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)
Saturday, November 13, 2021
A German photographer's unique images of the Spanish Civil War
To escape from Nazi Germany, Walter Reuter moved to Spain in 1933. There, he documented the civil war from start to finish. Thousands of the images he captured were discovered only in 2016 and are still being studied.
Destruction in Madrid This photo by Reuter from 1936 shows buildings in the capital, Madrid, that were destroyed in a bombardment by Franco's army. The poster on the wall reads, "Fascism passed through here!" 1234567
Tunisian town revolts over trash crisis Smoke billows from tear gas fired by Tunisian security forces in the town of Agareb on November 11, 2021, two days after the death of a protester during angry demonstrations over the reopening of a rubbish dump (AFP/ANIS MILI)More Aymen Jamli Sat, November 13, 2021, 2:32 AM·4 min read
As tear gas and protest cries filled the air in the Tunisian town of Agareb, Mabrouka Ben Ibrahim vowed to demonstrate for her daughter, whose death she blames on a nearby rubbish dump.
Yousra, 21, died in 2019 after being bitten by a mosquito that came from the toxic trash site, Ben Ibrahim said.
"I lost my daughter and I don't want other families to lose their children because of the filth in this landfill," the 59-year-old said.
Residents say rubbish dumped at the site, including dangerous industrial and medical refuse, has caused a string of diseases from cancer to vision problems and infertility.
Authorities decided to close the site in September after declaring it full but reversed course on Monday, prompting angry street demonstrations that degenerated into clashes with security forces.
In the early hours of Tuesday, a protester died of what relatives said was tear gas inhalation, although authorities have blamed his death on an unrelated health condition.
The protests come amid a garbage crisis across Sfax province that has seen refuse piling up on pavements after the closure of the Agareb site, the province's main dump.
Residents say the site, around three kilometres (two miles) from the town centre and stretching over 35 hectares (85 acres), has become a public health disaster since it opened in 2008.
"Two years after it was opened, we started seeing an increase in allergies, respiratory diseases and miscarriages as a direct result of burning of trash and the release of toxic gases" from the site, said Bassem Ben Ammar, a doctor who has worked in the town for two decades.
"The number of cancer cases has shot up."
Maamoun Ajmi, a 29-year-old architect and part of the "Maneche Msabb" (I'm not a rubbish dump) art collective, displays his work depicting a rat eating part of the Tunisian constitution dealing with environmental rights (AFP/PAUL RAYMOND)
- 'Body parts' -
Even as the smell of tear gas dissipates, the stench of refuse still hangs over the town of 40,000.
"During the summer and throughout the year, the mosquitos and the disgusting smell never leave us. We can't even open our windows," demonstrator Adel Ben Faraj said.
The dump, situated in the middle of a nature reserve, receives more than 620 tonnes of waste every day, according to Ines Labiadh of the FTDES rights group.
Ben Ammar said the site was a destination for "waste of all kinds, including medical waste, amputated body parts and even foetuses".
The environment ministry said medical waste was treated before going into the dump.
The site, one of 13 official landfills in the North African country, serves around one million people and receives waste from numerous factories in the city of Sfax, Tunisia's main industrial hub.
As in the rest of Tunisia, only a small fraction of the region's waste is recycled, with the rest either buried or incinerated.
Residents say the site was only meant to be active for five years, but its use was extended and it continued operating despite a judge ordering its immediate closure in 2019.
It was deemed full and finally shut down in late September, but authorities reopened it this week, triggering renewed outrage among residents.
- 'Basic rights' -
Activists have warned that similar protests could easily flare over other landfill sites in Tunisia.
Labiadh told AFP that less than 10 percent of the country's waste was recycled.
"This is damaging public health and the environment" around landfill sites, she said, calling on the state to set up a functioning recycling system.
Many of the landfill sites are found in marginalised areas.
"Today there are demonstrations in Agareb, but tomorrow they could happen around dumps in the capital. No dump in Tunisia is immune," she said.
"Some areas have clean air, while others are marginalised and deprived of basic rights."
In Agareb, some residents have been using art to campaign for a solution.
Maamoun Ajmi, a 29-year-old architect, is part of the "Maneche Msabb" (I'm not a rubbish dump) art collective.
He showed AFP two of his artworks -- one a portrait of Yousra as an angel, the other showing a rat eating the section of the Tunisian constitution dealing with environmental rights.
He was among activists who met with President Kais Saied in Tunis on Thursday to highlight the town's plight.
Ajmi told AFP the protesters had nothing to do with politics.
"We're just Tunisian citizens who want our right to a clean environment," he said.
ayj-par/lg
Peace is a tall order in massacre-hit Mali village
Peace is a tall order in massacre-hit Mali village A Senegalese UN peacekeeper walks through the Malian village of Ogossagou where his commanders say there is a lull following two massacres
(AFP/AMAURY HAUCHARD)
Amaury HAUCHARD Sat, November 13, 2021
In Ogossagou, where ethnic Fulani suffered two massacres in two years, traces of the recent horrors abound in this village of central Mali.
They are one sign of just how tough incipient internationally-sponsored peacemaking efforts are between nomadic Fulani herders and traditional Dogon hunters.
Reconciliation is all the more difficult as the Dogon accuse the Fulani of supporting the jihadists -- who are now present in central Mali but have been a scourge of the Malian government and its western allies since 2012.
A peace pact signed last month has produced "a lull" in the village, Senegalese army captain Andre Sebastien Ndione, who heads the nearby UN base, told AFP.
"But it is relative, it can go off the rails at any time," Ndione added.
In the Fulani part of the village, targeted by people dressed as traditional Dogon hunters, reminders are everywhere of the killings of 160 civilians in March 2019 and 31 more in February 2020. Local NGOs say the number of Fulani dead is even higher.
Destroyed houses lie abandoned in tall grass and a charred wooden pestle for grinding millet bears witness to the brutality of the events.
Ogossagou is one of the last villages in central Mali's Bankass area where Fulani, who are also called Peul, still live.
Ghost villages are all that remain in other parts of the area.
A hotbed of violence plaguing the Sahel, the centre of Mali has become prey to the atrocities of jihadist organisations, self-defence groups, brigands and even regular armed forces.
Both Malian and UN security forces have been singled out for their inability to prevent the repetition of violence that weighs heavily on people's minds in Ogossagou.
Malian soldiers and peacekeepers of the UN MINUSMA operation are today based between the districts of Ogossagou-Dogon and Ogossagou-Peul, separated by a few dozen metres that might as well be thousands of metres given the gulf in feeling.
The Fulani, living next to mass graves dug in haste, are constantly bullied by Dogon neighbours who accuse them of being accomplices of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group in the area. — Stray dog —
The Fulani wanted to leave Ogossagou after the second massacre, but troops restrained them in the months that followed the slaughter on February 14, 2020.
"The army prevented people from fleeing. It would have been a failure for the state if there were no more Fulani," a humanitarian source in the region told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Government soldiers have also been accused by the United Nations of raping Fulani women who survived the massacres.
The year 2020 was a long one for the Fulani. Nobody could leave the village to cultivate their fields or go to the market.
Residents were too afraid of being killed to take to the road, despite the peaceful appearance of the bush that surrounds Ogossagou and stretches to the horizon.
"It was an open-air prison," said Jens Christensen, the Danish regional director of MINUSMA.
Tensions ran so high that in March the soldiers had to intervene to separate Dogons and Fulani when a Dogon's dog strayed from one part of the village to another.
In September 2020, Christensen and his teams began a step-by-step mediation, which culminated on October 8 with the signing of a peace agreement.
It bound inhabitants of Ogossagou and ten surrounding villages to lay the foundations for reconciliation, specifying that Fulani and Dogon visit each other, accept free movement and not attack each other.
The bright smiles of village children lighten the ambient gloom, but they are not enough to eradicate the deep fissures in the village.
— Rebuilt and burned —
To be sure, Dogon and Fulani representatives sat down at the same table to meet the head of MINUSMA, Mauritania's El-Ghassim Wane, credited by the United Nations with 25 years of experience in conflict prevention.
The talks were "something unimaginable for three years", Christensen said. Fulani farmers were also able to plant millet seeds in their fields surrounding Ogossagou for the first time since 2017.
In front of Wane, who heard unanimous thanks given to the United Nations, old grudges surfaced.
A Dogon leader warned his people will not be held responsible if people from 'elsewhere', and therefore not signatories to the agreement, attack again.
A Fulani leader meanwhile complained of not having been greeted when he went to visit the Dogon district.
Some houses were rebuilt by the Fulani in other villages to facilitate the return of those who had sought refuge in Ogossagou for fear of being attacked. But they were immediately burned.
People seeking justice for the massacres have seen little if any progress.
"While the situation is not yet completely stabilised, it is obvious that it has changed a lot," argued the head of MINUSMA.
Wane decided to "maintain for the moment" the presence of a temporary UN base.
Elsewhere in Mali, such bases are established for a few weeks or months. In Ogossagou, the base will have been here for two years by February 2022.
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Anti-coup rallies in Sudan turn deadly as soldiers open fire
"Two more people were killed including an 18-year-old ... and one 35-year-old ... by bullets of the putschist military council," the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said.
Earlier, the committee had said that three other protesters were killed during Saturday's rallies.
An AFP correspondent reported hearing the sound of gunfire as well at a protest in east Khartoum.
Tear gas was also fired at many protests in Khartoum and neighbouring cities as security forces sought to disperse the demonstrations, witnesses and an AFP correspondent there said.
"No, no to military rule", "Civilian (rule) is the people's choice", and "Down with the entire council", the protesters in southern Khartoum shouted.
Thousands rallied nationwide, with protests taking place in the cities of Atbara, Wad Madani as well as in the central state of North Kordofan and in Port Sudan city and Kassala state, witnesses said.
In Khartoum, agricultural islet of Tuti to continue the resistance against military coup
02:10
The military's October 25 takeover drew widespread international condemnation, as did a deadly crackdown on street demonstrations by people demanding it restore the country's democratic transition.
The protests occurred despite the heavy presence of military, police and paramilitary forces in Khartoum, where bridges connecting the capital to neighbouring cities were sealed off, AFP correspondents reported.
The security forces also blocked roads in Khartoum leading to the army headquarters, the site of a 2019 mass sit-in that led to the ouster of autocratic president Omar al-Bashir.
The United Nations has called on the security forces to refrain from violence, which since the coup has already left dead at least 16 people, according to an independent union of medics.
"I once again call upon the security forces to exercise utmost restraint and respect the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression," said UN Special Representative for Sudan Volker Perthes.
Saturday's demonstrations have largely been organised by informal groups known as "resistance committees", which emerged during the 2019 anti-Bashir demonstrations.
The committees have called for multiple protests since the coup and mobilised crowds via text messages as Sudan has largely remained under a rigorous internet outage with phone lines intermittently disrupted.
Demonstrators also blocked roads with brick as they have done at previous rallies.
But despite the efforts, "civilian opposition to the coup has been diffuse and fragmented", International Crisis Group analyst Jonas Horner has said.
The coup has led to punitive measures by the international community disturbed by the turn away from a transition to full civilian rule.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Is Body On Mount Etna Italian Reporter 'Killed' By Mob?
By Ella IDE 11/13/2
Half a century after investigative journalist Mauro De Mauro disappeared in Sicily, the discovery of a body in a cave has raised fresh hopes of cracking one of Italy's mafia mysteries.
Crime laboratory analysts are expected to perform a DNA test on the corpse, which was found in September on the slopes of Mount Etna by a sniffer dog during a mountain rescue exercise.
Investigators have long believed De Mauro, who had been looking into the suspicious death of powerful businessman Enrico Mattei, was kidnapped and killed by Sicily's Cosa Nostra organised crime group.
The corpse was found in a cave von the slopes of Mount Etna by a sniffer dog during a mountain rescue exercise Photo: Guardia di Finanza press office via AFP / Handout
The journalist disappeared on September 16, 1970, in Palermo.
His daughter Franca, one of the last people to see him alive, called a police hot-line after reading news reports about the recently-found body, which dates to the 1970s and has a distinctive nose -- just like her father
The man on Etna, in his 50s, was wearing dark trousers, a light striped shirt, a wool jumper, a black tie, a dark green coat, a winter hat with a pom-pom on it, and black boots, the reports said.
A coin from 1977 was discovered next to the remains, dating to after the journalist's disappearance Photo: Guardia di Finanza press office via AFP / Handout
"We expect they will do a DNA test," the De Mauro family's lawyer Giuseppe Crescimanno told AFP.
The mystery corpse was wearing black boots Photo: Guardia di Finanza press office via AFP / Handout
A coin from 1977 was discovered next to the remains, along with a piece of a newspaper from 1978, according to La Sicilia daily -- both of which date to after De Mauro's disappearance.
Franca does not recognise the clothes, nor the comb or watch found with the body, the paper said.
"She is not sure they are not his, she doesn't rule it out, she just cannot remember them -- except perhaps the hat with the pom-pom," Crescimanno said.
Police mountain rescuers comb the slopes with a dog supposed to sniff out a fictitious missing person for training purposes -- but which found real remains Photo: Guardia di Finanza press office via AFP / Handout
The journalist may have been held by kidnappers for years and have been given different clothes. If the body is a DNA match with De Mauro, he may have died after managing to escape.
Police mountain rescuers can be seen in a video published on their Facebook page this week climbing down a steep, narrow tunnel to the cave, the entrance to which is almost hidden from the outside.
The dog had been supposed to be sniffing out a fictitious missing person for training purposes -- but found the real remains instead.
Investigators believe the man, who was in his 50s and about 170 centimetres tall (five feet, six inches), entered the cave voluntarily but found it impossible to climb out again.
His death is not believed to have been violent, the reports said.
De Mauro had been doing research for award-winning director Francesco Rosi's film about the death of Mattei, who founded the ENI oil company, and who died in a 1962 plane crash likely caused by a bomb.
Mafia boss Salvatore "Toto" Riina was tried over De Mauro's murder, but found not guilty for lack of proof.
The journalist was kidnapped a few days before Franca's wedding. After having returned home together from an outing, Franca went inside while her father parked the car.
She turned to see two or three men appear, and get into the car. De Mauro then drove off quickly, never to return, according to the Giornale della Sicilia daily.
The lead investigators on the case would be killed in turn by the mafia years later.
Facebook Whistleblower: 'I Want To Start A Youth Movement'
By Katy LEE and Laurent BARTHELEMY 11/13/21
What exactly does one do after leaking thousands of documents from the world's most powerful social media company? For Frances Haugen, the answer is obvious: start a youth movement.
Facebook has faced stinging criticism over the whistleblower's document drop, not least the revelations that the company knew its Instagram photo app had the potential to harm teen mental health.
Ex-Facebook engineer Haugen believes young people have more reason than anyone else to pressure social media companies to do better.
"I want to start a youth movement," she told AFP in a wide-ranging interview, adding that youngsters who have grown up online should not feel so "powerless" over the social networks enmeshed in their lives.
Haugen has spent nearly two months in the spotlight over her claims that Facebook has consistently prioritised profits over people's safety, and supporters and foes alike are wondering what comes next.
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen plans to tour universities next year and inspire a youth movement
Photo: AFP / JOEL SAGET
The interview on Friday at a luxury Paris hotel, carefully watched by her lawyer, came at the end of a European tour that was managed by a slick public relations team, with financial backing from the philanthropic organisation of eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar.
Haugen, 37, has addressed lawmakers in London, Brussels and Paris, as well as a cheering crowd of thousands at a Lisbon tech conference.
Both Britain and the EU are currently debating new tech regulation, and she said the tour was an opportunity "to influence where those regulations are going".
Iowa-born Haugen knew very well before she went to work for Facebook that its sites were capable of sending people down dangerous rabbit holes.
Haugen told AFP she was "very shocked" by Facebook's failure to tackle harmful side-effects of its platform
Photo: AFP / JOEL SAGET
A close friend who became radicalised in 2016 was convinced that billionaire George Soros secretly controlled the economy.
"That was very painful," she said.
Haugen nonetheless worked at Facebook for two years before resigning in May, saying she was immediately "very shocked" by a persistent failure to tackle harmful side-effects such as spiralling hate speech in politically volatile countries like Myanmar.
Despite her attempt to influence legislation in Europe, Haugen's faith in regulation is limited -- by the time lawmakers agree, the technology will have moved on.
Instead, she wants Facebook to be legally required to implement policies in response to potential harms identified by the people who use it.
"Facebook has never had to tell us before how it's going to fix harms. They always do the same thing when there's a scandal: they're like, 'we're sorry, this is hard, we're working on it'," Haugen said.
Despite her attempt to influence legislation in Europe, Haugen's faith in regulation is limited
Photo: AFP / JOHN THYS
If Facebook was forced to release data indicating the scale of the problem -- the number of misleading posts with more than 1,000 shares each week, for instance -- the company might feel pressured to come up with better solutions, she argues.
"Anytime you have more sunlight, it makes things a little bit cleaner."
Under the same principle, Haugen insists Facebook should be forced to address the potential dangers of its plans to build a "metaverse", a virtual reality internet which chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is so excited about that he has renamed the parent company Meta.
If people eventually spend all day in a virtual reality world where they have "a better haircut, better clothes, a nicer apartment", Haugen wonders, what might that do to people's mental health?
"I have not heard Facebook articulate how they're going to deal with that harm," she said. "They're about to invest 10,000 engineers in this. Is this not a conversation we should have now?"
She is not surprised that Facebook's response to the current scandal has largely been one of defiance, rather than humility.
"Facebook was founded by a bunch of Harvard kids who'd never done anything wrong in their life," she said, suggesting that taking criticism well was not part of company culture.
Their fellow Harvard graduate readily admits that she also enjoys a position of privilege: astute cryptocurrency investments she made in 2015 are now funding her life in Puerto Rico.
"There are many ways in which this risk for me is less risky than for someone who might not have the savings that I have," she said.
Haugen now plans to tour universities early next year.
At 37, she stresses her role would simply be to get the youth movement started, envisaging it as a campus-based movement where students could help teens deal with internet-related problems their parents might not understand, like app addiction.
Its wider role would be to encourage young people to lobby both companies and lawmakers for a "just and equitable social media".
She also plans to work with academics to build a "simulated social network" -- a model that trainee engineers could use to run experiments before changes are implemented on real-life platforms, where they can do real-world harm.
In the meantime, she'll be watching plans for new tech regulation.
"I've talked to a number of governmental regulators who said that this disclosure just changed the entire tone of the debate," she said. "My hope is that this time will be different."
Rising star Erin Jackson becomes 1st Black American woman to win speedskating World Cup
In 2018, she became the first Black woman to qualify for the U.S. Olympic long-track speedskating team after being on the ice for only four months.
Erin Jackson started off as an inline speedskater and made the switch to ice in 2018, the same year she made the U.S. Olympic team for the first time.Tom Pennington / Getty Images for Team USA
On Friday, Nov. 12, the 29-year-old athlete competed in the women’s 500-meter event at the Arena Lodowa in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, and finished with a time of 37.613 seconds to clinch her first World Cup gold medal.
Jackson competing in the 500-meter Women Division A during day 2 of the ISU World Cup at Arena Lodowa in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland.Dean Mouhtaropoulos / International Skating Union via
Jackson beat out Japan’s defending 2018 Olympic champion Nao Kodaira by 0.13 second. The competing field also included all three of the medalists who competed at the world championships in February 2021, an event Jackson didn't compete in.
The Associated Press reported that prior to her win on Friday, Jackson's previous best World Cup finish was in ninth place.
The Florida native told Dutch broadcaster NOS that her win was a “big surprise,” adding, “I was hoping to be in podium position.”
Jackson is hoping to bring the momentum from her first World Cup win to the Beijing Winter Olympics next year.Boris Streubel / Getty Images
Jackson said that much like her fellow athletes, she's "dreaming of Olympic gold."
“It’s still really early, so it’s anyone’s game, but I’m definitely feeling more confidence now,” she said.
Bonnie Blair was the last woman from the United States to win an Olympic medal in the 500-meter final, winning the last of three consecutive Olympic titles back in 1994. Shani Davis, the most successful Black male speed skater in history, has won four Olympic medals, two of which are golds.
Jackson poses with her gold medal after the victory ceremony at the ISU World Cup on Nov. 12.Dean Mouhtaropoulos / International Skating Union via
Jackson is one to watch for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022. She is the first Black woman to not only compete on the national long-track speedskating team but also qualify in 2018 for the U.S. Olympic long-track speedskating team. At the time, she had only spent four months on the ice after switching over from inline skating and roller derby. She is a member of U.S. national team for all three sports, according to her website.
At the end of October, Jackson shared a celebratory post on Instagram after winning first place in the 500-meter qualifiers and topping her personal record with a time of 37.08 seconds. She shared two photos of herself in action, followed by a video clip of her competing in the race.
“Last weekend at the Fall World Cup Qualifier I ended up with 1st place in the 500m (new personal best time) and 3rd place in the 1000m,” she wrote in the caption. “With those results I will be competing in the upcoming World Cup circuit in both distances. This is my first time qualifying for a spot in the 1000m and I'm pretty excited about it!”
US hid an airstrike that killed 70 women, children in Syria in 2019: Report
Heavy smoke rises above the village of Baghouz, in the countryside of the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor on March 18, 2019.
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English Published: 13 November ,2021:
The US military hid an airstrike in which it bombed a large crowd of women and children in Syria’s Baghuz town, killing dozens, during the last days of the battle against ISIS in 2019, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
On March 18, 2019, an American F-15E attack jet dropped a 500-pound bomb on the crowd huddled against a river bank, killing dozens. As survivors tried to scramble away, the jet dropped a 2,000 pound bomb, then another killing most of them.
An analyst at the US military’s Combined Air Operations Center at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar typed on a secure chat system: “We jet dropped on 50 women and children.”
An initial assessment of the strike revealed that the death toll amount to 70.
The New York Times reported that “the Baghuz strike was one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the war against ISIS, but it has never been publicly acknowledged by the US military”.
“A legal officer flagged the strike as a possible war crime that required an investigation. But at nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike. The death toll was downplayed. Reports were delayed, sanitized and classified. US-led coalition forces bulldozed the blast site. And top leaders were not notified,” NYT said.
“Leadership just seemed so set on burying this. No one wanted anything to do with it,” said Gene Tate, an evaluator who worked on the case for the inspector general’s office.
The NYT investigation found that bombing had been called in by a classified American special operations unit, Task Force 9, which was in charge of ground operations in Syria.
“The task force operated in such secrecy that at times it did not inform even its own military partners of its actions,” NYT reported.
This week, the US Central Command acknowledged that the strike killed 80 people, but said it was “justified”. It said “the bombs killed 16 fighters and four civilians. As for the other 60 people killed, it was not clear that they were civilians, in part because women and children in ISIS sometimes took up arms.”
The NYT said its investigation of the Baghuz strike showed that the special operations task force skirted rules meant to protect civilians and the troops rarely faced repercussions when they caused civilian deaths.
CIA officers working in Syria alleged that in about 10 incidents, the task force hit targets knowing civilians would be killed, and raised concerns with the Department of Defense inspector general.
The inspector general investigated and determined that all the strikes were legal.
Staff in the operations center in Qatar also became concerned with task force strikes and Air Force lawyers starting tracking the self-defense justifications the task force used to call the strikes then comparing them with drone footage.
They found that “the task force was adding details that would legally justify a strike, such as seeing a man with a gun, even when those details were not visible in the footage”.
Glasgow Climate Pact Has Loopholes So Big an Oil Tanker Could Get Through Them
The outcome raises the question about these talks and the state of the planet in 2021: What, exactly, constitutes progress and success?
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — The curtain came down on United Nations climate talks a day later than expected. It’s a strange feeling as representatives from countries around the world said they were willing to accept an agreement that they all said sucks.
Lichtenstein’s negotiator? “A bitter pill.” The Marshall Islands’? “Profound disappointment.” Antigua and Barbuda’s? “We are disappointed.” Yet in the end, all nations signed off on the so-called Glasgow Climate Pact. The source of so much frustration was the continual weakening of language around fossil fuels. The outcome raises the question about these talks and the state of the planet in 2021: What, exactly, constitutes progress and success?
The pact includes the first-ever language around phasing down of coal and fossil fuel subsidies, the first time in 26 meetings about climate change that countries have agreed the world should stop burning the fossil fuels that are frying it. When you’re zoomed in on UN talks, that shift is downright profound given that each country gets a vote on the agreement. That the entire world agreed to carry out “escalating efforts to phase down unabated coal power and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” in the language of the final agreement is a revelation.
“Compared to just a few years ago, the progress and momentum made in the last two weeks towards phasing out fossil fuels is striking,” Elizabeth Bast, Oil Change International’s executive director, said in a statement.
But zoom out and the talks are like watching a turtle cross a lawn. From that vantage point, what was a big step from up close looks much less revolutionary. More worryingly, it’s clear the turtle has moved very little from its starting point when it began its march at 1992 talks in Ri
The language around fossil fuels, which was introduced by the coal-dependent countries of India and China at the last minute, is both new and maddeningly riddled with loopholes for polluters. “Phase-down” of coal is open-ended and “efforts” provides no certainty on actions. Calling subsidies “inefficient” also leaves the door open to interpretation and could allow countries to keep digging up reserves while banking on unproven carbon capture technology under the banner of efficiency.
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry invoked the well-trod line in a speech to the group of assembled negotiators and said it couldn’t “let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” That’s a fair tactic when you’re looking to compromise. But physics doesn’t do compromises.
In the atmosphere, success is simply this: Humans need to create a credible, actionable plan to reduce carbon emissions at the speed necessary to avoid catastrophic levels of planetary overheating. That speed, the United Nations has said, is roughly 8% per year this decade if the world is to warm no more than the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), a target agreed to at talks six years ago. Coal use must decline 78% this decade to align with that target. Other reports have shown that new fossil fuel exploration needs to stop next year for success to be realized.
There are other signs of progress at the talks around fossil fuels. A group of countries agreed to stop funding fossil fuel projects abroad, while another group agreed to reduce oil and gas methane emissions 30% by 2030. But outside a small group of countries planning to take that step, the world collectively—including the biggest fossil fuel producers—failed to step up to that challenge. In the real world, carbon emissions continue to increase and new fossil fuel lease sales are just around the corner.
“For the first time, we have a COP decision calling for efforts towards the phase out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies,” Mohamed Adow, the head of Power Shift Africa, said. “The narrowing of the language to just cover ‘unabated’ coal power and ‘inefficient’ subsidies leaves room for untested technologies such as CCS which only the rich world has access to. We need a global phase out that is fast, fair, and final for all fossil fuels.”
The fact that each country gets a vote means that talks inevitably result in some degree of disappointment. Still, it is a testament to small island states, civil society, and others who have been fighting for years to include fossil fuels in any international agreement. But outside the negotiation halls, the climate is heating up and the clock is ticking. The world is on track to warm 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) even if all the commitments made by world leaders are met. (A big if.)
“Please do us the courtesy to acknowledge that it does not bring hope to our hearts but serves as yet another conversation where we put our homes on the line, while those who have other options decide how quickly they want to act to save those who don’t,” said Aminath Shauna, environment minister of the Maldives. “We have 98 months to half global emissions. The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees is a death sentence for us.”
Beneath the Rittenhouse trial: Grim truths about the state of America
The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who brought an illegally obtained AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to a chaotic street protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and shot three people, killing two of them, has the country riveted this week. The judge and the prosecutor have been at each other's throats, the top prosecution witnesses turned out to be more helpful for the defense, and defense attorneys unexpectedly put the baby-faced Rittenhouse on the stand, where he breathlessly sobbed like a toddler. Meanwhile, the judge got a phone call as he sat at the bench, revealing his ring tone to be Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," an unofficial Republican theme song. So the trial has been both dramatic and bizarre in equal measure.
The case is important for many reasons having to do with policing, guns, politics and the growing acceptance of right-wing vigilantism in America. Rittenhouse has somehow become a symbol of all those issues, with the country split down the middle on whether he should be condemned for carrying an illegally obtained assault weapon across state lines (he lived a few miles away, in Illinois) and killing people or should be viewed as a hero for standing up to the left-wing mob and defending himself when challenged. His childlike demeanor confuses the issue even more. How could such an innocent-looking boy have done either of those things?
The facts of the case are well known, so I won't go into it in detail. Suffice it to say that Rittenhouse fashioned himself as a "medic" (a role for which he was entirely untrained) as well as a sort of adjunct militia member, protecting private property and supporting the police when he drove into Kenosha that night and ostentatiously patrolled the streets with his long gun. He was confronted by Joseph Rosenbaum, an ex-convict with a history of mental illness who threw a bag of toiletries at him. Rittenhouse fired his gun, mortally wounding Rosenbaum. He called a friend and said, "I just killed somebody," as he jogged away from the scene.
Rittenhouse was chased by several people, including one man who tried to hit him with a high kick. Rittenhouse fired at that person but missed. Another protester, Anthony Huber, attempted to bring him down with a skateboard and Rittenhouse shot and killed him too. Gaige Grosskreutz, an armed protester and trained paramedic who also chased Rittenhouse, testified that the two men aimed their guns at each other and Rittenhouse shot him as well, wounding him in the arm. Then Rittenhouse simply walked away from this bloody scene, walking right past police lines, and went home. He turned himself in the next morning. At no point did the self-styled medic try to help any of the people he shot.
Donald Trump defended Rittenhouse's actions at the time, saying that Rittenhouse was "trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed." The Trump administration distributed talking points urging officials to say to characterize Rittenhouse as "taking his rifle to the scene of the rioting to help defend small business owners."
As for the MAGA crowd, the Washington Post's Paul Waldman observed that Rittenhouse has been extolled as a hero from the very beginning, with Trump supporters raising most of the $2 million for his bail with online appeals:
On Fox News and other conservative media, one personality after another rushed to his defense.... Rittenhouse "should walk away a free and rich man after suing for malicious prosecution. That would be true justice in this case," said Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire. "Kyle Rittenhouse went to Kenosha to clean up the filth left by the rioting Biden voters," said Tucker Carlson .... So try to imagine what will happen if Rittenhouse is acquitted. Trump will issue a statement somehow taking credit for it. Fox News will fly Rittenhouse to New York for triumphant interviews. Social media will erupt with joy, as millions of conservatives cry "Suck it, libs!" He'll appear on T-shirts and bumper stickers; maybe he'll speak at the next Conservative Political Action Conference. And don't be surprised if Trumpist candidates start seeking Rittenhouse's endorsement and asking him to appear on the campaign trail with them.
The trial isn't even over yet and that's already happening. Here is Rittenhouse's mother on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night:
This could be the beginning of a very successful career for young Rittenhouse. He's already shown that he has an instinct for it. After his arraignment and not-guilty plea he was seen numerous times wearing a "Free as Fuck" T-shirt in public, accompanied by his mother and greeted with cheers from his MAGAworld fans.
This sort of vigilantism is routinely celebrated on the right these days. From the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida to the trial of Ahmaud Arbery's killers now unfolding in Georgia, they have lined up in support for citizens who take the law into their own hands — as long as the targets are left-wing protesters and Black people. They aren't so keen when the shoe is on the other foot.
You may recall another very similar case in Portland, Oregon, last year when Michael Reinoehl, an armed antifa supporter, got into a beef with Aaron Danielson, a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer. In this case, the leftist shot and killed the MAGA supporter and Trump, according to his own account of events on Fox News, personally ordered U.S. marshals to hunt Reinoehl down: Now we sent in the U.S. marshals for the killer, the man that killed the young man in the street. Two and a half days went by, and I put out, "When are you going to go get him?" And the U.S. marshals went in to get him, and
According to this rundown of the events by the New York Times, it's clear that Reinoehl was unarmed at the time of his death and that marshals opened fire without warning as he walked to his car. It was an extrajudicial execution, apparently ordered by the president of the United States
It may be that Kyle Rittenhouse will be seen in the eyes of the law to have fired in self-defense. After all, he's being tried for murder, not for being a reckless fool who should never have carried a firearm anywhere near the melee that night. Many of the TV lawyers analyzing the case believe the prosecution has not made the case for a homicide conviction. If that's the way things play out, that won't be the fault of the lawyers, the judge or the jury. It will be the direct result of laws that allow teenage boys to wander the streets with loaded assault weapons slung over their shoulders, as if that were perfectly reasonable in a civilized society.
Vigilantism, extrajudicial killings by federal authorities, violent insurrections, threats and harassment of public officials, and rejection of election results and the democratic process are all hallmarks of authoritarian movements. Coddling the gun fetishists and allowing right-wing extremism to fester over many years has brought us to the point when we must ask ourselves if we're no longer a country where politics is war by other means — it's just plain old war.
Rittenhouse legal expert: I've never seen a judge act like this in a criminal trial.
Ron Filipkowski
In the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial, Judge Bruce Schroeder began the day on Thursday asking everyone in the courtroom, including the jury, if they had served in the military. As it turned out, the only military veteran in the courtroom who spoke up was the defense expert on use-of-force, John Black. Schroeder then motioned to the jury, and said that he thinks that everyone should give a “round of applause to the people who have served,” while gesturing back over toward Black.
I have been a criminal law attorney for 27 years. I was both a federal and state prosecutor, and defense attorney. In all my years of practice, I have never seen a trial judge during a trial put the jury in a position where they would have to applaud a defense witness right before they are about to take the stand and testify.
A judge in any criminal jury trial should never put members of the jury in a position where they are asked to applaud for a witness about to testify for something that they have done in the past. I am a Marine Corps veteran. I certainly appreciate it when people thank me for my service. But trial judges must do everything possible to avoid any appearance that they favor or agree with one side or another in a trial. A judge must also not express a favorable personal opinion about a witness – even to laud them for military service.
The parties to a trial and the public must feel confident that the process was fair and unbiased. These unusual incidents have created the impression in the minds of many that the judge in this case is biased, and that is unfortunate.
Kyle Rittenhouse and his attorney Corey Chirafisi in Kenosha, Wis., on Nov. 11, 2021.
In a trial as high profile as Rittenhouse, it is crucial for everyone to have confidence that due process was fairly applied. Whatever the verdict, many people have already concluded that it wasn’t.
Ron Filipkowski is a former prosecutor and Marine and current criminal defense lawyer.
GOP Candidates Are Wielding Kyle Rittenhouse Trial In Culture War Liz Skalka Thu, November 11, 2021
A jury hasn’t ruled yet in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen facing homicide charges for shooting three men during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin — but Republicans and their allies are already wielding the issue in their broader culture war ahead of the midterm elections.
“I think that it’s not a trial, it’s child abuse masquerading as justice in this country,” said J.D. Vance, the author and venture capitalist running for Senate in Ohio, said on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program Wednesday. “This entire trial — this entire farce — is an indictment on every institution in our society.”
Potentially facing life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges, Rittenhouse has been championed by the right after he fatally shot two men and wounded another during a protest that erupted in response to a white Kenosha officer shooting and leaving a Black man, Jacob Blake, paralyzed from the waist down. The trial has fiercely divided the nation over whether Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, was acting as a hero or a vigilante.
Rittenhouse’s trial has become symbolic of the nation’s political polarization over police brutality, racism and gun rights — issues that are nearly certain to factor into the upcoming election cycle
. Kyle Rittenhouse breaks down on the stand as he testifies during his murder trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Nov. 10. (Photo: Mark Hertzberg/Associated Press)
Republicans seeking office in 2022 have attacked the prosecution in the case and continue to slam President Joe Biden for appearing to label Rittenhouse — who traveled across state lines to Kenosha with an AR-style rifle and a medical kit — a “white supremacist” in a tweet shortly after the killings.
After the presidential debate in September 2020, Biden shared a video targeting former President Donald Trump for refusing to disavow white supremacy that featured Rittenhouse and others.
Rittenhouse has argued that he was acting in self-defense and traveled to Kenosha as a private citizen to quell violence and looting.
“It’s an indictment of our disgusting president, who called him a white supremacist, even though he shot other white people. It’s an indictment of our media, which slandered and bullied a 17-year-old boy. I haven’t seen anything that disgusts me with the leaders of this country like this ridiculous farce of a trial,” Vance, who has framed his candidacy around cultural issues, said on Fox.
On Thursday, Vance’s GOP primary opponent, Josh Mandel, tweeted “Kyle Rittenhouse is the victim” in response to basketball star LeBron James, who questioned whether Rittenhouse’s tears on the stand were genuine.
Eric Greitens, the former Missouri governor running for an open Senate seat in that state, retweeted former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik — a fixture on right-wing cable who received a presidential pardon from Trump — who called the trial an “abuse of power by a politically motivated prosecutor.”
Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii congresswoman who ran in the 2020 Democratic primary for president, also offered her take. Gabbard, who was reportedly vetted for a role in the Trump administration, is seen as sympathetic to the right and as harboring ambitions for higher office.
“The prosecutor in this Rittenhouse trial obviously didn’t do his due diligence before making the decision to prosecute,” Gabbard said in a viral video. “This tragedy never would have happened if the government had simply carried out its responsibilities to protect the safety, lives and property of innocent people.”
Republican Glenn Youngkin’s win this month in the Virginia governor’s race demonstrated the potency of cultural issues for the GOP, which successfully tapped into anger over parental control in schools, particularly with COVID-19 mandates and the bogeyman of “critical race theory” in schools.
Underpinning the Rittenhouse trial, which continues this week, are tensions over last year’s protests against police brutality toward Black Americans and the role police forces should play in society.
Democrats, for their part, weren’t silent on Rittenhouse, either.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York tweeted on Wednesday: “Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key.”
Kyle Rittenhouse and defense attorney Mark Richards stand as Judge Bruce Schroeder makes a personal call during Rittenhouse's trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. Rittenhouse is accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a protest over police brutality in Kenosha, last year. (Mark Hertzberg /Pool Photo via AP)
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The jurors who will decide Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate will be allowed to consider lesser charges if they opt to acquit him on some of the original counts prosecutors brought, the judge said Friday during a contentious hearing in which both sides could claim partial victory.
Rittenhouse, of nearby Antioch, Illinois, testified that he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot two protesters and wounded a third during an August 2020 night of unrest in Kenosha following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man.
Jurors are expected to begin deliberating on Monday after closing arguments in a case that has left Americans divided over whether Rittenhouse was a patriot who took a stand against lawlessness or a vigilante who brought a gun to a protest to provoke a response.
With a verdict near, Gov. Tony Evers said Friday that 500 National Guard members would be prepared for duty in Kenosha if local law enforcement requested them.
Wisconsin law allows the prosecution and defense to ask that jurors be told they can consider lesser charges as part of the instructions they receive before deliberating. Defense lawyers can object to lesser charges, and in some cases Friday, they did. For those that they didn’t object to, Judge Bruce Schroeder asked Rittenhouse to confirm that he agreed with his attorneys’ decision.
Schroeder told Rittenhouse that by including the lesser charges, “you’re raising the risk of conviction, although you’re avoiding the possibility that the jury will end up compromising on the more serious crime. And you’re also decreasing the risk that you’ll end up with a second trial because the jury is unable to agree.”
Rittenhouse said he understood.
Schroeder said he would issue his final rulings Saturday, but he made some findings from the bench and indicated how he might rule on others. For counts where jurors will be allowed to consider lesser charges, they will be instructed to only consider them if they first acquit Rittenhouse of the more serious original corresponding charge.
Friday’s arguments over jury instructions were contentious at times, with attorneys rehashing debates they had earlier in the case. At one point, as prosecutors were seeking to add an instruction that would allow the jurors to consider whether Rittenhouse was provoked, the two sides debated about what a particular photo showed. Schroeder lost his temper, snapping: “You’re asking me to give an instruction. I want to see the best picture!”
Schroeder ultimately said he would allow the provocation instruction, which would ask the jury to consider whether Rittenhouse provoked Rosenbaum into attacking him. If the jury finds he did, that would negate self-defense.
Rittenhouse, now 18, faces one count of first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of Rosenbaum, who was the first person he shot after Rosenbaum chased him in a used car lot. Prosecutors sought to add a second-degree reckless homicide charge, but the defense objected. Schroeder said he was unlikely to allow the lesser charge because he thought a guilty verdict on the lesser charge would be overturned on appeal.
Rittenhouse also faces two charges of first-degree reckless endangerment: one for firing at an unknown man who tried to kick him in the face and another because a reporter was in the line of fire when Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum.
Schroeder said he was inclined to allow a lesser charge of second-degree reckless endangerment when it comes to endangering the reporter, but he might not. He said he would not allow the lesser charge in the case of the unidentified man who tried to kick Rittenhouse.
Rittenhouse also faces one count of first-degree intentional homicide in Huber’s death. That’s the most serious charge against him and carries a mandatory life sentence. Huber swung his skateboard at Rittenhouse shortly after Rittenhouse killed Rosenbaum.
The defense did not object to adding lesser counts of second-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide as it relates to Huber. It did object to adding a charge of second-degree reckless homicide. Schroeder said he “embraced” that argument.
Rittenhouse also faces one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for shooting and wounding Grosskreutz in the arm. Grosskreutz, who had a gun in his hand, confronted Rittenhouse right after Rittenhouse shot Huber.
Prosecutors asked to add second-degree attempted intentional homicide, first-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree reckless endangerment options. Rittenhouse attorney Corey Chirafisi didn’t object to the second-degree attempted homicide count, but he objected to adding the reckless endangerment counts, saying he doesn’t believe someone can “attempt to be reckless.”
Schroeder said he would mull it over but was inclined to agree with prosecutors.
Rittenhouse is also charged with possessing a dangerous weapon while under the age of 18. It was not clear Friday what Schroeder intended to tell jurors on that charge.
Legal observers said both sides got some wins during the hearing. Julius Kim, a Milwaukee criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, said no matter how confident Rittenhouse may be of his defense, accepting the lesser charge on the most serious count minimizes the risk of him being convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
“I think that they recognize it could be a good thing for Mr. Rittenhouse to allow the jury to potentially convict him of a lesser offense if they convict him of anything,” Kim said, adding that the lack of a defense objection on that count could signal that they might not be confident in an acquittal.
Still, the fact that prosecutors are seeking a lesser offense is a “tacit acknowledgement” that they aren’t confident the jury will convict Rittenhouse on the original charges.
“I think they are trying to salvage something at his point in time,” Kim said.
Michael O’Hear, a criminal law professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee, agreed, saying lesser included charges are usually sought by the defense.
“Normally the prosecutor would not request a lesser included instruction if the prosecution had a very high degree of confidence in the likelihood of conviction of the greater offense,” O’Hear said, noting that adding it “practically invites the jury to compromise on the lesser offense.”
Testimony in the case ended Thursday after nearly two weeks. The most riveting moment in the trial came when Rittenhouse told the jury that he was defending himself from attack when he used his rifle to shoot the three men.
Closing arguments will be Monday, after which names will be drawn to decide which 12 jurors will deliberate and which will be dismissed as alternates. Eighteen people have been hearing the case. The panel appears to be overwhelmingly white, like Rittenhouse and those he shot.
The protests were set off by the wounding of Blake by a white police officer. Rittenhouse went to the protest with a rifle and a medical kit in what the former police and fire youth cadet said was an effort to protect property after rioters set fires and ransacked businesses on previous nights.
The case has stirred fierce debate over vigilantism, self-defense, the Second Amendment right to bear arms and the unrest that erupted throughout the U.S. over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other police violence against Black people.
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Bauer reported from Madison and Forliti reported from Minneapolis.
Jackson is hoping to bring the momentum from her first World Cup win to the Beijing Winter Olympics next year.Boris Streubel / Getty Images
