Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Putin-Xi bromance flourishes as Russia-China summit kicks off
Politico | SEJLA AHMATOVIC AND EVA HARTOG | 05/16/24

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Thursday in Beijing as part of a state visit to emphasize their strong relationship and China's wartime support for Russia's economy.

The Chinese president greeted his Russian counterpart at the Great Hall of the People, kicking off two days of discussions covering the war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, and cooperation on economics and defense.

"This partnership is without a doubt exemplary for how the relationship between neighboring states should be," Putin said. "Our cooperation in global affairs today is one of the main stabilizing factors in the global arena," he added, while ignoring his own role in ordering a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. ... Read more

Lab-grown meat's PR problem offers an opportunity for plant-based products
Salon | Ashkie Stevens | 05/14/24

Alabama announced Tuesday they would follow Florida's lead in banning lab-grown meat

Slop. This is the four-letter word Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman used to describe lab-grown meat on social media, while seemingly begrudgingly praising "Crash-and-Burn Ron" Desantis after the Republican governor banned the manufacturing and sale of cultured meat in the state of Florida.

"I co-sign this," Fetterman wrote. "As a member of @SenateAgDems and as some dude who would never serve that slop to my kids, I stand with our American ranchers and farmers."

This is just the tip of the iceberg. As cultured meat has entered the culture wars, and questions around its production and distribution have become political fodder - for instance, on Monday, Alabama followed Florida's lead in banning the products - its detractors have hurled a series of colorful descriptors its way. ... Read more

Alleged 'deal' offer from Trump to big oil could save industry $110bn, study finds
TheGuardian | Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor | 05/16/24

A "deal" allegedly offered by Donald Trump to big-oil executives as he sought $1bn in campaign donations could save the industry $110bn in tax breaks if he returns to the White House, an analysis suggests.

The fundraising dinner held last month at Mar-a-Lago with more than 20 executives, including from Chevron, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, reportedly involved Trump asking for large campaign contributions and promising, if elected, to remove barriers to drilling, scrap a pause on gas exports, and reverse new rules aimed at cutting car pollution.

Some of the tax breaks have been around for decades, and are a global issue, but the US oil and gas industry benefited disproportionately from tax cuts passed by Trump when he was president in 2017. ... Read more

Will Billionaires Destroy Worker Rights? | Robert Reich | 05/15/24 | 4:35

Are Presidents Above the Law? | Robert Reich | 05/01/24 | 3:00

Bibi's rant: Israel isn't a "vassal state" of the U.S.
Axios | Barak Ravid | 05/15/24

A day after President Biden warned Israel that a major attack on Rafah would cross a "red line" for U.S. support, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on a rant during a meeting with his security cabinet.

"We are not a vassal state of the United States!" he declared, according to three people with knowledge of his remarks, including one of Netanyahu's aides.

The tension began escalating two weeks ago, after Biden put a hold on 3,500 U.S. bombs that were on a ship about to depart for Israel. ... Read more

600,000 PALESTINIAN KIDS IN RAFAH CAN'T "EVACUATE" SAFELY, UNICEF OFFICIAL SAYS
TheIntercept | Jeremy Scahill | 05/09/24

ROLLING ITS TANKS this week into Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military moved swiftly to take control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt. The takeover severed the only corridor connecting Palestinians in Gaza to land not controlled by Israel. In a gratuitous symbolic act, an Israeli tank bulldozed the "I love Gaza" monument greeting visitors as they cross into the territory from Egypt.

The attack - and the looming full-scale invasion of Rafah being threatened by Israel despite heavily qualified White House objections - leaves Palestinian civilians bearing the brunt of the relentless assault. Israel quickly closed the Rafah border crossing. The closing leaves the trickling spigots of aid to Gaza virtually shut off. ... Read more

Sun unleashes largest flare of this solar cycle
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 05/15/24

The Sun unleashed the largest flare of its current cycle on Tuesday, days after it generated a powerful solar storm that brought stunning auroras to Northern and Southern Hemisphere skies.

The flares were emitted from a super active sunspot cluster, Active Region 3664, which shot out coronal mass ejections (CME) - large bursts of plasma from the Sun.

These triggered severe geomagnetic storms directed at Earth, which resulted in the Northern and Southern Lights being visible to much of the world. ... Read more

First major wildfires of Canada's season hit northern U.S. air quality
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 05/14/24

Officials in western Canada warned of "volatile wildfire activity," as dozens of blazes burn in dry conditions across the country, triggering evacuation orders in affected regions and air quality alerts in several U.S. states this week.

By the numbers: Most of the 139 blazes burning in the first major wildfires since Canada's record season that finally abated in October were in British Columbia (46) and Alberta (46) as of early Tuesday, per the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

The CIFFC listed 41 of these fires as "out of control" — among them the Parker Lake fire in northern British Columbia, which has burned over 20,000 acres since it began on Friday and which was on Tuesday nearing the town of Fort Nelson, where evacuation orders have already been issued. ... Read more

Biden signs Russian uranium ban
Axios | Sareen Habeshian | 05/14/24

President Biden on Monday signed a bipartisan bill banning imports of Russian enriched uranium, with waivers for companies to continue bringing it in until 2028.

Why it matters: The U.S. spends an estimated $1 billion per year on nuclear fuel from Russia, so the new law cuts off a key source of revenue as Putin's forces escalate their war on Ukraine and drive military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s.

Congress moved to ban Russian oil, gas and coal soon after the full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, but Russia supplies about 20% of its enriched uranium for U.S. nuclear fuel. ... Read more

Israeli war cabinet votes to expand Rafah operation area, amid growing U.S. concerns
Axios | Barak Ravid | 05/10/24

Amid growing U.S. concerns about the humanitarian situation in Rafah, the Israeli security cabinet approved last night the "expansion of the area of operation" of the Israel Defense Forces in the southern Gaza city, according to three sources with knowledge of the details.

The big picture: President Biden said this week said if Israel invades Rafah, where more than one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, the U.S. will stop supplying it with artillery shells, bombs for fighter jets and other offensive weapons.

The latest: Two sources said this is a "measured expansion" that does not cross Biden's "red line." ... Read more

Republicans want to force Biden to send arms to Israel
Axios | Andrew Solender | 05/10/24

Republican lawmakers are pushing legislation aimed at stopping President Biden from withholding weapons shipments to Israel.

Why it matters: The administration's move to block the arms sales has drawn backlash from pro-Israel lawmakers in both parties.

Most recently, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) said in a statement on Thursday he is "deeply concerned" about the decision "as well as the President's comments about withholding security assistance to Israel."

What's happening: The administration has paused transfers of ammunition, 500-pound bombs and 2000-pound bombs - a way of signaling U.S. concerns about a potential invasion of Rafah, per Axios' Barak Ravid. ... Read more

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall

Five-year-old Milad Salama is excited for a school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem. On the way, his bus collides with a semitrailer. His father, Abed, gets word of the crash and rushes to the site. The scene is chaos-the children have been taken to different hospitals in Jerusalem and the West Bank; some are missing, others cannot be identified. Abed sets off on an odyssey to learn Milad's fate. It is every parent's worst nightmare, but for Abed it is compounded by the maze of physical, emotional, and bureaucratic obstacles he must navigate because he is Palestinian. He is on the wrong side of the separation wall, holds the wrong ID to pass the military checkpoints, and has the wrong papers to enter the city of Jerusalem. Abed's quest to find Milad is interwoven with the stories of a cast of Jewish and Palestinian characters whose lives and histories unexpectedly converge.

In A Day in the Life of Abed Salama, Nathan Thrall-hailed for his "severe allergy to conventional wisdom" (Time)-offers an indelibly human portrait of the struggle over Israel/Palestine and a new understanding of the tragic history and reality of one of the most contested places on earth.

"Dangerous" storms with potentially "intense" tornadoes threaten Central U.S.
Axios | Andrew Freedman,Rebecca Falconer | 05/07/24

A significant severe storm outbreak threatening much of the Plains and Central U.S. unleashed tornadoes across several states - including a destructive one that ripped through two northeastern Oklahoma towns late Monday.

Threat level: The Storm Prediction Center raised the risk level to "High," the most significant level on its risk scale that is rarely used, due to the tornado threat in central Oklahoma and southern Kansas into Monday night.

The storms are the result of a clash between cooler, much drier air from the west with fast-moving warm, moist air flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico and spreading across much of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.

The presence of strong winds well above the surface, associated with a dip in the jet stream, will help trigger severe thunderstorms and give them the energy needed to become supercells, which are thunderstorms that contain persistent, rotating updrafts. ... Read more

Exclusive poll: Most college students shrug at nationwide protests
Axios | Sareen Habeshian | 05/07/24

College protests against Israel's war in Gaza are dominating headlines. But only a sliver of students are participating or view it as a top issue, according to a new Generation Lab survey shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: The poll hints that the war - and the accompanying protests - might not hurt President Biden's election prospects among young voters as much as previously thought.

By the numbers: Only a small minority (8%) of college students have participated in either side of the protests, the survey of 1,250 college students found.

Students ranked the conflict in the Middle East as the least important issue facing them out of nine options. ... Read more

Kristi Noem Defends Killing Dog & Trump Sizes Up VPs | The Daily Show | 05/06/24 | 12:05

Inside Trump's stunning flip-flop on early voting
Axios | Alex Thompson | 05/02/24

After years of calling voting by mail "corrupt" and "crooked," Donald Trump and GOP committees are scrambling to convince their voters that it's safe and secure ahead of the Nov. 5 elections.

Why it matters: Democrats have built a large mail-in voting advantage over the GOP in swing states that could decide the election, as many Republican voters have bought into Trump's stated distrust of voting by mail.

Driving the news: Trump - who has long cited mail-in voting in questioning the results of the 2020 election - abruptly shifted his public messaging this month.

- "ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS," he posted on Truth Social. ... Read more

Exposing the NSA's Mass Surveillance of Americans | CYBERWAR | VICE | 04/27/24 | 22:20