MSNBC’s Ali Velshi hilariously mocks Trump for the message his rally music sends his followers
November 2, 2018, 4:33 PM ET
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Officials and climate experts in Nova Scotia, Canada on Tuesday pointed to numerous climate-related factors that have contributed to the wildfires that are raging in the province this week, forcing the evacuation of more than 16,000 people and destroying roughly 200 homes and other structures.
The Tantallon fire in the Halifax area and the Barrington Lake fire in the southwestern county of Shelburne have burned through a combined 25,000 acres in the Maritime province, which, as one firefighter told the Canadian newspaper SaltWire, has historically been far less likely to experience such blazes than landlocked western provinces.
"This the worst fire I've ever been on," volunteer firefighter Capt. Brett Tetanish toldSaltWire. "I've been on other large fires in Nova Scotia, Porters Lake, we lost structures there, but you don't see fires like this in Nova Scotia. You see these in Alberta."
Tetanish described a "surreal" scene as he drove toward the Tantallon fire on Sunday evening.
"We're driving on Hammonds Plains Road with fire on both sides of the road, structures on fire, cars abandoned and burnt in the middle of the road," he toldSaltWire.
Other witnesses, including a filmmaker, posted videos on social media of "apocalyptic scenes" showing fires destroying homes and huge plumes of smoke rendering highways nearly invisible to drivers.
"I almost died," said the filmmaker. "The fire is spreading, it's very serious. We couldn't see anything."
Halfway through 2023, Nova Scotia has already experienced more wildfires than it did in all of 2022, according to the National Observer.
Karen McKendry, a wilderness outreach coordinator at the Ecology Action Center in Nova Scotia's capital, Halifax, told the Observer the province has experienced hotter dryer weather than normal this spring, making it easier for fires to spread.
"People haven't always, on a national scale, been thinking about Nova Scotia and wildfires," McKendry said. "What dominates the consciousness, rightly so in Canada, is what's happening out West. But with a warming climate and some drier seasons, this is going to become more common in Nova Scotia. So more fires, more widespread fires, more destructive fires from a human perspective as well."
The province's Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) also warned last Friday that the wildfires were taking hold in the region less than a year after Hurricane Fiona downed what Premier Tim Houston called a "significant" number of trees across Nova Scotia.
"Fires in areas where Hurricane Fiona downed trees have the potential to move faster and burn more intensely, making them potentially more difficult to contain and control," said the DNRR. "At this time, needles, twigs, leaves, etc., support fire ignition and spread. With high winds, the spread can be rapid and intense."
Scientists last year linked warming oceans, fueled by the continued extraction of fossil fuels and emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gases, to Fiona's destruction in Eastern Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Monday that the situation in Nova Scotia is "incredibly serious," prompting Saman Tabasinejad, acting executive director of Progress Toronto, to point to Trudeau's support for fossil fuel projects like the Trans Mountain Pipeline.
"This would be a great time to end fossil fuel subsidies and invest in a Green New Deal!" Tabasinejad said on Twitter.
More than 200 crews have been sent by government agencies from across the province, and Nova Scotia officials said Tuesday that both the Tantallon and Barrington Lake fires were still "out of control" two days after they began and were "rapidly moving."
Halifax Fire and the DNRR are investigating the cause of the fires.
McKendry pointed out that a number of anti-conservation activities may be linked to increased wildfires.
Roads being built "deep into our forests" have allowed more people opportunities to accidentally set fires, while the government has been "emptying our urban areas of wetlands," making it easier for blazes to spread widely.
"Do not delude yourself into thinking this is a one-off," journalist John Vaillant toldSaltWire on Monday. "The world is more flammable than it has ever been."
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Family of 11-year-old shot by Mississippi cop files federal lawsuit — and analysts think they'll win
May 30, 2023
A federal lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by the family of 11-year-old Aderrien Murry, who was shot by police after he called for 911 asking for help for his mother. The young man, with arms raised, followed his mother around a hallway corner when police arrived and was shot immediately in the chest, according to reports.
Lawyer Carlos Moore said the lawsuit names the City of Indianola, Mississippi, and Officer Greg Capers.
"The lawsuit alleges negligence, excessive force, and violation of the boy's constitutional rights," a release from the law firm said.
Over the weekend Moore explained, "I think they shot first and asked questions second. He doesn’t appear to be a man or anything. He’s a 4-foot-10 little boy.""
"With living in the South, Mississippi, especially, sometimes you feel that you can trust the police a little more when they [are] your own color, your own race," Moore said, speaking to Good Morning America. "But now this man, this young boy, would never trust law enforcement again."
Murry survived the shooting with a collapsed his lung and a cut liver, ABC News reported.
Speaking about the case to MSNBC's Chris Jansing, Danny Cevallos said that what will be the most important part of the case isn't in the lawsuit.
"It is what will happen afterward," he explained. "And that's why this case will almost certainly not go to trial because that would require in this, which is a standard Section 1983 claim, a federal law creates a remedy or a right of law to bring a lawsuit for violations of constitutional or federal statutory rights.
"This complaint alleges very standard claims when it comes to excessive force, usually covered by the Fourth Amendment. Now, do the police defendants here want to go to trial or do they want to try to actually assert qualified immunity? Yes, qualified immunity protects many officers from actions like this, but practically speaking. Optics: do you want to be arguing that the actions of this officer were objectively reasonable in court when you have a plaintiff like this, like this child?"
Jansing cut in to say that it is overwhelmingly clear that Aderrien was a child.
"Exactly right," agreed Cevallos. "All of those facts and especially to the extent they are born out, say by a body-worn camera, or other witness testimony, which we don't know completely yet. The case would have to go through discovery. But if I was advising the city defendants here and the municipalities, I would say this is not a case you take to trial. This is a case you settle.
"Even if you think that you can win on qualified immunity. And I have to tell you, I handle these cases, and qualified immunity is remarkably easy for police defendants to make out. In essence, the test is, would a police officer in his or her right mind have thought that this was the right thing to do? In other words, you have to prove that it was not just unreasonable to this officer but unreasonable to every officer everywhere that this action was the wrong thing to do. That's a hard thing to prove."
See the analysis from Cevallos below or at the link here.
federal lawsuit for 11-year-old Aderrien Murry youtu.be
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In Arizona, far-right Rep. Paul Gosar is a polarizing figure even among fellow Republicans. Traditional McCain and Reagan conservatives have been highly critical of him, but MAGA Republicans who admire far-right figures like Kari Lake, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tend to be Gosar admirers as well.
In an article published by Talking Points Memo on May 30, journalist Haley Orion stresses that Gosar is so far to the right that some white nationalists and Neo-Nazis look up to him.
Orion notes that in an earlier article, TPM reported that Wade Searle, Gosar's digital director, appeared to be "involved with an interlinked group of social media profiles that were deeply enmeshed with white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes' viciously antisemitic Groyper movement."
Orion explains, "While the revelations in the story were significant, they weren't necessarily surprising. The Groypers are deeply hateful and grotesque, but Gosar has never been shy in his flirtation with various factions of the fascist far-right, including the Groypers' leader, Fuentes. Or, as Gosar himself has bragged in the past: 'I’m considered the most dangerous man in Congress.' A large swath of the far-right has, in turn, taken notice, with Gosar becoming a sort of hero in some corners."
In 2021, Gosar set off a major controversy when he posted a video that depicted violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York). Gosar's defenders claimed she was overreaching, but his critics responding that depicting violence against a member of Congress is never acceptable.
Orion stresses that Gosar isn't afraid to associate with extremists.
"Gosar has lent his support to a broad coalition of far-right bigots and Christian supremacists: from the s***posting Groyper neo-Nazis to the camo-clad LARPers and hate groups to the suit-wearing, ultranationalist political elites at home and abroad," Orion notes. "He'll rile up the Arizona chapter of the Oath Keepers, telling them that the United States is already in a Civil War, 'we just haven't started shooting yet,' then repeat the same line in an interview with a well-documented neo-Nazi. He'll even associate with the conspiratorial, and often ridiculous, QAnon movement, tweeting out references to Q-drops — Gosar later said the tweet was sarcastic, though the tweet remains up to this day — and appearing at Q-friendly rallies."
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