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As planet cooks, one of the world's coldest towns bids to host 2032 summer Olympics
January 26, 2021
With temperatures across the globe—and particularly in the Arctic—rising thanks to lackluster efforts to address the human-caused climate crisis, one of the coldest towns on Earth is throwing its hat in the ring to host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
"Our intention here is clear: we want to keep Salla as it is, and our winters cold and full of snow."
—Salla Mayor Erkki Parkkinen
<p>
Salla is located in Finland's Lapland region and <a href="https://www.visitsalla.fi/en/" target="_blank">touts</a> the tagline, "in the middle of nowhere." The average temperature is <a href="https://en.climate-data.org/europe/finland/salla/salla-9790/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">below freezing</a> and the area boasts a ski resort, reindeer park, Arctic Circle safaris, and even a snow and ice hotel.
</p><p>
With support from Fridays for Future—the youth-led movement launched by Swedish teenager <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/25/enough-blah-blah-blah-global-elites-greta-thunberg-declares-digital-davos" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Greta Thunberg</a>—Salla announced its Olympic bid to build awareness about "the consequences of global warming and the need for urgent action."
</p><p>
"Our intention here is clear: we want to keep Salla as it is, and our winters cold and full of snow," said Salla Mayor Erkki Parkkinen. "So, there was this crazy idea: to host the Summer Games in one of the coldest towns on the planet."
</p><p>
"If we stand back and do nothing, letting global warming prevail," Parkkinen warned, "we will lose our identity, and the town we love—as well as many others around the world—will cease to exist as we know it."
</p><p>
The campaign, detailed at <a href="https://www.savesalla.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.savesalla.com</a>, includes a short video.
</p><p>
WATCH:
</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sSZSrjmmSIo" width="560"></iframe><p>"Despite the obviousness of the global warming, the ideology of climate change denial is gaining traction all over the world and increasing every year," the campaign website says. "So, we've created this bid to raise attention about the climate emergency. Salla is changing. The whole planet is changing. Not in a good way."</p><p>As <em>Common Dreams</em> has reported, while <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/13/dire-assessment-scientists-warn-humanity-denial-looming-collapse-civilization-we" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">projections</a> for the entire planet are dire if policymakers don't urgently <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/25/un-climate-report-oceans-frozen-regions-warns-unprecedented-transitions-all-aspects" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">work to</a> "effect unprecedented transitions in all aspects of society, including energy, land and ecosystems, urban and infrastructure as well as industry," the Arctic is <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/11/deep-trouble-arctic-and-beyond-noaa-climate-report-warns-feedback-loop-may-already" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">particularly at risk</a>.</p><p>"We have only one planet to live in and an immense responsibility to future generations. We can all make a difference. What we cannot do under any circumstances is deny the problem and omit ourselves. The risks will be severe and unavoidable," said Joe Hobbs, a Fridays For Future activist and operations director for Climate Cardinals. "Global warming does not have to be a self-fulfilling prophecy and everyone can make a significant and decisive contribution to stop this process."</p><p>"Global warming does not have to be a self-fulfilling prophecy and everyone can make a significant and decisive contribution to stop this process."<br/>—Joe Hobbs, Fridays For Future</p><p>Hobbs joined Parkkinen and multiple experts for a <a href="https://videos.netshow.me/v/2R3fyFdLMN8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">press conference</a> about the campaign on Tuesday.</p><p>The event came a day after a new study that showed ice loss worldwide is increasing at a record rate. Lead author Thomas Slater of Leeds' Centre for Polar Observation and Modeling <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-01-global-ice-loss.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> that "although every region we studied lost ice, losses from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets have accelerated the most."</p><p>"The ice sheets are now following the worst-case climate warming scenarios set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change," Slater added. "Sea-level rise on this scale will have very serious impacts on coastal communities this century."</p><p>Also on Monday, Thunberg <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/25/enough-blah-blah-blah-global-elites-greta-thunberg-declares-digital-davos" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">delivered</a> an address to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting—held digitally rather than in Davos, Switzerland this year because of the raging coronavirus pandemic. She told political and business leaders that "when it comes to facing the climate emergency, the world is still in a state of complete denial."</p><p>"Safeguarding the future living conditions and preserving life on Earth as we know it is voluntary. The choice is yours to make," the 18-year-old Swede said. "But I can assure you this: You can't negotiate with physics. And your children and grandchildren will hold you accountable for the choices that you make."</p>
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Aides of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called Tuesday for new anti-government rallies in Moscow this weekend outside the FSB security agency and Vladimir Putin's presidential administration.
The 44-year-old opposition figure's team posted an event on Facebook calling for his supporters in Moscow to gather at noon (0900 GMT) on Sunday at Lubyanka Square outside the FSB headquarters and Staraya Square, where the presidential administration has its offices.
<p>The team said that protesters would then march through the capital from the two squares, which are about a kilometre (half a mile) apart on a street in central Moscow.</p><p>"The direction of the march will be determined depending on the situation," the organisers wrote.</p><p>Police on Saturday detained nearly 3,900 people -- a record for a single day -- at rallies in more than 100 cities across the country, where demonstrators called for Navalny's release and protested against the government.</p><p>Navalny was detained on January 17 upon his arrival in Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering following a poisoning attack with a Soviet-era nerve agent.</p><p>Navalny accuses the Federal Security Service (FSB) of carrying out the poisoning on Putin's orders, a claim the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.</p><p>Leonid Volkov, head of Navalny's regional network, told AFP that organisers had decided to gather protesters at the FSB because they are the "poisoners" and the presidential administration because they "make the decisions about whether to jail or release Navalny".</p><p>"So of course we are appealing to them," he said.</p><p>On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the demonstrators as "lawbreakers" and rally organisers as "terrorists" in comments to reporters.</p><p>- G7 blasts 'deplorable' detention -</p><p>Volkov earlier called on Russians to rally again to put pressure on the authorities to release Navalny ahead of his scheduled court appearance Tuesday, on charges of breaking the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence.</p><p>Navalny could be jailed for more than three years if the court rules in favour of Russia's prison service, which says Navalny failed to check in with it twice per month while he was in Germany.</p><p>In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the G7 group of rich nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US -- described Navalny's detention as "deplorable" and called for his "immediate and unconditional release".</p><p>At a press conference at the offices of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation in central Moscow, his associate Lyubov Sobol said people joined last weekend's protests because of "the lawlessness that is happening in our country".</p><p>She predicted that the rallies will continue because "unfortunately there is simply no other instrument for Russians to declare their rights".</p><p>Russian authorities have clamped down on previous large-scale opposition protest movements by launching criminal cases against demonstrators for violence against law enforcement officials.</p><p>On Tuesday, the Investigative Committee, which examines major crimes, said it had opened probes into 20 people for "using violence against government officials" during Saturday's rallies.</p><p>Describing several instances of alleged violence, the committee said in a statement that in Moscow one man "inflicted several blows to the head of a police officer", while another hit an officer with his car.</p><p>Violence against government officials is punishable by five to 10 years in prison depending on the severity of the violence.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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Capitol Hill reporter calls Trump the 'bad break up' -- and the GOP can't shake their 'toxic ex'
January 26, 2021
Senators were sworn in for the impeachment trial on Tuesday, but MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said that it has become clear the Republican Party has already been "kidnapped or hijacked by Donald Trump and his kids because Donald Trump can't speak anymore."
Capitol Hill reporter Garrett Haake explained that former President Donald Trump is the ex-boyfriend that the GOP can't shake.
<p>"Well look, I've described it as a bad breakup with someone that can't get over their toxic ex," he said. "You know, they keep checking the former president's social media, they're looking over their shoulders, they're wondering if it's really over this time. And I think that is part of the process here. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), interestingly enough, was not one of the five senators who affirmatively said we know this is constitutional, ready to move forward today. If I'm Donald Trump's defense attorney, today's vote in the Senate was about as good as you could hope for."</p><p>He explained that the impeachment managers who come into the Senate would do so with the goal of convincing a large slate of Republicans that he's guilty. </p><p>"I talked to a couple of Republican senators after this vote," Haake said. "So, did other members of our team up here today and even those <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/trump-impeachment-trial-faces-challenge-from-republican-senator-paul/" target="_blank">who voted with Sen. Rand Paul (R-NY) </a>on this point of order, on the idea they shouldn't be doing this, said we know this will be relitigated. We're not sold yet. So, this doesn't slam the door on the impeachment manager's case, but boy, it makes it a lot harder."</p><p>While the impeachment trial is for Trump, Democrats could shift their efforts to trying the impeachment in the court of public opinion and increase pressure on members in their home states, particularly if they are up for reelection in 2022. </p><p>See the discussion below: </p><p><br/></p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5d5134aac6e0b74cbb65d5d26e1da012" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QQ57L7jbZio?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Trump is like the toxic ex-boyfriend the GOP can't shake</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ57L7jbZio&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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