December, 08 2021, 03:13pm EDT
Amazon's Sloppy Management of Vital Cloud Services Proves Need for Strict Regulation
Recent Deal to Host NASDAQ Highlights Essential Nature of AWS Services
WASHINGTON
Yesterday, Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a massive outage, causing entire warehouses to shut down and delivery drivers to be sent home as robots sat motionless and logistics software stopped functioning.
The outage comes a week after NASDAQ, the second-largest stock exchange in the world, announced it is moving its North American markets to AWS's cloud.
In response, Brian Callaci, chief economist at the Open Markets Institute, issued the following statement:
"The message we've been sending about the need for enhanced regulation of AWS was made crystal clear yesterday: If AWS hiccups, the rest of the economy can suffer a stroke.
"The effects of AWS's outage extended far beyond Amazon's own business to the huge swaths of the economy that depend on AWS for internet infrastructure. Streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ went dark, visitors to Walt Disney theme parks could not check in online, and traders using Robinhood and Coinbase could not execute trades.
"Just two weeks ago, Open Markets sent a joint letter with labor and justice organizations to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) asking them to designate AWS as a Systemically Important Financial Market Utility (SIFMU), which would bring AWS under the supervision of the Federal Reserve. The SIFMU designation would hold AWS to appropriate standards to protect the public from financial instability--such as requiring the corporation to prioritize the stability and safety of the financial system over risk-taking and short-term private profit.
"The recent outage and the NASDAQ announcement prove the urgency of our point. Allowing financial institutions to outsource such essential functions to unregulated cloud providers risks massive disruption to the financial system and the public that depends on it. The time for regulators to act is now."
The Open Markets Institute works to address threats to our democracy, individual liberties, and our national security from today's unprecedented levels of corporate concentration and monopoly power. By combining policy, legal, and market structure expertise with sophisticated communications and outreach efforts, Open Markets seeks not only to hold today's monopolies accountable for abuse of power, but to rebuild an economic system where progress is easier to achieve, because power is far more widely and equitably distributed
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Disrupting Punchbowl News Event, Climate Advocates Say Exxon 'Should Have No Place at the DNC'
"Instead of fossil fuel profits, Democrats must prioritize making the world a healthier, more equitable place," said DNC member RL Miller, who disrupted the event declaring "Exxon lied and people died."
Aug 21, 2024
Climate campaigners on Wednesday called out and even disrupted a Punchbowl News event on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago because it was sponsored by fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil.
"Companies like Exxon should have no place at the DNC," said Sunrise Movement communications director Stevie O'Hanlon in a statement. "Exxon has spent decades misleading the public about the climate crisis and buying off politicians. If the Democratic Party wants to be taken seriously by our generation on climate change, they need to walk the talk."
Oil Change U.S. political director Collin Rees pointed out that "no major oil and gas company is pledging to do the bare minimum to prevent climate chaos."
"Fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil are moving in the opposite direction of the Democratic Party, whose platform is clear on the need to end public money for oil and gas production," he continued. "ExxonMobil continues to invest billions in new oil and gas, all while spreading misinformation and lobbying against meaningful climate policies. Exxon should have no platform at the DNC."
Rees joined DNC member RL Miller of California and Climate Defiance in disrupting the Wednesday event. Video shows that as Miller was escorted out by men who appeared to be security, she explained that "I am here because Exxon lied and people died."
"We call on party leaders and attendees to end the involvement of fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil in the political process."
Congressional, journalistic, and scholarly research has exposed how ExxonMobil knew decades ago that fossil fuels would drive climate chaos but continued to cash in on their products anyway while spreading disinformation. The company is included in various climate liability lawsuits and some Democrats on Capitol Hill have recently demanded a federal probe.
Ahead of the Wednesday action, Miller, the political director of Climate Hawks Vote, highlighted the close ties between the fossil fuel industry and the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump—who earlier this year told a room of Big Oil executives that he would roll back the Biden-Harris administration's climate policies if they invested just $1 billion into getting him elected.
"ExxonMobil and Donald Trump have already committed to each other—so why is the company sneaking around the DNC?" she asked. "We call on party leaders and attendees to end the involvement of fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil in the political process."
Miller specifically directed pressure at the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris—who has broad support from the climate movement—and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has also been welcomed by green groups, despite his record on the Line 3 pipeline and Indigenous-led opposition to it.
"Instead, our government must deliver clean, affordable energy that is tailored to our communities, supports workers to transition to new jobs, and helps regions that have been deliberately sacrificed to toxic pollution and climate chaos," she said. "Instead of fossil fuel profits, Democrats must prioritize making the world a healthier, more equitable place and electing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable."
The Punchbowl event featured a "pop-up conversation" with Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) and Vijay Swarup, ExxonMobil's senior director climate strategy and technology. The daylong event also had an appearance by Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and other sponsors included Duke Energy.
In response to the news outlet sharing a photo from the event on social media, Miller said: "Yeah. That's what I disrupted and I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
"The DNC is devoted to solving the climate crisis, not propping up DINOs like Lizzie Fletcher," she added, using the shorthand for "Democrat in name only."
Climate Defiance blasted Fletcher—first elected in 2018—in a series of posts, highlighting that she has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fossil fuel industry during her career.
"Lizzie co-chairs the Natural Gas Caucus, and, since that isn't enough, also belongs to the Oil and Gas Caucus as well. She literally cannot get enough of her fossil fuels," Climate Defiance said.
"Lizzie's voting record is garbo. Utter garbo," the group continued. "She voted AGAINST the bill cracking down on Big Oil's price gouging. She voted AGAINST a bill requiring companies to merely disclose their climate risk. She voted AGAINST the bill protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
Kate Aronoff, a climate reporter at The New Republic, took aim at Punchbowl—which has previously faced criticism for allowing fossil fuel interests to buy advertising in its newsletter—with a sarcastic response to the social media post.
The event came just two days after the Democratic Party platform was finalized. Lukas Ross, deputy climate and energy director at Friends of the Earth Action, pointed out Wednesday that "the DNC platform rightly calls for the repeal of $110 billion in fossil fuel subsidies that have lined Big Oil's pockets for decades."
"Dinosaurs like ExxonMobil are scared of losing their precious tax loopholes under a Harris administration," he said, nodding to revelations from a Greenpeace reporter posing as a corporate recruiter while speaking with an Exxon leader in 2021. "Any fossil fuel company looking to peddle influence in Chicago should be shown the door."
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Following months of increasingly obvious hints, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will drop his longshot Independent presidential bid and endorse former U.S. President Donald Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee, according to a Wednesday report from NBC News.
The network cited "two sources familiar with the plan," including one who said the Kennedy and Trump campaigns are working out the details of a joint appearance. On Wednesday morning, Kennedy's campaign sent out an email stating that the candidate "will address the nation live on Friday about the present historical moment and his path forward."
Reacting to the news, Mother Jones Washington, D.C. bureau chief David Corn said on social media that "if RFK Jr. endorses Trump, it will demonstrate he doesn't care anything about climate change, clean air and water, women's freedom, democracy, and the rule of law."
"Just one disingenuous conspiracy theory-monger joining forces with another," Corn added.
According to NBC News:
Convincing Kennedy to back Trump has been an ongoing project of the nominee's eldest son, Donald Jr., former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and wealthy donor Omeed Malik, according to a source familiar with the efforts who requested anonymity to divulge internal campaign deliberations. The three men have worked behind the scenes in meetings and calls with both principals to negotiate RFK's exit and endorsement, the source said.
Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, told NBC News in an interview Wednesday that "there's been a lot of communication back and forth" between Kennedy and his campaign.
The news comes a day after Nicole Shanahan—the billionaire who gave Kennedy millions of dollars before he chose her as his running mate—said during a podcast interview that the campaign was considering a move to "join forces with Trump."
Earlier in the year before she was fired, former Kennedy New York campaign director Rita Palma privately told supporters that her "No. 1 priority" was siphoning votes away from President Joe Biden, then the presumptive Democratic nominee. Palma called Biden the "mutual enemy" of Kennedy and Trump supporters. Some ultrawealthy Trump supporters also helped bankroll Kennedy's campaign.
It is not known what percentage of Kennedy supporters back Trump or the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, or how the anticipated suspension of Kennedy's campaign and his endorsement of Trump will affect the outcome of the tight presidential contest. According to a Pew Research Center poll published last week, Harris had a razor-thin 46%-45% edge over Trump nationwide, with Kennedy a distant—but potentially pivotal—7%.
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"Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party's commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally."
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While welcoming a scheduled Democratic National Convention speech by the Israeli-American parents of a young man kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, the co-founders of the Uncommitted National Movement on Wednesday implored the DNC to ensure that Palestinian voices are also heard on the event's main stage.
Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, whose 23-year-old son Hersh was abducted from the Nova rave near the Gaza border, are set to speak Wednesday night in what Forward, a progressive Jewish news site, described as "a counterpoint to the powerful appearance at last month's Republican convention by Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of hostage Omar Neutra, who led the crowd in Milwaukee in chants of 'Bring them home!'"
In a Wednesday statement, Uncommitted National Movement co-founders Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed said the 30 Uncommitted delegates attending the DNC "urge the Democratic Party to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage."
"We are learning that Israeli hostages' families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who've endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948," the pair continued, referring to the year in which the modern state of Israel was established amid the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Arabs from Palestine, an event known among Palestinians as the Nakba, or "catastrophe."
"Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party's commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally," Alawieh and Elabed asserted, adding that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, "must unite this party with a vision that fights for everyone, including Palestinians."
The Democratic National Committee's 2024 platform states that "Democrats recognize the worth of every Israeli and every Palestinian."
However, the platform also opposes human rights-based protests against Israel including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, as well as efforts to hold Israel accountable at the United Nations. Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, a U.N. organ, amid an ongoing assault on Gaza that has left at least 143,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and most of the coastal enclave flattened.
The U.S. has provided Israel with tens of billions of dollars worth of military aid—including the bombs used in some of Israel's deadliest massacres in Gaza—and diplomatic cover like United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution vetoes.
With the exception of a vocal minority of pro-Palestine voices led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American member of Congress and Elabed's sister, most elected Democrats—from Harris and President Joe Biden to a majority of U.S. lawmakers—support Israel, making it difficult for Palestine defenders to secure DNC stage time.
Following sustained activist pressure, the DNC provided space for the
first-ever panel on Palestinian rights on Monday. On Tuesday, the Uncommitted National Movement—which won nearly 20% of the Democratic primary vote in Minnesota and over 13% in the key swing state of Wisconsin—hosted another panel featuring doctors who volunteered in Gaza hospitals.
"The difficulty in approving even a single Palestinian American speaker among the dozens of speakers on the convention stage sends a troubling message to our anti-war voters, suggesting they aren't truly included in this party," Alawieh and Elabed said Wednesday. "The pain and loss of an Israeli or a Palestinian are no different, b ut there is an added sting in our communities when we know that it is our tax dollars funding the killing of our loved ones."
"We have provided the Democratic Party with a list of names and stand ready to provide more if needed," the pair added. "There is no reason not to get this done."
Backing Uncommitted's demand for Palestinian inclusion at the DNC, Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.)
said on social media Wednesday that "as Democrats, we must commit to uplifting the shared humanity of all people and recognize that the loss of human life is always tragic, regardless of nationality, religion, or race."
"I'm calling on the DNC to live up to these values and invite Palestinian speakers to the convention," he added.
There have been large and small pro-Palestine protests in Chicago and throughout the nation leading up to and during the DNC.
According to a May Zeteo-Data for Progress poll, a majority of Democratic voters believe Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
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