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‘Robin Hood’ and other key takeaways from the Ted Cruz-Bernie Sanders tax debate

Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders agree that America’s tax code needs an overhaul. And that’s about it.

The political polar opposites, participating Wednesday in a CNN debate, highlighted the yawning policy divide that confronts conservative and liberal lawmakers of all stripes as they prepare to take on a monumental task that’s stymied Congress for decades.

With these two loquacious senators, however, the split was crystal clear.

Cruz, the Texas Republican, pitches the GOP revamp as a way to streamline the code and “lower taxes for each and every person.” Sanders, the Vermont Independent, sees instead a “massive tax break for the wealthy” that comes at the expense of low- and middle-income earners.

Cruz got Sanders to admit that the GOP’s idea to double the standard deduction was a “good idea.” But just as Cruz cheered the common ground — a “miraculous night,” he joked — Sanders quickly objected to the elimination of the personal exemption and other related tax provisions.

“You have to look at it in a comprehensive way,” Sanders said.

In tax debate, Ted Cruz aims to make Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren the face of Democrats

Ted Cruz spent Wednesday night’s nationally televised tax debate portraying his counterpart Bernie Sanders, along with the Senate’s other top liberal, Elizabeth Warren, as the face of the Democratic Party.

The CNN debate was supposed to be about the Republican tax plan. But, starting with his opening comments, Cruz tried to reframe the conversation to focus on the Vermont senator’s vision of transforming the U.S. into a high-tax country with Nordic-style social democracy.

“Bernie and the Democrats want every one of you watching today to pay more in taxes,” Cruz told the audience in his first comments.

After an early skirmish with Sanders over the estate tax, Cruz informed him that “you and Elizabeth Warren represent the heart of the Democratic Party.”

Later, he mused that “the lesson the Democratic Party took from [the 2016] election was Hillary Clinton was too moderate, and I think the Democratic Party is the party of you and Elizabeth Warren.”

Cash In: Sanders Leads Pack in Fundraising

Thinking about running against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2018?

If so, consider this. According to his latest campaign finance report, submitted to the Federal Election Commission last weekend, his senatorial campaign fund has an astounding $5.86 million in cash on hand.

It would be virtually impossible to spend that much money in Vermont, even if Sanders were to face a real challenge. Last time around, Sanders managed to spend $2.6 million in defeating Republican John MacGovern by a massive 45 percentage points. He couldn’t possibly do much better, even if he spent twice as much this time.

So what’s he doing with all that money? A lot of it goes to fueling the machine: fundraising, strategy and consulting. But a goodly chunk has been spent on his large, enthusiastic campaign-style rallies across the country.

Bernie Sanders leads Joe Biden in 2020 New Hampshire poll

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is leading former Vice President Joe Biden in a hypothetical matchup of the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary, according to a new survey.

Sanders, who won New Hampshire in his unsuccessful bid to upset Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign, maintains stronger support in the state than any other presidential hopeful of his party. That includes party luminaries such as Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to the University of New Hampshire’s survey.

Most Democratic primary voters (58 percent) are undecided or could not provide a name when asked in an open-ended question whom they would support,” the Granite State Poll found. “Democratic primary voters most recently mentioned Bernie Sanders (14 percent), Joe Biden (five percent), Hillary Clinton (five percent), Elizabeth Warren (four percent), and Joseph Kennedy III (four percent).”

Sanders’ support rose when the respondents were provided a list of potential candidates. That question revealed 31 percent support for the self-described socialist, compared to 24 percent for Biden and 13 percent for Warren.

Bernie Sanders Is Coming to Somerville

Bernie Sanders is coming to Somerville on Monday, where he will stump for progressive candidates in local elections.

The Vermont Senator says he’ll be at Once Somerville, the music venue, at 9:30 a.m. to rally behind a pack of candidates in Cambridge in Somerville who are running for school board, city council, and board of aldermen. The election for those seats is on November 7.

He will also “be discussing how we can make local government work for ordinary citizens,” Our Revolution says on its website, adding, “Join Bernie and our candidates for local office as we fight for livable wages, affordable housing, and quality public education.”

Candidates backed by Our Revolution include Somerville’s Matt McLaughlin, Will Mbah, Jesse Clingan, JT Scott and Ben Ewen-Campen, and Cambridge’s Vatsady Sivongxay, Sumbul Siddiqui, Quinton Zondervan, Dennis Carlone, Jan Devereux, and Jeff Santos, along with Foxborough state Sen. Paul Feeney.

How Climate Change and Wars Are Increasing World Hunger

Around the globe, about 815 million people—11 percent of the world’s population—went hungry in 2016, according to the latest data from the United Nations. This was the first increase in more than 15 years.

Between 1990 and 2015, due largely to a set of sweeping initiatives by the global community, the proportion of undernourished people in the world was cut in half. In 2015, UN member countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, which doubled down on this success by setting out to end hunger entirely by 2030. But a recent UN report shows that, after years of decline, hunger is on the rise again.

As evidenced by nonstop news coverage of floods, fires, refugees and violence, our planet has become a more unstable and less predictable place over the past few years. As these disasters compete for our attention, they make it harder for people in poor, marginalized and war-torn regions to access adequate food.

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Around the world, social and political instability are on the rise. Since 2010, state-based conflict has increased by 60 percent and armed conflict within countries has increased by 125 percent. More than half of the food-insecure people identified in the UN report (489 million out of 815 million) live in countries with ongoing violence. More than three-quarters of the world’s chronically malnourished children (122 million of 155 million) live in conflict-affected regions.

At the same time, these regions are experiencing increasingly powerful storms, more frequent and persistent drought and more variable rainfall associated with global climate change. These trends are not unrelated. Conflict-torn communities are more vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and crop or livestock failure due to climate can contribute to social unrest.

War hits farmers especially hard. Conflict can evict them from their land, destroy crops and livestock, prevent them from acquiring seed and fertilizer or selling their produce, restrict their access to water and forage, and disrupt planting or harvest cycles. Many conflicts play out in rural areas characterized by smallholder agriculture or pastoralism. These small-scale farmers are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. Supporting them is one of the UN’s key strategies for reaching its food security targets.

Sorry you’ll have to click the link for the charts:

Two Graphs Explain Why California’s Wildfires Will Only Get Worse

The deadly wildfires ripping through Northern California are just the latest in a season of record-defying natural disasters in the U.S. As the death toll passes 40, reports of Californians hiding in pools as their houses burn and scenes of devastated homes and vineyards add to 2017’s apocalyptic picture of how climate change is impacting America today.

As the Trump administration guts environmental protections and undermines science, California is one of the states leading the way on climate action. Ironically, experts agree the state can expect devastating fires like the ones in Napa to become the new normal. Drier and drier conditions and creeping temperatures in the American Southwest, definitively linked to climate change, serve to create tinderbox conditions for massive, catastrophic fires to explode.

A quick look at two sets of data shows exactly how climate change has impacted California’s susceptibility to wildfires—and what the state can expect as the planet continues to warm.

The past 10 years have been among the hottest years on record. It’s no coincidence that 13 of California’s largest 20 fires by acreage burned have occurred since 2000, and 10 of those in the past decade. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014, 2015 and 2016 are the third, second and first hottest years on record to date, and each of these years hosted its own record-breaking fire in the state.

It’s worth noting that this graphic only covers fires through 2016. The fires in Napa have already burned more than 240,000 acres—surpassing all but three of the fires on this infographic. As of Tuesday, firefighters are still working on 12 blazes still burning in the state.

Mnuchin Gives Away the Game: “It’s Very Hard Not to Give Tax Cuts to the Wealthy”

For weeks President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have been peddling the demonstrable lie that their tax proposals are primarily geared toward helping the middle class, not the wealthiest Americans. But in an interview with Politico’s Ben White published Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin gave away the game, admitting: “It’s very hard not to give tax cuts to the wealthy.”

“The math, given how much you are collecting, is just hard to do,” the treasury secretary added.

But as The Huffington Post’s Arthur Delaney notes, the math is not hard at all. In fact, the White House’s own tax framework, released last month, had a useful suggestion: add in a higher top marginal rate.

“An additional top rate may apply to the highest-income taxpayers to ensure that the reformed tax code is at least as progressive as the existing tax code and does not shift the tax burden from high-income to lower- and middle-income taxpayers,” the framework says.

When asked about Mnuchin’s comments during Wednesday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t deny that the rich would benefit enormously from Trump’s tax plan. Instead, she claimed that cutting taxes for the middle class remains “the focus and the priority.”

Leonardo DiCaprio Invests in Plant-Based Food Company

Animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector, but eating a burger doesn’t have to come with a side of guilt.

Actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has invested in Beyond Meat, the makers of the world’s first vegan burger that’s famously known to look, smell and even taste a lot like the real deal.

The company’s staple Beyond Burger is made mostly from pea protein. Beet juice gives it a red meat-like color and allows it to “bleed” like a regular beef burger when cooked.

“Livestock production is a major contributor to carbon emissions,” DiCaprio said in his investment announcement. “Shifting from animal meat to the plant-based meats developed by Beyond Meat is one of the most powerful measures someone can take to reduce their impact on our climate.”

“The company’s ability to create appealing, healthy meat directly from plants will go a long way in helping everyday consumers take action on climate change,” he added.

World’s First Floating Wind Farm Will Power 20,000 Homes

Scotland has officially switched on the Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating wind farm.

“Hywind will provide clean energy to over twenty thousand homes and will help us meet our ambitious climate change targets,” First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

The 30 megawatt wind farm, operated by Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA and Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co., consists of five turbines and is located 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.

“This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland,” the First Minister continued. “Our support for floating offshore wind is testament to this government’s commitment to the development of this technology and, coupled with Statoil’s Battery Storage Project, Batwind, puts us at the forefront of this global race and positions Scotland as a world center for energy innovation.”

Why Are Incarcerated Women Battling California Wildfires for as Little as $1 a Day?

Video @ Link

Warnings of ‘Big Pharma Coup’ as Trump Considers Drug Exec. for Health Secretary

With media reports indicating that President Donald Trump is leaning toward selecting former pharmaceutical industry executive Alex Azar to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen warned in a statement Wednesday that Azar’s appointment would essentially complete “Big Pharma’s coup of the healthcare sphere.”

“Just days after denouncing ‘out-of-control’ drug prices, President Donald Trump appears set to show he doesn’t mean it by naming a former pharmaceutical company executive to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” said Public Citizen president Robert Weissman. “In his public statements, Alex Azar has made clear that he is opposed to measures to restrain drug company profiteering and limit improper marketing and favors weaker drug safety approval standards.”

Azar spent a decade as an executive with the pharma giant Eli Lilly, where he directed the company’s sales operations. Before joining Eli Lilly, Azar served as deputy secretary of the HHS under George W. Bush.

As Politico reports, Azar also happens to be “one of the many drug industry executives” who contributed to Trump’s presidential campaign—a fact that runs counter to the president’s frequent criticism of elected officials who take cash from pharma executives.

Despite Puerto Rico Disaster, Vulture Firms Relentlessly Seeking Billions in Debt Payments

As Puerto Rico continues its struggle to manage $95 billion in Hurricane Maria-related damage stacked atop its $74 billion of pre-existing debt, investigative journalists have revealed the 10 biggest financial firms that “are still fighting to get billions out of the bankrupt island as it tries to rebuild.”

After a months-long investigation by In These Times and Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI), the team published their exposé on Tuesday.

“The popular narrative of Puerto Rico’s debt holders is that they are ‘small’ individual bondholders—rookie investors who trusted their savings to financial firms,” they write.

“But our investigation reveals that some of the most aggressive players demanding debt repayment in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy court are so-called ‘vulture firms,'” the report continues. “These hedge funds specialize in high-risk ‘troubled assets’ near default or bankruptcy and cater to millionaire and billionaire investors.”

As Trump Denies 17-Year-Old Abortion Access, Court Battle Exposes Broader Problem

The Trump administration’s refugee office is preventing an undocumented 17-year-old from receiving a court-approved abortion, and according to documents and reports that have surfaced since the ACLU filed two lawsuits on the teen’s behalf, she’s not the first. ”

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has effectively banned abortions for undocumented pregnant minors who enter the U.S. alone and are detained in federal immigration shelters by requiring “shelters to get its approval before releasing girls for abortion-related services―approval that officials have refused to grant,” Elise Foley explains for the Huffington Post.

Pruitt Threatens to ‘Purge’ Scientists Who Refuse to Be Fossil Fuel Puppets

In what climate researchers and activists are denouncing as a blatant call to “purge” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of experts who refuse to toe the fossil fuel industry line, EPA chief Scott Pruitt told the conservative Heritage Foundation on Tuesday that he is planning to rid his agency’s advisory boards of scientists who have received federal grants, arguing that such funding compromises the “independence” of their work.

Climate experts and advocacy groups quickly pushed back. Jennifer Sass, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), highlighted the fact that Pruitt never questions the independence of scientists bankrolled by big polluters.

This fact, Sass argued, lays bare Pruitt’s “single goal,” which she said is to “get rid of scientists who tell us the facts about threats to our environment and health.”

“Now the only scientists on Pruitt’s good list will be those with funding from polluters supporting Trump’s agenda to make America toxic again,” Sass concluded.

Documents Reveal Active U.S. Support of Indonesian Mass Killings in 1960s

Newly declassified files from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta confirm the extent to which American officials supported the killings of hundreds of thousands of Indonesians in the 1960s, as the U.S. worked to keep Southeast Asia from falling into Communist control.

The U.S. supported a narrative pushed by the Indonesian military that blamed Communists for a failed coup in 1965, targeting the anti-American President Sukarno.

This narrative emboldened the Indonesian military, paramilitaries and others to oversee the killings of 500,000 Indonesians who were suspected Communists, including students and union members.

“The U.S. was following what was happening very closely, and if it weren’t for its support, you could argue that the army would never have felt the confidence to take power,” said John Roosa, author of the book Pretext for Mass Murder, about the events, in an interview with the New York Times.

2018 cost of living adjustment shortchanges America’s retirees

What’s been hailed as the largest Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in five years doesn’t go very far in the real world where retirees live. The 2.0 percent boost in COLAs for 2018 amounts to only $27 a month for the average retiree — barely enough for a prescription co-pay, a tank of gas, or a bag of groceries.

What’s more, average beneficiaries will see their COLAs almost completely wiped out by rising Medicare Part B premiums. Those premiums will likely go up by $25 per month in 2018, making the math pretty simple. Many retirees will net only $2 extra per month, which might buy a cup of coffee but not much else.

In 2018, the average Social Security benefit will be about $1,400 a month. That’s hardly a lavish amount considering that almost two thirds of seniors depend on Social Security for at least half of their income, and one-third rely on it for at least 90 percent of their income.

Exclusive: Dem megadonor Steyer calls on govs, mayors to support impeaching Trump

Billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer sent a letter to mayors and governors urging them to publicize their stances on impeaching President Trump and call on federal lawmakers to support his removal from office.

Steyer addressed the letter to all 50 governors and 2,000 mayors of cities around the country, who he said, “have a duty to speak out.” He accused Trump of “violat[ing] the Constitution, the office of the Presidency, and the trust of the public.”

Steyer’s latest letter, obtained by The Hill, comes a week after he penned letters to Democratic congressional offices and Democrats’ House and Senate campaign committee, demanding that they support impeaching the president if the party regains control of Congress in 2018.

The Democratic megadonor and environmental activist points to criticism of Trump from within the Republican Party and his own Cabinet and condemns the president for “actively sabotaging” ObamaCare and his decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement.

Even After Equifax and Wells Fargo, GOP Sides With Big Financial Institutions by Elizabeth Warren

The Equifax data breach and the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal have given America a peek into business practices at some of America’s biggest financial institutions. In both companies, a related practice popped to the surface: forced arbitration clauses.

These little clauses, often buried in a fog of fine print, are a way for the companies to slither out of accountability when they cheat their customers. And Senate Republicans are on the verge of ramming through a resolution that will allow companies like Equifax and Wells Fargo to continue using these tricks to get away with even more misconduct.

Trump Plans to Make It Easier to Kill Civilians with Drones. Sadly, We Can Thank Obama for That.

As the war on terror enters its 17th year, it’s clear that abuses of power by one administration lead to abuses by the next.

Insider Threat Program Training and Trump’s War on Leaks: A Chilling Combination for Whistleblowers by Jesselyn Radack

The ongoing targeting of whistleblowers is contrary to a free and open democratic society, especially one where the First Amendment protects freedoms of speech, association, and the press.

@ProgressiveWing We've had two great CA Congressional candidates on our pod this wk: @MikeLevinCA & @electroza2018 https://t.co/DLRIgLDGNN pic.twitter.com/QrRKq7Qjua

— Candidates Podcast (@candidatespod) October 18, 2017

Amazing women are leading the charge to #FlipTX26. My Campaign Manager Michelle is one of them.

Her full story: https://t.co/bdxbeQbtzu pic.twitter.com/Mg48wA0rFK

— Will Fisher 🇺🇸 (@WillFisherTX) October 18, 2017

Don’t tell me Dems aren’t fired up about 2018. Over 100 folks showed up to the Sun City Dems event tonight in Bluffton. Thx for having me! pic.twitter.com/ZDi91BsCHL

— Joe Cunningham (@JoeCunninghamSC) October 18, 2017

I love @BernieSanders for debating anyone, anywhere. I will too! @IronStache, can I join you in NY? #CNNDebateNight https://t.co/H536Qu4COK

— Cathy Myers (@CathyMyersWI) October 19, 2017

Protecting 21% of the world’s fresh water should be a MAJOR priority for our lawmakers. Contact them to urge support https://t.co/IneQYQe1qs

— Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) October 18, 2017

Jealous Endorsed by Booker, Religious Leaders for Md. Governor

Former NAACP President Ben Jealous, who has already garnered numerous endorsements in his bid for Maryland governor, will receive a big one Thursday: Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

The two will appear at 5 p.m. at Busboys and Poets in Hyattsville to meet with supporters and talk about Jealous’s vision for Maryland.

Afterwards, Jealous will travel to Galilee Baptist Church in Suitland and receive another prominent endorsement from the National Capital Baptist Convention, a group of religious leaders from the D.C. area which supported Gov. Larry Hogan three years ago.

“I’m honored to receive this endorsement as we continue building a broad, diverse coalition to get Maryland back to doing big things,” Jealous said of the convention’s backing. “As a civil rights leader and community organizer, I have worked closely with faith leaders in Maryland and across the nation to make life better for working families.”

The Rev. Charles McNeill Jr., president of the convention, said Hogan failed to follow through on his campaign promises to provide jobs and appoint some people from the community to specific positions.

“We can’t even get something as simple as an appointment,” he said. “I am not going to support a candidate that reneges on any promises.”

1st District candidates report congressional fundraising

The most recent federal campaign finance numbers are in for the 1st Congressional District, and they include the first look at Democrat Cathy Myers’ fundraising.

While things could change in the 10 months before the primary election, Myers’ contributions so far are the lowest of any candidate, $53,987 from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30.

Myers, of Janesville, is running against Randy Bryce of Caledonia for the Democrats’ nomination to take on Rep. Paul Ryan.

Myers lists total income of $82,512, which includes a $28,525 loan and an ending cash on hand, as of Sept. 30, of $20,076.

Bryce, who has received extensive national news coverage, reports receiving $1.46 million in contributions with ending cash on hand of $1.03 million.

So now that they’ve noticed he’s picked up extensive national news coverage, will a journalist ask why Cathy doesn’t get even any coverage, let alone equal or ‘extensive’. ?

Congressional Candidate Dan Canon Calls On Lawrence County To Act

Dan Canon, Congressional candidate in Indiana’s 9th district, issued the following statement after Lawrence County’s County Commission failure to renew their needle exchange program.

“This is inexcusable. With the public health emergency across the district, state, and nation, elected officials have a moral obligation to act to solve the opioid, Hepatitis C, and HIV crises,” Dan Canon said. “Cutting access to any program that seeks to mitigate these crises is morally bankrupt, at best. These programs are a necessary response to the utter devastation we’ve seen in Scott County and elsewhere. Lawrence County officials know full well that our people will die as a result of this move. We call on these county commissioners and other elected officials to use the full resources at their disposal to help solve this issue before it gets even further out of control. The people of the Ninth District deserve better.”

A new generation of candidates makes clean energy a campaign centerpiece

According to polling and public opinion analysis, support for strong action on climate change and clean energy is an across-the-board winning political issue.

Yet progressive candidates for high office have historically downplayed those issues, as has the Democratic party — both in the 2016 national election and even in the wake of the recent unprecedented string of superstorms.

But a new generation of candidates are taking a new approach, refusing to be silent or even defensive on these issues, which are overwhelmingly popular with voters. They understand that Americans are increasingly concerned about climate change and want to see climate action.

ThinkProgress spoke with four such candidates who are currently running in Democratic primaries. Each has their own remarkable story:

•Rebecca Otto, Minnesota’s state auditor who’s running for governor, is a former science teacher who is shouting from the rooftop — her solar rooftop — about her clean energy plan for the state.
•Sean Casten, a clean energy entrepreneur, is running for Congress in Illinois’ 6th District on a clean energy platform. Why? “Once an engineer, always an engineer.”
•Sam Jammal, a former Tesla and SolarCity employee running for Congress in California’s 39th District, is bringing his expertise and passion for clean energy and the good-paying jobs that come with them.
•Diane Russell is running for governor after 8 years in the Maine House of Representatives. She plans to undo the anti-renewable, anti-climate policies of Maine’s current governor, Paul LePage, who she calls, “Trump before Trump.”

3rd Congressional District candidates talk foreign policy, education at BYU debate

The three top-polling candidates in the 3rd Congressional District special election squared off on issues including foreign policy, guns and education at a debate at Brigham Young University on Wednesday night.

While the three candidates could agree on a few issues, such as banning “bump stocks,” the tool that allowed the Las Vegas gunman to convert a semi-automatic weapon to act like an automatic weapon, there were many other issues that painted stark contrasts.

Health care is one such issue. While Republican front runner John Curtis emphatically stated that he wants to see free-market forces at work in healthcare, Democratic opponent Kathie Allen says health care is not a commodity, and as such does not respond to free-market forces. Allen has supported single-payer health care throughout her campaign.

Jim Bennett, a moderate running in the newly-created United Utah Party, outlined his approach for a system that provides catastrophic coverage.

Bennett and Allen both heavily criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of foreign affairs when asked about the United States’ relations with North Korea — particularly his tendency to take to Twitter on the issue.

“I think that I might start by taking Donald Trump’s phone away,” Allen said. “I think we absolutely have to respect the negotiation process with North Korea.”

Democratic divisions in California complicate hope for national party gains

Democrats are at war with themselves in California, where restless activists are challenging party leaders to resist all things President Donald Trump and move further left on health care, the minimum wage and populist issues.

The conflict could complicate Democratic hopes of winning as many as nine congressional seats in the state, a cluster that would go a long way toward helping the party grab the House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

The Republican civil war has been on full display, with forces aligned with former White House adviser Steve Bannon challenging the GOP establishment and incumbent lawmakers. In California, where Democrats control all levers of power in state government and no Republican has won a statewide election since 2006, the party is feuding over who is doing a better job resisting Trump.

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Democrats counter that whatever discord exists is a symptom of unprecedented energy that will help them next year, but acknowledge they’re in new territory.

“I’ve never seen the type of grassroots political activity I’ve seen since the election,” said Mike Levin, one of several Democrats — all of whom back single-payer health care — vying to face vulnerable GOP Rep. Darrell Issa in San Diego’s northern suburbs. “I’ve grown up here and I think we’re just going to have to wait and see. All I can do is talk about our priorities.”

Indigenous communities call for ‘reconcili-action’ 10 years after UN report

A Halifax event marking the 10th anniversary of the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sparked motivating discussions on reconciliation and how to achieve it — sooner rather than later.

The declaration, adopted by the United Nations in 2007, is a comprehensive report outlining “individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples from around the world.” It reports on issues like culture, identity and community. When it was originally adopted, Canada voted against the declaration, but formally announced its support in May 2016.

Over 100 people turned out for a panel discussion and workshop at Halifax’s Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre Wednesday afternoon, co-ordinated by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. A diverse crowd heard commentary from seven Indigenous panelists whose experience ranged from law and education to the lasting effects of residential schools.

Mi’kmaq educator Jude Gerrard spoke about the importance of ensuring the Truth and Reconciliation Commission isn’t strictly an “academic” process.

“When I think about the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples back in the early 90s, there was no action from that,” he said. “With the TRC coming out, with the calls to action and talking about reconciliation — I think it’s time for us to start talking about ‘reconcili-action.'”

Native American Leaders Meet In Milwaukee, Push For Climate Action

Native American leaders meeting in Milwaukee this week at the convention of the National Congress of American Indians are asking the Trump administration to do more to combat climate change.

Tribal leaders speaking at the conference say recent wildfires and hurricanes that have destroyed housing and other resources are a sign of rising global temperatures, and that federal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is needed.

Their call for change comes days after the Trump administration signed a rule to rollback the Clean Power Plan, and months after the United States announced it would abandon the Paris Climate Agreement, an international agreement to reduce pollutants.

Frustrated by the lack of action at the federal level, Jodi Gillette, former senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs in the Obama administration, said some tribes aren’t waiting for Washington.

One example being the low-carbon energy generation by the Forest County Potawatomi.

“They have 30 kilowatts of solar on top of their tribal building. They’re adding 5 megawatts of power to power their casino. And they’re piping in the biogas generation plant heat back into their water system to do their laundry,” Gillette told the convention Tuesday.

She also praised efforts by the Oneida, Ho-Chunk and Menominee tribes to reduce carbon emissions.

How big pharma’s money – and its politicians – feed the US opioid crisis

onald Trump was not wrong. Hours before his nominee for “drug czar” withdrew from consideration over his part in a law limiting the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to crack down on pharmaceutical distributors feeding the US’s opioid epidemic, the president took a shot at the influence of drug companies over Congress.

“They contribute massive amounts of money to political people,” he said, standing next to Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader.

“I don’t know, Mitch, maybe even to you,” he added.

Trump was right on both counts. Pharmaceutical companies spend far more than any other industry to influence politicians. Drugmakers have poured close to $2.5bn into lobbying and funding members of Congress over the past decade.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone to McConnell – although he is hardly alone. Nine out of 10 members of the House of Representatives and all but three of the US’s 100 senators have taken campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies seeking to affect legislation on everything from the cost of drugs to how new medicines are approved.

Judge to hear arguments on tribe’s pipeline contingency plan

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., will accept arguments over the next month on whether the developer of the Dakota Access pipeline must stage equipment near an American Indian reservation in southern North Dakota to respond to any oil spill under the Missouri River.

The idea is part of a fallback plan proposed by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in August in case U.S. District Judge James Boasberg eventually decided to allow the four-state pipeline to continue operating while federal officials do more study on the $3.8 billion project’s impact on the tribe.

Boasberg ruled on Oct. 11 that oil could keep flowing from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point in Illinois, as it has been since June 1. President Donald Trump earlier this year pushed through the pipeline’s completion.

On Wednesday, Boasberg conferred with attorneys on both sides of an ongoing tribal lawsuit against the pipeline and set a timeline for arguments on Standing Rock’s proposal. It includes increased public reporting of pipeline issues such as repairs, and implementation of an emergency spill response plan — including equipment staging — at the crossing beneath the Missouri River’s Lake Oahe reservoir.

The tribe gets its water from the reservoir and fears harm from any spill. Standing Rock is the leader of four Sioux tribes hoping to convince Boasberg to shut down the line, which Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners maintains is safe.

‘People Over Pipelines’ October event opposes Enbridge pipelines in Wisconsin

An event to protect Wisonsin’s water, land, and communities from Enbridge’s tar sands pipelines — People Over Pipelines — takes place Oct. 27 at 6:30 p.m. at 2700 S. Central Ave. in Marshfield.

Enbridge is moving forward on plans for another oil pipeline through the heart of Wisconsin — the Line 61-twin or Line 66. The pipeline could jeopardize major waterways (like the Namekagon River, Wisconsin River, and Rock River), property rights, the safety of communities, climate, and more.

Information on the lessons learned from pipeline fights around the country will be provided, as well as an opportunity to hear from those threatened by the proposed pipeline, including tribal members, Enbridge easement-holders, environmentalists, youth activists and more.

The event features speakers such as:

•Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Alliance, sharing the long story of building up an unstoppable coalition to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline.
•The Minnesota Youth Intervenors, who were granted full intervenor status in Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement process, allowing them to take an unprecedented role in fighting the pipeline based on concerns about climate change.
•Paul DeMain, owner of Indian Country Communications, who has documented the extreme actions of Energy Transfer Partners used during the Dakota Access fight.
•Mark Borchardt, founder of 80 Feet is Enough!, who has led the fight to protect property rights from Enbridge’s potential use of eminent domain.
•Paul DeMain, Bear Clan, Oneida/Ojibwe

Fayette commissioner, others object to approval of pipelines

Children Are Dying at Alarming Rates in Foster Care, and Nobody Is Bothering to Investigate

Children in the for-profit foster care system are dying at alarming rates, but the deaths are not being investigated, and autopsies are not even being attached to the now-closed case files, a two-year investigation has found.

The investigation, conducted and released in rare bipartisan fashion by the Senate Finance Committee, looked closely at one of the largest private providers of foster care services, the MENTOR Network.

The companies and agencies charged with keeping foster children safe often failed to provide the most basic protections or take steps to prevent tragedies, the investigation found.

In the wake of the report, shares of the MENTOR Network’s parent company, Civitas Solutions, traded sharply downward, but quickly rebounded amid a lack of press coverage.

By pushing the report to colleagues, Sen. Ron Wyden, the committee’s top-ranking Democratic member, said he and panel chair Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, are trying to “light a big fire around” how important it is to fix the child welfare system’s flaws.

The report was prompted in part by a BuzzFeed investigation into the company two years ago. The committee found that 86 children had died in the company’s care over a 10-year period, and the firm had conducted internal investigations in only 13 cases.

Journalist acquitted of protest charges

One year after her arrest, the first journalist to go to trial in connection to last year’s pipeline protests has been acquitted.

Sara Lafleur-Vetter was filming for The Guardian, a London-based news outlet, when she was arrested on Oct. 22, 2016, with 140 other people near the Dakota Access Pipeline easement by State Highway 1806.

After a daylong misdemeanor court trial with four co-defendants, Surrogate Judge Thomas Merrick dismissed the misdemeanor charges of physical obstruction of a government function, disobedience of safety orders during a riot and disorderly conduct.

Defense attorney Amanda Harris had motioned for a Rule 29 judgment of acquittal after the court heard testimony from several law enforcement officers throughout the day.

“There’s no evidence against her. All it shows is she was working,” said Merrick, referencing still images of Lafleur-Vetter with cameras and equipment. “She was out there working.”

Lafleur-Vetter, the only defendant from Wednesday’s court action to have all charges dropped, said Merrick’s decision shocked her. She also said media in the courtroom and her journalist credentials may have helped, but left her with survivor’s guilt.

“As a journalist, I have a lot of resources and people who vouch for me, while my co-defendants do not,” she said.

@Benny I believe has way more detail on this:

Shake-up at Democratic National Committee, Longtime Officials Ousted

A shake-up is underway at the Democratic National Committee as several key longtime officials have lost their posts, exposing a still-raw rift in the party and igniting anger among those in its progressive wing who see retaliation for their opposition to DNC Chairman Tom Perez.

The ousters come ahead of the DNC’s first meeting, in Las Vegas, Nevada, since Perez took over as chairman with a pledge earlier this year that he would unite the party that had become badly divided during the brutal Bernie Sanders-Hillary Clinton 2016 primary.

Complaints began immediately after party officials saw a list of Perez’ appointments to DNC committees and his roster of 75 “at-large” members, who are chosen by the chair.

The removal and demotion of a handful of veteran operatives stood out, as did what critics charge is the over-representation of Clinton-backed members on the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which helps set the terms for the party’s presidential primary, though other Sanders and Ellison backers remain represented.

Those who have been pushed out include:
•Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic chairman and longtime DNC official who ran against Perez for chair before backing Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., lost his spots on the Executive Committee and DNC Rules Committee;
•James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute and prominent Sanders backer, is no longer co-chair of the Resolutions Committee and is off the Executive Committee, a spot he has held since 2001;
•Alice Germond, the party’s longtime former secretary and a vocal Ellison backer, who was removed from her at-large appointment to the DNC; and
•Barbra Casbar Siperstein, the first transgender member of the DNC who supported Ellison and Buckley, was tossed from the Executive Committee.

Democrats Plan to Name Lobbyists, Operatives as Superdelegates

The Democratic Party this week plans to name 75 people including lobbyists and political operatives to leadership posts that come with superdelegate votes at its next presidential convention, potentially aggravating old intraparty tensions as it struggles to confront President Donald Trump.

The new members-at-large of the Democratic National Committee will vote on party rules and in 2020 will be convention delegates free to vote for a primary candidate of their choice. They include lobbyists for Venezuela’s national petroleum company and for the parent company of Fox News, according to a list obtained by Bloomberg News. At least three of the people worked for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in 2016 while also casting ballots as superdelegates.

The superdelegate system has been a focus of complaints from supporters of Sanders, the Vermont senator who challenged Clinton, and activists on the left, who have said the party’s nominating system is rigged in favor of corporate interests. While most superdelegates are elected to a public or party office, the at-large DNC members are chosen by party leaders.

The appointment of active corporate lobbyists as at-large members of the 447-member Democratic National Committee has aroused controversy in the past.

“I will register my customary objections” to the selection of at-large members, said Christine Pelosi, a California-based vice-chair of the DNC who in February authored a proposal to bar the appointment of corporate lobbyists as superdelegates. The national committee voted down her proposal.

Obama Returns to the Campaign Trail

In his first public campaign appearances since leaving office, Barack Obama today stumps for two Democratic gubernatorial candidates: Phil Murphy in New Jersey and Ralph Northam in Virginia.

And it will be interesting to see which issues Obama raises — health care (probably), Iran (probably not), Gold Star families (unlikely) — because whatever he says will probably get attention from the current Oval Office occupant.

As the New York Times writes, Obama’s trips today to Newark and Richmond are about firing up African-American voters. “Mr. Obama’s appearances on behalf of Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Ralph S. Northam, in Richmond and the financier Philip D. Murphy in Newark — two white candidates in predominantly black cities — come as Democrats struggle to inspire African-Americans to vote this year. While Mr. Murphy appears comfortably in the lead in New Jersey, the race in Virginia is close.”

Obama’s event in New Jersey begins at 3:30 pm ET (with him taking the stage after that), while the Virginia campaign stop begins at 7:30 pm ET (with Obama likely hitting the stage in the 8:00 pm ET hour).

Trump Sides With Big Agriculture Over Family Farmers

Even some Republicans are upset over this corporate handout.

No Sanctuary in Fire-Stricken California’s Immigrant Communities

Toxic smoke, destroyed homes, and fears of deportation are hitting immigrant communities all at once across Northern California.