Today’s comic by Ruben Bolling is A Calvinesque and Hobbesian look at 'Go back to where you came from!'
• Activists mobilize for climate strikes on September 20 and 27: So far, actions are slated in 150 nations. As with previous climate actions, these owe their existence to the work of young people. In a video calling for the actions, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg says: "Our house is on fire—let's act like it. We demand climate justice for everyone." 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben says in the video,"Young people have been leading here, but now it's the job of the rest of us to back them up." The two Friday strikes frame a “Global Week for Future” and will occur as the United Nations Summit on Climate Change takes place September 23 in New York. Evan Cholerton of Earth Strike International says: "This is a fight for ourselves, for our future, and for future generations. This is a fight for justice for all: workers, students, parents, teachers, conservatives, liberals, socialists, and everyone else. We can fight against climate breakdown, and we can fight against environmental destruction. We need to all be part of this, or else the establishment won't budge."
• Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice was at a record low for July 24: In the 40 years since satellite data have been collected, Arctic sea ice has never fallen this low on this date. This doesn't necessarily mean it will still be the lowest when freezing starts again the third week or so of September, but there's a good chance it will, exceeding the record low for that date set in 2012.
• Protecting your parents from the internet week: What do you do when your parents go from posting Minions [memes] to posting hard-right memes about cement milkshakes?
• NPR poll shows Green New Deal is catching on with the public: The survey found that 63% of Americans think the Green New Deal would be a good thing. That breaks down into 86% among Democrats and 64% among independents, and 26% among Republicans. The idea gets higher approval than a wealth tax, a semi-automatic assault gun ban, and free college tuition, as well as the same rating as legalizing marijuana. It also gets a higher rating than a carbon tax (50%) and getting the U.S. back into the Paris climate agreement (53%). Support for the GND gets wide support among whites and people of color, urban and rural Americans, people with and without college degrees, and people who earn less than $50,000 a year.
MIDDAY TWEET
• Trump’s attack on asylum seekers was made in Australia: The Trump regime’s new asylum rule was blocked by a federal judge on Wednesday, but that could be only temporary. The rule imposed July 16 seeks to keep anyone from seeking U.S. asylum if they have traveled through a third country on the way here without seeking asylum there. Which, of course, will make it tougher for people to escape the unsafe conditions in their own nations. Elaine Pearson notes:
Australians are all too familiar with government efforts to outsource their legal obligations onto other poorer countries that lack the capacity to cope with people seeking asylum and can’t protect them from resentful locals. They also know it doesn’t work.The policy of barring asylum-seekers from making a claim and sending them to another country is inhumane, expensive, and frequently results in human rights violations.
• California is suing purported veteran support group Move America Forward: The nonprofit claims it supports U.S. troops with care packages. But the lawsuit asserts that the organization uses donations to fund and endorse political candidates and to pay rent of its director’s public relations firm and his Tea Party Express political organization.
• Amazon’s deal with police requires them to promote its spy cameras:
Amazon's home security company Ring has enlisted local police departments around the country to advertise its surveillance cameras in exchange for free Ring products and a “portal” that allows police to request footage from these cameras, a secret agreement obtained by Motherboard shows. The agreement also requires police to “keep the terms of this program confidential.”
Dozens of police departments around the country have partnered with Ring, but until now, the exact terms of these partnerships have remained unknown.
On
today’s Kagro in the Morning show:
Will the Mueller hearings fog clear? Trump denies everything that happened. Greg Dworkin updates the Dem primary horse race. Mock Presidential seal appears behind the orange idiot during a speech. More Epstein weirdness: aviation edition.