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The Cubs Almost Blew It

by FredricNazario Posted on October 30, 2016

Mother Jones

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I’ve been vaguely rooting for Cleveland in the World Series this year. Mostly this is because Cleveland is sort of a hard-luck city, and two championships in one year seems like a nice thing for them. But mostly it’s because of my deep insight into the true passion of Cubs fans. For example:

If the Cubs won this year, fans would have to give up all this. No more lovable losers. No more humblebragging about how the Cubs always find a way to blow it. No more genuine bragging about not winning a World Series since the fall of the Roman Empire. No more generational bonding over stories about Cub incompetence.

And most important, no more uniqueness, the true source of Cub pride. If the Cubs won, they’d be just another team and next year would be just another year. That’s what happened in Boston. Now, the Red Sox are nothing more than another garden variety moneyball team. Before long they’ll probably move out to a shiny new billion-dollar sports palace in the suburbs. And why not? There’s nothing special about them anymore.

This could have happened to you, Chicago. But it looks like you’ve dodged that bullet. Congratulations!

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The Cubs Almost Blew It

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Greens won’t let Obama get away with bragging about his public lands record

by VivienEgan Posted on August 25, 2016

line of lease resistance

Greens won’t let Obama get away with bragging about his public lands record

By on Aug 25, 2016Share

President Obama may have protected more land and water than any other U.S. president — 265 million acres of it — but he’s also responsible for leasing more than 10 million acres of federal lands for oil and gas development.

WildEarth Guardians and Physicians for Social Responsibility plan to push his environmental limits even further. On Thursday, the groups filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, in the hope that his (or the next) administration will halt oil and gas federal leases while reviewing systemwide reform. Interior’s coal leasing program is undergoing a similar review.

The latest in a string of lawsuits to curtail federal oil and gas leasing, the groups are looking to block 397 lease sales across 380,000 acres. They claim the federal government is violating the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to consider environmental impacts.

A 2016 analysis from the Stockholm Environment Institute found that cutting off future lease sales and declining to renew existing ones for coal, oil, and gas would reduce global carbon pollution by 100 million metric tons annually by 2030.

In other words, fossil fuel development on federal lands isn’t an insignificant portion of U.S. climate emissions. The 10 million acres leased to fossil fuels under Obama’s watch adds up to an area bigger than Olympic, Smoky Mountains, Everglades, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite, combined.

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Greens won’t let Obama get away with bragging about his public lands record

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Severe drought in India pushed thousands of farmers to suicide

by RicoStapylton Posted on August 25, 2016

Severe drought in India pushed thousands of farmers to suicide

By on Aug 25, 2016Share

A severe drought in India has caused a spike in farmer suicides. These suicides increased 40 percent between 2014 and 2015, according to government statistics. In those two years monsoon rains were weak, reservoirs dried up, and crops died in the inland west of the country.

What’s causing this?

A columnist for CNN’s website, John Sutter, lays the blame at the foot of climate change. “By burning fossil fuels and chopping down rainforests, we humans are destabilizing the climate. That has life-changing consequences for all of us,” he wrote.

Several Indian sources also blame the adoption of cash crops, like sugarcane, which depend on lots of water and can fail catastrophically during droughts. The government has recently encouraged farmers to shift back to food crops.

Raising cash crops has often helped lift small farmers out of poverty. But the risk is that farmers often go deep into debt betting on a good harvest. And when the weather turns against them, it can dash the hopes of entire families, leading more farmers to kill themselves.

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Severe drought in India pushed thousands of farmers to suicide

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Obama creates whole new national monument to celebrate National Park System’s 100th birthday

by RobtReecetmdl Posted on August 24, 2016

Parks and recreation

Obama creates whole new national monument to celebrate National Park System’s 100th birthday

By on Aug 24, 2016Share

President Obama marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service a day early by protecting 87,500 acres in north-central Maine on Wednesday.

The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, as the new preserve will be known, encompasses the East Branch of the Penobscot River as well as a vast swath of woods rich in biodiversity. The area is a popular site for outdoor recreation, and, according to a statement from the White House, the new monument will bolster “the forest’s resilience against the impacts of climate change.”

It doesn’t hurt that the place looks pretty damn nice:

Obama has now protected 265 million acres of America’s public lands and waters, more than any other president in history (though he’s also also criticized for contradictory policies like allowing offshore drilling to continue). As it goes with anything Obama does, this declaration is not without critics: Some locals, including Maine Rep. Bruce Poliquin, opposed a “unilateral” executive action on the basis of giving locals more control to do as they please with the lands.

Much of the land for this new monument wasn’t owned by locals, but by Burt’s Bees founder Roxanne Quimby, who transferred 87,000 of 120,000 acres of Maine forest to the U.S. Department of the Interior Monday.

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Obama creates whole new national monument to celebrate National Park System’s 100th birthday

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The story behind Prince’s low-profile generosity to green causes

by JannieEWVI Posted on April 26, 2016

The story behind Prince’s low-profile generosity to green causes

By on Apr 26, 2016Share

In the outpouring of media coverage after Prince’s death at the age of 57 last week, fans around the globe began to learn more about the notoriously private star — including that he gave away a lot of money. Van Jones — the activist, author, former Obama administration official, and current CNN commentator — revealed that Prince had secretly funded causes from public radio to Black Lives Matter to the Harlem Children’s Zone. He also conceived of #YesWeCode, an initiative to train black kids for work in tech. And he supported Green For All, a group working to fight climate change and bring green jobs to underprivileged populations. Jones is in the leadership of the latter two organizations.

“I was an Oakland activist giving speeches about the need for green jobs,” Jones told me over the phone, recalling how he first came into contact with the musician 10 years ago. “Prince heard me in the media and sent a $50,000 check to support the work I was doing. But he did all his giving completely anonymously, so I sent the check back. You never know when someone is trying to set you up — it could have been from Chevron or from a drug dealer or whatever. So then he sent the check back and I sent it back again, and then he sent it back and then I sent it back, until finally a representative called and said, ‘Will you please accept this check? I won’t tell you who it is from, but the guy’s favorite color is purple.’ I said, ‘Well, now you have a different problem: I’m not gonna cash this check, I’m gonna frame it.’”

Soon after, Prince reached out to Jones, and the two became friends — a friendship that would last until his death. Jones’ role in Prince’s life was, he says, as “his lead guitarist for social impact, for lack of a better term.” Jones helped distribute Prince’s resources when he didn’t want the attention, including providing solar panels for families in Oakland. The families never knew who their benefactor was.

As a Jehovah’s Witness, Prince wasn’t permitted to advertise his good works. But even without his spiritual tradition, Jones says Prince would have been modest about his giving. “He thought it was in poor taste for these celebrities to get millions of dollars and then write a check and have their publicists all over the media bragging about it,” Jones said. “He was like, ‘This is ridiculous. We get enough attention. We’re celebrities.’”

Jones says that what Prince really cared about was humanity. “He cared about life and love and freedom,” Jones says. “His politics were not red. They were not blue. They were purple. He had a mind that let him see answers — musically, spiritually, even politically. Rather than argue about global warming, he said, ‘Let’s help kids put up solar panels.’”

It’s clear in conversation that Jones deeply mourns the loss of his friend. When asked what he will miss most, he takes a long pause, so long I think for a moment that the line has gone dead.

“Everybody will tell you about the songs, but the genius didn’t stop when he walked out of the studio,” Jones says. “He was so hilariously, ridiculously funny. He was Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart–level funny. Dave Chapelle is probably funnier, but he’s the only one. Everybody else, Prince could have eaten their lunch, and half the time with no curse words. That’s irreplaceable. You can’t find that on YouTube or iTunes.”

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The story behind Prince’s low-profile generosity to green causes

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As Wisconsin Goes to the Polls, Sanders and Cruz Have Energy on Their Side

by AlisonNXGA Posted on April 5, 2016

Mother Jones

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On Monday, a political circus arrived in Milwaukee. Over the course of several hours, Bill Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and the actual Shrine Circus all held events separated by just a few blocks in the city’s downtown. A street vendor hawked glow sticks to circus-going kids next to Trump fans selling Make America Great Again knockoff hats.

The Trump and Sanders rallies shared a parking lot and start time, but all the energy was on Sanders’ side of the street. It was indicative of the mood of the Wisconsin electorate. Ahead of Tuesday’s primaries, the senator from Vermont has aroused a level of excitement—as well as poll numbers—that Hillary Clinton and her husband can’t match. On the Republican side, Trump has found a less receptive audience for his typical bombast, failing to pack venues or to maintain his lead in a state that now looks likely to hand him a stinging defeat.

Sanders sounded a jubilant note at a ballroom in the Wisconsin Center, where just two nights prior he’d spoken before a crowd of Democratic bigwigs more favorably inclined toward Hillary Clinton. “This is like a Greek chorus,” Sanders joked at one point after the crowd booed his mention of Scott Walker, the state’s unpopular Republican governor. “I say a name, and you respond.”

Sanders, who’s used Walker as a punching bag at campaign stops in Wisconsin throughout the past week, sounded confident that he’d add Wisconsin to his list of recent wins. “Let me talk about the momentum that you are feeling and I am feeling in this campaign,” he said. “We have won six out of the last seven caucuses and primaries. Not only have we won them, we’ve won every one by landslide victories. And tomorrow, if there is a good turnout here in Wisconsin, if there is a record-breaking turnout here in Wisconsin, we are going to win here as well.” After his speech, the Sanders campaign blasted out a press release bragging that 38,000 fans had flocked to his events in the Badger State over the past week.

Down the block a few hours earlier, Bill Clinton spoke to a much smaller mid-afternoon crowd at the Turner Ballroom. The contrast in style with Sanders couldn’t have been clearer. Where the Sanders campaign warmed up the audience with the largely forgotten, late-aughts synth band 3OH!3, Clinton was preceded by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Throughout his speech, Clinton kept returning to a refrain intended to boost his wife’s credentials and rebuke Sanders. He would mention one of Hillary Clinton’s career accomplishments and punctuate it by saying, “That’s leadership, not establishment politics.”

Still, the scene belied that assertion, with the state’s establishment lined up in Clinton’s corner. If the voting bears out recent polls, it looks like the allegiances of the state’s political leaders haven’t done much to sway Democratic voters who live there.

The same dynamic is producing the opposite result on the Republican side. Ted Cruz, the state’s likely Republican winner, spent the day campaigning triumphantly around the state with Walker, who endorsed Cruz last week. The pair hit up the Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha for some lighthearted fun, with Cruz ducking away from a fan who tried to plop a cheesehead atop his noggin and joking, “When they promise a cheese castle, you sort of expect to be able to eat the castle.”

Things weren’t as cheery for Trump. The candidate who’s filled stadiums in other states barely managed 50 percent occupancy at a 4,000-seat theater next to the circus. Wisconsinites didn’t even bother to show up and protest outside, with Trump becoming an afterthought in the state ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

Unlike on most primary days, when candidates visit their local offices to motivate volunteers and then schedule an evening rally to get prime-time TV coverage, almost everyone is fleeing the state ahead of the vote. Hillary Clinton was already campaigning Monday in New York, which goes to the polls on April 19. Trump has a blank schedule. Sanders is slated to speak with fans in Wyoming, which holds its Democratic caucus this weekend.

Only Cruz is sticking around Tuesday evening, and for good reason. While a Sanders win would help him build momentum, the Democrats’ proportional allocation of delegates means he won’t gain that much on Clinton and will remain a long shot to win at this summer’s party convention. Cruz, meanwhile, is banking on a contested convention—a scenario he discussed with reporters on Monday morning—which could enable him to secure the nomination on the second ballot or later. At this point, he needs to celebrate every minor victory he can eke out, hoping that it will be enough to deny Trump a first-ballot win.

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As Wisconsin Goes to the Polls, Sanders and Cruz Have Energy on Their Side

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5 Must-See Moments From the Democratic Debate in Miami

by RefugioBathurst Posted on March 10, 2016

Mother Jones

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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met in Miami on Wednesday night for a debate that focused largely on immigration. The candidates clashed over their immigration records, including the failed effort to pass comprehensive reform in 2007. Both vowed to end most deportations and to expand President Barack Obama’s executive actions allowing some undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States temporarily.

The debate—co-sponsored by Univision, CNN, Facebook, and the Washington Post—comes on the heals of Sanders’ surprise victory in the Michigan primary and less than a week before the next set of high-stakes primaries on March 15. The moderators didn’t shy away from posing tough questions. They grilled Clinton on her emails, the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the perception among voters that she is not trustworthy; they questioned Sanders about past votes and comments on immigration, as well as long-ago statements praising Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua and a leader in the Sandinista movement in the 1980s.

Here are some highlights from the debate.

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5 Must-See Moments From the Democratic Debate in Miami

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Hillary Clinton Was Just Asked if Donald Trump Is a Racist. Here’s Her Answer.

by OlaWDHLsrir Posted on March 10, 2016

Mother Jones

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At Thursday’s Democratic debate, moderator Karen Tumulty asked Hillary Clinton, “Is Donald Trump a racist?” Here’s how Clinton answered:

Bernie Sanders didn’t answer the question directly, either, but he attacked Trump for cheerleading the birther movement during the 2012 election. “I know a little bit about the immigrant experience,” said Sanders, whose father was an immigrant. “Nobody has ever asked me for my birth certificate. Maybe it has something to do with the color of my skin.”

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Hillary Clinton Was Just Asked if Donald Trump Is a Racist. Here’s Her Answer.

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Barack Obama Talked About Donald Trump in a Speech in 2005

by BerryDeLaCondami Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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In 2005, Barack Obama had only been in the Senate for a few months, but he was already a rising star in the Democratic Party. Four years later, he would be in the White House, and seven years after that Donald Trump would be the Republican front-runner to replace him as president. He couldn’t have known that then, of course, when he mentioned The Apprentice star in a commencement address at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

(Hat tip Michael Sherer)

Here’s the relevant bit:

In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it – Social Darwinism, every man and woman for him or herself. It’s a tempting idea, because it doesn’t require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say to those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford – tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job – life isn’t fair. It let’s us say to the child born into poverty – pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes that we will always be the winner in life’s lottery, that we will be Donald Trump, or at least that we won’t be the chump that he tells: “Your fired!”
But there a problem. It won’t work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it has been government research and investment that made the railways and the internet possible. It has been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools – that has allowed all of us to prosper. Our economic dominance has depended on individual initiative and belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we’re all in it together and everybody’s got a shot at opportunity – that has produced our unrivaled political stability.

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Barack Obama Talked About Donald Trump in a Speech in 2005

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Guess How Much Trump Made off Trump University Last Year

by JuanHarkins94 Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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GOP front-runner Donald Trump has been getting hammered by his rivals over Trump University (later named the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative). His embattled education venture is being sued for fraud by the New York state attorney general and by a handful of former students who allege they took on thousands of dollars in debt to attend real estate seminars that made false promises of future riches. (Trump promoted the company’s courses by saying they offered a better education than top business schools.) Trump has fought back—both against his Republican opponents and in court—insisting the company was on the up-and-up and beloved by students. During his victory speech on Tuesday night, following wins in the Michigan and Mississippi GOP primary elections, he vowed Trump University would come back, better and more successful than ever.

“If I become president that means Ivanka, Don, Eric and my family will start it up,” he said. “We have a lot of great people who want to get back into Trump University. It’s going to do very well, and it will continue to do very well.”

But how big a moneymaker was this school—supposedly designed to teach students to be successful in business—for its namesake?

As a presidential candidate, Trump only has to file disclosure forms revealing his income of the previous year, and Trump University started in 2005. So there’s no telling what he made from the venture in its first years—unless he releases his tax filings going back a decade. But the personal financial disclosure form he submitted last summer showed that he had earned a whopping $11,819 from the education company in the previous year.

That’s not too yooge, but it is sort of impressive. The school has been defunct since 2011.

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Guess How Much Trump Made off Trump University Last Year

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