Tag Archives: march

Trump: Obama Tapped My Phone, He’s a Sick Guy

by RosemaryCaird5 Posted on March 4, 2017

Mother Jones

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It’s Saturday. I figured I’d sleep in and eat breakfast before I checked in on the news. After all, how much can happen on a Saturday morn—

Oh FFS. Fine. Let’s hear the evidence:

Then, just to show how serious this is, an hour later Trump tweets about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “pathetic” ratings on Celebrity Apprentice. Then it’s off to the golf course.

So what’s going on? Did Obama really tapp Trump Tower during the sacred election process? I hope so! If he did, it would mean a judge had found probable cause that Trump had committed a crime of some kind.

Alternatively, it could mean that the FBI or the NSA was listening to a foreign phone call and Trump was on the other end. That would be great too.

Or, of course, Trump might be full of shit. Sadly, this is the most likely possibility. But you never know. Maybe there’s some real dirt here and Trump is trying to get ahead of it. When it leaks, he’ll try to convince everyone that the real issue is all the illegal leaks. Or the Nixonian/McCarthyite use of wiretaps. Or the fact that Obama is a sleaze, which is guaranteed to excite the base.

In any case, our next White House press briefing should be interesting, don’t you think?

UPDATE: Hmmph. Breitbart News ran a story yesterday summarizing a Mark Levin radio show that outlined a bunch of stuff that’s already been reported, including the fact that a FISA warrant was obtained to monitor the communications of some Trump aides:

In summary: the Obama administration sought, and eventually obtained, authorization to eavesdrop on the Trump campaign; continued monitoring the Trump team even when no evidence of wrongdoing was found; then relaxed the NSA rules to allow evidence to be shared widely within the government, virtually ensuring that the information, including the conversations of private citizens, would be leaked to the media.

Is that it? The Washington Post reports that the Breitbart story “has been circulating among Trump’s senior staff.” How boring.

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Trump: Obama Tapped My Phone, He’s a Sick Guy

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Here are some of the most unnerving things we’ve read so far in those Pruitt emails.

by Kristan12O Posted on February 23, 2017

The protesters gathered in Boston’s Copley Square with some impressively nerdy signs, including “Scientists are wicked smaht” and “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.”

The rally coincided with the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held a few blocks away, but was not sponsored by the scientific organization. In fact, scientists have often been wary of participating in political demonstrations, citing the need for science to be objective and nonpartisan.

“We’re not protesting a party,” one scientist told the Boston Globe. “As scientists, we want to support truth.”

Truth, however, has increasingly become a political issue, with an administration that has denied climate change, attacked the value of the EPA, and put forward a non-evidence-based travel ban that would adversely affect many scientists and researchers in the United States. As one sign at the rally put it, “Alternative facts are the square root of negative one.” That is, imaginary.

Sunday’s rally was a warm-up act for the March for Science, which is expected to bring many thousands of scientists to Washington, D.C., on April 22, Earth Day.

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Here are some of the most unnerving things we’ve read so far in those Pruitt emails.

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Congressional climate deniers are getting called on their BS at town halls this week.

by JulianGaray Posted on February 22, 2017

The protesters gathered in Boston’s Copley Square with some impressively nerdy signs, including “Scientists are wicked smaht” and “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.”

The rally coincided with the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held a few blocks away, but was not sponsored by the scientific organization. In fact, scientists have often been wary of participating in political demonstrations, citing the need for science to be objective and nonpartisan.

“We’re not protesting a party,” one scientist told the Boston Globe. “As scientists, we want to support truth.”

Truth, however, has increasingly become a political issue, with an administration that has denied climate change, attacked the value of the EPA, and put forward a non-evidence-based travel ban that would adversely affect many scientists and researchers in the United States. As one sign at the rally put it, “Alternative facts are the square root of negative one.” That is, imaginary.

Sunday’s rally was a warm-up act for the March for Science, which is expected to bring many thousands of scientists to Washington, D.C., on April 22, Earth Day.

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Congressional climate deniers are getting called on their BS at town halls this week.

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The Resistance to Trump is real, and it’s been busy

by GeoffreCotton Posted on February 3, 2017

Last week, Greenpeace activists strung a “Resist” banner from a construction crane towering over the White House. The message was clear: Anyone who cares about climate change, clean water, or human rights needs to do something to show that to the current administration. In the two weeks since the inauguration, countless people have been doing exactly that and jumping on board with what’s being called “The Resistance.”

As a companion piece to our rage-inducing Trump Tracker, here’s a look at how that movement has been fighting back.

Forget everything you know about scientists being meek, passive types. This week, the organizers of the March for Science — a demonstration to show Trump and his pals exactly how foolish their efforts to muzzle scientific research are — put a date on the event: April 22 (yep, Earth Day) in Washington, D.C.

And in protest of Trump’s immigration ban, thousands of scientists have announced a boycott of academic journals and conferences across the country, noting the hypocrisy of “the intellectual integrity of these spaces and the dialogues they are designed to encourage while Muslim colleagues are explicitly excluded from them.”

On the topic of that immigration ban, you likely saw thousands of Americans turn out at airports around the country to protest the detention of travelers, immigrants, and refugees from seven Islamic countries. And it wasn’t just in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Even in the Appalachian heartland, protesters showed up to denounce Trump’s order:

And on Thursday, over 1,000 Yemeni bodega owners across New York City shut down their businesses to protest the ban.

On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed its first lawsuit against the Trump administration. The grounds? That the White House demanded the EPA withdraw a rule protecting waterways from mercury contamination — a rule, by the way, that pretty much no one opposes.

It turns out that you actually can influence corporations by denying them your cash. Last weekend, a #DeleteUber campaign took off: While New York cab drivers were striking at JFK airport to protest Trump’s travel ban, Uber decided to ditch surge pricing. Suspicious timing? Yep — customers quickly saw this seemingly benevolent gesture as an attempt to capitalize on the taxi drivers’ strike.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s role as a Trump advisor only compounded the customer rage, leading to a mass deletion that had, as VICE reported, “a ‘significant impact’ on the company’s U.S. business.” On Thursday, Kalanick announced his resignation from Trump’s business advisory council.

On Wednesday, the Seattle City Council unanimously voted to pull $3 billion of the city’s cash from Wells Fargo, on the basis of the bank’s role as a significant funder of the Dakota Access Pipeline. It’s the first major city do so. Meanwhile, in North Dakota, the Standing Rock Sioux announced a Native Nations March on Washington for March 10. (More on the tensions surrounding the march and protest camps here.)

Hassling your government representatives also works. Really! Last month, Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz introduced a bill that would put would put 3.3 million acres of public lands up for sale. His constituents — particularly of the conservationist and hunter variety — got so loudly pissed off that he actually withdrew the bill on Thursday. You can’t say that angry people with guns aren’t convincing.

Want to resist? See our starter kit to being a better activist and look for more empowerment advice to come.

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The Resistance to Trump is real, and it’s been busy

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Is Reaching Out Beyond White Men an Example of "Politicizing" Science?

by XMSEfrenxt Posted on February 3, 2017

Mother Jones

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This coming Earth Day is the March for Science. “On April 22, 2017, we walk out of the lab and into the streets,” say the organizers in a charming effort to sound like hellions. It doesn’t really work, though, thanks to a Twitter feed full of stuff like this:

There are also a zillion Star Trek jokes, pictures of Albert Einstein, nerdy hats, and everything else you’d expect from scientists. However, early on in the planning some people suggested that the organizers should try to ensure that the whole thing wasn’t just a bunch of white men. This led to a statement on diversity, and eventually to this single tweet among the gazillions of others:

Maybe this is a little over the top. YMMV. However, as I read it, the organizers aren’t saying that these issues can be reduced to data and solved as scientific problems. They are saying that these things affect scientists, just as they affect us all.

Nonetheless, the good folks at National Review are upset. A scientist named Alex Berezow says he won’t be attending the march because, among other things, “It’s curious that a website that seeks to include everybody conspicuously left men, whites, and Christians off the diversity list.” Wesley Smith agrees:

Berezow is exactly right: For example, science can tell us the biological nature of a fetus. It cannot tell us whether it is right or wrong to have an abortion. That question sounds in morality, ethics, religion, and politics.

If science properly understood ever becomes conflated in the public mind with left wingism, it will profoundly harm that crucial sector and thence, the human future.

Science is already too politicized with policy or ethical debates wrongly called questions about whether one side or the other is “anti-science.”

I suspect that if we dig deep enough, we would find George Soros money paying for all of this. Be that as it may, no reputable scientist should march in the March for Science.

Yeah. George Soros is everywhere. And making an effort to highlight the fact that women and people of color are scientists too isn’t a good thing, it’s “politicizing” science. That sure is a funny definition of politicizing.

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Is Reaching Out Beyond White Men an Example of "Politicizing" Science?

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The Dakota Access Pipeline is creeping one step closer to completion.

by TheresaBitner Posted on February 1, 2017

The People’s Climate March will descend on D.C. with an intersectional coalition of green and environmental-justice groups, indigenous and civil-rights organizations, students and labor unions. The march will take place on Saturday, April 29, exactly 100 days into Trump’s presidency.

In January, the Women’s March gathered half a million demonstrators in D.C. alone. There have also been talks of an upcoming Science March, which has no set date but almost 300,000 followers on Twitter.

April’s climate march is being organized by a coalition that emerged from the People’s Climate March of 2014, a rally that brought 400,000 people to New York City before the United Nations convened there for a summit on climate change. It was the largest climate march in history — a record that may soon be broken.

“Communities across the country have been working for environmental and social justice for centuries. Now it’s time for our struggles to unite and work together across borders to fight racism, sexism, xenophobia, and environmental destruction,” Chloe Jackson, an activist with Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, said in a statement. “We have a lot of work to do, and we are stronger together.”

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The Dakota Access Pipeline is creeping one step closer to completion.

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A Firestorm of Protests Will Take Aim at Donald Trump’s Inauguration

by Paisley154 Posted on January 14, 2017

Mother Jones

On Friday, president-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated into office. The day will begin with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery followed by several celebrations, including galas and inaugural balls, throughout the weekend.

But if Trump’s critics have anything to do with it, the inauguration won’t entirely be festive: Dozens of groups have announced rallies and protests leading up to the historic event, including the Women’s March on Washington, which is expected to draw as many as 200,000 attendees. Washington, DC officials say they’re preparing for at least a million visitors to the city for the inauguration and protests. And it’s not just the capital that’s bracing for January 20. Hundreds of cities expect local rallies to take place.

Here are some of the major events planned across the country over the next few weeks:

January 14: March for Immigrants and Refugees

Organized as part of the We Are Here to Stay campaign, immigrant and refugee rights groups plan to organize on this day to show solidarity for immigrants and other vulnerable communities and to stand up against hateful rhetoric against immigrants. The grassroots campaign, led by United We Dream, a youth-led immigrant justice group, and other immigrant justice groups, urges local groups to start their own chapters to protest Trump’s immigration proposals, and events are slated to take place in numerous cities, including Tucson, Albuquerque, Chicago, and Houston.

January 14: We Shall Not Be Moved March on Washington

Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network says it will hold a march on Washington to call for Trump to continue protecting civil rights. “Protecting the civil rights of citizens and the voting rights of people that have been excluded, providing health care for all Americans and equal opportunity should supersede any of the beltway partisan fights that we are inevitably headed into,” says the group.

January 15: Our First Stand: Save Health Care

Led by Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), Democratic members of Congress and other health care groups will protest the potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act by holding rallies across the country. House leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will hold an event in San Francisco, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will be in Los Angeles, and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), along with Mayor Marty Walsh will be in Boston, Massachusetts. Sanders made headlines recently when he brought a giant banner of a Trump tweet to Congress (Trump tweeted last May that he would not make cuts to social security, Medicare, and Medicaid).

January 15: Writers Resist rallies

Launched by poet Erin Belieu, Writer’s Resist calls itself a national network of writers “driven to defend the ideals of a free, just and compassionate democratic society.” The group has asked writers to independently organize local events where writers will read from historic and contemporary texts on democracy and free expression. More than 75 events have been planned, including in Seattle, Portland, Omaha, London and Hong Kong, according to its website. The flagship event will be held in New York City, where writers will gather at the steps to the New York Public Library for readings, performances, and a pledge to defend the First Amendment.

January 19: Reclaim Our Schools Day of Action

Several teachers unions and education groups, including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, have organized under a newly-formed group called the National Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools. They plan to stage a national day of action to “defend” schools from Donald Trump and his calls to dismantle the public education system. Educators have called Trump and his secretary of education pick, Betsy DeVos, an “existential threat to public schools.”

January 19: Busboys and Poets Peace Ball

Described as an alternative to anti-Trump protests, the Busboys and Poets Peace Ball will be a “gathering to celebrate the accomplishments and successes of the past four years” at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Notable attendees include celebrities, authors, and organizers such as Solange, Alice Walker, Amy Goodman and Alicia Garza. The event had room for more than 3,000 people and has already sold out, founder Andy Shallal told ThinkProgress.

January 20: #InaugurateTheResistance

The Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition secured a permit to stage a “mass protest” against Donald Trump, starting at 7 a.m. at DC’s Freedom Plaza. Other groups holding marches include the Occupy Movement, the Democratic Socialists of America, and #DisruptJ20, a group which says it wants to shut down the inauguration.

Separately, the DCMJ, a lobbying group focused on marijuana legislation, says it will distribute free joints to celebrate pot legalization in D.C.

January 20: Student walkouts

College students across the country are planning campus walkouts, organized by groups including Socialist Students and Students for a Democratic Society.

January 21: Women’s March

The Women’s March on Washington, which started as a Facebook page after the election, will be by far one of the biggest events after the inauguration. The march’s organizers say up to 200,000 people could attend, and the event has drawn such enthusiasm and support that additional Facebook pages have been set up for parents who are bringing their children, as well as a “MarchBnb” website for people in need of housing.

Other marches inspired by the Women’s March are also being held in other cities in the US and worldwide. A full list can be found here.

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A Firestorm of Protests Will Take Aim at Donald Trump’s Inauguration

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Remember When Ted Cruz Loathed Donald Trump?

by Tyrone2847 Posted on September 24, 2016

Mother Jones

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Today Ted Cruz endorsed Donald Trump, putting the cherry on top of the Texas senator’s complicated relationship with the Republican nominee—a relationship that’s involved a lot of vitriol, name-calling, a sprinkle of admiration, but mostly hate. Thankfully, it’s all captured on Twitter.

It began cordially enough. Cruz even called Trump “terrific.”

But things soon got ugly.

Then Trump got their wives involved…

At which point, Cruz called Trump a “sniveling coward” and vowed to beat him.

Cruz called Trump a Democrat, compared him to Hillary Clinton, and called for him to release his tax returns.

Even when Cruz dropped out of the race, he refused to endorse Trump at the Republican National Convention, urging people to vote their consciences.

Today, Cruz argues that he’s voting for Trump because Hillary Clinton is “manifestly unfit” to be president. “If Clinton wins, we know—with 100% certainty—that she would deliver on her left-wing promises, with devastating results for our country,” he wrote in his announcement.

Seems like only yesterday when Cruz tweeted:

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Remember When Ted Cruz Loathed Donald Trump?

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Muhammad Ali and the Abuse of Ellipses

by AdelaidaR31 Posted on June 4, 2016

Mother Jones

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In February 1966, Muhammad Ali said:

I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.

In March 1967 he said:

My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father.

In popular culture, this has become:

I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong…They never called me nigger.

I have to say that this is a pretty breezy employment of ellipses. Using them to indicate the passage of a few sentences? Fine. Using them to indicate the passage of 13 months? I have to cry foul on that, no matter how good it makes the quote.

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Muhammad Ali and the Abuse of Ellipses

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No human alive has seen 7 months this hot before

by AshelyTrvjb Posted on May 17, 2016

No human alive has seen 7 months this hot before

By on May 17, 2016Share

This story was originally published by Slate and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

N.B. If this article sounds familiar, it should. This has been happening so frequently I just copied the post for March and updated it.

October. November. December. January. February. March. And now April.

For the sixth seventh month in a row, we’ve had a month that has broken the global high temperature record. And not just broken it, but shattered it, blasting through it like the previous record wasn’t even there.

No human alive has seen a month of

March

April like this before.

NASA GISS

According to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, March April 2016 was the hottest March April on record, going back 136 years. It was a staggering 1.28 degrees C 1.11 degrees C above average across the planet.* The previous March April record, from 2010, was 0.92 degrees C 0.87 degrees C above average. This year took a huge jump over that.

Welcome to the new normal, and our new world.

As you can see from the map above, much of this incredible heat spike is located in the extreme northern latitudes. That is not good; it’s this region that’s most fragile to heating. Temperatures soaring to 7 degrees C or more above normal means more ice melting, a longer melting season, loss of thinner ice, loss of longer-term ice, and most alarmingly the dumping of billions of tons of fresh water into the saltier ocean which can and will disrupt the Earth’s ability to move that heat around.

What’s going on? El Niño might be the obvious culprit, but in fact it’s only contributing a small amount of overall warming to the globe, probably around 0.1 degrees C or so. That’s not nearly enough to account for this. It’s almost certain that even without El Niño, we’d be experiencing record heat.

Most likely there is a confluence of events going on to produce this huge spike in temperature — latent heat in the Pacific waters, wind patterns distributing it, and more.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency measured similar temperatures as GISS (though it uses a different baseline for the average). Note the trend. See a “pause”? I don’t.

Japanese Meteorological Agency

And underlying it all, stoking the fire, is us. Humans. Climate scientists — experts who have devoted their lives to studying and understanding how this all works — agree to an extraordinary degree that humans are responsible for the heating of our planet.

That’s why we’re seeing so many records lately; El Niño might produce a spike, but that spike is sitting on top of an upward trend, the physical manifestation of human induced global warming, driven mostly by our dumping 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air every year.

Until our politicians recognize that this is a threat, and a very serious one, things are unlikely to change much. And the way I see it, the only way to get our politicians to recognize that is to change the politicians we have in office.

That’s a new world we need, and one I sincerely hope we make happen.

*GISS uses the temperatures from 1951–1980 to calculate the average. The Japanese Meteorological Agency uses 1981–2010, which gives different anomaly numbers, but the trend remains the same. Realistically, the range GISS uses is better; by 1981 global warming was already causing average temperatures to rise.

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No human alive has seen 7 months this hot before

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