Daily Links, Tuesday, March 7th.

The latest WikiLeaks release is BIG!

Decriminalize Immigration, Free Movement for All!

The United States recently experienced its first wave of large-scale anti-immigration raids following the election of Donald Trump, who made the mass deportation of “illegal” immigrants a central part of his campaign. Although ICE officials claim that these raids targeted individuals with criminal records, immigrant rights groups dispute this claim, arguing that law-abiding people were also targeted. At least one man with no criminal record was arrested; he had been granted the right to live and work in the U.S. under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Trump’s executive orders on immigration may expand ICE’s priorities to include law-abiding people, but his renewed emphasis on mass deportation is not without precedent. We must not forget that Barack Obama presided over the deportation of a record-breaking 2.4 million people.

https://c4ss.org/content/47964

A word on pesticides. Although I haven’t given the report a thorough reading, I did scan it. I also checked on the background of the authors, who are lawyers and not scientists or farmers. The truth is that all farms… even organic farms… use pesticides. Organic standards simply restrict the type of pesticides that are allowed, and not always for the better. For example, in regards to insects, the pesticides allowed by organic standards are broad-spectrum, meaning they kill both pests and beneficial species. By comparison, there are many (perhaps most) commonly used non-organic pesticides that target the pests without harming other species.

A major problem with pesticides… both organic and non-organic… is overuse due to ignorance on the part of farmers, especially in developing countries where the attitude may be that if a little works, a whole lot will work even better. This needs to be addressed through education and training in proper use and whatever precautions may be necessary.

As a homesteader and organic market gardener, my operation is small enough that I can usually control pests without the use of pesticides. Picking them off the plants by hand and drowning them in a bottle of soapy water tends to do the trick (the exception being a Japanese beetle infestation that dang near destroyed my beans and okra one year). For smaller pests such as aphids there is diatomaceous earth, which is a non-toxic pesticide, but it does kill bees and other beneficial insects and therefore should be used sparingly. Allowing my ducks and geese to forage in my garden plots before planting and after harvest also cuts down on insect pests. These methods, however, are not practical for farmers who work more than a few acres.

.Conspiracy Theory Confirmed: Secret Docs Show Gov’t Covered Up Cell Phone Cancer Risks for Years

After years hidden from the public, California Department of Public Health officials have finally released a
draft document outlining health concerns stemming from cellphone radiation — including multiple cancers and infertility.

“We have evidence of brain tumors and other head and neck tumors. We also have evidence of sperm damage in males, infertility in females,” explained Joel Moskowitz of U.C. Berkeley’s School of Public Health, who sued the state in 2016 under the California Public Records Act to obtain the information.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/conspiracy-theory-confirmed-secret-docs-show-govt-covered-up-cell-phone-cancer-risks/

.Here’s how the GOP’s new health-care plan stacks up against Obamacare

In February, House speaker Paul Ryan characterized the GOP’s efforts to scrap Obamacare as a “rescue mission” for a troubled system on the brink of collapse. But Republicans’ proposed American Health Care Act (AHCA), released this week, would repeal most of Obamacare and replace it with a much less generous plan tilted heavily toward the healthy and wealthy. If this is a rescue attempt, it’s the equivalent of showing up
and kicking the people you want to help in the shins.

https://qz.com/926624/the-gops-new-health-care-plan-versus-obamacare-which-one-is-better-for-americans/

.US Senator accuses RT of hacking Google, RT suggests he should learn how search engines work

Russian media has tampered with Google algorithms, tuning them to promote stories published by RT and other Russian media, a top-ranking US official said. RT’s editor in chief instead suggests he should learn
how search engines work before making such accusations.

https://www.rt.com/news/379777-us-senator-accuses-rt-of/

Political Misfortune: Anatomy of Democratic Party Failure in Clinton’s Campaign 2016 (Part I): http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/03/political-misfortune-anatomy-democratic-party-failure-clintons-campaign-2016-part.html

Part II: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/03/political-misfortune-anatomy-democratic-party-failure-clintons-campaign-2016-part-ii.html

Lambert Strether does a methodical root cause analysis and diagrams the Dems collapse in 2016. This two-part series contains a lot of highlights including these from part 2:

(Let’s start at the Conclusion): …you can argue that zeitgeist issues like the Comey letter “lost Clinton the election.” But arguments like that depend on national polling. What you’ve got to do is show that your zeitgeist issue of choice would unflip the Obama counties that went for Trump. Seems unlikely.

(On the counties that voted for Obama but switched to Trump): And note that while there are probably plenty of racists in these counties — like everywhere in American, including coastal enclaves — they voted twice for a Black man to be President.

…it’s ironic that the Clinton campaign of 2016 forgot Carville’s motto (“It’s the economy, stupid.”), but the matrix of failure shows us why. The Clinton campaign faced a fundamental contradiction. On the one hand, they were deeply committed (personally, and by their funders) to the idea of TINA: There Is No Alternative to the (neoliberal, austeritian) policies practiced by Democrats. On the other, they had to run on Obama’s record, which to voters in the flyover states just wasn’t that great…

…the pathway to low voter turnout begins with the Establishment, who have never made voter registration a core party
function, something that goes on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Maybe next time the Democrats have a billion bucks, they can put some of it to this use, instead of jamming it down the toilet of the next Clinton campaign, and flushing.

Hump-Day Links are a humpin!