinton.

The actors John Cusack and Danny Glover are also expected to speak.

The event coincides with the release of Sanders’ new book, “Where We Go from Here: Two Years in the Resistance,” and follows a furious spate of campaigning by Sanders ahead of the midterm elections. Sanders, a favorite of progressives, has polled well ahead of the 2020 election, trailing only former Vice President Joe Biden in a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll of Democratic voters released last week.

Blue America PAC’s Howie Klein, a prominent blogger, activist and Sanders supporter, said he was invited to the event several months ago but cannot attend because he will be out of the country. He said preliminary planning appeared to include panels and, potentially, music.

The institute, a nonprofit, is legally separate from Sanders’ political activities. It said on a nonpublicized link provided to invited guests that “the core intent of the Sanders Institute Gathering is to share replicable policies, develop actionable steps, establish ongoing networks and articulate a progressive vision.“

The event is scheduled to run Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at the performing arts center Main Street Landing in Burlington.

Sanders is scheduled to speak ahead of the event, on Nov. 27, at George Washington University. The following week, on Dec. 3, he will host a livestreamed town hall event on climate change.

Sanders easily won reelection to his Senate seat in November, receiving 67.4 percent of the vote. Like other potential 2020 candidates, he focused his midterm election campaigning on helping Democrats — including in key presidential states — raising and donating some $2.6 million while traveling to 18 states.


SANDERS CLIMATE CHANGE NOVEMBER 19, 2018

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-climate-change_us_5bf20e9ce4b0f32bd58aae6e
POLITICS 11/19/2018 08:12 am ET Updated 2 hours ago
Bernie Sanders To Host A Climate Town Hall, Amplifying Progressive Calls To Cut Emissions
The likely 2020 presidential candidate is daring TV networks to finally cover climate change.
headshot
By Alexander C. Kaufman

PHOTOGRAPH -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is hosting a livestreamed summit on climate change next month, intensifying pressure on the new Congress and TV networks to devote attention to the crisis. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will host a livestreamed town hall summit on climate change next month, a move that may intensify pressure on the next Congress to curb planet-warming emissions and challenge TV networks to cover a rapidly worsening crisis they’ve long ignored.

The 90-minute event ― scheduled from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 ― will be held at the Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington and broadcast over Facebook, YouTube and Twitter by seven progressive media outlets.

“We need millions of people all over this country to stand up and demand fundamental changes in our energy policy in order to protect our kids and our grandchildren and the planet,” Sanders told HuffPost by phone. “The good news is the American people are beginning to stand up and fight back.”

Speakers include 350.org founder Bill McKibben, activist and “Big Little Lies” star Shailene Woodley, climate scientist Brenda Ekwurzel, activist and musician Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and Mayor Dale Ross of deep-red Georgetown, Texas, whose avowedly pragmatic embrace of newly cheap renewable energy has made him a poster boy for how Republicans could quit climate change denialism.

It’s the fifth live-broadcast town hall Sanders has hosted. Past programs examined the universal health care proposal Medicare for All, inequality, the Iran nuclear deal, and workers vs. chief executives.

The event bolsters Sanders, a likely contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, as the most serious candidate on climate change, offering a far more comprehensive response than rival progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who staked out a climate policy based on a bill to force public companies to disclose financial risk from warming or regulations to curb emissions.

The summit, which took months to plan, will take place less than a month after Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) propelled talk of a so-called Green New Deal into the Democratic mainstream, giving play for the first time to the sort of federal response to climate change scientists say is necessary to fully meet the scale of the crisis. In October, the United Nations concluded world governments must halve emissions over the next 12 years or risk catastrophic warming with $54 trillion in damage.

The historic wildfire that left 63 dead and 631 missing in Northern California this month, in what was once the Golden State’s rainy season, offers a glimpse of that future, Sanders warned.

Photograph -- Search and rescue workers search for human remains at a trailer park burned by the Camp Fire in Northern California. ASSOCIATED PRESS

“What we are seeing is a growing consciousness,” Sanders said. “The horrors that we’ve seen in California in the largest forest fire that that state has ever experienced ― this is not going to be an anomaly unless we begin the long, hard struggle to transform our energy system.”

Climate remains a low priority for most voters. Just 38 percent of registered voters said candidates’ positions on global warming would be “very important” to their voting decisions, according to a Yale Program On Climate Change Communication survey published in May. Rising temperatures ranked 15th of 28 issues voters ranked in the questionnaire.

But among liberal Democrats in that poll, the issue ranked fourth, behind health care, gun policies and general environmental protections. A YouGov survey of 2018 voters found 75 percent of Democrats strongly supported charging companies with big carbon dioxide footprints a polluter fee, and 56 percent favored giving unemployed Americans federally backed jobs in energy efficiency and weatherization.

In the lead up to the 2018 midterm elections, the fossil fuel industry spent $100 million to crush pro-climate ballot measures across the West, and to prop up candidates who supported increased oil and gas extraction. Yet that base of climate hawks helped elect a cadre of Democrats whose urgent visions for climate action earned plaudits from a spectrum ranging from mainstream environmental groups to so-called eco-socialists. And a new majority of Democratic state attorneys general are facing growing pressure to file lawsuits over climate damages.

Activists, freshly galvanized by the hellscape images of California’s deadliest wildfire, seem primed for action, and the party’s progressive wing has signaled a new willingness to force a more serious debate over an issue that’s remained stagnant in the House for much of the past decade.

“The fact that [climate change] is that high among the base of one of our two major political parties is remarkable, because that was not the case even five years ago,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, a senior research scientist and Yale’s climate program director. “If you think of Bernie, you’d think he’d be talking about inequality or civil rights. There’s a whole host of progressive issues, yet this is the one he’s leading with. It may suggest there’s been an alignment of the stars.”

Last week, youth activists with the grassroots climate group Sunrise Movement staged sit-ins in the offices of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the likely next chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who opposed the creation of a select committee on a Green New Deal.

At least three sitting members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus agreed to back a resolution Ocasio-Cortez proposed to establish a 15-member Green New Deal panel. Activists are hoping Sanders’ event will add the 2016 presidential contender’s star power to their movement.

Photograph -- The horrors that we’ve seen in California in the largest forest fire that that state has ever experienced ― this is not going to be an anomaly unless we being the long hard struggle to transform our energy system. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

“He helped popularize things like Medicare for All, a living wage and a lot of other fights he’s taken up,” said Varshini Prakash, the co-founder of Sunrise Movement. “I hope he pushes for a Green New Deal and helps really add fuel to the fire that’s been lit under politicians and the public over the past week.”

Sanders stopped short of endorsing the Green New Deal. But in April 2017, he co-sponsored legislation to move the United States to 100-percent clean energy by 2050. The bill included $7 billion in targeted infrastructure and environmental investments in fossil-fuel communities, and called for union labor protections for workers on federally backed green jobs. In November 2017, Sanders introduced a bill to spend $146 billion rebuilding storm-ravaged Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with renewable energy.

“What we need is extremely bold legislation,” Sanders said. “If there are Democrats who cannot support it, well, we’ve got to push pressure on them.”

The relative absence of climate science from TV broadcasts that dominate American political discourse makes it hard to raise awareness of the near-term threats warming poses.

Seventy-one percent of major, televised debates in the 2018 midterm elections ignored the issue completely. Only four of the 107 segments ABC, CBS and NBC aired from Nov. 8 to Nov. 13 on the deadly wildfires scorching California this month discussed climate change. In 2017, the influential Sunday morning talk shows on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News aired a combined 260 minutes of climate coverage, 79 percent of which focused exclusively on President Donald Trump’s personal beliefs on science and his decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement.

“This is an issue of huge consequence and you would think that ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox would be talking about this every day, having the debate, ‘What do we do? Where do we go?’” Sanders said. “Clearly you aren’t seeing that debate.”

Sanders’ inequality town hall in March drew 1.7 million viewers. Similar numbers might show cable news producers that climate change is not, as MSNBC host Chris Hayes revealingly described it in July, a “ratings killer.”

“These are a big deal,” Sanders said. “We hope this can be part of the revolution that we need in thinking on climate change.”

RELATED...
‘Green New Deal’ Gains Momentum, But Few Progressive Caucus Democrats Pledge Support
2018’s Voters Support Green Jobs Guarantee And Climate Polluter Fees: Poll
Bernie Sanders Unveils Massive Puerto Rico Reconstruction Bill [2015?]

Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? Here’s how.

Alexander C. Kaufman
Reporter, HuffPost


FOR PROFIT MEDIA ISN’T THE ONLY KIND OF NEWS SOURCE IN THE USA. SOME OF MY PERSONAL FAVORITES ARE THE LA TIMES, COMMON DREAMS, HUFFINGTON POST, NPR, THE DAILY BEAST, MOTHER JONES, AND THE ROLLING STONE.

HERE IS CHRIS HAYES’ “EXPLANATION” OF WHY THE REAL NEWS IS ALLOWING ITSELF TO BE SO CIRCUMSCRIBED TO THE EXTENT OF CYNICALLY PANDERING TO THE RIGHTISTS, IN HIS STATEMENT: “ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION. EVERY SINGLE TIME WE'VE COVERED IT'S BEEN A PALPABLE RATINGS KILLER. SO THE INCENTIVES ARE NOT GREAT.”

THE ANSWER TO THAT IS AN OBVIOUS ONE. WHENEVER A HUMAN NEED, OR ANY OTHER MORAL ISSUE IS BEING DEALT WITH ON A FOR PROFIT BASIS – TAKE FOR PROFIT PRISONS, FOR INSTANCE – THE DECENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF IT WILL DEGRADE RAPIDLY. WHEN THE SOUL IS INVOLVED, A FINANCIAL “INCENTIVE” DOESN’T EVEN APPLY. TRUE, THINGS COST MONEY, BUT THAT WORD “PROFIT” MOTIVE ALWAYS IS THE REAL “KILLER.” BY THE WAY, THIS ARTICLE INCLUDES MANY GOOD READER COMMENTS.

https://grist.org/article/is-climate-change-a-ratings-killer-or-is-something-wrong-with-for-profit-media/
Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images
THE WEAKEST LINK
Is climate change a “ratings killer,” or is something wrong with for-profit media?
By Zoya Teirstein on Jul 25, 2018

MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes retweeted Grist writer Eric Holthaus’ tweet about the deadly wildfires in Greece on Tuesday. After freelance writer Elon Green commented that news networks often fail to highlight the connection between climate change and extreme weather, Hayes wrote a reply that sent Twitter into a frenzy.

Climate change, he said, is a “palpable ratings killer” for news shows.


Chris Hayes
✔
@chrislhayes
Replying to @elongreen
almost without exception. every single time we've covered it's been a palpable ratings killer. so the incentives are not great.

516
9:08 AM - Jul 24, 2018
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Environmental journalists came out in full force to set him straight. The reason that newsrooms are failing to bring up climate change has a lot to do with the way major news outlets are structured (profits first, content second), they said, and less to do with people’s interest in climate change.

Hayes has a pretty good track record when it comes to reporting on climate, compared to his competitors across other channels. He even did an “All In with Chris Hayes” special climate series in 2016.

But the point stands that the current for-profit media structure doesn’t jibe well with compelling reporting on the environment. Take Holthaus’ response, for example.

Eric Holthaus
✔
@EricHolthaus
My @RollingStone article was the most-shared in its history. I was a top-5 traffic earner for @slate.

The problem isnt truth-tellers like @chrislhayes. It's producers/editors working against a broken for-profit journalistic model that rewards status quo.https://twitter.com/emorwee/status/1022141661789474816?s=19 …

Emily Atkin
✔
@emorwee
I've covered climate change for five years. Trust me: The topic itself is not a ratings/traffic killer. The traffic killer is the boring, un-engaging way many reporters tell the story. https://twitter.com/charles_kinbote/status/1022132673555386369 …

399
12:06 PM - Jul 25, 2018
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Emily Atkin, staff writer at The New Republic, thinks it’s all about the way you present the piece.


Emily Atkin
✔
@emorwee
I've covered climate change for five years. Trust me: The topic itself is not a ratings/traffic killer. The traffic killer is the boring, un-engaging way many reporters tell the story.

nuanced opinion guy
@charles_kinbote
I actually respect that Chris Hayes said covering climate change is a ratings killer. No offense to people dunking on him but I don’t think people understand that if you have a tv show you can’t just do whatever you want??

678
10:28 AM - Jul 25, 2018
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Erin Biba, who writes for the likes of BBC and Wired, agrees with Atkin.

💯💯👇👇 If climate change was such a ratings killer, why are people constantly clicking on my stories and reading them and thanking me for them and coming here to engage me about them? IF PEOPLE AREN'T INTERESTED IN YOUR STORIES, IT'S YOUR FAULT NOT THEIRS. https://t.co/VfFt2q3PPx

— Erin Biba (@erinbiba) July 25, 2018

And Huffington Post’s Alexander Kaufman threw Hayes a bone for bringing the subject up in the first place.


Alexander Kaufman
✔
@AlexCKaufman
Props to Chris for this refreshingly honest admission. This dynamic underscores the vital role meteorologists play in communicating climate change to the public — and why the GOP assault on funding for the leading program to educate weathercasters on climate science is shameful.

Chris Hayes
✔
@chrislhayes
Replying to @elongreen
almost without exception. every single time we've covered it's been a palpable ratings killer. so the incentives are not great.

14
5:01 PM - Jul 24, 2018 · Queens, NY
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It’s actually pretty unusual for a cable news host to go anywhere near the topic of climate change. An analysis from Media Matters for America shows that, of 127 TV broadcast segments on NBC, CBS, and ABC about the recent heat wave, only one mentioned climate change. It’s not like sweltering temperatures caused all those hosts to develop climate amnesia. The failure to link climate change to heat waves and downpours is a trend: Those same networks all but ignored the issue in their 2017 coverage of extreme weather events, another Media Matters report found.

Is 2018 the year that editors, producers, and talk show hosts finally figure out how to talk about climate change? For-profit newsrooms better start taking notes from environmental reporters soon; hurricane season is upon us once again.


ALSO ON THE SUBJECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, SEE WHAT POPE FRANCIS SAYS. THIS STORY ON POPE FRANCIS IS FROM 2015, BUT THE CONTENT IS NOT “OUTDATED.” IT’S TOO IMPORTANT FOR THAT. EATING ISN’T OUTDATED, EITHER. I DON’T USUALLY READ PAPAL ENCYCLICALS, JUST BECAUSE I DON’T USUALLY SEE THEM. BUT IN THIS CASE AND SEVERAL OTHERS FROM POPE FRANCIS, THE IMPORTANCE IS FOR ALL PEOPLE, WHETHER THEY CAN UNDERSTAND THAT OR NOT. NEARLY EVERY DAY WHEN I LOOK AT THE TV NEWS AND WEATHER REPORT, I SEE SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHANGES THAT WE ARE UNDERGOING. DEVASTATING ROGUE WAVES WERE HITTING THE CANARY ISLANDS JUST TODAY, AND THAT IS VERY LIKELY RELATED TO GLOBAL WARMING.

POPE FRANCIS HAPPENS TO BE ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT OBSERVERS OF THE WORLD THESE DAYS, RATHER THAN MERELY THE HEAD OF A RELIGION, AND WHEN HE SAYS SOMETHING THAT IS REPORTED IN THE NEWS, I USUALLY READ IT. THIS WHOLE RANGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES THAT WE ARE CONFRONTING NOWADAYS, WITH MOCK FEROCITY IN ORDER TO WIN VOTES AND IMPRESS EDUCATED VOTERS, NEEDS TO BE CHALLENGED MORE SERIOUSLY THAN BY MERE WORDS. FOSSIL FUELS NEED TO GO OUT OF USE, AND SOLAR, WIND, AND THE SURPRISINGLY LARGE NUMBER OF OTHER WAYS TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY OR CREATE HEAT NEED TO BE INCLUDED AS FACTORS IN A NETWORK OF ENERGY PRODUCTION. I BELIEVE BERNIE SANDERS SAID ALMOST THAT EXACT THING FAIRLY RECENTLY.

UNFORTUNATELY, THE LESS WELL-EDUCATED AND CONCERNED VOTERS ARE ALREADY COMMITTED EMOTIONALLY AND INTELLECTUAL TO THE MORE RIGHTIST RELIGIOUS FACTION IN THE WORLD, THE EVANGELICAL OR “FUNDAMENTALIST” CHRISTIANS, MOST OF WHOM HERE IN THE USA ARE PROTESTANT. THERE ARE “CONSERVATIVE” CATHOLICS, ALSO, THOUGH. THE PROBLEM IS, FIRST, THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY WITHOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT; AND SECOND, THE FACT THAT THE EVANGELICALS REQUIRE RIGID ACCEPTANCE ON “FAITH” WITHOUT THE RIGHT OF THOUGHT. FREE SPEECH IS AN AMERICAN RIGHT, BUT FREE THOUGHT ISN’T. THAT IS SCARY STUFF. THOSE ARE MANY OF THE TRUMP VOTERS; BUT THE RACISTS, MILITARY FREAKS, MACHO MAD YOUNG MEN OF TODAY, ARE THE OTHER PART OF TRUMP’S CAMP. I DON’T WANT TO BE MORE PROVOCATIVE THAN USUAL, BUT THAT IS THE ARMY OF HELL, IN MY VIEW. SHOULD WE BE SURPRISED AT THEIR RESULTS?

THE ENVIRONMENT WHICH SUSTAINS ALL LIFE ON EARTH IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO CONSIDER TODAY – WHEN WE AREN’T “PUTTING OUT THE FIRES OF POLITICAL AUTHORITARIANISM HERE IN THE USA AND AROUND THE WORLD, THAT IS. IT’S TOO LATE TO KEEP THAT SHAME OFF OF OUR LANDS, BUT WE DO STILL HAVE SOME CONTROL. I HOPE THAT BY 2020 WHEN THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ARE HELD IN THIS COUNTRY, WE CAN STILL MAINTAIN PROOF AGAINST THE VORACIOUS PARTS OF MANKIND – THE ABILITY TO HATE IRRATIONALLY, AND EVEN TO ENJOY DOING IT. NEGATIVITY CAN FEEL LIKE PROTECTION FROM FEAR, SO THAT WILL ALWAYS BE OUR WORST MOTIVATOR.

https://slate.com/technology/2015/06/pope-francis-encyclical-laudato-si-reframes-climate-change-as-a-human-rights-issue.html
FUTURE TENSE
Pope Francis: “Every Person Living on This Planet” Should Act on Climate
By ERIC HOLTHAUS
JUNE 18, 2015 11:29 AM

The Pope’s message is a call to think of climate change as a human rights issue.
Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

On Thursday, the Vatican released “Laudato Si,” a highly anticipated letter from Pope Francis that promises to reframe the debate on what to do about climate change—in the pope’s words, “one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”

The encyclical—an emphatic type of papal letter, and the first ever written on environment—is addressed to “every person living on this planet.” It firmly and unequivocally characterizes climate change as a human rights issue and calls for a radical and urgent transformation of global politics and individual lifestyles to combat it.


Pope Francis
✔
@Pontifex
The deterioration of the environment and of society affect the most vulnerable people on the planet.

6,451
9:20 AM - Jun 18, 2015
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ThinkProgress’ Joe Romm likened the pope’s words to Winston Churchill’s speech on the eve of World War II: “The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedience of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.” If the world listens, Francis’ words could be equally important.

Francis goes a step further than scientists are routinely willing to go: He says that if we continue on our current path, we risk destruction not only of the environment but of the basic decency that makes us human. In that sense, his words are relevant far beyond the climate debate.


Pope Francis
✔
@Pontifex
The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.

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In his letter, Francis concludes no technological miracle can solve the fundamentally intertwined problems of climate change and global poverty. In a typical passage, Francis rails against inequality and the consumption-driven culture that drives climate change:

We fail to see that some are mired in desperate and degrading poverty, with no way out, while others have not the faintest idea of what to do with their possessions, vainly showing off their supposed superiority and leaving behind them so much waste which, if it were the case everywhere, would destroy the planet. In practice, we continue to tolerate that some consider themselves more human than others, as if they had been born with greater rights.

Nowhere is the pope’s call for renewable energy more relevant than in rapidly developing countries like India. On Wednesday India’s government finalized a startling new goal: By 2022 the country plans to install 100 gigawatts of solar panels—a more than 30-fold expansion to a quarter of its overall electricity supply and five times the country’s previous goal. This ambitious target would make India one of the global solar leaders—in 2015 India will install more solar than Germany. Right now the country generates about 65 percent of its electricity by burning coal, and this is a significant commitment to reducing that figure. In the announcement the Indian government called on help from international donors. Unfortunately wealthy countries have devoted a vanishingly small amount of money to combating climate change.

Vastly expanding its solar in India isn’t necessarily intended to fight climate change but to relieve its people of poverty—some of the worst in the world. If the rich world wants to act in a moral way on climate, it should build solar panels in India, commit to no new development of fossil energy for its own use, and fully fund its obligations to help the poorest people in the world adapt to a huge problem that was not of their making.

An estimated 300 million people there—one-quarter of the country—has no access to electricity at all. Just last month the country endured the fifth-deadliest heat wave in world history. In India air conditioning is increasingly becoming a human rights issue. This is what the pope is talking about when he discusses climate change and poverty in the same breath.

As the first pope from the developing world, Francis, a native of Argentina, has a clear mandate to speak on behalf of the world’s poor. Although the letter was addressed to everyone on Earth, it’s clearly aimed at high-consuming countries like the United States. The average American emits 17 tons of carbon dioxide each year—the highest of any major country, more than double the world average, and 10 times the average person in India.


Pope Francis
✔
@Pontifex
The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.

73.4K
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For a 180-page document distributed by the Catholic Church, Pope Francis’ letter is very readable and deeply moving. It’s more like a poetry slam at an Occupy Wall Street rally than a formal church document. Reading it, I felt like Francis was talking directly to me—challenging me to become a better person.

This is an important day. One of the world’s most popular politicians, who happens to be the leader of one of the world’s most popular religions, has said that we must choose a radically new path. The letter may not immediately change behavior, but it is going to be a huge part of political leaders’ thought processes going forward. The rest of us should listen, too.


Eric Holthaus
‏
Verified account

@EricHolthaus
18 Jun 2015
My favorite part of Pope Francis’ encyclical: A new prayer to help us commune with Nature:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/06/18/pope_francis_encyclical_laudato_si_reframes_climate_change_as_a_human_rights.html …



MY HIGH PLAINS – FIVE ARTICLES

Stories from Today In Amarillo on KAMR Local 4.

https://www.myhighplains.com/news/weird/tiny-rhode-island-polling-place-saw-1-voter-after-all/1599411928
Weird
Tiny Rhode Island polling place saw 1 voter after all
Posted: Nov 15, 2018 09:42 AM CST
Updated: Nov 15, 2018 09:42 AM CST

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A polling place that Rhode Island elections officials initially said did not get a single voter during the midterm elections did get one voter after all.

Precinct 2807 in Providence has just 14 registered voters.

The state Board of Elections website for days showed that none of them cast a ballot Nov. 6.

But a city spokesman tells the Providence Journal the polling station warden was in the process of shutting down the machine when a voter showed. As happens with all votes not counted by a machine, the ballot was placed in an envelope and delivered to the Board of Elections to be manually counted.

That lone voter chose all Democrats and approved all three statewide ballot questions.

Four people cast ballots in the precinct in the 2016 presidential election.

___

Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.providencejournal.com

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


AS ADAPTED AS I AM TO CITY LIFE, I DO REMEMBER THE MORE CASUAL AND PERSONAL WAYS OF MY YOUNG DAYS, AND I MISS THEM. SEE THE FOLLOWING STORY ON HOW PEOPLE REACTED WHEN THE HUMAN TOUCH WAS EMPLOYED.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Albany-New-York.html
Population in 2016: 98,106
Males: 47,513 (48.4%)
Females: 50,593 (51.6%)

https://www.myhighplains.com/news/weird/syracuse-profits-by-handwriting-thousands-of-latetax-notes/1594009933
Weird
Syracuse profits by handwriting thousands of late-tax notes
By: DAVID KLEPPER, Associated Press
Posted: Nov 13, 2018 03:44 PM CST
Updated: Nov 13, 2018 03:44 PM CST

PHOTOGRAPH – AERIAL VIEW OF THE SMALL CITY OF ALBANY SURROUNDED BY LARGE TREES

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A city in New York state has found a novel way of motivating residents to pay their back taxes: personal notes handwritten by city officials.

The idea stemmed from an experiment on late-tax payments, in which the city of Syracuse partnered with researchers at Syracuse University. City officials wrote and signed thousands of notes by hand, rather than sending standard legal letters demanding payment.

The result was the city collecting nearly $1.5 million more than it predicted traditional methods alone would have brought in. University researchers estimate that the personal approach brought in 57 percent more revenue from delinquent property owners than the city could expect from using more traditional letters.

The notes took a less threatening approach, focusing on steps the resident could take to avoid late penalties or legal action. Instead of being addressed "dear property owner," the notes were all personally addressed to the resident. Each had a brief, handwritten message on the outside of the envelope as well, researchers said.

"It's the kind of positive outcome that occurs when you aren't afraid to try something new," Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said in a statement.

Collecting late taxes is a big challenge for many cities, which often use computer-generated letters to residents threatening action if the money isn't paid. The researchers said the experiment could have broad applications to a number of different government services. The researchers said they aren't aware of any other city in the U.S. using the personalized note method to collect taxes.

"These are small, simple changes that can have huge payoffs," said Leonard Lopoo, a Syracuse professor and director and co-founder of Maxwell X Lab, a behavioral research center at Syracuse University's Maxwell School.

The lab's managing director, Joe Boskovski, called the experiment common sense, saying treating people as humans can yield results.

The findings were first reported by The Associated Press. City officials announced them publicly on Tuesday.

___

This story has been corrected to show the correct spelling of the researcher's last name is Lopoo, not Lapoo.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


THIS IS FUNNY AS LONG AS IT ISN’T MY JOB TO CAPTURE THE CRITTER. I COULDN’T FIND ANY FILM OF THIS PIG ENCOUNTER. HOWEVER, THE ONE JUST BELOW OF A BEAR IS A SHORT BUT EXCITING FILM CLIP. NEVER MESS WITH A BEAR.

https://www.myhighplains.com/news/weird/police-capture-unruly-and-uncooperative-runaway-pig/1599542026
Weird
Police capture 'unruly' and 'uncooperative' runaway pig
Posted: Nov 15, 2018 01:52 PM CST

PALMYRA, Maine (AP) - Maine State Police say they helped corral a rather "unruly' pig on the run along Interstate 95.

State police say in a Facebook post they were alerted to the "uncooperative" pig along the interstate in Palmyra on Wednesday.

Police say the pig was spotted several times over the past week, but had managed to elude capture.

Authorities say Cpt. Rick Moody and Trooper Jeremy Caron moved the pig off the highway with the help of a town animal control officer.

When asked if police read the pig its Miranda rights, police jokingly responded "he waived the right to remain silent."

No injuries were reported.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


THE FIRST STORY LIKE THIS I SAW WAS A GOOD TEN YEARS AGO, WHEN A FAMILY WALKING IN A STATE PARK IN THE MOUNTAINS LEFT A LOAF OF BREAD IN THEIR CAR OUT ON THE SEAT. THE TROUBLE WITH BEARS BEING THAT LARGE AND FEROCIOUS IS THAT THEY ARE SMART. YES. THEY CAN GET INTO YOUR CAR, SO DON'T LEAVE FOOD OUT.

https://www.myhighplains.com/don-t-miss/must-see-bear-breaks-out-/1455104315
Don't Miss
Must See: Bear Breaks Out!
By: NBC News
Posted: Sep 17, 2018 07:34 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 17, 2018 07:34 PM CDT

(NBC News) A North Carolina family found quite the surprise inside their minivan: a live bear.

The bear apparently opened the door to Nicole Minkin Lissenden's unlocked van and climbed in.

She said she closed the bear in the van without realizing he was there.

Lissenden said when she went back to her van later she realized the bear was inside.

Her automatic doors failed to open, so her husband unlocked the door for the bear to escape.

However, the bear found another way to get out by punching through the driver's window and crawling through.

More: http://bit.ly/2D56Q41

Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


HEERE, MEERKITTY KITTY KITTY! YES, THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE CUTE BABY ANIMALS STORIES. JUST LOOK AT ITS’ PHOTOGRAPH BELOW.

https://www.myhighplains.com/news/weird/missing-zoo-meerkat-case-solved-with-3-charged-in-australia/1595990666
Weird
Missing zoo meerkat case solved with 3 charged in Australia
By: TREVOR MARSHALLSEA, Associated Press
Posted: Nov 14, 2018 10:29 PM CST
Updated: Nov 14, 2018 10:29 PM CST

SYDNEY (AP) - It wasn't grand theft. It was tiny.

But the snatching of a baby meerkat from a zoo has not only become a major story in the Australian city of Perth, it has led to the arrest of three people.

In September, Perth Zoo was ready to publicly show off its new month-old meerkitten to the public and media, but a day before its planned debut, it was gone.

Worried zoo staff said the male baby, who hadn't yet been named, had apparently got out of its nest box, and feared it may have been snatched by a bird of prey.

But the other possible reason for its disappearance - theft - was also explored.

Police were called to investigate, and two days later they found the missing meerkat - at a house 130 kilometers (80 miles) away, in the town of Beverley.

Police charged two people who had visited the zoo over the furry heist. Jesse Ray Hooker, 23, was charged with stealing, while his friend Aimee Cummins, also 23, with receiving stolen goods.

On Wednesday police charged a third person, a 31-year-old woman, also from Beverley, with possessing stolen property.

Hooker appeared in Perth Magistrates Court, also on Wednesday, where defense lawyer Chad Silver said that he "fell in love" with the newborn meerkat as it ran toward him in its enclosure and had scooped it up and put it in his cooler bag.

He had then played loud music on the drive home to Beverley so that Cummins, unaware of the heist at the time, couldn't hear the animal's distressed cries. After a stop at McDonald's, the pair took the meerkitten home, adding it to a menagerie of four dogs and a cat.

Silver told the court Hooker was in the process of returning the meerkat when the police called. In the tiny town of Beverley, population 1,700, even a secret that small was apparently too hard to keep.

"The simplicity of the offence meant the police were able to capture and follow up the meerkat very quickly," Silver told the court.

In front of a large media contingent, Hooker pleaded guilty and was fined 4,000 Australian dollars ($2,800). Cummins would have faced her verdict, but Silver said she could not attend the hearing, citing medical reasons and intense media pressure.

She'll appear in person in January. The 31-year-old woman will face court next month.

As for the meerkitten, despite fears from zoo staff his mob would reject him, he's been welcomed back into the fold and given a name from the East African language of Kiswahili: Salama, which means "safe."

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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http://www.jewishwikipedia.info/videos_middle_ages.html
“THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
JEWS in the DARK and MIDDLE AGES
WE CAN ONLY UNDERSTAND THE DARK AND MIDDLE AGES BY UNDERSTANDING HOW IT WAS SEEN BY PEOPLE THEN ALIVE.”

YES, I HAVE FOUND ANOTHER WONDERFUL WEBSITE – ONE THAT IS CONSTRUCTED OF SPECIFIC SUBJECTS IN JEWISH HISTORY, AND IS WRITTEN WITH DESCRIPTIONS FROM THE TIME WHEN THEY OCCURRED. IT’S A MORE DETAILED AND LIVELY WAY OF TELLING HISTORY, AND IT IS MUCH MORE INTERESTING TO ME THAN THE MORE OR LESS PREDIGESTED GENERAL MATERIAL THAT YOUNG STUDENTS ARE USUALLY GIVEN TO LEARN.

ONE SUCH PIECE OF WRITING AND VIDEO HERE IS CALLED “JEWS, LEPERS AND THE BLACK DEATH;” (This Week in Jewish History) Dr Henry Abramson, 2013 (8.04).”
TYPICAL MEDIEVAL SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT THE JEWS
From Zionism and Israel - Encyclopedic Dictionary

IT IS ACCOMPANIED BY AN EXCELLENT LECTURE BY ABRAMSON WHO LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE A RABBI TO ME, THOUGH IT DOESN’T SAY HE IS, AND USES A SIMPLE SCHOLARLY RENDITION OF THE MATTER. IT’S VERY WELL-PRODUCED AND INTERESTING. THIS BRINGS LIFE IN TIMES PAST INTO VIEW IN GREATER DETAIL THAN I USUALLY SEE IT IN ANY ORDINARY HISTORY BOOK, AND IS CERTAINLY MORE THAN I’VE EVER READ OR SEEN ABOUT JEWISH HISTORY. IT IS MORE LIKE A GOOD LECTURE BY A COLLEGE PROFESSOR THAN A POSSIBLY BORING TEXTBOOK.