Tag Archives: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Climate Solutions, News, Observation, Politics

Drill, Baby, Drill: Capitalism’s Only Plan for Climate Is Collapse

Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash

If we continue not acting against the real cause of the climate crisis—the capitalist mode of production and the capitalist worldview—they will take it as a social license to carry on with collapse.

This past week’s flurry of announcements over “ambitious action” by governments during the COP26 in Glasgow has been justly received with scepticism by climate justice activists and the general public (and enthusiastic support by the media in general). During this same period important revelations of the massive gap in terms of necessary emission cuts and country’s plans emerged, as the broader rejection of greenwashing became pervasive. The narrative of false solutions and green capitalism doesn’t work. Yesterday, the revelation that over 800 oil & gas wells are being planned for drilling still this year and in 2022, in the report “Drill, Baby, Drill“, makes it clear that the proceedings of COP26 are mostly propaganda, as the only real, mandatory and contractualized plan global capitalism has for the climate crisis is collapse.

The reason why the climate crisis is not being solved is because it will lead to the biggest shift in power in the history of humanity, it will lead to the biggest transfer of wealth and loss of profit in history.

The scenario is the most dire ever. Not only the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is at its highest for millions of years, temperatures keep pushing closer to 1.5ºC and emissions are rising once again after the Covid hiatus. The IPCC scientists have leaked the second draft of Group II’s report, which states that “estimates of committed CO2 emissions from current fossil energy infrastructure are 658 GtCO2 […] nearly the double the remaining carbon budget,” revealing that “others [scientists] stress that climate change is caused by industrial development and more specifically the character of social and economic development produced by the nature of the capitalist society, which they therefore view as ultimately unsustainable.” In a few months, we will understand the level of political and business editing in the final report that finally comes out.

Yet, current infrastructure is not enough for global capitalism. In the “Drill, Baby, Drill” report, made public by the Glasgow Agreement at the COP26 Coalition’s People Summit, a still bigger measure of incoherence appears. There are 816 new oil & gas wells being planned and drilled until the end of the year and in 2022. These are located in 76 countries all around the world, countries whose governments are currently sitting in the halls of the COP26 in Glasgow, to “negotiate” a solution for the climate crisis.

The host UK appears close to the top of desired new wells, with 36, mostly offshore, in the basins of Central Graben, Moray Firth, the North Sea and Shetland. It is very likely that while Boris Johnson was doing his James Bond gag on stage, at least some four wells were being drilled to add to British fossil fuel reserves, making him a sort of meta-Bond villain. The top of the ranking for most wells planned goes to Australia and Russia, with 80 wells each, closely followed by Mexico with 78. Australia, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia, USA, Norway, UK, Brazil and Myanmar plan to drill over 500 oil & gas wells between now and the end of 2022. The report points out that this is very likely an underestimation. The companies most involved in drilling these wells are the gallery of the usual suspects: ENI, Petronas, Shell, Equinor, Total, Pemex, BP, Pertamina, Chevron and ExxonMobil. There are at least 67 wells planned above the Arctic Polar Circle. Total and ExxonMobil are in a contest to drill the deepest well ever in the ocean (Total is going for 3628m deep in Angola, and ExxonMobil is going for 3800m deep in Brazil). Many of these companies are spending millions every year on propaganda for carbon neutrality and other false solutions, blocking real action and expanding their operations.

The report also includes a sample of wells drilled in 2021 so far, with China on top, followed by Turkey, Russia, Norway, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Australia and Egypt, the host for the next COP.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It is the way this system operates: just enough propaganda of “ambition” and technofixes to keep fossils flowing as ever, while the climate collapses. The information does provide us with a question: if the on climate change debate is framed by companies and governments around the terms of net-zero, carbon credits, carbon taxes and offsettings, rather than stopping emissions, when will it ever come to the real problem of the climate crisis? Well, never. And that is the purpose.

Governments and companies are actively engaged in not cutting emissions, but also in effectively increasing them. Each and every one of these wells is a public crime against Humanity and all species on this planet, advertised in advance. It is good that we know them, though, for it is better to know fossil capitalism’s plans to collapse us beforehand and in as much detail as possible. That is why the call on the report does not go out to governments and fossil companies to suddenly act after over three decades of expanding fossil use. The call goes out to the climate justice movement and civil society: spread this information far and wide, act on it, campaign on it, block, stop and detain all of these projects. Other millions of fossil and fossil-based projects compose the menu of collapse daily confirmed by governments and companies. They are the legally binding commitment for our collapse and need to be stopped.

The overwhelming agreement on the reason why the climate crisis is not being fixed is becoming as high as the overwhelming scientific agreement on the cause of the climate crisis. The reason why the climate crisis is not being solved is because it will lead to the biggest shift in power in the history of humanity, it will lead to the biggest transfer of wealth and loss of profit in history. That means very little to the majority of the human population, as we will be the beneficiaries of this shift, of this transfer, of this redistribution. If we solve this crisis, we will have the chance to heal our battered planet. That is why their plan means collapse: they refuse to abdicate an inch of their brutal privilege and power. If we continue not acting against the real cause of the climate crisis—the capitalist mode of production and the capitalist worldview—they will take it as a social license to carry on with collapse. Even without social license, their plan will always lead to collapse. It’s not circumstantial, it is the core of this system. We need to collapse them.

Originally published on Common Dreams by JOÃO CAMARGO and republished under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

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Breaking News, News, Observation, Politics

Any Lawmaker Involved in Planning Jan. 6 Insurrection ‘Must Be Expelled,’ Says AOC

Organizers of the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol say that several congressional Republicans and White House officials helped plan former President Donald Trump’s coup attempt.

In response to new reporting that several congressional Republicans and White House officials were “intimately involved” in planning the January 6 Capitol attack—part of former President Donald Trump’s far-reaching election subversion plot—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday night demanded the expulsion of any lawmaker who aided and abetted the violent assault on U.S. democracy.

“Any member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation’s Capitol must be expelled,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). “This was a terror attack. 138 injured, almost 10 dead. Those responsible remain a danger to our democracy, our country, and human life in the vicinity of our Capitol and beyond.”

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) tweeted in response to the Rolling Stone report that her “resolution to investigate and expel the members of Congress who helped incite the deadly insurrection on our Capitol,” House Resolution 25, “is just waiting for a vote.”

On Sunday night, the magazine detailed “explosive allegations” about the January 6 riot, wherein a right-wing mob fueled by Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen stormed the halls of Congress in an attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

Amid an ongoing probe led by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Rolling Stone has spoken with two unnamed individuals who were “involved in organizing the main event aimed at objecting to the electoral certification, which took place at the White House Ellipse,” and who are cooperating with the panel’s investigators. According to the magazine:

These two sources also helped plan a series of demonstrations that took place in multiple states around the country in the weeks between the election and the storming of the Capitol. According to these sources, multiple people associated with the March for Trump and Stop the Steal events that took place during this period communicated with members of Congress throughout this process.

Among other things, the magazine reported that prior to January 6:

  • The two sources say they engaged in “dozens” of planning conversations, in which Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) participated or “had top staffers join”;
  • The two sources say they “interacted with members of Trump’s team.” That includes former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, “who they describe as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence,” as well as Katrina Pierson, a former member of Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns whom one organizer called “our go-to girl” and “our primary advocate”;
  • Gosar, “who has been one of the most prominent defenders of the Jan. 6 rioters,” allegedly “dangled the possibility of a ‘blanket pardon’ in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests.”

Both organizers received “several assurances” about the “blanket pardon” from Gosar, one source told Rolling Stone.

“Our impression was that it was a done deal,” said the source, “that he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval… in a meeting about pardons and that our names came up. They were working on submitting the paperwork and getting members of the House Freedom Caucus to sign on as a show of support.”

“I was just going over the list of pardons and we just wanted to tell you guys how much we appreciate all the hard work you’ve been doing,” Gosar said, according to the organizer.

The magazine has separately obtained documentary evidence that on January 6, both organizers were in contact with Boebert and Gosar, whose office is being investigated by the House select committee.

In addition, Rolling Stone reported, “both Brooks and Cawthorn spoke with Trump at the Ellipse on Jan. 6. In his speech at that event, Brooks, who was reportedly wearing body armor, declared, ‘Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.’ Gosar, Greene, and Boebert were all billed as speakers at the ‘Wild Protest,’ which also took place on Jan. 6 at the Capitol.”

One of the leading organizers of the latter event was Ali Alexander, leader of Stop the Steal, a key group promoting efforts to challenge Biden’s victory. In a since-deleted livestream broadcast, Alexander said that Gosar, Brooks, and Biggs helped develop the strategy for the so-called “Wild Protest.”

At a December 2020 Stop the Steal event in Phoenix, Alexander called Gosar, one of the main speakers, “my captain,” and he also heaped praise on Biggs, describing him as “one of the other heroes.”

Both sources maintain that ahead of January 6, “the plan they had discussed with other organizers, Trump allies, and members of Congress was a rally that would solely take place at the Ellipse, where speakers—including the former president—would present ‘evidence’ about issues with the election. This demonstration would take place in conjunction with objections that were being made by Trump allies during the certification on the House floor that day,” Rolling Stonereported.

During his speech at the Ellipse, however, Trump encouraged his supporters to make their way to the Capitol, and before he had finished talking, the barricades were being stormed.

According to the two organizers, Alexander had agreed to not hold his “Wild Protest” at the Capitol, but when it appeared that the event may materialize, Meadows—one of four Trump allies subpoenaed by the House select committee—was made aware of concerns about the potential for violence.

Although there were earlier indications that the Trump administration and members of Congress “played some role in the Jan. 6 events and similar rallies that occurred in the lead-up to that day,” Rolling Stone noted, “the two sources say they can provide new details about the members’ specific roles in these efforts.”

“The sources plan to share that information with congressional investigators right away,” according to the magazine. “While both sources say their communications with the House’s Jan. 6 committee thus far have been informal, they are expecting to testify publicly.”

Just hours after the violent right-wing attack they helped foment through baseless allegations of voter fraud was contained, 147 GOP lawmakers—including more than two-thirds of House Republicans plus several Senate Republicans—voted in the early morning of January 7 to overturn election results in key states, attempting to disenfranchise millions of voters in the process.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) on Sunday urged people to “never forget” Trump’s failed coup attempt.

Yale historian Timothy Snyder, meanwhile, warned that “a failed coup is a trial run for a successful coup.”

“Instead of just a person who makes a disorganized attempt,” said the expert on authoritarianism, “we now have that person, plus institutional machinery, time to plan, and the Big Lie.”

Since last year’s election, GOP lawmakers at the state level have weaponized lies about electoral fraud to legitimize anti-democratic electoral review mechanisms and a nationwide campaign of voter suppression, prompting University of Pennsylvania political scientist Adolph Reed Jr. to declare in a recent essay that maintaining Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress is necessary to prevent 2022 or 2024 from marking “the end of the proceduralist democracy to which we’ve been accustomed.”

Originally published on Common Dreams by KENNY STANCIL and republished under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Climate Solutions, News, Observation, Politics

Over 70,000 March in Brussels to Demand Green New Deal, Urgent Climate Action

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“What do we do when we destroy the planet?” asked one demonstrator. “We have nothing else.”

Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Brussels on Sunday to demand Belgium’s elected leaders and others from around the world finally dispense with proclamations, broken promises, and half-measures and instead “act” on the climate emergency.

“We need a Belgian Green New Deal and we propose more than 100 concrete solutions to make it happen.”

With U.N. climate conference (COP26) set for next month in Glasgow, the estimated 70,000 or more people who took part in the march offered a dramatic show of force for the nation’s climate movement.

Zanna Vanrenterghem of Greenpeace Belgium told The Brussels Times on Sunday that her government’s climate pledges so far “are not ambitious enough,” but that words are no longer enough. “It is one thing to talk about climate,” she said, “and another to take concrete action.”

Ahead of the march, Vanrenterghem said the message from the Klimaatcoalitie (Climate Coalition), which she co-chairs and that organized the march, was a simple one: “We demand ambitious, solidarity-based and coherent measures. We need a Belgian Green New Deal and we propose more than 100 concrete solutions to make it happen.”

According to the Associated Press:

Thousands of people and 80 organizations took part in the protest, aiming for the biggest such event in the European Union’s capital since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which stopped the climate movement’s weekly marches in its tracks.

Cyclists, families with children and white-haired demonstrators filled city streets, chanting slogans demanding climate justice and waving banners in English, French and Dutch. One carried a stuffed polar bear on her head, and others were dressed as animals endangered by human-caused climate change.

The crowds was large—with the march often stretching further than the eye could see—and participants each sharing their various reasons for attending. Signs and banners said things like “Destroy the System/Not the Planet”; “Walk the Talk”; and “Protect What You Love.”

Lucien Dewanaga, a marcher who spoke with AP, asked the question: “What do we do when we destroy the planet? We have nothing else. Human beings have to live in this world. And there is only one world.”

According to Vanrenterghem, extreme weather within Belgium and elsewhere in the world over the past year have offered only more reasons for leaders to turn lofty rhetoric into the concrete policies that scientists say are necessary to stave off the worst impacts. 

“The tough climate actions of the past few years have put the climate crisis high on the political agenda,” she said. “Now is the time for politicians to turn their promises into concrete action.”

Originally published on Common Dreams by COMMON DREAMS STAFF and republished under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Coronavirus, Lifestyle, Observation, Politics

Twitter Rejects $600 stimulus check: “Hell No” tops Poll by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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New bill is a joke for those struggling, unhappy, viral memes abound

A second stimulus package has been in the works for months now, supposedly.  The current version of the proposed stimulus bill, which would, if passed, be the second Covid-19 relief package since the start of the pandemic,  is still under discussion.  

However, if granted, it would contain only about half of the first round of cash assistance compared to the previous bill which had $1,200 individual payments. The new bill would provide a direct payment of only $600 to $700 per person for those that qualify.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter asking followers to respond to a poll which asked if the $600 would be enough, under the current dire circumstances, and the responses, well, are laughable

The congresswoman has been fighting to get more help to Americans overcome their financial difficulties that have only gotten worse during the first, and now second, waves of the pandemic. The options provided in the poll, as possible answers to the question “Is $600 for a second COVID check enough”, included: Yes, No, and Hell No.  Hell no received a whopping 62% while a simple “No” got 32.8%. Apparently 94.8% are not happy with the sum.

The bill has yet to be finalized and representative Ocasio-Cortez made it clear to her followers that she was not in agreement with the proposed lower payment amount. 

Democrats have continued to demand at least $1,200 for stimulus checks and restoring the $600 “increase” for unemployment benefits as well as continued rent and mortgage protections. 

“PLEASE CALL YOUR MEMBER if you have any doubt whatsoever on what their stance is, And if you don’t want your member to vote for a $600 deal, you really need to tell them that. Don’t think ‘oh I voted for a Dem, we’ll be fine.’ No. If there’s an amount that’s too little, or any other red line that you want them to vote NO on, then you need to tell them that.”

Check out the memes that resulted from AOC’s poll, while they will not help if the $600 is approved, can definitely provide a bit of levity in the meantime! 

https://twitter.com/NTFxGreg/status/1339261237692162049?s=20
https://twitter.com/mvstevens/status/1339679541200003072?s=20
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Breaking News, Politics

AOC Seconds Bernie Sanders Nomination in Symbolic Procedural Nod

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Short but pointed speech gives the future political force a platform in the spotlight

In a ceremonial act, via pre-recorded video (above) U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nominated Bernie Sanders during the virtual DNC 2020 night two. She lauded Sanders for organizing “a historic grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy.”

Showing her solidarity and respect for his campaign goals, she seconded the nomination citing his efforts to build a “mass people’s movement working to establish 21st century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare, higher education, living wages, and labor rights for all people in the United States.”

Read More: Michelle, Bernie, Bruce and You: Together for The Rising – DNC 2020

Next up will be the build toward the climax on Thursday…

Naturally the nomination is a formality only as he officially dropped out of the contest four months ago in April. Joe Biden already won the number of delegate needed in June, cementing his status as the presumptive nominee. Sanders was permitted to keep his delegates at the convention as a symbolic olive branch in the hopes of winning over the senator’s supporters.

Ocasio-Cortez, supports Biden as the presumptive nominee. She was key in the crafting of policy on the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Forces platform, which consisted of supporters from the Biden and Sanders campaigns.

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Books, Business, Entertainment, Observation, Tech

Facebook Acquires Giphy while Congress steps in with Antitrust Suspicions

A long, slow, converging consensus is coming to expose Facebook, Amazon and Google

On Friday, May 15th, Facebook announced that it will be buying Giphy— the world’s most popular GIF site on the internet, social media, and messaging services. Giphy is already an integrated part of iMessage, Tinder, Slack, and Twitter, and Facebook now owns it for a reported $400 million.

Acquiring a GIF-generating site seems inconspicuous enough for Facebook, the social media conglomerate that already owns Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR, and many other subsidiaries. Nevertheless, the purchase raised some red flags in Washington, especially for Democrats like Senators Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Senator Amy Kolchubar (MN) as well as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) and David Cicilline (RI), all of whom have been critical of major corporate mergers throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

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Because of COVID-19, many small businesses are facing immense hardships. They are in a vulnerable state, desperate for money and far more likely to sell out. By contrast, major corporations not only have the funds to stay afloat, but also the continued stability to take advantage of the smaller, more jeopardized companies. Senator Warren and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez have thus proposed the “Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act” to halt all big-business mergers until the situation gets better for their small business counterparts.

Hence, Facebook’s purchase of Giphy comes at a dubious time. Giphy is no small time company, but Facebook’s ownership of it could still lead to increased exploitation down the road. Because the site is integrated into so many different apps and services already, it will provide Facebook with covert entrance’s into all of those platforms’ data.

As brought to the foreground in 2016’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook keeps an overabundance of data on each of its users. The site tracks and analogs everything we do, and that information does not remain confidential. Facebook sells it to other services, businesses, or even political assets, usually (but not always) for the sake of marketing.

With WhatsApp and Instagram already in house Giphy appears to be a bridge too far

With Giphy under the site’s control, Facebook’s data-mining efforts will overreach even farther. It will be able to access information from our Tweets, iMessages, Tinder matches, and even business correspondences via Slack. Evidently, the purchase entails a whole lot more than just the newfound ability to insert GIFs directly into our statuses.

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The politicians against business mergers during the pandemic are by-and-large the same people who have been fighting Facebook for the past few years, demanding heightened security and increased regulations for big-tech across the board. Right now, the Department of Justice is planning antitrust charges for Google and many attorney generals are investigating Amazon for their monopolistic control over the market. If these cases prove successful, we might finally see some legislation passed to keep the long-unrestricted tech moguls in check.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has not yet commented directly on the Giphy acquisition, nor has he provided a public response to the “Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act” proposition. In typical Facebook fashion, all the website has really done to help in these trying times is create a new “hug” reaction icon. It’s a nice addition, but hardly makes up for the company’s clear manipulation of the present circumstances.

If there is one shred of good news amidst the purchase so far, it is that Giphy will thankfully not be removing their library of embarrassing Mark Zuckerberg GIFs. Moreover, we can also take solace in the fact that there are many more GIF-worthy Zuck moments to come.

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Breaking News, Climate Solutions, News

11,258 Scientists sign Foreboding Report that Declares a Climate Emergency for the Planet

Photo / Adobe Stock

If you are still having trouble accepting the fact that climate change is real, then you are definitely not factoring in the overwhelming consensus of science. Earlier this week, the academic journal BioScience released a scientific research paper providing data from the past forty years, all pointing to the conclusion that our planet is currently in a state of climate emergency. Then, if the paper’s research is not enough on its own, perhaps the fact that over 11,000 scientists authorized it will help convince you.

At the bottom of the report, there are 11,258 signatures, all coming from different scientists across 153 countries and multiple disciplines. The paper’s multi-disciplinary approach creates room for a variety of evidence, demonstrating how global warming is effecting the planet from geological, biological, physiological, neurological perspectives and beyond.

This is also a wake up call about the fact that the science on climate change is no longer divisive. In science’s unbiased eyes, the Earth is in an unequivocal state of emergency. 

“Climate emergency” is the exact diction that the paper uses to define the planet’s current situation. The words associated with climate change have evolved many times over the years. From “global warming” to “crisis,” language can certainly affect the way people think about the issue. The authors of this paper decided on “emergency” because it provokes more urgency than mere “change” but not as much chaotic hopelessness as “crisis.” After all, the purpose of the paper is to unveil proof and evoke action, not to have people helplessly bury their heads in the sand.

The paper outlines six major changes people must enact if they want to save the planet. Namely,

  1. Implement massive energy efficiency practices and move to low-carbon renewables.
  2. Reduce emissions of toxic pollutants such as methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons.
  3. Restore global ecosystems across reefs, forests, grasslands and more while preventing further biodiversity loss. 
  4. Reduce the consumption of animal products and opt for plant-based foods.
  5. Focus less on economic GDP growth and more on sustaining ecosystems and human well-being.
  6. Lower fertility rates to reduce the world population.

As the paper makes clear, these changes are hardly suggestions, but more like necessities at this point. If we do not alter our priorities in a timely manner, we will face the worst of climate change’s wrath and be utterly defenseless to it.

Like most realistic studies on the climate crisis, this paper is not for the faint of heart. It opts for harsh truth over optimism. That being said, the research is not without occasional glimmers of hope. The outline of solutions points us in the right direction. Similarly, the authors acknowledge recent surges in environmental protests and eco-friendly ingenuities across the world as ongoing positive changes. Data-wise, fertility rates are already dropping and more people are switching from fossil fuel burning to more sustainable, renewable energy practices. Likewise, even politics are slowly catching on to the issue, with the UK Parliament declaring a climate emergency and United States Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Earl Blumenauer and Sen. Bernie Sanders all introducing the Green New Deal to Congress. 

The world is far from perfect, and more action is still needed if we want to combat climate change effectively. However, the science is nearly unanimous, and the debate surrounding the issue’s severity is no longer a point of contention. Now, we just need people in power to stand with science, believe in the facts, and put in place urgently needed changes to begin to find ways to save us all from possible extinction.

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Politics, Tech

Facebook Updates Logo to ALL CAPS in Colorful, Hopeless Re-Branding Stunt

Graphic Collage / Lynxotic

Facebook Attempts to Rebrand itself with New, Colorful All-Caps Logo for all Owned and Acquired Apps

In the fifteen years that Facebook has graced our computer screens, the website has undergone many aesthetic and technical changes, yet its lower-case, white printed name set against a blue background has stood the test of time as the company’s unmistakable corporate logo. However, even the most familiar things must evolve at some point. Despite its long run, Facebook’s corporate logo is finally changing and the change is far from subtle.

Facebook’s updated logo no longer reads “facebook” but instead shouts “FACEBOOK” in all-caps, slightly bolded Helevetica font. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the new logo is meant to offer a sense of security and optimism, with its soft edges and comfortable spacing reminding users that the website was created to bring people together.

Perhaps even more dramatically than the all-caps decision, though, Facebook’s new logo is also losing its signature blue and white color combo. The company’s name will now be written in transitional colors, changing hue depending on the application it is seen on.

The logo will be seen on multiple applications, as Facebook also announced that it will start branding itself more straightforwardly on the company’s other apps and sites. One may not know that Facebook owns Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Portal, and Calibra. The company plans on making this Facebook-family of services more blatantly related, printing “from Facebook” on each homepage using the new logo.

New Facebook Marketing Stunt Comes Amidst Political Strife and Corporate Pitfalls

This re-branding marketing stunt could not have come at a more astute time for Facebook. The company has been in hot water for well over a year at this point, and the pot is beginning to boil over.

During the 2016 election, the Cambridge Analytica British Consulting Firm used Facebook to steal data and falsely advertise for the Trump campaign. Since then, the company has been accused of profiting off of fake-news and not doing enough to police their content. 

New multi-colored version of the Logo released as an animated GIF

Just a couple weeks ago, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled Mark Zuckerberg before Congress, exposing the young CEO’s ignorance as well as his lack of initiative to address Facebook security issues and protect its users. 

Similarly, Senator Elizabeth Warren has scathingly called out Facebook during her Democratic presidential campaign. Part of her anti-corporation platform includes breaking up the big tech conglomerates—that means Apple, Google, Amazon, and yes, Facebook. Essentially, Warren gave a voice to the widely accepted belief that Facebook currently holds too much control and has become an unchecked power. 

No—Facebook is not on great terms with its users nowadays. More and more people are deleting their accounts on the site that once ruled social media, following the #deletefacebook trend growing across the globe. Sadly, there is not a whole lot Facebook can do about the underlying causes, though. As dumbfounded as Zuckerberg may have seemed before congress, these cyber-security questions are far from simple. 

For now, Facebook is doing what it can for itself. It is changing its image, hoping that the updated logo and united approach to the multiple apps will revamp interest in the site and maybe just cover up some of the hostility it currently faces. A new logo doesn’t actually solve anything. Facebook will still remain the same old site it always has been. So how do we take the new logo? As a sign of corporate reformation on Facebook’s behalf? Or as a symbolic front to distract user’s from the company’s inaction? Or is it just a logo? A marketing ploy like any other meant to make the website more modern and appealing to digital passerbys.

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Business, Lifestyle, News, Politics, Tech

Zuckerberg Skillfully Cornered on Facebook Policies by AOC at D.C. Hearings

Video
Photo Graphic Collage / Lynxotic

Zuckerberg stumbled and evaded while attempting to respond to AOC on Facebook Behaviors and Policies, especially its Political “Lie Exemption” Policy

While Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial Libra cryptocurrency project is what initially got him into the House for another hearing on October 23rd, the House Financial Services Committee Members took this as an opportunity to express their concerns about Facebook’s paramount involvement in a variety of controversial issues.

Each committee member was given five minutes to address their Facebook policy concerns with Zuckerberg, and they did not waste their time, especially Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she interrogates him regarding Facebook’s influential role in endangering the nation’s democracy and general safety.

Here’s a brief rundown of the topics she addresses that continue to put Zuckerberg and his insidiously dangerous Facebook ‘megaphone‘ under hot water to this very day:

Libra Cryptocurrency: Another Scam to hide behind an Outsourced Entity in order to Evade Accountability? This time, he’s going for the Poor and “Unbanked”

On June 14, 2019, Zuckerberg released his plans to launch a cryptocurrency project called Libra on Facebook, and since then, it’s been facing a lot of criticism from the government and anti-trust regulators.

The Libra cryptocurrency is a part of Facebook’s future mobile payment system, proposed at Facebook’s annual developer conference in April. The crypto currency project aims to allow Facebook’s 2.4 billion worldwide users to exchange payments with minimal fees and without the need for a third-party software.

“It’s not that Facebook is evil, which it may or may not be. Facebook hasn’t shown an ability to think through unintended consequences or prevent bad actors from weaponizing its platform.”

ScotT Galloway, Marketing Professor at NYU, Author of “The Four”, well-known for his unsparing critiques of influential tech companies

But, while the idea appears to have good intentions behind it, much like many of Zuckerberg’s other ideas, the problems and potential dangers are in the details.

So, the real issue is in how the Libra cryptocurrency project can potentially influence Facebook’s extremely wide global user base in a number of negative ways.

“If 50 percent of Facebook users all of a sudden use this coin, then you potentially have a new reserve currency globally. If you would weaponize a global currency and start monkeying with it, you could have what capitalists fear more than war: a recession–or some sort of a global economic meltdown.”

SCOTT GALLOWAY

California Representative Congressman Brad Sherman interrogated Zuckerberg extensively on this topic during the Financial Services Committee Hearing, which illustrated these repercussions specifically.

Brad Shermon eloquently points out a pattern that Zuckerberg struggles to answer. He appears to be attempting to hide behind platitudes of egalitarian ideals in order to avoid accountability for content controlled by his platform.

“…but for the richest man in the world to come here and hide behind the poorest people in the world and say that’s who you are trying to help, you are trying to help those to whom the dollar is not a good currency—drug dealers, terrorists and tax evaders..”

Rep. Brad Sherman to Zuckerberg at the House FInancial Services COMmittee Hearing

Cambridge Analytica: AOC cites Facebook’s Biggest Scandal that brought ‘Catastrophic Impact’ to American Democracy in the 2016 Election

But the House Financial Services Committee wasn’t having it, and AOC Exposes Facebook’s Flaws for All to See:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez begins her five-minute interrogation by citing Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal from 2018. Her reasoning is that, before even considering the Libra cryptocurrency issue, it’s important to analyze how Facebook handled Cambridge Analytica because the Libra cryptocurrency project has potential for far worse.

Essentially, AOC gave Zuckerberg a chance to make a case for himself. He had an opportunity to show that he and Facebook are equipped to adequately deal with the repercussions of establishing Libra, and to answer this fundamental question: has Facebook learned from its past mistakes regarding the Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal so that they could take the necessary actions to ensure that data scandals won’t happen again?

Next she asks, what year and month did Zuckerberg first become aware of Cambridge Analytica? He doesn’t remember, but it was probably around March 2018, when the scandal became public.

When did Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg become aware of Cambridge Analytica? Again, Zuckerberg says he doesn’t know, so AOC asks a follow-up question. Did anyone on his leadership team know about Cambridge Analytica prior to when the initial report came from The Guardian on December 11, 2015? Now, for this one, Zuckerberg believes that this was the case and that members of his leadership team were tracking it internally. Additionally, he takes this opportunity and appears to try to avoid responsibility by saying that he was aware of Cambridge Analytica as an entity, but he also wasn’t aware of how they were using Facebook specifically.

When was the issue discussed with his board member Peter Teal? Once again, Zuckerberg proclaims his ignorance, to which AOC iterates that his answers are unacceptable. It is unacceptable that he did not properly discuss the “largest data scandal” with respect to his company that had “catastrophic impacts on the 2016 election.”

While Zuckerberg flaggingly scrambles to defend himself by explaining that they did discuss the issue when it happened, he fails to answer whether Facebook is capable of being accountable for their actions by addressing their mistakes with handling data privacy so that they wouldn’t be repeated. If Facebook truly cared about handling data privacy, then they would have taken extensive measures to address the issue. Maybe then, Zuckerberg would’ve actually remembered enough about the issue to answer AOC’s questions.

Read more: Zuckerberg claims Facebook is the ‘5th Estate’ while in Reality he runs Algorithmic Dictatorship

Facebook Policy allows Politicians to Pay to Spread Misinformation

Zuckerberg’s seemingly flagrant irresponsibility with regards to handling Facebook leads AOC to confront him on the current hot topic: “Facebook’s official policy to allow politicians to pay to spread disinformation in 2020 elections and in the future.” She demands to know how far this policy could be pushed before Facebook decides to fact-check and take down these posts, because, again, they have the potential to influence the next election directly.

Could politicians enact voter suppression by advertising wrong election date to zip codes with primarily black communities? Zuckerberg vaguely explains that content will be taken down if it were to cause an obvious immediate harm. Okay, but what if it’s not obvious? Will his answer suffice then? The answer is likely no, because infinite ways can be found to dodge this issue, then, once again, and we’re back to square one.

Further she presses him, Could she (AOC) run ads targeting Republicans in primaries saying that they voted for the Green New Deal? Zuckerberg is unsure, but answers that she probably could. Elizabeth Warren recently did something similar in her “Zuckerberg Supports Trump” ad.

Does Zuckerberg see the potential problem here with a complete lack of fact-checking on political advertisements? To that, he appeals to common morals: lying is bad. His logic is that he doesn’t want to prevent constituents from seeing that politicians had lied, which clarifies that Zuckerberg won’t take these ads down.

The problem with this logic is that the general public is assumed to have the ability to differentiate between lies and the truth. But, as this current presidency has proven, many, if not most, people clearly do not.

Thoughts on Zuckerberg’s On-Going Dinner Parties with Far-Right Figures? Debatable, or so he tries to imply.

Further, Zuckerberg’s on-going dinner parties in which he cultivates relationships with known politically far-right figures is also suspicious. After all, there have been numerous times that alt-right entities abused social media platforms in the service of discrimination and hate crimes.

Did Zuckerberg discuss the alleged social media bias against conservatives, and does he believe that this bias exists? Zuckerberg indicated that he couldn’t remember the question or answer it, appearing to want to avoid confirming or denying these associations under oath, so AOC moved on.

Next she asked Zuckerberg to explain why he named the Daily Caller, a publication well-documented to have ties to white supremacists, an official fact-checker for Facebook? Once again, Zuckerberg tries to escape responsibility by saying that they don’t actually appoint independent fact-checkers and that they come from an independent organization called the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) that has rigorous standards for who they allow to serve as a fact-checking entity.

White-supremacist-tied publications meet a rigorous standard for fact-checking? Zuckerberg had no answer, which is again, an indicator that she had pushed him into areas he would prefer to avoid. After research, it turns out that he lied, or at minimum mis-led in his answer on multiple points, First, the (IFCN) have generally “certified” a total of 62 organizations globally, but it is, indeed, Facebook and presumably Zuckerberg personally, that chose the 6 in particular that are Facebook partners.

There’s a Pattern Here: Facebook and other Social Media Platforms Need to be held Accountable

Clearly, Zuckerberg still thinks that he could get by with excuses in an effort to absolve himself from the endless blame that Facebook receives from The Media for meddling with numerous socially-influential affairs.

It’s hard not to notice that while Mr. Zuckerberg has been given many chances to make amends for Facebook’s failures, the opportunity has been for naught, apparently, because his private for-profit company is only interested in maintaining user engagement, which he now claims is in the name of free speech and equality. However, clearly, these cannot actually be achieved without specifically executing processes that address the discriminatory practices.

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Observation, Politics

Trump’s Racist Tweets are Part of a Simple, Hackneyed Plan for Campaign

At a staged speech in front of the White House on Monday under the auspices of a pre-planned “Made In America” event, Mr. Trump started off, as he often does, from the teleprompter, then, veered off into continuation of the weekend’s twitter tirade. The traditional, annual, event which is coordinated with “Made in America Day” and “Made in America Week” is a standard “pro-America” pep rally meant to give the President the opportunity to tout his patriotic agenda.

After a few remarks from the usual scripted pro-American manufacturing playbook, and his usual boasts about how the stock market and job market success are due, exclusively, to his having been elected, he launched into a defense of his racist tweets that have been dominating the news cycle over the weekend. 

Read More: Dark Towers tells Deutsche Bank Story of Trump, post Bankruptcy yet Swimming in Loans

Read more: ICE Raids and a Xenophobe Named Trump: Sunday, July 14th in the USA

Reporters present pushed Mr. Trump to respond to the trending topic, rather than continue with the purported theme of the day, praise for American made jobs, products and manufacturers. In response to one reporter’s query:

“Does it concern you that many people saw that tweet as racist and that white nationalist groups are finding common cause with you on that point?”

He replied:

“It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me. And all I’m saying, they want to leave, they can leave.”

Everything New is Old Again

This exchange led to additional back and forth on the theme “Love It Or Leave It”, a hackneyed slogan from the sixties, and, with 50 year anniversaries of the Apollo Moon landing and Woodstock this summer, it seems oddly fitting that a Republican President, echoing Nixon, should be trying to re-ignite that tired refrain.

Even as reporters continued to try and question the motives and meanings of his, clearly racist, tweets aimed at the congresswomen, Trump continued to beat the “love it or leave it” drum:

Read More: Owes or Owed: Either Way Trump’s Dealings with Bank of China are Questionable

“If you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, very simply, you can leave. You can leave right now. Come back if you want, don’t come back, it’s OK too. But if you’re not happy, you can leave,” Sadly this all seems like a scripted melodrama straight out of the Nixon campaign.

Meanwhile the specter of alleged communist sympathy, taking us all back to the “HUAC” witch hunts of the 50s, of all things, was hurled at the target of Trump’s weekend tweets, by none other than that schizophrenic  sycophant, Lindsey Graham:

I see [Lindsey Graham’s] biggest issue w/ Trump’s racism is that it doesn’t go far enough – Graham wants to bring back 1950s McCarthyism, too.

GOP is doing this because they have no plan for our future.

We’re the ones fighting for healthcare, edu, good jobs, & they got nothing.

– ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ – IN A TWEET

Tired, Old Ploy, Once Again Trotted Out to Muddy the Waters

This entire episode, starting with the offensive tweets, is obviously a ploy to draw battle lines – again harkening back to the Nixon campaign and his “Silent Majority” refrain, complaining that protesters against the Vietnam war were a small minority, and that he spoke for the majority in his (soon to be proven criminal and corrupt)  positions and policies. 

Sadly, unless the strategy is undone by a more enlightened electorate, we could be headed for a similar fate: Nixon won in a landslide in 1972 only to resign before almost certain impeachment in 1974 after a “long national nightmare”.

Hopefully the parallels with ‘69 – ‘72 will end in November 2020. 

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Politics

ICE Raids and a Xenophobe Named Trump: Sunday, July 14th in the USA

Trump’s Goons Set Loose on Cities Across the Nation: Some ICE raids Currently Underway

As promised, ICE raids are in progress across the country, as announced by the Trump administration and widely reported. 

There have been over 2000 immigrants targeted for arrest in a host of major cities: New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco and New Orleans. It appears, possibly as a tactic, that smaller rural communities are also seeing action.

Mayors in some cities have spoken out strongely against the actions, such as New York’s Mayor de Blasio as seen in the above tweet. The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs added a video to remind those affected of their options under the law. 

The video reminds those targets and any other immigrants that they have the right to refuse to open their doors and do not have to respond, according to the law in New York City, for example. 

According to witnesses in areas already targeted in New York, people appear to be avoiding going out in public and streets are quieter than usual. 

In what was likely not a coincidence, on Saturday, Trump chose to hurl xenophobic insults at Democrat Congresswomen, implying that they are not American and should “go back and help fix” the “places from which they came” :

The tweets, clearly meant for the progressive wing of the Democratic Congress, were not only racist and xenophobic but also, as is sadly, no surprise, wrong. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born in New York City, Rashida Tlaib was born in Detroit and Massachusetts Congresswoman, Ayanna S. Pressley was born in Cincinnati. Only Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, was born outside the country, in Somalia.

“You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder.

You won’t accept a nation that sees healthcare as a right or education as a #1 priority, especially where we’re the ones fighting for it. Yet here we are.”

– Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in Tweet responding to trump’s tirade

The LA Times reported, in an interview with Melissa Taveras of the Florida Immigrant Commission, based in Miami, that the onset of possible raids was like waiting for a hurricane:

Read More:

“The overall environment is very much like a hurricane: When is it going to come, is it going to hit us, is it going to move north?”

Melissa Taveras , Quoted in the L.A. Times

“The overall environment is very much like a hurricane: When is it going to come, is it going to hit us, is it going to move north?” she said. “We have people in Homestead, Little Havana, Little Haiti — where we know there are concentrations of immigrants — distributing ‘know your rights’ pamphlets. That seems to be effective because we’re already hearing reports of people not opening their doors.”

Her organization was advising families to be sure to have a relative or attorney’s contact information memorized in order to contact them, if detained, and that they need to be sure to give them details of where they are taken, along with full name and birthday, in order to help try and get them released, if arrested. 

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Business, Economics, News, Tech

Warren’s Facebook Ad Calling For Breakup Is Removed, Then Restored

Egg On Face Of Facebook, Again.

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren recently made a point, and then proved that point with the “help” of Facebook. The Massachusetts Senator posted an ad calling for the “break up” of tech giants Facebook, Google and Amazon. The video advertisement was removed by Facebook. Their reasoning for the removal was that the ad was in breach of Facebook’s advertising and copyright policy (the Facebook logo was used in the ad). The removal was reversed by Facebook based on a stated policy of wanting to allow a “robust debate”. The ad wasn’t expensive. It was only $100, but proved in the end to make an invaluable point.

The ensuing bru-ha-ha was worth many times the original sum by bringing more attention and focus to the very issue the ad was meant to highlight:

Read More: Facebook Acquires Giphy while Congress steps in with Antitrust Suspicions

The Democrat Senator served as Barack Obama’s Director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She’s also an aggressive opponent of “big banks” and unlawful practices committed by Wall Street. Warren’s argument was contextualized by antitrust law violations by Microsoft in the 90’s. Warren also explained how these laws lead to the opportunity for websites and tech companies to flourish. Yet, these (aforementioned) tech giants aren’t playing by the rules. 

Opposing Monopolists: a rising trend among Democrats

Warren acknowledged the invaluable place that these companies play in our lives, during her speech at SXSW. She also affirmed that they need to be “broken up” in order to promote innovation. 

“Facebook, Amazon, and Google. We all use them. But in their rise to power, they’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field in their favor.

It’s time to break up these big companies so they don’t have so much power over everyone else.

Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren

The Senator isn’t the only high profile Democrat taking big tech companies to task, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a voice of opposition in the recent Amazon HQ to Queens deal.

Read More: Big Tech headed for a Storm of Changes once the Novel Coronavirus Fades from Center Stage

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Economics, News

Amazon Pulls Out Of New York Deal Due To State And Local Opposition

photo / Monique Ly

Amazon scrapped plans for its contentious HQ2 project in Queens, New York, following backlash from local lawmakers and unions. The cancellation came after much fanfare, and a sweepstakes like fervor from city and state officials (including Governor Cuomo, and Mayor de Blasio) who made clear they were in favor of the deal.  The agreement to lure Amazon with government incentives became a subject of great debate due to a climate of high cost of living, lack of affordable housing and rapid gentrification.

The 2.8 billion dollars in incentives offered to Amazon came with promises to jumpstart the Queens waterfront, and also included a helicopter pad for CEO Jeff Bezos. The Amazon/Queens location deal came under fire and skepticism for largely being brokered behind closed doors. This lead local community leaders to petition door to door for it to be blocked.

“….. a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.”

Amazon Public Release

Read More: Is Jeff Bezos soon to be World’s First Trillionaire? No Chance in Hell. Here’s Why

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the chorus of local politicians and advocates taking the debate to the public. In a statement, Amazon applauded Governor Cuomo, and Mayor de Blasio for their cooperation. Amazon also took the opportunity to state that (unnamed) “state and local politicians” “oppose our presence”.  

Representative Ocasio-Cortez tweeted her clear opposition and stance, indicating that she may be among the politicians referred to in the statement:

Read More: Big Tech headed for a Storm of Changes once the Novel Coronavirus Fades from Center Stage

Amazon has no plans to re-open its search for a new location, they’ll continue with planned North Virginia and Nashville locations.

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