(2018-08-13). Kavanaugh Thinks It's OK to Perform Elective Surgery on People Without Consent. truthout.org
| Right now, Congress is in a deadlock over Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court. Senators are reviewing more than 1 million pages of his legal writing — which have laid out his stance on women's reproductive rights (opposed), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (opposed), and the Affordable Care Act (opposed) — and members are battling over access to additional documentation that could reveal past experience with torture and wiretapping. While many of Kavanaugh's opinions have been controversial — in particular his dissent from a decision that allowed an immigrant woman to have an abortion — one of his most problematic rulings has gone unreported. As a Judge in DC Circuit Court, Kavanaugh argued that people with disabilities could be forced to undergo elective surgeries, including abortion, without their consent. | In…
(2018-08-13). Meet the Two Protesters Who Confronted Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke over Corruption & Climate Change. democracynow.org 
We go to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to speak with Sallie Holmes and Jesse Brucato, who interrupted a speech by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday. Zinke has faced 14 federal misconduct investigations since joining President Trump's cabinet. The protesters asked Zinke about his alleged ethical lapses and questioned why he refuses to acknowledge the role of climate change in the wildfires raging across the western United States. We are also joined by Politico reporter Ben Lefebvre, who broke the stories linking Zinke to a real estate deal with energy giant Halliburton's chairperson David Lesar.
(2018-08-13). Interior Sec. Zinke Blames "Radical Environmentalists," Not Climate Change, as 100+ Wildfires Rage. democracynow.org 
As more than 100 fires rage in the western United States, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wrote an op-ed last week in USA Today about forest management on public lands that blamed "radical environmentalists" for the fires. "Most Americans get it, that climate change is no longer something we can just wish away with this administration," responds Joel Clement, who served as director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the U.S. Interior Department until July of 2017 and worked at the Interior Department for seven years. We also speak with Ben Lefebvre, an energy reporter for Politico who has done a series of stories…
(2018-08-13). Zinke Blames "Radical Environmentalists," Not Climate Change, as Wildfires Rage. truthout.org As more than 100 fires rage in the western United States, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wrote an op-ed last week in USA Today about forest management on public lands that blamed "radical environmentalists" for the fires. "Most Americans get it, that climate change is no longer something we can just wish away with this administration," responds Joel Clement, who served as director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the US Interior Department until July of 2017 and worked at the Interior Department for seven years. We also speak with Ben Lefebvre, an energy reporter for Politico who has done a series of stories on Zinke's alleged ethics violations. | TRANSCRIPT: | AMY GOODMAN: Lyla June, Diné activist and performer, singing at the Stand For Our Land rally in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, last Friday. Local papers from the Steamboat Pilot to The…
(2018-08-13). Bolivia Urges Colombia Not to Leave Unasur. telesurtv.net "Unasur is the natural space of integration that constitutes the hallmark of the peoples of the South because we are united by our history and by Mother Earth because we are Unasur."
(2018-08-13). California: Waging War on Wildfire. counterpunch.org It was the replacement of a mosaic of Indian lifeways and their managed wildlands with the uniformly materialist, rapacious and ecologically ignorant American monoculture with its factory farming, forestry practices, irrigation, industrialization and urban sprawl along with steel and concrete transport corridors that have created the conditions (yes, exacerbated by global warming) for the California conflagrations. More
(2018-08-13). DNC Pretends Respect for Workers Requires It to Take Corporate PAC Money From Big Oil. theintercept.com 
The workers that the DNC alleges to be looking out for would have been free to donate to Democrats even with the ban on fossil fuel dollars in place.
(2018-08-13). Iran, Russia And 3 Other Nations Settle Decades-Long Dispute Over Caspian Sea. iranian.com Iran and four ex-Soviet nations, including Russia, agreed in principle on Sunday how to divide up the potentially huge oil and gas resources of the Caspian Sea, paving way for more energy exploration and pipeline projects. However, the delimitation of the seabed — which has caused most disputes — will require additional agreements between littoral […]
(2018-08-13). Russia Finance Minister: We May Abandon Dollar in Oil Trade as It Is Becoming "Too Risky" globalresearch.ca One month ago, the bond market and political pundits did a double take when according to the latest Treasury International Capital report, Russia had liquidated virtually all of its US Treasury …
(2018-08-13). Australian prime minister delivers an anxious speech on relations with China. wsws.org There is evident alarm that the Trump administration's protectionism could have flow-on effects for Australian exporters and throw into doubt Washington's global reliability.
(2018-08-13). Death toll rises to almost 400 after another Indonesian earthquake. wsws.org Residents of Lombok have expressed mounting frustration over the inadequate government response to a series of deadly quakes.
(2018-08-10). Democrats Complain About Green Party "Spoilers," but Few in Congress Back a Solution: Ranked-Choice Voting. theintercept.com Recent Midwestern election results have generated criticism of so-called spoiler candidates. A bill in the House could help, but only five in Congress have signed on.
(2018-08-10). Guesstimating Our Own Gà∂tterdà§mmerung. counterpunch.org 
Max Bràºckner's sketch for the set design of the final scene of Wagner's "Gà∂tterdà§mmerung." We humans are our own Gods, and advancing climate change is the prelude to our own Gà∂tterdà§mmerung. Here then is my speculation (wild ass guess) of a schedule for the possible catastrophic events leading to human (and other) extinction by the More
(2018-08-10). Poverty, Violence and Spiritual Wildfires. counterpunch.org "They take advantage of that opportunity and they shoot into a crowd, no matter who they hit." The news this past weekend emerging from my fair city, Chicago, felt like news about wildfires sweeping across California: the sudden, hellish karma of climate change, that is to say, the gradual collapse of life-sustaining conditions on Planet More
(2018-08-10). Dying of Consumption While Guzzling Snake Oil: a Realist's Perspective on the Environmental Crisis. counterpunch.org We're an egoistical, delusional lot, us humans. We're the only species on the planet who despoils its own life support system and who does not live within biological limits. Does that make us the most intelligent or least intelligent species? Preservation of our environment remains well toward the bottom of our priorities. Personally and collectively, More
(2018-08-10). Want to Create More Jobs? Reduce Fossil Fuel Use. counterpunch.org We've all heard claims that fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are major job creators. President Trump says so all the time. But it turns out that developing and installing the technology to reduce fossil fuel use — known in the industry as "energy efficiency" — creates many more jobs than fossil fuels. Energy efficiency More
(2018-08-09). Rashida Tlaib Is Running for Congress on a Mission to Expand Civil-Rights Protections. thenation.com Rashida Tlaib Is Running for Congress on a Mission to Expand Civil-Rights Protections appeared first on The Nation.
(2018-08-09). Experts: If We Don't Stop Climate Change, CA Fires "Will Seem Mild In Comparison to What's Coming" democracynow.org 
The Mendocino Complex Fire in Northern California is now the largest wildfire ever recorded in California's history. It started burning in July—the state's hottest month on record. Of the 20 largest wildfires in California history, 15 have occurred since 2000. This year's fires have already burned nearly three times as many acres as the same time last year. Experts say climate change has increased the length of fire season. In Oakland, California, we speak with Michael Brune, the director of the Sierra Club. We also speak with Michael Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State Univer…
(2018-08-06). Headlines for August 6, 2018. democracynow.org Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Survives Apparent Assassination Attempt by Drone, Trump Tweet Reveals He Lied Last Year About Son's 2016 Meeting with Russian Lawyer, Mendocino Complex Fire Now Fourth Largest in California History, Indonesia: 7.0-Magnitude Earthquake Kills 91, Death Toll Expected to Rise, Zimbabwe: Crackdown Against Opposition Activists Continues After Elections, South Sudan President & Rebel Leader Reach Peace Deal, Israeli Military Kills 2 Palestinian Protesters at Latest Gaza Demonstrations, In Racist Attacks, Trump Insults LeBron James, Don Lemon & Maxine Waters, Randy Moss Honors Victims…
(2018-08-06). "Earth Will Be Annihilated": On 73rd Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing, a Warning Against Nuclear War. democracynow.org 
Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the United States' atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, which killed 140,000 people and seriously injured another 100,000. In remembrance, we turn to the words of a Hiroshima survivor, or hibakusha. Koji Hosokawa was 17 years old when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. His 13-year-old sister Yoko died in the bombing. He gave us a tour of the city when Democracy Now! was in Japan in 2014. He spoke to us near the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, one of the few structures in the city that survived the atomic blast.
(2018-08-05). Venezuela's President Maduro Survives Assassination Attack On Live TV. venezuelanalysis.com Six arrests have already been made in the dramatic foiled terrorist attack.
(2018-08-04). Fighting for a Way of Life in the Arctic. progressive.org The coastal plain, opened for oil drilling by the Trump Administration, is the birthplace and nursery for the Porcupine caribou herd, and land that the Gwich'in call, "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins."
(2018-08-03). Body of Olivia Lone Bear Found in N. Dakota as Native Women Face Crisis of Murders, Disappearances. democracynow.org 
After an agonizing 9-month search, the body of Olivia Lone Bear was found Tuesday in a pickup truck submerged in a lake right by her house on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The mother of five went missing in late October in New Town, North Dakota. Her disappearance has sparked renewed attention to the disproportionately high rates of disappearance, rape and murder of Native American women across the United States. These already-alarming rates are particularly high in areas of oil extraction, like North Dakota's Bakken Shale, which is the origin point for the Dakota Access pipeline. We speak with Olivia Lone Bear'
(2018-08-02). "Losing Earth": How Humanity Came to Understand Climate Change & Failed to Act in Time. democracynow.org 
"Losing Earth." That's the title of The New York Times Magazine article by Nathaniel Rich published August 1 in a special edition of the magazine dedicated entirely to climate change. The story tracks the 10-year period from 1979 to 1989, the decade Rich claims that humankind first came to a comprehensive understanding of climate change but failed to address its extreme dangers while there was still time. The story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center. We speak with Nathaniel Rich, writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine.
(2018-08-02). Rob Nixon: Gov't Inaction on Climate Change Is "Slow Violence" That Hits World's Poor the Hardest. democracynow.org 
With unprecedented fires, floods and heat waves sweeping the globe, 2018 is on track to be the fourth-hottest year on record. The regions most affected by the disastrous effects of global warming are overwhelmingly not the countries that have contributed the most to climate change. According to the 2018 Global Climate Risk Index released by the public policy group Germanwatch, the nine countries most affected by climate change in the past 20 years are developing nations, including Honduras, Haiti, Burma, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Indian government says more than 500 people have died as a result of flooding and…
(2018-08-02). Extreme Weather Is Exploding Around the World. Why Isn't the Media Talking About Climate Change? democracynow.org 
Major corporate broadcast networks reported on July's 2-week global heat wave at least 127 times, but mentioned climate change only once. That's according to a report by Media Matters, which tracked coverage of the extreme weather by ABC, CBS and NBC. We host a panel discussion on the media's role in the climate change crisis, the fossil fuel industry and global warming-fueled extreme weather across the globe. We speak with Nathaniel Rich, writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. His piece "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change" was published August 1 in a special edition of The New Yo…
(2018-07-26). Venezuela: Maduro Announces Economic Reforms Including Monetary Reconversion, Tax Breaks & Currency Control Changes. venezuelanalysis.com The measures also transfer an entire oilfield from PDVSA to the Central Bank.
(2018-07-20). Trump Admin Closes Venezuela Sanctions Loophole in Favour of US Bondholders. venezuelanalysis.com The measure opens the way for seizures of Venezuela's US-based oil assets should the Maduro government default on PDVSA bond payments.
(2018-07-20). Glimmers of Economic Recovery amid Mixed Reports about Venezuelan Oil Production. venezuelanalysis.com Lower levels of oil production have been reportedly offset by rising prices and reduced domestic consumption.
(2018-07-12). Venezuela's Defunct National Assembly Attempts to Privatise Oil Industry. venezuelanalysis.com Grassroots movements have frequently denounced de facto back-door privatisation in PDVSA.
(2018-07-05). China Approves US$5Bn Loan for Venezuelan Oil Development. venezuelanalysis.com Venezuelan officials said Chinese cooperation opens up alternative networks outside the sanctions of the United States.