therealnews--2020-08-31--European banks profiteering from environmental crimes in the Amazon

Top private European banks in Switzerland , France , and the Netherlands have for years provided cashflows for the extraction and trade of crude oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon to the U.S. leaving behind a trail of environmental devastation , violent crimes , and human misery , a recent study has found .
Of the 19 banks assessed by the research authors , six top-tier European banks are found responsible for financing 85 percent of all crude-oil trade .
These include top European private financial institutions such as Rabobank , Natixis , Credit Suisse , UBS Switzerland , ING Belgium @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In a classic case of doublespeak , these same banks have policies on advancing human rights , sustainability , and climate change , ” “ These private financial institutions have provided trade financing for approximately 155 million barrels of oil from the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador to refineries in the United States , worth about $ 10 billion USD.
” The environmental cost of this extractive operation is equivalent to the annual emissions from 17 coal-fired power plants , according to the estimates presented .
The financial flows from these private European banks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oil pipelines that raptured in April despite the warnings of soil erosion that led to the catastrophe .
The spill , said to be the worst in 15 years , dumped 15,000 barrels of dirty crude in Napo and Coca rivers that provide drinking water , fish , and other livelihoods to the native communities .
“ While the companies OCP Ecuador and PetroEcuador are directly responsible for the recent oil spill , they are enabled by a global system that finances all aspects of extractivism , ” notes the report .
Trade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ global trade of Amazon crude “ by building bridges between buyers and sellers that have different needs , risks , time horizons , and incentives.
” In addition to providing credit needed for getting Amazon oil to U.S. refineries , the banks also provide knowledge and expertise of the supply chains , actors , and liabilities to their clients .
Often the banks themselves are also the purchasers of the crude , which enabled researchers to trace these transactions by looking at customs documents such as bills of landings which list them as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and enable midstream traders to assess their risks and then buy the oil from the banks using the line of credit provided to them .
In other words , the crude change hands without any of these actors ever taking physical control of the Amazon crude .
And Switzerland , a top tourist destination for the global elites , hosts the majority of the banks financing the flow of Amazon oil and is “ a major hub for the global transit trade where commodities trade hands without traders taking physical possession of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estimated , “ one-third of all globally traded oil was bought and sold in Geneva without touching Swiss soil .
By 2017 , commodities trading made up 3.8 % of the Swiss GDP , more than financial services or tourism.
” While keeping western capitals clean , this European-financed extractive operation continuing for over a decade is inflicting irreversible environmental impact on the Amazon Sacred Headwaters region in Ecuador and Peru .
The area is home to more than 500,000 Indigenous peoples with over 20 nationalities , including peoples in voluntary isolation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ planet , the Sacred Headwaters region is under imminent threat as the fossil fuel production expands into this largely intact rainforest .
The revelation that European banks poured billions of dollars into oil extraction and directly contributed to the destruction of the Amazon came as a shock to the indigenous communities of the Amazon .
In August , Ecuador ’ s indigenous organizations along with the Amazon-wide indigenous confederation called for a moratorium on all forms of crude production in view of the risk of more spills from the raptured pipelines .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , instead announced expanding drilling operations to boost crude output in an effort to jumpstart the economy .
Taking a cue from the government , the trade-in Ecuadorian oil has moved forward as well , “ with banks such as Natixis , Credit Suisse , UBS , BNP Paribas , Rabobank , ING , and ABN AMRO providing trade finance for Chevron , Phillips 66 , Marathon , Valero , and CITGO to buy oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon since March 2020 , ” the report documents .
There are at present no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banks are willing to step back from trade financing , increasingly linked to undiversified economic development , political corruption , illicit financial flows , environmental damage , and human rights violations .
The Real News approached a number of international financial watchdogs for a response on whether any EU laws or regulations require these European banks to adhere to the environmental standards that they have committed to on paper .
“ The short answer is that as far as we know , EU climate laws and regulations don ’ t play a role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brightwell – a researcher with Netherland-based BankTrack .
“ The EU has non-binding commitments to reduce emissions , but these don ’ t impact emissions generated outside the EU , even where they come as a result of projects financed by EU-based banks.
” According to Ryan , there are proposals in the works for binding emissions targets for the EU , with a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 – but even these would not prevent EU banks from financing these kinds of commodities trades , or even financing new coal mines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ The policy moves we are seeing from banks on climate change , including the steady growth of policies excluding finance for new coal , arctic drilling , and tar sands , are not being driven by legislation but largely by public pressure .
Of course , there ’ s a need for these policies to go much further , and exclude all finance for any new fossil fuel extraction.
” Responding to The Real News , the lead investigative researcher of the Stand.earth Research Group , which put together the study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Ecuadorian crude oil from the Amazon , but the U.S. refineries , particularly Californian ones , as the major consumers .
“ How does the oil flow from Ecuador to China to the U.S. ?
We see in the data that some of the crude is traded directly from Ecuador to Chinese firms to US oil companies .
But a lot of it is purchased by midstream traders who then sell it on to US refineries with the trade financing support of major banks.
” Angeline said the concern is that [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ destruction of the Amazon Rainforest through their trade financing .
“ And also , that the supply chain is set up so that China , midstream traders , and banks profit while Ecuador sells its oil for less than market value .
If commodity revenues from oil are being shifted away from Ecuador , Ecuador may become more indebted and less diversified economically , leading to higher rates of poverty and risk of economic collapse.
” According to these experts , the financing model the European banks are practicing mirror classical colonial matrix @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drilling and extraction spiral deeper into poverty , debt , and environmental degradation stunting their future growth and potential .
On the contrary , the value addition from the extracted commodities takes place in financial capitals of the advanced economies , such as Europe and North America where these financial actors are based and profits off of the destruction of native communities and their natural resources as is the case with Amazon and its indigenous people .

A recent study found that for years, private European banks based in Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands have provided billions of dollars for the extraction and trade of crude oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon to the U.S., leaving a trail of environmental devastation, violent crimes, and human misery. The environmental cost of this extractive operation is equivalent to the annual emissions from 17 coal-fired power plants, according to the study.
Of the 19 banks assessed, six top-tier European banks were found to be responsible for financing 85% of all crude oil trade from the Amazon. These include European private financial institutions such as Rabobank, Natixis, Credit Suisse, UBS Switzerland, ING Belgium, and BNP Paribas, among others. While financing crude oil extraction and trade, these same banks have stated policies on advancing human rights, sustainability, and climate change.
The study finds the European banks provided trade financing for about $10 billion worth of oil sent from the Ecuadorian Amazon to refineries in the U.S.
Financing from these banks is also tied to the two transnational oil pipelines that ruptured in April despite the warnings of soil erosion that led to the catastrophe. The spill, said to be the worst in 15 years, dumped 15,000 barrels of dirty crude in the Napo and Coca rivers, which provide drinking water, fish, and more to native communities. The Real News has previously reported on this environmental catastrophe.
While the companies OCP Ecuador and PetroEcuador are directly responsible for the recent oil spill, they are enabled by a global system that finances all aspects of extractivism, the report explains. It adds that trade financing from these private lenders enables the global trade of Amazon crude “by building bridges between buyers and sellers that have different needs, risks, time horizons, and incentives.” In addition to providing the credit for getting Amazon oil to U.S. refineries, the banks also provide knowledge and expertise of the supply chains, actors, and liabilities to their clients.
Often the banks are also purchasers of the crude, which enabled researchers to trace these transactions by looking at customs documents, such as bills of landings, which list the banks as consignees. Banks then own the commodity and enable midstream traders to assess their risks and then buy the oil from the banks using the line of credit provided to them. In other words, the crude changed hands without any of these actors ever actually taking physical control of the Amazon crude.
The report identifies Switzerland, host to the majority of these banks, as “a major hub for the global transit trade where commodities trade hands without traders taking physical possession of the freight.” In 2016, the report notes, “one-third of all globally traded oil was bought and sold in Geneva without touching Swiss soil. By 2017, commodities trading made up 3.8% of the Swiss GDP, more than financial services or tourism.”
This European-financed extractive operation has run for over a decade and inflicted irreversible environmental damage on the Amazon Sacred Headwaters region in Ecuador and Peru. The area is home to more than 500,000 Indigenous peoples with over 20 nationalities, including peoples in voluntary isolation. One of most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, the Sacred Headwaters region is under imminent threat as fossil fuel production expands into this largely intact rainforest.
The revelation that European banks poured billions of dollars into oil extraction and directly contributed to the destruction of the Amazon came as a shock to the Indigenous communities living there. In August, Ecuador’s Indigenous organizations, along with the Amazon-wide Indigenous confederation, called for a moratorium on all forms of crude production in view of the risk of more spills from the ruptured pipelines. But the governments in Ecuador and Peru instead announced expanded drilling operations to boost crude output in an effort to jumpstart the economy.
The trade in Ecuadorian oil has moved forward as well, “with banks such as Natixis, Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, Rabobank, ING, and ABN AMRO providing trade finance for Chevron, Phillips 66, Marathon, Valero, and CITGO to buy oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon since March 2020,” the report explains. There are presently no indications these banks are willing to step back from trade financing increasingly linked to undiversified economic development, political corruption, illicit financial flows, environmental damage, and human rights violations.
The Real News approached international financial watchdogs for a response on whether EU laws or regulations require European banks to adhere to the environmental standards that they have committed to in their own policies.
“The short answer is that as far as we know, EU climate laws and regulations don’t play a role in these trades,” wrote Ryan Brightwell, a researcher with Netherland-based BankTrack. “The EU has non-binding commitments to reduce emissions, but these don’t impact emissions generated outside the EU, even where they come as a result of projects financed by EU-based banks.”
According to Brightwell, there are proposals in the works for binding emissions targets for the EU, with a target of net-zero emissions by 2050—but even these would not prevent EU banks from financing these kinds of commodities trades, or even financing new coal mines or coal power plants outside the EU. “The policy moves we are seeing from banks on climate change, including the steady growth of policies excluding finance for new coal, arctic drilling, and tar sands, are not being driven by legislation but largely by public pressure. Of course, there’s a need for these policies to go much further, and exclude all finance for any new fossil fuel extraction,” Brightwell said.
Angeline Robertson, lead investigative researcher with the Stand.earth Research Group, which put together the study, identified China is the major buyer of Ecuadorian crude oil from the Amazon, but the U.S. refineries, particularly Californian ones, as the major consumers. “How does the oil flow from Ecuador to China to the U.S.? We see in the data that some of the crude is traded directly from Ecuador to Chinese firms to U.S. oil companies. But a lot of it is purchased by midstream traders who then sell it on to U.S. refineries with the trade financing support of major banks.”
Robertson also laid out the serious stakes of the report’s findings.
“The concern is that banks are involved in the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest through their trade financing,” Robertson said. “And also, that the supply chain is set up so that China, midstream traders, and banks profit while Ecuador sells its oil for less than market value. If commodity revenues from oil are being shifted away from Ecuador, Ecuador may become more indebted and less diversified economically, leading to higher rates of poverty and risk of economic collapse.”
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therealnews--2020-08-31--From Amazon to the Auto Industry, Kenosha, WI Exemplifies Climate Justice Denied

This one ’ s personal : My hometown of Kenosha , Wisconsin made international headlines after both a gruesome police shooting and two people on the streets getting killed by a Trump and Blue Lives Matter fanboy .
One of the people killed was my cousin ’ s best friend , as both of them were dedicated skateboarders .
The Blue Lives Matter shooting took place not far from my childhood home .
So , this edition will offer a bit of history about Kenosha missed amidst the current moment rightfully focused on police and right-wing violence .
In other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Texas , and the climate crisis went unmentioned at the Republican National Convention .
And one of the country ’ s largest counties has proposed a European-style interurban rail system .
If you have a story you think deserves a spot in the roundup , or story pitches in general , get in touch with me at [ email protected ] or on Twitter at @ SteveAHorn .
You can read the previous edition here .
Kenosha , the city where I grew up , an urban area of nearly 125,000 people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , has made international news .
Though we called it “ Kenowhere ” as kids , the city is now on the map for all the wrong reasons .
On Aug. 23 , Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey shot Jacob Blake , a 29-year-old Black man , in the back at point blank range seven times .
The incident was filmed on cell phones from two vantage points and is currently under investigation by both the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation and U.S. Department of Justice .
Jacob Blake , flown to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has miraculously survived .
But he may be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life .
In the days since the police shooting , there have been protests , rioting , looting , and chaos .
And it all reached an especially violent crescendo around midnight on Aug. 26 , when a 17-year-old Blue Lives Matter devotee named Kyle Rittenhouse—an apparent fan of President Donald Trump—shot and killed two people , and badly wounded another .
Like with Blake , the shooting was filmed , this one livestreamed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ period in a city many had never heard of until the police shooting .
So , it makes sense that much of the coverage so far missed information about what Kenosha is , its history , and the sociology and demographics of the city .
Simply put : Kenosha is more than the latest battlezone over police brutality .
For the purposes of this newsletter , its history also epitomizes climate injustice and serves as a framework for understanding how such an incident could happen .
Kenosha , Wisconsin , is located on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the edge of Lake Michigan , and is the fourth largest city in Wisconsin , quickly approaching third , right behind Milwaukee , Madison , and Green Bay .
And United States population centers are synonymous with jobs .
For Kenosha those jobs were in the auto industry , until a decade ago .
From 1903-1988 , the city rivaled Detroit for manufacturing cars .
The city produced cars under several corporate banners , the most well-known being American Motors Corporation , and then Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler .
In her 1994 book @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Lost Jobs , New Lives in Postindustrial America , ” Yale scholar Kathryn Marie Dudley explains that the industry helped to diversity the city by attracting Black and Latinx workers from the southern U.S. with union jobs that were considered some of the best and most lucrative in the industry at the time .
According to July 2019 U.S. Census data , 11.5 % of the population is Black and 17.6 % Latinx , significantly more diverse than the state at large .
In 1988 , Chrysler closed down the production line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kenosha Engine Plant remained , producing only engines for Chrysler , and eventually shuttering in 2010 during the recession and shedding another 575 jobs .
Over a span of two decades , Kenosha had changed from a unionized auto company town to a bedroom community for those with jobs in Chicagoland and Greater Milwaukee .
The vast majority of jobs in the city itself became low-wage service sector positions .
Chrysler also began funding climate denial during this time period as a member of the Global Climate Coalition , a central messaging tool @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the science and delay action , which was also funded by the major oil companies .
The coalition materialized in the aftermath of NASA climate scientist James Hansen ’ s testimony in front of Congress about the threat climate change posed in 1988 , the first scientist to do so .
During those decades , cars produced by the auto industry helped Kenosha build a sprawling housing pattern to the west , away from the city ’ s historic core by Lake Michigan .
But like most sprawl , this pattern also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pockets of the city .
The single-family home suburban lifestyle—only possible in most cases via owning and driving multiple greenhouse-gas emitting vehicles—let some people thrive .
And that was bad news for climate change .
A 2015 University of Michigan study points to suburban sprawl housing as a major contributor to climate change , emitting 25 % higher greenhouse gas levels than housing for lower-income families and individuals .
The study found Wisconsin to be one of the three states with the most energy intensive housing due to the annual extremities in temperature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s electricity comes from a dual generation natural gas and coal power plant in nearby Oak Creek .
The city had its own coal-fired power plant until 2018 , which opened in 1980 , just as Kenosha was shifting from a purely blue collar town to bedroom community .
With fossil fuel power servicing its suburban sprawl , Kenosha ’ s population grew from about 80,000 in 1990 to about 100,000 today .
During that time period , another industrial giant with a horrific climate track record seized the opportunity of a shuttered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amazon opened a fulfillment center near Kenosha ’ s airport , along the interstate highway connecting Milwaukee and Chicago , eventually creating 3,000 jobs .
It is now the city ’ s top employer .
The company has benefited from $ 32 million in subsidies in Kenosha .
Still , it ’ s a far cry from the over 16,000 workers employed during the peak of the auto industry in the 1960s , largely due to the increasingly automated nature of production in Amazon ’ s facilities .
The new jobs also lack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Amazon ’ s hostile attitude toward labor came to a head during the first weeks of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States , when the company fired workers expressing concerns about the virus spreading in fulfillment centers .
One of those workers is previous TRNN guest , Christopher Smalls .
“ You can ’ t avoid coming , interacting with somebody that may test positive , whether it ’ s in passing , whether it ’ s in and out the entrance of the building , ” Smalls , who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Island warehouse for his outspokenness and labor activism , told TRNN in an April 28 interview .
“ The simple fact [ is ] that you can not stop the spread of the virus once it ’ s in these types of facilities.
” Kenosha ’ s Amazon Fulfillment Center had its own COVID-19 outbreak , as well , with at least 32 workers getting the virus .
The company at one point was so uncooperative with the county with testing and reporting case numbers that the county threatened to shut the facility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For Kenosha , the climate crisis means polar vortex deep freezes , record-breaking snowfalls and summer rainfalls , coastal erosion , and invasive species in Lake Michigan .
Climate justice , at its core , means pushing for what activists call a “ just transition ” —making moves necessary to combat the crisis and winding down industries making a bad situation worse while also protecting workers transitioning out of those jobs .
It also means ensuring those who did the least to cause the climate crisis do not face the brunt of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change as part of other struggles , such as the struggle for racial and economic equality .
And in these areas , Kenosha—like every other city in the United States—must change .
Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane but quickly dissipated into a severe tropical storm , far less severe than original prognostications .
In the hours leading up to the hurricane , some forecasters predicted Laura would strengthen to Category 5 at landfall and well into the landmass , which would have made it the worst hurricane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and far worse than 2005 ’ s Hurricane Katrina .
Instead , the wind speed dropped from 150 MPH at landfall to 75 MPH once the storm continued inland .
Still , those 75 MPH winds could extend as far as 40 miles inland , the BBC reports .
Laura is one of the most powerful storms in United States history .
While some predicted potential oil and gas infrastructure wreckage in this industry hub region , Laura spared most of the facilities of carnage .
But one of them , a chlorine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Louisiana , had a chemical leak and started on fire .
Governor John Bel Edwards , in response , has advised residents “ to shelter in place until further notice and close your doors and windows.
” Extreme wind and a storm cyclone knocked out power for over one million Texans and Louisianans .
Preparing for the worst , what forecasters dubbed “ unsurvivable ” hurricanes , 1.5 million people were ordered to evacuate in the days leading up to Laura .
As of Aug. 28 , six people in Louisiana have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hurricane officially reached land , winds whipped ferociously enough along the Mississippi River that the river began flowing south-to-north , the opposite of its normal flow .
Hurricane Laura arrives at the same time that 350,000 acres of land in Northern California are on fire .
Over 1.4 million acres of California forest have burned so far this year , compared to 56,000 acres at this time in 2019 .
Michael Wara , director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University , told Bloomberg that it ’ s hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change , but that it ’ s important to look at the broader pattern .
“ As all of these things become more likely , it ’ s more likely we ’ re going to have these coincidences where we have all kinds of weather events that are extreme occurring at once , ” Wara said .
“ It feels like the climate has it in for us.
” The Republican Party wrapped up its convention this week with more Hatch Act violations , a sleepy but terrifying Trump speech , and fireworks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ethics violations , socializing without masks , race-baiting , some very bizarre speeches , and denunciations of “ cancel culture.
” But the Republicans had nothing to say about climate change , even as a hurricane slammed into two red states .
The party did not even bother to issue a new platform for this year , deferring to the one it approved in 2016 , which reads : “ Climate change is far from this nation ’ s most pressing national security issue .
This is the triumph of extremism over common @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” In her newsletter , climate reporter Emily Atkin called the GOP “ extremists ” : “ When it comes to climate change , Republicans are the extremists , ” she wrote .
“ Faced with a clear financial and social catastrophe , their solution is… nothing .
Not one damn thing .
In fact , their solution is to add more fuel to the fire—more oil , more gas , more fossil fuels.
” Young Republicans called out the climate silence , starting the hashtag # WhatAboutClimate .
“ By not including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the stage during this year ’ s convention , the Republican Party is leaving an entire generation of conservative voters behind , ” Benji Backer , president of the American Conservation Coalition—a conservative youth climate action group—told E & E News .
The same week , the Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis released its own new plan paying lip service to the climate crisis , but it does not rein in the fossil fuel industry .
For example , there is no reduction of fossil fuel subsidies or fracking or offshore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ line with every other Democratic Party plan released in the past two months , a push for carbon sequestration , utilization , and storage ( CCUS ) .
These days , that means mostly capturing carbon at power plants and industrial facilities , using that carbon to extract more oil out of wells , and then sequestering it in underground injection wells .
Mitch Jones , policy director for Food & Water Action , said the report fails to meet the moment on the climate crisis in an effort “ to placate the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it fails to address the vital need to end the extraction , processing , and burning of fossil fuels , and instead sees a future for fossil fuels tied to the false promise of carbon capture , ” he said in a press release .
“ Any serious climate proposal must have at its center a plan to ban fracking , stop new fossil fuel infrastructure , and end the export of crude oil and natural gas .
Anything less condemns future generations to increasing climate chaos.
” San Diego County ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Diego Association of Governments ( SANDAG ) , has finally released its mass transit plan .
SANDAG ’ s proposal would create a European-style rail system with trains that go up 80 MPH , weaving through much of the sprawling county .
San Diego County is the fifth most populous in the country , and contains the United States ’ eighth largest city .
The county is notorious for its heavy traffic and dependency on the web of interstate and state highways that provide essentially the only way to get around expeditiously outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rail system .
Automobile traffic makes up 45 % of county greenhouse gas emissions , according to the 2014 county greenhouse gas emissions inventory—the most recently compiled report .
The plan , the rough contours of which were announced last year , is a point of contention between the county ’ s Democrats and Republicans .
Democrats have called it key to meeting the county ’ s climate goals under state law and creating jobs in the process , while Republicans have positioned it as an expensive and unaccountable boondoggle in the making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their blood , sweat , and tears into a truly comprehensive vision for a transportation system of the future , ” Ikhrata said in a press release announcing the proposal .
“ This vision considers evolving technology to create a safe , adaptable , and equitable transportation network with fast , fair , and clean choices to give every San Diegan and future generations the option to move around the region as they choose.
” The plan ’ s implementation largely hinges on November ’ s election results .
On Aug. 13 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the District 3 County Board of Supervisors race between Trump-allied incumbent Kristin Gaspar and Obama Treasury Department alum Terra Lawson-Remer could determine the fate of the proposal by shoring up a voting bloc in favor of the plan within SANDAG .
Lawson-Remer told TRNN in 2019 that she supports the plan .
Ikhrata , who has spoken in favor of and advocated fervently for the proposed mass transit system , recently donated to Lawson-Remer ’ s campaign in an unprecedented maneuver for a SANDAG director—a move slammed by Gaspar ’ s campaign .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a sitting SANDAG member , to a mayoral candidate who favors the plan , and to a city council member ’ s campaign .
The mass transit system will be paid for with a one cent sales tax .
The SANDAG board will likely vote on the proposal by fall 2021 .
It then could take decades to build and would require a two-thirds vote from the public to approve the sales tax which would happen by the 2022 or 2024 election cycle , likely determined by public polling to gauge likelihood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The plan also calls for a traffic congestion pricing system to generate revenue and disincentivize driving .

Welcome back to TRNN’s Climate Crisis News Roundup.
This one’s personal: My hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin made international headlines after both a gruesome police shooting and two people on the streets getting killed by a Trump and Blue Lives Matter fanboy. One of the people killed was my cousin’s best friend, as both of them were dedicated skateboarders. The Blue Lives Matter shooting took place not far from my childhood home. So, this edition will offer a bit of history about Kenosha missed amidst the current moment rightfully focused on police and right-wing violence. In other news, Hurricane Laura is walloping Louisiana and Texas, and the climate crisis went unmentioned at the Republican National Convention. And one of the country’s largest counties has proposed a European-style interurban rail system.
If you have a story you think deserves a spot in the roundup, or story pitches in general, get in touch with me at steve@therealnews.com or on Twitter at @SteveAHorn. You can read the previous edition here.
Kenosha’s Climate Injustice
Kenosha, the city where I grew up, an urban area of nearly 125,000 people located about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, has made international news. Though we called it “Kenowhere” as kids, the city is now on the map for all the wrong reasons. On Aug. 23, Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in the back at point blank range seven times. The incident was filmed on cell phones from two vantage points and is currently under investigation by both the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation and U.S. Department of Justice.
Jacob Blake, flown to a hospital in Milwaukee after the incident, has miraculously survived. But he may be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. In the days since the police shooting, there have been protests, rioting, looting, and chaos. And it all reached an especially violent crescendo around midnight on Aug. 26, when a 17-year-old Blue Lives Matter devotee named Kyle Rittenhouse—an apparent fan of President Donald Trump—shot and killed two people, and badly wounded another. Like with Blake, the shooting was filmed, this one livestreamed.
All of that happened within a 48-hour period in a city many had never heard of until the police shooting. So, it makes sense that much of the coverage so far missed information about what Kenosha is, its history, and the sociology and demographics of the city. Simply put: Kenosha is more than the latest battlezone over police brutality. For the purposes of this newsletter, its history also epitomizes climate injustice and serves as a framework for understanding how such an incident could happen.
Kenosha, Wisconsin, is located on the southeast border of the state, on the edge of Lake Michigan, and is the fourth largest city in Wisconsin, quickly approaching third, right behind Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay. And United States population centers are synonymous with jobs. For Kenosha those jobs were in the auto industry, until a decade ago. From 1903-1988, the city rivaled Detroit for manufacturing cars. The city produced cars under several corporate banners, the most well-known being American Motors Corporation, and then Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler. In her 1994 book, “The End of the Line: Lost Jobs, New Lives in Postindustrial America,” Yale scholar Kathryn Marie Dudley explains that the industry helped to diversity the city by attracting Black and Latinx workers from the southern U.S. with union jobs that were considered some of the best and most lucrative in the industry at the time. According to July 2019 U.S. Census data, 11.5% of the population is Black and 17.6% Latinx, significantly more diverse than the state at large.
In 1988, Chrysler closed down the production line, laying off 5,500 workers. The Kenosha Engine Plant remained, producing only engines for Chrysler, and eventually shuttering in 2010 during the recession and shedding another 575 jobs. Over a span of two decades, Kenosha had changed from a unionized auto company town to a bedroom community for those with jobs in Chicagoland and Greater Milwaukee. The vast majority of jobs in the city itself became low-wage service sector positions.
Chrysler also began funding climate denial during this time period as a member of the Global Climate Coalition, a central messaging tool that existed between 1989-2002 to spread doubt on the science and delay action, which was also funded by the major oil companies. The coalition materialized in the aftermath of NASA climate scientist James Hansen’s testimony in front of Congress about the threat climate change posed in 1988, the first scientist to do so.
During those decades, cars produced by the auto industry helped Kenosha build a sprawling housing pattern to the west, away from the city’s historic core by Lake Michigan. But like most sprawl, this pattern also bolstered segregation and concentrated poverty in certain pockets of the city. The single-family home suburban lifestyle—only possible in most cases via owning and driving multiple greenhouse-gas emitting vehicles—let some people thrive. And that was bad news for climate change. A 2015 University of Michigan study points to suburban sprawl housing as a major contributor to climate change, emitting 25% higher greenhouse gas levels than housing for lower-income families and individuals. The study found Wisconsin to be one of the three states with the most energy intensive housing due to the annual extremities in temperature differences.
Moreover, the city’s electricity comes from a dual generation natural gas and coal power plant in nearby Oak Creek. The city had its own coal-fired power plant until 2018, which opened in 1980, just as Kenosha was shifting from a purely blue collar town to bedroom community. With fossil fuel power servicing its suburban sprawl, Kenosha’s population grew from about 80,000 in 1990 to about 100,000 today. During that time period, another industrial giant with a horrific climate track record seized the opportunity of a shuttered Chrysler: Amazon.
In 2015, Amazon opened a fulfillment center near Kenosha’s airport, along the interstate highway connecting Milwaukee and Chicago, eventually creating 3,000 jobs. It is now the city’s top employer. The company has benefited from $32 million in subsidies in Kenosha.
Still, it’s a far cry from the over 16,000 workers employed during the peak of the auto industry in the 1960s, largely due to the increasingly automated nature of production in Amazon’s facilities. The new jobs also lack union protections, with Amazon steadfastly anti-union. Amazon’s hostile attitude toward labor came to a head during the first weeks of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States, when the company fired workers expressing concerns about the virus spreading in fulfillment centers. One of those workers is previous TRNN guest, Christopher Smalls.
“You can’t avoid coming, interacting with somebody that may test positive, whether it’s in passing, whether it’s in and out the entrance of the building,” Smalls, who was fired from the Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse for his outspokenness and labor activism, told TRNN in an April 28 interview. “The simple fact [is] that you cannot stop the spread of the virus once it’s in these types of facilities.”
Kenosha’s Amazon Fulfillment Center had its own COVID-19 outbreak, as well, with at least 32 workers getting the virus. The company at one point was so uncooperative with the county with testing and reporting case numbers that the county threatened to shut the facility down if Amazon did not comply.
For Kenosha, the climate crisis means polar vortex deep freezes, record-breaking snowfalls and summer rainfalls, coastal erosion, and invasive species in Lake Michigan. Climate justice, at its core, means pushing for what activists call a “just transition”—making moves necessary to combat the crisis and winding down industries making a bad situation worse while also protecting workers transitioning out of those jobs. It also means ensuring those who did the least to cause the climate crisis do not face the brunt of it.
But it also means seeing climate change as part of other struggles, such as the struggle for racial and economic equality. And in these areas, Kenosha—like every other city in the United States—must change.
Hurricane Laura
Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane but quickly dissipated into a severe tropical storm, far less severe than original prognostications.
In the hours leading up to the hurricane, some forecasters predicted Laura would strengthen to Category 5 at landfall and well into the landmass, which would have made it the worst hurricane in over 150 years in the area and far worse than 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Instead, the wind speed dropped from 150 MPH at landfall to 75 MPH once the storm continued inland. Still, those 75 MPH winds could extend as far as 40 miles inland, the BBC reports. Laura is one of the most powerful storms in United States history.
While some predicted potential oil and gas infrastructure wreckage in this industry hub region, Laura spared most of the facilities of carnage. But one of them, a chlorine production site owned by BioLab in Westlake, Louisiana, had a chemical leak and started on fire. Governor John Bel Edwards, in response, has advised residents “to shelter in place until further notice and close your doors and windows.”
Extreme wind and a storm cyclone knocked out power for over one million Texans and Louisianans. Preparing for the worst, what forecasters dubbed “unsurvivable” hurricanes, 1.5 million people were ordered to evacuate in the days leading up to Laura. As of Aug. 28, six people in Louisiana have reportedly died from the storm.
Before the hurricane officially reached land, winds whipped ferociously enough along the Mississippi River that the river began flowing south-to-north, the opposite of its normal flow.
Hurricane Laura arrives at the same time that 350,000 acres of land in Northern California are on fire. Over 1.4 million acres of California forest have burned so far this year, compared to 56,000 acres at this time in 2019. Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University, told Bloomberg that it’s hard to attribute any single event to climate change, but that it’s important to look at the broader pattern.
“As all of these things become more likely, it’s more likely we’re going to have these coincidences where we have all kinds of weather events that are extreme occurring at once,” Wara said. “It feels like the climate has it in for us.”
RNC Climate Silence
The Republican Party wrapped up its convention this week with more Hatch Act violations, a sleepy but terrifying Trump speech, and fireworks. The whole week was rife with ethics violations, socializing without masks, race-baiting, some very bizarre speeches, and denunciations of “cancel culture.” But the Republicans had nothing to say about climate change, even as a hurricane slammed into two red states.
The party did not even bother to issue a new platform for this year, deferring to the one it approved in 2016, which reads: “Climate change is far from this nation’s most pressing national security issue. This is the triumph of extremism over common sense, and Congress must stop it.”
In her newsletter, climate reporter Emily Atkin called the GOP “extremists”: “When it comes to climate change, Republicans are the extremists,” she wrote. “Faced with a clear financial and social catastrophe, their solution is… nothing. Not one damn thing. In fact, their solution is to add more fuel to the fire—more oil, more gas, more fossil fuels.”
Young Republicans called out the climate silence, starting the hashtag #WhatAboutClimate.
“By not including climate change in the platform or on the stage during this year’s convention, the Republican Party is leaving an entire generation of conservative voters behind,” Benji Backer, president of the American Conservation Coalition—a conservative youth climate action group—told E&E News.
The same week, the Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis released its own new plan paying lip service to the climate crisis, but it does not rein in the fossil fuel industry. For example, there is no reduction of fossil fuel subsidies or fracking or offshore drilling. There is also, in line with every other Democratic Party plan released in the past two months, a push for carbon sequestration, utilization, and storage (CCUS). These days, that means mostly capturing carbon at power plants and industrial facilities, using that carbon to extract more oil out of wells, and then sequestering it in underground injection wells.
Mitch Jones, policy director for Food & Water Action, said the report fails to meet the moment on the climate crisis in an effort “to placate the oil and gas lobby.”
“Further, it fails to address the vital need to end the extraction, processing, and burning of fossil fuels, and instead sees a future for fossil fuels tied to the false promise of carbon capture,” he said in a press release. “Any serious climate proposal must have at its center a plan to ban fracking, stop new fossil fuel infrastructure, and end the export of crude oil and natural gas. Anything less condemns future generations to increasing climate chaos.”
San Diego High Speed Rail
San Diego County’s regional planning body, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), has finally released its mass transit plan. SANDAG’s proposal would create a European-style rail system with trains that go up 80 MPH, weaving through much of the sprawling county.
San Diego County is the fifth most populous in the country, and contains the United States’ eighth largest city. The county is notorious for its heavy traffic and dependency on the web of interstate and state highways that provide essentially the only way to get around expeditiously outside of the downtown core’s light rail system.
Automobile traffic makes up 45% of county greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2014 county greenhouse gas emissions inventory—the most recently compiled report.
Image Credit: San Diego County
The plan, the rough contours of which were announced last year, is a point of contention between the county’s Democrats and Republicans. Democrats have called it key to meeting the county’s climate goals under state law and creating jobs in the process, while Republicans have positioned it as an expensive and unaccountable boondoggle in the making.
SANDAG Director Hasan Ikhrata agrees strongly with the Democratic camp.
“Our SANDAG planners have poured their blood, sweat, and tears into a truly comprehensive vision for a transportation system of the future,” Ikhrata said in a press release announcing the proposal. “This vision considers evolving technology to create a safe, adaptable, and equitable transportation network with fast, fair, and clean choices to give every San Diegan and future generations the option to move around the region as they choose.”
The plan’s implementation largely hinges on November’s election results. On Aug. 13, the Voice of San Diego reported that the District 3 County Board of Supervisors race between Trump-allied incumbent Kristin Gaspar and Obama Treasury Department alum Terra Lawson-Remer could determine the fate of the proposal by shoring up a voting bloc in favor of the plan within SANDAG. Lawson-Remer told TRNN in 2019 that she supports the plan.
Ikhrata, who has spoken in favor of and advocated fervently for the proposed mass transit system, recently donated to Lawson-Remer’s campaign in an unprecedented maneuver for a SANDAG director—a move slammed by Gaspar’s campaign. He also contributed to a congressional campaign for a sitting SANDAG member, to a mayoral candidate who favors the plan, and to a city council member’s campaign.
The mass transit system will be paid for with a one cent sales tax. The SANDAG board will likely vote on the proposal by fall 2021. It then could take decades to build and would require a two-thirds vote from the public to approve the sales tax which would happen by the 2022 or 2024 election cycle, likely determined by public polling to gauge likelihood of success for the ballot measure. The plan also calls for a traffic congestion pricing system to generate revenue and disincentivize driving.
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therealnews--2020-09-01--From Kenosha to Cali: Cops Kill for Sport

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therealnews--2020-09-01--Kenosha, Wis.: Ground zero for vigilante murder, site of Trump’s next visit

On the afternoon of Tuesday , Sept. 1 , President Donald Trump is set to visit Kenosha , Wisconsin , where Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by police officer Rusten Sheskey , and where , days later , teenage Trump supporter Kyle Rittenhouse killed two protesters .
Trump has refused to condemn growing right-wing violence , and there are calls for him to stay away from Kenosha : “ Now is not the time for elected officials to ignore armed militants and out-of-state instigators who want to contribute to our anguish , ” warned Democratic Gov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ During a Fox News appearance the night before he traveled to Kenosha , Trump again denounced Black Lives Matter , and alleged without evidence that nationwide protests against police brutality sparked by the killings of Breona Taylor and George Floyd were being controlled by “ people in dark shadows , ” who were “ controlling the streets , ” in a effort to oust him from office .
He added , again without evidence , that authorities had foiled a plot of a plane full of “ thugs ” seeking to create violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rep. Barbara Lee put it plainly : “ Trump is going to Kenosha for one purpose : to create more division and root for violence , ” she tweeted .
Earlier Monday , White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to condemn the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse , a Blue Lives Matter supporter who shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injured Gaige Grosskreutz on the third night of protests demanding justice for Blake .
Trump has not reached out to Blake ’ s family , their attorney said .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visit to support law enforcement and to help the city “ heal and rebuild.
” On Friday Trump defended Rusten Sheskey , the officer who shot Blake .
“ People can make a mistake .
That doesn ’ t make them bad , they choked , ” Trump said of Sheskey shooting Blake seven times in the back .
Wisconsin is a key battleground state where voter turnout could determine who wins its 10 electoral votes .
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden maintains a slim 3.5 point lead in the state according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8 to 1 in August , according to Politico .
In 2016 , Hillary Clinton was leading in polls in the state only to lose to Trump , thanks to factors ranging from rampant voter suppression to her campaign bypassing the state entirely in the leadup to the general election .
In Trump ’ s 2020 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last Thursday , he highlighted violence in Democrat-run cities during his tenure , even as he sought to provoke it , while falsely claiming Biden supports the movement to defund @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , if you give power to Joe Biden , the radical left will defund police departments all across America .
They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide .
They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland , Oregon , ” Trump said .
Two days later in Portland , a man reportedly wearing Patriot Prayer insignia , an armed right-wing group known for attempting to provoke violence with left-wing protesters , was killed when hundreds descended on the city as part of the “ Trump 2020 Cruise Rally in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matter rally with pepper spray and paintballs .
On Twitter , Trump threatened to intervene in Portland , praised Patriot Prayer , and tweeted a video showing the organization attacking demonstrators after the group said the man killed Saturday was one of their members .
Police have confirmed the deceased man to be Aaron J. Danielson .
Before confirmation was released , Trump tweeted , “ Rest in Peace Jay !
” in response to a tweet claiming to identify the victim of the Portland shooting .
Trump has routinely praised right-wing groups @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there were “ very fine people , on both sides , ” after a white nationalist drove his car into counterprotesters , killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens more during a “ Unite the Right ” rally in Charlottesville , Virginia , in 2017 .
On Monday afternoon , Biden responded to Trump , especially Trump ’ s confusing claims the violence happening during his administration would continue if Biden were elected .
“ He can ’ t stop the violence—because for years he has fomented it , ” Biden said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ own supporters to stop acting like an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is .
Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected ?
” Biden pushed back on Trump ’ s recent attempt to conflate all protesters with “ rioters and looters , ” and condemned the looting of businesses , something he has done multiple times over the past few months .
“ Rioting is not protesting .
Looting is not protesting .
Setting fires is not protesting .
None of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawlessness , plain and simple .
And those who do it should be prosecuted , ” Biden said .
But critics noted the hypocrisy in condemning looting while failing to adequately address systemic racism and corruption that robs entire communities of wealth many magnitudes greater , and ignores the importance of rioting and looting in forcing the powerful to address such inequities .
Over 55 million people have filed for unemployment since March , and 12 million have lost their employer-based insurance , while U.S. billionaires increased their wealth by $ 637 billion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. economy , in what ’ s been called “ one of the greatest wealth transfers in history.
” Insurance companies are preparing to pay out $ 25 million thus far to businesses in Minnesota hurt by looting there , while the annual total theft of wages of workers ’ wages by employers is worth $ 933 million annually , according to a Economic Policy Institute report .

On the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 1, President Donald Trump is set to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by police officer Rusten Sheskey, and where, days later, teenage Trump supporter Kyle Rittenhouse killed two protesters.
Trump has refused to condemn growing right-wing violence, and there are calls for him to stay away from Kenosha: “Now is not the time for elected officials to ignore armed militants and out-of-state instigators who want to contribute to our anguish,” warned Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in a letter.
During a Fox News appearance the night before he traveled to Kenosha, Trump again denounced Black Lives Matter, and alleged without evidence that nationwide protests against police brutality sparked by the killings of Breona Taylor and George Floyd were being controlled by “people in dark shadows,” who were “controlling the streets,” in a effort to oust him from office. He added, again without evidence, that authorities had foiled a plot of a plane full of “thugs” seeking to create violence at the Republican National Convention.
California Rep. Barbara Lee put it plainly: “Trump is going to Kenosha for one purpose: to create more division and root for violence,” she tweeted.
Earlier Monday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to condemn the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, a Blue Lives Matter supporter who shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and injured Gaige Grosskreutz on the third night of protests demanding justice for Blake. Trump has not reached out to Blake’s family, their attorney said.
The White House claims Trump is making the visit to support law enforcement and to help the city “heal and rebuild.” On Friday Trump defended Rusten Sheskey, the officer who shot Blake.
“People can make a mistake. That doesn’t make them bad, they choked,” Trump said of Sheskey shooting Blake seven times in the back.
Wisconsin is a key battleground state where voter turnout could determine who wins its 10 electoral votes. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden maintains a slim 3.5 point lead in the state according to recent polls, despite outspending Trump there 8 to 1 in August, according to Politico. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was leading in polls in the state only to lose to Trump, thanks to factors ranging from rampant voter suppression to her campaign bypassing the state entirely in the leadup to the general election.
In Trump’s 2020 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last Thursday, he highlighted violence in Democrat-run cities during his tenure, even as he sought to provoke it, while falsely claiming Biden supports the movement to defund the police.
“Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America. They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon,” Trump said.
Two days later in Portland, a man reportedly wearing Patriot Prayer insignia, an armed right-wing group known for attempting to provoke violence with left-wing protesters, was killed when hundreds descended on the city as part of the “Trump 2020 Cruise Rally in Portland” and attacked a Black Lives Matter rally with pepper spray and paintballs.
Clashes. Trump people unload paintballs and pepper spray. They shot me too. pic.twitter.com/PwU5pZMLnV — Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) August 30, 2020
On Twitter, Trump threatened to intervene in Portland, praised Patriot Prayer, and tweeted a video showing the organization attacking demonstrators after the group said the man killed Saturday was one of their members. Police have confirmed the deceased man to be Aaron J. Danielson. Before confirmation was released, Trump tweeted, “Rest in Peace Jay!” in response to a tweet claiming to identify the victim of the Portland shooting.
Trump has routinely praised right-wing groups who have attacked protesters, and said there were “very fine people, on both sides,” after a white nationalist drove his car into counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens more during a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
On Monday afternoon, Biden responded to Trump, especially Trump’s confusing claims the violence happening during his administration would continue if Biden were elected.
“He can’t stop the violence—because for years he has fomented it,” Biden said. “His failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting like an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is. Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?”
Biden pushed back on Trump’s recent attempt to conflate all protesters with “rioters and looters,” and condemned the looting of businesses, something he has done multiple times over the past few months.
“Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting. It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted,” Biden said.
But critics noted the hypocrisy in condemning looting while failing to adequately address systemic racism and corruption that robs entire communities of wealth many magnitudes greater, and ignores the importance of rioting and looting in forcing the powerful to address such inequities.
Looting Discourse providing cheap, moralizing sister souljah points for liberals without any regard to the broader arguments being made here, namely that our pearl clutching around "looting" is arbitrary, heavily informed by racism, and centers symptom rather than disease. https://t.co/NJFwr76whD — Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) August 29, 2020
Over 55 million people have filed for unemployment since March, and 12 million have lost their employer-based insurance, while U.S. billionaires increased their wealth by $637 billion during the economic lockdowns that have devastated the U.S. economy, in what’s been called “one of the greatest wealth transfers in history.”
Insurance companies are preparing to pay out $25 million thus far to businesses in Minnesota hurt by looting there, while the annual total theft of wages of workers’ wages by employers is worth $933 million annually, according to a Economic Policy Institute report.
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therealnews--2020-09-01--Terror in trailer jail: every single prisoner infected with COVID-19

Eddie Conway talks with reporter Katie Kull in Missouri about poor conditions and the no-mask mandate that led to over @ @ @ @ @

Eddie Conway talks with reporter Katie Kull in Missouri about poor conditions and the no-mask mandate that led to over 100 prisoners contracting Covid-19.
Story Transcript
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Eddie Conway: Recently, Green County, Missouri broke its COVID-19 daily record when a jail, a trailer in one of their jails reported that every prisoner in that trailer tested positive. We’re going to talk today with Katie Cole. She has been talking directly to prisoners inside, and prisoners inside report that officials didn’t do the things they needed to do to keep them safe. Katie, welcome. Thanks for joining me.
Katie Cole: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Eddie Conway: Okay. First, can you give us an understanding of how many people, prisoners and guards, tested positive?
Katie Cole: Yeah, it’s actually hard to know, to be perfectly honest with you. Originally there were 108, I believe, inmates in the trailer at one time. Initially around 70 some tested positive, and they were taken out of the trailer and put into a pod in the regular jail building. And then about 30 inmates were left in the regular trailer to quarantine, and then they retested everybody and everybody tested positive. So they moved the rest of the people back into the trailer.
As of Friday, the jail was reporting 78 people had tested positive. However, they are only reporting active cases and people who are still incarcerated. So that number is likely cumulatively a lot higher, and they were still awaiting test results on I think, 10 people. And then guards, there were 34 people as of Friday who tested positive, of roughly I think 70 some tests. So a very good portion of staff had tested positive as well.
Eddie Conway: Okay. So, you talked to prisoners inside the jail. What are they reporting to you in terms of how the conditions was before the pandemic and during the pandemic and now? Can you give us an overview of what it was like in there?
Katie Cole: Yeah. As much as I can, as much as I’ve been told. I’ve talked to roughly a dozen inmates now, and they’ve reported that the trailer overall was probably one of their least, if you can say favorite, but one of the worst places to be, I guess, is probably the best way to say that, one of the worst places that most of them have been. And because of overcrowding in the jail, our inmates are shipped around a lot to other counties. So that’s saying something, to say that this is one of the worst places that they’ve reported being. But now that the pandemic has hit, they’re scared and they’re all really worried. They report people being sick. They sleep in bunks. It’s a bunk style. So they’re stacked on top of each other essentially for sleeping. It’s just one big room. So in an environment like that, the virus can spread really quickly, which contributed to their fear before they even tested positive.
Eddie Conway: So, what’s the protocol? I mean, obviously there’s supposed to be a mass protocol, social distances. Is that possible inside the trailer jail?
Katie Cole: I mean physical distancing, definitely not. It’s a small area. I mean, they say that if you spread your arms out, you can touch both ends of the trailer. And it’s just, I mean, it’s a trailer. It’s just a long … but I think it’s three of them smushed together kind of. There’s a day room on one side basically, and then bathrooms and everything on the other side. And that’s not possible. Our county actually here did not implement a mask requirement. They did not have any kind of mask mandate ever. Our city proper did, but not the county. So masks actually weren’t required, and the inmates were not given masks until after the first case was already recorded inside that facility.
Eddie Conway: Okay. So I was going to ask you what the trailer jail thing is in itself, but I think you just explained it. What’s the official response toward this total outbreak in the trailers, or have you talked to the officials about it?
Katie Cole: Yeah. They’re not answering a lot of my questions, quite frankly. So most of my information has been based on what people inside and their family members have told me, and obviously I do my due diligence. I cross check with the Sheriff’s Office and they answer the questions that they decide to answer. But they’ve maintained that they are providing as safe of an environment as they can. And of course it is difficult. Once it gets inside an environment like that, it is difficult to keep it under wraps just by the nature of how close people are together. It’s very difficult.
Eddie Conway: Well, what should friends, family, loved ones be doing right now? If everybody that’s in that trailer is positive, what needs to happen, and what can people outside do about it?
Katie Cole: Quite frankly, I don’t know. I wish I did, but there have been protests in recent weeks to give people masks more frequently. They’ve only been changed out every few days, and that’s a supply issue. However, they’ve been pushing to get them to change those out more frequently. There have also been pushes just to get people quicker medical care. That’s something that the family members have been pushing for as well. So these people are advocating for those folks quite a bit, but other jails across the country obviously have released more people in response, people with lower level offenses. So that’s certainly something. And our prosecutor told me that they have been doing that over time, but he indicated to me that they might consider doing a little bit more and releasing more people just in order to keep it as under wraps as they possibly can.
Eddie Conway: Well, Katie, can you keep us updated if there’s any changes or if this spreads into the larger jail?
Katie Cole: Yeah. I actually reported yesterday, or this morning, the story published, that it did spread to the regular … I’m getting reports that it has spread to the regular, the larger building. Now, I cannot possibly get that confirmed because when I asked, the jail officials did not confirm it. But that’s something that I’m hearing from the people inside. And they have been telling me that folks from other pods have been transferred into the jail, or into the trailer for quarantine. So I’m trying to keep on top of that and I will definitely keep you guys posted as I find out more.
Eddie Conway: Okay. Thank you for joining me then.
Katie Cole: Yeah. Well thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it.
Eddie Conway: And thank you for joining this episode of Rattling the Bars.
Studio: Cameron Granadino
Production: Ericka Blount
Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
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therealnews--2020-09-02--Markey beats back Kennedy while Trump spins conspiracy theories about Black Lives Matter and Antifa

On Tuesday , Sept. 1 , Democratic primary races in Massachusetts saw record turnout for contests pitting establishment-backed candidates against the party ’ s burgeoning progressive wing , which has already secured a record number of victories this election cycle .
In the highest-stakes election , Sen. Ed Markey , a champion of the Green New Deal , coasted to victory against challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III , who lost despite the backing of Nancy Pelosi and much of the Democratic Party establishment .
Markey secured the support of youth climate activists from the Sunrise Movement , progressive groups like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez .
Recent polls gave Markey a comfortable double-digit lead .
The race marked the first time a Kennedy has been defeated in an election in state history .
In another key race , powerful 16-term Rep. Richard Neal beat a primary challenge from Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in the Massachusetts 1st Congressional District .
Serving as the chair of the Ways and Means Committee , Neal is one of the biggest recipients of corporate money from powerful interests like the insurance , finance , and real estate industries .
And he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say , including killing a rare bipartisan effort to stop the practice of surprise billing of medical patients .
Morse endured an attempted political hit that thrust the race into the national spotlight when he was accused of abusing his power to coerce college students into having sex with him , which The Intercept exposed as not only false but a plan orchestrated in part by the state party leadership .
This debunking of the false accusations received far less attention in local Massachusetts media .
Morse also won the support of progressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recruited the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , Cori Bush , and Jamaal Bowman , who all pulled off stunning upsets against entrenched incumbents .
Morse , however , was significantly outspent by Neal .
“ While Neal walks away damaged and vulnerable , Alex Morse emerges as an inspiration for his community who overcame a culture of fear instilled by the incumbent and desperate , manufactured attacks , ” said Alexandra Rojas , executive director of Justice Democrats , in a press release .
The record turnout in Massachusetts continued a trend that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election .
President Donald Trump , who spent the day in Kenosha , Wisconsin , against many elected officials ’ wishes , has signaled he won ’ t accept the general election results if he loses .
He has predicted widespread voter fraud if states continue with plans to allow mail-in voting , blocked funding for the Postal Service , defended officers who killed unarmed Black men , and claimed without evidence that Black Lives Matter protests are part of a secret plot to oust him from power .
“ We don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a president set on advancing his campaign at the expense of our city , ” said Justin Blake , uncle of Jacob Blake , who was shot seven times in the back by a white Kenosha police officer .
“ We need justice and relief for our community .
”

On Tuesday, Sept. 1, Democratic primary races in Massachusetts saw record turnout for contests pitting establishment-backed candidates against the party’s burgeoning progressive wing, which has already secured a record number of victories this election cycle.
In the highest-stakes election, Sen. Ed Markey, a champion of the Green New Deal, coasted to victory against challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who lost despite the backing of Nancy Pelosi and much of the Democratic Party establishment. Markey secured the support of youth climate activists from the Sunrise Movement, progressive groups like the Working Families Party, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Recent polls gave Markey a comfortable double-digit lead. The race marked the first time a Kennedy has been defeated in an election in state history.
In another key race, powerful 16-term Rep. Richard Neal beat a primary challenge from Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in the Massachusetts 1st Congressional District. Serving as the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, Neal is one of the biggest recipients of corporate money from powerful interests like the insurance, finance, and real estate industries. And he’s done their bidding, critics say, including killing a rare bipartisan effort to stop the practice of surprise billing of medical patients.
Morse endured an attempted political hit that thrust the race into the national spotlight when he was accused of abusing his power to coerce college students into having sex with him, which The Intercept exposed as not only false but a plan orchestrated in part by the state party leadership. This debunking of the false accusations received far less attention in local Massachusetts media. Morse also won the support of progressive grassroots groups like Justice Democrats, who recruited the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman, who all pulled off stunning upsets against entrenched incumbents. Morse, however, was significantly outspent by Neal.
“While Neal walks away damaged and vulnerable, Alex Morse emerges as an inspiration for his community who overcame a culture of fear instilled by the incumbent and desperate, manufactured attacks,” said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, in a press release.
The record turnout in Massachusetts continued a trend that could be key to deciding the 2020 election.
President Donald Trump, who spent the day in Kenosha, Wisconsin, against many elected officials’ wishes, has signaled he won’t accept the general election results if he loses. He has predicted widespread voter fraud if states continue with plans to allow mail-in voting, blocked funding for the Postal Service, defended officers who killed unarmed Black men, and claimed without evidence that Black Lives Matter protests are part of a secret plot to oust him from power.
“We don’t need more pain and division from a president set on advancing his campaign at the expense of our city,” said Justin Blake, uncle of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times in the back by a white Kenosha police officer. “We need justice and relief for our community.”
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therealnews--2020-09-01--Trump visits Kenosha, scene of vigilante murder


therealnews--2020-09-03--The pandemic is reshaping our sex lives. Is cybersex our future?

Host & Producer
Taya Graham is an award-winning investigative reporter who has covered U.S. politics, local government, and the criminal justice system. She is the host of TRNN's "Police Accountability Report," and producer and co-creator of the award-winning podcast "Truth and Reconciliation" on Baltimore's NPR affiliate WYPR. She has written extensively for a variety of publications including the Afro American Newspaper, the oldest black-owned publication in the country, and was a frequent contributor to Morgan State Radio at a historic HBCU. She has also produced two documentaries, including the feature-length film "The Friendliest Town." Although her reporting focuses on the criminal justice system and government accountability, she has provided on the ground coverage of presidential primaries and elections as well as local and state campaigns. Follow her on Twitter.


therealnews--2020-09-03--Trump is Ready To Steal the Election

Trump is Ready To Steal the Election

Visual Producer (former)
Raised in southern New Jersey outside Philadelphia, and now residing in Baltimore Maryland, Andrew Corkery worked as a Visual Producer / Editor/ Researcher for the Real News Network. Prior to that he worked for nearly four years as Video Editor for CBS 3 Eyewitness News, and an Investigative Journalist for Spirit News both in Philadelphia. He graduated from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey in May of 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in Digital Media. While in college Andrew completed a media education and co op work program at CAPA London, working as a researcher and video editor for COAST, a digital strategy and brand film content production company.
Andrew maintains a relentlessly keen interest in all things geopolitics in almost every corner of the globe. He has since applied this passion and interest to his creative and investigative work as a producer, editor, journalist and videographer. One of his most impactful pieces focused on a story outlining how to combat Islamophobia in communities across the world, articulating the differences between Radical Islamists and the vast majority of people who follow Islam, while showing the many layers of nuance, both in politics and religion more broadly. That Story, "Islam in the Riverwards: PART 1 AND 2," along with "Being Black in Bridesburg", a story highlighting the impacts and legacy of racial injustice in a largely white community within Philadelphia, were both published in Spirit News and later featured in write ups from The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine.
With Andrew's career expanding experience of living and working abroad in mind, he recognizes the importance of staying connected to the world. The cornerstones of Andrew's work can always be found in uncovering the expansive impact of global events and political issues, while relating them to people's everyday lives, through the mediums of online video, film and writing. Finally, Andrew is currently the Lead Singer and Member Manager of a successful original alternative rock band called Shadowplay, based in Mt. Laurel, NJ, founded in 2008 at Lenape High School. The band has since performed over 200 shows, including performances at such festivals as SXSW, and opening up for bands like Tracy Guns, Weitz and The Parlor Mob.


therealnews--2020-09-04--108 inmates test positive for COVID-19 in ‘trailer jail’

Greene County , Missouri , broke their daily record for new COVID-19 cases on Aug. 13 , when a county “ trailer jail ” reported that every single inmate in the facility tested positive .
Springfield News-Leader reporter Katie Kull first reported on the outbreak , which impacted at least 108 prisoners .
“ Initially around 70 some tested positive , and they were taken out of the trailer and put into a pod in the regular jail building .
And then about 30 inmates were left in the regular trailer to quarantine , and then they retested everybody and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rest of the people back into the trailer , ” said Kull .
As of Aug. 25 , 101 inmates and 46 staff at the jail had tested positive for the virus .
It is difficult to ascertain the true numbers of inmates who have tested positive because the jail is not counting inmates who have been released nor those who ’ s test results have not come in yet .
The “ trailer jail ” is an addition to the regular jail in order to accommodate more prisoners .
Because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inmates are frequently moved around .
Many of the prisoners say that the trailer is by far the worst place they have stayed .
Kull reports , “ It ’ s a small area .
I mean , they say that if you spread your arms out , you can touch both ends of the trailer .
And it ’ s just , I mean , it ’ s a trailer… it ’ s three [ trailers ] smushed together kind of .
There ’ s a day room on one side basically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the other side.
” This setup has made social distancing physically impossible as prisoners are stacked on top of each other .
The lack of social distancing compounded with an absence of personal protective equipment ( PPE ) helps explain why every single inmate in the trailer tested positive .
“ Our county actually here did not implement a mask requirement .
They did not have any kind of mask mandate ever .
Our city proper did , but not the county .
So masks actually weren ’ t required , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first case was already recorded inside that facility , ” said Kull .
The lack of masks in the facility is still a problem , with inmates and their families reporting to Kull that they are only being given one mask every few days .
Officials were evasive with answers regarding masks and other measures being taken to stop the spread of the virus , but maintained that they were keeping the jail “ as safe an environment as they can.
” ( After speaking with TRNN Kull reported that the local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ACLU , and members of the Missouri state house were calling for more transparency from jail officials as well as more PPE for inmates ) .
Many jails around the country have been releasing prisoners with minor offenses or very little time left on their sentences .
The county prosecutor for Greene County indicated that he has done this and intends to release more people in light of the outbreak in the “ trailer jail.
” But this action may be too little too late , as Kull has received reports that inmates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tested positive and have been moved to the “ trailer jail ” to quarantine .

Greene County, Missouri, broke their daily record for new COVID-19 cases on Aug. 13, when a county “trailer jail” reported that every single inmate in the facility tested positive. Springfield News-Leader reporter Katie Kull first reported on the outbreak, which impacted at least 108 prisoners.
“Initially around 70 some tested positive, and they were taken out of the trailer and put into a pod in the regular jail building. And then about 30 inmates were left in the regular trailer to quarantine, and then they retested everybody and everybody tested positive. So they moved the rest of the people back into the trailer,” said Kull.
As of Aug. 25, 101 inmates and 46 staff at the jail had tested positive for the virus. It is difficult to ascertain the true numbers of inmates who have tested positive because the jail is not counting inmates who have been released nor those who’s test results have not come in yet.
The “trailer jail” is an addition to the regular jail in order to accommodate more prisoners. Because of overcrowding in Greene County jails, their inmates are frequently moved around. Many of the prisoners say that the trailer is by far the worst place they have stayed.
Kull reports, “It’s a small area. I mean, they say that if you spread your arms out, you can touch both ends of the trailer. And it’s just, I mean, it’s a trailer… it’s three [trailers] smushed together kind of. There’s a day room on one side basically, and then bathrooms and everything on the other side.”
This setup has made social distancing physically impossible as prisoners are stacked on top of each other. The lack of social distancing compounded with an absence of personal protective equipment (PPE) helps explain why every single inmate in the trailer tested positive.
“Our county actually here did not implement a mask requirement. They did not have any kind of mask mandate ever. Our city proper did, but not the county. So masks actually weren’t required, and the inmates were not given masks until after the first case was already recorded inside that facility,” said Kull.
The lack of masks in the facility is still a problem, with inmates and their families reporting to Kull that they are only being given one mask every few days. Officials were evasive with answers regarding masks and other measures being taken to stop the spread of the virus, but maintained that they were keeping the jail “as safe an environment as they can.” (After speaking with TRNN Kull reported that the local activists including Black Lives Matter, the ACLU, and members of the Missouri state house were calling for more transparency from jail officials as well as more PPE for inmates).
Many jails around the country have been releasing prisoners with minor offenses or very little time left on their sentences. The county prosecutor for Greene County indicated that he has done this and intends to release more people in light of the outbreak in the “trailer jail.” But this action may be too little too late, as Kull has received reports that inmates in the larger jail complex have also tested positive and have been moved to the “trailer jail” to quarantine.
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therealnews--2020-09-04--Trump tells supporters to commit a felony by voting twice

The GOP has been trying to tip the scales on U.S. elections for a long time, but efforts are becoming more brazen.
Story Transcript
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Donald Trump: This will be the most corrupt election in the history of our country.
Jaisal Noor: Welcome to The Real News, I’m Jaisal Noor. This week, Donald Trump took a short break from defending officer, accused of police brutality to tell his supporters to commit a felony and attempt to vote twice.
Donald Trump: But send in your ballots, send them in strong, whether it’s solicited or unsolicited, the absentees are fine. We have to work to get them. It means something and you send them in, but you go to vote and if they haven’t counted it, you can vote. So that’s the way I view it.
Jaisal Noor: Voting more than once in an election is illegal. In some States, including North Carolina, it is a felony, not only to vote more than once, but also induce others to do so. In a series of tweets on Thursday, Trump again, urged his supporters to vote early by mail and then follow up by attempting to vote in person. Trump has repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that mail-in voting expanded by some States because of the coronavirus pandemic would increase fraud and disrupt the November election. Although experts say voter fraud of any kind in the United States is virtually nonexistent.
While all of this is deeply concerning the election faces another threat that’s gotten far less attention, but could pose a potentially far greater danger, voter suppression. Our next guest, Greg Palast, an award winning journalist and author has been exposing and fighting voter suppression for years and just coauthored a new report with the ACLU of Georgia that found close to 200,000 Georgia voters were wrongfully purged from the voting polls as part of a scheme to steal the election.
Well, we’re now joined by Greg Palast so we want to talk about your new report, which follows up on the work of your book, How Trump Stole 2020, which we recently interviewed you about, but start off by responding to Trump’s comments, where he encouraged his voters in North Carolina, and then in Pennsylvania, to vote twice.
Greg Palast: Well, it’s fascinating, first, that it’s North Carolina. I actually have a chapter in my book about the issue of the accusation of double voting by the Republicans in North Carolina. I actually went there. You just have to understand the GOP has been saying that Democrats have been voting twice for years and they got to the point where they actually hired an FBI agent, spent millions of dollars to hunt these fraudulent voters, these Democrats, obviously Democrats of color, voting multiple times, including by mailing in ballots and then showing up in person, exactly what Trump is telling his supporters to do.
So they were on the hunt to arrest people and they got exactly zero. They did find one 90 year old man, who was senile, who had mailed in his ballot, forgotten, walked to his polling station and voted again. But they’re able to stop the count of the second ballot. So one guy, 90 years old, who’s senile. But now Trump has decided to make it instead of have a felonious act into a way to make America great again because he can’t win in North Carolina without playing these games.
This is one of the problems, North Carolina is a swing state. It went from Obama to Trump. How did that happened? A lot of it was because of the mass purge of voter rolls. Interestingly, and disgustingly maybe, is that one of the reasons that they removed tens of thousands of voters of color from the voter rolls of North Carolina was that they were accused of voting twice or registering twice. So that’s how Trump won the state, by accusing other people of doing what he just encouraged you to do, and they removed people from the voter rolls. By the way, none of them were criminal … We don’t have … Again, except for the 90 year old guy, there’s no case in North Carolina of a double voter.
Jaisal Noor: Now Trump’s point, I guess, if there is one, is that, if voting is so secure with mail-in ballots, then these voters will not be allowed to vote twice. Is there such a safeguard in place?
Greg Palast: Yeah. I mean, they keep track of if you’ve voted. That’s how we found that 90 year old senile guy. I mean, he voted twice, “We got him, we got this 90 year old crime wave,” right? So it’s very easy to catch. I used to work for the justice department, by the way, this is so easy to catch. That’s why when they hired an FBI agent to hunt down double voters and they couldn’t find any, the answer was because there ain’t any. But now, Trump is encouraging this.
But here’s the other side of this, which people aren’t picking up. People aren’t going to vote twice. It is a felony crime. I know he’s being too cute by half, but here’s the issue. I’m very concerned that we’re going to have an election with a hundred million mail-in ballots, several million in North Carolina, which is not prepared for this.
What he’s doing is he’s setting up a situation where he’s going to have Boogaloo Boys, these schmucks in Hawaiian shirts go in and challenge your ballot, and say, “Oh, we think that that person has already voted.” “Oh, look, a Jose Garcia has already voted by mail so don’t count this Jose Garcia’s mail-in ballot.” “Oh, Jose Garcia walked in so don’t count as mail-in ballot.” It doesn’t matter if it’s a different Jose Garcia with a different middle name, and I ain’t kidding because I looked at the purge list in that state of North Carolina, they’re removing people named Jose Garcia.
I actually talk with these voters where there they’re two voters with different middle names, but because it’s ethnic names like Garcia or John Black, I had Antonio [Hayes 00:00:05:52], an African American from Durham who was matched, his middle name was Charles, and he was matched with someone in another state whose middle name was Edward, but they had the same first, last name, common African American name.
So these are the games that they’re playing so that they can challenge the mail-in vote. Remember 141,000 mail-in ballots in 2016 were challenged over signature. We just had the Democratic Party challenge thousands of votes because they lacked a postmark or they had scotch tape on the envelope. So we’re going to have this whole gotcha game. That’s what Trump is setting up for people to challenge the ballots, that’s what’s being missed here.
Jaisal Noor: In your new book, you argue Trump has stolen the election, which is what you warned us about the last time you were on. Now you and the ACLU of Georgia have just uncovered another scheme where nearly 200,000 voters, you allege, had been wrongfully removed from the voting rolls, you argue because of a lazy job by the state trying to determine who has moved, and out of some 300,000 … So tell us about what you found. Out of 300,000, 200,000 of these voters had not in fact moved-
Greg Palast: Let’s not exaggerate 198,131 voters were removed from the voter rolls because they supposedly moved from their homes. Look, if you don’t live in Atlanta, you left the city, or you left Georgia, you can’t vote in Georgia if you don’t live there anymore, that’s fair enough. So they came up with a list, they said they got it from the post office, mostly 313,000 people. Well, I hired the post offices’ address lists licensee, this is the company that the post office designates to go into their deep files and verify for you, you have to pay them for this, verify where people live.
That’s, by the way, also in federal law, you can’t remove someone’s registration unless you use the official licensee of the post office. It’s right in federal law. I hired the guy, the company, it’s a billion dollar corporation called Merkle, and they came back and they said, “We don’t know where the Republican Secretary of the State of Georgia got these people that have moved,” he said, “From the post office.” But according to the post office, it wasn’t true.
We went through name by name, by name. I even brought in the experts who know exactly where you are every single day down to the minute. It’s called Amazon, it’s called Netflix. Believe it or not, all your files of Netflix and Amazon, et cetera, are public, not public … There are specialized address verification companies, which keep track of where you are, sorry to tell you that, but they do. We hired them to also check peoples’ addresses and they didn’t move.
So you’re talking about almost 200,000 people who the GOP said have moved. So the State of Georgia, the GOP secretary of state has said that almost 200,000 people moved, who didn’t. He said he got them from the post office, he didn’t. We verified this with every expert and the post office.
So what was he doing? What was the problem with these people? Did they move? No. Their crime, to an overwhelming extent, is that they were attempting to vote while black, or vote while young, or vote while Asian American. These are the targets of the list, and low income voters. This is the target of this purge, this basically Jim Crow scrub operation.
It’s the only way that they can win Georgia because you have to understand, George has just turned into a white minority state. The polls show neck and neck, Biden may be up a point or two, there’s two Senate seats at stake. Georgia may decide this election and they’re panicked so they have to remove legal voters of the wrong color. That is, they’re not orange.
Jaisal Noor: So you’ve had this expose, I know it’s been picked up, especially in the local press in Georgia. What are the next steps? Are there plans to fight this and take it to the courts and get these voters reinstated in time for the election?
Greg Palast: One of the problems is that if the ACLU goes to court, and I appreciate the ACLU putting out my report, getting it out, and what we are very concerned with, myself, and the ACLU, we’ve created a website called savemyvote2020.org. savemyvote2020.org. There we will have up the … Right now, we have the purge list in Georgia.
So if you’re in Georgia, go to savemyvote2020.org, if you’re on the purge list, re-register, and I’m sorry, if you’ve been voting at the same place 30 years, I don’t care. Almost no one on this purge list know that they’ve lost their vote. For example, I was at the Atlanta polling station when Martin Luther King’s 92 year old cousin went in to vote for her 50th year, it was 50 years since her cousin was murdered, she’s been voting since that year, at the same school house, and they told her, “Get out, you’ve been removed from the voter rolls, get out.”
And why? Because she supposedly moved out of her house. Well, I went to the house she supposedly moved out of, and there was a picture of her having dinner with Martin Luther King there more than a half century earlier, he would come to dinner after church every Sunday. If they can remove King’s cousin after 50 years, they can remove you and this is happening … If it were only Georgia, it would be serious enough because the Senate, control of the United States Senate, is up to Georgia right now. Two Senate seats.
The second is that it is a swing state, it could determine the presidential election. But if it was just Georgia, I would be worried, but not as worried as the fact that Georgia’s system, as I point out in my book, How Trump Stole 2020, the Georgia system was taken on the road into Ohio and Michigan and Florida. These swing States are using the same ugly system of scrubbing the polls whiter than white. It’s an ethnic cleansing of the voter rolls that’s happening nationwide.
I’m on it with the ACLU. I’m also on it, as you know, I’ve been writing for … was writing for Rolling Stone, and I’m working with some major media right now to uncover this in other States as well, Wisconsin, very, very concerned about what’s going on there. So it’s many States, but it originated out of Georgia.
Jaisal Noor: All right, Greg Palast, it’s always a pleasure to have you on and for you breaking down these really important issues and keep up the great work. We appreciate everything you do.
Greg Palast: I appreciate the work you do too. Thanks a lot.
Jaisal Noor: Thank you for watching The Real News Network.
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