It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
A man looks on at a landslide in the Rhondda valley on
February 18, 2020, in Tylorstown, Wales. Inspections of
old coal tips on the mountains in the Rhondda are underway
following a landslide during storm Dennis.
(Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images) The level of the River Ouse rises in York, North Yorkshire on Feb. 15.
People watch waves and rough
seas pound against the harbour wall on Feb. 15 in Porthcawl, Wales.
San Juan Generating Station burns coal to produce electricity used throughout the southwest
ON ITS LAST STACK AS IT CLOSES DOWN, PHOTO ESSAY
THIS IS NOT UNLIKE GENESEE PLANT AT LAKE WABMUM IN ALBERTA JUST OUTSIDE EDMONTON STRIP MINING COAL TO FEED THE PLANT
Hannah Grover, Farmington Daily Times Slide 1-4 of 26: Two of the four units at the San Juan Generating Station have already closed as part of an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut emissions at the power plant.Next Slide Full screen
Two of the four units at the San Juan Generating Station have already closed as part of an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut emissions at the power plant.
Greta Thunberg’s mother reveals teenager’s troubled childhood
Slideshow by USA Today
Greta Thunberg’s extraordinary transformation from a near-mute 11-year-old
into the world’s most powerful voice on the climate crisis is revealed today by her mother.
In an emotional account, Malena Ernman describes how her daughter came to be diagnosed with autism, and how activism helped her overcome an eating disorder.
“She was slowly disappearing into some kind of darkness,” Ernman says. “She stopped playing the piano. She stopped laughing. She stopped talking. And she stopped eating.”
Ernman, a celebrated Swedish opera singer, and her husband Svante Thunberg, an actor, struggled to deal with their daughter’s silence and refusal to eat anything except tiny amounts of rice, avocado and gnocchi.
She lost 10kg in two months and was on the verge of being admitted to hospital before turning a corner. Yet when Thunberg returned to school, her father realised she was being bullied. “The school isn’t sympathetic,” Ernman writes. “Their understanding of the situation is different. It’s Greta’s own fault, the school thinks.”
After recovering some weight, Thunberg was assessed by psychiatrists and diagnosed with “high-functioning” autism, which Ernman describes as Asperger’s, as well as obsessive compulsive disorder.
She went on to become attuned to the climate crisis, with the pivotal moment coming during a film shown in class about rubbish in the oceans, “an island of plastic” in the south Pacific. But after the lesson, while Thunberg was gripped with concern, other pupils enthused about a teacher’s trip to New York and flights to Thailand and Vietnam.
“Greta can’t reconcile any of this with any of what she has just seen,” her mother writes. “She saw what the rest of us did not want to see. It was as if she could see our CO2 emissions with her naked eye.”
In the summer of 2018, Thunberg began her first school strike, taking a homemade placard to stand outside the Swedish prime minister’s office.
When she was joined by other activists, her father tried to persuade her to go home, aware of the emotional toll it was taking on her. But she refused and the time with other people had an unexpected effect on her.
On the third day, a Greenpeace activist offered Greta some vegan Thai noodles. “She takes a little bite. And another. No one reacts to what’s happening. Why would they? … Greta keeps eating. Not just a few bites but almost the whole serving.”
Thunberg is expected to come to the UK this week to take part in a youth protest in Bristol.
Her presence at the Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate on Friday has been welcomed with delight by the organisers. “We are all just so excited – everyone is so excited about the thought of hearing her talk,” said Milly Sibson, who, like Thunberg, is 17. “I would love the chance to meet her because she is the founder of this movement and she is so important to it – she is an idol even though she is younger than me.”
Sotomayor’s Scathing ‘Public Charge’ Dissent Lights Up Twitter
The Illinois rule says immigrants who are “likely at any time to become a public charge” because they may in the future need benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing assistance may be turned away. It followed a ruling on Jan. 27 that was already poised to take effect in 49 states.
Sotomayor, who joined fellow liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan in the minority, argued that cases have repeatedly been rushed to the Supreme Court without being “ventilated fully in the lower courts.”
She went as far as to say that the practice is “putting a thumb on the scale in favor” of the party that won a stay -- a pointed dig at the Trump administration and her conservative colleagues.
“Claiming one emergency after another, the Government has recently sought stays in an unprecedented number of cases, demanding immediate attention and consuming limited court resources in each,” Sotomayor wrote. “And with each successive application, of course, its cries of urgency ring increasingly hollow.”
Death Penalty
Sotomayor comments drew renewed calls from Democrats to “flip the Senate” in November, and thus have more control over the confirmation of Supreme Court justices. Others praised the decision as a victory for the policies of President Donald Trump.
Among those commenting were Sister Helen Prejean, the Roman Catholic nun and advocate for abolition of the death penalty portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the 1995 film “Dead Man Walking.”
The court, said Prejean, has been quick to grant stays requested by the Justice Department, but not when death-row prisoners request the same -- an issue central to Sotomayor’s dissent.
“I fear that this disparity in treatment erodes the fair and balanced decision-making process that this court must strive to protect,” Sotomayor wrote.
Andrew Romanoff, who’s running for the U.S. Senate from Colorado as a Democrat, said Sotomayor was pushing back on a top court that’s “become unbalanced.” And presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren tweeted that she would “roll back” the public-charge policy if elected.
“Millions of children could lose their health care coverage because of the Trump administration’s cruel public charge rule,” Warren said.
NYPD cop disciplined for choking ICE protester during lower Manhattan rally
Thomas Tracy
An NYPD cop caught on video throttling at least two protesters at a lower Manhattan immigration rally has been disciplined by the department, the Daily News has learned.
Police Officer Numael Amador was found guilty of “using excessive force to clear a crowd of protesters” and “failing to report an incident in which force was used," in an departmental trial, documents acquired by The News reveal.
Amador was ordered to fork over 30 vacation days and was bounced by the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, an elite team of highly trained, heavily armed cops dispatched to respond to active shooter events, potential terror attacks and scenes of civil unrest.
He was accused of grabbing a pair of protesters by the throat as he and other officers tried to push back people rallying against the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit on Jan. 11, 2018.
The demonstration began as a peaceful march outside 26 Federal Plaza, but spun out of control as news spread that immigration activist Ravi Ragbir had been detained by ICE agents for deportation.
The crowd’s anger swelled as protesters spotted an ambulance taking Ragbir away, sparking clashes with police.
Eighteen people were arrested, including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan).
Rodriguez hopes Amador has changed his behavior since being reprimanded.
“I hope the discipline the officer received will help him understand that he should conduct himself in a different manner as he maintains our safety and security as well as protester rights,” Rodriguez said. “I personally witnessed the way he was handling the protesters that day and for me it was so disappointing to see how a that officer was conducting himself.”
Ragbir remains in the U.S. as he fights his deportation.
The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau brought excessive force charges against Amador in April 2018. He was found guilty and disciplined in August, according to department records.
Amador is now assigned to a patrol unit at the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway, Queens.
The NYPD would not comment on the disciplinary measures, citing section 50-a of New York State’s civil rights law that prevents the public release of information about police disciplinary actions unless ordered by a judge. NYPD critics and transparency advocates have been pushing to get the law repealed.
An email to Amador was also not returned.
On July 11, 2017, about six months before his clash with protesters, Amador was named a “Hero of the Month” by former cop and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for helping arrest a man who sucker punched a Bedford-Stuyvesant father into a coma.
AOC claps back after article on her dress:
'Sequins are a great accessory to universal healthcare'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez trolled the New York Post on Saturday for posting a story about the dress she wore while appearing on "The View" earlier this week, saying the outlet was "just mad that you can look good fighting for working families."
The 30-year-old progressive firebrand wrote that she "rents, borrows and thrifts" her clothes because doing so is environmentally sustainable.
"The Post is just mad that you can look good fighting for working families," she wrote. "Sequins are a great accessory to universal healthcare, don't you agree?"
Yep! I rent, borrow, and thrift my clothes. (It's also environmentally sustainable!)
The Post is just mad that you can look good fighting for working families.
The freshman lawmaker was responding to the tabloid's story, which focused on a single critical tweet that called her a "Democratic socialite" for wearing a $580 Rickie Freeman dress on the ABC talk show.
She has previously spoken about how she had to rely on hand-me-downs from friends when she was running for office.
Earlier this week, Ocasio-Cortez celebrated clothing company M.M.LaFleur in an Instagram Story for offering to lend free clothing to women who are candidates in races up and down the ballot.
"When I was running for office (even now!), accessing clothing for the job was a big challenge both logistically and financially," she wrote. "As a candidate, a large part of asking people to vote for you is helping them visualize you on the jobs. As a member, that professionalism helps you challenge subconscious bias."
Ocasio-Cortez made history in 2018 when she ousted incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic primary and became the youngest woman elected to Congress that November.
The self-described democratic socialist has since faced immense scrutiny from conservatives and right-leaning publications, particularly over her appearance.
Eddie Scarry, a reporter with the Washington Examiner, in November faced backlash for tweeting out a picture of Ocasio-Cortez from behind in order to criticize her jacket, which he said looked expensive.
"If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response. "If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside. Dark hates light - that's why you tune it out. Shine bright & keep it pushing."
If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside.
If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside.
She also fired back at the conservative outlet The Washington Times for publishing an "exclusive" story about the cost of her haircut.
"40 million Americans live in poverty under today's extreme inequality, yet the right-wing want(s) you to blame Democratic socialism for their own moral failures," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "Our policies, like Medicare for All, advance prosperity for working people."
"They're just mad we look good doing it," she quipped.
Not just bros: Sanders wins with diverse coalition
LAS VEGAS — Put "Bernie Bros" on the back-burner
It's the army of sobrinos and sobrinas — the Spanish words for nephews and nieces — who should strike fear in the hearts of Bernie Sanders' rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination and party elites after he ran up the score among Latino voters in the Nevada caucuses Saturday. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and other Latinx backers of Sanders refer to him fondly as their "tÃo," or uncle.
Sanders was the choice of 54 percent of Hispanic caucus-goers Saturday on his way to steamrolling to the most convincing victory of the primary season, according to an NBC entrance poll. His closest competitor, former Vice President Joe Biden, racked up 14 percent, with no other candidate cracking double digits.
Those results signaled that the energy Sanders has poured into building a more diverse coalition than his failed 2016 campaign is paying off at just the right time. He can now stake the first claim — less than two weeks before the "Super Tuesday" contests in 14 states — to having won a state where white, Hispanic and black voters are all represented in substantial numbers.
"If you can't put two out of those three together, you should start figuring out your exit plan," Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said of most of Sanders' rivals — excluding Biden and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg — in a telephone interview with NBC News.
Gallego added that he is "not surprised" that Sanders performed so well because the candidate and his campaign learned from missteps in 2016 and organized early and effectively in the Latino community.
The outcome among Hispanic voters here could easily portend success for Sanders in delegate-rich California and other heavily Hispanic states and congressional districts coming up on the primary calendar. At the same time, Sanders has closed Biden's lead with African-American voters to 31 percent to 29 percent nationally, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Friday.
"In Nevada we had just put together a multi-generational, multi-racial coalition which is gonna not only win in Nevada, it's gonna sweep this country," Sanders said at a rally in El Paso, Texas, Saturday night.
For Democratic party elites who oppose Sanders because they detest his brand of progressive politics — he calls himself a Democratic socialist — time may be running out to stop a gathering Sanders storm. He has now won the popular vote in the first three contests, clearly appeals to a cross-section of the party's electorate and is far better organized than the critics who have failed to coalesce behind an alternative candidate.
A Biden campaign official, anticipating a second-place finish here, used similar logic to make the case that the former vice president is best positioned to win the nomination and defeat President Donald Trump.
"Our coalition is clear and it's a coalition that looks like the Democratic Party," the official said on the condition of anonymity. "If Democrats want to choose a nominee who can build the broad coalition we have to build to beat Donald Trump, it's clear that Biden is their candidate."
Slide 1 of 39: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders addresses his first campaign rally after the Nevada Caucus in El Paso, Texas, U.S. February 22, 2020. REUTERS/Mike SegarNext Slide
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders addresses his first campaign rally after the Nevada Caucus on Feb. 22 in El Paso, Texas. Sanders wins Democratic presidential caucuses in Nevada.
Biden edged Sanders 34 percent to 28 percent among African American caucus-goers here Saturday, according to the NBC entrance poll, with billionaire Tom Steyer coming in third at 17 percent and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in fourth at 12 percent.
Sanders was the choice of 30 percent of white caucus-goers, followed by former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 19 percent. Biden registered fifth most-popular with white caucus-goers, trailing the 14 percent apiece for Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
Now, Sanders and the rest will head to South Carolina — via a handful of other states — for the Feb. 29 primary there. That's the last contest before the March 3 mega-primary, and it's the first state where black voters are expected to constitute a majority of the electorate. Biden was once seen as an overwhelming favorite in South Carolina, but Sanders' strength has put the state in play according to recent polling.
Most Democratic Party insiders once dismissed the idea that the combination of a committed bloc of Sanders voters and parity among other candidates would prevent any contender from winning the nomination outright by accumulating a majority of delegates before this summer's convention. Now, many of Sanders' critics see that scenario as their best hope of derailing Sanders.
In Nevada, the cross-section of support for him, especially among the Latinx voters to whom he has paid so much attention since his 2016 defeat, suggests that he's pretty much on the track he envisioned for his campaign.
Greyhound to Stop Allowing Border Patrol Agents on Its Buses Without Warrants
Greyhound Lines will no longer allow Border Patrol agents to conduct immigration checks on its buses without warrants, the company announced on Friday — one week after a leaked government memo revealed that agents could not board buses without consent.
The memo appeared to take Greyhound by surprise. For years, the company, the largest operator of intercity buses in America, had been allowing border agents to board its vehicles without warrants, citing a law that it said it didn’t agree with
“C.B.P. searches have negatively impacted both our customers and our operations,” the company said in 2018, referring to Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency. “Greyhound does not coordinate with C.B.P., nor do we support these actions.”
But in the leaked memo, which was first reported by The Associated Press, the Border Patrol chief confirmed that agents were prohibited from boarding buses and questioning passengers without warrants or the company’s consent.
“When transportation checks occur on a bus at non-checkpoint locations, the agent must demonstrate that he or she gained access to the bus with the consent of the company’s owner or one of the company’s employees,” Chief Carla Provost wrote in the memo, which was dated Jan. 28.
As part of President Trump’s drive to crack down on illegal immigration, passengers aboard buses and trains on domestic routes have increasingly been subjected to immigration checks, and Border Patrol officers have been found working without permission on private property and setting up checkpoints up to 100 miles from the border.
The company said that it would place stickers on its buses “clearly displaying our position,” and that it planned to send “a letter to the Department of Homeland Security formally stating we do not consent to warrantless searches on our buses and in terminal areas that are not open to the general public.”
The changes were to take effect immediately. The American Civil Liberties Union applauded Greyhound’s announcement.
“We are pleased to see Greyhound clearly communicate that it does not consent to racial profiling and harassment on its buses,” said Andrea Flores, deputy director for policy in the A.C.L.U.’s equality division.
“Greyhound is sending a message that it prioritizes the communities it serves,” she added. “We will continue to push other transportation companies to follow its leadership.” Other bus carriers including Jefferson Lines and MTRWestern do not provide consent to warrantless immigration enforcement checks of their buses, according to their websites.
In a statement on Saturday, a Customs and Border Protection official said that while the agency “does not comment on materials asserted to be leaked internal memos, management regularly disseminates information to reinforce existing protocols.”
The official did not directly address Greyhound’s change but added that “enforcement operations away from the immediate border are performed consistent with law and in direct support of immediate border enforcement efforts, and such operations function as a means of preventing smuggling and other criminal organizations from exploitation of existing transportation hubs to travel further into the United States.”
In its statement on Friday, Greyhound referred to a “policy change” at the border agency, although it wasn’t clear that the agency had in fact altered any of its policies.
“We welcome the clarity that this change in protocol brings, as it aligns with our previously stated position, which is that we do not consent to warrantless searches,” the company said. “We are providing drivers and terminal employees with updated training regarding this policy change.”
Last year, Bob Ferguson, the attorney general of Washington State, said that Greyhound’s practice of allowing searches of its vehicles at a train station and bus terminal in Spokane fell “harshly on passengers of color, who are reportedly singled out by C.B.P. for questioning and detention.”
A 2018 “Transportation Not Deportation” petition that collected over 200,000 signatures demanded that Greyhound stop allowing Border Patrol agents on its buses without a warrant or probable cause.
The aggressive immigration enforcement tactics taking place nationwide are not limited to buses. In a widely circulated video recorded in El Paso last week, Border Patrol agents can be seen using a Taser to subdue and apprehend a man in a Burger King restaurant. Michael Levenson contributed reporting.o Stop Allowing Border Patrol Agents on Its Buses Without Warrants
U.S. Supreme Court to decide winner in case of gas pipeline vs. Appalachian Trail
Gregory S. Schneider, Robert Barnes
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline begins in West Virginia and is planned to cross some of the most mountainous scenery in central Virginia before completing its 600-mile path in North Carolina.
Work in Virginia has been halted for more than a year as the builders contend with a host of setbacks handed down by federal courts. None is more crucial than the question of whether the U.S. Forest Service has authority to grant the pipeline right of way under the Appalachian Trail in the George Washington National Forest.
Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit threw out a Forest Service permit in December 2018, saying federal law prohibits any agency from allowing a pipeline on “lands in the National Park System.” That includes the trail, the judges said.
The pipeline’s builders, led by Dominion Energy, appealed to the high court, saying the ruling could create an impenetrable wall along the trail’s course from Georgia to Maine.
“Simply put, there is no basis in any federal statute to conclude that Congress intended to convert the Appalachian Trail into a 2,200-mile barrier separating critical natural resources from the eastern seaboard,” lawyer Paul Clement wrote in a brief on behalf of the pipeline.
The plaintiffs note that pipelines already cross the trail at 34 locations.
The Trump administration has weighed in on behalf of the project, with Solicitor General Noel Francisco arguing that while the National Park Service administers the trail, the land beneath it is controlled by the Forest Service.
Environmentalists fighting the construction argue that no pipeline has been granted a right of way across the trail on federal land since it became part of the park system. Other crossings are on private or state lands or on easements that predate federal ownership.
Trying to separate the land from the trail is an “elusively metaphysical distinction” that “contradicts the government’s own long-standing approach to administering the Trail,” according to a brief from lawyer Michael K. Kellogg, who will argue for the environmental groups in Monday’s hearing.
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) has filed a brief on behalf of the project’s opponents, arguing that the pipeline threatens “several of Virginia’s most cherished places.” Herring also questions whether there is any economic need for the pipeline, noting that “the demand for natural gas will remain flat or decrease for the foreseeable future and can be met with existing infrastructure.”
The high court’s ruling could determine the fate of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a controversial project that has drawn national attention from environmentalists, including former vice president Al Gore. Approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017, the pipeline initially was projected to cost about $5 billion but has ballooned in price with multiple delays.
Fourth Circuit judges struck down a number of the project’s permits for being awarded hastily and improperly. Earlier this year, the court threw out a state permit for a pumping station in a historic African American community in Buckingham County, Va., saying the builders failed to consider the environmental justice impact.
The ruling about the Appalachian Trail crossing had three other elements that are not part of the appeal to the high court. The judges also said the permit didn’t comply with mandatory standards for protecting soil, water and wildlife; that the agency didn’t take a hard enough look at landslide and erosion risk; and that the Forest Service rejected alternate routes without fully analyzing them.
Federal law requires considering the feasibility of other routes before approving a pipeline crossing in a national forest.
A spokeswoman for Dominion said the company is working with federal agencies on all three of those elements and is confident it can address them. a field with a mountain in the background: A view west along the Appalachian Trail at Cedar Cliffs.Next Slide Full screen
A view west along the Appalachian Trail at Cedar Cliffs.
The site where the pipeline would meet the trail is west of Charlottesville on the edge of George Washington National Forest. The builders want to tunnel through a mountain some 700 feet below the level of the trail, which runs along the ridgetop and intertwines with the Blue Ridge Parkway.
“The pipeline will be completely invisible from that crossing,” Dominion spokeswoman Ann Nallo said. “This project, even from the start, has always been designed with the environment in mind.”
Opponents concede that the crossing itself won’t physically affect the Appalachian Trail but say the pipeline and its long approach to the mountain will change the landscape.
Just north of the tunnel, the trail emerges onto a rocky outcrop at Cedar Cliffs, with a spectacular view of the Shenandoah Valley far below. The pipeline route would march across the valley, threading past farms and villages and then slicing through an unbroken tract of the national forest.
Even though it’s underground, the pipeline would have a 50-foot-wide, cleared path along its length.
“It will be very visible,” said Lynn Cameron, a board member for the Virginia Wilderness Committee, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
“It’s hard to separate the Appalachian Trail from the scenic beauty that hikers come here to see,” she said, standing on a lichen-covered rock and gesturing down at the bare stretch of forest, streaked with pockets of evergreens. “Some of the best tracks of Appalachian Trail are through national forest land. That’s what makes this route particularly painful.”
Greg Buppert, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center, accused Dominion of pushing the approval process too aggressively. “This is a protected landscape,” he said. “I think the problems we’re seeing with the pipeline are self-inflicted problems.”
Nallo countered that the company has gone to great lengths to satisfy environmental concerns. The pipeline’s pathway will be covered with grass and native plants, she said, adding that much of the landscape is already altered by human activity.
“I visited the trail a couple of times,” Nallo said. “You’re very close to the Blue Ridge Parkway at that point. When the leaves were down, I could see some of the houses and the roads down in the valley. . . . I think it’s a good example of how we try to achieve that balance as humans of being able to enjoy nature but being able to use those areas.”
The consolidated cases are U.S. Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Assn. and Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Assn.
gregory.schneider@washpost.com
Jewish Group Demands MSNBC's Chris Matthews Apologize for Sanders Remark
Christina Zhao
IfNotNow, an American Jewish progressive activist group, called on MSNBC host Chris Matthews to apologize for comparing Senator Bernie Sanders' Nevada caucuses victory to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940.
As Nevada caucuses results began rolling in on Saturday night, Matthews, the host of Hardball, criticized Sanders' early lead, claiming that Republicans would drop opposition research on the progressive candidate that would "kill him" if he won the 2020 Democratic nomination.
He then compared the senator's inevitable win to Hitler's invasion of France: "I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940 and the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, 'It's over.' And Churchill says, 'How can that be? You've got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?' He said, 'It's over.'"
Sanders won the caucuses with 47 percent of the vote, reported The Associated Press, solidifying his front-runner status in the Democratic field.
"The second time in as many weeks that an MSNBC commentator has used Nazi comparisons when talking about @BernieSanders, a Jewish candidate with family that was murdered in the Holocaust," IfNotNow tweeted on Saturday, following Matthew's remarks. "We demand an apology from @HardballChris—and we're still waiting for @chucktodd's apology."
The second time in as many weeks that an MSNBC commentator has used Nazi comparisons when talking about @BernieSanders, a Jewish candidate with family that was murdered in the Holocaust.
We demand an apology from @HardballChris — and we’re still waiting for @chucktodd’s apology. https://t.co/XTPoPdRHoP— IfNotNow🔥 (@IfNotNowOrg) February 22, 2020 Click to expand Chuck Todd On MSNBC Reads A Quote Comparing Bernie Sanders Supporters to 'Brownshirts'
Newsweek reached out to IfNotNow and NBC for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Matthews' remarks quickly drew considerable backlash online, with rights groups, journalists and supporters of the senator pointing out that Sanders, who is Jewish, lost family members during the Holocaust.
"Chris Mathews has been generous to me on a number of occasions, even blurbing my book. However, his constant references to political violence and today Nazism to describe Bernie Sanders campaign is beyond the pale. @HardballChris must resign or be fired from@MSNBC," filmmaker Arun Chaudhary wrote.
"@HardballChris just compared Bernie Sanders and his movement to Hitler and the Nazis on national television," journalist Walker Bragman added. "Sanders, who is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, is on track to be the nation's first Jewish president. Enough with this. Matthews should not be on the air."
Matthews' comments were not the first time an MSNBC host sparked backlash this month over remarks said about the Sanders campaign. During a segment ahead of the New Hampshire primary, anchor Chuck Todd drew Twitter fire for quoting a column that described Sanders' supporters as a "digital brownshirt brigade."
After he quoted an article by conservative outlet The Bulwark comparing Sanders' supporters to Nazi paramilitaries, the hashtag #FireChuckTodd began trending on Twitter, with some supporters of the candidate calling the segment "indefensible."
Slide 8 of 36: TYLORSTOWN, WALES - FEBRUARY 18: 
Slide 1-4 of 26: Two of the four units at the San Juan Generating Station have already closed as part of an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut emissions at the power plant.Next Slide
© Photographer: Pool/Getty Images Sonia Sotomayor
