Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among those criticizing New York City's Democratic Mayor Eric Adams for comments he made this week demonizing asylum-seekers and other migrants.

The latest conflagration kicked off by Mayor Adams, the former police officer turned politician, began Wednesday night when he charged that an influx of migrants would "destroy New York City" as he lamented that he could "not see an ending" to the perceived crisis and said the federal government must do more to help.

Defenders of refugee and migrant rights, however, pushed back after video of the remarks spread on social media.

In a Twitter post on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez castigated Adams. While agreeing that the Biden administration should "step up" to do more, she said that solutions to the growing number of migrants do exist but that "Alienating people isn't one of them."

"A core issue we have is not solely the presence of asylum seekers," continued Ocasio-Cortez. "They want to work and New Yorkers want to hire them. It’s that goverment is forcing people to remain on public systems [because] we won’t let them work and support themselves, which is all they want. Work authorizations and extending [temporary protected status (TPS)] can do a lot here."

But, she said, the divisive rhetoric like that from Mayor Adams "puts solutions even further away, and only escalates tensions and obstacles."

"This dangerous rhetoric is something you’d expect from fringe politicians on the far-right of the political spectrum, not from the mayor of a city that has always welcomed and celebrated its diverse and critically important immigrant community."

Ocasion-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, was far from Adams' only critic.

Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which advocates for the rights and dignity of migrants and asylum-seekers in the city, said his group was deeply concerned about the Mayor's comments.

"We call upon Mayor Adams to clarify and reconsider his statements, and we urge him to engage in meaningful dialogue with organizations and experts in the field to gain a deeper understanding of the complex issues surrounding migration," said Jozef. "We further extend an invitation to Mayor Adams and his administration to collaborate with us and other organizations to ensure that New York City continues to uphold the principles of diversity, equity, and justice for all."

City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán of Queens joined the chorus of rebuke by calling Adams' comments nothing by "repugnant MAGA garbage," a reference to the anti-immigrant ideology of former President Donald Trump and other leading Republicans. Further evidence that the Mayor's comments were more in line with the GOP than the Democratic Party to which he belongs, several high-profile Republicans, including far-right presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy applauded the remarks.

Redmond Haskins, a spokesperson for the Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless, toldThe Gothamist newspaper the comments were "reckless and unproductive fear-mongering" by the Mayor.

"This dangerous rhetoric is something you’d expect from fringe politicians on the far-right of the political spectrum, not from the mayor of a city that has always welcomed and celebrated its diverse and critically important immigrant community," said Haskins.

Sawyer Hackett, a Democratic strategist and consultant, said of Adams, "This is not a person any elected Democrat should take messaging advice from."

In her critique, Ocasio-Cortez said anyone who continues to ignore the root cause of asylum-seekers arriving in the U.S. due to poverty, safety concerns, or political instability in their own countries is missing a key aspect of the issue.

"If we want to reduce the number of asylum seekers in general, we have to make U.S. foreign policy part of this conversation," the congresswoman said. "We must discuss U.S. policy in Latin America, which often goes ignored by politicians and media alike, despite the fact that it's a major factor."

As President Joe Biden signed into law an agreement Saturday that would shield wealthy tax cheats from stronger IRS enforcement while at the same time enacting cuts to key anti-poverty programs, Senator Bernie Sanders and other progressive allies were busy denouncing the immoral, low-wage economic system in the United States in which just a small handful of mega-billionaires have accumulated more wealth than tens of millions of hard-working but low-paid workers and their families.

At a "Rally to Raise the Wage" in Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday, the independent politician and two-time presidential candidate railed against the inequality that remains so pervasive in the country and the political forces that seek to divide the working class.

"The reason we are here today is not complicated," Sanders said. "In the richest country in the world, we demand an economy that works for all, not just the few."

"In every age, moral people have had to rise up and decide to make the moral case that things have to change and injustice has to move." —Bishop William J. Barber II

"It is not moral that three people on top own more wealth than the bottom half of American society, 165 million Americans," Sanders declared during his speech. "That's not moral. That's not right. That's not what should exist in a democratic society."

Sanders was joined on the tour through the south—which also included stops in Durham, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee—by Bishop William J. Barber II, founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, who said Sanders had asked him to attend specifically to discuss the moral case for combating poverty and raising wages.

"When Jesus started his ministry," said Barber, surrounded by members of the audience he had called up to gather around him on stage, "he said I'm coming to preach good news to the poor[...] meaning those who had been made poor by the economic exploitation of Rome."

Barber told the crowd that "there are over 2,000 scriptures in the Bible" detailing the worth of the poor and the value of laborers.

"So what our movement is about, is precisely the opposite of what the big-money interests want. They want to divide us up and we are determined to bring working people together." —Sen. Bernie Sanders

"The Bible does not talk about taking a women's right from her body," Barber said. "The Bible does not talk about hating people because of their sexuality. The Bible does not talk about prayer in the school. The Bible does not talk about putting up the Ten Commandments. But more than 2,000 times—more than any other subject other than self-worship idolatry—the Bible says the way to please God is how we treat the least of these and those in the margins."

"In every age," he continued, "moral people have had to rise up and decide to make the moral case that things have to change and injustice has to move."

In contrast to a living wage of $17 an hour at the heart of the rally, Bishop Barber said the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 should be seen as a "death wage," given the rate at which poverty kills in the country.

Barber told the diverse South Carolina audience in attendance—including those standing beside him who were older people and younger people of different racial, religious, and sexual identities—that their unity and solidarity in the face of economic inequality and social injustice remains their greatest asset.

The people in power, said Barber, "They are afraid of this room."

Invoking Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Barber explained how in 1965, Dr. King stood on the steps of the Alabama state house "and said that the greatest fear of the southern aristocracy and the oligarchy was for the masses of poor Negroes and poor white folk to get together and form a powerful new voting bloc that would shift the economic architecture of the nation."

"If they are cynical enough to be together, we oughta be smart enough to come together around the moral agenda."

"And I want to suggest," he continued, "if that's what they're afraid of: Let's build it! Let's built it and maybe in the process some of them will even be redeemed and stop hurting people. Who gets up in the morning and all you can think about is how you can take somebody's healthcare? Who gets up in the morning and asks, 'How I can use my power to hurt somebody?'"

He made a final point about those in power and how the forces at work denying freedom and dignity to certain people in society are also the same forces attacking democracy and economic equality.

"The same people who are attacking gay people, are attacking our voting rights," Barber said. "The same people who are attacking trans people, are attacking our healthcare. The same people trying to take away a woman's right are also against living wages. If they are cynical enough to be together, we oughta be smart enough to come together around the moral agenda."

Barber said the southern states are "key" and must not be ignored by federal politicians, arguing that the Carolinas, Tennessee, and others are not necessarily red states, but just states that have been "intentionally divided" and where workers have been disempowered.

"We need a living wage and we need it now," Barber declared. "It's time for change and justice has got to move. You've got to make them hear you. You've got to make them see you. You've got to make them feel your power."

He added: "This is a moral fight. We can't allow corporate greed to sell out and tear the souls and substance of this nation apart. This is a nation-saving fight."

Prior to Barber, local hairdresser Lydia Stewart spoke about working conditions at the salon business that employs her, Great Clips, and the organizing effort she and her colleagues have undertaken with the Union of Southern Service Workers to increase workplace safety and win higher wages.

During the rally, State Rep. Wendell Gilliard (D-111) also spoke and talked about the need for a true living wage in the state that should be no less than $17 an hour.

"We have come a long way," Gilliard said during his remarks, "fighting for the rights of 'We the People.' This is not about party, it's always been about the people. Charlestonians work hard and deserve more for what they do to keep this region running. They deserve more than a minimum wage—they deserve a living wage!"

"With rising costs of living," Gilliard continued, "more and more of our neighbors, our friends, and our family members will slip into poverty unless they see an increase... $17 an hour is a living wage. It will help poverty from swallowing up more victims and help increase the standard of living here in Charleston."

In closing his speech for the rally, Gilliard said the event with Sanders and Barber could not simply be a moment in time, but must signify the existence of a movement ready to fight for the long haul.

"It cannot be a moment in time," the state lawmaker said. "It has to be a movement that will live until we get it done."

In his headliner address, Sanders echoed what Bishop Barber argued, that the ruling elite and monied oligarchy "wins" when they divide up the working class and those living in poverty.

"In every way that you can think," said Sanders, "there are really smart people—out there polling today—saying: How do I get you to vote against your own self-interest? How do I get black and white and Latino and Native American, Asian American, gay, and straight against each other so that the big-money interest laugh all the way to the bank."

"So what our movement is about, is precisely the opposite of what the big-money interests want," he continued. "They want to divide us up and we are determined to bring working people together—black and white and Latino—all of us together around an agenda that works for us not just the billionaire class!"

Progressive critics have condemned the refusal of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to accept an invitation to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee over a string of alleged ethics violations by Justices on the Court, specifically Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

Roberts finally responded late Tuesday night to an invitation issued over two weeks ago by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who chairs the committee, following revelations that Thomas had accepted lavish gifts from a billionaire right-wing activist over the course of decades without disclosing them.

On Tuesday, Politico reported that Gorsuch had sold property to the head of a powerful law firm that has repeatedly had business before the Court without disclosing the identity of the purchaser.

In his letter to Durbin on Tuesday, Roberts said he "must respectfully decline your invitation" and cited the separation of powers as the key reason he would not appear. But critics, including Democratic lawmakers and outside watchdogs, denounced the decision.

"Under Roberts, the Supreme Court has unraveled constitutional rights and seen several justices engage in corrupt financial arrangements. Now he is refusing to answer questions," declared Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), in response. "How does Roberts expect SCOTUS to maintain authority if they reject accountability themselves?"

Ocasio-Cortez has been among those lawmakers in the House calling for Thomas to be investigated or impeached over the revelations contained in a pair of stories by Pro Publica this month.

"This is an untenable position," said Kyle Herrig, president of the watchdog group Accountable.US, in response to Roberts' refusal to appear.

"While the Supreme Court is on fire with scandals, Chief Justice John Roberts refuses to answer questions about the long list of troubling ethics issues undermining the credibility and integrity of our nation's highest court," Herrig continued. "We need urgent reform to restore public trust in our Court—and we need it now."

In a statement in the wake of the Thomas' revelations, Brett Edkins, managing director of policy and political affairs for Stand Up America, said that it will be up to Congress to seek judicial reforms to curb ethics violations that many argue have led to wholesale corruption on the Court.

"Thomas is unfit to serve on any court, let alone our nation’s highest court. His failure to disclose his close financial dealings with a GOP billionaire has single-handedly destroyed what little credibility this MAGA Court had left," Edkins said.

"Congress has a constitutional duty to hold this Court in check," he added. "Failing to hold Justice Thomas accountable, hold hearings, and pass a Supreme Court code of ethics would be a dereliction of that duty."

Durbin has said the hearing on May 2 will go on with or without the participation of Roberts or the other Justices.

"I extended an invitation to the chief justice, or his designate, in an attempt to include the court in this discussion," Durbin said. "But make no mistake: Supreme Court ethics reform must happen whether the court participates in the process or not."

Experts warned Sunday that the practice of Twitter adding official blue check marks to high-profile users on the social media platform without their consent could be a violation of FTC guidelines meant to prevent fraud.

The mysterious application of the blue checks—indicating that people had voluntarily paid to be members of the new Twitter Blue premium plan controversially launched by billionaire owner Elon Musk—was a source of endless online conversation over the weekend after living celebrities like basketball star LeBron James and novelist Stephen King as well as deceased people like food writer Anthony Bourdain and slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi had the checks applied to their accounts.

On Friday, Musk confirmed he was paying "personally" to keep the checks on at least some of these accounts.

The so-called "purge" began last week, when many institutions, organizations, and individuals discovered that the traditional "blue check" verifications they'd enjoyed for years—which indicated they were who they said they were and came at no cost—disappeared. (Full disclosure: Common Dreams, a nonprofit and independent news outlet, was stripped of its blue check verification last week.)

Over the weekend others who said they did not sign up for the new Twitter Blue program started noticing new checks appearing on their accounts without warning.

According to Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy and communications for the media advocacy group Free Press, what Musk is doing with the blue checks is a violation of rules set up by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

"Musk has 'gifted' checks to celebrity Twitter accounts and other influencers without first seeking permission," said Karr. But because the blue checks "act like endorsements of Twitter Blue," the new paid program that charges $8 for premium access and status on the platform, this is where the violation comes in.

"False endorsements violate FTC rules, legally exposing Musk," argued Karr.

Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic, backed up this legal assessment.

"Considering that the blue check states that someone is subscribed to and paying for a product, falsely adding that to large accounts may constitute a deceptive trade practice," said Caraballo in an online post. "Paging the FTC."

Unverified reports indicate that voluntary and paid signups for Twitter Blue have been meager, with estimates in the low double-digits or maybe several hundred. Either way, a far-cry from what would be needed to generate any meaningful profit from the program, which Musk indicated was the goal.

Writing for Mashable on Saturday, Chance Townsend detailed the mess of the whole episode:

Musk appears to have mistaken the past prestige associated with ID verification for something that can be commodified. But it now looks like that bubble has burst. With legacy accounts having had their checkmarks removed, and the platform's only ID verification system now saddled with stigma, the platform is facing a bad impersonation problem — a complication that spurred major advertisers to back out of Twitter in previous months.

Meanwhile, with others online citing Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, which covers rules about trademark and false endorsements, Caraballo argued that Stephen King or others who were “gifted” the check marks could bring legal challenges to Musk under the statute.

"Anyone given this without their approval could have grounds to bring a false endorsement claim," she said. "That would be separate from a FTC investigation over deceptive trade practices."

Earlier this month, one of Twitter's top lawyers, Christian Dowell, who had been directly involved with the company's ongoing discussions with the FTC over privacy and data issues, resigned.

In his Sunday thread on Twitter, Karr mentioned Dowell's departure and then remarked, "Seems Musk never hired someone to fill that position."

The state of Alabama's top early education official was forced out Friday by Gov. Kay Ivey over a teacher resource guide—one that promotes inclusion of various kinds of families and acknowledges the reality of racism in the nation's history—the Republican leader denounced as too "woke."

After an apparent refusal to denounce the book or accept its removal, Barbara Cooper, head of the Alabama Department of Early Education, was compelled to tender her resignation, which Ivey accepted.

The text in question is a widely-used resource guide for early childhood educators that informs teachers that the "early education system is not immune" from the forces of "systemic and institutional racism" embedded in the history and development of the United States.

The book, according to a review of its contents by the Associated Press, also urges inclusion and understanding for young children coming into education programs from all kinds of different families.

"Early childhood programs also serve and welcome families that represent many compositions. Children from all families (e.g., single parent, grandparent-led, foster, LGBTQIA+) need to hear and see messages that promote equality, dignity, and worth," states the resource guide.

A spokesperson for Ivey's office, Gina Maiola, identified the book as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book, 4th edition and told reporters that copies of the text had been removed from all classrooms in the state.

Maiola said the book's glossary "includes equally disturbing concepts that the Ivey Administration and the people of Alabama in no way, shape or form believe should be used to influence school children, let alone four-year-olds."

The NAEYC, a national accrediting board that supplies materials and performs reviews for educational institutions and teachers nationwide, states on its website that the organization "promotes high-quality early learning for all children, birth through age 8, by connecting practice, policy, and research."

According to AP:

The book is a guide for early childhood educators. It is not a curriculum taught to children.

The governor's office, in a press release, cited two examples from the book—one discussing white privilege and that "the United States is built on systemic and structural racism" and another that Ivey's office claimed teaches LGBTQ+ inclusion to 4-year-olds. Those sections, according to a copy of the 881-page book obtained by The Associated Press, discuss combating bias and making sure that all children feel welcome.

On Friday evening, the NAEYC sent a statement to AL.com in response to the ouster of Cooper, who happens to sit on the group's national governing board, and about the resource guide itself.

"For nearly four decades, and in partnership with hundreds of thousands of families and educators, Developmentally Appropriate Practice has served as the foundation for high-quality early childhood education across all states and communities," NAEYC said in the statement.

"While not a curriculum, it is a responsive, educator-developed, educator-informed, and research-based resource that has been honed over multiple generations to support teachers in helping all children thrive and reach their full potential," the group continued. "Building on the good work that is happening in states and communities, NAEYC looks forward to continuing its partnership with families, educators, and policymakers to further ourshared goals of offering joyful learning environments that see, support, and reflect all children and their families."

Megan Carolan, an early childhood researcher, responded to the story online by saying Cooper's ouster was "massively concerning and, I suspect it echoes what many teachers and districts have had to navigate locally."

"This book was a NAEYC-developed resource used as a guide, not curriculum," Carolan added. And while Alabama ranks poorly in public education performance overall, she remarked that the state "is commonly hailed as a success in early childhood education."

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito of throwing a 'tantrum' in his written dissent to Friday night's ruling over the abortion medication mifepristone and said the Court's right-wing majority has become an ideological political force that must be checked by the two other branches of government.

Backed only by Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito's dissent evoked the charge that President Joe Biden may not have honored a ruling by the court that was unfavorable to the administration position. As it was, the Court decided by a 7-2 margin to maintain availability of the widely-used medication, a relief—even if temporary—for reproduction rights defenders nationwide.

After one legal expert called the portion of Alito's dissent challenging the hypothetical actions of Biden "unwarranted and completely unbefitting a Supreme Court Justice," Ocasio-Cortez chimed in to say that the administration, had it been necessary, would have been right to have the FDA ignore a Court ruling that barred access to a legitimately approved drug used safely by millions each year.

"The court," said Ocasio-Cortez, "has devolved into a highly politicized entity that is rapidly delegitimizing. Open discussion of checking the court's abuse of power and defying Kacsmaryk possibly contributed to pause/consideration."

Ahead of the high court's ruling on Friday, many advocates and lawmakers—including the New York Democrat—had called on Biden and the FDA to ignore the lower-court ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a far-right ideologue in Texas and Trump appointee.

"The court is a political entity currently engaged in overreach and abuse of power," the congresswoman said in her Friday night rebuke. "In our system of checks and balances, SCOTUS’s reckless behavior warrants a check from the leg + executive branches. This is not unprecedented, it’s how our system is designed to avert tyranny."

Dante Atkins, a progressive political strategist and former congressional staffer, said Ocasio-Cortez's assessment was correct.

"The only people still pretending that the court is legitimate are a handful of Boomer Dems," Atkins tweeted. "Both MAGA and most younger Dems recognize what it is: an unelected partisan super-legislature."

U.S. voters across the political spectrum believe the flood of anti-LGTBQ+ legislation nationwide—including the wave specifically aimed at the transgender community—is "excessive, political theater" designed to sow further division in the country and win partisan points.

That's one of the key findings of a new poll released Monday by Data for Progress which showed that "72% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans think that there is 'too much legislation' aimed at limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America."

Citing nearly 430 separate bills that have moved or are moving through state legislatures this year, the survey found that the large majority of U.S. voters believe the Republican Party is using such proposals as a "wedge issue" to sow division or gain political advantage.

Writing on the poll's results, Data for Progress pollsters Erin Thomas, Grace Adcox, Lew Blank, and Isa Alomran argue in a blog post that the Democratic Party as a whole "should be doing more to advocate for queer and trans people" in the face of such relentless and widespread attacks by the GOP.

"Political leaders should not hesitate to call out Republicans on their manipulative political tactics," the trio writes. "Furthermore, they should use their platform to make the country more aware of queer people and queer issues."

The poll specifically asked respondents this question and 56% of likely Democratic voters said the party should be doing more while 63% of Independent or third-party voters agreed.

Another thing made clear in the poll is that Republicans are losing the narrative war at a national level with voters even as their state-level assault on trans and gay rights runs at full steam.

According to the survey, 57% of likely voters overall agree "that transgender identities occur naturally when free societies permit individuals to identify outside of societal norms, whereas only 33 percent view transgender identities as a 'woke' invention."

In their conclusion, Thomas, Adcox, and Blank say that GOP lawmakers approving "anti-LGBTQ+ legislation are out of step with the American electorate," while the majority of likely voters oppose these legislative efforts and will support Democratic politicians and lawmakers "who directly fight" back to oppose them.

"Our polling highlights that knowing trans people and experiencing queer culture significantly improves likely voters' support for trans and queer rights," they wrote. "Increasing public awareness and understanding of transgender and queer people shouldn't solely be the responsibility of trans people."

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday night called for a full repeal of the 2018 banking deregulations signed into law by former President Donald Trump and declared that "now is not the time for taxpayers bail out Silicon Valley Bank"—the California bank that collapsed Friday.

On Sunday evening, the U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a joint statement outlining a plan to make all deposits for Silicon Valley Bank as well as Signature Bank, which was shuttered by New York regulators earlier in the day, available to costumers Monday morning.

In his statement, Sanders said, "If there is a bailout of Silicon Valley Bank, it must be 100 percent financed by Wall Street and large financial institutions. We cannot continue down the road of more socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else. Let us have the courage to stand up to Wall Street, repeal the disastrous 2018 bank deregulation law, break up too big to fail banks and address the needs of working families, not the risky bets of vulture capitalists."

The statement the Fed, Treasury, and FDIC noted that "no losses" associated with the rescue plan "will be borne by the taxpayer," though the extraordinary intervention—the largest of its kind since the 2008 financial collapse—is still seen by many economists and financial experts, even if bank investors and debt holders are not protected, as a "bailout" for the financial industry only made possible by taxpayers.

Warren Gunnels, longtime staffer and top advisor to Sanders, made the connection between venture capitalists clamoring for a speedy government intervention to save the banking sector from a wider shock and the same kind of people who have adamantly opposed financial relief for the struggling middle- and working-class Americans:

As the Washington Post reports, "The decision by Treasury to backstop all deposits at SVB and Signature — not just those up to $250,000 that are insured under federal law — rested on a judgment that it was necessary to avoid a wider 'systemic' meltdown. The move will likely ignite a political firestorm over the decision to protect the assets of tech firms, venture capitalists, and other rich people in California."

In 2018, as Sen. Mike Crapo's (R-Idaho) Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act was making its way through Congress, Sanders took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to oppose the bill, warning of exactly this kind of economic disaster if the deregulation was approved:

"Let's be clear," Sanders said Sunday night in his statement. "The failure of Silicon Valley Bank is a direct result of an absurd 2018 bank deregulation bill signed by Donald Trump that I strongly opposed. Five years ago, the Republican Director of the Congressional Budget Office released a report finding that this legislation would 'increase the likelihood that a large financial firm with assets of between $100 billion and $250 billion would fail.'"

"Unfortunately," he added, "that is precisely what happened."

In a statement on Sunday ahead of the government's rescue plan announcement, Matt Stoller, research director for the American Economic Liberties Project, made the case against any taxpayer bailout for SVB.

"Silicon Valley Bank was a badly managed and corrupt institution that entangled itself with powerful actors in the technology industry," Stoller argued. "The operative question government regulators are now facing is whether to use taxpayer funds to bail out the depositors from the failures of SVB's management."

But a full bailout, Stoller warned, "will only encourage other large regional banks to take similar risks in the future, just as Silicon Valley Bank did."

While bank investors and executives will not be included in the emergency actions announced on Sunday, Rep. Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, applauded the actions taken by Treasury to keep depositors whole.

Among his constituents impacted by the bank's collapse, he said, were "non-profit leaders, small business owners, start-up founders, and impacted employees of small businesses."

While expressly arguing that government intervention "should not and need not ... cost taxpayers a dime" during a news interview Sunday morning, Khanna later applauded the government plan while echoing Sanders' call for a reversal of the deregulation that led to the current crisis.

"I am glad that the Department of Treasury listened and moved to protect workers, the innovation pipeline, and the economy at large," Khanna said. "But the work doesn't end here. We've known since 2008 that stronger regulations are needed to prevent exactly this type of crisis. Congress must come together to reverse the deregulation policies that were put in place under Trump to avert future instability.”

Ocean conservationists expressed elation late Saturday after it was announced—following nearly two decades of consideration and effort—that delegates from around the world had agreed to language for a far-reaching global treaty aimed at protecting the biodiversity on the high seas and in the deep oceans of the world.

"This is a historic day for conservation and a sign that in a divided world, protecting nature and people can triumph over geopolitics," declared Dr. Laura Meller, the oceans campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic.

"We praise countries for seeking compromises, putting aside differences, and delivering a Treaty that will let us protect the oceans, build our resilience to climate change and safeguard the lives and livelihoods of billions of people," Meller added.

The final text of the Global Ocean Treaty, formally referred to as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty (BBNJ), was reached after a two-week round of talks that concluded with a 48-hour marathon push between delegations at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

"This is huge," said Greenpeace in a social media post, calling the agreement "the biggest conservation victory ever!"

Rena Lee of Singapore, the U.N Ambassador for Oceans and president of the conference hosting the talks, received a standing ovation after announcing a final deal had been reached. "The shipped has reached the shore," Lee told the conference.

"Following a two-week-long rollercoaster ride of negotiations and super-hero efforts in the last 48 hours, governments reached agreement on key issues that will advance protection and better management of marine biodiversity in the High Seas," said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of over 40 ocean-focused NGOs that also includes the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Minna Epps, director of the Global Marine and Polar Programme at the IUCN, said the agreement represents a new opportunity.

"The High Seas Treaty opens the path for humankind to finally provide protection to marine life across our one ocean," Epps said in a statement. "Its adoption closes essential gaps in international law and offers a framework for governments to work together to protect global ocean health, climate resilience, and the socioeconomic wellbeing and food security of billions of people."

Protecting the world's high seas, which refers to areas of the oceans outside the jurisdiction of any country, is part of the larger push to protect planetary biodiversity and seen as key if nations want to keep their commitment to the UN-brokered Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework—also known as the known as the 30x30 pledge—that aims protect 30 percent of the world's natural habitat by 2030.

"With currently just over 1% of the High Seas protected," said the High Seas Alliance in a statement, "the new Treaty will provide a pathway to establish marine protected areas in these waters." The group said the treaty will make acheiving the goals of the Kunming-Montreal agreement possible, but that "time is of the essence" for the world's biodiversity.

"The new Treaty will bring ocean governance into the 21st century," said the group, "including establishing modern requirements to assess and manage planned human activities that would affect marine life in the High Seas as well as ensuring greater transparency. This will greatly strengthen the effective area-based management of fishing, shipping, and other activities that have contributed to the overall decline in ocean health."

According to Greenpeace's assessment of the talks:

The High Ambition Coalition, which includes the EU, US and UK, and China were key players in brokering the deal. Both showed willingness to compromise in the final days of talks, and built coalitions instead of sowing division. Small Island States have shown leadership throughout the process, and the G77 group led the way in ensuring the Treaty can be put into practice in a fair and equitable way.

The fair sharing of monetary benefits from Marine Genetic Resources was a key sticking point. This was only resolved on the final day of talks. The section of the Treaty on Marine Protected Areas does away with broken consensus-based decision making which has failed to protect the oceans through existing regional bodies like the Antarctic Ocean Commission. While there are still major issues in the text, it is a workable Treaty that is a starting point for protecting 30% of the world’s oceans.

The group said it is now urgent for governments around the world to take the final step of ratifying the treaty.

"We can now finally move from talk to real change at sea. Countries must formally adopt the Treaty and ratify it as quickly as possible to bring it into force, and then deliver the fully protected ocean sanctuaries our planet needs," Meller said. "The clock is still ticking to deliver 30×30. We have half a decade left, and we can't be complacent."

The former presidents of Brazil and the United States took the stage CPAC on Saturday where both fascist politicians continued to sow doubt about their respective electoral defeats as they received standing ovations from the annual convention's far-right attendees.

Brazil's disgraced former leader Jair Bolsonaro—whose supporters stormed government offices in January after his successor, leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was sworn into office—was brought onto the stage this year's "diminished" CPAC gathering to blaring rock music and loud cheers from the crowd.

Addressing the American audience, Bolsonaro indicated once more his doubts that he lost the Brazilian election fairly, saying, "I had way more support in 2022 than I had in 2018, and I don't understand why the numbers said the opposite."

"I thank God for the mission of being president of Brazil for one term," he said, but hinted at a possible third run for president by adding: "But I feel deep inside that this mission is still not over."

When Trump took the podium as the convention's keynote appearance, there again was raucous applause.

During his speech, he singled out Bolsonaro in the audience and said it was a "great honor" to be appearing with the "very popular" former president.

"Our getting back in the White House is their worst nightmare," Trump said of Democrats and his other political opponents. "But it is our country's only hope."

Trump went on to call the electoral process in the United States a "very bad" and a "very dangerous system" that only he and the far-right attendees at CPAC can overcome.

During the speech, Trump vowed to "finish what we started" as the enthusiastic crowd chanted "Four more years! Four more years!"

In the traditional straw poll taken each year by CPAC attendees, Trump won in a landslide, the convention's organizers announced on Saturday, with the former president taking 65 percent of the vote.

The second-place finisher was Florida's far-right Gov. Ron DeSantis, who did not attend the gathering this year despite many viewing him as the strongest GOP challenger to Trump in a possible 2024 primary matchup.

Nearly two dozen Democratic lawmakers from the U.S. Senate and House—as well as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont—have written to President Joe Biden imploring him to put the last nail in the coffin of an "ill-conceived and misguided" oil and gas drilling project in Alaska that experts say would destroy the president's climate legacy if approved in any form.

Led by Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Ed Markey(D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, the letter urges Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to reject final approval of the 30-year ConocoPhillips' Willow Project in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve.

"No version of the Willow [Master Development Plan (MDP)] is consistent with your commitments to combat the climate crisis and promote environmental justice, especially as reflected in the Inflation Reduction Act, historic legislation on which we all collaborated to achieve these crucial goals," the letter states.

"If allowed to proceed," the lawmakers argue, the Willow project "would pose a significant threat to U.S. progress on climate issues," citing estimates that the project could unleash upwards of $19.8 billion in climate-related damages.

The letter comes days after White House officials floated the possibility of a scaled-back Willow Project, but environmentalists have said, as Common Dreamsreported Wednesday, that "no form of this project is OK."

The Burea of Land Management has estimated that even a scaled-back version would emit around 9.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year and Earthjustice, which has fought Willow in court, has warned that the approval request now before the Interior Department "would bring at least 219 wells, 267 miles of pipelines, and 30 miles of roads to a vast public lands area in Alaska's Western Arctic, permanently altering a globally significant and ecologically rich landscape."

In their letter, the lawmakers tell Biden and Haaland that the only course of action should be "no action," following the release of the final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) on the project earlier this year. According to the letter:

The final SEIS includes a preferred alternative that would defer one drill site and require additional analysis for another, but we fear that the Willow MDP is intended to serve as an infrastructure hub that anchors a decades-long push towards increased drilling in the Western Arctic. Climate damage is unlikely to stop with the first phase of the Willow project; your Administration needs to draw the line now.

In a separate letter on Friday, the grassroots advocacy group Progressive Democrats of America also urged Biden to recognize the historic and legacy-building opportunity in rejecting the Willow project completely.

"We appeal to what is most honest, wise, and most courageous in you," states the group's letter, which was signed by leaders and members of PDA chapters nationwide. "To the elder in you. To the grandfather in you. Do not gamble with our lives and with the lives of generations yet unborn. Reject the Willow Oil Project."

Grijalva and Markey were joined in the bicameral letter by Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Rep. Jamaal Bowman(D-N.Y.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal(D-Wash.), Rep. Ro Khanna(D-Calif.), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), Sen. Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), Rep. Gwen S. Moore (D-Wis.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez(D-N.Y.), Sen. Bernie Sanders(I-Vt.), Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren(D-Mass.), and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

"The Willow Project would lead to over 9 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year," said Rep. Khanna in a social media post Friday night. "It would be a victory for Big Oil and a huge step backwards on climate."

Thousands of collapsed buildings, widespread destruction, and deep anguish were reported alongside over 1,600 dead and thousands more injured after a pair of earthquakes—an initial 7.8 tremor on the Richter scale in the early morning and another that measured 7.5—devastated Syria and Turkey on Monday.

Amid dozens of aftershocks—and the quakes being also felt in Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories—the full scale of the destruction and the ultimate death toll remains unknown, though early estimates of the dead and wounded were rising by the hour.

According to Turkey's Hurriyet Daily, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the quakes as the most severe in the nation since 1939.

The first quake occurred just after 4:00 am local time in Kahramanmaras province, north of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, while the second took place in southeastern Turkey.

One television crew was reporting on the first quake in the city of Malatya, when the second one hit:

According to Al-Jazeera:

Rescuers were digging through the rubble of levelled buildings in the city of Kahramanmaras and neighbouring Gaziantep. Crumbled buildings were also reported in Adiyaman, Malatya and Diyarbakir.

The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 339, according to Syrian state media, with deaths reported in the cities of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartous.

Around the globe, human rights champions and political leaders offered sympathy to those impacted by the disaster and vowed emergency assistance to both Turkey and Syria.

Agnes Callamard, head of Amnesty International, said her organization was "in deep sorrow" following news of the disaster.

"We extend our deepest condolences to all those who have lost loved ones, and call for the Governments and international community to provide speedy search and relief," Callamard said.

Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees at the United Nations, said, "We at UNHCR stand in solidarity with the people of Türkiye and Syria affected by today's devastating earthquake and are ready to help provide urgent relief to the survivors through our field teams wherever possible."

U.S. Senator-elect John Fetterman on Friday announced two key staff hires for his office on Friday, including tapping the author of a book calling for the abolishment of the arcane Senate filibuster to be his next chief of staff.

The Pennsylvania Democrat said in a statement that he has hired Adam Jentleson to oversee his D.C. office as chief of staff and that longtime party operative and labor organizer Joseph Pierce will be his state director.

A veteran of the Senate who served under former Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Jentleson also wrote the 2021 book, Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern State and the Crippling of American Democracy, which examines Senate rules that powerful interests have exploited to obstruct progressive legislation with overwhelming majority support among the American public.

Throughout the first two years of the Biden administration, Jentleson was a key voice calling for Senate reforms to enact pressing priorities.

When Republicans blocked an effort in the Senate in May of 2021 to establish an official inquiry into the January 6 insurrection, Jentleson, then serving as executive director of the advocacy group Battle Born Collective, said it would be a "dereliction of duty" for Democrats not to reform the chamber's rules to push the measure through.

"There is no longer any question about whether Republicans will put country over party—it is clear to anyone with eyes to see that they will not," Jentleson said at the time. "The only question that remains is whether Democrats will take the steps necessary to protect our democracy, and end the filibuster."

On the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections, Fetterman repeatedly vowed to support the end of the filibuster in the Senate if it would allow for key legislation to pass on gun control, labor protections, abortion rights, or voting access.

At a September rally with voters, Fetterman denounced the U.S. Supreme Court ruling destroying the abortion rights and said, "Send me to D.C. and you will know I will be there to be that vote to scrap the filibuster and codify Roe v. Wade."

While Jentleson has been spearheading Fetterman's transition team since winning in Pennsylvania against Republican Mehmet Oz, Pierce served as statewide political director on the winning campaign.

"Joe and Adam are the best in their fields and I am honored that they have both accepted key staff positions for my office," Fetterman said in a statement on Friday.

"It will be invaluable to have a veteran of the Senate and a veteran of state politics in these key positions as we serve the people of Pennsylvania," he added. "Between Adam's deep understanding of the Senate and Joe's wealth of knowledge and experience serving the people of our commonwealth, I am confident that my office will be ready to fight and deliver for the people of Pennsylvania on day one."

As Republican Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas continued over the weekend to defend their plot to put refugees and migrants from Latin America on planes and busses to northern cities and communities, critics of the 'cruel' and 'immoral' have said the two should face investigation and ultimately criminal prosecution for misleading and mistreating the people at the center of their political gamesmanship.

Amid confirmed reports that many of the migrants sent to Martha's Vineyard last week by DeSantis had been misled by officials in Florida about the nature of their trip, immigration rights legal aides have said they intend to push for legal action to stop such abuses. As the New York Times reports:

The lawyers said they would seek an injunction in federal court early next week to stop the flights of migrants to cities around the country, alleging that the Republican governor had violated due process and the civil rights of the migrants flown from Texas to the small island off the coast of Massachusetts.

'They were told, 'You have a hearing in San Antonio, but don't worry, we'll take you to Boston'' said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) Boston. He said dozens of the migrants had told his team they only had been informed midair that they were going to land in tony Martha's Vineyard rather than Boston.

Representing more than 30 of those people brought to Martha's Vineyard with free legal assistance, LCR said in a statement Saturday that it has "called upon U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to formally open criminal investigations into the political stunt that brought two planeloads of immigrants to Martha's Vineyard earlier this week."

Detailing "how its clients were induced to board airplanes and cross state lines under false pretenses," the legal aid group said that only after the planes landed did the immigrants "learn that the offers of assistance had all been a ruse to exploit them for political purposes."

"Particularly given the deliberate, intentional, and concerted nature of the interference by State actors into federal immigration enforcement," LCR said "a strong and coordinated federal response is required."

On Saturday, a second bus from Texas loaded with migrants arrived at Vice President Kamala's Harris' D.C. residence. According to the Texas Tribune:

The bus arrived before daylight outside the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.; a video shared by an NBC News journalist showed migrants wearing masks and carrying pillows walking off the bus and into a city that has declared a public health emergency due to the influx of migrants. A spokesperson for Abbott confirmed that the bus came from Texas.

On Friday, Abbott's office said it had sent 8,000 migrants to the nation's capital since announcing his busing policy in the spring. The state has also sent 2,500 migrants to New York City and 600 to Chicago. Abbott began targeting the vice president's residency this week after she appeared on Meet the Press and said the border was secure, stoking conservative anger.

In an interview with VICE on Friday, Harris said the behavior of Abbott and Harris was a "dereliction of duty" as elected public servants.

"They're playing games," she said. "These are political stunts with real human beings who are fleeing harm."

While some legal experts contend that Abbott and DeSantis have acted within their authority when shipping refugees and vulnerable immigrants across the country to score political points, demands for prosecution or at least a criminal probe by the Department of Justice have come from California Governor Gavin Newsom and others.

Writing in Jacobin magazine, former Bernie Sanders presidential campaign manager Jeff Weaver argued that DeSantis should be prosecuted for his unlawful conduct and that the American people—especially given the Florida Republican's presidential ambitions—should recognize just how abhorrent this behavior is.

"Like Donald Trump's family separation policy, this issue runs much deeper" than any particular position a lawmaker or politician has one immigration policy. "It's about inhumane and illegal conduct toward vulnerable people that is an affront to the values of every decent human being," wrote Weaver. He continued:

Progressives owe the country—which endured four years of lawlessness under Trump—to tell the truth about Ron DeSantis—an aspirant to the highest office in the land. He has demonstrated that, like Trump, he is willing to break the law to achieve political power.

What DeSantis did is not a political 'stunt.' It's a clear warning that, as president, he, like his Republican predecessor, would view the rule of law as a principle that is expendable when political expediency calls. And it's a crime. He should be prosecuted for it.

In an opinion column that appeared at Common Dreams on Saturday, progressive radio host and author Thom Hartmann said the behavior of Abbott and DeSantis harkens back to previous racist episodes in the nation's past and that the two Republican governors "should be looking at jail time or serious civil fines for engaging in this heartless, racist sport."

Congressman Jamie Raskin said Sunday that more explosive testimony before Congress in the week ahead will help the American public better understand that what former President Donald Trump perpetrated on and before January 6, 2021 was a series of offensive actions and decisions unprecedented in all of American history.

Asked on "Face the Nation" by host Robert Acosta whether the scheduled hearing on Tuesday would "blow the roof of the house," something Raskin had previously said, the Democrat from Maryland responded: "Well, not literally, certainly. But I think what I meant is that when you add all of this up together, it is the greatest political offense against the union and by a president of the United States in our history, nothing comes close to it."

Raskin, a member of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, is set to lead the Tuesday hearing, which will the seventh by the committee thus far.

"The attempt to overthrow the result of a presidential election through a political coup, and the mobilization of an armed violent mob cannot really be compared to anything else a president has done," said Raskin. "It makes the Watergate break-in look like the work of Cub Scouts."

On Friday, the Jan 6. committee received sworn testimony behind closed doors from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who was serving as Trump's lawyer before, during, and immediately after the resurrection. According to Politico on Sunday, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), also a member of the committee, said Cippolone—despite claiming attorney-client privilege throughout the questioning—still provided "a lot of relevant information" while under oath.

"I think there was a lot of information that fit into this bigger puzzle that we’re putting together," Murphy said.

Speaking with Acosta, Raskin also said Cipollone's testimony was valuable.

"We're going to get to use a lot of Mr. Cipollone's testimony to corroborate other things we've learned along the way," Raskin said. "He was the White House counsel at the time, he was aware of every major move I think that Donald Trump was making to try to overthrow the 2020 election and essentially seize the presidency."

Watch the full interview:

Raskin says Cipollone gave "valuable" testimony to Jan. 6 committee www.youtube.com

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday called the attack on the funeral procession of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh that took place earlier in the day "an outrage" that must be condemnation by the U.S. government as he also called for an investigation into the killing.

Friday's attack was described as "horrific" and "grotesque" across the world after footage emerged of Israeli Defense Forces and security personnel hitting and otherwise assaulting the pallbearers of Abu Akleh's coffin and other mourners as they made their way through the streets of occupied East Jerusalem.

"The attack by Israeli forces against mourners at the funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is an outrage," Sanders tweeted Friday afternoon. "The United States must condemn this, and demand an independent investigation into her killing."

Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) were among the other U.S. lawmakers who condemned both the attack on mourners and demanded answers about the killing Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian-American journalist who had covered the Israel-Palestinian conflict for decades.

Tlaib said the attack on the funeral was the work of Israel's "brutal apartheid government" while Omar said the incident was "just cruel."

"This is sickening," Tlaib said in a tweet responding to footage of the behavior of the Israeli forces. "Violent racism, enabled by $3.8 billion in unconditional military U.S. funds. For the Israeli apartheid govt, Shireen's life didn't matter - and her dehumanization continues after death." She further called on the U.S. State Department to "condemn this horror," but then asked: "Or does being Palestinian make you less American?"

"We must have an independent investigation into the killing of renowned Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh," said Khanna on Friday. "Once again I extend my deepest condolences to her family and all those mourning her loss."

A major testing company in the United States announced this week that it will now charge people without Medicare, private coverage, or other insurance a $125 out-of-pocket charge to receive a Covid-19 PCR test—a fresh example of how the U.S. remains an outlier among wealthy nations for refusing to provide universal healthcare for its people.

According to ABC News, Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest testing companies in the country, has decided that those "who are not on Medicare, Medicaid or a private health plan will now be charged $125 dollars ($119 and a $6 physician fee) when using one of its QuestDirect PCR tests either by ordering a kit online or visiting one of the 1,500 Quest or major retail locations that administer the tests, such as Walmart or Giant Eagle."

The outlet reports the company has already "begun notifying its clients and partners they can no longer expect to be reimbursed for uninsured claims" unless new government funding is approved by Congress.

As Common Dreams reported at the time, critics slammed lawmakers earlier this month for making a "choice to extend the pandemic" by dropping over $15 billion in Covid-19 relief from a must-pass omnibus spending bill after Republicans wanted the funds to be redirected from already approved aid directed toward states.

Citing research published last month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, physician and Medicare for All advocate Dr. Adam Gaffney on Saturday posted a twitter thread detailing how the study showed that uninsured people in the U.S. were more likely to be infected with Covid-19, a statistic he believes is likely still true, but much less likely to get tested.

"Even with the federal coverage," Gaffney said, the study he co-authored on the subject "found uninsured were less likely to be tested, despite having a higher rate of test positivity. But this latest shift will only exacerbate such disparities."

And while the researchers concluded their study by calling for expanded and more robust insurance coverage and access to Covid care for Americans, Gaffney bemoaned Saturday that now policymakers are "going in reverse."

Responding to ABC News reporting on Saturday, Oni Blackstock, a medical doctor and founder of the group Health Justice, suggested Quest's shift on how it will charge for their testing was an ominous sign:

Eric Reinhart, an athropology researcher and a resident physician at Northwestern University, also condemned the development.

"Charging individuals for Covid testing—a basic public health tool," said Reinhart, "is just willful stupidity."

The news also comes as progressives in the U.S. House on Thursday announced the first hearings since the pandemic began on Medicare for All.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who along with Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) will lead the hearing in the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, said this week that "Americans deserve a healthcare system that guarantees health and medical services to all. Congress must implement a system that prioritizes people over profits, humanity over greed, and compassion over exploitation."

Oxfam International's latest report on global inequality finds that while the 10 richest individuals in the world more than doubled their collective wealth since Covid-19 hit in 2020, the related result of this billionaire surge has been a deadlier and more prolonged pandemic for the rest of the world in which the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fell, over 160 million people were forced into poverty, and billions of the poorest were denied access to life-saving vaccines.

Entitled Inequality Kills, the new report states that intense global inequality is "contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day"—approximately one person every four seconds—even as ultra-billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerbeg, Warren Buffett, and a handful of others grow richer and richer with each passing hour.

In total, using data from Forbes, Oxfam found that the 10 richest men in the world saw their fortunes grow from an estimated $700 billion to $1.5 trillion dollars, a rate of over $1.2 billion per day, since the pandemic hit nearly two years ago.

"If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet," said Oxfam International's executive director Gabriela Bucher. "They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people."

The outrageous wealth of these billionaires is not simply benign inequality, says the group. An economic system that allows a handful of individuals to amass such vast fortunes while billions go hungry and without proper medical care during a pandemic, according to Oxfam, is an overt act of violence aimed at huge swaths of humanity.

"The coronavirus pandemic has been actively made deadlier, more prolonged, and more damaging to livelihoods because of inequality," states Oxfam in their report. "Inequality of income is a stronger indicator of whether you will die from Covid-19 than age. Millions of people would still be alive today if they had had a vaccine—but they are dead, denied a chance while big pharmaceutical corporations continue to hold monopoly control of these technologies. This vaccine apartheid is taking lives, and it is supercharging inequalities worldwide."

As the overview of the report states:

The wealth of the world's 10 richest men has doubled since the pandemic began. The incomes of 99% of humanity are worse off because of Covid-19. Widening economic, gender, and racial inequalities—as well as the inequality that exists between countries—are tearing our world apart. This is not by chance, but choice: "economic violence" is perpetrated when structural policy choices are made for the richest and most powerful people. This causes direct harm to us all, and to the poorest people, women and girls, and racialized groups most. Inequality contributes to the death of at least one person every four seconds. But we can radically redesign our economies to be centered on equality. We can claw back extreme wealth through progressive taxation; invest in powerful, proven inequality-busting public measures; and boldly shift power in the economy and society. If we are courageous, and listen to the movements demanding change, we can create an economy in which nobody lives in poverty, nor with unimaginable billionaire wealth—in which inequality no longer kills.

"Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic," lamented Bucher. "Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom. Vaccines were meant to end this pandemic, yet rich governments allowed pharma billionaires and monopolies to cut off the supply to billions of people. The result is that every kind of inequality imaginable risks rising. The predictability of it is sickening. The consequences of it kill."

In response to the report, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday night issued a simple prescription to combat the current reality.

"Tax the billionaires," said Sanders. "Invest in the working class."

According to Oxfam, if just the top 10 billionaires alone paid a 99% tax on their windfall profits generated during the pandemic, it be enough to pay for "vaccines for every person in the world, universal healthcare, and social protection."

Abigail Disney, Walt Disney's grand-niece and a member of the U.S.-based Patriotic Millionaires, which advocates for higher taxes on the rich, agreed with Sanders that the solution is clear.

"The answer to these complicated problems is ironically simple: taxes," said Disney. "Mandatory, inescapable, ambitious tax reform on an international level—this is the only way to fix what is broken."

"Without high-functioning governments actively using plentiful resources to redress these injustices," she added, "we will head yet further down the rabbit hole the wealthy class has dug for us all. There is more than enough money to solve most of the world's problems. It's just being held in the hands of millionaires and billionaires who aren’t paying their fair share."

A new report out Monday shows that 2021 continued the trend of annual climate devastation worldwide that is costing the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars as planet-heating emissions unleash exactly the kind of damage scientists have warned about for decades.

The new report by Christian Aid—entitled "Counting the Cost 2021: A Year of Climate Breakdown"—analyzed the 15 "most destructive climate disasters" around the world over the last twelve months of the year and found that the top 10 events alone, based mostly on losses documented by insurance claims, came to approximately $170 billion. With the next five smaller events assessed by the study not included in that total—and recognizing that the real costs are much higher overall than those available by insurance figures alone—the true figure is certainly much higher.

In the United States, the Texas Winter Storm earlier this year that cost $23 billion came in as the third most destructive event worldwide in 2021 while the devastation of Hurricane Ida, totaling $65 billion across numerous states, took the number one spot. At $43 billion, extreme floods that hit European nations over the summer collectively represented the second-most costly disaster of the year.

According to a statement by the group:

Some of the disasters in 2021 hit rapidly, like Cyclone Yaas, which struck India and Bangladesh in May and caused losses valued at $3 billion in just a few days. Other events took months to unfold, like the Paraná river drought in Latin America, which has seen the river, a vital part of the region’s economy, at its lowest level in 77 years and impacted lives and livelihoods in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
Four of the ten most costly events took place in Asia, with floods and typhoons costing a combined $24 billion. But the impact of extreme weather was felt all over the world. Australia suffered floods in March which displaced 18,000 people and saw damage worth $2.1 billion while floods in Canada’s British Colombia led to $7.5 billion in damage and 15,000 people having to flee their homes. Insurance and financial loss data on the recent tornadoes in the U.S. is incomplete, so is not included in this report but may be included in next year's study.

Christian Aid said that while their report focuses on financial costs, typically higher in richer countries due to higher property values and the existence of insurance markets, "some of the most devastating extreme weather events in 2021 hit poorer nations, which have contributed little to causing climate change."

Dr. Kat Kramer, the group's climate policy lead and author of the report, said dollar signs alone cannot calculate the losses caused by extreme weather.

"The costs of climate change have been grave this year, both in terms of eye-watering financial losses but also in the death and displacement of people around the world," Kramer said. "Be it storms and floods in some of the world's richest countries or droughts and heatwaves in some of the poorest, the climate crisis hit hard in 2021."

Kramer said that there was some progress made at the recent U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, but that the latest findings show "it is clear that the world is not on track to ensure a safe and prosperous world."

The figures for 2021 fall into a steady pattern in which the costs of extreme weather events and climate destruction continue to climb, just as climate scientists have long warned.

The report notes that "unless the world acts rapidly to cut emissions these kinds of disasters are likely to worsen," and references data by U.K.-based insurance giant Aon which show that 2021 is now likely to be the sixth time over the last decade in which global destruction from extreme weather events have crossed the $100 billion insured loss threshold. "All six have happened since 2011," the report states, "and 2021 will be the fourth in five years."

Responding to the new report, Rachel Mander, a member of the Young Christian Climate Network and who took part in activism related to the COP26 summit in Glasgow, said: "Climate change will bankrupt us, and along the way, we will lose so much more than money. To avoid this eventuality we need to take courageous action—making sure that the burden of costs are distributed and do not worsen global inequality, while also making activities which drive climate change more expensive."

Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal celebrated Monday's announcement from the U.S. Labor Department that all federal contract workers will be paid at least $15 per hour starting in January, but also took the opportunity to argue that should be the wage floor should for all U.S. workers.

"Great news," tweeted Jayapal in response to the news. "Now, let's take this nationwide and give over 30 million workers a much-needed and well-deserved raise."

In a statement on Monday, the Labor Department said the finalized rule—which will apply to all workers employed under or related to federal contracts—will go into effect on January 30, 2022 and is the culmination of an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in April of this year.

The workers who will benefit from the new wage floor, said Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, "do essential work on our nation's behalf. They build and repair the federal infrastructure, clean and maintain our national parks, monuments and other federal facilities, care for our veterans, and ensure federal workers and military service members are provided with safe and nutritious food."

The federal rule will apply to an estimated 325,000 workers as new contracts are signed after January, though some working under existing contracts may not see that pay bump immediately. According to the Labor Department, the rule does the following:

• Increases the hourly minimum wage for workers performing work on or in connection with covered federal contracts to $15 beginning Jan. 30, 2022.
• Continues to index the federal contract minimum wage in future years to inflation.
• Eliminates the tipped minimum wage for federal contract employees by 2024.
• Ensures a $15 minimum wage for workers with disabilities performing work on or in connection with covered contracts.
• Restores minimum wage protections to outfitters and guides operating on federal lands.

Workers represented by SEIU applauded the rule.

"It would be such a relief to know that my job is protected because it would mean my family is protected too," said Ana Ayala, a single mother living in Woodbridge, Virginia who works as a janitor and is a member of 32BJ SEIU. "In Virginia, most janitors don't make this much or have these benefits which are so critical as a single mother with a child depending on me."

Ben Zipperer, an economist with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said in a lengthy blog post Monday that while the rule touches a relatively small percentage of the U.S. workforce, its impact could have positive reverberations.

"While not a substitute for a universal $15 minimum wage, there may be important spillover effects," said Zipperer, noting that other private employees will likely raise their wages in order to compete for labor and that higher wages will lead to less turnover and higher-quality services in industries like nursing home care.

"All in all this the new $15 minimum wage for federal contracts is excellent policy, another step to fixing a labor market that doesn't deliver adequate wages," he said.

Earlier this year, the Senate Parliamentarian objected to inclusion of an amendment to raise the federal minimum wage for all U.S. workers to $15 an hour and progressives expressed outrage that the Biden administration did not do more to fight back in order to ensure that wages would be lifted for all.

"At a time when millions of workers are earning starvation wages, when the minimum wage has not been raised by Congress since 2007 and stands at a pathetic $7.25 an hour, it is time to raise the minimum wage to a living wage," Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said at the time

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among those who shouted backed overnight during the historic and "unhinged" marathon speech by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy when the Republican from California stated that there was no person in the country who voted for President Joe Biden last year who did so because they hoped he would act like former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who ushered through the 20th century New Deal.

Quoting a recent comment from Rep. Abigail Spannberger (D-Va.) during his speech in order to argue that Democrats are misguided to make sweeping social investments as part of their Build Back Better Act—which received a final vote in the House on Friday morning—McCarthy stated, "Nobody elected Joe Biden to be FDR."

From the gallery in response, a voice can be heard responding, "I did." Later it was confirmed that this was Ocasio-Cortez.

Watch:

After Ocasio-Cortez's exclamation, someone else in the gallery responded, "Me too."

"Effective heckling is a lost art, but AOC managed to silence McCarthy for at least a few seconds." noted The Intercept's Robert Mackey.

In total, McCarthy spoke for eight hours and 32 minutes before finally ending his roundly criticized antics just after 5:00 am Friday.