Legendary journalist Bill Moyers says he fears for the nation for the first time in his life

Veteran journalist Bill Moyers said Sunday that for the first time “in my long life” — including the Depression and World War II — he fears for the nation’s survival.

A “society, a democracy, can die of too many lies — and we’re getting close to that terminal moment unless we reverse the obsession with lies that are being fed around the country,” Moyers told Brian Stelter on CNN.

Hope rests in citizens paying careful attention to the televised impeachment hearings beginning this week on Wednesday and Friday in the House, noted Moyers, 85, who served for two years as President Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary.

He has urged PBS to rebroadcast the hearings during prime time so that they more easily be seen by working people.

“Do facts matter anymore?” Moyers asked, referring to the impeachment investigation. “I think they do. I think they mattered in the Watergate hearings, in the Clinton hearings, and I think they’ll matter this time, too.”

At: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-moyers-impeachment-cnn-survival_n_5dc8cd83e4b02bf579426375

Trump applauds; Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Sanders condemn coup in Bolivia

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday became the second U.S. lawmaker to condemn the resignation of Bolivia's socialist President Evo Morales as a "coup."

Morales was forced to resign Sunday under threat from the nation's military, police, and violent right-wing protestors.

The resignation followed Morales' announcement that he would hold new elections after the U.S.-dominated Organization of American States (OAS) questioned his October 20 victory.

Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman Democrat from New York, tweeted in both Spanish and English Monday afternoon: "What's happening right now in Bolivia isn't democracy, it's a coup."

Her comment echoed those of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.):

"There's a word for the President of a country being pushed out by the military: It’s called a coup."

"We must unequivocally oppose political violence in Bolivia. Bolivians deserve free and fair elections."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also took to Twitter to express his concern "about what appears to be a coup in Bolivia."

"The U.S. must call for an end to violence and support Bolivia’s democratic institutions," Sanders added.

Just Foreign Policy responded by thanking Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Omar "for standing up for Bolivian democracy."

President Donald Trump on Monday called Morales' resignation "a significant moment for democracy in the Western Hemisphere."

"Morales' departure preserves democracy and paves the way for the Bolivian people to have their voices heard."

Tanks have been seen in the streets of La Paz (Bolivia's capital), homes of Morales officials have burned, and hundreds have been injured - including numerous disappearances and reports of torture - since yesterday's coup.

Coup leader Luis "Macho" Camacho, 40 - a religious fundamentalist and the scion of a local natural gas baron - reportedly met with Ivanka Trump during her September 5 visit to neighboring Jujuy, Argentina.

At: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/11/ocasio-cortez-joins-chorus-critics-condemning-coup-bolivia-forced-out-socialist

Bolivian coup leader Luis "Macho" Camacho adresses the nation following his takeover yesterday of the presidential palace.

Amid the worst violence in the country since the 1980 Cocaine Coup, Bolivia remains without a formal head of state since President Evo Morales was ousted on Sunday as Camacho and right-wing senators jockey for power.

Camacho reportedly met with Ivanka Trump in neighboring Argentina during her September 5 visit.

Wild turkeys are terrorizing a town; MLB player calls on the New Jersey governor for help

Not even Todd Frazier and friends have been safe from the aggressive wild turkey population reportedly plaguing an adult community in New Jersey, according to the MLB all-star's tweets.

Residents of an Ocean County 55-and-up community are being attacked by the gaggle of up to 60 wild turkeys, according to reports this week.

Frazier, a Toms River, New Jersey, native, tweeted Sunday morning a photo of his black Jeep surrounded by birds, just a day after he tweeted complaining about all the recent fowl play in town.

"They are a big problem here," Frazier tweeted. "They have come close to harming my family and friends, ruined my cars, trashed my yard and much more..."

At: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wild-turkeys-are-terrorizing-a-town-mlb-player-calls-on-the-new-jersey-governor-for-help/ar-BBWAIb7

Turkeys trash truck in Toms River, NJ.

While not the first time a New Jersey town has been afflicted by an overweight, aggressive turkey, residents are calling fowl.

Spain's Socialists win national election; right-wing Vox Party surges

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialists won Spain's national election on Sunday but large gains by the upstart far-right Vox party appear certain to widen the political deadlock in the European Union's fifth-largest economy.

After a fourth national ballot in as many years and the second in less than seven months, the left-wing Socialists (PSOE) held on as the leading power in the national parliament.

With 99.9% of the votes counted, the Socialists captured 120 seats, down three seats from the last election in April and still far from the absolute majority of 176 needed to form a government alone.

The big political shift came as right-wing voters flocked to Vox. The far-right party led by Santiago Abascal, who speaks of "reconquering" Spain in terms that echo the medieval wars between Christian and Moorish forces, rocketed from 24 to 52 seats.

The conservative Popular Party rebounded from its previous debacle in the April vote to 88 seats from 66, a historic low. The far-left United We Can (Podemos), which had rejected an offer to help the Socialists form a left-wing government over the summer, lost some ground - from 42 to 35 seats.

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias expressed more openness to reaching an agreement with the PSOE this time, stating that "if after the April elections a progressive coalition government was a historic opportunity, now it is a historical necessity."

Sunday's outcome means there will be no immediate end to the stalemate between forces on the right and the left in Spain, suggesting the country could go many more weeks or even months without a new government.

At: https://www.foxnews.com/world/spain-national-election-socialists-vox-party

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez celebrates Sunday's results, which keep his 17 month-old government in power - albeit with a slightly reduced margin.

But falling well short of the 176 seats for an absolute majority, his Socialist Party will need support from the left-wing Podemos as well as Basque parties to pass legislation.

Bolivian leader Evo Morales steps down

President Evo Morales, who came to power in Bolivia in 2006 as part of a leftist wave sweeping Latin America, resigned on Sunday after unrelenting protests by an infuriated population that accused him of undermining democracy by clinging to office.

Morales was once widely popular, and stayed in the presidency longer than any other current head of state in Latin America.

Morales, 60, was the first Indigenous president in a country that had been led by a tiny elite of European descent for centuries, and he shepherded Bolivia through an era of economic growth and shrinking inequality, winning support from Bolivians who saw him as their first true representative in the capital.

But his reluctance to give up power — first bending the country’s laws to stand for a fourth election, then insisting that he won despite widespread concerns about fraud — left him besieged by protests, abandoned by allies and unable to count on the police and the armed forces, which sided with the protesters and demanded he resign.

Carlos Mesa, the former president who came in second in the disputed election, has said that the country’s political parties should come together and organize a new vote.

At: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/world/americas/evo-morales-bolivia.html

Bolivian President Evo Morales (right) and Vice President Alvaro García Linera, both of whom resigned at 5:00 p.m. local time today.

Morales had conceded to calling new elections before today's military coup.

Brazil's former President Lula da Silva walks free from prison after supreme court ruling

Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva has been released from prison in the city of Curitiba where he was serving a 12-year corruption sentence, after a supreme court ruling which delighted his supporters and infuriated followers of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula, 74, was incarcerated in April 2018 after a sentence for corruption and money laundering handed down by the controversial judge Sérgio Moro was upheld by an appeal court.

On Thursday Brazil’s supreme court ruled that defendants could only be imprisoned after all appeals to higher courts had been exhausted, paving the way for Lula and another 5,000 prisoners to be freed.

The decision followed revelations published by the investigative website the Intercept Brasil showing Moro had colluded with prosecutors leading the sweeping graft investigation that imprisoned Lula.

Polls had showed that Lula was leading in last year’s presidential election, but the conviction removed him from the race, giving Bolsonaro a clear run.

At: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/08/lula-brazil-released-prison-supreme-court-ruling

Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva walks among supporters after his release from prison at 5:45 p.m. local time today.

Arguably his country's most prominent political prisoner, he was freed pending appeal following a Brazilian Supreme Court ruling that restored the right of those convicted to await their appeals process in freedom.

His imprisonment 19 months ago paved the way for the election last year of far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

Convicted last year solely on testimony from a contractor kept in a rat-infested dungeon until he incriminated him, the UN considers his detention arbitrary.

The water is already low at a Florida freshwater spring - but Nestle wants more

In Florida, Nestlé is taking heat from environmental groups and others concerned about the future of one of the state's most endangered natural resources — its freshwater springs. Florida has more than a thousand freshwater springs, which provide drinking water, important natural habitat and places for recreation.

Nestlé wants to begin taking more than a million gallons of water each day from Ginnie Springs, a popular destination in north Florida for swimming, canoeing and tubing.

Nestlé and many other companies have bottled and sold Florida spring water for decades. For the past 20 years, Seven Springs, the company that owns the land around Ginnie Springs, has had a permit allowing it to take nearly 1.2 million gallons a day from its wells.

During that time, working with other water bottlers, the company never withdrew more than a quarter of that.

Nestlé now wants to increase the daily withdrawal to the full amount, a request that has set off alarm bells among environmental groups.

At: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/08/776776312/the-water-is-already-low-at-a-florida-freshwater-spring-but-nestl-wants-more

Vacationers enjoy the Santa Fe River near High Springs, Florida - a river sourced from Ginnie Springs.

Brazil's jailed ex-leader Lula da Silva could be freed following top court vote

Brazil's Supreme Court has voted to end mandatory imprisonment of convicted criminals after they lose their first appeal, restoring the previous rule that they should be allowed to exhaust all their appeal options before being locked up.

The politically charged re-interpretation of the country's penal code could lead to the release of dozens of high-profile convicts, including former leftist president Luiz "Lula" da Silva, jailed last year for alleged corruption.

By a 6-5 vote, the court overturned a three-year-old rule that contributed to the success of Brazil's biggest corruption investigation, the so-called Car Wash (Lava Jato) operation, led by former judge and current Justice Minister Sérgio Moro, that put dozens of company executives and politicians in jail for bribes and kickbacks.

Lula, 74, was jailed in April 2018 for an eight-year sentence after he was found guilty of taking bribes from engineering firms in return for government contracts, and money laundering.

Lacking material evidence, his conviction was based solely on testimony from jailed contractors.

The $700,000 apartment Lula was alleged to have received from a contractor by way of a bribe, was put on the market by its real owner in June.

What's App and Telegram messages obtained by The Intercept confirmed longstanding suspicions of political animus against Lula and his center-left Workers' Party (PT) by Moro and the chief prosecutor in the Car Wash case, Deltan Dallagnol.

His lawyers are expected to swiftly file for his release at the lower court that convicted him.

At: https://www.smh.com.au/world/south-america/brazil-s-jailed-ex-leader-lula-could-be-freed-following-top-court-vote-20191108-p538pj.html

Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, arguably his country's most prominent political prisoner, during an interview on April 26 - the first he was allowed to give since his imprisonment a year earlier.

Today's Supreme Court ruling, which ruled the mandatory imprisonment of convicts on losing their first appeal unconstitutional, opens the door for Lula's release from prison - though the far-right Jair Bolsonaro regime is expected to disregard the ruling in his case.

Convicted last year solely on testimony from a contractor kept in a rat-infested dungeon until he incriminated him, the UN considers his detention arbitrary.

Democrat Andy Beshear has defeated GOP Gov. Matt Bevin in Kentucky, state official says

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of the former governor, has beaten incumbent Republican Gov. Matt Bevin after a bitter race, according to Kentucky's secretary of state.

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes told CNN’s Chris Cuomo her office has called the race, and they do not believe the difference in the vote can be made up by Bevin. A recanvass could still be requested.

CNN has not yet made a projection in the race.

Bevin, a polarizing figure who had faced political struggles in his first term, had tied himself to President Trump in his campaign, in a state where Trump won by nearly 30 points.

The President went to Lexington to hold a rally for Bevin on the eve of the election.

At: https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/2019-election-results-kentucky-mississippi-virginia/h_32851865b8ded62734b80fec6ee23a20

Kentucky Governor-elect Andy Beshear addresses supporters in a victory speech moments ago.

Beshear's defeat of GOP stalwart Matt Bevin bodes ominuosly for President Donald Trump, who campaigned for Bevin and to whom the outgoing governor was a close ally.

Virginia Democrats take control of state legislature for first time in over two decades

Virginia Democrats continued their winning streak under President Trump on Tuesday and took full control of the statehouse for the first time in more than two decades.

Suburban voters turned out in big numbers to back Democratic candidates, continuing a trend of once GOP-friendly suburbs turning blue. This is the third election in a row in which Democrats made significant gains since Trump was elected.

“I’m here to officially declare today, November 5, 2019, that Virginia is officially blue,” Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam told a crowd of supporters in Richmond.

Tuesday’s election could help cement Democratic rule for the next decade, because the winners will decide who controls the next redistricting process.

At: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/democrats-capture-virginia-state-senate-first-time-years-house-grabs-n1077036?fbclid=IwAR14i2PyTaILLHGJm3re2v8c7pQ1IMG0FLPVMzy_jVTEhpTrtsWHzgT0uhs

Governor Ralph Northam (center) greets lawmakers on the floor of the House.

Tonight's victory for Democrats gves the party the first trifecta control over governance in the commonwealth since 1993 - and renewed impetus for stalled progressive legislation.