Sri Lankans return to cooking with firewood as economy burns


Amal JAYASINGHE
Tue, July 5, 2022 


As once relatively wealthy Sri Lanka suffers a dire economic crisis with shortages of everything from medicines to gas, people are returning to cooking with firewood.

The switch began at the beginning of the year when more than 1,000 kitchens exploded across the country, killing at least seven people and injuring hundreds more.

The reason was suppliers looking to cut costs and increasing the proportion of propane, which raised the pressure to dangerous levels.

But now, along with much else in the country of 22 million people, gas is either unavailable or too expensive for most.

Some tried to shift to kerosene oil cookers, but the government did not have dollars to import it along with petrol and diesel, which are also in short supply.


And those who bought electric cookers were in for a rude shock when the government imposed lengthy power blackouts as it ran out of dollars to import fuel for generators.


Niluka Hapuarachchi, 41, was miraculously unharmed when her gas range exploded soon after cooking Sunday lunch in August.

"Fortunately, no one was there at the time. There were pieces of glass all over the floor. The glass-top stove had exploded. I will never use gas for cooking. It is not safe. We are now on firewood," she said, despite moves to address the propane problem.

Roadside eatery owner M.G. Karunawathi, 67, also switched to wood and said it was a choice between closing her business or putting up with smoke and soot.

"We suffer (smoke inhalation) when cooking with firewood, but we have no choice," Karunawathi told AFP. "It is also difficult to find firewood and it is also becoming very expensive."
- Pain into 2023 -

Sri Lanka used to be a middle-income country, with GDP per head comparable to the Philippines and living standards the envy of neighbouring India.

But with economic mismanagement and the crucial tourism industry hammered by Covid-19, the nation has run out of dollars needed to pay for most imports.

And the pain will likely continue for some time, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in parliament on Tuesday saying: "We will have to face difficulties in 2023 as well.


"This is the truth. This is the reality."

Unofficial inflation is now second only to Zimbabwe, and the United Nations estimates about 80 percent of people skip meals because they cannot afford food.

Before the crisis, almost all households in Colombo could afford to use gas, but now woodcutter Selliah Raja, 60, is doing a roaring trade.

"Earlier we had just one customer -- a restaurant that had a wood-fired oven -- but we now have so many, we can't meet the demand," Raja told AFP.

He says his timber suppliers in the provinces have doubled their prices because of the sharp rise in demand and skyrocketing transport costs.

"Earlier, land owners paid us to uproot rubber trees that are no longer productive," lumberjack Sampath Thushara told AFP in the tea-and-rubber-growing southern village of Nehinna.


"Today, we have to pay to get these trees."

Foraging for wood can also be dangerous in the snake- and insect-infested forests. Last week, a father of three died from wasp stings in central Sri Lanka and four others were hospitalised.

Demand is also surging for alternative energy, and entrepreneur Riyad Ismail, 51, has seen sales light up for the hi-tech firewood stove he invented in 2008.

He has attached a small battery-powered electric fan to blow air into the barrel-shaped stove to ensure better burning, thus reducing smoke and soot associated with traditional firewood burners.

His upmarket "Ezstove" and the mass-market "Janalipa", which uses coconut charcoal, promises a minimum 60 percent savings compared with cooking with gas.

Both his stoves -- which cost around $20 and $50, respectively -- have become big sellers with buyers having to go on a waiting list.

It has been so successful, Ismail says, there are several copies on the market.

"You will see many renditions of my design... other people are piggybacking (on the design)," Ismail said while making chicken satay.

aj/stu/dan/cwl

Sixty years on, "the birth of Algeria as an independent state still holds a very important meaning"

Issued on: 06/07/2022

Algeria celebrated 60 years of independence from France on Tuesday with nationwide ceremonies, a pardon of 14,000 prisoners and its first military parade in decades. The events mark the country’s official declaration of independence on July 5, 1962, after a brutal seven-year war that ended 132 years of colonial rule. Opposition figures and pro-democracy activists called the elaborate celebrations an effort to distract attention from Algeria's economic and political troubles by glorifying the army, and called for the release of political prisoners. For more analysis, FRANCE 24 is joined by Jihane Boudiaf, a Research Analyst whose work contributes to several Country Risk teams at S&P Global Market Intelligence, covering sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. "This is not so much about the pro-democracy movement or the FLN," explains Ms. Boudiaf. "I think that Algeria is displaying here this impressive military arsenal which is an important message that it wants to communicate regionally and internationally in this more challenging geopolitical context."

INDIA LEARNS FROM ISRAEL

India's 'bulldozer justice' flattens Muslim dissent

After two nights in police custody, Indian teenager Somaiya Fatima was released in time to watch live footage of an excavator claw smashing into the walls of her childhood home.


© Sanjay KANOJIA

Scores of dwellings and businesses have been flattened by wrecking crews this year, in a campaign authorities have promoted as a battle against illegal construction and a firm response to criminal activity

The residence is among scores of dwellings and businesses flattened by wrecking crews this year, in a campaign authorities have promoted by turns as a battle against illegal construction and a firm response to criminal activity.


© Sanjay KANOJIA

Indian teenager Somaiya Fatima was released in time from jail to watch live footage of an excavator claw smashing into the walls of her childhood home

But rights groups have condemned "bulldozer justice" as an unlawful exercise in collective punishment by India's Hindu nationalist government, and many of the campaign's victims have one thing in common.


© Sanjay KANOJIA

Many Muslims living in Uttar Pradesh now fear their own homes are being earmarked for destruction after their family members participated in last month's protests

"We are Muslims and that's why we are being targeted," Fatima told AFP.

The 19-year-old was arrested along with her family after her father was accused of masterminding a large public protest in the northern city of Allahabad last month.

It was one of several rallies across India last month condemning a ruling party spokeswoman whose provocative comments about the Prophet Mohammed during a televised debate sparked anger across the Muslim world.

The day Fatima was released, she was sitting in a relative's living room when she came across footage of her home's destruction on her phone.

She said the demolition was a lesson for Muslims tempted to "speak up" against the government.

"They've instilled fear in an entire community," she said. "Everyone now looks at their home and thinks that if it happened to us, it can happen to them also."

- 'No empathy' -

Fatima's home state of Uttar Pradesh is governed by Yogi Adityanath, a saffron-robed Hindu monk seen as a potential successor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

HE IS A RABID ISLAMOPHOBE HINDU NATIONALIST, CASTIST

Red states are unprepared for a post-Roe v. Wade baby boom

In office he has championed the bulldozer as a symbol of his commitment to law and order and as a potential tool to use against "trouble-makers".

Adityanath's acolytes celebrated his successful campaign for re-election as chief minister earlier this year by riding on top of excavators, while bulldozer tattoos became a minor craze among supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Since then "bulldozer politics" have spread elsewhere in the country and demolition campaigns have begun quickly following on the heels of outbreaks of religious unrest.

After a violent confrontation in April between Hindus trailing a religious procession and Muslims holding Ramadan prayers, authorities in Delhi knocked down nearly two dozen Muslim shopfronts and the facade of a mosque, defying a court order to stop.

Officials say the spate of demolitions are lawful as they only target buildings constructed without legal approval.

But victims of the campaign deny that their dwellings are illegal, and say they are not given the legally required notice period to dispute demolition orders.

Fatima's house was demolished "in the presence of hundreds of police and hundreds of cameras, with no empathy," KK Rai, a lawyer for Fatima's father, told AFP.

"There is no comparison for this ruthlessness."

Critics of the government say the campaign is the latest manifestation of the BJP's discriminatory policies towards India's 200 million-strong Muslim minority community.

"They have an ideological commitment that in India they have to make Muslims a second-class citizen, socially humiliate them and destroy their property," Rai said.

Amnesty International said last month that the demolitions were part of a selective and "vicious" crackdown on Indian Muslims who dared to speak up against the discrimination they faced.

- 'Sleepless nights' -

Many Muslims living in Uttar Pradesh now fear their own homes are being earmarked for destruction after their family members participated in last month's protests.

"Now we have sleepless nights and restless days," said Mohd Javed, a resident of Saharanpur, who received an order to vacate his house soon after his brother was arrested for joining a demonstration in that city.

One week after Fatima's arrest, a bulldozer remained parked outside the police station near where her home once stood.

The pile of bricks and concrete in its stead has heightened her own sense of belonging to a pariah community.

She recalled watching her home being torn down on a news channel's YouTube livestream, as her phone screen filled up with a flood of comments from the public praising the demolition.

"I was born there and spent my entire life there," Fatima said. "But it was evident that people were happy seeing someone's house being destroyed."

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HINDUISM IS FASCISM 

Norway government intervenes, ending oil and gas strike

Tue, July 5, 2022 


Norway's government said Tuesday it was referring a dispute between oil and gas workers and employers to an independent board, after an industry group warned strikes could cut Norway's gas exports by more than half.

The move, which effectively ends the stoppage, comes after workers walked out of their jobs on Tuesday, leading to the closure of three fields and the union announced more workers would strike later in the week.

"The announced escalation is critical in today's situation, both with regards to the energy crisis and the geopolitical situation we are in with a war in Europe," Labour Minister Marte Mjos Persen said in a statement.

Under Norwegian legislation, the government can force parties in a labour dispute to a wage board which will decide on the matter.

Earlier on Tuesday, industry group the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, warned that with the announced escalation of the strike announced for Saturday would slash output.

It said 56 percent of total gas exports from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) would be cut, together with a production loss of 341,000 barrels of oil a day.
- 'A very tight market' -

"It is unjustifiable to allow gas production to stop to such an extent that this strike in the next few days is estimated to lead to," Persen said.

Earlier Tuesday Norwegian energy giant Equinor said it had shut down production at three oil and gas fields after oil workers walked out following failed wage negotiations, and warned that more closures were expected.

The strike came at a time when energy prices have fluctuated as a result of the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and associated sanctions.

"Norwegian deliveries account for a quarter of European energy supplies, and Europe is entirely dependent on Norway delivering as a nation at a time when Russian supply cuts have created a very tight market for natural gas," the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association.

"A strike on this scale poses huge problems for countries which are wholly dependent on filling up their gas stores ahead of the autumn and winter," it added.

Workers walked out after members of the Lederne union voted no to a proposal brought by mediators during wage negotiations.

According to the government, the parties had said "that they will end the strike so that everyone can return to work as soon as possible".

jll/gw

Deadpool: US mega drought spells trouble at Hoover Dam

Huw GRIFFITH
Mon, July 4, 2022 

Millions of gallons of Colorado River water hurtle through the Hoover Dam every day, generating electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes.

But the mega drought affecting the western United States is sending reservoir levels plummeting towards deadpool -- the point at which the dam can no longer produce power.

"We are 23rd year of drought here in the Colorado River Basin and Lake Mead has dropped down to 28 percent," explains Patti Aaron of the US Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the dam. She was referring to the vast lake created by the building of the dam.

"There isn't as much head so there isn't as much pressure pushing the water into the turbines, so there's less efficiency and we aren't able to produce as much power."

Hoover Dam was a feat of American hope and engineering.

Construction began in 1931 as the country was withering under the Great Depression.

Thousands of workers toiled 24 hours a day to build what was then the largest hydroelectricity facility in the world.

The dam stopped up the Colorado River, creating Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the United States.

At its height, the lake surface sits over 1,200 feet (365 meters) above sea level. But after more than two decades of drought it is now less than 1,050 feet -- the lowest since the lake was filled, and falling about a foot a week.

If it drops to 950 feet, the intakes for the dam will no longer be under water and the turbines will stop.

"We're working very hard for that not to happen," said Aaron. "It's just not an option to not produce power or not deliver water."

- Melting snowpack -

The Colorado River rises in the Rocky Mountains and snakes its way through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and northern Mexico, where it empties into the Gulf of California.

It is fed chiefly by the huge snowpack that gets dumped at high altitudes, melting slowly throughout the warmer months.

But reduced precipitation and the higher temperatures caused by humanity's unchecked burning of fossil fuels means less snow is falling, and what snow there is, is melting faster.

As a consequence, there is not as much in a river that supplies water to tens of millions of people and countless acres of farmland.

Boaters on Lake Mead, many of whom come from Las Vegas and its surrounding towns, say they are doing their part to protect supplies.

They point to the drought-tolerant landscapes they have installed instead of lawns, and the high percentage of indoor water that is recycled in desert towns.

"But you've got farmers in California growing almonds for export," said Kameron Wells, who lives in nearby Henderson, Nevada.

Householders in southern California have grumbled about the fate of their luscious lawns since being ordered to limit their outdoor watering to one or two days a week at the start of the summer.

But there, like in the desert periphery of Las Vegas, there is plenty of new construction, with huge houses being put up in the resort settlement of Lake Las Vegas.

And from the air, the vibrant green of dozens of golf courses mark an otherwise dust bowl landscape.

- 'Out of sight, out of mind' -

Climatologist Steph McAfee of the University of Nevada, Reno, says the US west has always been something of an improbability.

"The average precipitation in Las Vegas is something like four inches (10 centimeters) a year," she told AFP.

"And to make it possible to have cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix and Los Angeles we rely on water that falls in the mountains as snow in parts of the West that are obviously much, much wetter."

The last two decades of drought are not, McAfee says, actually that unusual in climatic terms, according to tree ring reconstructions.

But "what's going on now is that we're having a drought, and temperatures are much warmer and when temperatures are high, things dry out faster.

"That is a consequence of climate change... driven by human greenhouse gas emissions."

On Lake Mead, boat seller Jason Davis manoeuvers his craft towards Hoover Dam, where thousands of tonnes of concrete loom over the water in graceful modernist lines, and a ring of mineral deposits shows where the water level used to be.

For him, the lake is not just a battery for the huge generators in the dam, but a waterscape whose beauty and peacefulness are worth protecting.

"You know, people who haven't been here don't appreciate it," he says as a sunset rages in the desert sky above.

"It's like, out of sight, out of mind. Hey, we're using too much water.

"Well, if you if you haven't seen these rings, you don't quite comprehend.

"Hopefully it's not too late."

hg/dw

RUSSIA IS STATIONING NUKES IN BELARUS

Belarus president and Putin pal is calling for European 'cleansing'

Sarah K. Burris
July 05, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, during a press conference following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 18, 2022.

 (Photo: Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AFP)

When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his invasion of Ukraine he cited the "self-cleansing of society" and the "purification" of the motherland. It led foreign policy experts to fear that the invasion was part of a larger war of genocide.

By the end of May, Russian state TV was threatening to invade Poland. Now that the war has been going on for 131 days, a Daily Beast report cited Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko hinted that the next war will be against Europe as a whole.

“The time has come for the forgetful Europe to give itself a moral cleansing,” Lukashenko said, according to Belarusian state television's BelTA.

Lukashenko talked about fighting Nazis in World War II, known to Russians as the “Great Patriotic War,” and said that their efforts aren't over

It is “a war to destroy the Slavic ethnos, cultures and entire nations. Today we often say that this war is not over yet,” Lukashenko said. “It is not over yet because not everyone who was involved in the monstrous facts of that war… has been punished. That war is not over yet because once again, as at the frontline, we are defending our historical memory.”

Lukashenko said on Sunday that Ukraine fired missiles at Belarus, but they were shot down.

“We are being provoked,” Lukashenko claimed but failed to give any evidence the accusations were true. “They are still trying to drag us into the war in Ukraine. The goal is to get rid of both Russia and Belarus at one fling.”

The Daily Beast's Julia Davis, who has been sanctioned by Russia, reported on comments from Russia's "60 Minutes" host Olga Skabeeva outright threatening World War III.

“I have some unpleasant news... Even though we are methodically destroying the weapons that are being delivered [to Ukraine], but the quantities in which the United States are sending them force us to come up with some global conclusions," he said. "Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that maybe Russia’s special operation in Ukraine has come to an end, in a sense that a real war had started: WWIII. We’re forced to conduct the demilitarization not only of Ukraine, but of the entire NATO alliance.”

Yale professor and authoritarian expert Timothy Snyder explained at the time that Putin's event with crowds packed into a stadium to wave Russian flags for him was nothing more than his desperate attempt at a "fascist-style rally." The accusation triggered anchors on Russian state-run TV to be enraged at the accusation. One had an odd response: to claim the real fascist, all along, was former President Donald Trump.

Read the report on Lukashenko at the Daily Beast.

Gen. Russel Honoré: Trump's coup attempt 'put us in the banana republic club'

Chauncey Devega, 

Salon
July 05, 2022

Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré and former President George W. Bush 

(Bush Archives)

On Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump and his confederates attempted a coup in order to nullify the results of the 2020 election. Had they succeeded, America's experiment in democratic self-governance would effectively have ended after nearly 250 years.

This was not "just" conceived as a "legal" coup. The terrorist attack by Trump's followers on the U.S. Capitol was central to the plan.

As confirmed by Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee last Tuesday, Donald Trump and his confederates knew that some of his followers were armed that day. Trump demanded that the Secret Service drop its defenses and allow his armed attack force to gather on the Ellipse. From there, Trump commanded his thousands of followers to march on the Capitol, perhaps in anticipation that they would kill Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other political leaders, with the goal of disrupting the certification of electoral votes. Trump apparently wanted to arrive at the Capitol himself, as a conquering hero who would overthrow congressional authority and declare himself "re-elected."

As we know, the latter part of that didn't happen. The Secret Service refused to bring Trump to the Capitol, and instead he watched the attack from the White House, cheering on his followers as they tried to hunt down Mike Pence.

In all, the attack on the Capitol was planned and premeditated, not "spontaneous" or "random" or the actions of an unruly mob. It was like something out of a bad Hollywood action movie — with one important difference: The "good guys" did not arrive at a climactic moment to save America from the evildoers.

As I wrote in an earlier essay for Salon, on Jan. 6, 2021,

there were no Special Forces commandos, Secret Service assault teams or FBI hostage rescue units making a dramatic assault on the Capitol Building — as would have happened in a Hollywood movie — ready to fight off Trump's terrorist mob and keep the members of Congress and other innocent people safe from harm.
Instead, it was rank-and-file Capitol police officers and other members of law enforcement who exemplified great courage in attempting to do that dangerous work. They were understaffed and unprepared, and ultimately could not keep Trump's rage-fueled attack force from breaching the building's defenses and running amok in an apparent hunt for Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other perceived enemies.

In the real world, there was no national leader who rose to the occasion, placing Trump and his cabal under arrest, delivering a rousing speech about the true values of American democracy and perhaps declaring the sixth of January as a new national holiday, a second Independence Day.

It is a matter of public record that some of Trump's advisers encouraged him to invoke the Insurrection Act and declare a national emergency, then ordering the U.S. military to seize voting machines in an effort to "prove" that the election had been "stolen" by nefarious forces. Was the incompetence displayed by the country's law enforcement, military and others on Jan. 6 just random happenstance or something more sinister?

In an effort to answer these questions, I recently spoke with retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré. He is a decorated 37-year U.S. Army veteran and a globally recognized expert on leadership, climate change and disaster preparedness. His expert commentary has been featured by the New York Times, CNN, CBS, the Washington Post, NPR, PBS and other leading media outlets.

Honoré is also the leader of an alliance of groups and individuals known as the GreenARMY, which is working to protect clean air and clean water and to create healthy communities in Louisiana. He first rose to public prominence for his role in coordinating relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Honoré was tasked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with reviewing security at the U.S. Capitol complex following the horrific events of Jan. 6.

Throughout this conversation, Honoré warns that American democracy is in extreme peril from the Republican Party and the MAGA movement. He shares his insights about the events of Jan. 6 and his belief that the Trump regime very likely left defenses at the Capitol vulnerable to attack on purpose, as part of the coup plot. He argues that Trump's plans to use the military as part of his coup plot likely would have failed — but says that many questions still need to be asked about how such a scenario might play out, and the military's adherence to constitutional order and the rule of law.

In addition, Gen. Honoré argues that Donald Trump must be prosecuted by Attorney General Merrick Garland — and says that if Garland is unwilling to follow through on that responsibility, then President Biden should replace him with someone willing to defend the rule of law.

Toward the end of this conversation, Honoré implores the American people to vote as though the future of their country and democracy depends on it, saying that defeating the Republican-fascist movement in America is this generation's defining struggle.

How are you managing your feelings right now, given everything that's happening?

It's all about figuring out how we go from being victims to being survivors. The role of a leader is to try to figure out how you survive and not drown in being victimized. If we lose our democracy, we'll never get it back. Jan. 6 was an attempted coup that basically would have ended democracy in America as we know it.

It would have taken us down a path of authoritarianism. As a senior military officer, I used to speak to foreign armies in developing countries. I would share with them the concept of a peaceful transfer of power, the power of democracy, the power of the peoples' right to vote and the concept that the military is subordinate to civil control. I would instruct them that coups are not acceptable.

Once Jan. 6 happened, the United States lost its place on the high ground as an example to the world, and especially developing democracies, that as much as we may disagree with one another we always have a peaceful transfer of power.

Once Jan. 6 happened, the U.S. lost its place on the high ground as an example to the world, and especially developing democracies.

What happened on Jan. 6 put us in the banana republic club. It gives me great discomfort and agitation that because of the thuggish attitude of Donald Trump, the United States is now on the level of the type of democracy that one would see in a developing country where coups are almost normal.

Watching American democracy being ambushed by the Republicans and their authoritarian movement, I don't see that sort of urgency. The substantive resistance and the "urgency of now" is not there. Some people are waking up, but it's afraid it's too late.

Donald Trump is a political thug who basically said, "Hey, I'm the president. I'm empowered to do anything I want to do." He is far worse than President Nixon. Nixon wasn't a political thug. He still had some respect for the law, even though he broke it and said, "OK, I'll leave."


The Mueller report was a clear indictment of Donald Trump for his crimes related to Russia, but there were no consequences in terms of prosecuting him because of a memorandum from the DOJ that says the president of the United States should not be indicted while in office. The Democrats and other pro-democracy people are playing by the rules, and the Republicans and Donald Trump are not. We have to adjust the Constitution and our laws to prevent another leader like Donald Trump from taking power ever again.

There are still so many people in the news media and political elites — including the Democrats at the highest levels — who are afraid to speak plainly and to describe Trump and the Republicans in clear and direct language. We are under attack by fascism here in America. Jan. 6 was an attempted fascist coup.

They're afraid of Donald Trump's voters. The Democrats are hamstrung by the Republicans and the filibuster in the Senate. These Trump MAGA followers send their people to Congress. Their underlying objective is to roll back civil rights and oppress people who are not white.


As I watched Jan. 6, I kept wondering if the Trump regime gave some type of stand-down order to the U.S. military and law enforcement. Is it that easy to decapitate the United States government? Help me understand what we saw that day.

It was plain to me that the White House was complicit. I watched the entire thing. I know how the United States government is supposed to respond to these scenarios. I used to work on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I'd been acting J3 [director of operations] for about a month, and prior to that I was a deputy J3 in 1999 and 2000. So I knew this game. I knew the role of the military, because my role on the Joint Chiefs of Staff was to coordinate military support to civil authorities.

It was plain to me that the White House was complicit. I know how the government is supposed to respond to these scenarios. I knew this game.


I know the law. When we have a State of the Union and we finish one inauguration, guess what we do? We start the next inauguration committee. That's how much planning goes into this. After 9/11, we created the term "national special security event," and you've seen it. We use it for the Super Bowl. We use it for the inauguration. We use it for the president's State of the Union. We call this an NSSE.

And what creates an NSSE is when we have both houses of Congress in session, and we have the president at the Capitol. That event, along with the chatter on the internet and what [Steve] Bannon and Trump were saying about Jan. 6, should have triggered a national special security event. There should have been hundreds of extra police there.

Who's in charge of security at the Capitol? The Secret Service. Who declares a national special security event? Homeland Security. But on that day, where was the secretary of Homeland Security, who Trump appointed? On an overseas farewell tour. He wasn't even here in country during what should have been a significant national security event.

There is something else to take into consideration: As Jan. 6 approached, Trump gutted the Pentagon after he lost the election. He put his own people in the Pentagon. In my opinion, those three to four hours of indecision in the Pentagon [on Jan. 6] had much to do with the secretary of defense at the time, who was being complicit in order to make Trump happy by not deploying the National Guard. Approval for the national guard has to go through the secretary of defense and the secretary of the Army, because D.C. is not a state.

But as somebody who knows the Constitution, every uniformed member of the military in the Pentagon should have strapped on his or her gear and went to the Capitol. First of all, the Capitol is federal grounds. We can use any troops we have, federal or National Guard, to protect federal grounds without instituting the Posse Comitatus Act. We have a right to protect federal grounds and we have plans to do that. We have 600 Marines on standby within a few miles of the Capitol. Their only purpose is to go to the Capitol in the event there's a chemical or biological attack. That's their only purpose. They were not called.

The D.C. Guard was not called because of the indecisiveness inside the Army and the Department of Defense. There were other federal troops available. Everybody in that military complex could have been mobilized to go help protect the Capitol, because what we saw unfold was an attempted coup on the Capitol to overthrow the government. And they did it on television in broad daylight.

If it were Black folks who did this, or brown folks or even white liberals or progressives, it would have been a bloodbath. Number one, they would never allow it to happen. If the attack had somehow happened, the security forces would have unleashed all hell on them.

Many people have come to that same conclusion. If the Trump followers who attacked the Capitol had been Black folks, then the extra shift of the Capitol police would have been there. They have about 1,800 uniformed police. Only 800 of them or so were on duty. The FBI was impotent. The FBI director himself said he didn't know anything about the report that came in from the Norfolk field office. The Department of Homeland Security didn't have standby teams. This is ridiculous. Our government failed that day because of complicit actions and the way the White House engineered these events so that there would not be a proper response.

It was a failure in government, failure in the Justice Department, failure in the FBI. And the Secret Service was certainly compromised. I will never think about the Secret Service the way I used to.

How much of this was just general incompetence and how much of if it was planned incompetence by Trump and his agents with the goal of leaving the government vulnerable to attack?

It looked incompetent at the time, but it was a complicit act from the White House down, with the intention of overthrowing the government.

Answering those questions is the purpose of the Jan. 6 committee. The Justice Department needs to answer those questions as well. It looked incompetent at the time, but it was a complicit act from the White House down with the intention of overthrowing the government, using a plan that included the Green Bay Sweep, which has been widely discussed. Had Donald Trump not been president he probably would have been arrested on Jan. 6 for his role in what happened with the coup and the attack on the Capitol.

If Trump invoked the Insurrection Act and tried to declare martial law, would the military have listened?

As incompetent as they were on that day, I still have confidence in our military's leadership. The order would not have gone out. It's just like if Trump had decided to launch a nuclear weapon, it would not have happened. The secretary of defense would have issued the order, but the order wouldn't go out and the military lawyers would have stepped forward and somebody would have stopped Trump. It is rumored that [Michael] Flynn wanted the military to seize the voting machines as part of the coup attempt. That order would have been against the law. It would not have been followed.

The Trump attack force had guns. They were going to kill people. They wanted to kill Mike Pence. The Republicans and their followers are openly planning for political violence, if not an insurgency. None of this is a secret.

The racial demographics of this country are changing. The way to keep white people in power is to put Trump and people like him back in the White House. The demographics of the country might change, but the Republicans and the Trumpists and their followers want to own the Senate and they want to own the House and they want to own the Supreme Court and they want to own the White House. They have a whole media machine to help them do it, too.

In terms of another civil war or widespread right-wing political violence, how do you assess those possibilities, as a military expert?

I don't think a second civil war would be like the last civil war. I do think that there could be attempts in Texas and Florida to secede. That is against the law. If a state secedes, the federal government imposes martial law there.

How close did Donald Trump and his coup cabal come to succeeding on Jan. 6?

Forty feet. Had they got to Pence, they would have disrupted the whole transition of power. Now, had they got to Pence, I do think the Secret Service would have started shooting people. I think they would have stood their ground, but you do need to understand that even Pence was questioning the intent of the Secret Service because he wouldn't get in that car. There is so much going on with the Secret Service that needs to be investigated and resolved.

What would the military have done? Would they have followed the orders of Trump if he had successfully executed a coup and remained in power?

That's not a scenario we've ever war-gamed in the military that I know of, and I was an officer at the highest level. I used to go to National Security Council meetings and meet with the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff just about every morning. We used to talk to other militaries about avoiding a coup or something of that nature. I would imagine if such a thing happened here in the U.S., as you described with Jan. 6 and that outcome, it would be a matter of the Constitution and of listening to the lawyers.

What do you think happens with Trump? Do you think Attorney General Garland prosecutes him? Does this man ever suffer any consequences?

If we lose our democracy, we'll never get it back. Garland has no option. He either needs to charge within six months or Biden needs to fire him and put somebody in that will. Trump needs to be charged. He needs to go before a grand jury.

What advice would you give the American people in this moment of crisis?

You better get off your butt and go vote. That's my message to America.

Do you think that the 21st century will be America's century if we continue on this path?

We fought two world wars and we fought a civil war. The two world wars we fought were to secure the freedom of other people. We fought the Civil War to end slavery. Every generation has a war to fight. This generation needs to understand that their war is to save our democracy and to prevent authoritarian rule. You don't need to pick up a weapon to fight this war. You need to vote for what is right. I'm still optimistic that we can maintain our democracy, but we need to remind people, as I often do, that we've got to hold the damn line, because if we lose our democracy, we are not getting it back.

AOC triples down on Pelosi — and calls for pro-abortion party purity test in wake of Roe

Matt Laslo
July 05, 2022

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at a House Oversight Committee hearing (screen grab)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Now that Roe v. Wade is nullified – along with the reproductive rights it enshrined for women – progressives are increasing pressure on Democratic Party leaders to rip up their old playbook. They say two things are clear: 1. Roe was ripped away on their watch, and 2. they have no concrete plan to reinstate it.

A case in point, to increasingly restive progressives, is that even after the Roe decision was leaked back in May, Democratic Party leaders continued to support anti-abortion Texas incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar over his progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros. That runoff divided establishment Democrats from the party’s growing ranks of progressives, many of whom are inspired and supported by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

“This is why we do this,” AOC told reporters – as she clapped and stomped her foot for emphasis – just minutes after the Supreme Court formally abolished Roe, “and this is why sometimes the isolation from the caucus and the targeting from leadership and all this stuff, that's why it's worth it, because this isn't about the Democratic Party of today. This is about the Democratic Party of tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that, and we really need to start reassessing how big this tent really is.”

READ: Florida judge strikes down 15-week abortion ban by placing 'burden' of proof on Ron DeSantis

Before even arriving in Washington, AOC ruffled Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s feathers when she shocked the establishment by defeating Joe Crowley in a primary; forcing the Democratic Party’s once rising star to retire from Congress and become a lobbyist. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t stop on the campaign trail. Soon after arriving in Washington, AOC joined youth climate protestors as they protested climate complacency by holding a sit-in in the speaker’s suite.

Since then, the two have publicly clashed roughly every few months over policy, strategy, or who to back in an election. While Pelosi – an 18-term incumbent herself – has focused her limited time and seemingly endless resources on protecting Democratic incumbents, AOC has remained focused on bringing new, younger, and more diverse voices into antiquated party politics. The abolition of Roe v. Wade has only enlivened AOC and The Squad.

“This right here, folks, is why we've been working to transform the Democratic Party,” AOC lectured, “and we have to also have a real conversation about why we are supporting and upholding individuals who are not protecting people's rights within our own party.”

In March, Cuellar was forced into a run-off after Cisneros came within a point and a half of retiring the nine-term incumbent whose district stretches from San Antonio to the border.

READ: Catholic bishops are begging for a deal with drug traffickers

After the Roe decision was leaked, it was business as usual for those party leaders here in Washington, even as Cisneros and other progressives increased pressure on Democratic leaders to open their eyes to this new, post-Roe reality.

“I am calling on Democratic Party leadership to withdraw their support of Henry Cuellar, the last anti-choice Democrat in the House,” Cisneros said in a statement released the day after the leak. “With the House majority on the line, he could very much be the deciding vote on the future of our reproductive rights, and we cannot afford to take that risk.”

Just three days before the Supreme Court formally snuffed out Roe, the recount of that Democratic primary was decided. Cuellar eked out his 10th primary win by just a few hundred votes. His victory was in no small part due to the support and resources he maintained from top Democratic leaders in the House, including Pelosi – who traveled to the district on Cuellar’s behalf ahead of the primary – Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, and Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries.

After the Supreme Court’s decision to end Roe reverberated through the marble halls of the Capitol, most Democrats were both discouraged and angry. Not Cuellar. He smiled – and even awkwardly chuckled a little – as he passed the press corps on his way to the House floor.

“Same position. Pro-life Democrat guys,” Cuellar replied to Raw Story. “It doesn’t change. It’s still the same position.”

“What about younger women in your district who might get raped?” I asked.

“Well, I do have exceptions,” Cuellar said.

READ: Abortion clinic director says Ohio’s swift move toward a six-week ban was ‘an unnecessary cruelty’

“But the Supreme Court doesn't,” I replied.


Cuellar’s stance on abortion isn’t like most Democrats. Rather, he’s in line with Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) – and she celebrated the morning the court killed Roe.

“It’s great. It's a blessing,” an ecstatic MTG told Raw Story at the Capitol. “It's an answer to prayer.”

Unlike Cuellar, most anti-abortion lawmakers don’t believe in exemptions for rape or incest.

“Here's what I say is, whether a pregnancy is planned or unplanned that, it's a blessing to be a mother,” MTG said moments after Roe was eradicated. “Of course, those are horrible situations. Terrible.”

With millions of women now living under restrictive state laws that will force them to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, AOC and other progressives – from Bernie Sanders to many grassroots organizers – say it’s time to upend things.

“Just three years ago did we get a majority of Democrats really, really supporting choice,” AOC bemoaned of the culture of complacency that Democratic Party leaders have fostered in recent years.


In 2006, Pelosi first captured her gavel from the GOP by supporting then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel’s (D-IL) election blueprint. With George W. Bush in the White House and two wars raging abroad, Democrats moved the party’s historic focus on social issues to the side, and party leaders ran anti-abortion, pro-gun, tax-cutting moderates – also called Blue Dog Democrats.

It worked. Impressively well. That is, if power was the end goal. Because any notion of party purity was brushed aside as the Democratic Party got a conservative and very southern tint to it – one the party hadn’t seen since back when Nixon deployed his racist ‘Southern Strategy’ – a transformative effort that’s left a mark on the party to this day.

Besides temporarily broadening the Democratic Party’s tent, the party’s newfound ranks soon became thorns in the party leader’s sides.

“People don’t realize we didn’t have a pro-choice majority in the House. We didn’t have a pro-choice majority ever in the House, until 2018,” Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) – co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus and close Pelosi ally – said after she delivered a speech to abortion supporters at Washington’s Union Station.

Before the Supreme Court ruling officially came down on Friday, June 24, earlier that morning, DeGette and other leaders of the Pro-Choice Caucus met at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee HQ close to the Capitol to pour over abortion polling data in battleground districts. Once the ruling came out, DeGette helped coordinate Capitol Police protection for House Democrats who marched to the Supreme Court from the Capitol.

“It was cathartic,” DeGette said after the march.

When pressed on how to revitalize voters so the party can restore reproductive rights to women, DeGette was bullish.

“We already harnessed it. The reason why we have a pro-choice majority in the US House is because of activism at the local level,” DeGette argued. “People who would vote for congresspeople or state legislators who were anti-choice have slowly been changing that and electing folks who are pro-choice. So it's already changing, but now this is going to make it very real to millions of people across the country.”

The morning the Roe decision came down, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) – a task force leader on the Pro-Choice Caucus – also reviewed abortion polling data. Like DeGette, she said the numbers also make her optimistic.

“I just saw some very compelling polling data that goes against the grain of most Americans in this country,” Schakowsky told Raw Story after the ruling. “They do not think that the Supreme Court – and don't think that politicians and the government – ought to be making this decision.”

Even as Republicans have felt the wind at their backs heading into these midterms that were expected to focus on inflation and the economy, these veteran Democrats see power in those poll numbers. They also see potential electoral power in the court’s decision.

“I think it accelerates the whole movement to oppose what is happening. You know, this is not a maybe; it happened,” Schakowsky said.

After being accused by the party’s base of being caught flat-footed, President Biden and his administration became more proactive. The Department of Health and Human Services unveiled ReproductiveRights.org as a federal resource so women and young girls know their rights. It also directs those in states where abortion is now – or soon will be – illegal to AbortionFinder.org so they can more easily find the closest abortion clinics and even contraceptives in this strange, scary, and confusing new post-Roe world.

Progressives say Democratic Party leaders are thinking too small. Republicans have dominated state elections in recent years, which enabled them to remake many congressional districts after the last census. Those local battles – along with gubernatorial races and now all-important state Supreme Court elections – are now vital for Democrats to try and preserve reproductive rights. But the party’s historically been bad at it.

“We have to get good. We have to understand what the stakes are. This is not a joke anymore,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) told Raw Story after addressing a pro-choice rally. “The house is on fire, and we have to get water to put it out.”

Like AOC, Omar also endorsed Cisneros in her failed bid to oust the anti-abortion incumbent Cuellar. She says party leaders must wake up and get aggressive with Supreme Court politics.

“They are going to limit a woman's right to have autonomy over their bodies. They might come after LGBTQ people. They will come after voting rights and everything we hold dear,” Omar said, “and it's going to be up to us to roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez used her organizer skills to oust that longtime New York incumbent back in 2018, and she says the party needs to tap into that organizer mentality. She says party leaders continue thinking too small.

“There's going to be immediate actions that are going to be necessary on the grassroots organizing level,” AOC said. “You have the policy response, but then you also have the people's response.”

Rallies and protests are no longer enough.

“I think we need to have protests, but there's a lot of people who are sick of holding up signs,” AOC continued. “I think that protests are an important tool in our arsenal, but we also need to be mobilizing abortion funds, we need to be opening our home, we need to be developing relationships that transcend class, because [who] this is going to affect the most are poor people.”

To AOC and other progressives, polling data and policy debates aren’t the need right now. They say policy is personal – it’s people, after all – and normal Washington responses fall short this time.

“We're going to have to open our homes. We're going to have to…financially support – or even just time support, volunteer support – people who are crossing state lines in order to seek safe harbor,” AOC said.

Many traditional Democratic voters in blue states will be fine, AOC argued, but the party will now be tested on its commitment to the least of these.

“Demographically and statistically, if you are wealthy, if you're white, and if you're a cisgender woman, this ruling will not affect you that much,” AOC contended. “Not as much as it will affect people who are poor, non-binary, and/or just in a marginalized state, where crossing a state line isn't even an option, because you're two, three, four states away from a place that that provides abortion care.”

As Democratic Party leaders focus on polls and planning ahead of November, AOC said the party needs to stop trying to expand its tent. Instead they need to expand their hearts, while also broadening their vision.

“We need to understand that elections are not the be all and end all of politics, and we need to expand our understanding of how things actually happen,” AOC said. “Elections are the absolute bare minimum – voting is the bare minimum.”

Christo-fascist ideology spreading on TikTok is building the ‘next generation of fascists’: report
Bob Brigham

RAW STORY
July 05, 2022



POST MODERN GNOSTIC FASCISM


The Chinese-owned social networking video platform TikTok is being used by accounts "propping up surging Christian nationalist and Christo-fascist ideology in the United States," according to a new report by Vice News.

"Christian nationalists believe that their country’s policies and laws should reflect evangelical Christian values, and culture war issues like LGBTQ rights, 'critical race theory,' or immigration, are regarded as signs of moral decay that imperil their nation’s future," Tess Owen explained. "Christo-fascists take that one step further, and believe that they’re fighting primordial battles between West and East, good and evil, right and left, Christians and infidels."

She noted the two groups sometimes overlap.

"On TikTok, ideologues from both ends of the spectrum are weaving together a shared visual language using 4chan memes, Scripture, Orthodox and Catholic iconography, imagery of holy wars, and clips from movies or TV featuring toxic male characters. Many of the videos, on their face, are innocuous enough, but they exist in close proximity to disturbing, violent, or explicitly white nationalist content," Owen explained. "The biggest TikTok account in this space was Caitliceach_r, who claims to be based in Ireland and racked up nearly 30,000 followers and over 2 million views since posting their first video last September. TikTok removed the account after VICE News reached out for comment, but another account posting the same content was activated soon after."

One popular hashtag is #ChristPill, which references the "red-pill" meme to describe far-right radicalization.

"GIFs of alt-right icon Pepe the Frog even make an appearance at times. Some use incel memes to bemoan what they see as the decline of Christian family values in the West. Some identify themselves as nationalists, while others employ blatantly fascist symbols to signpost their alignment with Christo-fascism," Owen reported. "But while aesthetic choices, denomination, and even political ideology can vary across accounts in this world, they’re linked by fantasies of violence and conflict. The shared message is clear: White Christian identity is under attack and needs to be fought for, through prayer, the ballot box, or even violence. Back in the real world, acts of political violence are, increasingly, committed in the name of Christian nationalism in the U.S."

The people behind many of the accounts studied by Owen are a mystery.

"The majority of accounts reviewed by VICE News don’t have any faces or clear identities attached to them, and they claim to hail from the U.S., Australia, England, Hungary, Macedonia, and other countries in Europe. Only two of those 55 accounts, one from Azerbaijan and another from Germany, posted videos in their native language,," Owen reported. "This online community seems to be growing at a time when Christian nationalist ideology is attaining mainstream acceptance, particularly in the U.S., where a conservative majority on the Supreme Court has opened the floodgates to a torrent of regressive opinions, including dismantling the national right to abortion. After that decision, one Christian nationalist podcaster, who has nearly 45,000 followers on Telegram, declared the current moment the 'era of Christian Nationalism.' 'People are thirsty for it, they are hungry for this,' he said. 'We are the Christian Taliban, and we will not stop until the Handmaid’s Tale is a reality—even worse than that, to be honest,” he said."

Read the full report.

Australian PM Vows to Find 'Long-Term Solutions' to Climate Change in Response to Sydney’s Latest Flash Flooding Disaster

July 06, 2022 

James Taylor paddles a kayak down a flooded residential street on his way to check on a friend's home, after rains inundated the area with floodwater in the McGraths Hill suburb of Sydney, Australia, on July 6, 2022.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government is looking at “long-term solutions” to combat climate change as more residents in the country’s largest city are impacted by the latest round of massive flooding triggered by torrential rains.

Emergency authorities issued evacuation orders and warnings Wednesday for 85,000 residents in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales state, up from Tuesday’s figure of 50,000 residents.

A strong storm cell that first struck the area last week produced several days of torrential rain that caused dams and rivers to overflow, swamping roads and inundating hundreds of homes in and around Sydney. Emergency workers have conducted several rescues of people trapped in their homes or cars stuck in flooded roads.

Forecasters at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology say the weather system has begun to move off the coast of Sydney.

New South Wales state has declared a natural disaster for 23 areas across the state, which authorizes financial assistance for affected residents.

A bus inundated by floodwaters sits in the middle of a residential street following heavy rains and flooding in the McGraths Hill suburb of Sydney, Australia, on July 6, 2022.

Sydney is facing its fourth major flooding event since March 2021, causing billions of dollars in damages.

Prime Minister Albanese told reporters in Sydney Wednesday that while “Australia has always been subject of floods, of bushfires,” scientists have repeatedly warned that climate change would make such events “more frequent and intense.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.