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30 December 19
Graham: Rudy Should Scrub Evidence for Russian Propaganda
Erin Banco and Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast
Excerpt: "'I wouldn't trust Rudy to represent me in a parking dispute so I'd say avoid,' one senior GOP Senate aide said when asked about any plans for a Ukraine briefing."
Erin Banco and Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast
Excerpt: "'I wouldn't trust Rudy to represent me in a parking dispute so I'd say avoid,' one senior GOP Senate aide said when asked about any plans for a Ukraine briefing."
EXCERPT:
“Rudy Giuliani long ago lost any shred of credibility, especially after the dossier he assembled for the State Department stunningly mirrored Russian propaganda,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) told The Daily Beast. “Knowing that, anyone that attempts to defend President Trump’s behavior by citing Rudy’s information over our own intelligence agencies is simply irresponsible, uninformed or willing to be that useful idiot the Kremlin desires.”
Giuliani has not briefed any Republican Senate leaders, including Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), according to two individuals with knowledge of the Senate leaders’ schedules.
“I wouldn’t trust Rudy to represent me in a parking dispute so I’d say avoid,” a senior GOP Senate aide said tersely when asked if it was a good idea for Republican senators to meet with Giuliani to get a Ukraine briefing. Another top aide in a different Republican office said their senator had informed staff that they had “no interest at all” in meeting with Giuliani on this, fearing it would amount to a “waste of time,” if not something worse.
And it’s not just Capitol Hill that’s worried about associating with Giuliani.
“I do not want my name showing up in a [news] story about what Rudy and the president discuss,” said one senior White House official. “I don’t want my text messages with [Giuliani] being all over cable news,” this official continued, referencing the incident when Trump’s personal lawyer went on Fox News and unveiled texts sent between him and Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine. As The Daily Beast reported in early December, senior officials in the State Department and within the national security apparatus began worrying that Giuliani's ongoing crusade (which has been explicitly blessed and personally encouraged by President Trump) could hurt American foreign policy, and it even got to the point where these officials frantically devoted resources to tracking his foreign movements and figuring out who he was meeting with in Europe.
When asked about Sen. Graham’s recommendation to approach the intelligence community with his materials, and if he agreed that he should do so as due diligence, Giuliani would only reply to The Daily Beast, “It’s not Russian propaganda.”
Law enforcement vehicles are seen parked outside West Freeway Church of Christ as authorities continue to investigate a fatal shooting at the church on Sunday, in White Settlement, Texas. (photo: David Kent/AP)
Texas Church Shooter Kills 2 Before Being Fatally Shot by Congregants
Gabriela Saldivia, NPR
Saldivia writes: "A gunman opened fire during a church service Sunday morning in White Settlement, Texas, killing two people before two church members returned fire and killed him, authorities said."
READ MORE
Gabriela Saldivia, NPR
Saldivia writes: "A gunman opened fire during a church service Sunday morning in White Settlement, Texas, killing two people before two church members returned fire and killed him, authorities said."
READ MORE
Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. (photo: Mohammed Al-Shaikh/Getty)
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan | Let 2020 Be the Year to End the Murder and Imprisonment of Journalists
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "Beneath the grim statistic that 10 reporters were murdered in 2019 lies an important shift toward a public rejection of impunity for violence against journalists."
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "Beneath the grim statistic that 10 reporters were murdered in 2019 lies an important shift toward a public rejection of impunity for violence against journalists."
EXCERPT:
Similarly, in the wake of the murder of Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico resigned, and the Slovak businessman who is accused of ordering the murder, Marian Kocner, is finally set to stand trial almost two years later.
Justice for Jamal Khashoggi remains elusive. Agnes Callamard, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, tweeted after the announcement of the Saudi convictions: “Bottom line: the hit-men are guilty, sentenced to death. The masterminds not only walk free, they have barely been touched by the investigation and the trial. That is the antithesis of Justice. It is a mockery.”
The Washington Post reported over a year ago that the CIA had concluded, on evidence that included intercepted phone calls, that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing. His close friendship with Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner has certainly contributed to the impunity he has so far enjoyed. One way to punish Saudi Arabia is through sanctions and denial of military aid — options that were open until just last week, when Congress passed, and sent to the White House for Trump’s signature, the $738 billion 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Sen. Bernie Sanders and California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna issued a joint statement calling the NDAA “a bill of astonishing moral cowardice,” in part for failing to deny aid to Saudi Arabia.
The role of a free press is to inform the public and to hold those in power accountable. We all have a responsibility to ensure that journalists are free to do their work, without threats of injury, imprisonment or death.
Yanis Varoufakis. (photo: Getty Images)
Yanis Varoufakis | Imagining a World Without Capitalism
Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate
Varoufakis writes: "Anti-capitalists had a miserable year. But so did capitalism."
READ MORE
Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate
Varoufakis writes: "Anti-capitalists had a miserable year. But so did capitalism."
READ MORE
Jaime Hoffman. (photo: Jaime Hoffman/Daily Beast)
She Canceled a Football Game. That's When the Torment Began.
Emily Shugerman, The Daily Beast
Excerpt: "How a bungled football season turned into a war between the Occidental football team and its gay, female athletics director."
Emily Shugerman, The Daily Beast
Excerpt: "How a bungled football season turned into a war between the Occidental football team and its gay, female athletics director."
EXCERPTS:
Two years later [2014], in a report to the board of trustees, a task force led by Hoffman warned about the growing safety risks of the football team. The number of recruits had been shrinking for years—part of a larger national decline in high school football—leaving Occidental with fewer, smaller players from which to choose. While some had recommended shuttering the program altogether, the task force recommended increasing safeguards and keeping a close watch on the team’s standing. “Should the competitive level of the team create an unsafe environment,” the group wrote, “the administration is encouraged to intervene.”
Two years later [2014], in a report to the board of trustees, a task force led by Hoffman warned about the growing safety risks of the football team. The number of recruits had been shrinking for years—part of a larger national decline in high school football—leaving Occidental with fewer, smaller players from which to choose. While some had recommended shuttering the program altogether, the task force recommended increasing safeguards and keeping a close watch on the team’s standing. “Should the competitive level of the team create an unsafe environment,” the group wrote, “the administration is encouraged to intervene.”
The Tigers’ roster numbers continued to drop over the next several practices. By Sept. 14, two days before their next game, the team was down to 36 eligible players. The opposing team had 117. Hoffman called an emergency meeting with the college’s general counsel, head athletic trainer, head football coach, and President Jonathan Veitch. Together, she says, they decided to cancel the game.
“When it comes to a sport like football where someone can be paralyzed or someone can die, I have to be the parent in this situation,” Hoffman told The Daily Beast. “I have to make a responsible decision.”
In the months following, Hoffman floated between friends' and relatives’ houses, looking for a place to live and a permanent job. Because she was technically on “active unpaid status,” the college never offered her severance. But because she was, for all intents and purposes, fired, she struggled to find a job elsewhere. Lower-tier schools like Whittier and Laverne didn’t call her for interviews, and Claremont College—where she was previously a finalist for a similar role—didn’t even call her back.
In September of last year, Hoffman filed a lawsuit against Occidental for gender discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, and failure to accommodate disability, among other things. She is asking for her job back and compensation for her emotional distress. But she also hopes the lawsuit spark larger, institutional change for women at Occidental and other NCAA schools.
"This is a trend in athletics in higher ed,” she told The Daily Beast. “It's easier to get rid of the women.”
A Ukrainian war prisoner embraces his mother after being released following a prisoner exchange, near Odradivka, eastern Ukraine. (photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
Ukraine, Pro-Russia Separatists Complete Controversial Prisoner Swap
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have completed a full prisoner swap, exchanging all remaining detainees of the five-year conflict, the Ukrainian presidency has said."
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have completed a full prisoner swap, exchanging all remaining detainees of the five-year conflict, the Ukrainian presidency has said."
EXCERPT:
It said that 76 former pro-government prisoners had returned home, while separatist officials said the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics took in a total of 124 people.
The exchange comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy held their first face-to-face talks in Paris on December 9 and agreed on some measures to de-escalate Europe's only active war.
The summit, mediated by the leaders of France and Germany, was the first of its kind in three years.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera's Aleksandra Godfroid said Zelenskyy faced criticism in Ukraine "from the very start" when he openly showed his willingness to hold talks with Putin.
"Critics say he might have compromised too much," Godfroid said. "On the other hand ... he did win the elections by promising to end this conflict".
The 'Give a Flake' campaign aims to turn skiers, snowboarders and other winter sports enthusiasts into climate policy advocates. (photo: Matt Powers/Aspen Snowmass)
Turning Skiers Into Climate Voters With the Advocacy Potential of the NRA
Judy Fahys, Inside Climate News
Fahys writes: "With rising global temperatures threatening to limit the skiing season and even warm some resorts out of existence, major ski companies are turning to their customers for help in the fight against climate change. Their goal: turn millions of snow-lovers into climate voters."
Judy Fahys, Inside Climate News
Fahys writes: "With rising global temperatures threatening to limit the skiing season and even warm some resorts out of existence, major ski companies are turning to their customers for help in the fight against climate change. Their goal: turn millions of snow-lovers into climate voters."
"The industry's much bigger, much more rabid, maybe more powerful and wealthy than the gun lobby, and yet we have no power," said Aspen Ski Co.'s Auden Schendler, pointing out that 10 million skiers logged about 59 million visits to U.S. resorts last winter.
"How do you mobilize that?" he asked. "Weaponize the outdoor community as a political movement."
That means venturing beyond the corporate sustainability campaigns already underway at resorts and ski companies, such as pressing local utilities to switch from coal to renewables, signing letters to policy makers and sending snow sport celebrities to lobby Congress.
Winter sports companies are now trying to mobilize those millions of skiers, snowboarders and other winter enthusiasts into a passionate political force for action on climate change by encouraging them to contact policy makers, vote for climate-friendly candidates and spread the word about climate change in their circles. The 2020 elections could become a proving ground for this new strategy to mix politics and play.
The winter sports industry knows it is facing an uncertain future.
One analysis, from a 2018 report by scientists with Climate Impact Lab, predicts that the number of days with below-freezing temperatures in Truckee, California, could shrink from 41 to 8 on average by the end of the century, and from 196 days to 141 at Stowe, Vermont. Rocky Mountain resorts, like Breckenridge and Taos, can expect their low-temperature days to decline by as much as one-third.
Another study, published in 2017, found that climate change will shorten the winter recreation season across the U.S., with half as many downhill skiing days in some places by 2050 and up to 80 percent fewer by 2090.
"We estimate these season-length changes could result in millions to tens of millions of foregone recreational visits annually by 2050, with an annual monetized impact of hundreds of millions of dollars," the study said. "Limiting global greenhouse gas emissions could both delay and substantially reduce adverse impacts to the winter recreation industry."
It's not just snow sports at risk. Mountain communities depend on agriculture, and mountain ecologies support wildlife, along with water storage for farmers, aquaculture, livestock and forestry.
Ski Resorts Have Started Cutting Their Own Emissions
Staring down that chilling reality, resorts have been focused so far on reducing their own carbon footprints.
At the climate-focused Mountain Towns Summit 2030 in Park City, Utah, this past fall, four major resort operators touted accomplishments like supplanting coal-fired power with renewables and adopting composting and recycling to reduce food waste at their lodges. But speaker after speaker conceded that resorts can't solve climate change on their own.
"Mountain towns are comprised of passionate citizens, vibrant businesses and natural splendor," and climate change threatens their economic stability, snowfall and way of life, local officials point out in a pact that was signed by more than 40 summit attendees, including government agencies, cities, counties, nonprofits and businesses.
"The climate crisis is the defining issue of our generation and must be addressed at all levels. As leaders in mountain communities, it is our obligation to address this issue in a bold, timely, and meaningful way," they wrote.
The signers pledged to be net-zero carbon emitters by 2030 and described steps they're taking to educate visitors about climate change and turn them into advocates for climate-friendly policies.
Laura Schaffer, sustainability director for Powdr, which operates the Snowbird resort in Utah and Killington Ski resort in Vermont, said visitors can expect to see more educational programs, such as one promoting sustainable behavior at the Killington ski school and the company's campaign to protect the environment so skiers can "play forever."
At Alterra Mountain Co. resorts, Sustainability Vice President David Perry said it's time to counter the climate change disinformation campaigns used by fossil-fuel companies and their supporters.
"They've changed a lot of minds to their disinformation campaign over a long period of time, and it's been incredibly effective," Perry said. "So we [ski companies] are on the back foot in a lot of these conversations. Guests are more receptive to communication when they're on vacation, and we are going to be taking advantage of that."
Getting Politicians to 'Give a Fl*ke' About Climate Change
Aspen decided years ago that the risk of driving away some customers wasn't nearly as threatening as climate change, and it has become the industry leader in climate outreach. On chairlifts, guests might find a quote from Pope Francis about the need to reduce the human harm to the climate. Throughout the Aspen Snowmass resort, staff members have been trained to talk about climate change and the threat it poses to winter recreation
There's also "Give A Flake," Aspen's marketing campaign to turn winter sports enthusiasts into climate policy advocates with easy-to-share social media messages and postcards that praise politicians who #GiveAFlake about climate change—and needle those who don't. In 2018, "Give A Flake" was responsible for a million postcards targeting three swing-state Republican senators who, while they don't reject climate science, "haven't really done anything" about it, in Schendler's view.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who leads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and has been one of the few Republicans willing to talk about climate change concerns, hosted climate solutions hearings last spring, just months after being targeted by a "Give A Flake" campaign that criticized her record. When "Give A Flake" ran an ad in Outside Magazine targeting her the previous fall, she responded and got into a public exchange with Schendler in letters to the magazine over her climate record.
Aspen visitors also see the "Protect Our Winters" logo on employee uniforms, which refers to an athlete-led climate-action nonprofit that's been breaking trail for the winter sports community's public engagement effort for more than a decade.
'We Can Turn Our Passion Into Purpose'
POW previously used a more traditional approach to raising awareness about climate change. To spur fans to become more politically active, snow sport stars like POW founder and professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones have testified before Congress and are featured in videos urging outdoor recreationists to get political about climate change.
This year, POW has a strategic plan to get out the vote, with an eye on more than 34 million Americans who identify themselves as climbers, skiers/snowboarders, trail runners or mountain bikers—roughly 25 percent of the 2016 election voters.
"With the right tools, these Americans—this passionate outdoor community of ours—can be the difference in addressing the climate crisis," POW Executive Director Mario Molina, who previously served as international director for The Climate Reality Project, wrote in the strategic plan. "Connected by our shared love of the outdoors, we can turn our passion into purpose and then into results."
The group's 2020 game plan is to secure pledges from 40,000 people in Maine, New Hampshire and parts of Nevada, Colorado, Michigan and North Carolina to vote with climate as a top priority. POW is volunteering to help host 100 community events in these priority areas that feature outdoor athletes, and it is planning contests to engage more people on the issue.
"We need to continue to validate personal experience with scientific facts—that's a powerful combination," said Molina, who sees the thrill of snow sports as a powerful impetus for inspiring outdoor recreation enthusiasts to press politicians on climate change.
Molina wants to shift people's thinking so personal climate action takes on new meaning beyond simply recycling or driving a hybrid. He wants outdoor enthusiasts to see voting as a powerful tool for fighting climate change.
"If we were to get a million people to call their representatives once a month," he said, "we would see different results coming out of both our state and federal legislatures."
"The ski industry, particularly, has potential to wield incredible political power," Molina said, if it is able to motivate guests to become climate advocates, "let's just say how the NRA recruits people at gun shows."
Some in the ski industry cringe at the comparison. They also look at some of the negative attention Patagonia attracted when it opposed President Donald Trump's move to downsize the Bears Ears National Monument. Its open resistance to Trump administration policies was targeted on social media with a #BoycottPatagonia effort.
Despite the pushback from some quarters, Patagonia CEO Rose Mercario has called the response to the company's environmental campaigns "overwhelmingly positive."
Ski Industry Has Been Ramping Up Activism
The ramp-up of political activism around climate change has been underway in the background in the outdoor recreation industry for years. Ski companies are part of the Outdoor Business Climate Partnership, the U.S. Business Climate Action Contribution Platform and We Are Still In, the coalition supporting Paris Accord climate-pollution reduction goals after the Trump administration announced the United States would pull out.
The Boulder, Colorado-based Outdoor Industry Association began arguing with Utah's Republican leaders over a decade ago about state policies on public lands. The fight played out over the industry's twice-yearly trade shows in Salt Lake City as the outdoor industry, with a national economic impact of $887 billion spending and 7.6 million jobs, tried to make the political case for a healthy environment.
But after Utah Republicans called on the Trump administration to strip national monument protections from 2 million acres of public land in the state three years ago, OIA responded swiftly by relocating its big trade show from Salt Lake City to Denver—a move estimated to cost to Utah's convention business $1 billion over a decade.
"Brands are seeing that they can utilize their voice to encourage and push for action and de-polarize the climate arena," said Andrew Pappas, manager of state and local policy at OIA.
Schendler, the Aspen executive, said the outdoor recreation industry is taking too long to engage customers on climate change. He said "Give A Flake" will be targeting Trump on his climate position in 2020.
"People say, 'Your business is the ski business—just do skiing'," Schendler explains. "We say, 'This is business. We are threatened—we are threatened today with going out of business.'"
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